Quick Roundup 517

The King Edward Flies Again

It closed around the time I was born and, by the time I was old enough to remember things like it, it had become a dilapidated hangout for vagrants. (Thanks to a question about the place, I learned the term "flophouse" from my dad, a policeman.) Still, I always wondered what the Kind Edward Hotel might have once been. The twelve story building in downtown Jackson, Mississippi always stood out to me, and I wondered what had ever happened to it.

According to Dismuke, it has recently been restored and reopened as the Hilton Garden Inn-Jackson Downtown. (Its twin in Beaumont, Texas, was recently demolished.) Furthermore, its reopening is showcasing the best of the South as it was and as it is now becoming. To see what I mean, though, you'll have to read the story, which describes a visit to the restored hotel by a man who was once not even allowed to enter it.

A blog posting, "Pigeons to Pearls...The King Edward Flies Again", about the restoration has quite a few interesting pictures of the state the building had fallen into before, including an image of a secret card room above its entrance.

How Statists "Clean up" their Own Messes

I can't help but note the parallels between two gathering storms.

In Venezuela, as opponents of Hugo Chavez count down the level of the reservoir behind a major hydroelectric plant, el Loco cuts off power to businesses, but does nothing to curb power theft.

In California, as a budget crisis snowballs, there is no talk that I know of about reducing the scope of the welfare state, but officials sound like they're itching to unleash its prison population.

If Hugo Chavez would merely protect private property and keep from meddling with industry, the power crisis would practically solve itself. Likewise, California would have plenty of money to house its prison population if it allowed normal businesses to assume even part of what it is illegitimately undertaking. (And fewer prisoners if it would work to legalize non-narcotic drugs, like marijuana.)

Instead, statists more fully reveal themselves to be what they are in times of crisis: Merely the most powerful criminals in their particular locales.

About 11 percent of the state budget, or roughly $8 billion, goes to the penal system, putting it ahead of expenditures like higher education, an imbalance Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vowed to fix. [link dropped]

If the governor had any idea what his job really entailed, by "fix" this problem, he would mean something like, "sell off the higher education system."

Quote of the Day

"[T]he road to hell is paved with compromise." -- Brian Phillips

Oh, no!

I don't recall how I learned about it, but there's a blog out there called, "My Boss Is Michael Scott."

Poor man souls!

-- CAV

Updates

Today: Pursuant to a couple of good points raised in the comments by Cogito, edited a comment on drugs via strikethrough.