Free kibbles

FREEDOM OF SPEECH:

Canadian aristocrats propose legislation to monitor all traffic on the internet.

ECONOMY:

Powerful correlation between entrepreneurship and economic growth. Imagine that.

TAX AND SPEND:

The unfortunate truth about earmarks:

"The way to eliminate pork is to get the federal government out of the infrastructure business, out of the economic development business and out of the research business. That would be a real change and that’s why it won’t happen while jokers like McConnell are in charge."

I disagree with one part of this essay. I don't think the president will choose earmarks any more than he already does, and I don't think Congress will give them up. Congress will still add earmarks in committee. The only place they're banning adding them is in the conference where they won't get debated. In reality, this won't cut a dime from the budget since the same earmarks will get added. They'll just get added in a more transparent process. This is great political move by Republicans. Without changing anything of substance, they get to appear like they're serious about cutting spending. Maybe they learned that lesson from FDR regarding prohibition. Make a good first impression, and the people will allow you to run roughshod over them for a decade.

Bloomberg calls for a carbon tax to fight terrorism. How about we just develop our own energy resources instead? These freaks recognize no limits on their use of violence against the people.

REGULATION:

Obama Transportation Secretary LaHood wants to force cars companies to install devices that would disable cell phones so people won't talk or text and drive.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

Republicans criticizing the Fed. I'm happy to see them jump on the bandwagon.

EDUCATION:

School bans student from riding bike to school because he has an American flag on the bike, but is forced to rescind the ban under pressure from parents.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Leading climate fraud and architect of climategate at CRU, Phil Jones rehabilitating himself with the help of the accomplice press.

WAR ON DRUGS:

Celebrating Prop 19 in California.

"For millions, both in California and across the country, news of Prop. 19's failure came as a major disappointment. However, it should be considered a great victory for such a radical measure to get 46 percent of the vote in open defiance of federal law, especially considering the intense opposition. Plans are already in the works to put the initiative back on the ballot for the 2012 election, which is expected to have higher turnout from young people."

I'm happy they're using the  oppressive government playbook: if at first, or second, or third, or fourth, or fifth, or ..., try try again until you win. It's about time freedom lovers tried that.

POLICE STATE:

The TSA manages to outdo itself in the outrage department day after day.

"The TSA now admits, after a columnist got wind of their crime, that a four-year-old handicapped boy should not have been  forced to remove his leg braces and walk unaided through a Philadelphia airport spying machine, on his way to Disney World. They should, says the TSA, have humiliated and terrorized him in ways that would not have garnered them bad publicity."

Parents who force their children to endure this abuse are guilty of child abuse.

TSA told John Tyner that since he showed up at the airport, he had submitted to their molestation because they had announced their procedures on their website. They told him he had no right to refuse. Response:

"So, all that it takes to legitimize its atrocities is for the state to have a website on which it describes its procedures!  We are no longer to be concerned with the substance of governmental action, but only whether due process was followed.  Adolf Hitler might have salvaged his reputation had he thought of this loophole.  Imagine the following conversation to have taken place in Germany in the 1930s:

Mr. Goldberg:  Where are you taking me?

SS Officer:  Ve vill take you to the train station, vhere you vill be loaded onto a boxcar and taken to a special camp.  Vhen you arrive at the camp, you vill have  a serial number tattoooed on your arm, be given a striped uniform to wear, and housed in some special barracks.

Mr. Goldberg:  But you are depriving me of my fundamental human rights; what you are doing is morally wrong.

SS Officer:  Ve are doing nothing wrong.  These procedures are spelled out on our vebsite; you can check them for yourself!"

"You submitted when you showed up." Baloney. For all my life, Nazi comparisons have been foolish. Now the comparisons are frightening. TSA attempting to fine Tyner $11,000 for his refusal to submit.

TSA's behavioral analysis program is another screwup. I didn't know airports had the option to reject TSA. Start writing the airports now.

Article explains why we can't stop with the nude-scanners. We must resist all oppression.

US Marshals busted for saving 35,000 images from their nude-scanner in an Orlando courthouse.

"And fortunately for those who walked through the scanner in Florida last year, this mismanaged machine used the less embarrassing imaging technique."

But if Marshals in Orlando are saving low-res images, you can bet TSA agents all over the country are saving high-res images. Never trust the government.

If you think the surveillance society is bad now, here come the iris scanners.

POLITICS:

Here we go again with another libertarian claiming the president is a dictator and giving Congress a pass.

"Jim, as you note, the anti-earmarks issue is a fraud. It’s a neocon trick, pushed by the Club for Growth and similar groups. It’s a way for the neocons to seem to be against spending while not actually being against it, and it’s a way to strengthen the presidential dictatorship against the legislature."

This is baloney. Congress controls the purse-strings, so Congress has all the power. With a few exceptions like the EPA, Congress created all the bureaucracies that oppress us. Congress can create or abolish any bureaucracy at any time. The president can't. The president's dictatorial powers are gifts, or curses from our perspective, from Congress. Congress is the real power at the root of our government oppressors. I think libertarians like to focus on the president since he wields the power, but Congress gives him the power to wield and Congress can take away any or all of his powers at any time. It just never does. If continue down the Road to Serfdom, the president will soon seize the power of the purse from Congress, and when he does, then he will be the real problem. But until then, Congress is the real power and the president is just Congress's enforcer.

Rangel found guilty of 11 ethics violations. I wonder if he'll be prosecuted for tax evasion. I wonder if the rest of the crooks in Congress will be found guilty. Maxine Waters is quaking in her boots.

Remember when John McCain pretended he was a tea party candidate during the election? Now he's criticizing tea party winners and drawing the lines between small government supporters and those who support big government: foreign policy.

Obama's off-teleprompter comments expose who he is.

Should Obama quit after one term? It would be better if he quit now.

Ron Paul rejects tea party caucus. For Michelle Bachman to found the "limited government" caucus is hilarious.

LOCAL:

TSA will put two nude-scanners in the Dayton airport after Thanksgiving. So much for flying out of Dayton.

MISC:

The first volume of Mark Twain's autobiography is out.

Ten interesting animal hybrids.

Alternate uses for 16 common household products. We may need this guide as the economy continues to collapse.