Ari Armstrong forces the corrections.

 This could be serious:

 Farmers in the Hatch and Mesilla valleys who are making do with a trickle of Rio Grande irrigation water say they expect a smaller supply of green chile this season.

If so, consumers will see a price hike.Mesilla farmer Chris Alexander, who sells roasted green chile at his Ristramnn Chile Co., said this could be the first year he's had to price green chile at more than 50 cents per pound, and the price could reach up to 70 cents per pound. A 30-pound bag of roasted green chile that sold for $15 last year could cost $21 this year, Alexander said.

The prices are higher once the chiles are shipped to the Denver area.

 Killing people by the tens of thousands in the drug war, and then this? Click if you have strong stomach.

 This can only help:

Ramon Almonte, the Guerrero state police chief, said on Monday he will ask the federal congress to make it easier for common citizens to get permits for weapons to defend themselves.

Almonte's brother was killed on Jan. 1 in a rural town in Guerrero by unidentified gunmen. The state has been plagued by such executions.

"When you fight someone and at least you have a 'piece,' the person who is attacking you might think twice," Almonte said. "We cannot go on the way we are."

At present, Mexico's constitution allows citizens to have one or two low-caliber guns in their homes, but they must get a permit from the Defense Department and the process is complicated. Almonte did not give specifics on how he would make it easier.

"Having a weapon should be a right, because the bad guys are few and we, the good guys, are many, so we can't allow ourselves to be held hostage by the few," Almonte said.

 The violence in Mexico of late is a pretty good example of the futility of gun control. It's good to see someone take a common sense approach and try to restore Mexicans' right to arms.

 Bloomberg Businessweek profiles Tyler Cowen, calling him America's Hottest Economist. A number of subjects are touched on, mostly involving Tyler's prolific reading habit.

 Also this, Cowen summarizes the financial crisis in eight words: "We thought we were richer than we were."

 That really says a lot, no? To take that to the political realm, we're still working through that issue. Much of the current public debate revolves around the question, what can we afford? As many argue that we do not need to cut government expenditures, from entitlements to public employee salaries, remember those eight words.

 

 Perry de Havilland:

But why 'disbelief'? Now I have no idea as to the merits of this particular case and thus no position on this statist bastard's guilt in this matter, but socialists are people with a profound sense of entitlement to what other people have but are not freely willing to give up without threats of violence.

So is it hard to believe that someone whose entire world view is based on using force to take what is private without prior consent might have used force to take what they wanted from a woman? It is not really so different.

And I agree.

 They have a new TV ad campaign. Check it out.

 Well done.

 The Pew Research Center has published a survey of the political leanings of Americans, which makes for interesting reading. You can here take a quiz to determine which 'typology group' fits you best.

 The wording of the quiz says something about the researchers own political leanings. As you might guess, how you frame the questions can influence the answers. Pew wants you to pick from two positions. Here's question #2 -

Homosexuality should be accepted by society
vs
Homosexuality should be discouraged by society

 The survey is supposed to be about politics. But society is not government. One could be accepting (or not) of homosexuality without having a political position on the subject. In fact one can be adamant that government have no position on the subject, yet have strong opinions on homosexuality in society. But whoever wrote the question for Pew seems to think our societal preferences should also be our political preferences.

 And question 6:

Government regulation of business is necessary to protect the public interest
vs
Government regulation of business usually does more harm than good

 A false dichotomy. It's not inconsistent to think some regulation is necessary while simultaneously observing the most regulation is destructive.

 Questions 9 and 15 are problematic as well, and if you take the quiz you may find some others irksome, too. The end result, dividing Americans into nine distinct political affiliation, is good discussion fodder even if the questions might lead to some survey inaccuracies.

The latest outrage...

It's taken Robin McAnally of Centennial nine months to rebuild his life, after police wrongfully arrested him and seized his work truck.

He was arrested on charges of soliciting a prostitute in July 2010, but a jury found him not guilty.

When McAnally went to retrieve his vehicle from the city's impound lot, workers told him he owed $5,000 in towing, storage and other fees.

There's but one decent option for the city after Mr. McAnally was found not guilty - give the man his truck! But read what the city attorney's office said said...

Vincent DiCroce, with the city attorney's office says,it delayed the sale of McAnally's truck because it anticipated legal action from McAnally -- which DiCroce says never came.

He also says McAnally wouldn't settle the case.

"These are the options he [a city attorney employee] gave me. Bring me the title and walk away, or work something out on the judgment. That's not an option to me. You're not getting my title, and I'm not just surrendering my vehicle to you and I'm not giving you any money," said McAnally.

He says, besides giving the city money he doesn't have, it's a matter of principle.

"I am not going to pay a dime towards any judgment. I was found not guilty. If I was to pay anything that's to say, "Hey, I'm guilty,'" says McAnally.

To borrow a phrase, "Tar.Feathers."
.

 The City of Denver (like many governments) has a budget shortfall, about $100,000,000. So imagine what sort of honorable solution a city government might come up with. Put a tax hike up for voter approval? Find ways to trim the budget?

 How about doubling the fine for parking on street sweeping days? That's the ticket!

 If City Council had any decency they would put an end to this posthaste.

 Maybe not why you would think...

 Rick Unger at the Forbes website writes a story about the "infamous" (heh) brothers under the breathless headline -

Koch Brothers Behind Wisconsin Effort To Kill Public Unions

I, for one, would certainly hope so. Unger ends his article with the query, "You really have to wonder how long it will take for Tea Party devotees to realize just how badly they are being used."

I guess he assumes one would have to be a billionaire industrialist to oppose unions. But if one follows public policy debate these days you can surely think of reasons do oppose public employee unions. And to be sure, Tea Party activists are following current affairs more closely than the average citizen.

 Here's Steven Malanga in the Wall Street Journal listing some very good reasons for the average guy to be suspicious of these unions:

 Indeed, public-sector unions especially have become the nation's most aggressive advocates for higher taxes and spending. They sponsor tax-raising ballot initiatives and pay for advertising and lobbying campaigns to pressure politicians into voting for them. And they mount multimillion dollar campaigns to defeat efforts by governors and taxpayer groups to roll back taxes.

Early last year, for example, Oregon's unions spearheaded a successful battle to pass ballot measures 66 and 67, which collectively raised business and income taxes in the state by an estimated $727 million annually. Led by $2 million from the Oregon Education Association and $1.8 million from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), unions contributed an estimated 75% of the nearly $7 million raised to promote the tax increases, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

Also in 2010, teachers unions and public-safety unions in Arizona were influential players in the successful ballot campaign to increase the state's sales tax to 6.6% from 5.6% to raise an additional $1 billion. Some state business groups also supported the tax increase in the vain hope that the legislature would roll back business and investment taxes. The public unions, by contrast, wanted the tax hike precisely to avoid government spending cuts.

(...)

In New York in 2008-09, then-Gov. David Paterson balked at tax increases and proposed budget cuts in an attempt to come to grips with the state's growing fiscal crisis. In response, unions launched a barrage of attack ads. The New York State United Teachers union spent $750,000 advocating against a cap on property taxes. The state's health-care unions (and hospitals) mounted a $1 million radio campaign against Medicaid cuts. In the end, the legislature raised a host of taxes, including higher levies on the incomes of those earning more than $200,000.

Across the Hudson, New Jersey's powerful teachers union has led the fight against Gov. Chris Christie's efforts to cut spending. The New Jersey Education Association collects about $100 million a year in dues from its 203,000 members; last spring the union spent $300,000 a week, according to the head of the union, for radio ads urging tax increases on the rich instead of budget cuts.

 There's more of a similar vein in Malanga's piece. Surely this would concern more than just the Koch brothers.

 As a libertarian, or (if you prefer) perhaps a classical liberal, I have some sympathy for modern American conservatives. After all, this country was founded on classical liberal principles. So naturally conservatives have some affinity for classical liberal ideas.

 So you know when where I'm coming from when I say this is the shallowest, most vapid piece of analysis I can recall concerning American conservatives. Normal blog protocol requires more detailed deconstruction, but I trust my readers need no more.

 Update: Here's a link to the same article at Huffpo.

 A US District Judge has blocked Colorado's attempt to tax internet sales. This is good news, although it's likely the state will continue in its effort to tax anything that moves. Proposed new state motto: "Hey,dose guys got money! Let's go get it!!"

 Still one of my favorite people. Here's a nice interview in the Wall Street Journal, well worth a read.