Free kibbles

LIBERTY:

Mises scholar attempts to address that point I keep making about anarchy: it's a fiction because no matter what, there's always a government.

"Now the anarchists believe you can have private institutions provide law, justice, defense, without necessarily engaging in systematic and institutionalized aggression–that is, without being a state. Whether you want to call such institutions “government” or not seems to me to be purely semantic, esp. if we grant there is a distinction between state and government. The remaining question is simply what type of government the “minarchists” (?) favor: do they favor a government that has the authority to commit institutionalized aggression, or not? If they do, then they are pro-state, since such a government is a state. If they do not, they are anarchists, it seems to me, since private, non-state, non-aggressive institutions of law, justice, and defense is exactly what we anarchists favor."

This is why I continue to advocate we take away the government's power to tax which is aggression. We should also get rid of eminent domain and limit laws to those who have committed aggression against others. But that doesn't take away government. There's still going to be an entity that captures, tries and punishes criminals. There's still going to be an entity that provides for the common defense. That's government.

SOCIALISM:

US to sell shares of bailed out Citigroup, ostensibly at a profit. This will encourage government to bailout and socialize more companies. This is not a good thing. Worse yet, the profit is an illusion created by inflationary monetary policy. We'll have to pay for it through the inflation tax.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH:

Government intimidating corporations which talk about the costs they'll suffer because of Obamacare into silence. Behind closed doors at these hearings, Congress will threaten to nationalize the companies if they continue to point out the problems with Democrat policies.

ECONOMY:

Even Ben Bernanke doesn't believe government's phony economic growth statistics.

"The revised news from Washington is that the economy grew at a 5.6% rate in the 4th quarter of 2009. The folks who grind the numbers at the Commerce Department credit huge inventory adjustments, robust business investments and recovering consumer spending for the fastest pace of economic growth in six years.

This is one day after Fed Chief Ben Bernanke testified that he needs to keep rates low to help the economy recover. In prepared testimony for the House Financial Services Committee, he said, "the economy continues to require the support of accommodative monetary policies." And responding to questions, Bernanke reaffirmed that the high level of unemployment and low rate of inflation will continue to justify very low rates "for an extended period."

So evidently the Fed chairman either doesn't believe the phony numbers produced down the street from his office, or he has something to "support" with interest rates just north of zero."

What a charade.

TAX AND SPEND:

Once again Boortz pretends that our financial problems are all caused by Democrats, completely ignoring the role Republicans played in orchestrating the economic crises we're sinking deeper into. Yes, Democrats are doing everything wrong, but Republicans did too, if on a smaller scale.

REGULATION:

Regulators make it hard on banks.

"“David Bridgeman, CEO of Pinnacle Bank in Orange City, Fla., described his last examination in November as ‘overwhelming.’ Twenty-one examiners from both the FDIC and the state showed up at his tiny 28-employee bank for the month-long review, spilling into two conference rooms. Typically, he says, about eight examiners complete a review in two weeks."

It's kind of hard to make any loans or money in that environment.

HEALTH CARE:

New study shows fatty foods affect the brain like cocaine and heroin. Of course this study is intended to prompt Democrats to start telling us what we can and can't eat, but the real message behind this story is that the bad effects of cocaine and heroin have been crossly overstated. Tens of millions of Americans have used them with no ill effects. Addiction has been grossly misrepresented. The people we call addicts are responsible for their own choices like everybody else.

This is the British model for health care that Democrats are foisting on us. This is our future.

"Tens of thousands of NHS workers would be sacked, hospital units closed and patients denied treatments under secret plans for £20 billion of health cuts.

...

The sick would be urged to stay at home and email doctors rather than visit surgeries, while procedures such as hip replacements could be scrapped."

As I said explained last year, the profit motive in the United States lifted up every health care system in the world. Because of the profit motive, we created most of the new equipment, new drugs and new procedures and exported them overseas. Now that Obamacare has passed and limits profits and procedures must be government approved, the US will no longer perform that function. The US will no longer be able to lift up our own health care system, let alone others around the world. The world will fall into a new dark ages of health care, and Britain is leading the way. We're right behind. Between the destruction of our economy by government and Obamacare, Americans have yet to grasp how deadly US government policies are to Americans and people all over the world.

Ron Paul talks about rights and Obamacare.

"Americans, he said, have misunderstood the definition of "rights," which are God-given and include "life, liberty and the right to keep the fruits of our labor." Those rights include neither education nor health care."

Unfortunately the Constitution doesn't  protect that last one. That's the most important change we need to make to the constitution.


Long essay advocates repealing Obamacare. Not while we keep electing Republicans and Democrats.


Health care spending by country.

WAR:

Now today the government says the militia members they arrested wanted to kill a police officer then kill other police officers driving in his funeral procession using IEDs. That's a remarkably different story than yesterday and is very hard to believe. This sounds more like a fantasy than a conspiracy. I agree with Rockwell here. These guys were drinking and spinning yarns about overthrowing the government, and some undercover government agent talked them into buying so fake IEDs, then the army descended on them. Evidence?

"David Brian Stone obtained information about IEDs over the Internet and e-mailed diagrams to a person he believed could manufacture them." Bold mine.

Why phrase it that way? Because that person was a government agent.

This Krauthammer speech sounds like he was drunk on power.

FOREIGN POLICY:

Chechen terrorists bomb Moscow subways. Maybe Russia should get out of Chechnya. Occupying countries of people who don't want you there seems to prompt a lot of violence.

POLITICS:

Boortz sees through the smear campaign against the tea partiers, but it's inevitable they're going to get the one clip of video or sound that will from one person that they'll use to paint the entire movement as racist or violent.

I have a feeling this Marco Rubio is pandering to the tea parties to get elected, but once elected, he'll be just like all the other Republicans.

Frank Rich takes the gold medal in smearing the tea parties.

"The conjunction of a black president and a female speaker of the House -- topped off by a wise Latina on the Supreme Court and a powerful gay Congressional committee chairman -- would sow fears of disenfranchisement among a dwindling and threatened minority in the country no matter what policies were in play."

In other words, the tea partiers really like Democrats policies, but because they're racist, mysogynist, gay bashers, they resisting Democrats. Frankly, you can see where this comes from. Where were the tea partiers when George Bush was doubling the size of government? The lack of principles on the right opens them up to this kind of attack. If they had been actively opposing George Bush's expansion of government, if they had supported a small government candidate instead of John McCain or Mitt Romney, they would be immune from this kind of attack.

Because conservatives have no principled opposition to big-government, they're like the frog in a pot of water. As long as Bush turned the temperature of the water up slowly, they just sat in the water on its way to boil. But now that Obama has turned up the heat so fast, they're fighting the temperature hike. Conservatives need to get out pot of entirely by embracing freedom from the pot and join libertarians.

I don't blame Nancy Pelosi for telling her caucus to go on offense. It's smart politics. Some people will fall for it.

Tea party candidates face realities of campaign - it's hard. Running primary candidates against incumbent Republicans is the way to go though. They don't have to all win either. They just have to drag the incumbents toward small government principles. If the incumbents fail to move, challenge them again next time. Congress can't be fixed in one election. But the presidency can by voting for the only small government candidate from either party - Ron Paul. I think we can thank the tea party movement for Republicans uniting against Obamacare. Without it, some would probably have compromised.

White males fleeing the Democrats' sinking ship.

"Polling suggests that the shift was not because of Obama but because of the financial meltdown that preceded the election. It was only after the economic collapse that Obama's white male support climbed above the 38 percent ceiling. It was also at that point that Obama first sustained a clear majority among all registered voters, according to the Gallup tracking poll.

It looked for a moment as though Democrats had finally reached the men of Bruce Springsteen's music, bringing them around to the progressive values Springsteen himself has long endorsed. But liberal analysts failed to understand that these new Democrats were still firmly rooted in American moderation."

With all this talk about white males, I'm reminded how all during the nineties we heard about angry white men. It went away during the Bush years. Now it's back with a vengeance.

Graphic illustrates how Obama has bypassed the legislative process and representational government to implement his destructive agenda.

With all the hype about threats against Democrats, a man was charged with threatening the life of Rep. Cantor.

"Norman Leboon, 38, was charged after he allegedly recorded and posted on YouTube a video in which he threatened to kill the congressman and his family. 

"My Congressman Eric Cantor, and you and your cupcake evil wife," the video said, according to the complaint. "Remember Eric ... our judgment time, the final Yom Kippur has been given. You are a liar, you're a Lucifer, you're a pig, a greedy f---ing pig, you're an abomination, you receive my bullets in your office, remember they will be placed in your heads. You and your children are Lucifer's abominations." "

Note to any other deranged murder wannabes - don't put your threats on You-Tube. It's good to see this guy implicated himself in the shooting and didn't just speak threats.

Essay about Frum's criticism of the gold standard reminds us the two parties are really one party and neither one supports free market capitalism:

"For the present piece, I just want to make an observation: isn't it ironic that David Frum, former speechwriter for George W. Bush and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, thinks that it is common knowledge that deficit spending is the way to fix a depressed economy?[1] To his credit, Frum is consistent: he actually criticized conservative Republicans for opposing Obama's stimulus package."

It's not ironic. Republicans don't support freedom or free markets any more than Democrats. They only pretend to when Democrats are in power. What's twisted is that despite a hundred years of evidence proving this, people still think Republicans support capitalism. They're delusional.

"In my younger days, when I was even more naïve than I am now, I couldn't understand how "right-wingers" could be so good on domestic issues like taxes and business regulations, but so awful on foreign-policy issues. I couldn't understand how self-described conservatives could detest and fear big government when it came to the Department of Health and Human Services, but not when it came to the CIA and the Pentagon.

Now I realize that there's no hypocrisy or inconsistency at all, at least not among some of the top neoconservative theorists: They are quite consistent in believing that politicians in Washington, DC, have both the ability and the desire to make the world a better place, whether in foreign lands or in American inner cities. All it takes is several trillion dollars and a few experts like David Frum advising them."

That's exactly right, and the same thing is true of the left. Anybody who thinks it's OK to use violence against another either foreign or domestic, will also use violence against the other. The two parties are fundamentally the same except for their insane desire to wield power over each other.


The RNC recalls reimbursement to member for $2,000 trip to bondage themed club. The DNC continues to reimburse for the same entertainment.


This might be the greatest disconnect between Washington and the people of all.

"According to a recent Rasmussen Poll , only 21 percent of American voters believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed. On the other hand, Rasmussen notes, a full 63 percent of the "political class" believe that the government enjoys the consent of the governed."

Oops.

"Even among the rulers, only 63 percent -- triple the fraction of the general populace but still less than two-thirds of the political class -- regard the federal government as legitimate by the standards of America's founding document. The remainder, presumably, are comfortable being tyrants."

How did they get our aristocrats to answer this?

"In fact, when I think of the federal government's brand now, I think of Schlitz beer. Schlitz was once a top national brew. But, in search of short-term gains, it began gradually reducing its quality in tiny increments to save money, substituting cheaper malt, fewer hops and "accelerated" brewing for its traditional approach.

Each incremental decline was imperceptible to consumers, but after a few years, people suddenly noticed that the beer was no good anymore. Sales collapsed, and a "Taste My Schlitz" campaign designed to lure beer drinkers back failed when the "improved" brew turned out not to be any better. A brand image that had been accumulated over decades was lost in a few years, and it has never recovered."

That comparison cracks me up.

MISC:

Another leap forward for print on demand. Government hasn't managed to derail progress there yet.

Good essay dvocates a peaceful revolution of ideas.

Lord Acton on federalism and the Civil War.