Government is using the privacy issue and the abuse of it by Facebook and Google as an excuse to regulate the internet. This is another case of people asking the nanny state to protect them, and it will be just about as effective as asking Godzilla to protect them from overeating.
More insight into hypocritical Republicans:
"Newt Gingrich says that since Williams worked for NPR: “Congress should investigate NPR for censorship and consider cutting off its public funding.” This is a perfect example of what’s wrong with Republicans. Why didn’t Newt and the Republicans cut the public funding of NPR when they controlled the Congress under Clinton? Why didn’t the Republicans cut the public funding of NPR down to zero when they controlled the Congress under Bush the Republican president? It is only when some unconstitutional government agency or program does something that Republicans don’t like that they ever talk about cutting its funding or eliminating it. Republicans are not the party of smaller government; they are the party of Republican government."Big, Republican government.
SOCIALISM:
Nationwide strike over plan to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 leaves France in turmoil. That's what Obama wants to happen here. Somebody should ask him why, in light of this, he's taking the US down the same socialist path. I'd love to hear his answer. But here's the more important question:
"The real question should be, whether in France or in the U.S.: What is the government doing in the retirement and pension businesss for non-government employees? Republicans who complain about socialism in France should stop talking about saving Social Security in the U.S. But when do Republicans ever see the real issue behind anything?"Never.
TAX AND SPEND:
In one of the most absurd statements I've heard from an aristocrat in a while, British aristocrat turns the spending argument upside-down in an attempt to steal the moral high ground.
"Joseph E. Stiglitz argued that the British government’s plan [to cut spending by about 19 percent] was “a gamble with almost no potential upside” and that it would lead to lower growth, lower demand, lower tax revenues, a deterioration of skills among the unemployed and an even higher national debt.
“We cannot afford austerity,” he wrote in The Guardian."
You can't make this stuff up.
Looks like government is going to steal another $363 billion from us to bail out Fannie and Freddie.
HEALTH CARE:
Thanks to Obamacare, here come the big health insurance premium hikes. Obama knew this all along. He's laughing at us.
GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:
The IPCC hides crucial information that its models are untrustworthy scattered deep inside a 996 page book while from beginning to the end it fills the books with bogus claims that its predictions have high confidence.
I have zero confidence in this government report that there is no evidence the Deepwater Horizon oil spill killed any fish. It may well be true, but the government has every reason to lie, and it lies without conscience.
The frauds continue to push to get the polar bear listed as endangered.
WAR:
A powerful case that the war on terror exists to create terrorists, not defeat them. Why? What's the primary purpose of government?
"The bottom line answer is that the "war on terror" is about creating real terrorists. The US government desperately needs real terrorists in order to justify its expansion of its wars against Muslim countries and to keep the American people sufficiently fearful that they continue to accept the police state that provides "security from terrorists," but not from the government that has discarded civil liberties."Government exists to expand the power and wealth of the aristocrats and their cronies at our expense. This is the nature of government. Having terrorists attack the US makes that easy.
"Most Americans cannot see what is happening because of their conditioning. Most Americans believe that their government is the best on earth, that it is morally motivated to help others and to do good, that it rushes aid to countries where there is famine and natural catastrophes. Most believe that their presidents tell the truth, except about their sexual affairs."That's the nature of the people. People instinctively trust the people they vote for even though rationally we know all politicians are liars and crooks. Except the ones we voted for.
"To keep Pakistan in line, the US government changed its position that the "Times Square Bombing" was the work of a "lone wolf." Attorney General Eric Holder switched the blame to the "Pakistani Taliban," and Secretary of State Clinton threatened Pakistan with "very serious consequences" for the unsuccessful Times Square bombing, which likely was a false flag operation aimed at Pakistan."That story about this guy makes no sense. That bomb was a fake, not a real bomb, and the not-bomber caught on tape is bald and the man imprisoned for it doesn't appear to be bald.
POLITICS:
Voting in the US is like prisoners voting for a prison warden, but not voting is like prisoners not voting for the prison warden. What good is that? The winner doesn't give a damn about people who don't vote.
Another admonition to not vote.
"Imagine what a patriotic thrill you would receive if, in the next presidential election, a mere 10 percent of the electorate, instead of the usual 50 percent or so, voted. The unconstitutional regime in Washington would be de-legitimized. The upside is that it might just be possible that some politicians in Washington would get the message and start behaving more like a George Washington or Thomas Jefferson than a Tony Soprano or Vito Corleone (with apologies to all the distinguished Italian-Americans out there). The downside is that they will keep on behaving as they do now – with complete contempt for the Constitution and the population it is supposed to benefit. So be patriotic: Don’t vote."If that scenario played out, government would get worse even faster as the aristocrats raced to buy more votes the only way they know how. Imagine instead if only 10 percent of electorate voted for Republicans and Democrats, and the rest of voters voted for libertarians who would repeal most of government. That would bring rapid change for the better. I'll keep voting libertarian wherever possible, and so should everyone else.
Koch brothers meeting with neocons outed. Lew Rockwell acts like this is a bad thing, but he has bad history with the Koch brothers. I don't. Since Obama was elected, I've said conservatives are the natural allies of libertarians right now. Teaming up with them makes perfect sense. According to the one of the brothers:
"He also confided to Moore, who is funded through several of Koch’s ventures, that his true goal is to strengthen the “culture of prosperity” by eliminating “90%” of all laws and government regulations."This is a fantastic goal that I wholeheartedly support. On the other hand, I understand the skepticism since the Koch's made their fortunes in the political economy just like Soros did. I don't know if that goal is real or not, if that's what this meeting was about or not, but I sure hope so.
Obama rules exactly as his record suggested, the opposite of his rhetoric.
I don't understand all the fervor over the NAACP report calling the tea party racist. What else did anybody expect?
Alaska's write-in Republican candidate for Senator is closing the gap.
H.L. Mencken writes in section II, chapter 4 of Democracy:
"I find myself quoting yet a third German: he is Professor Robert Michels, the economist. The politician, he says, is the courtier of democracy. A profound saying - perhaps more profound than the professor, himself a democrat, realizes. For it was the essence of the courtier's art and mystery that he flattered his employer in order to victimize him, yielded to him in order to rule him. The politician under democracy does precisely the same thing. His business is never what it pretends to be. Ostensibly he is an altruist devoted whole-heartedly to the service of his fellow-men, and so abjectly public-spirited that his private interest is nothing to him. Actually he is a sturdy rogue whose principal, and often sole aim in life is to butter his parsnips. His technical equipment consists simply of an armamentarium of deceits. It is his business to get and hold his job at all costs. If he can hold it by lying he will hold by lying: if lying peters out he will try to hold it by embracing new truths. His ear is ever close to the ground. If he is an adept he can hear the first murmurs of popular clamour before even the people themselves are conscious of them. If he is a master he detects and whoops up today the delusions that the mob will cherish next year. There is in him, in his professional aspect, no shadow of principle or honour. It is moral by his code to get into office by false pretences, as the late Dr. Wilson did in 1916. It is moral to change convictions overnight, as multitudes of America politicians did when the Prohibition avalanche came down upon them. Anything is moral that furthers the main concern of his soul, which is is to keep a place at the the public trough. That place is one of public honour, and public honour is the thing that caresses him and makes him happy. It is also one of power, and power is the commodity that he has for sale."
How many times have I written something similar, though never as well?
MEDIA:
NPR fired Juan Williams for saying he gets worried when he flies on an airplane with Muslims.
LOCAL:
Clark County commissioners prohibit man from building gas station. I that burst his delusion that he was free.
MISC:
No court in the US should use any non-US law to determine cases.
Mark Sisson lampoons the claim that discovery of 30,000 year old rocks for grinding roots somehow refutes the paleo diet. Increasing root vegetables is on the of the principles of the paleo diet.
Misnamed IP pirates hope to put torrent site in orbit so governments can't shut it down. They'll still shut it down.
Because Facebook makes money by selling private information, it won't stop no matter what the privacy policy says. Until a competitor arises. This venture fund may produce a viable competitor.
Google's strategy for legally paying as little taxes as possible.
H.L. Mencken writes in section II, chapter 4 of Democracy:
"I find myself quoting yet a third German: he is Professor Robert Michels, the economist. The politician, he says, is the courtier of democracy. A profound saying - perhaps more profound than the professor, himself a democrat, realizes. For it was the essence of the courtier's art and mystery that he flattered his employer in order to victimize him, yielded to him in order to rule him. The politician under democracy does precisely the same thing. His business is never what it pretends to be. Ostensibly he is an altruist devoted whole-heartedly to the service of his fellow-men, and so abjectly public-spirited that his private interest is nothing to him. Actually he is a sturdy rogue whose principal, and often sole aim in life is to butter his parsnips. His technical equipment consists simply of an armamentarium of deceits. It is his business to get and hold his job at all costs. If he can hold it by lying he will hold by lying: if lying peters out he will try to hold it by embracing new truths. His ear is ever close to the ground. If he is an adept he can hear the first murmurs of popular clamour before even the people themselves are conscious of them. If he is a master he detects and whoops up today the delusions that the mob will cherish next year. There is in him, in his professional aspect, no shadow of principle or honour. It is moral by his code to get into office by false pretences, as the late Dr. Wilson did in 1916. It is moral to change convictions overnight, as multitudes of America politicians did when the Prohibition avalanche came down upon them. Anything is moral that furthers the main concern of his soul, which is is to keep a place at the the public trough. That place is one of public honour, and public honour is the thing that caresses him and makes him happy. It is also one of power, and power is the commodity that he has for sale."How many times have I written something similar, though never as well?
Criticism of Hobbes and his social contract.
"When I look at history, I see a time when the country I live in once got involved in a war against fascists in Germany by allying with communists in Russia to kick them out and hand France back to the socialists. When the war was over we instituted a ‘cold war’ with those same communists by enacting a fascist military-industrial state replete with secret police and backyard bomb shelters. And fully half, if not more, of the country’s current population still considers this the pinnacle of our civilization. A war fought on multiple continents destroying hundreds of years worth of accumulated wealth, destroying literally incalculable numbers of families and which culminated with the dropping of nuclear bombs on civilians."Convenient omission of the Holocaust, the Rape of Nanking and who were the aggressors. I realize Roosevelt did much to drag us into the war, but he didn't sneak attack a military base on a Japanese island. I think Americans are proud our ancestors helped end the war by winning it after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
Our corrupt politicians are starting a trade war with China, and as a result China has halted trade of rare-earth minerals necessary for high-tech items to the US.
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