Free kibbles

LIBERTY:

Freedom improves the welfare of the people, not government.

Liberty and justice go together.

ECONOMICS:

The real reason Warren Buffet hates gold is he profits from government.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

Dollar inflation in Panama is forcing the government to coin its own money.

HEALTH CARE:

Monsanto cafeteria bans GM food because it's unhealthy. Oh, the irony.

Farcical bill shows that Democrats are succeeding at getting people to talk about reproductive health to distract from the economy.

POLICE STATE:

The TSA is fooling people into surrendering more information about themselves.

"The scam pretends that serfs who divulge even more information to the Feds than their dossiers already contain will suffer less persecution from the TSA than the rest of us. The agency doesn’t go so far as to claim they’ll completely escape its sexual molestation, nor even that they’ll breeze through checkpoints; rather, these self-snitches will merely "undergo expedited screening [sic for ‘unconstitutional, warrantless searches’]." Our Masters will "no longer" force them to "remov[e] the following items: Shoes; 3-1-1 compliant bag from carry-on; Laptop from bag; Light outerwear/jacket; Belt." However, "TSA will always incorporate random and unpredictable security measures [sic for ‘sexual assault and humiliation’] throughout the airport and no individual will be guaranteed expedited screening.""

I have a better idea: don't fly except for general aviation.

WAR:

Al Qaeda is trying to overthrow Assad in Syria, and US politicians want to do the same, so the US government is allying with al Qaeda. More on the US government-al Qaeda alliance.

Video claims the USS Enterprise is being sent to the Middle East right before it's to be scrapped to be sacrificed in a false flag operation blamed on Iran so the US can go to war. I think that's nuts, but if it gets sunk, I want to have this link. Remember the Maine.

FOREIGN POLICY:

It turns out the Cairo 19 were working for the US government to manipulate elections in Egypt. Why is anybody outraged they've been arrested for it?

"In response to the 9/11 attacks, the US embarked on a military and political campaign to “transform” the “swamp” of the Muslim world, starting in Afghanistan and Iraq, and ending in Iran. On the occasion of the NED’s twentieth anniversary, President George W. Bush proclaimed the US was launching a “global democratic revolution” – and there was no doubt its main target was the Middle East. Gen. Wesley Clark related in an interview with Amy Goodman how, ten days after 9/11, a top General revealed to him how the decision to invade Iraq was made bereft of any link to al-Qaeda. Coming back to his informant a few weeks later, Clark said:

“’Are we still going to war with Iraq?’ And the General said ‘Oh, its worse than that.’ He reached over on his desk and picked up a piece of paper. He said, ‘I just got this … from upstairs from the Secretary of Defense’s office today. This is a memo that describes how we are going to take out 7 countries in 5 years. Starting with Iraq, then Syria and Lebanon. Then Libya, Somalia and Sudan. Then finishing off Iran.’”

It’s taken them more than five years, but clearly they’ve made considerable progress so far: Iraq is in the bag, so is Libya, and Sudan has been successfully split in two. As for Somalia, it’s the latest “front” in our endless “war on terrorism,” and we’re gearing up for the Big One: Iran. Once Tehran falls, can Lebanon be far behind?"

Wow.

POLITICS:

Somebody else points out that Ron Paul is beating the establishment at their own game.

"Based on the feedback I’ve been hearing – the folks at Lemon Global get it right. Based on the states that currently have had primaries and caucuses, Ron Paul is probably number two in the delegate count. At this late point in the game, it’s unlikely that anyone will be successful in trying to stop a coup at the RNC, because Ron Paul supporters are learning and using rules written by the GOP insiders to beat the insiders at their own game. If we remember that, the reason for my great hope for this election becomes so much more clear."

I hope he's second.

Santorum wins Kansas. Romney wins Wyoming.

MEDIA:

The viral video on the African mass murderer illustrates how governments are using social media to push propaganda. This video was produced promote greater US military intervention in Africa.

MISC:

Fantastic images and video of solar activity.

High ranking chimpanzees mediate conflicts with other members of the clan.

It turns out humans are more closely related to gorillas than previously thought.

Advantages of expatriation. Perpetual traveler. Five flag theory. Three flag theory.

Free kibbles

FREEDOM OF SPEECH:

Last chance for Canadians to speak out against Canadian SOPA.

ECONOMY:

Unemployment held steady at 8.3 percent in February, but the media wants us to believe this is good news. For a long time, the reason unemployment wasn't rising was people were dropping out of the work force. The opposite happened last month as more people began looking for jobs. This is probably the most promising jobs report we've seen since Obama took office. Despite this trend, employment numbers are still near the 2001 level. Ouch.

REGULATION:

Recognizing that autonomous cars will be on the road soon, governments are moving to restrict innovation so only low quality, high priced vehicles produced by companies that pay bazzilions in tribute to politicians can profit.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

I've butted heads with associates at Mises.org over their celebration of corporations many times. Mostly over Apple, which many claimed was a model of innovation while I claimed it was a patent troll, but also over McDonalds and Taco Bell. Now we learn that the Fed bailed out McDonalds. It's a stain on Mises.org that many of their prominent writers defended so many corporate agents. Don't get me wrong. In the last few years, I've learned more about libertarianism and the evil of the Fed at mises.org than I ever would have guessed I had to learn. But in learning those things, I was appalled at how those scholars defended government's corporate agents knowing full well the vast majority of profits they enjoyed came from government coercion. This is why independent thinking, no matter your ideology, is so important.

HEALTH CARE:

The government is buying seven million pounds of scrap beef - the kind of scraps farmers usually reserve for animal or fish feed - and funneling it into student lunches. If you are shocked the government would do this, you are a fool. If you think by changing parties, you will end this, you are a fool. The government, powered by both parties, considers us fodder to fuel them or fight for them. They only allow us to vote because they control the voting process so our votes don't matter. We're nothing but animals to them, and this incident is more evidence.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Fracking blamed for earthquakes in Ohio. State issues new regulations.

The Urban Heat Island effect means the growing season is longer near cities.

If you ever wondered about the totalitarian agenda behind the global warming fraud, maybe this headline will convince you:

"Deny Deniers their Right to Deny!"

You can't make this stuff up.

POLICE STATE:

Here's a nice example of the ubiquitous corruption in police agencies.

"According to CBS, 'Hundreds, or even thousands, of drunk driving convictions could be overturned because the San Francisco Police Department has not tested its breathalyzers, officials said Monday. For at least six years, the police officers in charge of testing the 20 breathalyzers used by the Police Department did not carry out any tests on the equipment. Officers instead filled the test forms with numbers that matched the control sample, said Public Defender Jeff Adachi, throwing countless DUI convictions into doubt.' Apparently this has happened before."

Why should they bother? The convictions are guaranteed by our (in)justice system. Calibrating is just a waste of their time. I guarantee you this happens all over the country.

In another example of the only effective security system in the world, flight passengers subdue flight attendant. TSA was too busy porno-scanning people to help.

"Two flight attendants were injured in the incident and were taken to a local hospital. No passengers were hurt, and they were never in danger, an airline spokeswoman said.

The flight attendant who caused the commotion shrieked as she was handcuffed by police and placed into a police car, passengers on the flight told the Tribune after their flight arrived at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport."

They were never in danger because they took the initiative and put and end to the danger. I'd like to thank the government agents for not screwing this up. So far.

WAR:

Pat Buchanan warns us that the Republican party is becoming the war party. This is ironic because Buchanan has called the Republican party the war party since 2001 when Bush invaded Afghanistan. It's even more ironic since Buchanan has called all Republican canidates war party candidates since. But the most ironic point is the point Buchanan doesn't address: the Democrats are as much warmongers as Republicans.

FOREIGN POLICY:

Several top government officials in Syria join the rebels. This is sounding more and more like the Libyan debacle. God forbid NATO begin killing people by the tens of thousands like they did in Libya.

FOREIGN POLICY:

Reality behind the race to attack Iran.

POLITICS:

I hope Ron Paul's strategy produces enough delegates to make a difference in Tampa, but as poorly as he's done in popular votes, all I see is the Paul campaign living on a prayer. I don't understand why so many prominent libertarians are hopeful. That's like gladiators being hopeful because a couple of bread and circuses recipient root for them before the government gladiators kill them.

MISC:

Humans are nicer than we think. It's only the government, because it's a predatory institution, the most powerful institution in society, the only institution with the power of coercion, it institutionalizes violence, it attracts the worst predators in society, it initiates the vast majority of aggression and violence, and it promotes aggression and violence in others, that it seems people are more violent than they really are.

I saw an ad for the rack for 99.99, but I can't get it back. I found it.

Cinci beat Syracuse! Maybe Mick Cronin will finally break through and bring the Cincinnati program back to prominence.

Free kibbles

FREEDOM OF SPEECH:

With all the talk about SOPA and PIPA, there's been little reported about ACTA which is a backdoor way to implement something much like SOPA through treaty instead of legislation.

Because the government has created a cartel of publishers through copyright aggression, the cartel raised ebook prices.

ECONOMY:

We finally have a believable reason why China isn't experiencing crazy inflation:

"Gordon Chang, a writer and commentator on Chinese affairs, wrote a largely overlooked article (just 3 posted comments on it) that was published online at Forbes.com in June of 2011. Chang’s report, entitled "Chinese Entrepreneurs Are Leaving China," said wealthy Chinese are leaving the country in droves and taking their money with them. How much money? (Are you sitting down?) An estimated $2.18 trillion exited China in hidden cash transfers between 2000 and 2008."

And they're still experiencing inflation and an artificial boom. It also explains why the US economy continues to limp along instead of collapse.

"The US has benefited immensely from the entry of Chinese money into its economy. According to Chang, in the last five years there has been a 73% increase in Chinese investment to the United States. Chinese people are seen on bus tours in California, visiting real estate properties and paying the full purchase price in cash money. But just exactly how do the Chinese funnel their money out of the country?"

But this can't last forever.

"Xi Jinping is expected to become the next Party general secretary at the end of 2012 and it is rumored that the hemorrhage of money from China will be put to a halt with economic reforms. That will be a game-changing event."

Game changing for us for sure.

"China knows it is holding a diminishing asset in US T-bills. So does the rest of the world. The US economy keeps getting propped by its lenders. A US default on its debt would result in an implosion of the world’s economies. At some point the US will not be able to pay interest on its debt and be forced to default and the dollar will collapse. That day may come sooner than predicted. John Williams of ShadowStats.com says the outside date for that event is 2014 (ShadowStats report #414)."

Yikes.

TAX AND SPEND:

I have no problem with Romney's tax plan. It's his statist spending plan that is going to keep this country in decline if he wins. Even the Tax Foundation doesn't seem to understand that every dollar government spends is a tax.

REGULATIONS:

The overwhelming regulations to open a lemonade stand in NYC.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

It appears the bankers have abandoned Obama in favor of Romney. The bankers are agents of the Fed. This is like the Fed buying elections the same way the Bank of the US did before Jackson abolished it.

HEALTH CARE:

Ten terrible features of Obamacare.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Contrary to claims, climate change is having negligible impact in the US.

Study shows what rational people already knew: coerced green energy programs make energy more expensive and hurt the economy.

Another Hansen prediction that failed to come through. And taxpayers paid for it.

The Department of Defense is the world's biggest consumer of oil. The numbers are staggering. It's also the world's biggest creator of enemies who want to kill Americans. It's just crazy that the government steals our money and gives it to the misnamed Department of Defense which turns around and uses our money to deprive us of oil, dramatically driving up the price, and making enemies who keep trying to kill us.

WAR ON DRUGS:

Even Pat Robertson recognizes the destruction cause by criminalizing marijuana.

POLICE STATE:

Engineer proves TSA's nude scanners are easily defeated and worthless by carrying metal objects through the scanners undetected multiple times. This is just another tool for oppression that creates a false sense of security, leaving us more vulnerable to attack. The TSA is trying to intimidate reporters out of covering the story.

Another of those we give a license to kill to convicted of murder.

WAR:

Report claims bin Laden received a kidney transplant in 2002. The incompetence of US intelligence, which took 10 years to find bin Laden despite using harsh interrogation techniques, is astounding.

POLITICS:

Everybody is acknowledging what I said a day or two ago: we're hoping for a brokered convention.

The term crony capitalism is baloney. There's no capitalism in cronyism.

In an email, Ron Paul tells a different story from super Tuesday.

"The fact is, just like in many of the earlier contests, very few delegates to the Republican National Convention were decided on Tuesday. Most will be decided several weeks, or even months, from now at District and State conventions - conventions where our local delegates will have a big say in who goes to Tampa.

In fact, while I didn't win any state's straw polls, my team expects me to win a plurality of delegates in at least three states, as well as outright majorities in two more of the states that have already started their process."

It'll be interesting to see how the people take this. The Republican establishment has controlled the nominating process for seemingly forever. The only modern times the people overcame the establishment was with Goldwater and Reagan. It'll be interesting to see how they feel if Paul surges in delegates despite his poor showing in the popular votes. How Did Obama, Clinton and Carter - the last three Democrat presidents - overcome their establishments? Is it easier in the Democrat party?

This is a great commentary. How stupid were the Koch's that they now have to sue to gain control of their own organization? George Soros, and plenty of others, are laughing at them.

Obama's approval rating drops among nearly every demographic. The lone demographic where he went up? Republicans. Of course they rated him pretty darn low to begin with.

Mark Steyn has a great quote about the perversion of rights in the US:

"“Rights” are now gifts that a benign king graciously showers upon his subjects"

No kidding. Here's a more complete quote:

"When it comes to human rights, I go back to 1215 and Magna Carta — or, to give it its full name, Magna Carta Libertatum. My italics: I don’t think they had them back in 1215. But they understood that “libertatum” is the word that matters. Back then, “human rights” were rights of humans, of individuals — and restraints upon the king: They’re the rights that matter: limitations upon kingly power. Eight centuries later, we have entirely inverted the principle: “Rights” are now gifts that a benign king graciously showers upon his subjects — the right to “free” health care, to affordable housing, the “right of access to a free placement service” (to quote the European Constitution’s “rights” for workers)."

Well said again by Steyn. He's exactly right in how the definition of right has been perverted completely upside down.

Thomas Sowell on the progressive ideology of Wilson, Teddy Roosevelt and Obama.

MEDIA:

So HBO did a movie about how unprepared Sarah Palin was to be vice-president. Do you think they'll do one about how unprepared Barack Obama was to be president?

Solar storm is a dud. Imagine that. I guess the government and the press tried to scare everybody for no good reason. Again. But wait. There's more to come, so just because they tried to manipulate you this time shouldn't stop you from allowing them to manipulate you again.

And while we're scaring people, let's scare them about the possibility that China will knock out government's infrastructure - the power grid, air traffic control and more - by cyber-attack. Why would they do that? In response to US government aggression, but we're supposed to be scared about the response instead of the aggression. Maybe our government shouldn't be committing aggression against the Chinese. And notice how all the targets are controlled by government, meaning they're old, out-dated, decrepit and easy targets. Maybe we should take control of critical infrastructure back from government so we can make it state of the art and resistant to cyber or any other kinds of attack. There's no mention in this story that the US government is doing the exact same to China that the Chinese government is doing here. Naturally people scared by this are calling for more government. Terrorists might hack us too. How do we summon the courage to get out of bed every day? Maybe if our government quit making enemies, we wouldn't have to worry about this.

Recommended primer on expatriation - Getting Out - was updated.

If this tape is all Breitbart had, then the hype was worthless. Obama's supporters already know he's a  bigot and a Marxist and are happy about it. Obama's opponents already know he's a bigot and a Marxist and want to oust him for it. The revelation that Obama has another such connection is no revelation at all.

LOCAL:

Joint federal and county sting seizes 500 lbs of other people property. I like how these stories always try to portray these seizures as victories but what they really show is that drugs, including bulky marijuana, are flowing freely throughout the US despite government's massive program of aggression and violence.

MISC:

How government created slavery and piracy in the colonies.

How can an LED be over 100 percent efficient? This would mean infinite power.

David Cameron will dive in a submersible to the Mariana Trench.

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TAX AND SPEND:

Because of high tax rates and double taxation, the government receives nearly twice as much money from corporate profits than owners.

"When received by shareholders, the $260,000 in dividends are taxed again at a rate of 15 percent (according to current law). As a result, shareholders receive just $221,000 of the million dollar profit. The $39,000 in dividend taxes are added to the $350,000 "off the top" corporate tax to bring the government's total take of the company's profits to just a shade under $390,000. In other words the government gets about 75% more cash flow from the company than the actual owners. Looked at in a slightly different way, the government gets about 65% of the non-retained earnings while shareholders, who put up the money and take all the risk, get 35%. Does this seem fair?

This level of taxation puts American corporations at a noticeable disadvantage vis-à-vis companies in the countries against which we are most keenly competing. In China, the slicing of the pie is much more favorable to owners. There, corporations are taxed at a rate of 25% and dividends at 10%. Using these numbers (and the same payout ratio used for the US corporation), the Chinese government gets 51% of distributed corporate profits and shareholders get 49%. In Hong Kong (which is part of Communist China), the situation is even better. There, the corporate tax rate is 16% and the personal dividend rate is zero. If you do the math there, the government gets 33% and the shareholders get 67%.

This comparison raises an interesting point. If shareholders in communist China are allowed to keep more of their earnings than shareholders in capitalist America, which nation is more communist and which more capitalist?"

That's why I keep saying the US is very nearly the new Soviet Union. I knew there was a catch when Obama proposed cutting the corporate tax rate. Here it is.

"Although the President proposes lowering the corporate tax rate to 28% he also wants to scrap the dividend tax and instead tax the distributions as ordinary income. In practice, the vast majority of individual recipients of dividends fall into the higher end of the income spectrum. Which means a very large chunk of these dividends will be taxed at the highest personal rate of 39%. But Obama also wants to subject these high earners to a surtax to pay for his health care initiative, which means that many of the recipients will be taxed at a rate of 44% (this also accounts for the phase out of personal deductions for higher earners!) So for these high-income earners, using our current example, the new distribution split with the government under Obama's proposals will be about 70/30 in favor of the government. This is actually worse than the status quo."

Nice analysis.

Million dollar lottery winner continues to receive food stamps.

REGULATION:

It sounds like this Amazon patent puts Diigo out of business. Patents are out of control.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

How the Fed's inflation is making our economic problems worse while hiding the damage in the short term.

HEALTH CARE:

Guess what happens when we allow politicians to control our water supply? They cut off water from farmers.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Analysis shows wind power is ten times more expensive than traditional power.

I've read more warnings about space weather events in the last year than I've seen all my life previously. I think this is just tool government is using to scare us.

POLICE STATE:

Man barred from seeing his own daughter alone because he asked police to investigate child abuse porn on his computer.

Just like the FBI is funding terrorist wannabes, it's funding hackers too.

Private company offers to run prisons as long as states guarantee 90 percent occupancy. As terrible as this sounds, that's exactly what's happening now. People are being arrested, prosecuted and jailed just to keep cops, prosecutors, judges and prison employees in their jobs. Our (in)justice system is a socialist jobs program for these people. If this guy had his way, the system would be a fascist jobs program for his company. It won't make any difference to all the people the (in)justice system preys on.

Policeman monitoring neighborhood has undercover cop chase himself for 20 minutes.

WAR:

The US government is openly funding the rebels in Syria. We can expect more terrorist attacks for that.

POLITICS:

Republican gerrymandering results in Kunich defeat.

The Republican primary in Ohio as finally called for Romney. Romney had a very successful super Tuesday. I hope he doesn't win an outright victory because that would take away Ron Paul's leverage.

"Despite pushing Romney to the limit across the state, Santorum will be ineligible for some of those delegates because he failed to qualify for the ballot in some Ohio congressional districts — including the one where his victory party was held Tuesday night.

Santorum strategist John Brabender said, "You have a candidate like Rick Santorum where we didn't have the money, didn't have the infrastructure, didn't have anything. Mitt Romney had the entire establishment, yet he's having trouble beating us.""

That's true. This shows that few want either Romney or Santorum. Conservatives are holding their noses and voting.

Brit makes the case against Romney. The same case would work against Santorum and Gingrich since they love government much like Romney.

MEDIA:

Thirty advertisers have dropped Rush. They'll be back. Limbaugh downplays the losses.

Claim that Breitbart's company will release the Obama Harvard tapes by March 12.

MISC:

Asian resist imminent domain while Americans roll over.

More evidence that Roosevelt manipulated Japan into attacking Pearl Harbor and that he knew about the attack in advance, but didn't inform anybody at Pearl Harbor. I get the first part. Presidents manipulate events to get enemies to start wars. But I don't get the second part. Why not catch the Japanese fleet in a trap? I understand how it's politically advantageous to get Japan to start the war, but how is it politically advantageous to badly loose the battle instead of winning the battle or at least saving US lives and ships while taking out some Japanese troops and ships.

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TAX AND SPEND:

Report that Greece will officially default after close of business March 23, and that insiders have been informed so they can protect their wealth. It's only a matter of time.

HEALTH CARE:

Why not taxpayer funded beer?

Even though 90 percent of indigestion problems come from too little stomach acid, not too much, doctors prescribe those antacids and acid blockers like crazy, aggravating the problem for most people.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION:

A view from the perspective of an illegal immigrant.

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FREEDOM OF SPEECH:

A laundry list of the predatory demands of the Canadian music industry.

""The incredible demands of the Canadian music industry as it seeks a massive overhaul of Canadian copyright law continues. It is seeking increased liability for social networking sites, search engines, blogging platforms, video sites, and many other websites featuring third party contributions, plus a new iPod tax, and an extension in the term of copyright. Last week, it went further, demanding a requirement for Internet providers to disclose customer name and address information to copyright owners without court oversight as well as takedowns with no due process and unlimited statutory damages.""

This is a picture of ugly copyright police state.

SOCIALISM:

Obama and unions are preparing to launch their next astroturf movement to advance their class warfare agenda.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

People are fleeing banks for credit unions. This doesn't bode well for banks.

EDUCATION:

The hypocrisy of academia.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Offshore wind farms are much more expensive to build and maintain, just like you would expect.

Another company Obama handed taxpayer money to is laying off workers.

POLICE STATE:

Mozilla creates Firefox add-on that allows browser users to see what companies are tracking them in real time.

What I used to call the all-seeing eye is here.

85 actions that might put you on a terrorist watch list.

POLITICS:

Scientists completely miss the point about politics in a democracy. The problem is people don't realize that the nature of government is to steal from them, and free people can provide every service provided by government more cheaply and effectively than coercive government.

Romney extended family members endorse Ron Paul.

The Democrats have made a lot of hay with this contraception issue so that I wonder if Obama picked this fight with the Catholic church with this in mind. Republicans screwed up by not focusing on the immorality of taking people's money by force to fund the contraception of others.

"Now am I including Rush Limbaugh in this? Limbaugh has made it clear since he’s been on the air that he likes to respond to absurdities with absurdities. If someone says something absurd you just respond with another absurdity … it’s actually a pretty good way to get a point across. The point here is that when Limbaugh called Fluke a “slut” he was following the absurdities-with-absurdities format. But what about when Ed Schultz called Laura Ingraham a “slut?” Was it a headline on broadcast news channels and CNN. You already know the answer to that one."

I had never heard that Schultz called Ingraham a slut. Funny how that works. Why didn't talk radio make that a big deal and pressure Schultz to apologize?

George Will is making plans for a Republican defeat.

Ron Paul has the lowest negatives of all the Republicans.

Murray Rothbard on the corruption at the Cato Institute that has recently become news.

MEDIA:

Limbaugh has lost eight advertisers over his mishandling of the college girl's contraception testimony. Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.


Where is Andrew Breitbart's mystery video? I'm sure it's not in his stomach. If he had the video he advertised, it would be on a computer somewhere. Somebody he knows would know where it was. So where is it now? Why hasn't his ally published it online? Talk is cheap. Conspiracy theories are cheap. Data is forever. Show me the data.

MISC:

Four thousand year old European mummies discovered in China.

I'm skeptical of this report.

"A Swedish man has been pulled barely alive from his snow-covered car having survived on nothing but snow for two months in sub-zero temperatures."

Who documented the date besides the frozen man? Wouldn't it be wonderful if people could freeze to death for months without actually dying? If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Free kibbles

RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS:

Unable to ban guns, politicians are trying to ban ammunition.

SOCIALISM:

Government motors suspends production of Obama's Chevy Volt for lack of demand.

""Even with sales up in February over January, we are still seeking to align our production with demand," GM spokesman Chris Lee said. The car company had hoped to sell 45,000 Chevy Volts in America this year, according to the Detrot News, but has only sold about 1,626 over the first two months of 2012."

Even socialists realize that producers must adapt to meet demand. Obama wants to increase Volt subsidies.

TAX AND SPEND:

Guess what happens when the government gets involved in foreclosures.

"For example, the federal government is about to dump millions of the foreclosed homes at fire-sale prices to hedge funds and private-equity firms with government connections. If you’re an individual investor who might like to get in on the action, forget it! You’re shut out of this deal.Homeowners who might be interested in buying the foreclosure property next door? Out of luck. And retirees hoping for a return on their money more than 1.8% on a five-year CD find another avenue closed off."

What do you get out of the deal?

"“The US taxpayer will get pennies on the dollar for these homes, and then be allowed to rent them back at market rates.”"

This is a good reminder that government exists to make the plutocrats richer and us poorer.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

Iran to trade in gold and foreign currencies instead of dollars. This might make an attack inevitable. Look what happened to Saddam when he did the same.

"Unlike most of the world's nations, which have privately owned monetary authorities, such as the Fed, that are controlled by banking cartels, Iran has a state-owned central bank. More than a few analysts have suggested the Islamic Republic's relatively unique monetary system is actually one of the reasons Western belligerence toward the nation is growing louder."

Ya think?

"Prior to the NATO-backed overthrow of strongman Moammar Gadhafi, Libya also had a state-owned central bank. The nation had massive reserves and no foreign debt before "regime change" arrived. But in the early days of the Western-backed rebellion, "rebels" promptly established a new central bank to replace Libya's existing monetary authority – sparking serious suspicions among analysts.
Gadhafi, whose government was sitting on huge stockpiles of gold bullion, had been seeking partners to create a gold-backed currency for the oil market that would have marginalized the U.S. dollar. Before the plan could come to fruition, however, Libya was aggressively bombed by international forces. NATO's rebels on the ground – known terror leaders, former Gadhafi officials, Western special forces, and assorted Islamic extremists – finished the job and executed the long-serving dictator.
Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein had also threatened to start selling oil in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. But that scheme was put on ice as well when U.S.-led military forces invaded and occupied the nation in 2003 – first under the guise of "weapons of mass destruction" and supposed links to terror, and later for the supposed purpose of "spreading democracy.""

Can you spot the pattern?

"According to ZeroHedge's take on the situation, the Iranian regime is actually plotting to put the final nail in the dollar's coffin. "We essentially said that Iran, with the complicity of major trading partners like China, India and Russia is preparing to phase out the petrodollar: a move which would be impossible if key bilateral trade partners would not agree to it," it noted."

This is going to hurt.

This quote reminds me of the article I just wrote about schools:

"Government is good at one thing: It knows how to break your legs, hand you a crutch, and say, "See, if it weren't for the government, you wouldn't be able to walk." ~ Harry Browne"

It's hard to see the damage government does, but it's easy to see the programs ostensibly designed to combat that damage. The article goes on to explain how the government avoided hyper-inflation in the past, but it will not this time.

"Today, the US GDP is approximately $15.4 trillion (2011). The admitted to federal government debt is also currently at $15.4 trillion, meaning a debt to GDP ratio of 100%. Forgetting for the moment the unfunded liabilities which have already been spent, which would leave the figure at closer to 500%, an interest rate of 18% on the current debt would require $2.7 trillion per year in payments.
The total tax theft "revenue" of the US Government in 2011 was $2.3 trillion. In other words, the only way to end the current state of affairs in the US and "save" the dollar would be to allow interest rates to rise to market rates... and if they rose as high as they did in 1980, when things were much better in general, every penny of money stolen from US tax slaves would be used just to pay the interest on the debt."

I've never seen it explained that simply and clearly.

Inflation is driving up gas prices.

Comparison of the debasement of Roman money to modern currencies. What the Roman government took centuries to debase, modern central banks are doing in decades.

British paper reports that more than a dozen states have introduced bills to make gold and silver legal money.  Try finding that in the US press.

EDUCATION:

Government school workers forcibly vaccinate student despite order from mother.

HEALTH CARE:

Farmers adapt to increased demand for free range eggs by producing more. Who would have thought that the price system could be so powerful and simple at the same time?

Licensed government agents try to silence paleo advocate because he's not licensed. Free speech be damned.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Yet another study shows that climate is strongly influenced by the solar variation. How could anybody think otherwise?

Great quote regarding the climate frauds:

"If the theory of man-made global warming were such a self-obvious truth, the result of scientific consensus, then why do its advocates keep committing fraud to advance it?"

And you wonder why I call them frauds.

I've often made fun of how the global warming frauds have changed their story to claim that manmade CO2 is causing colder winters, but how does anybody publish this headline?

"Global warming is making the world colder"

At some point, you have to say this doesn't make sense and refuse to publish such crap.

WAR:

As bad as things were in Afghanistan, the US war there has made them worse.

"But half the Afghan armed forces and police serve only to support their families. The Afghan economy under NATO’s rule is now so bad that even in Kabul, thousands are starving or dying from intense cold. Half of Afghans are unemployed and must seek work from the US-financed government.
But loyal they are not. While covering the 1980’s jihad against Soviet occupation, I saw everywhere that soldiers and officials supposedly loyal to the Communist Najibullah regime in Kabul kept in constant touch with the anti-Soviet mujahidin and reported all Soviet and government troops movements well in advance. The same thing occurs today in Afghanistan. Taliban knows about most NATO troops operations before they leave their fortified bases. Among Afghans, the strongest bonds of loyalty are family, clan and tribal connections. They cut across all politics and ideology.
Afghans are a proud, prickly people who, as I often saw, take offense all too easily. Pashtuns are infamous for never forgetting an offense, real or imagines, and biding their time to strike back. This is precisely what has been happening in Afghanistan, where arrogant, culturally ignorant US and NATO "advisors" – who are really modern versions of the British Raj’s "white officers leading native troops"- offend and outrage the combustible Afghans."

Our government has created millions of more enemies for generations.

Pat Buchanan uses the Koran burning fiasco to illustrate the folly of our government's war in Afghanistan and more. He asks the crucial question:

"What did it all profit us?"

It didn't profit us at all. We're far poorer for these wars. But it profited the politicians, the bankers, the weapon producers and other big corporations providing support tremendously. War is a racket.

Analysis of Iran's military capabilities shows it is no military threat to anybody.

POLITICS:

Paul edges Santorum for second in Washington.

You know how Cantor and Coburn pretend to support smaller government? They endorsed Romney.

Putin claims election win as observers claim fraud. Sounds like the US.

MISC:

It looks like Europeans first colonized America 26,000 years ago.

Free kibbles

REGULATION:

Apple the patent troll. Patents and copyright are two powerful yet relatively unknown tools plutocrats use to loot us.

HEALTH CARE:

Mammograms cause breast cancer.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Solar cycle 24 sunspot count is down again.

More evidence supporting cosmic rays as seeders of clouds.

Graphic breaks down how much different government bureaucracies spend promoting the AGW fraud.

POLICE STATE:

The UK is considering privatizing police. That would be cheaper and more effective than government police, but the problem is government's power of coercion and the aggressive laws themselves. I don't want more effective policing of government's laws of aggression. That just means more people arrested and prosecuted for non-crimes.

WAR:

US aggression created the Cold War, and politicians are scaring us with phony threats about the Soviet Union and Islam to promote their own power.

Wikileaks leaked emails of private defense contractor that claim Osama bin Laden's body was flown to Dover on a CIA plane, not buried at sea as Obama claimed. This is why Wikileaks is a valuable, heroic organization.

Pentagon admits US troops operating in Yemen contrary to its previous claims and the claims of President Obama.

POLITICS:

Romney wins Washington by double-digits over Paul and Santorum.

The Republican establishment created a system that allowed them to manipulate the delegates so they could get their candidate elected even if the people voted for a different one in the primary. Now they're upset because Paul is using that system to amass more influence at the convention than his vote totals would otherwise allow.

"Each state selects its delegates to the Republican National Convention differently, and as has often been reported, the process of a candidate “winning a state” is not as simple as a plurality on primary day. An obscure process of country, district, and state conventions exists to appoint these delegates to the national convention. A candidate who can successfully manipulate these lesser known “behind-the-scenes” processes can put himself in an advantageous position should the Convention begin in August with some doubt about the identity of the nominee."

The idea was that the Republican establishment could buy delegates for their candidate even if he didn't win the popular vote. But Paul supporters are becoming delegates and controlling the process in many states despite him not winning a single primary so far. Paul is beating the establishment at their own game, and they don't like it.

It looks like this Cato Institute lawsuit might end up putting shares of the Institute in Lew Rockwell's hands. Summary of Koch versus Cato. Possible motive for the Koch suit against Cato.

MEDIA:

The first thing I said when I read the headline that Andrew Breitbart died was, "I wonder if liberals killed him." Apparently I wasn't the only one.

"Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., last month, Breitbart claimed he had damning videos of Barack Obama, and planned to release them before the general election.
"[We] are going to vet [Obama] from his college days to show you why racial division and class warfare are central to what hope and change was sold in 2008," Breitbart told the CPAC crowd."

I wouldn't dismiss the idea he was murdered.

"Conservative blogger Lawrence Sinclair referenced a conversation he had with Breitbart in Washington D.C. three weeks before. "Andrew said, 'Wait til they see what happens March first,'" Lawrence Sinclair wrote."

Stunning coincidence my butt.

Limbaugh apologizes to the law student demanding taxpayers pay for her contraceptives. I agree he shouldn't have used the words. He should have made the point without using the words. But he's right, and I think the vast majority of Americans would agree.

"He also asked the 30-year-old Fluke: "Who bought your condoms in junior high?""

That's uncalled for. It's too bad he screwed this up with the way he handled it. He made his words the issue instead of her policy recommendation.

"Republican Newt Gingrich said reporters were more excited to talk about Limbaugh's language than Obama's record."

Of course they are. If Limbaugh had made his point using different words, and Democrats would be on the defensive instead.

""I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities," he said. "What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit?""

Yes.

Free kibbles

ECONOMY:

Science and engineering workforce in the US has been flat for a decade.

REGULATION:

This headline cracks me up: "FCC Inquires Into Its Own Authority to Regulate Communication Service Shutdowns" That's like saying mafia dons inquire into their own authority to break knees. I bet the author of this headline has been summarily fired. You can't make this stuff up.

HEALTH CARE:

Wow. This is an uplifting story about how a child and a family suffered under the government's food guidelines and finally made themselves healthy by abandoning them and going primal.

No matter how much damage government causes, government agents always calls for more. In this case, government researchers call on government to ban skinny models because they promote anorexic behavior. You can't make this stuff up. Instead of addressing why families are being destroyed, leaving young women vulnerable to eating disorders - government - they focus on the consequences of that destruction. It's like they're doctors licensed by government or something.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Remember when Obama forced BP to pony up $20 billion after the gulf oil spill non-event? Remember when, in response, I said that government regulations allow government's corporate agents to get avoid the legal consequences of their actions, and this would be a case in point? Now it turns out BP will only have to pay $7.8 billion. This is a perfect example of how government protects its giant, corporate agents at the expense of the people.

POLICE STATE:

Startup wants to look through every online camera in your house to develop marketing data. Marketing data my butt. The government wants this.

POLITICS:

There's a core of truth in this article: if Ron Paul can't beat Romney in Virginia, where there are the only two candidates on the ballot, he can't win the nomination. Win or go home. If he fails to win Virginia, he's fighting only for leverage at the convention, which is a fine thing that I'll support, but it's not victory. Call me naive, but I believe Americans are dying for a libertarian message like Ronald Reagan gave them. But Paul has failed to deliver a message like that. Reagan was perfect at delivering that message. Paul rambles and fails to make the crucial points that Americans can understand. It's a shame that Reagan won as a faux libertarian while Paul will likely lose as a real libertarian, but we'll probably be killed by an asteroid, solar flare, nuclear holocaust and killer bees all at the same time.

As if on queue, Romney criticizes Limbaugh. What a freaking idiot. Did Obama pay him? He should have remained silent, as should have Obama. For the last year, I've presented arguments supporting the case that Romney is the Republican Obama. He keeps proving me right.

 MEDIA:

Obama promotes Limbaugh. This is a bad idea. This might do more to restore momentum to Republicans than Republicans are capable of doing themselves. I think Limbaugh just provided Republicans a huge, strategic gain.

Rush Limbaugh is single-handedly killing Obama and the Democrats. Nancy Pelosi selfishly hauled some college chick into a hearing so she could advocate for subsidized contraception. In other words, she wants us to subsidize her sex life. I understand that his might work for Nancy Pelosi in her district, but nationwide, 90 percent of Americans are going to reject the idea that the government must steal money from them to subsidize her sex life. I understand why Pelosi made this case: it made her richer. I also understand why Rush Limbaugh jumped all over this. He's siding with the 90 percent of Americans who think this is outrageous. His stance will make him a ton of money too. What I don't understand is why Obama injected himself into this orgy of selfishness. Obama can only lose. He's alienating 90 percent of Americans in order to curry favor with a few college sluts who want everybody else to subsidize their sexual activities. I can't believe Obama screwed up this badly. It's important to realize that Limbaugh was carrying water for Santorum on this issue.

Quicken Loans and Domino's Pizza are pulling ads from Limbaugh's program. At first I thought this was a bad business decision. But on second thought, these businesses depend on college students. I understand that businesses that depend on college students might side with promiscuous college students begging for taxpayer handouts. But they do so against the great majority of Americans. I live with normal Americans. I know what they think about this, and I have yet to hear any individual claim they want to have government steal their money to subsidize the sex lives of these establishment law school students.

Property Rights Are the Source of Civil Rights

Property Rights Are the Source of Civil Rights
by Mark Luedtke

There’s an old saying: Your right to swing your fist ends at my nose. In the same way, your right to free speech ends at my property line. While every individual has a natural right to free speech, no individual may seize the property of others to use as a forum. You can’t seize my pencil to write your thoughts nor can you post signs on my property without permission. You must provide your own forum or get the permission of the owner of a forum.

As obvious as this seems, there’s much confusion about it. That’s because government schools mis-educate students about property rights, destroy their ability to think for themselves, and make them subordinate to the state. And they are terribly successful. Government schools never address the source of rights because, if they did, students would immediately realize that government as we know it is an inherently illegitimate and oppressive institution.

All rights are derived from the fundamental right of self-ownership. If this isn’t self-evident, leading libertarian scholar Hans-Herman Hoppe has developed a theory called argumentation ethics to prove that individuals own themselves. In short, no person can disagree with another without demonstrating self-ownership. Anybody who disagrees proves the thesis.

The consequences of this most fundamental right are profound. It means every individual has a natural right to freedom of speech, religion, association, assembly and to keep and bear arms. Each has a natural right not to incriminate himself. All the civil rights Americans used to cherish flow from self-ownership. They are consequences of property rights. The Bill of Rights acknowledges several of them. It also fails to specify many natural rights, though the Tenth Amendment protects them.

The fundamental right to self ownership also implies the right to homestead property. Every individual has a natural right to the fruits of his labor and to trade, give away, receive or save property. The Constitution fails to acknowledge natural property rights for an obvious reason: the state, by definition, is the enemy of property rights. It funds itself by seizing the property of others under threat of violence backed by violence, therefore it can never acknowledge the natural right to property without admitting it is illegitimate.

The laws of physics dictate that every piece of property can only be controlled by one entity at a time. Imagine two people trying to control a pencil at the same time. It’s impossible. They would be in conflict. The entity that exercises ultimate control of property is the property owner. Anybody who wants to use property must either own it or get permission from the owner. Any attempt by a non-owner to use property without permission is a crime. There’s nothing complicated or controversial about this until government gets involved.

The City of Fairborn owns the park that hosts the Fairborn Sweet Corn Festival. In 2009 the city gave permission to the Fairborn Arts Association and the Fairborn Lions Club to put on the festival as it has done since 1982. During the festival, a couple of Christian activists tried to promote their Christian message on the property without getting permission. Since they didn’t obtain permission and the festival has rules against soliciting, police prohibited them from displaying their signs. The activists failed to remove their signs so police threatened them with trespassing charges. They left, then subsequently sued, claiming the city violated their free speech rights. After losing in district court, three Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals judges unanimously reversed the decision.

This incident illustrates numerous, common fallacies.

First, nobody violated the activists’ free speech rights. The festival owners denied them a forum on the property they controlled, but they were free to display their signs on any property whose owner gave them permission. Do you think those justices would say the activists have a free speech right to march on their desks with their signs during a hearing?

This incident also shows government does not provide law and order. Had the park been owned by a private owner, this conflict would never have happened. Private property rights and their enforcement create law and order, not government.

And government does not protect property rights. The reality is the US government has institutionalized theft on an unprecedented scale. The Ohio Constitution claims private property is subservient to the public welfare. In other words, the state claims ultimate control - ownership - over all property within its borders. According to it, nominal owners are merely renters. And justices, like all people, work to advance their personal economic interests. Since they have a monopoly on adjudicating disputes, they, like all politicians, profit by undermining property rights and increasing conflict, chaos and crime.

Public property is a fallacy in itself. Imagine if millions of people struggled to control Courthouse Square at the same time. It’s physically impossible for the public to collectively own property. However illegitimately, government owns the property it seizes. The sooner Americans grasp these principles, the sooner we can transform America into the free country many mistakenly believe it is today.

How long before a cop corners somebody and burns the crap out of them with his new laser gun?

LA cops have a new laser gun that burns its target.

 How long before a cop corners somebody and burns the crap out of them with his new laser gun?

Free kibbles

FREEDOM OF SPEECH:

The head of the RIAA signals the plutocrats will push SOPA once again, and he expects it to pass because government will have subdued the rebel internet companies that objected. He generously gives Google and others a way to publicly save face: claim they were misinformed. The fix is in. The government has strong-armed the internet giants that resisted, and they're going to pass this bill no matter how much the American people don't want it. If any big company resists again, government will destroy it.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

Report that Lord Geithner, when he was the head of the New York Fed, told AIG to falsify forms to hide the fact that bailout money was being used to pay Goldman-Sachs 100 cents on the dollar for toxic mortgage securities.

EDUCATION:

If the Ohio shooting suspect is an average 17 year old, then government schools are turning average 17 year olds into murderers, but despite the headline, this article makes it clear he was anything but typical.

"The household was tense, police later noted, because T.J. had refused to go to a volunteer service job required by his school."

Who the hell are these people that they think they can require students to go to volunteer service jobs? They are coercing students into working for free. We have a term for that: slavery. In a poem he explains how badly government has isolated him and how it has affected him.

"But images from the page, captured and re-posted by The Huffington Post, also show another side of Lane. In one poem, posted in December, he takes on the voice of death, writing, "His only company to confide in was the vermin in the street; He longed for only one thing, the world to bow at his feet. … Feel death, not just mocking you. Not just stalking you but inside of you. Wriggle and writhe. Feel smaller beneath my might. Seizure in the pestilence that is my scythe. Die, all of you.""

This twisted experiment in social engineering is ruining families and lives and killing people. He was charged as a juvenile.

Here's a highly visible example of how central planning screws over parents of school children. All central planning is bad, but the consequences are often invisible.

Georgetown law students wants us to subsidize her sex life. Insert dirty joke here. Whatever happened to living within your means? If you can't afford to fly all around the world on vacations, don't do it. If you can't afford birth control, don't sleep around. Of course, if you can't afford $9 a month for birth control pills, how can you afford Georgetown law school? Democrats probably think this worked in their favor because the mainstream media is on their side, but I think they made themselves look stupid. But it probably worked for Nancy Pelosi. Now liberals claim testifying before Congress is a right. Can you imagine if 300 million Americans descended on Congress to claim that right at the same time? How do you debate people who don't understand the fundamental laws of physics?

Even New York Times readers know home-schooled children outperform government schooled children.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Libertarians join with environmentalists in opposition to the Keystone Pipeline because government is stealing property through imminent domain and giving it to the pipeline's owner.

I know people think that rising gas prices might sink Obama in November. Not a chance. He'll release oil from the strategic reserve to drive them down before he lets high gas prices defeat him.

WAR ON DRUGS:

The people who profit from drugs - cops, prosecutors and judges - tell us that drugs keep people from performing well. Now we know that Bengals receiver Jerome Simpson, who's pretty good and had the play of the season when he did a front flip over a defender and stuck the landing to score a touchdown, was busted for having several pounds of pot in his house. Let's stop the lied and legalize drugs so we can end the carnage in this war on the American people.

POLICE STATE:

Police unable to find eight stolen school buses.

Not satisfied with torturing people by electrocution, now cops can torture people with a burning sensation.

"The pain stops when you move out of the beam's path, which people do instinctively."

This deserves a new poll.

WAR:

Some analysts believe that Israeli agents have already seriously crippled Iran's nuclear program so there is no need to attack.

"“Israeli commandos in collaboration with Kurd forces destroyed few underground facilities mainly used for the Iranian defense and nuclear research projects,” another official wrote on November 13, 2011. “Even if the Israelis have the capabilities and are ready to attack by air, sea and land, there is no need to attack the nuclear program at this point after the commandos destroyed a significant part of it.”"

So why all the warmongering:

"“The current ‘let’s bomb Iran’ campaign was ordered by the EU leaders to divert the public attention from their at home financial problems. It plays also well for the US since Pakistan, Russia and N. Korea are mentioned in the report. ”"

But there is a real reason:

"Iran’s fledgling and largely clumsy nuclear program takes a backseat to the real target the globalists want to take out – the political leadership in Iran and the country’s modern civilian infrastructure.
In November, we reported on comments made by U.S. intelligence officials who said Israel’s target list includes Iran’s electric grid, internet, cellphone network, and emergency frequencies for firemen and police officers.
The existence of a program designed to cripple crucial civilian infrastructure not related to Iran’s nuclear program reveals that the Israeli-U.S. plan is to reduce the country to a Stone Age condition much the same way Iraq was leveled in 2003."

It seems like western rulers are reducing the entire Middle East to the stone age one country at a time.

Tucker Carlson says that Iranians deserve to be annihilated because they're lunatics and evil.

A cold war in cyber warfare. 

FOREIGN POLICY:

I told somebody the other day that instead of threatening war with Iran, we should be opening McDonalds and KFCs and selling them Pepsi. Today the media is attacking KFC for opening a restaurant in Iran. Go KFC!

POLITICS:

I think this Super-PAC thing is fantastic for politics. The politicians no longer monopolize the campaigns. Outside influences now have a voice. Let the billionaires slug it out between themselves. I think this is great. It also means that any billionaire white knight can bankroll a candidate.

Santorum wants to use the presidential bully pulpit to lecture people about sex. This is a losing proposition. Everybody likes sex.

MEDIA:

Andrew Breitbart died.

MISC:

What's going on at Cato? The Koch brothers, who founded Cato, are suing Cato.  The note at the bottom about whether Cato is libertarian or conservative might signal the real division.

Iconic portrait of Abraham Lincoln was in fact a copy of a portrait of John C. Calhoun with Lincoln's head stitched on top.

This is not true.

 If the government had a gun pointed at the people's head, then it would be true.