GUNS: “An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” — Robert A. Heinlein

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Permit me to rant? Tools are not to blame for what bad people do. To ignore that there is a role in this violence due to: pharma (i.e., psychotropic prescribed drugs), the “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs”, poor laws (i.e., Gun Free Zones is wishful thinking), apathetic law enforcement (e.g., ZERO federal gun prosecution in Chicago in the last eon), and Hollywood / Video Games (e.g., violent movies by anti-gun celebrities; “hit” games are prep for drone warfare). And, politicians make more ineffectual laws and argue for them by using incorrect terms (i.e., BHO44 says Newtown was automatic weapons — when he KNOWS that automatic weapons have been outlawed for decades and were not used there) AND incorrect stats (i.e., BHO44 says 80% without background check — when he knows, or should know, how wrong that stat is.).

ARGH!

Bottom line: Guns, like auto, chainsaws, lawnmowers, and bathtubs, are tools! Dangerous, yes. But are not things that can be outlawed. They are facts of life.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Gun Owners of America <Gun_Owners_of_America@capwiz.mailmanager.net>
Date: Sat, Apr 6, 2013 at 11:04 AM
Subject: Your Activism Is Getting Noticed by the Power Players on Capitol Hill
To: Ferdinand Reinke

Gun Owners of America
Your Activism Is Getting Noticed
by the Power Players on Capitol Hill!

GOA thanks its grassroots for making the difference

“Gun Owners of America, with its war chest, membership and lobbying strength dwarfed by the National Rifle Association, is emerging as an influential force as a series of gun control measures heads to the Senate floor.” – New York Times, April 4, 2013

The Senate was supposed to be taking up gun control next week. But now it looks like the outpouring of grassroots opposition from GOA activists has forced Harry Reid to push back his plans for at least a week.

Said the New York Times, “The group [GOA] has already been successful in both freezing senators, particularly Republicans, who have appeared to be on the fence about supporting bills to expand background checks and [has been] empowering those who have a strong gun rights background.”

The article cited GOA’s work in bolstering the resolve of several Senators, but especially that of Tom Coburn of Oklahoma who has been frequently wooed by anti-gun Senator Chuck Schumer.

Your backing of GOA is what’s making all of this possible!

Thanks for supporting GOA and standing with us … for spreading the word … and for continuously taking action.

To date, no compromise has been reached. And that means Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid just doesn’t have the votes yet.

Here’s why:

More Senators have committed to support the Paul-Cruz-Lee filibuster, including James Inhofe (R-OK) and Marco Rubio (R-FL). There are even more Senators who are joining this list, and we will share those names with you next week.
A plurality of Senators voted for a GOA-supported Lee amendment, two weeks ago, requiring a super-majority vote to pass gun control. While the amendment failed (as it needed support from 60% of the Senate), it nevertheless sent a “shot across the bow” of the gun controllers ship.
On March 23, a majority of Senators voted to bar the Obama Administration from signing onto an anti-UN treaty. This was an important development, seeing as that the United Nations General Assembly approved the Arms Trade Treaty earlier this week.
More Congressman are joining the fight in the House to put pressure on House Speaker John Boehner to support the Hastert Rule – a rule that would kill all gun control. The number of Congressmen supporting the Stockman-Broun letter is now up to 30.

GOA has still been lobbying the House, even while we’ve been asking you to mostly focus your efforts on the Senate. To that end, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell asked Rep. Peter King yesterday about the influence GOA is having in the House.

“The New York Times has a report on the Gun Owners of America,” Andrea Mitchell asked. “What are members saying about the impact of lobbying groups such as them [GOA]?”

King, who is, ironically, F-rated with GOA, said that, “Larry Pratt with the Gun Owners of America is effective. I don’t deal with them myself, but the fact is, they are effective.”

As we noted above, the New York Times quoted Senate aides on Tuesday as saying that “gun issues would probably slip to the week of April 15 – a setback considering that Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leaders, had pledged that it would be the first issue to come up when Congress returns from spring recess next week.”

We’ll let you know what’s happening next week. But for now, enjoy your weekend knowing that Reid doesn’t yet have the votes.

Thanks for supporting GOA and standing with us … for spreading the word … and for continuously taking action.

Gun Owners of America
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102
Springfield, VA 22151 703-321-8585
http://www.gunowners.org

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ECONOMICS: No free lunch

Monday, April 8, 2013

“Mr Stockman’s new book, The Great Deformation , highlights the enduring conservative appeal of a kind of economic primitivism that harks back to the days when laisser-faire ruled and macroeconomics had not been invented.“The modern Keynesian state is broke, paralysed and mired in empty ritual incantations about stimulating “demand”, even as it fosters a mutant crony capitalism that periodically lavishes the top one per cent with speculative windfalls,” wrote Mr Stockman in the New York Times article that set off a minor furore in Washington this week.”

http://buff.ly/16z0IF0

Seems like he has nailed it! They might not like it but it accurately describes the hole we are in. Getting out of it is going to be painful for the young, old, and not-rich. But we’ve been scammed with “free lunch”. Now there is a very ugle chicken coming home to roost!

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FUN: Voting fot #tswift13!!!

Sunday, April 7, 2013

http://youtu.be/medX_xxlX0I

If I knew how to text something to somewhere, then I’d surely do it!

Argh!

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ECONOMICS: No safe store of wealth

Sunday, April 7, 2013

http://www.deviantinvestor.com/3506/3506/

A Tipping Point In The Financial System
Posted by Deviant Investor on April 4th, 2013

*** begin quote ***

In my opinion, the sign that a tipping point has occurred in the financial system is the real story:

* The veil of banker honesty has been lifted. The EU/IMF/ECB will do whatever is necessary to support the banks, even if it means they will confiscate (tax, steal, bail-in) customer deposits.

* Customer deposits are NOT assets held in the bank for safe-keeping, but are liabilities of the bank and are not guaranteed to be made whole.

* Billions of dollars were removed prior to the Cyprus freeze, so insiders clearly knew in advance of the ordinary depositors (see below). There is no “level playing field” when billions of dollars/euros are in play.

* According to Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Dutch finance minister and Euro Group President, this is “the template for any future bank bailouts.” In other words, your deposits are considerably less safe than you thought. Your bank could fail, and your deposits might be used to compensate for derivative losses or other losses that the bank incurred.

* The FDIC in the US, as well as England, Canada, and New Zealand, has announced similar policies, agreements, and plans to confiscate deposits in the case of an emergency. Is this a sign that an emergency is not only possible but probable and imminent?

* Confidence in the banking and financial system has been seriously damaged, perhaps irreversibly.

*** end quote ***

So a new definition of “counterparty risk” has appeared.

There is no safe store of wealth.

(There really never was, but there was an illusion.)

One has to think very carefully about keeping balances in banks.

imho

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HISTORICAL: Some improvements in the last year?

Saturday, April 6, 2013

 ‘2012-04-06 ?’: Took the antihistamine at 1930 Bed at 2200 Up at 0130, WC Restless up at 0145 Back at…

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Interesting. Haven’t been on antihistimes in a long time. Maybe “trimming down” made a difference. Not that I am “thin” by any stretch of the imagination. Still “young and handsome” for a grumpy fat old white guy injineer. 

Maybe it’s time for another “sprint” to lose some more weight?

Primal worked. But then I relapsed into “near primal” and “not so primal”. And, the weight loss stopped. 

BP is excellent according to Doc Otto. (Need that to complete my personal platelet challenge.)

Still blocked, writing wise. 

Maybe I just need to “Just Do It”?

It’s not like I have anything better to do.

Interesting side effect of “primal” is that I no longer drink soda. 

Water, mostly. Beer, coffee, tea, some wine from time to time. 

Off the pink stuff for the most part. 

Argh!

Frustration and melancholy are my constant companions.

Oh well, on to beat my taxes into shape for the accountant. 

If there is a hell, every day will be April 15th!

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FUN: Random question?

Saturday, April 6, 2013

“What my friends love most about me…”

My bright and cheery disposition as evidenced by my “celebration” photos on FACEBOOK?

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MONEY: Savings in bullion for education and retirement

Friday, April 5, 2013

http://www.silver-coin-investor.com/Storing-Silver-for-the-Next-Generation.html

Avoiding the Student Loan Bubble With Silver

Obviously, the growing costs associated with education — as evidenced by the trillion dollar student loan bubble with an unprecedented and growing 17% default rate — seems unsustainable to say the least.

A seemingly meager investment in silver made at today’s prices could eventually prevent your childrenfrom having to rely on student loan debt where they would end up owing a large amount of money by the time they graduate. This logic might even impress those investors who are not otherwise predisposed to understanding or otherwise caring about the white metal.

For example, making just a $30,000 investment in silver today for your children’s education will most likely grow in value many times over a holding period of 15 years. Silver’s future appreciation will very likely outpaceboth the consumer price inflation index, and will probably even exceed the higher rate of inflation in college education, which is currently running at ridiculous levels.

Furthermore, if your child ultimately decides not to go to college, or gets a scholarship to fund their studies instead, your prudent investment in silver will provide quite a nest egg to help them start out in life, buy their first home, etc.

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Interesting. I wonder if non-IRA/401k savers will use the bullion round to fund their future retirement. 

When I look at the cost of living as denominated in silver and gold, the monetary inflation is wrung out.

Perhaps, that’s what savers should be doing. 

By holding the bullion, you eliminate inflation, counterparty, “Cyprus” / custodian, Gooferment, and rate of return risk. 

Rate of return risk is an interesting concept. When using dollar denominated savings, one calculates the rate of return. But it doesn’t include the “inflation” rate. Savings today have a small nominal interest rate and an undetermined inflation rate. The Gooferment claims it is zero. It doesn’t feel that it’s zero.

So if I “save” in ounces of silver, then I know my rate of return is zero. But, the good part is that I can’t lose ground.

Money is no longer a reliable “unit of account” or “store of value”. Bullion is the “new money”.

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INTERESTING: Libraries will morph

Thursday, April 4, 2013

http://www.impactlab.net/2013/04/03/top-5-innovations-that-show-libraries-dont-have-to-disappear/

April 3rd, 2013 at 11:22 am
Top 5 innovations that show libraries don’t have to disappear
in: Analysis,People Making a Difference,Science & Technology News

Bookless library

Despite the meaning of the name, library (derived from liber, which is literally a Latin word for “tree bark”), libraries insist that they are actually a hotbed of innovation. And surprisingly they are, to some extent, it’s true. 

Yes, the “browsing” that libraries are constructed around is completely antithetical to how information is browsed on the Internet. But the existential threat posed by the web has driven libraries public and private to rethink how they can provide people with access not simply to dead trees, but to “information.” Here are five of the most interesting examples:

1. The Bookless Library

A judge in Bexar County, Texas made waves when he announced his intention to build a library without any books at all. That’s somewhat of an overstatement; there will be no paperbacks and no hardbacks, but BiblioTech will have a surplus of e-readers, making the text itself accessible to anyone with a library card.

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RANT: Easter sermons should NOT be political

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/31/pastor-at-obamas-easter-church-service-captains-of-the-religious-right-want-blacks-in-the-back-of-the-bus-women-back-in-the-kitchen/

Faith
Pastor at Obama’s Easter Church Service: ‘Captains of the Religious Right’ Want Blacks ‘in the Back of the Bus,’ Women ‘Back in the Kitchen’
Mar. 31, 2013 1:26pm Madeleine Morgenstern

*** begin quote ***

The pastor at the Washington, D.C. church where the Obama family celebrated Easter on Sunday said members of the religious right want blacks “in the back of the bus,” women “back in the kitchen” and immigrants “back on their side of the border.”

*** end quote ***

Perhaps the good Pastor missed the message of Easter?

Peace on Earth, Good will towards man, universal forgiveness.

A political attack on the right, or the left for that matter, from the pulpit is unseemly.

To a President, who seems to thrive on being a spendthrift and creating division in the country, a better sermon might be about the “brotherhood of man”, the parable of the talents, or the admonition to save for a rainy day. 

If he claims not to have heard anything from Reverend Wright, then it probably doesn’t matter what is said.

Shame to waste the day on divisivness.

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QUOTE: Churchill’s pigs

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” – Winston Churchill

I am watching a show about the poor in RIo.

Sad to see so much human capital wasted!

When I think of what I pay in “taxes” — that is nothing more than theft for fat connected cates, it makes me sad.

But then everything thse days seems to make me sad!

–30–