LIBERTY: Thirty days back to a Constitutional America

Thursday, August 30, 2007

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/30-day-plan.html

Rockwell’s Thirty-Day Plan
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

***Begin Quote***

When Eastern Europe broke free in 1989, we all realized just how little thought had been given to the transition from socialism to capitalism. Mises had told us the collapse was coming, and we should have been prepared.

As America comes to resemble a command economy, we need a transition plan here too. Yuri Maltsev proposed a “One-Year Plan” for the U.S.S.R. We’re not in that bad a shape (yet), so we could do it in 30 days.

DAY ONE: The federal income tax is abolished and April 15th is declared a national holiday. The 40% reduction in federal revenues is matched by a 40% cut in spending. The budget is still almost twice as big as Jimmy Carter’s.

***AND***

DAY FOURTEEN: The shaky fiat dollar is defined in terms of gold, with the ratio determined by dividing the government’s gold stock by all existing dollars on that day.

***AND***

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT: The American people are given the unrestricted right to keep and bear arms.

***End Quote***

Well said. I have some minor quibbles.

In #1, what national holidays? What is is a holiday from? Where in the newly brushed off Constitution does it say anything about National Holidays? On April 15th, after Lew nukes the IRS, I’ll be happy to take a day off at my own choosing to tell my younger in-laws who were educated in gooferment skoolz that there once was a time when theft by a gang of very bad men holed up in a Maryland swamp were so strong that they convinced people that they should send half of their production to that swamp. But, I don’t need a gooferment holiday to do that!

In #14, I don’t agree in the redemption method. I think all those green pieces of paper need redemption and that all those unfunded promises need to be made whole, but how to do it is my quibble. I think all those federal assets need to be sold off for the creditors.

In #28, rights aren’t given! They may be restored from their previous infringement but they are after all inalienable.

All in all, I thing the schedule needs a little shuffling, but the next month should be fun!

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Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: transplants are needed

Thursday, August 30, 2007

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=no_trade-offs&ns=ThomasSowell&dt=08/28/2007&page=2

No Trade-Offs?
By Thomas Sowell
Tuesday, August 28, 2007

***Begin Quote***

More organs to transplant are needed, and people tend to supply more of anything when they are paid more — and especially when they are paid something instead of being paid nothing.

But, here as elsewhere, we must first overcome squeamishness. And the first step is to stop confusing it with being humane.

***End Quote***

We allow the politicians, bureaucrats, and fuzzy thinking sheep to keep us from doing the right thing in some many areas of life.

As you know, I believe that free markets are miniature elections. A buyer and seller can (usually) make a bargain from whence they both benefit. (if they didn’t, then the deal would not close.) That says to the world that X = Y. A barrel of oil is worth 65$. Aside from all other arguments, that sets the stage for people to make decisions and plans. If your potential use would bring you 66$ in value, then you proceed. Otherwise, you decline. It’s an election. And, it’s interesting because it sums up all the wants, need, and desires across all the people. The next barrel is up for bid. The one who needs it “most” will get it. And, they will have the money to pay based on their contributions to their fellow man. Yup, that’s right. The only way to get money is to appeal to you fellow man to give you some by satisfying their needs. The market place is not only an election, rationing agent, and an auctioneer, it’s a mechanism to enforce cooperation.

So, let’s use it to solve the organ donation problem.

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Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Get botox faster than cancer screening. No surprise!

Thursday, August 30, 2007

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070830043429.boo9bmfz&show_article=1

Patients get appointments for Botox faster than for moles: study
Aug 30 12:34 AM US/Eastern

***Begin Quote***

Patients who want a Botox treatment for wrinkles get appointments with US dermatologists much faster than those with potentially cancerous moles, according to a new study.

For a Botox injection, patients waited typically for eight days, while those asking doctors to look at worrisome moles that might indicate skin cancer waited 26 days, said the study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

***End Quote***

You pay for what you get. If the doc can make X with no insurance hassle, then is it a surprise that he will do what turns time into bucks fastest? That’s the free market allocating resources, better faster and cheaper than any administrative system.

When we get Hillarycare, I can’t wait to see the queues.

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Posted by reinkefj

TECH SOFTWARE: ROBOFORM (Highly Recommended — Essential Software)

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

http://www.roboform.com

Have a few situations where I think roboform2go could do a little better.

(1) When I resume, the roboform2go can’t remember where the fob was. even though it never left its place in the usb slot. Rerunning roboform2go fixes it.

(2) When I reboot, roboform2go restarts but the little icon — that gives me access easily to all the functions — gets “lost”. Rerunning roboform2go restores to its proper place.

(3) On resume, if I put the fob in too early in the boot process, then roboform2go never triggers to start.

I just think that it could be handled a little better.

For example, when roboform2go “loses” its fob, there should be a pick from the little icon to “look around for it”.

For example, when the little roboform2go icon goes “mia”, (Note: roboform2go is running and will supply data), there should be a secret key combo to restore the icon.

Just some kvetches that have been building up and I thought I’d mention them.

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Posted by reinkefj

JOBSEARCH: Career planning?

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Does anyone ever have a “career plan”? What tools do you use to support that plan?

***Begin Quote***

I’ve been counseling my “turkeys” ((i.e., out of work fat old white guys usually in the IT field; you know COBOL guys in the RUBY age) about having a written plan for what they want. Everyone has heard that urban legend about 97% of successful Harvard graduates had a written plan when they graduated. (Have to research that particular urbanity!) But I haven’t found any web tools that support developing a “career plan”. Not that I need one now. But for my fellow turkeys. There’s execunet (www.execunet.com) for executive job search. There’s jibberjobber (www.jibberjobber.com) for personal network management. But what helps plan the career? What is the “Microsoft Project” for turning a string of jobs into a career plan?

***End Quote***

Interesting question?

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Posted by reinkefj

RANT: Death By Gooferment

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/2007/aug/23/death_by_government

Free Healthcare is Expensive

*** begin quote ***

A Calgary woman was in excruciating pain from worn-out knee cartilage.
She had to wait 16 months for her “free” surgery. It took so long that
she became addicted to “free” Oxycontin. The result? More time on
another long list, waiting for “free” drug rehab.

*** end quote ***

We have in today’s Amerika a perfect laboratory of “socialized medicine” in the “single payer genre”. The VA!

Yes, you don’t have to look and see what Hillary-care will look like. We have it already.

And, you want this for all of us?

Please count me out!

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Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: inflation is a mandatory element

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

http://www.lewrockwell.com/peterson/peterson16.html

Peterson’s Law of Inflation
by William H. Peterson

***Begin Quote***

But still, would governments consciously inflate against their own citizens? The thought was too dismal, the theory too disconcerting. We never got to check out the connection, if any, between inflation and public debts, for we left the Museum of Moneys of the World – that monetary graveyard – for the purer air and traffic of New York’s Sixth Avenue and fished in our pockets for a fifteen cent subway token to take a ride that had cost a nickel not so long ago.*

*Current 2007 price of New York City subway ride is $2.

This article was originally published in National Review, December 19, 1959.

***End Quote***

I’d suggest that inflation is a mandatory element of any financial plan.

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Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Taxes enslave everyone now

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I Have a Dream”
delivered 28 August 1963,
at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

***Begin Quote***

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

***End Quote***

Are we there yet? Not even close. I’d argue we are actually further away. Taxes enslave everyone now!

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Posted by reinkefj

TECH SERVICE: CollectiveX’s Groupsites (RECOMMENDED)

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

http://www.groupsites.com/

CollectiveX’s Groupsites

***Begin Quote***

What are Groupsites?

Groupsites make it easy for groups to share, communicate and network. They combine the best
features of:

– Discussion forums
– Email lists
– Calendars
– Social networks

Groupsites are powered by CollectiveX; are FREE to setup; and can be public, semi-public or private.

***End Quote***

Interesting concept. You’re own social network. I’d suggest that it has a fragment of the solution. Jibber Jobber has a part. Yahoo Groups has a part. LinkedIn has a part.

Hmmm! Maybe I’ll create something for my fellow Turkeys, or just me?

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Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: no commute, no HQ, and no office

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Story?id=3521725&page=2

The Future of the Workplace: No Office, Headquarters in Cyberspace
Some Companies Don’t Care Where Workers Are as Long as They Get the Job Done
By BETSY STARK
ABC NEWS Business Correspondent
Aug. 27, 2007

***Begin Quote***

Imagine a work world with no commute, no corporate headquarters and perhaps not even an office in the physical world at all.

For Bob Flavin, a computer scientist at IBM; Janet Hoffman, an executive at a management consulting firm; and Joseph Jaffe, a marketing entrepreneur, the future is already here.

***End Quote***

Yeah, and kiss your personal time good bye.

Been there and done that. If you are not feeling that your on Robinson Crusoe’s island, then you’re at the Battle of <insert favorite movie battle like Alamo, Battan, or Pork Chop Hill> alone without help, and held accountable to move mountains with your magic wand. Having done “global”, you can kiss the clock good bye. Having a berry, you can’t even go to the head (i.e., loo or LV or “officer’s club”) with out interruption. (I hear people doing email in the stalls or answer calls. Yuck!)

Maybe I can start the virtual union hall! ;-)

(Always thought the AFL CIO aimed at the wrong target demographic. I’d organize the IT workers. Not only could they pay more in dues, they have the enterprises by the throat in their data is their life blood.)

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1 Comment | INTERESTING | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

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