The Everlasting Phelps

Ponceman is awesome:

R. Kelly pees on a live 14 year old naked cousin on video, and he gets acquitted.

A couple of marines pee on a dead terrorist on video, and people want them sent to prison.

Does that seem right to you?

New York has found itself sliding down the backside of the Laffer Curve on cigarettes.

The state’s tax collectors were recently calling around to convenience-store owners, wondering what was up. The $130 million in extra tax that Albany was expecting from a change in the law about cigarette sales on Indian reservations wasn’t happening.

A memo sent to members of the New York Association of Convenience Stores from the group’s president, Jim Calvin — a copy of which I have on my desk — said, “I got a call from Gov. Cuomo’s budget office yesterday. In examining cigarette tax receipts so far this fiscal year (April 1 to March 31) it looks like they will fall considerably short of their projection in new revenues. . . .”

The state had hoped to get the extra dough by enforcing a new law that made it illegal for licensed cigarette wholesalers in the state to sell untaxed name-brand cigarettes like Newport and Marlboro to Indian reservations.

The reservation store would sell the cigarettes to non-Indian customers who were trying to avoid the hefty taxes imposed by the state. The state and legitimate sellers of cigarettes were both hurt.

This isn’t their first time going over the tip.  This is a continued sliding.  The point where they thought Indian Reservation sales were a problem is when they were already on the right side.  This is just a continued fall as they continue to raise the rate.

So how does the Laffer Curve work?  It’s actually pretty common sense.  You can raise more government revenue by raising the tax rate — for a while.  Eventually you end up at the point where you stop making more money, because people either stop doing the thing you are taxing, or they start finding ways — legal or illegal — to get around your tax.  Both of these are happening in NY.  People are stopping smoking because it is too expensive, and people are going to get untaxed cigarettes from the Indian reservations.

So how much extra did the state collect in tax with the law change?

The state Department of Taxation did not return a call for comment.

But according to Calvin’s memo, “Cuomo’s budget office” was saying that cigarette tax revenues were flat this past October and November with the year before.

The rate went up — and revenue did not.  That’s the Laffer Curve.  A lot of people just flat stop smoking at $11 a pack.  A lot more, the ones with cars, will start going to a place where they are significantly cheaper — like Indian reservations where they can get them for half that price.  Illegal?  So what.  For a pack a day smoker, that’s a $150 a month in just taxes.  That’s enough to evade, especially when it is as easy as getting in the car.

Not only that, but this sort of exorbitant tax helps organized crime.  The Mafia already did a decent amount of business bootlegging untaxed stolen cigarettes or less-taxed cigarettes from other states.  The more the price goes up, the less repulsive the risk that comes with Mafia smuggled, cheaper cigarettes becomes.  So, while the state loses money, they put more money in the pockets of murdering mobsters.

We’re going to see a lot more of this.

It’ll also be interesting to see if recent toll hikes on the Port Authority roads, tunnels and bridges actually do what New Jersey and New York hope they do — raise revenue.

I see a lot fewer cars on the roads and at the Hudson River crossings, and more people on trains. The outrageous cost of gas is also contributing to this lifestyle change.

That’s great for the environment, of course. But the Port Authority wasn’t being ecology-minded when it instituted the increases. It was hoping the hikes would bring in more dough.

And I don’t think that’s happening.

Me neither.

Barack Obama beat McCain.

Why in the hell is the Republican Party so hell-bent to nominate McCain 2.0?

Not in a subtle way.  Not in a questionable way.  Blatently, wilfully, and wantonly.  Obama makes 3 NLRB recess appointments.  What’s the problem?  The Senate is still in session.

Here’s what the constitution says:

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

The end.

During the Recess of the Senate.  The Senate is not in recess.  Obama knows this.  The world knows this.  He’s just decided that, uh, they aren’t in session enough for him.

It’s just a formality.  You know what else is just a formality?  The president signing a bill.  Does Congress get to decide if he’s signed a bill enough?  It’s just a formality, right?

He’s allegedly a fucking constitutional scholar.  This one isn’t a hard constitutional question.  This isn’t a Jeopardy level question.  This isn’t even a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire question.  This is a Double Dare level question.

He knows the answer.  He knows it is illegal. He just doesn’t give a fuck.

He’s an oathbreaker.  Does this sound familiar?

“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Remember when you said that?  I guess you might as well wipe your ass with that, too, since it’s also from that inconvenient constitution.

Bright shining lines are getting very, very close.  This one better go to the SCOTUS quickly, and there better be a resounding, loud benchslap, or things are going to get very ugly.

Just when I am thinking that I can’t vote for a clown like Santorum or Romenycare, this criminal pulls another stunt like this.

Update: WordPress claims CAIR wasn’t involved.  CAIR still says they were.  Regardless, the point is the same.  Wordpress censors, and the only way around it is to own everything yourself.

Original post:

WordPress took down Bare Naked Islam under pressure from CAIR.

More here.

Institutionally, most hosting companies of this sort lean left.  At the least, the leftists in the organization are willing to abuse their positions to advance their views much more than conservatives and libertarians are. You have to be wary.

The only way to keep the signal going is to own your own site.  Kevin details how his site was under constant attack during the Obama campaign.  The Obama purpleshirts took down a ton of Blogger accounts during the campaign.

They censor.  It is a core part of their nature.

Buy your own domain name.  Host the software yourself.  Keep regular (weekly, at least) backups on your own hardware at home.

The left is not interested in civil discourse.  They will abuse anything they can get their hands on (while all the time railing on how uncivil you are).

Wall Street bought Obama.  Lock stock and barrel.  Now they are buying Romney.  What do they want from the deal?

Here’s what Wall Street doesn’t want: It doesn’t want to hear from Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann or even Newt Gingrich, or suffer any sort of tea-party populism. It wants you rubes to shut up about Jesus and please pay your mortgages. It doesn’t want to hear from such traditional Republican constituencies as Christian conservatives, moral traditionalists, pro-lifers, or friends of the Second Amendment. It doesn’t even want to hear much from the Chamber of Commerce crowd, because those guys are used-car dealers and grocery-store owners and for the most part strictly from hick, so far as Wall Street is concerned. Wall Street wants an administration and a Congress — and a country — that believes what is good for Wall Street is good for America, whether that is true or isn’t. Wall Street doesn’t want free markets — it wants friends, favors, and fealty.

Read the whole thing.