I’m not in a position to say where the pork and the subsidies are coming from, but suffice it to say that the most valuable team in Major League Baseball ($1.026 billion), its owner (estimated personal net worth in 2004: $225 million, and certainly higher now), and its players (Yankees’ 2006 payroll: $194.7 million) are feeding at the public trough outrageously (NY Times link appears to be free for now):

Declaring the start of a new era for the Yankees and for the Bronx, officials from the state, the city, the team and Major League Baseball broke ground today on a, 51,000-seat replacement stadium, as throngs of police officers cordoned off protesters who have opposed the project because it will eliminate most of two popular parks and require $400 million of public subsidies, on top of the $800 million in construction costs that the Yankees will pay.

If you don’t understand why players salaries are a lot higher than they would be if it weren’t for massive public subsidies, go here (”Pro Sports Owners and Athletes: Supersized Welfare Queens”).

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UPDATE: Commenter #3 “cornfed” makes excellent points about party bias in the article, and yours truly elaborates a bit.

(HT to commenter Kevin, who indicated that the following could be a story worth following)

Three interesting aspects of the disrupted and hopefully thwarted-for-good UK airplane bomb plot that have received little attention thus far:

1. Airport security and management in the UK were privatized some time ago. Until recently, British company BAA was responsible for those functions.
2. Ownership changed hands on July 29, less than two weeks before the plot was uncovered, when a Spanish company, Grupo Ferrovial, acquired BAA. Ferrovial’s financial welcoming present is apparently going to be a downgrade in BAA bonds it took on in the deal.
3. British airlines have been unhappy with what they (and perhaps passengers) have had to pay for the services provided for some time, and have been calling for cuts in payments.

Now, what is getting a lot of attention is what the British airlines consider to be the last straw — the travel restrictions being imposed on passengers in the wake of the plot that appear on their way to becoming permanent. The airlines are ready to sue the government. In fact, the government, which sets security policies Ferrovial must follow, is moving in a totally opposite direction:

AIRLINES including Ryanair are considering suing the Government for up to £300 million to recover the losses incurred since extra security measures were imposed last week.
They are hoping that the threat of legal action will force ministers to lift the restrictions on hand luggage, which have caused thousands of flight cancellations and delayed millions of passengers since an alleged terrorist plot was foiled.

But the Home Office said yesterday that it would press the rest of Europe to adopt Britain’s tighter airport controls, which include a smaller maximum size for hand luggage and a ban on carrying liquids.

….. The legal action being considered focuses on Section 93 of the Transport Act 2000, under which the Government can be liable to pay compensation for losses resulting from its emergency directions. Ryanair made the strongest threats against the Government yesterday but British Airways and easyJet also said that they were con-sidering legal action.

Jim Callaghan, Ryanair’s head of regulatory affairs, sent an e-mail to a group of leading airlines yesterday outlining the case for compensation and encouraging them to take action.

This could get really nasty. The airlines are paying a heavy price (as are passengers). Ferrovial employee have to deal with the harried passengers on a day-to-day basis, while the government may be insulated from the true impact of the draconian ideas it wants to spread elsewhere because of the privatization relationship.

Stay tuned.

….. it would be properly called child abuse (original NY Times article requires registration).

It is in this case too.

JonBenet Ramsey’s alleged murderer is in custody. John Mark Karr, the person under arrest in Thailand, has a “creative” defense. Both he, and apparently the Thai police spokesman quoted in the short article, appear to have a unique concept about the emotional maturity of very young girls:

“He killed the girl by accident,” Immigration Police chief Lieutenant-General Suwat Tumroungsiskul told reporters after primary school teacher John Mark Karr, 41, was interrogated a day after his arrest in Bangkok.

“They fell in love with each other. She was very beautiful. So he kidnapped her and killed her by accident,” Suwat said.

JonBenet Ramsey was six years old when she was killed.

Yeah — I’d say Mr. Karr is building the foundation for an insanity defense. Why the Thai spokesman would help him out is anyone’s guess.

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UPDATE: Interested-Participant remembers details that make Mr. Karr’s defense strained –

So, let’s see. Given that JonBenet’s hands were tied, her mouth was taped, and there was a ligature around her neck, I think it’s ludicrous to expect anyone to believe it was an accident.

Newshound’s 35th Carnival of Ohio Politics is here.

Boring Made Dull’s 8th Economics and Social Policy post-fest is here.

Each has a very strong entry this week.

Free Links:

• Cut through all the detail in this AP article about the housing market, and concentrate on this quote, which originated here:
  

  “States with moderately priced areas that have experienced healthy job creation are seeing sales gains,” said David Lereah, chief economist for the (National Association of) Realtors. “The economic backdrop remains favorable for the housing market, which is helping home sales level out.”

  That is, the market, as would be expected, is working off some of the feverish excess of the past few years.

• The French and German economies both had a good second quarter — France came in at 1.1% (4.5% annualized), and Germany’s at 0.9%; (3.6% annualized). Heartfelt congratulations. I hope against hope that policymakers figure out that fitful attempts at deregulation and lowering taxes have been the causes of the improvements, and go after both with more vigor. Update: The Eurozone did very well almost across the board, with its best quarter (0.9%; 3.6% annualized) in six years.

• Only in a one-party state like New Jersey could a state’s Attorney General hang on to her office for 7 weeks after an event like this (mentioned previously here at the post’s third item). I thought incorrectly that she would skate, but now I know why she didn’t. She did resign Tuesday, and it turns out that you have to wonder how she ever got into office (bold is mine):
  

  New Jersey’s attorney general resigned Tuesday after a special prosecutor concluded she violated state ethics laws by intervening in a traffic stop involving her boyfriend.

  ….. Farber’s live-in boyfriend, lawyer Hamlet Goore, was pulled over by police in Fairview for a traffic violation in May, and Farber showed up at the scene in her state car. Goore’s van was found to be improperly registered and his license appeared to be suspended, but he was allowed to drive home.

  In recent weeks, Farber denied doing anything to influence the police. But a special prosecutor appointed by the governor said in a report issued Tuesday that Farber violated state ethics laws by “approving actions which allowed Mr. Goore to drive his vehicle home.”

  “The attorney general knowingly acted to secure a benefit for Mr. Goore that was violative of the motor vehicle laws and obviously not available to the general public,” Richard J. Williams wrote in his report.

  ….. Motor vehicle records show that Farber, 61, has had at least 12 speeding tickets, four bench warrants issued for her arrest and three license suspensions.

• Major League Baseball (MLB) lost in court when it tried to claim that it owns its players’ statistics, and that fantasy-leagues couldn’t post them (noted at the third item at this link a week ago). Now Techdirt reports that they want to keep the fantasy leagues from using team logos. Zheesh — The link reasonably asks whether getting a few bucks in licensing fees is worth risking the wrath of the game’s most loyal fans.

• The Unabomber’s possessions will be sold in an Internet auction –
  

  Among the items on auction will be thousands of pages of writings by Kaczynski, a former math professor who withdrew from society and developed radical anti-technology beliefs. The San Francisco Chronicle said Kaczynski’s journal was some 22,000 pages long and detailed his anti-social feelings.

  Other personal items, which were seized in a 1996 raid of Kaczynski’s cabin, on the block will be hand tools, shovels, saw blades, knives, bows and arrows, axes, clothing, typewriters and a briefcase containing his degrees from the University of Michigan.

  Burrell also ordered some 200 books — with titles ranging from “Stalking the Wild Asparagus” to “Axiomatization of the Theory of Relativity” — to be sold.

  Considering its popularity, and the author’s recent foray into moviemaking (with extensive media coverage), isn’t it “odd” that this particular book, which Thomas Sowell noted from press reports in 2000 that the Unabomber had in his possession, wasn’t mentioned?

It is a miracle that Australian John Haire survived the crash of his plane. But the miracle would have been impossible without the hero who rescued him:

Miracle pilot released
August 15, 2006 12:00am
THE pilot who miraculously survived crashing into a suburban Brisbane backyard was discharged from hospital yesterday.

Medical experts confirmed Goondiwindi farmer John Haire was expected to make a full recovery.
Mr Haire, 29, made headlines last week after he crashed into the Darra backyard of Brett McDonald.

Rescue workers hailed the survival of Mr Haire a miracle and Mr McDonald a hero after the homeowner pulled the pilot from his burning plane.

Mr Haire suffered burns to his arms, legs and lungs, and was placed in an induced coma for three days.

The pair were reunited in the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital on Sunday.

“It was good to catch up with him, say g’day and see he’s well on the road to recovery,” Mr McDonald said.

“He had a very good sense of humour about it all.”

Mr McDonald had been inside his high-set home with his wife and young daughter when the stricken four-seater Cessna 182 crashed into his roof and landed in his backyard and burst into flames.

He immediately shrugged off the hero tag but Mr Haire has expressed his gratitude to his rescuer.

“I would like to express a very special thank you to Brett McDonald. His first words to me were ‘You are going to be OK, mate’, and I am,” he said.

In a prepared statement released yesterday, Mr Haire also recalled the moments before his crash.

“I was at 1000 feet when I experienced major engine failure, I sent out a distress call and looked around for somewhere to land,” he said.

“I attempted a landing in a park adjacent to the McDonalds’ home.

“I clipped a lower powerline and the plane swerved, hit the roof, slid, flipped on its back and fell into the garden.”

Mr Haire also thanked the emergency workers and staff at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital intensive care and burns unit.

The crash caused major damage to Mr McDonald’s house, forcing his family to stay in a motel until urgent repairs were completed.