POLITICAL PARASITES

In our modern politicized economy - which National Journal columnist Jonathan Rauch called the "parasite economy" - no good deed goes unpunished for long. Some people want to declare Google a public utility that must be regulated in the public interest, perhaps by a federal Office of Search Engines. The Bush administration wants Google to turn over a million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from a one-week period. Congress is investigating how the company deals with the Chinese government's demands for censorship of search results by Chinese users. So, like Microsoft and other companies before it, Google has decided it will have to start playing the Washington game. It has opened a Washington office and hired well-connected lobbyists. One of the country's top executive search firms is looking for a political director for the company.

What should concern us here is how the government lured Google into the political sector of the economy. For most of a decade the company went about its business, developing software, creating a search engine better than any of us could have dreamed, and innocently making money. Then, as its size and wealth drew the attention of competitors, anti-business activists, and politicians, it was forced to start spending some of its money and brainpower fending off political attacks. It's the same process Microsoft went through a few years earlier, when it faced the same sorts of attacks. Now Microsoft is part of the Washington establishment, with more than $9 million in lobbying expenditures last year.....

Microsoft went through the same hazing, though with more of an edge. A congressional aide said, "They don't want to play the D.C. game, that's clear, and they've gotten away with it so far. The problem is, in the long run they won't be able to." Sorta like, "Hey, Bill, nice little company ya got there. Shame if anything happened to it." And companies get the message: If you want to produce something in America, you'd better play the game. Contribute to politicians' campaigns, hire their friends, go hat in hand to a congressional hearing and apologize for your success.

The tragedy is that the most important factor in America's economic future - in raising everyone's standard of living - is not land, or money, or computers; it's human talent. And some part of the human talent at another of America's most dynamic companies is now being diverted from productive activity to protecting the company from political predation. The parasite economy has sucked in another productive enterprise.

More here

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ELSEWHERE

Another "hate crime" that wasn't: "A case of alleged hate crime in Des Moines has a bizarre ending. Several times over the winter, the Hermasillo family thought they were the targets of hate crimes. Two of the family's cars were set on fire and their house at 317 S.W. Watrous Ave. in Des Moines was broken into and vandalized. "The house was a mess, graffitti on the walls -- KKK, wetbacks, go back to Mexico -- on the door here, was a Nazi sign," Luis Silva told KCCI in February. Silva lived in the house with the Hermasillo family, but he was later kicked out of the house. Des Moines police now say Silva is accused of doing the vandalism. "He fabricated everything," Sgt. Tony Steverson said. Steverson said Silva burned cars and vandalized the Hermasillo's home in an effort to convince the family he was needed as protection. Silva is charged with arson, stalking, criminal mischief and filing false police reports. He is being held in the Polk County Jail.

Is racism worse now than in the 80s?: "Racism and sexism may be deepening despite decades of measures aimed at cleansing them from society. This conclusion is suggested by the ugly and unrelenting public backlash that surrounds the Duke Lacrosse case in which a black female was allegedly raped by three white males. If racism and sexism are deepening, I believe it is because of and not despite the measures now being taken. Racism shares many political characteristics with sexism, and the two are usually addressed in a similar manner; almost identical laws and policies seek to eliminate or otherwise control both."

Senate reveals ugly underside of the "nanny state": "According to populist presidential 'wannabe' John McCain (R.-AZ), illegals deserve access to the social security funds because they paid taxes. Yet nobody seems to know how much they paid, what percentage of their paychecks was withheld by the government, or how much more they have cost American society than they may have paid into the system. The lingering myth that social programs exist for the 'good of the people' has just been shredded by the proposed Senate action. Such programs were never devised to assist those in need, but rather for the political empowerment of the individuals dispensing the 'benefits.' Although liberals in Congress wailed that President Bush's proposal to privatize a tiny portion of Social Security would bankrupt the system, they are now perfectly willing to give away an enormously larger portion of those funds to the millions of illegals working in the dark fringes of the U.S. economy."

What conservative paradigm?: "While we have some conservative-oriented politicians, who occasionally pass some conservative-oriented legislation, the truth is that on the truly big issues on the ground, America is still in the grip of the liberal paradigm that came into existence under FDR. The American people may in some sense be 'conservative,' but the political, intellectual, and economic elites that set the terms of debate, and largely control the direction of society, are most definitely liberal -- indeed, in many ways, more so than they ever have been."

Canada now "vibrant": "In Canada, guns and gangs are a relatively new phenomenon, particularly in Toronto, known as "Toronto the Good" for its traditionally safe streets and low homicide rates. There were 52 deadly handgun shootings in the city in 2005, compared with 12 in 1995. Police and social workers alike attribute the acts largely to young black males - many of whom are the children of West Indian immigrants - who feel marginalized and drop out of school early to join the "gangsta" culture where they make quick money through drugs, guns, or prostitution."

Publicity-seeking at Ellis Island: "British music producer Adam Kidron, who sparked controversy last month with the release of a Spanish-language version of the national anthem, will present the song and its album, "Somos Americanos (We Are Americans)" live in concert Tuesday at Ellis Island. The album features "El Himno Nacional" along with a compilation of previously released songs by artists from across Latin America and the United States, all singing about the immigrant experience. "We were very happy to get permission to perform on Ellis Island because of symbolism of the place," said Kidron, who also invited Latino veterans to attend the event in honor of Memorial Day. Kidron had said he hoped the song would be become the anthem of recent pro-immigrant protest marches. Yet despite the publicity and accompanying backlash the song generated, it has gotten little play. It garnered 95 plays in the first week but hasn't been played since on any stations tracked by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, according to Billboard Magazine"

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)

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