Politics

Voters stayed home.

"About 11 million fewer Americans voted for the two major-party candidates in 2012 — 119 million, down from 130 million in 2008. In fact, even though our population has steadily increased in the last eight years (adding 16 million to the 2004 estimate of 293 million Americans), about 2 million fewer Americans pulled the lever for Obama and Romney than for George W. Bush and John Kerry."

That's because the candidates are so terrible. This is why Romney lost. Don't give me any crap about demographics or moochers. This shows the American people are sick and tired of the travesty the two parties foist on us every day.

"That is staggering. And, as if to ensure that conservatives continue making the same mistakes that have given us four more years of ruinous debt, economic stagnation, unsustainable dependency, Islamist empowerment, and a crippling transfer of sovereignty to global tribunals, Tuesday’s post-mortems fixate on the unremarkable fact that reliable Democratic constituencies broke overwhelmingly for Democrats. Again, to focus on the vote is to miss the far more consequential non-vote. The millions who stayed home relative to the 2008 vote equal the population of Ohio — the decisive state. If just a sliver of them had come out for Romney, do you suppose the media would be fretting about the Democrats’ growing disconnect with white people?"
"The brute fact is: There are many people in the country who believe it makes no difference which party wins these elections. Obama Democrats are the hard Left, but Washington’s Republican establishment is progressive, not conservative. This has solidified statism as the bipartisan mainstream. Republicans may want to run Leviathan — many are actually perfectly happy in the minority — but they have no real interest in dismantling Leviathan. They are simply not about transferring power out of Washington, not in a material way."
"Our bipartisan ruling class is obtuse when it comes to the cliff we’re falling off — and I don’t mean January’s so-called “Taxmageddon,” which is a day at the beach compared to what’s coming."

This guy gets it.

"What happens, moreover, when we have a truly egregious Washington scandal, like the terrorist murder of Americans in Benghazi? What do Republicans do? The party’s nominee decides the issue is not worth engaging on — cutting the legs out from under Americans who see Benghazi as a debacle worse than Watergate, as the logical end of the Beltway’s pro-Islamist delirium. In the void, the party establishment proceeds to delegate its response to John McCain and Lindsey Graham: the self-styled foreign-policy gurus who urged Obama to entangle us with Benghazi’s jihadists in the first place, and who are now pushing for a repeat performance in Syria — a new adventure in Islamist empowerment at a time when most Americans have decided Iraq was a catastrophe and Afghanistan is a death trap where our straitjacketed troops are regularly shot by the ingrates they’ve been sent to help. "

It's nice to see this prominently displayed in national review.

"Truth be told, most of today’s GOP does not believe Washington makes things worse. Republicans think the federal government — by confiscating, borrowing, and printing money — is the answer to every problem, rather than the source of most. That is why those running the party today, when they ran Washington during the Bush years, orchestrated an expansion of government size, scope, and spending that would still boggle the mind had Obama not come along. (See Jonah Goldberg’s jaw-dropping tally from early 2004 — long before we knew their final debt tab would come to nearly $5 trillion.) No matter what they say in campaigns, today’s Republicans are champions of massive, centralized government. They just think it needs to be run smarter — as if the problem were not human nature and the nature of government, but just that we haven’t quite gotten the org-chart right yet."

Yep.

Voter turnout has been plummeting in western countries for decades.

Petition calling for the secession of Texas garnered 27,000 signatures since November, 9. Obama has promised to answer any petition that garners 25,000 signatures in 30 days, so we all look forward to Obama's worthless response. Naturally the article doesn't provide a link to the petition. Fifteen other states have petitioned to secede. Here's the link. Right now it has 34,386 signatures. Unfortunately you have to sign up to sign anything. In addition, people are asking the federal government for permission to secede, which will never be granted. However it does create media buzz and put big federal government on the defensive.

Outrageous advantages in vote counts for Obama in Philadelphia attributed to discipline. Report claims 59 districts in Philly recorded zero total votes for Romney. Normally I'd be skeptical of a report like this, but this reporter goes on to explain why there's nothing corrupt about this. But he tries to be balanced...

"Still, was there not one contrarian voter in those 59 divisions, where unofficial vote tallies have President Obama outscoring Romney by a combined 19,605 to 0?
The unanimous support for Obama in these Philadelphia neighborhoods - clustered in almost exclusively black sections of West and North Philadelphia - fertilizes fears of fraud, despite little hard evidence."

Yes it does because it's not credible. Here's a point of comparison:

"In the entire 28th Ward, Romney received only 34 votes to Obama's 5,920."

But that's believable, if barely. It's not zero votes for Romney. That is unbelievable.

"Nationally, 93 percent of African Americans voted for Obama, according to exit polls, so it's not surprising that in some parts of Philadelphia, the president did even better than that."

Agreed. But zero votes in 59 division is unbelievable.

"In 2008, McCain got zero votes in 57 Philadelphia voting divisions. That was a big increase from 2004, when George W. Bush was blanked in just five divisions."

And this never prompted anybody to investigate corruption? Rhetorical question.

The connection between Trotsky, Leo Strauss and the neoconservatives.

No matter the political system, a bureaucrat is a bureaucrat is a bureaucrat. The result is the same.

Tax and Spend

CBO reports tax hikes on wealthy will hurt growth. Of course it will. The question liberals have to answer is why they want to hurt growth.

Foodstamps surge, and government fails to report that fact until after the election.

A 2004 speech by Jonah Goldberg reminds us of the second biggest tax and spend president in history - at that time - until Obama came along and took the top spot: Bush the Younger. I bet Bush, the guy who gave us Obama, became second before he left office.

Peter Schiff on the misnamed fiscal cliff.

"Stripped of its rhetorically charged language the fiscal cliff is simply a legal trigger that will trim the deficit in 2013 by automatically implementing spending cuts and tax increases. In other words, the government will spend less, and more of what it does spend will be paid for with taxes rather than debt. Isn't this exactly what both parties, and the public, more or less want? The fiscal cliff means that the federal budget deficit will be immediately cut in half, shrinking to approximately $641 billion in 2013 from the approximately $1.1 trillion in 2012. What is so terrible about that? I would argue that there is a greater danger in avoiding the cliff than driving over it. "

Nobody likes higher taxes, but cutting spending and the deficit is a good thing.

"It is amazing that members of Congress can keep a straight face as they claim to want to address our long-term deficit problem while simultaneously working to avoid any substantive action. No doubt an agreement will be reached that will replace the looming fiscal cliff with another one farther down the road (which they can easily dismantle before we actually reach the precipice). Will the rating agencies buy this bill of goods a second time? If we lack the political courage to go over this fiscal cliff, why should anyone think we will be able to stomach going over the next one? Especially since each time we delay going over the cliff, we simply increase its future size, making it that much harder to actually go over it."

It's not so amazing when you realize they are all sociopaths.

Regulation

After losing a billion dollar patent judgment to Apple, Samsung increases the price of the processor it sells to Apple by 20 percent. Samsung is the sole source, so Apple has to eat the price increase. Well done. Suing your sole source providers might not be the smartest idea.

In the last 90 days, Obama's regulators have posted 68 new regulations a day.

"Renounce citizenship" is a skyrocketing search term.

Local

Gas prices went up 24 cents today. The election is over.

A ton of accidents near the construction on downtown I-75.

Health Care

Flu vaccines banned in Europe and Canada.

Too much sitting shortens your life.

This is the sad reality of our health care system.

"Did you know that while the United States makes up only five percent of the world's population, we consume over 50 percent of all the world's pharmaceutical drugs?"

No thanks.

A record number of Americans, 20 percent, are on Medicaid. They are therefore reliable Democrat voters.

Thomas Sowell explains the dangers of allowing one man - the president - to waive the law - Obamacare - for whomever he choses.

Foreign Policy

Petraeus's mistress has made claims about CIA involvement in Benghazi that have not been public anywhere else. This lends support for those of us who think Petraeus's resignation is more about Benghazi than an affair.

CIA denies it detained militants in Libya, contradicting Petraeus's mistress. I'm telling you, Petraeus's resignation is about Benghazi, not an affair.

"President Barack Obama issued an executive order in January 2009 stripping the CIA of its authority to take prisoners.
The move means the CIA can no longer operate secret jails across the globe as it had done under the administration of President George W. Bush."

But you can bet it still is. This is most likely why Petraeus resigned.

In the establishment's ongoing attempt to distract Americans from the real issue at the heart of Petraeus's resignation, Petraeus was reportedly shocked to hear about the threatening emails. The media knows the American people can be distracted with a salacious sex scandal. Petraeus fell on his sword to provide the distraction. This is a story about secret CIA prisons and the role they played in the Benghazi attack.

So maybe it wasn't Boehner who knew about Petraeus's affair. It was Cantor on October 27. But it could have been Boehner too.

If the Petraeus affair was just about an affair, why did the FBI raid her house? This is going to come out because the FBI hates the CIA.

Judge Napolitano comes out of left field and asks the obvious: where did the FBI get the authority to read Petraeus's email? Well done, judge. He also claims he FBI knew about the affair when the background check on him before he was confirmed as CIA director. Assuming the judge is right, this proves unequivocally he didn't resign over the affair.

Petraeus began his affair when she was embedded in Afghanistan. That was before he became CIA Director. So either the FBI missed it the first time, unlikely, or this is all political theater.

Troubling questions about Petraeus and Benghazi for sure.

"Consider: In the questionnaire a nominee must submit for the confirmation process, there is that final catch-all question.  “Is there anything in your past that could embarrass the president?” That’s when the delicate affair should have been discussed by the Army General War Hero.  Having an embarrassing issue does not disqualify the nominee.  It means more investigation needs to be done to determine whether the conduct really is a problem. Did Petraeus reveal the relationship at that time?
Consider: All candidates for CIA employment must take a polygraph.  Doesn’t the nominee for DCI have to do so also?  And that nasty little catch-all embarrassment question is always asked by the polygrapher. Usually, the polygraphee is thinking back to college and confessing to smoking pot.  In 2011, it would not take a sterling memory for Petraeus to remember a 2011 affair."

So these questions are de rigor.

Even Infowars puts the Petraeus affair down to politics. That's too simple.

"In fact, Petraeus’ initial statements to Congress, behind closed doors on September 14, led legislators to believe that absurd film trailer was the cause of the “uprising” at the house where Stevens was attacked and killed. Was the General’s ridiculous declaration made under orders from the White House, who had the blackmail goods on him?"

Now there's a possibility. Here's some info on the mistress I haven't read anywhere else:

"She has a long military background. A graduate of West Point, she directed counter-terrorism studies at Tufts University. She worked with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. She is no innocent."

Hello. West Point graduate? FBI agent?

"People from both sides of the aisle in Washington are expressing deep sorrow that an American hero had to resign. What nonsense. They’re building cover for Petraeus. They’re intentionally avoiding the question of what compromises he may have agreed to during his peak military service and intelligence directorship."
"Despite claims by a friend that the affair with Broadwell began after Petraeus assumed leadership of the CIA, there is a strong possibility it started earlier, when Broadwell was “embedded” with the general in Afghanistan." 

So if she was in on it from the start, why did she spill the beans? Doesn't make sense.

More on the connection between Benghazi and Petraeus's resignation and the CIA running weapons from Libya to Syria.

This report claims Petraeus's mistress hacked into his email (gmail?) account. Nice security, general.

War

Israeli tanks attack Syrian artillery units. Israel is being dragged deeper into the US proxy civil war in Syria. In what world does this make sense?

This headline hints at more than it's probably supposed to.

"Syria opposition seeks support; Israel fires from Golan"

The easiest way for the Syrian opposition to gain support is to carry out false flag attacks on Israel. These would prompt Israel to fire on Syrian government forces and motivate the US and its allies to step up support against the Syrian government to protect Israel.

Federal Reserve

Rumor has it Ben Bernanke, like Greenspan before him, will step down before the giant collapse he created hits the fan. I keep saying Bernanke has and escape plan, and this rumor supports my theory.

Regulation

State Department pushes ahead with impossible passport form which would effectively block people from getting passports.

"The State Department no longer wants you to tell the passport examiner about the circumstances of your circumcision, but does still want to know the dates and locations of all of your mother’s pre- and post-natal medical appointments, how long she was hospitalized for your birth, and a complete list of everyone who was in the room when you were born. The revised forms no longer ask for all the addresses at which you have lived, but only for those addresses you are least likely to know: all the places you lived from birth until age 18."

They're trying to make us prisoners in our own country.

War

Here's a good reminder that if the radical Islamist US proxies overthrow Assad in Syria, it will create chaos for Israel.

Syrian rebels form unity, umbrella organization. I wonder if they created a central bank like the Libyan rebels.

Foreign Policy

More evidence the FBI was politically motivated to keep the Petraeus affair quiet until after the election.

"In the aftermath of the investigation, some lawmakers are aiming criticism at the FBI and the Obama administration, including Attorney General Eric Holder, who knew about the email link to Mr. Petraeus as far back as late summer. A House Republican leader also learned of the matter in October. Some argue that Mr. Petraeus shouldn't have resigned; others said that the FBI should have formally notified Congress earlier."

They sat on it. How much you want to bet the Republican was Boehner?

Local

A pothole on a brand new section of I-75 has damaged seven cars.

The wind is blowing. I predict people will lose power.

Economy

At the rate job creators are creating jobs, it will take 44 years to return to full employment.

Politics

My fear that California may be the first state to leave the union became a lot closer to reality when Democrats won a super-majority. Democrats also won a super-majority in Illinois. It's telling that the two worst governed states in the union are dominated by Democrats. I feel sorry for the people who live in these cleptocracies.

Somebody ought to tell Boehner that Republicans won the House. Just because Romney was a lousy candidate doesn't mean the people want bigger government. This guy gets it.

""Despite winning another Republican majority in the House, Boehner thinks President Obama has a mandate to enact policies that destroy jobs, ignore the rule of law, and take over our health care decisions," Hoskins wrote. "Obama is the first president in modern history to win re-election with fewer states than he won the first time, yet Boehner is waving the white flag on our core principles.""

Good for him.

This demographic distraction is bringing lots of attention to Marco Rubio.

Economy

Stock market crashes after Obama gets reelected.

Here's the effect government has on the economy: venture capital way down in Silicon Valley. Thanks, government.

Tax and Spend

An economic analyst working for the State Department predicts US debt will be downgraded again.

The US has more debt per capita than Italy, Greece, France, Spain or Portugal.

Study reveals the obvious: tax hikes drive economies into recession and spending cuts drive economies into recovery.

After endorsing Obama, Bloomberg says raising taxes on the rich is stupid because they will leave.

Gary North thinks Boehner won't compromise with Obama to avoid sequestration, but he already said he would. I think Boehner is eager to compromise to avoid spending cuts because he wants to get richer. Boehner gets rich funneling money to his cronies, especially defense contractors, so defense spending cuts take money out of Boehner's pocket. He doesn't want that. He wants to compromise to save that defense spending so he can keep getting richer.

"Once the Bush tax cuts go out of existence, the resulting recession will be all Obama's fault. He knows it, the Republicans in Washington know it, and the Democrats in the Senate know it."

That's why Democrats want to compromise. They're going to make a deal. But the weird part is Obama wants the economy to crash. He's not running for office any more. He can be more aggressive at crashing our economy in hopes of sparking his Marxist revolution. So Boehner's going to give him some sort of new tax revenue so he crash the economy faster while Boehner gets to keep his military spending.

"From a political standpoint, the Republican Party is in an ideal position to reap the benefits of inaction. All they have to do to become political victors is nothing. If they sit tight, kick the can down the road again, refuse to raise taxes, and allow spending cuts to fall where they may, they will get to see Barack Obama twisting slowly, slowly in the wind. I think it couldn't happen to a more deserving guy."

Too bad it will never happen. The thing is, cutting spending will have a positive effect on the economy. On the other hand, new taxes have a negative psychological effect on the economy. People change their behavior to pay less tax, and that's a negative effect on the economy. I don't know what the net effect of sequestration would be.

Global Warming and Energy

Global warming wasn't mentioned during the presidential campaign, but now that Obama won, he wants a carbon tax.

Nineteen green companies that received tax dollars from Obama then went bankrupt.

The White House pressured the Energy Department to fast track loans for green energy companies.

Fascism for Sandy.

Politics

Why is Boehner lying out his buttocks?

"Their party lost, badly, Mr. Boehner said, and while Republicans would still control the House and would continue to staunchly oppose tax rate increases as Congress grapples with the impending fiscal battle, they had to avoid the nasty showdowns that marked so much of the last two years. "

What lying sack of excrement. The popular vote was incredibly close. Boehner is looking for every excuse he can find to partner with Democrats to advance their mutual, big-government, big-stealing agenda.

Local

Obviously this wreck involved I-75, but there's not enough information here to see what really happened.

Sports

One of my favorite teams, Texas A&M, defeats the perennial national championship contenders Alabama. T-Sippers are crying right about now.

Tax and Spend

Suddenly Boortz cares about what Ron Paul has to say: we're already over the fiscal cliff. The media did the best it could to keep Paul's message from reaching the people during the primary, but we'll hear a lot more from him now that the campaign is over and he's retiring.

Sellout liberal Boehner, ignoring the mandate voters gave him and his caucus, orders his causus to bow down to President Obama.

Media

Der Spiegel describes the decline of the US. The problem isn't division in the political arena. The problem is the two parties have partnered to loot us into oblivion.

BBC chairman, during interview, exposes he's a duffus. What this shows is that they're all duffuses. Media outlets are like political fiefdoms. They're all corrupt, and the worst of the worst rise to the top. BBC chairman duffus, narcissist that he is, like all the rest, thought he could be interviewed and act stupid with impunity. Thank goodness the semi-private sector forces controlling the media ousted him.

Economy

Here come the sequestration layoffs. This is being presented as a bad thing, and it a bad thing for the people who are losing their jobs, but these are government contractor jobs. They are funded with money stolen from taxpayers, so they destroy wealth. These people who were laid off can now get jobs creating wealth in the private sector which will make us all wealthier. It's funny how conservatives hate government spending right up until somebody threatens to cut it.

Socialism

Ohio Supreme Court overturns common practice in foreclosures by requiring lenders to prove proof of ownership at the time of filing.

"“This is kind of ‘first-year law school stuff,’” said attorney Andrew Engel, who represented the Schwartzwalds, who said the lenders took a “file first, clean up the paperwork later” approach unheard of in other civil actions."

So why was it allowed?

"But on April 15, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, known commonly as Freddie Mac, filed for foreclosure, stating that the Schwartzwalds had defaulted. Freddie Mac attorneys attached a copy of the mortgage, but not a promissory note, stating “a copy of (the note) is currently unavailable.”"

Because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are socialist companies. They are owned by the government, so they are above the law. It's nice to the Court fix this.

Foreign Policy

Here's a little more info about the Petraeus affair.

"The F.B.I. investigation that led to the resignation of David H. Petraeus as C.I.A. director on Friday began with a complaint several months ago about “harassing” e-mails sent by Paula Broadwell, Mr. Petraeus’s biographer, to an unidentified third person, a government official briefed on the case said on Saturday. "

Several months ago, so it seems likely this was covered up until after the election.

"The person who complained about harassing messages from Ms. Broadwell, according to the official, was not a family member or a government official. One Congressional official who was briefed on the matter on Friday said senior intelligence officials had explained that the F.B.I. investigation “started with two women.” "

Oh my goodness. Petraeus is clearly a politician. What a trivial mess to lose a career over. So who's the third woman, and why was she so upset, she called the FBI?

"F.B.I. agents spoke with the C.I.A. director about two weeks ago, and he learned in the discussion, if he was not already aware, that they knew of his affair with Ms. Broadwell, the official said. "

So why did he wait until after the election to resign? And this still doesn't explain why he had to resign. J. Edgar Hoover didn't resign. Neither did JFK, Lyndon Johnson or Bill Clinton. I doubt there's one cabinet official in the last 50 years who didn't have affairs. And why won't he testify? I still say there's a Benghazi cover-up involved here.

"Neither the Congressional intelligence committees nor the White House learned of the investigation or the link to Mr. Petraeus until this week, officials said. Some Congressional staff members said they believed that the bureau should have informed at least the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees about the unfolding inquiry, and the committees are likely to demand an explanation of why they were not told. "

Sounds like they were withholding the information to protect Obama.

"Mr. Petraeus went to see him and informed him that he strongly believed he had to resign. Mr. Obama did not accept his resignation right away, but on Friday, he called Mr. Petraeus and accepted the resignation."

This doesn't pass the sniff test.

"A senior intelligence official said on Saturday that Mr. Clapper had learned of Mr. Petraeus’s situation only when the F.B.I. notified him about 5 p.m. on Tuesday. That night and the and next day, the official said, the two men discussed the situation, and Mr. Clapper told Mr. Petraeus “that he thought the right thing to do would be to resign,” the intelligence official said."

Isn't that convenient timing, and it isn't it nice of Clapper to take responsibility for suggesting he resign. Why did he resign as if he's the first person in Washington caught having an affair? Why won't he testify? Contrast Petraeus's poor behavior with the high praise being heaped on him. It's baloney. They are trying to weave a fiction, so they went to the New York Times first.

More skepticism of Petraeus's resignation.

"Seems right-wingers feel it is a way to avoid having to testify over CIA failures in Benghazi in September. Possible. I wonder whether that horse is indeed cold after Republican beatings. And I am a bit skeptical that Benghazi was anything resembling what it was portrayed. For example, how did American-made Stingers get to Syria? Ambassador Stevens was the architect of the Benghazi uprising and he seemed rather keen to spread "democracy" beyond Libya. Did that include exporting democracy?"

Maybe somebody set Stevens up for execution because he was going to blow the whistle on Obama for arming al Qaeda.

Anti-Muslim film maker locked away from the press for a year for probation violation. This way nobody can ask him who funded and directed him to make the movie. Even the production of this bogus movie fits with my theory that somebody set up Stevens to be killed.

Obama maneuvers to dispel Republican momentum regarding Benghazi cover-up.

"Under pressure from senators, the State Department is allowing some lawmakers to look at cables and other documents related to the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, but only today and tomorrow, when most senators are not in Washington. "

That's worthy of Slick Willie. Obama can say he gave Senators access to the information when really he didn't.

Global Warming and Energy

Global warming wasn't mentioned in the presidential debate until Sandy struck, now it's like this popped the cork on alarmism. Now global warming is going to make coffee extinct. I guess they think people will get up in arms about losing their coffee.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon uses Sandy to push his one world government agenda.

"United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says one of the lessons from Superstorm Sandy is the need for global action to deal with future climate shocks."

We haven't needed global action to deal with hurricanes ever, and we don't need it today.

There are two problems with the frauds' claim that global warming is causing an increase in extreme weather: the earth's temperature has been flat or slightly cooling since 1998 and there's no increase in extreme weather.

"There are no evidence of a recent increase in “Earth’s Temperature” due to “Climate Change,” that could have caused “Extreme Weather” to arrive and become the “new normal”. Claims and rhetoric that recent “Extreme Weather” is caused by or associated with “Climate Change” are not supported by the observational data."

But how are these frauds going to keep feeding at the taxpayer trough if they can't scare anybody?

Suddenly there's a new report calling climate change a national security issue. Does anybody else get the feeling that all kinds of alarmism had been stored up for release as soon as Obama won reelection?

Hurricane Sandy is supposedly a wake up call for New York central planners who apparently were stunned to find out that big hurricanes have been hitting New York and New England since it was colonized and for hundreds of thousands of years previously, at least. That's a crock. This is just a pretense to steal more money from people.

Free kibbles

Being an equal opportunity skeptic, I good laugh out of this global cooling article.

"“We are probably entering a new ice age right now. However, we’re not noticing it due to the effects of carbon dioxide”, says researcher Professor Lars Franzén."

Oh my goodness. We know we're on the verge of a new ice age in geological time, but the alarmists in the 1970s were wrong. The climate was going through one of its small, natural and periodic variations. If you look at any record, you'll see it goes up and down a bit. We have no evidence that anything different is happening now.

Tax and Spend

The new media hype is about the fiscal cliff. It won't happen. Neither party will allow spending cuts because politicians get rich by selling our money to the highest bidder.

Yields temporarily fall for Greek and Spanish bonds, but it won't last.

Local

Standard & Poors downgrades DP&L.

War on Drugs

Whenever I examine a policy, I look who wins and who loses. The drug cartels lose because of the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington, and that tells us they are resisting the legalization of all drugs. All you prohibitionists are aligned with the drug cartels and promoting their violence.

Foreign Policy

Petraeus resigns as CIA director, blaming having an affair.

"Petraeus was scheduled to testify next week on Capitol Hill in hearings on the deaths of four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador and two CIA security officers, in Libya in September. U.S. officials said Friday that the controversy surrounding that attack — and the administration’s shifting explanations for it — played no role in Petraeus’s decision to resign."

What a joke. Everybody in Washington is having affairs. But maybe this woman works for Mossad. Or maybe this is about Benghazi.

Politics

Charles Krauthammer advocates amnesty so the Republicans can win the Hispanic vote.

A supposedly new America.

Romney's problem is he said he wouldn't cut spending or taxes. He won't cut spending because he doesn't understand how the economy works and creates wealth.

"Well because, if you take a trillion dollars for instance, out of the first year of the federal budget, that would shrink GDP over 5%. That is by definition throwing us into recession or depression. So I’m not going to do that, of course. What you do is you make adjustments on a basis that show, in the first year, actions that over time get you to a balanced budget."

Reason on Romney's voodoo policies.

Tax and Spend

California's downward spiral continues as voters approve tax hikes. I like the "for several years" part, as if those taxes will ever go away.

Health Care

Boehner won't try to repeal Obamacare. It was a waste of time to try before. They knew couldn't repeal it with a Democrat Senate and President. That was political theater.

War on Drugs

Washington legalizes marijuana to collect tax revenue on it.

"Washington State voters on Tuesday cast their ballots in support of an unorthodox way of raising tax revenue: marijuana legalization. The measure, Initiative 502, will legalize and regulate the production, possession and distribution of cannabis for persons age 21 and older.
The Washington referendum called for a 25% tax rate imposed on the product three times: when the grower sells it to the processor, when the processor sells it to the retailer, and when the retailer sells it to the customer. It's not clear exactly how much tax revenue legalization would bring in. Estimates for the Washington measure run as high as $500 million - a figure analysts say is overstated.
Two other states, Colorado and Oregon, were also deciding whether to legalize marijuana.
Voters in three other states - Arkansas, Massachusetts and Montana – voted Tuesday on medical marijuana referendums."

The federal government is going to kill people over this.

Mexico to re-think marijuana laws because of marijuana legalization in Washington and Colorado.

Police in Flint, Michigan to ignore ordinance decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana.

DEA raids two medical marijuana dispensaries in California.

Politics

Former baseball statistician accurately predicts every state in the presidential election.

"And with this victory, he may have changed the way elections are covered for good. By disregarding the industry wisdom that gut feelings, day-to-day poll movements, and talking head commentary are what matter, he has decimated the value of these superficial judgments."

No wonder the information gate keepers hate him.

Herman Cain calls for a third party.

Americans are sick of war.

"Pew Research Center poll that found the percentage of Americans who think the country should "mind its own business internationally" had jumped from 30 percent in 2002 to 49 percent in 2009. "
"America's wariness of global conflict is obvious in other recent Pew Research Center polling. A September 2012 sample found that the percentage of Americans who list terrorism as "very important" to their vote has fallen by 12 points since 2008. In September interviews just after the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, 45 percent of the public approved Obama's handling of the situation, versus just 26 percent who endorsed Romney's approach. In an October poll, 63 percent of those surveyed wanted to see the U.S. "less involved" in the Middle East."

Obama's rhetoric made him seem less of a warmonger than Romney.

Tax and Spend

John Boehner, tax and spend Republican extra-ordinaire, invites Obama and Democrats to raise taxes in an orgy of new revenue, as he calls it. Boehner has a history of stealing our money and handing it over to Democrats, and conservatives rewarded him for it.

Economy

If you're lucky enough to be rich enough to buy farmland, buy it. There's no history of the government stealing farmland. If you can't buy farmland, or you already own farmland, buy gold and hide it. The government has a history of stealing gold. Protect yourself from the government.

Local

I-75 construction is forcing people off the highway at Edwin Moses, and tonight people were injured in a head on collision there.

Sports

Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck leads team by shaving head to show solidarity with coach fighting cancer. The Colts are pretty much as bad as they were last year, except for Luck. Let's think about this for a minute. Imagine how good the Colts would be if they had kept Manning and traded the first pick for three other first round picks, two second round picks and a third round pick. And that's conservative.

Joe Namath speaks a little conservatively about the Jets. If he was honest, he would say the ownership had turned the program into a clown show. The Jets owner must love his 24/7 coverage from ESPN. Losing is immaterial to this clown.

Global Warming and Energy

Global warming frauds are preparing an IPCC blitz of lies.

Obama might level a carbon tax regardless of Congress. Or he might level a warmth tax regardless of Congress. Or a surf tax. Or a starlight tax. What does he care? He's the most lawless president in our lifetime, so he doesn't care about the law. Maybe he'll levy a breathing tax on us since we all exhale CO2. Obama's a monster. He was a monster four years ago. He was a monster yesterday. He'll be a monster tomorrow. The election changed nothing.

Sandy had a big effect on the election.

Socialsism

The coming economic collapse under Obama will cripple the Democrat party for decades to come, but it will empower religious, supposedly right-wing socialists:

"Obama rings the death nell of the Democrat party for at least 20, if not 30 years. Evangelicals will dominate in 2016. Obama is going to cripple the advance of atheist socialism, but he's  empowering religious socialists for decades to come."

We're screwed.

Politics

Here's a succinct summary of Romney that matches what I said about him in the primary.

"But hindsight will probably view Mitt Romney a poor presidential candidate who appeared to have no core values, was selected only reluctantly by his own party and campaigned as if the whole experience was deeply uncomfortable for him.
He made plenty of mistakes but his biggest failing was that even after running for the White House for the best part of six years it was hard to fathom exactly who he was or what he really believed – as opposed to what he thought voters wanted him to believe."

That's about it.

Four years ago I made the case that only dozen people or so could lose to Clinton or Obama. The people were the top of the Republican ticket. McCain won, then lost. This year I made the case that Romney was uniquely qualified to lost to Obama. I don't know that any other American could have lost to Obama, so Republicans nominated him, and he lost. Conservatives got what they vote for.

Does anybody remember when the Tea Party powered an 80 or so seat gain for Republicans in 2010? Of course you do. There are several reasons why the same didn't happen this year. First, Boehner refused to hold the line on the debt ceiling. That is the single most important thing that undermined Republican momentum. Second, the Republican establishment attacked Ron Paul supporters, broke their bones, had them arrested and changed the rules to screw them out of being delegates. Third, Romney pushed through and ex post facto rule with a phony voice vote excluding Ron Paul from the nominating process even thought Romney had the nomination sown up.

This article wants us to believe the tea party is not dead, but worse, counterproductive.

Local

The election is over, so gas prices are on the rise. I'll bet the trend continues.

We're going to have new taxes for libraries.

Local search and rescue volunteers for Sandy unable to vote.

Global Warming and Energy

Arctic sea ice doubles in October. So much for the hyper-ventilating alarmism about arctic sea ice.

Solar cycle 24 still way under-performing.

Politics

Federal judge in Ohio hears challenge to Ohio voting machine software.

"U.S. District Court Judge Greg Frost heard more than an hour of oral arguments in the lawsuit brought by a Columbus State Community College political science professor voter who claims that the contract that Secretary of State Jon Husted entered into with Omaha, Neb.-based Election Systems could allow changes on the voting machine results from non-election board officials."

Apparently it's OK for election board officials to change the information, so this is really about keeping the establishment in control of fixing elections.

The government can't do anything to Sandy victims but make things worse, but they sure can find ways to get them to vote.

Romney managed to lose to a guy who kept unemployment above 8 percent for years. That's an impressive loss. I expected Romney to win, but his loss proves what I said during the primary: he was uniquely unqualified to beat Obama because he couldn't take Obama on on core issues like Obamacare or government spending. He was political career was defined by flip-flopping. I saw one exit poll figure that people who considered "does he care about me" as a major issue, went for Obama by something like 85 percent to 15 percent, so Obama's attacks on Romney as a rich, out of tough guy worked. I don't know how anybody could think Obama cares about them. You have to hand it to the pollsters. It was as close as they said.

Reports of voting machine problems.

Foreign Policy

In one of those cases in which the truth is more corrupt than fiction could imagine, CBS' 60 minutes releases transcript of Obama claiming it was "too early to tell" if the Benghazi attack was an act of terrorism.

"Obama said he referred to it as an act of terror Sept. 12 in a statement in the Rose Garden at the White House. Debate moderator Candy Crowley of CNN agreed and told Romney he was wrong.
But in an interview with CBS newsman Steve Kroft after the Rose Garden statement but on the same day, Obama was asked what he meant because Kroft indicated it was unclear:
Kroft: Mr. President, this morning you went out of your way to avoid the use of the word terrorism in connection with the Libya attack. Do you believe that this was a terrorist attack?
Obama: Well it's too early to know exactly how this came about, what group was involved, but obviously it was an attack on Americans.
CBS News waited until Nov. 4 to post that portion of its interview and offered no explanation as to why it delayed release of a video clip that was pertinent to what became a significant story at the time."

You can't make this stuff up. The only possible reason they might have sat on it until now was to protect Obama before the election. Thankfully, since Romney is just as bad as Obama, this isn't a big deal, but the naked political motivation is obvious. Our media is a scam, and therefore our election are a scam.

Local

A week after almost hurricane Sandy hit media-center, Butler County is sending a truck with communications equipment. At least they didn't wait a month. Or six.

Another accident in I-75 construction.

One of the many failures of socialist services is when a household has leaks, the government charges them with a terrible bill. In a free market, the water provider would warn the customer right away because both the provider and the customer would lose in this circumstance.

Politics

NAACP takes over an early voting station in Houston, advocates for President Obama, hands out water, and moves people to the front of the voting line.

Voters in Colorado accuse voting machines of reporting votes for Romney as votes for Obama.

All kinds of headlines blare the election is too close to call. I'm skeptical. I suspect this is an attempt to boost turnout for Obama. I think Michael Barone is right.

"But it's also true that most voters oppose Obama's major policies and consider unsatisfactory the very sluggish economic recovery -- Friday's jobs report showed an unemployment uptick."

Americans can't stand Obamacare. They know his stimulus boondoggle didn't work. And our economy is terrible. This stuff matters. I think the only reason Romney isn't running away with polls is he comes of as more of a warmonger than Obama at a time when Americans are overwhelmingly tired of war.

"Bottom line: Romney 315, Obama 223. That sounds high for Romney. But he could drop Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and still win the election. Fundamentals."

I think the fundamentals matter.

Here's another good sign for Romney:

"According to the University of California, Santa Barbara American Presidency Project study of the top 100 newspaper editorial endorsements, Mitt Romney has seen a vast wave of switches from 2008 Obama endorsers. Obama, meanwhile, has seen only one newspaper that endorsed John McCain come around to endorse him. At the same time, many newspapers have also switched from Obama to “no endorsement.”


Here are the stats. As of today, 11 newspapers that endorsed Obama in 2008 have now endorsed Mitt Romney."

That's a big switch.

Lawsuit in Columbus claims voting machines software may be corrupt. Already lawsuits in Florida and Ohio. Fears of lawsuits in New York and New Jersey.

I have consistently made the case that this election won't change anything no matter who wins, as expressed here: Language warning:

"Either way, the country will have an authoritarian corporatist warmonger who shits all over the Constitution for its jefe. The only question is whether the jefe will be a left-wing socialist authoritarian corporatist warmonger who shits all over the Constitution – or a right-wing fascist-minded authoritarian corporatist warmonger who shits all over the Constitution."

But I have also made the case that, in the larger sense, this election does matter because we're going to suffer the worst economic collapse in history sometime during the next four years. Not because of anything the president at the time does, but because of a hundred years of Fed theft. It's likely that ideology of whoever wins this election will be blamed. Just like the free market was blamed for the collapse in 2008 because Bush pretended to support free markets, even though he and generations before him were obvious socialists, his rhetoric led to the blame of the mythical free market. If Romney wins, that will repeat itself, but in spades. Bush's free markets will be blamed, Obama's socialism will be help up as resisting the free market collapse, then Romney's free markets will be blamed for the bigger collapse. Obviously this has nothing to do with economic reality, but it will be the perceived reality and it will shape the future. On the other hand, if Obama wins, the economic collapse will be blamed on Obama and socialism, correctly, and the future will be shaped on that blame. As bad as Obama is for our economy, I believe we would be better served in the long run by electing him, because he's an honest socialist, instead of Romney, who's a socialist pretending to support the free market like Bush. But I will never vote for Obama. Back to the article:

"If the left-wing authoritarian wins, it may give anti-authoritarians a shot in the months and years to come. Because the left-wing authoritarian is an honest authoritarian. He says openly that the Great Collective’s will – as embodied by the Collective’s Dear Leader – is paramount. There is no I – only “we.” And he will tell us – at bayonet-point – what it is that “we” shall have and do and not do. This will help to focus matters. It will be clear – or at least, more clear – which side of the line you’re on. It is possible that a viable opposition might coalesce. Not necessarily a physical opposition – not at first. But an intellectual opposition. Enough people may question – and that could lead to action."

Exactly. This guy gets it. We've lost the present. We lost it a while ago. Right now we're fighting for the future, and if Obama wins tomorrow, we have a better chance to win the future.

"On the other hand, if Obama Light wins, it will further de-legitimize and so demoralize anti-authoritarianism – because most people have come to equate the Republican Party with “conservatism” – and “conservatism” with anti-authoritarianism. That means guilt-by-association for Libertarians and other advocates of less (or no) government."

But Romney is not Obama-lite. There's no difference at all. Libertarians like me have been saying there's no difference between Republican and Democrat candidates for president for decades. And that's pretty much been true. But this year, it's more true than ever. Every election, the two parties have been nominating people who were more and more alike. This year they seem to have finally completed the process and you can't tell any difference in policy from one to another. So if a Romney wins, things will get worse the same as if Obama wins, but people will blame markets and freedom so...

"They will in fact demand more government."

Exactly. This guy gets it. This is why nobody should vote for Romney or Obama. Vote libertarian. Write in Ron Paul. Things will be worse if Romney wins.

Tax and Spend

Tech giants pay little overseas corporate tax. This is a great thing. It would be better if they paid no taxes.

"Papers filed with US regulators revealed Apple's overseas tax rate fell to 1.9%, compared to 2.5% the previous year amid a headline corporation tax rate in the UK of 24% and 35% in the US."
"Apple is the latest company to come under scrutiny for overseas tax payments after Amazon, Starbucks, Facebook and Google."
"America's top five technology companies - including Facebook, Amazon and eBay - legally avoided around £850m in corporation tax last year, according to a Sunday Times investigation."

This statement is an oxymoron. If they paid all the taxes required by law, they didn't avoid any taxes.

Government spending produced the bulk of the latest increase in GDP, and that's bad for the economy, not good.

Global Warming and Energy

What has government done for Sandy victims?

"Take Sandy. What has government done for the people of the ravaged states except deliver endless speeches, strut around in uniform, order people around, pay themselves a lot of other people's money, and stifle the healing market?"

Of course it has done some things, but it's done more damage than good.

Man arrested for trying to bring much needed gasoline to his neighbors who are still without gas and power since Sandy.  This is great example of how government hinders recovery from disasters.

More info on how unions blocked non-union electricians from helping restore power after Sandy.

"According to the Daily Caller, “In a two-page Oct. 29 contract, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) local 1049 demanded union dues, pay hikes and benefit contributions from Florida electric utilities before its workers would be permitted to help reconnect power to Long Island communities.”  By November 1^st, the union relented and allowed the workers to come in to work in their state without joining the union … but that means that crucial days passed where crews could have been utilized but instead were shunned because of one thing: power."

Ugly.

More evidence that Sandy was not influenced by AGW. Another analysis.

Insurance companies don't believe Sandy was influenced by AGW.

"And Sandy was unusual because it hit the Northeast, as few hurricanes do, and because it veered inland, instead of toward the ocean."

This appears to be the new meme, but as the article above pointed out...

"In fact, since the beginning of the 20th century, there have been about a dozen or so tropical cyclones that have made landfall in the U.S. north of Cape Hatteras which had a westerly component to their trajectory either immediately before or just after they came ashore. This includes historically damaging storms such as the 1903 New Jersey hurricane, the 1938 Long Island Express hurricane, and 1972’s Hurricane Agnes which is still the flood of record in many parts of the Northeast."

Another myth shot down.

The Good Wife promotes AGW fraud.

Mark Steyn on the government's failure after Sandy.

"In a county entirely untouched by Sandy, my office manager had no electricity for a week. Not because of an "emergency" but because of a decrepit and vulnerable above-the-ground electrical distribution system that ought to be a national embarrassment to any developed society."

Where have I heard that before? Here's the excellent, full quote:

"In a county entirely untouched by Sandy, my office manager had no electricity for a week. Not because of an "emergency" but because of a decrepit and vulnerable above-the-ground electrical distribution system that ought to be a national embarrassment to any developed society. A few weeks ago, I chanced to be in St. Pierre and Miquelon, a French colony of 6,000 people on a couple of treeless rocks in the North Atlantic. Every electric line is underground. Indeed, the droll demoiselle who leads tours of the islands makes a point of amusingly drawing American visitors' attention to this local feature. If you're saying, "Whoa, that sounds expensive," well, our government is more expensive than any government in history – and we have nothing to show for it. Imagine if Obama's 2009 stimulus had been spent burying every electric pole on the Eastern Seaboard. Instead, just that one Obama bill spent a little shy of a trillion dollars, and no one can point to a single thing it built. "A big storm requires Big Government," pronounced The New York Times. But Washington is so big-hearted with Big Government it spends $188 million an hour that it doesn't have – 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including Thanksgiving, Christmas and Ramadan. And yet, mysteriously, multitrillion-dollar Big Government Obama-style can't do anything except sluice food stamps to the dependent class, lavish benefits and early retirement packages to the bureaucrats that service them, and so-called government "investment" to approved Obama cronies."

No kidding.

"Back in Benghazi, the president who looks so cool in a bomber jacket declined to answer his beleaguered diplomats' calls for help – even though he had aircraft and Special Forces in the region. Too bad. He's all jacket and no bombers. This, too, is an example of America's uniquely profligate impotence. When something goes screwy at a ramshackle consulate halfway round the globe, very few governments have the technological capacity to watch it unfold in real time. Even fewer have deployable military assets only a couple of hours away. What is the point of unmanned drones, of military bases around the planet, of elite Special Forces trained to the peak of perfection if the president and the vast bloated federal bureaucracy cannot rouse themselves to action? What is the point of outspending Russia, Britain, France, China, Germany and every middle-rank military power combined if, when it matters, America cannot urge into the air one plane with a couple of dozen commandoes? In Iraq, al-Qaida is running training camps in the western desert. In Afghanistan, the Taliban are all but certain to return most of the country to its pre-9/11 glories. But in Washington the head of the world's biggest "counterterrorism" bureaucracy briefs the president on flood damage and downed trees."

But this isn't about Obama. This is about the universal US foreign policy of aggression so that our rulers can control resources without paying the market price.

"Look at Lower Manhattan in the dark, and try to imagine what America might look like after the rest of the planet decides it no longer needs the dollar as global reserve currency."

This is going to happen no matter who is in office, so what's your point? Don't you think we should vote for somebody who understands the problem, somebody who's been educating people on the problem for a decade or more, and how to mitigate the damage? That's why I still support Ron Paul.

"Whether or not to get serious is the choice facing the electorate Tuesday."

Baloney. Romney and Ryan are equally unserious about fixing America's problems and equally serious about looting Americans to enrich themselves and their cronies.

Health Care

US hospitals kill 180,000 Medicare patients yearly.

Police State

Traffic tickets are about collecting revenue, nothing else. This is why I've long called cops uniformed tax collectors.

Global Warming and Energy

Obama's communist former green jobs czar says conservatives should apologize to Al Gore because Sandy proved he was right.

Tax and Spend

Taxmageddon hits on January 1.

Regulation

Companies are being forced to lay people off because of Obama's regulations.

Politics

Dick Morris predicts a landslide. I don't know about that, but I still think Romney will win.

On what grounds can states arrest UN poll watchers?

New Jersey residents displaced by Sandy to be able to vote by email. What could go wrong with a hastily prepared system like this?

"There's no mention of any protocol that might possible make this acceptable. Perhaps the worst thing that could happen would be if it appears to work OK and gains acceptance."

No kidding.

On the non-differences between Romney and Obama:

"It doesn't matter.  The only conceivable difference between the two is which country gets bombed next.  The people in Syria, Iran and a multitude of other African and Middle Eastern countries have a way bigger stake in this horse race than any of us do."

Ouch. The truth hurts. It also matters to the cronies.

"Who will fall first?  Europe?  Japan?  The US?  It really doesn't matter too much.  They are all going down.  And it will be beautiful, once it is over.  The biggest problem will be the transition.  It will be chaotic and devastating to many who are not prepared.  Those who read and subscribe to the TDV Weekly Dispatch will be in an enviable position.  Those who put some of their assets into things like gold and gold stocks, which we cover regularly at TDV Premium and TDV Golden Trader may be in a position for life-changing gains in wealth."

My concern with gold is the government will steal it. If you put it in a bank or some other storage facility, they will steal it. If you bury in your yard, they will come dig it up and steal it. If you bury it under your house, they will destroy your house and take it. I think you have to get yourself and your gold out of the country.

"This game is over.  We've already placed our bets.  They are on getting your ass and assets outside of the Western World for the next few years.  Like in a zombie movie they will eat each other.  It's sad, but the die is cast."

Yeah. That.

An incomplete list of government policies that are destroying America. If you would have told somebody that all this would come to pass fifteen years ago, they would have said it could never happen here.

Economy

The October unemployment rate increased to 7.9 percent, except it didn't really increase because the September report was modified to raise unemployment to 7.9 percent just like this one will probably be modified to raise unemployment to 8 percent.

Tax and Spend

People selling businesses to take their profit before the capital gains tax goes up. This is not good for growth.

War

It looks like the US government's proxy war strategy in Syria is coming apart at the seems. First it was Clinton's withdrawal of support for the SNC, scapegoating it for extremism. Now the international community is unhappy about summary executions by the rebels. Chinese slam the US, and rightfully so.

Education

Government psychiatrists want to create new "disorders" so they can drug up children who are being tormented by being locked in government prison schools and who resist the brainwashing.

Health Care

Lone farmer wins suit against Monsanto in Canada for contaminating his crops with GM crops.

Big Sugar. More Big Sugar.

Local

Retired Dayton police officer suspected of robbing bank.

Global Warming and Energy

A bunch of east coast hurricanes between 1951 and 1960, including several that threatened New York, were much larger than Sandy. Sandy not unprecedented, not even close.

Meteorologists got Sandy right. That's unusual.

It sounds like government is squandering the manpower it has available for search and rescue after Sandy.

"After several days in a holding pattern at Joint Base McGuire-Dix Lakehurst completing training, task force leader Tom Lakamp said it was good to get the members out using their search and rescue skills."
"The task force was not given another mission by the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the local New Jersey authorities as of Saturday. Until members are released by New Jersey authorities as an “asset” for search and rescue missions in that state, they will remain on base, said public information officer Doug Cope."

Why are these people sitting around with no mission? Rhetorical question.

Much of Sandy's "record storm surge" came from it being high tide during a full moon when Sandy hit. The previous record was set at low tide. More on Sandy's storm surge.

Sandy victims face gasoline shortages. Stupid government tries to give away gas for "free" only to immediately run out of supply. In order to avoid shortages, gas suppliers should charge what the market will bear.

Obama's EPA waives gasoline regulations for Sandy victims, tacitly admitting they are obstacles to progress.

Does FEMA really create moral hazard? Does anybody say, it would be too dangerous to live here if not for FEMA?  Government flood insurance creates moral hazard, and people are talking about that, but is that FEMA?

"When coastal states saw that their own resources would be used to repair flood damage, for instance, than political leaders would have stronger incentives to discourage housing development in flood-prone areas and to encourage greater investments in precautions like tree trimming to reduce storm damage."

This is just an argument for trading in one (federal) central planner for another (state).

"But FEMA has another role too: through it, the federal government plays a major role in re-investing in affected areas. Lower Manhattan, for instance, is the home of Wall Street, justifying national intervention through FEMA to get the area back on its feet. But this raises the question of whether it is fair and efficient to take tax dollars collected in one geographic location and redistribute it to a region devastated by disaster. There are surely unintended consequences that come with such implicit insurance. Put bluntly, moral hazard arises as more economic activity is likely to locate in harm's way along the pretty coast. "

This is a much better example, but I think FEMA does even more damage because it hoards resources, making it harder for people to obtain the resources they need before and after a disaster. This guy also buys into the global warming fraud, but at least he's making a couple of good points.

New Jersey Governor Christy attacks people for using prices to match supply to demand. As demand skyrockets during a disaster, prices must follow suit to insure goods are applied to the best purpose. These increased prices also draw goods from all over the country to where they're needed most. Government hinders this process. Lew Rockwell has some more examples.

Here's another way government hinders recovery from a disaster: Christian electricians turned away because they are non-union.

Naturally the lights come back in the plutocrat stronghold of southern Manhattan before any of the boroughs.

"Bloomberg also said that resolving gas shortages could take days."

That's because government is in the way. As Lew said above...

"Of course, if gasoline could be sold at the market price, which is far higher than a week ago, there would be no shortage. Every entrepreneurial guy with a tanker truck, or a fleet of them, would be flooding the area with exactly what the people need."

But no. Instead gas is being held up by government threats of violence.

Bloomberg jumps on the global warming fraud bandwagon.

A science guy who believes in the global warming scam explains that climate models predict a decrease in hurricanes like Sandy, not an increase.

Some frauds are reporting that the Atlantic Ocean has warmed by 5 degrees in the last 50 years. Wrong.

In a naked scam, DP&L asks regulators to allow it to raise prices by $5 per month, supposedly to offset the cost of transitioning to a state market in electricity. But here's the catch:

"The charge is intended to cover the company’s transition period to adjust to a statewide competitive market by 2017 for electric providers, DP&L said. But those customers who remain with the utility as their energy provider should realize enough savings to cancel out the charge, the utility added."

DP&L is admitting that, once it faces competition, five years from now, that prices will fall. It's also admitting it wants to blatantly steal from people in the mean time.

"The company said in filings with the Public Utility Commission of Ohio that the charge would “ensure the company’s financial integrity.” It would generate $600 million over five years, or $120 million annually."

I don't care what they call it. I call it stealing.

"Even with the charge, DP&L said, other parts of the rates would decrease. For example, residential customers using more than a household average would see a decrease, said DP&L spokeswoman Lesley Sprigg. Commercial and industrial customers who remain with DP&L as their electricity supplier should see a decrease of 2 percent to 6 percent, Sprigg said."

Why would rates go down for people who use a lot of electricity. I thought conservation was a good idea.

"A similar request was approved by PUCO in August for AEP that the utility called a “retail stability rider,” but the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel has filed a challenge and the approval could go through another hearing. Duke Energy has also filed for a similar charge."

This is their last few years enjoying their government protected monopolies, so why not shoot for the moon?

IPCC agrees that Mann did not win the Nobel.

Claim that global warming is causing sea levels to rise faster than expected. Really? I remember going to an aquarium about 20 years ago that claimed sea levels would rise by 2 feet by 2020. It's not happening. These guys like to re-write history then claim their predictions were alarmist enough. Of course, even using data biased to incorrectly make it appear sea levels are rising faster than they really are, they're not rising nearly as fast as this guy says.

Politics

I'm sick of all the campaign ads, but I have to say that ads from outside groups are significantly more effective than ads from the campaigns. This makes perfect sense because there's a lot more people in the outside groups. More people means better ideas, and it's translating to the election process.

30,000 show up to Romney event in West Chester.

Local auto workers who lost their pensions thanks to Obama's auto bailout follow him to Springfield to counter his claims that the bailout was a success for Ohio.

Talk about a crappy headline:

"Romney, Obama spar over 'revenge' comment as race nears finish line"

The headline doesn't let you know who made the revenge comment. It was Obama. He's encouraging voters to take revenge by voting. Once again Obama's angry and extremely divisive nature comes out in an unscripted moment, but the press is covering up for him. This comment also exposed the coercive nature of the vote.

Washington Times runs an article in which the author says both Obama and Romney should be disqualified from office because of their support for assassinating Americans.

"At any previous time in American history, a summary execution by the executive without due process would have been considered cold blooded murder and an act of tyranny. Yet, it has happened in the light of day and neither the political class nor the citizenry has batted an eye."

So true. So sad.

Argument that the Constitution created the US empire. Since it went into effect when only nine states ratified it, the other states ratifying it after have been drawn into the union without having ratified it, I would agree. The very first Congress began arrogating power to the central government and set the stage all the government oppression we suffer from today.

"Right off the bat, in its very first session, Congress therefore tried to do something it was not empowered to do (if you'll allow for the moment that, contrary to Spooner, the Constitution actually empowered anyone to do anything). In so doing, Congress demonstrated its disdain for the fences placed around it by Articles Two and Five. Very clearly, government today acknowledges no limits on its power; the 1789 Judiciary Act made it plain that Congress never did acknowledge such limits, even in its very first session."

The history of government ignoring constitutional limits is as old as the Constitution itself.

Global Warming and Energy

Simple technology that government failed to implement to protect land from hurricane storm surges. The private sector would have implemented then surpassed technology like this decades ago.

The devastating affects of government failure in Staten Island as children are ripped from mother's arms.

""Not in a million years, did I expect to see this," Monigan told NBC News. "This is unbelievable, I mean for George to lose his life and his daughter and his wife to be in the condition she's in it's a sin, it's unreal, I can't believe I'm looking at this. Terrible.""

Good luck finding a more obvious, gross, destructive effect of government. For centuries, people have known about and planned for hurricanes in the New York and New Jersey area. But government prison schools miseducate people, prevent them from learning the important lessons of their region, and they fill them with the false security that government will protect them from all threats. The destruction Sandy has wrought exposes the failure of government in a horrifying manner.

Foreign Policy

Obama throws CIA agents in Libya under the bus.

"CIA officials on the ground in Libya dispatched security forces to the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi within 25 minutes and made other key decisions about how to respond to the waves of attacks on U.S. installations on September 11, a senior American intelligence official said on Thursday."
Responded to it how?

"The senior intelligence official said that CIA officers in Benghazi, "responded to the situation on the night of 11 and 12 September as quickly and as effectively as possible."The security officers in particular were genuine heroes. They quickly tried to rally additional local support and heavier weapons, and when that could not be accomplished within minutes, they still moved in and put their own lives on the line to save their comrades," the official said."

This is a bunch of crap. For weeks the press has reported the attack lasted seven hours. Seven hours. Not minute. Seven hours. The US could have launched air support from Britain or Germany in that amount of time, let alone from regional bases. And Political hack of Defense Panetta already admitted he ordered the military to stand down instead of supporting the defenders. Obama and his propagandists are lying out their backsides to cover up their actions until the election.

Misc

NASA's solar theory falsified by CME that travelled at 1/4 the speed of light. This is the scientific equivalent of a builder who had every building he ever built collapse at the same time, yet nobody got fired.

A year after a crash of a Wright B flyer killed two people, the NTSB still can't identify why the crash occurred.

NASA has become the best propagandist outfit in the US as it makes the case that Curiosity may or may not have discovered methane in the amount that would be expected by biology.  What a tease. We're paying NASA to tease us. If we did that voluntarily, that would be masochism. If NASA discovered life on Mars today, it wouldn't tell us. Like any tease, it gets more money from us by teasing us than telling us the truth.

Politics

In a new dimension of fascism, presidential campaigns sell personal info to corporations.

A little girl in Colorado says what everybody in Ohio is thinking... We're sick and tired of political ads. Get off my radio. Get off my TV. Get out of my mailbox. Get off my YouTube.

OMG, in a gross example of political self-centeredness, New York City faux-Republican Bloomberg, recognizing that his entire city is Democrat, endorses Obama. Talk about self-serving colloquialism. This article tries to re-write history by calling Bloomberg an independent. Wikipedia remembers Bloomberg won the election by conveniently declaring as a Republican.

This Google+ graphic seriously favors Romney.

Despite all the news favoritism for Obama, interest in Romney is surging. And that makes perfect sense. Everybody knows the incumbent, so undecideds are unhappy with the incumbent. Undecideds are searching out Romney and finding they can tolerate him better than Obama. How about we call Obama Obamanama and we call Romney Romnomama. This adds some frivolity to a worthless election.

The private sector comes the rescue of election: IEEE wants to set standards for voting machines. This is a fabulous idea, but it won't help with this year's elections. However, it might help mitigate the post-election contest by offering hope for the future.

Economy

We keep hearing that the private sector is sitting on a large stash of cash instead of investing it. This is why.

"Because entrepreneurs and investors aren't keen to produce and take risks when the president threatens them with higher tax rates, saddles them with crushing regulations, and scolds them for allegedly being selfish, ungrateful, predatory, and (to boot!) not especially important to economic growth anyway, entrepreneurs and investors respond by producing less and taking fewer risks."

Funny how that works.