Michelle Bachmann Takes Dead Economist With Her on Vacation, First GOP Attack on Obama Debate on Monday, Auburn University Has Plenty of Money for Football,. . .

And Other News That Needs Commenting On

In a Formal Interview in the Wall Street Journal, Congresswoman and soon-to-be Candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination  Michelle Bachmann (R, Mn) says "When I go on vacation and I lay on the beach, I bring von Mises." Ms. Bachmann is referring to  Ludwig von Mises, a leading economist of the Austrian School, and we assume she means his writings, not the man himself who has been dead for many decades. His Conservative philosophy and economics (He developed an entire new theory of interventionism showing that government intervention is inherently counterproductive) has been shown to be wrong in just about every way.


Reading von Mises on vacation is like doing your tax return on vacation. Both activities are excruciating at any time, and doing a tax return or reading von Mises while on vacation ruins what would otherwise would be a very enjoyable experience.

Update:  For more on von Mises, see here.

Monday will officially start the GOP campaign for the party’s Presidential Nomination, with seven candidates [Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum and Michelle Bachmann] taking part in a debate in of all places, New Hampshire.  The WP expects most of the debate to be attacks on President Obama.  When asked if there was anything nice they could say about Mr. Obama, three of the participants said “Well, he is one of our tallest Presidents”.

Auburn University announced that it was doubling the salary of its head football coach to $3.5 million per year.  In order to pay for the increase the University announced it would be closing several student dormitories.  When asked where the students will sleep a spokesman said “In class, where they always sleep”.  [Thanks to Groucho – “Horse Feathers”]

Tim Pawlenty joined the Grover Norquist crowd in calling for huge spending cuts without specifying them.  Norquist is an anti-tax, anti-government Conservative activist who wants to cut a trillion dollars or more from federal spending each year, but refuses to name a single program that would not be funded.  In the WSJ the report is that

Under current projections, Pawlenty aides say, tax cuts would reduce federal revenue by $2 trillion over 10 years. But Mr. Pawlenty envisions largely unspecified spending cuts of at least double that sum, and a balanced budget within a decade.

Welcome to the “I will cut federal spending but I won’t tell you where” Team Mr. Pawlenty.  They were saving a spot on the bench just for you.

The e-mails of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin show she developed a severe feud with the GOP head of the state senate, according to a report in the L. A. Times.  This was a rare occasion where the usually thick-skinned Ms. Palin took policy differences personally.

In California, a Citizens Commission released the first draft of a redistricting plan for that state that drew district boundaries based the radical idea of having the best representation for the people rather than protecting incumbent politicians.  Both the Democratic and Republican parties condemned the plan, saying that protecting incumbent legislative members was implied in the Constitution, although they could not say exactly where.