The WSJ has come in for a lot of justified ridicule over this graph, which purports to show that the US is "on the wrong side of the Laffer Curve: We could collect more revenues with a lower corporate tax rate."

Kevin Drum notes this delightful aspect of the WSJ's graph:

"Even the Journal's editorial writers, normally a pretty barefaced bunch, were apparently too embarrassed about this economic singularity to follow the right side of their graph to its logical conclusion, but we can: at a rate of about 33% corporate taxes produce no revenue at all. An increase of a mere four percentage points destroys tax revenue entirely! Mirabile dictu!"

Nice job WSJ. Way to print a data plot that's a) meaningless on it's face and b) wrong, even assuming it wasn't meaningless.

The comments are priceless.

Obsidian Wings: The WSJ: Twenty-Odd Data Points On A Mission

When Trojan introduced the condom commercial last month, it was rejected as national advertising by both CBS and Fox. Fox said it objected to the message that condoms can prevent pregnancy, while CBS said it was not “appropriate,” drawing a firestorm of criticism from public health advocates and bloggers.

Ugh. I hate people sometimes.

On “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox, Bill O’Reilly argued the ad was inappropriate to show on television — after he broadcast the ad nearly in its entirety.

With Condoms in Particular, Local Stations Can Say No - New York Times

And which one of you isn’t all for some smoking chicapie lamenting about how she is wet for our only female presidential hopeful? If you say no, you’re lying. This Presidential music video thing is new and performed by fans of the candidates.

I'm 99% sure my brain just gave up completely and went for a smoothie.

White House Menage ‘a’ Twat at Fatback and Collards

It is hard enough to run the hurdles posed by a bicameral system where, unlike many countries around the world, each House has an absolute veto on the other. It is, I believe, indefensible to give a single individual, who has no conceivable claim to greater legitimacy than the collective House and Senate, the power to set aside their expressed political judgment. As noted above, I am willing to support a presidential veto based on constitutional doubts about legislation; this is why I refused to join in criticizing the Bush Administration for the very idea of issuing signing statements or arguing that the President has no duty to enforce laws that would, in his view, violate the Constitution. But none of this justifies the countermajoritarian policy-based presidential veto that contributes to the ever-increasing, well-merited, view of the American public that nothing really can get done through our present political system.

Balkinization

I'm sorely tempted to do a line by line demolition, and probably will elsewhere...

If it's that bad, there's a good chance the fine folks over at Sadly, No! will do so as well... At least, I hope so.

Why Bush Will Be A Winner - washingtonpost.com

BARNSTABLE, Massachusetts (AP) -- A Cape Cod man who claimed he was homophobic, racist and a habitual liar to avoid jury duty earned an angry rebuke from a judge on Monday, who referred the case to prosecutors for possible charges.
art.gavel.jpg

Daniel Ellis' excuses to try to get out of jury duty didn't sit well with the judge.

"In 32 years of service in courtrooms, as a prosecutor, as a defense attorney and now as a judge, I have quite frankly never confronted such a brazen situation of an individual attempting to avoid juror service," Barnstable Superior Court Judge Gary Nickerson told Daniel Ellis, according to a preliminary court transcript of the exchange.

Ellis, of Falmouth, had been called to court with about 60 other potential jurors for possible service on a 23-member grand jury.

On a questionnaire that all potential jurors fill out, Ellis wrote that he didn't like homosexuals and blacks. He then echoed those sentiments in an interview with Nickerson.

"You say on your form that you're not a fan of homosexuals," Nickerson said.

"That I'm a racist," Ellis interrupted.

"I'm frequently found to be a liar, too. I can't really help it," Ellis added.

"I'm sorry?" Nickerson said.

"I said I'm frequently found to be a liar," Ellis replied.

"So, are you lying to me now?" Nickerson asked.

"Well, I don't know. I might be," was the response.

Ellis then admitted he really didn't want to serve on a jury.

"I have the distinct impression that you're intentionally trying to avoid jury service," Nickerson said.

"That's true," Ellis answered.

Nickerson ordered Ellis taken into custody. He was released later Monday morning.

Ellis could face perjury and other charges.

I sure hate people.

Jury duty excuse: I'm a racist, homophobic liar - CNN.com

Decius wrote:

Four teams of researchers from universities in the U.S., Canada, Poland and the United Kingdom begin competing today in Portland, Oregon, to win a prize for the best open-source voting system. The three-day University Voting System Competition, which ends July 18th, is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

Some interesting approaches will be demoed here.

And then, likely, promptly ignored by everyone.

Sorry, too cynical?

I really do hope it goes somewhere, but I'm not betting on it.

RE: Voting System Bakeoff

This is a required read for anyone interested in Transportation issues in the US.

Keep in mind that this was issued in 1993, now 15 years ago... had the conclusions of the report been heeded, I might have been able to travel to Dallas, DC, even NY, by rail, instead of spending dozens of hours uncomfortably waiting in various airports.

The most crucial quotes come early, of course :

The purpose of this report is to recommend future Government action regarding maglev.

The NMI has concluded that the potential benefits from a U.S. maglev system are sufficient to justify initiation of a development program. During such a program, the remaining technological, economic, and environmental questions must be fully addressed so that maglev's full potential in an integrated transportation system can be understood. Thus, it is recommended that the Federal Government initiate the first phase of a competitive-based USML development program to develop an advanced maglev system. To benefit fully from recent maglev development abroad, joint ventures between U.S. companies and foreign companies should be permitted to the extent that development activities take place substantially in the United States.

There's tons of interesting stuff here, particularly viewed through the lens of history :

On the highways, development trends and travel patterns in metropolitan areas are causing congestion on intercity routes. Intercity highway travelers are now subject to delays that are local in origin, especially during peak travel hours. A 1989 General Accounting Office report on highway congestion estimated that by the year 2000, 70 percent of peak-hour travelers will experience highway congestion delays with costs to the Nation exceeding $100 billion annually. Approximately 91 percent of all urban freeway delay occurs in 37 metropolitan areas with populations greater than 1 million people. Many of these are the same urban areas suffering from air pollution. A 1991 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) report, "The Status of the Nation's Highways and Bridges," stated:

By all performance measures of highway congestion and delay, performance is declining Congestion now affects more areas, more often, for longer periods and with more impacts on highway users and the economy than any time in the nation's history.

And, one of my favorites :

To meet travel demand, airlines have used regional hubs to achieve more efficient use of aircraft and to offer more varied and frequent service. This practice has accentuated traffic peaking as flights from several origins are brought together within a short period of time at a single airport. If peaking and adverse weather conditions converge, delays at one airport can cause backups to ripple throughout the air travel system.

Indeed.

By the end of this cent... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

Final Report on the National Maglev Initiative

Uhhh, what? Holy crap.

YouTube - Moo & Oink Dance - Classic Commercial

Fucking awesome!

I want one!!!

Rubens Tube Video