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 Can marijuana help autism?November 6th, 2009, 5:02 pm by by Alan Bock, Register editorial writerHere’s a touching story from a mother whose experience — after trying any number of prescription drugs — is pretty sure that marijuana has alleviated — not cured, but alleviated and improved — her son’s autism. But the fedgov says it has no known medical uses, so we should all bow down and yield to the superior wisdom of duly constituted authority. Today is the 13th anniversary, by the way, of California voters approving the use of medicinal marijuana by passing Prop. 215. Yet some authorities still resist establishing safe and legal distribution methods. Remember the Berlin WallNovember 6th, 2009, 4:24 pm by by Alan Bock, Register editorial writerMonday is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which precipitated the crumbling of the Soviet Union, an occurrence most people still don’t understand. Without the slightest bit of shame at blatant self-promotion I commend the piece I wrote that will be in the Sunday Commentary section. Meantime, here’s a piece by Slate’s Fred Kaplan that gives the event a bit of historical context, and another piece by an eyewitness that emphasizes the role that simply failing to act can sometimes have in meta-historical events. Also Josef Joffe (Die Zeit) remembers what a surprise it was to the best sorts, Foreign Policy magazine has a photo gallery full of iconic images, Christian Caryl thinks the usual suspects get too much credit, and Paul Hollander (who grew up in communist Hungary) reflects muses on the “murderous idealism” that was one of communism’s underpinnings. Oh sure complain, but what alternatives can you offer?November 6th, 2009, 2:17 pm by Mark LandsbaumWe get that a lot of this comment here at OrangePunch: “Oh sure, complain. But what alternatives can you offer?” On the face of it that seems to be a constructive criticism. But it mostly misses the point. It was folks like the Soviet commissars and their infamous five-year plans dictated from on high who “knew” how to set things up in advance. And in every case it resulted in economic failure, dismal lives lacking of deprivation and, let’s not forget, death via starvation and more direct means. Such are the prices when we expect an elite to “know” how to construct an economy from the top down. Our former colleague, Steve Greenhut, makes this point in a column Sunday in the Register. But we’ll give you a peek in the meantime. We don’t know exactly how to make the state’s water system work. But we don’t have to. What we do know is that a gaggle of self-anointed “experts” sitting in conference rooms in Sacramento don’t know either. Yet they presume to dictate to us what’s best for everyone. Poppycock. Sounds a bit like those commissars, no? What we do know is that unfettered by government interference, the private market has through self-interest, competition and trial and error found solutions to just about every one of the challenges mankind’s faced. And virtually none of those who ultimately arrived at solutions “knew” precisely what would work going in. But they were allowed (unrestrained by government know-it-alls) to invest their time and money and seek what is profitable and workable. So, we don’t need to offer an alternative to the state’s top-down government-planned, government-run, government-regulated, taxpayer-funded “solution” to California’s water problems. If we get government out of the way, real people advancing their own interests will come up with what works. The choices are pretty stark, actually. Trust big government to know it all (ala Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, et al), or trust in human ingenuity and self-interest. History’s a pretty good test. The Soviet Union failed miserably. American capitalism has given us the most prosperous and beneficial lifestyle the world’s ever known. No contest. As Steve does Sunday, we recommend skeptics read “I, pencil.” It’ll be a lesson worth learning. RELATED POSTS: Another shooting spree . . .November 6th, 2009, 2:11 pm by by Alan Bock, Register editorial writer. . . this one in Orlando, FL. This one a 40-year-old who was fired two years ago (!) from an engineering firm and returned today with a gun. I’d like to resist the idea that these things are contagious, that wall-to-wall media coverage helps to impel other screwed-up people to grab a gun and go out in a blaze of “glory,” but I don’t know. Is a jobless recovery a recovery?November 6th, 2009, 1:43 pm by by Alan Bock, Register editorial writerFigures released today showing unemployment nationally at 10.2 percent suggest that those who proclaimed the end of the recession when GDP rose 3.5 percent during the third quarter were more than a little premature. Is a “jobless recovery” really a recovery? Unemployment is likely to sack consumer confidence further, and consumer spending is still about 70% of GDP. We might or might not suffer the “lost decade” Japan suffered, but we’re in for a long, tough road.
Water washing dollars out of the general fundNovember 6th, 2009, 11:06 am by Mark LandsbaumWe editorialized about what a lousy idea it is to saddle the state’s general fund - which means saddling taxpayers generally - with the $11 billion debt for this week’s so-called “historic” water agreement in Sacramento. Apparently we weren’t the only ones who thought it’d be better to let the people who directly benefit from newly flowing water foot the bill, rather than the state’s general fund. As reported first by Californiascapitol.com blog, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer already had warned against tapping the general fund for water infrastructure. “…further increasing the general fund’s debt burden, especially in the next three difficult budgets, would require cutting even deeper into crucial services already reeling from billions of dollars in reductions,” Lockyer warned in his 2009 Debt Affordability Report. It wasn’t exactly a minor point in his report. As CaliforniasCapitol.com blog noted, it was in the fifth paragraph. Oh well. What’s another $600 million a year devoted to debt out of the state budget? How much could that hurt? Well, already $6 billion a year from the general fund is used to pay off existing debts and with already issued bonds and that will increase to $12 billion in seven years. Lockyear says debt payment - without counting the $600 million annual increase for 30 years to be approved on next year’s ballot - will amount to 10.5 percent of the budget by 2016-17. That means more than a dime of every dollar the state spends must be spent on paying off its credit card. Annually. Didn’t someone campaign on a promise to cut up those credit cards? RELATED POSTS: More Fort Hood linksNovember 6th, 2009, 11:04 am by by Alan Bock, Register editorial writerIt is still way too early for me to have anything resembling a definitive response to the Fort Hood massacre, except to encourage all concerned to keep collecting information before opinions harden — something the news media do not always promote, per this Bruce Bawer post noting that several news organizations downplayed or even ignored the shooter’s apparent devotion to Islam. Andrew Sullivan acknowledges and struggles with the “what to do” problem. Here’s a link again to Robert Mackey live-blogging at the NYT, mostly pretty straight news updates. Rod Dreher sees Islam as a factor but suggests if it was the primary factor you would expect to have seen more of this from the 3,000 or so Muslims in the military. Spencer Ackerman downplays the role of religion, as does John Nichols at the Nation. I’ll track down more as the day goes on. Some election losersNovember 5th, 2009, 6:26 pm by by Alan Bock, Register editorial writerLarry Sabato says Virginia Gov. Jim Kaine is “high up on the list of losers” since he failed to prepare the state for a Democratic successor but jumped to the national level — he’s also DNC chairman — before his term was up. Michael Barone in the WSJ says unions, and in particular the SEIU — Service Employees International Union — also lost big. Fort Hood update linksNovember 5th, 2009, 6:15 pm by by Alan Bock, Register editorial writerAndrew Sullivan says Robert Mackey of the NYT is doing the best job of providing fairly steady updates on the Fort Hood shooting, so here’s a link. When are they going to institute proper gun control at military bases? ADVERTISEMENT
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