DurbWorld

Open Letter to Congress

2012-02-19T23:37:00.001-08:00

Not only is the Ezra video great, there is an interesting post in the comments section:

January 18, 2012
Open Letter to the Congress of the United States
Gentlemen and Ladies:

"The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment." ROBERT HUTCHINS.

Early in my life, I was taught to address the members of Congress as the Honorable Congressman Smith etc. This was a different time and place in American History. I can no longer address this once Honorable body in this respectful tone for there is no Honor with the exception of few esteemed members. The greatest challenge Congress faces is not the economy, not unemployment but an executive intent on rendering the peoples House and Senate impotent-a mere debating society. Your indifference to this power grab by the executive branch is tantamount to the Vichy government sundering its authority to a fanatical dictator. " the government following the military defeat of France by Germany during World War II and the vote by the National Assembly on 10 July 1940. This vote granted extraordinary powers to Pétain, the last Président du Conseil(Prime Minister) of the Third Republic"(Wikpedia).

You did not vote to give the executive branch extraordinary powers, you do not have the courage to stand before the American people and state that congress is sundering the powers of Congress to the executive. Your indifference to the Constitution has allowed this administration to rule by executive order rather than the laws passed by our congress. "I have been up to see the Congress and they do not seem to be able to do anything except to eat peanuts and chew tobacco, while my army is starving"Robert E. Lee. Our people are suffering not from hunger but the loss of freedom. With out blood shed you are the only body that can bring this out of control executive into the confines of the Constitution.

The trite saying that honesty is the best policy has met with the just criticism that honesty is not policy. The real honest man is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy."(Robert E. Lee.) Where are the leaders of these once esteemed body on this power grab by the executive.? As much as i loathed the polices of Tip O' Neal and Robert Byrd, I assure you that their voices would be raised in unison on the hijacking of Congressional authority by the executive branch. These two men along with many others of their time maintained the separation of the powers as their sacred duty and pity the executive that stepped on the power of the Senate or the House. "We stand passively mute in the Senate today,paralyzed by our own uncertainty ... I can imagine hearing the walls of this chamber ring just before the war between the states ... but today we hear nothing. We are truly sleepwalking through history.?Feb. 12, 2002",(Senator Robert Byrd).

This situation can not be corrected over night but steps can be made to restore the dignity and power to the people representatives, the first step is to address the corruption and incompetence in the Department of Justice. You censored a congressman for stating a truth when he said that Obama lies. Then you allowed Eric Holder to set in the hallowed chamber and lie to the people of the United States. When more honored men set in the peoples seats the howl from both side of the aisle would be deafening, the vibrations of the noise would be felt from the white house to the court houses. Where is your sense of honor? The American people are demanding justice be served on Mr. Holder and the upper echelons of the justice department. The United States congress can not let this man run guns and lie to congress. If your voice is not raised in contempt for these crimes. You are an accessory to crimes committed against the Republic of Mexico and the citizens of the United States How do you feel at night knowing that federal employees were killed by guns supplied by Holder's department, financed with money that you provided? The American people will not let this be buried and forgotten by an apathetic Congress.

"Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never can willingly abandon it. They may be distressed in the midst of all their power; but they will never look to anything but power for their relief."( Edmund Burke ) .The executive is intoxicated with power and you refuse to follow the constitution and put a halt on the injustice coming from the Justice Department. Your dereliction of duty in this matter is disgraceful and pathetic. Carl Albert, Democrat of Oklahoma, the Speaker of the House, and John J. Rhodes, Republican did not let politics stand in their way and voted to impeach Richard Nixon over a hotel room break in and cover-up. "The first such impeachment recommendation in more than a century, it charges President Nixon with unlawful activities that formed a "course of conduct or plan" to obstruct the investigation of the Watergate break-in and to cover up other unlawful activities.The vote was 27 to 11, with 6 of the committee's 17 Republicans joining all 21 Democrats in voting to send the article to the House."(wipedia). How will history remember you,? As the first congress to surrender American justice to a questionable characters or men and women who stood up and did the right thing?

Your duty is to the people not the party. The majority of the American people are demanding that this man be fired, resign, or be impeached. You may turn a blind eye to the crimes of Holder but the American people will not. How can you claim to be men and women of Honor when you refused to take action. Please show to the world that no man is above the law in the United States of America and force this man to resign or impeach him.
Sincerely Robert Black, without_hate.
Co. signers:

Please copy this letter and send to your representatives. Let them know we will not forget.

Economics for College Students... an "F"

2012-01-04T14:40:00.000-08:00

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little..
The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. It could not be any simpler than that.
Remember, there IS a test coming up. The 2012 elections.

These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
By: Ed Will

Occupy Wall Street and the Neighbor's Goat

2011-11-19T05:49:00.001-08:00

"Statecraft and Power:Essays in Honor" by Harold Rood.

Was George Bailey a Typical Crooked Banker?

2011-11-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

An ongoing interesting email between my two friends ("P" and "S"), the latter an economist/business professional:
--------------------------------------------

S-
I'm confused on two points, only one of them yours. You characterize
George Bailey's fractional reserve banking practices as crooked; I thought
the fact banks don't have cash on hand actually equal to deposits is why the
FDIC was needed to prevent bank runs. Do you think his reserve was too
small? Do you find fractional reserve banking with its consequent money
multiplier effect as such objectionable? Was his use of personal funds saved
for his honeymoon to plus up the bank's capital to avert a bank run improper
co-mingling of personal and corporation monies? Or, since George never
mentions a multiplier effect when talking his way out of that bank run, do
you think his crookedness was in failing to be a money multiplier?

The second point is, I've never been clear on where Uncle Billy was headed
with that wad o'cash Potter stole. A bank deposit if memory serves, but-
why? The ran their own bank, why not stash the cash there?

-P
--------------------------

Both are good questions.

First (or second, actually), the Bailey Building and Loan is NOT a Bank. A Bank is a particular type of financial institution; a Credit Union is another; a Savings & Loan is a third; etc. Each has slightly different rules for what they can do with their money. Banks have the greatest leeway; the others have more restrictions. E.g., the Savings & Loan industry collapsed because they were almost entirely restricted to raising money from savings and checking accounts (short-term liabilities) but lending money for home mortgages (long-term assets). When their assets could not cover their liabilities, they were bankrupt.

It is common for financial institutions to hold deposits in other financial institutions. For example, the bank in my small home town in Thornton Iowa likely deposits its excess reserves in a bigger bank in Mason City Iowa. The bank in Mason City likely deposits its excess reserves at a larger Minneapolis bank. The Minneapolis bank likely deposits its excess reserves in the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

As I recall, Uncle Billy was actually in Old Man Potter's bank when he lost the money. He had the cash folded into a newspaper that included a story about George's brother being named a Medal of Honor winner. Uncle Billy gave the paper to Potter to brag about George's brother, and that's when Potter discovered the cash.

Second (or first, actually), fractional-reserve demand-deposit banking is inherently fraudulent. That's WHY there are bank runs.

Let us first distinguish between Demand Deposits and Time Deposits. A Demand Deposit is a deposit that a bank must redeem to the account owner on demand. A checking account is a classic example. Any money you have in your checking account can be withdrawn at any time. All of a bank's demand deposits may be withdrawn by their respective account owners at any time.

A Time Deposit is a deposit that a bank need only redeem at a particular time. A Certificate of Deposit is an obvious Time Deposit. A depositor makes a deposit and agrees not to withdraw the money until a specified maturity date. In exchange for the reduced liquidity, the depositor gets paid a higher interest rate.

Banks are, legally and morally, free to lend out time deposits up to 100% of the deposits. All they need to do is be sure that they have money coming back in before the time deposit matures.

Suppose that Pete deposits $10,000 in a 2-year Certificate of Deposit at the Kjar Bank. I am now free to find projects for which I might not see a return for 1 year and 11 months. I can lend to projects that take longer to generate revenue, as long as they generate revenue before Pete's 2 years are up. He has put the funds in my hand to do with as I please, as long as I give him his principle, plus interest, at the 2-year maturity date. But if I spend the money on myself, knowing that I have no way to pay him back, I am committing fraud. This is the essence of what Bernie Madoff did.

But now suppose that Pete deposits $10,000 in a checking account at the Kjar Bank. I am NOT free to lend this money, because Pete has a legal and moral claim on the money at any time.

HOWEVER, the government that issues the bank charter decides that the bank CAN lend out Pete's money. It declares that the bank needs only keep a fraction of the demand deposit on hand in reserve. Hence, "fractional-reserve" banking.

So I keep $1,000 of Pete's money in the vault, and I lend out the other $9,000. But the very next day, Pete comes in and demands (withdraws) his money. BUT I DON'T HAVE IT ANY MORE!

I have a contract with Pete that says he can have his money back at any time. He has come back for his money, but I cannot pay him. When I lent out the money, I knew that he had a legal and moral claim at any time, and that if he made that claim, I could not fulfill it, despite my legal and moral obligation to do so. That is fraud.

Recall the scene in It's A Wonderful Life when George was stemming the bank run. People said "Where is our money?" and George replied, "I don't have it here. Your money is in Mrs. Smith's house, and Mr. Jones's business."

Now, George is morally free to lend to those people with TIME DEPOSITS as long as he gets paid back before those deposits mature. But DEMAND DEPOSITS are an entirely separate animal. George has taken actions which he knows in advance will prevent him from meeting his legal and moral obligations. This is not fraud by happenstance. This is fraud by design. George Bailey is a crook.

Now, the FDIC seems to be designed to protect depositors ... but it is in fact designed to protect banksters. Before the FDIC, when banksters committed fraud and got caught -- e.g, a bank run proved the fraud -- the outraged townspeople demanded justice from those who committed the fraud. They likely looted the bankster's house, took his clothes, furniture, car, and cash, and then killed him. After the FDIC, the banksters do not get drawn and quartered any more; the FDIC bails them out.

Yep, the FDIC is a protection racket for the fractional-reserve banksters who get caught committing fraud. It saves them from being tarred and feathered, from being flogged, from being hung from the nearest tall tree.

So, yes, Pete is correct. The FDIC is there to protect bank runs. But bank runs only exist because fractional-reserve banking is inherently fraudulent in the first place. Absent the built-in fraud, there would be no need for the FDIC.

And the banksters, like all criminals, KNOW IT. They try to steer you to a money market account instead of a checking account, because a money market account is a time deposit, not a demand deposit. A money market account need not be redeemed on demand. Instead, money market accounts frequently have restrictions on how many withdrawals can me made in a month, what percentage of the total can be withdrawn in a month, etc. These are designed to reduce the chance of the withdrawals exceeding the cash on hand. The fact that people want access to their cash leads the banksters to provide checking accounts, rather than money market accounts, to most customers. But then the bankster just has to commit the fraud by lending it all out, knowing that it could all be demanded the very next day.

So frankly, I am sympathetic to the Occupy folks. In the past, when banksters committed fraud, they were likely to be killed by angry mobs. Today, we have angry mobs because of fraud by banksters -- including the banksters at the Fed. While there is growing violence associated with the Occupy folks, there have been no bankster lynchings that I know of. Perhaps the tree of liberty needs to be refreshed with the blood of tyrants and patriots.

-S

Obama's Latest Performance..er, Speech

2011-09-09T11:01:00.001-07:00

The Goldberg File
By Jonah Goldberg
September 9, 2011

Dear Reader (including those of you who have subjected this gag to floccinaucinihilipilification.)

Obama gave perhaps the best speech of his presidency last night and no one cares (for an excellent recap see this Taiwanese animation).

Maybe I am alone in this, but have you ever noticed that when you watch a recording of a movie -- on a DVR, DVD, Blueray whatever -- and you rewind a scene or even a snippet of dialogue, it suddenly makes whatever the actor is saying seem fake? Watch Don Corleone deliver a great little 30-second speech in The Godfather and then rewind it and watch it again, and suddenly you can see that it's an actor reciting words. The more you do it, the more fully you're removed from the flow of the movie.

Something similar happens for political reporters who follow politicians around on the stump. Once you've seen a candidate give the same speech -- with the same uhs and ahs, the same choked-up moments, the same comedic pauses -- a dozen, two dozen times, it becomes impossible not to grow jaded and cynical about it. You may still like the politician, but the substance of what he's saying fades into the background.

Heck, we all know that if you just say a word over and over and over and over again, it soon starts to sound funny or fake. Quick: say "sponge" twenty times fast.

That's where we are with Obama, I think. He's become an endlessly looped highlight reel. He says the same things, makes the same arguments, uses the same debater's tricks, and can't understand why he's not getting the same reaction he got in 2007-2008.

He's the political equivalent of an aging Vegas crooner who doesn't understand why 25-year-old girls don't still give him their hotel room keys when he sings "Fly Me to the Moon" the way they did when he was 50 pounds lighter and 30 years younger.

The old lines don't work anymore either. C'mon baby, did I tell you that Warren Buffet wants his taxes raised? You've got to dig that.

This has always been an acute problem for Obama because his meteoric political rise had more to do with the dynamics of faddishness than they did with merit or experience. He belonged in the category of Beanie Babies and Justin Bieber more than that of Lincoln or FDR.

It must be very frustrating for Obama, because he seems to think he "delivers" when he gives a good speech. But politicians, even non-faddish ones, aren't like baseball players, who deliver the goods when they get on base or hit a home run. If a good baseball player does the same thing he did last year or ten years ago, he's an all-star. If a politician simply repeats what he did last year, he's in danger of being a has-been.

Obama's speeches get "better" in the same sense that when we talk to people who don't speak a word of English, we think if we say things louder and slower they will suddenly understand English. Rhetorically, he talks louder and slower by simultaneously clarifying and becoming more strident in making arguments he's made a million times before.

Meanwhile, his political operation is like the entourage who tells the crooner he's still got it baby. Work that cowbell one more time.

I think the reason it comes across so glaringly as a performance is that Obama, for all his creased-pants Niebuhrian nuance, is stunningly unreflective about himself. His public persona is nearly always "I meant to do that." So there was no acknowledgment that all of his "new ideas" last night weren't new. No acknowledgement that he tried this stuff before in the stimulus. It's just one more encore of "Fly Me to the Moon."

I should say there have been times where he has admitted fault, but even then it comes across badly. His admissions that "shovel-ready" wasn't shovel-ready (which should have been a scandal) either took the form of a condescending giggle or a report of fact that he assumed everyone else would be surprised by, too. He discovered that "shovel-ready" was b.s., and rather than report this as confirmation that Obama was outrageously learning on the job, the media acted like the man had confirmed the existence of an heretofore unknown atomic particle. Of course we can forgive you for not knowing shovel ready jobs don't exist, the NY Times crowd seemed to say, because we thought they existed too!

All of the other times he's admitted failure, it's been a kind of humble brag. After Scott Brown's election and again after the 2010 "shellacking," he explained his biggest failure was that he, in effect, hadn't sang "Fly Me To The Moon" louder and better with accompanying cowbell. In other words (heh), if only he gave people more Obama, everything would be better. It reminds me of the Campbell Scott character in Singles who thinks if he can just explain that his idea for commuter rail involves providing commuters a really, really good cup of coffee, everyone will understand the genius of his boondoggle.

Yes, I know Obama is trying to "trap" the GOP, and his advisers are moving little pewter toy-soldier versions of Boehner and Cantor on giant maps in the West Wing playroom. But at its core, last night's speech was built around the assumption that all that separates Obama from a second term and greatness is one more really good speech, when the truth is that all that separates Obama from a second term and greatness is Obama.

Why has Switzerland lasted so long?

2011-08-29T17:56:00.000-07:00

Switzerland from its founding has always relied on an armed citizenry for its security. Incubators of civic virtue, that's what militias are. Have you never read that Terrifying Second Amendment article I cite so often? How can a polity chock full to the brim with republican virtue fail? Answer: it can't.

The self-serving seeds of failure are weeded out because they can never be bothered to serve the state. The virtuous citizens who remain are exactly that: virtuous citizens
deserving of the franchise.

Read: David C. Williams, Civic Republicanism and the Citizen Militia: The
Terrifying Second Amendment, 101 Yale L.J. 551, 615 (1991)

-- P.G. Szczepanski

Military Retirement Sytem overhaul thoughts

2011-08-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

From Pete S.

That blog's discussion of the DBB as the "chuck a policy grenade then
throw myself on it to protect the rest of DoD while SECDEF, Congress and
veteran's groups hash out a deal [just as happened in the last two military
retirement reforms]" was very informative. Seems to me there are three
fundamental differences between military service and civilian jobs, even
including hero jobs like police and firemen:

1) War is a game for young men. I am in much better condition than most
48-year-olds and it is very, very hard for me to keep up with an infantry
squad even when I carry a pistol and each of them is burdened with a rifle
or SAW, a mortar round, a few grenades, belts of machinegun ammo, etc. A
military retirement system predicated on military service to normal
retirement ages [65] is a non-starter. As a corollary, a retirement system
that assumes the 20-year man gets a job when he retires makes sense. One
that assumes the 30-year-man, who is between 48 and 52 years old, gets a job
is also sensible, but note the 30-year man is in no position to fund his
401K to financial independence in the working time he has remaining. For
the older crowd, medical attrition and 'up or out' promotion boards start
eating onto our ranks such that we can't count on 30 years... most guys at
my level or higher have some kind of medical issue needing waiver [usually
gravy blood or blood pressure] and the selection rate for COL for line
officers is very, very low, let alone that to progress to flag rank.

2) the vast majority of Soldiers/sailors/airmen/Marines serve one tour
after high school and get out. They are not interested in retirement, they
are interested in service, adventure, learning a skill, maybe some college
money. TSP (Thrift Savings Plan) as it presently exists is the perfect
vehicle for them, especially the single ones who basically have nothing to
do with their pay beyond buying cool rides and electronic toys [ask me how I
know]. The people we need the retirement program for are the lifers, the
guys who stick around to become senior NCOs and officers. Retaining them is
absolutely critical on two levels:

a) they take decades to grow into battalion commanders/brigade and
division staff officers/generals/First Sergeants/Sergeants Major and those
people cannot, cannot be hired as mid-entry off the street. You can hire a
med-level specialty staff officer off the street- a personnel specialist, or
a logistician- but not your operations/tactical/plans S3 or G3 and
especially not the commanders, XOs, deputy commanders, chiefs of staff.
They have to have come up through the ranks to build the experience they
have to have. By the way- most of us are the very same high performers who
do well in- and could be making a lot more money for our families if we had-
civilian careers.

b) in the event of a major war [ie, China, Russia] we cannot have
enough of them as leaders for the mass Army. They take decades to grow at
BN level and higher and must be very, very sharp- and not in their 50s. Our
retirement system SHOULD penalize the officer or NCO who checks out at 8 or
12 or 14 years precisely because they are denying the Republic a potential
senior leader we may desperately need one day.

3) Every time a cop or fireman dies in the line of duty it's front-page news
by name, and their family kissed them goodbye when they went to work that
morning. Our wives spend years at a crack in dread of seeing two guys in
Class As on the doorstep.

So: the ideal retirement system would not penalize the one-term-and-out
crowd for their term of service, would entice NCOs and officers to stay in
for as long as they can hack it medically, physically and skill level, and
would compensate the survivors for the risk of death & maiming in the
Republic's service they endured. What the DPB has proposed here works for
the one-term personnel but fails the lifers at just about every level, and
fails to encourage potential senior leaders to stick with it.

Being a News Junkie is bad for you, and why...

2011-04-08T15:19:00.001-07:00

Great editorial on why being "hooked" on news is not far from the truth, ... a "MUST READ" for anyone who can't stand to not listen to the news for more than one day at a time.

It parallels my own thinking on the subject, and echoes what I see in many news junkies: hyped up opinions that are skewed in relation to reality, and causes them to think these factoids help them in some way, when they rarely do.

1. New misleads you systematically
2. News is irrelevant to your personal life
3. News limits your understanding
4. News is toxic to your body
5. News massively increases your cognitive errors
6. News inhibits your thinking
7. News changes the function of your brain
8. News is costly with your time
9. News breaks the relationship of achievement and reputation
10. News is produced by journalists

MLK Day - The Birmingham Jail Letter, a foundation of reason for the civil rights movment

2011-01-16T23:00:00.000-08:00

"Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's antireligious laws. " - MLK, Birmingham Jail Letter

Distorting the Truth About Crime (distorted by the NY Times)

2011-01-16T20:34:00.000-08:00

The New York Times’s front page story this week on the New York Police Department and its allegedly racist stop-and-frisk practices follows a well-worn template: give specific racial breakdowns for every aspect of police behavior, but refer to racial crime rates only in the most attenuated of terms. Disclosing crime rates—the proper benchmark against which police behavior must be measured—would demolish a cornerstone of the Times’s worldview: that the New York Police Department, like police departments across America, oppresses the city’s black population with unjustified racial tactics.

This week’s story, written by Al Baker, began with what the Times thinks is a shocking disparity: “Blacks and Latinos were nine times as likely as whites to be stopped by the police in New York City in 2009, but, once stopped, were no more likely to be arrested.” (The fact that blacks, Hispanics, and whites are arrested at the same rate after a stop undercuts, rather than supports, the thesis of racially biased policing, but more on that later.)

The Times’s story includes a graphic breakdown of police stops by race: blacks made up 55 percent of all stops in 2009, though they’re only 23 percent of the city’s population; whites accounted for 10 percent of all stops, though they’re 35 percent of the city’s population; Hispanics made up 32 percent of all stops, though 28 percent of the population, and Asians, 3 percent of all stops and 12 percent of the population. The article details a host of other police actions by specific racial numbers, including arrests, frisks, and use of force.

[....]

Here are the crime data that the Times doesn’t want its readers to know: blacks committed 66 percent of all violent crimes in the first half of 2009 (though they were only 55 percent of all stops and only 23 percent of the city’s population). Blacks committed 80 percent of all shootings in the first half of 2009. Together, blacks and Hispanics committed 98 percent of all shootings. Blacks committed nearly 70 percent of all robberies. Whites, by contrast, committed 5 percent of all violent crimes in the first half of 2009, though they are 35 percent of the city’s population (and were 10 percent of all stops). They committed 1.8 percent of all shootings and less than 5 percent of all robberies. The face of violent crime in New York, in other words, like in every other large American city, is almost exclusively black and brown. Any given violent crime is 13 times more likely to be committed by a black than by a white perpetrator—a fact that would have been useful to include in the Times’s lead, which stated that “Blacks and Latinos were nine times as likely as whites to be stopped.” These crime data are not some artifact that the police devise out of their skewed racial mindset. They are what the victims of those crimes—the vast majority of whom are minority themselves—report to the police.

You cannot properly analyze police behavior without analyzing crime. Crime is what drives NYPD tactics; it is the basis of everything the department does. And crime, as reported by victims and witnesses, sends police overwhelmingly to minority neighborhoods, because that’s where the vast majority of crime occurs—by minority criminals against minority victims.

The Times’s analysis, by contrast, which follows in lock step with the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights, assumes that policing should mirror census data. The only numerical benchmark that the Times provides for the NYPD’s stop data is the city’s population ratios. According to this analysis, since whites are 35 percent of the city’s population, they should be 35 percent of police stops, even though they commit only 5 percent of all violent crimes. But using census data as a benchmark for policing is as nonsensical as it would be to use census data for fire department activity. If a particular census tract has a disproportionate number of fires, and another census tract has none, no one expects the FDNY to send out fire trucks to non-existent fires in the fire-free census tract just for the sake of equal representation.

Property Taxes: holdover from Feudal Lords of Britain

2010-11-10T19:10:00.000-08:00

Property taxes are merely feudal dues under a new name. During the feudal era, a serf owed payment in kind to the feudal lord. The payment was actually a function of the place where the serf lived. Cottage A had certain rights attached to it, such as the right to let 2 cows graze on the commons, and the right to have a garden of 1 acre. That serf would then have to pay the feudal lord with a certain amount of milk, butter, cheese, and vegetables each year. Cottage B came with the right to snare rabbits in the woods, and a 1/2 acre garden. That serf would pay the feudal lord a specified quantity of rabbit meat and vegetables. Cottage C had ... you get the picture. Each cottage came with a set of entitlements and a set of feudal dues.

As long as the serf paid the feudal dues to the feudal lord, the serf could continue to live in the cottage. If the serf did not pay the feudal dues, the feudal lord would kick out the serf and his family, and put in someone else, who now took over those feudal dues.

In that sense, American property taxes are nothing other than a feudal holdover -- just as so much related to American government is a holdover from the feudal British state. The U.S. has 2 houses, a powerful executive, and a judiciary because feudal Britain had 2 houses, a powerful executive, and a judiciary. The U.S. believed in a strong navy but no standing army because the feudal British believed in a strong navy but no standing army. The U.S. generated revenue from tolls and whiskey tariffs because the British feudal generated revenue from tolls and whiskey tariffs. The U.S. has property taxes because the feudal British had feudal dues.

The entire idea of your taxes -- your feudal dues -- somehow enriching you is mere democratic apologetics. Feudal kings and parliaments made few such claims. Kings saw it as the divine right of kings that the serfs and lower nobles should support the crown. Nobles saw it as the natural order that peasants and serfs should support their betters. It was only with the expansion of democracy -- allegedly rule by the people -- that pro-government activists needed to start justifying taxation.

The idea that you should pay taxes because you are better off if your neighbor's kid has an education is specious. You are also better off if your neighbor wears clean socks, because that reduces foot-borne disease; should we add a special broad tax so as to subsidize the purchase and wearing of socks? The logic of broad taxation to subsidize socks for the greater good is identical to the logic of broad taxation to subsidize government (a.k.a., public) education, but I don't hear great call for the sock subsidy.

Income taxes grew out of medieval traveling merchant caravans. The kings and nobles generated their wealth by taxing their peasants via their cottages and entitlements, but the traveling merchant caravans, usually conducted by foreigners, paid no such taxes because they did not live in the tied cottages. Kings and nobles, like any government, demanded that the foreigners pay their fair share.

In reality, these were extortion payments. Merchants who traveled in caravans were generally heavily armed and prepared to fight off brigands and bandits, but they were usually not strong enough to fight off the kings and feudal lords and their armies. Merchant caravans either paid dues to the nobles through whose lands they traveled, or they had to do battle with those nobles. If the nobles won, the nobles would seize the property of the merchant caravan, and then there would be no more trade in the region for many years. These nobles are the source of the term "Robber Barons," so denigrated in the U.S. as a euphemism for capitalists and traders. It is an odd irony of history that the actual robber barons -- real barons who were real robbers -- were attacking the capitalists and traders, and now it is the capitalists and traders who are called robber barons. This twist of language is nearly as bad as the twist that turned liberals from people who preferred individuality and freedom (the historical meaning) to the modern American meaning of soft socialist -- the exact opposite of this historical meaning.

So the income taxes were really a way to tax the merchants who had income, in addition to taxing the peasants, who lived on real property. The kings provided no actual service to the traveling merchants except for a promise not to attack them.

Hence, income taxes were no WW I temporary innovation in Britain. Income taxes had been around for hundreds of years in the form of dues paid by traveling merchants, who were the only people who had an actual income.

In the U.S., the Republicans had been clamoring for income taxes for many years. The Republicans wanted an income tax because they intended to abolish alcohol, and the alcohol tariff was the main source of revenue for the federal government even into the early 20th century. They could not abolish alcohol until they had replaced the revenue, which is why the GOP was pro-income tax.

It also explains some about how Prohibition came about, and why it was repealed. Once the federal personal income tax was fully in place, the Republicans were able to push through Prohibition since they no longer needed the revenue for the federal government. However, when the Depression came along, the federal personal income tax receipts substantially dried up (hah, I'm so punny!), and the feds needed the revenue from alcohol once again. Rather than consume resources fighting alcohol during the Great Depression, the federal government saw an opportunity to re-legalize it and cash in! Had the Great Depression not occurred, Prohibition would likely have remained in place for a long time.

Scott

Proposed Constitutional Amendments

2010-09-03T20:54:00.000-07:00

Proposed 28th Amendment: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States".

I'd also like to propose the 29th Amendment (actually a refinement of the 10th amendment), should be that the Federal government cannot impose laws upon the states that are not fully funded from the Federal government treasury... this would put a stop to the "unfunded mandates" that Washington throws out willy-nilly, putting state budgets in the red repeatedly.

I would propose that the 30th Amendment should be that a baby born on United States sovereign soil is not AUTOMATICALLY a United States citizen... the baby must have one parent a U.S. citizen already.

My proposed 31st Amendment should be the repeal of the 17th Amendment, and go back to Senators being appointed by State legislatures (as our founding father's wisdom had originally dictated in the original constitution)... to do the STATES business, not to further the Federal government's purposes, as they do now. That was the original intent: Congressmen directly elected by the people, and Senators appointed by the State legislatures. Now the Congress and the Senate basically have the same interests (Federal) and have lost all balance of Federal vs. State governments...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

We are still a Federal Republic of STATES, each with their own independent will and laws, and we all need to remind Washington D.C. of this from time-to-time...!

Any of your own?

Turning the Tide

2010-07-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

Subject: Turning the Tide ~ You must hear this message, about our country's future.

Click on the title to be taken to the video.

Hopefully, we will start hearing more messages like this one from our pulpits. It's a start!

Declaration of Independence

2010-07-04T17:07:00.000-07:00

A great read, everytime. Such use of logic and language, and those values still hold today: "in War enemies, in Peace friends".

We bear no grudge against any nation we have fought and bested, we even pay for reparations without asking for war monies ourselves. We are no empire, and our Army does not salt the earth of our defeated enemies. We build schools, water wells, hospitals, power plants, roads... Our Army may come, but we come to establish peace and justice.

Thomas Jefferson reading the Declaration of Independence

George Washington will mess you up!

2010-07-01T06:35:00.001-07:00

Wait for it..... (!)

Economic Myths...

2010-06-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

The Daily Crux Sunday Edition
These popular myths are bringing the
U.S. to its knees...
By David Galland, Managing Director, Casey Research

Scanning through a local newspaper this week, I came across a letter to the editor that speaks volumes about the popular misconceptions that are dragging this country, and the world, to its knees.

The letter writer, a retired public school teacher, unleashed a litany of solutions for making America's children better citizens. Summarizing his list (the exclamation points are his, too):

* Give parents a livable wage!
* Provide excellent subsidized childcare!
* Guarantee parental leave with full pay and wage protection.
* Institute a single-payer health care system.

Regrettably, the gentleman's perfect-world vision of how things should work is not his alone, but is widely shared. Unfortunately for him and his demanding ilk, it is a vision now made obsolete by the facts on the ground.

Simply, the nation – and most of the so-called developed world – is broke. As is the model that these modern-day economies have been built on – a model that foolishly assumed that politicians could be trusted to manage a currency in a responsible fashion.

Consider, in the 1940s central bank reserves were 70% gold. Today, official reserves are only about 10% gold, even though the price of gold is far higher. The balance of those reserves, for all intents and purposes, is nothing more than IOUs.

Out of a justifiable fear of being repetitious, I'm not going to belabor the point. But I am going to comment that it's time for people to grow up… to get real about the situation we are in.

To believe that a government that produces nothing can paper over every crisis, as well as provide succor and sustenance to meet every human desire, and can do so infinitely and without a serious consequence, is to believe in tooth fairies and magical beasts that dance through distant woods.

Even so, like the letter writer, there is still a large block of Americans who persist in believing in such a fantastical world – a world where government's largess should be extended even further. From this crowd you would get rousing cheers to the suggestion that the state should also provide a free and top-notch education to all, quality foodstuffs for both the domestic and foreign needy, high-quality computers (and free Internet connectivity) to every young student, housing subsidies, and open-ended unemployment benefits. And that's just the short-list.

Back in the real world, the declarative statement "I want" has to now be followed with "and here's how I'll be able to save up for it." That's because even a casual glance at the nation's finances confirms that the government's fiscal, monetary, and social policies have been an abject failure… an unmitigated disaster.

While I could illustrate that contention with enough citations to fill a large book, in the interest of brevity I'll point only to an excerpt from a Globe & Mail article on the dire state of California's finances, a fast-moving crisis that can be considered the off-Broadway version of the larger drama now playing out in these United States…

California on 'verge of system failure'

Los Angeles — Arnella Sims has seen a lot in her 34 years as a Los Angeles County court reporter, but nothing like this.

Case files piling up by the thousands, phones ringing off the hook, forced midweek courthouse closings and occasional brawls as frustrated citizens queue for hours to pay parking fines.

"People think we're becoming a Third World country," said Ms. Sims, 55. "They don't understand."

It's a story that's being repeated all across California – and throughout the United States – as cash-strapped state and local governments grapple with collapsed tax revenues and swelling budget gaps. Mass layoffs, slashed health and welfare services, closed parks, crumbling superhighways and ever-larger public school class sizes are all part of the new normal.

California's fiscal hole is now so large that the state would have to liberate 168,000 prison inmates and permanently shutter 240 university and community college campuses to balance its budget in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Think of California as Greece on the Pacific: bankrupt and desperately needing a bailout.

"We are on the verge of system failure," warned Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project, an independent think tank based in Sacramento.

None of this would matter much to anyone outside the not-so-Golden State except that California's budget crisis is a harbinger of a grim dilemma that all Americans will soon confront. The country has built an elaborate and costly government machine, tied to a regressive tax system that can't generate enough revenue to pay for it all.

The Biggest Threat to America... and no, it's not Obama...it's US.

2010-06-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

Dennis Prager Q & A At University of Denver.

Video Poster's Note: To see what Dennis means when he says The American Trinity", go to http://www.prageru.com/ and click on "The American Trinity" for a 5 minute video explanation by Dennis. Also, there is another 37 minute speech by Dennis Prager about America's exceptionalism and uniqueness at http://www.idezignmedia.com/constitution/index.html... near the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

Back on Uncle Sam's Plantation.

2010-06-06T18:16:00.000-07:00

Back on Uncle Sam's plantation

Star Parker - Syndicated Columnist

Six years ago I wrote a book called Uncle Sam's Plantation ..
I wrote the book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the
welfare state and my own transformation out of it.

I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas -- a poor America
on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism.

I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS),
Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8
Housing, and Food Stamps. A vast sea of perhaps well-intentioned government
programs, all initially set into motion in the 1960s by Democrats, that
were going to lift the nation's poor out of poverty.

A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the
government plantation. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets
from "How do I take care of myself?" to "What do I have to do to stay on
the plantation?"

Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created
monstrous moral and spiritual problems -- the kind of problems that are
inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to
others.

The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities,
dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families.

Through God's grace, I found my way out It was then that I understood
what freedom meant and how great this country is.

I had the privilege of working on welfare reform in 1996 which was passed
by a Republican controlled Congress

I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of our poor black
communities and replacing it with wealth-producing American capitalism.
But, incredibly, we are now going in the opposite direction.

Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich American on
capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on
socialism. Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they
have said, "Thank you, Suh."

Now, instead of thinking about what creative things need to be done to
serve customers, they are thinking about what they have to tell Massah in
order to get their cash.

There is some kind of irony that this is all happening under our first
black president on the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Abraham
Lincoln.

Worse, socialism seems to be the element of our new young president. And
maybe even more troubling, our corporate executives seem happy to move onto
the plantation.

In an op-Ed on the opinion page of the Washington Post, Mr.
Obama is clear that the goal of his trillion dollar spending plan is much
more than short term economic stimulus. "This plan is more than a
prescription for short-term spending -- it's a strategy for America's
long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy,
healthcare, and education."

Perhaps more incredibly, Obama seems to think that government taking over
an economy is a new idea. Or that massive growth in government can take
place "with unprecedented transparency and accountability."

Yes, sir, we heard it from Jimmy Carter when he created the Department of
Energy, the Synfuels Corporation, and the Department of Education.

Or how about the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 -- The War on Poverty --
which President Johnson said "...does not merely expand old programs or
improve what is already being done. It charts a new course. It strikes at
the causes, not just the consequences of poverty."

Trillions of dollars later, black poverty is the same. But black families
are not, with triple the incidence of single-parent homes and
out-of-wedlock births.

It's not complicated. Americans can accept Barack Obama's invitation to
move onto the plantation. Or they can choose personal responsibility and
freedom. Does anyone really need to think about what the choice should be?

"The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other
people's money."

Honor Will Crown Every Defender of Liberty

2010-05-29T22:40:00.000-07:00

In a 1775 article in the New England Chronicle, the author "A. Freeman" wrote to those soldiers poised to fight for our independence, which was distributed to the troops, still applies today (full text at the link):

"Your exertions in the cause of freedom, guided by wisdom and animated by zeal and courage, have gained you the love and confidence of your grateful countrymen; and they look to you, who are experienced veterans, and trust that you will still be the guardians of America.

As I have the honor to be an American, and one among the free millions, who are defended by your valor, I would pay the tribute of thanks, and express my gratitude.... Never was a cause more important or glorious than that which you are engaged in.

For if tyranny should prevail in this great country, we may expect liberty to expire throughout the world. He that is a soldier in defense of such a cause, needs no title; his post is a post of honor, and although not an emperor, yet he shall wear a crown -- of glory -- and blessed will be his memory!"

Summer attack on Israel planned?

2010-05-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

Gen. Paul Vallely speaks to PJTV exclusively and reveals how Iranian submarines are now equipping Israel's enemies with Scud missiles armed warheads filled with chemical weapons. Watch and comment here: http://pjtv.com/v/3505

Making Nuclear Energy "Green" --

2010-03-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

How do you make more nuclear reactors, and make them safely and in numbers rapidly enough to solve our oil/fossil-fuel addiction: mass production. And no plutonium required.

Anthropogenic Global Warming is a Farce: leftist Alexander Cockburn sees the lies

2009-12-26T17:57:00.000-08:00

December 24, 2009
Anthropogenic Global Warming is a Farce
By Alexander Cockburn

The global warming jamboree in Copenhagen was surely the most outlandish foray into intellectual fantasizing since the fourth-century Christian bishops assembled in 325 AD for the Council of Nicaea to debate whether God the Father was supreme or had to share equal status in the pecking order of eternity with his Son and the Holy Ghost.

Shortly before the Copenhagen summit, the proponents of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) were embarrassed by a whistleblower who put on the Web more than a thousand e-mails either sent from or received at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, headed by Dr. Phil Jones. The CRU was founded in 1971 with funding from sources including Shell and British Petroleum. It became one of the climate-modeling grant mills supplying tainted data from which the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concocted its reports.

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environment global warming

Deceitful manipulation of data, concealment or straightforward destruction of inconvenient evidence, vindictive conspiracies to silence critics, are par for the course in all scientific debate. But in displaying all these characteristics, the CRU e-mails graphically undermine the claim of the Warmers that they command the moral as well as scientific high ground. It has been a standard ploy of the Warmers to revile the skeptics as whores of the energy industry, swaddled in munificent grants and with large personal stakes in discrediting AGW. Actually, the precise opposite is true. Billions in funding and research grants sluice into the big climate-modeling enterprises and a vast archipelago of research departments and "institutes of climate change" across academia. It's where the money is. Skepticism, particularly for a young climatologist or atmospheric physicist, can be a career breaker.

Many of the landmines in the CRU e-mails tend to buttress longstanding charges by skeptics (yours truly included) that statistical chicanery by professor Michael Mann and others occluded the highly inconvenient Medieval Warm Period, running from 800 to 1300 AD, with temperatures in excess of the highest we saw in the 20th century, a historical fact that makes nonsense of the thesis that global warming could be attributed to the auto-industrial civilization of the 20th century. Here's Keith Briffa, of the CRU, letting his hair down in an e-mail Sept. 22, 1999: "I know there is pressure to present a nice tidy story as regards 'apparent unprecedented warming in a thousand years or more in the proxy data' but in reality the situation is not quite so simple. ... I believe that the recent warmth was probably matched about 1000 years ago."

Now, in the fall of 1999, the IPCC was squaring up to its all-important "Summary for Policymakers" - essentially a press release, one that eventually featured the notorious graph flatlining into nonexistence the Medieval Warm Period and displaying a terrifying, supposedly unprecedented surge in 20th-century temperatures.

Briffa's reconstruction of temperature changes, one showing a mid- to late-20th-century decline, was regarded by Mann, in a Sept. 22, 1999, e-mail to the CRU, as a "problem and a potential distraction/detraction." So Mann, a lead author on this chapter of the IPCC report, simply deleted the embarrassing post-1960 portion of Briffa's reconstruction. The CRU's Jones happily applauded Mann's deceptions in an e-mail in which he crowed over "Mike's Nature trick."

Other landmines include e-mails from Kevin Trenberth, the head of the Climate Analysis Section of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. On Oct. 14, he wrote to the CRU's Tom Wigley: "How come you do not agree with a statement that says we are no where close to knowing where energy is going or whether clouds are changing to make the planet brighter. We are not close to balancing the energy budget. The fact that we can not account for what is happening in the climate system makes any consideration of geo-engineering quite hopeless as we will never be able to tell if it is successful or not! It is a travesty!"

Only a few weeks before Copenhagen, here is a scientist in the inner AGW circle disclosing that "we are no where close to knowing" how the supposedly proven AGW warming model might actually work, and that therefore geoengineering - such as carbon mitigation - is "hopeless."

This admission edges close to acknowledgment of a huge core problem: that "greenhouse" theory violates the second law of thermodynamics, which says that a cooler body cannot warm a hotter body without compensation. Greenhouse gases in the cold upper atmosphere cannot possibly transfer heat to the warmer earth, and in fact radiate their absorbed heat into outer space. (Readers interested in the science can read Gerhard Gerlich and Ralf Tscheuschner's "Falsification of the Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects Within the Frame of Physics," updated in January 2009.)

Recent data from many monitors including the CRU, available on climate4you.com, show that the average temperature of the atmosphere and the oceans near the surface of the earth has decreased significantly across the past eight years or so. CO2 is a benign gas essential to life, occurring in past eras at five times present levels. Changes in atmospheric CO2 do not correlate with human emissions of CO2, the latter being entirely trivial in the global balance.

The battles in Nicaea in 325 were faith based, with no relation to science or reason. So were the premises of the Copenhagen summit, that the planet faces catastrophic warming caused by manmade CO2 buildup, and that human intervention - geoengineering - could avert the coming disaster. Properly speaking, it's a farce. In terms of distraction from cleaning up the pollutants that are actually killing people, it's a terrible tragedy.

Copyright 2009 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Greed...and capitalism

2009-12-22T23:55:00.001-08:00

Milton Friedman gives his apologesis on capitalism to Phil Donahue... KA POW!

The whole hour begins here (in five parts):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1lWk4TCe4U&feature=related

He starts off with stating that the Great Depression was a product of the Federal Reserve, and gets better from there...going on to talk about the bail-out of Chrysler... Don't we ever learn????

Meet the Man Who Could End Global Warming

2009-11-18T02:47:00.000-08:00

Nuclear power — dangerous, right? And there's nowhere to put the nuclear waste, right? Eric Loewen is the evangelist of the sodium fast reactor, which burns nuclear waste, emits no CO2, and might just save the world.

World-wide government corruption index... where to live next?

2009-11-17T19:48:00.000-08:00

Looks like New Zealand is the winner again... Hmmm, when the USA goes commie/socialist instead of capitalist, then New Zealand may be the place to retreat.

Screw Loose Change

2009-10-18T07:17:00.003-07:00

Fighting the 9/11 conspiracy idiots out there... one fact at a time.

Future Prospects for Economic Liberty

2009-10-16T22:18:00.001-07:00

WALTER WILLIAMS is the John M. Olin distinguished professor of economics at George Mason University. He holds a B.A. from California State University at Los Angeles and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in economics from UCLA. He has received numerous fellowships and awards, including a Hoover Institution National Fellowship and the Valley Forge Freedoms Foundation George Washington Medal of Honor. A nationally syndicated columnist, his articles and essays have appeared in publications such as Economic Inquiry, American Economic Review, National Review, Reader's Digest, Policy Review and Newsweek. Dr. Williams has authored six books, including The State Against Blacks (later made into a PBS documentary entitled Good Intentions) and Liberty Versus the Tyranny of Socialism.

The text in the link is adapted from a lecture delivered on August 2, 2009, during a Hillsdale College cruise from Venice to Athens aboard the Crystal Serenity.

50:50 chance to save the planet from Global Warming?

2009-10-08T22:36:00.000-07:00

Sounds like a $100 Trillion roulette wheel spin for a 50:50 "chance" of reducing global warming over the next 100 years. This is like spending money on keeping volcanoes from erupting or tectonic plates from moving and wreaking human devastation.

The sooner man realizes he cannot change the forces of nature, and learns to build and live in harmony with the changes, the better off we'll be as a whole.

Better to spend much of that money on technologies to ADAPT to the natural changes, not in a gamble to stop it. And some of that money should be put to underwriting low CO2 energy production, not to slow global warming, per se, but because of reduced pollution to our health and reduced foreign energy dependence and the subsequent wars (and death) that ensues from that.

That doesn't mean we can't enact policies for fair and clean energy usage, and to be smart about progressive use of electric vehicles, solar/wind/nuclear energy... we should do these things because it is a good thing to not be dependent on foreign energy sources, not because of some remote causality to a recent uptick in temperatures.

But, our nation, nor any nation, should sacrifice the lives and money and productivity of it's people for something that still remains to be proven whether it's man-made or just a micro-cycle of temperatures, sun spot activity, etc.

Yes, there is no doubt that there has been a micro-rise in temps. BUT, when aggregated into 500 million years of CO2 and temperature data, it's a "blip" on the graph. Looking for these small year-to-year movements is not much different (or foolish) than a long-term investor looking at the minute-to-minute variance in the stock market to make stock investment decisions.

The economic risk just as high for over-monitoring annual global temps and making investment decisions on national infrastructure in this manner. Just like the day-trader, we're bound to lose this "investment" after we put in trillions of tax-payer dollars (to which "Fat cats"?), and realize we got nothing in return but unemployment, recession, wars and more powerful governments over the masses.

Chaos theory explains the stock market and global warming... and human input into the temperature variations is hard to prove a signficant causal factor (correlation, yes, but causal? Probably not with so much other larger causes and variations in the past).

See wikipedia for uptrend in solar proxies and sunspot activity over past 400 years, with correlation to global temperatures.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Solar-cycle-data.png

Graphs (note: most recent years to left, older to right):

Global temperatures over the past 546 million years:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phanerozoic_Climate_Change.png

Global temps from 500M years ago, inclucing recent temps and trends/spikes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:All_palaeotemps.png

High CO2 levels and cyclical elevated CO2 over the past 400,000 years:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vostok-ice-core-petit.png

CO2 levels over the past 500 million years:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phanerozoic_Carbon_Dioxide.png

It's hard enough without the original climate data begin deliberately destroyed or "lost" so there can be no peer review of the original data:
http://article.nationalreview.com

Top 10 Tips for Saving Money and Investing Wisely

2009-10-02T00:13:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Tips for Saving Money and Investing Wisely

By Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach

In these tough economic times, we all need to think about how to save more, or earn more from our hard-earned dollars.

Granted, it’s not always easy to save — especially if you’ve never been taught how to do so. It can also be difficult to sock away money for the future when you’re concerned with paying this month’s bills. Still, everyone can benefit from stashing away a little extra cash. Here are 10 tips on how to do just that — painlessly and without needing to have an MBA in finance.

Tip#1: Just Ask

I’m always amazed at how readily people automatically whip out their wallets – or their credit cards – to get a product or service they want, without thinking at all about whether they can get want they want cheaper, or maybe even free. To make saving money a way of life, remember the phrase: “Just Ask!” For starters, ask yourself three questions:

* Can I get it free?
* Can I get it for less?
* Can I get it in exchange for something else?

Believe it or not, we’re quickly moving toward a free nation: free music downloads, free news and information, free offers for everything from cosmetics and luxury goods to legal aid and complimentary meals.

If something you want isn’t available free, that doesn’t mean you can’t get it for less than the full asking price. Just be prepared to negotiate – in a nice way, of course. Most people think the price tag they see advertised is “written in stone.” The truth is that you can negotiate nearly everything – from clothes in a department store to medical bills. Ask for a discount if you pay cash. Always ask “is that the best price you can offer?” And don’t be afraid to let retailers know that you’re looking for a deal. There’s no shame in asking: “Will this item be going on sale soon?" If the answer is “Yes,” wait to buy it until the sale occurs.

Can’t find a freebie or a discount? Then it might be time to barter. Instead of paying for goods and services, offer to exchange your talent (maybe it’s cooking, dentistry, braiding hair, teaching piano or whatever) to others. Even if you can’t offer a service, you may have something of value to barter. That’s the whole idea behind the increasingly popular home exchange services, for instance, where you get to swap homes with someone in a far-flung country (free of charge), in exchange for letting them temporarily reside at your place.

Tip #2: Embrace (Don’t Hate!) Being a Budget

Thanks to the recession, more Americans are finally getting back to the financial basics – including doing something that most individuals dread: budgeting. If you don’t yet have a budget, or if your current budget is constantly out of whack, take heart in knowing that you’re not alone. In fact, 70% of all Americans don’t have a working budget. Perhaps that’s not so surprising considering most of us didn’t learn how to budget at home or in school. Be honest: When you think about being “on a budget” do you inwardly loathe the idea, wishing instead you had so much money that you could spend on anything you want? Or do you automatically assume that having a budget means drastically changing your lifestyle, because there will be a lot of things you can’t buy, do, or have? If so, you must banish those negative thoughts and misconceptions. First of all, even millionaires have budgets.

Realize also that creating a budget – and living with it – doesn’t have to be so restrictive. Nor does it mean a complete end to all spending or having fun. In fact, a well-prepared budget will have certain “treats” built into it. And it’s precisely these “treats” – certain rewards that you give yourself every month – that will help you stick to your budget. Think about a budget as your own personal “Spending Plan”. With a “Spending Plan,” you establish priorities about what to do with your money – and what not to do with it. In other words, with a “Spending Plan” you’ll no longer be making an endless series of impulse purchases (both large and small). Instead, you’ll finally control your money, instead of letting your money control you.

Besides giving you power and control over your finances, and helping you save money, a skillfully crafted budget:

* Keeps you from living paycheck to paycheck
* Allows you to save for future goals and dreams
* Helps you avoid going into debt
* Reduces the stress and worry about paying for bills

When you look at these benefits of having a budget, or a “Spending Plan,” it’s clear that you should embrace the concept, not fret over it.

Tip #3: Boost Your Credit – and Earn $1 Million

In one of my books, The Money Coach’s Guide to Your First Million, I explained how having great credit can help you save or earn over $1 million in your lifetime. How so? People with perfect credit get the best interest rates and terms on everything from business loans and student loans to credit cards and mortgages. They also land better-paying jobs and more frequent promotions. Moreover, they save money on a host of financial products that are tied to your credit score – such as life insurance and auto insurance.

Anyone living in today’s society knows that it can be a drag to be turned down for credit – or even denied a job just because you have bad credit. So what should you do? Learn how to boost your credit standing by knowing the ins and outs of how your score is determined by Fair Isaac Corp., the company that calculates your FICO credit score.

(Get your FICO score at www.myfico.com). FICO credit scores range from 300 to 850 points; the higher your score the better. You’ve got “Perfect Credit” if your score is is 760 or higher. Under Fair Isaac’s credit scoring model, your FICO credit score is based on five primary factors:

* 35% of your score is based on your payment history
* 30% of your score is based on the amount of credit you have used
* 15% of your score is based on the length of your credit history
* 10% of your score is based on your mix of credit; and
* 10% of your score is based on inquiries and the new credit you’ve taken on

Knowing these facts, here are some guidelines to help you maximize your credit score.

* Pay Your Bills on Time
Even if you can only make minimum payments, that’s better than being late with a bill because late payments of 30 days or more can drop your FICO score by 50 points or more.
* Don’t Max Out Your Credit Cards
In general, try to keep your balances to no more than 30% of your available credit limit. For instance, if you have a card with a $10,000 credit line, make sure you don’t carry a balance of more than $3,000 on that card. If you can pay off your credit cards each month, that’s even better. But if you can’t, it’s better to spread out debt over a few cards, to maintain lower balances, rather than max out any one card.
* Keep Older, Established Accounts Open
It feels good to pay off a credit card and finally get that statement showing a zero balance. However, if you pay off a creditor, don’t make the mistake of closing that account because 15% of your FICO score is based on the length of your credit history. The longer a credit history you have, the better it is for your score.
* Avoid “Bad” Forms of Credit
I’m sure you’ve walked into a department store and been offered 10% off - or some other discount - just for opening up a credit card with that retailer, right? Did you take the bait? If so, realize that you might have hurt your credit score. Here’s why. The FICO scoring model rates some forms of credit more favorably than others. For instance, the presence of a mortgage on your credit report will help your score, but too many consumer finance cards (i.e., the cards issued by department stores and retailers) can hurt it. For this reason, do yourself a favor and say “No” to those credit card offers from stores you patronize. Just use a major credit card - like a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover Card - if you need to use credit to make your purchases.
* Only Apply for Credit When You Truly Need It
Just because you get a pre-approved offer in the mail, or some telemarketer calls you to solicit for a credit card, doesn’t mean you should accept it. You should only seek out credit when you absolutely need it because taking on too much new credit - or even just applying for it - will lower your credit score. Each time you apply for a loan - whether a credit card, an auto loan, a mortgage, or a student loan - the lender pulls your credit report and generates an “inquiry” on your credit file. That inquiry remains there for two years.

And a single inquiry can lower your FICO score by up as much as 35 points.

Tip #4: Go Ahead and Shop – Just Don’t Forget To Take These Three Things

People who are watching their wallets should always go shopping with three things: a budget, a buddy, and a stopwatch. The budget is your pre-determined amount of how much you can afford to spend in cash. If you do use credit, set a maximum that you can pay off in two or three month’s time maximum. Your buddy’s job is to keep you accountable. She’s the girlfriend who’s going to go with you – to that boutique you love, to the mall, or wherever – and remind you not to overspend and go into debt. It’s also her role to get you out of the stores once you’ve hit your limit. And here’s where the last “must take” shopping item comes into play.

You can do a lot of damage to your wallet and to your credit cards by spending hours upon hours in the mall or shopping all day long. Instead, trying setting a time limit on your shopping excursions. A good way to do it is to use a ticking stop watch - or any kind of device with a bell, timer, beeper, or ring tone - that you can set for a fixed, brief period of time. A good time limit is 1 hour; 2 hours maximum. You can set your stop watch so that it “rings” in one hour, and then you have a verbal/auditory reminder that it’s time to put and end to the shopping for the day.

Tip #5: Turbo-Charge Your Savings

You’ve probably heard of employers that offer a matching contribution when you put money into a 401(l) retirement savings plan at work. Well, a 401(k) isn’t the only way to turbo-charge your savings. You can also get a matching contribution for your savings by opening an Individual Development Account, or IDA.

People who are low to moderate income earners are eligible to sock away money in an IDA, which is a savings account designed to help people develop fiscal discipline and reach goals, like saving for college, buying a home, starting a business, or paying for retirement. (And don’t be fooled by that term “low income.” Millions of individuals and families - even white collar workers -- will be considered “low income” because they recently lost a job, took a pay cut or have had their work hours reduced).

These IDAs also turbo-charge your savings, because with an IDA, for every dollar you save, you get a $2 or $3 matching contribution. That’s like getting a 200% or 300% return on your money - risk free! What’s the catch? With most IDAs you have to agree to save for a set period of time, at least 1-year. Some require 5 years of savings or more. But let’s say you can afford to sock away $200 a month. At the end of the year, that’s $2,400. With an IDA that has a $2 to $1 match, you’ll get an additional $4,800 put into your account. The money comes - no strings attached - from corporations, government agencies, and non-profits. You can locate an IDA in your area by visiting: www.idanetwork.org.

Tip #6: Don’t Invest In the Stock Market Prematurely

At my financial workshops, or via email, I sometimes get people questions from people wanting to know where they should invest $5,000 or some other chunk of money they have burning a hole in their pocket. All too often, these people haven’t even taken care of the financial basics: like paying off credit card debt, establishing at least a 3-month cash cushion, purchasing life insurance and disability protection, and drawing up a will. Until you’ve handled these five financial basics, you’re not yet ready to risk money on Wall Street. Let’s say your buy $1,000 worth of stock and then three months later your have a financial emergency of some sort. With no “rainy day” fund, you’ll be forced to sell your stocks to raise cash. Under this scenario, you’ll be paying higher taxes, since you owned the stock for less than one year, and depending on the stock’s performance, you might also have to sell at a loss.

Tip #7: Focus on the Process of Investing – not Products

If you’ve ever read a financial magazine, you’ve undoubtedly seen headlines like “The Best Mutual Funds You Can Buy” or “The 10 Stocks You Must Own Now!” These kinds of stories cause many to focus on the wrong thing when it comes to investing. To become a successful investor, don’t obsess over products – i.e. which is the so-called best stock, bond or mutual fund. Instead focus on the process of investing. You’ll reap your riches in due time if you can master the five-phase process of investing:

* Strategizing to meet your own personal goals and needs
* Buying the right investments for the right reason at the right price
* Holding and monitoring the investments in your portfolio
* Selling investments at the right time, for the right reason, in a tax-efficient way; and
* Picking proper financial advisors for help

Tip #8: Avoid Get Rich Quick Schemes and Fads

When you are ready to invest, do yourself a favor and stick to tried and true investments, like stocks, bonds or mutual funds. Save money by not wasting it on get-rich quick schemes and fads. Even steer clear of constantly playing the lottery as so many people do – with dreams of getting a big payout.

Consider the story of Jack Whittaker, a West Virginia businessman who became famous when, on Christmas Day 2002, he won $315 million in the multi-state Powerball lottery. At the time, it was the largest jackpot ever won by a single winning ticket in U.S. history. Sadly, Whittaker’s life has taken a major downturn since his big “win.” He has had numerous legal problems and family tragedies, and much of his fortune is gone. Among his family woes: his only granddaughter, Brandi, was found dead of a drug overdose at age 17. She had reportedly been receiving $2,100 a week allowance from her grandfather. Also, in May 2005, Whittaker’s wife, Jewel, filed for divorce after more than 40 years of marriage. She said winning the lottery was “the worst thing that ever happened” to the couple. The lesson: don’t rely on the lottery or other such schemes as your pathway to wealth.

Tip #9: Don’t Bet the Farm

Overconfidence can be the death knell to your investment strategy. No matter whether you’re investing in the stock market, or in a new business venture, it’s always a bad idea to put all your eggs in one basket and to risk everything. Smart entrepreneurs and smart investors don’t “roll the dice” and risk everything. They take risks - but they’re calculated risks. Don’t gamble it all: 100% of your savings, your credit, putting your home up, etc. in the hopes that you’ll create a successful business or that one investment will pay off in spades. Instead, be willing to invest in your business, or in a company that you’ve researched, but don’t do so foolishly, at the expense of everything else.

Tip #10: Select a Good Financial Team

Unfortunately, the recent rash of financial scams reminds us all that you can do practically everything right – including working hard, saving and investing your whole life – and still wind up penniless if you don’t have trustworthy financial advisors in your corner. Consider what happened to the victims of Bernard Madoff – who created the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history and was recently sentenced to 150 years in prison for his misdeeds. As an investor, you’ve got to do your homework to stay away from the “ins” and the “uns”

* the inexperienced
* the incompetent
* the unprofessional
* the unskilled
* the unscrupulous

To find a reputable investment advisor, start by using the BrokerCheck service of FINRA, the consumer protection agency also known as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Reach FINRA at www.finra.org or by calling 800-289-9999. They’ll give you background information on any broker or brokerage firm you’re thinking about doing business with. FINRA can even tell you if a broker or investment advisor has ever been sanctioned or fined by securities regulators. These are obvious red flags. Also get references and check them, and insist on getting Parts 1 and 2 of your advisor’s ADV form. An ADV form will disclose whether an investment advisor went to school, how much professional experience they have, and whether they’ve had an negative disciplinary history from state or federal regulators. In addition to a broker or investment advisor, having a qualified accountant and a good certified financial planner, can help you reach your financial goals.

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach®, is a personal finance expert, television and radio personality, and the author of numerous books, including the New York Times bestseller “Zero Debt: The Ultimate Guide to Financial Freedom”. She has appeared on such national TV programs as “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, “Dr. Phil”, “The Tyra Banks Show” and “Good Morning America”. She has been featured in the “Washington Post”, “USA Today”, and the “New York Times”, and can frequently be seen as a guest commentator on CNN and FOX Business Network.

For more information about Lynnette, or to sign up for her free personal finance newsletter, visit her website and blog at: www.TheMoneyCoach.net. Lynnette is also on numerous social networking sites, including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

What is so great about Lincoln? Little known facts about his politics

2009-10-01T23:40:00.000-07:00

Another great rant from a friend on a recent email string:

Lincoln was GREAT -- in the same way that Ted Kennedy was great. Neither cared about the Constitution. Lincoln ordered the arrest of the legislatures of Maryland, Missouri, and Tennessee to make sure that they could not secede. He ran Maryland as a presidential holding during the war. Andrew Johnson was made VP in the second term because of his firm hand in ruling Tennessee as its military governor during the war. The legislature of Missouri actually voted to secede -- but the vote was considered illegal because the state constitution required that all legally binding acts of the state legislature needed to be done in the state capital, and Lincoln's troops had invaded and driven the legislature out of town before the vote occurred.

Lincoln had no constitutional warrant to invade the South. Either the South remained IN the Constitution, in which case Lincoln needed an appeal by the state executive to put down an insurrection, or the South was OUT of the Constitution, in which case Lincoln was merely fighting an aggressive war that was not declared by the Congress. In either case, Lincoln lacked the authority to do what he did.

Lincoln's platform called for the resumption of the Tariff of Abomination (the massive increase of tariffs on the South that caused the crisis in South Carolina a quarter century earlier), a massive increase in spending in the North, the near-total abolition of international trade, the abolition of the gold standard, nationalization of bank charters via 10% annual tax on state bank notes, the abolition of the writ of habeas corpus, and the abolition of the personal right to keep and bear arms.

Getting this country back on track...

2009-10-01T23:36:00.000-07:00

Interesting ideas proposed on a recent email string (author not me)

1. Repeal the 12th amendment and replace it with a new 12th that says that each elector gets 1 vote. The president is the one who comes in first; the vice president is the one who comes in second.

2. Repeal the 17th amendment.

3. Follow the Constitution.

That should fix most of the problems:

With the repeal of the 17th, you won't need term limits because the Senate will, once again, be elected by the State Legislature to represent the interests of the state, rather than the interest of the unwashed masses. You won't need spending caps because the House and Senate will, once again, be at loggerheads with each other, instead of being two hands of the same body.

With the repeal and revision of the 12th, you will once again have the President and Vice President be elected separately. Instead of having tickets, you will likely have a Vice President, antithetical to the desires of the President, presiding over the Senate.

This returns us to the actual checks-and-balances system. The House will represent the peoples of the states. The Senate will represent the states themselves. These two bodies will naturally be at odds. Those who represent the people will naturally want to generate largess for their constituencies. Those who represent the states will naturally want to avoid granting to the federal government the power to generate such largess.

The President will represent one constituency. The Vice President will represent a separate constituency. These two individuals will naturally be at odds.

The only way anything can pass in such a circumstance is if it is generally believed by all parties to be in the best interest of all. A bill must past muster with the House of Representatives (be in the best interest of the separate peoples), with the Senate (be in the best interest of the separate states), with the Vice President (in order to make it onto the Senate Calendar), and the President (who must look out for the interests of the federal government itself against these factions).

Anything that does not pass muster with all of these cannot pass. That's why that Republican bastard Lincoln and the subsequent Republicans abolished the checks-and-balances system. They believed in --- get ready for this -- DEMOCRACY!

These two changes restore the Constitution, restore the checks-and-balances system, and greatly reduce the role of democracy by returning the federal republic.

How do you "lose" the most important data about global warming???

2009-09-24T03:37:00.001-07:00

Deliberate destruction of data, as it is incriminated in the article referenced, on such a highly volatile (and expensive) subject as global-warming by its most outspoken proponent, smacks of subterfuge and evil manipulation. "It's my data and you can't have it... in fact I'll destroy it, rather than let you play with it."

In the medical realm, if this happened, the academic community would make such a physician an immediate pariah, and blackball, for good reason, anything else they wanted to publish... no matter how they whined in contest, no one would trust them. Scientific reproducibility is paramount, and free access to data is a given.

Can you imagine if Pfizer or Roche "lost" data on an FDA drug trial? Or if Boeing "lost" data on the safety of their new superjet? The public confidence would be shattered in both instances, with immediate and tangible results on Wall Street. But in Washington: "oh that's no big deal... we still want cap'n'trade based on this report".

It's all criminal, really, the lack of "reality" in Washington...

Disruptive Technology and Electric Vehicles

2009-09-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

Could this be the beginning of turning automobiles around from dino-fuel to electric economy?

Only $787,000 a job! Great job, sir.

2009-09-15T07:34:00.000-07:00

Saving A Million Jobs at $787,000 Per Job
By Bill Frezza

The White House Council of Economic Advisers said Thursday the $787 billion stimulus plan kept one million people working who would otherwise not have had jobs.

You wouldn't let me stand up and make the simplistic claim that these million jobs were saved at a cost of $787,000 per job without challenging the details of my accounting, would you? Surely, reality is more complex.

But when the White House Council of Economic Advisers calculated the number of jobs saved by our government's massive stimulus spending, how is it that they entirely neglected to account for the impact on employment of removing $787 billion dollars from the balance sheet of the private economy?

What kind of single-entry bookkeeping is this? Who are these experts so willing to make glib claims with a straight face? How is it that the press, politicians, and pundits credulously report these claims as facts? And why are those who question whether the emperor is wearing any clothes treated like obstructionist members of some lunatic fringe?

There are those who passionately promote the theory that the government can, on net, create jobs by taking money from one set of citizens and handing it to another. Does this make sense to you? Are these promoters easily fooled, willfully blind, or cunningly smart? Let's take a look under the covers and examine the source of this week's claim.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers is lead by three presidential appointees. Currently, these are Christina Romer, Austan Goolsbee, and Cecilia Rouse.

According to their biographies on the Council web site, these people have never held jobs outside of academia. Their positions at Princeton, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago were protected by lifetime tenure. Unemployment, to them, is a theory that cannot become a personal reality. What in their backgrounds makes them experts on the subject of job creation?

They never had to meet a payroll. They never had to raise money to fund their businesses from skeptical investors. They never bet their life savings on their own business judgment. They never had to scramble to pay off a banker who called in a loan. They never had to decide whether to take a calculated risk to expand their workforce hoping to take market share from a fierce competitor. They never had to make a judgment call on whether or not to launch an unproven new product. They never had to manage a reduction in force, explaining to employees that their jobs have been eliminated because the tax and regulatory burdens imposed by some new law forced them to cut costs. They never lost business to a government-subsidized competitor whose cost of capital was vastly lower than theirs. They never had to grease the palms of politicians offering constituent services to resolve a bureaucratic hangup caused by the labyrinthine government approvals these selfsame politicians inflict on many businesses. They never had to deal with a missed sales forecast caused by an economy so roiled by capricious and uncertain fiscal policy that frightened customers were holding back orders. They never had to deal with a key supplier that unexpectedly went bankrupt because their source of credit dried up as dollars got sucked out of the commercial economy into government debt. They never had to negotiate with angry landlords after being forced to shut down a business destroyed by spurious mass-manufactured class action lawsuits. They never had to stand up in front of disappointed investors to explain why they lost money that had been entrusted to them. And you can be sure that none of them ever fell on their face and had to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and decide whether it was worth going through all of the joys described above to take another shot at building a business from scratch.

Go read their biographies. Do Christina, Austan, and Cecilia appear to you to be contributing members of the productive economy? Do you see any evidence that they've spent even a fraction of their careers creating jobs? What do you think qualifies these people to work as high level apparatchiks of a governing class determined to manage the businesses of others?

All three have Ph.D.'s from fancy universities. They are prize winning experts in macroeconomics. To have come this far you can bet that they are ambitious, articulate, well connected, and brilliant. Yet when the Council of Economic Advisers did its calculations to determine the number of jobs saved by the stimulus, they shamelessly counted assets and totally ignored liabilities.

People this smart cannot be easily fooled. People so visibly in the public eye cannot remain willfully blind.

No, these people and those that appointed them are cunningly smart. It's we who are the fools for listening to them. Long after these experts return to their sinecures in academia to train another generation of economists on the wisdom of central planning and Keynesian pump priming, it's we and our children and our grandchildren who will be paying the price.
Bill Frezza is a partner at Adams Capital Management, an early-stage venture capital firm. He can be reached at bill@vereverus.com. If you would like to subscribe to his weekly column, drop a note to publisher@vereverus.com.

Congress: Do we need universal health care like France?

2009-08-07T08:20:00.001-07:00

I sure hope not... they're broke and can't fix it. Once you give away free bed for years to the masses, forget even trying to control costs in a system without free market controls.

Historical Housing Price Chart

2009-02-26T16:39:00.001-08:00

From Yale economist, tracking home prices (adjusted for inflation) over the past 100 years, through the Great Depression, World Wars, and the last few housing bubbles.

ouch!

Read the 407 page bailout bill for yourself...

2009-02-25T20:38:00.000-08:00

Post your favorite "earmark" in this bill. oh yeah, Obama said there were no "earmarks" in this bill during his State of the Union adress. Typical Washingtonian double-speak.

Rush Limbaugh's Letter to the President

2009-02-20T10:30:00.001-08:00

Rush discusses the left's growing sentiment to impose regulation to ensure that the right's freedom to speech is squelched.

Inconvenient Debt

2009-02-16T20:43:00.000-08:00

Real trouble is around the corner... Can someone find the record with the Weimar Republic national anthem?

Weimar Republic Inflation and Obamaflation (another video)

"At the end fiat money returns to its inner value-zero" --Voltaire

Ron Paul wants to fight the good fight!

2009-02-16T20:35:00.000-08:00

February 12, 2009

Dear Friend of Liberty,

I hope you share my firm conviction that our fight is just beginning!

You’ve stood alongside me in our battles for Liberty and the Constitution before. Now, an even bigger threat – and an even bigger opportunity – is upon us.

Please read the enclosed letter from Campaign for Liberty’s President, John Tate. John isn’t just a friend of mine. He’s also someone who worked side by side with me in the Revolution as my National Political Director. Now he’s agreed to take up the fight in a way I cannot – by leading the Revolution on the outside, while I return to Congress.

In Liberty,

Congressman Ron Paul

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FROM THE DESK OF:
John F. Tate, President
Campaign For Liberty

Dear Patriot,

Please take a moment to fill out the Campaign for Liberty Membership Ballot.

It’s important you do so at once.

Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Ben Bernanke are all hoping you don’t. They’re counting on you and me to sit on the sidelines and lick our wounds from last year.

Well, I for one intend to fight.

And since you are a supporter of Ron Paul and his Campaign for Liberty, I’m confident you’re ready for the brutal battles ahead as the forces of tyranny stand ready to take away more and more of our freedoms – if you and I don’t act today.

Make no mistake, the fight begins NOW.

If you and I don’t act today, the first 100 days of the Obama Administration could well be an even bigger disaster for freedom-loving proponents of constitutional government than were the last 8 years.

Already we have seen the type of assaults on limited government Barack Obama has in mind. He wasted no time in pushing forward the one TRILLION DOLLAR boondoggle he cunningly packaged as a “Stimulus Plan.”

And if the new Administration and their allies get their way, this will be just the tip of the iceberg.

And that’s not all. You and I are up against:

*** More government bailouts – for the auto industry, for more banks and financial institutions – and who knows how many others. What we can be certain of is more and more of our tax dollars are being flushed away each and every day.

*** Continued FED secrecy and practices that devalue our currency and create bubbles, malinvestment, and the volatile business cycle.

*** Expansion of federal powers under the Homeland Security Department and Patriot Act to position government to suspend your freedom at will.

*** Huge new federal bureaucracies staffed with freedom-taking enemies, intent on doing Big Government’s bidding.

*** A new Obama plan for mandatory federal service, forcing America’s young people into his “Army” of government workers.

And that’s just the beginning.

With so much at stake in the coming months, and so much to fight back against, it’s critical I have two things from you today.

First, your advice.

It is important that you share your thoughts and input with us on our Membership Ballot by following this link:

https://www.campaignforliberty.com/membershipballot.php

Secondly, it’s vital that the Revolution have your continued financial support as well.

You see, you and I are going to face some tough decisions in the near future. I may well have to decide which bills to fight and which we can’t afford to do battle over!

That’s why it’s vital your advice – and your support – come to Campaign for Liberty right away.

You and I have some work to do. And we must start today. This hour. This minute.

You know you can count on Ron Paul and Campaign for Liberty to fight when no one else will.

That is why Campaign for Liberty was established: to fight for common-sense principles such as freedom and limited government, and to reinsert these ideals into the American political conversation when others falter.

Campaign for Liberty, born out of Ron Paul’s decades-long crusade for Freedom everywhere, is the only vehicle committed to fighting the tyranny of BOTH parties in Washington, DC.

There’s no doubt that you and I are in a battle right now for the survival of our nation and its constitutional form of government. There’s so much at stake this year – and so much out there to fight. It can all seem very overwhelming at times.

But if you and I don’t lead the fight, who will?

Who will stand for our Constitution?

Who will lead the charge to take back our freedom?

Who will stand up to Barack Obama’s big government philosophy?

Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty is the ONLY nationwide organization, beholden to NEITHER party, that can do just that.

In fact, we are already mobilizing the grassroots supporters of Liberty for this battle.

But we have much work to do.

If Campaign for Liberty can raise the necessary funds, we will fight on each and every one of these vital issues this year:

- Fighting to preserve our freedom and Constitution.

- Opposing more government bailouts and stimulus packages.

- Fighting to stop Congress’ automatic pay raise scheduled for 2010.

- Passing legislation forcing a full audit of the Federal Reserve as we work toward eliminating that institution and restoring our money to being backed by more than just the assurances of bureaucrats.

- Strongly defending the Second Amendment from the many attacks to come.

- Protecting workers’ rights from the coercive power of Big Labor, Big Government, and Big Business.

- Working to end a foreign policy that has our troops stretched beyond the breaking point, leaving America more vulnerable.

- Promoting legislation to restore national sovereignty by cutting our ties with, and ultimately getting the U.S. out of, the U.N.

- And so much more ….

There are many crucial decisions to be made in the days and weeks ahead. Our goal is to fight each and every one of these battles, and I hope you’ll help me do just that.

You see, as an organization that stands on principle, we cannot demand fiscal responsibility while behaving recklessly ourselves. So unlike the Federal Government, we are unwilling to go into debt to finance our operations. It is only with your loyal support that Campaign for Liberty can hope to fight and win these many battles before us.

If you can help us financially in any way, please do. Every donation, even $25 or $50, will make a difference. And if you can afford a larger donation -- $250, $500, or even more -- it will go a very long way toward restoring freedom.

But first it is vital I have your advice on where and when to fight. That’s why I’m asking you to fill out our Membership Ballot along with your donation.

https://www.campaignforliberty.com/membershipballot.php

Our country is ailing. That is the bad news. The good news is that the remedy is simple: return to the principles of our Founders.

Respect for the Constitution, the rule of law, individual liberty, sound money, and a noninterventionist foreign policy constitute the foundation of Campaign for Liberty.

Join the fight today by filling out a Membership Ballot and continuing your support of Campaign for Liberty.

We are reliant on the generosity of our fellow patriots to succeed in this important struggle. After helping by sharing your input, please help us further by making a generous contribution of $250, $100, $50, or whatever you can afford.

Our Founders prevailed in their Revolution due to their unshakable resolve and unerring faith in the principles now championed by Campaign for Liberty.

With your help, we too can beat back the forces of Big Government, reclaim our Republic, and restore respect for our Constitution.

In Liberty,

John F. Tate
President

PS: With more government bailouts, trillion dollar “stimulus” packages, and nearly daily threats to our liberty on the agenda this year, it’s vital your Campaign for Liberty fight back today – before we see the total destruction of the U.S. dollar.

Please share your thoughts on how best to win these battles by clicking here. Campaign for Liberty relies on the input and financial support of freedom-loving Americans for our continued success.

If you can afford it, please join our fight for freedom and donate $250, $100, or $50 today!

Rush Limbaugh's Bipartisan Economy Stimulus Proposal

2009-01-28T22:00:00.001-08:00

Rush has the bipartisan answer... and who wants to bet tax cuts would work faster than big government spending of money they don't have until us taxpayers earn it and fork over the trillion dollars?

The Price of Oil: 60 Minutes report

2009-01-12T18:49:00.000-08:00

Watch CBS Videos Online

Atheist's plea for Christianity in Africa

2009-01-02T15:55:00.000-08:00

Great article that acquiesces the absolute benefit from true love, caring Christianity in Africa. Good read.

Global Warming -- NOT. Facts here.

2008-12-31T06:07:00.000-08:00

Here's all your facts in one place. Enjoy! Now throw on another electric blanket for the cold Winter night.

Gasoline prices (corrected for inflation)

2008-12-30T18:32:00.001-08:00

Gasoline today (at $1.50/gal) has (almost) never been cheaper corrected for inflation. Back in 1950, "The Good Ol' Days", it was $2.25 in today's prices.

Let's hope it stays, but I bet it won't...

Bailout has cost twice more than WWII

2008-12-30T18:16:00.000-08:00

Three months before the recession was officially declared, Paulson and Bernanke have embarked on the largest bailout program ever conceived with the blessing of a lame-duck president and a complicit Congress - a program which so far will cost taxpayers $8.5 trillion. This staggering sum encompasses: loans backed by worthless assets ($2.3T), equity investments in bankrupt companies with negative net worth ($3.0T), and guarantees on crumbling derivatives and other hollow collateral ($3.2T).

WWII + Vietnam + Iraq War = $5.5 Trillion (Corrected for inflation)

All major American Project costs combined = $8.1 Trillion (all the way back to the Louisiana Purchase!)

Bailout = $8.500 Trillion

That is incredible, and a huge burden that we will pay for later with inflation and reduced international power. The wolves are circling...

Reform for Vice: The New Obama Mantra?

2008-12-27T05:40:00.001-08:00

"Reforms" voted in by Obama for Illinois have led to easier corruption by Governor "Bloggo". Is this what "change" is all about?

Iceland's Economy Melts into Nothing

2008-12-27T05:28:00.001-08:00

Is Iceland one of the first dominoes to fall? Is it a microcosm of the larger world-wide failures to ensue?

Quadrillion dollar bubble

2008-12-26T09:52:00.000-08:00

If you even think we are remotely out of the woods on this economic melt-down, think again. Inflation will be the "tax" that eats away at your money more than then IRS would ever do.

Seven Hundred Billion, 2.3 Trillion, and on and on it will go. How many advanced civilizations have crumbled apart over one simple thing: debt. America may just crumble apart over the next 50 years due to debt... of course, the world will destabilize, too, and we know what destabilization usually causes... (hint: it's bad and bloody).

Here's another intesting take on the matter:
http://www.gnn.tv/threads/33298/millions_of_monkeys

Ron Paul schooling Bernanke

2008-09-25T22:28:00.000-07:00

Credit bubbles and price fixing... will we learn from the Depression?

Ron Paul schooling the Fox Business Reporters

2008-09-25T22:05:00.000-07:00

Ron Paul givin' it to the Fed, yet again... and deservedly so!

Burning Babyon in Seven Easy Steps

2008-09-22T18:47:00.000-07:00

Is the world "comfortably numb" as the whole stock market is in flames and heading into the deep? Which ponzi scheme to believe in anymore? Gold? Oil? Cash in the FDIC insured bank?

Barack "Apollo" Obama and Live Birth Abortion (Infanticide)

2008-08-30T14:33:00.000-07:00

Change, right? Change to an ever-growing evil... first Roe v. Wade first trimester abortions, then 2nd/3rd trimester... and now if the fetus is born alive (a baby with a birth certificate by Illinois law) then it can be left to die (if the means to keep it alive exists in a NICU... then deliberately NOT supporting life is killing).

Shameful... and he wants YOUR vote.

Trade-In the guzzler or keep it ? What makes sense.

2008-08-05T17:11:00.000-07:00

My GS400 gets 25 - 29 MPG (hypermiler techniques), and a little Smart Car gets 42... so considering new car prices and the used car price of my trade-in, it would take 13 years to get back the purchase price in fuel savings. I doubt the Smart would even last thirtee years!.

Doing the calculator, it is probably worthwhile to just hang on to the guzzler until the end of it's life rather than buy a hybrid.

I'm shooting for 250,000+ on the Lexus... it's at 178,000 now. I'll hold out for a 2015 plug-in hybrid and drive that a quarter-million miles....

Cheers.

Have you looked at Ron Paul? Here's his stand...

2007-11-25T08:46:00.000-08:00

10 term congressman from Texas

Pro-Constitution/Founders dream: check
Smaller Government: check
Lower taxes (or zero income tax): check
Secure border: check
Pro-Life: check
Second Amendment: check
Get rid of the IRS: check
Hates the Fed Reserve: check!!

R: Remove IRS, FED
E: Empower the people, not the government
V: Veterans need our unyielding support
O: Out of Iraq, and other nations' business
L: Let the people decide what is right
U: Unilateral action is illegal and unjust
T: "Truth" is the real policy of government
I: In the spirit of our forefathers
O: Our land belongs to the poor too
N: National security begins at home

He's a former Air Force Flight Surgeon, so he must be cool :)

"Ron Paul and the Sex Pistols":
On Tonight Show (interview at 5:26): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LZyHoAPL3M

Ron Paul on the Fed and Inflation

2007-11-25T08:41:00.000-08:00

For years, the central planners at the Federal Reserve have assured us that inflation is dormant, if not dead. Federal Reserve Governor Ben Bernanke, during a recent speech in Washington, took pains to emphasize that inflation is “Under very good control.” But considering the relentless increase in the money supply engineered by the Fed over the last decade, one wonders whether Mr. Bernanke, Chairman Greenspan, and company protest too much.

Austrian- school economists demonstrate that true inflation is monetary inflation. True inflation therefore can be measured by an increase in the money supply. Mr. Greenspan and Fed policy makers have more than doubled the M3 money supply in less than ten years. While Treasury printing presses can print unlimited dollars, there are natural limits to economic growth. This flood of newly minted US currency can only increase consumer prices in the long term, as more and more dollars chase available goods and services.

Lew Rockwell, president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, explains that Federal Reserve governors are incapable of telling us the truth about inflation for a very simple reason- they’re the ones causing it:

“The Federal Reserve always promises that it’s working to bring down inflation, but as Murray N. Rothbard shows in The Case Against the Fed, it never does. Since the Fed came into being, the dollar’s value has plummeted to less than a penny, and even at a 3% inflation rate, prices will tend to double every 25 years… The Fed wants to cover its crimes by appearing more successful at ‘battling inflation.’ What the Fed doesn’t want to talk about is the real cause of inflation: not greedy consumers, avaricious workers, or price-gouging corporations, but the central bank itself, and its power and practice of creating money out of thin air.”

The End of America? Naomi thinks so in her new book

2007-11-25T08:27:00.000-08:00

The clip features writer Naomi Wolf on The Colbert Report talking about her book, "The End of America, A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot", which outlines ten steps that "fascist, totalitarian, and other repressive leaders [employ to] seize and maintain power, especially in what were once democracies.” The ten steps are:

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy

2. Create a gulag

3. Develop a thug caste

4. Set up an internal surveillance system

5. Harass citizens' groups

6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release

7. Target key individuals

8. Control the press

9. Dissent equals treason

10. Suspend the rule of law

-----

I don't think Bush is it, but we should always be alert to leaders who value the constitution less than us, or the slow creeping loss of freedoms which are exchanged for security (here or elsewhere in the world.)

The Day General Petraeus Almost Died and Second Chances

2007-07-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

You won't believe the ending and final judgement of the shooter.

Scroll down about a quarter of the way down the page to below the picture of LTC Johnson to the paragraph entitled "Ground Truth"

The Evil that is Al-Qaeda

2007-07-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

Caution: graphic images, but this shows the kind of evil that is Al-Qaeda, and the world they are promulgating onto the innocent people that are the rest of the Muslim population.

Bono...please stop

2007-07-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

We sure "feel good" handing out billions of dollars in aid to corrupt African governments, but the people of Africa want something better. They deserve it, and need it to REALLY make a difference: for them, not the bleeding hearts.

I sure think Bono has done a lot of good, but it's time to take it to the next level: individual and corporate capitalism and entrepreneurship.

I was a Muslim fanatic...

2007-07-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

Great insight into the Muslim terrorist mind, and possibly how to curtail it...

The Great Biofuel Hoax

2007-06-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, we can make and burn ethanol, but we'll pay for it many times over in other ways. In many ways it will be more expensive than dino-fuels.

I still have my vote on nuclear and electric plug-in hybrids.

Canadians tell newcomers the rules of civilization...

2007-01-31T16:49:00.000-08:00

You left your country, you came here voluntarily, now assimilate or leave. When will America get the cajones to say the same thing on a national scale?

3 posts in one day?!?!

2007-01-29T15:17:00.000-08:00

Robert Kagen writes some good stuff in the Washington Post from time to time and this is one of his better articles. It lays bare the cause for so much of my frustration with the S.O.B.s in D.C. They have this hysterical myopia that if we somehow run away from Iraq and the Middle East and put our heads in the sand we can get back to normal. No, it's not going to happen.

Energy and Iran

2007-01-29T10:48:00.000-08:00

I suppose we're a bit between 'I raq' and a hard place. High oil prices help the Iraq government reconstruct. On the other hand, it helps our enemies in Iran and Venezuela. According to the attached article, Saudi Arabia is doing what it can to flood the market in order to drop prices down and damage Iran's economy and ability to export terrorism and instability. Excellent!

Excellent article on our non-excellent energy policy...

2007-01-29T09:50:00.000-08:00

Our politicians are a disgrace because of their incessant self-dealing and fawning towards favored special interests. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the ethanol scam. Read the link for more...

2LT Mark Daily blog entry on why he joined...and died.

2007-01-21T11:17:00.000-08:00

Army 2nd Lt. Mark J. Daily, 23
A reader e-mails that 2LT Mark Daily was killed in an IED attack in Mosul along with three other soldiers. He was named the ROTC's outstanding cadet for 2005 and also a Distinguished Military Graduate, the highest ROTC award. The OC Register profiles him here

Those lying Clintons...

2006-09-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

Hillary (9/26/06): "I'm certain, if my husband and his national security team had been shown a classified report entitled, 'Bin Laden Determined To Attack Inside the United States' he would have taken it more seriously than history suggests it was taken by our current president and his national security team."

Daily Presidential Briefing (12/4/98): "Bin Laden and his allies are preparing attacks in the U.S., including aircraft hijacking..." [Check that date. It's during the Clinton administration.]

The Clintons did nothing after the '93 World Trade Center bombing, the attack on Khobar Towers that killed 19 members of the Air Force, the bombing of two of our embassies in Africa that killed over 200 people, the U.S.S. Cole bombing. The list goes on. Janet Reno erected the 'Chinese wall' in the intelligence community that prevented information about Muslims taking flying lessons from reaching the people who could have used the information. The Clintons were weak on national security and all of the dissembling today will not change the facts.

Bill Clinton, the Revisionista!

2006-09-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

He's so full of B.S.

The First Law of Petropolitics and the Olduvai Theory

2006-09-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

Interesting theory linking the price of oil to freedoms in the World, especially in oil-producing nations.

Also, one could directly correlate oil-prices to Western nations "sucking-up" to oil-producers, too...

Other intersting reading on the demise of the industrialized world secondary to energy production problems between now and the next 30 years...called the "Olduvai Theory":
http://dieoff.org/page224.htm
"...the peak and decline of Industrial Civilization, should it occur, will be due to a complex matrix of causes, such as overpopulation, the depletion of nonrenewable resources, environmental damage, pollution, soil erosion, global warming, newly emerging viruses, and resource wars. That said, the Olduvai theory uses a single metric only, as defined by 'White's Law'... electricity....The theory of civilization is traced from Greek philosophy in about 500 BCE to a host of respected scientists in the 20th century. For example: The 'reference runs' of two world simulation models in the 1970s put the life expectancy of civilization between about 100 and 200 years. The Olduvai theory is specifically defined as the ratio of world energy production and world population. It states that the life expectancy of Industrial Civilization is less than or equal to 100 years: from 1930 to 2030. The theory is tested against historic data from 1920 to 1999."

Also of note:
OPEC has officially overtaken 50% of oil production in the world and should continue to gain world oil production dominance for the next 40+ years. This has occurred two years SOONER than predicted:
http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9009493&contentId=7017955

I hope you are teaching your grand-children to grow a garden and harness solar and wind power... or at least elect a government that will have the cahunas to build hundreds of more nuclear power plants.

Synthetic fuels for the Air Force

2006-09-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

Looks like we might be able to cut the ties to the Arab oil world sooner than I thought. Probably would also burn in M1 tank turbine engines, too.

Planes and tanks don't run too well on battery power, so other alternative high-density fuels like these being tested in the story are key to getting the military off the Arab oil nipple. Expensive, I'm sure, but critical for winning wars in a world on the downside of the Hubbert curve. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubbert_curve]

Evidence that the Washington Post is as liberal than the NY Times...

2006-09-20T12:15:00.000-07:00

They devote FIVE (5, cinco) web pages to discussing the horrible, dispicable practice of temporary tariff suspensions! If I were in Congress I would vote for permanent suspension of ALL tariffs.

The poor woman who claims her business would have gone under if the tariff suspension had gone through was complaining about a 2.4% tariff!!! 2.4% on a $5 dog collar is 12 cents. You've got to be kidding me!!! The world is filled with f*cking idiots. (She's UGLY to boot. Serves her right!)

The New Preamble

2006-08-31T16:24:00.000-07:00

NEW PREAMBLE TO THE CONSTITUTION

"We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional, and other liberal bed wetters. We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NON-Rights."

ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.

ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc.; but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be.

ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful, do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.

ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.

ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in public health care.

ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.

ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of other people's stuff. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big screen color TV or a life of leisure.

ARTICLE VIII: You do not have the right to a job. All of us sure want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful.

ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness, which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.

ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. We don't care where you are from, English is our language. Learn it or go back to wherever you came from!

ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution. The phrase 'IN GOD WE TRUST' is part of our heritage and our history. If you are uncomfortable with it, LEAVE!

Arab response to the terrorism of Muslims

2006-08-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

The woman is Wafa Sultan, an Arab-American psychologist from Los Angeles. I would suggest watching it ASAP because I don't know how long the link will be active.

Watched best in Windows Media Player.

USA: Wake Up!

2006-05-11T19:10:00.000-07:00

great soundtrack, too!

We need another X-Prize

2006-05-08T10:13:00.000-07:00

With millions of dollars to "incentivorate" (Bush-ism) the private sector... perhaps they can be awarded cash to create new technologies to help loosen the grip of foreign oil on our country.

May 1st "A Day without an Immigrant" Walk-out & protest

2006-04-19T17:43:00.000-07:00

Mark the calendar for May First, a great communist holiday, for a Latino "walk-out" to protest Washington's proposals for immigration reform... check out the link. Have *you* let your congressmen and senators know *your* opinion?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 1, 2006: Call to Action!

"El Gran Paro Americano 2006" "The Great American Boycott 2006"

"Un dia sin immigrante" "A day without an immigrant"

Nationwide Immigrant General Strike Wear White T-Shirt at May 1st!

Wal-Mart Article

2006-02-27T15:06:00.000-08:00

Good article. Take a gander.

Our Wonderful Government Screws Up Again

2006-02-15T08:17:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make. Lulu's Mama, who occasionally posts here, took a family under her wing when they were displaced by Katrina. I told her I was going to donate to the Red Cross through my employer so the contribution would be matched. After hearing the President's speech wherein he promised to piss away as much of the taxpayers' money as necessary to help the Katrina victims I decided I would donate my money to the Salvation Army of St. Louis and to my church instead of donating it to the Red Cross.

After reading the attached you have no idea how happy I am that I did that. In fact, the thing that really outrages me is this quote from a FEMA spokesperson, "It was the right thing to do. We helped thousands of families who were forced from their homes without basic necessities. To slow down that process in order to find out who is trying to cheat the system would have hurt those who the system is designed to help. In other words, we're not going to let a few bad apples ruin the whole process."

The problem is that there were tens of thousands of bad apples!!!

The article is filled with examples of horrible, horrible mismanagement of the taxpayers' money. Screw New Orleans and screw Mississippi! Let them solve their own problems like the people of Galveston did after the flood or the people of San Francisco and Chicago after their fires. Since when have we become a society that needs FEMA to come in and wipe our butts after a problem? We're becoming just like Europe and we will suffer their same fate if we become addicted to the opium of the state.

Outraged Muslims... why now? Why not when it mattered?

2006-02-14T16:32:00.000-08:00

From an anonymous email circulating the 'net:

'OUTRAGED MUSLIMS! OH MY!

We wake up this morning to see video on CNN showing rampaging Muslims around the world. In Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific Rim ... Muslim mobs spreading mayhem. It seems that these mighty mad Muslims are rioting and firing their ever-present AK-47s into the air because of cartoons. Yup ... this latest epidemic of Muslim outrage comes to us because some newspapers in Norway and Denmark published some cartoons depicting Mohammed.

Muslim outrage huh. OK .. let's do a little historical review. Just some lowlights:

Muslims fly commercial airliners into buildings in New York City.
No Muslim outrage.

Muslim officials block the exit where school girls are trying to escape a burning building because their faces were exposed.
No Muslim outrage.

Muslims cut off the heads of three teenage girls on their way to school in Indonesia, a Christian school.
No Muslim outrage.

Muslims murder teachers trying to teach Muslim children in Iraq.
No Muslim outrage.

Muslims murder over 80 tourists with car bombs outside cafes and hotels in Egypt.
No Muslim outrage.

A Muslim attacks a missionary children's school in India. Kills six.
No Muslim outrage.

Muslims slaughter hundreds of children and teachers in Beslan, Russia. Muslims shoot children in the back.
No Muslim outrage.

Let's go way back. Muslims kidnap and kill athletes at the Munich Summer Olympics.
No Muslim outrage.

Muslims fire rocket-propelled grenades into schools full of children in Israel.
No Muslim outrage.

Muslims murder more than 50 commuters in attacks on London subways and busses. Over 700 are injured.
No Muslim outrage.

Muslims massacre dozens of innocents at a Passover Seder.
No Muslim outrage.

Muslims murder innocent vacationers in Bali.
No Muslim outrage.

Muslim newspapers publish anti-Semitic cartoons.
No Muslim outrage.

Muslims are involved, on one side or the other, in almost every one of the 125+ shooting wars around the world.
No Muslim outrage.

Muslims beat the charred bodies of Western civilians with their shoes, then hang them from a bridge.
No Muslim outrage.

Newspapers in Denmark and Norway publish cartoons depicting Mohammed. Muslims are outraged.

Dead children. Dead tourists. Dead teachers. Dead doctors and nurses. Death, destruction and mayhem around the world at the hands of Muslims .. no Muslim outrage ... but publish a cartoon depicting Mohammed with a bomb in his turban and all hell breaks loose.

Come on, is this really about cartoons? They're rampaging and burning flags. They're looking for Europeans to kidnap. They're threatening innkeepers and generally raising holy Muslim hell not because of any outrage over a cartoon. They're outraged because it is part of the Islamic jihadist culture to be outraged at Westerners. You don't really need a reason. You just need an excuse. Rampaging around, destroying property, murdering children, firing guns into the air and feigning outrage over the slightest perceived insult is to a jihadist what tailgating is to a Steeler's fan.

I know and understand that these bloodthirsty murderers do not represent the majority of the world's Muslims. When, though, do they become outraged? When do they take to the streets to express their outrage at the radicals who are making their religion the object of worldwide hatred and ridicule?

Islamic writer Salman Rushdie wrote of these silent Muslims in a New York Times article three years ago. "As their ancient, deeply civilized culture of love, art and philosophical reflection is hijacked by paranoiacs, racists, liars, male supremacists, tyrants, fanatics and violence junkies, why are they not screaming?"

Indeed. Why not?'

The Cuddle Puddle of Stuyvesant High School

2006-02-03T11:49:00.000-08:00

Ug this is a depressing article. Now it's cool to be sexually "bi-curious" among teens...at least in NYC. Don't know if this is representative of the teen culture across the country but I guess I shouldn't be surprised - what with parents wanting to be their kid's friend, the influence and popularity of explicit shows on MTV, The OC, Girls Gone Wild, Madonna/Brittney kissing etc etc...

About that Eyebrow

2006-02-02T21:16:00.000-08:00

Tuesday nights State of the Union was more or less ho hum but the real entertainment came, as far as I was concerned, with "The Eyebrow" that followed. I was literally transfixed by Tim Kaine's left eyebrow. So transfixed that out of curiosity I did a Google search the next morning of "Tim Kaine's eyebrow" http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=tim+kaine%27s+eyebrow. What fun. I have to wonder if Mr. Kaine's handlers, during all the practice read thru's ever told him to tone down that brow. It was as if the thing was desperately trying to escape to the top of his head. Well that's what it looked like to me anyways.

For a cute montage of "the brow" reacting to Mr. Kaine's frequent claim that "there is a better way" go here:
click the title and for a very funny satirical view of "the eyebrow" from a leftist...check out: http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/01/31/234517.php

Dumbest moments in personal finance

2006-02-01T12:06:00.000-08:00

There are lots of dumb ways to get ripped off... learn from the masters!

$262 per barrel ???

2006-01-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

With supplies tight, shut-offs looming and increasing demand... get ready for the worst to come.

Hmmm... does that mean about $9 - $10 a gallon?

Bring on the ethanol and the Smart Cars (The car which Daimler-Chrysler doesn't want to sell in the USA) see: http://tinyurl.com/a73k8

How to Beat the High Cost of Gasoline. Forever!

2006-01-30T12:55:00.000-08:00

Quote from the article: 'Ethanol's rise has had far-reaching effects on [Brazil's] economy. Not only does Brazil no longer have to import oil but an estimated $69 billion that would have gone to the Middle East or elsewhere has stayed in the country and is revitalizing once-depressed rural areas. More than 250 mills have sprouted in southeastern Brazil, and another 50 are under construction, at a cost of about $100 million each. Driving to lunch at his local churrasco barbecue spot in Sertozinho, the head of the local sugar-cane growers' association points to one new business after another, from farm-equipment sellers to builders of boilers and other gear for the nearby mills. "My family has been in this business for 30 years, and this is the best it's been," says Manoel Carlos Ortolan.'

-- Good article outlining the benefits of ethanol as a step forward in weaning our dependance off foreign oil NOW, (while we're still waiting for the hydrogen revolution over the next 40 years.)

Speaking of Criminal Justice!!!

2006-01-25T11:03:00.000-08:00

The timing couldn't get any better than this. As I typed the post on the Village People policeman, I thought to myself, "I wonder what happened with Richard Hatch's tax evasion case." (Hatch is the winner of the first Survivor round.)

Lo and behold I popped over to Yahoo news and right there on top was the news that he's guilty. No surprise there!

Click on the post title for the whole story.

"No-show, No-show Man! I Want to Be a No-Show Man!"

2006-01-25T11:00:00.000-08:00

More humor today. The 'policeman' for the Village People did a no-show in court today on cocaine and weapons charges. Now he's facing four years in the pen. It makes me feel a whole lot better about those detentions I got in school. Everything is relative. LOL.

Good Teddy Kennedy Satire!

2006-01-25T10:57:00.000-08:00

He he he!

Trees Cause Global Warming?!?

2006-01-24T12:24:00.000-08:00

We need to bulldoze them all and make parking lots! Seriously, a new study published in Nature magazine has discovered that trees create oxygen and METHANE when using photosynthesis on carbon dioxide. I'm still not sure why forests smell so good and not like a hog lot but that's another story.

Click on the title for the whole story.

Atlas Shrugged All Over Again!

2006-01-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

In a scene that could be straight out of Atlas Shrugged, it looks like the Democrat-dominated Maryland State Senate has knuckled under to the union bosses and decided to start micro-managing American business. Wal-Mart, which has done so much to help the poor through their low prices and jobs for low-skilled workers, is being punished for being successful. The legislation forces Wal-Mart to spend 8% of its payroll on health insurance.

The Democrats are taking their marching orders from Herb Kohl (of Kohl's) and Mark Dayton (of Target Corp.) and trying to make Wal-Mart less competitive so Target and Kohl's (and the unionized groceries) can be more profitable.

If I were CEO of Wal-Mart I would first contest the constitutionality of passing legislation that has but a single target. I would then tell every employee that he or she will take a pay cut in their wages to finance an increase in health care expenditures. What the idiot politicans don't understand is that businesses must run at a profit. When the politicians increase mandates on businesses to spend more on something businesses cut back on something else. It reminds me of when I was at McLeodUSA and we were budgeting for the companywide wage increase. The number started at 3.5% as an overall average. Then, the executives made a decision that the employee share of the health insurance premium would stay the same and the company would eat the increase. At the same time, the company lowered the company-wide raise target to 3%. The employees were happy their health insurance premiums didn't go up. They had no clue they paid for that through reduced wage increases.

Politicians are whores.

Even the Washington Post Recognizes the Persecution

2006-01-12T12:14:00.000-08:00

I have been a fervent defender of Wal-Mart because of the incredibly transparent hypocrisy of those who attack one of the most dramatic American success stories of all time. It's nice to see the Washington Post on the same side of the ramparts in this case.

69 Years Old and Still a Cokehead!

2006-01-11T12:35:00.000-08:00

Former D.C. Mayor Marion Berry and cocaine. What else needs to be said?

Alito's Rebuke of Kennedy, et. al.

2006-01-11T10:09:00.000-08:00

YES! It's about time we get some good justices!

"I think the Framers would be stunned by the idea that the Bill of Rights is to be interpreted by taking a poll of the countries of the world," Judge Alito said. "The purpose of the Bill of Rights was to give Americans rights that were recognized practically nowhere else in the world at the time. The Framers did not want Americans to have the rights of people in France or the rights of people in Russia or any of the other countries on the continent of Europe at the time; they wanted them to have the rights of Americans."

Your Car's Black Box

2006-01-10T06:51:00.000-08:00

Although I think there is value to having a 'black box' in one's car, I think it could be a huge invasion of privacy if not handled appropriately. In an ideal world, the contents of the box belongs to the vehicle owner. We'll see how it all shakes out.

Another Good One on the Depopulization of Europe

2006-01-10T06:22:00.000-08:00

The attached op-ed is another excellent article about the depopulization [sic?] of Europe and its implications - both for Europe and for the USA.

Although I am not a fan of Pat Buchanan and the article mentions his book in passing at the end, I think it is a thought-provoking column.

I've Seen It All Now!

2006-01-09T15:54:00.000-08:00

Here's the skinny...

A black police officer, who was promoted beyond his capabilities because of affirmative action, has won a judgement of over US$50k because he was reassigned because he didn't have the skill set to do the job he was unfairly promoted into! LOL. Just when I thought the USA judiciary was as screwed up as could possibly be I see that other nations are even more screwed up!

Another good Landsburg column

2006-01-09T08:39:00.000-08:00

Steve was my macroeconomics prof in business school. As much as I dislike Slate (normally), they do give him a regular platform to inform and entertain us.

Remarkably Important Article

2006-01-06T12:34:00.000-08:00

Lulu's Mama, a very dear and good friend, isn't contributing to the blog anymore which has made it tough for me to keep it going but from time to time I will post if something really strikes me as important. The linked article is one of the most profound that I have read in a long, long time.

And Liberals Claim Alito Is Out Of The Mainstream!

2006-01-05T14:43:00.000-08:00

in This just makes me sick! How can a judge put a 34-year old pedophile who repeated raped a 7-year old girl in jail for 60-days instead of the 8 - 20 years requested by the prosecutor?!?

There's a reason why normal ordinary citizens want 'Conservative' law and order judges.

This idiot, Judge Ed Cashman, is the prototypical example of the Liberal anti-incarceration judge. I'm sure there will be plenty of people in Vermont researching how to recall or impeach a judge.

Million Dollar Home Page.

2005-12-30T07:50:00.000-08:00

A buck a pixel sure "ads" up!

Capitalism meets ingenuity once again and equals success.