LIBERTY: I like the idea of eliminating 12 sets of gubamint.

Monday, July 31, 2006

http://www.tjc.com/38states/

***Begin Quote***

The map reducing the U.S. to 38 States is the creation of C. Etzel Pearcy, geography professor at California State University, Los Angeles. The new boundaries totally erase the 104 lines currently separating the 50 States. Each State’s new name, chosen with the help of a poll of geography students, represents a physical or cultural aspect of the new territory. For example, Cascade (named after a major mountain range in Washington and Oregon), Cochise (named after the Apache Indian chief of Arizona), and Alamo (named after the mission in San Antonio, Tex.).

***End Quote***

But, I still think the Free State Project http://www.freestateproject.org is a better idea. A plague on all the politicians, bureaucrats, and the parasites.


RANT: Greedy state government defrauds the taxpayers with an unneeded sales tax hike!

Monday, July 31, 2006

Note that 101.5 today is reporting that only one sixth of the tax increase is going to close the “budget gap”; the rest is for pork! Doesn’t anyone else find that amusing? The politicians pulled another fast one. AND, as I believe I mentioned, back on Wall Street, old Jon would have closed that budget gap with some good old fashioned cost cutting. But he wasn’t spending his money! Vote ’em all out. And, send them to jail for fraud.


FUNY: Tuskgee Airman … wonder how much of the movie is true?

Monday, July 31, 2006

Chose to watch the movie Tuskgee Airmen last night. Given Hollywood’s liberal bias, I suspect everything that comes out of there. But if in fact that group never lost a bomber and if in fact the losses were a third prior to that, that’s some accomplishment. Strip away all the fluff and stuff, you have to wonder about racist assumptions. Very powerful paradigm shifter.


MONEY: The world is fraught with risks!

Sunday, July 30, 2006

http://www.moneyweek.com/file/15985/the-five-major-trends-reshaping-the-world-economy.html

energy costs, the world’s reserve currency, business cycle, west 2 east, end of the American empire

All things that should be considered in financial planning.


FUN: Capturing your family history

Sunday, July 30, 2006

http://familyoralhistory.us/news/view/open_discussion_thread_have_you_tried_it/

***Begin Quote***

but when a person dies, it’s like burning down a library.  All their stories are gone.

***End Quote***

I think that the interesting thing about today’s technology is its capability of creating the equivalent of the Library of Congress for the individual, family, groups, or society.


ALUM: Interesting that search engines present different results … …

Sunday, July 30, 2006

… … in of itself that’s not so surprising. What is interesting is that the same search input string yields different results. Not all search engines support rss, surprising. Search engines are “contaminated” by phony results (i.e., “manhattan college” is on the page but as an ad or other filler). Search engines have no way to just pull people out. So when I do my query, I get sports stories, sales sites, travel agencies, and liberally sprinkled thru the results are real alumni. Hmmm!


LIBERTY: Republican leaders know the impact of a minimum wage increase but pander!

Saturday, July 29, 2006

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_07/009254.php

***Begin Quote***

RAGS TO RICHES….The latest from the GOP:

Republican leaders are willing to allow the first minimum wage increase in a decade but only if it’s coupled with a cut in inheritance taxes on multimillion-dollar estates, congressional aides said Friday.

Clearly, the Republican Party is the party of common sense. After all, if you give a few hundred dollars a month to the poorest of the working poor, it’s only fair that you also give several million dollars to the richest of the idle rich.

Right?

***End Quote***

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

(1) Raising the minimum wage is a joke. All it does is put poor people out of work and give raises to the politicians and the politically connected unions. If 7$/hour is good, why not 10$/hour? Why not a 100$/hour? Argh.

(2) Estate taxes are theft. And the graves being robbed don’t vote.

How stupid are we?


MONEY: There’s a moral lesson in this story!

Saturday, July 29, 2006

http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/27/news/funny/monopoly/index.htm?section=money_latest

Monopoly ditches cash for Visa
New British version of classic board game will replace traditional paper dollars with a debit card to reflect modern lifestyles.
July 27 2006: 2:01 PM EDT

***Begin Quote***

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The days of spending cash are over, if a British version of Monopoly has anything to say about it.
Parker Brothers said a new edition of the board game released this week in the United Kingdom and Australia switches to a Visa debit card and electronic transaction calculator from its traditional paper money.

***End Quote***

I recently heard that the average consumer has 19.5 credit cards. The average credit card debt sounds like a minimum wage job’s annual earnings.

Maybe it was my depression era grandparents and their children, my aunt and uncles, particular love of zero debt, a full savings account, and a “never spend more money than is in your pocket” ethic. I learned those lessons later in life. But I marvel at people’s thinking.

Unfortunately, Parker Brothers is not living in the real world.

(1) It doesn’t charge 21% interest for loans. While it may eliminate cheating by the Banker player, it doesn’t reflect the real world where the  politicians, non-regulating insider regulators, the fat cat insiders, and the Federal Reserve (a private corporation that is no more “federal” than I am) ARE cheating us. They are robbing us blind!

(2) It doesn’t take 35% of your $200 when you pass go to waste. There should be one player representing the gubamint that just takes from everyone.

(3) It doesn’t, if one circuit around the board is a year, take an inflation tax of all you cash. That’s real life.

(4) It doesn’t take the opportunity to teach us that cash is better than credit and cash ain’t a store of value.


RANT: The automatic greeting at the McDonald’s drive up

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Nothing dumber. It is obviously trigger ed by a motion sensor. “Welcome to McDonalds. May I take your order?” Don’t start ordering then because you will just have to repeat it when the clerk’s ready. Dumb!


TECH: PLAXO syncs email address books for you

Saturday, July 29, 2006

You may wish to consider Plaxo. It is a free internet service that sync address books between different people who “know” each other. In exchange for the information you share with them, which I am sure they have various ways of making a profit on, you not only get up-to-date info on fellow Plaxo “members”, but you get a usable web-based address book which is a backup of the address book on your computer. It will even sync multiple machines. I have found it a great tool. Some call it “Faustian”, but:

(1) They are upfront about they reuse data. Everyone does it but are not honest enough to admit it.

(2) I seeded my address books with fake people (i.e., my non-computer literate elderly uncle complete with an isp email address). If spam was to show up in the email boxes for my “fake people”, then it could have only come from them. And, I’d rat them out to the inet community. If it sounds like “trust but verify”, it is. I did a few tours in security, so I am very skeptical of stuff on the net. Wanna see my tin foil hat?
FWIW


TECH: Open Source & Open Standards … the nerd’s way out of the licensing swamp!?!

Friday, July 28, 2006

http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/07/four_big_ideas_about_open_sour.html

***Begin Quote***

The architecture of participation beyond software.

Asymmetric Competition.

How Software As a Service Changes The Points of Business Leverage

Open Data. One day soon, tomorrow’s Richard Stallman will wake up and
***End Quote***

I’m not sure I’d say it that way. Here are the dimensions that I would use.
(1) “Open Source” kills the expensive software license business model. Think Open Office as opposed to Microsoft Office. The BSA can take a hike.
(2) “Open Standards”, the xmil-izing of the planet, kills locking people in by holding their data in a proprietary format. An example is how OPMLs have launched RSS readers with easy transfer of reading lists between readers. Think of your Outlook Contacts  exported into a series of VCF files and import into any contact manager.

(3) “Participation” allows an ordinary store of data (e.g., book titles) to be developed into a store of knowledge (e.g., what do others think and say about a particular title). If there was reputation, then it’s be wisdom (i.e., who is knowledgeable about the topic).   Think Amazon as opposed to Barnes & Noble.

(4) “Service” that satisfies any user’s need at a reasonable price can be turned into a lucrative revenue stream. Think Mozy as opposed to doing your own backups when you remember. The more transparent you can make it then bigger the hit. It doesn’t even have to be cheaper. Think GoToPC as opposed to Microsoft’s Remote Desktop.

(5) “Micro payments”, that is the ability to charge a hundreth of a cent for something, will blow the lid off the marketplaces of content or service. Notice that suing the Customer like the MPAA is doing is so counter productive that it has to be a jugundo blunder.  If I had a virtual credit card that would allow me to pay hundredths or a thousandth of a cent, then I wouldn’t care about paying for certain services or content. Then, when you get a million page hits, you are not depending upon advertisers.

(6) “Crypto” is over due. My email should automagically establish a private conversation with my counterparts. It could allow, for example, bank statements over email with zero risk. It could put spammers out of business. The ISPs have to help support the key exchanges. People can exchange keys personally to jumpstart the process. Lame attempts like Vangard’slogon change wouldn’t be necessary.
IMHO


RANT: Medicine as an exact science

Friday, July 28, 2006

Frau Reinke in the hospital relates the following tale:

***Begin Quote***

They gave me my morning meds, and they told me that they don’t stock the 320 mg version of diovan, so they gave me six 60 mg pills.
***End Quote***

Hmmm, 6*60=320?

Interesting what a precise science medicine is!


LIBERTY: Cops, our servents, don’t like their pix taken!

Thursday, July 27, 2006

http://www.lp.org/yourturn/archives/000396.shtml

***Begin Quote***

Snap a picture and get arrested? It just happened to Philadelphia’s Neffy Cruz.

***End Quote***

We need IMMEDIATE legislation at all levels of gubamint to reinforce that the police have no expectation of “privacy”. If our servants, our employees, and our politicians are immune to supervision, then we are on the road to serfdom!


TECH: VWBBie (Verizon Wireless Broad Band)is getting bad press.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/07/verizon_unlimited.html

***Begin Quote***

unlimited

***End Quote***

Interesting that “unlimited” is really limited!


RANT: Is there a bigger rip off than tv and phone rental in the hospital?

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Saint Peter’s Hospital in New Brunswick New jersey charges 450 cents per day for the TV rental. That works out to 135$ per month. The TV ain’t nothing grand. The content provision is poor. Talk about sticking it to some poor people. Phone service is unavailable in the ICU. But, I suspect it will also be 450 cents per day for unlimited incoming and unlimited local outgoing calls. It can’t cost anywhere near that. I wonder how much this all adds to the bottom line of the hospital? For laughs, I think I’ll complain to the BPU. That should be a real waste of time.


RANT: Hospitals are no place if you are sick or need a rest.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Frau is in the hospital. Once again, I take up my keyboard to rant about what passes for “health care” today. Of course, I blame it ultimately on the gubamint. I have some direct and indirect reasoning. My rant goes like this:
(1) A hospital is basically a hotel for sick people. One should get “sicker” by something you catch in the hospital. I remember reading that Doctor’s ties were a residual source of infection, reinfection, and cross patient infection. Seems like we need a new “uniform” for doctors, nurses, orderlies, and housekeeping. A suit and a tie doesn’t necessarily inspire confidence. In my hospital, I’d have turtlenecks. And, colors to differentiate roles.

(2) When I go to Marriott, Hilton, or such, everyone is falling all over to satisfy me. When I pay at the checkout, they are interested if I’ll be coming back. Hotel rates are very competitive. At the hospital, no one much gives a rip. It’s an a la carte process with no holistic care. If a nurse needs to take everyone’s bp, then wake up the patient sleeping to get one’s tasks done. That wouldn’t happen at the local Marriott. Meals, cleaning, testing, doctor’s visits, all revolve around the service provider; not the client!

(3) The gubamint’s wage and price controls in WWII led companies to offer “medical insurance” as a back door way to evade the controls. That one thing has done more to mess up American medical care than anything I can think of. I remember when my Mom had to pay cash for my appendix operation. Care was first rate. Everyone was so helpful. That’s the thing we forget, the golden rule, he who has the gold makes the rules. In this case, it’s the gubamint and the insurance companies making the rules.

(4) The gubmint, via its Medicare and Medicaid rules, has inserted itself directly into the medical decisions of everyone’s care. Everyone! Even if you’re not covered by Medicare / Medicaid, they establish a standard of care. The insurance companies use that. They have coding and such that they piggy back on. Needless to say it’s a mess.

(5) So in a Libertarian America, the government would have NO role in medicine. The truly free marketplace would serve us all. You have the GOLD and make your own rules. One can foresee certain OBVIOUS market accommodations. Hospitals would be more like a hotel and less like a prison. Doctors would be holistic orchestra leaders working at keeping you healthy.  Insurance companies would be working to satisfy you, not your employer. Hence, the premiums would reflect your needs; into the government’s; not the employers.

(6) True charity care would be provided. Just not by the gubamint at the point of a gun. Remember that hospitals were CREATED by the religious and fraternal organizations. As were insurance companies. I remember when you bought Life Insurance from the Knights of Columbus. We need to return to that simpler time, when we VOLUNTARILY organized to solve problems.

(7) If one looks at the inefficiency of a government program or a government-regulated industry, one has a HUGE infrastructure cost of checking and rechecking. One analogy for medical care I read was give the government a dollar for 25 cents worth of service that they decide you can have. Let me keep my buck and I’ll bet I can get more than 25 cents worth of service for it. And, it will be the services that I want. And, people will be falling over themselves to have me pick them.

The free market is people having their needs and wants satisfied by greedy people in a very efficient and effective manner. No checking needed. No overhead required.


RANT: An interesting way to treat the menatlly ill … lie to them, beat them …?

Thursday, July 27, 2006

http://www.impactlab.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8825

***Begin Quote***

A man was beaten by workers of an electric company after they, together with the police and passers-by, persuaded him off a power tower as he planned to commit suicide, Beijing Times reported today.

***End Quote***

I’m not so sure that if I’m the next nut job there that I’d beleive promises made next time. It such a tragedy the way we treat the mentally ill. If there is such a thing as “mental illness”? Fine line between genius and madness. The validity of the “insanity defense”. It all flows from our lack of respect for, appreciation of, the value of life.


TECH: VANGARD changes its logon!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

***Begin Quote***

Protecting your information is very important to Vanguard. Over the next few months, we’ll be introducing significant security enhancements to better safeguard your information on Vanguard.com®. These changes will help ensure that only you—or those you’ve designated to act on your behalf—can access your information online.
***End Quote***

They’re basically splitting the  logon and password screens and putting a user selectable picture on the second page. I guess if you don’t see your animal, then you’re not supposed to put in your password. I don’t understand how this prevents a man-in-the-middle attack. It does prevent a dumb phishing but not a sophisticated one. If you present yourself at the phish site, it can quickly open a connect to Vangard, present you credential, take the screen, show it to you, and you’ll give them your password. It’ll probably take a day of a good coder’s time to beat that one. And, it breaks all teh login tools that people, like me, currently use. ARGHH!


TECH: “CARDSCAN” … a great tool … is acquired by Rubbermaid. What will change?!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Dear F,

Did you ever hear the expression, “The more things change, the more they stay the same?” Well, once again I am delighted to deliver great news about the exciting changes that are happening at CardScan – and to reassure you that CardScan will remain the company you’ve come to know and trust.

CardScan joins DYMO as part of Sanford Brands, the office products division of Newell Rubbermaid.
After 13 years as an independently owned company, CardScan has been acquired by Newell Rubbermaid, a giant in the field of consumer products and owner of some of the best known brands in the world. As the newest member of its Office Products division, Sanford Brands, CardScan becomes a part of DYMO and joins such famous brands as Sharpie, Waterman, Papermate and Expo.

Greater opportunity for us to deliver even greater products and services for you.
While we are proud of what we’ve accomplished as an independent company, we believe that becoming part of Newell Rubbermaid will give us the best of all possible worlds – the continued freedom to develop better products for our customers and the much larger resources to bring those products to market more quickly and support them more thoroughly. As always, innovation will continue to drive us to break new ground in contact management as we continue to provide our usual high standards of technical support and service.

Thank you for your past and continuing support.
I hope you join us in celebrating our exciting news and that you will continue to turn to CardScan for superior contact management products. As a thank you and a welcome to the Sanford Brands family, we invite you to a special offer from DYMO to CardScan customers. And, as always, if you have comments or suggestions about CardScan, feel free to contact me directly at pweyman@cardscan.com.

Sincerely,

Peter Weyman
President
CardScan, Inc.

Please don’t reply to this email. The mailbox is not attended. To reach me, please send an email to pweyman@cardscan.com.

CardScan, Inc. 25 First Street Suite 107 Cambridge, MA 02141


TECH: Changing the model. Change the tech. Change our thinking!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

The Journalist Dilemma

July 23, 2006
The Journalist Dilemma
***Begin Quote***

I definitely agree with the absurdity of having thousands of journalists all covering one single-dateline story, whether it’s a convention or a Michael Jackson trial. But I wonder, too, how this obsession with new approaches to media — citizen journalism, community interaction, local coverage vs non-local — is going to look a few years down the track. For sure, there’s a lot to be said for breaking down the barriers between newspaper and community between professional and amateur reporter/photographer/editor. But this movement will also have some heavy long term effects that aren’t really discussed in this blogocratic world.

***End Quote***

I find little that is truly “local”. I find a lot of tech that is all over the field. I find little that changes my thinking. That’s the most valuable. In the DIKW scale, I get a ton of D and very little W. But I guess that is to be expected.


LIBERTY: College prof can’t see the value of the Electoral College

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/24/MNGIHK4CSQ1.DTL

SACRAMENTO
Stanford professor stumps for electoral alternative
— Matthew Yi, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
— Monday, July 24, 2006
***Begin Quote***

(07-24) 04:00 PDT Sacramento — A Stanford University computer science professor has come up with an idea to circumvent the more than 200-year-old Electoral College system and institute a national popular vote to elect the president of the United States.

The proposal by John Koza, who also invented the scratch-off lottery ticket, is receiving serious consideration by lawmakers in several states. Legislators in California, New York, Colorado, Illinois and Missouri have sponsored bills to enact such a plan.

Koza’s scheme calls for an interstate compact that would require states to throw all of their electoral votes behind the winner of the national popular vote, regardless of which candidate wins in each state. The plan doesn’t require all 50 states to join, but a combination of states that represent a majority (at least 270) of the electoral votes. If the largest states join in the agreement, only 11 would be needed.

***AND***

Proponents say Koza’s proposal is ingenious because it would avoid the immensely difficult task of trying to get rid of the Electoral College system by amending the U.S. Constitution.

***End Quote***

Oh, of course, they don’t like that the current Electoral College system does NOT give the socialists on the East and West Coasts the answer that they wanted to hear. (Personally, I can’t see much difference between the Democan and the Republicrat.) SO they want to change the system.

Never mind, that the Electoral College was specifically DESIGNED to prevent the large states from dominating the small states. Never mind that the system eliminates the need for a precise accurate count in most state. (I’m not sure the dead old white guys thought of that problem.) Never mind that they want to do this without the muss and fuss of amending that old Constitution thing — a back room deal between the politicians of 11 states — oligarchy? — is all that is really needed.

And, that is just off the top of my head.

By the way, the invention of the scratch off lottery ticket probably has done more to impoverish the bottom half of the population than any other invention other than sales tax. Single-handedly he has allow the gubamint to steal more money that any bookie. So, if that is his credential, then I am singularly unimpressed. If the Intelligent Designer needed my advice, then I’d suggest he has to do extra penance for that invention. And, clean up all those darn scrapings at every 7-11 cash register.


MONEY: Pennies … are no more money than the FRBie!

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

http://www.mises.org/story/2254

***Begin Quote***

Of course, with the continuing possibility of inflation with fiat money, we will one day find “give a nickel, take a nickel” trays, and perhaps even “give a dollar, take a dollar” trays, at the convenience store.
***End Quote***

Remember when pennies would buy something? I do. The joke of the penny is on us. We have allowed the gubamint to institutionalize their theft of our money. Prior to FDR’s gold grab, money was a “store of value” as we were taught in economics class. Now it’s a depreciating good that silently and transparently rots. At least you can see a sinking ship, you can’t see the gubamint “clipping coins”, like the kings and prices of old. They’ve automated the process. The dollar bill in your wallet shrinks in value 5% to 10% every year and you don’t realize it. Inflation sticks it to the savers, the old folks on fixed incomes, and the not-rich (i.e., the poor and middle class). Wonder why there’s a real estate boom? Cause they can’t print any more of it. And, when the Japanese get tired of sending us Toyotas for little green pieces of paper, when the Chinese get tired of that trade imbalance, and when the Arabs get their gold dinar, what do you think happens to all those pretty green pieces of paper? Yup, the chickens come home to roost. Read about what you can do with a Confederate dollar or the hyper inflation in post WWI Germany. It’s coming here sooner rather than later.


FUNY: Abbott & Costello and “Who’s on first?”

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

I love it!


GUNS: Criminal brings a knife to a gun fight? Surprise, surprise!

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

http://lonestartimes.com/2006/07/22/armed-citizen-stops-stabbing-spree/

Armed Citizen Stops Stabbing Spree
– Lonestar Times

***Begin Quote***

Proponents of gun control often use news of workplace massacres to justify their crusade against the Second Amendment. Try to reconcile that with this situation: “A knife-wielding grocery store employee attacked eight co-workers, seriously injuring five before a witness pulled a gun and stopped him, police said.”
***End Quote***

Here we have the principle of an armed citizenry act as the police when they are not around. Note that the unarmed citizen was protected by the voluntary action of an armed citizen. Criminals have to guess who are the sheep and who are the guard dogs in disguise. I’m reminded of a cartoon, where the wolf carries away the biggest sheep in the flock, only to find the guard dog unzipping the costume, and punishing him. I’d like my fellow citizens to have that protective uncertainty. Plus, in the cited case, how many of us, unarmed, would confront this attacker? It’d be fool hardy. I would like to have seen the expression on the knife weilder’s face when he was looking down the barrel of a gun. I imagine he could get on the ground fast enough. See, that’s the part that gets under reported, guns don’t necessarily have to be fired to bring peace to a situation.


WRITING: ETR quotes one of my emails to Bill Bonner at the Daily Reconing

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Bonner wrote about “created” equal on Lew Rockwell.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/bonner/bonner267.html
http://www.dailyreckoning.com/Issues/2006/DRUS071106.html


***Begin Quote***

As for the main truth that Jefferson thought self-evident, that “all men are created equal,” we are even less certain. What made him think it was self-evident, we don’t know. All the evidence we’ve seen tells us just the opposite – men are not born equal. One is rich; one is poor. One is fat; one is skinny. One has Viking blue eyes and pale skin; the other is a Blackamoor with eyes like burning coals and skin the color of soot. Maybe twins are born equal, but the rest of us are as variable as snowflakes. No two are alike. No two are equal.

***End Quote***

So, since I was taught to think that Jefferson was absolutely correct, I jumped to his defense as I was taught many years ago.

**Begin My Response***

I’ve bought and read your book. I follow your writings in Worldnet Daily with interest. If I may be so bold, I think you’re not understanding a distinction that Jefferson was making.

I’d like to share a grammar school lesson I got in the fifth or sixth grade of Catholic elementary school. Bear in mind that this was the fifties, and the boys were taught by the Christian Brothers. These guys were tough. Many of them, if not all, were WWII or Korean War vets. And, they had answers for most tough questions. They also were pretty blunt. And, not a lot of patience for distinctions that did not make a difference. Strangely, they took a pretty strong position on the very topic you cited. So, clearly, it was not a trivial distinction to them.
Jefferson wrote ‘all men are created equal.’ To these battle-hardened vets, there was nothing ‘wrong’ about this assertion. Quizzically, they would say, ‘All men ARE created equal. But, all men are NOT born equal.’

They made a BIG deal out of that. You had to approach every person with an open mind. With justice for the SOBs (Swell Old Boys)! With charity for all the people who weren’t born with the advantages we had. Report cards had things like ‘respects the rights of others,’ ‘works well with others,’ and my personal favorite: ‘helps others reach their potential.’

There were a lot of funny lessons all designed to help us learn what they were trying to teach. There was one activity that had envelopes with rewards and punishments in them at random – with random rewards and punishments written on the outside. Lesson: Don’t judge a book by its cover! Tests where all the students’ grades were equal to the lowest grade in the class. Lesson: Teamwork! Classes were split into sections – smart, average, stupid, and dumb – with tests graded on improvement. Lesson: Just cause you’re smart doesn’t guarantee you’ll win! Halfway through a test, the rules were changed, no sympathy. Lesson: Life throws curves! And we had to adapt, live with it, and grow up.

So, there is a theoretical ‘created,’ like the theory of poker. And then there is the ‘born,’ like playing the hand you’re dealt.

Hope this ramble makes some sense, and explains what I think Jefferson was trying to say. Seems obvious to me, but then I was taught about life by some Marines.”

***End My Response***

I was absolutely tickled that it was reused in the Early To Rise issue.

http://www.earlytorise.com/archive/html/072406-2.html


LIBERTY: “The Death Penalty” … … a gubamint crime!

Monday, July 24, 2006

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200607/NAT20060724b.html

Death Penalty Needs Fixing, Say Critics
By Monisha Bansal
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
July 24, 2006

***Begin Quote***

(CNSNews.com) – The death penalty should be changed or abolished because it is corrupting the U.S. system of justice at all levels, critics alleged on Friday.
“It corrupts all of us. It is corrupting our courts, it’s corrupting prosecutors, it’s corrupting defense attorneys, it’s corrupting juries, it’s corrupting our society,” said Bryan Stevenson, a defense attorney and professor of clinical law at New York University’s School of Law. He was among those participating in a National Press Club discussion on the future of the death penalty.
***End Quote***

I would argue against the death penalty on many points –authority, efficiency, effectiveness, and fairness.
Where does the government get its authorization to kill a citizen? As a principled pro-life little L libertarian I challenge anyone to cite from whence the gubamint gets permission to kill anyone. To prevent the use of force on a citizen, it is justified in stopping an aggression. That’s in a “hot” situation. It’s a logical principal. Once they have stopped the aggression, their right to use force ends. Further, if I can’t morally do something, then just counting more noses can’t make it more right! And, when we allow the gubamint to kill any citizen, they get the idea that they are authorized or permitted to do it. Soon they will think it’s a good idea for any “troublemaker”. Mount Carmel, Ruby Ridge, and the Japanese Internment come to mind.

Does the gubamint do “capital punishment” efficiently? Nah, mistakes abound. That stat of DNA clearing the convicted on death row illustrates the efficiency of the process. We don’t know the size of the problem. There is an old canard about shaking a haystack and having needles fall out means that there are more needles in that stack and why are they there in the first place. So if there are some mistakes we find where there are supposed to be zero, we can be assured that there are many more mistakes we haven’t found.

Is capital punishment effective? So few murders are solved, it’s ineffective by definition. If it’s purpose of is justice, surely that has to left in the hands of the Intelligent Designer. If it’s purpose is retribution, I guess it does that. If it’s purpose is prevention or dissuasion. it does very little. Restitution is not even on the gubamint’s value radar. So I think we can say it’s NOT effective.
Fair? You have to be kidding. Just look at the racial component of the stats. Prima facie, this should stop it on just this basis alone.

Convinced? If not, you do it. Don’t delegate it to a state worker! Pick a citizen out of the jury pool and ask them to do it.

You have to be willing to do your own dirty work.