POLITICAL: Beck on a roll about rights

Monday, January 11, 2010

In today’s TV show, Glenn Beck is on a roll. Senator Harkin attempts to define Health Care as a right. Rights come from the Creator; not from Congress. Because if rights did come from Congress, then they could take them away.

Time for pitchforks and torches, Sheeple!

Argh!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: BHO44 put us here; dumb

Monday, January 11, 2010

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6957485/Detroit-bomber-singing-like-a-canary-before-arrest.html

Detroit bomber ‘singing like a canary’ before arrest
By Philip Sherwell in New York
Published: 6:27PM GMT 09 Jan 2010

*** begin quote ***

President Barack Obama is under fire over claims that the Christmas Day underwear bomber was “singing like a canary” until he was treated as an ordinary criminal and advised of his right to silence.

*** end quote ***

Elections have consequences and this is one of them.

BHO44 didn’t lie (I don’t think; not like the Obamacare dealings will be on CSpan!) and conceal that this would be his position. But, respectfully, he’s DUMB. Maybe a Harvard lawyer, but this self-inflicted inability to get military intelligence — about this self-evidenced terrorists, his compadres, the higher up, future plans, and collateral information — is dangerous.

A wise man understands the logical extension of his proposals. In this case, we have two choices: (1) he didn’t anticipate where his policies would place us; OR (2) he did and didn’t realize the dangers. Either way, it’s dumb.

We have to quickly convince people to reverse course — before we get hit again with something bigger and badder.

# # # # #

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICS: Name a gooferment program that works

Monday, January 11, 2010

http://libertyunbound.com/article.php?id=449

Bridging the Two Libertarianisms
Carl S. Milsted, Jr.
What does the nonaggression principle really mean for libertarianism?

*** begin quote ***

People routinely send mail by government post, drive on government roads, rely on government food inspections, walk on government sidewalks, and enforce contracts in government courts.

*** end quote ***

I once heard on Free Talk Live http://freetalklive.com/ one of the host expressed the paradigm: “Name one program that works? And, if we can agree it does work, how much does it cost? How much should it cost?”.

So let’s look at your examples:

  1. Mail: Even with funny accounting — they don’t count the cost of capital assets like real estate and equipment depreciation — the cost is absurd. And, they have to enforce the first class mail franchise with a law enforcing their monopoly. (The famous one dollar minimum for express delivery services.) It’s laughable when the USPS compares themselves to FedEx for package delivery since in some areas they subcontract to FedEx. And, let’s talk about lost mail. We have very little statistical information but that doesn’t mean they are flawless.
      
  2. Roads: In New Jersey, the roads are a disgrace. And, we had a gas tax trust fund that was raided by the goofenors of both parties to fund their pet projects. We have no way to know if there is a better way since no one is allowed to try a different way. We can look at the road in Disney World and other amusement parks that are in relatively perfect condition. Hard to imagine that a consortium of WalMart, UPS, and others couldn’t do as well. As a proxy, look at the Air Traffic Control System, that is run totally be the Federal Gooferment. Vintage 1950 computing causes massive delays. The roads are comperable. Where’s the innovation like in computers that makes roads better.
  3. Food Inspections: We can point to the fact that most “inspections” are either not done or don’t protect the people. A recent press story said that the gooferment accepts 10 or 20 times the level of filth in meat than McD’s does. We have no idea how much this “gooferment inspection” costs, but are people relying on that or the fact that they trust WalMart to sell them good stuff.
  4. Sidewalks: Sorry, but those are foisted on the property owner. Even when the gooferment destroys them, the land owner gets stuck fixing them. (I know personal experience.)
  5. Courts: That’s why we have Judge Judy on TV. The gooferment’s courts are backed up and capricious. And, heaven help you, if the gooferment has an interest in the suit. Sue the gooferment in it’s own court and be surprised at the result.

And on, and on, and on.

I have yet to see a gooferment program that works. Or even not working, do it at a reasonable cost.

I notice that the author didn’t cite: schools, dmv, health insurance, health care, foreign policy, DoD, and on, and on, and on.

My solution is to be pragmatic.

Let’s have an exit plan. It may take decades to “unwind” these programs, but let’s start.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | LIBERTY, Political | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj