Bizzy’s AM Coffee Biz-Econ-Life Links (060706)

Free Links:

• Gregg Jackson of Pundit Review has pulled off a coup — getting Thomas Sowell, America’s leading intellectual, to read his new book, “Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies.” Even better, Sowell really likes it, and devoted a whole column at Human Events Online to the topics of Gregg’s book, while cannily avoiding juicy details (the better to get you to BUY). Way to go, Gregg. Let thousands of cash registers ring, and thousands of conservatives zing.
• Legal proceedings against Paramalat are finally beginning — Huh? You haven’t heard of it? It’s Europe’s equivalent of Enron, and it involves the $18 billion house-of-cards collapse of what was Italy’s leading dairy company. The noise coming from this situation has been very low compared to Enron’s. Why that is should be remembered when those who decry America’s justice system for corporate wrongdoing go into hypercritical mode:
  

  While Parmalat is often referred to as Italy’s Enron for the scale of its losses, the cases also highlight differences between how the two countries have reacted to the scandals.

  Giovanni Salvi, a member of Italy’s board of magistrates who contributed to a book comparing the Enron and Parmalat scandals, said the response of the criminal justice system in the United States was much more swift than in Italy, and the penalties much harsher. Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling face more than 20 years in prison on their fraud convictions during sentencing scheduled for September.

  The United States also puts more value on transparency, while in Italy the trend has been the opposite, Salvi said, pointing to a law pushed through by former Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s government before the Parmalat scandal broke decriminalizing false bookkeeping.

  “To have an efficient economy, you have to have an efficient court system,” Salvi said in an interview. “Without this, how do you succeed in increasing investment?”

  Whew. Talk about “culture of corruption.”

• Botched mixes of illegal drugs are literally killing unsuspecting users in metro Detroit. It’s easy not to have sympathy, but no one deserves to die because they’re an addict. It is, however, a cautionary tale; there is no FDA or QC protocol out there for illegal drugs, so a bad outcome is ALWAYS a possibility. Some “recreation.”
• Despite whining from the predictable sources, Butler County (OH) Sheriff Rick Jones and Butler County Commissioner Mike Fox are not backing down in enforcing existing laws against illegal immigration, and in their attempts to limit their ability to (illegally) work here. “S.O.B.er” Chuckoblog is impressed. So am I.
• Tancredo for President? “S.O.B.er” Large Bill (second item at link) picked up on Tancredo’s straw poll win in Macomb County, Michigan, just north of Detroit.
• Alliance member A Rose by Any Other Name found a lot of very good news in The Washington Post. It’s by Peter Wehner, director of the White House’s Office of Strategic Initiatives. Good stuff on improvements in the culture, the economy, the war situation, and more. And The Post actually published it. So read it already before they decide that good news doesn’t get traffic.