Linkfest -- Assorted I-Told-You-So's
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Time to clean out the aggregator:
ITEM: A federal circuit court has upheld a permanent injunction against an Illinois law restricting sales of sexually explicit video games to minors. As I mentioned in this chain, every single time a state has tried to modify the obscenity test of Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973), to apply to video games, courts have (quite properly) struck them down — a video game is simply not a XXX-rated porno. This court, meanwhile, made an additional and important observation:
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ITEM: You may have heard by now about the kerfuffle in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, over a homeowner association that threatened to fine a resident couple who displayed a "peace wreath" in violation of development rules. As I explained in this post on a recently passed federal law voiding such restrictions as they apply to flag displays, this whole topic has absolutely nothing to do with freedom of speech and absolutely everything to do with freedom of contract. The board was right* and the resident couple was wrong. Which didn't stop the couple from winning and the entire board from being pressured into resigning. Conclusion: Expect more "restrictions on restrictions" laws and lawsuits, preposterously couched in First Amendment claims, in the future. (*Except for the one loopy board member who thought the peace symbol was a sign of the devil — oy vey!).
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ITEM: The U.S. has banned a laundry list of luxury items from being exported toNorth Korea Kim Jong-Il. The move is entirely symbolic, since no one in North Korea outside of Kim's inner circle can afford a square of toilet paper, let alone an iPod or a Rolex. Of course, Article I expressly authorizes Congress to "regulate" foreign commerce, but doesn't crafting hodge-podge lists of a handful of items that cannot be shipped to a handful of nations (or a handful of people) constitute "irregulating" foreign commerce (i.e., in the sense of making it "less regular" rather than "more regular")? Abstracting away from constitutional law: When do the negative externalities of trading with "the enemy" (very loosely defined in the case of North Korea, a nation that we are not at war with) outweigh the private right to trade and earn a living? Very hard question to answer. Previous post on North Korea here.
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ITEM: The U.K. has announced its plan to reform (i.e., try to fix) its public pension (i.e., Social Security) system. The centerpiece of the plan is a drastic but gradual increase in the retirement age — to 68 by 2046. Of the three dials to tweak in a failing pension system — raising taxes, cutting benefits for all and cutting eligibility for some — the latter is the most logical, at least in the context of the retirement age, which should of course be adjusted as life expectancy increases. On the other hand, from the perspective of a current participant (i.e., taxpayer), extending the retirement age is a benefit cut, pure and simple, which is why such adjustments should be as gradual as possible. President Bush, meanwhile, continues to pretend that he is, somehow, a fiscal conservative while hinting that he is ready (again) to sign on to removing the wage cap on Social Security taxes. Eliminating the cap would not only be the single largest tax increase in American history, but would also complete the degradation of Social Security from anything remotely resembling a "forced retirement" program into a pure, unapologetic welfare scheme. Splendid. (And voluntary partial privatization is of course dead and buried.)
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ITEM: Bill Frist has announced that he will not run for president in 2008. Guess he figured the "persistent vegetative" vote wasn't enough to put him over the top. Frist says he wants to return to medicine — perhaps he wants to resume his cutting-edge research on catching AIDS from tears. Of course, the real reason Frist isn't running is because he's an unethical sleazebag — which is helpful for a Congressional leadership position but not so much for a presidential campaign.
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ITEM: I've noted before that New York is arguably the worst-governed state in the union, mainly because of its contemptible, bass-ackwards legislature, which vests essentially all power in its two leaders — turning the state into a de facto triumvirate comprising the governor, the assembly speaker and the senate majority leader. So why would anyone in fact want to be a state legislator — what do they actually get to do all day?
ITEM: A federal circuit court has upheld a permanent injunction against an Illinois law restricting sales of sexually explicit video games to minors. As I mentioned in this chain, every single time a state has tried to modify the obscenity test of Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973), to apply to video games, courts have (quite properly) struck them down — a video game is simply not a XXX-rated porno. This court, meanwhile, made an additional and important observation:
Most obviously, the State could have simply passed legislation increasing awareness among parents of the voluntary ESRB ratings system.In other words, leave parenting to parents. How "activist" of these judges! (ESA v. Blagojevich, PDF - 21 pages. Via How Appealing; more thoughts at ACS Blog.)
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ITEM: You may have heard by now about the kerfuffle in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, over a homeowner association that threatened to fine a resident couple who displayed a "peace wreath" in violation of development rules. As I explained in this post on a recently passed federal law voiding such restrictions as they apply to flag displays, this whole topic has absolutely nothing to do with freedom of speech and absolutely everything to do with freedom of contract. The board was right* and the resident couple was wrong. Which didn't stop the couple from winning and the entire board from being pressured into resigning. Conclusion: Expect more "restrictions on restrictions" laws and lawsuits, preposterously couched in First Amendment claims, in the future. (*Except for the one loopy board member who thought the peace symbol was a sign of the devil — oy vey!).
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ITEM: The U.S. has banned a laundry list of luxury items from being exported to
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ITEM: The U.K. has announced its plan to reform (i.e., try to fix) its public pension (i.e., Social Security) system. The centerpiece of the plan is a drastic but gradual increase in the retirement age — to 68 by 2046. Of the three dials to tweak in a failing pension system — raising taxes, cutting benefits for all and cutting eligibility for some — the latter is the most logical, at least in the context of the retirement age, which should of course be adjusted as life expectancy increases. On the other hand, from the perspective of a current participant (i.e., taxpayer), extending the retirement age is a benefit cut, pure and simple, which is why such adjustments should be as gradual as possible. President Bush, meanwhile, continues to pretend that he is, somehow, a fiscal conservative while hinting that he is ready (again) to sign on to removing the wage cap on Social Security taxes. Eliminating the cap would not only be the single largest tax increase in American history, but would also complete the degradation of Social Security from anything remotely resembling a "forced retirement" program into a pure, unapologetic welfare scheme. Splendid. (And voluntary partial privatization is of course dead and buried.)
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ITEM: Bill Frist has announced that he will not run for president in 2008. Guess he figured the "persistent vegetative" vote wasn't enough to put him over the top. Frist says he wants to return to medicine — perhaps he wants to resume his cutting-edge research on catching AIDS from tears. Of course, the real reason Frist isn't running is because he's an unethical sleazebag — which is helpful for a Congressional leadership position but not so much for a presidential campaign.
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ITEM: I've noted before that New York is arguably the worst-governed state in the union, mainly because of its contemptible, bass-ackwards legislature, which vests essentially all power in its two leaders — turning the state into a de facto triumvirate comprising the governor, the assembly speaker and the senate majority leader. So why would anyone in fact want to be a state legislator — what do they actually get to do all day?
Each year, the Legislature sets aside $200 million for [legislative] projects — $85 million for the Assembly, $85 million for the Senate and $30 million for the governor. The projects, known as member items, have been criticized by budget watchdogs because there is no public debate on how useful they are, there is little accounting for how the money is spent, and the system allows the leaders to keep members in the dark about who they are favoring.Sounds an awful lot like the Mafia to me. No wonder we're called the Empire State.
Posted by Kip on
29 November 2006
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