Linkfest: Sunday Updates
Time to clean out the aggregator:
ITEM: Congress has, as part of its omnibus energy bill, called for the elimination of incandescent light bulbs. The War on Light Bulbs is a classic example of the Politics of the Warm Fuzzy Feeling, as I explained in a previous post.
ITEM: That same energy bill continues the insanity of ethanol subsidies, by requiring
a fivefold increase — to 36 billion gallons — in the amount of alternative home-grown fuels, such as ethanol, that must be added to the nation’s gasoline supply by 2022[.]
Ethanol does nothing to alleviate carbon emissions but does much, by artificially inflating demand for corn and sugar, to raise food prices (e.g., tortillas).
ITEM: The latest estimate of unfunded state and local government employee health care liabilities? $1.4 trillion. Private businesses, meanwhile, are required by law to pre-fund their future health and pension obligations. Go figure — literally. I’ve blogged about unfunded state and local pension liabilities previously.
ITEM: Speaking of bogus government accounting, the federal budget deficit would be almost 70% higher — $275.5 billion — if the federal government used the same Generally Accepted Accounting Principles that private businesses are required to use. Netting out the lie of the Social Security “trust fund” and similar fraudulent intergovernmental accounts would add another $300 billion to the deficit. Previous post here.
ITEM: Having solved all other problems, the federal government has gone to great lengths to ensure that letters mailed from post offices in the District of Columbia actually bear a D.C. postmark. The announcement of course came from malcontents who seek to unconstitutionally confer full House representation on the District. Most recent post here.
ITEM: Having solved all other problems, Tennessee’s Knox County Commission has passed a resolution asking people to urge politicians to recognize God as the “foundation of our National Heritage.” I was not aware that “national heritage” had become a proper noun, let alone a theocratic one. Most recent post here.
ITEM: Speaking of dysfunctional local governments, the judge overseeing a lawsuit filed by Manalaplan Township, New Jersey, against a former mayor has quashed an unconstitutional subpoena served on Google seeking the identity, and all other available information, about an anonymous blogger. Previous post here.
ITEM: Speaking of judges, a panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has found that a district court judge, Thomas Porteous, may have committed impeachable acts. While it is occasionally true that a rogue judge might act as morally defective as most politicians, judicial leadership is much better at policing itself than legislatures ever are. Previous post here.
ITEM: A jury in Louisiana has sentenced a man to death for repeatedly raping a five-year old girl. The question of whether the Eighth Amendment forbids capital punishment for any crime other than murder has never been addressed by the Supreme Court. Previous post here.
ITEM: The New York Times has an article on a growing trend of homeowners to seek, based on falling housing values, reduced assessments for property tax computations. As I have argued previously, property taxes should based on the underlying structures and not sale prices of neighboring properties.
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Two questions about the swirlybulbs:
1. Given that the CFLs are prone to inducing migraines in those susceptible, does this ban of incandescents violate the Americans with Disabilities Act?
2. Do we really want all that mercury so close to our food when we have to replace our refrigerator lights?