Free kibbles

SOCIALISM:

In another good reminder that unions are bad for workers, they forced Hostess into bankruptcy.

ECONOMY:

Opportunity in Asia.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

Empty malls in China are beautiful examples of malinvestment.

Short video explains quantitative easing.

HEALTH CARE:

Shocker. Anti-depressants are unhealthy. Do you ever listen to this list of side-effects in drug commercials? I would never take any of those drugs given those terrible side effects.

WAR ON DRUGS:

Another example of how government turns people into monsters.

""What brings you to Demopolis?"

The question seemed harmless, as did the questioner, Sgt. Tim Soronen of the Demopolis, Alabama police department. Diane Avera, the 45-year-old grandmother from Meridian, Mississippi to whom that question was posed, couldn’t see any harm in answering it candidly.

"I came over to buy some Sudafed for our scuba diving trip this weekend, since we can’t buy it in Meridian anymore," Mrs. Avera explained.

Soronen asked Avera if she knew it was against the law to cross the state line to buy Sudafed.

"No, sir, I did not know," the startled woman replied.

"I need you to step out of the car," Soronen demanded.

"For what? I swear I didn’t know. What did I do?" Avera asked in alarm.

"You came to Demopolis to buy some Sudafed," came the curt response. "Step to the back of the truck."

Before the sun set on July 29, 2010, Diane Avera was in the Marengo County Jail, where she would remain for forty days. At one point she was shackled to a restraint chair for 17 hours. During that time she was denied water or access to a bathroom. She also developed edema in her feet. Edema-related blood clots have been identified as the cause of death for several of the inmates who have perished while chained to the "Devil’s Chair.""

Only monsters would do this.

WAR:

What's really happening in Syria.

"The US, Britain, France, and some conservative Arab allies have funded and armed the Syrian rebellion from its start a year ago. In fact, the US has been funding anti-Asad groups since the mid 1990's. Arms and munitions are said to be flowing to Syria's rebels through Jordan and Lebanon. Extreme rightwing groups in Lebanon, funded by western and Arab powers and Israel, are playing a key role in infiltrating gunmen and arms into northern Syria."

"Enter the jihadis. Recently, small numbers of al-Qaida veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have entered Syria and are using car bombs to try to destabilize the government. Current al-Qaida leader, Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, has called for all-out war against the Asad regime.

Interestingly, the US, France and Britain now find themselves in bed with the very jihadist forces they profess to abhor – but, of course, whom they used in Afghanistan inn the 1980's and, lately, in Libya."

Our government is killing more people and teaming up with al Qaeda.

POLITICS:

The nature of votes and voters.

"Mostly they vote to take things from other people – either their property or their freedom of action. Each election in modern America is for all practical purposes a no-reserve auction of other people’s stuff. Vote for me, says The Candidate – and I will give you some of their stuff. Or something even worse: Vote for me and I will force them to do This or That."

Votes are almost always acts of oppression.

I often talk about how Republicans and Democrats work together to divide and conquer us. Now somebody else is pointing this out.

Politicians aren't the only government agents who can't keep their pants on. Apparently Secret Service and military members have the same problem.

"In a major embarrassment for the United States at the Summit of the Americas attended by more than 30 heads of state, 11 U.S. Secret Service agents were sent home and five military servicemen grounded over "misconduct" allegations in a hotel.

Prostitutes were taken to the hotel, according to a Colombian police source."

This should not be illegal, but it shows how government attracts the worst people and corrupts them more. What's interesting here is that these agents clearly didn't think anything of this. This is the norm.

"Representative Peter King, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, said "one of the women did not leave the room in the morning" and that a hotel manager tried to get in the room. King, briefed on the incident, said the woman emerged and said "they owed her money.""

Naturally they don't pay.

LOCAL:

Dayton government is using red light cameras and towing services to loot the people.

"Last February, the most recent month data is available, Dayton received $144,019 in red-light camera ticket collections, according to city records. That’s twice as much as it took in for all of 2010."

"In 2011, Dayton collected $625,000 worth of red-light camera ticket payments. That number stands to increase in 2012. The city has received more than $100,000 in ticket payments each month since September. The top two collections in the history of the red-light camera program were January 2012 and February 2012. That doesn’t include an expected bump in collections as the city rolls out a new towing-enforcement program that began this month for drivers with multiple unpaid tickets. There currently are more than $5 million in unpaid red-light camera tickets."

This is outrageous. Why do we allow this?

"While there have been conflicting reports about the effectiveness nationwide of red-light cameras in reducing crashes, a Dayton Daily News analysis of city crash data from 1998 to 2011 suggests Dayton’s cameras are having an impact. At the 11 intersections with cameras, crashes decreased 40 percent in the years after the cameras were installed. However, two of those intersections — Salem and North avenues and Patterson and N. Smithville roads — showed little or no change."

So government creates unsafe intersections, and people have wrecks there, then the government puts in red light cameras and claims its for safety when in reality its for looting. The 40 percent number doesn't tell us anything. Forty percent is 2 out of 5. If these cameras prevented only two crashes, then the safety argument is bogus. Since the DDN doesn't tell us the absolute numbers of reduced crashes, I assume it's small. If it was large, the paper would want to publish that to support the government.

"Crashes are down citywide by one-third since the first cameras were installed in 2003. That shows the deeper impact of the cameras, city spokesman Tom Biedenharn said."

Baloney. This tells us that crashes are down everywhere for other reasons, and the reduction in crashes at intersections with red light cameras are probably due to the same reasons, not the cameras. Chances are crashes are down because people are driving less because of the bad economy and high gas prices.

"“Whether there’s a red-light camera there or not, it now kind of sinks into the motorists’ psyche,” Biedenharn said. “And that’s what we’re trying to do: change drivers’ behavior.”"

What a load of typical government crap.

"Diane Turner, 51, of Centerville, received an $85 ticket from one of the cameras several years ago for not making a full stop while turning right at a red light at Stanley Avenue and Troy Street. Still, she supports the cameras. She now sets her cruise control at 35 miles per hour when driving through Dayton.

“They don’t take pictures of innocent people. They don’t. I don’t know what the beef is about them. Because if they got you, they got you,” Turner said."

I wonder how hard the reporter worked to dig up this sheep. Government produced a good little serf in her case.

"Owners of vehicles captured on camera receive citations directly from Redflex in the mail. While the citations are screened by police before going out, they are different than normal traffic tickets in that they are civil complaints, not criminal complaints. That designation limits cities’ ability to enforce them, other than sending unpaid debts to a collection agency, which shows up on a credit score. But Dayton at the beginning of this month started towing vehicles with two or more unpaid tickets. The city commission authorized the towing."

This is a neat trick. This way you don't get to face your accuser in court. Still, I bet you could sue in civil court and demand the device be verified under comparable conditions.

"In all, 153 vehicles were towed in the first week, including one car with 38 unpaid tickets. Dayton Municipal Court also began accepting red-light ticket payments at the same time towing began, collecting about $242,500 worth of tickets in just three days."

But it isn't about the money. Trust the looters.

"Chris Finney, a Cincinnati attorney and conservative activist, has campaigned against the cameras across the state, successfully heading up ballot issues to ban them in Cincinnati and elsewhere. He, too, questions the legality of the government seizing property without a court order, and said he is willing to help organize opposition in Dayton."

Laws are for the people, not the government.

"Meanwhile, Trotwood’s revenues from red-light tickets were about $294,000 in 2011, up from $91,000 in 2009. Trotwood now has 12 cameras, including two installed last year in front of Trotwood-Madison High School. Trotwood officials are paving the way to increase all red-light fines from $85 to $100, as well as increase the fine for speeding near the high school, Porter said.

Porter said critics of the cameras aren’t seeing the big picture. First and foremost, the cameras make the city safer, he said. But the money they generate can be reinvested into the police department for more officers and equipment, he said. Trotwood has eliminated 18 police positions since 2004.

“Without this revenue, our city would be worse off,” Porter said."

But it's not about the money. The people are angry about it.

"The Dayton Police Department ordered the towing of 257 vehicles in the first two weeks of its renewed effort to encourage payment of parking, speeding and red light citations. That decision dramatically increased the number of vehicles towed in the city while creating long lines of citizens paying fines and reclaiming cars."

"Encourage payment." What a wonderful euphemism for government coercion.

"D.J. Rucker, 28, of Dayton was just minutes away from his Dayton residence last week when his Chevrolet Suburban was pulled over during an early-morning traffic stop on Salem Avenue. He and his 12-year-old son had just returned from their Florida vacation

“They said that I had two red-light camera tickets and I was on the tow list,” Rucker said of the police.

Then came the really bad news. The officer would have to call a tow truck to seize the SUV.

“I begged and pleaded,” Rucker said, recalling what he told the officer. He said he made a promise to pay the fines the next day, but the officer said that the car had to be towed since the office that handles fines was closed.

Rucker said the officer was pleasant and allowed him the opportunity to remove his luggage and other belongings from the SUV before it was towed. Rucker and his son watched the vehicle being towed away as they stood stranded in a nearby church parking lot."

How heartless do you have to be to do this to a man and his son? Government turns people into monsters.

"“My main concern is why are most of the red camera lights in the West Dayton area?” said Smith’s husband, John Smith. “I think that’s very important and significant.”

Of the 11 intersections with cameras in Dayton, six are in the western part of the city, one is to the north, one is close to the middle and three are in the eastern section."

Of course. They're going after people who have few resources to resist this tyranny.

"Sandy’s tows and stores vehicles in the city’s East Zone, from east of the Stillwater River until it flows into the Great Miami River and east of the Great Miami to the eastern city limits. Summit Towing Inc. tows and stores vehicles from the West Zone. Neither company returned calls Friday seeking comment."

I wonder how much money Sandy's and Summit donate to local politicians. I bet it's quite a bit.

MISC:

As I pointed out the other day, the ring of fire is heating up. One of the quakes in Indonesia set a record for strike-slip quakes.

The reality of profiling.