LIBERTY: Druge alerts “STATES WARN RESIDENTS: YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN” … … this is a surprise?!

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

http://tinyurl.com/rgukp

May 31, 2006
As Hurricane Season Looms, States Aim to Scare
By ABBY GOODNOUGH

***Begin Quote***

This save-yourselves approach comes after government agencies were overwhelmed by pleas for help after last year's storms and strongly criticized as not responding swiftly or thoroughly enough to the public need. Now, officials have said repeatedly, only the elderly, the poor and the disabled should count on the government to help them escape a hurricane or endure its immediate aftermath.

Mississippi, where more than 200 residents died in Hurricane Katrina, unrolled a "Stay Alert. Stay Alive" hurricane awareness campaign in April. State officials told residents what to pack in a "go-kit" for evacuating (flashlight, radio, nonelectric can opener) and, like many others, commanded them to stockpile at least three days' worth of water and food.

***End Quote***

And, we pay all those high taxes for the gummamint's "protection and services"? Hmm, maybe if we didn't have to pay so much for those services we don't get, didn't want, and can't get, then we have enough to take care of ourselves, our families, and our neighbors. Do you think maybe the problem is NOT with the people but with the promises that you have made for these taxes?

Sigh!

Wake up folks you are ALWAYS on your own. You may get help. But it will come from your family, your friends, and your neighbors. Any help you get from government should be regarded as just dumb luck! And, you can bet there will be strings attached.


LIBERTY: Do the right thing regardless of the personal cost!

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/31/eveningnews/printable1670573.shtml

Hero Quietly Did The Right Thing
WASHINGTON, May 30, 2006(CBS)

***Begin Quote***

Hiram Bingham IV was U.S. vice consul in Marseilles, France, as Hitler began leaving his imprint across Europe. Even though he wasn't supposed to, he issued thousands of U.S. visas to Jews, allowing them to escape.

It wasn't good for his career.

But Bingham knew what he thought was right. And he did it. Quietly, but his actions nonetheless did not go unnoticed.

The visas issued without permission in 1940 got Bingham bounced from his job in 1941 and derailed what had been a promising career track in diplomacy for Bingham, who came from a prominent family: a father who was a Senator and Governor, a Tiffany heiress mother, and a grandfather and great-grandfather who were the first missionaries to Hawaii.

CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports Bingham said little about what he had done and his own family did not realize the scope of things until after his death in 1988, when they found the records he'd kept – hidden in the house.

Bingham's heroism was recognized posthumously in 2002, and Tuesday, a dream came true for his children as the U.S. Postal Service unveiled a stamp in Bingham's honor.

Elly Sherman – who was lined up with her family and other Jews outside the U.S. consultate in Marseilles, where they were saved by Bingham – doesn't need a stamp to jog her memory.

"My mother kept this document," said Sherman, pointing to the long-ago paperwork that allowed her family to flee as the Nazis marched forward into France.

Sherman's family, at the time the visas were issued, had already received an order to report to a concentration camp within two days.

And it was those two days which were the last two days that Hiram Bingham was still the vice consul in Marseilles – handing out visas to people who were not supposed to get them.

They weren't supposed to – because in 1940, it wasn't American policy to use visas to rescue Jews in danger because of the Nazis.

In comments recorded by his granddaughter, Bingham recalled being ordered to stop.

"My boss," Bingham recalled, "said 'The Germans are going to win the war. Why should we do anything to offend them?'"

But Bingham kept writing visa after visa, saving life after life. Among the many he saved were artist Marc Chagall, philosopher Hannah Arendt – and hundreds of Elly Shermans.

***End Quote***

Without a doubt, this fellow was a humanitarian. This story should be on the wall at the "employee entrance" of every embassy. Further, if I was the Secretary of State, then I'd create the "Bingham Award" for the employee who best exemplifies this value.


LIBERTY: The War on Drugs is generous to drug addicts and punitive to all others … … UI?

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

http://www.mises.org/story/2174

The Egregiously Destructive War on Drugs
by Gennady Stolyarov II
[Posted on Tuesday, May 30, 2006]

***Begin Quote***

The War on Drugs is generous to drug addicts and punitive to all others; the drug addicts are arrested at others' expense and given "free" food and "free" lodging at government prisons — free to the imprisoned, that is, but paid for by the taxpayers. Why should moral people pay to sustain others for those others' immoral conduct? Why should the drug addicts be given state handouts and be spared the requirement to earn their own living on the free market? Prison conditions may be miserable, but they are granted to the drug addicts automatically — as a taxpayer-funded gift for having broken a silly law. Why should drug addicts deserve even poor-quality food and shelter for ruining their lives?

***End Quote***

Here's a interesting view of Prohibition Version 2.0 now being "waged" on Drugs Other Than Alcohol And Nicotine.

See alcohol and nicotine are "good" drugs. All the other illegal drugs are "bad" drugs.

Understand the distinction?

If yes, explain it to me. If no, look for the politician responsible!


LIBERTY: Free to petition your government for the redress of grevances … … watch what you get back!

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

 

—–Original Message—–

From: reinkefj
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2006 10:05 AM
To: SenInverso@njleg.org; AsmBaroni@njleg.org; AswGreenstein@njleg.org
Category: EDUCATION – FINANCE

Subject: Reduce aid to higher education

Please reduce state aid to education to zero. It will actually improve education for the following reasons:

(1) Schools will have to respond to their true customers (i.e., the students and the people who pay the bills).

(2) The cost of education will rise and fall based on demand and benefit without the State's involvement.

(3) If you cut aid, you can give me back my money. If I think that a school "deserves" that money, then I'll give it to them. If lots of my fellow taxpayers, do the same then that is different than you forcing me to do it.

(4) Perhaps without the artifical support of government some schools will go out of business. That's good. We obviously didn't need them.

Basically, free the taxpayer from supporting what politicians think is important. If it truly is important, then we can do it on our own.

Mr. Ferdinand Reinke
Kendall park, NJ 08824

==

From: Senator Peter A. Inverso, R., NJ Legislative District 14 
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 10:25 AM
To: reinkefj
Subject: RE: Reduce aid to higher education

Mr. Reinke:

This is to acknowledge that our office received your E-mail on May 19th.

We will share your concerns with the Senator.

Sincerely,

Jim Hansbury
Legislative Aide
Senator Peter A. Inverso, District 14

==

Yup, I can just hear it now. "Senator, listen to what this wacko wants. His money back!" followed by a group laugh.

I'm sure the French Aristocrats laughed too when Marie said "let them eat cake"! 


LIBERTY: The FDA “protects” the sheep … … right into skin cancer!

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/story?id=858453&page=2

Why Is the Best Sunscreen Blocked by FDA?
America Denied Sun Shield That Other Countries Enjoy
John Stossel
***Begin Quote***
June 17, 2005 — We think of July and August as the peak of summer, but when it comes to sunburn, now is the peak. Next Tuesday, June 21st, is the longest day of the year, when the sun is highest in the sky, so it's now that the sun does the most damage.
{extraneous deleted}
But even though dermatologists say Mexoryl is the best, you cannot legally buy it in the United States. It's illegal, because the Food and Drug Administration won't approve it. They won't even say why. The FDA is charged with making sure no drug is sold unless the government is convinced it's safe and effective. Dermatologists think it's just stuck in the bureaucracy. It routinely takes 12 to 15 years for a drug to get approval. After an approved drug — Vioxx, for example — gets bad publicity as a health risk, the FDA gets particularly cautious.
{extraneous deleted}
Everyone is always telling us, protect yourself from the sun, but then the government won't give us permission to have the best sunscreen?
Give me a break.  
***End Quote***
I was tipped to this article. That aside. (Note to self: put Stossel on a internet watch service!)

FDA "protecting" us, like a good Mommy Government agency should. After all we are to dumb to choose what to put in or on ourselves.

Wake up sheep! 

Close all those Three, Four, and Five Letter Agencies! Then we'll work on the "big words" like freedom, liberty, and limited government.


LIBERTY: Pope Benedict XVI visited the Auschwitz … … teaching us we are all “Jews”!

Monday, May 29, 2006

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060528/D8HT21CO0.html

Pope: How Could God 'Tolerate' Holocaust?
May 28, 6:13 PM (ET)
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON
***Begin Quote***

(AP) Pope Benedict XVI prays in front of the memorial plaques at the former Nazi Death Camp Birkenau, in…

OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) – Pope Benedict XVI visited the Auschwitz concentration camp as "a son of the German people" Sunday and asked God why he remained silent during the "unprecedented mass crimes" of the Holocaust.
***End Quote***

There are two lessons in this story. 

One thing we should learn from the Pope's visit is that we have to consider ourselves "Jews", or "Mexicans", or "Black"! Or "green with yellow stripes" if that is what the current scape-dog class of human being is. We have to be like the legend of the Danish King wearing the yellow star. Didn't happen, but it should have happened. Or the non-Muslim woman wearing the Muslim head scarf. http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/2001/2001_10_03.scarf.html 

 The other thing is that the only a government can commit a genocide.


LIBERTY: How to end the gummamint skoolz … … with a transition plan!

Sunday, May 28, 2006

We start with basic principles:

(1) It took us a long time to get into this mess. It will take us decades to get out.

(2) People have built their lives around the gummamint skoolz and need time to readjust to a free market.

(3) The new innovative private schools will need time to form, adapt, and adjust.

The vision is that the gummamint no longer runs or pays for skoolz. There are a host of reasons but the five big one are (a) it's not fair to steal from some people to educate other people's children; (b) the gummamint teaches stuff that are antithetical to the parent's beliefs; (c) the skoolz train the children that the gummamint is a God; (d) the gummamint skoolz are expensive, corrupt, and corrosive; (e) the gummamint does a very poor job of educating.

A free market in education will address all these problems by putting parent back in control of raising their children as they see fit. This means that we have to be ready to squelch a lot of hot air and stop trying to control people. We had freedom in this country before and we can have it again.

Let's assume that we need 4 decades to free our children from the specter of a poor gummamint education. If I was king, how would I do it?

For the first two decades, I would free about 5% of the children every year from the gummamint. This would allow the private sector to grown and the gummamint skoolz to wither. For the last two decades, I would reduce the subsidy of education 5% each year. See how nicely that works out. In the first two decades, the free market grows strong. In the second two decades, we wean the new industry off the gummamint ninny. At the end of forty years, we have solved the problem with a minimum of dislocation and maximized freedom.

Now lets examine the first two decades. We have some opportunities that have to be addressed. In the preparation for for Year  Zero, we have to address the existing gummamint skoolz, the people who work their now, the gummamint running it, the parents, and finally the students. Let's start in reverse order.

Dear Students: The State apologizes for making you the guinea pigs in a national experiment with gumammint skoolz. You will have to know that our transition plan will only help you a little bit. Rome wasn't built in a day. Hopefully the younger of you will benefit. The older will just have to be satisfied that when you are in the workforce you will no longer be burdened with this monster.

Dear Parents: The State is going to give you in NJ a 12k$ check to buy your child's education. Now before you go picking private schools, be advised that initially all checks will be RED. That means you have to redeem them at your local school. Every year for the next 20 years, the State is going to run a lottery. In this lottery, every child will be entered. Each year, 5% of the tickets drawn will result in that child getting a GREEN check. Those of you with a green check can spend that anywhere you want for your children's education. During these two decades, we will be licensing schools to accept green checks. Be advise the criteria for licensing will be financial stability NOT educational merit.  

Dear Teachers and Administrators: The State is getting out of the education business. It is great opportunity for you to deliver quality education while becoming an owner in your own business.

Dear Teacher's Union: The State is getting out of education. You should see if your members wish to participate in the brave new frontier of education. You as the union could seek to become a certified vendor of education in the state. In twenty years, there will no longer be any state employees in education. We urge you to plan accordingly.

Dear Taxpayer: Relief is on the way.

=== Notes about the first two decades ===

In the first "get ready" year, every child will get a "booklet" of 12 RED checks. It would be a twelve post dated checks to the first of each month. The gummanmint skoolz will take that red check booklet and redeem them monthly for their funding. This will begin simulating the buyer – seller relationship. Unlike today, the skoolz administrator and teacher have to get that red check from each parent. That should lead to some interesting conversations. The check has no value other than to get the process started.

Administrators and teachers are smart people. We don't necessarily want to lose them but we need to change the dynamics. Each skoolz will be "incorporated" with the existing people and assets. Let's call it the First Generic Neighborhood Skoolz. Two classes of stock will be issued to create the corporation with a twenty year lockup. Each worker in each FGNS will receive one hundred shares for each hundred dollars of their gross salary. They are now owners! Each municipality will give a long term lease to the assets in the skoolz to the FGNS in exchange for the Class B shares and a lien. Based of the free market value of the assets leased, the municipality receives one hundred shares for every hundred dollars of assets. In year zero, nothing trades. After that, everyone is free. The municipality releases the lien as the FGNS redeems its Class B shares.

The Government will transform into a referee. It's role is to certify the financial stability of those who seek to redeem RED CHECKS. Those entities have to post a performance bond to ensure that they deliver on promises. Just like any other government contract.

Year zero runs for a year, or two, to get the bugs out of the process. Then the "fun" begins.

Each year, for the next twenty, %5 percent of the children selected at random "go green". The parents receive a green check booklet that they can use at any approved vendor to buy an education for their child. They are the boss.

Each new child coming into the system will participate in an entry lottery. The appropriate percentage will be given green status. For example, in year 5, 25% are green. In year 15, 75% are green. Once a incoming child goes "green", they are green forever. If they are red, they may become green in a subsequent year. So the FGNS has a naturally declining population of "guaranteed customers". Guess they will be motivated to capture some of those "green kids".

Notice that inner cities skoolz are "interesting" in that they have a large number of "customers" in a single big group. Think there will be interest in running inner city schools?

=== Notes about the second two decades ===

We have now completely privatized education. Now we have to transition from a taxpayer pay to a parent pay.

Let's assume that we held the line an education checks are 12k$ per year. For the next twenty years, we will reduce the education check 5% per year. In twenty years, we will be out of using tax money to pay for education.

====

Comments?

 


LIBERTY: How to End the Statist-Collectivist Mass Delusion … … do something!

Sunday, May 28, 2006

http://jeffersonianlib.blogspot.com/2006/05/leftright-statist-collectivist-mass.html 

***Begin Quote***

How do we end this mass delusion and free the American people? First,we must be militant, radical and uncomprimising. No apologies for libertarian ideas or beliefs.
We must use the arts of propaganda, elections, and public issues to get the libertarian message out to the masses. We must reject and distinguish ourselves from conservatives. Libertarians are mistakenly considered conservatives. We are not anything of the sort. Libertarianism is radical, conservativism is not. Conservatism is a stagnant, rotten and corrupt statist delusion. We also must oppose the Left with more frequency. We must expose their hateful ideals of group identification, group catagorization, class warfare, anti-traditionalist statist agenda. We must defend free enterprise against statists, both right and left. One way is to expose the frauds of GATT, NAFTA,FTAA, and the WTO. These statist treaties are not free trade, but are statist government managed trade. We must also oppose all taxes, at all levels, all regulations, and all new laws designed to infringe on the right of people to live their lives as they see fit. We must show people the evils of empire and imperialism. We must point out the benefits of a Jeffersonian foreign policy of "Stategic Neutrality" and peace. All foreign wars must be opposed and all American troops brought home. We must show the American people that your life belongs to you and no one else! Without the right to own, control and manage your own property, you become a slave. Without the right to live your personal life by your own morals ( without infringing on the right of others to do the same), you are a slave. Without the right to be free of tyrannical laws and government, you are a slave. Without the right to associate or not associate with any one you choose, you are a slave. The worst type of slavery is the slavery of the mind. This type of slavery perpetuates the Left/ Right Statist Collectivist Mass Delusion. It is the type of slavery where you continue to think your free, but you are really in bondage.

Reject the slave mentality! Reject the idea that you exist to serve you "betters" in the Left/ Right Statist Collectivist Mass Delusion. Embrace radical libertarianism, and free the world. 

***End Quote***

Hmmm! Well, it's certainly not by writing long glumps of text.

We have to "DO" something.

My personal three targets remain:

(1) the fiat currency because it gives the gummamint a hidden tax to take all they want;

(2) the gummamint skoolz because they dumb down the future and train kids in socialism; and

(3) the gummamint's erosion of our rights by further inserting themselves into new areas.

How do we do that?

Ridicule them and their ideas. I don't think they take be made to look foolish well. And, people will say to themselves "well that's dumb". Every time that happens they lose a little of their power.

What have I done in the last thirty days to advance liberty?

(a) Chatted about the Spanish American War tax on cell phones to anyone who would listen.

(b) Expressed amazement everytime people give me stuff for "pretty little green presidential paintings" every time a buy somethings.

(c) Asked every parent if they wouldn't like to send their child to a private school instead of the government propaganda center.

While I often get looked at strangely, I don't get people saying "wow that's how to pay for a war", "yup those paintins r real pretty", or "no those zkoolz r gud nuff".

I think we have to "put a pebble in people's shoes" about just how much they want freedom. 


LIBERTY: How organs should be distributed? Not by the government!

Saturday, May 27, 2006

http://lifesharers.blogspot.com/2006/05/lifesharers-is-not-discriminatory.html

***Begin Quote***

Anyone can join LifeSharers. Membership is free. We welcome everyone, and we turn no one away. Can someone please tell me what is discriminatory about that?
***End Quote***

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/14659413.htm

Organ donation club called discriminatory
By MELISSA SÁNCHEZ
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
***Begin Quote***

But this approach raises ethical questions about how organs should be distributed. The need for donors is overwhelming. In January and February, 4,508 transplants were performed in the U.S., but more than 92,000 people are on the approved federal waiting list.
***End Quote***

By whom? I read this article several times and I can't see who is call it "discriminatory". Is it the reporter?

Walter Williams, my favorite economic professor, wrote the definitive solution:

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams091198.html

***Begin Quote***

Transplantable organ shortages would disappear overnight if people were permitted to sell organs. You say, "Williams, people shouldn't make money selling organs!" I say, "Why not? Everybody else is making money on the deal."

*** AND***

The fact of life is that there must be some way to decide which sick person gets an organ. One way to decide is to have a government mandate whereby the most critically ill gets first priority. That could result in waste because a not-so-critically-ill person has a greater chance of survival and a smaller chance of needing another transplant. Another way to decide is to allow the medical elite to put the rich and famous at the top of the list, as they did with Mickey Mantle, who received a liver transplant and died two months later. Allowing the medical elite to decide who gets transplants has already created despicable arrogance. I was watching one show where a doctor refused to give a patient who smoked cigarettes a heart transplant. While it's popular right now to dump on cigarette smokers, tomorrow that same physician might refuse to give a transplant to an overweight person, a low-I.Q. person, a divorcee or whatever suits the whims of a particular hospital physician staff.

We shouldn't allow America's elite to decide who gets what in health and other areas of our lives. We wouldn't begin to tolerate somebody deciding that housing, food, cars and clothing be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis or on a who-needs-them-the-most basis? If we did, there'd be desperate shortages in housing, food, cars and clothing just as there are shortages in organs available for transplant.

There are other benefits from allowing people to sell their organs. For example, I smoke cigarettes and cigars. If I knew that my heart and lungs could become a part of my estate, I would take better care of them. But since my heirs can't monetarily gain, it makes sense for me to die with completely used up organs just like I'd try to die with a zero bank balance if Congress wouldn't allow me to bequeath money to my heirs. 
***End Quote***

I happen to like that solution. Take control away from the gummamint, the elite, and return it to the fairest arbiter of need ever discovered … the marketplace.

One should acknowledge that one becomes rich in the marketplace by satisfying the needs of others. Bill Gates made people happy and they applauded by giving him their greenbacks. If he needs a transplant, why shouldn't he be able to use his "applause" as evidence of being the most worthy.

The poor would not be excluded from the marketplace. I already see charities for that purpose.

AND, even when today the system breaks down, haven't you seen whole communities rallying about an unfortunate case with gigantic fund raising drives?

One advantage of a marketplace solution is that it operates without a large overhead.  

No one has to run the marketplace. There are no government bureaucrats drawing pay and benefits to "decide" who should get this kidney or that liver.

It may sound "ghoulish", but letting people die is REALLY ghoulish.

We have seen what the "current system", or non-system, delivers. Death, suffering, and uncertainty. How about a change?  


LIBERTY: Federal Long Distance tax ends … … but look at inflation as a tax!

Saturday, May 27, 2006

http://www.averyjparker.com/2006/05/26/federal-long-distance-tax-ends/

***Begin Quote***

Federal Long Distance tax ends….

I think at one point I’ve said that once taxes are put in place they tend NEVER to go away. Well, I must admit I’m wrong. 108 years ago in an effort to help finance the Spanish American War, long distance telephone taxes went into place. The tax will no longer be in effect as of July 31, 2006. Supposedly, we will be able to file for a refund of our last three years worth of long-distance taxes for land/cell phones in the 2006 tax returns. I stand corrected… once taxes are put in place they ALMOST Never go away (and if it’s for a specific purpose, it may hang around long after that purpose is completed.)

***End Quote***

True. This tax final went away. Probably because people were tying the tax and the purpose together. It was making the gummamint look stupid.

Let's look at the biggest tax scam. It's not the Social Security "Insurance" ponzi scheme. Nor is it the Federal Income Tax. Nor is it the Alternative Minimum Tax. Nor is it the National Debt that they keep recapping higher and higer as needed. Now those are all big taxes. Between them, I'd estimate that more than half of your annual earnings are stolen by the gummamint.

No, the bigest scam is inflation.

Don't let the gummamint distract you by talking about price inflation. Get down to basics. What is a "dollar"? That's right, it is just a piece of paper with funny printing that people with give you stuff in exchange for them.

The biggest hidden tax is the inflation caused by the gummmint's printing press!

It is a tax on your savings. It's a tax on anything you accumulate. It's hidden.

It's corrosive. It has turned us from a nation of savers to a nation of debtors. Why save? You can pay back later with "dollars" that are worth less.

Let's assume you have a hundred dollars, inflation is 5%, and candy bars are a dollar each. You could buy a hundred candy bars. Next year, the gummamint inflates the currency 5%. Prices rise because there are now more dollars chasing fewer goods. The candy bar makes raise candy prices 5% just to stay even. That hundred dollars now will only buy only 95 candy bars. Where did those five extra candy bars go? You, right into the gummamint. It's the effect of owning the printing press.

Try it yourself. Play monopoly. And every time you pass go, inflate the money supply 5%. The bank has $15,140 in cash in standard editions of Monopoly. Give yourself an extra $757 everytime you pass go. That's an one orange $500 bill, two beige $100 bills, one green $50 bills, one pink $5 bills, and two white $1 bills. Watch what happens. I bet you'll win. Think the other players will catch on? You'll probably hear the exclamation "That's not fair!" followed by an appropriate punishment for ruining the game by counterfeiting.

So why is it different when the gummamint does it to you in real life?