POLITICAL: New DNA techniques and “not our job”

Saturday, December 26, 2009

http://reason.com/blog/2009/12/20/florida-sees-its-12th-exonerat

Florida Sees Its 12th Exoneration
Radley Balko | December 20, 2009

*** begin quote ***

This is a common refrain from state officials and prosecutors. “It isn’t our job to find innocent people in the prisons.” Even in jurisdictions where there’s every reason to believe an unusually high number of innocent people have been convicted. They threw the state’s resources at putting the people behind bars in the first place, but argue it’s the responsibility of the wrongly convicted themselves or cash-strapped non-profit groups like the Innocence Project to bring the cases to the attention of the courts—usually as the same prosecutor offices fight them every step of the way.

*** end quote ***

Sorry, the little L libertarian disagrees. Justice demands it! New DNA evidence that can prove innocence must be examined by the State. Otherwise, we’re just a “banana republic”!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Political | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Four month rotation

Thursday, December 24, 2009

On a recent trip to AC, at the magic show, an USAF fellow was there. With wife and two little girls. (Guess he was leaving from McGuire) Under duress, he revealed that he was about to leave on Thanksgiving for a FOUR MONTH ROTATION as a medic to the “war”.

Of course, this made me start thinking.

Why four months?

… because 181 days in a war zone gives certain benefits, entitlements, and pay.

Why Thanksgiving?

… no clue. (A human being might have scheduled the 4 months to split the holidays.)

Why are we always at “war”?

… because “war is the health of the state”.

Why do we regard the military as a job?

… that family could lose the husband.

Why?

… because we don’t have the stones to stand up to the political class and say “no”?

“Dona Nobis Pacem”

# # # # #

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

POLITICAL: Carter calls for debt action

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

http://www.globalatlanta.com/article/23608/

President Carter to U.S.: Tackle Debt Before Lecturing China
Trevor Williams
Atlanta – 12.16.09

*** begin quote ***

The U.S. should focus on getting its own fiscal house in order and give up pressuring China to revalue its currency, the yuan, former President Jimmy Carter said during a Dec. 3 panel discussion at the Carter Center in Atlanta.

*** end quote ***

Pretty bad when ex-President Carter talks financial sense. Guess a stopped clock can be right twice per day. Clearly, the debt should be a priority. If not first, (i.e., national defense, citizen protection, the economy), it’s got to be up there.

The cure is one that the Big Gooferment advocates don’t want to hear — cut spending.

# # # # #

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

POLITICAL: Copenhagen caper

Sunday, December 20, 2009

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2009/12/world-leaders-spent-two-weeks-in.html

Saturday, December 19, 2009
World leaders spent two weeks in Copenhagen and all we got was this?

*** begin quote ***

It took two weeks of talks in Copenhagen, after two years of preliminary talks and in the end, to much fanfare we got….

*** end quote ***

Lucky for us that “climate change”, “global warming”, and “global kooling” are all just “barbara streisand” to get socialism ramped up. More “global gooferment”, wealth transfer, and guilt the rich to transfer wealth from the have’s to the gooferments of the have not’s. Note that you can pour money on the “poor” until the cows come home and ALL of it will go into some petty dictators’ or bureaucrats’ pockets.

But lucky for us, humans are like the flies on the cows butt. We can no more impact climate with our minuscule actions then we can make poverty go away.

Argh!

# # # # #

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

POLITICS: Unemployment numbers are misleading

Saturday, December 19, 2009

http://www.jibberjobber.com/blog/2009/12/18/unemployment-lies-and-deception

Unemployment Lies and Deception

December 18th, 2009

*** begin quote ***

As far as I know, unemployment numbers are based on those who are reporting to the government — those who are collecting unemployment insurance.

Guess what… unemployment insurance RUNS OUT. And then, you are so worthless, you aren’t even counted as a statistic! You are essentially written off the books.

Yeah, this really gets under my skin. And we aren’t even talking about UNDEREMPLOYED people!!

*** end quote ***

And, don’t forget the underemployed and the old farts who are now “retired” for want of anything better to do.

I fault the gooferment and it’s absolute stupidity.

First, average wage in gooferment is twice that of private industry. Regardless of how they slice and dice the numbers, gooferment workers are in the ascendancy in both quantity and money. TARP — bailout to the banks; should have just let them fail. (Cynically, I’d bet that they’d have figured out how to survive. The bail out of AIG was a direct payoff to Goldman Sachs. The same Goldman Sachs that paid gigantic bonuses.)

Second, every dollar the gooferment “gives” in unemployment benefits has to come from some taxpayer. Remember Basiat and the unseen victim. In this case, we now have four generation of “welfare farmers”. Some of those on “welfare” are rich companies and individuals. Milk and sugar subsidies come to mind.

Third, the poor economy has landed hard on the young and old. Youth unemployment — especially minority — is skyrocketing. And, the older workers are being forced into early retirement; some after burning through their savings from reduced retirement portfolios.

My solution is reduce gooferment. They need to cut, cut, and cut some more. Some entities need to be killed — Agriculture and Education would be my starting point. We need to cut the corporate income tax from 30+ to say ZERO. (Corporations don’t pay taxes. Only real people do. Corps pass them along or go out of business.) When Ron Paul campaigned, he asserted that cutting gooferment back to 1990 levels would allow the income tax to be ZERO.

Not like any of this is going to happen. But I wouldn’t trust anything the gooferment says or does. This included “running health care or health insurance”.

# # # # #

1 Comment | Political | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

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?

# # # # #

1 Comment | Political | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

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.)

# # # # #

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

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.

# # # # #

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

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.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Political | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

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.

# # # # #

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

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »