Category Archives: Law

Updated: Barack’s Bitches

Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Economy, Fascism, Law, The State

Michelle Malkin makes an important, if limited, point when she writes the following about the ponces in Congress. They indeed have some nerve pointing fingers at other parasitical incompetents:

“How nauseating to hear the growing chorus of lawmakers on Capitol Hill inveighing about the AIG bonuses and the rewarding of incompetence. This, after the Senate refused to give up automatic pay increases for themselves and Nancy Pelosi refused to give the measure a hearing. Congress sez: Incompetence bonuses for me, but not for AIG. Spare me.”

Of course, “Congress played major role in AIG mess,” as it has in our credit woes.

But the larger issue here is interventionism. You may be surprised to learn that I am completely indifferent to anything that our Kenyan kleptocrat inflicts on business leaders and their bonuses if they have been bailed out.

Take what you get; you’re Barack’s bitches now.

Economist Ludwig von Mises warned that the road to socializing the means of production is paved with interventionism. Middle of the road interventionism leads directly to socialism.

AIG has made common cause with the State. Now that the State owns a good chunk of the company, it gets to regulate and terrorize its corporate lackeys; take over operations completely, and sink the whole sorry ship with all on board.

And don’t let anyone on the Left try to tell you that this is the culmination of the unfettered free-market. Lies. This is the outcome of fascism, corporate cronyism. Let those who partake in this system suffocate in its deadly embrace.

Capitalism, The Unknown Ideal, would have allowed unviable industries to fail. Under freedom, no one would survive at the expense of another.

Update (March 18): The corrective chaos that’ll come with state takeover is obvious: companies, CEOs especially, will see that it is better to go bankrupt, and look for other, honest employment, than become the state’s bitch. How can anyone suggest that the contracts of those who suck at the state’s teat ought to be sacrosanct? As far as I’m concerned, state employees ought to be denied the vote too. Contract law is a feature of the voluntary free market, not a prerogative of the plundering class.

Heroic Swiss Bankers (UBS AG)

Law, Private Property, Socialism, Taxation, The State

In 2001, I had the unusual occasion to commend the Bush Administration for refusing “to support an attempt by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to clamp down on tax havens. If the junta of high-tax governments has its way,” I wrote in the Financial Post, “not only will there be no place left to run to, but by eliminating what tax havens offer, these governments will have eliminated tax competition, and with it the imperative to downsize their fiefdoms.”

(The occasion was an unusual one, because I’ve had only two positives things to say about the last band of vandals to have trashed the country: I approved of Bush upholding Terry Schiavo’s negative right to life. And I seconded his refusal to capitulate to the Kyoto-protocol crazies. Great record: mine, that is.)

The obama thugs, however, are adamant to muscle every American who attempts to safeguard his property. Reports the WSJ: “Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has delved into alleged tax haven abuse for years, said he hopes a bill he is sponsoring, and similar legislation in the House, will stop banks from doing what UBS did.”

What did UBS do?

UBS is honoring its contract with its depositors, and fighting U.S. efforts to obtain the names of another 52,000 of its Swiss account holders.

“Levin expressed frustration that despite treaty obligations Swiss authorities and UBS continue to hold out against U.S. demands. ‘We cannot rely on the Swiss; that’s the bottom line,’ he said.”

Yippee, and let us hope the Swiss continue to hold out against the globe-trotting Obamaites.

Recommended: “The War on Tax Havens”

Updated: Muslim ‘Moderate’ Offs Wife’s Head

Crime, Criminal Injustice, Islam, Law, Multiculturalism

A pillar of the community was apparently still beholden to a pillar of Islam: “disciplining” a disobedient wife.

Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III called this barbarism in Buffalo “the worst form of domestic violence possible.”

I’m not sure I concur; Muzzammil Hassan’s was simply a culturally compatible response to disobedience.

Muslims are fond of pointing out that the atrocities perpetrated in the name of the faith are not commanded in the Koran. Can we agree that there’s something in the faith of Jihad that has “inspired”–even sanctioned–honor killings, clitoridectomy, and forced marriage? Punishment for the first crime in Muslim countries is light, at best.

Multicultural understanding was forthcoming from the authorities in the form of a second-degree murder charge.

The complete story is here (via Larry Auster).

From the vault:

Jihad in Your Front Yard
Bus Beheading (Or, to quote reader Barbara Grant: Canada’s cannibal)

Update (February 17): On Feb. 14, Thomas Fleming wrote:

“Muzzammil ‘Mo’ Hassan, who has been has been lauded by Jay Leno and NPR, has been charged with second-degree murder. What does it take to get a first degree murder charge—vivisection?”

When I Am The Stronger, I Take Away Your Freedom, Because That Is My Principle

Democracy, Islam, Israel, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Jihad, Law, The West

Nineteenth-century French writer Louis Veuillot produced this magnificent insight, illustrating the proclivities of certain peoples and cultures:

“When I am weaker, I ask you for my freedom, because that is your principle; but when I am the stronger, I take away your freedom, because that is my principle.”

This saying came to mind as I read about the plans of some Arab-Israelis to use that country’s independent, liberal judiciary to prevail against it:

“Israeli Arab political party Balad, recently banned from the upcoming general elections by Israel’s central elections committee, warned on Wednesday that if the court upholds the committee’s decision, the party will call for a boycott of the elections and establish an alternative Arab parliament.”

“Balad, like the northern chapter of Islamic Movement, have been seeking elections for the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee in Israel for some time now, thus essentially establishing an independent parliament.”

“The Central Elections Committee voted overwhelmingly in favor of the motions to ban the Arab parties on Monday, accusing the Arab parties of incitement, supporting terrorist groups and refusing to recognize Israel’s right to exist.”