Israeli Prime Minister Olmert to resign amid corruption charges.
Who in the world would consider Cindy McCain elitist for this? Maybe somebody who's never been to Arizona and certainly somebody who doesn't understand private plane ownership.
Article about McCain and the Keating 5. What the author doesn't understand is that Kerry didn't rip Bush because Kerry is just as corrupt, and Bush didn't rip Kerry because Bush is just as corrupt. McCain and Obama are both corrupt, so neither will attack the other on corruption. They're all corrupt. Our political process insures that only the most corrupt become successful. And it's our fault for empowering professional politicians, aristocrats the same as any other in history, instead of continuing the Founding Father's vision of citizen-representatives.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Catching up with Cato
Cato reports that government spending has increased by 68% under Bush and this year's deficit will be $482 billion next year. We need dramatic spending cuts ASAP or the US will suffer an economic, social, and political crisis that will dwarf the Soviet breakup.
Cato comments on the mercantile nature of the WTO. Cato reports that trade is growing despite institutional barriers.
Cato explains that the tobacco industry favors FDA regulation because then the big tobacco companies can guarantee rulings that favor them. Competition is the best regulator.
Cato explains that the expansion of NATO drives China and Russia together and polarizes the world. China and Russia are totalitarian states and natural allies. NATO is nothing but US security welfare for Europe, and NATO's expansion illustrates that.
Cato reports that Pakistan's intelligence agents aid the Taliban, so upgrading their F-16 fleet is dangerous.
Contrary to reports that state governments have had to slash jobs because of poor revenue, Cato shows that state revenue growth has been tremendous the last 4 years. The problem with state governments isn't revenue growth, it's out of control spending. And we should never think of governments as employers. All jobs, including government jobs, are paid for by the private sector. All wealth is created in the private sector. We want people working in the private sector instead of government.
Cato explains how minimum wage increases hurt the young, unskilled and minorities.
Cato comments on the mercantile nature of the WTO. Cato reports that trade is growing despite institutional barriers.
Cato explains that the tobacco industry favors FDA regulation because then the big tobacco companies can guarantee rulings that favor them. Competition is the best regulator.
Cato explains that the expansion of NATO drives China and Russia together and polarizes the world. China and Russia are totalitarian states and natural allies. NATO is nothing but US security welfare for Europe, and NATO's expansion illustrates that.
Cato reports that Pakistan's intelligence agents aid the Taliban, so upgrading their F-16 fleet is dangerous.
Contrary to reports that state governments have had to slash jobs because of poor revenue, Cato shows that state revenue growth has been tremendous the last 4 years. The problem with state governments isn't revenue growth, it's out of control spending. And we should never think of governments as employers. All jobs, including government jobs, are paid for by the private sector. All wealth is created in the private sector. We want people working in the private sector instead of government.
Cato explains how minimum wage increases hurt the young, unskilled and minorities.
NBA referee
Referee Tim Donaghy picked 37 of the 47 games he gave gamblers in the 2006-07 seasons correctly. That's around an 80% success rate. Apparently he did this just by knowing which referees were refereeing which games. This shows that the bias in NBA officiating not only exists, but it's predictable.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Free kibbles
Bombs in Baghdad and Kirkut kill 43. Al Qaeda in Iraq isn't defeated yet. This is a reminder of why we can't pull out yet.
Why would anybody link Erin Esurance topless?
Why would anybody link Erin Esurance topless?
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Free kibbles
Russian and EU collaboration will leverage existing technology to develop lunar lander while the hopelessly bureaucratic NASA will take longer to get back to the moon despite the gigantic advances in technology and budget than it took them the first time. Maybe NASA should by the plans to that existing technology. Then it wouldn't be invented here.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Free kibbles
Hamas on the receiving end of it's own terrorist methods.
Iranian President Ahmadinejad claims Iran has doubled the number of nuclear centrifuges in production. Of course, with the recent fake photos of Iranian F-14s, who knows if this is true or not.
Iranian President Ahmadinejad claims Iran has doubled the number of nuclear centrifuges in production. Of course, with the recent fake photos of Iranian F-14s, who knows if this is true or not.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Free kibbles
Russia threatens to use Cuba as refueling base for long range nuclear bombers in response to nuclear missile defense in eastern Europe.
15 times as many so-called journalists donate to Democrats than to Republicans. That's a huge media bias.
Google launches wikipedia competitor.
The brawl at the Dragon's game made Drudge.
Apollo 14 astronaut claims humans have contact with aliens and governments cover it up.
Too bad this giant cow is a steer.
15 times as many so-called journalists donate to Democrats than to Republicans. That's a huge media bias.
Google launches wikipedia competitor.
The brawl at the Dragon's game made Drudge.
Apollo 14 astronaut claims humans have contact with aliens and governments cover it up.
Too bad this giant cow is a steer.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Free kibbles
British PM Gorden Brown supports stronger sanctions on Iran to halt their nuclear program, but he doesn't say he'll sanction a military strike to stop the program. This ambiguity is the problem. The US and its allies should unambiguously declare their intention to use a military strike as a last resort if necessary to halt Iran's nuclear program. That would make a strike unnecessary. As long as Iran senses an unwillingness to strike those facilities, it won't halt its program.
Barack Obama is in Iraq trying to figure how best to lose the war. It won't work. Our troops and our commanders will likely win despite terrorists, militias and Democrats.
The Large Hadron Collider in CERN laboratory is one of the coldest places in the universe.
Barack Obama is in Iraq trying to figure how best to lose the war. It won't work. Our troops and our commanders will likely win despite terrorists, militias and Democrats.
The Large Hadron Collider in CERN laboratory is one of the coldest places in the universe.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Free kibbles
First Guantanamo trial, for Osama bin Laden's driver, to being Monday. It's ridiculous how Congress and the Courts have delayed this. This article lists a few of the precedents for military tribunals in US history and mentions how the process has been sabotaged for these tribunals.
xxx
Military commissions have been used throughout US history. George Washington used them during the Revolution. Abraham Lincoln authorized them during the Civil War. And those accused of plotting President Lincoln's assassination were tried by a military commission.
In 1942, Franklin Roosevelt put a group of would-be German saboteurs on trial by secret military commission in Washington. The action was upheld by the US Supreme Court and provided a model for the Bush Administration.
But the Guantánamo commission process ran into trouble. It became a lightning rod for international criticism of the administration's controversial legal approach to the war on terror. President Bush's original commission procedures were struck down by the Supreme Court in 2005, and on June 12 the high court invalidated a substantial portion of a new legal regime created at Guantánamo by Congress and the White House in 2006.
xxx
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Free kibbles
Air Force spends counter-terrorism money on luxury cubicles in air planes to ferry around high ranking officers.
Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki supports Obama's plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq in 16 months. It's just amazing how stupidly McCain handled this issue and how lucky Obama is. Obama wasn't planning to remove troops in victory. Even in his speech the other day, he basically conceded he might be losing Iraq. But because our troops have done such a fantastic job and McCain stupidly talked about bases in Iraq for 100 years, he might just lose the Iraq issue to Obama.
Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki supports Obama's plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq in 16 months. It's just amazing how stupidly McCain handled this issue and how lucky Obama is. Obama wasn't planning to remove troops in victory. Even in his speech the other day, he basically conceded he might be losing Iraq. But because our troops have done such a fantastic job and McCain stupidly talked about bases in Iraq for 100 years, he might just lose the Iraq issue to Obama.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Free kibbles
Deputy to office of the Special Counsel resigns claiming his boss is using his office to carry out personal and political vendettas. Sounds like a typical government aristocrat to me.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Free kibbles
US inflation rate at 17 year high. Seems worse. That's probably because this inflation rate government reports doesn't include energy or food prices. That makes sense to government. Ignore the important stuff and try to fool the people into thinking things are better than they really are.
Cato thinks that a court ruling that a Qatar man held in Guantanamo can be held indefinitely means that the same can be done to an American. I don't see how they make that extension. I'd have to read the decision. What's odd here is that the court seems to want to have it both ways. It recognizes the president's Constitutional power to hold enemy combatants indefinitely, but it thinks they have access to civilian courts. You can't have both. These are schizophrenic decisions.
Cato provides 2 essays explaining why we should privatize Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
While growing violence in Afghanistan may seem reminiscent of Iraq, the problem is very different because the violence in Afghanistan is being driven by the safe haven bases in Pakistan.
This explains the spam I got this morning from a friend. A Google bug has revealed the names of all gmail accounts through Google calendar. Thanks, Google.
Cato thinks that a court ruling that a Qatar man held in Guantanamo can be held indefinitely means that the same can be done to an American. I don't see how they make that extension. I'd have to read the decision. What's odd here is that the court seems to want to have it both ways. It recognizes the president's Constitutional power to hold enemy combatants indefinitely, but it thinks they have access to civilian courts. You can't have both. These are schizophrenic decisions.
Cato provides 2 essays explaining why we should privatize Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
While growing violence in Afghanistan may seem reminiscent of Iraq, the problem is very different because the violence in Afghanistan is being driven by the safe haven bases in Pakistan.
This explains the spam I got this morning from a friend. A Google bug has revealed the names of all gmail accounts through Google calendar. Thanks, Google.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Free kibbles
2 synchronized suicide bombers kill 35 in Iraq.
Video of 16 year old Canadian being interrogated at Guantanamo after throwing a grenade at US troops in Afghanistan. It's ridiculous this terrorist has a lawyer who released this video.
Congress plans to force federally funded schools (that's pretty much all of them) to accept as many women as men into science and engineering disciplines. Liberals don't care about freedom and personal accomplishments. They only care about government force. I wonder why they don't force schools to accept as many men into home economics as women. Or into language studies. Or baby raising. Could it be because men and women are different? Could it be because the brains of men and women are different? Congress doesn't give a damn about reality. Just liberalism.
One sign of our tremendous success in Iraq is that both candidates are suddenly focused on Afghanistan. That's a credit to our forces in Iraq, Gen. Petraeus and his staff. It's also an inherent exposure of Obama's judgment in proclaiming the Iraq war lost, unimportant, and unwinnable. It's a further exposure of the failure of President Bush.
Obama to lay out Iraq policy ahead of trip to Iraq. That doesn't make much sense. Shouldn't he visit Iraq, talk to the commanders, and see what's going on first hand before he determines his policy? Before even talking to commanders in Iraq, before even seeing the situation with his own eyes, Obama proclaims his vision to lose the war in Iraq as soon as he is sworn in. Seriously. Why is he bothering to visit Iraq since he's already developed his policy? Apparently Obama is omniscient. That's why he predicted the surge would be so successful. And that's why he predicted Rev. Wright would be so good for his campaign. Obama is a fruit loop. Only a fruit loop like Obama could make McCain look like a good candidate.
Spammers have cracked the CAPTCHA system. I hope you enjoy eating spam.
Favre tempted to show up to Packer's training camp to call their bluff. What is Favre's motivation here? Is his motivation to make the Packers or any other team better? Of course not. Favre's motivation is purely and horrible selfish, and we should reject his attempts to force his way back into the league. Like everybody else, Farve should be accountable for his own decisions.
Cato welcomes treasury's plan to subsidize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac if only to formalize the previously informal nature of their socialized existance. Once that nature is public, government can cut them off and turn them into real companies unpropped up by government which will float or sink on their own. Fed calls for true privitization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Cato explains that the Supreme Court's decision affirming the people's right to keep and bear arms (why was that so much harder than affirming the people's right to free speech?) will make the issue of judges a much bigger issue in this campaign. I'll say.
Olive oil makes a great backpacking food.
Video of 16 year old Canadian being interrogated at Guantanamo after throwing a grenade at US troops in Afghanistan. It's ridiculous this terrorist has a lawyer who released this video.
Congress plans to force federally funded schools (that's pretty much all of them) to accept as many women as men into science and engineering disciplines. Liberals don't care about freedom and personal accomplishments. They only care about government force. I wonder why they don't force schools to accept as many men into home economics as women. Or into language studies. Or baby raising. Could it be because men and women are different? Could it be because the brains of men and women are different? Congress doesn't give a damn about reality. Just liberalism.
One sign of our tremendous success in Iraq is that both candidates are suddenly focused on Afghanistan. That's a credit to our forces in Iraq, Gen. Petraeus and his staff. It's also an inherent exposure of Obama's judgment in proclaiming the Iraq war lost, unimportant, and unwinnable. It's a further exposure of the failure of President Bush.
Obama to lay out Iraq policy ahead of trip to Iraq. That doesn't make much sense. Shouldn't he visit Iraq, talk to the commanders, and see what's going on first hand before he determines his policy? Before even talking to commanders in Iraq, before even seeing the situation with his own eyes, Obama proclaims his vision to lose the war in Iraq as soon as he is sworn in. Seriously. Why is he bothering to visit Iraq since he's already developed his policy? Apparently Obama is omniscient. That's why he predicted the surge would be so successful. And that's why he predicted Rev. Wright would be so good for his campaign. Obama is a fruit loop. Only a fruit loop like Obama could make McCain look like a good candidate.
Spammers have cracked the CAPTCHA system. I hope you enjoy eating spam.
Favre tempted to show up to Packer's training camp to call their bluff. What is Favre's motivation here? Is his motivation to make the Packers or any other team better? Of course not. Favre's motivation is purely and horrible selfish, and we should reject his attempts to force his way back into the league. Like everybody else, Farve should be accountable for his own decisions.
Cato welcomes treasury's plan to subsidize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac if only to formalize the previously informal nature of their socialized existance. Once that nature is public, government can cut them off and turn them into real companies unpropped up by government which will float or sink on their own. Fed calls for true privitization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Cato explains that the Supreme Court's decision affirming the people's right to keep and bear arms (why was that so much harder than affirming the people's right to free speech?) will make the issue of judges a much bigger issue in this campaign. I'll say.
Olive oil makes a great backpacking food.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Free kibbles
Taliban fighters breach US base.
I doubt it will be long before these prisoners released by Israel are killing Israelis again. Whatever happened to not negotiating with terrorists? That policy worked a lot better than negotiating has.
Obama and McCain condemn satirical New Yorker cover portraying Obama as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist. This a huge missed opportunity for McCain. In the same sentence he denounces the cover, he should remind Americans that Obama is a disciple of Rev. Wright, not a Muslim. He should remind Americans that Obama subjected himself, his wife, and his children to Wright's insane rants charged with racial hatred for 20 years. He should force Obama to repudiate Wright again, and force him to answer why he stayed in that church for 20 years. There's only 2 possible answers - he agreed with Wright or he did it for political gain. Either way, it works for McCain.
The Onion provides the most honest, accurate representation of the problems in our economy that I've seen in years, if not decades. It's the government caused bubble, stupid.
DNA evidence clears Texas man convicted of rape 7 years after he died in prison. The number of victims falsely convicted by lying women who are subsequently cleared by DNA is frightening. But most victims of vengeful women don't have DNA evidence to clear them, and they'll rot in prison and be stigmatized forever. The only solution is to stop prosecutorial bias and a biased court system that nearly invariably takes the word of woman or child over that of a man even when all the evidence points to innocence.
Lotus Eco-Elise. Is this car green? Who cares as good looking as it is. But is it affordable?
Genetically engineered microbes eat waste and excrete oil.
Interesting assertions, backed by sources, about companies that count votes in the US. Given the obvious agenda of the poster, I'm not sure I trust the sources.
I doubt it will be long before these prisoners released by Israel are killing Israelis again. Whatever happened to not negotiating with terrorists? That policy worked a lot better than negotiating has.
Obama and McCain condemn satirical New Yorker cover portraying Obama as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist. This a huge missed opportunity for McCain. In the same sentence he denounces the cover, he should remind Americans that Obama is a disciple of Rev. Wright, not a Muslim. He should remind Americans that Obama subjected himself, his wife, and his children to Wright's insane rants charged with racial hatred for 20 years. He should force Obama to repudiate Wright again, and force him to answer why he stayed in that church for 20 years. There's only 2 possible answers - he agreed with Wright or he did it for political gain. Either way, it works for McCain.
The Onion provides the most honest, accurate representation of the problems in our economy that I've seen in years, if not decades. It's the government caused bubble, stupid.
DNA evidence clears Texas man convicted of rape 7 years after he died in prison. The number of victims falsely convicted by lying women who are subsequently cleared by DNA is frightening. But most victims of vengeful women don't have DNA evidence to clear them, and they'll rot in prison and be stigmatized forever. The only solution is to stop prosecutorial bias and a biased court system that nearly invariably takes the word of woman or child over that of a man even when all the evidence points to innocence.
Lotus Eco-Elise. Is this car green? Who cares as good looking as it is. But is it affordable?
Genetically engineered microbes eat waste and excrete oil.
Interesting assertions, backed by sources, about companies that count votes in the US. Given the obvious agenda of the poster, I'm not sure I trust the sources.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Free kibbles
Boortz lists 4 absurd policies appeasing British Muslims. Imagine what liberals would do if any government allowed Christians to have their own, separate laws. Imagine if children were forced to perform a Christian prayer. Liberals are transforming Britain into a Muslim country ruled by Sharia, and we're watching the process unfold. It's just stunning.
Government passes law to tax anybody who surrenders US citizenship as if they had sold them. The government aristocrats recognize they're sinking the good ship America, and Americans are soon going to swim for it. But not with their assets. Your stuff is not really yours, it's government's, and if you try to take it away, they will take what they want and leave you the rest. You have to buy your freedom from the masters.
2 supervisors of meat packing plant arrested for facilitating illegal immigration. That's a start.
9 US soldiers killed in Afghanistan. It's a shame that Bush will likely be remembered for our victory in Iraq instead of his failure to allow our troops to win in Afghanistan, relying on a welfare program, NATO, to win for us. If we win in Iraq, Democrats will credit the victory to the UN or international efforts including themselves, not the US.
Government has 2 plans to prop up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bush wants Congress to allow the treasury department to lend the companies money and for taxpayers to buy up shares. Great. The other plan is for the Fed to loan money to the lenders. Government caused this problem, and of course, more government intervention is the problem. If it wasn't for government interference in the housing market, these 2 companies wouldn't hold so many mortgages, especially subprime mortgages. Taxpayers foot the bill both ways, but at least we won't (hopefully) foot the bill for an entire bailout.
Author proposes nationalizing the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That's just how Hayek predicted. Government gets involved in mortgage business, that causes inevitable problems, and government gets ever more involved until it nationalizes them and destroy that sector of the economy, leading to the rise of the strong man.
Netherlands bans Iranian students from studying nuclear technology. I guess that's the Netherland's version of freedom. If some Iranians are security risks, then deport them. If all Iranians are security risks, deport them. If you need security clearance to learn that stuff, then implement that. But don't ban Iranians from studing certain subjects. That's just abuse of power.
Pity the recipients of the government handout labeled a stimulous check because money has been withdrawn and sent to their creditors in advance of receipt of the check. God forbid that this government handout be used to pay off debts.
Liberals are unhappy that Obama is moving toward the middle. They shouldn't worry. Obama's moves to the middle are bogus. All you have to look at is the man's history, associations and character to know he's a radical leftist with a messianic complex and harboring a race grudge. He's also a slick politician who will say or do whatever it takes to get elected to push his real agenda.
Freedom of speech does not mean freedom to post on the internet, and nobody should think otherwise. Companies own these websites and the connections, and they don't have to allow us to say anything they don't like.
World's most luxurious prison in Austria. Why?
Government passes law to tax anybody who surrenders US citizenship as if they had sold them. The government aristocrats recognize they're sinking the good ship America, and Americans are soon going to swim for it. But not with their assets. Your stuff is not really yours, it's government's, and if you try to take it away, they will take what they want and leave you the rest. You have to buy your freedom from the masters.
2 supervisors of meat packing plant arrested for facilitating illegal immigration. That's a start.
9 US soldiers killed in Afghanistan. It's a shame that Bush will likely be remembered for our victory in Iraq instead of his failure to allow our troops to win in Afghanistan, relying on a welfare program, NATO, to win for us. If we win in Iraq, Democrats will credit the victory to the UN or international efforts including themselves, not the US.
Government has 2 plans to prop up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bush wants Congress to allow the treasury department to lend the companies money and for taxpayers to buy up shares. Great. The other plan is for the Fed to loan money to the lenders. Government caused this problem, and of course, more government intervention is the problem. If it wasn't for government interference in the housing market, these 2 companies wouldn't hold so many mortgages, especially subprime mortgages. Taxpayers foot the bill both ways, but at least we won't (hopefully) foot the bill for an entire bailout.
Author proposes nationalizing the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That's just how Hayek predicted. Government gets involved in mortgage business, that causes inevitable problems, and government gets ever more involved until it nationalizes them and destroy that sector of the economy, leading to the rise of the strong man.
Netherlands bans Iranian students from studying nuclear technology. I guess that's the Netherland's version of freedom. If some Iranians are security risks, then deport them. If all Iranians are security risks, deport them. If you need security clearance to learn that stuff, then implement that. But don't ban Iranians from studing certain subjects. That's just abuse of power.
Pity the recipients of the government handout labeled a stimulous check because money has been withdrawn and sent to their creditors in advance of receipt of the check. God forbid that this government handout be used to pay off debts.
Liberals are unhappy that Obama is moving toward the middle. They shouldn't worry. Obama's moves to the middle are bogus. All you have to look at is the man's history, associations and character to know he's a radical leftist with a messianic complex and harboring a race grudge. He's also a slick politician who will say or do whatever it takes to get elected to push his real agenda.
Freedom of speech does not mean freedom to post on the internet, and nobody should think otherwise. Companies own these websites and the connections, and they don't have to allow us to say anything they don't like.
World's most luxurious prison in Austria. Why?
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Free kibbles
Iraq signed a $5 billion contract with Boeing for commercial airliners. Good for Iraq and us.
Money to fight AIDS in Africa is just another welfare program, bad for Africans and Americans alike.
Here's more fallout from government control of marriage - Texas legislator wants to use government to force people to wait 2 years to get a divorce or take a class instead. All government should care about is arbitrating the breakup of the contract. Marriage should belong to the people, not the government.
State trooper writes 5 phony tickets to get revenge on man over parking spot dispute. And liberals want to give this kind of person power to control our access to health care.
Congress' pork barrel projects have increased again this year.
Democrats aren't dumb. They're invested in the oil companies they demagogue.
Obama is providing details for his fascist work programs. I wonder what color shirts he'll make them wear.
Lone firefighter lifts Chevy Blazer so other firefighters could free pinned arm of driver. Wow.
They may say they're gummi lighthouses...
Money to fight AIDS in Africa is just another welfare program, bad for Africans and Americans alike.
Here's more fallout from government control of marriage - Texas legislator wants to use government to force people to wait 2 years to get a divorce or take a class instead. All government should care about is arbitrating the breakup of the contract. Marriage should belong to the people, not the government.
State trooper writes 5 phony tickets to get revenge on man over parking spot dispute. And liberals want to give this kind of person power to control our access to health care.
Congress' pork barrel projects have increased again this year.
Democrats aren't dumb. They're invested in the oil companies they demagogue.
Obama is providing details for his fascist work programs. I wonder what color shirts he'll make them wear.
Lone firefighter lifts Chevy Blazer so other firefighters could free pinned arm of driver. Wow.
They may say they're gummi lighthouses...
Friday, July 11, 2008
Free kibbles
Senate passes $300 billion bailout bill for mortgages. I'm buying a mansion and passing the cost on to taxpayers. Since government doesn't want us to take responsibility for making our loan payments, everybody should. Mortgage company IndyMac fails. They specialized in making subprime loans. Duh. At least Congress didn't bail them out. That's what we get for forcing lenders to make subprime loans. It opened a pandora's box, and the results are painful. If the government had kept out of the business of lenders, we'd never even have created the term subprime loan.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac face capital problems. These 2 companies are creations and wards of the government. Cato fears if the president and Congress don't call for both to raise capital, we may face a $5 trillion bail out. The point of these 2 companies is also to make subprime loans.
KBR implicated in the electricution of American soldiers with shoddy construction of bases and failure to fix the problems when brought to their attention. Wow. They should pay a heavy price for this. This is what happens when government circumvents market forces.
Because Congress refuses to do anything to increase supply and decrease demand, oil tops $147. Stock market in the tank. Putin tours a new oil well. Wouldn't it be nice if somebody in America could do that?
The Senate confirmed General Petraeus as the new commander of Centcom. Well deserved.
Russia and China, always obstacles to doing the right thing, veto sanctions on Zimbabwe. They want to continue selling arms to Zimbabwe.
Court rejects cap and trade policies on sulfur dioxide of Bush administration for limiting acid rain. I hadn't heard acid rain was a problem for the last 2 decades.
Bill ostensibly to ban illegal immigrants from city would require every renter to get an occupancy permit from the city. That's a bogus big-government power grab masquarading as anti-illegal immigration policy.
US officials report the Iranian missile test was a bluff. They fired old, out of service missiles, not their new ones. I guess they didn't want to waste the new ones.
I guess Chavez knows when to suck up to a winner, and he makes conciliatory noises toward Columbian President Uribe. Cato reports that signing our free trade agreement with Columbia would boost Uribe and help Columbia and the US grow.
Swift crackdown on gangsters on rich Catalina Island. I wonder why there's no such swift crackdown in poor neighborhoods.
Reason explains that the state of Texas' claim agains the Yearning for Zion Ranch was an attack on that religion.
Reason sees mounting evidence that Americans are tired of pandering, government handouts, and government intervention. We need a citizen-representative to make the argument that the cost off all those handouts and market interference is far more than any perceived gain by even the special interests who receive the benefits.
Real Clear Politics refuses to show Bob Barr's polling numbers. I'm sending an email.
Spike Lee says that after Obama is elected, we'll use Before Obama and After Obama as ways of discerning the ages. He said Obama will bring about seismic change in the universe. It's safe to say Spike has bought into the Obama as Messiah baloney.
Why does McCain, the audience, and liberals think it was a gaff when McCain said we should exploit our offshore oil reserves. Is it because they're not proven reserves? Or is it just that liberals don't like the world exploit? Of course we should discover then exploit them. McCain just keeps coming off like a dottering old fool.
Author laments the variety of web development tools and the specialization that comes with it. This is silly complaint. Anybody who can develop in one tool can develop in another. It doesn't take hardly any time to learn new tools, especially in a team environment. The problem is that specialization breeds separation, including a new set of TLAs, and a feeling that others who aren't on the bleeding edge of the specialization can't join, which is baloney.
Photos of McCain's room in the Hanoi Hilton.
How does an environmental group challenge permits given to BP to expand an oil refinery? How do they have standing?
Senior Al Qaeda operative convicted of terrorist attacks and bomb plots in Jordan is now living in a $1.6 million house with an income of $100,000 a year all provided by British taxpayers because a court ruled he couldn't be deported because his conviction in Jordan may have resulted from torture. These terrorists are using us to their advantage in their war against us, and we're just happily participating.
Organization rates all 50 states based on which is best for business. Texas is number 1. Ohio is 30. I think Ohio is really worse than 30.
The systematic dumbing down of American schools in the name of feel-good, self esteem policies has moved up from elementary through middle and high schools into college.
Newspaper subscriber is suing newspaper for cutting size and staff. Man sues church for injury because he was overcome by God. Our courts should never entertain these ridiculous lawsuits.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac face capital problems. These 2 companies are creations and wards of the government. Cato fears if the president and Congress don't call for both to raise capital, we may face a $5 trillion bail out. The point of these 2 companies is also to make subprime loans.
KBR implicated in the electricution of American soldiers with shoddy construction of bases and failure to fix the problems when brought to their attention. Wow. They should pay a heavy price for this. This is what happens when government circumvents market forces.
Because Congress refuses to do anything to increase supply and decrease demand, oil tops $147. Stock market in the tank. Putin tours a new oil well. Wouldn't it be nice if somebody in America could do that?
The Senate confirmed General Petraeus as the new commander of Centcom. Well deserved.
Russia and China, always obstacles to doing the right thing, veto sanctions on Zimbabwe. They want to continue selling arms to Zimbabwe.
Court rejects cap and trade policies on sulfur dioxide of Bush administration for limiting acid rain. I hadn't heard acid rain was a problem for the last 2 decades.
Bill ostensibly to ban illegal immigrants from city would require every renter to get an occupancy permit from the city. That's a bogus big-government power grab masquarading as anti-illegal immigration policy.
US officials report the Iranian missile test was a bluff. They fired old, out of service missiles, not their new ones. I guess they didn't want to waste the new ones.
I guess Chavez knows when to suck up to a winner, and he makes conciliatory noises toward Columbian President Uribe. Cato reports that signing our free trade agreement with Columbia would boost Uribe and help Columbia and the US grow.
Swift crackdown on gangsters on rich Catalina Island. I wonder why there's no such swift crackdown in poor neighborhoods.
Reason explains that the state of Texas' claim agains the Yearning for Zion Ranch was an attack on that religion.
Reason sees mounting evidence that Americans are tired of pandering, government handouts, and government intervention. We need a citizen-representative to make the argument that the cost off all those handouts and market interference is far more than any perceived gain by even the special interests who receive the benefits.
Real Clear Politics refuses to show Bob Barr's polling numbers. I'm sending an email.
Spike Lee says that after Obama is elected, we'll use Before Obama and After Obama as ways of discerning the ages. He said Obama will bring about seismic change in the universe. It's safe to say Spike has bought into the Obama as Messiah baloney.
Why does McCain, the audience, and liberals think it was a gaff when McCain said we should exploit our offshore oil reserves. Is it because they're not proven reserves? Or is it just that liberals don't like the world exploit? Of course we should discover then exploit them. McCain just keeps coming off like a dottering old fool.
Author laments the variety of web development tools and the specialization that comes with it. This is silly complaint. Anybody who can develop in one tool can develop in another. It doesn't take hardly any time to learn new tools, especially in a team environment. The problem is that specialization breeds separation, including a new set of TLAs, and a feeling that others who aren't on the bleeding edge of the specialization can't join, which is baloney.
Photos of McCain's room in the Hanoi Hilton.
How does an environmental group challenge permits given to BP to expand an oil refinery? How do they have standing?
Senior Al Qaeda operative convicted of terrorist attacks and bomb plots in Jordan is now living in a $1.6 million house with an income of $100,000 a year all provided by British taxpayers because a court ruled he couldn't be deported because his conviction in Jordan may have resulted from torture. These terrorists are using us to their advantage in their war against us, and we're just happily participating.
Organization rates all 50 states based on which is best for business. Texas is number 1. Ohio is 30. I think Ohio is really worse than 30.
The systematic dumbing down of American schools in the name of feel-good, self esteem policies has moved up from elementary through middle and high schools into college.
Newspaper subscriber is suing newspaper for cutting size and staff. Man sues church for injury because he was overcome by God. Our courts should never entertain these ridiculous lawsuits.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Free kibbles
Here's another example of the dangers of letting government control our schools. Louisiana passes law to teach intelligent design in science class. We have liberal socialists destroying our schools on the one side and conservative socialists destroying them on the other.
Much like Europeans, Congress doesn't want war powers. They want to sit on the sidelines and criticize. They want to be backseat drivers. They don't want to be held responsible. They prefer to be free to stick their fingers in the wind and say whatever is politically expedient at the time. That's the nature of aristocrats. That's what's good for them and bad for us.
Kennedy showed up in the Senate to vote to increase the entitlements that already have us $54 trillion in debt. Thanks for damaging America again, Kennedy.
Turkish PM visits Iraq. The Arab countries are starting to re-establish ties with Iraq. Security firms lose immunity to Iraq law under new security deal with US. This is going to cause trouble, but it makes sense. The US should protect its own diplomats, not contract that out.
Top McCain adviser Phil Gramm calls America a nation of whiners and the economy a mental recession. That'll win over a lot of voters. No wonder Gramm didn't win the nomination when he ran. I guess sensing that America is on the decline and our days our numbered because of uncontrolled government debt that we can never pay off makes us whiners.
Obama's large number of regrets show he has poor judgment.
Mickey Kaus points out Obama's condescending, know it all, lecturing style. Liberals love that style.
Swastika is top search trend at Google. Yikes.
Can feminists trivialize society any more? Bowing to feminists, Atlanta is replacing "Men at work" signs with "workers ahead" signs. Did anybody other than a radical feminist think that was sexist? Who was hurt by it? Why not just agree that all new signs will say "workers ahead"? It's a waste of taxdollars to appease some militant radical.
How sweet is it that Mexican taxpayers subsidize gasoline so Americans who live near the border can buy it at half price? I bet those subsidies dry up real fast.
Who is Congress to tell businesses like oil companies how to invest their profits?
The culture war with Muslims may come to a head over their dislike of dogs. Westerners will appease Muslims in about every other way, but not when it comes to their dogs.
The International Energy Agency says supply and demand, not speculation is the main driver of oil prices. Naturally. Speculators follow supply and demand. They don't buck it.
The WSJ analyzes Obama's tax plan, which would raise taxes higher than France.
A 71 year old retired Marine shot 2 armed armed robbers robbing a Subway. Good for him.
The global warming scam is causing insurance companies to raise rates. Why not? Why should Al Gore get all the money. But the people are the ultimate losers in this scam. Now that Marxists posing as environmentalists have saved the polar bears, they're painting penguins as victims of global warming.
Because government is in charge, rebuilding at ground zero won't happen for a long time, and the price will be much higher than originally expected.
To whom is Obama losing votes because of his support for FISA?
Much like Europeans, Congress doesn't want war powers. They want to sit on the sidelines and criticize. They want to be backseat drivers. They don't want to be held responsible. They prefer to be free to stick their fingers in the wind and say whatever is politically expedient at the time. That's the nature of aristocrats. That's what's good for them and bad for us.
Kennedy showed up in the Senate to vote to increase the entitlements that already have us $54 trillion in debt. Thanks for damaging America again, Kennedy.
Turkish PM visits Iraq. The Arab countries are starting to re-establish ties with Iraq. Security firms lose immunity to Iraq law under new security deal with US. This is going to cause trouble, but it makes sense. The US should protect its own diplomats, not contract that out.
Top McCain adviser Phil Gramm calls America a nation of whiners and the economy a mental recession. That'll win over a lot of voters. No wonder Gramm didn't win the nomination when he ran. I guess sensing that America is on the decline and our days our numbered because of uncontrolled government debt that we can never pay off makes us whiners.
Obama's large number of regrets show he has poor judgment.
Mickey Kaus points out Obama's condescending, know it all, lecturing style. Liberals love that style.
Swastika is top search trend at Google. Yikes.
Can feminists trivialize society any more? Bowing to feminists, Atlanta is replacing "Men at work" signs with "workers ahead" signs. Did anybody other than a radical feminist think that was sexist? Who was hurt by it? Why not just agree that all new signs will say "workers ahead"? It's a waste of taxdollars to appease some militant radical.
How sweet is it that Mexican taxpayers subsidize gasoline so Americans who live near the border can buy it at half price? I bet those subsidies dry up real fast.
Who is Congress to tell businesses like oil companies how to invest their profits?
The culture war with Muslims may come to a head over their dislike of dogs. Westerners will appease Muslims in about every other way, but not when it comes to their dogs.
The International Energy Agency says supply and demand, not speculation is the main driver of oil prices. Naturally. Speculators follow supply and demand. They don't buck it.
The WSJ analyzes Obama's tax plan, which would raise taxes higher than France.
A 71 year old retired Marine shot 2 armed armed robbers robbing a Subway. Good for him.
The global warming scam is causing insurance companies to raise rates. Why not? Why should Al Gore get all the money. But the people are the ultimate losers in this scam. Now that Marxists posing as environmentalists have saved the polar bears, they're painting penguins as victims of global warming.
Because government is in charge, rebuilding at ground zero won't happen for a long time, and the price will be much higher than originally expected.
To whom is Obama losing votes because of his support for FISA?
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Free kibbles
To back up all its rhetoric about attacking Tel Aviv and shutting down shipping in the Persian Gulf, Iran test fires a missile capable of hitting Israel and Europe. If the world continues to sit on its hands, those missile will soon have nuclear warheads. French energy giant decides not to invest in Iran. About time. Why didn't we insure no western energy company invested in Iran years ago? Or decades ago? Like when they took Americans hostage at our embassy?
Russia threatens a military response to the missile shield agreement between the US and Czechoslovakia. Of course it upsets the balance of European and Russian security. The status quo is that Russia can nuke Europe into oblivion any time it wants. That's a bad security situation. Missile defense will enable us to intercept a few nuclear missiles from Russia as well as Iran. Russia wants to have the power to destroy Europe. That's why I don't understand why the European people aren't begging for missile defense for their own safety. This is just another aspect of the new Cold War of Terror.
Terrorists possibly linked to al Qaeda in Turkey attack US consulate.
After whining long enough because it lost a bid for airline tankers, Boeing gets another chance to bid. As long as their bid is provides more value, I'm good with this. But if it Boeing gets this deal despite a worse bid, that will be a problem. This bidding process should be competitive anyway. We should always give the loser in a round of bidding a chance to sweeten the pot until all bidders say they've reached their limit.
New Orleans PD suspends officer for wearing wrong shirt 15 minutes before he retired.
Once again Democrats are all wrong about the FISA bill. The problem with the bill isn't telecom immunity. Government has to be able to get the cooperation from the telecoms to perform wiretaps. The problem is with the expansion of wiretaps without meaningful judicial oversight to people who aren't terrorist suspects. We have a legal war going against terrorists, and the president has the Constitutional power and responsibility to wiretap them. But he has no authority to wiretap anybody else, but this bill plans to give him that. It's just crazy that Democrats are railing againt telecom immunity but neither party is railing against wiretapping non-terrorists. Meanwhile government gets away with far more domestic spying.
Feeling the heat on oil price, Democrat send Dick Durbin out to report they are willing to consider allowing drilling off the coasts. Don't forget ANWR. We know where the oil in ANWR is.
Obama wants to do a grandstanding speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate to invite comparisons to JFK. This kind of overseas grandstanding by a presidential candidate should be rejected by the American people. Merkel should not allow this grandstanding either. Other countries shouldn't allow presidential candidates to use them for political grandstanding. Unfortunately, the person with the power, Berlin's mayor, loves the idea. If Obama goes through with this, Americans should punish him at the polls. Of course, Americans should punish him at the polls for his socialist positions and his character anyway, but we haven't seen any indication that's going to happen.
How the American Dental Association uses the power of government to keep Americans from having much more inexpensive dental care.
Psychiatrists treat boy for climate change delusion. The overwhelming flood of apocalyptic baloney has led the boy to stop drinking water for fear of killing millions. Apparently this boy drank too much of Al Gore's kool-aid before he stopped drinking altogether. If only all the global warming true believers would get psychiatric help.
Holy Cow. Houston Chronicle posts database of salaries of all City of Houston and Harris County employees by name. I can understand posting the bigwigs. I can understand posting salaries by position. But I can't understand posting every employee's name and salary. The Houston Superintendent of schools is the highest paid of all city and county employees with $442,556. That's over $100,000 more than the next highest paid employee. That's an outrageous salary, especially when schools keep complaining they need more funding. I sure hope Houston has the best schools in the country. Nope. Houston isn't even in the top 20 in Texas.
Thanks to Congress' anti-American, anti-freedom laws, Abu Dhabi now owns the majority stake in the Chrysler building. Arab royalty are laughing at us all the way to the bank to depost our money into their account.
Cato explains that the track record of the liberal groups including labor unions calling for government to supply health insurance is one of painful growth in government and big-government programs that never work.
More on Texas requiring PC techs to have PI licenses.
Russia threatens a military response to the missile shield agreement between the US and Czechoslovakia. Of course it upsets the balance of European and Russian security. The status quo is that Russia can nuke Europe into oblivion any time it wants. That's a bad security situation. Missile defense will enable us to intercept a few nuclear missiles from Russia as well as Iran. Russia wants to have the power to destroy Europe. That's why I don't understand why the European people aren't begging for missile defense for their own safety. This is just another aspect of the new Cold War of Terror.
Terrorists possibly linked to al Qaeda in Turkey attack US consulate.
After whining long enough because it lost a bid for airline tankers, Boeing gets another chance to bid. As long as their bid is provides more value, I'm good with this. But if it Boeing gets this deal despite a worse bid, that will be a problem. This bidding process should be competitive anyway. We should always give the loser in a round of bidding a chance to sweeten the pot until all bidders say they've reached their limit.
New Orleans PD suspends officer for wearing wrong shirt 15 minutes before he retired.
Once again Democrats are all wrong about the FISA bill. The problem with the bill isn't telecom immunity. Government has to be able to get the cooperation from the telecoms to perform wiretaps. The problem is with the expansion of wiretaps without meaningful judicial oversight to people who aren't terrorist suspects. We have a legal war going against terrorists, and the president has the Constitutional power and responsibility to wiretap them. But he has no authority to wiretap anybody else, but this bill plans to give him that. It's just crazy that Democrats are railing againt telecom immunity but neither party is railing against wiretapping non-terrorists. Meanwhile government gets away with far more domestic spying.
Feeling the heat on oil price, Democrat send Dick Durbin out to report they are willing to consider allowing drilling off the coasts. Don't forget ANWR. We know where the oil in ANWR is.
Obama wants to do a grandstanding speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate to invite comparisons to JFK. This kind of overseas grandstanding by a presidential candidate should be rejected by the American people. Merkel should not allow this grandstanding either. Other countries shouldn't allow presidential candidates to use them for political grandstanding. Unfortunately, the person with the power, Berlin's mayor, loves the idea. If Obama goes through with this, Americans should punish him at the polls. Of course, Americans should punish him at the polls for his socialist positions and his character anyway, but we haven't seen any indication that's going to happen.
How the American Dental Association uses the power of government to keep Americans from having much more inexpensive dental care.
Psychiatrists treat boy for climate change delusion. The overwhelming flood of apocalyptic baloney has led the boy to stop drinking water for fear of killing millions. Apparently this boy drank too much of Al Gore's kool-aid before he stopped drinking altogether. If only all the global warming true believers would get psychiatric help.
Holy Cow. Houston Chronicle posts database of salaries of all City of Houston and Harris County employees by name. I can understand posting the bigwigs. I can understand posting salaries by position. But I can't understand posting every employee's name and salary. The Houston Superintendent of schools is the highest paid of all city and county employees with $442,556. That's over $100,000 more than the next highest paid employee. That's an outrageous salary, especially when schools keep complaining they need more funding. I sure hope Houston has the best schools in the country. Nope. Houston isn't even in the top 20 in Texas.
Thanks to Congress' anti-American, anti-freedom laws, Abu Dhabi now owns the majority stake in the Chrysler building. Arab royalty are laughing at us all the way to the bank to depost our money into their account.
Cato explains that the track record of the liberal groups including labor unions calling for government to supply health insurance is one of painful growth in government and big-government programs that never work.
More on Texas requiring PC techs to have PI licenses.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Free kibbles
In the wake of the credit crisis caused largely by the Fed and other government policies forcing lenders to make bad, subprime, loans, Fed Chairman Bernanke suggests Congress give the Fed more power to regulate financial institutions. The financial institutions aren't the problem. They're just adapting to the perversion of the market created by government.
Bodies of 11 victims of drug cartel violence found in Tijuana in 3 days. That's what our war on drugs is doing to Mexico, our border, and our inner cities. And we're too stupid and stuborn to recognize the war on drugs is a war on ourselves that by definition can never be won - it just takes ever more casualties. Oregon proposes law to sell marijuana at state controlled liquor stores. That's what I'm talking about, but extend that to all drugs. You don't see people getting executed by liquor gangs. We had that during prohibition, but the violence disappeared when we repealed prohibition and legalized and controlled alcohol. How hard is it to recognize we should do the same with drugs?
Iraq demands withdrawal deadlines for any security agreement with the United States. This is excellent. Iraq wants to leave the nest. The goal was for Iraq to be able to be an independent country able to defend itself against terrorists and aggressive enemies. It's well on the way to reaching that goal. We are on the verge of victory in Iraq. We should welcome this development and set conservative dates for withdrawal. The Iraqi plan sounds reasonable to me. We can withdraw faster if circumstances allow, and if the situation degrades and we need more troops again, we can renegotiate the agreement. The bad news is that Bush is trying to negotiate an open-ended agreement for troops in Iraq. The good news is the Iraqis aren't letting that happen.
How come Bush is just now adding sanctions on Iranians involved in their development of nuclear weapons? Bush and our allies should have done this years ago. Bush likes to talk loudly and carry a toothpick.
Afghan official blames Pakistan spies for blast at Kabul's Indian embassy. That's a pretty easy guess. Pakistan doesn't like Afghanistan and India having closer ties. But if Pakistan's government is now sponsoring terrorists, that's a dangerous turn of events. Pakistan denies and condemns.
If Czechs don't want our missile defense radar in Czechoslovakia, why are we putting it there? Europe can take care of its own defense.
G8 supports Mugabe sanctions.
Congress' approval rating drops to 9%. Keep up the good work, guys and girls.
Radical Democrats attempt last ditch amendment to thwart telecom immunity. These same people will attack the telecoms relentlessly when they refuse to cooperate with President Obama's attempts to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists and sympathizers.
British PM Brown is a typical government aristocrat, eating an 8 course meal before talks on the food crisis. Our problems don't effect these aristocrats, so they don't govern in our interests.
Democrats are still pushing the Plame non-affair, threatening AG Mukasey if he doesn't hand over the transcript of an FBI interview with Cheney.
Security for conventions getting science-fiction-like crowd control weapons. What we've learned from tasers is that because they are mostly non-lethal, authorities abuse the weapons. These non-lethal crowd control weapons make the people powerless and therefore will increase government power at the expense of the people. Using bullets made both crowds and authorities more restrained.
Do we really need a poll to tell us that Barr helps Obama? Bob Barr best represents the mainstream of America, and if he can't get traction in this election, the Libertarian Party might as well hang it up.
The Constitution party is capitalizing on Ron Paul.
Reason provides a sobering and accurate reflection on Jesse Helms.
Con-men organize cage fight only to put on homosexual display. That's fraud. Group's filtering of the word "gay" backfires.
Mortgage fraud really is predatory lending, and should never be confused with subprime loans. Fed to crack down on mortgage loans to prevent future credit crises. Who is the Fed to do this? The Fed is supposed to provide a stable money supply, not regulate loans. If the Fed doesn't want a repeat of the credit crisis, it shouldn't flood the market with cheap money like it did to create the last credit crisis. It should also lobby Congress to remove the dumb laws forcing mortgage companies to make subprime loans. It should also lobby Congress to adopt the FairTax to replace our dumb tax code that rewards debt and punishes savings. The FBI can take care of mortgage fraud.
The global warming alarmists have just figured out that higher levels of CO2 are good for plants. I guess they took their fingers out of their ears for a second and dose of reality penetrated their brains. CO2 is plant food, not pollution.
Oil drops $9 in 48 hours. None of the arguments for this price drop make sense to me.
Newt Gingrich explains how to fix our energy problems: release oil from the reserve for a short-term fix, drill, oil shale and nuclear for a medium term fix, invest in alternative energy for a long term fix. How hard is it? The only place I would disagree is in government investment in alternative energy. Government investment hurts alternative energy development because subsidies are inherently wasteful. I bet this video, having gone viral, is responsible for the drop in oil prices.
Cato reports that the FISA bill allows the government to wiretap for reasons other than the war on terror without judicial oversight. That's unconstitutional and unnecessary. Shades of Bill Clinton all over again.
Cato fears McCain's pledge to balance the budget by 2013 would mean tax increases instead of budget cuts. Me too.
Make your friends think you're running for president.
Voting age teenagers are changing their middle name to Hussein in a show of solidarity for Obama. These are the kind of loons Obama is bringing into the election process. Obama is running for cult leader, not president. How is that good for the country again?
The father of Canadian socialized medicine admits Canada's system is a failure and recommends free market reforms so Canadians can exercise freedom of choice. Even the guy who fathered the system realizes the solution is to embrace freedom. But American liberals won't stand for that. Liberals think force is the answer to all that ails us, so they want to force on us the same type of system that has failed in Canada and Britain.
We all know that socialism causes poverty, and the biofuels boondoggle has already forced 30 million people into poverty worldwide. Every liberal proposal to fight non-existent man-made global warming would force more people into poverty, making them more vulnerable to every danger in the world, including inevitable climate change.
NRA sues San Francisco because they ban guns in public housing. Weapon bans are always about disarming the poor and minorities.
ACLU threatens to sue the Naval Academy because they say prayers before lunch.
Bipartisan group recommends enacting new war powers law to clarify how the President can use troops without a declaration of war from Congress. This sounds like a great idea to me.
Somebody published a children's book called Yes We Can for brainwashing children into Barack Obama's socialist ideology. Lovely.
Obama's increased taxes on the rich will mean that the top 1% of earners will pay more taxes than the bottom 80%. That's just sick. Democrats whole plan is completely untax the bottom 50+% of Americans so Democrats can have a permanent majority in Washington. This is well crafted and disguised class warfare.
Liberals are accusing John McCain of war crimes for bombing North Vietnam. These people are loons. This isn't something reasonable people can disagree about. They are obviously out of touch with reality. I think is enough evidence to get these people of mental problems to get a judge to put these people into psychiatric care so they won't be able to harm anybody else.
Poll responders overwhelmingly reject the redistribution of wealth by government that Obama and Democrats propose. 50% of responers say government is doing too much to our economy. But they aren't the teenagers changing their middle names to Hussein. I wonder how many are tattooing Obama on their butts.
Bodies of 11 victims of drug cartel violence found in Tijuana in 3 days. That's what our war on drugs is doing to Mexico, our border, and our inner cities. And we're too stupid and stuborn to recognize the war on drugs is a war on ourselves that by definition can never be won - it just takes ever more casualties. Oregon proposes law to sell marijuana at state controlled liquor stores. That's what I'm talking about, but extend that to all drugs. You don't see people getting executed by liquor gangs. We had that during prohibition, but the violence disappeared when we repealed prohibition and legalized and controlled alcohol. How hard is it to recognize we should do the same with drugs?
Iraq demands withdrawal deadlines for any security agreement with the United States. This is excellent. Iraq wants to leave the nest. The goal was for Iraq to be able to be an independent country able to defend itself against terrorists and aggressive enemies. It's well on the way to reaching that goal. We are on the verge of victory in Iraq. We should welcome this development and set conservative dates for withdrawal. The Iraqi plan sounds reasonable to me. We can withdraw faster if circumstances allow, and if the situation degrades and we need more troops again, we can renegotiate the agreement. The bad news is that Bush is trying to negotiate an open-ended agreement for troops in Iraq. The good news is the Iraqis aren't letting that happen.
How come Bush is just now adding sanctions on Iranians involved in their development of nuclear weapons? Bush and our allies should have done this years ago. Bush likes to talk loudly and carry a toothpick.
Afghan official blames Pakistan spies for blast at Kabul's Indian embassy. That's a pretty easy guess. Pakistan doesn't like Afghanistan and India having closer ties. But if Pakistan's government is now sponsoring terrorists, that's a dangerous turn of events. Pakistan denies and condemns.
If Czechs don't want our missile defense radar in Czechoslovakia, why are we putting it there? Europe can take care of its own defense.
G8 supports Mugabe sanctions.
Congress' approval rating drops to 9%. Keep up the good work, guys and girls.
Radical Democrats attempt last ditch amendment to thwart telecom immunity. These same people will attack the telecoms relentlessly when they refuse to cooperate with President Obama's attempts to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists and sympathizers.
British PM Brown is a typical government aristocrat, eating an 8 course meal before talks on the food crisis. Our problems don't effect these aristocrats, so they don't govern in our interests.
Democrats are still pushing the Plame non-affair, threatening AG Mukasey if he doesn't hand over the transcript of an FBI interview with Cheney.
Security for conventions getting science-fiction-like crowd control weapons. What we've learned from tasers is that because they are mostly non-lethal, authorities abuse the weapons. These non-lethal crowd control weapons make the people powerless and therefore will increase government power at the expense of the people. Using bullets made both crowds and authorities more restrained.
Do we really need a poll to tell us that Barr helps Obama? Bob Barr best represents the mainstream of America, and if he can't get traction in this election, the Libertarian Party might as well hang it up.
The Constitution party is capitalizing on Ron Paul.
Reason provides a sobering and accurate reflection on Jesse Helms.
Con-men organize cage fight only to put on homosexual display. That's fraud. Group's filtering of the word "gay" backfires.
Mortgage fraud really is predatory lending, and should never be confused with subprime loans. Fed to crack down on mortgage loans to prevent future credit crises. Who is the Fed to do this? The Fed is supposed to provide a stable money supply, not regulate loans. If the Fed doesn't want a repeat of the credit crisis, it shouldn't flood the market with cheap money like it did to create the last credit crisis. It should also lobby Congress to remove the dumb laws forcing mortgage companies to make subprime loans. It should also lobby Congress to adopt the FairTax to replace our dumb tax code that rewards debt and punishes savings. The FBI can take care of mortgage fraud.
The global warming alarmists have just figured out that higher levels of CO2 are good for plants. I guess they took their fingers out of their ears for a second and dose of reality penetrated their brains. CO2 is plant food, not pollution.
Oil drops $9 in 48 hours. None of the arguments for this price drop make sense to me.
Newt Gingrich explains how to fix our energy problems: release oil from the reserve for a short-term fix, drill, oil shale and nuclear for a medium term fix, invest in alternative energy for a long term fix. How hard is it? The only place I would disagree is in government investment in alternative energy. Government investment hurts alternative energy development because subsidies are inherently wasteful. I bet this video, having gone viral, is responsible for the drop in oil prices.
Cato reports that the FISA bill allows the government to wiretap for reasons other than the war on terror without judicial oversight. That's unconstitutional and unnecessary. Shades of Bill Clinton all over again.
Cato fears McCain's pledge to balance the budget by 2013 would mean tax increases instead of budget cuts. Me too.
Make your friends think you're running for president.
Voting age teenagers are changing their middle name to Hussein in a show of solidarity for Obama. These are the kind of loons Obama is bringing into the election process. Obama is running for cult leader, not president. How is that good for the country again?
The father of Canadian socialized medicine admits Canada's system is a failure and recommends free market reforms so Canadians can exercise freedom of choice. Even the guy who fathered the system realizes the solution is to embrace freedom. But American liberals won't stand for that. Liberals think force is the answer to all that ails us, so they want to force on us the same type of system that has failed in Canada and Britain.
We all know that socialism causes poverty, and the biofuels boondoggle has already forced 30 million people into poverty worldwide. Every liberal proposal to fight non-existent man-made global warming would force more people into poverty, making them more vulnerable to every danger in the world, including inevitable climate change.
NRA sues San Francisco because they ban guns in public housing. Weapon bans are always about disarming the poor and minorities.
ACLU threatens to sue the Naval Academy because they say prayers before lunch.
Bipartisan group recommends enacting new war powers law to clarify how the President can use troops without a declaration of war from Congress. This sounds like a great idea to me.
Somebody published a children's book called Yes We Can for brainwashing children into Barack Obama's socialist ideology. Lovely.
Obama's increased taxes on the rich will mean that the top 1% of earners will pay more taxes than the bottom 80%. That's just sick. Democrats whole plan is completely untax the bottom 50+% of Americans so Democrats can have a permanent majority in Washington. This is well crafted and disguised class warfare.
Liberals are accusing John McCain of war crimes for bombing North Vietnam. These people are loons. This isn't something reasonable people can disagree about. They are obviously out of touch with reality. I think is enough evidence to get these people of mental problems to get a judge to put these people into psychiatric care so they won't be able to harm anybody else.
Poll responders overwhelmingly reject the redistribution of wealth by government that Obama and Democrats propose. 50% of responers say government is doing too much to our economy. But they aren't the teenagers changing their middle names to Hussein. I wonder how many are tattooing Obama on their butts.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Free kibbles
Iran building A-bomb making equipment according to specs provided by A.Q. Khan. Iran says Ahmadinejad was the target of a secret X-Ray assassination plot in Rome. Seriously. They claim the X-Ray machine was rigged to give him a lethal does of X-Rays. And some people want this man to have his hands on a nuclear trigger. Yikes!
Iraqi PM Maliki suggests timetable for withdrawing US troops. Bush is trying to negotiate a security deal, so it has to end sometime. Maliki wants it to end sooner rather than later, and so do I. Let's win this war and bring our troops home. Because of our success in Iraq, we can expect troop cuts in 2009. This has been expected for months. I still expect George Bush to announce troop cuts before the November election to boost Republicans. It doesn't make sense to wait until after the election to announce them. Mickey Kaus wonders of good news from Iraq helps Obama since it would lead to quicker withdrawal. I hope not. The man has been wrong about everything. That shouldn't work in his favor.
The World Bank urges US and EU to stop subsidizing biofuels and produce more food to feed people. The biofuels don't make a dent in the energy market, but they sure drive up food prices. This is a no-brainer, so you can bet Congress won't do it. It means admitting they were wrong, and our oh so elite leaders can never be wrong, right?
California mandates every car have a global warming score sticker. Why? If buyers care, they can do a little research. This is just another excuse for the government to grab power and to take freedom from Americans in the name of global warming.
G8 leaders criticize South African President Mbeki for not reining in Zimbabwean President Mugabe. Sure, he didn't do anything worthwhile to stop Mugabe's reign of terror, but neither did the G8 leaders. Seems to me there's plenty of criticism to go around, and dumping on one guy is just passing the buck.
A suicide bomber kills 41 at Indian embassy in Afghanistan.
Reason suggests that not everybody held in Guantanamo is a terrorist. I'm sure they're not. Just as I'm sure we held prisoners in the Revolution, War of 1812, Civil War, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War who were not enemy combatants. Nobody is perfect. But the prosecution of war is not about protecting the innocent. That's the job of civilian courts. The prosecution of war is about defeating the enemy so we continue to have civilian courts. It will never be perfect. Non-combatants die. Non-combatants get held as prisoners.The military has done a fantastic job of limiting how many non-combatants get killed or captured in this ugliest of wars where the enemy never wears a uniform and uses human shields. The numbers of detainees are tiny compared to historical standards.
The mistakes are no excuse for the Supreme Court unconstitutionally butting into the handling of detained enemy combatants - a war power granted to the president and Congress by the Constitution, which grants none to the Court. Bush should refuse to allow the detainees access to the Courts. The Supreme Court is a co-equal branch of government, not the boss of the Executive Branch. Each co-equal branch is responsible for interpreting and enforcing the Constitution, and Bush should not surrender his responsibility to deal with the detainees to the Courts.
The BBC provides a flip-flop guide for both candidates.
According to a bunch of liberals in Britain, babies can be racist and you can tell if they say "Yuck" to ethnic foods. We must fight racism in babies!
Microwave ray gun can implant sounds and possibly messages inside your brain. Yikes!
The internet is not going to run out of IP addresses. Computer standard setters aren't stupid like Congress. Those addresses are extensible.
It's not unusual for people to think more highly of dogs than other people. Of course it's not. Dogs are like ideal people. They always forgive. They never backstab. The don't nag or criticize. They approach the unconditional love so many people crave but will never find.
Cato applauds McCain's health care plan for giving people back the choices they need to get quality health care at an affordable price.
Cato explains that E-verify for checking the legal status of prospective employers will quickly race into other aspects of life. We don't any big-government anti-privacy control mechanism to stop illegal immigrants from working in the US. Just have employers check 2 forms of ID, one picture and one birth certificate, VISA, or green card. If bartenders can check ID, so can employers.
Cato calls McCain a mixed bag. I think they're being too generous. Fighting pork barrel spending is fine, but that spending is a drop in the bucket of federal spending.
Great article comparing yellow journalism to the yellow pseudo-science of global warming. He doesn't mention how yellow journalism is feeding yellow pseudo-science.
Study shows that government schools fail to prepare future government school teachers math. Are you surprised? Government fails to educate teachers, and those teachers fail to educate students. Then those students become worse teachers in the next generation. It's a spiraling, self-destroying system, and it's destroying our society. But the solution is easy. End the government monopoly on schools and allow teacher-entrepreneurs to teach students. The best will flourish. The rest will become government employees, pretty much like they are now, but they won't be destroying our kids and our future.
Ohio continues its decent into oblivion. Cleveland area cancels 4th of July all-star little league baseball game because it rewards players who play better. We can't have that. Rewarding people for performing better than others is anti-Marxist, and Marxism is the goal of liberals. We must have every individual perform at the lowest level possible to insure everybody is "equal".
Man who knowingly swam with alligators sues Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission because alligator bit off his arm. What part of Conservation doesn't he understand? This is liberalism in action. If government kills or moves alligators, liberals attack. If government doesn't remove or kill alligators, liberals attack. Liberals always want it both ways. Personal responsibility doesn't exist for liberals. It's always somebody else's fault, and more government interference in our lives is necessary. Unless a conservative suffers. Conservatives deserve it.
Muslims claim religious aversion to sniffer dogs. Or maybe they just don't want their suicide bombs to be detected before they can set them off. If Muslims are so upset about it, maybe they should police their own communities to eliminate the radicals instead of going after the authorities. Most Muslims aren't terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims. Except for Barack Obama's Weather Underground buddies, and they gave it up to become respected liberal professors.
Hot girl soldiers from Israel.
Iraqi PM Maliki suggests timetable for withdrawing US troops. Bush is trying to negotiate a security deal, so it has to end sometime. Maliki wants it to end sooner rather than later, and so do I. Let's win this war and bring our troops home. Because of our success in Iraq, we can expect troop cuts in 2009. This has been expected for months. I still expect George Bush to announce troop cuts before the November election to boost Republicans. It doesn't make sense to wait until after the election to announce them. Mickey Kaus wonders of good news from Iraq helps Obama since it would lead to quicker withdrawal. I hope not. The man has been wrong about everything. That shouldn't work in his favor.
The World Bank urges US and EU to stop subsidizing biofuels and produce more food to feed people. The biofuels don't make a dent in the energy market, but they sure drive up food prices. This is a no-brainer, so you can bet Congress won't do it. It means admitting they were wrong, and our oh so elite leaders can never be wrong, right?
California mandates every car have a global warming score sticker. Why? If buyers care, they can do a little research. This is just another excuse for the government to grab power and to take freedom from Americans in the name of global warming.
G8 leaders criticize South African President Mbeki for not reining in Zimbabwean President Mugabe. Sure, he didn't do anything worthwhile to stop Mugabe's reign of terror, but neither did the G8 leaders. Seems to me there's plenty of criticism to go around, and dumping on one guy is just passing the buck.
A suicide bomber kills 41 at Indian embassy in Afghanistan.
Reason suggests that not everybody held in Guantanamo is a terrorist. I'm sure they're not. Just as I'm sure we held prisoners in the Revolution, War of 1812, Civil War, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War who were not enemy combatants. Nobody is perfect. But the prosecution of war is not about protecting the innocent. That's the job of civilian courts. The prosecution of war is about defeating the enemy so we continue to have civilian courts. It will never be perfect. Non-combatants die. Non-combatants get held as prisoners.The military has done a fantastic job of limiting how many non-combatants get killed or captured in this ugliest of wars where the enemy never wears a uniform and uses human shields. The numbers of detainees are tiny compared to historical standards.
The mistakes are no excuse for the Supreme Court unconstitutionally butting into the handling of detained enemy combatants - a war power granted to the president and Congress by the Constitution, which grants none to the Court. Bush should refuse to allow the detainees access to the Courts. The Supreme Court is a co-equal branch of government, not the boss of the Executive Branch. Each co-equal branch is responsible for interpreting and enforcing the Constitution, and Bush should not surrender his responsibility to deal with the detainees to the Courts.
The BBC provides a flip-flop guide for both candidates.
According to a bunch of liberals in Britain, babies can be racist and you can tell if they say "Yuck" to ethnic foods. We must fight racism in babies!
Microwave ray gun can implant sounds and possibly messages inside your brain. Yikes!
The internet is not going to run out of IP addresses. Computer standard setters aren't stupid like Congress. Those addresses are extensible.
It's not unusual for people to think more highly of dogs than other people. Of course it's not. Dogs are like ideal people. They always forgive. They never backstab. The don't nag or criticize. They approach the unconditional love so many people crave but will never find.
Cato applauds McCain's health care plan for giving people back the choices they need to get quality health care at an affordable price.
Cato explains that E-verify for checking the legal status of prospective employers will quickly race into other aspects of life. We don't any big-government anti-privacy control mechanism to stop illegal immigrants from working in the US. Just have employers check 2 forms of ID, one picture and one birth certificate, VISA, or green card. If bartenders can check ID, so can employers.
Cato calls McCain a mixed bag. I think they're being too generous. Fighting pork barrel spending is fine, but that spending is a drop in the bucket of federal spending.
Great article comparing yellow journalism to the yellow pseudo-science of global warming. He doesn't mention how yellow journalism is feeding yellow pseudo-science.
Study shows that government schools fail to prepare future government school teachers math. Are you surprised? Government fails to educate teachers, and those teachers fail to educate students. Then those students become worse teachers in the next generation. It's a spiraling, self-destroying system, and it's destroying our society. But the solution is easy. End the government monopoly on schools and allow teacher-entrepreneurs to teach students. The best will flourish. The rest will become government employees, pretty much like they are now, but they won't be destroying our kids and our future.
Ohio continues its decent into oblivion. Cleveland area cancels 4th of July all-star little league baseball game because it rewards players who play better. We can't have that. Rewarding people for performing better than others is anti-Marxist, and Marxism is the goal of liberals. We must have every individual perform at the lowest level possible to insure everybody is "equal".
Man who knowingly swam with alligators sues Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission because alligator bit off his arm. What part of Conservation doesn't he understand? This is liberalism in action. If government kills or moves alligators, liberals attack. If government doesn't remove or kill alligators, liberals attack. Liberals always want it both ways. Personal responsibility doesn't exist for liberals. It's always somebody else's fault, and more government interference in our lives is necessary. Unless a conservative suffers. Conservatives deserve it.
Muslims claim religious aversion to sniffer dogs. Or maybe they just don't want their suicide bombs to be detected before they can set them off. If Muslims are so upset about it, maybe they should police their own communities to eliminate the radicals instead of going after the authorities. Most Muslims aren't terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims. Except for Barack Obama's Weather Underground buddies, and they gave it up to become respected liberal professors.
Hot girl soldiers from Israel.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Free kibbles
Here's the kind of news you don't read in the US. Liberal British paper calls the defeat of Al Qaeda in Iraq one of the War on Terror's most spectacular victories. I wonder what Americans who are invested in defeat will say. UAE cancels Iraqi debt and sends an ambassador to Baghdad, the first Arab country to do so. Veterans in 527 group plan to run multi-million dollar advertising campaign reporting on our success in Iraq. Good deal, because that's the only way the general public will hear about it. Strike on Iran could prompt Iranian retaliation in Iraq, leading to an Iraqi civil war. This misleading headlines says US removes uranium from Iraq, but the article says the Iraqi government sold the uranium to a Canadian company.
Iran must really be feeling the heat because they've threatened to shut down the Straights of Hormuz again. I doubt the Mullah's government would last 2 weeks if they did.
Israel successfully tests missile interceptor.
US did not stop the South Koreans' mass killing of political prisoners to keep them from joining the enemy during the Korean war. I guess this is supposed to make us look bad. Shame on us for not fighting the South Koreans at the same time we were trying to stop the North Koreans, Chinese and Russians. This is another case of looking for and highlighting on some imperfection in America in an attempt to keep us from remember the overwhelming great things we should focus on.
In the wake of Uribe's rescue of 15 hostages from FARC, European and Latin American liberals criticize Uribe for being to close to President Bush. That says a lot about the leftists.
Ancient tablet predicts coming of messiah who will rise from the dead after 3 days. This fits the theory the Jesus knew all about the prophesy and orchestrated his following of it. Of course it also fits the theory that he was the son of God, so I don't think this will change anything.
Iran must really be feeling the heat because they've threatened to shut down the Straights of Hormuz again. I doubt the Mullah's government would last 2 weeks if they did.
Israel successfully tests missile interceptor.
US did not stop the South Koreans' mass killing of political prisoners to keep them from joining the enemy during the Korean war. I guess this is supposed to make us look bad. Shame on us for not fighting the South Koreans at the same time we were trying to stop the North Koreans, Chinese and Russians. This is another case of looking for and highlighting on some imperfection in America in an attempt to keep us from remember the overwhelming great things we should focus on.
In the wake of Uribe's rescue of 15 hostages from FARC, European and Latin American liberals criticize Uribe for being to close to President Bush. That says a lot about the leftists.
Ancient tablet predicts coming of messiah who will rise from the dead after 3 days. This fits the theory the Jesus knew all about the prophesy and orchestrated his following of it. Of course it also fits the theory that he was the son of God, so I don't think this will change anything.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Free kibbles
Columbia's rescue of prisoners from FARC boosts President Uribe and generates optimism about defeating FARC. There's no substitute for victory. We should sign a free trade agreement with Columbia because it's good for the US and good for Columbia, and it will also help Columbia defeat FARC.
Poland rejects latest US proposal for missile shield. What's wrong with this picture? Europe should be begging us for a missile shield, and we should be telling them to provide for their own defense, either pay us or develop their own.
The war on drugs hasn't stopped kids from killing themselves taking multi-drug cocktails. If we want to save our kids we have to stop undermining the rule of law and authority with this deadly war on drugs.
Britain's top spy may have been the target of an assassination plot by Russians or al Qaeda. Talk about the new Cold War of Terror.
Archeologists escavate 1 acre of George Washington's boyhood farm.
Mercury is shrinking as its core cools.
Thomas Sowell explains that patriotism and the willingness to fight for home and country matter despite the international and pacifist agenda of the elites.
Ann Coulter rips John McCain for voting against drilling in ANWR in 2002. If we had started drilling then, we'd be reaping the rewards now, lower gas prices and keeping American dollars working in America's economy. Very entertaining column.
The US led the world in mineral rights for property owners, which is one reason Americans became so wealthy off the land. That Jefferson was pretty smart, embracing free markets and private property rights.
Poland rejects latest US proposal for missile shield. What's wrong with this picture? Europe should be begging us for a missile shield, and we should be telling them to provide for their own defense, either pay us or develop their own.
The war on drugs hasn't stopped kids from killing themselves taking multi-drug cocktails. If we want to save our kids we have to stop undermining the rule of law and authority with this deadly war on drugs.
Britain's top spy may have been the target of an assassination plot by Russians or al Qaeda. Talk about the new Cold War of Terror.
Archeologists escavate 1 acre of George Washington's boyhood farm.
Mercury is shrinking as its core cools.
Thomas Sowell explains that patriotism and the willingness to fight for home and country matter despite the international and pacifist agenda of the elites.
Ann Coulter rips John McCain for voting against drilling in ANWR in 2002. If we had started drilling then, we'd be reaping the rewards now, lower gas prices and keeping American dollars working in America's economy. Very entertaining column.
The US led the world in mineral rights for property owners, which is one reason Americans became so wealthy off the land. That Jefferson was pretty smart, embracing free markets and private property rights.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Free kibbles
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs says we need more American troops in Afghanistan, but we don't have them because they're in Iraq. I'm sure this is true, and it's why we shouldn't have invaded Iraq before we had finished the job in Afghanistan. But that's no reason to lose the war in Iraq either. But more importantly, what happened to the US doctrine that it could fight 2 regional wars simultaneously? Obviously, we can't.
More job losses in June. The economy is now as weak as it was in the 90s. The press exaggerated the economy in the 90s to make it appear stronger than it was and now they're exaggerating to make it appear weaker than it is. It's pretty much the same. We were spoiled by the steady growth of the last 6 years, even though that wasn't reported in the news. The dollar has dropped 41% since Bush took office. I guess that's Bush's idea of a strong dollar. And for this article to call Bush a free marketer is a crock. Bush stands with FDR and LBJ as the 3 most socialist presidents in history, and that's why FDR's terms were mired in the Depression, and LBJ and Bush left with the economy going into the tank. But if Bush changes direction and defends the dollar for the first time in his presidency, the economy could turn around. International regulation is not the answer.
Oil tops $146. We should quit begging oil producing nations to increase supply and increase our own supply. It's not in exporting country's interest to produce more. The less they produce, the higher the price, and the longer their oil will last. They're smart to maximize their profits. Since we're a consuming country, it's in our interest to produce as much as possible. We need to get government out of the way so we can produce more domestic oil, increasing supply, and produce more alternative power, decreasing demand.
3 Americans and a kidnapped French-Columbian presidential candidate were freed after 5 years of captivity by leftist terrorist group FARC. Nice job. Columbia freed them despite Democrats treating the Columbians so badly on the free trade deal. Cato says Columbian President Uribe is one of our best allies and we should support him and his country with free trade.
Court orders Google to turn over viewing profiles of every viewer who ever accessed YouTube to Viacom for copyright infringement case. Ouch.
Critics call to isolated the Palestinian part of Jerusalem in the wake of the bulldozer terrorist attack.
It's good to see Britain build 2 full-size aircraft carriers, but it's not good that the money will be taken from the rest of their already dwindling military. We need Britain and all of Europe to start paying for their own defense and the defense of their own foreign interests.
Another journalist, in addition to Steve Harrigan, Christopher Hitchens has himself waterboarded. I see he didn't haven't himself beaten, electrocuted, fingers broken, cut, punchured, eyes gouged, or any other actual torture, so his claim that waterboarding is torture is belied by his volunteering and immediately returning to his job with no ill effects. Of course waterboarding is unpleasant, but it's not torture.
Reason explains that the exceptions (a euphamism for infringements) allowed by the Court when overturning the D.C. gun ban in Heller make it a hollow victory. It sounds like the supporters of the Consititution were appeasing Kennedy to get him on board.
Economic freedom leads to prosperity and happiness. Also health, but this article doesn't mention health.
How the University of Phoenix and other for profit colleges fill a void in the education market.
McCain supports the failed war on drugs, which is really a war on ourselves. McCain is in Mexico on July 3rd talking about comprehensive immigration reform with the Mexican president. That will make for a lot of good 4th of July discussion in the US.
Drinking milk cause chemical changes in the brain, raising sarotonin levels. Let's ban milk and create a huge black market and lots of crime.
People moving to avoid rising seas could move to floating cities. The term refuge is certainly emotional but not appropriate. This is one possibility for adapting to climate change, but it takes money to design, build, and maintain. That's why we need to keep growiing our economy to adapt to inevitable climate change, not damage it with carbon taxes, carbon offsets, or other government interference in the economy. Charlotte temperature hits 123 year low.
70 year old woman gives birth to twins. I wish them well, but this can't be a good situation.
Questions about whether the US promoted an oil deal between Kurdistan and a friend of George Bush contrary to US policy that all oil deals should be made with the Iraqi government. Bush's cronyism is almost as bad as Clinton's, so I can easily believe he helped his buddy out.
Cato questions our need for a massive nuclear arsenal. How many times over do we need to be able to destroy the world?
More job losses in June. The economy is now as weak as it was in the 90s. The press exaggerated the economy in the 90s to make it appear stronger than it was and now they're exaggerating to make it appear weaker than it is. It's pretty much the same. We were spoiled by the steady growth of the last 6 years, even though that wasn't reported in the news. The dollar has dropped 41% since Bush took office. I guess that's Bush's idea of a strong dollar. And for this article to call Bush a free marketer is a crock. Bush stands with FDR and LBJ as the 3 most socialist presidents in history, and that's why FDR's terms were mired in the Depression, and LBJ and Bush left with the economy going into the tank. But if Bush changes direction and defends the dollar for the first time in his presidency, the economy could turn around. International regulation is not the answer.
Oil tops $146. We should quit begging oil producing nations to increase supply and increase our own supply. It's not in exporting country's interest to produce more. The less they produce, the higher the price, and the longer their oil will last. They're smart to maximize their profits. Since we're a consuming country, it's in our interest to produce as much as possible. We need to get government out of the way so we can produce more domestic oil, increasing supply, and produce more alternative power, decreasing demand.
3 Americans and a kidnapped French-Columbian presidential candidate were freed after 5 years of captivity by leftist terrorist group FARC. Nice job. Columbia freed them despite Democrats treating the Columbians so badly on the free trade deal. Cato says Columbian President Uribe is one of our best allies and we should support him and his country with free trade.
Court orders Google to turn over viewing profiles of every viewer who ever accessed YouTube to Viacom for copyright infringement case. Ouch.
Critics call to isolated the Palestinian part of Jerusalem in the wake of the bulldozer terrorist attack.
It's good to see Britain build 2 full-size aircraft carriers, but it's not good that the money will be taken from the rest of their already dwindling military. We need Britain and all of Europe to start paying for their own defense and the defense of their own foreign interests.
Another journalist, in addition to Steve Harrigan, Christopher Hitchens has himself waterboarded. I see he didn't haven't himself beaten, electrocuted, fingers broken, cut, punchured, eyes gouged, or any other actual torture, so his claim that waterboarding is torture is belied by his volunteering and immediately returning to his job with no ill effects. Of course waterboarding is unpleasant, but it's not torture.
Reason explains that the exceptions (a euphamism for infringements) allowed by the Court when overturning the D.C. gun ban in Heller make it a hollow victory. It sounds like the supporters of the Consititution were appeasing Kennedy to get him on board.
Economic freedom leads to prosperity and happiness. Also health, but this article doesn't mention health.
How the University of Phoenix and other for profit colleges fill a void in the education market.
McCain supports the failed war on drugs, which is really a war on ourselves. McCain is in Mexico on July 3rd talking about comprehensive immigration reform with the Mexican president. That will make for a lot of good 4th of July discussion in the US.
Drinking milk cause chemical changes in the brain, raising sarotonin levels. Let's ban milk and create a huge black market and lots of crime.
People moving to avoid rising seas could move to floating cities. The term refuge is certainly emotional but not appropriate. This is one possibility for adapting to climate change, but it takes money to design, build, and maintain. That's why we need to keep growiing our economy to adapt to inevitable climate change, not damage it with carbon taxes, carbon offsets, or other government interference in the economy. Charlotte temperature hits 123 year low.
70 year old woman gives birth to twins. I wish them well, but this can't be a good situation.
Questions about whether the US promoted an oil deal between Kurdistan and a friend of George Bush contrary to US policy that all oil deals should be made with the Iraqi government. Bush's cronyism is almost as bad as Clinton's, so I can easily believe he helped his buddy out.
Cato questions our need for a massive nuclear arsenal. How many times over do we need to be able to destroy the world?
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Never Bring a Lawyer To a Gunfight
Never Bring a Lawyer To a Gunfight
by Mark Luedtke
On Oct. 2nd, 1780 George Washington executed Benedict Arnold's contact, British Major John Andre. Andre had asked Washington to shoot him, as befitted a captured officer, but because Andre had been captured in civilian clothes, Washington treated him exactly the same as all other captured spies – he was ignobly hanged. Dealing with captured spies and soldiers was solely the responsibility of the commander-in-chief, and the Founding Fathers subsequently codified that tradition into the Constitution.
That tradition evolved because it was crucial for victory. The Founding Fathers understood that in order for Americans to enjoy liberty, we have to win wars against those who would take it from us, and that allowing Congress or the Court to interfere with fighting a war would lead to defeat and the end of the US in short order. That's why the Constitution is crystal clear about how America fights wars – all power to wage war is concentrated in the commander-in-chief. That includes dealing with prisoners of war.
The Constitution grants Congress several external powers associated with war. Only Congress can declare war, and by extension end wars. Congress appropriates funds to raise and equip the military and to wage war. Congress and the President share the responsibility for making rules regarding prisoners of war, as was done for the prisoners in Guantanamo. Congress can remove the commander-in-chief through impeachment. Congress has no other powers associated with war. The Court has no powers whatsoever associated with war. That unambiguous separation of powers had been respected since the Constitution took effect in 1789.
Until today's Supreme Court.
Like every good commander-in-chief, Washington understood the critical difference between spies and soldiers and refused to give a spy any privilege, even a firing squad, reserved for a soldier. Privilege is the operative word because enemy combatants forfeit their rights when they take up arms against us. The goal is to remove them from battle by killing, wounding or imprisoning them indefinitely so we can win the war, not to give them lawyers and prosecute them as criminals. Today, the Geneva Conventions provide the framework for dealing with legal combatants, privileges that each signatory agrees to provide to lawful combatants of other signatories captured during a war, including humane treatment but not access to courts.
But because of the extreme threat, think 9/11, from enemy combatants posing as civilians instead of wearing a uniform, unlawful combatants - spies and terrorists - don't receive those privileges. Traditionally, they are summarily executed.
On Sept. 18, 2001, Congress declared war on “those responsible for the recent attacks launched on the United States” and “to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States," specifically invoking the commander-in-chief's war powers. The War on Terror is a lawful war, and the captured terrorists are unlawful combatants. The Constitution grants the commander-in-chief sole power to summarily execute those unlawful combatants, to hold them in detention until the end of the war, or to try them in a military tribunal and then execute them – whatever he prefers. The commander-in-chief can set up any rules for tribunals he likes, and neither Congress nor the Court has any power to interfere.
Some people are scared to give one man that much power, but if Congress or the Courts had micromanaged our wars, we wouldn't be here today. Certainly some presidents, most notably FDR, temporarily abused that power. That's far better than losing the war.
But if we as a nation want to restrict the commander-in-chief's power to wage war, give every prisoner of war a day in civilian court, transform soldiers into evidence technicians during fire fights, divert our resources from battle, and make it harder to win, there's a legal way to do it – amend the Constitution. We should obey the law one way or the other.
Instead, five justices on the Supreme Court ignored the plain language of the Constitution, all US law, and centuries of military tradition, and granted habeas corpus rights to the terrorists detained in Guantanamo. They also tossed out the precedent that US law ends at the US border, proclaiming themselves a world court. Now the fastest way for any foreigner to obtain constitutional protections is to attack a US soldier. If that isn't scary enough, Guantanamo provides better quality of life than hundreds of millions of potential terrorists endure.
Fighting the War on Terror has kept the US safe since 9/11, and President Bush has shown restraint in the application of his war powers compared to past commanders-in-chief. The number of detainees held in Guantanamo are tiny by historical standards, and implementing tribunals to publicize their war crimes before they are executed is smart policy to remind Americans of the nature of the enemy during a war that's hard for the public to remain engaged in. In 20/20 hindsight, swift, summary execution looks smarter.
Barack Obama comparing this decision to the Nuremberg trials reveals his stunning ignorance of history. The Nuremberg trials were carried out by military tribunal as President Bush plans, not a civilian court. The tribunal's restricted process was about publicizing the war crimes of the Nazis before their execution, not proving guilt or innocence. The problem with Bush's tribunals is they're more like the criminal justice system than Nuremberg.
Terrorists don't pose an existential threat to the US, but sometime in the future, we will be faced with a war for our survival. If President Bush caves to this decision instead of upholding the separation of powers specified by the Constitution, it will be much harder to survive that future war.
Free kibbles
Houston grand jury refuses to indict man for shooting 2 burglars breaking into his neighbors home. Good for the grand jury. If this precedent stands, crime in Texas will drop significantly.
George Bush to reiterates strong dollar policy at G8. Since when has Bush supported a strong dollar? Talk's cheap. Maybe he should take a look at what he's done to the value of the dollar and change his positions from weakening the dollar to strengthening it.
Palestinian uses bulldozer to go on terrorist rampage in Jerusalem. Nobody can negotiate with fanatics like this. Hamas and Hezbollah must be disarmed before any peace process can begin.
The EU sticks it's nose in the health care business, planning to allow cross-border care. Socialized medicine has done enough damage in European countries. This will just add to their woes as patients flee burden the better systems by fleeing the most socialized systems.
What a great article. Reason points out that Obama is defending the right of the people to keep and bear whatever arms the government allows.
Reason goes out of its way to make it sound like it's OK for unlawful enemy combatants to have access to US civil courts. It's funny, but mostly sad, to see the liberal attitude in this argument. These supposed liberals completely ignore the libertarian principle that people are responsible for their actions. In Reason's eyes, these illegal enemy combatants have rights - they didn't forfeit them by attacking the US. Reason also ignore the libertarian principle of incentive. Thanks to this decision, enemy combatants are granted more rights from the US by NOT wearing a uniform than wearing a uniform. They also ignore the reality of precedent. It's easy to pretend that the court extended these rights only to detainees in Guantanamo in the last few years. But that restriction isn't based on any principle, only expediency, so it will be extended by an activist court to any enemy combatant, any time, any where. There's nothing for libertarians to support in this decision.
George Bush to reiterates strong dollar policy at G8. Since when has Bush supported a strong dollar? Talk's cheap. Maybe he should take a look at what he's done to the value of the dollar and change his positions from weakening the dollar to strengthening it.
Palestinian uses bulldozer to go on terrorist rampage in Jerusalem. Nobody can negotiate with fanatics like this. Hamas and Hezbollah must be disarmed before any peace process can begin.
The EU sticks it's nose in the health care business, planning to allow cross-border care. Socialized medicine has done enough damage in European countries. This will just add to their woes as patients flee burden the better systems by fleeing the most socialized systems.
What a great article. Reason points out that Obama is defending the right of the people to keep and bear whatever arms the government allows.
Reason goes out of its way to make it sound like it's OK for unlawful enemy combatants to have access to US civil courts. It's funny, but mostly sad, to see the liberal attitude in this argument. These supposed liberals completely ignore the libertarian principle that people are responsible for their actions. In Reason's eyes, these illegal enemy combatants have rights - they didn't forfeit them by attacking the US. Reason also ignore the libertarian principle of incentive. Thanks to this decision, enemy combatants are granted more rights from the US by NOT wearing a uniform than wearing a uniform. They also ignore the reality of precedent. It's easy to pretend that the court extended these rights only to detainees in Guantanamo in the last few years. But that restriction isn't based on any principle, only expediency, so it will be extended by an activist court to any enemy combatant, any time, any where. There's nothing for libertarians to support in this decision.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Free kibbles
49 international troops including 29 Americans were killed in Afghanistan war in June, making it the most deadly month since we invaded. Fewer troops were killed in Iraq.
Nobody should be surprised that the US is the top consumer of marijuana and cocaine. This article says "in spite of" draconian laws. It's at least partly because of the draconian laws. The black market is unregulated, meaning that drugs are available to anybody whenever they want them. You don't see pushers on play grounds peddling booze to elementary school kids. The war on drugs is funding the Taliban, the Mexican drug cartels that control our border, and the drug gangs in the US. It's taking a huge toll in lives and incarceration in the US and around the world. It undermines parents and families by providing drugs to children. These problems from the black market dwarf any problems from drugs themselves.
Where to begin with this article showing the Taliban's strategy: using our War on Drugs against us by funding their terrorism through the heroin trade, using Europe's weakness against us, and using patience and determination against us. We're our own worst enemy.
It's hard to see how lifting a ban on head scarves could be evidence of pushing Sharia in Turkey. Lifting a ban is increasing freedom, not restricting it. The ruling party must be doing other things to promote Sharia that I haven't read about.
Not only are we in danger of falling behind the Chinese and Russians in the space race, the Europeans are in danger of falling behind the Japanese and India. This had nothing to do with spending and everything to do with wasteful government in the form of welfare state bureaucracies.
Law school loses hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding because it doesn't allow military recruiters on campus. That's a good thing, but why in the world were taxpayers sending hundreds of thousands of dollars to this law school? Probably because we do that to every school, which is just stupid.
One of our gazillion or so agencies is spending tax dollars studying the emerging phenomenon of terrorism in massively multiplayer online roleplaying games.
Our state and local government spending, waste and bureaucracy is as bad as the federal government, and this economic downturn should be used as an opportunity to dramatically cut spending at all levels. Chicago sales tax tops 10%, the highest in the country.
Oil tops $142. Can we start drilling to participate in the profits and help lower the price yet? Can we start building alternative power plants like coal and nuclear to lower the price yet? Harry Reid says coal and oil make us sick. I say Harry Reid should do without any benefits from coal or oil. Let him live like they did 200 years ago, and let's see how sick it makes us. Let him ride in a horse drawn carraige and muck his own stalls. Let him grow his own food plowing behind a mule. Our world, all these people in it, couldn't survive without coal and oil. Coal and oil enable human life, progress and cleanliness we've never seen in the history of man. If he wants to go back to the times when the average life span was 50 years, he can go by himself. The rest of us want the better lives enabled by coal and oil.
Why would McCain pledge to stay in office only 1 term if elected? I think that would hurt his chances, not help them.
Obama to expand faith-based initiatives. This guy is the worse of all possible worlds. He's a liberal socialist and conservative socialist. Some would call that being a centrist, but those people only see the world in 1 dimension, left versus right. Now we get Obama 24/7. The bad news is we get Obama 24/7. The good news is this guy is a gaffe machine. From what we've seen so far, he makes Dan Quayle look smart. Obama may be great at giving prepared speeches, but he's arguably the worst candidate I've ever seen speaking off the cuff. He's been smart to keep the press under his thumb. Allowing this freedom of the press will likely blow up in his face.
Study shows that 55% of firearms deaths are suicides. So? Why do we care if a person kills themselves with a gun as opposed to some other method? I'll bet 99% of deaths from falling off buildings are suicides. What does that tell us about buildings? Guns and buildings don't commit suicide, people do.
The wild fires in California are so numerous that every fire tanker is in use and firefighters have to pick and choose which fires to battle. Maybe they should consider managing their forests.
Cato explains that ethanol would be a more price volatile fuel than oil since corn yield is weather dependent and there's only one major source - midwestern farmers.
Texas now requires anybody doing PC repair to have a PI license. If this is accurate, it's crazy.
Nobody should be surprised that the US is the top consumer of marijuana and cocaine. This article says "in spite of" draconian laws. It's at least partly because of the draconian laws. The black market is unregulated, meaning that drugs are available to anybody whenever they want them. You don't see pushers on play grounds peddling booze to elementary school kids. The war on drugs is funding the Taliban, the Mexican drug cartels that control our border, and the drug gangs in the US. It's taking a huge toll in lives and incarceration in the US and around the world. It undermines parents and families by providing drugs to children. These problems from the black market dwarf any problems from drugs themselves.
Where to begin with this article showing the Taliban's strategy: using our War on Drugs against us by funding their terrorism through the heroin trade, using Europe's weakness against us, and using patience and determination against us. We're our own worst enemy.
It's hard to see how lifting a ban on head scarves could be evidence of pushing Sharia in Turkey. Lifting a ban is increasing freedom, not restricting it. The ruling party must be doing other things to promote Sharia that I haven't read about.
Not only are we in danger of falling behind the Chinese and Russians in the space race, the Europeans are in danger of falling behind the Japanese and India. This had nothing to do with spending and everything to do with wasteful government in the form of welfare state bureaucracies.
Law school loses hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding because it doesn't allow military recruiters on campus. That's a good thing, but why in the world were taxpayers sending hundreds of thousands of dollars to this law school? Probably because we do that to every school, which is just stupid.
One of our gazillion or so agencies is spending tax dollars studying the emerging phenomenon of terrorism in massively multiplayer online roleplaying games.
Our state and local government spending, waste and bureaucracy is as bad as the federal government, and this economic downturn should be used as an opportunity to dramatically cut spending at all levels. Chicago sales tax tops 10%, the highest in the country.
Oil tops $142. Can we start drilling to participate in the profits and help lower the price yet? Can we start building alternative power plants like coal and nuclear to lower the price yet? Harry Reid says coal and oil make us sick. I say Harry Reid should do without any benefits from coal or oil. Let him live like they did 200 years ago, and let's see how sick it makes us. Let him ride in a horse drawn carraige and muck his own stalls. Let him grow his own food plowing behind a mule. Our world, all these people in it, couldn't survive without coal and oil. Coal and oil enable human life, progress and cleanliness we've never seen in the history of man. If he wants to go back to the times when the average life span was 50 years, he can go by himself. The rest of us want the better lives enabled by coal and oil.
Why would McCain pledge to stay in office only 1 term if elected? I think that would hurt his chances, not help them.
Obama to expand faith-based initiatives. This guy is the worse of all possible worlds. He's a liberal socialist and conservative socialist. Some would call that being a centrist, but those people only see the world in 1 dimension, left versus right. Now we get Obama 24/7. The bad news is we get Obama 24/7. The good news is this guy is a gaffe machine. From what we've seen so far, he makes Dan Quayle look smart. Obama may be great at giving prepared speeches, but he's arguably the worst candidate I've ever seen speaking off the cuff. He's been smart to keep the press under his thumb. Allowing this freedom of the press will likely blow up in his face.
Study shows that 55% of firearms deaths are suicides. So? Why do we care if a person kills themselves with a gun as opposed to some other method? I'll bet 99% of deaths from falling off buildings are suicides. What does that tell us about buildings? Guns and buildings don't commit suicide, people do.
The wild fires in California are so numerous that every fire tanker is in use and firefighters have to pick and choose which fires to battle. Maybe they should consider managing their forests.
Cato explains that ethanol would be a more price volatile fuel than oil since corn yield is weather dependent and there's only one major source - midwestern farmers.
Texas now requires anybody doing PC repair to have a PI license. If this is accurate, it's crazy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
