GOLDBUG: The discipline of a commodity-based currency

Sunday, September 12, 2010

http://dailyreckoning.com/if-gold-were-money-again

*** begin quote ***

In his short but trenchant analysis in 1994 of fractional reserve banking, The Case Against the Fed, Murray Rothbard laid out another methodology for establishing an benchmark price of gold based upon liquidation value of the Federal Reserve. For perspective, in 1994 gold closed the year at $384/ounce, while the broadest measure of money having been printed in the United States (M3) stood at $4.4 trillion, or only 31 percent of its 2008 quantity. When he performed this exercise using the balance sheet of April 6, 1994, he calculated that shutting down the Federal Reserve and distributing gold bullion to its creditors would reset the dollar’s value to $ 1,555 per ounce.

*** end quote ***

If it were, we could be sure that the Gooferment was not plundering us by the invisible taxation of inflation. And, none of this deficit nonsense, if they want to spend it then we have to pay for it. Remember the Spanish American cell phone tax! At least, our forefathers had the stones to pay the bills for what they wanted done and not leave an I_O_China for our progeny to pay off.

Argh!

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QUOTE: “Anything you really want, you can attain, if you really go after it.” –Wayne Dyer

Sunday, September 12, 2010

“Anything you really want, you can attain, if you really go after it.”

–Wayne Dyer

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INTERESTING: A goat in every pot?

Saturday, September 11, 2010

http://www.lewrockwell.com/luongo/luongo12.1.html

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Respect the Chicken
by Thomas Luongo

*** begin quote ***

To me, the history of humanity can be summed up thusly. There once was a group of people living peacefully until some jackass decided that because he controlled a resource he had leverage over them and thought it a good idea to enslave them to his control. That attempt to control can be rendered moot by vacating that place, which some members of the group did. However, they can only do so if they have the means to sustain themselves. Well, to me, the chicken and the goat represent the two animals that give you the best chance at survival on your own. Both can turn low-quality land into high-quality food and other resources. Both can work with a nomadic group. Cows can’t do that, neither can sheep. Horses provide work and transport once you have become established in a place. They all need high-quality land to survive, no less thrive. But, the chicken and the goat, well, to me, they just scream liberty in a way that few others can1. The Free State Project missed the boat on their choice of mascot. My choice to raise these animals is on the one hand accidental (the chicken) and on the other planned (the goat) but both represent the life I want as well as the world I want to live in. They form the foundation while the others provide the super-structure.

*** end quote ***

Chickens and goats in a survival situation.

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RANT: Burning ANY book is dumb!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

http://www.keywestlou.com/2010/09/day-of-remembrance.html

*** begin quote ***
Then there is this minister who wants to burn the Quran. In poor taste, also. But…..the Muslims burn my flag and hang my President in effigy. So why not!
*** end quote ***

A few reasons why not:

(1) This is America and we have religious tolerance. It affords us a measure of peace that is not enjoyed elsewhere. We don’t need to import that problem. Especially not due to the action of some pastor of a no name Church with 30 members.

(2) When teams go into a game, you don’t give your opponent “bulletin board” material. Stuff to motivate them to strive harder. Our boys and girls, some mere children, are in <Expletive Deleted> harm’s way and this bozo is making it more dangerous. I’d think every vet in his vicinity would explain the facts of life to him. With or without tar and feathers as necessary.

(3) There probably is no more stupid act than to burn a book. Any book. It represents the DNA of humanity. Even it’s totally wrong (i.e., the Earth is flat); it’s important in it shows the errors in our thinking at that point in time. Too much dikw (i.e., data, information, knowledge, wisdom) is lost; we don’t need to make it an acceptable activity. Ever. Besides isn’t that what Nazis do?

(4) If he wants to burn something, try a politician. (Just joking, I’m a Right to Life fellow who abhors the death penalty.) Not only did the Gooferment fail to protect 4,000 Americans on 9/11, they have failed to lead us. I blogged today how we should have had a national priority to rebuild the twin towers with an extra ‘middle finger” building in the middle, that was one story taller than the old buildings, and align it to face the Middle East. (I’m a little L libertarian; not a pacifist. I don’t start fights; I finish them!)

So we should tell this bozo to put a cork in his gas can. And, if someone overseas wants to burn the President in effigy, we should send them some more effigies of other “political leaders” to throw on the pyre. Saves us the gas.

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RANT: Please spare me the faux sympathy from politicians

Saturday, September 11, 2010

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6105570

Ground Zero Memorial Service: 9th Anniversary of Terror Attacks

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I empathize with the 9/11 families. I think the 9/11 responders got screwed. I would hope that we can do better in the future.

I blame the political leadership.

We should have the WTC rebuilt in record setting time. Any bully knocks you down, you jump back up and get in the fight. I would, if I was “King”, have selected the three tower design with a larger middle tower that was exactly one foot taller. And. I’d have “faced” it towards the Middle East.

Also if I was “King” I’d have bought every “first responder” a Gooferment employee health insurance plan. And, I’d have ensured that all the families were appropriately compensated for this colossal Gooferment failure. The Gooferment has only one job and that’s to protect us from force or fraud. They failed miserably.

Now, I’d be looking at the kooks who want to burn books or build mosques to mark the conquest. Isn’t that out of the Nazi playbook? The Gooferment has NO role telling them what they can and can’t do with respect to religion. But this is about PR. And, yes, in foreign countries they burn stuff. We’re not responsible for that. But I would “encourage” my fellow citizens to express their opinions to these kooks. I’d proved police protection from bullets to them. However if unorganized citizens want to deliver a load of “barbara streisand” to them, I’d step aside and let the free market operate. Where are these poeples’ relatives and neighbors? (BTW what union iron worker is going to build that mosque?)

BUT, politicians can spare me the faux sympathy and ersatz patriotism.

They failed in their duty because they were too busy jerking around playing political games.

A pox on them.

GBA!

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POLITICAL: Selective Constitutionality

Saturday, September 11, 2010

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100910/D9I50KL00.html

Calif judge to stop ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy
Sep 10, 6:39 AM (ET)
By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON

*** begin quote ***

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A federal judge said she will issue an order to halt the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, after she declared the ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips ruled Thursday that the prohibition on openly gay military service members was unconstitutional because it violates the First and Fifth Amendment rights of gays and lesbians.

*** end quote ***

And, the Army is Constitutionally only supposed to exist for two years after being called up. And, there’s supposed to be a RKBA. And, the Fifth says Obama couldn’t take over the GM screwing the GM bondholders.

Amazing how they pick and chose what they want to enforce.

The Anarcho-capitalist’s (AKA libertarian anarchy, market anarchism, or free market anarchism) are right: we don’t NEED Gooferment and it ALWAYS oppresses us.

Argh!

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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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SERVICE: FOURSQUARE or please rob me?

Friday, September 10, 2010

http://foursquare.com/

201009091353.jpg

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RANT: BHO44 Speech today

Friday, September 10, 2010

He’s kidding right. The D’s have super majorities in both houses. He blames the R’s. If he had all the D’s, he has NO NEED of any R.

So he’s jerking us off.

And, we need LESS spending; not more!

Argh!

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POLITICAL: Subsidizing politics from the public treasury!

Friday, September 10, 2010

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/09/tri-c_students_recruited_to_fi.html

Home > OPEN: Ohio Politics > Energy
Tri-C students recruited to fill the seats for Obama’s appearance
Published: Wednesday, September 08, 2010, 1:30 PM
Updated: Wednesday, September 08, 2010, 1:33 PM
Karen Farkas, The Plain Dealer Karen Farkas, The Plain Dealer

*** begin quote ***

PARMA, Ohio – With less than an hour before President Obama’s scheduled speech, 75 seats remained empty in the recreation center at Cuyahoga Community College’s Western Campus. So organizers went around campus and recruited more students to fill the seats.

*** and ***

dunlopreggie September 08, 2010 at 2:40PM

How shameful that an elected officeholder flies in to town on a publicly bought jet, is escorted and secured by probably hundreds of publicly paid police, to give a speech in a publicly owned facility, and the event is not open to the public. What a sham. I hope someone is reimbursing the taxpayers for the costs of this partisan campaign appearance.

*** end quote ***

Excellent point!

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POLITICAL: Police want an intrusive capability

Thursday, September 9, 2010

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/09/08/669723/lists-of-pain-pillpatients-sought.html

*** begin quote ***

Sheriffs in North Carolina want access to state computer records identifying anyone with prescriptions for powerful painkillers and other controlled substances.

*** end quote ***

You’re gonna be in that database! What people put in the body is nobody’s business. Unless, they hurt others or expect “We, The People” to clean up after them.

Sorry, but what the economists call “the natural rate of addiction” hasn’t really changed since the Ancient Greeks. New drugs, new laws, new approaches — no difference. Even in China. where they had the death penalty for it, and they STILL have the natural rate of addiction.

And, we have to endure civil strife. End the psuedo drug laws, put WalMart in charge of selling “illegal drugs” and let’s all live in peace.

Argh!

Let’s put the various “Drug Lords” out of business! The various Czars as well!!

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FUN: Book burnings

Thursday, September 9, 2010

FROM TWITTER

M_Ahmadinejad

I like to retaliate by burning a book that you Americans hold dear, but the only book you care about is Facebook.

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ROFL!

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TECHNOLOGY: Online storage; free, of course

Thursday, September 9, 2010

http://askbobrankin.com/online_free_storage.html?tbart

Online Free Storage

*** begin quote ***

Why do they give away free online storage space? To get you hooked on it, of course. Drug dealers give away free samples too, and start charging when a user’s habit is big enough and strong enough. Microsoft Azure offers a measly 500 MB of free online storage

as an introductory offer, while their SkyDrive gives you 25GB of space. Google Storage is offering “up to 100 GB per object (file stored) and up to 1000 buckets (places to store objects) per account” during its beta/preview period.

*** end quote ***

You really want what I call a “shadowing” type (i.e., alternatives like Dropbox | Carbonite | Mozy), where you just do your think normally and all the backing up and / or syncing is done under the covers. If you have to think about it, that’s bad. You’ll forget. Everyone does.

From an information security perspective, I’d like it to be encrypted by my platform BEFORE it is place in the directory and synced out to the cloud. Maybe in Release 2 of these services?

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RANT: No harm, no foul, no arrest!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/09/07/long-island-man-arrested-for-defending-home-with-ak-47/

*** begin quote ***

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (CBS 2) — He was arrested for protecting his property and family.

But it’s how the Long Island man did it that police say crossed the line.

*** end quote ***

Not guilty!

p.s., I cced <an upcoming juror> who going to jury duty. Wanna get her conditioned to: “No harm, no foul, not guilty”! Just because the Praetorian Guard thinks they are the only ones who should have weapons, that doesn’t mean the citizens can’t have and use them. So who’s going to protect this man’s home if not him. Did they shake down all the folks threatening him? Bet they were carrying concealed! Sorry, but gang members do NOT need a weapon to scare and threaten me.

Gun control should be limited to hitting what you aim at.

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UPDATE: 2010-09-10

http://www.lewrockwell.com/slavo/slavo11.1.html

*** begin quote ***

The use of force in response to what law enforcement perceives to be a lack of force on the part of the trespassers in this case is a gross misinterpretation of the events.

A criminal does not have to have a weapon to forcefully enter a home and assault its residents, especially if the criminals number twenty individuals suspected of being part of a violent gang who are instigating the threats on private property.

In our view, the fact that these individuals were on Mr. Grier’s property, making physical threats against him, his wife and his children is reason enough for Mr. Grier to not only fire warning shots, but to take all available means to eliminate the threat.

This is exactly the reason why high-powered, semi-automatic weapons should be a part of every home defense plan.

*** end quote ***

Well said!

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INTERESTING: FIve questions

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2010/09/trying-to-make-a-touch-decision-try-asking-the-five-fateful-questions.html

Trying to Make a Tough Decision? Try Asking the Five Fateful Questions.

*** begin quote ***

When I’m reluctant to take a risk or face something uncomfortable, I ask myself these five questions which, in melodramatic form, I call the “Five Fateful Questions.” They help me think clearly about a situation.

  • What am I waiting for?
  • What would I do if I weren’t scared?
  • What steps would make things easier?
  • What would I do if I had all the time and money in the world?
  • What is the worst, and the best, that could happen?

*** end quote ***

I find myself reluctant to examine what’s wrong or what’s coming. If I was to pick out some questions to “get started”, i try some different ones?

  • What am I trying to accomplish?
  • What are the entry criteria? (Prerequisites?)
  • What is the single exit criterion, or what are the multiple exit criteria?
  • When something fails, is that failure above or below the “waterline”?
  • Have I fully explored the various aspects of what I seek to do?

Seeking to define the opportunity represented:

  • PMI (Pluses, Minuses and Interesting Points)
  • AGO (Aims, Goals and Objectives)
  • CAF (Consideration of All Factors)
  • OPV (Other People’s Views)
  • FIP (First Important Priorities)
  • APC (Alternatives, Possibilities or Choices)
  • C&S (Consequences and Sequels)

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RANT: Time for the USA to apply the PNG paddle to diplomats

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.260c2246a5c77075ff7ab46b021e9239.371&show_article=1

Iran ‘stoning woman’ to be lashed over photo: son
Sep 4 01:08 PM US/Eastern

*** begin quote ***

Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, has also been sentenced to 99 lashes for a photo published of her without a headscarf, according to her son.

*** end quote ***

Clearly, we have to stand up morally for the rights of this oman, and all women. The greatest power we have is “ostracism”. We turn our backs on those that are immoral and shun them. So, we have to declare a diplomat persona non grata and send them home. We should identify any one in the Iranian Gooferment, PNG them should they show up at our porous borders looking for some “fun”, and finally Congress should pass a “marque and reprisal” on them. Basically saying we won’t prosecute or extradite anyone who takes action against these folks.

We should urge the Brits, French, Germans, and Swiss to do the same. Let’s see how these “big men” enjoy a little “adult time out”!

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RANT: “benefits” make serfs of us all

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

http://www.lewrockwell.com/williams-w/w-williams49.1.html

Something for Nothing
by Walter E. Williams

*** begin quote ***

Nonwage benefits turn out to be good for the employee because, for the most part, he pays no taxes on them. In other words, if the employer paid the worker the cash value of, say, health insurance as wages, the worker would have to pay income taxes on it and then go out and buy health insurance.

*** end quote ***

My take on it is that this was a Faustian deal with the devil.

Early recipients did benefit. Later ones didn’t. So we can’t talk about the “worker” since there are differences over time in the population so labeled.

The mere monetary gain from a tax free “benefit” is far outweighed by the inability to keep those “benefits” when out of work. And, one has to wonder about all the bankruptcies caused by the loss of benefits. All from not be able to buy medical insurance on the open market that would be portable. Without FDR’s wage and price controls, and the bizarre court decision saying it wasn’t income, we’d be buying “health insurance” like we do life, car, or homeowners. We’d have entities like credit unions to amalgamate risks into pools.

Argh!

And, we’d have freedom and liberty from politicians and bureaucrats!

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INTERESTING: Interesting question about type 1 and 2 errors

Monday, September 6, 2010

Interesting discussion with CRITICALCAREDOC#1 about tests and treatments.

With treatments, the criteria medical folks use is how many do I have to treat to save one life? With tests, the criteria is “is it dispositive”. In testing large numbers, how sensitive is the test, what is the error rate, and the impact.

He used his experience in the late 80’s discussion of HIV testing. The estimate was that 1 out of 10,000 people have the condition. If I have a test for HIV that’s 99% accurate. It will positively id 99 out of 100 who have the condition. If I have a population of 1,000,000 people, that means in that million, there are 1,000 people with the condition. SO I run my test and I find 990 people who have it and miss 10. BUT, I also have told 9,900 people that they have it, but they really don’t.

So in testing, it’s important to know what the statistics of the test are. Every test has false negative and false positives. Just because you’re dealing with a population of one, the stats still apply.

In the test that we inquired about, that KIDNEYDOC#4 added, it has very high sensitivity but may NOT be dispositive. Whatever it tells you, you must consider that it maybe wrong. And, you may not have caught it when it is malfunctioning. And, you may or may not be able to treat it.

So, what I got out of it is that this test is marked as status “KFH”!

(Keep Family Happy)

Argh!

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In fat old white guy injineer’s school, we applied that to measurements. Funny to hear it applied to real people.

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POLITICAL: Telemed abortion; telemed everything?

Monday, September 6, 2010

http://www.lifenews.com/state5383.html

Iowa Board of Medicine Creates Committee, May Study Telemed Abortion Process
by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Editor
August 26, 2010

*** begin quote ***

The organization contends Planned Parenthood is breaking the law because Iowa state law requires abortions to be done by physicians and a doctor is not physically present with the woman at the time she get the abortion drug. Instead, a potentially untrained or unlicensed staffer sits with the woman as she visits with the abortion practitioner, who may be out of state at the time, during a videoconfernce.

*** end quote ***

Why regulate medicine?

To make jobs for bureaucrats and drive up costs for the benefit of the monopoly suppliers. Argh!

If one can have video conference abortions, then why can’t we have video conference everything else?

Good way to ship doctor’s jobs to third world countries.

As a little L libertarian, why do we permit the Gooferment to “regulate” medicine? Not like it does anything but drive up costs.

(And, btw, how much does this “committee” cost?)

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FUN: With appologies to Edgar Allan Poe

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Triage

Once upon an ER dreary, while I pondered the weak and the wearying,
Over many medical folk, in their forgotten verse, yelling,
While I watched my loved one suffer and wait patiently for some healing.

The noise became a deafening discordant dissonance jarring,
I heard a cacophony of urgently demanding machines a beeping,
But my pen, to a happier place, was me a-taking,
Where no one is sick, hurting, or for a bed pan waiting.

And, in this place, I sit in quiet contemplating,
That everyone is perfect, vibrant, and sitting
in quiet enjoyment of the sun shine setting,
all together, at peace, healthy, in my happy place.

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QUOTE: School is a twelve-year jail sentence – John Taylor Gatto

Sunday, September 5, 2010

“School is a twelve-year jail sentence where bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned.” -– John Taylor Gatto

http://www.preservenet.com/theory/Gatto.html

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GAMBLING: US Open betting

Saturday, September 4, 2010

http://tennis.fanhouse.com/2010/09/04/us-open-brawlers-given-lengthy-ban-from-tournament/

*** begin quote ***

“I don’t give a [expletive] what anyone wants! I got a lot of money on the game!” screamed Joseph Pedeville, 27, who was involved in a brawl that halted play for a brief moment on at approximately 9 p.m. ET.

*** end quote ***

Anyone notice that this filthy mouth lout just admitted to gambling on the US Open?

Now there’s some old gambler’s wisdom that says never bet on anything that talks.

Sounds like the US Open and the various flavors of the Gestaposhould be “chatting” with him.

Maybe he should testify before Congress? They could understand his language.

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MONEY: “Unemployment Insurance”, a Gooferment scam

Saturday, September 4, 2010

http://irisheagle.blogspot.com/2010/08/govteu-funds-hard-to-find-for-laid-off.html

*** begin quote ***

the EU’s much heralded relief for Waterford in the wake of the crystal factory closing down has not worked out the way the workers thought it would.

*** end quote ***

Perhaps, “unemployment compensation” is a scam played on “We, The People” for the benefit of the “caring” politicians and bureaucrats, who need an excuse for a public paycheck.

Why is it that, in the free market, you can buy: car, fire, life, disability, homeowners / renters, and even umbrella insurance? But not “unemployment”???

(Why would anyone insure one’s umbrella?)

The answer is that it’s not a relatively random rare event that hits a pool of people who can pool the risk.

Like “social security insurance”, Obamacare (Which is socialized medicine), Medicare, Medicaid, or FDIC bank insurance, NONE of these is TRUE insurance. These, like “unemployment insurance” are really welfare programs in disguise.

Insurance companies serve several very useful functions: find people for the pool, estimate the risks, collect all the premiums, invest the money so it’s available when needed, investigate claims, and pay off as needed.

All done at a reasonable cost for administrative and profit. When you think in terms of taxes paid versus funds dispense, you have to wonder how much “unemployment insurance” costs. See what is deducted form every paycheck everywhere is no way the true cost. And, when you consider that the bureaucrats are earning hefty salaries with life time benefits and pensions that can be “stuffed” at the end (i.e., bureaucrats work “overtime” in their last years to score an enhanced, often obscene, pension).

Of all the insurances, “life” insurance is the perfect model. Everyone probably wants to share that catastrophic risk. In large populations, the risk is easily estimated. Fraudulent claims are few and far between. Premiums are low by any measure. Especially when bought young.

So, “We, The People” have to resist politicians going into the “insurance” business and embrace the “evil” insurance companies for their ability to cheaply pool our risks.

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POLITICAL: The Just War criteria

Friday, September 3, 2010

http://irisheagle.blogspot.com/2010/09/if-this-were-war-wed-have-objectives.html

Thursday, September 02, 2010

If this were a war we’d have objectives and strategies to evaluate

*** begin quote ***

If the problems in our economy were a war the public would want to know: (a) What’s at stake?; (b) What will it take for victory?; and (c) What will victory look like? From those answers would follow the tactics we’ll be employing to win the war and a forecast as to how those tactics will play out.

*** end quote ***

I managed to get my heroic children to consider the “The Just War Doctrine” in my novel. (I tried to stuff the book with anything I learned. My whizdumb!) Reference: CHURCH 10●19●62 Volume 1 Page 326

We did discuss this in 8th Grade Grammar School (“Gentlemen, you may love war movies, but Holy Mother Church has some standards for what is a just war.”) Did it again in High School “Religion” and College “Theology”.

*** begin quote ***

The strict conditions, for legitimate use of military force, require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:

* the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;

* all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;

* there must be serious prospects of success;

* the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.

These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the “just war” doctrine. The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.

*** end quote ***

At one time, I thought “Viet Nam, Republic of” satisfied all the conditions. Now that I am older and I understand that, to misquote Doctor House, “Politicians lie!”.

In considering the Iraq War, I thought that the conditions were again satisfied.

The damage point (i.e., Bush lied us into war) was really covered by the WMD.

One thing that everyone chooses to overlook is that: “We KNOW Sadaam had them.” We sold the poison gas to him in the 70’s and he used that gas on “his” minority, the Kurds. As far as not finding those weapons, there was six months to move them to Syria. Unfortunately, no one can prove that.

As a little L libertarian, there was no justification that would convince me that we should have done this.

Argh!

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INTERESTING: A stunning flash of the obvious

Friday, September 3, 2010

http://www.lewrockwell.com/gatto/gatto-uhae-1.html

The Way It Used To Be
by John Taylor Gatto

*** begin quote ***

The Art Of Driving

Now come back to the present while I demonstrate that the identical trust placed in ordinary people 200 years ago still survives where it suits managers of our economy to allow it. Consider the art of driving, which I learned at the age of eleven. Without everybody behind the wheel, our sort of economy would be impossible, so everybody is there, IQ notwithstanding. With less than thirty hours of combined training and experience, a hundred million people are allowed access to vehicular weapons more lethal than pistols or rifles. Turned loose without a teacher, so to speak. Why does our government make such presumptions of competence, placing nearly unqualified trust in drivers, while it maintains such a tight grip on near-monopoly state schooling?

An analogy will illustrate just how radical this trust really is. What if I proposed that we hand three sticks of dynamite and a detonator to anyone who asked for them. All an applicant would need is money to pay for the explosives. You’d have to be an idiot to agree with my plan – at least based on the assumptions you picked up in school about human nature and human competence.

And yet gasoline, a spectacularly mischievous explosive, dangerously unstable and with the intriguing characteristic as an assault weapon that it can flow under locked doors and saturate bulletproof clothing, is available to anyone with a container. Five gallons of gasoline have the destructive power of a stick of dynamite. The average tank holds fifteen gallons, yet no background check is necessary for dispenser or dispensee. As long as gasoline is freely available, gun control is beside the point. Push on. Why do we allow access to a portable substance capable of incinerating houses, torching crowded theaters, or even turning skyscrapers into infernos? We haven’t even considered the battering ram aspect of cars – why are novice operators allowed to command a ton of metal capable of hurtling through school crossings at up to two miles a minute? Why do we give the power of life and death this way to everyone?

It should strike you at once that our unstated official assumptions about human nature are dead wrong. Nearly all people are competent and responsible; universal motoring proves that. The efficiency of motor vehicles as terrorist instruments would have written a tragic record long ago if people were inclined to terrorism. But almost all auto mishaps are accidents, and while there are seemingly a lot of those, the actual fraction of mishaps, when held up against the stupendous number of possibilities for mishap, is quite small. I know it’s difficult to accept this because the spectre of global terrorism is a favorite cover story of governments, but the truth is substantially different from the tale the public is sold.

*** end quote ***

It’s so obvious, it hurts! The assumptions are wrong!

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INTERESTING: Glenn Beck’s new site

Thursday, September 2, 2010

http://www.theblaze.com/

Glen Beck’s new site.

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