POLITICAL: What the government is not

Thursday, January 5, 2012

http://lewrockwell.com/napolitano/napolitano34.1.html

The Case for Austerity
by Andrew P. Napolitano

*** begin quote ***

Government is not a jobs program, and government is not your caretaker. Government is an arrangement made by free individuals to protect their rights and their property.

It doesn’t take $3.6 trillion a year to do that effectively in America today. I doubt it takes a trillion. We must swallow the bitter pill of austerity now, on our own terms, while we are still the undisputed leader of the free world and while we still have a Constitution, so that we can restore our prosperity in a way consistent with personal liberty.

*** end quote ***

Certainly seems that the 15T$ national debt is OUR problem.

If we were all on the same page, then we could amortize that over generations.

Bet we could sell 50 year bonds!

But we’re not even on the same planet as some people.

The Tea Party and the Occupy folks were all screaming about the same thing. Crony Capitalism, Regulatory Capture, and Rule by the Effete Elite. (imho)

Time to cut spending. And get everyone back to work.

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MONEY: Who pays the bill for inflation?

Saturday, December 31, 2011

“The American people have no idea they are paying the bill. They know that someone is stealing their hubcaps, but they think it is the greedy businessman who raises prices or the selfish laborer who demands higher wages or the unworthy farmer who demands too much for his crop or the wealthy foreigner who bids up our prices. They do not realize that these groups also are victimized by a monetary system which is constantly being eroded in value by and through the Federal Reserve System.” – G. Edward Griffin, The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve, p. 33

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The root of all our problems is the “money”. It’s faith-based. And, once you lose “faith”, what else do you have?

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LIBERTY: The Fifth of November

Saturday, November 5, 2011

“Words have always retained their power”

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If you have to ask, don’t bother. You’re “We, The Sheeple”!

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LIBERTY: BHO44 orders the murder of an American citizen

Sunday, October 2, 2011

http://dumpdc.wordpress.com/2011/10/01/flash-editorials-october-1-2011/

Flash Editorials October 1, 2011
By Russell D. Longcore

*** begin quote ***

The Nation II: Anwar al Awlaki, an American citizen and Muslim cleric, was assassinated IN YEMEN by a CIA drone. Barack Obama personally ordered this murder. Three others were killed in the attack. Awlaki was afforded no due process as any American citizen deserves. No effort to arrest this man was made. Barry became this man’s judge, jury and executioner. Children, can you count all the ways that this is wrong? Last time I checked, ordering a hit on another person is First Degree Murder. But I guess when you’re in the DC government, it’s OK. By the way, just exactly when is it OK for military personnel to disobey an unlawful order? If this incident doesn’t qualify, nothing does. Are there any Oath Keepers in the military?

*** end quote ***

Where does it stop?

This President was elected whining about “fair trials”.

I guess low approval ratings have to be counteracted in some fashion.

This is another sad day for the “American Experiment”.

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RANT: “Big Church”, another failed concept

Thursday, August 18, 2011

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/diocese-of-orange-raises-bid-for-crystal-cathedral/

Diocese of Orange raises bid for Crystal Cathedral
By Marianne Medlin

*** begin quote ***

Garden Grove, Calif., Aug 11, 2011 / 05:59 am (CNA).- The Diocese of Orange upped its previous bid and signaled openness to new negotiations for the Crystal Cathedral after board members recently announced that the building is no longer for sale.

*** and ***

The liturgist for the Orange diocese, Monsignor Arthur Holquin, said July 26 that several changes would need to take place in order for the Crystal Cathedral to become a Catholic worship space.

Along with a central altar, a tabernacle and a baptismal font, the building would need a “cathedra” or bishop’s chair. While renovations are needed to the building, “not much deconstruction would be required and the iconic personality of the original architecture and design would, for the most part, be retained,” he said.

Purchasing the Crystal Cathedral is an attractive option for the diocese because it provides an instant solution to its building needs and would cost roughly half the $100 million price tag for the planned Santa Ana cathedral.

Though the diocese made an official $50 million bid for the Crystal Cathedral on July 22, the church’s board later voted against selling it and decided to appeal to church members and viewers to donate the funds instead.

*** end quote ***

Guess I just don’t understand.

Couldn’t God be worshiped in an appropriately decorated warehouse?

As far as the “bishop’s chair”, I have a old folding chair to donate. Won’t that hold a butt.

$100M$?

Reminds me of the French’s Maginot Line and Patton’s famous apocryphal remark “fixed fortifications are monuments to man’s stupidity”.

Maybe a cathedral is marketing? Of an idea who’s time has past. “Big Church” must join the dustbin of failed concepts like: Big Gooferment, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Labor, Big Biz, “Too Big To Fail” (2B2F), Social Security “Insurance”, the misnamed Federal Reserve Bank, Wall Street, Fiat Paper aka “monopoly money”, and all such stupidity?

It’s always sad when the illusions and delusions die. And all we are left with is the wreckage.

Is it too late to rebuild from the pieces?

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POLITICAL: ½ California and ½ New Jersey to freedom?

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

http://dumpdc.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/meet-americas-51st-broke-state/

Meet America’s 51st (Broke) State
by Tyler Durden

*** begin quote ***

(Editor’s Note: This would actually be a story with some legs if the Southern Californians wanted to secede and actually become a new nation, separate from the USA. But mostly it’s just an amusement piece.)

It is only fitting that a few days after South Sudan became the newest independent country to join the roster of IMF and World Bank “modernization and industrialization” targets, another Southern version of something should break apart, although some may be surprised that this latest secession is not somewhere in the middle of Africa, but in America’s own insolvent back yard. Meet Southern California. “Accusing Sacramento of pillaging local governments to feed its runaway spending and left-wing policies, a Riverside County politician is proposing a solution: He wants 13 mostly inland, conservative counties to break away to form a separate state of “South California.” Supervisor Jeff Stone, a Republican pharmacist from Temecula, called California an “ungovernable” financial catastrophe from which businesses are fleeing and where taxpayers are being crushed by the burden of caring for welfare recipients and illegal immigrants.” Ah yes, the heart of prosperity that is the Inland Empire, known for such great achievements as Hell’s Angels, the most ridiculous excesses of the housing bubble, Del Taco, and… that’s pretty much it. This sounds like yet another Swiss Watch plan.

*** end quote ***

Interesting in that maybe not only is the Federal Gooferment too big, but maybe states are too.

Staten Island wanted to come to New Jersey.

And, NJ could be broken in half. Trade North Jersey to New York for Staten Island. And, an undisclosed amount of cash.

Think of others Texas, Florida, North Carolina.

Anything that got too many people or too much land should be broken up.

As it all crumbles like the USSR, into smaller “moreresponsive to the people” units,

Secession?

One can only hope.

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POLITICAL: Too big to fail?

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

http://lewrockwell.com/margolis/margolis249.html

Banks Should Die for Their Countries, Not Countries for Their Banks
by Eric Margolis

*** begin quote ***

Greece is using the same scare-tactics that the supposedly too-big-to-fail insolvent US banks employed in 2008: “if I go down, I’ll take everyone with me.”

In this case, it’s Europe’s big banks. Three big French banks, BNP, Crédit Agricole, Société Général, hold large chunks of Greece’s debt. If Greece defaults, goes the hue and cry, French, German, Swiss, and Belgian banks may crash.

Here we go again. Politicians have allowed the banking industry not only to grow larger than manufacturing, notably in the United States where the top five banks control 40% of all deposits, but to become so powerful, over-extended, and risky they are a danger to itself and the public.

Bankers who invested in Greek debt or US subprime mortgages were greedy fools and should be fired, not rescued.

*** end quote ***

Seems logical to me “2big2fail” is “2big2be”.

Only politicians and bureaucrats don’t seem to see the concept.

Nature only allows an efficient size.

“We, The Sheeple” need to update our paradigms and memes.

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LIBERTY: No freedom at the DMV

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/an-alien-in-my-own-land-120563539.html

An alien in my own land
Vin Suprynowicz
Posted: Apr. 24, 2011 | 2:16 a.m.

*** begin quote ***

I got a little postcard from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles a few weeks ago, reminding me it’s been eight years since I last had my picture taken, and that I had to go renew my driver’s license in person.

*** and ***

I asked to speak to a supervisor. One Sheri Olsen, who is paid $49,614 per year plus amazing benefits for the job of refusing to renew valid driver’s licenses for native-born Americans with an unusually large number of authentic identification documents, was finally located to (of course) repeat the same lunacy.

“Your name doesn’t match,” she said.

Why was this never a problem before? Especially when Franklin Roosevelt swore up and down that our Social Security numbers would always remain confidential between us and the single appropriate federal agency — never to be used for purposes of identification the way the Nazis did?

“It’s because of 9/11,” she said.

*** end quote ***

Amusing.

A superb writer, Vin skewers the stupidity of “The Real Id” Act.

Funny, too, because Frau Reinke had to prove her marriage. But I didn’t. Then, was told that her “Hudson County” birth certificate was “no good” because of rampant fraud in that office. So she had to trek back to “order”, (and pay 16$ for), a “replacement” that took 4 weeks to get.

(Needless to say she wasn’t pleased and my anti Gooferment rant wasn’t well received either. She may have told me to “shuddup”. Lovingly, of course. But it was funny to see her get upset with the stupidity. She didn’t tolerate stupisity well. Especially when it cost her tim, effort, attention, and money. Sh had to have a money order. No cash, no checks, no credit card. So she had to go across the street to a bodega where a very funny Hispanic man had a stack of 16$ money orders all printed out. 19.50! So back across the street. “It’s not filled out”. So she gives me the priv of filling it out. (I had a pen.) For address I put “Suite EV01″. Away we go home to await her cert. Yup, you guessed it. We got junk mail to “EV01″ before the cert arrived. She wasn’t pleased at that either.)

(That junk stopped quickly after I applied my BSR correction technique. If some one spamming you gives you a BSR, you have a moral obligation to return it. Suitably filled. They pay by weight for the return. Junk mail for the junk mailers.)

When do “We, The Sheeple” rise up and say “No more”?

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LIBERTY: A libertarian is … …

Friday, February 25, 2011

http://ncc-1776.org/whoislib.html

Zero Aggression Principle (“Zap”)

A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being for any reason whatever; nor will a libertarian advocate the initiation of force, or delegate it to anyone else.

Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim.

— L. Neil Smith

Formerly called the “Non-Aggression Principle”, or “NAP”

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LIBERTY: A Libertarian’s New Year’s Resolutions by Harry Browne

Saturday, January 1, 2011

http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=5337

A Libertarian’s New Year’s Resolutions
Posted in LFA Flashback by R Lee Wrights on December 30th, 2010
by Harry Browne

1. I resolve to *sell* liberty by appealing to the self-interest of each prospect, rather than *preaching* to people and expecting them to suddenly adopt my ideas of right and wrong.

2. I resolve to keep from being drawn into arguments or debates. My purpose is to inspire people to want liberty — not to prove that they’re wrong.

3. I resolve to *listen* when people tell me of their wants and needs, so I can help them see how a free society will satisfy those needs.

4. I resolve to identify myself, when appropriate, with the social goals someone may seek — a cleaner environment, more help for the poor, a less divisive society — and try to show him that those goals can never be achieved by government, but will be well served in a free society.

5. I resolve to be compassionate and respectful of the beliefs and needs that lead people to seek government help. I don’t have to approve of their subsidies or policies — but if I don’t acknowledge their needs, I have no hope of helping them find a better way to solve their problems.

6. No matter what the issue, I resolve to keep returning to the central point: how much better off the individual will be in a free society.

7. I resolve to acknowledge my good fortune in having been born an American. Any plan for improvement must begin with a recognition of the good things we have. To speak only of America’s defects will make me a tiresome crank.

8. I resolve to focus on the ways America could be so much better with a very small government — not to dwell on all the wrongs that exist today.

9. I resolve to cleanse myself of hate, resentment, and bitterness. Such things steal time and attention from the work that must be done.

10. I resolve to speak, dress, and act in a respectable manner. I may be the first libertarian someone has encountered, and it’s important that he get a good first impression. No one will hear the message if the messenger is unattractive.

11. I resolve to remind myself that someone’s “stupid” opinion may be an opinion I once held. If *I* can grow, why can’t I help *him* grow?

12. I resolve not to raise my voice in any discussion. In a shouting match, no one wins, no one changes his mind, and no one will be inspired to join our quest for a free society.

13. I resolve not to adopt the tactics of Republicans and Democrats. They use character assassination, evasions, and intimidation because they have no real benefits to offer Americans. We, on the other hand, are offering to set people free — and so we can win simply by focusing on the better life our proposals will bring.

14. I resolve to be civil to my opponents and treat them with respect. However anyone chooses to treat me, it’s important that I be a better person than my enemies.

Originally published by Harry Browne in 1998.

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INTERESTING: Engaged in a huge number of species-wide social experiments?

Monday, November 15, 2010

http://web.docuticker.com/go/docubase/61784

Premarital cohabitation and divorce: Support for the “Trial Marriage” Theory?
November 7, 2010 18:50
Source: Demographic Research

*** begin quote ***

   A number of studies show that premarital cohabitation is associated with an increased risk of subsequent marital dissolution. Some argue that this is a consequence of selection effects and that once these are controlled for premarital cohabitation has no effect on dissolution. We examine the effect of premarital cohabitation on subsequent marital dissolution by using rich retrospective life-history data from Austria. We model union formation and dissolution jointly to control for unobserved selectivity of cohabiters and non-cohabiters. Our results show that those who cohabit prior to marriage have a higher risk of marital dissolution. However, once observed and unobserved characteristics are controlled for, the risks of marital dissolution for those who cohabit prior to marriage are significantly lower than for those who marry directly. The finding that premarital cohabitation decreases the risk of marital separation provides support for the “trial marriage” theory.

*** end quote ***

Now, I’m just a fat old white guy injineer but it would seem that “We, The People” are engaged in a huge number of species-wide social experiments. Abortion, same-sex marriage, sex selection, trial marriage, single mother households, serial monogomy, serial marriage, multigenerational welfare “farming”, Prohibition, Welfare/Warfare Statism, Theocracy, Socialism, Communism (although I’d be hard pressed to define it), genocidal tribal warfare, and on an on. Just name a few off the top of my head.

And, most of them, if not all, in some way trace back to he Gooferment. (It truly is the root of all evil. The Serpent in Garden of evil wasn’t a snake; it was a politician.) Before we try to remake the face of the Earth in the vision of Al Gore, before we change civil society, before we collapse under the weight of debt, before we throw away generations of accumulated wisdom, we should have an idea for what we want to accomplish.

Isn’t the medical adage, “First do no harm”, appropriate here?

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INSPIRATIONAL: Express our displeasure in very effective ways

Friday, November 12, 2010

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/07/residents-missouri-town-block-protesters-picketing-soldiers-funeral/?test=latestnews

Residents of Missouri Town Block Protesters From Picketing Soldier’s Funeral
Published November 07, 2010

*** begin quote ***

Members of a small Missouri town banded together Saturday to block a controversial pastor and members of his Westboro Baptist Church from protesting the funeral of a fallen U.S. soldier, Fox4kc.com reports.

*** end quote ***

That’s “We, The People” in action. We don’t need our Gooferment to abridge anyone’s right of free speech. But, we can express our displeasure in very effective ways. No parking available? Gee that’s just too bad.

“Reinforcing that cordon, the locals applied firm pressure to ‘visitors’ not to intrude. The gas station wouldn’t sell gas to the intruders. The local sheriff was issuing warnings for parking violations. There were no rooms available for fifty miles around. And, those that wouldn’t ‘get with the program’ were usually arrested on trespass or violating some MV code or another. Reporters who transgressed were sent to the Guv’s woodshed.” — CHURCH 10●19●62 Volume 2 Page 285

“We, The People” have tremendous power to “instruct” our fellow citizens in proper conduct in so many ways.

As a little L libertarian, there’s no one who is more anti-war more pro-life than anyone, but intruding on the funerals of the military is hust NOT the proper place to conduct essentially a political discussion.

The fact that a town full of people recognized the problem and actioned it without fuss or muss is inspiring to me!

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LIBERTY: GPS is unreasonable search

Sunday, September 19, 2010

http://www.wxpnews.com/LEM1E6/100913-gpstracking

*** begin quote ***

Did you think government agents needed a warrant to put a GPS tracking device on your car and monitor where you go? Nope – at least not if you leave in the western United States. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that sneaking onto your property and planting such a device doesn’t require a search warrant and doesn’t violate your fourth amendment rights.

*** end quote ***

Any reasonable person would say that this is a violation. Does this make you blood boil? It’s another loss of our liberty.

What are YOU going to DO about it?

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INSPIRATIONAL: Budwiser’s 911 spot

Saturday, September 11, 2010

http://www.flixxy.com/9-11-budweiser-tribute.htm

*** begin quote ***

This is the commercial spot Budweiser produced after 9-11. They only aired it once so as not to benefit financially from it – they just wanted to acknowledge the tragic event. Wow.

*** end quote ***

I think of how I was in that very spot the day before for a job interview; it could have been me there the next day. I think of the 100+ fellow alumni and their family members who died that day. I think of the 3,000 who died that day — horribly; some driven to jump. (It was truly a miracle it wasn’t more.)

I think of the Ground Zero Mosque controversy and how everyone has forgotten Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. (It was tiny. Three pews. Twenty people was a crowd.)

I think of the outrage we should be feeling at our Gooferment that (1) The Towers are NOT rebuilt by now. With a third one, taller in the middle. As a message to our friends and enemies. (Think Rodney Dangerfield pissed off in “Back To School”.) (2) We still haven’t secured the borders. The TSA is your typical Gooferment joke. And, they think we are amused by their ineptitude. AND (3) The responders and victims haven’t been taken care of; neither have our returning Wounded Warriors.

I wonder what in the Creator’s name are people thinking.

Are we waiting for a nuke in Las Vegas?

Let’s hold our Gooferment accountable. If it’s not there to protect us, then what are we paying for? Some type of variety show in the District of Corruption and the fifty other venues. Featuring highly paid corrupt clowns pretending to to be “self sacrificing public servants”. I’m not amused.

I DEMAND:

  1. End the personal and corporate dole;
  2. Dismiss gooferment public education;
  3. Stop the various wars — foreign and domestic;
  4. Repatriate ALL the troops home;
  5. End the drug war; pardon all non-violent drug offenders;
  6. Downsize ALL gooferments; AND
  7. Eliminate all taxes but tariffs and excise.

The Gooferment won’t protect us, won’t protect our rights, and won’t do things right. So the Declaration of Independence says we can abolish it. Lets do just that … for the children. Let each State go its own way.

Secession.

It worked for the USSR. It can work for us.

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RANT: Questioning the purity of my little L libertarianism?

Thursday, August 19, 2010

*** begin quote ***

On Aug 13, 2010, at 9:12 AM, LUDDITE wrote:

I almost submitted on your blog, but decided this should be a ‘personal’ post!   I found your letter quite interesting given your Libertarian label.  Isn’t this a little hypocritical?  Maybe it is hitting ‘too close to home’?  Being a FOWG like me?  lol

*** end quote ***

Well, exxxxcuuuuse me. :-)

Think my “libertarianism” is not “pure” enough? That’s why libertarians rip each other up. Over who is the “pure-est” in the land. Very counter productive to success.

(You could have made it a public post. I take criticism well. I think.)

Let me explain my thinking on EEO and corporations. Maybe you can show me the error of my ways?

When a thief steals your wealth, you have the right to self-defense. Part of self-defense is working the system to get back what was unjustly taken. Think Robin Hood stealing back the King’s unjust taxes. Fighting against injustice is always the correct thing to do.

Corporations are a creations of the Gooferment. So, any diktats leveled on their subordinate entities are of no concern. In my little L libertarian world, there should be no “limited liability companies”. Just people doing business as. You might have “groups” operating under a “trade name” but liability would be unlimited but shared under a contractual arrangement. Thus a “BP” would be responsible for cleanup and damages.

(Sigh!)

But we are NOT in my little L libertarian world.

If the thief has ways of recovering some of your wealth, then, as a principle of common law, I must mitigate my loss.

Some libertarians believe that “true libertarians” should be “pure” and complete forego any voluntary interaction with the Gooferment. These are the anarcho capitalist faction.

Some libertarians believe that “true libertarians” should be confrontational and get in the Gooferment’s grill at every opportunity. These are the social action / peaceful civil disobedience faction. (Think like Gandhi. Of course, it is never moral to initiate force or violence. It’s always moral to defend yourself. In proportion. Can’t kill a politicians and bureaucrats because they rob you of a few dollars. But, in Ruby Ridge, Waco, or Kelo, you defend vigorously.)

Some libertarians believe that “true libertarians” should pick their battles. Steal anything you can back if you can. Pay when you have to. So, each time an opportunity to “interact” with the Gooferment appears, you decide: comply, ignore , or “snipe”. One motivation is to recover lost wealth or liberty. One is to demonstrate the Gooferment’s oppression. One is to gum up the works (i.e., pay tickets in pennies; use their system against them to demonstrate to them or others that they are tyrants).

My EEO post was that the Gooferment permits another part of itself (i.e., corporations) to injure people while the Gooferment is claiming to champion the people and protect them from age discrimination. It circles back on itself. If you look at “corporations” as part of the Gooferment, then the illusion really dissolves.

Does that make sense? Strip away the costumes & labels, and it all seems much clearer.

imho,
fjohn

p.p.s., For example, that’s why like the “University of Maryland” is really the Gooferment in disguise. And, they should not be allowed to fool “We, The People” with different costumes and labels. It’s just all just Gooferment. Big! Overpowering! And, ubiquitous. They call themselves the UoM but it’s just an extension of Big Government. When you total up, you have to figure: politicians and bureaucrats added to all the people who are the “feeders at the trough” of Big G!

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POLITICAL: Separation of Marriage and Gooferment

Monday, August 16, 2010

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/08/06/time_for_a_divorce_106646.html

August 6, 2010
Time For a Divorce
By David Harsanyi

*** begin quote ***

In the 1500s, a pestering theologian instituted something called the Marriage Ordinance in Geneva, which made “state registration and church consecration” a dual requirement of matrimony.

We have yet to get over this mistake. But isn’t it about time we freed marriage from the state?

Imagine if government had no interest in the definition of marriage. Individuals could commit to each other, head to the local priest or rabbi or shaman — or no one at all — and enter into contractual agreements, call their blissful union whatever they felt it should be called and go about the business of their lives.

*** end quote ***

Time for the Separation of Marriage and Gooferment!

There’s no reason for the State to be involved in it. They’ve demonstrated it’s all about control and money.

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LIBERTY: The Gooferment can’t do anything right!

Monday, August 16, 2010

http://reason.com/archives/2010/08/05/private-enterprise-does-it-bet

Private Enterprise Does It Better
Why freedom and responsibility triumph over regulation and central planning
John Stossel | August 5, 2010

*** begin quote ***

In Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity, I bet my readers $1,000 that they couldn’t name one thing that government does better than the private sector.

I am yet to pay.

Free enterprise does everything better.

Why? Because if private companies don’t do things efficiently, they lose money and die. Unlike government, they cannot compel payment through the power to tax.

Even when a private company operates a public facility under contract to government, it must perform. If it doesn’t, it will be “fired”—its contract won’t be renewed. Government is never fired.

*** end quote ***

I can’t think of a single thing it does well?

Even if I could think of something it accomplishes, then we have to examine that “accomplishment” under the dual lens of effectiveness and efficiency.

I think the Gooferment is sadly lacking. Whatever it attempt to do, it screws it up.

It’s all rooted in the concept that it can initiate force in our name on others. Once that mistake is made, all it’s efforts are poisoned.

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LIBERTY: The Gooferment is the new plantation owner for all of us

Saturday, August 14, 2010

http://dumpdc.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/abolishing-slavery/

Abolishing Slavery by Patrick Samuels, author of: “Memories of a Former American”

*** begin quote ***

Our society no longer operates under a system of economic liberty. We live under a system of collectivism in which all property is owned by the society as a whole, the collective, the state. Call it socialism, call it communism, but don’t call it capitalism. Consider all your significant property. You don’t own your house even if the mortgage is paid. If you don’t pay your property taxes, your house reverts to the ownership of the state. You merely rent it. You only have use of your car at the behest of the state. If you don’t pay the necessary fees, that car cannot leave the driveway. The paycheck your receive is the property of the state first and after they have “deducted” their portion, your receive your allowance. The harder you work, the smaller, percentage wise, is your allowance. Even your allowance is spent according to the dictates of the “master”. He now requires you to buy health insurance and scolds or prohibits you from buying things he deems dangerous or risky. You have little privacy as all medical records and financial transactions are now at his fingertips. We have been fooled into thinking we are free because we have a thousand channels on our televisions and a hundred different cell phone plans; just bread and circuses. How different are we than the black slave working at Jefferson’s Monticello? He lived in a hut not his own, couldn’t travel without permission, ate what he was told, was dependent on his master for any health care and until he died, never received anything close to the value of his labor.

Today, our masters are not the aristocracy, the plantation owners, the rich. In our republic, our masters are the mob and the politicians who manipulate them for power.

*** end quote ***

Gooferment steals our wealth for services, that we may or may not want, performed badly and at prices we can’t afford or don’t want to pay.

How is that “liberty”?

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: The TSA is abusive

Thursday, August 12, 2010

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/hjelm1.1.1.html

Our Stupid State Transportation Security
by Drew Hjelm
Ad Libertad

*** begin quote ***

On my way back from Mises University last Sunday, I had the opportunity to encounter the Transportation Security Administration. A week prior, I flew from Cedar Rapids. The security there is reasonable because it is a small regional airport. However, on my return trip I had to start out in Atlanta.

*** end quote ***

And, the one big reason, I ain’t flying. The TSA.

Thanks, George Bush, for creating a massive federal intrusion into air travel. Security should be the responsibility of the airline. Another case of “socialize the costs and privatize the profits”.

Why “volunteer” to be abused?

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Posted by reinkefj

LIBERTY: The pseudo “War” on (SOME) drugs

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

http://freekeene.com/2010/08/03/keenes-latest-drug-war-victims/

Keene’s Latest Drug War Victims
August 3, 2010 by Ian Freeman

*** begin quote ***

If there were no War on Drugs, drugs could be sold legally anywhere. People could go to the corner store, for instance, to buy their marijuana and other drugs. They would be manufactured safely and distributed with usage recommendations, just like aspirin. They’d also be cheap because in the regular market competition brings prices down when the distributors aren’t jacking their rates due to risk of arrest.

Since unfortunately there IS a War on Drugs, criminal thugs are frequently the only way to acquire the drugs that people are looking for. This is because criminals are the ones most willing to risk arrest to do business. Since people are going to do drugs regardless of their legal status, this puts a lot of buyers in serious danger of being ripped off, or worse. The Keene Sentinel reports on the “or worse” part of drug prohibition. When was the last time the clerk at Walgreens beat the shit out of a customer trying to buy some aspirin?

*** end quote ***

This sparks my continued opposition to the PWOSD (“Pseudo War On Some Drugs”).

As usual, I’ll trot out my big three points: It’s immoral, ineffective, and inefficient. As with all Gooferment efforts as well as anything based on other than voluntary agreement between two or more people, it just doesn’t achieve the stated aims.

IMMORAL

Do you own your own body? If so, then NO ONE has the right to tell you what you can or can not put in your body.

A gangs of costumed people kill and maim in our name. Funded by wealth stolen from us. All under the guise of “savings us from the scourge of drugs”.

Prisons a full of minorities. Full of non-violent offenders. And, the inner cities are destroyed by the PWOSD.

INEFFECTIVE

The addiction rates have been constant over eons. How can they claim the PWOSD has any effect.

Children die from drugs cut with rat poison or drugs with unknown potency. “Illegal” drugs kill. There’s no second chance form that mistake. Legalization would put “clean” “safe” drugs out there.

Drug Lords and Terrorists are empowered by the money funneled to them by “illegal” drugs. Let WalMart put them in the poor house.

Doing “illegal” drugs has the allure of the forbidden. “Legalizing” eliminates the attraction.

INEFFICIENT

Prohibition didn’t work for alcohol; it CAN NOT work for some drugs.

The militarized police are running roughshod over the citizens’ rights.

Graft subverts the police, politicians and bureaucrats.

“Illegal” drugs should cost should be comparable to aspirin. At those prices, it should be able to hold a job while being an addict.

Money spent of punishment could be spent on rehabilitation.

AND IT JUST DOESN’T WORK

Can anyone think it does? Children tell me it’s easier for them to get pot than alcohol. How can that be? It just doesn’t work. Put WalMart, Walgreens, Duane Reade, CVS, … in charge of selling them and I’m sure they can do a great job of keeping it out of the hands of children. Prohibition doesn’t work. Ever see kids with cigarettes?

Argh!

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Posted by reinkefj

LIBERTY: Stefan Molyneux

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

http://freekeene.com/2010/08/05/important-video-the-sunset-of-the-state/

Stefan Molyneux (born September 24, 1966) is a Canadian blogger, essayist, author, and host of the Freedomain Radio[2] series of podcasts, living in Mississauga, Southern Ontario.

# – # – #

He may be the most powerful Libertarian thinker in my time. TO envision a world without Gooferment is either loony or insightful. Either way, here’s a challenging 10 minute video that challenges the assumption of Gooferment.

Makes you think about evolution and revolution.

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Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Hospitals catching the “indentification” disease

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick is becoming a police state.

Today we have new “rules”!

Argh!

First is that everyone has to “sign in”. Now that’s not too bad for the casual visitor; regulars have to wait in line. Argh! Shades of the TSA at the airport.

# # # # #

REWRITTEN

BUT, in concept it’s a bad policy. 10AM ensures that you’ll miss any of the doctors on their morning rounds. (I usually am their between 7 and 8 to catch them as they roll thru.) 9PM ensures that you’ll miss any of the stuff that goes on at night. (I recently sat with Frau until 3AM after they started a transfusion and gave her a sleeping pill.) Sorry but “one size” doesn’t recognize that my spouse has a complicated medical problem and the hospital is just not trustworthy enough to operate without supervision. Everyone tries hard, but it’s complicated and confusing with lots of different “hands”. American medicine doesn’t have a holistic approach where one person is the “quarterback”. The patient and their “advocates” have to be on top of everything.

BUT, more than anything, it’s about the “we’re going to tell you what to do”! Maybe they can get away with it. I’ll know tomorrow when I tell them that they are not meeting my and my patient’s needs. None of the “leadership” was available at 11PM when my wife was transferred out of MICU and a nurse informed me of the visiting hours. It’s demeaning and just one more loss of liberty. AND, it’s immoral, ineffective, and inefficient.

  • Immoral in that you are unilaterally enforcing rules that have not been agreed to in a voluntary fashion.
      
  • Ineffective because you have uneven enforcement and undocumented exceptions.
  • Inefficient in that it’s over reaching the need (i.e., secure the hospital from strangers by keeping out most “civilians”).

And, it’s not like you have a lot of choice. Saint Peters University Hospital has the same “identification requirement”. The Gooferment has limited the number of hospitals and they can’t be run like a McDonalds. So you have no choice. Like the Credit Card companies, politicians and bureaucrats make their problem yours. (Why don’t we have pictures on credit cards?)

So, why not “triage” visitors by the patient’s medical condition, patient’s mental condition, who the visitor is (e.g., spouse), and why would a sensible policy be. Why not have a more automated system? Why not badge relatives for chronic patients differently? Why not open visiting for caregivers? Why the police state?

Sorry, but it’s just wrong. No one wants food delivery people floating around the hospital at strange hours. And, in some cases, that policy might be appropriate. I’m not looking for a confrontation or a fight, but it may come to that. I bet they have exceptions already. Are parents of new borns restricted? Pediatrics? CCU and MIC may have a more liberal policy? Now if my wife was in for a bunion removal, I’d probably be a little less cranked up. But maybe not.

Are they running a hospital or a jail?

And, once they take Gooferment money and operate under Gooferment diktats, they become an agent of the Gooferment. Hence, everyone has their Constitutional rights. So what gives them the right to keep certain folks out? They can’t claim it’s private property.

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Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: An unholy attempt to fix the Constitution in a back room! Cui bono? (Updated!)

Sunday, August 1, 2010

MY ORIGINAL JULY POSTING

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/07/mass_may_join_e.html

Mass. may join effort to bypass Electoral College
By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

*** begin quote ***

Supporters are waging a state-by-state campaign to try to get such bills enacted. Once states possessing a majority of the electoral votes (or 270 of 538) have enacted the laws, the candidate winning the most votes nationally would be assured a majority of the Electoral College votes, no matter how the other states vote and how their electoral votes are distributed.

*** end quote ***

The political elite are seeking to rewrite the Constitution via backroom deals and open conspiracy to disenfranchise the “small states”.

When will we learn NOT to mess with the wisdom of the Dead Old White Guys. They were possible the smartest men ever assembled in one lucky place at the right time in history. We can go thru the Amendments passed, and one unpassed, as a litany to pure collective stupidity.

The Political Effete and the Party Powerbrokers would love nothing better than to have to win the popular vote in California, Chicago, New York, and host of other corrupt places to be assured of a national win. Ballot box stuffing and recounts on a National basis would become the norm. Argh!

The Electoral College was put in to protect the small states. The Constitution would have never been adopted without that design. I don’t know if they intended it, but it does firewall ballot box stuffing. Go ahead and stuff all you want in Massachusetts, you’ll only get 12 Electoral votes. Now if this change was adopted, that stuffing could determine the national election. Ever read any stories where there were more votes than registered voters (Say “hi” to Al Franken) or a large “graveyard vote” (Sam Rayburn and LBJ) or “voting machine breakdowns” in the non-machine party’s precincts? How about “keep counting until you get the answer you want then stop”?No, that could never happen in America!

And who is to tabulate and certify that grand total that all the conspiratorial states will use to determine their votes?

Argh! How stupid can we be!

# # # # #

UPDATE 01 August 2010

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/08/01/massachusetts_for_palin

Massachusetts for Palin?
By Jeff Jacoby
Globe Columnist / August 1, 2010

*** begin quote ***

IT IS Election Night, 2012. The polls have closed. State by state, the votes are being counted, and gradually it becomes clear, to the bottomless horror of some voters and the unbridled delight of others, that Sarah Palin, the Republican presidential nominee, has bested President Barack Obama in the popular vote nationwide.

In Massachusetts, where Obama crushed Palin in a 79 percent landslide — the most lopsidedly anti-Palin vote of any state — “bottomless horror’’ doesn’t begin to describe the political reaction. For in 2010, Massachusetts joined the National Popular Vote compact, making a commitment to cast all of its electoral votes for the presidential candidate receiving the most votes nationally, regardless of the results in Massachusetts. The compact took effect in December 2011, when California became the 15th state to join, thereby uniting enough states to control a majority of the Electoral College. Now Massachusetts, the bluest of the blue states, must award its presidential electors to a candidate Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly opposed.

*** end quote ***

ROFL!

Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution passed by the Republicans, to prevent a repeat of FDR’s four terms, term limited Ike. And, has dramatically altered the political landscape by making the President a “lame duck” in his second term.

That’s the best example of political stupidity.

The above Palin scenario would be absolutely hysterical.

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Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Who speaks for all women?

Sunday, August 1, 2010

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Newest-Vatican-document-is-last-straw-for-women-99538714.html

Newest Vatican document is last straw for women
By DANIEL O’CARROLL, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Thursday, July 29, 2010, 8:14 AM

*** begin quote ***In a strongly worded article in today’s Irish Times, Dr Mary Condren of the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies in Trinity College Dublin, the Republic of Ireland’s foremost university, said that such “misogynist” attitudes by the Church were legitimizing violence and discrimination worldwide and called for an end to the Church’s use of Gospel to justify discrimination, as she saw it.

*** end quote ***

Isn’t it a bit presumptuous for the male writer to presume to speak for all woman?

And, further, maybe there are some women who like the status quo?

I’m a little L libertarian and I suggest that we leave “women” alone to figure out what they want and then they can do it. Frankly, if women are that upset and leave the Church in significant numbers, then it will pinch them in their pocketbook. That might end the old boys club.

As for me, I don’t think that they have to end it.

Just leave well enough alone.

Not everything has to conform to the new political correctness.

As a private organization, “they”, who ever “they” are, can set the rules how ever “they” want. Unlike the Gooferment, “they” can’t use force to compel anything.

Now, I DO think that a society that puts half its population in head to toe sacks is depriving itself of half its creative energy. Just as I think the society that puts the largest number of people in the world in cages deprives itself of a huge pool of “human resources”.

1. Restore us to “honest” commodity money;

2. End the personal and corporate dole;

3. Stop the various wars — foreign and domestic — repatriate the troops home;

4. End the drug war; pardon all non-violent drug offenders;

5. Transition out of gooferment public education;

6. Downsize ALL gooferments;

7. Eliminate all taxes but tariffs and excise.

We don’t have a lot of time and energy to waste. We have to rescue ourselves form all the tragic and horrible mistakes that we and our forefathers have made.

We have to restore the American Dream.

It all starts with the use of force to compel people to do things. Anything. The Government’s sole role is to protect We, The People from force or fraud. That’s it. Once it goes beyond that it becomes the Gooferment

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Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Gooferment swimming pools?

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/pool.armed.guards.2.1799352.html

Jul 13, 2010 6:40 am US/Eastern
Armed Guards At Pools After Lifeguard Attack

*** begin quote ***

BUFFALO, N.Y. (CBS/AP) ―

Armed security guards have been posted at public pools in Buffalo after a lifeguard was pulled into the water by rowdy teenagers and other unruly behavior prompted safety concerns for parks employees.

*** end quote ***

Why is the Gooferment running a swimming pool? Why does the Gooferment try to operate anything? Why do we have the modern day equivalent of the Roman “Bread and Circuses”?

Argh!

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Posted by reinkefj

LIBERTY: Gooferment should get out of the “marriage” business

Monday, July 12, 2010

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/07/judge_declares_3.html

Judge declares US gay-marriage ban is unconstitutional
July 8, 2010 06:55 PM
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

*** begin quote ***

A federal district court judge in Boston today struck down the 1996 federal law that defines marriage as a union exclusively between a man and a woman. Judge Joseph L. Tauro ruled that the federal Defense of Marriage law violates the Constitutional right of married same-sex couples to equal protection under the law and upends the federal government’s long history of allowing states to set their own marriage laws.

*** and ***

Today, a Justice Department spokeswoman, Tracy Schmaler, declined to comment on Tauro’s ruling, saying in a statement, “We’re reviewing the decision.”

*** end quote ***

Interesting how the Obama administration is “studying” this one. Studying how it can let it stand. Since it aligns with their identity politics. Isn’t Kagan the Solicitor General? Doesn’t she have to appeal that. Talk about a conflict!

As a little L libertarian, it’s always been my assertion that the Gooferment has no business in the definition of “marriage”. Churches do marriage; not Gooferment. Remember the purposes of “marriage licenses” was, in the South, to keep black men from marrying white women.

The tax code confers benefits to “marriages” that are inexcusable. The Gooferment already has “corporations”. That it favors with tax breaks and stuff. Perhaps it can just extend “corporate status” to individuals. Like a subschapter S.

Or me could just remove the tax favored status of marriage and simplify the tax code.

See, bottom line, it’s really the right of the people to be left alone and to make their choices without the Gooferment trying to influence those choices by picking winners and losers. Or, the things it “likes” better than other things. Gooferment fails at everything; so why is this any different.

It’s always about force. In this case, forcing people to do what the people in chage of the levers of Gooferment want them to do.

A recipe for disaster.

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Posted by reinkefj

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