Quin Hillyer Argues the Alabama Governor’s Race IN ALL CAPS!

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On Friday I began my American Spectator column this way:

Tim James was Tea Party before Tea Party was cool. Before the federal bailouts, before most Americans had heard of Barack Obama, before Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck became household names, James helped lead the 2003 effort to stop a tax increase proposed by Alabama’s Republican Gov. Bob Riley.
The battle over Amendment One, as Riley’s $1.3 billion tax measure was known, was a defining moment for the state’s conservatives. James, who had challenged Riley in the 2002 Republican gubernatorial primary, sided with the anti-tax activists who organized an opposition campaign that became known as the “Alabama Tea Party.”
Alabama voters rejected the proposal by more than a 2-to-1 margin in a September 2003 referendum and, if politics were logical, James would be the front-runner in this year’s GOP gubernatorial contest. Instead, one recent poll showed that the early leader is Bradley Byrne who, as a state senator in 2003, voted for Riley’s tax-hike plan. . . .

You can read the whole thing, if you haven’t already. My friend Qun Hillyer promised Friday to reply to that column, and has done so at the American Spectator today:

Anyway, overall, Riley’s tax plan raised far more money IN THE SHORT TERM than it would have “cost.” But it did so in the context of one of the smallest combined state-and-local government spending records in the country. Tim James’ father had cut the state budget to the bone, and then Democrat Don Siegelman’s spending hikes were largely taken back through a process called “proration” when the economy temporarily went bad. Meanwhile, among states that have property taxes, Alabama’s property taxes were something like the second-smallest in the nation. Its sales tax rates, though, were absurdly high, and its exemption threshold for paying income taxes started at an absurdly low $5,000 (well below the national average of about $16,000). Plus, huge swaths of land were effectively off the books because of what amounted to a huge exemption on taxes for lands used for timber — even if the timberland wasn’t actually being used in commerce, but just allowed to sit there as a nice big, untaxed private preserve.
What all this meant was that Alabama’s tax system was literally regressive — not regressive in the modern liberal sense of not being “progressive” enough for liberal tastes, but actually more burdensome on the poor than on the rich. . . .
But overall, in the short term, the Riley Plan raised more than a net $1 billion overall, mostly by raising the incredibly low property tax rates . . .
And this was exactly when the second round, i.e., the larger and more supply-side round, of the Bush tax cuts were going into effect, so that EVEN FOR THOSE WHOSE STATE/LOCAL TAXES WOULD GO UP OVERALL UNDER THE RILEY PLAN, THEIR COMBINED LOCAL/STATE AND FEDERAL TAX LOAD WOULD BE SMALLER THAN IT HAD BEEN JUST TWO YEARS BEFORE. In short, even for the 30% who would have been moderately “hurt” by the Riley plan, their overall financial situation, in terms of taxes, would be better than it had been in 2001. . . .

You can read the whole thing. The basic problem here seems to be this: In 2003, Quin committed himself as an advocate of the Riley Plan. Alabama voters rejected that plan by a 2-to-1 margin. And seven years later, Quin is still trying to win the argument.

Or WIN THE ARGUMENT, as it were.

Re-hashing the arguments of 2003 — the “regressive” nature of Alabama’s tax system, the putative benefits of the Riley plan, etc. — is a futile exercise, politically. The voters of Alabama rejected those arguments seven years ago, and I doubt they’re in a mood to hear them again now. If Quin Hillyer thinks Bradley Byrne can win the Republican primary by defending his vote for the Billion-Dollar Bob tax . . . well, good luck with that.

Or perhaps I should say, GOOD LUCK WITH THAT.

P.S.: How is having “huge swaths of land . . . effectively off the books” a bad thing?

I’m in favor of having the private sector “off the books” as much as possible. That’s why, even when I pay my restaurant bill with a credit card, I always leave the tip in cash. I have never advocated tax evasion (such advocacy can be prosecuted a federal crime), but if the waitress doesn’t report 100% of her cash income to the IRS, that’s none of my business.

Is Goldman Sachs Too Big to Fail?
Is Kevin Smith Too Fat to Fly?

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Is the Clerks filmmaker too fat to fly? Southwest Airlines says so. I’m interested only because some people say Ace of Spades vaguely resembles “Silent Bob.” Not that Ace is fat or anything, but certainly Drew M. could stand to lose a few pounds, and maybe this news is kind of a warning. Watch those carbs, Ace.

On the other hand, Goldman Sachs could bring down the entire international financial system, which is a lot more serious issue than a couple of chubby bloggers:

We now learn – from Der Spiegel last week and today’s NYT – that Goldman Sachs has not only helped or encouraged some European governments to hide a large part of their debts, but it also endeavored to do so for Greece as recently as last November.  These actions are fundamentally destabilizing to the global financial system, as they undermine: the eurozone area; all attempts to bring greater transparency to government accounting; and the most basic principles that underlie well-functioning markets.

If Greece goes down and takes the Euro with it, maybe people will start re-thinking this “too big to fail” argument.

Exit question: If Kevin Smith is too fat to fly, how does Michael Moore get around?

Tactically Bad vs. Strategically Bad

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by Smitty

Instapundit points to the Las Vegas Sun with an article about the Tea Party movement going full-on third party.
Insty:

I think it’s smarter for Tea Party activists to target primary races, rather than starting their own party as seems to be happening in Nevada. Two words: “Ross Perot.” Two more: “Ralph Nader.”

As a Perot voter during my virgin booth-screwing, I take just the slightest umbrage. Bush41 was just another affable Progressive. You can argue there was a Cold War to finish off, but he was just as domestically committed to the collapse of e pluribus into unum as the Bubba that won in ’92.
The substantial difference in Bush vs. Clinton would seem to be the rate at which they were going to have DC devour the rest of the country. The Bush route may have been slower, more genteel, but so what?
Full circle, then, I say let Nevadans express their political will as desired. Succumbing to some brow-beating about the folly of dividing the conservative vote may afford as much fallacy as validity, depending on whom the GOP are running.

The Protocols of the Elders of CTHULHU I. Might Makes Right

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by Smitty (INTRODUCTION)

A set of steps were the only available means to cover the last quarter mile of the climb to Schloss Braunschlag from Davos.

The androgynous speaker began in sinuous tones. I’ll call him ‘he’ for convenience, though the small frame in the plain kimono, so light for a room this cold, lacked post-pubescent indicators.
The black hair pulled straight back to a short ponytail offered nothing. The English was perfect, and scary in its lack of accent other than something of a lisp on ‘s’, and a softness in palate, as with a native Hindi speaker on the ‘r’.
Skin tone and features were no help, either. He was from everywhere and nowhere.
The message to this group of elite power brokers was simple: it was the time to strike the death blow to the ancien régime.
There was no response from the audience except to stare at the speaker. The eyes of some of the more pacifistic in the audience widened slightly.

“The peaceful intelligence preparation of the battlespace is complete.

The best results in governing are attained by violence and terrorization, not by academic discussions.

We snuffed the last altruist centuries ago.

The idea of freedom is impossible of realization because no one knows how to use it with moderation.

It falls to us, then, to offer a realpolitik alternative.
The political has nothing in common with the moral. Your morals are your own. Politics is about what is ethical. We will launch a new line of ethical clay once the turbulence settles.
The masses, or mob, are self-defeating:

It must be understood that the might of a mob is blind, senseless and unreasoning force ever at the mercy of a suggestion from any side. The blind cannot lead the blind without bringing them into the abyss: consequently, members of the mob, upstarts from the people even though they should be as a genius for wisdom, yet having no understanding of
the political, cannot come forward as leaders of the mob without bringing the whole nation to ruin.

No, the program we’re laying out is emphatically not one that appears to be inclusive and representative. Reality so often achieves a 180-degree shift from appearance, no?

A satisfactory form of government for any country is one that concentrates in the hands of one responsible person.

That responsible person, of course, is our tool.”

Navigation:

SFW Video: Hookers In The Graveyard

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by Smitty (h/t Digg)

The video will not entomb in our page, but you can see it here.

As technology improves, I foresee more of this sort of thing. While the sheer voyeurism of catching others trading hormones excites me not (boring monogamist that I am) I had thought of getting on the Beltway with someone riding webcam, and taking clips of other clown-tards who really hate safety, their driver’s licenses, and perhaps life itself.

While Big Brother with a whole bunch of fixed cameras is an Orwellian nightmare, Little Brother and that YouTube sensation might be just the feedback loop that will help Hot Rod McSmith make better decisions.

Announcement: The Protocols of the Elders of CTHULHU

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by Smitty

Now it can be revealed!
At the 2010 World Economic Forum, a tiny cabal, the people behind the people behind the people, broke off for a separate meeting, in which their diabolical plot for world conquest was laid out for a dozen chosen ones.
No YouTube; no .jpg; no audio; a mere hardcopy transcript which has fallen into our hands for a quick edit and shameless re-transmission to warn people of the danger. Fear.
Stay tuned as Porch Manqué Productions rolls out, at the rate of four installments per day, the transcript of the meeting of the Human Union and the Committee To Harmonize Universal Law:
The Protocols of the Elders of CTHULHU…

As is our policy, we try to get copies of our work out for initial feedback. PMP is proud to have a popularity track record that makes the approval rating of the POTUS seem relatively good. Just doin’ our part!

  • Alan Turing: In Smitty’s case, it is impossible to distinguish whether he is an idiot or a piece of software posing as an idiot.
  • http://dogfirelake.comRaaaaacism!
  • Ramtha: Such dreck is the antithesis of the purified self. Smitty appears in the grip of a sad self-hatred. Spirit can turn this around, but someone must pour the spirit out of the fifth.
  • http://doglakefire.comThe Right-o-Sphere can never, ever again question the sanity of Charles Johnson or Andrew Sullivan. Not after this.
  • Juan de Fuca: There were many diseases faced by early explorers. It would be helpful to introduce Smitty to them.
  • http://lakedogfire.comWho knew such unspent hatred, mixed with congenital ignorance, could produce such unmitigated dreck?
  • Warren Harding: A debacle nearly as severe as the formation of the Soviet Union.
  • http://lakefiredog.comWe blame Stacy McCain for what will, without question, be seen as the worst blog atrocity of 2010. Unless Smitty writes again.
  • Elric of Melniboné: If my weakness was not of Biden-esque proportions, I should use Stormbringer on myself rather than read this.
  • http://firelakedog.comThis is really some kind of scheme to force tip jar hits, isn’t it? Some blatant, mindless form of a request for hush money?
  • Oscar Goldman: The next time the Bionic Man needs to go on a suicide mission, we’re sending Smitty instead.

Episodes:

Previous forays into the lungs of farce:

Serious Notes:

  1. Sergei Nilus was a bad man. The act of publishing Protocols of the Elders of Zion as fact, and the subsequent evil useage of that writing, lowers a distasteful act of racism to the level of the diabolical.
    This writing employs “The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion” by Sergius Nilus, 2003, University Press of the Pacific.
    Stripped of the asinine anti-Semitism, the book reads like drunken crib notes from Macchiavelli. Anything in this series appearing as a blockquote is from the UPP edition.
  2. I repudiate racism in general, and anti-Semitism in particular. May the Almighty calibrate all of the wrong-headed people perpetuating such, including the Affirmative Action crowd.

Rule 5 Sunday

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by Smitty

The hue and cry over the Danica Patrick crash has been all over the Rule 5-osphere like noxious fumes on Troglopundit.
So let’s start with him. Lance the boil. Boil the lance.

  • Troglopundit noted her 6th place finish back on 07Feb, staking his claim and claiming his steak. (Mistake?)
  • Point of a Gun notes that the economy is sporting cement galoshes when even Hooters hasn’t got enough buoyancy to keep its perky self bobbing playfully above the wavetops.
  • Instapundit, traffic powerhouse and no Rule 5 slouch, was first in (my Google Reader) with news of Brooklyn Decker. I’ve long thought New York streets were shovel-ready, so the fact that she’s the most attractive road improvement project ever was a pleasant surprise.
  • American Power was next in with backup on Brooklyn Decker Syndrome, an important upgrade to BDS.
  • Smash Mouth Politics was also in the SI locker, but went retro with Paulina Porizkova.
  • The Camp of the Saints, keying off Scott Brown’s 41st Republican Senate vote, free associated himself down to Cabo Wabo for Jennifer Aniston’s Birthday. Of course, if we really want to play the 41 card,
    USS McClusky (FFG 41)
    there is only one way to do it right, and this is to mention the USS McClusky (FFG 41)
  • Wade McCusky, a Rule 5 All Star if ever there was, was kind of important
    C. Wade McClusky
    : “In the words of Admiral Chester Nimitz, McClusky’s decision to continue the search for the enemy and his judgment as to where the enemy might be found, “decided the fate of our carrier task force and our forces at Midway…” I’ll venture that, alive today to opine on DADT, CWM would be NPC (Not Politically Correct).
  • SI VIS PACEM had some retro B&W Christine Keeler from ’62, as well as a bit of Monty Python cheek that would be more funny if modern life were not trending that direction.
  • Troglopundit was back, underscoring the Danica fixation with a play at non-Danica blogging. Finding Kyle Boller more attractive than Carrie Prejean is an example of where one doth protest too much, methinks.
  • Bob Belvedere gave us Nancy Crawford. Brunettes.
  • Hyperactive Rule 5 Retiree American Power brought on a Brooklyn Decker roundup, furiously relaxing within the intense downtime of his chillin’ phase.
  • Piece of Work in Progress relates Teri Hatcher, the Donner party, the DC snowstorm, and Jim Treacher. The elusive allusive stew: POWIP’s got it.
  • Dan Riehl points to the Levi Johnston cover at ABC. Later, RSM would show even less restraint an post it straight away. Also, I will not eat balut.
  • Troglopundit came back with still more Danica Patrick blogging, hat tipping a ‘Smitty’, who may or may not resemble me, on days ending in ‘y’.
  • The Daley Gator points to a possible rival: “Irish Cicero, the king of hottie blogging?”
  • Rightofcourse, venturing beyond Melissa Marie Gonzalez and into Danica Patrick territory, marked a turn in the high-speed blogger hit chase. The week would only enweirden (?) after 11Feb10.
  • House of Eratosthenes returned to the traditional alphabet crawl. He brings Victoria Silvstedt and Willa Ford.
  • American Power decried “The ‘Sexualization’ of Ski Champion Lindsey Vonn”. Any man can cry; it takes a trained academic to decry.
  • Belvedere prepped for valentines day with Pajama Gram gals. This invites the question of Pajamas Media/PJTV’s total lack of anyone in jim-jams doing the blogging.
  • Proof Positive features a lady with a Hello Kitty M16. Nothing says ‘love’ like a bubble-gum semi-auto.
  • Fishersville Mike celebrated Jasmine of the Saints, in a post-Super Bowl moment.
  • Israelly Cool reveals that Scarlett Johansson is Jewish. Never mind the Scandanavian name, I thought she sounded rather Italian:

    • I think the point is that ethnicity is fine in a positive sense of remembering where we came from, and maybe we can fret less about it otherwise.

  • Reaganite Resistance brings Hana Soukupová.
  • Dustbury: “Kerry Washington,” said noted asshat John Mayer, “will break your heart like a white girl.”
  • Theo Spark has a “Bedtime Totty” feature about which we’ve no complaints. H/T Libertarian Advocate.
  • Nation of Cowards introduces Rosario Dawson. Excellent.
  • Instapundit came back with a link to the top 10 Winter Olympics hotties.
  • Yankee Phil also celebrated Jennifer Anniston’s 41st, and had a link to some British designer dude that can’t seem to differentiate between life and a sci-fi flick, IMO.
  • Three Beers Later serves up Larry the Cable Guy for Rule 5. You be the judge. But don’t miss this week’s Juliana Moreira installment. Paco’s sidekick, Wronwright, got zany with the time machine and the harem, TBL discovered.
  • Proof Positive saluted Amber Heard.
  • Jeffords’ Valentine, in some parallel universe, might be Reese Witherspoon.
  • Little Miss Attila narrowed the Olympic hotness to just the guys.
  • The Classic Liberal coaxes an explanation of health care costs from Anne Hathaway.
  • And then Troglopundit spoke: “Race, Danica! Win! Or at least crash spectacularly and escape unharmed!”
  • Paco inserted Helen Forrest for a bit of dramatic tension in the Danica story.
  • The Daley Gator and American Power grew wrathful at Troglopundit’s Danica maneuvers. The Camp of the Saints lowered the boom, as well.
  • Trog’s slavish devotion at least extended to the crash.
  • The Daley Gator: “Danica Patrick crashes, blames Wisconsin blogger”. Fishersville Mike reported a four blog pile up.
  • WyBlog interrupted the Danica thread with an important Valentine message.
  • Belvedere wanted to make sure that we did not lose sight of Christina Hendricks in either the Danica or Anne Hathaway crushes. Then he thought of the beach.
  • Right, Wing Nut posts a Haiti update featuring the wife of Rapper Ice-T. She may have served in the Navy as an Operations Specialist, and be trained in bi-directional writing. Fuggedaboudit.
  • No Sheeples Here posted on Apolo Anton Ohno. Quite handsome for a fellow who thinks that he’s a multi-tool, going around all folded up like that.
  • The Camp of the Saints also featured the ageless Sophia Loren, Teddi Smith, and some Selma Hayek
  • Knowledge is Power had that lady in the Progressive commercials with the layer of war paint chipped off. A being lives under there, both human and attractive.
  • Trainwife1962 offered some background art on the Roman Catholic Bishop and Martyr selling all those cards and chocolate. Oh, there is supposed to be a spiritual point to all this? Wait…
  • Here’s My Thing had a roundup of hotties in body paint that is tasteful.
  • Left Coast Rebel went with a roundup of Winter Olympics hotties.
  • American Power rounds us out with Britains’ Sexiest Farmer. Rumored to be in his draft queue: “The Amish Rule 5 Beard Review”. That’s just the kind of powerhouse blogging DD is into. I hope LCR is taking notes.

‘Almost Never’ Is Once Too Often

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“Certainly, there are lots of socialists on college faculties across the land. Happily, they almost never engage in killing sprees.”
— James Joyner, Outside the Beltway

UPDATE: The plot thickens:

The professor who is accused of killing three colleagues at the University of Alabama on Friday was a suspect in the attempted mail bombing of a Harvard Medical School professor in 1993, a law enforcement official said today.
Amy Bishop and her husband, James Anderson, were questioned after a package containing two bombs was sent to the Newton home of Dr. Paul Rosenberg, a professor and doctor at Boston’s Children’s Hospital.

(Via Memeorandum.)

UPDATE II: Dan Collins on Twitter calls attention to this from Christopher Knowles:

I was a bit stunned to find out that I attended high school in Braintree, Mass. with the accused shooter at the University of Alabama. Not only that but I also attended high school with the brother she mowed down with a shotgun in 1986. . . .
The story behind her brother’s shooting is a lot more incriminating than people knew at the time, and this is bound to cause a major scandal since the DA at the time is now a US Congressman. . . .

And still more:

I have known Amy since she was 17. Amy has NEVER been able to effectively communicate or connect with another human being. She was just missing that part of her brain…. She left Harvard after getting her degree because she couldn’t get a position in the Boston area.

An interesting story, to be sure.

UPDATE III: And yet even more:

Amy Bishop, he said, “wasn’t mean because she wasn’t someone you could get close to. She wasn’t an attractive girl, she didn’t have friends. She didn’t work at having friends. I think people probably, over time, learned to leave her alone.” . . .
A family source said Bishop . . . was a far-left political extremist who was “obsessed” with President Obama to the point of being off-putting.

And she was a Harvard graduate. Like Ross Douthat and Ted Kaczynski.

I’m just sayin’ . . .