LIBERTY: Free market medical care

Monday, December 1, 2008

http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/34953434.html

VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: Free-market medicine and a ’74-week rolling average’

*** begin quote ***

“I have just such a medical practice in Cartersville, GA. I have the nicest office, most up-to-date EMR, digital EKG, next-day turnaround for any lab known to man and my prices are the lowest around. Office visit: $50. EKG, Labs, Injections, are all a small fraction of what you would pay anywhere. I make house calls. Check us out at thephysicianspractice.com.

“I take payment at time of service only, have almost no overhead and pass my savings on to the patient. I have been open for 18 months and my wife and I are the only staff we have and we are doing just fine. …

“I’m not the best doctor, I just have the best system: the Free Market! Everyone else is asleep and having a nightmare.

“If Universal Healthcare passes, my practice will BOOM! Oh wait … unless they make it illegal for me to work outside the system. If that happens, Nevada here I come!”

*** end quote ***

Here’s an example of what the cost of medical care COULD be. Extrapolate that across the whole spectrum and you can see what savings could be found in the current mess.

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Posted by reinkefj

LIBERTY: The proper role of Government!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2008/11/rutgers-gets-blitzed-by-committee.html

Monday, November 24, 2008
Rutgers gets blitzed by committee

*** begin quote ***

I graduated from Rutgers in 1988 with a degree in English and have been a backer of the school as an academic institution since before I arrived on campus as a junior, having transferred in from Middlesex County College and Penn State.

*** and ***

The sports program is another story. It’s history is, at best, uneventful — a couple of good basketball seasons (a magical 1975-1976 season that saw the team make the Final Four, the football team a couple of years ago, and the girls basketball team).

*** and ***

The result — disappointment on the field after the team’s surprising 2006 season and questions about the impact that spending on football has had on other sports and other programs. (A report issued last week called for tighter controls and more transparency in the department after a sports marketing contract was issued without formal bidding, its stadium expansion failed to gain funding and it extended the contract of football coach Greg Schiano.)

The New York Times referred to the assorted failures as “The Rutgers Mess .”

Rutgers, the biggest and most important public university in New Jersey, has spent millions of dollars furthering its ambition to become a major football power that might otherwise have been devoted to academics. It has done so during a period of rising tuition and budgetary cutbacks in academic departments, and, worse, without any real oversight from the university’s president, Richard McCormick, and its Board of Governors.

*** end quote ***

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Libertarian at 08824 said…

Might you Rutgers alums explain why I have to pay taxes for Rutgers boondoggles? Or anything to do with Rutgers at all.

I’m sure there must be a reason that the gooferment subsidizes “education” with taxes, but for the life of me I see no benefit to me. Guess I just have that crazy notion that I should pay for things I receive and not pay for things I don’t receive.

It’s sad that a lot of people get to “chip in” for Rutgers, who have better use for their money, who get no conceivable benefit from their “contribution”.

Pass the hat; not rob folks at gunpoint!

12:36 AM

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Anonymous said…

Education is an investment in the future. Ever hear of the GI Bill? Millions of veterans were given tax money to go to college, to buy homes and to open up new businesses. It was an investment in America and it paid off. Of course I would not expect a goofy goofball goooooooooofertarian to understand the concept. In many west European countries, university is tuition free to the qualified because they are investing in the brain power of their youth. I met a brilliant UK biologist who came from humble origins and would not have been able to go to university save for the fact it was free in the UK.

1:01 PM

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Libertarian at 08824 said…

>Education is an investment in the future.

Yes. “Investment” by someone in expectation of a “return”. Unfortunately, the parties that benefit are not the people who pay ther freight and get the return. Depending upon how you define the various roles, the taxpayer is robbed for the benefit of politicians, teachers’ unions, and vast number of beneficiaries. Almost by chance, some people get “educated” and go to make more money that they would have without the “education”. But the “poor old taxpayer” doesn’t participate in the benefits, other than inderectly. Sorry, but I don’t want to “invest” in that. I’d like a Certificate of Deposit please. Or, a something that I choose.

>Ever hear of the GI Bill?

Sure. Socialism at work.

>Millions of veterans were given tax money to go to college, to buy homes
>and to open up new businesses.

Sorry, but just cause there is “good” done with the proceeds of a crime, that doesn’t absolve the criminal class. And, as Basat taught us, let’s look for the many victims of the crime. Many people were taken from. All those small “thefts” precluded people from doing good things for themselves. How many educations, homes, and business were “stolen” to transfer them to the returning veterans.

>It was an investment in America and it paid off.

It was NOT an investment. An investment is made by a person with their savings in search of a profit. Let me and my ten big friends with guns take your wallet and make an “investment”. I could go on and on, but you’re not going to look at it in the “cold light of day”.

>Of course I would not expect a goofy goofball goooooooooofertarian to understand the concept.

And, the obligatory ad hominum attack.

>In many west European countries, university is tuition free to the qualified because they are
>investing in the brain power of their youth. I met a brilliant UK biologist who came from
> humble origins and would not have been able to go to university save for the fact it was
> free in the UK.

And, how many people gave up their choices for that example? You choose NOT to see that “happy example” was paid for on the backs of other people’s preempted choices. And, you assert that there was no other way for it to happen. You don’t know that.

Besides, I wouldn’t use Europe of the example of what America should do.

I have a novel idea. Why don’t we let people alone to make their own choices without the Gooferment using force to make choices for us?

Yeah, like that’s going to happen. Pitchforks and torches. That’s the only way to stop creeping and creepy socialism.

I don’t want to pay for Rutgers. But I don’t get a choice. That’s fair?

2:46 PM

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Anonymous said…

I am astounded that you are against the GI Bill. Are libertarians against the government being in charge of the monetary system? So who would mint the money? The states, cities, towns, municipalities? Oh, now I get it, the goofertarians would be in charge of the monetary system, the goofertarians would mint the coins and produce the paper money. Libertarians hate government so much, hate everything about government except the military. I guess goofballtarians want to privatize the police, the courts, the prisons, fire departments, libraries, schools, the building and upkeep of roads, bridges and the whole infrastructure, the list goes on and on into bizarro land absurdity. So in goofballtarian world, when you call the fire department for help their first question will be if you have paid your fire department bill to the privatized fire company, if not, tough luck. Burn baby burn. Goofballtarianism is great for a guy like Steve Forbes, it makes sense for billionaires but not ordinary Americans.

There is no successful libertarian run government in the world, not Ireland (with universal health care and free university), not India (which has socialism written into its constitution) and not Hong Kong which is owned by commie China.

3:35 PM

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Libertarian at 08824 said…

>I am astounded that you are against the GI Bill.

Let me help relieve your astonishment. Libertarians, (in general), think that government only has a few proper functions: (1) provide for the common DEFENSE (against invaders); (2) ensure domestic tranquility (i.e., prevent crime and fraud); and (3) secure the blessing of liberty for our posterity. Surly, you will recognize the words of the Founding Fathers. I’ve read the Constitution and, not only is there NO authorization for a STANDING ARMY, there is no provision for Congress to do most of what it did to get to the GI Bill. Sorry, but I’m surprised at your “astonishment”.

>Are libertarians against the government being in charge of the monetary system?

Most “libertarians” are against the gooferment being “in charge” of anything. I’d say especially the monetary system. As much as I hate the Fed, I’d like even less for the Congress or any gooferment to be in charge of any such thing. If you remember your American History, money was whatever the PEOPLE decided they would accept. Spanish doubloons, English pounds, French francs, gold, silver, and script all circulated as money. Common wisdom was that Congressional money was as “worthless as a Continental damn”. The Dead Old White Guys enshrined that gold and silver were money! This launched a period of peace and prosperity with declining prices from 1780 to 1860. There were experiments with central banks and printing press money, but they were discarded as abuses abounded. Then the tyrant Lincoln brought us inflation and printing greenbacks without backing. Can’t fight a war with out paper money. Sorry, but fiat currency allows the gooferment to spend more than it takes in. It allows the Congress and the Executive to escape the chains of “poverty”. Can you envision a war that the people had to pay for in the form of taxes? I can’t. It makes it obvious who are the big losers in any war. The people. Libertarians are generally very peaceful people who will never arress but will defend themselves.

>So who would mint the money?

Anyone who wants to. See you fall into the Socialist’s trap that there is “the money”. It’s that trap. That meme. That locks you into a “central gooferment” paradigm. People could never figure out “money” without gooferment. Why do you think the gooferment objects to e-Gold, the Liberty Dollar, the Lakota dollar, or the Ithaca dollar? Remember that dollar originates from the word “thaller” which was the name of a silversmith that made fine coins and became the standard. In short, money becomes what ever you want to take as money.

>The states, cities, towns, municipalities? Oh, now I get it, the goofertarians would
>be in charge of the monetary system, the goofertarians would mint the coins and
>produce the paper money.

Heaven forbid. We don’t want to be in charge of anything but ourselves. I have enough problems just managing “me”. I can’t possibly mange you, Herb, and my neighbors. I just would give people the liberty to run their own lives. Repeal the “legal tender” laws and you can use whatever money you would like. The FED (the Federal Reserve Bank, which is not Federal, has no “reserve”, and is not a “bank”), which is a private banking cartel unaudited and uncontrolled, would have to figure out what to do with its pretty green peices of paper. Forget centrally set interest rates, forget inflation, forget the 5T$ in FRB that China has. We’d be back in the messy world of lots of competing monies.

>Libertarians hate government so much, hate everything about government except the military.

Don’t leave out the military. Remember the DOWGs didn’t want a standing army or “private army or militias”. (I know Socialists are weak on their history. The three letter “police” gangs that you love so much like the FBI, CIA, DEA, BATF, and things like the “Park Police” are what the DOWGs would call “private armies”.) So, there is no reason for the Federal Government to have such things. State Governments have SOME limited ability to form these things, but that we will leave to the State Constitutional scholars.

> I guess goofballtarians want to privatize the police, the courts, the prisons,
> fire departments, libraries, schools, the building and upkeep of roads, bridges
> and the whole infrastructure, the list goes on and on into bizarro land absurdity.

Yes, privatize everything. Really privatize it. Not this Socialistic public-private regulate privatization. Libertarian theorists predict that Insurance Companies, (true mutual Insurance organizations; not the jokes you see now), would provide dispute resolution, police, fire, and adjudication services. In competition with each other, they would seek to deliver such “services” quickly and cheaply. (Imagine Judge Judy without the cap of “small claims court”. As I understand it, the backlog for Judge Judy type “private dispute arbitration” is less than three months.)

>So in goofballtarian world, when you call the fire department for help their first question
>will be if you have paid your fire department bill to the privatized fire company, if not,
>tough luck. Burn baby burn.

Sorry. But one would envision, what better way to get more customers than to save your house BEFORE you were a customer. Right now, if California, crappy socialistic insurance companies are visiting communities where they have insureds and making suggestions, doing “wood and brush” work, and deploying “funny chemicals” that stop wildfires on houses that they DO NOT INSURE. Why? It’s cheaper than paying off a loss. You are so locked in your current paradigm of “big gooferment good” that you can’t eve see the possibilities of another path.

>Goofballtarianism is great for a guy like Steve Forbes, it makes sense for billionaires
>but not ordinary Americans.

I, obviously, don’t agree with that. Liberty, for EVERYONE, allows EVERYONE to make choices.

>There is no successful libertarian run government in the world

Well, Somalia has no central government. Iceland for about 250 years had no central government. Just because we have not been able to see our way past the concept of “big government”, doesn’t mean that it’s not a good idea. What that means is that “entrenched interests”, the aristocracy, and the blindness of the common man prevents it from forming. Eventually, just as the Kings fell to liberty, so to will the Socialists fall to liberty. See the natual state of human beings is to be free. If you can’t keep your prisons “secure”, what makes you think you can succeed at life. And, remember only Big Governments commit genocide. Big Governments are oppressive.

>

Feel free to drop back anytime for a lesson on liberty.

I would like to make one disclaimer. “Libertarian” is a label applied to a wide swath of folks. I am a little L Libertarian. Currently estranged from the “Libertarian Party” because they abandoned their principles to try to get elected. I’m some where between a “miniarchist libertarian” and an “anarchist libertarian”. At my end of the Nolan Chart, there are no fans of “big government”. While we can disagree heatedly on orthodoxy of libertarianism, we all agree what we have now ain’t it.

I don’t pretend to speak for any libertarian of any flavor other than myself.

:-)

(OK, Fred? We have some other libertarians here in South Brunswick. And, he quibbled about one of my representations about “libertarians”. I am sure that I could live very comfortably in Fred’s world. As he probably could in mine. But, I don’t want to “defraud” anyone by misrepresentation! )

;-)

alibertarianin08824

7:55 PM

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Anonymous Anonymous said…

Ahh, the old it’s not in the Constitution game. Lots of things aren’t in the Constitution: there is no right to travel or marry in the Constitution, no right to vote, no right to privacy, no right to smoke, nothing about a Pledge of Allegiance, etc. The Supreme Court gets to decide what the Constitution means. They got to rule what the 2nd amendment “really” meant. The 2nd amendment is actually kind of ambiguous with its enigmatic wording and odd punctuation and so a different supreme court might have ruled differently.

In 1939, the S.C. ruled in U.S. v. Miller that a sawed-off shotgun transported across state lines by a bootlegger was not what the amendment’s authors had in mind when they were protecting arms needed for military service.

An Earl Warren court would be very different from the present supreme court. In June 2005 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Jessica Gonzales had no Constitutional right to police enforcement of her restraining order against her estranged husband who killed her 3 daughters. They decided that there is no right to police enforcement in the Constitution. If libertarians hate government so much why would they like the Constitution which is the underpinning of our democratic republic.

The more I hear about libertarianism, the less I like it. It’s a scam run on the gullible who think that they can live in a civil and civilized society without paying any taxes. Libertarianism is a cult, an unbending hide-bound sect-like ideology.

1:05 AM

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Blogger Libertarian at 08824 said…

>Ahh, the old it’s not in the Constitution game. Lots of things aren’t in the Constitution:

Yeah, that dog gone old scrap of paper. Your big gooferment purports to be “bound” and “limited” by it. (What a joke!)

>there is no right to travel or marry in the Constitution

So that means that the FEDERAL GOOFERMENT should have ZERO to say about those issue.

>no right to vote, no right to privacy, no right to smoke, nothing about a Pledge of Allegiance

So, there are no defined FEDERAL interest in these things. And, the Pledge! Written by a Flag Salesman who was a NAZI. And, we tolerate this intrusion.

>The Supreme Court gets to decide what the Constitution means.

It’s no surprise that the GOOFERMENT COURT decided that it has the power to DECIDE what the limits of GOOFERMENT POWER is. Then it’s a surprise that it expands GOOFERMENT power. (Please stop making me laugh!)

>The 2nd amendment is actually kind of ambiguous with its enigmatic wording and

>odd punctuation and so a different supreme court might have ruled differently.

It’s really clear. IMHO! Similar to the First Amendment? When you read it in the terms of the DOWGs, “well regulated” means hitting what you aim at AND “the Free State” is the ideal government entity. First Amendment says you have free speech; Second gives you the tools to protect your rights.

>In 1939, the S.C. ruled in U.S. v. Miller that a sawed-off shotgun

Miller is a good example of the GOOFERMENT making rules for itself. It was an unopposed adversarial proceeding. (The defendants never showed up.) And, it was flawed in its findings, during WW1, American troops used sawed off shotguns in trench warfare. (Some were even sent from home.) So that decision was and is flawed. AND, the Constitution is very clear “shall not be infringed”!

> no Constitutional right to police enforcement of her restraining order

SO you are arguing for a GOOFERMENT that has no duty to protect its citizens?

>If libertarians hate government so much why would they like the Constitution

YOUR GOOFERMENT asserts that it follows the Constitution, us Libertarians would like YOUR GOOFERMENT to leave us alone. The only tools we have to do that is to demand it follow its own rules!

>The more I hear about libertarianism, the less I like it.

So we’re even. The more I hear about YOUR GOOFERMENT, the less I like it.

>It’s a scam run on the gullible who think that they can live in a civil and

>civilized society without paying any taxes.

Absolutely right! No one should pay TAXES! You should buy “services” from truly competing service providers. Exactly how much “service” (i.e., police, fire, garbage, education, etc. etc.) I want to buy and at a mutually agreed price. I don’t want or need GOOFERMENT SERVICES, that I have to pay for, that I may or may not want, that are “offered” at a price I can’t afford, that are just oppressive. Sorry, keep your GOOFERMENT. I’m happy to allow you to do whatever you want. Just don’t impose it on me. Keep your GOOFERMENT to yourself.

> Libertarianism is a cult, an unbending hide-bound sect-like ideology.

Yup, it’s a principled movement. Unbending, yup! Driven by an idea that human beings should be able to make choices as they see fit free of force or fraud which don’t impose on others by force. If you don’t like “libertarianism”; how about “voluntarist”?

:-)

Drive by comment anytime.

8:07 AM

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RANT: Don’t bailout the UAW!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

http://www.lewrockwell.com/suprynowicz/suprynowicz106.html

Look! There’s Another Wolf! No, I Just Saw Him, Behind That Tree!
by Vin Suprynowicz

*** begin quote ***

Once Congress steps in and forestall the orderly, deliberative process of bankruptcy relief, we’ll likely end up with white elephant auto plants in Detroit that will never again compete on true cost and quality with free-market factories elsewhere, instead turning out “fuel-efficient, green” cars consumers don’t want, under management by a consortium of federal bureaucrats and the labor unions, abetted by a bunch of hollow public relations happy-talk.

*** end quote ***

And, that’s why we don’t want Congress to bailout the UAW!

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POLITICAL: My economic recovery plan

Monday, November 24, 2008

http://www.lewrockwell.com/giles/giles30.html

Fallen Angel
by George Giles

*** begin quote ***

Our one party has two wings blue state socialists and red state fascists, they only disagree on minor conjectures like should we fleece the public fisc through the Federal Reserve, or the Internal Revenue service, or both?

*** and ***

If eternal vigilance is the price of liberty then Americans, as a culture, have been found wanting. The immense debt, the vanishing equity, and the struggling economic infrastructure are the waves upon which our ship of state sails.

*** end quote ***

Wonder if the sheeple will realize they have been had? If we have faith in the “American experiment”, then we can return to our roots of rugged individualism, cast out the socialists, and let the truly free market return us to prosperity. Enlightened individual self-interest is a powerful engine of prosperity. But, we have to be the “home of the free and land of the brave”.

(1) Let the bad actors in the marketplae fail. Citi, GM, NBC, or whomever has a problem; it’s just that. Their problem. Hard bitter medicine? Yes, but essential into correcting the “moral hazard” that our politicians have allowed to happen.

(2) Restore the “uptick rule” that prevents bear raids. FIre the genius at the Treasury, Fed, SEC that changed that one historical gem of an idea.

(3) Restore the marketplace in mortgages. Home ownership may not be for everyone. 20% down! Review every mortgage for criminal fraud. (Rumor hath it that Organized Crime went into the mortgage business.)

(4) End the “Drug Prohibition” policy. Sorry, but it’s nobody’s business what anyone puts in their own body. Pardon all non-violent drug offenders. Allow WalMart to battle the “illegal violent drug dealers”. (The cost of impure illicit drugs will dissolve overnight when Sam Walton’s children become “drug dealers”.) Clean safe drugs at everyday low prices will take all the profit and sexiness out of the drug culture. Hard to imagine a drug war over aspirin level prices. Pot, heroin, crack, and speed for $4 for a month’s supply? Maybe then as a society, we can focus on the medical problems that addicition represents. And, stop killing children both directly and indirectly. Eleimate all the drug agencies: DEA, FDA, and on and on. Consumers Reports, Underwriters Labratory, and “Drug Stores” like WalMart will do a far better job of keeping us safe.

(5) Downsize governemnt at all levels. Let’s conduct a raid on all these bloated kingdoms of waste. Let’s cut 5% per year. Every year.

(6) Let’s cut taxes. Business tax should be 0, but let’s start but cutting it to 10%. (Ireland is 11%!) We know that businesses don’t pay taxes; people do! Personal income tax ditto 10%. And, ONLY ONE ENTITY can collect our 10%. Either Federal, State, or Local gooferment. How they divide it up I care not, but no more than 10%. Property taxes should also be 0. Let the police, fire, and trash be supplied on a competitive basis.

(7) Let’s all MYOB. Marriage should be left to churches; not the gooferment.

How’s that for an economic recovery plan?

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RANT: “Eddy kation” for the hard times ahead

Saturday, November 22, 2008

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_edu/highschool.html

Why School is Bad for Kids
by Rachel Grobstein

The following Op/Ed article appeared in the December, 1999 issue of The Spoke, the student newspaper of Conestoga High School in Berwyn Pennsylvania, and appears here by permission of Rachel Grobstein, who was a sophomore and Spoke Art Editor when the article appeared. The article orginally appeared both in print andon-line

*** begin quote ***

Once upon a time a child is born who, after spending many days blissfully watching how his fingers move and poking at the cat, enters the first year of what will be the focus of the next decade of his life: school.

And so, as he embarks upon his educational career, he learns many things.

First of all, he’s taught that there’s a difference between learning and living – as if learning is here in the school building, and living is outside, and there’s no correlation between the two.

As if what he did for the first five years of his life – like discovering language – wasn’t learning at all.

He learn that to be confused or wrong is a crime. The school wants Right Answers, and he learns countless ways to con the teacher into thinking he knows something he doesn’t; he learns to bluff and cheat.

He also learns to be lazy. Before school began he worked for hours and hours, with no thought of reward, to make sense of the world. But in school he learns that no one does anything they don’t have to and he learns to be bored.

Poor guy.

*** and ***

Because essentially, however grading may be justified or supplemented with explanations, it shows the student that what counts in the end is not whether he has learned the material and will apply it or use it to enrich his life, but that a high number will get him into a good college.

How do you truly measure what someone knows? In the words of Holt: “Let the child learn what every educated person must someday learn, how to measure his own understanding.”

What, after all, is the goal of education? Making honor role? Or making sense of the world?

*** end quote ***

Silly writer! (Like the Trix commercial. Silly rabbit, Trix re for kids.) “Education” is for the teacher’s union and their politicians.

It has NOTHING to do with educating anyone. It’s sole purpose is to create a dumbed down population suitable to being led by the elite. (Where do the politicians send THEIR kids? The Kennedys, Kerrys, Bushes, and Obamas? Not to YOUR school! Last one to do that was Jimmy Carter and look where Amy is; as opposed to Carolyn Kennedy!)

No, the American education paradigm was Horace Mann lifting the Prussian model to create good soldiers (i.e., cannon fodder) and factory workers (i.e., “human resources”) that could be easily led “by their betters”. Argh!

In case anyone hasn’t noticed. It ain’t the 1800’s. We don’t need no “factory workers”. Never “needed” cannon fodder, but that’s another discussion.

The world has changed so why are we using an “education model” from the last century?

Simple. There is an incestuous relationship between politicians and the teachers’ union. Together they like the current system just fine. The Union gets fatter and the politicians keep getting reelected. Round and round it goes. Decade after decade.

Where does it stop?

When the parasite kills the host, of course. And, “we” are almost there.

In NJ for example, property taxes that fund the “education industry” are at the breaking point. In NJ, after being amused and trained from ages 3 to 22, functional illiterates pop out of the “daycare” (aka, public school system) and can’t find jobs.

Doesn’t anyone notice that this generation will be the first generation that will be worse off than their parents? (I’d say than their great grandparents. At least, those folks could grow their own food.) Does anyone see the key factor that Diamond points out as one of the factors in societal collapse? Have with our “education” system literally “sawed down the the last tree on Easter Island”?

We have a large population of “idiots” running around unemployable and thinking they actually know something. Ask them to make change or list to them attempt to articulate their frustration by writing something. Anything? Read their “totem poles” on MySpace, Facebook, or blogs. It’s sad.

They have been deluded into think that they are actually thinking.

So, one can’t just kvetch. One has to offer solutions.

(1) Stop paying for the “education” of others. Parents had ’em. They should pay to educate them. Sorry, but the only way to get a better educated population is to put the people in charge who will really care that it gets done. When people spend their own money, it is truly amazing how demanding they become.

(2) Parents need to realize that they and their children are being defrauded by “public education”. They need to be Hercules cleaning the Aegean stable getting what their children need to succeed.

(3) Children need to wise up that they are getting screwed. Instead of a tattoo, they need to “educate” themselves. And not about American Idol. or what the latest Hollywood harlot is doing. They need to learn that when ANY politician’s lips move, they are lying. And, they need to seek to educate themselves for the hard times ahead.

IMHO!

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INTERESTING: Kudos to RU; Princeton embarassment

Thursday, November 20, 2008

http://scarletknights.com/basketball-women/news/release.asp?prID=7137

No. 3/2 Rutgers Trounces Princeton, 83-35
Posted on 11/18/2008 10:13:32 PM

*** begin quote ***

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Three players scored in double figures as No. 3/2 Rutgers cruised to an 83-35 win over intra-state rival Princeton on Tuesday evening at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.

*** end quote ***

The game was unremarkable. RU overmatched Princeton.

But that was not what I found interesting.

It was the National Anthem.

RU lined up properly and respectfully. The Princeton team was disrespectfully apparently ignorant of the proper protocol.

Interesting to see the government minions have been doing their brainwashing job in RU’s case and not in Pton’s case. Because the gooferment is heavily involved in what they call “education”, I call them “minions”.

Just interesting, disrespect of the anthem is a strange and interesting phenom?

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RANT: 90 days in prison for refusing to stand

Saturday, November 15, 2008

”
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” is a concept taught in American schools as a fundamental truth that all people are deserving of respect and life and prosperity. Why then is Ian Freeman in prison for the next 100 days?

read more | digg story

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Here’s the video! I still think this is an over-reaction by the gooferment. Like Gandhi, Ian is showing them up for what they are. A gang writ large.

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RANT: 100 days for contempt?

Saturday, November 15, 2008

http://monochromementality.com/index.php/blog/show/90-days-in-prison-for-refusing-to-stand.html

90 days in prison for refusing to stand
Monochrome Mentality

*** begin quote ***

Today, Ian appeared at their trial and intended only on calling the damaged person making a complaint against him. He never got that far, it seems. In keeping with the doctrine of “all men created equal”, Ian Freeman refused to stand for the man called “Judge”. It would be considered rude to refuse a hand extended to you in greeting, yet this man called “Judge” did not greet Ian by standing. Instead, he decided that Ian’s refusal to stand was somehow and offense, and then proceeded to instruct some other men to arrest him. They ushered him off to a separate room for the supposed “trial”.

*** and ***

In this private back room, the man called “Judge” convicted Ian of three counts of “contempt of court” (why shouldn’t an ethical person be contemptuous of men using violence and threats to tell other men what they’re allowed to store their property?) and sentenced him to 90 days in prison with fines with an additional 10 days in the cage for refusal to give the government people some of his money.

Welcome to the United Socialist States of America. The government people own your property. They dictate to you what you can do on your own land. You no longer have to hurt someone to have the government people turn against and hurt you. You have no right to confront your accuser. There no longer need even be an accuser, no injured party. You have no right to a public trial. “We will use force against you” the government people are saying “if you don’t obey us.”

*** end quote ***

Clearly, Ian picked his line in the sand. The gang that called itself “government” struck back. They can’t have any one pulling back the curtain and showing them up for what they really are. Thugs!

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LIBERTY: Stossel on “politics”

Saturday, November 1, 2008

http://vimeo.com/2052724?pg=embed&sec=2052724

Stossel’s Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics

*** begin quote ***

The brilliant John Stossel takes some powerful pro-liberty ideas and delivers them effectively to a wide audience. Here’s his latest 1 hour special, the “Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics”. This is a great video to show anyone still “in the system” and new to liberty. Stossel makes it crystal clear that government doesn’t work and that it creates devastating unintended consequences:

*** end quote ***

I saw it live and, if you missed it, it’s an excellent way to spend forty minutes.

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RANT: The Gooferment and HDTV!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

RESPONDING TO A NOTE ABOUT HD TV!

I’m not sure I see the great value in the gooferment forcing HD on everyone. Like Bastiat taught, look for the hidden costs. In this case, a whole load of TVs are rendered obsolete before their useful life has end. Unless a box is added on whose cost is “defrayed” by a gooferment coupon. No inefficiency there! It induces meaningless consumerism, as folks, who may have better uses for their money, are induced / forced to upgrade. If HD was “such a great idea”, then folks would migrate to it without the force of gooferment guns pointed at their heads. Argh! A pox on all the politicians. See what you started. :-)

p.s., don’t forget about all the green costs as all those “old” TVs get tossed in landfills planet wide. Yeah, the gooferment is the ecology’s friend. With “friends” like that who needs enemies!

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POLITICAL: Make work, and infrastructure, is just inflation spending!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2008/10/use-public-works-to-put-public-to-work.html

Friday, October 17, 2008

Use public works to put the public to work

*** begin quote ***

Anyone who thinks we can balance the federal budget and dig ourselves out of the financial quagmire is just fooling themselves. We can’t, and Paul Krugman explains why today:

{Extraneous Deleted}

On the other hand, there’s a lot the federal government can do for the economy. It can provide extended benefits to the unemployed, which will both help distressed families cope and put money in the hands of people likely to spend it. It can provide emergency aid to state and local governments, so that they aren’t forced into steep spending cuts that both degrade public services and destroy jobs. It can buy up mortgages (but not at face value, as John McCain has proposed) and restructure the terms to help families stay in their homes.

And this is also a good time to engage in some serious infrastructure spending, which the country badly needs in any case. The usual argument against public works as economic stimulus is that they take too long: by the time you get around to repairing that bridge and upgrading that rail line, the slump is over and the stimulus isn’t needed. Well, that argument has no force now, since the chances that this slump will be over anytime soon are virtually nil. So let’s get those projects rolling.

*** and ***

Amen.

*** end quote ***

Posted by Hank Kalet at 5:38 PM

# – # – #

fjohn said…

Can’t you see the utter absurdity of the gooferment printing more money to spend on make work projects? They are counterfeiters! See that’s why they want you confused about what is money. (And have done a superb job of dumbing down the entire population!)

Forget the “dollar”. It’s meaningless. It’s not a store of value, unit of account, or useful intermediary.

Lets pretend that a gallon of gas is a unit of money. How can the gooferment just print gallons of gass? It can certainly print more receits for gallons of gas, but someone is going to get screwed when they can’t redeem their receit for the gallon it represents.

So too, regardless of what you think a dollar represents, somebody in this “printing press” money gets screwed.

Let’s have a guessing game?

Senior citizens on fixed income as prices rise! Very good.

Anyone who holds an “old dollar” as the new ones get printed. Excellent!

Any one who has to buy something. You get the prize!

Who wins? (If there are losers, there has to be winners!)

Politicians who get to spend these counterfiet dollars first.

Unions, especially gooferment ones, who have contracts tied to the minimum wage or inflation escaators.

Those who hold commodities and land. (The gooferment can’t print more of those.)

So, now maybe, just maybe, you will see this as the fraud, the theft, the cheating of the poor, that it really is.

How fortunate we have the gooferment to save us all.

{Shaking my head in disbelief. How can smart people be soooo blind!}

Sheeple!

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MONEY: What if all monopoly money was real?

Saturday, October 11, 2008

http://www.lewrockwell.com/sennholz/sennholz19.html

Hyperinflation in Germany, 1914–1923 by Hans F. Sennholz

*** begin quote ***

How stupendous! Practically every economic good and service was costing trillions of marks. The American dollar was quoted at 4.2 trillion marks, the American penny at 42 billion marks. How could a European nation that prided itself on its high levels of education and scholarly knowledge suffer such a thorough destruction of its money? Who would inflict on a great nation such evil which had ominous economic, social, and political ramifications not only for Germany but for the whole world? Was it the victors of World War I who, in diabolical revenge, devastated the vanquished country through ruinous financial manipulation and plunder? Every mark was printed by Germans and issued by a central bank that was governed by Germans under a government that was purely German. It was German political parties, such as the Socialists, the Catholic Centre Party, and the Democrats, forming various coalition governments, that were solely responsible for the policies they conducted. Of course, admission of responsibility for any calamity cannot be expected from any political party.

*** end quote ***

If you ever talked to someone who lived thru that era, you could see fear on their faces. Only stuff was valuable. I remember being told by an old lady: “Each day at lunch time, I would go to Papa’s law office and take the money he collected for services and go buy something immediately. Anything. Didn’t matter what. Things had value; money did not. Papa would do the smae at night when he left the office.” I never forgot that conversation.

I had a fantasy as a child. I bet all kids do. At least kids who want more of what they can’t have. “What if all monopoly money was real?” I’m sure my Mom thought it was very funny

Then as the nerdy bookworm I was, I was on a quest to learn about money. Digesting a few good “iicky nom icks” books — can they be any more boring? — I was a diligent researcher in those days.

I read about the six characteristics of money — medium of exchange, store of value, unit of account, divisible, fungible, and measurable. Learned about how difficulty in barter lead to money. I could differentiate between Commodity, Representative, Credit, and Fiat money. I could define liquidity, velocity, demand curves, and even derivatives. But my young mind blundered on a realization.

It was all monopoly money!

Yes, dear reader, we’ve been defrauded by our own gooferment. Today’s dollar is not the dollar of our parents or grandparents. And, it won’t be the dollar of our posterity.
Fasten your seat belts. The 25% Carter inflation will seem tame after the politicians get finished screwing us.
The only funny thing is that, while every holder of a dollar today is going to be screwed, the biggest holders of dollars is the Chinese Communists. INflation is going to ravage their 5 Trillion Dollars.
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GOLDBUG: More paper money; higher gold values?

Saturday, October 11, 2008

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff228.html

Gold, the Dollar, and the Dollar Index
by Michael S. Rozeff

*** begin quote ***

Since 2001, gold has risen as the dollar index has fallen, but it has risen more sharply because the other currencies have also fallen in terms of gold. This appreciation in gold coincides with a world-wide inflation of paper currencies. Gold caught up to the inflation, so to speak. As long as these central bank currencies continue to be manufactured without solid backing, either gold or tax revenues, gold will continue to have a long-term upward trend. The volatility in gold prices will, in all likelihood, also continue, and that makes it hard to forecast the shorter-term movements with a factor like money supply. Note that the big increases of recent days have not pushed gold to new highs. In the longer run, however, we can be quite sure that gold will move higher if nothing is done to improve the backing of the world’s central bank currencies.

*** end quote ***

Seems obvious to me.

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RANT: It’s not an “economy” failure, nor a “free market” failure. It’s a “political” failure!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

On Oct 10, 2008, at 10:08 PM, P wrote:

*** begin quote ***

From: “Chuck & Joyce”
Date: October 10, 2008 7:18:54 PM EDT
To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>
Subject: Fw: Our failed economy

Back in 1990, the Government seized the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada for tax evasion and, as required by law, tried to run it. They failed and it closed. Now we are trusting the economy of our country to a pack of nit-wits who couldn’t make money running a whore house and selling booze?

*** end quote ***

TO WHICH I REPLIED:

the economy hasn’t failed. we’ve failed to keep our politicians in line with what the dead old white guys outlined as the proper role of gooferment. at our own peril. anyone who votes for an incumbent this year is part of the problem. even if the incumbent had NOTHING to do with it or did nothing bad, they were: (1) tacitly complicit; (2) too stupid to realize what was coming down the road; OR (3) ineffective to stop it. Look at how many times Ron Paul was the lone voice “no”! No on the war. No on taxes. No on Fannie and Freddie. No on the Fed. Sigh. Best gooferment money can buy. Sorry. It wasn’t an economy failure; it was a political failure. We may become the next hyperinflation — like present day Rhodesia, Argentina of the 70s, or Germany of the 1930s. We know how well those all worked out. Gold coins may be needed. The Dead Old White Guys told us that was money. But we didn’t listen as FDR and Nixon fooled us. The 1913 FED started to procession to where we are today. Spinning out of control. Does no good to be right when the commonweal goes over the cliff taking us all to perdition. Argh. It’s all socialism and the elite in their hubris have led us there. Now where is my pitchfork and torch!

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Warning! Don’t stick your fingers in the Libertarian’s cage and poke or prod them. They can snap back. Us little L libertarians are very frustrated. No amount of warning “Here comes The Cliff” has done any good. All we get are dumb looks as people ask “Who’s Cliff?” Guess you know now. Welcome to what Mises, Hayek, Rothfarb, and all the “Austrian School” economists have been warning about!

Don’t blame me. I supported Ron Paul!

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FUN: Training?

Friday, October 10, 2008

FROM LUDDITE:

*** begin quote ***

An Indian walks into a cafe with a shotgun in one hand and pulling a male buffalo with the other.

He says to the waiter: ‘Want coffee.’

The waiter says, ‘Sure, Chief. Coming right up.’

He gets the Indian a tall mug of coffee. The Indian drinks the coffee down in one gulp, Turns and blasts the buffalo with the shotgun, Causing parts of the animal to splatter everywhere And then just walks out.

The next morning the Indian returns. He has his shotgun in one hand, pulling Another male buffalo with the other. He walks up to the counter and says to The waiter ‘Want coffee.’

The waiter says ‘Whoa, Tonto! We’re still cleaning up your mess from yesterday. What was all that about, anyway?’

The Indian smiles and proudly says …

‘Training for position in United States Congress: Come in, drink coffee, shoot the bull, Leave mess for others to clean up, Disappear for rest of day.’

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RANT: It’s not a “financial crisis”; it’s a moral crisis!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/16171/


Glenn Beck: What happened?

October 6, 2008 – 13:01 ET
Glenn’s letter to his family explaining how we got into this economic crisis…
Yes, another email letter from your crazy brother. You raised a lot of questions in your last email and I am going to try to answer all of them.

I think all of your questions fall into three areas: (1) how did we get here; (2) what’s coming; and (3) what can I do to prepare myself and my family.

Consider this email as my answer to your first question, “how did we get here?”. I’ll be sending you 2 more emails answering your other two questions. Since there’s a lot of misinformation out there I will document each of the facts in my emails so you know where I pulled the information from and where you can go to read and learn more.


{Article Continues}

*** end quote ***

A well-reasoned well-documented apolitical (there’s a lot of blame to go around!) piece. Clearly, there are a lot of people who deserve some tar and feathers. Clearly, it ain’t going to change anytime soon. Clearly, not only will NEITHER prez candidate be ABLE to DO anything about it. So what’s some one to do. (1) Get rid of incumbent politicians. Good start. (2) DownsizeDC dot org to slow them down and put them under a microscope. (3) Get ready for a “japan decade” of low growth tight times and look at the stagflation of the Carter years. Morose, yes. Realistic, yes. We need to summon up the Dead Old White Guys for government reform, the courage to start making hard political choices, and good old American ingenuity. We have to THINK our way out of this mess. And, “thinking” is not Washington’s strong suit. Spending is. We have to follow the lead of Andrew Jackson and kill the FED. It’s the root of all evil in that the inflation tax allows COngress to spend money it doesn’t get from taxes. We need them to run an honest set of books. You want a war, pay for it. You want welfare, pay for it. You want spending, where is the tax to cover it. Painful, yes. Necessary, yes. Unavoidable, yes.

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LIBERTY: Morality v Moralism or MYOB!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

http://ncc-1776.org/tle2008/tle487-20081005-06.html

Morality v Moralism
by A.X. Perez
perez180ehs -+at+- hotmail.com
Attribute to The Libertarian Enterprise

*** begin quote ***

Morals come in two flavors, morality and moralism.

Morality is that which some people practices in their own life to achieve freedom. Moralism is what some people try to impose on others to enslave them.

For example,let us consider alcohol. A person may choose to refrain from (or at least limit) consuming whiskey and beer to maintain his judgement and to avoid addiction. This is a moral decision to maintain control of his own life. He may be guided by religious precepts but it is ultimately an exercise in determining his own destiny.

Others decide that no one should be allowed to drink. they seek to use the power of the state to stop others from enjoying wine and rum even if they do so responsibly. They may seek to bolster their arguments by pointing to the role of drunk drivers in fatal accidents (like the bitch who ran over my old man, and yeah I’m not setting an example of Christian forgiveness. Deal.) and alcohol in general on homicide and other acts of violence. However, their goal is not to solve these problems but rather to prevent anyone from drinking, even the vast majority who use alcoholic beverages responsibly.

*** end quote ***

Interesting. I never made that distinction. I am well familiar with the “different sets of rules” for what I do and what you do. It’s annoying when you get preached at; it’s slavery when the guns of gooferment are used on you.

Argh!

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