Wednesday, May 30, 2012
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/obama-and-his-pot-smoking-choom-gang/
May 25, 2012 12:54pm
Obama and His Pot-Smoking ‘Choom Gang’
*** begin quote ***
Unlike Bill Clinton, Barack Obama never tried to say he didn’t inhale.
In his 1995 memoir “Dreams of My Father,” Obama writes about smoking pot almost like Dr. Seuss wrote about eating green eggs and ham. As a high school kid, Obama wrote, he would smoke “in a white classmate’s sparkling new van,” he would smoke “in the dorm room of some brother” and he would smoke “on the beach with a couple of Hawaiian kids.”
*** end quote ***
Now that we have a pot head as Prez …
… as a little L libertarian, I’ve always thought that our “drug policy”, ”(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs”, was a best “misguided”, at worst “corrupt”. We have too many examples, anecdotal evidence, of pot not being as “bad” as booze, of high achievers who “inhaled” …
Don’t you think we could have a national dialogue about “drugs”, “drug policy”, and factual evidence?
We have mj prohibition because of hemp’s competition with the politically connected paper industry.
We have mj prohibition because of Hollywood’s “reefer madness” propaganda.
We have mj prohibition because of its association with the black community.
We have arguably ¼ of the federal prison population due to mj.
We have sick people, who need it and have no alternative for them. Not an effective alternative. Never mind a cheap alternative.
Ignore that not everyone who has a medical mj RX needs it. There are folks who legitimately need it (i.e., AIDS, chemotherapy patients, glaucoma).
Since the Chinese dynasty, there has been a residual addiction rate. Regardless if addicts were sentenced to death in China. Dealers were imprisoned for long stretches in Southeast Asia. No “public policy” makes a dent in the problem.
If the Gooferment can’t keep “drugs” out of its prisons, then perhaps we need a better strategy?
Walmart and Walgreens seem to be able to restrict access to stuff from minors.
So, why can’t we shift from the “punishment” meme that is immoral, ineffective, and inefficient to a “treatment” meme.
How much worse could we do?
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Posted by reinkefj
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
ere’s some discussion of the issue of the Obama mandate and a quote I hadn’t heard before.
http://intellectualoid.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/breaching-the-wall/
Tipsy Teetotaler
Sensitively dependent on initial conditions.
Posted by: readerjohn | May 26, 2012
Breaching the Wall
*** begin quote ***
I’m starting to entertain the thought that a litmus test for bad guys versus good guys is that the former want to limit religion by arbitrary state redefinition, the latter to limit government to the terms of the Constitution.
I’ve been concerned with religious freedom pretty keenly since well before I set foot in law school, and I know that this issue is one where, whatever his other defects, Romney stands in stark contrast to Obama and his administration. “We’re all Catholics now.”
*** end quote ***
I think that he’s hit the nail on the head.
Limit Gooferments; not people!
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Posted by reinkefj
Sunday, May 6, 2012
http://www.infowars.com/rand-paul-launches-campaign-to-end-the-tsa/
Rand Paul Launches Campaign to End the TSA
New legislation would abolish government involvement in airport security
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Thursday, May 3, 2012
*** begin quote ***
Senator Rand Paul has issued a press release in which he vows to lead the charge to “end the TSA” and put a stop to the needless and humiliating groping of toddlers and grandmothers.
*** end quote ***
A good place to start … close the “security theater”!
Argh!
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Posted by reinkefj
Friday, April 20, 2012
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/report-govt-may-be-bigger-than-you-think/
Business Report: Gov’t May Be Bigger Than You Think
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 6:45pm by Becket Adams
*** begin quote ***
But the tax break isn’t counted as spending. In fact, while the check for $2,100 is classified as “federal spending,” the tax break doesn’t even show up on the federal budget. So when you hear a policymaker talk about lowering the deficit or expanding/reducing the size of government, most of them don’t factor in tax breaks.
The CNN report goes on to argue that because tax breaks get the same results as government checks (e.g. giving homeowners deductions on mortgage interest, giving tax credits to “green” energy companies, etc), they’re practically interchangeable, right?
Not quite: the government check is directly funded by taxpayers while the tax break comes at a cost to no one.
But this is not to say that tax breaks should be disregarded from the deficit discussion. As taxes generate income, and fixing the deficit is all about balancing revenue with expenditures, then tax breaks should be included.
*** end quote ***
That makes me ill.
Bigger?
Seriously. Are you kidding me!
23.7%
Argh!
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Business Report: Gov’t May Be Bigger Than You Think
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 6:45pm by Becket Adams Becket Adams
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Posted by reinkefj
Thursday, April 19, 2012
DOL forcing media to use government computers | Campaign 2012 | Washington Examiner
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/dol-forcing-media-use-government-computers/479421
April 13, 2012 4:39pm
DOL forcing media to use government computers
by Mark Tapscott Executive EditorShare
*** begin quote ***
Unrest is simmering in some quarters of the Washington news universe regarding changes in the way the Department of Labor (DOL) manages its pre-release media “lockups” on sensitive data like weekly jobless benefits and unemployment.
For years, journalists participating in the lockups have shown up at DOL at the appointed time, then entered a limited-access area to receive the new data and prepare news stories for release as soon as official embargoes end.
The system insures that major news organizations get the data as soon as possible and allows journalists covering the release get a jump on providing analyses and opinion about the data.
*** and ***
Fillichio reminded participants that there are only 20-30 seats available for the lockups and that priority will be given by DOL in selecting participants to those that “are primarily journalistic enterprises.”
He also offered a one-sentence assurance that “the department will not consider editorial or political viewpoints in making credentialing decisions.”
*** and ***
In other words, journalists will no longer be allowed to bring their laptops or other equipment to the lockups, they will have to use government-supplied equipment, described by Fillichio as including “a virtualized desktop running a Windows operation system, a web browser, word-processing software, an Adobe Reader application and secure file transfer capability. Equipment provided will not have wireless networking capability. Provisions will be in place for news organizations to transmit their stories over the Internet.”
The changes evidently are in response at least in part to worries that some of the non-traditional news organizations allowed in recent years to participate in the lockups may not be using their access simply for journalistic purposes.
Since the stock market can rise or fall by hundreds of points as a result of such a data release, making sure nobody gets an advance peek at the data is critical to insuring the integrity of the process.
*** end quote ***
Does anyone see the problems in this story?
(1) DOL won’t pick based on “political viewpoints”? TO even say that IMMEDIATELY raises a red flag an tells me that is EXACTLY what they are going to do.
(2) What’s a “primarily a journalistic enterprise”? So, as a blogger, I’m shut out. Sorry, excuse me. Put the DIKW (i.e., data, information, knowledge, wisdom) and release it to the Universe at the same time. The Press should get it at the same time as everyone else. Otherwise they are the “house organ”.
(3) Why am I the taxpayer paying for computers to benefit some segment of the business community? Are the costs of each seat in the “lockup” being paid by the organization renting them?
This whole concept STINKS!
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Posted by reinkefj
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
I r an fat old white guy injineer. Did anyone else find the equation “fascinating” and “written wrong”? Subliminal message? Or a statement about “teachers”? P.S. IMHO teachers ARE “underpaid” because they are “on the dole”, currently “wards” of the Gooferment, inextricably tied to it, and are also slaves to their “union” who’s “in bed” with the Democratic Party “machine”. Not that anyone asked.
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Posted by reinkefj
Monday, April 9, 2012
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504564_162-57408827-504564/appeals-court-fires-back-at-obamas-comments-on-health-care-case/
Crossroads
April 3, 2012 3:42 PM
Appeals court fires back at Obama’s comments on health care case
By Jan Crawford
Topics Supreme Court
Updated 6:55 p.m. ET
*** begin quote ***
(CBS News) In the escalating battle between the administration and the judiciary, a federal appeals court apparently is calling the president’s bluff — ordering the Justice Department to answer by Thursday whether the Obama Administration believes that the courts have the right to strike down a federal law, according to a lawyer who was in the courtroom.
The order, by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, appears to be in direct response to the president’s comments yesterday about the Supreme Court’s review of the health care law. Mr. Obama all but threw down the gauntlet with the justices, saying he was “confident” the Court would not “take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.”
Overturning a law of course would not be unprecedented — since the Supreme Court since 1803 has asserted the power to strike down laws it interprets as unconstitutional. The three-judge appellate court appears to be asking the administration to admit that basic premise — despite the president’s remarks that implied the contrary. The panel ordered the Justice Department to submit a three-page, single-spaced letter by noon Thursday addressing whether the Executive Branch believes courts have such power, the lawyer said.
*** end quote ***
I think this is an epic struggle for the American Experiment.
I’m not sure that this is goign to end well.
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Posted by reinkefj
Thursday, April 5, 2012
http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/pulling-out-of-afghanistan-now
March 30, 2012
Pulling Out of Afghanistan NOW
Posted by James Wilson
*** begin quote ***
Quote of the Day: ”In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined,’ as General MacArthur so delicately put it.” – Robert M. Gates
2012 has been bad for the U.S. occupation in Afghanistan. That’s why I wrote to my Representative and Senators telling them to pull the troops out.
The hard-wired message reads…
Remove our troops from Afghanistan now.
*** end quote ***
What more does one have to say?
This is one reason I support Ron Paul.
We can add Korea, Japan, Germany, Iraq, … <insert all the other countries that we have troops in> … and Iran.
Oh yeah, we haven’t invaded there … YET … officially. (What do you bet we have scouts out? I would if I was the General who’s gonna get stuck with this duty.)
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Posted by reinkefj
Friday, March 30, 2012
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/canada-raise-retirement-age-67-report-184156915.html
Canada ups retirement age in bid to balance budget
By Michel Comte | AFP
*** begin quote ***
Canada’s center-right government called for the retirement age to be raised and for major public service cuts Thursday, in an austerity budget that aims to balance the books by 2016.
Tackling unpopular measures that many industrialized countries are being forced to consider as their populations age, the Canadian government said its budget would help the country move a step ahead.
“Other Western countries face the risk of long-term economic decline. We have a rare opportunity to position our country for sustainable, long-term growth,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in the House of Commons.
*** and ***
Flaherty said old age security and guaranteed income supplement benefits worth up to a total of Can$15,000 and now paid out at age 65 would be offered only at age 67, starting in 2023.
He also announced the withdrawal of the Canadian penny from circulation later this year, saying it costs more to produce than its face value. The move will save the government Can$11 million annually.
*** end quote ***
Seems a simple modest change. Will it make THAT much difference to folks who are 55 now.
I’d prefer something a little more dramatic at a much earlier age. Like 40′s go till they are 70. 30′s go to 75. 20′s go to 80.
And an annual “mark to market”. Remember life expectancy is supposed to top 100 in our life time.
I’d index it to inflation and means test it. If you’ve got 10M$, then you shouldn’t need the dole. Spend down to 10 and climb aboard.
Of course, ideally, everyone would be responsible for their own retirement. Like it was in the old days.
But then we were a free country!
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Posted by reinkefj
Saturday, March 24, 2012
http://youtu.be/v1Vu-V6nEZM
NEWSBUSTED, who’s usually razor sarcasm I enjoy, in this episode, has a graphic that labels BHO44 “the worst president ever”.
imho, jury is still out, but he’s not even close to breaking into my second tier.
Sure he’s more corrupt than most say Clinton, who sold nights in the Lincoln bedroom, is still ahead of him. He’s not as inept as Grant, and honest man who was “run” by cronies. He hasn’t killed as many people as FDR / Truman and the A-bomb of Japanese civilians.
So, I’d dispute “the worst ever”. He has a long way to go to displace Lincoln.
See my “worst” page here on the blog for my reasoning. You’ll see he’s not even in the second tier. Let alone anywhere near Lincoln.
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Posted by reinkefj
Thursday, March 22, 2012
http://www.wnd.com/2012/03/stunning-video-gop-leaders-cheat-ron-paul/?cat_orig=politics
WND EXCLUSIVE
Stunning video: GOP leaders cheat Ron Paul?
‘Like tyrants they are, they said, ‘That’s it,’ and ran out the door’
by Drew Zahn
*** begin quote ***
The Athens-Clarke County GOP met on Saturday, March 10, to vote – among other things – on delegates to represent the county at district convention, from there to attend the state and national conventions.
But shocking video shows the meeting’s chair pushing through a list of pre-selected delegates over the objections of the convention and promptly declaring the meeting closed, a startling turn of events that took exactly 21 seconds.
Ron Paul backers, who made up a majority of the seated precinct delegates and had hoped to nominate their own choices for district convention, were stunned.
By their count, also captured on video, more than 20 of the 30-some delegates present had voted no to the slate of delegates offered, yet Athens GOP Chairman Matt Brewster first declared, “The ‘ayes’ have it,” then ignored loud calls for a vote count, before quickly concluding, “There is no other business to discuss; the convention is now closed.”
*** end quote ***
And you’re surprised?
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Posted by reinkefj
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
http://www.wnd.com/2012/03/supremes-no-tv-cameras-at-obamacare-arguments/?cat_orig=us
DOCTOR’S ORDERS
Supremes: No TV cameras at Obamacare arguments
But agree to release audio recordings of proceedings on same day
*** begin quote ***
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court rejected requests from news organizations Friday for live, televised coverage of this month’s historic arguments on President Barack Obama‘s health care overhaul, but agreed to release audio recordings of the proceedings on the same day.
*** end quote ***
“We, The Sheeple” are paying for the show and we can’t get a video out.
Argh!
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Posted by reinkefj
Friday, March 16, 2012
http://lewrockwell.com/napolitano/napolitano44.1.html
Can the President Kill You?
by Andrew P. Napolitano
*** begin quote ***
Can the president kill an American simply because the person is dangerous and his arrest would be impractical? Can the president be judge, jury and executioner of an American in a foreign country because he believes that would keep America safe? Can Congress authorize the president to do this?
Earlier this week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder attempted to justify presidential killing in a speech at Northwestern University law school. In it, he recognized the requirement of the Fifth Amendment for due process. He argued that the president may substitute the traditionally understood due process – a public jury trial – with the president’s own novel version of it; that would be a secret deliberation about killing. Without mentioning the name of the American the president recently ordered killed, Holder suggested that the president’s careful consideration of the case of New Mexico-born Anwar al-Awlaki constituted a substituted form of due process.
Holder argued that the act of reviewing al-Awlaki’s alleged crimes, what he was doing in Yemen and the imminent danger he posed provided al-Awlaki with a substituted form of due process. He did not mention how this substitution applied to al-Awlaki’s 16-year-old son and a family friend, who were also executed by CIA drones. And he did not address the utter absence of any support in the Constitution or Supreme Court case law for his novel theory.
*** end quote ***
Can you say: “star chamber” or “kangaroo court”?
Obviously, the answer is yes. It was “yes” at Waco, Ruby Ridge, and the Pihilly AIM house.
“We, The Sheeple” let “them”, politicians of both flavors, get away with it.
When do “we” stand up and say, “stop”!
# – # – # – # – # 2012-Mar-08 @ 21:19
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Posted by reinkefj
Thursday, March 15, 2012
http://irisheagle.blogspot.com/2012/03/cutting-education-costs-by-cutting.html
Thursday, March 08, 2012
Cutting education costs by cutting degree requirements is a bad idea
*** begin quote ***
I can understand the motivation among the governor and legislators to reduce the state’s education costs, but this proposal just strikes me as silly. Cut wages, make the class sizes bigger, reduce the number of options, whatever, but don’t just cheapen the degrees offered by Indiana’s colleges and universities.
*** end quote ***
How about emulating the University of Phoenix online learning over the inet? Watch the teachers’ unions scream as that sacred cow gets gored. How about getting the Gooferment out of the “education business”? Don’t let them run it. Don’t let them pay for it. Don’t let them legislate about it. If the Gooferment ran supermarkets like they do schools, we’d all starve! Argh! Separate School and State.
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Posted by reinkefj
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
http://www.wnd.com/2012/03/obamas-irs-on-warpath-against-tea-parties
WND EXCLUSIVE
Obama’s IRS on warpath against tea parties
Government requiring names, addresses, contacts, relationships
Published: 12 hours ago
by Bob Unruh
*** begin quote ***
“Basically, we’re objecting to information that the IRS is requesting that is beyond the scope of its legitimate inquiry.”
On the ACLJ website, several questions from the IRS were quoted:
(1) Do you directly or indirectly communicate with members of legislative bodies? If so, provide copies of the written communications and contents of other forms of communications.
(2) Please describe the associate group members and their role with your organization in further detail. (a) How does your organization solicit members? (b) What are the questions asked of potential members? (c) What are the selection criteria for approval? (d) Do you limit membership to other organizations exempt under 501(c)(4) of the Code? (e) Provide the name, employer identification number, and address of the organizations.
(3) Do you have a close relationship with any candidate for public office or political party? If so describe fully the nature of that relationship.
“The quoted requests are merely the tip of the iceberg,” the ACLJ said. “We’re still reviewing the IRS letters and will have more information as we complete our review.”
The report continued, “Critically, the demands we’ve seen are made not in response to complaints of wrongdoing but instead in response to applications for exemption. In other words, the IRS appears to be conditioning the grant of exemptions on the extensive violation of the tea party’s fundamental First Amendment freedoms.”
*** end quote ***
It’s apparent that there’s a Nixon style enemies list.
How does one fight the IRS with a First Amendment argument?
It revolves around the “charitable deduction”. Guess you just have to forego that.
“We, The Sheeple” better wake up. Could be you next!
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Posted by reinkefj
Sunday, March 4, 2012
http://peadarroe.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/a-woman-said
A Woman Said
Posted on February 24, 2012
*** begin quote ***
What follows was part of a discussion on a well known “social media site”. I copied it because I thought it said a lot about a great divide in our country, the one between two kinds of people, two generations, two different world views, two different cultures. It was occasioned by the appearance of a cartoon showing the President of these Untied States wearing the clerical robes of a pope. It was s satirical cartoon designed for strong reactions, and it got them. People objected to the artist’s robing Obama as the Catholic Pontiff, commented on his support for abortion and his refusal to recognize the conscience rights of Catholics. Someone, a young woman, wrote:
I find it disturbing, but I’m mostly offended by the commentary it represents. I don’t like Obama, but I don’t find him to be any more “tyrannical” or arrogant than any other President we’ve had. Calling him a Communist really just illuminates one’s complete misunderstanding of communism, and the equation of abortion with the Holocaust as well as the implication that requiring insurance to cover birth control is equal to abortion, just pisses me off.
*** and ***
As for the requirement that private employer’s insurance policies cover contraception – I could go on at length about the necessity of hormonal birth control for many women (such as myself) for entirely NON-birth control related reasons (if I don’t take it, I get terrible cysts due to my endometriosis – cysts that may very well prevent me from getting pregnant in the future when I choose to) – but also that I don’t think an employer, whether or not it’s the Catholic church, should be making the medical decisions of its employees. Removing one area of coverage allows others to be chipped away at – and employers and insurance companies may find it in their interest to lower premiums by not covering many routine [JR: My emphasis.] and/or necessary procedures they chose not to agree with for whatever reason.
*** end quote ***
Stepping out from the pro-choice / pro-life debate for a moment, I’d suggest that we all focus for a moment on the word “routine”. To me that means, “ordinary and predictable”. And, are we talking about “insurance”? Where a bunch of folks with the same random risk profile pool their premiums to be paid out when that fire, flood, or tornado hits. Here we have a lady arguing that we, as a society, should “insure” “oil changes for our cars.” Where is the random disaster in an “oil change”? Went to aa Jiffy Lube / Oil Well / or some such place last week. In and out for under $100 in ½ hour. Now envision if it was insured. Call 1-800-thrid world country, file a report, yada yada. No way that was going to cost under $100 and less than ½ hour. In principle, it’s the same. Forcing “insurance companies” into the position of paying for “routine” stuff is just wrong. So, if this is NOT about “insurance”, then it must be about “politics”, propaganda, and manipulation. So this circles us back to the pro-life / pro-choice debate. Because it’s OBVIOUSLY NOT about “insurance”. imho. ymmv.
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Posted by reinkefj
Saturday, March 3, 2012
http://www.keywestlou.com/2012/03/weather-yesterday-was-fantastic-once.html
Saturday, March 3, 2012
*** begin quote ***
The hit topic was Rush Limbaugh’s abuse of a Georgetown University female student. Sandra Fluke. Sandra testified before a Congressional committee earlier in the week in support of birth control. She believed it should be available free to women under Obama health care.
Limbaugh referred her as a “slut” and “prostitute.” His theory basically was that if Sandra wanted her contraception pills paid for by another, she wanted to have her sex paid for. Any woman who wanted her sex paid for was a prostitute.
*** end quote ***
Sorry, but I agree the sun has affected your legal mind. Negative rights?
If I have to pay for this woman’s birth control, then I am slave. The only rights a human is entitled to is negative ones. (Like John Locke said.) No one can prevent me from speaking; they don’t have to listen, but they can shut me up.
Positive rights — a “right” to healthcare, condoms, unionize — enslave some one to some extent. DO the doctors have to work 50% for free? Do the condom makers have to give away their product? Do workers have be enslaved to a Big Union and a Big Company at the same time? Positive rights create a requirement that someone provide them. Who?
Sorry, but imho, you are just flat wrong.
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Posted by reinkefj
Thursday, March 1, 2012
http://biggovernment.com/dturbull/2012/02/22/the-effects-of-dependency-programs-more-harm-than-help/
The Effects of Dependency Programs: More Harm than Help
by Donlyn Turnbull
*** begin quote ***
Aside from the dire economic outlook, equally important is the harm social dependence is causing for people who enter the system and become stuck.
It’s not called “in-dependency” programs for a reason.
Whoever controls your money and your choices controls you. And when you lose that ability, you begin to stop taking responsibility for your life. Dependency programs breed more dependency and can create the same psychological effects as people involved in abusive or other severely difficult situations.
Many people assume if you are in a bad situation you will do anything to escape it. However, the truth is, “If you feel like you aren’t in control of your destiny, you will give up and accept whatever situation you are in”. It’s the very definition of a psychological effect proven in the 1960’s by scientist Martin Seligman, called “learned helplessness”.
When people begin to believe they can’t help themselves they eventually stop trying.
The Administration is allowing people to become fully dependent on them for their basic needs like food and access to health services, even encouraging it. The more they rely on the Government, the more Government has control of their lives and the less people feel they are capable of escaping their situation. Without responsibility and choices, they give up.
An excellent example of this was presented in a study in 1976 by Langer and Rodin. It showed the effects of nursing home patients who were given responsibility and choices as opposed to those “where conformity and passivity is encouraged and every whim is attended to.” The latter dramatically declined in overall “health and well-being”. The study was extended to homeless shelters.
When people were given both responsibility and choices they were much more likely to find work and a place to live.
A continuation of the same study showed “increased-responsibility conditions” have very positive long term effects as well.
*** end quote ***
I remember my Mom saying to me, when I complained about this or that, “Fix it!”, “Do Something About It”, or “That’s Not My Problem”. And, heaven help me, if I said I was bored. She’d find something that I needed to do. Later in life, when “stuff happened”, as it always does, she’d say: “That’s life; deal with it.” or “Well, what are you going to DO about it?”.
I’ve made many bad decisions in my life. Done dumb things for which a price had to be paid. Squandered tons of money. Burned bridges, spilt milt, and regretted so many missed opportunities. Some, due to NOT making a conscious decision, but many due to a deliberate choice. Good decisions go bad through what I’d call bad luck. But the vast majority of my “disasters” were of my own making.
(In writing this, I wonder what “choices” I missed completely. That’s not ”shoulda, coulda, and woulda!” thinking. It’s just realizing that there maybe have been “hidden” options that I’m not even aware of or just didn’t see as a choice.)
I’ve heard this before form the lady who runs a welfare to work charity in Mercer County. How the State Welfare bureaucrats want their “Clients” to stay on the dole. She has to literally retrain people to think independently. She has great success stories which just proves to me that people are beautiful when they are free of these artificial constraints.
I’ve long thought that the Gooferment shouldn’t be in the charity business. Just prevent force and fraud, and allow people to suceed or fail on their own.
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1 Comment | Political | Tagged: Control, homeless shelters, in-dependency, increased-responsibility conditions, learned helplessness, nursing home patients, taking responsibility | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/it-is-not-per-se-a-tax-sebelius-contradicts-administrations-legal-defense-of-obamacare/
Government ‘It Is Not, Per Se, a Tax’: Sebelius Contradicts Administration’s Legal Defense of Obamacare
Posted on February 28, 2012 at 8:23pm by Mytheos Holt
*** begin quote ***
In a stunning video from a hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee today, Kathleen Sebelius contradicted the Obama administration Department of Justice’s official stance on the individual mandate by denying that the mandate was a tax.
*** end quote ***
These folks in the District of Corruption can’t ever get their stories straight.
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Posted by reinkefj
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/my-plan-to-balance-the-budget/
GOVERNMENT ON A DIET
My plan to balance the budget
John Stossel: ‘We’re on the way to becoming Greece – while our ‘leaders’ stand and watch’
*** begin quote ***
The military is about a fifth of the budget. I want to support our troops, but we could do that and save money if the administration would shrink the military’s mission to what it is supposed to be: protecting us from external threats. We cannot put America on a road to solvency without cutting military spending, too.
Of course, what will really bankrupt America are entitlements, especially Medicare. That’s the big one.
Why even call it an entitlement? Are we entitled to the money? People think we are, but the money is taken from the taxpayers – by force. The program is totally unsustainable. We now live so long that most of us get back about three times what we paid into these programs.
So we have to raise the retirement age, maybe index it to life spans, and turn Medicare into an insurance plan that sustains itself. That will mean that if I want the latest in high-end medicine, I have to pay for it myself.
We’re on the way to becoming Greece – while our “leaders” stand and watch. A catastrophe is happening before our eyes, but the politicians won’t act to avert it. How did they ever end up with enough power to sink our society?
*** end quote ***
This is easy to say but hard to do.
Too many vested interests; too few patriots.
What happens when the <synonym for excrement> hits the air movement device?
I feel for the future generations. Hope they all learn Chinese.
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Posted by reinkefj
Saturday, February 25, 2012
http://lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan212.html
Who Commissioned Us to Remake the World?
by Patrick J. Buchanan
*** begin quote ***
We believe in freedom of speech and the press.
Yet, in France, if you deny the Turks committed genocide against the Armenians in 1915, you are guilty of a crime, while in Turkey if you affirm that the Turks committed genocide, you have committed a crime. Should U.S. diplomats battle for repeal of both laws? Or mind our own business?
If America wishes to lead the world, let us do it by example, as we once did, not by hectoring every nation on earth to adopt the American way, which as of now, does not seem to be working all that well for Americans.
McFaul should stick to his diplomatic duties.
Jefferson had it right, “We wish not to meddle with the internal affairs of any country.”
*** end quote ***
Seems pretty simple?
As Ron Paul said in the debates that “we” do to others what “we” wouldn’t like done to us.
No humility in our dealings with other countries.
When “we” get all our problems fixed here, “we” should still refrain from commenting on policies in other countries.
If they want to handicap themselves, that’s their business.
Argh!
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Posted by reinkefj
Thursday, February 23, 2012
http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/the-history-of-the-income-tax-dick-morris-tv-history-video/
THE HISTORY OF THE INCOME TAX – DICK MORRIS TV: HISTORY VIDEO!
By Dick Morris
01.28.2012
*** begin quote ***
In this video History commentary, I discuss how income tax came to be, how tax cuts grew the economy, and how tax hikes hurt it.
*** end quote ***
The Stock Market Crash was due to the Smoot Hawley Tariff being passed in Congress.
That was the straw.
The FED and the politicians further made things worse by raising the interest rate and the tax rate.
The Dead Old White Guys had it right — tariffs and excise taxes.
That would have saved our manufacturing base or at least not allowed the export of jobs and the import of “stuff” minus the cost of our social welfare programs.
They’ve demonstrated that we don’t understand the impact of changing things. Especially when those things being changed are large complex economic systems with lost of moving parts.
Capitalism with economic freedom and personal liberty have lifted us out of poverty. We need to insist on that going forward. The economy and the political order is too complex for humans to “tinker with”. Especially when those humans attempting to “run” it are so corrupt and corruptible.
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Posted by reinkefj
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
http://boingboing.net/2012/02/21/lessigs-one-way-forward.html
Lessig’s One Way Forward
by Cory Doctorow at 6:41 am Tuesday, Feb 21
*** begin quote ***
Lawrence Lessig’s new ebook One Way Forward is one of the most exciting documents I’ve read since I first found The Federalist Papers. One Way Forward is more of a long pamphlet than a book. It’s tempting to call it a “manifesto,” except that it’s so darned reasonable, and that’s not a word that comes readily to mind when one hears “manifesto.”
At the core of Lessig’s reasonable manifesto is the corrupting influence of money in politics, a corruption that predates the notorious Citizens United Supreme Court case. Lessig ascribes to this corruption the outrage that mobilizes both Occupy and the Tea Party, and he believes that the corruption can’t be ended until both the left and right realize that though they don’t have a common goal, they do share a common enemy, and unite to defeat it.
To this end, Lessig has a series of extremely practical suggestions, legislative proposals that, individually, strike at the root of the corruption, and, collectively, could kill it. Most of these don’t require any kind of constitutional amendment. All are designed to be passed through the nonpartisan action of activists of all political stripes, working together on ideals that neither should find fundamentally objectionable.
*** end quote ***
Lessig is a known forward thinker.
Cory Doctorow is another thought leader.
So why can’t us little people drain the swamp?
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Posted by reinkefj
Friday, February 17, 2012
http://www.irishcentral.com/story/news/periscope/john-fkennedy-the-lecherous-lover-at-
odds-with-camelot-image—-new-book-destroys-the-camelot-fantasy-for-me-139147369.html
Periscope
by Niall O’Dowd
John F. Kennedy the lecherous lover at odds with Camelot image — New book destroys the Camelot fantasy for me
*** begin quote ***
The latest memoir by a former lover makes me think twice about John F.Kennedy.
Mimi Alford’s account of her sexual dalliance with President Kennedy when she was a White House intern cannot be refuted by the late president but I have to say it rings true.
She was just 19-years-old when Kennedy, then 45, took her aside and to his wife’s bedroom where he ended her virginity.
There was worse to come. Perhaps the most damning part of the book is when Kennedy gets the very young woman to ‘service’ his White House aide Dave Powers while Kennedy looks on.
It is pretty disgusting stuff and while we all knew Kennedy was a roué, the direct evidence like this makes it a lot less appealing than the glamorous Marilyn Monroe alleged affair.
*** end quote ***
It seems like politicians have a tendency to be lying pigs.
JFK was supposedly the “first Roman Catholic President”. Acclaimed by all the Priests, Nuns, and Brothers in my schools, he was the single Greatest exemplar of Catholicism in my lifetime.
And, like most humans place on some pedestal or other by some one or some group, he’s found wanting.
It’s sad really, that leaders have so little character.
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Posted by reinkefj
Friday, February 17, 2012
http://lewrockwell.com/williams-w/w-williams113.html
Rising Black Social Pathology
by Walter E. Williams
*** begin quote ***
At a bare minimum, part of the solution to school violence and poor academic performance should be the expulsion of students who engage in assaults and disrespectful behavior. You say, “What’s to be done for these students?” Even if we don’t know what to do with them, how compassionate and intelligent is it to permit them to make education impossible for other students?
The fact that black parents, teachers, politicians and civil rights organizations tolerate and make excuses for the despicable and destructive behavior of so many young blacks is a gross betrayal of the memory, struggle, sacrifice, sweat and blood of our ancestors. The sorry and tragic state of black education is not going to be turned around until there’s a change in what’s acceptable and unacceptable behavior by young people. That change has to come from within the black community.
*** end quote ***
I’m in no position to comment on this, BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), I can assert that the meme of Gooferment Skrules is wrong.
In the 80′s, I spent a lot of time and effort to gather data and draw conclusions. At the time, the most generous calculation of per pupil cost demonstrated that the State spending was DOUBLE the most expensive private school in the state. DOUBLE! Just send everyone to the Peddie School in Princeton. So my plan was a FORTY year workout. The first twenty was getting the State out of the biz of running the schools (i.e., 5% per year of students were allowed to spend their “education voucher” anywhere they wanted to). The second twenty was getting the State out of paying for education (i.e., the voucher amount would be reduced 5% every year until it reached zero). Everyone has time to adapt.
The three major class of comments: (1) the poor can’t afford to educate their children; (2) the education complex is too deeply entrenched to allow this to happen; and (3) it takes too long. The poor decides to have children and saddles “the public” with the problem. The education complex is even more entrenched. And, we’re ¾ of the way down that timeframe and further away from any solution.
Argh!
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Posted by reinkefj
Monday, February 13, 2012
http://bcove.me/yxrja47l (video)
http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/palin-on-obama-wtf (story)
Posted Feb 11, 2012 5:37pm EST
*** begin quote ***
Washington, D.C. — A few protesters mic-checked Sarah Palin’s keynote speech at CPAC today but didn’t last long. Nothing could touch Palin, who had the crowd on their feet for large portions of her speech.
The protesters in the back of the room yelled “Mic-check!” and were immediately greeted with a standing crowd — and Palin herself — chanting “USA, USA.” Security quickly whisked them out of the room.
“We just won — see how easy that is,” Palin said after they’d gone.
And at least in terms of reception, she did win today. Palin’s speech got the biggest reaction of any at CPAC — much more so than any of the presidential candidates. The audience gave her standing ovation after standing ovation and some even yelled “Run Sarah run!” — more telling of the GOP field’s inability to connect with voters than any poll.
*** end quote ***
An inspiring lady! I only agree with her on about ½ the issues, but I like her, her presentations, and her enthusiasm. And, I think she’s not a phony. Unlike the others, other than Ron Paul, who are “white men speaking with forked tongue.” Her writers really polished her message nicely with Rolling Thunder, Don’t Tread On Me, Red – White – and – Blue Americans, To Big To Bear Any More, and my favorite WTF “Win The Future” — “and, I’m the idiot”. About 35 inspiring minutes. Reminded me of RWR40 (Ronald Reagan).
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Posted by reinkefj
POLITICAL: The battle between the administration and the judiciary
Monday, April 9, 2012http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504564_162-57408827-504564/appeals-court-fires-back-at-obamas-comments-on-health-care-case/
Crossroads
April 3, 2012 3:42 PM
Appeals court fires back at Obama’s comments on health care case
By Jan Crawford
Topics Supreme Court
Updated 6:55 p.m. ET
*** begin quote ***
(CBS News) In the escalating battle between the administration and the judiciary, a federal appeals court apparently is calling the president’s bluff — ordering the Justice Department to answer by Thursday whether the Obama Administration believes that the courts have the right to strike down a federal law, according to a lawyer who was in the courtroom.
The order, by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, appears to be in direct response to the president’s comments yesterday about the Supreme Court’s review of the health care law. Mr. Obama all but threw down the gauntlet with the justices, saying he was “confident” the Court would not “take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.”
Overturning a law of course would not be unprecedented — since the Supreme Court since 1803 has asserted the power to strike down laws it interprets as unconstitutional. The three-judge appellate court appears to be asking the administration to admit that basic premise — despite the president’s remarks that implied the contrary. The panel ordered the Justice Department to submit a three-page, single-spaced letter by noon Thursday addressing whether the Executive Branch believes courts have such power, the lawyer said.
*** end quote ***
I think this is an epic struggle for the American Experiment.
I’m not sure that this is goign to end well.
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