Bizzy’s AM Coffee Biz-Econ Links (031006)

Free Links:

• Watching local news stories on health issues may be bad for your health (HT Lucianne).
• 2005, the year Hollywood would rather forget (covered in previous posts here, here, here, here, and here) was apparently a worldwide phenomenon.
• Following up on a post from Wednesday, S.O.B. Alliance member Porkopolis caught a press release from Senator Jim DeMint’s office urging the President not to spend any money allocated to earmarks that were not specifically included in the actual text of legislation passed. According to the Congressional Records Service, non-specified earmarks of this nature are not legally binding. Regardless of whether or not the president actually does so, if it really is true that earmarks have to have the transparency of forced presence in actual legislation, the Era of Out-of-Control Pork may be coming to a whimpering end. We can only hope.
• S.O.B. Alliance member Large Bill found a story about a homeowners association in Tampa threatening the wife of a soldier deployed in Iraq who has a “Support our Troops” sign in her yard with a $100 per day fine if she doesn’t remove it. Homeowners’ assocations have far too many petty tyrants with far too many petty rules.
• It’s a good morning for scavenging posts from the Alliance — Conservative Culture found a story of uber-Political Correctness about a childcare center in Britain that “is teaching children to sing Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep rather than Baa Baa Black Sheep to avoid causing offence.” You can’t make this stuff up.
• Forbes’ latest “Richest in the World” list has 793 billionaires, up from 691 a year ago. A look at the detail indicates that none of them appears to be a relative.
• Greedy Oil Baron Gets a Pass — Most people don’t know that Citgo is owned by the government of Venezuela (actually, “the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” as described at the company’s About page). Because of the fact that it has raised money from the general public in the past by issuing bonds, it has to submit its finanancial statements to The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) like any other “publicly held” company. This does not please Venezuelan ruler Hugo Chavez. Citgo announced on March 2 that it will “go dark” and avoid future SEC and public scrutiny by buying back those bonds. Hmm…. an oil company with less accountability and transparency. This sounds like something the WORMs (Worn-Out Reactionary Media, known to most as the Mainstream Media) would jump on as a corporate scandal. But, as Ken Shepherd of the Free Market Project notes, the story has garnered zero coverage. Kid-glove treatment for leftist dictators is more important than making them accountable, especially when there’s ExxonMobil nearby to kick around at any time.