INTERESTING: The economic predicament of today

Friday, September 17, 2010

http://www.keywestlou.com/2010/09/i-really-screwed-up-yesterday.html

*** begin quote ***

I suspect such is a major reason we are in the economic predicament of today.

*** end quote ***

May I disagree with your “major reason”?

I’m just fat old white guy injineer, a decade younger than you, but I look further back in history. And it’s a multiple part answer.

❶ The Progressives pulled off a silent coup in several areas during the woman sufferage movement. Giving women the right to vote, giving universal suffrage, and detaching the right to vote form owning land — all set the wheels in motion.

❷ Prohibition was the direct result of the women’s vote. That started organizaed crime. That justified the FBI and the Gooferment getting into the policing business.

❸ The Progressives got the Gooferment into the school business. It’s was allowed to propagandize future voters. Remember the Prussian school model was to make cannon fodder for the Army, good workers for the factory, and pliable idiot voters to be led by the elite. (Where DO politicians send their kids to school?)

❹ The Progressives created the Federal Reserve System. That allowed the Gooferment to spend without raising taxes. That was key. Up to that point, prices always declined. After than, inflation was institutionalized. From 1913 to day, the dollar has lost 99% of its purchasing power.

❺ FDR took us OFF the gold standard, got social security, and created wage / price controls. The gold standard restrained the Gooferment’s ability to print money. Social Security destroyed the multi-generational family — Grandparents could afford to retire to Florida. Wage Controls set up the benefits trap that Obamacare will supposedly rescue us from.

❻ The Progressives passed the Sixteenth that allows the Gooferment to grow unchecked by taxation; Milton Freedman created withholding to fool folks into accepting it.

❼ Johnson’s welfare warfare state just destroyed the inner cities and made everyone dependent on the Gooferment dole.

So essentially there are SEVEN reasons we, future generations, and the soon to retire are so screwed. The ability to vote — with its subsequent social change, welfare, and warfare — was the reason.

Voters have to have a stake in paying for what they vote for.

Sigh!

We are SO screwed. I’m not sure we can avoid the fate of the USSR.

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RANT: The police are inept

Thursday, September 16, 2010

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/shocking_testimony_reveals_police_32mOVk4qQsVZvBGXAEnHRP#ixzz0zdNxZnxA

Shocking testimony reveals police inaction in Conn. horror home invasion
By LAURA ITALIANO
Last Updated: 2:34 PM, September 15, 2010
Posted: 12:54 PM, September 15, 2010

*** begin quote ***

Podunk local cops wasted more than half an hour assessing the Connecticut home invasion and setting up a vehicle perimeter — time the two attackers used to strangle the mother in her living room and set the fire that claimed the lives of the two girls upstairs, according to shocking testimony today.

The revelation — which suggests perhaps the family could have been saved but for police bungling — came on day three of testimony in the murder trial of crack addict Steven Hayes, charged as one of the two monsters who launched a rein of rape and murder against a Cheshire, CT family on a Monday morning in July, 2007.

*** end quote ***

It’s Columbine all over again.

The police have morphed into a Pretorian Guard of bureaucrats, who fund raise for the Empire, and are the janitors of violent situations.

Failure to deploy puts people at risk. In this case, kills you.

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JOBSEARCH: The Gold Watch Era is long over

Thursday, September 16, 2010

http://www.reinke.cc/COMCAST4/TURKEY/index_Page369.htm

*** begin quote ***

THE GOLD WATCH ERA

When I was growing up, the ethic was you went to a paternalistic company, gave them 45 years of loyal services, and were rewarded with a pension and social security. My mom did 48. An uncle 42. I have many many examples of this. I am sure you have your own. It was a great time to be an employee.

*** end quote ***

Had an interesting discussion with relatives. Trying to convince them that many of their paradigms and memes, based on a gold watch era, were insane.

I don’t think I changed anyone’s mind.

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MONEY: Everyone needs a little metal; which one depends on how much you have

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

*** Begin forwarded message ***

From: APMEX News <news@apmex.com>
Date: September 14, 2010 12:24:10 PM EDT
To:
Subject: APMEX – Gold Reaches New All-Time High!
Reply-To: news@apmex.com

Dear ferdinand,

Gold reaches a new all-time high of $1271.70 today, breaking the previous record high of $1265.50 on June 21, 2010!

This is due in part to economic concerns in Europe and the weakening U.S. dollar index. Accordingly, gold experienced an upward surge this morning.

A Bloomberg survey of 29 financial investors, traders and analysts have predicted the yellow metal may rally as high as $1,500.00 next year. Demand for physical gold is expected to remain strong as gold continues to be a safe haven investment for long-term and short-term investors alike.

Don’t miss this opportunity to lock in your prices on gold today!

SERIOUSLY CONSIDER adding to your gold portfolio. A wide selection of investment grade gold bullion is available 24/7 at http://www.APMEX.com!

Respectfully,
David McCarty
Director of Marketing
American Precious Metals Exchange

*** End forwarded message ***

Suggest a few coins — gold or silver — stashed somewhere is appropriate. And, “accredited investors” (how wall street describes fat cats) should have 5 to 15% in “commodities”. For us poor people, we should be laying in a supply of nickels. (Yeah, a nickel is worth more than five cents. The Gooferment hasn’t gotten around to making them “slugs” yet.)

For those who think my tin foil hat is strapped a little too tight, please review the monetary history of the French Kings from Louis 1 to Louis 17. The French Franc started out as a gold hockey puck and wound up as a collar button that was so thin it almost qualified as “gold leaf”. We know how that worked out for the French. Little tough on old Seventeen and his gal Marie. The serfs didn’t do too well either.

Then tell me how the “American Kings” (i.e., the politicians of both parties and the Federal Reserve System — think banking monopoly) aided and abetted by Wall Street have managed to destroy the American Greenback Dollar, which has lost 98% of its purchasing power since 1913.

And my tin foil hat is the problem?

How much is penny candy these days? Does anyone EVER remember “penny candy”?

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RANT: NJ Transit and the First

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/09/14/2010-09-14_koran_burner_derek_fenton_fired_from_his_job_at_nj_transit.html

Koran burner Derek Fenton booted from his job at NJ Transit

By Alison Gendar, Kevin Deutsch and Pete Donohue
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Originally Published:Tuesday, September 14th 2010, 7:55 PM
Updated: Tuesday, September 14th 2010, 9:05 PM

*** begin quote ***

“Mr. Fenton’s public actions violated New Jersey Transit’s code of ethics,” an agency statement said.

“NJ Transit concluded that Mr. Fenton violated his trust as a state employee and therefore [he] was dismissed.”

Fenton was ushered from the protests by police on Saturday and questioned, but he was released without charges.

“He said, ‘This is America,’ and he wanted to stand up for it, in a Tea Party kind of way,” a police source said.

Another police source said Fenton described himself as a “loyal American” exercising his “right to protest.”

*** end quote ***

Guess the State bureaucrats haven’t heard of the First Amendment. No matter how offensive the speech, we have to protect it. The worst thing is for the nut jobs to be silenced and go underground. Didnt’ work in the USSR, won’t work here. Let everyone speak their mind and the Gooferment should stay out of it.

For the record, this guy is a bozo. But he had the Creator given right to demonstrate his bozoness!

Argh!

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RANT: Women need no help; just an awakening to their personal power

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/09/a_womans_perspective_on_person.html

*** begin quote ***

Imagine this frightening scenario and try to envision yourself here: You’re strolling through an empty parking lot at dusk thinking about the events of the day when suddenly your arm is clasped from behind and pulled forcefully downward. Your head crashes against the unforgiving concrete. Blood gushes from your nose. Before you have a moment to process anything, your attacker is now on top of you, beating your face with open fists. Gasping for air from fear and excruciating pain, you scream and slap him in an aimless attempt to shield yourself, by which time he has secured your flailing arms. His eyes are dark and empty. He barks out orders that your mind fails to decipher, while pressing the icy blade of a knife against your throat. Your shrieks of panic echo through the air, but no one seems to hear. Subdued under the weight of his body, you have nowhere else to turn. You are the next victim.

*** end quote ***

This post, cited below. should be required reading for all females of “age”. All! “women’s lib”, no victims, ever.

“So if a Bravo Golf was to try and rape your sister, you’d kill to stop him; right?” “Yes, Miss Marie.” “If someone was going to kill any of your Classmates, what then?” “I’d do what needs doing.”“Yes, we women do. Did you know John’s paternal grandmother traveled the Oregon Trail, bore 13 children, and fought Indians and Outlaws? She’s in her 90’s now. I’ve read her letters. Women can kill when it’s needed. We may not be as physically strong as men, but who seems to get to change all the diapers?” — character “Marie” answering a question in CHURCH 10●19●62 Volume 1 Page 262

Always thought women needed to have the confidence to defend themselves and their children. Guess I was always lucky to be around strong women.

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RANT: I agree with this 63 year old

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate.

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I’m tired At 63…

I’m 63. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce and a six-month period when I was between jobs but job-hunting every day, I’ve worked hard since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven’t called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn’t inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there’s no retirement in sight, and I’m tired… very tired.

I’m tired of being told that I have to “spread the wealth” to people who don’t have my work ethic. I’m tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.

I’m tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to “keep people in their homes.” Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I’m willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money.

I’m tired of being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood Entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of Zimbabwe , the freedom of the press of China , the crime and violence of Mexico , the tolerance for Christian people of Iran , and the freedom of speech of Venezuela .

I’m tired of being told that Islam is a “Religion of Peace,” when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family “honor”; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren’t “believers”; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for “adultery”; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur’an and Shari’a law tells them to.

I’m tired of being told that “race doesn’t matter” in the post-racial world of Obama, when it’s all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of U. S. Senators from Illinois.

I think it’s very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of an all-knowing government.

I’m tired of a news media that thinks Bush’s fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama’s, at triple the cost, were wonderful; that thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress; that picked over every line of Bush’s military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his; that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever.. Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn’t vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.

I’m tired of being told that out of “tolerance for other cultures” we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and mandrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America, while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.

I’m tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore’s, and if you’re greener than Gore, you’re green enough.

I’m tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? And I’m tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.

I’m tired of illegal aliens being called “undocumented workers,” especially the ones who aren’t working, but are living on welfare or crime. What’s next? Calling drug dealers, “Undocumented Pharmacists”? And, no, I’m not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it’s been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. I’m willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn’t have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military. Those are the citizens we need.

I’m tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and still are? Not even close. So here’s the deal. I’ll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims, who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we’ll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.

I’m tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers; bums are bipartisan. And I’m tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship. I live in Illinois, where the “Illinois Combine” of Democrats has worked to loot the public for years. Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama’s cabinet.

I’m tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I’m tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.

Speaking of poor, I’m tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn’t have that in 1970, but we didn’t know we were “poor.” The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.

I’m real tired of people who don’t take responsibility for their lives and actions. I’m tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems.

Yes, I’m d*amn tired. But I’m also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I’m not going to have to see the world these people are making. I’m just sorry for my granddaughter.

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There is no way this will be widely publicized, unless each of us sends it on! This is your chance to make a difference.

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RANT: Fooling with the employment numbers

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

New York Post is running a story in today’s paper that state and local D’s are putting poll workers on the payroll with tax documents to make the unemployment rate look better than it is. Poll workers are “employed” for a training day, primary day, and election day. Then, “unemployed”. Some boost to employment numbers. But may fool the press and public enough to keep thm from voting everyone out.

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RANTING: Hey, Ms. Secretary, ever heard of the First?

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

http://townhall.com/columnists/MichaelBarone/2010/09/13/gangster_government_stifles_criticism_of_obamacare/page/full/

Criticism of Obamacare
Michael Barone
Gangster Government Stifles Criticism of Obamacare

*** begin quote ***

Sebelius objects to claims by health insurers that they are raising premiums because of increased costs imposed by the Obamacare law passed by Congress last March.

She acknowledges that many of the law’s “key protections” take effect later this month and does not deny that these impose additional costs on insurers. But she says that “according to our analysis and those of some industry and academic experts, any potential premium impact … will be minimal.”

Well, that’s reassuring. Er, except that if that’s the conclusion of “some” industry and academic experts, it’s presumably not the conclusion of all industry and academic experts, or the secretary would have said so.

*** end quote ***

First of all, as part of the Gooferment, the Health and Human Services Secretary is restrained by the First Amendment. If she feels that the Gooferment is being maligned or the public is being mislead, the Gooferment has a plethora of lawyers. In the 17 tons of diktats, surely she can find one to charge the Insurance Companies with. Fraud, defrauding consumers by raising prices while blaming the Gooferment. Perjury, get them in front of Congress, like Roger Clemens.

Second, it’s only common sense, if I’m the insurance company and I know have to cover “children to age 26” starting today, that cost has to be spread over everyone in the pool. Insurance is just sharing a small guaranteed annual loss to avoid a random gigantic one at an inopportune time. Sort of like a child’s balloon, squeeze one end and the the other end bulges. If there a million people in the pool and the risk of some one’s college kid hast be covered, then every one in the pool has to cough up one millionth of the probably cost. If you have no college age “children”, find a better pool to be in. Argh! It’s just common sense. Only the gooferment can level the pool by taking water from the “deep end” and pouring it into the shallow end.

So, the H&HSS should just shut up!

Obamacare is a disaster and no amount of jawboning insurance companies is going to change it. Argh

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POLITICAL: DWI stupidity

Monday, September 13, 2010

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/east_brunswick_man_crashes_int.html

East Brunswick man is charged with drunken-driving after hitting police car en route to work
Published: Monday, September 13, 2010, 11:51 AM
Updated: Monday, September 13, 2010, 12:56 PM
Tom Haydon/The Star-Ledger

*** begin quote ***

SOUTH BRUNSWICK — A man with four prior drunk-driving convictions was arrested on the same charge Sunday after he crashed into a vehicle driven by a South Brunswick police officer heading to work, authorities said.

*** end quote ***

As a little L libertarian, I think the the DWI laws are: dumb, poorly enforced, and do little to protect innocent people who share the roads.

I don’t believe in the one size fits all law that tries to use a number as the criteria for enforcement.

First of all, people are different. Their tolerance of alcohol is hugely different. I know guys and gals, who after a drink or two, shouldn’t be allowed to operate anything from a car to a cell phone. I know others, who can down prodigious amounts of beer and go on and win parlor games of strategy, dexterity, and / or concentration.

Giving the police more power to enforce an arbitrary law is an invitation to sexual / racial harassment, favoritism, and abuse. The TV commercial, aka a PSA, that shows uniformed officers stopping every car and demanding “have you been drinking tonight”, is “show us your papers”.

That being said, if one causes an “accident” that results in damage, or –heaven forbid — injury or death, then those questions and physical testing is not only appropriate, but mandatory. And, it should NOT be called an “accident”. It should be called exactly what it is “assault with a deadly weapon”. Anyone, who uses a tool, any tool, be it a car or a gun, while under the influence of any chemical, is reckless. Should damage or injury occur from reckless behavior then that is a foreseeable consequence of the choices that were made.

Choices have consequences!

So the “DWI” law needs to be tuned. There has to be an accident, injury, or death to initiate an arrest.

Also, the current tolerance that politicians and bureaucrats have for multiple DWI convictions is completely insane.

In the cited example, the man has FOUR convictions. And, he is driving? He has outstanding warrants.

I can understand some leniency for a first conviction where there is damage but no personal injury. It should be more than a slap on the wrist, but less than incarceration. A second conviction, or injury in a first conviction, demands that civil society be protected from someone who is obviously not fit to be trust to behave reasonably towards the society. A third or fourth should trigger longer “adult time outs”.

Never mind “punishment” or “rehabilitation”. We need “protection”. Someone convicted of this new tougher DWI law should be isolated and prevented from harming innocents.

Four convictions? A decade of protection might be prudent.

Cars are too ubiquitous. A convicted felon, who has served their time out, must be allowed to drive. But, as a condition of their readmission to civil society and license to share the public roads, might be required to agree to spot checks. A special license plate for those with multiple convictions, like four, would encourage police to stop and check their sobriety. A special drivers license for those with one conviction would alert police to check sobriety, if stopped for a traffic violation. In either case, it self-preservation to check those, that have forfeit their rights by harming and further endangering others.

In summary:

(1) No spot checks on drivers who have not offended in the past.

(2) Harsh treatment for whose cause damage or injury.

(3) Longer “time outs” for multiple offenders.

(4) Aggressive enforcement on multiple offenders.

Note: I oppose the Psuedo War On Some Drugs. I don’t care what my fellow Americans put in their bodies. As long as I don’t have to pay for their care. But an impaired driver, who causes harm, should be treated the same. Regardless of their chemical of choice.

imho.

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