Grandma arrested for buying cold medicine - she must have thought she was free

Thanks to lewrockwell.com for posting about this story from Indiana. As you can read here, people in Indiana must be careful about purchasing drugs. This poor lady must have thought she was in America, not the Union of Amerikan Socialist Republics.

Podesta wants to take more of your property

John Podesta, president of a liberal think-tank, wants the government to take more of your property with a VAT, or value-added tax. A VAT is pretty much a national sales tax. In their never-ending thirst for our money, the government, cheered on by the liberal/socialist types like Podesta, consider all the countless ways they can rob us.

Podesta is as uninformed and clueless about history and economics as well. As you can read in the article, he says that former President Clinton's tax on the wealthy led to a growing U.S. economy. Oh really? Are you sure, John, it had nothing to do with the clueless Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan printing billions and billions out of thin air?

Government water unsafe for kids to drink

I'm always amazed how people, when I engage them in a political discussion, defend the government. This defense in spite of the fact that the government fails at everything they do. As you can read in this article, the government can't even provide safe drinking water to our nation's kids while they're at school.

Can you imagine the outcry in the Congress if this water was provided by a private company?

More taxpayer dollars going overseas

As the U.S. government (the Pentagon) continues to spread its tentacles around the globe, it must prop up rogue states with U.S. taxpayer dollars. As you can read in this article, now Pakistan will get additional aid. I guess they must be cooperating with their daddy, the U.S. government. Only good children are rewarded.

Don't you love the fact that you're working hard so people all over the planet can benefit from the property (money) you surrender to the U.S. government?

Murphy does it again

I can't get enough of Robert Murphy. Not only does he write great books (they're all available at mises.org), but his articles are awesome - straight and to the point and easy to understand. Read this one here, as he debunks some cranky economics by some statist writing for that left-wing rag, the New York Times. Thanks to mises.org for posting another great Murphy article.

Babe Ruth was the best

Contemporary baseball fans forget, or never knew, how great Babe Ruth was. It's interesting to compare him to other great hitters. The great Hank Aaron, who hit 755 home runs, never bested Ruth in any of the six meaningful categories. Ruth's best slugging percentage for a season was .847 (Aaron .669). Ruth hit 60 home runs one year, Aaron's best was 47. Ruth had 171 runs batted in to Aaron's 132. Ruth once scored 177 runs to Aaron's best of 127. Aaron's best average was .355 - Ruth .393! Finally, Ruth's best on-base percentage was .542, Aaron .410.

The current monster, Albert Pujols, has a slugging percentage best of .678 - small compared to Ruth's .847. Pujols knocks in a lot of runs, but he's still 34 behind Ruth's best of 171. And Pujols has never topped Ruth in any of these six categories.

Bobby Bonds did have a great year when he hit 73 home runs, but if you look at his record, that year indicated an amazing jump over what he had done historically. Still, he only knocked in 137 runs that year, still 34 behind Ruth's best. Even with the steroids, his slugging percentage was only .16 higher than Ruth's (.863 to .847). Don't forget: Ruth's "steroids" were hot dogs, cigars, and beer!

Even comparing Ruth to the great Ted Williams indicates how great the "Sultan of Swat" really was. In fact, ESPN ranked Ruth's 1921 season the "greatest single season performance by any athlete in any sport." Long live the Bambino!