JLINKEDIN: McCrosson, Matt (MC????) new job Partner, O’Connor Davies, LLP

Sunday, April 26, 2015

2015-Apr-26

Matt McCrosson has a new job: Partner, O’Connor Davies, LLP

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmccrosson

McCrosson, Matt (MC????)
Partner,O’Connor Davies, LLP
Greater New York City AreaAccounting

Summary
My diverse professional experience and background provide a better understanding of the challenges faced by my clients. I strive to offer practical guidance that improves operating capability and helps the organization as a whole.

I am a partner of the Firm and have more than 20 years of experience in public accounting. I provide a broad scope of management advisory services to a diverse range of clients, including business finance, operations, technology, and performance improvement. I have significant experience in planning for organizational change, and helping my clients remain on track in a rapidly-changing corporate environment.

Prior to joining O’Connor Davies, I held a senior position at a Big Four accounting firm and focused on clients in the not-for-profit, higher education and government sectors. Earlier in my career, I served as the Chief Operating Officer or Chief Financial Officer for several national and regional not-for-profit organizations, including the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation and the New York Urban Coalition.

I regularly speak on the topics of financial reporting, organizational efficiency and operations management. I am also a dedicated volunteer and sit on numerous not-for-profit organization Boards.

# – # – # – # – #  2015-Apr-26 @ 12:44  


ECONOMICS: Forget gay marriage; is marriage over

Sunday, April 26, 2015

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/04/no_author/men-go-on-strike-against-marriage/

Why Men Won’t Get Married Anymore
Women complain chaps today won’t settle down. Sorry, ladies, but it’s all your fault, argues a wickedly provocative new book
By Peter Lloyd
Daily Mail
April 21, 2015

*** begin quote ***

When it comes to marriage, men are on strike.

Why? Because the rewards are far less than they used to be, while the cost and dangers it presents are far greater.

‘Ultimately, men know there’s a good chance they’ll lose their friends, their respect, their space, their sex life, their money and — if it all goes wrong — their family,’ says Dr Helen Smith, author of Why Men Are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood And The American Dream.

‘They don’t want to enter into a legal contract with someone who could effectively take half their savings, pension and property when the honeymoon period is over.

‘Men aren’t wimping out by staying unmarried or being commitment phobes. They’re being smart.’

*** end quote ***

This is a scary trend. That will remake society.

It’s part of the trend that makes the woman rich out of any marriage. 

Palimony was just the first step.

Used be that divorce was a Hollywood thing.

Argh!

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POLITICAL: Make the FDA advisory, not dictatorial

Saturday, April 25, 2015

https://downsizedc.org/etp/fda/

Make the FDA advisory, not dictatorial.

All too often the FDA has been demonstrated to be in bed with Big Pharma. I believe the term is “regulatory capture”. It’s time to separate medicine and government!

Government’s proper role is prevent force or fraud on its citizens. Hence, the proper role is left to the courts for redress of damages. When government decides what’s “best” for individuals, that far exceeds it’s proper role.

The easiest way to fix this is to take the FDA out of the approval process completely and let the people decide. Since they will bear the brunt of the decision, I’m sure they will do a good job.

When the FDA delays or blocks, the victims have no choices.

That’s not the American way.

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POLITICAL: “Balance” means no change?

Friday, April 24, 2015

April 20, 2015
Mr. Ferdinand Reinke
1641 International Dr Unit 414
McLean, VA 22102-4831

Dear Mr. Reinke:

Thank you for contacting me about the National Security Administration (NSA) and the PATRIOT Act. I appreciate hearing from you.

In June 2013 details of two NSA programs were published in the media as a result of leaked confidential documents. News articles indicated that since 2007, under provisions within the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the PATRIOT Act, the NSA has monitored private communications in an effort to increase national security.

The primary mission of the U.S. intelligence community is to detect and prevent the very real threat of terrorism on our homeland. According to General Keith Alexander, Director of the NSA, and Robert Mueller, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the intelligence community has successfully used these programs to identify and thwart dozens of terrorist plots at home and abroad. Additionally, leaders from the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have defended these programs stating that they are transparent, lawful, and have been instrumental in defending our homeland.

Many have expressed legitimate concerns about the privacy implications of this policy. I believe we must balance the need for privacy with the need to maintain national security. I also believe there needs to be an open discussion about the limits of surveillance and the need for transparency.

In December 2013 the President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies issued a report on “Liberty and Security in a Changing World.” The report recommended forty-six changes to our national surveillance programs, some executive and some legislative. In response to the report, in January 2014 President Obama announced a series of executive reforms, including the development of a blueprint for consumer privacy in the digital age, a commitment to declassify certain court opinions, and changes in the bulk collection of phone data.

On July 29th, 2014 Senator Patrick Leahy reintroduced legislation, the USA FREEDOM Act, to end bulk collection of the telephone records of Americans, to reform the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), and to improve transparency. On November 18th, 2014 a vote to begin debate on this measure failed to receive the 60 votes required to cut off a filibuster; the vote was 58-42. The updated legislation would have required the government to narrowly limit and define surveillance targets, enhanced transparency and reported how many individuals – including U.S. citizens – have had their information collected. On March 19th, 2015 Representative Mark Pocan introduced the Surveillance State Repeal Act, also designed to improve transparency and reform the targeting and surveillance of individuals.

I will continue to closely monitor future proposals and will work to ensure that efforts to improve our national security also protect constitutional rights in a balanced way. Thank you once again for contacting me about this important matter.

Sincerely,

Signature

Tim Kaine

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argh!

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POLITICAL: Prefer Entrepreneurs and Business over Gooferment politicians and bureaucrats

Thursday, April 23, 2015

http://keywestlou.com/a-busy-monday/

A BUSY MONDAY
Posted on April 21, 2015 by keywestlou

*** begin quote ***

Monday’s E-Blast carried an article re the Waterfront brewery remodeling. The property is city owned. It is being remodeled for the two tenants who will be occupying. A brewery and restaurant.

My concern is with over costs/over runs. Everything Key West does construction wise, involves the taxpayers getting hit with additional costs for alleged unexpected problems. The brewery thus far has run into two. An additional cost of $64,000. Not much, but more.

Over costs seem to occur on every type construction Key West is involved in. Sometimes in the millions. I never ran into this situation in other areas. Key Wet calls them unexpected. I call them a series of screw ups by the city in not properly investigating and/or discovering the work initially.

Key West never seems to learn.

*** end quote ***

And you should ask “why is the Gooferment in the property business at all?”

Entrepreneurs, risking their own capital, will do a much better job. 

Think Donald Trump and NYC Central Park’s Wollman Ice Skating Rink!

http://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/06/nyregion/who-can-fix-the-wollman-rink-faster-city-and-trump-agree-it-s-trump.html

Argh!

Gooferment is immoral, ineffective, and inefficient.

Your examples of “overruns” is just more evidence that it is “bad news”.

Let the politicians and bureaucrats go into private business if they want to be developers.

Argh!

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JOBFINDING: CFO

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

2015-Apr-22

Good day,
.
I’m reaching out to advise you of a very special CFO opportunity. The Thor Group is assisting our client, a major state government authority, hire a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to replace their retiring CFO. Our client is one of America’s largest public authorities in terms of its construction and financing output. This Authority has been the top issuer of municipal bonds in the United States at one point, issuing US$3.16 billion of municipal bonds in one year. In 2006, this Authority was ranked fourth in the USA for municipal bond issuance. In 2005, the Authority’s construction expenditures topped US$1 billion. The Authority has the power of eminent domain to get construction projects built.
.
JOB OVERVIEW – Chief Financial Officer

In the capacity of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and reporting to the Executive Director the person selected would manage the accounting and financial side of this large Government Agency. This CFO serves in two capacities: as Chief Financial Officer responsible for all financially­ related operations and Information Systems of the Authority; and as Treasurer serving as a statutory Officer of the Authority. The CFO is responsible for Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable which disburses from $2 Billion to $5 Billion annually. The CFO manages the direct investment function for a Portfolio of $4 to $6 Billion. And, the CFO oversees a portfolio of 900 + construction projects totaling more than $6 Billion, 200 of which are active construction totaling $3.3 Billion. The construction projects are managed within their Oracle Primavera Contract Management I.T. system. To accomplish this the CFO oversees a department of 40 managers, accountants, and analysts, plus an additional 30 to 35 Information Services personnel and contractors.
.
ESSENTIAL SKILLS:

1. ESSENTIAL: Working knowledge of Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) and Governmental Accounting Standards Board (“GASB”) standards.

2. ESSENTIAL: Working knowledge of Internal Controls, Strategic Planning, Federal Tax Regulations related to tax exempt bonds, and debt issuance process

QUALIFIERS:

· Large staff management experience.
· CPA OR Master’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, Economics, or related field
· Experience in finance, consulting, or management within a major business or government enterprise and/or nationally recognized CPA or consulting firm.
· Experience with the preparation of financial statements,
· Exposure in the areas of financial management, debt capital markets, and investments
.
· PREFER (but not required): Knowledge of complex governmental operations, higher education and health care industries, current information technology, trends and strategy is strongly preferred.

· PREFER (but not required): Experience in construction or financial industries

.

INTERESTED – APPLY

To apply or learn more about this terrific full-time employment opportunity – I.D. #31123 – simply return this email to me with resume and your phone number.

.
….. Remember include your resume & phone number (___) ___-____…..
.
REFER a COLLEAGUE
If Job #31123 does not fit you – be a friend – refer a colleague – send them this email – or – forward their contact information to willm@thorgroup.com ……

.

Regards,

 

Will McElroy

The THOR Group

Dallas Regional Office

Direct Line: 214-547-1244

Office Line: 310-727-3089

E-mail: willm@thorgroup.com

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ECONOMICS: Pulling up the lower rungs of the economic ladder

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

http://cafehayek.com/2015/04/minimum-logic-maximum-straw.html

Minimum Logic, Maximum Straw
by DON BOUDREAUX on APRIL 18, 2015
in SEEN AND UNSEEN, WORK

*** begin quote ***

What minimum-wage hikes do unleash, however, is devastation upon a relatively small number of largely invisible workers – workers who are the least skilled and most disadvantaged.  Raising the minimum wage destroys jobs for many of these poor workers while making the jobs of other such workers more onerous.  But because these workers are so relatively few in number, their suffering, while very real, is easy to miss when looking at the aggregate data.  This fact explains why some – by no means a majority – of minimum-wage studies (particularly those that examine only short spans of time) find no negative employment effects.

*** end quote ***

Minimum wage “laws” are devestating to the poor, minority, low income, and senior citizens.

Why are they pushed?

Cui bono.

How many of the salaries of union and “public service” jobs are tied formally or informally to the minimum wage?

Of all the stupid legislation, this ranks right up there with the dumbest of the dumb (i.e., rounding off Pi; time zones; etc.).

Argh!


INTERESTING: Ancient Roman Concrete was better than today’s?

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-technology/ten-amazing-inventions-ancient-times-001539

4. Ancient Roman Concrete was Far Superior to Our Own

Scientists studying the composition of Roman concrete, which has been submerged under the Mediterranean Sea for the last 2,000 years, discovered that it was superior to modern-day concrete in terms of durability and being less environmentally damaging. The Romans made concrete by mixing lime and volcanic rock. For underwater structures, the combination of lime and volcanic ash with seawater instantly triggered a chemical reaction in which the lime incorporated molecules into its structure and reacted with the ash to cement the whole mixture together. Analysis of the concrete found that it produces a significantly different compound to modern day cement, which is an incredibly stable binder. In addition, the ancient concrete contains the ideal crystalline structure of Tobermorite, which has a greater strength and durability than the modern equivalent. Finally, microscopic studies identified other minerals in the ancient concrete which show potential application for high-performance concretes, including the encapsulation of hazardous wastes. “In the middle 20th century, concrete structures were designed to last 50 years,” said scientist Paulo Monteiro said. “Yet Roman harbour installations have survived 2,000 years of chemical attack and wave action underwater.”

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Who would have thought that?

Never was mentioned in my strength of materials class back in Ingineering Skrule!

Hmm, what else don’t I know that I don’t know I don’t know?

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RANT: Repeal the Renewable Fuel Standard now

Monday, April 20, 2015

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20150418/OPINION02/150419168&source=RSS

April 17. 2015 10:02PM
It’s time to repeal the costly Renewable Fuel Standard
Michael James Barton

*** begin quote ***

In a rare act of bipartisanship, Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Penn., and Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., recently introduced a bill that would repeal the corn ethanol mandate in the Renewable Fuel Standard.

That’s good news for American workers and families.

Although Congress created the Renewable Fuel Standard with good intentions, it’s no longer workable. Instead of bolstering energy security as intended, the RFS is merely undermining the economic success of our recent energy boom while posing a threat to the environment and even raising food prices. It’s time for Congress to repeal the fundamentally broken RFS.

Congress created the RFS under the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The intention was to simultaneously reduce dependence on expensive foreign oil while lowering greenhouse gas emissions. The act mandated that each year an increasing amount of biofuels be blended into transportation fuels.

*** end quote ***

Why should politicians be interfering in the pseudo “free market” anyway?

I do NOT stipulate their “good intentions” EVER!

When they first proposed this whopper, everyone said it will hurt the poor WORLDWIDE by raising food prices.

And, wow!, now they discover that the world has changed.

Argh!

Separation of Food and State, Energy and State, and whatever else we can separate.

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POLITICAL: A condemnation of Bill and thus Hillary I hadn’t realized

Sunday, April 19, 2015

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/04/david-stockman/class-president-of-a-failed-generation/

Hillary Clinton: Class President Of A Failed Generation
By David Stockman
David Stockman’s Corner
April 17, 2015

*** begin quote ***

Their job was to have at least the vision of Warren G. Harding. After all, he did demobilize the US war machine completely, eschewed the imperial pretensions of Woodrow Wilson and actually launched a disarmament movement which resulted in the melting down of the world’s navies and the Kellogg-Briand treaty to outlaw war.

Yet the opportunity at the Cold War’s end was even more compelling. There was absolutely no military threat to American security anywhere in the world. The Clintons could have drastically reduced the defense budget by mothballing much of the navy and air force and demobilizing the army. They should have cancelled all new weapons programs and dismantled the military-industrial complex. They could have declared “mission accomplished” with respect to NATO and made good on Bush’s pledge to Gorbachev to not expand it “by an inch” by actually disbanding it. And, as legatees of 1968, they were positioned to lead a global disarmament movement and to end the arms export trade once and for all.

That was their job—-the unfinished business of peace. But they blew it in the name of political opportunism and failure to recognize that the American public was ready to end the century of war, too.

So they capitulated to the pork barrel politics of the Pentagon, plunged into the lunacy of the Balkan wars, launched the misbegotten project to expanded NATO, failed to bring Iran back into the community of nation’s when its leaders reached out to Washington, and kept America in harm’s way by keeping our war machine in the Persian Gulf and extending the pointless campaign against Saddam Hussein that could only open the gates to hell in Bagdad.

*** end quote ***

I remember the discussion of the “peace dividend” when the USSR broke up. What happened?

Ike was right to warn us of the Military Industrial Complex!

So how does anyone be like Harding? (Who has moved up in my estimation with my being educated about his disarmament stance.)

I think a good start is to —as most good MBAs will assert — is to cut G&A 10% immediately.

That goes along with my wish to cut — a real bottom line cut; not the phoney “District of Corruption” cut to the rate of growth — 1% every year. (At least, until real people scream! Not astroturf people.)

One can only hope.

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dotcomeraden! https://reinkefaceslife.com/2007/10/23/fun-dotcomeraden/ Aprundlebreakhttp://tinyurl.com/34n533


GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Over response?

Saturday, April 18, 2015

2015-Apr-18 1225

IMG 1095

Bus tapped bumper of little car. 3 cop cars, fire engine, ambulance, deputy fire marshal.

My tax dollars at work!

Well, it’s a nice day for them to be out and about.

# – # – # – # – #  2015-Apr-18 @ 12:26  


GOVERNACIDE: Common factor in tragedies — psych drugs

Saturday, April 18, 2015

https://www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/psychiatric-drugs-and-the-downing-of-germanwings-9525/

Psychiatric Drugs and the Downing of the Germanwings A320
Peter Breggin, MD, talks to Lew Rockwell about Big Pharma and mass murder.
April 14, 2015

# – # – #

Interesting that this exposes the corrupt relationship between Big Pharma, the FDA, the psychiatrists, and the media.

He draws the common factor between Germanwings A320, the mass shootings, and mothers killing children — psych drugs.

It’s worth the 30 minute listen imho.

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RANT: IF history is falsified, then …

Friday, April 17, 2015

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/04/paul-craig-roberts/the-power-of-lies-can-be-broken/

The Power of Lies
By Paul Craig Roberts
PaulCraigRoberts.org
April 14, 2015

*** begin quote ***

The reason I am writing about this is to illustrate how history is falsified in behalf of agendas. I am all for civil rights and participated in the movement while a college student. What makes me uncomfortable is the transformation of Lincoln, a tyrant who was an agent for the One Percent and was willing to destroy any and every thing in behalf of empire, into a civil rights hero. Who will be next? Hitler? Stalin? Mao? George W. Bush? Obama? John Yoo? If Lincoln can be a civil rights hero, so can be torturers. Those who murder in Washington’s wars women and children can be turned into defenders of women’s rights and child advocates. And probably they will be.

*** end quote ***

IF history is falsified, then …

… what can I believe.

Very simply, that which I can see and hear. Or that which I can “prove”.

The Earth may very well be flat, but there’s a lot of “evidence” that “proves” it isn’t.

Have to remember the difference between the “LAW of Gravity” and the “Theory of Evolution”,

Oh, and those things that the politicians and bureaucrats make up are not “laws”.

Calling a cat a lion doesn’t make it so. And visa versa.

Argh!

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TINFOILHAT: Boston Marathon Bombings’ trial seems to be gross injustice

Thursday, April 16, 2015

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/04/no_author/kangaroo-court-2/

Boston Marathon Bombings’ Guilty Verdict Exposed as a Gross Travesty of Justice
By Joachim Hagopian
GlobalResearch.ca
April 13, 2015

*** begin quote ***

And if a basic tenet of the justice system in the United States holds that a defendant is considered innocent until proven guilty, then again this verdict outcome is an obscene farce and a shameful joke exposing America’s justice system for its gross injustice. Just as the 9/11 commission failed to adequately address and answer dozens of questions that its official narrative failed to deliver, and years earlier the Warren Commission failed JFK and America, so does the prosecution’s case of evidence of Tsarnaev’s guilt fail to be convincing, much less provide definitive and unequivocal proof that the 21-year old Chechen American with his brother committed the Boston Marathon crimes.

And the prime reason why is that so much of the testimony and so called evidence was based on the FBI and local law enforcement’s dishonest versions of events that were based near exclusively on the government’s one star witness’s faulty, changeable, non-credible accounting of events. The identity of this sole witness that even through the trial was never revealed, testified in court by his fake name “Danny.” Later it was learned that Danny’s real name was Dun Meng. A Chinese national finishing his masters at Northeastern University in engineering, during his alleged carjacking, Meng claimed that the deceased brother Tamerlan confessed that he and his younger brother were responsible for both the Marathon bombings as well as the murder of the MIT campus policeman.

*** end quote ***

The more I read about the trial, “evidence”, and illusions of duplicity, the more I doubt that we are getting the Truth.

Did the Gooferment prove its case? Or did the defense take a dive?

With all the inconsistencies, seem like there is an automatic ineffective counsel appeal.

Then, there is the “conveniences” around the bombing: a security drill with paid mercenaries and backpacks, the large Gooferment response with troops, and — of course — the house to house searching.

Sorry, it just doesn’t sit right with me.

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POLITICAL: Abolish the IRS

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org/2015/04/enough-is-enough-abolish-the-irs/

Enough Is Enough: Abolish the IRS
By Editor on April 12, 2015

*** begin quote ***

The income tax is absolutely crazy if one takes a moment to think about it. We’ve become so conditioned to accept it that we don’t even realize how ridiculous it is. The government taxes one for being productive, for creating income for one’s family, for doing one’s part to grow the economy. It doesn’t make any sense.

*** and ***

The IRS has also become a political tool as the Lois Lerner debacle illustrated. 

*** and ***

We should seriously consider a flat tax. Forget consider, we should institute a low flat tax tomorrow. 12.5% across the board. I could live with that (for right now.) 1 postcard on April 15th. No forms. Easy. Actually EZ.

*** end quote ***

I say 10%!

With reduction every year.

Until it’s zero.

Like Prohibition, “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs”, and the Federal Reserve, “We, The Sheeple” have allowed a lot of mistakes to be made.

Argh!

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SOFTWARE: ABANDONWARE should be “free”

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/10/fighting-to-keep-abandoned-games-dead/?ncid=rss_truncated

Publishers are fighting to keep abandoned games dead
Jessica Conditt | @jessconditt | April 10th 2015 at 3:23 pm

*** begin quote ***

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit group that defends civil liberties in the digital world, is facing off against the Entertainment Software Association, the organization that represents most major video game publishers in the US. The EFF wants to allow players to put abandoned games back online and has asked the US Copyright Office for an exemption from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This would allow players to legally modify the code of online games that are no longer supported by publishers, in the hope of reconnecting these titles to new, third-party servers. This includes games like Battlefield 1942, Star Wars: Battlefront, SOCOM 4, Resistance: Fall of Man and Mario Kart Wii. Many modern games rely on servers to function; if Activision pulled the plug on Destiny, for example, even its single-player campaign would disappear, since the entire game needs an online connection.

*** end quote ***

I’ve often thought that ABANDONWARE and Out-of-print-books should be in the “public domain”.

When we, as a society, seek to encourage writing by means of the “copy right”, then it’s is incumbent on the writer to keep his copyrighted published work available. When a book is “out of print”, the copyright should lapse or suspend.

Argh!

It’s like the content creator reneges on their side of the bargain.

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RANT: Asking the government to solve your problems?

Monday, April 13, 2015

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/04/jack-perry/let-them-eat-cake/

Let Them Eat Cake!!
By Jack Perry
April 9, 2015

*** begin quote ***

Christian bakeries feared they’d be compelled by law to bake cakes for gay weddings. So, what’d they do? They lobbied the government to pass a law saying they don’t have to. Now everyone is in a lather about that. Hey, you guys, listen. Asking the government to solve your problems is like asking ISIS to measure your hat size: It’ll get done, but maybe not in the way you’d like. To the pro-gay wedding cake people, you stepped in it when you made a fuss over a frickin’ cake and wanted the government involved. All that did was rally the activists on the other side and they went to the government, too, and got a law passed you don’t like. Hey, just take your money elsewhere. That’s what I did when Starbucks wanted to turn my cup of coffee into a social engineering experiment. I got a cheaper cup of coffee, too, and that’s always a good thing. To the pro-religious freedom people, guess what you did? You just opened the door for Sharia law, which you said you were against and wanted laws passed to ban not long prior to this mess. See what I mean? Asking the government to solve your problems just creates problems. What is the government anyway, the yard duty on the playground?! Really, grow up, people. It’s food, ok? That’s what this is about. A flippin’ cake!

*** end quote ***

I can’t imagine a better way to INVOKE a disaster — getting the Gooferment involved in anything.

Pick anything that it “solves” and I think you’ll find: it created the problem AND managed to make it worse by the “fix”.

Just remember that the Gooferment is immoral, ineffective, and inefficient!

And everything arises from its monopolyof force.

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RANT: Some reasonable questions and observations?

Sunday, April 12, 2015

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/04/06/two-days-after-sharing-this-open-letter-to-obama-on-facebook-veteran-coach-was-handing-in-his-resignation/

Two Days After Sharing This ‘Open Letter’ to Obama on Facebook, Veteran Coach Was Handing in His Resignation
Apr. 6, 2015 5:42pm
Jason Howerton

*** begin quote ***

Two days after posting a controversial open letter to President Barack Obama, written by “An American Citizen,” on his personal Facebook page, a lacrosse coach said he was forced to resign by school officials at Fryeburg Academy in Fryeburg, Maine.

*** and ***

Dear Mr. Obama:

Have you ever seen a Muslim hospital?

Have you heard a Muslim orchestra?

Have you seen a Muslim band march in a parade?

Have you witnessed a Muslim charity?

Have you seen Muslims shak[ing] hands with Muslim Girl Scouts?

Have you seen a Muslim Candy Striper?

Have your seen a Muslim do anything that contributes positively to the American way of life????

The answer is no, you have not.  Just ask yourself WHY???

Were those Muslims that were in America when the Pilgrims first landed?  Funny, I thought they were Native American Indians.

Were those Muslims that celebrated the first Thanksgiving day? Sorry again, those were Pilgrims and Native American Indians.

Can you show me one Muslim signature on the United States Constitution?  Declaration of Independence?  Bill of Rights?  Didn’t think so.

Did Muslims fight for this country’s freedom from England?  No.

Did Muslims fight during the Civil War to free the slaves in America?  No, they did not.  In fact, Muslims to this day are still the largest traffickers in human slavery.  Your own half-brother, a devout Muslim, still advocates slavery himself, even though Muslims of Arabic descent refer to black Muslims as “pug nosed slaves.”  Says a lot of what the Muslim world really thinks of your family’s “rich Islamic heritage,” doesn’t it Mr. Obama?

Where were Muslims during the Civil Rights era of this country?  Not present.  There are no pictures or media accounts of Muslims walking side by side with Martin Luther King, Jr. or helping to advance the cause of Civil Rights.

Where were Muslims during this country’s Woman’s Suffrage era?  Again, not present.  In fact, devout Muslims demand that women are subservient to men in the Islamic culture.  So much so, that often they are beaten for not wearing the ‘hajib’ or for talking to a man who is not a direct family member or their husband.  Yep, the Muslims are all for women’s rights, aren’t they?

Where were Muslims during World War II?  They were aligned with Adolf Hitler.  The Muslim grand mufti himself met with Adolf Hitler, reviewed the troops and accepted support from the Nazis in killing Jews.
Finally, Mr. Obama, where were Muslims on Sept. 11th, 2001?  If they weren’t flying planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon or a field in Pennsylvania killing nearly 3,000 people on our own soil, they were rejoicing in the Middle East.

No one can dispute the pictures shown from all parts of the Muslim world celebrating on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and other cable news networks that day.  Strangely, the very “moderate” Muslims who’s asses you bent over backwards to kiss in Cairo, Egypt on June 4th were stone cold silent post 9-11.  To many Americans, their silence has meant approval for the acts of that day.

And THAT, Mr. Obama, is the “rich heritage” Muslims have here in America…

Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to mention the Barbary Pirates.  They were Muslims.

And now we can add November 5, 2009 – the slaughter of American soldiers at Fort Hood by a Muslim major, a doctor and a psychiatrist, who was supposed to be counseling soldiers returning from battle in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That, Mr. Obama is the “Muslim heritage” in America!

P.S. Now, you can add the Boston Marathon bombings, too…

*** end quote ***

Seems like reasonable questions and observations?

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LIBERTARIAN: My little L libertarian “Litmus Tests”

Saturday, April 11, 2015

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/04/laurence-m-vance/gop-prevaricators/

The Drug War Litmus Test
By Laurence M. Vance
April 7, 2015

*** begin quote ***

The libertarian view on the drug war is simple and consistent: Since it is not the business of government at any level to prohibit, regulate, restrict, license, criminalize, limit, or otherwise control what someone wants to smoke, snort, sniff, inject, or swallow, then there should be no laws whatsoever regarding the buying, selling, possessing, trafficking, using, growing, cultivating, processing, or manufacturing of any drug for any reason.

Therefore, on both the federal and the state level, all drugs should be legalized, all drug laws and regulations should be repealed, all DEAs should be eliminated, all incarcerated drug offenders should be pardoned and released from jail or prison, and every facet of the drug war should be ended. And because the drug war is such a great injustice, this should all be done immediately.

The drug war is a great libertarian litmus test. No one who supports government at any level having any kind of a war on drugs is even remotely a libertarian. It doesn’t matter what else he believes about foreign policy, the welfare state, the warfare state, or the surveillance state. No one can “lean libertarian” and support such a gross violation of individual liberty, personal freedom, property rights, a free market, and a free society as the war on drugs.

*** end quote ***

Of course, the “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs” is an easy one.

Shut down the DEA and the FDA. Clear out the prisons of non-violent drug offenders. 

But moving on from that, I’d propose some other “litmus tests”.

(1) The “Crony Capitalist” test to rule out: subsidies, price supports, parity payments, price floors, and any other form of translation of privilege into “campaign contributions”.

(2) The “Welfare” test to rule out: Gooferment handouts of any type that trap people into a cycle of poverty and despair. 

(3) The “Warfare” test to rule out: Gooferment propping up it’s military – industrial complex by failing to MYOB overseas. (Bring all the girls and boys home NOW!)

(4) The “gun” test to rule out opponents of Constitution Carry. Roll back the thousands of laws that only the lawful gun owner obeys anyway. 

This will be my rating system for the next Presidential election — if there is one!

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POLITICAL: No subsidies for sports

Friday, April 10, 2015

http://gameto100.com/

Wild words on public subsidies for sports arenas
Posted on April 6, 2015 by Paul Clegg

*** begin quote ***

Far out, man!

That’s my throwback reaction to this morning’s editorial in the Sacramento Bee bearing this headline: “Ditch tax break for pro arenas/ Obama’s budget would end subsidy.”

The headline is so preposterous coming from the Bee that I thought it might be a late April Fools’ joke. This is the same newspaper that led the cheerleading for a huge public subsidy to help build a downtown arena for the Kings and their wealthy owners.

*** and ***

The Bee comes to several astounding realizations about public subsidies for sports arenas and stadiums: they reflect a transfer of money from the nation’s poorest citizens to some of the wealthiest, and they undermine the concept of a level-playing field because the benefits go to a few well-organized and well-funded interests that wield outsized influence with the decision-makers.

*** end quote ***

How did “We, The Sheeple” allow the Gooferment to subsidize “circuses”. 

Argh!

The Gooferment is immoral, ineffective, and inefficient!

This just demonstrates that the immoral cycle. Tax breaks recycle into “campaign contributions” or graft.

Argh!

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RANT: Pro life and anti-death penalty

Thursday, April 9, 2015

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2015/0403/Alabama-man-released-after-decades-on-death-row-Sign-of-a-flawed-system-video

USA USA UPDATE
Alabama man released after decades on death row: Sign of a flawed system? (+video)
As the number of death-row exonerees continues to grow, fundamental questions are being raised about potential flaws in the system.
By Cristina Maza, Staff writer APRIL 3, 2015

*** begin quote ***

Hinton is the third death-row inmate freed in the United States in less than a month. Since 1973, 151 people besides Hinton have been released from death row. And as the number of exonerees continues to grow, fundamental questions are being raised about potential flaws in the system.

“The fact that there’s innocent people in prison or death row has transformed people’s understanding of the death penalty,” University of North Carolina political scientist Frank Baumgartner, author of “The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence,” told Monitor reporter Patrik Jonsson.

“Your opinion about the death penalty in the abstract is one thing, but meeting exonerees changes the death penalty from an abstract principle to a very practical issue of: Can the government do it right every single time?

*** end quote ***

And, we don’t know exactly the extent of the “error rate”.

Now isn’t the saying better that 100 guilty go free than 1 innocent goes to jail?

No erasers on the “pencils” of the death penalty!

Given that a trial costs 4 times the cost of life in prison (read that somewhere; good enough for a swag!) seems like we should just eliminate it for the most part. (Maybe it’s retained for those felons convicted of killing a correction officer?)

Sorry, but being pro-life means being anti-death penalty.

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POLITICAL: Kerik Predicts a Criminal Justice ‘Implosion’

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

https://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/bernie-kerik-jailer-to-jailed-criminal-justice-prison/2015/03/31/id/635536/

Former Top Cop Kerik Predicts a Criminal Justice ‘Implosion’
Tuesday, 31 Mar 2015 12:31 PM
By David A. Patten

*** begin quote ***

Give us an example of an absurd law that should be taken off the books.

You have people who kill the wrong animal while hunting, use the wrong weapon, or kill some animal on the wrong day — there are a thousand of these things. Catch too many fish, catch the wrong type of fish, catch too big of a fish. They make these people felons. With some 2.3 million U.S. prisoners, what will happen in your view without serious criminal justice reform?

It is an economic catastrophe for this country. It’s unsustainable, and over time, the system will implode. … The states have budgets they have to adhere to. But the federal government just keeps printing money and throwing it into the system.

*** end quote ***

As a little L libertarian, I rant about the Gooferment being immoral, ineffective, and inefficient!

Here’s yet another convert to the “church” of anti-Gooferment!

There are just too many attempts to legislate the unlegislatable.

No one can follow all the rules, diktat, “laws”, and regulations.

Unless you’re a member of the political class (i.e., Bill and Hillary), then it doesn’t matter.

Argh!

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TINFOILHAT: The Pearl Harbor Myth and FDR’s role

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

2015-Apr-02

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/03/bionic-mosquito/the-pearl-harbor-myth/

The Pearl Harbor Myth: Rethinking the Unthinkable
By Bionic Mosquito
March 7, 2015

*** begin quote ***

To most Americans, manipulating one’s nation into war is something done by foreign tyrants – not our own leaders. Since 1942 U.S. history has been distorted by the idea that presidents simply do not do what Roosevelt’s enemies said he did.

*** end quote ***

I remember my Uncles always maintaining that FDR knew about Pearl Harbor. 

I don’t know what evidence they had for those beleifs but I just assumed everyone knew that.

Until I got to Skrule — and it wasn’t even a Gooferment Skrule — the good Nuns and some of the Brothers taught what was in the text book. Some of the good Brothers said that not everything in print was correct. 

Interesting.

If the Victors write the history and the politicians and bureaucrats pay for the textbooks, what do you think gets written?

Certainly not the truth!

Argh!

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POLITICAL: See “work requirements” shrink the welfare rolls

Monday, April 6, 2015

http://www.cato.org/blog/maines-recommitment-work-requirements

APRIL 1, 2015 12:52PM
Maine’s Recommitment to Work Requirements
By Charles Hughes

*** begin quote ***

Last week, the Associated Press reported that more than 9,000 food stamp recipients in Maine have been removed from the program because they failed to comply with the program’s work requirements. These requirements themselves are largely nothing new, but in the years since the recession, almost every state received a waiver exempting them from these provisions. By allowing the waiver to lapse, Maine will again enforce the requirement that able-bodied adults without dependents participate in some form of work activity. These rules only apply to a small fraction of beneficiaries, just 10 percent of Maine’s beneficiaries in 2013. A spokesman for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services revealed that the number of SNAP beneficiaries subject to the reinstated requirements has fallen from roughly 12,000 to 2,680. This is a steep reduction, but relatively small compared to the 250,000 people in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) when the rule change went into effect.

*** and ***

Part of the motivation for this renewed enforcement is to provide a better path for beneficiaries to transition off  the program and back into the mainstream economy. Many beneficiaries are on the program for extended periods of time, and for too many, next to nothing is being done to help them improve their employment prospects during this time. A recent national study found that, over a 56 month period, a full quarter of beneficiaries participated for more than four years. Some of these people are exempt due to disability status or age, but those with the capacity for work are not really helped by a program that leads them to languish for years on the welfare rolls.

*** end quote ***

The Gooferment is immoral, ineffective, and inefficient!

This just proves is. 

IT likes a “plantation of victims” that requires Gooferment bureaucrats to “care for them”.

I remember when Rudy required “welfare takers” to show up for their check. And, how many “ghosts” did that make disappear. The “work requirement” eliminated those working in either the underground or “above ground” economy.

While I think all charity should be private, if for no other reason that they Gooferment shouldn’t be doing it OR they do it so badly, I can “tolerate” if the takers are really not “moochers”.

It’s NOT so hard to tell the difference?

argh!

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Ulbricht’s trials fatally flawed

Sunday, April 5, 2015

http://www.targetliberty.com/2015/03/ross-ulbrichts-lawyer-blows-up.html

Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Ross Ulbricht’s Lawyer Blows Up Following News of the Charges Against Government Agents That “Investigated” Ulbricht

*** begin quote ***

In addition, the government failed to disclose previously much of what is in the Complaint, including that two federal law enforcement agents involved in the Silk Road investigation were corrupt. It is clear from this Complaint that fundamentally the government’s investigation of Mr. Ulbricht lacked any integrity, and was wholly and fatally compromised from the inside.

Also, it is clear that Mr. Force and others within the government obtained access to the administrative platforms of the Silk Road site, where they were able to commandeer accounts and had the capacity to change PIN numbers and other aspects of the site – all without the government’s knowledge of what precisely they did with that access.

*** end quote ***

More evidence no justice in Gooferment courts!

More misconduct by the Gooferment politicians and bureaucrats!

Argh!

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RANT: Taxpayer Funds Ted Kennedy Shrine

Saturday, April 4, 2015

https://www.newsmax.com/US/kennedy-jfk-museum/2015/03/30/id/635196/

Taxpayer Funds Flow Into Ted Kennedy Shrine
Monday, 30 Mar 2015 07:16 AM
By John Fund
   
*** begin quote ***

The titans of American liberalism will gather in Boston today to dedicate a shrine to the late Ted Kennedy, who died in 2009. 

President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. Elizabeth Warren will all gather to praise the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. Much will be said about Kennedy’s 46-year record in the U.S. Senate, nothing about various scandals that ranged from Chappaquiddick to his attempts to have the Soviets intervene in the 1984 presidential election against Ronald Reagan. 

Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr points out that the Insititute “was supposed to be paid for exclusively with private donations.” But it should come as no surprise that the gorgeous 40,000-square-foot building that will house Kennedy’s papers and memorabilia as well as a recreation of his personal office and the Senate chamber was financed with a generous $38 million congressional earmark. The state of Massachusetts chipped in with another $5 million for education “infrastructure.”

*** end quote ***

Argh! 

And, what, if as a taxpayer, I don’t think that Ted Kennedy is “en-shrinable”?

Why do I have to pay for it?

It’s immoral, ineffective, and inefficient to rob me a penny to pay for stuff that is anathema to my beliefs.

Argh!

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