My Beauty Best Teacher

Sam Ikoku calls for the development of tradable instruments to facilitate the efficiency of remittances:

"...if you want Nigerians(read Africans) to bring their money back home, you have got to give them the instruments which they can use, tradable instruments. You have got to create markets, capital markets..."We need to have instruments to create markets for Nigerians abroad. The Chinese people don't just send the money into the streets. They send the money into banks and institutions that are known to sponsor or support industries, we don't have these structures...."We don't have instruments. Every Nigerian sending money home is doing Western Union, take this to my brother, take this to my sister, give them clothes let them sell, It's such a pitiful way but if Nigerians can have instruments like in other countries, they will send large amounts of money home..."It is time for us to stop begging people to invest in this economy of 150 million people. There are Nigerians here and abroad that can invest in this economy. When we start it by example, then guess what, everyone else will be running after us. That's was what happened in China. So let's start it ourselves, lets not beg,"

Paul Collier writes:

The debate on what the G8 should do has been entirely dominated by aid. More aid for parts of Africa would probably be helpful, but it would not be decisive in reversing divergence. It is, in fact, a sideshow relative to the other policy instruments that G8 governments control. It is the failure to use these instruments that is the tragic missed opportunity. Because aid has dominated the airwaves people are simply unaware of our true potential for action. Africa faces three distinctive economic problems, each amenable to a distinct policy.

They are:
-The trade hurdle
-The growth obstacle
-The insecurity wall

In spite of being a conservative libertarian Republican who wants to drastically reduce government spending, I've always had a soft spot for NASA- I know, everyone has 'their agency' or 'their sacred cow of spending', and that's why the budget is never cut, but in this case, and NASA is mine, so it does need to have its funding cut and do more with less and all that, but I still think is my favorite agency. And even though it's budget is only about $18 billion/year (out of $3456 billion/year total US spending), it is still able to deliver some amazing results.

From BBC News:

NASA is about to launch its latest Mars rover, nicknamed Curiosity, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. At nearly a tonne, the six-wheeled vehicle dwarfs all previous robots sent to the surface of the planet. The machine carries a suite of sophisticated instruments and tools, including a hammer drill and a laser, to find out whether Mars is, or ever has been, suitable for life....

Lift-off is just the start for what Nasa hopes will be a multi-year campaign at the Red Planet.... The rover is equipped with a plutonium battery and so should have ample power to keep rolling for more than a decade. It is likely the mechanisms on MSL will wear out long before its energy supply.... MSL will use its suite of 10 instruments to study the local rock, soil and atmosphere....

This mission looks very cool, and a description of it doesn't do it justice. Check out an animated video for this mission- it should make you feel very proud to be an American to imagine that in spite of our economic downturn, we can still do things like this (at the relatively bargain cost of $2.5 billion, or 1/1382th of the budget for 2010):

I've written about NASA before- check out my posts Obama's New NASA Policy- Yet More Broken Promises and Lies or Obama too Busy to Appoint Public Officials- but mostly check out my post Nuclear Power and Manned Space Flight: Victims of Democrat's Progress Backwards? where I wrote (in part- read the whole post):

Today I watched the movie Apollo 13 for perhaps that hundredth time. As I watched that wonderful movie, I grew a little emotional, but it wasn't because of the drama of the movie- it was because I am upset and angry and sad that America has abandoned manned spaceflight in my lifetime, and seems to be abandoning the larger future too, a future where man would harness the power of an atom splitting and travel among the stars, a future of dreams and inspiration. America instead is collapsing on the weight of promises made to generations past, ruled over by elitist politicians who seek only to control us, and everyday our nation moves farther away from living a prosperous life in the stars in freedom and liberty, however preposterous or unlikely that future may have been.

The current leadership of our nation speaks of 'progress,' but they are abandoning nuclear power and manned spaceflight in favor of providing healthcare insurance to people who are encouraged not to purchase it and spending money they don't have to support railroads and electric motor carriages and windmills. The future that Obama, Democrats, liberals, and Republicans that go along with them is not a future full of cheap safe energy and man roaming freely in the stars- it is a future with man going backward, remembering that once, long ago, before I was born and before my students were born, man built generators that were powered by the atom splitting and man walked on the moon.

Man once walked on the moon! Nuclear power plants were once built! Say it- and then realize that these are events of the past- that the new normal and likely new future of America and the world is a long, slow slide backwards into tyranny, injustice, and confiscation of property by elites. Oh, I know it is 'nice' to give out healthcare to anyone who asks and that we all want teachers to be paid a million bucks and that no job should be insecure and that energy should be provided from dancing on the suns rays or blowing gently on flowers, but that is not reality! The reality is that the future is slipping away, and much like the greatness of Rome was the standard for centuries or the might of Britain was to be envied for generations, ours is a time that is slipping away, slipping away based on the policies pushed for by Democrats like Obama, Granholm, Stabenow, Levin, Rogers, and others. Modern day liberalism has failed to move man into the future- rather, man has been moved backwards through its policies of standing in the way of human liberty and freedom, by embracing the killing of life and babies, and by stealing other peoples property....

Obama and the Democrats may be intent on making America average and poor- but at least NASA continues to dazzle us with great work like this Curiosity program!

Here are some great NASA products to buy! When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions (Limited Edition), Nasa: The Complete Illustrated History, From the Earth to the Moon - The Signature Edition, The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA's First Space Plane, or America in Space: Nasa's First Fifty Years.

Paul Collier author of 'The Bottom Billion'writes in OpenDemocracy:

Since the 1960s countries with around a billion people have been diverging from the rest of the world at an accelerating rate, a trend which will generate unmanageable social pressures. Most of these countries are in Africa, and so it is appropriate that the region should again have been on the Group of Eight (G8) agenda at the summit in Heiligendamm, Germany on 6-8 June 2007. Unfortunately, the debate on what the G8 should do has been entirely dominated by aid. More aid for parts of Africa would probably be helpful, but it would not be decisive in reversing divergence. It is, in fact, a sideshow relative to the other policy instruments that G8 governments control. It is the failure to use these instruments that is the tragic missed opportunity. Because aid has dominated the airwaves people are simply unaware of our true potential for action. Africa faces three distinctive economic problems, each amenable to a distinct policy.

Jonathan Elendu's Elendu Reports and Sowore Omoleye's Sahara Reporters are a pointer to the promise of bottom-up methods. More familiar but maverick instruments like Al-Jazeera have been positively disruptive to the social-political fabric of the Middle East and beyond,however their establishment and operational costs have been prohibitive and a barrier to scrappy potential new entrants. Elendu Reports demonstrates the potential of diligent no holds barred investigative reporting for the continent of Africa enabled by the tools of web 1.0 and 2.0 . Recent reports of corrupt goverment officials with the accompanying images of their ill-gotten luxury properties in Western cities is threshold breaking,the denials and obfuscations of the past by the officials is now indefensible the brigandage seemingly more brazen . The effect of this is undeniable, it brings the third dimension of texture to accusations of corruption, in the flesh so to speak, the world can now see what happens to the revenue and resources of some of the most impoverished countries in the world, while the leaders don the caps of debt-relief and aid. This medium yet to include podcasting (sound) and vodcasting (video),are the developing worlds alternatives to '60 Minutes' etc. The erosion of the digital divide and its interactive enabling nature could have an accelerated cleansing effect on the hitherto incorrigibles that rule the roost, accountability and transparency sought so long in Africa's leadership might now be within its grasp.

Confronting art techniques for oil painting for the first time may overwhelm the beginner on the diversity on offer. Fine art painting books would suggest that oil painting requires complex practices and materials, but this is not necessarily the case. The beginner may enjoy simple oil painting techniques with effective results, and which will give the fledgling artist satisfaction.

Basic Oil Painting Techniques

The Key Techniques for Oil Painting Rachel Shirley

The beginner in oil painting may begin with all prima, which simply describes a painting completed in one session and therefore in one paint layer. Quick oil painting sketches of landscapes or skies, for example, are typically completed in alla prima. Such a technique requires the application of neat oil paint straight onto the painting surface.

Oil painting impasto complements alla prima, in that impasto describes a thick paint layer, and one which may enhance the painting with brisk brush marks or other textures within the paint. Thick paint or impasto can be manipulated with wide bristle brushes, palette knives or other mark making instruments.

Oil Painting Glazing

In opposition to the two oil painting techniques just described, glazing with oils describes the completion of a oil painting by the application of several layers of oil paint and over several sessions. Each layer or “glaze” will be translucent in appearance in order to modify the colour beneath, to enrich the colour or to alter its tone. The paint will usually be thinned with either linseed oil or an alkyd medium such as Liquin. Many old masters practiced glazing, applying in as much of ten or more before satisfied with the result.

Sgraffito Oil Painting

Sgraffito provides special paint effects by adding textures to the oil paint. Any mark making implement can be used, from old combs and toothbrushes to pencils. By applying a conflicting colour beneath the painting, this colour will be revealed when the upper layer is etched off, introducing an element of movement and energy to the oil painting.

Simple Oil Painting Techniques

click to buy from Amazon

Links on Oil Painting Techniques

• Build confidence in oil painting
• Alla prima oil painting
• Impasto oil painting
• Glazing with oil paints
• Sgraffito with oil paints
• Wet into wet oil painting
• Oil painting in monochrome
• Oil Painting books for beginners

Via Memeorandum I came across this story over at the Volokh Conspiracy called "Administration Tells Regulated Industry That There Will Be “Zero Tolerance” for Alleged “Misinformation” in Industry’s Statements About Government Policy":

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the national association of health insurers, calling on their members to stop using scare tactics and misinformation to falsely blame premium increases for 2011 on the patient protections in the Affordable Care Act.... "There will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases," she wrote "I want AHIP’s members to be put on notice: the Administration, in partnership with states, will not tolerate unjustified rate hikes..."

The precise nature of the threat — as with so many threats — is not made entirely clear, so the legal analysis of the threat is also unclear.  But if the Administration is threatening to use its considerable regulatory power to retaliate against insurance companies that, in the Administration’s view, are conveying “misinformation” — for instance, because their financial analyses disagree with the Administration’s financial analyses — that strikes me as quite troubling.

Quite troubling indeed. You really need to ask yourself and your friends and your family whether or not they believe anymore that everyone (both individuals and private companies) have the right to be free, to earn and keep property, and to protect others lives, or if they believe that the government exists to control others (both individuals and private companies) based on what they think is right. The very fundamental nature of our nation is being threatened by Obama and Democrats who support him and his agenda, and using the instruments of the state to force (or in this case vaguely threaten to use force) others to follow what they believe in is tyranny, and all tyrants must be overthrown. The evidence is piling up, in bits and pieces- just like Democrats hammered on George Bush for supposed faults and problems and all those little blows took their toll and idiots then voted Democrats, we must continually guard our freedoms and liberties and call out Obama and the Democrats when they exercise their power in unjust, immoral, and illegal ways, such as was done above.

Via Tom Coburn, here's the latest list of wasteful spending in the bill just passed by the House (via The Corner):

Wasteful and Non-Stimulative Spending in the House-Senate Conference Report (Note: Most of these items are already fully funded through the regular budget process, which already increased spending dramatically last year. This is just adding silly money to the already flush coffers of government agencies).
• $8 billion for high-speed railway (including an earmark for an Los Angeles to Las Vegas MagLev)
• $1 billion for the “FutureGen” not-ready-for-primetime near zero emission plant in Illinois
• $53.6 billion for the “state stabilization” slush fund
• $1.3 billion for Amtrak
• $24 million for USDA buildings and rent
• $176 million for renovating Agricultural Research Service buildings
• $290 million for flood prevention activities
• $50 million for watershed rehabilitation
• $1.4 billion for wastewater disposal programs
• $295 million for administrative expenses associated with food stamp program
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges and libraries
• $650 million for the DTV converter box coupon program
• $360 million for construction of NIST buildings
• $830 million for NOAA research and facilities
• $2 billion for Byrne JAG program
• $10 million to combat Mexican gunrunners
• $125 million for rural communities to combat drug crimes
• $1 billion for the COPS program
• $1 billion for NASA
• $300 million to purchase scientific instruments for colleges and museums
• $400 million for equipment and facilities at the NSF
• $3.7 billion to conduct "green" renovations on military bases
• $375 million for Mississippi River projects
• $10 million for urban canals
• $5 billion for weatherizing buildings
• $2 billion to develop advanced batteries for hybrid cars
• $3.4 billion for fossil energy research (possibly including an earmark for FutureGen)
• $5.1 billion for environmental cleanup around military bases
• $5.5 billion for "green" federal buildings
• $300 million for "green" cars for federal employees
• $20 million for IT upgrades at the Small Business Administration
• $200 million to design and furnish DHS headquarters
• $210 million for State and local fire stations
• $125 million to restore trails and abandoned mines
• $146 million for trail maintenance at National Park Service sites
• $140 million for volcano monitoring systems
• $600 million for the EPA Superfund environmental cleanup program
• $200 million to clean up leaking underground storage tanks
• $500 million for forest health and wildfire prevention
• $25 million for the Smithsonian Institution
• $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
• $1.2 billion for "youth activities" (for "youth" up to 24 years old)
• $500 million earmark for NIH facilities in Bethesda, MD
• $1 billion for Head Start
• $32 million for home-delivered nutrition services
• $160 million for volunteer programs at the Corporation for National and Community Service
• $500 million earmark for the SSA National Computer Center in MD
• $220 million for the International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S. and Mexico

Just a couple comments to this insanity. Why would a fully funded Census Bureau need an additional billion dollars- what kind of a game is this hiding? I thought Amtrak and Smithsonian were going privatized- how did they suddenly get back on the nationalization path? It's interesting how many palaces government is building itself- 'green' buildings I imagine are very beautiful to look at. Am I correct in seeing that $10 million is going to build 'urban canals'- what the poop is that about? Seriously, they should just include an item for "$10 billion just to piss away" and stop with the pretend items. This makes me very angry seeing this list- anyone who reads this blog who did not vote Republican for Congress and President should go bang your head violently against a wall- this is partly your fault.

From the AP:

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on Saturday doled out presidential M&Ms and dried fruit mixes to more than 2,000 trick-or-treaters, marking their Halloween at a White House event partly aimed at honoring military families.

A big, stuffed, black spider dangled in a web of string from the top of the portico, and pumpkins had sprouted up around the columns. Meanwhile, an odd cast of figures wondered around the North Lawn, including skeletons playing musical instruments, walking trees and "Star Wars" characters. The night's arrangements took a month or two to prepare, the White House said.

It took the White House TWO months to decorate for Halloween. Two months. How long did it take you to decorate your house for Halloween? A day? Perhaps you have a massive mansion and it takes 2 days? Imagine you have the full power and money of the United States government at your disposal, and an extensive and well-trained union grounds crew- would it take 3 days to plan and decorate then? Only government could spend two months planning and working to decorate one single house for a holiday.

Imagine when the government that takes two months of planning to decorate a house for Halloween runs your healthcare needs, your energy needs, and your businesses. That is scary indeed!

Audio productions are made or broken by the quality of the recording engineer's ears. The ability to properly discern sounds, identify subtle problems, and act accordingly to apply the necessary fix makes all the difference in the quality of the final tracks and master. The good news is that these crucial skills can be learned. The ability to instantly identify frequencies, hear hidden distortions, and instinctively reconcile conflicts in the EQ of instruments, audio elements, vocals and more are traits of those who have mastered the art of audio production. The best engineers have trained their ears to immediately recognize audio problems that the consumer and those new to recording arts would likely not hear, but that, if left unresolved, would result in an amateurish final product. For more than two decades, students of F. Alton Everest's Critical Listening and Auditory Perception courses have rapidly developed these skills by using the intense lessons found in this book and on the CD. Unfortunately the books and CDs included with the course were usually too expensive for aspiring engineers to purchase and were often available only in colleges, universities, or school libraries. Now for the first time these indispensable training sessions are available with this release of Critical Listening Skills for Audio Professionals. Through hundreds of illustrations and an accompanying disc containing high-resolution MP3 files with nearly five hours of narration of the entire course, you can acquire the audio discernment skills of a seasoned recording engineer by studying this course at your own pace, in your own home.

 

Click here to buy from Amazon

Dilip Ratha suggests new private-public partnerships to mobilize additional international financing for Africa:

Establishing sovereign rating benchmarks and credit enhancement through guarantee instruments provided by multilateral aid agencies would facilitate market access.Creative financial structuring such as the International Financing Facility for Immunization(IFFIm) can help front-load aid commitments, although these may not result in additional financing in the long run. Preliminary estimates suggest that Sub-Saharan African countries can potentially raise $1-3 billion by reducing the cost of international migrant remittances, $5-10 billion by issuing diaspora bonds, and $17 billion by securitizing future remittances and other future receivables...[continue reading(pdf) ]

Police forces across SSA are generally viewed with suspicion, fear and derision. They are largely seen as non-representative instruments of authority- a force apart from society itself.In further examination of the institutional decentralisation theme we look at ,a paper by Gareth Newham which examines the implementation of local civilian oversight of police forces in South Africa. It came up with a number recommendations which include:

• Developing training and other resources to enhance the understanding and practice of civilian oversight of police agencies at local level;

• Ensuring that independent evaluations are conducted on key aspects of MPD performance and conduct;

• Ensuring that local level oversight committees include a focus on the policies, procedures and systems of MPDs to receive and deal with public complaints of police misconduct;

• Inviting feedback from various stakeholders as to their perceptions and experiences of the MPDs;

• Assisting in clarifying the role of the Civilian Oversight Committees and then capacitating them to play this role.

Deutsche Bank Research reports:

On September 27 this year the eyes of the international capital markets were drawn to Ghana: on that day Ghana became the first sub-Saharan country after the Republic of South Africa to issue a dollar-denominated, ten-year government bond and in so doing experienced huge demand. This important test of the international appetite for African bonds thus proved extremely positive and cleared the way for future bond issues by other promising candidates like Gabon, Kenya and Zambia...The local-currency bond market is only just starting to emerge. Nurturing its growth is, however, very high on the list of government priorities, which is also shown by the increasing liberalisation of access for foreign investors. Since December of last year foreign investors have been able to invest in capital market instruments with a maturity of at least three years. An alternative option is investing in bonds issued by the African Development Bank which are denominated in Ghanaian cedis.

Continuing on the subject of conflict resolution we take a look at a comparative study(PDF) authored by Luc Huyse on various traditional approaches:

What role does traditional justice play in dealing with legacies of human rights abuses? How can interpersonal and community-based practices interrelate with state-organised and internationally sponsored forms of retributive justice and truth telling? This International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) report provides a comparative analysis of traditional justice mechanisms in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Uganda and Burundi. Most of the countries studied combine traditional justice and reconciliation instruments with other transitional justice strategies.-GSRDC

via Pambazuka

Sharpe's Triumph, by Bernard Cornwell, is one of the many books from the Sharpe series, which is a New York Times bestselling series. This one is a 'prequel' since it is one of the more recent books in the series and yet takes place earlier in the timeline. It is set in 1803 in India, and is about the adventures of a young British infantryman named Richard Sharpe.

In this campaign, the main action takes place as Sharpe tracks down a turncoat who defected from the British East India company to join the mercenary forces of the Mahratta confederation. As Sharpe tracks this man across India, he gets involved in the Second Anglo-Maratha War, which includes the Battle of Ahmednuggur and more notable Battle of Assaye. The action is fierce in the battle scenes, and the plot is moved along at an able pace throughout the whole book.

One of the great things about Cornwell's writings is that even though the book is fictional (there was no Sharpe), the setting and the events have been meticulously researched and are described in such great detail that you really do feel like you have been there and in your mind you can picture the great battle of Assaye. When the Scottish Highlanders of the 78th are advancing through hails of grapeshot and canon fire wearing their kilts and tall bearskin hats, and in right in the face of the enemy they put on their bayonets and charge, you feel like you are there. When the city of Ahmednuggur is captured by a brazen escalade assault (ladders at the walls), and a Scottish major scales the walls and wins the top by slashing with his claymore, it is a fantastic image that makes you feel as if you were part of the action too.

One thing that stood out in the book is the difference between professional soldiers and mercenary or irregular forces. In the Battle of Assaye, the British had about 10K professional soldiers, and the Mahratta forces had about 100K- but only 15K of those were trained soldiers, and when faced with true pressure, they cracked. A professional soldier is a powerful thing- trained, efficient, disciplined, and able to win a battle. The other day I was reading (can't remember where) about how this US army detachment of 10 soldiers was ambushed by over 100 Taliban, and the result was over 20 Taliban dead to 1 injured US soldier. The Taliban were shooting their AK-47's everywhere, but the US soldiers fired and killed, fired and killed, fired and killed, all while keeping track of their position and comrades. Trained professional soldiers such as we employ and the British employed are deadly instruments of war.

This was a highly entertaining read, and I am excited to find out that they actually made this book into a television series too, starring Sean Bean. I'll have to watch that. If you haven't read any of the Sharpe series before, you may want to start with the one before this, which is called Sharpe's Tiger and is about the Siege of Seringapatam, or just jump ahead to some of the better ones, such as Sharpe's Eagle or Sharpe's Company. They are historical fictions, and remind me of Horatio Hornblower, and likely are the inspiration for other such great series like Honor Harrington. Enjoy!

Chamberlain S. Peterside contends that a pervasive evolving ownership culture is critical to unlocking Africa's potential "...As African countries continue to transform, a key element of their reform agenda should be to legitimize property rights and entrench ownership across the broad spectrum of society. So far the reverse is the case. Unbalanced income distribution has bred severe inequality and abject poverty in Africa...With a potential reserve of wealth hidden in real estate holdings in Africa, unless the laws are updated and home-ownership expanded through broad-based long-term loan programs, it is unlikely that you could nurture a robust middle class or make a serious dent in the living standard of the masses. Effective measures should include standardizing loan underwriting, packaging secondary market instruments and enhancing credit quality through government guarantees..."

Moeletsi Mbeki writes about the need to unfetter the private sector, it "... consists of the rural poor and of subsidiaries of foreign-owned companies. Neither of which is free to operate in the marketplace because each is dominated politically by non-producers who control the state. This is the weakness of the African private sector that explains its inability to become an engine of economic development. Africa’s private sector lacks political power and is therefore not free to operate to maximize its objectives. Above all, it is not free to decide what happens to its savings...The elite diverts these savings towards its own consumption, and also to strengthen the state’s repressive instruments. Much of what Africa’s elite consumes is imported. So state consumption does not create a significant market for African producers. Instead, it is a major drain on national savings that would otherwise have gone into productive investment. This explains Africa’s growing impoverishment. The more the political elite consolidates its power, the stronger its hold over the state, and therefore the more rural societies sink into poverty and African economies regress... ",Global Agenda.

The successful KenGen IPO has strenghthened Kenya's ability to domestically finance projects, Peter Munaita writes about the spillover effects across their fixed income markets:

In April investors put down Ksh26 billion ($361 million) for the initial public offer by the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) which was oversubscribed by Ksh18 million ($250,000)..."this"...opened the door for corporations like the Kenya Pipeline Company, Kenya Airports Authority, the Kenya Ports Authority, the Kenya Roads Board and the Kenya Railways Corporation to sell their creditworthiness to investors...The optimism about the success of infrastructure bonds follows the successful flotation of similar instruments by cash-rich corporates, the latest being the second tranche of Shelter Afrique's Ksh500 million ($6.9 million) medium term note arranged by Stanbic Bank. Shelter Afrique raised Ksh200 million ($2.8 million) from the market in January on a floating rate basis to finance housing development in the country. The company finances developers with medium term loans to build housing, creating a vital link between individual borrowers and mortgage lenders.

via The East African

In my post Graph: Non-Defense Spending Relative to GDP, Color-Coded by Party in Power, or the Obama Hockey Stick, reader Levi commented "Which policies (of Democratic President Barack Obama) are stunting the recovery?"- he doesn't believe that Barack Obama is pushing any sort of policies that are slowing our economic recovery.

Levi probably isn't a regular reader of my blog, since he has obviously missed posts from just this month detailing Obama's efforts to harm our economic recovery, ranging from his banking policies (Obama Pressuring Banks to Give High Risk Loans to Poor and Minorities) to regulations that the EPA has put in place (Latest EPA Rules to Cost 1.4 Million Jobs and a 12% Increase in Utility Bills) to executive orders that add to the cost of doing business in America (Government Does Not Create Jobs; In July Alone It Added $9.5 Billion to the Cost of Doing Business). These stories were well-researched and filled with details, but perhaps Levi and progressives like him need more evidence. I can provide that.

Via Powerlineblog:

The Justice Department’s raid on four Gibson guitar factories is in that category. The raid took place last Wednesday; this Memphis Daily News story, published this morning, is a good place to start:

Around 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24, agents executed four search warrants on Gibson facilities in the two cities [Nashville and Memphis]. They seized several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars.

But Gibson’s CEO says his company has not been told what it did wrong and that he assumes the allegation is that some of the wood being used to manufacture the company’s guitars is illegal.

“Everything is sealed. They won’t tell us anything,” Juszkiewicz said, never raising his voice but pulling no punches in his defense of the storied guitar maker.

He valued the equipment and raw materials seized from Gibson at almost $1 million. At one point, the chief executive said he’s letting the U.S. Justice Department know he’s telling his employees to keep making the instruments. …

“We feel totally abused,” he continued. “We believe the arrogance of federal power is impacting me personally, our company personally and the employees here in Tennessee, and it’s just plain wrong.”

Now, it may turn out that Gibson's has broken some obscure portion of the Lacey Act, a piece of legislation that is designed to protect exotic trees by putting burdens and fees and regulations on US companies, who extract a fraction of the exotic trees compared to other nations (Gibson's imports only 5% of the rosewood, while an unburdened China that shows much less respect for the environment is encouraged by progressive laws like the Lacey Act to extract 95% of rosewood). If this is so, one wonders why other companies are not also being punished- companies like one of Gibson's principal competitors, C.F. Martin & Company, which engages in the same practices but isn't raided (it's CEO is a big Democratic donor), or Michelle Obama, who gave French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy a Gibson Hummingbird acoustic guitar with a rosewood fret, in clear violation of the Lacey Act.

But the point is that the President and his administration are not helping businesses navigate these useless and harmful laws; the President and his administration are not working with Americans to produce more goods and products in a more efficient and profitable manner; and the President and his administration are not helping our nation to recover from the recession. No, he is instead harassing legitimate businessmen on frivolous ground that are motivated perhaps by political malice and smell strongly of the misuse of federal power. He is not helping America recover- he is acting to hurt our recovery and make a recession into a Depression through his policies.