Berkeley, California city council votes 8-1 to tell Marines they are not welcome in Berkeley.
Western nations accused of overlooking fraud in sham democracies. Right now the US has adopted a self-defeating policy that mistakes elections for enlightened self-government, and until we correct that policy and focus on development of democratic institutions as a foundation of enlightened self-government, the world will slide backward.
US forces unprepared for catastrophic attack on US. In every way, the 2 parties are failing the nation.
Lebanon tries to blame Israel for the 2006 war. That's disappointing. Lebanon should condemn Hezbollah and acknowledge Hezbollah started the war by kidnapping the Israeli troops. Lebanon should work with Israel to clean Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon so they can have peace in the future. Hezbollah is the enemy of both Lebanon and Israel, and they should team up against it.
Because our government blocks drilling in ANWR and off the gulf coast, and because it blocks building new refineries, and because it blocks building new power plants using alternative fuel including nuclear, coal, natural gas, and even wind in Texas, Shell Oil has record profits. And people blame Shell instead of the anti-American restrictions that drive up the price of oil.
Reason lists Bush's failures.
Reason via LA Weekly on John McCain's comeback.
Mitt Romney should expose McCain's bogus claim of straight talk.
Bill Clinton calls for slowing down the economy to fight greenhouse emissions. Hurt Americans. Hurt America.
Barack Obama raises record $32 million in January alone. Obama flip-flops, then flops back, on decriminalizing marijuana. Right now he supports decriminalization.
Obama is the most liberal member of the Senate, and Hillary Clinton is 16th. Obama thinks he can unite the nation with socialist policies, and Hillary with practically identical socialist policies. They're both wrong. It's funny how the most bitter fighting occurs when people who are almost identical in policy pretend to be different. We've seen with Clinton and Obama, McCain and Romney, and the Republican and Democrat parties. If the people examined the positions rationally, they would recognize that the differences are mostly cosmetic. Politicians can't allow that, so they work the public into an emotional fervor to hide their anti-American commonality on issues.
Airline co-pilot goes nuts and starts calling for God.
Cato comments on yesterday's half point rate cut by the Fed. That's 1.25% in 8 days. This is aggravate inflation.
The global warming con men don't really care about global warming. They want to hurt development, business and the economy, especially in free, rich countries. The con men in Europe want to use government force to remove the outdoor patio heaters from restaurants and bars even though it's a molecule in the man-made CO2 drop of the bucket of natural CO2. The meme they're employing is "burning fossil fuels in the open sky." As if CO2 cares. I bet the smoking prohibitionists are involved in this too. If we don't stop this great global swindle, this is the future. Every human activity that produces CO2, including breathing, will be under attack by the con men using government force. It's all about power - the new communism.
California committee kills Schwarzenegger's terrible universal health care plan. Like Hillary and Romney's plans, it was doomed to fail and be followed up by socialized medicine anyway.
Gay activism pushes its way into British schools.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Free kibbles
Americans express outrage at Vermont town that is voting to charge Bush and Cheney with war crimes. Good. What kind of town allows people to vote on criminal charges? Criminal charges are a matter of law, not elections. I guess this town thinks a majority of voters can charge anybody with a crime regardless of the law. I guess this town would allow a majority to vote to charge people with witchcraft, which it probably did in the past. This violates the rule of law, reminding us why America is not a democracy, where mob rule replaces the rule of law, but a Constitutional Republic. This town has earned the antipathy of the entire nation. But you can bet a bunch of liberals will jump on board because they put their hatred of Bush and Cheney above the laws.
Bush signs order to ignore non-legislative earmarks. Why wasn't he already doing that? Why was he allowing earmarks that weren't law to be executed? What are earmarks that aren't law anyway? Congress and the president have been colluding to steal our money. It's embezzlement. I'm glad Bush is going to put and end to it, but I want punishment for every representative and Bush who stole our money. I want to see every Congressman who used this process, along with Bush who colluded by executing these illegal earmarks, in jail.
Bush's signing statements have no power. He either vetoes a bill, or it becomes law. He cannot let it become law, then sign away parts of it he doesn't like. He cannot sign away Congress' ban on permanent Iraqi bases. He can write anything he wants in a signing statement, but it has no legal standing.
US economic growth drops dramatically. That doesn't even take into account the losses from the plunging dollar.
Dysfunctional Congress extends FISA law by 2 weeks because it can't agree to a permanent law. This law doesn't affect the Constitutional powers of the president in a time of war anyway.
Iraq is not spending its oil money on rebuilding. What's that all about?
I don't understand this Australian apology to Aborigines. Australians won. Aborignies lost. Can you imagine if every winner in history had to apologize to every loser? This is just another manifestation of dangerous moral relativity. More vibrant cultures overcome less vibrant cultures. It's a law of nature. Like lions eating gazelles. There's no need to apologize.
Why is Haiti the west's shame? Is it our fault they have no economic freedom and therefore no prosperity? Of course not. It's their own.
Another police officer assaults a man with a taser, has no criminal charges filed, and keeps his job. This happens every week, and more likely every day. Our police agencies support criminal actions by police officers.
Now the subprime crisis is being blamed on too light of regulations. Give me a break. The free market is correcting itself, just like it's supposed to. Leave it alone. Of course fraud and other criminal activity should be investigated, but regulations have done enough damage to this country. We don't need any more.
Every act of political violence is now labeled genocide to get headlines, but destroying the meaning of the word.
Reason recognizes the irony of a supposedly fiscally conservative Bush.
Edwards drops out of race.
Barack Obama wants to give drivers licenses to illegal aliens. His chances just ended. Not that he ever really had a chance against her Democrat highness.
McCain is still losing among Republicans. So independents are the war-mongers, not Republicans?
Would electrical stimulation of the brain be considered cheating by Major League Baseball? Think what it could do for players and managers.
Under 1% of US adults have HIV.
It's rare to see a newspaper article that explains that when the rich have less, they spend less, and the result hurts the poor most of all. Taxing the rich is bad for everybody. Cutting taxes on the rich helps everybody.
Muslim women in Sweden win lawsuit because they were not allowed to swim in a pool because they're full hajib violated pool rules. Apparently pool rules much be changed to accommodate Muslims. Different rules for different people. That's crap.
British government plans to force doctors to work longer hours. How do you think that will affect patient care? Socialized medicine at work.
Scary sounding new commission ostensibly to fight terrorism. We already have the tools we need to fight terrorism. We should screen all new immigrants to make sure they consider the Constitution the highest law in America. Any who don't agree should not be allowed in. Any immigrants who promote violence or overthrowing the Constitution should be deported. Our citizenship test should thoroughly test the prospective citizen's understanding of the severely limited government defined in the Constitution and why that's important for freedom and prosperity. We already have laws against promoting violence, and we should apply those laws to radical American citizens who promote violence. This is where we need the Muslim community to step up and work with authorities by reporting who these people are so we can get warrants and investigate them.
Cato calls for an end to subsidies on agricultural products, ethanol, and tariffs on imported food and ethanol.
Shortages of kidneys lead to kidney thefts in India. Cato says live people should be able to donate kidneys.
Since Israel is finally defending itself from daily rocket attacks from Gaza, Iranian oped by close associate of Supreme Leader Khamenei, calls on Muslims to attack the US and Europe and topple Arab governments which stop terrorists. And many Americans want to allow these guys to have nuclear weapons.
Shell CEO fears peak oil and global warming. Maybe he should look at the science first.
New York City proposes grading teachers. Why wouldn't teachers have always been graded? You have to judge and rank employees to provide merit raises. Unless the teachers unions won't let you.
Meeting to find a way to curb greenhouse gases without hurting the economy. Let the free market work. If consumers care, they'll pay more for green products.
John Stossel explains that we should not fear the developing economies of other nations. They will create new markets and businesses that will spur our own growth, if we can get government off our backs.
Walter Williams says increasing debt is no stimulus.
Ann Coulter understands that a McCain presidency would be as dangerous as a Clinton presidency, if not more so. Republicans will be forced to back McCain's liberal policies, spending, tax hikes, judges, etc., as will Democrats, but Republicans will know to fight Hillary Clinton's socialist policies, and I think they'll be effective at it in the Senate.
Bush signs order to ignore non-legislative earmarks. Why wasn't he already doing that? Why was he allowing earmarks that weren't law to be executed? What are earmarks that aren't law anyway? Congress and the president have been colluding to steal our money. It's embezzlement. I'm glad Bush is going to put and end to it, but I want punishment for every representative and Bush who stole our money. I want to see every Congressman who used this process, along with Bush who colluded by executing these illegal earmarks, in jail.
Bush's signing statements have no power. He either vetoes a bill, or it becomes law. He cannot let it become law, then sign away parts of it he doesn't like. He cannot sign away Congress' ban on permanent Iraqi bases. He can write anything he wants in a signing statement, but it has no legal standing.
US economic growth drops dramatically. That doesn't even take into account the losses from the plunging dollar.
Dysfunctional Congress extends FISA law by 2 weeks because it can't agree to a permanent law. This law doesn't affect the Constitutional powers of the president in a time of war anyway.
Iraq is not spending its oil money on rebuilding. What's that all about?
I don't understand this Australian apology to Aborigines. Australians won. Aborignies lost. Can you imagine if every winner in history had to apologize to every loser? This is just another manifestation of dangerous moral relativity. More vibrant cultures overcome less vibrant cultures. It's a law of nature. Like lions eating gazelles. There's no need to apologize.
Why is Haiti the west's shame? Is it our fault they have no economic freedom and therefore no prosperity? Of course not. It's their own.
Another police officer assaults a man with a taser, has no criminal charges filed, and keeps his job. This happens every week, and more likely every day. Our police agencies support criminal actions by police officers.
Now the subprime crisis is being blamed on too light of regulations. Give me a break. The free market is correcting itself, just like it's supposed to. Leave it alone. Of course fraud and other criminal activity should be investigated, but regulations have done enough damage to this country. We don't need any more.
Every act of political violence is now labeled genocide to get headlines, but destroying the meaning of the word.
Reason recognizes the irony of a supposedly fiscally conservative Bush.
Edwards drops out of race.
Barack Obama wants to give drivers licenses to illegal aliens. His chances just ended. Not that he ever really had a chance against her Democrat highness.
McCain is still losing among Republicans. So independents are the war-mongers, not Republicans?
Would electrical stimulation of the brain be considered cheating by Major League Baseball? Think what it could do for players and managers.
Under 1% of US adults have HIV.
It's rare to see a newspaper article that explains that when the rich have less, they spend less, and the result hurts the poor most of all. Taxing the rich is bad for everybody. Cutting taxes on the rich helps everybody.
Muslim women in Sweden win lawsuit because they were not allowed to swim in a pool because they're full hajib violated pool rules. Apparently pool rules much be changed to accommodate Muslims. Different rules for different people. That's crap.
British government plans to force doctors to work longer hours. How do you think that will affect patient care? Socialized medicine at work.
Scary sounding new commission ostensibly to fight terrorism. We already have the tools we need to fight terrorism. We should screen all new immigrants to make sure they consider the Constitution the highest law in America. Any who don't agree should not be allowed in. Any immigrants who promote violence or overthrowing the Constitution should be deported. Our citizenship test should thoroughly test the prospective citizen's understanding of the severely limited government defined in the Constitution and why that's important for freedom and prosperity. We already have laws against promoting violence, and we should apply those laws to radical American citizens who promote violence. This is where we need the Muslim community to step up and work with authorities by reporting who these people are so we can get warrants and investigate them.
Cato calls for an end to subsidies on agricultural products, ethanol, and tariffs on imported food and ethanol.
Shortages of kidneys lead to kidney thefts in India. Cato says live people should be able to donate kidneys.
Since Israel is finally defending itself from daily rocket attacks from Gaza, Iranian oped by close associate of Supreme Leader Khamenei, calls on Muslims to attack the US and Europe and topple Arab governments which stop terrorists. And many Americans want to allow these guys to have nuclear weapons.
Shell CEO fears peak oil and global warming. Maybe he should look at the science first.
New York City proposes grading teachers. Why wouldn't teachers have always been graded? You have to judge and rank employees to provide merit raises. Unless the teachers unions won't let you.
Meeting to find a way to curb greenhouse gases without hurting the economy. Let the free market work. If consumers care, they'll pay more for green products.
John Stossel explains that we should not fear the developing economies of other nations. They will create new markets and businesses that will spur our own growth, if we can get government off our backs.
Walter Williams says increasing debt is no stimulus.
Ann Coulter understands that a McCain presidency would be as dangerous as a Clinton presidency, if not more so. Republicans will be forced to back McCain's liberal policies, spending, tax hikes, judges, etc., as will Democrats, but Republicans will know to fight Hillary Clinton's socialist policies, and I think they'll be effective at it in the Senate.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Free kibbles
This article on Bush's State of the Union address reports that earmarks are not even in legislation, but in reports that accompany legislation. If they're not in legislation, they're not law. That's a shadow government. Our government is running a shadow government for earmarks. In the free market, we have a name for that: embezzlement.
I still think signing statements, regarding legislation, not these non-legislative reports, are meaningless. Either the law is followed or broken. Having a signing statement is no defense for breaking the law, though that's apparently what Bush intends.
Do you think Bush recognizes the irony of claiming the American people should solve their own problems? This is the guy who presided over the biggest expansion of government in history. Cato recognizes the irony in Bush's newfound resistance to earmarks after 7 years.
Americans are less safe because the CIA stopped using waterboarding, a technique that doesn't hurt anybody.
Police officer convicted of assaulting a prisoner shackled to a wheel chair is suspended by the department, but not fired. The police department clearly condones this type of behavior.
Germany expands its memory of Holocaust victims to gypsies, gays and lesbians.
Malaysian government confiscates Christian children's books because they contain pictures of prophets which supposedly violates Islamic law.
The Democrat establishment, big supporters of Hillary Clinton in general, are tired of Bill. Liberals are just coming to realize what the majority of the country has known since 1993 - the Clintons are mean, selfish, abusive, corrupt people and should be run out of our lives on a rail.
Sedentary life accelerates aging. Get moving.
Gorgeous Russian tennis players. Communism suppresses beauty.
Why is the guy who fraudulently lost $7 billion, leading to market crashes that cost investors even more, a hero?
In the wake of Bush's State of the Union address, Cato takes shots at the new welfare program masquerading as a tax rebate, No Child Left Behind, and open-ended commitment to Iraq.
This is cool program. It captures pictures and phrases from the webpage and applies them to signs for animated, marching protesters.
Author calls the entitlement mentality the greatest threat to the US economy. That's a fact.
How does this make sense? New York Democrat governor Spitzer wants to free violent criminals that have serious illness. Freeing violent criminals before they complete their sentences is a bad thing in general. Democrats want government to provide health care for everybody, so why not these guys? Instead of getting government health care in prison, these sick, violent criminals will be on the street with no way to pay for their medical costs, but... commit crimes. This is stupid on every level.
Using government force to go green costs freedom and money, as Grand Forks is experiencing, which disproportionately hurts the poor and middle class. This is the goal of the global warming con men.
I still think signing statements, regarding legislation, not these non-legislative reports, are meaningless. Either the law is followed or broken. Having a signing statement is no defense for breaking the law, though that's apparently what Bush intends.
Do you think Bush recognizes the irony of claiming the American people should solve their own problems? This is the guy who presided over the biggest expansion of government in history. Cato recognizes the irony in Bush's newfound resistance to earmarks after 7 years.
Americans are less safe because the CIA stopped using waterboarding, a technique that doesn't hurt anybody.
Police officer convicted of assaulting a prisoner shackled to a wheel chair is suspended by the department, but not fired. The police department clearly condones this type of behavior.
Germany expands its memory of Holocaust victims to gypsies, gays and lesbians.
Malaysian government confiscates Christian children's books because they contain pictures of prophets which supposedly violates Islamic law.
The Democrat establishment, big supporters of Hillary Clinton in general, are tired of Bill. Liberals are just coming to realize what the majority of the country has known since 1993 - the Clintons are mean, selfish, abusive, corrupt people and should be run out of our lives on a rail.
Sedentary life accelerates aging. Get moving.
Gorgeous Russian tennis players. Communism suppresses beauty.
Why is the guy who fraudulently lost $7 billion, leading to market crashes that cost investors even more, a hero?
In the wake of Bush's State of the Union address, Cato takes shots at the new welfare program masquerading as a tax rebate, No Child Left Behind, and open-ended commitment to Iraq.
This is cool program. It captures pictures and phrases from the webpage and applies them to signs for animated, marching protesters.
Author calls the entitlement mentality the greatest threat to the US economy. That's a fact.
How does this make sense? New York Democrat governor Spitzer wants to free violent criminals that have serious illness. Freeing violent criminals before they complete their sentences is a bad thing in general. Democrats want government to provide health care for everybody, so why not these guys? Instead of getting government health care in prison, these sick, violent criminals will be on the street with no way to pay for their medical costs, but... commit crimes. This is stupid on every level.
Using government force to go green costs freedom and money, as Grand Forks is experiencing, which disproportionately hurts the poor and middle class. This is the goal of the global warming con men.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Free kibbles
Handicapped by the most oppressive tax system in the free world, GM is surpassed by Toyota in world-wide production. This can be quickly remedied by adopting the FairTax.
The US has abysmal computer security. But I doubt a big government program is the solution.
The housing market hasn't finished correcting yet. New home sales fall by record amount.
Oil prices may have peaked. Or maybe not. It depends on supply, demand, and how events drive speculation.
Palestinian leader Abbas wins support from Arab leaders to take over Gaza border from Hamas. We can expect the Hamas terrorists to start more violence.
McCain tells Florida voters to stay tuned for more wars. It sounds like he plans to fight wars instead of finding peaceful solutions. I think he has a 1 track mind. McCain is running for Sec. of War, and we need to remind him that we eliminated that post by eliminating him. Scarborough and Buchanan believe him.
McCain still wants to reward gate crashers with legal status.
Ron Paul slams the bipartisan welfare package being sold as a tax rebate. He says you can't solve the problem of the crashing dollar by printing more money. Reason agrees. Cato agrees.
Kennedy endorses Obama. This campaign just gets worse and worse.
Splitting hairs: Hillary doesn't technically campaign in Florida, but she does. Chelsea Clinton politely asks Ron Paul supporters to stop chanting so she can talk, and they do. Too bad neither her mother nor her father have that much class, and too bad most supporters don't have the class of those Ron Paul supporters.
Hydrogen cars lack fuel stations. It takes fossil fuel to create the hydrogen fuel, and the laws of thermodynamics tell us that energy transfer is lossy process, so hydrogen cars probably produce more greenhouse gases than gasoline cars.
Christopher Hitchens reminds us how the Clintons have previously exploited race.
Cato supports free trade with Columbia for economic and political reasons.
Cato explains that John McCain has no respect for the first amendment. And if you don't respect the first amendment, and pass laws that infringe upon it instead of repealing it, then you don't respect the Constitution either.
Even Frank Rich recognizes the vulnerabilities of the Clintons.
George Will describes how John McCain is using Clintonian tactics to attack Romney.
Thomas Sowell is skeptical of government bailouts. Then he describes the cheap shots the Clintons have taken at Obama about race.
The Clintons have been working surreptitiously in Florida despite their promise not to campaign. What a surprise.
How stupid is our government? The federal government blocks US companies from drilling for oil off the Florida coast by Cuba, but Cuba and China have jointly agreed to drill for that same oil in that same place. Our government would give that oil and that revenue to China and Cuba instead developing that resource, stimulating our economy, and keeping our money in the US. We have to be the dumbest people on earth. If we can think of an incredibly stupid policy to hurt America, we'll do it.
The US has abysmal computer security. But I doubt a big government program is the solution.
The housing market hasn't finished correcting yet. New home sales fall by record amount.
Oil prices may have peaked. Or maybe not. It depends on supply, demand, and how events drive speculation.
Palestinian leader Abbas wins support from Arab leaders to take over Gaza border from Hamas. We can expect the Hamas terrorists to start more violence.
McCain tells Florida voters to stay tuned for more wars. It sounds like he plans to fight wars instead of finding peaceful solutions. I think he has a 1 track mind. McCain is running for Sec. of War, and we need to remind him that we eliminated that post by eliminating him. Scarborough and Buchanan believe him.
McCain still wants to reward gate crashers with legal status.
Ron Paul slams the bipartisan welfare package being sold as a tax rebate. He says you can't solve the problem of the crashing dollar by printing more money. Reason agrees. Cato agrees.
Kennedy endorses Obama. This campaign just gets worse and worse.
Splitting hairs: Hillary doesn't technically campaign in Florida, but she does. Chelsea Clinton politely asks Ron Paul supporters to stop chanting so she can talk, and they do. Too bad neither her mother nor her father have that much class, and too bad most supporters don't have the class of those Ron Paul supporters.
Hydrogen cars lack fuel stations. It takes fossil fuel to create the hydrogen fuel, and the laws of thermodynamics tell us that energy transfer is lossy process, so hydrogen cars probably produce more greenhouse gases than gasoline cars.
Christopher Hitchens reminds us how the Clintons have previously exploited race.
Cato supports free trade with Columbia for economic and political reasons.
Cato explains that John McCain has no respect for the first amendment. And if you don't respect the first amendment, and pass laws that infringe upon it instead of repealing it, then you don't respect the Constitution either.
Even Frank Rich recognizes the vulnerabilities of the Clintons.
George Will describes how John McCain is using Clintonian tactics to attack Romney.
Thomas Sowell is skeptical of government bailouts. Then he describes the cheap shots the Clintons have taken at Obama about race.
The Clintons have been working surreptitiously in Florida despite their promise not to campaign. What a surprise.
How stupid is our government? The federal government blocks US companies from drilling for oil off the Florida coast by Cuba, but Cuba and China have jointly agreed to drill for that same oil in that same place. Our government would give that oil and that revenue to China and Cuba instead developing that resource, stimulating our economy, and keeping our money in the US. We have to be the dumbest people on earth. If we can think of an incredibly stupid policy to hurt America, we'll do it.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Free kibbles
Palestinian President Abbas wants to take control of Gaza's border with Egypt. But since Hamas killed all his Fatah supporters in Gaza, he has no way of doing it. Israel to allow fuel shipments to Gaza.
Pakistan retakes tunnel previously taken by Taliban supporters.
What is the problem with natural segregation of schools? It's taken as an article of faith that schools should not be segregated, but it seems to me people should attend neighborhood schools. If the neighborhoods are mostly white, black, Hispanic or something else, so what? People are not defined by race as liberals would have us believe. Our society should be colorblind.
Town to vote on arrest of Bush and Cheney for war crimes. This is why the founders rightly feared democracy. This town should get a life. This kind of irresponsible rabid partisanship, inspired by the 2 parties, is destroying the country.
Obama's getting more aggressive at taking on the Clintons. He'll still lose.
Fred Thompson had been the best of the major Republicans, and conservatives rejected him. Then Giuliani was the best, advocating significant tax and spending cuts, so conservatives are rejecting him. Now Romney and McCain are tied in the national polls.
Alabama Republican Assembly endorses Ron Paul with 2/3 vote.
Mark Steyn explains that capitalism is the agent of change while government is the agent of statism.
George Will describes ballot initiatives to end racial preferences in 5 states. Needless to say, those who benefit from preferred treatment are opposed.
Democrats are tearing liberals apart along demographic lines. First, the Clintons played the sex card, then they made race an issue with Obama. This is the result of their obsessive self-interest.
Why lowering taxes on the rich is good for the economy, raising them is bad, and changing rates on the middle class and poor doesn't have hardly any effect.
Pakistan retakes tunnel previously taken by Taliban supporters.
What is the problem with natural segregation of schools? It's taken as an article of faith that schools should not be segregated, but it seems to me people should attend neighborhood schools. If the neighborhoods are mostly white, black, Hispanic or something else, so what? People are not defined by race as liberals would have us believe. Our society should be colorblind.
Town to vote on arrest of Bush and Cheney for war crimes. This is why the founders rightly feared democracy. This town should get a life. This kind of irresponsible rabid partisanship, inspired by the 2 parties, is destroying the country.
Obama's getting more aggressive at taking on the Clintons. He'll still lose.
Fred Thompson had been the best of the major Republicans, and conservatives rejected him. Then Giuliani was the best, advocating significant tax and spending cuts, so conservatives are rejecting him. Now Romney and McCain are tied in the national polls.
Alabama Republican Assembly endorses Ron Paul with 2/3 vote.
Mark Steyn explains that capitalism is the agent of change while government is the agent of statism.
George Will describes ballot initiatives to end racial preferences in 5 states. Needless to say, those who benefit from preferred treatment are opposed.
Democrats are tearing liberals apart along demographic lines. First, the Clintons played the sex card, then they made race an issue with Obama. This is the result of their obsessive self-interest.
Why lowering taxes on the rich is good for the economy, raising them is bad, and changing rates on the middle class and poor doesn't have hardly any effect.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Big government leads to ever bigger government
Here's a big government solution to a big-government problem that will lead to even more big government problems that will demand more big government solutions. Utah considers taxing TVs and video games to fight obesity and fund education. The reason people are obese is nobody pays for their own health care anymore. If parents had to pay for their children's health care out of their own pockets, they'd cut out the junk food and make those kids exercise. And do the same for themselves. But if a third party is going to pay the health care bills, who cares?
And if Utah taxes TVs and video games, citizens will just buy TVs and video games out of state, costing Utah jobs. To fight that, Utah will probably make it illegal to buy TVs and video games out of state, then set up police stings to catch citizens breaking that law.
And Utah will use the tax money to further ruin the education of Utah's students in government schools.
Stop the madness! Just get the government out of health care so that people will pay for their own health care and take responsibility for their own health.
And if Utah taxes TVs and video games, citizens will just buy TVs and video games out of state, costing Utah jobs. To fight that, Utah will probably make it illegal to buy TVs and video games out of state, then set up police stings to catch citizens breaking that law.
And Utah will use the tax money to further ruin the education of Utah's students in government schools.
Stop the madness! Just get the government out of health care so that people will pay for their own health care and take responsibility for their own health.
Free kibbles
Terrorists planned to coordinate attacks all across Europe.
Chavez urges Latin America to pull its money reserves out of US banks. We're going to see a lot more of this until we cut the size and scope of government and abolish the income tax.
Another bizarre situation created by government. Because government subsidizes water for California farmers, it has become more profitable for some to sell the water than to grow crops.
US spy satellite to crash to earth. Oops.
Alarmism about mercury levels in tuna.
Ron Paul challenges results of Louisiana caucuses.
Obama spanks Clinton in South Carolina. 68% of white voters think Clinton unfairly attacked Obama. Gosh, ya think? Would the Clintons ever do something like that? But Democrats will still nominate Hillary.
Bill Clinton explains that Hillary and John McCain are very close. Two authoritarians in a pod. These are the leading candidates in an election supposedly about change. I love this picture from Drudge.
Kerry blasts Bill Clinton. Democrats who knew Bill Clinton knew what a corrupt creep he really was, and now the Clintons are splitting the Democrat party just like they split the nation. Liberals are finally seeing the Clintons for who they really are. Conservatives certainly hate the Clintons, but not like liberals hate Bush. I personally don't hate them because I don't know them. But I wouldn't let them in my house, let alone the White House, because they're pathologically dishonest, mean and criminals. Based on how they treated the White House when they left, they're probably kleptomaniacs. The Clintons earned the antipathy of everybody in America long ago with their behavior and lies. Liberals are just figuring it out.
A short essay that barely scratches the surface of Hillary Clinton's "experience". That's code for lies. This is the kind of people liberals want to rule the country.
Maria Sharapova wins the Australian open.
Mark Steyn rips self-censorship and appeasement in: First, They Came for Piglet.
It's interesting to see what this Australian gets right and wrong about America's problems.
America should not allow dual citizenship.
Chavez urges Latin America to pull its money reserves out of US banks. We're going to see a lot more of this until we cut the size and scope of government and abolish the income tax.
Another bizarre situation created by government. Because government subsidizes water for California farmers, it has become more profitable for some to sell the water than to grow crops.
US spy satellite to crash to earth. Oops.
Alarmism about mercury levels in tuna.
Ron Paul challenges results of Louisiana caucuses.
Obama spanks Clinton in South Carolina. 68% of white voters think Clinton unfairly attacked Obama. Gosh, ya think? Would the Clintons ever do something like that? But Democrats will still nominate Hillary.
Bill Clinton explains that Hillary and John McCain are very close. Two authoritarians in a pod. These are the leading candidates in an election supposedly about change. I love this picture from Drudge.
Kerry blasts Bill Clinton. Democrats who knew Bill Clinton knew what a corrupt creep he really was, and now the Clintons are splitting the Democrat party just like they split the nation. Liberals are finally seeing the Clintons for who they really are. Conservatives certainly hate the Clintons, but not like liberals hate Bush. I personally don't hate them because I don't know them. But I wouldn't let them in my house, let alone the White House, because they're pathologically dishonest, mean and criminals. Based on how they treated the White House when they left, they're probably kleptomaniacs. The Clintons earned the antipathy of everybody in America long ago with their behavior and lies. Liberals are just figuring it out.
A short essay that barely scratches the surface of Hillary Clinton's "experience". That's code for lies. This is the kind of people liberals want to rule the country.
Maria Sharapova wins the Australian open.
Mark Steyn rips self-censorship and appeasement in: First, They Came for Piglet.
It's interesting to see what this Australian gets right and wrong about America's problems.
America should not allow dual citizenship.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Free kibbles
Saddam faked having weapons of mass destruction because he figured the US would never invade, but he was afraid the Iranians would.
Iraq PM Maliki promises to wipe out al Qaeda in Iraq. I should hope so.
Gazans and Egyptians in contest to tear down / rebuild wall between them.
How elitist do you have to be to think that somebody offering to loan money to another is a predator? As if the person taking the loan shouldn't be allowed to make those decisions for himself. He needs government to make those decision for him. The whole concept of predatory loans is elitist and insulting.
Gold and platinum at record highs.
Reason profiles libertarian Republican Paul Broun from Georgia.
I heard this whisper in the debate last night, but I didn't realize it was a whisper. I thought something was wrong with Russert's voice as he finished the question, but I guess not. Comments on the debate.
The NYTimes has endorsed Hillary Clinton and John McCain. In a sane world, that would end McCain's candidacy. It shows just how much of a big-government autocrat he is.
The Clintons will keep Bill on the attack. It makes Barack Obama have to fight Bill while Hillary can appear to be above the fray. Bill's status as ex-President makes this unfair and endangers the democratic process.
Ron Paul reveals his economic plan. Abolishing the personal income tax is hidden under the capital gains reform. He mentions getting rid of punishing corporate taxes in his summary, but I don't see it in his detail.
Cato explains how a mortgage bailout would encourage Americans to default on loans. The government should do the same thing it should do even without the subprime issue - dramatically reduce the size and scope of government, adopt the FairTax, and cut the tax rates.
The Motley Fool has finally taken my advice and written off Microsoft.
Teenager attempts to hijack plane with handcuffs, clothesline, and duct tape, and fly plane into site of Hannah Montana concert. This sounds like a serious case of puppy love scorned.
Belichick and the Patriots are playing games with the media regarding Tom Brady.
If you think standard biological weapons are scary, how about life-forms designed and built from scratch in a lab to whatever specifications the mad scientist chooses.
Peggy Noonan observes the split in the Democrats and Republicans.
Boehner asks Republicans to fight against earmarks for a year. This is a joke. While earmarks are a potent symbol of all that's wrong in Washington, it's only a drop in the bucket. Attacking a symbol is symbolic, not meaningful. And they're only doing it for a year so they can fool voters into thinking they're different from Democrats. This is the kind of underhanded, duplicitous tactic both parties have mastered to fool Americans to continue voting for them while they continue destroying the nation for their own benefit.
Chimp beats world memory champion in test. It doesn't sound as much like a memory test as a perception test. Apparently the chimp recognized the numbers and placements in less time.
Bizarre UK suicide town.
Patent office grants patent for smartphone, and company immediately sues everybody. I wrote up a patent on this about 10 years ago, but never filed it. It seemed too generic. I guess I should hunt it down and sue the company that won the patent.
Hillary Clinton has the most earmarks to buy votes of any presidential candidate.
Study shows that conservatives are far more tolerant of liberals than vice-versa. This is no surprise to anybody who read a newspaper in the last 40 years.
Fantastic insight into Washington politics using Hillary Clinton's first health care debacle as an example. The raw hubris and scorn for the American people shines through.
Blocking drilling in ANWR would cost the USA $3 trillion. That's OK with liberals because the poor will pay for it by sending their money to Ahmadinejad and Chavez among others.
Iowa Legislature begins with Muslim presenting anti-American prayer.
JG keeps trying to tell me that women are as smart as men. Fortunately, I'm an exception.
We have a temporary reprieve from the surveillance society. Martin County won't use surveillance cameras that talk back to stop people from having sex on the beach. I know where I'm planning my next vacation.
Mickey Kaus puts Mexico's complaint about Mexicans coming to Mexico in perspective - another country is complaining about the influx of Mexicans.
Charles Krauthammer gives John Edwards too much credit when he suggests Edwards is an angry hypocrite.
Lawrence Kudlow exposes Bill Gates' ignorance of the transformative nature of capitalism and economic freedom. Gates looks at poor places that don't have capitalism and blames capitalism. Gates had a smart idea, and he milked it to amazing heights by using marketing and leveraging monopoly power, but he never made a good product. He's like the Hugo Chavez of technology. It doesn't necessarily take brains to be tremendously successful.
Pat Buchanan blasts John McCain, and he's right on every issue except free trade. Ann Coulter lambastes John McCain. The Democrats are going to run a socialist, so Republicans shouldn't run a liberal.
Jonah Goldberg says that Cloverfield is a horror movie that also symbolizes the end of innocence and the end of America. He piqued my interest.
Iraq PM Maliki promises to wipe out al Qaeda in Iraq. I should hope so.
Gazans and Egyptians in contest to tear down / rebuild wall between them.
How elitist do you have to be to think that somebody offering to loan money to another is a predator? As if the person taking the loan shouldn't be allowed to make those decisions for himself. He needs government to make those decision for him. The whole concept of predatory loans is elitist and insulting.
Gold and platinum at record highs.
Reason profiles libertarian Republican Paul Broun from Georgia.
I heard this whisper in the debate last night, but I didn't realize it was a whisper. I thought something was wrong with Russert's voice as he finished the question, but I guess not. Comments on the debate.
The NYTimes has endorsed Hillary Clinton and John McCain. In a sane world, that would end McCain's candidacy. It shows just how much of a big-government autocrat he is.
The Clintons will keep Bill on the attack. It makes Barack Obama have to fight Bill while Hillary can appear to be above the fray. Bill's status as ex-President makes this unfair and endangers the democratic process.
Ron Paul reveals his economic plan. Abolishing the personal income tax is hidden under the capital gains reform. He mentions getting rid of punishing corporate taxes in his summary, but I don't see it in his detail.
Cato explains how a mortgage bailout would encourage Americans to default on loans. The government should do the same thing it should do even without the subprime issue - dramatically reduce the size and scope of government, adopt the FairTax, and cut the tax rates.
The Motley Fool has finally taken my advice and written off Microsoft.
Teenager attempts to hijack plane with handcuffs, clothesline, and duct tape, and fly plane into site of Hannah Montana concert. This sounds like a serious case of puppy love scorned.
Belichick and the Patriots are playing games with the media regarding Tom Brady.
If you think standard biological weapons are scary, how about life-forms designed and built from scratch in a lab to whatever specifications the mad scientist chooses.
Peggy Noonan observes the split in the Democrats and Republicans.
Boehner asks Republicans to fight against earmarks for a year. This is a joke. While earmarks are a potent symbol of all that's wrong in Washington, it's only a drop in the bucket. Attacking a symbol is symbolic, not meaningful. And they're only doing it for a year so they can fool voters into thinking they're different from Democrats. This is the kind of underhanded, duplicitous tactic both parties have mastered to fool Americans to continue voting for them while they continue destroying the nation for their own benefit.
Chimp beats world memory champion in test. It doesn't sound as much like a memory test as a perception test. Apparently the chimp recognized the numbers and placements in less time.
Bizarre UK suicide town.
Patent office grants patent for smartphone, and company immediately sues everybody. I wrote up a patent on this about 10 years ago, but never filed it. It seemed too generic. I guess I should hunt it down and sue the company that won the patent.
Hillary Clinton has the most earmarks to buy votes of any presidential candidate.
Study shows that conservatives are far more tolerant of liberals than vice-versa. This is no surprise to anybody who read a newspaper in the last 40 years.
Fantastic insight into Washington politics using Hillary Clinton's first health care debacle as an example. The raw hubris and scorn for the American people shines through.
Blocking drilling in ANWR would cost the USA $3 trillion. That's OK with liberals because the poor will pay for it by sending their money to Ahmadinejad and Chavez among others.
Iowa Legislature begins with Muslim presenting anti-American prayer.
JG keeps trying to tell me that women are as smart as men. Fortunately, I'm an exception.
We have a temporary reprieve from the surveillance society. Martin County won't use surveillance cameras that talk back to stop people from having sex on the beach. I know where I'm planning my next vacation.
Mickey Kaus puts Mexico's complaint about Mexicans coming to Mexico in perspective - another country is complaining about the influx of Mexicans.
Charles Krauthammer gives John Edwards too much credit when he suggests Edwards is an angry hypocrite.
Lawrence Kudlow exposes Bill Gates' ignorance of the transformative nature of capitalism and economic freedom. Gates looks at poor places that don't have capitalism and blames capitalism. Gates had a smart idea, and he milked it to amazing heights by using marketing and leveraging monopoly power, but he never made a good product. He's like the Hugo Chavez of technology. It doesn't necessarily take brains to be tremendously successful.
Pat Buchanan blasts John McCain, and he's right on every issue except free trade. Ann Coulter lambastes John McCain. The Democrats are going to run a socialist, so Republicans shouldn't run a liberal.
Jonah Goldberg says that Cloverfield is a horror movie that also symbolizes the end of innocence and the end of America. He piqued my interest.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Free kibbles
The Dutch are posing a stupidly dangerous question about an insult to the Koran: If I insult you, am I responsible for your violence? Anybody who would ask this question does not respect free speech. Officials advise filmmaker to leave the country.
UK considers paying obese subjects to lose weight. Talk about a big-government solution to a big-government created problem. The solution is to free people to be responsible for their own health care. When people pay for their own health care, they focus on prevention because it's so much cheaper. When a third pays the health care bill, people don't care about prevention. Third party payer systems of any kind, socialized medicine is just the worst, incentivizes people to be more unhealthy and drives up the cost of health care.
Ron Paul has explained that this so-called tax rebate is actually a welfare check for everybody in America. It has no relationship to taxes. This isn't allowing (why did we ever put ourselves in a situation where we have to beg government to "allow" us to keep more of our own money anyway?) Americans to keep more of their own money, as the President and his Democrat partners are trying to mislead us into believing. This is a handout from government financed by increased debt. This illustrates that the government aristocrats of the 2 parties are identical for all intents and purposes in their mismanagement of our country and their scorn for regular Americans.
Condoleezza Rice offers normalized relations with Iran if it ends it's nuclear enrichment program.
Bill Gates calls for "kinder capitalism," but what he's really calling for is more corporatism, another form of socialism. Free markets are the best economic system for the poor, not government directed incentives for companies to address the poor.
Iraqi police chief killed in ambush.
Gaza's pain spreads to Egypt. Egypt should work with Israel to oust Hamas. That's in their best, long-term interest. I'm sure they fear terrorist retaliation in the short term, but taking out Hamas would would reduce the problem of refugees and terrorists.
Gore continues his fraud, claiming climate change is worse than feared. Maybe he forgot all the dire predictions of 10 and 20 years ago that haven't come close to coming true, just like his current dire predictions for the future.
Wall Street recovery continues. I guess the Fed rate cut encouraged investors.
Sometimes low tech solutions are the best. The Border Patrol is riding horses to track down gate crashers.
Chavez has Venezuelan troops seize 500 tons of food. How's that socialist revolution working out for Venezuela?
The Pope doesn't understand that all the media care about is their own power and therefore their ratings. Ethics never enter into their thinking.
Reason wonders if we're winning in Iraq, or if we've only achieved a stalemate. Violence is undoubtedly dropping, so that means we're winning. But it doesn't mean we'll win. The violence may level off at a stalemate. Apparently that's good enough for John McCain who will leave troops in Iraq for 50 years. Ouch.
Reason tries to blame the US for lack of immigration. Bull****. The US is being swamped by illegal immigration, and since it horribly distorts our economy and society, we have to resolve that problem before we can figure out a reasonable legal immigration solution. And after we get control of our borders, our immigration policy should be based on our needs, not the needs of Bangladeshis or any other foreigners.
Newt Gingrich could take the nomination in a brokered convention.
Rudy Giuliani is falling in Florida. This sucks because he recently came out for significant tax and spending cuts. Republican front runners McCain, Romney, and Huckabee have not.
McCain wins Louisiana. Ron Paul takes second. According to the LAGOP, uncommitted actually won, McCain second, and Paul third. Bizarre. Too bad this info doesn't have a permalink.
Glenn Beck interviews Ron Paul and tells him he's probably the closest candidate we have to a founding father.
Bill Clinton accuses Obama of a political "hit job". This from the guy (and his wife) who has engineered more political hit jobs than anybody in my lifetime. Obama was not prepared for dealing with the Clintons. Now he knows why over half the country loath them. They may turn off Democrats as well this time. Democrats are worried about the Clinton's underhanded attacks.
Blacks mistakenly believe Bill Clinton improved their economic status. Everybody who likes Bill Clinton is mistaken, except his cronies.
It doesn't apply in the "hit job" case, but the media likes to exaggerate conflicts between campaigns. The media thrives on conflict.
An argument for legalizing performance enhancing drugs. Not quite as good as mine, if I do say so myself.
1 rogue French banker loses $7 billion, leading to global market crash. We were just talking about this possibility last night.
Cato says NATO must succeed in Afghanistan in order to survive.
Cato explains that the way the Clintons have tag-teamed on attacking Obama is what we can probably expect if Hillary wins the White House. Yuk. Who's the boss? Bill is definitely overshadowing Hillary at this point.
British self-censor story about the 3 little pigs because it might offend Muslims.
Dutch to ban burqas in schools and government buildings. Do they mean the whole burqa? That would be excessive. I can understand banning covering the face because you can't communicate well with a person who has their face covered.
Illegal immigration hurts blacks the worst.
Thomas Sowell says McCain's age is legitimate issue to discuss.
Tom Delay advocates House Republicans take the initiative and promote conservative principles.
Victor Davis Hanson almost gets it right on the economy. We need spending cuts to match tax cuts and get to a much smaller, balanced budget. But Americans do not need to sacrifice. Government does. If we dramatically cut spending, taxes, and regulations, Americans could pay off credit cards, save, and still buy iPods. Americans should give up their credit cards, but that's not a policy decision.
Robert Novak says Republicans are as addicted to earmarks as ever.
Dick Morris claims that Bill Clinton is intentionally drawing fire from Hillary to help her in the election. He's the focus of the news and Obama. Obama has yet to figure out how to deal with it.
Americans tend to vote for their own party for a better economy, instead of for better policy.
The WSJ endorses Giuliani's tax plan. While it's far superior to our current system, the FairTax is far better.
Legal doctrine may allow cell phones and PDAs to be searched without probable cause or warrant.
UK considers paying obese subjects to lose weight. Talk about a big-government solution to a big-government created problem. The solution is to free people to be responsible for their own health care. When people pay for their own health care, they focus on prevention because it's so much cheaper. When a third pays the health care bill, people don't care about prevention. Third party payer systems of any kind, socialized medicine is just the worst, incentivizes people to be more unhealthy and drives up the cost of health care.
Ron Paul has explained that this so-called tax rebate is actually a welfare check for everybody in America. It has no relationship to taxes. This isn't allowing (why did we ever put ourselves in a situation where we have to beg government to "allow" us to keep more of our own money anyway?) Americans to keep more of their own money, as the President and his Democrat partners are trying to mislead us into believing. This is a handout from government financed by increased debt. This illustrates that the government aristocrats of the 2 parties are identical for all intents and purposes in their mismanagement of our country and their scorn for regular Americans.
Condoleezza Rice offers normalized relations with Iran if it ends it's nuclear enrichment program.
Bill Gates calls for "kinder capitalism," but what he's really calling for is more corporatism, another form of socialism. Free markets are the best economic system for the poor, not government directed incentives for companies to address the poor.
Iraqi police chief killed in ambush.
Gaza's pain spreads to Egypt. Egypt should work with Israel to oust Hamas. That's in their best, long-term interest. I'm sure they fear terrorist retaliation in the short term, but taking out Hamas would would reduce the problem of refugees and terrorists.
Gore continues his fraud, claiming climate change is worse than feared. Maybe he forgot all the dire predictions of 10 and 20 years ago that haven't come close to coming true, just like his current dire predictions for the future.
Wall Street recovery continues. I guess the Fed rate cut encouraged investors.
Sometimes low tech solutions are the best. The Border Patrol is riding horses to track down gate crashers.
Chavez has Venezuelan troops seize 500 tons of food. How's that socialist revolution working out for Venezuela?
The Pope doesn't understand that all the media care about is their own power and therefore their ratings. Ethics never enter into their thinking.
Reason wonders if we're winning in Iraq, or if we've only achieved a stalemate. Violence is undoubtedly dropping, so that means we're winning. But it doesn't mean we'll win. The violence may level off at a stalemate. Apparently that's good enough for John McCain who will leave troops in Iraq for 50 years. Ouch.
Reason tries to blame the US for lack of immigration. Bull****. The US is being swamped by illegal immigration, and since it horribly distorts our economy and society, we have to resolve that problem before we can figure out a reasonable legal immigration solution. And after we get control of our borders, our immigration policy should be based on our needs, not the needs of Bangladeshis or any other foreigners.
Newt Gingrich could take the nomination in a brokered convention.
Rudy Giuliani is falling in Florida. This sucks because he recently came out for significant tax and spending cuts. Republican front runners McCain, Romney, and Huckabee have not.
McCain wins Louisiana. Ron Paul takes second. According to the LAGOP, uncommitted actually won, McCain second, and Paul third. Bizarre. Too bad this info doesn't have a permalink.
Glenn Beck interviews Ron Paul and tells him he's probably the closest candidate we have to a founding father.
Bill Clinton accuses Obama of a political "hit job". This from the guy (and his wife) who has engineered more political hit jobs than anybody in my lifetime. Obama was not prepared for dealing with the Clintons. Now he knows why over half the country loath them. They may turn off Democrats as well this time. Democrats are worried about the Clinton's underhanded attacks.
Blacks mistakenly believe Bill Clinton improved their economic status. Everybody who likes Bill Clinton is mistaken, except his cronies.
It doesn't apply in the "hit job" case, but the media likes to exaggerate conflicts between campaigns. The media thrives on conflict.
An argument for legalizing performance enhancing drugs. Not quite as good as mine, if I do say so myself.
1 rogue French banker loses $7 billion, leading to global market crash. We were just talking about this possibility last night.
Cato says NATO must succeed in Afghanistan in order to survive.
Cato explains that the way the Clintons have tag-teamed on attacking Obama is what we can probably expect if Hillary wins the White House. Yuk. Who's the boss? Bill is definitely overshadowing Hillary at this point.
British self-censor story about the 3 little pigs because it might offend Muslims.
Dutch to ban burqas in schools and government buildings. Do they mean the whole burqa? That would be excessive. I can understand banning covering the face because you can't communicate well with a person who has their face covered.
Illegal immigration hurts blacks the worst.
Thomas Sowell says McCain's age is legitimate issue to discuss.
Tom Delay advocates House Republicans take the initiative and promote conservative principles.
Victor Davis Hanson almost gets it right on the economy. We need spending cuts to match tax cuts and get to a much smaller, balanced budget. But Americans do not need to sacrifice. Government does. If we dramatically cut spending, taxes, and regulations, Americans could pay off credit cards, save, and still buy iPods. Americans should give up their credit cards, but that's not a policy decision.
Robert Novak says Republicans are as addicted to earmarks as ever.
Dick Morris claims that Bill Clinton is intentionally drawing fire from Hillary to help her in the election. He's the focus of the news and Obama. Obama has yet to figure out how to deal with it.
Americans tend to vote for their own party for a better economy, instead of for better policy.
The WSJ endorses Giuliani's tax plan. While it's far superior to our current system, the FairTax is far better.
Legal doctrine may allow cell phones and PDAs to be searched without probable cause or warrant.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Free kibbles
Slowing economy increases deficit from $163 billion last year to $250 billion projected this year.
Georgia schools to pay students more than minimum wage to stay after class. That gives new meaning to the phrase "stay in school."
The EU has a CO2 reduction plan that supposedly will only cost Europeans 3 euros per person per week. It will cost more, and the poor will suffer the most.
Poll claims most Americans are against telecom immunity for working with government on national security. That's stupid. We want businesses to help with our security. If government abuses our privacy, we should government responsible, not businesses.
Another city banning smoking in apartments.
Iranian president Ahmadinejad to visit Iraq.
Liberals still can't figure out the difference between a mistake and a lie, claiming the Bush administration made false statements, not mistaken ones, during the debate on invading Iraq. Liberals don't bother reporting that Democrats, including their front-runner Hillary Clinton, were mistaken about WMD too. And I love the word "meaningful" regarding ties to al Qaeda. I guess liberals define the word "meaningful" however they want to make Bush look bad. I have a suggestion for liberals: get over it. We're in Iraq now, and we have to win.
Reason suggests the way to fix the election process is to make elections less important by dramatically reducing the size and scope of government.
Reason on Hillary Clinton, central planning and economic justice.
Bill and Hillary's smart, effective teamwork. Obama needs to ask harder questions about Hillary since he can be damn sure the press won't. What happened to the raw FBI files? Why was Billy Dale audited? Why did Hillary hide the subpoenaed records? What was Hillary hiding in Vince Foster's office? What does Hillary think of (name all the girls here) claims of being sexually assaulted by Bill? Does Hillary still plan to throw Americans in jail for using their own doctors? Why was Sandy Berger destroying documents, and why did Hillary give him a job afterward? It's Obama's job to bring all this up to insulate her in the general election.
Barack Obama is getting an education on the ruthlessness and amorality of the Clintons.
Obama and Clinton are exposing Democrats' true colors to the horror of the party.
Article lists John McCain's flip-flops for political expediency and wonders why the press loves McCain and hates Romney. McCain better not get used to it. If he win the nomination, the press will turn on him like coyotes on a rabbit.
Huckabee short on cash.
John Stossel explains how growing economic freedom around the world created a world-wide economic boom. The rest of the world learned the lessons of the success of the US, but the US didn't. We're going backward in economic freedom, and that's led us to the verge of recession, and the verge of an unprecedented crash in the next 15 years or so.
Thomas Sowell explains that people move between statistical categories, so comparing just those categories makes no sense.
Muslim woman who wouldn't remove headscarf sues salon owner who refused to hire her. I hope this woman loses and is has to pay huge fees for the salon owner.
The WSJ analyzes the positions of the candidates and shows just how damaging the Democrats will be to the economy. But the article ignores Ron Paul and dismisses the FairTax.
FairTax champion John Linder supports Huckabee.
Michelle Malkins says McCain can't be trusted on immigration. He can't be trusted on anything else either.
5 UN security council members agree to increased sanctions on Iran.
Venezuelans fleeing Chavez to Florida. It's Cuba all over again.
NASA and Bush to battle about the direction of the space program. Like every bloated, wasteful government bureaucracy, NASA should be phased out in favor of a small, effective, organization with very specific goals. The main goal should be to capture an asteroid and return it to earth orbit for mining, and the organization's focus should be on working with private enterprise to develop the technology necessary to do this.
The technology to divert any killer asteroids destined to strike the planet is unlikely to be developed until a need is identified, even though it may be necessary to save our species. Capturing an asteroid for mining provides the need. The operation would also provide tremendous resources for earth, building a moon base, or a Mars mission.
It's good for the country that taxes are taking priority in Florida.
Georgia schools to pay students more than minimum wage to stay after class. That gives new meaning to the phrase "stay in school."
The EU has a CO2 reduction plan that supposedly will only cost Europeans 3 euros per person per week. It will cost more, and the poor will suffer the most.
Poll claims most Americans are against telecom immunity for working with government on national security. That's stupid. We want businesses to help with our security. If government abuses our privacy, we should government responsible, not businesses.
Another city banning smoking in apartments.
Iranian president Ahmadinejad to visit Iraq.
Liberals still can't figure out the difference between a mistake and a lie, claiming the Bush administration made false statements, not mistaken ones, during the debate on invading Iraq. Liberals don't bother reporting that Democrats, including their front-runner Hillary Clinton, were mistaken about WMD too. And I love the word "meaningful" regarding ties to al Qaeda. I guess liberals define the word "meaningful" however they want to make Bush look bad. I have a suggestion for liberals: get over it. We're in Iraq now, and we have to win.
Reason suggests the way to fix the election process is to make elections less important by dramatically reducing the size and scope of government.
Reason on Hillary Clinton, central planning and economic justice.
Bill and Hillary's smart, effective teamwork. Obama needs to ask harder questions about Hillary since he can be damn sure the press won't. What happened to the raw FBI files? Why was Billy Dale audited? Why did Hillary hide the subpoenaed records? What was Hillary hiding in Vince Foster's office? What does Hillary think of (name all the girls here) claims of being sexually assaulted by Bill? Does Hillary still plan to throw Americans in jail for using their own doctors? Why was Sandy Berger destroying documents, and why did Hillary give him a job afterward? It's Obama's job to bring all this up to insulate her in the general election.
Barack Obama is getting an education on the ruthlessness and amorality of the Clintons.
Obama and Clinton are exposing Democrats' true colors to the horror of the party.
Article lists John McCain's flip-flops for political expediency and wonders why the press loves McCain and hates Romney. McCain better not get used to it. If he win the nomination, the press will turn on him like coyotes on a rabbit.
Huckabee short on cash.
John Stossel explains how growing economic freedom around the world created a world-wide economic boom. The rest of the world learned the lessons of the success of the US, but the US didn't. We're going backward in economic freedom, and that's led us to the verge of recession, and the verge of an unprecedented crash in the next 15 years or so.
Thomas Sowell explains that people move between statistical categories, so comparing just those categories makes no sense.
Muslim woman who wouldn't remove headscarf sues salon owner who refused to hire her. I hope this woman loses and is has to pay huge fees for the salon owner.
The WSJ analyzes the positions of the candidates and shows just how damaging the Democrats will be to the economy. But the article ignores Ron Paul and dismisses the FairTax.
FairTax champion John Linder supports Huckabee.
Michelle Malkins says McCain can't be trusted on immigration. He can't be trusted on anything else either.
5 UN security council members agree to increased sanctions on Iran.
Venezuelans fleeing Chavez to Florida. It's Cuba all over again.
NASA and Bush to battle about the direction of the space program. Like every bloated, wasteful government bureaucracy, NASA should be phased out in favor of a small, effective, organization with very specific goals. The main goal should be to capture an asteroid and return it to earth orbit for mining, and the organization's focus should be on working with private enterprise to develop the technology necessary to do this.
The technology to divert any killer asteroids destined to strike the planet is unlikely to be developed until a need is identified, even though it may be necessary to save our species. Capturing an asteroid for mining provides the need. The operation would also provide tremendous resources for earth, building a moon base, or a Mars mission.
It's good for the country that taxes are taking priority in Florida.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
We Don't Select Pakistan's President
We Don't Select Pakistan's President
by Mark Luedtke
You wouldn't know it from the media coverage of Pakistan, but Pakistan is not a US colony. Pakistan is a sovereign nation. Americans do not determine Pakistan's president, Pakistanis do. Somebody should tell that to Washington and media elites.
The first time I ever saw Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf in a suit was after 9/11, right before we invaded Afghanistan. Before then, I'd only seen then General Musharraf in his Pakistani military uniform. The Pakistani military was the most trusted institution in a country renowned for radicalism and corruption, and Musharraf wore his uniform as a symbol of stability. Then the US pressured him to wear a suit for American consumption, trying to remake Musharraf in our image.
George Bush acted as if he had appointed, and the Senate had approved, Musharraf as territorial governor of the US colony of Pakistan. And liberals, who claim with one side of their mouths that our intervention in Iraq is a doomed mistake, use the other side to continually call for ever more interference in Pakistani affairs. Our interference in Pakistan has destroyed the Pakistani people's trust in the military, and with no trust in any government institutions, Pakistan is degenerating into chaos.
President Bush has adopted the liberal dream of forcing democracy on the rest of the world whether the world is ready or not. Never mind that democracy is another name for mob rule, a tyranny of the majority, but this shallow ideology worships elections at the expense of reason and consequences.
It takes more than an election to empower people to self-rule. A case in point is Musharraf's 2002 election as president. It takes democratic institutions including security, economic freedom, an educated electorate, control of borders and tolerance. The latter 4 are in short supply in Pakistan (and disappearing in America as well) as is security. Building democratic institutions in Pakistan will take time.
But our government wanted to impose its will on Pakistan immediately, so it promoted the fiction that an election in Pakistan would create stability. Fiction turned to fantasy when the US pressured Musharraf to repatriate Benazir Bhutto, whose corruption during her 2 terms as Prime Minister was historic even by Pakistani standards, and Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister who attempted to banish Musarraf in 1999, only to have Musharraf oust him in a coup and subsequently banish him instead.
The reason this sounds more like a Shakespearean play than a modern democracy is, despite modern technology and pockets of enlightenment, Pakistani culture is basically medieval. But that doesn't stop Washington from fantasizing that one election will magically transform this aristocratic government into a modern, self-governing state.
We have obtained crucial intelligence support from Pakistan in the War on Terror, but American hubris has undermined our interests in the region. The Taliban and al Qaeda continue to use the lawless regions of northwest Pakistan as a safe haven. Intelligence reports claim al Qaeda is gaining strength. It's commonly reported that Osama bin Laden is hiding in the same region. Pakistan's nuclear weapons are more vulnerable than ever. Pakistan has increased violence, a weakened military, a weakened leader, and popular Benazir Bhutto is dead. The details of the investigation of Bhutto's assassination have been washed away by fire hoses and political pressure in an obvious cover-up, but of what, we'll probably never know.
I have no idea if Pervez Musharraf should resign. He may well be the best man to keep a lid on the powder keg and eventually lead Pakistan to self-government. Or he may be too weakened to be an effective leader. He may well have ordered Bhutto's murder, or she could have been killed by the fundamentalist radicals she helped take power in Afghanistan.
Whether Musharraf resigns or not is not up to us. What we control is our foreign policy. A humble foreign policy focused on our national security interests would achieve greater results: insuring the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, disrupting the Taliban, al Qaeda and terrorist plots, and hunting Osama bin Laden. We should promote self-government in Pakistan by helping bolster democratic institutions as invited, treading lightly all the while. Fantasies of an election next month creating stability should be left to fiction writers. But the hubris of Washington and its media echo chamber is inconsistent with treading lightly, so any change for the better is unlikely.
The solution is for free people to take back their freedom and power from government, to dramatically reduce the size and scope of government to Constitutional limits, to abolish the political class and re-empower citizen-representatives, and then to carry out a humble foreign policy limited to our interests while providing a model for freedom for everybody else in the world.
Free kibbles
Privacy and security are not a zero sum game. It seems to me that the more privacy you have, the more security you have. Having government monitor people's every move is counterproductive to security. Government should focus its limited resources on monitoring terrorists, not citizens.
Advisers recommend a first nuclear strike policy for NATO. Cato discusses the problems with NATO.
Russia practices navy wargames in Atlantic off Spain and France.
Fed cuts interest rates 3/4 of a point to 3.5%. It may be too late to prevent a recession. Investors expect a 500 point drop in the Dow. Another bad prediction. It only fell 128. Cato says the rate cut is not too late by historical standards. But that isn't how we judge if it's too late. We judge it based on whether or not it keeps out of a recession.
Christopher Hitchens sees the the Confederate flag as a racist symbol instead of symbol of independence and states rights. Both views are valid, but where's that much trumpeted liberal tolerance for other points of view? Christopher Hitchens is not a standard liberal.
Reason discusses declining abortion rates.
I don't think it's a coincidence that Clinton and Obama left Edwards behind right after their campaigns became personal. It seems the personal attacks have ignited identity politics and energized Democrat voters.
Democrats showed up in South Carolina for MLK event because they're campaigning in South Carolina. The Republicans already had their South Carolina primary.
It's simplistic to say that Ron Paul blames the Fed for our financial crisis. He blames the Fed and big-government spending.
Fred Thompson drops out.
Computer controlled kite helps pull cargo ship.
The new global crisis is disappearing dirt.
Tom Brady is wearing a walking cast. Yikes!
Something tells me there will be carbon in this zero carbon city.
Stating the obvious, Cato explains that Hillary Clinton hates freedom and wonders if she is a neo-con.
Bush's tax cuts led to an increase in taxes paid by the rich larger than the increase in their income.
Iranian President Ahmadinejad urges Muslim community to promote jihad culture. He's calling for Muslims to behead us all.
Who should black women vote for? Ron Paul, because he's the best candidate. But CNN never considers that black women should use their brains and vote for the best candidate like everybody. No, CNN thinks that black women have to either vote for Clinton or Obama because Obama is black, and Clinton is a woman. Leave it to the mainstream media to promote such a shallow and condescending idea.
Michigan stops allowing illegal aliens to get drivers licenses. Better late than never.
25 rants of parents who homeschool. Pretty funny.
Info on Roe-v-Wade.
Thomas Sowell describes the dangers of demagoguery.
Advisers recommend a first nuclear strike policy for NATO. Cato discusses the problems with NATO.
Russia practices navy wargames in Atlantic off Spain and France.
Fed cuts interest rates 3/4 of a point to 3.5%. It may be too late to prevent a recession. Investors expect a 500 point drop in the Dow. Another bad prediction. It only fell 128. Cato says the rate cut is not too late by historical standards. But that isn't how we judge if it's too late. We judge it based on whether or not it keeps out of a recession.
Christopher Hitchens sees the the Confederate flag as a racist symbol instead of symbol of independence and states rights. Both views are valid, but where's that much trumpeted liberal tolerance for other points of view? Christopher Hitchens is not a standard liberal.
Reason discusses declining abortion rates.
I don't think it's a coincidence that Clinton and Obama left Edwards behind right after their campaigns became personal. It seems the personal attacks have ignited identity politics and energized Democrat voters.
Democrats showed up in South Carolina for MLK event because they're campaigning in South Carolina. The Republicans already had their South Carolina primary.
It's simplistic to say that Ron Paul blames the Fed for our financial crisis. He blames the Fed and big-government spending.
Fred Thompson drops out.
Computer controlled kite helps pull cargo ship.
The new global crisis is disappearing dirt.
Tom Brady is wearing a walking cast. Yikes!
Something tells me there will be carbon in this zero carbon city.
Stating the obvious, Cato explains that Hillary Clinton hates freedom and wonders if she is a neo-con.
Bush's tax cuts led to an increase in taxes paid by the rich larger than the increase in their income.
Iranian President Ahmadinejad urges Muslim community to promote jihad culture. He's calling for Muslims to behead us all.
Who should black women vote for? Ron Paul, because he's the best candidate. But CNN never considers that black women should use their brains and vote for the best candidate like everybody. No, CNN thinks that black women have to either vote for Clinton or Obama because Obama is black, and Clinton is a woman. Leave it to the mainstream media to promote such a shallow and condescending idea.
Michigan stops allowing illegal aliens to get drivers licenses. Better late than never.
25 rants of parents who homeschool. Pretty funny.
Info on Roe-v-Wade.
Thomas Sowell describes the dangers of demagoguery.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Free kibbles
Anti-war veterans group claims commanders in Iraq encourage killing civilians. I hope these guys are busted for slander.
Democrats outside the country can vote in primaries on the web.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf explains to European leaders that Pakistan is tribal and feudal, that it will take a long to time to achieve the democratic institutions that it took Europe centuries to develop, and that Pakistani democracy will not look like European democracy.
The press has started its assault on Israel for defending itself against the Gaza terrorists. As has Arab nations.
Iran's Supreme leader Khamenei checks Ahmadinejad's attempt to subvert parliament and the Iranian constitution.
International markets plunge on US recession fears.
Chavez threatens to seize farms in his march to totalitarianism.
The Mexican housing market is the best in Latin America. When the crash comes, Americans will be crossing the Rio Grand to find jobs.
Canada to remove US from torture list. I feel better already.
Israel adopts cellphone model for electric car business. If this was a good idea, they wouldn't need government subsidies to make it fly.
Reason highlights the hilarious ignorance of Congress towards baseball and drugs.
While claiming to be above race, Obama calls for unity (i.e. for blacks to support him just because he's black) at Martin Luther King's church.
Clinton pulled dirty election tricks in Nevada to get win.
Clinton says government must take a more active role in the economy. She's not trying to hide her socialism.
British theater group must register and lock up their fake guns and swords.
Mark Steyn on the chilling "speech courts" posing as human rights commissions in Canada and on the broader implications of self-censorship. Steyn is currently remanded to such a court for his book America Alone.
Texas is the world's 7th largest CO2 producer. That's because it's a fast growing economy. This goes back to Al Gore the plan of his hate-America communists - if you shut down CO2 production, you shut down economic development.
Democrats outside the country can vote in primaries on the web.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf explains to European leaders that Pakistan is tribal and feudal, that it will take a long to time to achieve the democratic institutions that it took Europe centuries to develop, and that Pakistani democracy will not look like European democracy.
The press has started its assault on Israel for defending itself against the Gaza terrorists. As has Arab nations.
Iran's Supreme leader Khamenei checks Ahmadinejad's attempt to subvert parliament and the Iranian constitution.
International markets plunge on US recession fears.
Chavez threatens to seize farms in his march to totalitarianism.
The Mexican housing market is the best in Latin America. When the crash comes, Americans will be crossing the Rio Grand to find jobs.
Canada to remove US from torture list. I feel better already.
Israel adopts cellphone model for electric car business. If this was a good idea, they wouldn't need government subsidies to make it fly.
Reason highlights the hilarious ignorance of Congress towards baseball and drugs.
While claiming to be above race, Obama calls for unity (i.e. for blacks to support him just because he's black) at Martin Luther King's church.
Clinton pulled dirty election tricks in Nevada to get win.
Clinton says government must take a more active role in the economy. She's not trying to hide her socialism.
British theater group must register and lock up their fake guns and swords.
Mark Steyn on the chilling "speech courts" posing as human rights commissions in Canada and on the broader implications of self-censorship. Steyn is currently remanded to such a court for his book America Alone.
Texas is the world's 7th largest CO2 producer. That's because it's a fast growing economy. This goes back to Al Gore the plan of his hate-America communists - if you shut down CO2 production, you shut down economic development.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Free kibbles
FBI denies file reporting high level US officials supplied nuclear secrets to foreign spies.
Russia steps up its belligerence by threatening nuclear strikes. China has already threatened us with strikes as well. This illustrates that China and Russia are waging a new Cold War of Terror against us, and we're sitting around with our with our fingers up our noses.
The reason China and Russia can make these threats is they are ascending, Russia on oil wealth and China from development, and the US is descending. The solution is for the US to return to a trajectory of greatness by freeing the American people from the burden of government. American workers defeated the Soviet Union by outproducing the Soviets. American workers can outproduce both China and Russia if we cut the size and scope of government in half and adopt the FairTax.
After British pulled out of southern Iraq, Shiite on Shiite violence on the rise. Sadr is making threats. It's the challenge of the Maliki government, dominated by Shiites, to shut this down.
Israel has cut off supplies to Gaza to stop rocket attacks. You watch. Instead of the world rallying around the defeat of Hamas, the world will cry about the humanitarian crisis and blame Israel instead of the terrorists and the people of Gaza who harbor them.
US accuses Chavez of facilitating cocaine trade. He probably does. I'm sure he knows that the war on drugs is draining US resources of money and people while making criminals and enemies of the US ever more rich and powerful. But this accusation is more likely intended as a smear for political purposes, and possibly the beginning of a setup for a Noriega-style invasion.
It's good to know that foreigners want to invest in the USA.
China covers up 10 deaths in building Olympic stadium.
Apparently my prediction that Oprah might hurt herself by injecting herself into politics has come true: women turn on Oprah.
Despite the attempts by Nevada's culinary union to rig the casino caucuses in favor of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton won in the casinos and won the state. Romney won Nevada for the Republicans.
McCain wins tight race over Huckabee in South Carolina.
Is Ron Paul's second place finish in Nevada at 14% Ron Paul's ceiling?
How Edwards can play role of kingmaker.
Lunar base plans may be scrapped in favor of asteroid missions. A better goal than a lunar base would be to bring an asteroid into earth orbit for mining. This technology is also useful to stop asteroid collisions with Earth, so it's dual use. It gives us crucial experience in complex navigating around the solar system. And the mined asteroid could help develop of a lunar base or a Mars mission. It will also provide direct benefits to Earth in the form of raw materials.
Cell phone use before bed ruins sleep.
Mark Steyn exposes the NYTimes attempt to slander American veterans by promoting the fiction that they return as crazed killers. The fact is the civilized comportment of American combat veterans is a tribute to their character and training. Ralph Peter rips the NYTimes for its anti-military smear.
Rahm Emmanuel invokes FDRs fascist programs when he calls for a "New Deal for a New Economy". This is the epitome of the Democrat party. False big-government solutions to real problems previously caused by big-government that actually only aggravate the existing problems. The key to improving the quality and lowering the cost of health care, energy, savings, and education is to dramatically reduce government involvement in all these markets and every other market, adopt the FairTax, then lower the tax rate to reflect the reduced cost of government. My solution is also the solution to win the election. The FairTax will give the middle class an immediate 20-30% raise. Any candidate who can't use populism to sell the FairTax doesn't deserve to be elected.
Evaluation of the threat to Navy ships from Iranian fast boats.
Christopher Hitchens describes the hypocrisy of trying to transcend race or gender while also trying to capitalize on it for votes.
Charles Krauthammer explains why Clinton's analogy of MLK and LBJ to Obama and herself is bogus.
Easy to understand description of how tax rates affect capital, entrepreneurship, jobs, and wages.
Foreign governments pay the Clinton's 10s of millions of dollars, an obvious conflict of interest for Hillary.
Russia steps up its belligerence by threatening nuclear strikes. China has already threatened us with strikes as well. This illustrates that China and Russia are waging a new Cold War of Terror against us, and we're sitting around with our with our fingers up our noses.
The reason China and Russia can make these threats is they are ascending, Russia on oil wealth and China from development, and the US is descending. The solution is for the US to return to a trajectory of greatness by freeing the American people from the burden of government. American workers defeated the Soviet Union by outproducing the Soviets. American workers can outproduce both China and Russia if we cut the size and scope of government in half and adopt the FairTax.
After British pulled out of southern Iraq, Shiite on Shiite violence on the rise. Sadr is making threats. It's the challenge of the Maliki government, dominated by Shiites, to shut this down.
Israel has cut off supplies to Gaza to stop rocket attacks. You watch. Instead of the world rallying around the defeat of Hamas, the world will cry about the humanitarian crisis and blame Israel instead of the terrorists and the people of Gaza who harbor them.
US accuses Chavez of facilitating cocaine trade. He probably does. I'm sure he knows that the war on drugs is draining US resources of money and people while making criminals and enemies of the US ever more rich and powerful. But this accusation is more likely intended as a smear for political purposes, and possibly the beginning of a setup for a Noriega-style invasion.
It's good to know that foreigners want to invest in the USA.
China covers up 10 deaths in building Olympic stadium.
Apparently my prediction that Oprah might hurt herself by injecting herself into politics has come true: women turn on Oprah.
Despite the attempts by Nevada's culinary union to rig the casino caucuses in favor of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton won in the casinos and won the state. Romney won Nevada for the Republicans.
McCain wins tight race over Huckabee in South Carolina.
Is Ron Paul's second place finish in Nevada at 14% Ron Paul's ceiling?
How Edwards can play role of kingmaker.
Lunar base plans may be scrapped in favor of asteroid missions. A better goal than a lunar base would be to bring an asteroid into earth orbit for mining. This technology is also useful to stop asteroid collisions with Earth, so it's dual use. It gives us crucial experience in complex navigating around the solar system. And the mined asteroid could help develop of a lunar base or a Mars mission. It will also provide direct benefits to Earth in the form of raw materials.
Cell phone use before bed ruins sleep.
Mark Steyn exposes the NYTimes attempt to slander American veterans by promoting the fiction that they return as crazed killers. The fact is the civilized comportment of American combat veterans is a tribute to their character and training. Ralph Peter rips the NYTimes for its anti-military smear.
Rahm Emmanuel invokes FDRs fascist programs when he calls for a "New Deal for a New Economy". This is the epitome of the Democrat party. False big-government solutions to real problems previously caused by big-government that actually only aggravate the existing problems. The key to improving the quality and lowering the cost of health care, energy, savings, and education is to dramatically reduce government involvement in all these markets and every other market, adopt the FairTax, then lower the tax rate to reflect the reduced cost of government. My solution is also the solution to win the election. The FairTax will give the middle class an immediate 20-30% raise. Any candidate who can't use populism to sell the FairTax doesn't deserve to be elected.
Evaluation of the threat to Navy ships from Iranian fast boats.
Christopher Hitchens describes the hypocrisy of trying to transcend race or gender while also trying to capitalize on it for votes.
Charles Krauthammer explains why Clinton's analogy of MLK and LBJ to Obama and herself is bogus.
Easy to understand description of how tax rates affect capital, entrepreneurship, jobs, and wages.
Foreign governments pay the Clinton's 10s of millions of dollars, an obvious conflict of interest for Hillary.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Pathetic whining and class warfare
This open letter to the rich is pathetic. "We gave you everything you want?" What a joke. I wonder what this guy ever gave the rich. Something tells me he didn't support the tax cuts that got us out of Clinton's recession. Something tells me this guy doesn't support the spending cuts that could have kept us out of the current recession.
The rich should do the same thing everybody else should do: what's best for themselves and their families. Individuals guided by enlightened self-interest operating in a free market made this country great, not pathetic beggars like this guy. It's the responsibility of government to insure America is the best place to live, work, and do business. We've failed at that, so our money and our jobs are naturally flowing overseas to greener pastures.
It's not rich people's fault our tax system is so oppressive. It's not rich people's fault our government is titanic, corrupt, ineffective, self-serving, run by American aristocrats we empowered instead of the citizen-representatives envisioned by the framers, and destroying our future. We voted for these lords and ladies of the new American aristocracy, and they're taking care of themselves and their families at our expense. We're reaping what we sowed. This class warfare crap makes me want to puke.
The solution is to vote for freedom instead of Republicans or Democrats. We should only vote for candidates who credibly promise to dramatically reduce the size and scope of government. We should only vote for candidates who credibly promise to abolish the federal tax system and replace it with a business friendly and fair alternative like the FairTax. We should only vote for candidates who credibly promise to end the southern invasion. Quit whining, pointing fingers, passing the buck, and pretending that the standard donkey is better than the standard elephant at running our lives, or vice-versa. The only thing that will save this country is voting for freedom from government.
The rich should do the same thing everybody else should do: what's best for themselves and their families. Individuals guided by enlightened self-interest operating in a free market made this country great, not pathetic beggars like this guy. It's the responsibility of government to insure America is the best place to live, work, and do business. We've failed at that, so our money and our jobs are naturally flowing overseas to greener pastures.
It's not rich people's fault our tax system is so oppressive. It's not rich people's fault our government is titanic, corrupt, ineffective, self-serving, run by American aristocrats we empowered instead of the citizen-representatives envisioned by the framers, and destroying our future. We voted for these lords and ladies of the new American aristocracy, and they're taking care of themselves and their families at our expense. We're reaping what we sowed. This class warfare crap makes me want to puke.
The solution is to vote for freedom instead of Republicans or Democrats. We should only vote for candidates who credibly promise to dramatically reduce the size and scope of government. We should only vote for candidates who credibly promise to abolish the federal tax system and replace it with a business friendly and fair alternative like the FairTax. We should only vote for candidates who credibly promise to end the southern invasion. Quit whining, pointing fingers, passing the buck, and pretending that the standard donkey is better than the standard elephant at running our lives, or vice-versa. The only thing that will save this country is voting for freedom from government.
Generations of failure at Middle East peace
Hezbollah leader comes out of hiding and announces he has possession of the body parts of Israeli soldiers in a rally that drew a million supporters. That sounds like a rally that Israel should have attacked. This shows what's wrong with the international community and its limited view of the war on terror. Anybody going to a rally supporting Hezbollah is a terrorist supporter, and Israel has the responsibility to protect its citizens from them. Since the international community is not willing to stop the terrorists, it should acknowledge the terrorist supporters as terrorists themselves, and Israel should to take them out. Allowing these terrorists to act with impunity is what halts the peace process.
Our peace process is a travesty, and has been for generations. The first step to peace in the middle east is the disarmament of Hamas and Hezbollah. Those groups don't want a settlement with Israel, and as long as they're armed, peace there will be no peace. So any road map to peace must start with disarming Hamas and Hezbollah (and other, lessor terrorists groups).
The US should attempt to organize an Arab anti-terrorist force. First we should get our Arab allies to acknowledge Israel's right of self-defense. Then we should make our supposed allies in the region decide between taking action for peace or allowing Israel to act in its own defense. If our Arab allies refuse to create an anti-terrorist force to disarm Hamas and Hezbollah, then they have to take responsibility for their failure to act when Israel disarms those groups.
Our peace process is a travesty, and has been for generations. The first step to peace in the middle east is the disarmament of Hamas and Hezbollah. Those groups don't want a settlement with Israel, and as long as they're armed, peace there will be no peace. So any road map to peace must start with disarming Hamas and Hezbollah (and other, lessor terrorists groups).
The US should attempt to organize an Arab anti-terrorist force. First we should get our Arab allies to acknowledge Israel's right of self-defense. Then we should make our supposed allies in the region decide between taking action for peace or allowing Israel to act in its own defense. If our Arab allies refuse to create an anti-terrorist force to disarm Hamas and Hezbollah, then they have to take responsibility for their failure to act when Israel disarms those groups.
Free kibbles
Man sues state trooper who tasered him. He should also sue the police department which condoned the action. This isn't a problem with a single cop. This is a systemic problem that can only be addressed by holding entire departments responsible.
Democrats join Bush in call for a stimulus plan. When the 2 parties agree, you can bet it's bad for the country. A stimulus plan should call for tax and spending cuts. Without spending cuts, any plan will just increase the debt and hasten the eventual financial collapse of the country when the big one comes. Tax rebates don't boost the economy. It takes a long-term change to change spending habits. So we're back to cutting taxes and spending to boost the economy. Duh. Apparently it's a done deal.
Ron Paul calls for postponement of Nevada caucuses because of confusion resulting from multiple, last minute rule changes.
Clinton and Edwards attack Obama over praise for Reagan. Obama is going to win this battle because he'll win independents and Reagan Democrats.
South Carolina may boot Fred Thompson, the second best Republican candidate after Ron Paul. Thompson had it all going his way except he failed to grab for the ring. This is too bad too. Thompson would have cleaned the clocks of any of the Democrats in a debate.
Bill Clinton claims to have personally witnessed voter suppression in Las Vegas. His story is obviously implausible, but only because this wouldn't happen in front of him, and Bill Clinton lies as naturally as the rest of us breath. But you know this is what is happening behind the scenes in this situation that was obviously orchestrated to enable the Culinary Union to intimidate its members to vote for Obama.
Obama isn't the straight shooter he claims to be.
Neither is McCain.
Cyber-terrorists have knocked out the power grid and blacked out several cities.
Scientist who cloned human, cloned himself. I guess it was easy to get the skin cells that way, but it takes the concept of egotism to new heights.
Evolving robots learned to lie.
Jonah Goldberg say the real fantasy of the Obama campaign is that his talk of hope will make the country better. Talk's cheap. It's about policies.
Credit cards and coming economic crash.
Ann Coulter supports Mitt Romney. He's just a typical Republican statist, which does make him better than McCain and Huckabee. At least Giuliani has called for significant tax and spending cuts.
Thomas Sowell explains the hypocrisy of liberals' green movement and how it disproportionately hurts the poor.
John Stossel makes a powerful argument for free markets and people owning their own bodies. How twisted is it that government doesn't allow people to own their own bodies?
Walter Williams illustrates the slippery slope to tyranny driven by the green movement.
Thomas Sowell calls the Republican candidates questionable and the Democrats dangerous, and uses that argument to justify voting for the lesser of 2 evils. Yuk!
Democrats join Bush in call for a stimulus plan. When the 2 parties agree, you can bet it's bad for the country. A stimulus plan should call for tax and spending cuts. Without spending cuts, any plan will just increase the debt and hasten the eventual financial collapse of the country when the big one comes. Tax rebates don't boost the economy. It takes a long-term change to change spending habits. So we're back to cutting taxes and spending to boost the economy. Duh. Apparently it's a done deal.
Ron Paul calls for postponement of Nevada caucuses because of confusion resulting from multiple, last minute rule changes.
Clinton and Edwards attack Obama over praise for Reagan. Obama is going to win this battle because he'll win independents and Reagan Democrats.
South Carolina may boot Fred Thompson, the second best Republican candidate after Ron Paul. Thompson had it all going his way except he failed to grab for the ring. This is too bad too. Thompson would have cleaned the clocks of any of the Democrats in a debate.
Bill Clinton claims to have personally witnessed voter suppression in Las Vegas. His story is obviously implausible, but only because this wouldn't happen in front of him, and Bill Clinton lies as naturally as the rest of us breath. But you know this is what is happening behind the scenes in this situation that was obviously orchestrated to enable the Culinary Union to intimidate its members to vote for Obama.
Obama isn't the straight shooter he claims to be.
Neither is McCain.
Cyber-terrorists have knocked out the power grid and blacked out several cities.
Scientist who cloned human, cloned himself. I guess it was easy to get the skin cells that way, but it takes the concept of egotism to new heights.
Evolving robots learned to lie.
Jonah Goldberg say the real fantasy of the Obama campaign is that his talk of hope will make the country better. Talk's cheap. It's about policies.
Credit cards and coming economic crash.
Ann Coulter supports Mitt Romney. He's just a typical Republican statist, which does make him better than McCain and Huckabee. At least Giuliani has called for significant tax and spending cuts.
Thomas Sowell explains the hypocrisy of liberals' green movement and how it disproportionately hurts the poor.
John Stossel makes a powerful argument for free markets and people owning their own bodies. How twisted is it that government doesn't allow people to own their own bodies?
Walter Williams illustrates the slippery slope to tyranny driven by the green movement.
Thomas Sowell calls the Republican candidates questionable and the Democrats dangerous, and uses that argument to justify voting for the lesser of 2 evils. Yuk!
Friday, January 18, 2008
Free kibbles
World stocks fall on US recession fears. This isn't even the big one. This is just a precursor to the big one, which will come in 10 to 15 years if we don't dramatically reduce the size and scope of our government.
Because of the failure of socialized medicine, British subjects can't see the dentist.
It's no surprise that people involved in elections end up being involved with voting machines. It's a natural evolution. The inconsistencies between the electronic vote tallies and paper vote tallies are troubling, but what they prove is that we're better off with a redundant voting system, electronic and paper, instead of a single system, either electronic or paper.
Bush to allow new drilling in Alaska. Why did this take over 7 years if Bush could just mandate it?
I don't think there's any requirement that a person live at the address listed on his registration in order to vote. You just have to live in the precinct. Showing ID would solve this voter caging issue.
CIA blames Pakistani militant and al Qaeda for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
Iraqi troops could take over primary security tasks in all 18 provinces this year. That's excellent news.
Israel closes border with Gaza. If the Gazan's want humanitarian aid, they can kick the terrorists out. I'll never understand why Israel puts up with daily rocket attacks from Gaza. We would revolt if our government allowed attacks like that.
What a bunch of idiots. Despite crushing deficits, First Schwarzenegger embraces the global warming con which will cost California dearly. Then Californians complain about his budget cuts. They'd rather go broke and have everybody in CA but rich, Hollywood types have to declare bankruptcy.
13 year old girl arrested for sexual assault for touching 13 year old boys' clothes. Our laws are insane. This is not an issue for the police or the justice system. It's an issue for parents. Another example where big-government is usurping the role of the family.
Reason responds to criticism of libertarians by author who obviously who doesn't understand.
Reason explains the folly of big-government economic stimulus packages. I think Bush's tax rebate idea is a good one if coupled with corresponding spending cuts. Letting people keep more of their own money is always in the best interest of the country. Cato says Bush's plan is just pushing debt to future generations. That's why we need spending cuts.
Security trumps liberty at Statue of Liberty.
Giuliani advocates reducing the size of government. It's a good start.
Besides replacing our math skills, computers are replacing our information processing skills.
British PM Gorden Brown vows to combat the growing nanny state. Acknowledging the problem is the first step.
Cato pans Romneycare and health care mandates in general.
Cato describes how government lured Google into its parasitic economy.
Doctors develop affordable primary health care innovation without insurance. This is the free market in action.
The Palestinian government is sending 40% of $7.7 billion in internationally donated money to Hamas in Gaza. That will buy a lot of rockets to fire into Israel.
European right-wing groups unite to form a Europe-wide group against the Islamification of Europe.
Car runs on compressed air.
Because of the failure of socialized medicine, British subjects can't see the dentist.
It's no surprise that people involved in elections end up being involved with voting machines. It's a natural evolution. The inconsistencies between the electronic vote tallies and paper vote tallies are troubling, but what they prove is that we're better off with a redundant voting system, electronic and paper, instead of a single system, either electronic or paper.
Bush to allow new drilling in Alaska. Why did this take over 7 years if Bush could just mandate it?
I don't think there's any requirement that a person live at the address listed on his registration in order to vote. You just have to live in the precinct. Showing ID would solve this voter caging issue.
CIA blames Pakistani militant and al Qaeda for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
Iraqi troops could take over primary security tasks in all 18 provinces this year. That's excellent news.
Israel closes border with Gaza. If the Gazan's want humanitarian aid, they can kick the terrorists out. I'll never understand why Israel puts up with daily rocket attacks from Gaza. We would revolt if our government allowed attacks like that.
What a bunch of idiots. Despite crushing deficits, First Schwarzenegger embraces the global warming con which will cost California dearly. Then Californians complain about his budget cuts. They'd rather go broke and have everybody in CA but rich, Hollywood types have to declare bankruptcy.
13 year old girl arrested for sexual assault for touching 13 year old boys' clothes. Our laws are insane. This is not an issue for the police or the justice system. It's an issue for parents. Another example where big-government is usurping the role of the family.
Reason responds to criticism of libertarians by author who obviously who doesn't understand.
Reason explains the folly of big-government economic stimulus packages. I think Bush's tax rebate idea is a good one if coupled with corresponding spending cuts. Letting people keep more of their own money is always in the best interest of the country. Cato says Bush's plan is just pushing debt to future generations. That's why we need spending cuts.
Security trumps liberty at Statue of Liberty.
Giuliani advocates reducing the size of government. It's a good start.
Besides replacing our math skills, computers are replacing our information processing skills.
British PM Gorden Brown vows to combat the growing nanny state. Acknowledging the problem is the first step.
Cato pans Romneycare and health care mandates in general.
Cato describes how government lured Google into its parasitic economy.
Doctors develop affordable primary health care innovation without insurance. This is the free market in action.
The Palestinian government is sending 40% of $7.7 billion in internationally donated money to Hamas in Gaza. That will buy a lot of rockets to fire into Israel.
European right-wing groups unite to form a Europe-wide group against the Islamification of Europe.
Car runs on compressed air.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Housing market correction
The housing market correction continues as housing starts hit lowest rate in 27 years. I still don't see why this is such a big deal. People who purchased overvalued homes pay a price. People who purchased homes they couldn't afford pay a price. Companies that made bad loans like Merrill Lynch pay a price. The market corrects itself and everything goes back to normal. We want the market to correct itself. Government should not interfere. Government is supposed to serve everybody, not just the people who made bad decisions, and not at the expense of people who didn't.
This is another example of how government is divisive by its very nature. If government (read taxpayers) bails out these buyers or lenders who made bad deals, it will we helping those people at the expense of everybody else who made responsible decisions. The people who made bad deals will win. The people who acted responsibly will lose. Inherently divisive. How is it compassionate to punish responsible people for the irresponsibility of others?
Further, if government (read taxpayers) bails out the people who made bad deals, we will be rewarding irresponsible behavior and punishing responsible behavior. This would incentivize even more irresponsible behavior in the future, leading to worse crises and bigger bailouts. How is it compassionate to incentivize people to fail in the future?
Bailouts are just another form of welfare, and there's nothing compassionate about welfare. Welfare is false compassion. It's destructive to both recipient and provider. In order to reunite this country, we need to dramatically reduce the size and scope of inherently divisive government.
This is another example of how government is divisive by its very nature. If government (read taxpayers) bails out these buyers or lenders who made bad deals, it will we helping those people at the expense of everybody else who made responsible decisions. The people who made bad deals will win. The people who acted responsibly will lose. Inherently divisive. How is it compassionate to punish responsible people for the irresponsibility of others?
Further, if government (read taxpayers) bails out the people who made bad deals, we will be rewarding irresponsible behavior and punishing responsible behavior. This would incentivize even more irresponsible behavior in the future, leading to worse crises and bigger bailouts. How is it compassionate to incentivize people to fail in the future?
Bailouts are just another form of welfare, and there's nothing compassionate about welfare. Welfare is false compassion. It's destructive to both recipient and provider. In order to reunite this country, we need to dramatically reduce the size and scope of inherently divisive government.
Free kibbles
Judge rules DNS zone requests illegal. How can a standard DNS request be ruled illegal?
Government has managed to make another industry political. The gaming industry will siphon money out of the economy to pay tribute to our ruling aristocracy.
Another official blames the federal government for not rebuilding for Katrina victims. The federal government is not an insurance company. It's not the responsibility of taxpayers who don't live in disaster zones to provide for those who do. It's the responsibility of home owners and business owners to have insurance and otherwise be prepared for disasters. Rebuilding for Katrina victims is just another form of welfare, and you can see my post about the subprime crisis to get my opinion on that. Government should limit its involvement in disasters to search and rescue, providing immediate, temporary, food and shelter if necessary, providing security if requested, and rebuilding infrastructure critical to the nation.
Slate highlights how the army is losing it's best and brightest mid-level officers.
Following the Ireland's impressive jump to 3rd in the world in economic freedom rankings because of huge tax cuts, entrepreneurship is skyrocketing in Ireland. The key to health, wealth, tolerance, and happiness is economic freedom through severely limited government and very low taxes.
Anti-war activists retreat on trying to force defeat on the US, and instead try to stop Bush from entering into a long-term security deal with Iraq. I don't want American troops in Iraq until 2020 either. The goal of the Iraq war was to turn Iraq into country that could govern itself and defend itself. If our troops have to stay until 2020, then we failed.
Court officials subpoena random citizens on street for jury duty.
Number of abortions lowest in decades. That's number, not just rate. This is great news.
If Russia is delivering nuclear fuel (non-weapons grade) to Iran, why is Iran enriching uranium if not for weapons?
Strong economic growth in Iraq. The political benefits of strong economic growth shouldn't be underestimated.
Report claims militants have Pakistani forces on the run in Waziristan.
Mexican lawmakers come to America to protest Arizona's tough new immigration law because it will hurt Mexico. These guys have some nerve. They're using illegal immigrants to get welfare from the US, and they're pissed that Arizona is cutting it off. Mexico might have to find work for it's own people who self-deport. The Mexican government has been sucking off the American teat, and Arizona is reducing the flow of green milk. They also really understand liberal-speak, claiming this will break up families. I think the families were broken up when they hopped the Rio Grand.
Ultimate Ron Paul website.
Reason says Ron Paul is defensive and evasive about his newsletters anti-black, anti-gay comments. He needs to do something so this doesn't define his campaign for the mainstream audience.
Obama praises and compares himself to Ronald Reagan in a shot at Bill Clinton. This seems like a setup for the general election and an attempt to pull Reagan Democrats to himself.
Huckabee to send all illegal aliens home. Never mind that we don't have the resources to deport all illegal aliens. We have to remove the economic incentive for them to be here so they will self-deport. I wonder if that includes the ones he provided in state tuition to. Huckabee's plan sounds pretty good. No mention of a fence. He just goes after the economic incentive, as I've long proposed. I guess Jesus told him he better get on the side of the American people on this issue.
Ross Perot takes on John McCain on hallowed ground - his record on POWs. Wow.
I think a usage model for paying for internet access is a great idea. But I doubt Time-Warner will do it well. Most likely, they'll use this new model to soak everybody because our government give them a protected monopoly in specific markets. Same with Comcast.
Scientists clone 2 men.
Walking robot controlled by monkey's thoughts.
New pictures of Mercury.
4 Paparazzi arrested for chasing Britney. It's about time. Those paparazzi are dangerous.
2,500 year old family seal found in Jerusalem.
Cato thinks the president can order the IRS to correctly redefine "cost" and "income" to include inflation indexing.
Cato explains why sanctions are generally ineffective.
I thought global warming was making ever more and bigger disasters. If that was true, how come the national Red Cross is laying off people because there have been no big disasters?
Government has managed to make another industry political. The gaming industry will siphon money out of the economy to pay tribute to our ruling aristocracy.
Another official blames the federal government for not rebuilding for Katrina victims. The federal government is not an insurance company. It's not the responsibility of taxpayers who don't live in disaster zones to provide for those who do. It's the responsibility of home owners and business owners to have insurance and otherwise be prepared for disasters. Rebuilding for Katrina victims is just another form of welfare, and you can see my post about the subprime crisis to get my opinion on that. Government should limit its involvement in disasters to search and rescue, providing immediate, temporary, food and shelter if necessary, providing security if requested, and rebuilding infrastructure critical to the nation.
Slate highlights how the army is losing it's best and brightest mid-level officers.
Following the Ireland's impressive jump to 3rd in the world in economic freedom rankings because of huge tax cuts, entrepreneurship is skyrocketing in Ireland. The key to health, wealth, tolerance, and happiness is economic freedom through severely limited government and very low taxes.
Anti-war activists retreat on trying to force defeat on the US, and instead try to stop Bush from entering into a long-term security deal with Iraq. I don't want American troops in Iraq until 2020 either. The goal of the Iraq war was to turn Iraq into country that could govern itself and defend itself. If our troops have to stay until 2020, then we failed.
Court officials subpoena random citizens on street for jury duty.
Number of abortions lowest in decades. That's number, not just rate. This is great news.
If Russia is delivering nuclear fuel (non-weapons grade) to Iran, why is Iran enriching uranium if not for weapons?
Strong economic growth in Iraq. The political benefits of strong economic growth shouldn't be underestimated.
Report claims militants have Pakistani forces on the run in Waziristan.
Mexican lawmakers come to America to protest Arizona's tough new immigration law because it will hurt Mexico. These guys have some nerve. They're using illegal immigrants to get welfare from the US, and they're pissed that Arizona is cutting it off. Mexico might have to find work for it's own people who self-deport. The Mexican government has been sucking off the American teat, and Arizona is reducing the flow of green milk. They also really understand liberal-speak, claiming this will break up families. I think the families were broken up when they hopped the Rio Grand.
Ultimate Ron Paul website.
Reason says Ron Paul is defensive and evasive about his newsletters anti-black, anti-gay comments. He needs to do something so this doesn't define his campaign for the mainstream audience.
Obama praises and compares himself to Ronald Reagan in a shot at Bill Clinton. This seems like a setup for the general election and an attempt to pull Reagan Democrats to himself.
Huckabee to send all illegal aliens home. Never mind that we don't have the resources to deport all illegal aliens. We have to remove the economic incentive for them to be here so they will self-deport. I wonder if that includes the ones he provided in state tuition to. Huckabee's plan sounds pretty good. No mention of a fence. He just goes after the economic incentive, as I've long proposed. I guess Jesus told him he better get on the side of the American people on this issue.
Ross Perot takes on John McCain on hallowed ground - his record on POWs. Wow.
I think a usage model for paying for internet access is a great idea. But I doubt Time-Warner will do it well. Most likely, they'll use this new model to soak everybody because our government give them a protected monopoly in specific markets. Same with Comcast.
Scientists clone 2 men.
Walking robot controlled by monkey's thoughts.
New pictures of Mercury.
4 Paparazzi arrested for chasing Britney. It's about time. Those paparazzi are dangerous.
2,500 year old family seal found in Jerusalem.
Cato thinks the president can order the IRS to correctly redefine "cost" and "income" to include inflation indexing.
Cato explains why sanctions are generally ineffective.
I thought global warming was making ever more and bigger disasters. If that was true, how come the national Red Cross is laying off people because there have been no big disasters?
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