Month: May 2011

Gen. Patton’s Officer Recalls WWII Struggle

From NEWSMAX: …Irzyk also writes about his two personal encounters with Gen. George S. Patton, whom he calls “one of the most unique individuals our country has ever had.” “He was like a valuable diamond with many, many facets,” Irzyk said. “He was the the purest warrior our country has ever had. He was the […]

Can Killing Government Prevent Special Interest Capture?

By Polly Cleveland, on May 30th, 2011 In my last post on meat markets and securities markets , I argued that competitive markets require government oversight to prevent fraud and monopoly. The post drew a response from Libertarian friends: didn’t I know that government regulators would immediately be captured by the regulated industry, resulting in […]

4000 miles away but still belonging

The Watchdog stepped out of the Budapest taxi and, while paying the fare, admired the bushy mustache of the driver.   Pointing at the fellow’s mouth and then his own, the Watchdog smiled and declared “Great mustache!” He received an approving smile in return, and thus a kinship was established, what we might call the fraternity […]

Kissinger and China

On China by Henry Kissinger                                                   Penguin, 586 pp., $36.00 NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS:  It is hard to fit Henry Kissinger’s latest book, On China, into any conventional frame or […]

Nucear energy reality will lead

Germany may be the first country to end nuclear power.  The people are demanding it and the leaders seem to be listening. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15114349,00.html Too bad Obama is so deep in the pockets of the industry that he is unable to lead on this issue and is taking the steady course of supporting nuclear.  But, I […]

Is even Gil Smart afraid to say it?

Gil Smart writes in a Sunday News column “Give the people what they want”: “Our political class as a whole, Democrats included, remains intent upon giving the people what they don’t want. We haul out the charts showing how Medicare will consume ever-more resources.

Inside Donald Trump’s Empire: Why He Won’t Run for President

DAILY BEAST:  With lawsuits pending, Trump’s business empire could not withstand the close scrutiny of a presidential campaign, and even his kids might have been muddied. Wayne Barrett, who first exposed Trump’s ties to organized crime in his 1992 book, looked into the Donald’s most recent business dealings and discovered:   • One associate who […]

‘Banking relationships’ then and now

The Watchdog recalls 45 years ago how then Fulton Bank vice-president Bill Hoke’s office was on the ground floor just inside the entryway from Queen Street, surrounded by a four foot wall with a glass top, high enough to present a sense of privacy but low enough so that customers could wave to him on […]

Judge strikes down corporate donations ban

POLITICO:  A federal court in Alexandria, Va. on Thursday struck down a federal ban on corporate campaign contributions, in a case with potentially dramatic ramifications for a campaign finance regulatory system under siege by legal and regulatory attacks. The ruling, from the U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia, piggybacked on a January 2010 Supreme Court […]