The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), currently the subject of hearings in the House Judiciary Committee, has generated interest far beyond the community of copyright lawyers.

To its proponents, SOPA is a critical addition to copyright law, necessary to help creative Americans protect their legitimate property rights from foreign attackers, and thus to preserve the numerous American jobs in our world-class creative industries.

To its opponents, SOPA is an unprecedented attack on civil liberties that threatens to destroy free speech, the Internet, and the thriving American technology sector—not to mention the many American jobs that it creates.

Who is right?  It turns out that they both are: SOPA will help copyright holders protect the rights that copyright law grants them by suppressing free speech and impeding the functioning of the Internet, with predictable consequences on American jobs.

This result is hardly an anomaly.

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Today, in 1777, George Washington’s Continental Army went into winter quarters at Valley Forge, PA:

“You know, comrades,” says Stalin, “that I think in regard to this: I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this — who will count the votes, and how.– Boris Bazhanov, Memoirs of Stalin’s Former Secretary

First the video, courtesy of Judy Chu’s YouTube channel:

That’s right. Judy Chu, my congresswoman, actually applauded Eric Holder on his enforcement of civil rights law. She must not be aware of the New Black Panthers intimidation of white voters in 2008, or the class-action lawsuit against Eric Holder’s Justice Department for denying non-Chamorro the right to vote in the plebiscite over Guam’s future status.

But when she praised Holder for trying to invalidate lawsuits that allegedly suppress voters (read: ask voters to prove that they are eligible to vote) she seems to think that voter fraud isn’t an issue, even though experience makes it clear that it is.  Eight states now require state-issued identification at the polls, but Mr. Holder has put them on notice, worried as he that these states might violate the Voting Rights Act. Debbie Wasserman Schultz actually compares the bills to modern-day Jim Crow.

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Recent polls indicate Americans are fed up with Big Labor’s schoolyard bully tactics and utilization of taxpayer money to support political candidates and liberal agendas. Additionally, Americans are tired of government deficits driven by public sector pay, overblown benefits, and restrictive work rules. Americans, including union rank and file members, are tired of Big Labor’s attempt to deprive them of basic freedoms. They voiced their displeasure in last November’s election (see Union Members Not Happy with Their Leader’s Political Spending and Union Members Overwhelmingly Oppose Union Boss Political Spending on 2010 Midterm Elections). In states like Indiana, elected officials have heard the people’s mandate and are proposing “Right to Work” legislation (“RTW”) that will provide each and every American the right to personally decide if they wish to be represented by a union, without fearing the threat of reprisal. What could be more American than the freedom of choice?

Politicians and Big Labor bosses in Indiana, Michigan and New Hampshire are already drawing the battle lines for debate and potential passage of Right to Work (“RTW”) laws during their respective 2012 legislative assemblies. Determining which state will be next and become the 23^rd Right to Work state is a matter of speculation.

Unfortunately, we can be certain that the rhetoric, propaganda, misinformation and theatrics from liberal politicians and Big Labor bosses will be divisive. As chronicled in my book The Devil at My Doorstep, I have first-hand experience with Big Labor’s tactics and their use of corporate campaigns.

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With the rise of Ron Paul in the Presidential Primary polls; America may be ready to crush crony capitalists by embracing “libertarianism.” As the founding philosophy that once unified our nation; today libertarianism represents the true existential threat to the crony capitalism that has flourished for decades in both established political parties. But with both political parties in decay and independents positioned to determine the outcome of next year’s Presidential and Congressional elections; voters seem ready to embrace a political philosophy that puts strict limits on all government activity in order to maximize individual liberty and economic freedom.

Libertarianism is defined as “any political position that advocates a radical redistribution of power from the coercive state to voluntary associations of free individuals.” To the political party establishments who fund their existence on the ability to attain this power and rent it back to their crony capitalist fellow travelers; libertarianism was dismissed as a “popular, dogmatic political cult in the vein of Marxism-Leninism.” The political elites have been comforted that “libertarians would never get hold of true power – for unlike their Marxist-Leninist brethren, they are a political cult without a broad base of support; they have no proletariat and no peasantry!” But in the age of social networking’s viral formation of voluntary associations at virtually no cost; libertarianism has found its broad base of support that can competes favorably versus paid advertising that drives the “peasant” support of the established parties.

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WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker John Boehner said Sunday that he opposes a Senate-approved bill that extends a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for just two months and said congressional bargainers need to write a new version that would last an entire year.

As if to suggest other changes he would like in the legislation, the Ohio Republican mentioned a provision that would block Obama administration anti-pollution rules and “reasonable reductions in spending” that were in a House-passed version of the payroll tax bill that the Senate ignored.

Boehner’s comments came a day after House Republicans used a conference call to complain bitterly about the Senate bill, putting House passage in serious jeopardy.

House Republicans dislike the Senate bill for many reasons, including its lack of what they consider real spending cuts and its removal of restrictions on Obama administration rules. Others are unhappy about extending unemployment benefits or oppose cutting the payroll tax, which is used to finance the Social Security system.

“It’s pretty clear I and our members oppose the Senate bill,” Boehner said on “Meet the Press” on NBC. He added, “I believe two months is just kicking the can down the road.”

House leaders have scheduled a vote on the bill for Monday.

The bill would force President Barack Obama to make a decision in the next two months on whether to build the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The president had initially said he would postpone a decision on the 1,700-mile-long pipeline until after next year’s elections and threatened to kill the payroll tax bill if it included the pipeline provision. But he backed off this week as the Senate payroll compromise took shape.

Republicans strongly support the pipeline, which is supposed to pump oil from Alberta, Canada, to Texas, for the thousands of jobs it is expected to create. Unions favor the plan but environmentalists oppose it, forcing Obama to choose between two Democratic constituencies.

The Senate bill says Obama can reject the pipeline only if he decides building it would not be in the national interest.

Read more here.

Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is the favorite senator of “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobbying group J Street. Submitted into evidence: Sherrod is the only senator endorsed by J Street for 2012. Skim J Street’s list of House endorsements and you’ll find Democrat dignitaries such as John Conyers, Charlie Rangel, and Keith Ellison.

For the group funded by George Soros and founded as a Progressive counter to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the nation’s most Progressive senator is a perfect fit.

Are you curious about the policies promoted at the 2011 J Street conference, where Sherrod Brown was one of just three senators in attendance? Hear from several of the event’s participants in this video:

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In the latest Gallup poll taken the day before the last Republican debate on Thursday, Newt Gingrich was leading Mitt Romney by 20 points- 41% to 21%- among those who profess themselves to be “conservatives.” Gov. Romney, however, was leading the former Speaker by 10 points- 27% to 17%- among those who describe themselves as “liberal” or “moderate.”

Even Republican presidential candidate, and head of the congressional Tea Party caucus, Michele Bachmann, who invoked the name of George Will to accuse Mr. Gingrich, during Thursday night’s debate, of “tolerating infanticide,” once thought he was the greatest conservative since sliced bread. Does this count as a “flip-flop?”

Now, Gov. Nikki Haley (R-S. Carolina) has given her much-coveted endorsement of Mitt Romney. This is, perhaps, not a shock since, despite her rise to power on the wings of Tea Party support, she and Mr. Romney have had a mutual admiration society “thing” happening since 2008, when Ms. Haley served as Gov. Romney’s state co-chair for his presidential bid that year. Mr. Romney then supported her in her gubernatorial bid in 2010, for which she reportedly received $900,000 worth of ads paid for by the Republican Governors’ Association. After former Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed her, Ms. Haley’s status as a rising star of the Republican party was solidified.

Gov. Haley’s endorsement is considered significant because, since 1980, South Carolina has successfully picked the Republican nominee for president. Now, Gov. Romney undoubtedly hopes her Tea Party “glow” will rub off on him, since it appears many conservatives of the Tea Party philosophy are still supportive of Speaker Gingrich and some of the other Republican candidates. In a pointed dismissal of Mr. Gingrich, Gov. Haley said of Mr. Romney, “He is not a creature of Washington, and he knows what it means to make decisions – real decisions – not simply cast a vote.”

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Moody’s downgraded Belgium two notches, while other rating agencies have renewed warnings on France, Italy and other Eurozone members. 2011 may end with a whimper, but 2012 will probably start with a bang.

As seen at a busy Wisconsin intersection on December 17, 2011.

Leave your suggested caption in the comments section.

“Lakewood is not really a suburb anymore, it’s a particular kind of urban place that looks suburban superficially but which is netted fully in an urban fabric,” says author D.J. Waldie who is most famous for writing Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir, set in 1950s Lakewood, California.

Waldie sat down with Reason Magazine Editor in Chief Matt Welch, who also grew up in Lakewood, to talk about city planning and the unique issues affecting suburbia in 2011. For 34 years, Waldie served as the Public Information Officer for the city of Lakewood and still lives in the house he grew up in.

The film rights to Holy Land were bought in late 2010 by actor James Franco for a possible movie.

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From ABC News:

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Mitt Romney said today he’s “the ideal candidate” for the Tea Party movement because his stance on issues lines up “pretty darn well” with the movement he says will soon realize that GOP frontrunner Newt Gingrich isn’t their best option for president.

“I recognize that the speaker has a big lead here,” Romney said of Gingrich in a press conference in South Carolina. “But I think as people take a closer and closer look, they’ll recognize that I reflect more effectively the positions which they hold on key issues.

“I think Tea Partiers may have listened to the first debate where we discussed the speaker’s compensation from Freddie Mac, for instance. And he said, I think he said that he got $300,000 from Freddie Mac and it was to work as an historian. And as time has gone on we find out it’s $1.6 million and he worked as a spokesman for, in providing support for Freddie Mac,” Romney said. “I think as tea partiers concentrate on that for instance, they’ll say, wow, this really isn’t the guy that would represent our views.”

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This is the first installment of a multi-part series on suggested economic policies for the next government to consider.  These are meant to be long-term solutions.  Our current economic downturn is temporary and has some short-term causes but a large part of the explanation lies in the worldview and longer term thinking that governments of both parties have adopted, in small ways since maybe Abraham Lincoln but in significant ways since Franklin Roosevelt and in exaggerated extremes since Lyndon Johnson.  The federal deficit, the mess we call a tax code and so forth were created over a long time and while the solutions can be implemented with greater haste it will take some time for the transition and full effects to be felt and the returns to be realized.  The political class has seldom shown signs of long term thinking and the greater population seems less so, we can only pray and hope the message gets through.  My first installment is on the tax code.

Axiom 1 of Taxation: Higher rates are counter-productive: They do not collect more revenues and provide incentives to engage in non-productive behavior.

Policy application of Axiom 1: Lower the top rate to increase revenue collected and reduce the incentives for unproductive defensive actions.

Axiom 2 of Taxation: Income is income; its source is irrelevant.

Policy application of Axiom 2: Eliminate the corporate tax and the different tax treatment for capital gains.  All income should be taxed at the time it is realized and at the same rate.

Axiom 3 of Taxation: The tax code should not destroy the incentive or ability to save or to transfer wealth.

Policy application of Axiom 3: Eliminate taxation on the interest earned on savings accounts, certificate of deposit and other interest bearing bank accounts as well as the gift tax and inheritance tax.

Axiom 4 of Taxation: The tax code should be easy to understand and easy to comply with.

Policy application of Axiom 4: The tax code needs a massive simplification; fewer brackets, shorter forms more universal treatment of income.  The first tax form fit on one page, it should again.

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Norman Finkelstein, one of America’s leading anti-Semites in the academic world, was invited to speak at Occupy Boston for the Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture Series. Mr. Finkelstein is on the lecture circuit and having gone to many universities. He, apparently, decided he might as well see the drop outs camping out at Occupy Boston. Like them, he, too, has rejected serious study. He has been fired from numerous positions for his substandard scholarship and fondness for conspiracy theories.

Finkelstein is the author of The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering (2003), which argues that the Holocaust and its remembrance is and “has been used to justify criminal policies of the Israeli state and U.S. support for these policies.” As he argues in his book, the Israelis are Nazis.

“The Zionists indeed learnt well from the Nazis. So well that it seems that their morally repugnant treatment of the Palestinians, and their attempts to destroy Palestinian society within Israel and the occupied territories, reveals them as basically Nazis with beards and black hats.”

Finkelstein is also a fan of Hezbollah, writing that the terrorist, anti-Semitic organization represents “hope” for the Middle East.

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From The Hill:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) says Republicans will revive and expand a bill banning insider trading by members of Congress in the first months of 2012, after he slowed the bill’s progress earlier this month.

The legislation, known as the STOCK Act, had gained momentum after a “60 Minutes” report raised questions about whether lawmakers were personally profiting from the insider information they gleaned from their jobs in the Capitol.

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LOS ANGELES /PRNewswire/ — There will be no more “Made in the USA,” with millions of jobs lost if the United States doesn’t start mining and stock piling certain strategic metals, according to Alisha A. Ahern, co-director of the Academics & Periodicals Department at American Elements, the global chemical and metals manufacturer which published the list. Today the company released the 2011 U.S. Endangered Elements List (EEL11) naming the five metals that can most upset American industry, especially if the countries that the U.S. imports the metals from decide to shut off supply.

American Elements funded preparation of the EEL11 to help manufacturers, the government and consumers better understand the gravity of the situation. 20th Century metals such as copper, iron, nickel and tin have given way to 21^st Century critical metals, particularly the rare earths, of which the U.S. mines almost none.

“Today China mines a whopping 97 percent of all global rare earth production. America no longer has the resources to manufacture the things we invent,” says Ahern. “New metals like the rare earths have become essential to thousands of household goods including computers, cell phones, cars and nearly all electronics. If we lose access or run out of these elements, there will be no more ‘Made in the USA.’”

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WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate has approved a two-month extension of a cut to the Social Security payroll tax and jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed.

It’s a partial victory for President Barack Obama’s year-end jobs agenda.

Democratic and GOP leaders went with just a short extension after failing to agree on big enough spending cuts to pay for a full-year renewal of the payroll tax cut.

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