POLITICAL: Grading politicians

Thursday, December 17, 2009

http://libertyslifeline.com/2009/12/15/grading-on-a-curve/

Grading on a Curve
Liberty’s Life Line
Dec 15, 2009

*** begin quote ***

Such a disconnect between Obama’s opinion of himself and the American people’s opinion is a serious problem. It drives him to continue to pursue policies that Americans adamantly oppose (e.g., 61% oppose the Senate health care bill). Most reasonable people would take such feedback and reassess their actions. But if an employee is blind to his shortcomings, the only thing to do is show them the door. The sooner, the better, folks because it’s not going to get any better.

*** end quote ***

Well said! For a fellow with no experience, he has “accomplished” zero so far. And, like I remember Regan saying something like a President only gets to do 2 or 3 things and pick a few people, his choices for action (i.e., health care something, cap ‘n’ tax, stimulus) have been bad for us (me?) and his personel picks are terrible (i.e., Timmy the tax cheat and Rahm the fish).

I’d say he’s closer to an F than a B+. How low can grades go?

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POLITICAL: George Bush’s Third Term

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2009/12/war-is-peace-or-something-like-that.html

Friday, December 11, 2009

War is peace, or something like that

*** begin quote ***

Barack Obama is more like George W. Bush than any of his supporters has been willing to admit. The 44th president, like his predecessor, has shown a willingness to break disagreements down into simple, binary equations, especially when it comes to his defense of empire.

*** end quote ***

>peace speech

This old little L libertarian would merely point out: “Actions speak louder than words”!

Your “extra ordinary” just committed 30k (if you beleive the number) boys and girls to kill their opposite numbers.

Some peace!

Note that this is the George Bush Third Term that everyone was so afraid of.

So how’s that “hope and change” working out for you?

(And, yes, I spoke, blogged, and bitched about Bush as well. I just wasn’t fooled by any politician. And, I wrote in Ron Paul! Not that it matters much.)

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POLITICAL: Rolling Stone calls out the corruption

Saturday, December 12, 2009

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/31234647/obamas_big_sellout

Rollingstone.com
Obama’s Big Sellout
The president has packed his economic team with Wall Street insiders intent on turning the bailout into an all-out giveaway
MATT TAIBBI
Posted Dec 09, 2009 2:35 PM

*** begin quote ***

Taken together, the rash of appointments with ties to Bob Rubin may well represent the most sweeping influence by a single Wall Street insider in the history of government. “Rather than having a team of rivals, they’ve got a team of Rubins,” says Steven Clemons, director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation. “You see that in policy choices that have resuscitated — but not reformed — Wall Street.”

While Rubin’s allies and acolytes got all the important jobs in the Obama administration, the academics and progressives got banished to semi-meaningless, even comical roles. Kornbluh was rewarded for being the chief policy architect of Obama’s meteoric rise by being outfitted with a pith helmet and booted across the ocean to Paris, where she now serves as America’s never-again-to-be-seen-on-TV ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Goolsbee, meanwhile, was appointed as staff director of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, a kind of dumping ground for Wall Street critics who had assisted Obama during the campaign; one top Democrat calls the panel “Siberia.”

*** end quote ***

The President, at least according to Regan as I remember, has a very limited scope of influence. (That’s always stunned me.) The agenda might have three items and be lucky to get two done. It’s the appointments — picking people — where he has the most impact.

Clearly, Rolling Stone points out how poorly that picking was done.

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POLITICAL: Most open, most transparent administration

Sunday, December 6, 2009

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5joOOsTVD57lFwm_InpZY_nRbg4KQD9CDRVOO0

PROMISES, PROMISES: A closed meeting on openness
By SHARON THEIMER (AP) – 7 hours ago

*** begin quote ***

WASHINGTON — It’s hardly the image of transparency the Obama administration wants to project: A workshop on government openness is closed to the public.

*** end quote ***

Yah have to, HAVE TO, HAVE TO laugh at these politicians.

And, the sheeple are fooled.

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POLITICAL: Welfare is a gooferment growth industry

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

http://www.careerhubblog.com/main/2009/11/food-stamps-a-new-imac-and-happiness.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CareerHub+%28Career+Hub%29

Food Stamps, a New iMac and Happiness

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/us/29foodstamps.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=food%20stamps&st=cse

The Safety Net
Food Stamp Use Soars, and Stigma Fades
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
By JASON DePARLE and ROBERT GEBELOFF
Published: November 28, 2009

*** begin quote ***

Nationwide, food stamps reach about two-thirds of those eligible, with rates ranging from an estimated 50 percent in California to 98 percent in Missouri. Mr. Concannon urged lagging states to do more to enroll the needy, citing a recent government report that found a sharp rise in Americans with inconsistent access to adequate food.”

*** end quote ***

Trust me; I am not uncharitable. BUT! This article really rankles me as a taxpayer. Despite being unemployed, I continue to make my charitable contributions because I feel that there are people who are worse off than me.

When you feed stray cats, (indiscriminately), you get more stray cats. Fat gooferment bureaucrats are self-interested in making sure they have continued employment. True charity has an element of involvement where we demand accountability. In my charitable contributions, I KNOW there is no one get rich off the poor and the poor are getting real help. (Anecdotally, the lady who runs one of the charities is convinced that the welfare bureaucrats’ sole objective is to keep their clients poor.)

Welfare isn’t charity. It is money extracted forcefully from taxpayers. And, after extracting a huge handling fee, dispensed to the politically favored group. Creating a permanent underclass of “welfare farmers” who vote for more benefits. We now have four generations of families that are stuck in the “family business” of collecting welfare. Johnson’s “War on Poverty” has been a total failure.

We need to take poverty seriously. And forced gooferment solutions have a long track record of failure. So lets, downsize government and let the people take care of the problem. The Salvation Army has a far better record on helping than any welfare office. And, at a much lower cost.

Argh! It’s frustrating. TO see people “trained” to accept this type of treatment.

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POLITICAL: Organ shortages kill people

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=117021

Another deadly government dictum
Walter E. Williams

*** begin quote ***

The Institute for Justice is not challenging Congress’ ban on compensation for solid organs such as hearts, kidneys, and livers. Instead, the lawsuit challenges only the provision of the National Organ Transplant Act that bans compensation for bone marrow. The premise of the Institute for Justice’s legal challenge is that there is a fundamental biological distinction between renewable marrow cells and nonrenewable solid organs. In the case of bone marrow, the donor’s bone marrow is completely replenished in a few weeks. That’s less time than it takes for the human body to fully replenish a pint of donated blood that is often sold to blood banks.

*** end quote ***

Why are only the doctors and hospitals allowed to earn money from transplants?

We know that free markets are the ultimate in democratic freedom. No coercion. No fraud or force permitted.

Think of a poor family that has bury a loved one. Why shouldn’t they be allowed to have an “inheritance”? Why bury or incinerate the “family fortune”?

We have abysmal rates of organ donations. We have waiting lists of people dying. All because of our cultural reluctance to permit the buying and selling of organs. Free markets always “clear”. No free markets have “waiting lists”!

So lets nuke UNOS and put our friends at WalMart in charge of solving the problem.

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POLITICAL: The true cost of this health care disaster

Monday, November 30, 2009

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/11/27/obamacares-cost-could-top-6-trillion/
?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=
Feed%3A+Cato-at-liberty+%28Cato+at+Liberty%29

ObamaCare’s Cost Could Top $6 Trillion
Posted by Michael F. Cannon

*** begin quote ***

When we correct for both gimmicks, counting both on- and off-budget costs over the first 10 years of implementation, the total cost of ObamaCare reaches — I’m so sorry about this — $6.25 trillion. That’s not a precise estimate. It’s just far closer to the truth than President Obama and congressional Democrats want the debate to be.

*** end quote ***

Wow!

Are they kidding?

This will break the bank. And, their estimates are “off” by a multiple of 5 to 10,000. Never to the good side. Always to the over-run side.

We can’t afford it!

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POLITICAL: Where does the Ponzi scheme end?

Thursday, November 26, 2009

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=117072

We pay them to lie to us
John Stossel

*** begin quote ***

Medicare is already $37 trillion in the hole. Yet the Democrats proudly cite Medicare when they demand support for the health-care overhaul. If a business pulled the accounting tricks the politicians get away with, the owners would be in prison.

*** end quote ***

Ditto Social Security. If an insurance compnay did such an “insurance policy”, all the exectives would be in the “grey bar hotel”. Like Madoff, they’d be excoriated. Yet our congress critters can do the same thing and we don’t critize them? Sheeple! Wake up!

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POLITICS: the pseudo “drug war”

Monday, November 23, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s39VUAJE8-A

Buy American Pot: A Special Message From the AMGA, Dedicated to Keeping Pot Illegal & Profits High!
From: ReasonTV | November 19, 2009 | 9,907 views

*** begin quote ***

We all know that a lot of people are harmed by prohibition, but who benefits? Strangely enough, some of the biggest beneficiaries are the bootleggers. Sure, they take a big risk, but black marketeers don’t have to pay taxes, they’re protected from foreign competition, and they benefit from artificially inflated prices. Talk about protectionism.

*** end quote ***

One has to laugh at the pseudo “drug war”. All it does is keep the JBT in power. Kids die from adulterated, impure, or unknown strength products. It transfers American wealth to Columbia Drug Lords and Third World terrorists while making our inner cities a free fire zone from waring gangs. Just like in Prohibition. And, it is easier for children to get than booze. So how about some common sense. Let’s turn the problem over to WalMart, Walgreens, CVS, and 7-11. Now “illegal drugs” will be the cost of aspirin and all the money we are dumping into prisons can go to treatment. You are never going to “prevent” someone from ingesting or inject stuff into themselves. Sohow about we try “freedom”. Could it be ANY worse?

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POLITICAL: True opinions?

Friday, November 20, 2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111900904_pf.html

White House aides: No Afghan decision before Thanksgiving
By Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 19, 2009 7:17 AM

*** begin quote ***

Obama arrived on the base 3:19 p.m. local time (1 a.m. Eastern Standard Time), and received a rousing welcome from 1,500 troops in camouflage uniforms, many holding cameras or pointing cell phones to snap pictures.

“You guys make a pretty good photo op,” the president said.

Standing on a riser wearing a blue suit and red tie, with a cluster of troops and a large American flag behind him, Obama expressed “the gratitude of the American public” and said his meetings in four countries over eight days in Asia will help deliver a “safer more prosperous world for all of us.”

*** end quote ***

Well, a typical liberal. He’d telling us what he things of the troops. Argh!

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POLITICAL: Eviscerated the Fifth for nothing

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9C0O0SG0&show_article=1

Conn. residents: Pfizer land battle unnecessary
Nov 16 11:40 AM US/Eastern
By ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press Writer

*** begin quote ***

But the land where the homes once stood has remained undeveloped, and the community took another hit last week when Pfizer, a major economic engine in the city and its largest taxpayer, announced plans to close the $350 million research center and relocate about 1,500 jobs to nearby Groton.

*** and ***

Susette Kelo, the lead plaintiff and owner of a pink house that was sold to a preservationist for a dollar, said she was not surprised by Pfizer’s planned departure or by the lack of development in the area. Kelo, a nurse, was paid $442,000 by the state for her old property, which was moved less than two miles away, and she now lives in Groton. Other homeowners forced to leave were also compensated by the state.

*** end quote ***

Gee, the gooferment made a mistake?

I’m shocked — “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” Captain Renault in Casablanca — and we are left with another bad Supreme Court decision. Think Dred Scott! And, do all these people get their homes back.

Wake up, Sheeple!

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POLITICAL: White House deception

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

http://wcbstv.com/politics/911.trial.paterson.2.1316155.html

Nov 16, 2009 8:21 pm US/Eastern
Paterson Rips White House For NYC 9/11 Trial
New York Governor Says Trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, 4 Others In New York ‘A Decision I Would Not Have Made’
Paterson Rips White House For NYC 9/11 Trial – wcbstv.com

*** begin quote ***

Gov. David Paterson openly criticized the White House on Monday, saying he thought it was a terrible idea to move alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspected terrorists to New York for trial. …

*** and ***

Paterson also said that the White House warned him six months ago this very situation would happen. He said while he disagrees with the decision, he will do everything in his power to make sure that the state’s Department of Homeland Security will keep New Yorkers as safe as possible.

*** end quote ***

SOOoooo the White House knew they wer…e going to do this SIX months ago; why know? To distract everyone.

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POLITICAL: Who’s fault?

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

http://www.keywestlou.com/2009/11/good-morning-world-up-and-at-em-its.html

My Life in Key West
Tuesday, November 10, 2009

*** begin quote ***

The economic failures of 2008 can be laid largely at their doorstep.

*** end quote ***

No, I respectfully disagree. The failure is entirely do to the congress critters. imho!

CRA, and the corruption of campaign contributions is the proximate cause.

Going back a little, the FED’s creation in 1913 and FDR’s taking us off the gold standard allowed the expansion of the Federal Gooferment without any constraint. What we are seeing now is the same as the coin shaving of the various Louis’s of France.

(I saw an exhibit of the French Fran in the Smithsonian in the 1970’s that brought it into focus. The first franc was a hockey puck of gold; the last one a thin shirt collar button.)

Moral of the story: the bankers and their supposed “regulators” are the creation of and puppets of the congress critters. They should be in jail. And we all should have our heads examined for letting them to get away with it!

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POLITICAL: State theft for “eddykation”

Sunday, November 8, 2009

http://irisheagle.blogspot.com/2009/11/fee-paying-schools-cost-or-savings-for.html

Friday, November 06, 2009

Let’s pay more taxes to punish the rich!

*** begin quote ***

This morning’s Irish Times reports that taxpayers forked out €100m to “support” private fee-paying schools. Sounds like a scandal in these economically straitened times. Yet …

*** end quote ***

I’d suggest that the problem is that the taxpayer is being forced to fund yet another activity. Education is the parent’s responsibility. Not the taxpayers’. We taxpayers don’t get the decision to have the children so why are we forced to pay to educate them. Education should be a valuable service that parents should be willing to pay for. Then teachers could earn what they are worth. If we are concerned about “bad parents”, that’s a different issue. Here in New Jersey, old folks are being forced to leave the State due to high taxes. It’s just not “fair”. Argh! We need a new model based of freedom and liberty.

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POLITICS: A disgusting reality

Friday, November 6, 2009

http://www.lifenews.com/state4544.html

The View Hosts Fail to Grasp the Real Immorality of Planned Parenthood, Abortion
by Colleen Raezler
November 4, 2009

*** begin quote ***

ABC’s “View” host Barbara Walters brought up Johnson’s story, calling it “controversial” and Behar quickly denounced Planned Parenthood for making money off abortions. She called it “gross” and “obnoxious” before she stated, “I don’t see abortions as a profit-making industry. I think that is the real immorality of it.”

*** end quote ***

Well, sometimes a stopped clock is right.

I find Joy’s unquestioning “liberalism” (as well as Elizabeth’s Republican Kool Aid), “unintelligible”.

Woopi usually is spot on most times.

In this case, everyone seems to look askance at profiting from killing whatever; they would debate what exactly was being killed. But we all in our hearts know what it is … a baby!

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POLITICAL: Stossel joins Fox News

Friday, November 6, 2009

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=114936

The truth about journalists’ bias
Posted: November 04, 2009

John Stossel is a longtime award-winning broadcast journalist who joins Fox News Oct. 19. He’s the author of “Give Me a Break” and of “Myth, Lies, and Downright Stupidity.”

*** begin quote ***

It is odd that this is a news story. In August, AFP hired me to do the very same thing. I give the money to charity. The Times didn’t call that “shameful.”

*** end quote ***

Anyone with eyes can see the bias.

I’m hoping that Fox turns Stossel loose!

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POLITICAL: End the psudo-Drug War now

Monday, November 2, 2009

http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/1009/1009drugwartaliban.htm

How our foolish war on drugs resurrected the Taliban
By Raymond Richman and Howard Richman

*** begin quote ***

We have confused a war for survival with a failed war on drugs. Our inability to control the domestic consumption of drugs led Congress and administration after administration to externalize it, wasting tens of billions of dollars in an endeavor that was doomed to fail because our interference in the internal affairs of nations for our domestic reasons alienated large numbers of their population and resulted in the election of leaders hostile to the U.S. in such countries as Bolivia, Venezuela, and Ecuador and destabilizing Mexico.

*** and ***

Let us recognize the fact that prohibition did not work with alcohol and has not worked with cocaine, marijuana, or heroin. Instead of wasting money as we have been doing for decades, we shall gain revenues instead. We shall gain friends instead of making enemies abroad as we have been doing.

We believe the war against the Taliban and al-Qaida is unwinnable as long as the drug war continues in Afghanistan. ESR

*** end quote ***

What will the unemployed Drug Kingpins do? Go into Medicare fraud.

End “Drug Prohibition” now. Save the children in the cities from the violence.

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POLITICAL: ‘Too Big to Fail’ Doctrine

Sunday, November 1, 2009

http://www.breitbart.tv/fdic-head-time-to-put-an-end-to-too-big-to-fail-doctrine/

FDIC Head: Time to Put an End to ‘Too Big to Fail’ Doctrine

(About two minutes of SFW video)

# – # – #

Can she say “credit union”? FDIC is broke and she’s championing “more”. “To big to fail” is absurd. The corporation is a CREATION of the gooferment. Just mandate a SIZE limit. How about a billion? Once it exceeds a billion it must divide in 30 days. Spinning stock to it’s holders. However the BoD wants to do it. But split. Seems easy to me. Let the IRS, SEC, and FED enforce it. No extra agencies or power required.

And, may it embarrassing to earn more than the President in salary!?! Thus we don’t need a pay czar either.

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POLITICAL: Fixing healthcare? Not gonna happen with the gooferment involved

Friday, October 23, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/scott-m1.1.1.html

Your Doctor Serves The State, Not You
by Michael Scott, MD

*** begin quote ***

While I agree that physicians commonly order tests and perform procedures that are medically unnecessary, this fact is due to two main reasons the author completely fails to mention: first, the tort system, which terrorizes doctors in their practices on a daily basis, and second, that patients have minimal if any financial stake in their care. As a consequence, they demand everything in excess, and are often angry when we suggest a desired test or treatment is not indicated, no matter how much time we spend trying to educate them. When people don’t pay for something with their own money, they hardly care about costs. They just milk others for all they’re worth, because after all, that’s what they perceive everybody else is doing to them, too.

*** end quote ***

Clearly, the current insurance system is broken. And, isn’t going to get fixed anytime soon.

We clearly have to get the lawyers out of suing the doctors for everything that goes wrong. They are docs ; not gods.

We clearly have to return to the days of yesteryear, when insurance was insurance. Car insurance doesn’t insure oil changes. And, patients have to pay a percentage of the true cost; not a “co-pay”!

We have to make health care insurance like auto or life; disconnected from employment.

Finally, we have to get the gooferment OUT of health, health care, and health care insurance completely. They can’t do anything right. It’s in their nature. (I still haven’t heard of then doing ANYTHING effectively. Never mind efficiently!)

Argh!

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POLITICAL: Afgan, the graveyard of empires?

Thursday, October 22, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/gaddy/gaddy70.1.html

The Real Reason for More Troops in Afghanistan by Michael Gaddy

*** begin quote ***

Financially crippled due to our continued wars for empire and the printing of billions of new dollars to repay political cronies in the financial world has left us in a precarious position in Afghanistan. We will try to counter the financial prowess of China, to whom we owe billions and their military ties to Russia with the blood and lives of tens of thousands of new US military forces. When China calls in our financial markers, and they will if challenged, what will become of our country? We are about to escalate a war we cannot win. How long will it be before Americans care more for the lives of their children than they do for the state and refuse to participate in the madness?

*** end quote ***

Maybe I do have a permanent “tin foil hat”, but when politicians talk I look for the lies. There are always some: commission, omission, obfuscation, spin, what’s in it for me, how can I punish my enemies, and on and on.

Maybe more troops would protect “our” troops that are already there, but do you think these politicians worry about that?

Maybe more troops would allow “victory”, but that’s never been defined. So how would we know?

If the Soviets fought and lost in Afghanistan for a decade, what make us think that Iraq-style surge would work?

No, like Viet Nam, Republic of, we’ve been beaten again, by an enemy playing of a different “field”. In Viet Nam, it was our “Third Generation” military facing off against a “Fourth Generation” guerilla army. In Afghanistan, it was our “Third Generation” military facing off against a “Fifth Generation” stateless individual insurgency.

(I have a theory of what the Sixth Generation conflict will look like. Citizens against their own “government” like 1957 Hungry.)

Whatever the case, we can be sure we are not getting anything near the “truth” from our politicians.

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POLITICAL: Messing with the DOWG’s design

Sunday, October 18, 2009

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2009/10/dispatches-filibuster-filibuster.html

*** begin quote ***

The issue here is the filibuster itself. It’s time to end this archaic procedure and take away the ability of a group of small-state Senators to hold the American people hostage.

*** end quote ***

Herb, herb, herb, … don’t you realize that the Dead Old White Guys feared democracy as mob rule. Hence, they tried to throw road blocks into the “popular will”.

Lifetime appointment for judges and six year term Senators selected by the State Legislature were just two of the roadblocks they put in as ways to be a “republic”.

They were also concerned that large states would overwhelm the little one. Why would a small state support the arrangement where they are always outvoted.

You “liberals” are always willing to change the rules to get your way. Note the Massachusetts change and rechange how to fill Kennedy’s / Kerry’s seat.

The reason that many states are talking secession is that the don’t want to “play along”. In short order, you may find that Vermont, Texas, Montana, and who know who else may seek to “leave the party”.

Leave filibuster alone. Unless you’re prepared to eventually fracture the Union. Remember in 2010, your precious “virtuous” D’s may be in the minority and need the fillibuster to keep the “villainous” R’s from passing this or that. (As if there was any difference between the two.)

Remember the R’s got the two term limit to prevent another FDR and prevented Ike. That gave us Nixon. And, we see how well that worked out.

Don’t mess with the Dead Old White Guys’ design. Can we now repeal the direct election of Senators? That hasn’t worked out so well either!

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POLITICAL: “Zero Tolerance” for stupidity

Sunday, October 18, 2009

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/10/the_bizarre_con.html

Schneier on Security
A blog covering security and security technology.

October 15, 2009
The Bizarre Consequences of “Zero Tolerance” Weapons Policies at Schools

*** begin quote ***

The problem, of course, is that the global rule trumps any situational common sense, any discretion. But in granting discretion those in overall charge must trust people below them who have more detailed situational knowledge. It’s CYA security — the same thing you see at airports. Those involved in the situation can’t be blamed for making a bad decision as long as they follow the rules, no matter how stupid they are and how little they apply to the situation.

*** end quote ***

Security needs the ability to distinguish between true threats and everything else.

When it can’t, it’s worthless. It gets overwhelmed with “noise” and the bad actors slip by.

Argh!

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POLITICS: “Climate Change”?

Saturday, October 17, 2009

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/blog-action-day-how-bloggers-can-combat-climate-change

Blog Action Day: How Bloggers Can Combat Climate Change
by Daniel Scocco

*** begin quote ***

Today is Blog Action Day, and I want to talk about how bloggers can act to combat climate change.

But first things first, what is climate change? It is the change in the average weather around the world. In our specific case the weather is getting hotter (hence why people talk about global warming). This charge is partially caused by natural factors (e.g., changes in Earth’s orbit), but the human factor also plays an important role, with the increasing concentration of greenhouses.

*** end quote ***

“Climate change”? How have we gone from “Global Cooling” in the 1970’s to “Global Warming” in the 2000’s and end up at “Climate Change” in 2009? Unfortunately, I don’t know if the climate is changing. It has in the past (i.e., Greenland was green). It may in the future. In the cosmic scale, we are a fly on the elephant’s butt. I do know that the same folks who did the “chicken little” on “global cooling” had the same litany of “cures” — higher taxes, more regulations, limitation on freedom. I think that it’s “sensible” to use less of “stuff”; sensible is a synonym for “cost effective”. It’s irrational to think that “I am saving the planet”; it’s smart to cut the electric bill by eliminating wasteful “phantom loads”. I think that bloggers can bring “common sense” to the discussion. We certainly don’t see common sense in the “old media”, politicians, or bureaucrats. Hypocrites abound (e.g., Gore’s carbon footprint; Prince Charles’ jet set life; UN in everything it does). We need to be “smart”!

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Posted by reinkefj

POLITICS: What is “property ownership”?

Monday, October 12, 2009

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/moma.skyscraper.building.2.1231719.html

Oct 7, 2009 6:11 am US/Eastern
NYC Ready For Another Giant Skyscraper?
Despite Critical Praise For Design, Residents Upset Over Proposed Empire State Building-Sized Structure In Midtown
Reporting Lou Young
NEW YORK (CBS)

*** begin quote ***

What’s at stake are the financial interests of the Museum, two powerful non-profits, the developer and the real estate company versus the people who live on this block. It’s a classic New York struggle over power and influence that’ll go before the City Council in a matter of weeks.

*** end quote ***

See in the Pepuls Republik of Nu Yuk, you don’t OWN your property. YOu merely pay through the nose for it, but it’s owned by the hive. The Communists there have more say over “your property” than you do.

In case they haven’t noticed, it’s a Depression. Any economic activity is to be treasured.

I wouldn’t build there. I’d take my wealth and put into gold bullion coins. Maybe after the revolution, then you can reconsider.

Argh!

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Posted by reinkefj

POLITICS: Presedential sensitivity?

Saturday, October 10, 2009

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2009/10/obamas_night_out_first_wh_anni.html

Obamas’ night out: First WH anniversary
Posted October 3, 2009 10:15 PM

*** begin quote ***

That a simple date at a relatively modestly priced Washington restaurant to celebrate a wedding anniversary – the first for the first couple in the White House – could generate as much venom as it has in these e-pages (see the comments below) on a Sunday suggests something deeply troubling about the American mood.

*** end quote ***

What’s the proper decorum for a President who that very day lost 8 AMericans in Afghanistan?

My understanding is that President Bush gave up golf so as not to appear uncaring. President Obama has been doing lots of things while “vacationing” and “politicking”, while troops were dying.

What is proper?

I still think that there should be politicians at each funeral. Maybe then the cost of their dilettante frivolity about “war” would be Rahm-ed home.

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Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: An organ marketplace

Thursday, October 8, 2009

http://lifesharers.blogspot.com/2009/10/transplanting-kidneys-from-people-who.html

Friday, October 02, 2009
Transplanting kidneys from people who had kidney failure

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Nobody should think they’re too sick (or too old) to be an organ donor. People who need transplants would rather live with imperfect organs than die waiting for perfect ones.

As transplant medicine continues to advance, surgeons will continue to transplant lots of organs once thought unusable. Transplanting kidneys from people who suffered acute kidney failure will expand the supply of kidneys by about 1,000 per year. It’s a shame Americans continue to bury or cremate 10,000 transplantable kidneys every year.

*** end quote ***

Seems obvious. Better a poor substitute than the alternative.

10k kidneys every year? That’s criminal. We need a free market.

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Posted by reinkefj

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