RANT: A superb refutation of “liberalism”

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/12/the_conservative_elevator_stor.html

December 27, 2008
The Conservative Elevator Story
By Christopher Chantrill

*** begin quote ***

Good question, Bob. In America today, conservatives believe, government is cruel, corrupt, unjust; and it just costs too much. And we conservatives just can’t stand there and do nothing.

{Extraneous Deleted}

Liberals created this monster, Bob. Liberals believe that compulsory government programs are the way to help the poor and comfort the afflicted. But they are wrong. Government is not compassion. Government is force. You cannot solve social problems by force.

{Extraneous Deleted}

Conservatives believe in society not as social force but as social cooperation. That’s why we must reform the welfare state into the welfare society. In the welfare society the American people, not liberal experts, will be in charge of their health care, their children’s education, the comfort of the afflicted, and the decent provision of pensions.

{Extraneous Deleted}

With conservative reforms America will truly become that shining city on a hill, “still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom.”

*** end quote ***

A superb “elevator speech” as to why we need liberty!

Strange how originally the “conservatives” wish to preserve the French and English Kings and the “liberals” wanted to empower the “sovereign individual”.

NOW, we have the perversion that the “liberals” want to empower the government and the “conservatives” want to empower the individual.

AND, the Democrats and Republicans are two sides of the same coin — power to the government.

How far we have fallen from the ideals of the DOWGs!

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Politics: The Gooferment is the Problem, imho!

Monday, December 29, 2008

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123033898448336541.html

There’s No Pain-Free Cure for Recession
Belt-tightening is required by all, including government.
By PETER SCHIFF
* OPINION * DECEMBER 27, 2008

*** begin quote ***

Governments cannot create but merely redirect. When the government spends, the money has to come from somewhere. If the government doesn’t have a surplus, then it must come from taxes. If taxes don’t go up, then it must come from increased borrowing. If lenders won’t lend, then it must come from the printing press, which is where all these bailouts are headed. But each additional dollar printed diminishes the value those already in circulation. Something cannot be effortlessly created from nothing.

*** end quote ***

When will folks recognize that GOVERNEMENT IS THE PROBLEM.

It starts from a flawed set of paradigms (i.e., perceptions) and memes (i.e., ideas).

One flawed paradigm / perception is that the “benefits bestowed” come like magic rainfall from the heavens. It’s a miracle. What we don’t see, or chose not to see, is the sausage being made. Money extracted by force (Who voluntarily pays the mob in gooferment?) to fund the “benefits”. Minus of course the huge “handling fee” to do the “extracting” and “bestowing”!

One flawed meme is that there is such a thing as “government”. In our minds, we create the Wizard of Oz illusion that there something, (or even more laughable, that we are part of something), bigger than ourselves. No, what I see are craven immoral human beings dress up in fancy clothes pretending to have power over us. To “govern” us.

In the beginnings of human civilization, there were Tyrants. Then, came Kings. Now, we have Politicians.

There are all just people. Give them no more defference than you would a street thug. Be careful they can hurt you. But, don’t kid yourself that the Politician is any different than the Mafia Don.

Keep your pitchfork and torch at hand. Their time is coming.

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LIBERTY: Fix it before it kills us!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Monday, December 8, 2008
The End of the World…Maybe

*** begin quote ***

“Commandments” is an incorrect translation; “Utterances” or “Words” is much more accurate. I prefer “Laws,” as in “Natural Laws.” If you break them, bad things automatically happen. No cops are needed. The 20th century was a time of worshipping the false idols of Man and State, in violation of the First Law (“have no other gods but the one true God”). It doesn’t matter to me if people believe in any sort of God or not; these Ten Laws still exist, and violation of their practical wisdom brings unhappiness, destruction and death. You can say, “As you sow, you reap,” or “What goes around, comes around,” or karma (“the moral law of cause and effect”) or kismet, or the Tao, or whatever name you want to give it. Those laws are part of human nature.

*** and ***

And if people can’t do it, it’s doubly forbidden for governments (which in a sense don’t really exist, since they are composed of people). The big difference is that governments try to claim a monopoly on force, which makes them unimaginably destructive. I’ve read estimates that up to 200 million people died in the 20th century at the hands of various governments. And all because of the violation of “You shall not murder.”

*** and ***

If I was King, I would take all the Christians and Jews who support Israel (and send money there) and deport them all over there. I would do the same with Muslims here who support the Islamic countries. As it stands right now, the US government is involved in 4,000-year-old tribal warfare, and is in fact supporting both sides in the conflict.

*** end quote ***

Interesting.

First, the author points out timeless principles. Then, he proceeds to break them by using force on people.

I think one of those timeless principles is the “Zero Aggression Principle”. In my mind, I am moral, as admonished by most major religions or philosophies, to not initiate force on others. ZAP as the Libertarians call it.

Government — be it Kings, Presidents, or Tyrants all the same — seeks to force youto conform to its wishes. It robs Peter to enrich Paul while deducting a huge chuck for its “services”.

Sorry, sovereign individuals need no tyrants to tell them what to do. Government’s only legitimate role is to preserve the peace and ensure rights. The jury is still out if it can do that. Not very successful so far.

Maybe it’s time for a new meme to replace “government”. Examine your paradigms and memes for a replacement? I don’t have one but I’m looking.

Fix it before it kills us!

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GUNS: Remember Tony Martin!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

http://transsylvaniaphoenix.blogspot.com/2008/05/british-called-they-want-their-guns.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGVAQOUi6ec&eurl=http://transsylvaniaphoenix.blogspot.com/2008/05/british-called-they-want-their-guns.html&feature=player_embedded

*** begin quote ***

This should serve as a warning to all freedom loving Americans. Before pulling the lever this coming November, remember: both Hillary and Obama support draconian gun laws aimed not at criminals (because criminals don’t obey the laws anyway), but at law abiding citizens.

*** end quote ***

Luddite sent me the link.

Could it be that I am finally turning him to the side of liberty?

England is a precursor of the USA.

Our politicians are charging down the same path.

“Judged by 12 rather than carried by 6” obviously failed in this case! The English have chosen “victim disarmament”!

Argh.

“From my cold dead hands …”

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MONEY: H.R. 2755: Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act

Sunday, December 7, 2008

http://www.lewrockwell.com/huff/huff24.html

*** begin quote ***

You might also ask your US Representative to co-sponsor the Bill to Abolish the Fed. So far Ron Paul’s Bill has no co-sponsor. What does that tell us?

*** end quote ***

[JR: That politicians are happy with the blank check that the current system provides them? ]

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-2755

*** begin quote ***

Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act – Abolishes the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and each Federal reserve bank.

Repeals the Federal Reserve Act.

This bill is in the first step in the legislative process. Introduced bills go first to committees that deliberate, investigate, and revise them before they go to general debate. The majority of bills never make it out of committee.

*** end quote ***

Arhhh!

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PRODUCTIVITY: Getting refocused?

Saturday, November 29, 2008

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/stop-worrying/

What Do We Worry About?

*** begin quote ***

When it comes to worry, studies have shown the following statistics:

40% never happens – so in essence we are wasting our time by worrying.

30% of what we worry about has already happened. Learn to “let go” and forgive yourself and others. You cannot change the past – no one can. Accept it for what it is and go on.

12% are needless worries, such as what someone else thinks about us.

10% are petty and unimportant such as we worry about what’s for dinner, we worry about being late, we worry about what to wear.

8% of what we worry about actually happens. Of this percentage…

4% of our worries that happen are beyond our control. We cannot change the outcome. These worries may include our health, the death of a loved one or an impending natural disaster. Often times the reality of these events are more bearable than the worry.

4% of what we worry about we have some if not all control over the results. Basically I think this is the consequences of our actions or inaction on the problems and challenges we face.

Given these statistics, you may find it worthwhile asking the following questions:

* How many times do we work ourselves into frenzy over a situation that is beyond our control?

* Why do we allow worry to stress us out so much that we become ill?

* Why do we waste our mental energy with worry?

*** end quote ***

I remember reading this. I have no idea if the stats are right. But, I’m internalizing it as I get refocused. Argh!

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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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LIBERTY: Time to end “government education”?

Saturday, November 15, 2008

>The book is called “Raising the
>Grade: How High School Reform Can
>Save Our Youth and Our Nation.”

Maybe as a society, we are finally going to escape the “government education” paradigm. We can’t ‘afford’ it from both the input side (i.e., taxes) and the output (i.e., quality of what it produces). Socialists have used it to undermine our national commitment to individual achievement and rugged individualism that made America great. And, put them in control of everyone’s lives.

The purposes of the education system we imported from Prussia was to make cannon fodder soldiers and malleable factory workers. All that could be easily let by a powerful “elite”. Seems to have worked.

Unfortunately, cannon fodder soldiers are not how wars are fought today. Factory workers don’t exist any more in the USA. And that “smart elite” isn’t very ‘smart’ and have clay feet.

Time for a paradigm shift? Not just more meaningless diplomas.

imho!

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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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POLITICAL: Nuke the FED!

Monday, November 3, 2008

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/austrian-econ-more-than-ever.html

Why Austrian Economics Matters More Than Ever
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

*** begin quote ***

Abolishing the Fed would put a huge brake on the planning state. Without the ability to expand the money supply at will, the federal government would become about as threatening as state or local government. That is to say, the federal government would still be an intolerable imposition on life, liberty, and property. But we wouldn’t be worrying about hyperinflation, large scale bubbles in specific sectors, crazy business cycles, trillion-dollar bailouts, controls that reach into every nook and cranny of our lives, a cradle to grave welfare state, or a global empire that invades any and every country at will, and makes America the enemy to whole regions of the world.

That’s only the beginning of what the end of the Fed would mean. It would dramatically change the political culture in this country. Bureaucracies would tumble. Trade would stabilize. The investment-risk calculus would accord with the free market. The left could no longer live out its pipe dreams of socialist utopia at our expense. The right would have to give up its wacky notion of a world police state. The power ambitions of whole sectors of society would be scaled back.

The state is always and everywhere a danger, even when it has no monopoly on money and no printing press that can create money tickets at will. But a state with the ability to make its own money is a grave and relentless threat to prosperity and freedom. It leaves the future entirely to the discretion of the money managers. Every day we live under the threat that the US could be the next Weimar Republic or even another Zimbabwe. All that stands between us and that day is the wisdom and prudence of the Fed.

*** end quote ***

There was a fundamental shift in America that was done without the People even being aware of the terrible path they were being taken down.

With the financial meltdown (i.e., criminal collusion between Congress and Wall Street), it seems like an appropriate time to put the Fed out of business.

It’s un-American!

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POTUS08: FLASH! Obama calls me “selfish”!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

http://tinyurl.com/6dm767

Political Punch
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper
October 31, 2008 10:58 AM

*** begin quote ***

“John McCain and Sarah Palin they call this socialistic,” Obama continued. “You know I don’t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness.”

*** end quote ***

Well, that tears it! It’s all out in the open now. His stealth campaign is unmasked.

Think it’s just big gooferment; you’re selfish.

<shaking my head at the hubris of the socialists>

Argh!

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ADMINISTRIVIA: “Drive by commenting”

Friday, October 31, 2008

Just for the record, not that “drive by commenters” read anything, you’re just wasting your time leaving comments here with fake email addresses. I enjoy the comments. Lengthen this, prolong that, gain weight: ll amuse me. Lose weight: makes me sad. I really do enjoy the comments. It’s probably the one aspect of my life where I get “true feedback”. That being said, putting in a phony email address will get you comment marked as “spam” as soon as the “Thank you for your comment” message bounces. Some are dead giveaways by the website they seek to promote either with urls within the comment or in the identity section. Just wasting time and electrons.

So please comment. I don’t use the email address for anything but one message to confirm it’s validity. But I was thinking of a charity fund for FOWG bloggers making less that 250k!

rofl!

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RANT: Irena Sendler

Friday, October 24, 2008

>If this isn’t proof that it’s not “what you do”, but “who you know and who you
>do it for” I don’t know what is.
>
>See, it’s basically 2,500 helpless infants saved vs. a questionable analysis of
>a “disputed” fact – I would generally consider it NO CONTEST. But then it takes
>politicians and geniuses to pass out Nobel Awards.
>

You really have to shake your head and wonder. We allow the media to over use the terms “hero” and such. You have to really admire the GIANT set of stones some folks have. I hope all my challenges are little ones. It is amazing when I read the stories of the “Righteous among the Nations”, you have to wonder if these folks were NUTS! With death wish or something. I doubt that I’d have the stones to do such. Probably all I’d have is BB’s. Unless there is a size called AAs. One can only hope that this never happens again. Or, it does, not here. Sighm fjohn

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A Lady Named Irena

There recently was a death of a 98 year old lady named Irena.

During WWII, Irena got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist.

She had an ulterior motive…

She KNEW what the Nazi’s plans were for the Jews, (being German).

Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of her tool box she carried, and she carried in the back of her truck a Burlap sack, (for larger kids).

She also had a dog in the back, which she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto.

The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog, and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.

During her time and course of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants.

She was caught, and the Nazi’s broke both her legs, and arms, and beat her severely.

Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out, and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard.

After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it, and reunited the family.

Most, of course, had been gassed.

Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes, or adopted.

Last year Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize….

She LOST.

Al Gore won, for doing a slide show on Global Warming!

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/sendler.asp

snopes.com: Irena Sendler

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PRODUCTIVITY: Disney’s $100,000 Salt + Pepper Shaker

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2008/07/disneys-1000000.html

Disney’s $100,000 Salt + Pepper Shaker

*** begin quote ***

The story is simple. At 12 years old, a young Randy Pausch was exploring Disney World with his family and he and his sister decided they wanted to show their parents their appreciation for the trip. So they did what any other grateful children would do—they pooled their allowance money and headed straight for the Disney gift shop. A few minutes later, they emerged with the perfect gift. A ceramic Disney salt and pepper shaker featuring two bears in a tree holding the salt and pepper (not the ones in the photo above.) Randy and his sister left the store excited to see their parents faces when they opened the gift.

Minutes later, a mini-tragedy struck when Randy accidentally dropped the shaker, breaking it on impact. A nearby adult suggested that they should take it back to the store and they did so hesitantly, not expecting a positive outcome. To their surprise and delight, the Disney employee who had sold them the items apologized for not wrapping them appropriately and gave them a new set, no questions asked.

{Article Continues}

In recent years as a consultant, Randy would often ask Disney executives this question: “If I sent a child into one of your stores with a broken salt and pepper shaker today, would your policies allow your workers to be kind enough to replace it?”

Randy says, “the executives squirm at the question. They know the answer: Probably not.”

*** end quote ***

So we know have a new Leadership meme: “Does your org support 100k salt shakers?”

Hmmm, a very hard question to answer.

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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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