No Nanny State - Molon Labe!

The whole (global warming) thing is created to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability.
--Jerry Falwell

We all know we're going to see a lot more crap like this -

On October 31, 2009, the once largest aluminum plant in the world will shut down. With it goes another American industry and more American jobs. The Columbia Falls Aluminum Company in Montana will shut down its aluminum production because it cannot purchase the necessary electrical power to continue its operations.

Hmm. I wonder what's the reason for not being able to get electrical power. Surely, a place this big has made arrangements to take care of things like this.

Columbia Falls Aluminum negotiated a contract with Bonneville Power Administration in 2006 for Bonneville to supply electrical power until September 30, 2011.

See? American industry taking care of business. What could have possibly happened?

But, responding to lawsuits, the 9th US Circuit Court ruled the contract was invalid because it was incompatible with the Northwest Power Act. Therefore, the combination of the Northwest Power Act and a US Circuit Court were the final villains that caused the shutdown of Columbia Falls Aluminum.

Oh. What kind of anti-business, anti-American asshole would bring such a suit?

We need to look no further than the many environmental groups like the Sierra Club and to America's elected officials who turned their backs on American citizens and in essence themselves, for they too are citizens of this country. These officials bought into the green agenda promoted by the heavily funded environmental groups. Caving to pressure, they passed laws and the environmental groups filed lawsuits that began turning off the lights in America. The dominos stated to fall.

Read the rest of the article. You'll see how as early as 1988, the EPA was laying the groundwork for the CO2 horseshit.

I was the first to raise my hand to ask a question, "How can you defend your global warming hypothesis when you have omitted the effects of clouds which affect heat balance far more than carbon dioxide, and when your hypothesis contradicts the paper by Lee in the Journal of Applied Meteorology in 1972 that shows the atmosphere does not behave like a greenhouse?"

He answered me by saying, "You do not know what you are talking about. I know more about how the atmosphere works than you do."

Not being one to drop out of a fight, I responded, "I know many of the atmospheric scientists in this room, and many others who are not present but I do not know you. What is your background and what makes you know so much more than me?"

He answered, "I know more than you because I am a lawyer and I work for the EPA."

I hope you all have a way of providing for your own power, heat, and probably food. In the very near future, getting any of them commercially is going to be increasingly difficult and costly.

But it's for your own good, you silly, stupid citizen. Be thankful for the people we have showing us The Way.

I'm sure the 200 workers at the Columbia Falls plan are very thankful, indeed.

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Corruption, Eco-fraud, Ethics, Fascism, Global Warming, nanny state, Propaganda, Self-Reliance, welfare state

Whoever is detected in a shameful fraud is ever after not believed even if they speak the truth.
--Phaedrus (Roman fabulist, 15-50 B.C.)

Pond Scum is going to save the world! The eco-freaks are talking up algae as a way to suck up evil CO2 from the air AND provide a fuel source. It's a miracle!

Driven by fluctuations in oil prices, and seduced by the prospect of easing climate change, experts are ramping up efforts to squeeze fuel out of a promising new organism: pond scum.

Yeah. There are a couple of problems, though. First off, there's the whole "great CO2 suckers" thing. After the algae eats up the CO2, then what? If you burn it to produce heat, the CO2 is returned to the atmosphere. If you somehow squeeze the fat out of the algae, what do you do with the now CO2-riddled fat-less algae sludge? Bury it (like evil nuclear waste)? Feed it to cattle (only to be farted out as methane, and even scarier Green House Gas)?

And then there's the whole "cost" thing -

Even though algae grows like gangbusters, it currently costs up to 100 dollars to make a gallon of algal fuel-- hardly a savings.

Hey, price is no object when you're saving the world, right?

These pinheads need to do some significant research into the term, "unintended consequences". When you start dicking around trying to force-feed a solution, shit happens. Just off the top of my head, they'll need to figure out what land to set aside for this, where will they get the fresh water for the scum to live in, and how much will our taxes be increased to pay for this (see: Ethanol from corn for supporting documentation).

Hey, I'll help the cause. I nominate DC as the land mass to be used. Plenty of pond scum is already in place (sorry, that was too easy to pass up!).
----------

Talk about, "Passing The Buck" -

The Federal Reserve would police banks' pay policies to ensure they don't encourage employees to take reckless gambles like those that contributed to the financial crisis, according to a proposal unveiled Thursday.

So the government in general, and the Federal Reserve in particular were major, MAJOR drivers of the policies that put us in the current national financial crisis. What does any good political body do? It attempts to divert attention from its culpability, and blame someone else. In this case, it's the Evil Banks.

The Fed and their Bank Regulator bretheren were responsible for monitoring and REGULATING the business activities of the banking system. The system has gone to hell in a hand-basket, WHILE THEY WERE IN CHARGE, but they had nothing to do with the problems? Right.

It's like a parent who tells their kid not to smoke pot, but who gives them money to score some weed. As long as the kid brings mom and dad a little reefer for their troubles, things are good.

When the kid gets busted for selling the pot, the parents protest to the judge that they tried their best to raise good kids, but the little rascals just wouldn't listen. They're going to immediately add more house rules, and their weekly allowance is going to be cut in half.

A wise judge would throw the book at the parents for providing an environment that encouraged reckless behavior and lawlessness. Instead, the judge - the American people - will applaud the "decisive actions" of the parents. But the money will still flow and the drugs will still be bought, and after a time, things will be back to normal.

A nice, dysfunctional American family.
----------

Got Threat?

"The danger to progressive causes and the institution of journalism [ed. - Insert chortle] has become too significant to ignore," says the introduction to a memo by Media Matters founder David Brock. "At Media Matters, we believe it is of paramount importance that progressive leaders have the information necessary to understand exactly what Fox News has become. We hope this brief memorandum will assist you in reaching your own decision on how best to engage this threat."

Forget that whole, "First Amendment" thing. Forget media objectivity. Forget vigorous debate.

If you're not parading with the Obama Marching Band and Smothering Debt Society, you are an insect that must be crushed.

Tune up those instruments and play along! It feels sooooo good! Enjoy yourself now - we'll send you the bill later...
----------

Got Home?

Nationally, sales of existing homes jumped almost 8 percent from September last year, without adjusting for seasonal factors.

Woo Hoo! Life is good, things are peachy-keen and Viagra is no longer needed in America!

What? There's a sub-text?

Real estate agents and economists attributed the brisk sales to a temporary federal tax credit. First-time homebuyers can receive a credit of 10 percent of the sales price, up to $8,000.

Oh. Nanny, once again, was standing on the street corner handing out $100 bills and people actually accepted them?! Shocking.

It's funny, but as a taxpayer, I've now bought banks, car companies, insurance companies, private automobiles and private homes. I have yet to receive my stock certificates, car title or property title. I get the liabilities but not the assets.

What up wit dat?

Labels: communism, Constitution, Corruption, Eco-fraud, Ethics, Fascism, Global Warming, Media Bias, nanny state, Political Correctness, Propaganda, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

Email, received today -

Dear Friend of Liberty,

For far too long, the Republican Party has been controlled by the “neoconservatives,” those who readily abandon the free market at the drop of a hat if it means expanding government power and who think the United States should be the policeman of the world. They want us to support those who throw substance and principle to the wind in favor of political expediency.

Last Monday night, Senator Lindsey Graham reiterated his disdain for Ron Paul and limited government conservatives at a town hall when he said that he was not going to allow the Republican Party to be “hijacked by Ron Paul.”

Instead, he thinks we should get behind those who he tells us “can win,” even if it means abandoning every belief we hold dear in the process.

In addition to his afternoon appearance on Judge Napolitano’s Freedom Watch, Congressman Paul will be responding to the neoconservatives on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer tonight at 6 pm eastern and also on MSNBC’s The Ed Show at 6:30 pm eastern.

CNN has shared with my staff that they want to hear from you on this issue. Contact The Situation Room and let them know you think neoconservatism has had its day and it is time for our elected officials to stick to the Constitution.

In our efforts over the past two years, we have made it clear we will no longer be silent while those who claim to believe in limited government and freedom behave exactly the opposite and help run our country into the ground.

The freedom movement is growing larger every day, and we will take our country back without abandoning our principles to do so.

In Liberty,

John Tate

President

Make your voices heard.

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Ethics, Fascism, Media Bias, Propaganda, Self-Reliance

We journalists make it a point to know very little about an extremely wide variety of topics; this is how we stay objective.
--Humorist Dave Barry

A buddy sent me this link. Whew! Sure am glad THAT'S all over....

Latest survey conducted by the National Association for Business Economics, which was released on Monday, explains that over 80% of economists hold a viewpoint that recession has ended and expansion has commenced.

I wonder if it's the same group of Nanny drones that believe the world's going to melt from Global Warming. A trustworthy and objective group if ever one existed...
----------

How disturbing is this? Not for what is says, but for what it doesn't say?

On both its news and opinion programming Monday, the Fox News Channel responded to the White House’s portrayal of the network as a part of the political opposition.

Fox is the ONLY network, newspaper or other media outlet being identified as confrontational. Isn't ALL of the press supposed to be that way? Isn't that their job?

Apparently, the White House views all other media outlets as compliant allies. That's the opposite of "the opposition," right?
----------

TOR motivated me to bake yesterday. He's been talking about making bread. Yesterday, I made a big pot of beans for dinner, and decided a loaf (or two) of bread would go nicely with them.

After kneeding and prior to the first rise -


After the first rise -


After forming and the third rise (there is a second one done in the bowl) -


Ready for butter, beans and my belly!


There are few things that smell better than a home filled with the aroma of beans and fresh-baked bread. Maybe turkey and stuffing roasting in the oven, but not many others.

There were no survivors..... ;-)
----------

A first for me with the beans: I made them in my pressure canner. I had forgotten to soak them the night before, and the morning had gotten away from me, so I couldn't do a mini-boil and rest.

On the package of Navy beans, they gave instructions for making them in a pressure canner.

One pound of dry beans, five cups of water and whatever spices you want are all dumped into the pot. I also added a jar of homemade canned beef. Cover it, set the canner to 15lbs of weight and let it go for an hour and a half.

They came out perfectly. I was actually kind of surprised they were so tender and fully cooked.
----------

I'm doing a major (for me) canning test today that I'll post tomorrow.
----------

We're getting HAMMERED by rain and wind. It is the tail-end of the typhoon that just hit Japan. We're supposed to get up to 5 inches of rain over the next 24 hours.

We really need the rain, but why all at the same time! I know our farmers will really like the downpour, though. It's the wind I hate so much...
----------

Good news: I was able to secure an agreement with one of the local gun shops - I'm now doing all of the training for them! We're working out the mechanics (scheduling students, whose credit card system will be used, etc) and should have the first classes scheduled near the end of the month or early November. Sweet!

Also, tomorrow I have an interview with a regional magazine to talk about personal safety, risk management and the like. If it goes well, my biz may be featured in an article in the magazine.

I'll take all the free publicity I can get!

Labels: Corruption, democrats, Ethics, Life and Times, Media Bias, Political Correctness, Propaganda

Mike, tell us how you REALLY feel.

The Democrat governor with a Republican business card - Arnold Schwarzenegger - has signed into law AB 962. It will require, among other things, that law abiding California citizens now be fingerprinted before they buy ammunition for their self-defense weapons. It will also prohibit the purchase of ammunition from online sources.

"The purchase records will provide our police officers with yet another tool to track down and apprehend armed and dangerous criminals," said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Really, Paul? How might that work? How in the fuck will this law result in the capture of one, single bad guy? They'll all know they will have to be finger printed to buy ammo. Do you REALLY think they'll do that? Really?

Bad guys will do one of three things: They will have their flunkies buy their ammo; They will steal the ammo from gun shops or homeowners, or; They'll do like I will be doing - taking my business to Nevada or Oregon.

The result? The bad guys will still get their ammo, crimes at businesses and home to get ammo will increase, and tax dollars will now be going - once again - to another state.

You God Damned mother fuckers have your heads so far up your asses, it is a wonder you can function without parental assistance. And you are 'God Damned', in the truest sense of the phrase. God looks negatively upon people who put other people in danger for no good reason. The 'mother fucker' part is supposition on my part.
----------

Arnold, you were finally showing some backbone by standing up to the unions and Democrats with the budget. You had spent all of your two terms acting as a member of the Kennedy family. You amazingly stood up for actual Constitutional principles in the last stretch of your term. I figured you were not worried about getting elected again, so you could actually LEAD and not cower.

Clearly, I was wrong. You're a Kennedy bitch. Heel, bitch. You clearly have already been trained to roll over.
----------

Some other bills The Kennedy Bitch approved:

-- Senate Bill 43 by Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-San Jose, allowing Santa Clara to award a contract to design and build a proposed 49ers stadium to a firm of the team's choice - rather than to the lowest bidder as normally required under city law.

Do you THINK there may have been some unmarked bills handed around to get this approved? Why would you want to allow for anything other than the lowest bidder? You write the proposal to include required safety, quality and materials standards, and get the lowest bidder.

--Senate Bill 572, by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would declare May 22 as Harvey Milk Day in California. Schools and government offices would remain open, the day would not be a holiday, but schools would be encouraged to conduct commemorative exercises to remember the life of the former San Francisco county supervisor and gay-rights pioneer.

California school tax dollars at work. Do you think that crap like this might contribute to the fact that California has the highest per-student spending, but is number 47 in results. What might help change that? Learning more math, or learning about a gay guy in San Francisco?
----------

I need to have another SERIOUS chat with my wife. This state is simply too far gone, and continues to make incredibly poor decisions. Seriously, it is amazing to watch - how a group of people in Sacramento can so consistently make bad choices, despite the indisputable evidence that their choices are ruining our state.

Labels: Brady Bunch, communism, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, democrats, Ethics, Fascism, Gun Grabbers, nanny state, Propaganda, Self-Defense

The trouble with government regulation of the market is that it prohibits capitalistic acts between consenting adults.
-- Robert Nozick

Reported on Fox News this morning (I have not verified it - sounds about right, though):

The Dow Jones is up 55% in the past year.

When accounted for in Euros, it is up only 20% (the dollar is weaker against the Euro).

When accounted for in gold, it is flat...

----------

OK, I did some quickee math. Gold is ONLY up 48% in the past year. Pretty damned close to what Fox said.

What's this telling you? That the value of the stock market - which is denominated in dollars - has produced no actual increase in wealth. It has been effectively "discounted" by a corresponding increase in a tangible asset, gold.
----------

Barry, Barry, Barry..... more smoke and mirrors. He's rushing ahead, arms a-flailin' in the wind, with the creation of some uber-regulatory agency for banks. Sure, that'll fix all our ills -

With a key vote nearing, the president slams banks and business groups, saying they want only "to maintain the status quo that has maximized their profits at the expense of American consumers."

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Banks are evil, government is good. We've heard it before. We don't need another regulator. We need a return to sanity. We need to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act which was gutted under Billy Jeff Clinton.

Ten years of history crammed into a few paragraphs: In the late 1990's, commercial banks wanted to offer other products such as insurance and (more importantly) Investment Banking services. Glass-Steagall prevented that. The (sane) concept being that you wanted to keep the job of protecting people's insured deposits separate from the very risky business of gambling in the stock market. The law had been around since the 1930's.

Billy Jeff cut a deal with the bankers and congress: I'll drop Glass-Steagall, but I get a CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) on steroids. The Gramm/Leach/Bliley (GLBA) act was passed to meet these ends. Everyone was happy.

The charter of the CRA was expanded to force banks to either directly give money to the poor communities in their area, or....... make loans to people than did not meet the usual credit underwriting requirements of the bank (sub-prime). Income redistribution at its grandest.

The banks figured they could potentially make a couple of bucks by doing the loans - SOME of the borrowers would pay them back, plus they had the real property securing the loan.

It was working, but not in the volumes congress wanted. The final stab into our national financial heart was congress getting Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to guarantee these CRA loans. By having the Freddie/Fannie guarantees, the banks could now sell these loans to investors. If the borrower went tits-up, the government would cover their losses (yes, the market has always believed Freddie and Fannie to be government agencies and this was reinforced when they were both bailed out).

There was no down-side to banks making these loans or to the investors buying them. Nanny guaranteed their performance.

Because anyone that could steam up a mirror could now "afford" a home, prices went through the roof. Supply and demand was working perfectly. Demand outstripped supply, which forced up prices.

The result is the mess we're in. Banks and investors holding non-paying loans with collateral that doesn't cover the outstanding balances. They now won't make any loans because they can't count on the value of the collateral backing a loan (or whether a business will still BE in business before the loan is paid back).

The residential real estate market crashing because of loan defaults and the sudden flood of foreclosed properties on the market. The commercial property market following the same pattern very soon. Supply and demand at work once again.

You and me providing tax dollars to bailout the failing banks and their investors.
----------

The fix is as easy as it is unlikely: Reinstate Glass-Steagall, discontinue the CRA and have Freddie and Fannie only guarantee Conforming Loans (loans with a fixed maximum value and with a Loan-To-Value ratio of no more than 80%).

The commercial banks will be back in the business of only taking deposits and making creditworthy loans. The Investment Banks will be back in the business of only gambling on the stock market. Freddie and Fannie will be back in the business of only providing liquidity to the markets.

Of course, this will never happen. Greed and politics won't allow it. The banks would whine (and lobby) about having to divest their Investment arms and make dire predictions of imminent collapse. Congress, through the CRA, would no longer have the ability to redistribute wealth to "deserving, disadvantaged" people. Give up that kind of power?! Right.

Instead, we'll get another smothering bureaucracy that will further nationalize our banking system. Banks will be required to make crappy loans, which you and I will continue to guarantee with our tax dollars. The cost of credit to creditworthy individuals and businesses will continue to rise - when it's available at all - because banks won't make as many loans if they're not guaranteed.

The One will save us again. Give him another Peace Prize as thanks.
----------

Have I mentioned that you should buy some gold and silver? Real estate, too, while it's at these rock-bottom prices, and you'll be able to repay with soon-to-be hyper-inflated dollars. Tangibles. Get some tangible assets.

Just checkin'...

Labels: communism, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

Paranoia will get you through times of no enemies better than enemies will get you through times of no paranoia.
-- Pete Granger

I had this big post planned to slam Barry and the Peace Prize. Comparing it to T-ball for little kids. You're getting recognized for not doing anything special. Just show up, and you're rewarded.

But what are you gonna do? These idiots can give a Peace Prize to Al Gore for bald-faced lies on Global Warming, and Barry for his "aspirations", if they want to. It's their "prize". It's just too bad that it gets so much press. With some of their latest choices, I'm guessing the "blush is off the rose" - hell, Barry just came out and said he wasn't worthy!

The word, "mockery" comes to mind...
----------

Is it because I'm jittery, or does it seem like there are A LOT more incidents of over-bearing government actions?

The crap I watched happening in Pittsburgh during the G20 crap was truly frightening. I'm not talking about the anarchists that were purposely flaunting certain laws and trashing shit. I'm talking about people getting snatched up off the street and being shoved into cars - without being arrested or given their rights. I'm talking about college students being trapped in stairwells and being gassed. I'm talking about people just standing on the street and cops on bicycles hosing them down with pepper spray.

WTF?

We all saw the videos of old ladies in New Orleans being roughed up and having her guns confiscated - all while the cops were "bugging out". Thousands of other guns were confiscated, and the government lied, denying that any of them existed.

Look at this shit - these people were a part of a food co-op and back in December of 2008 had all of their goods confiscated by Nanny by a SWAT team.




It sounds like the cops justified the confiscations on the grounds of some bullshit Health And Safety crap, plus they wanted them to get a retail food license. Yep, always gotta have the cut for Nanny, don't ya know...

Thompson explained the genesis of the raid was a series of visits to the family by an undercover agent for the state agriculture agency.

"He showed up (at the Stowers' residence) unannounced one day," Thompson explained, and "pretended" to be interested in purchasing food.

The family explained the co-op was private and they couldn't provide service to the stranger.

The agent then returned another day, stayed for two hours, and explained how he thought his sick mother would be helped by eggs from range-fed chickens to which the Stowers had access.

The family responded that they didn't sell food and couldn't help. When he refused to leave, the family gave him a dozen eggs to hasten his departure, Thompson explained.

Despite protests from the family, the agent left some money on a counter and departed.

On the basis of that transaction, the Stowers were accused of engaging in the retail sale of food, Thompson said.

Can you say, "entrapment"?

Why would you need a SWAT team to serve papers on a house that is a member of a food co-op? Was there EVER any indication there might be violence?

It seems like every small town in America now has a SWAT team. They get all suited up like Star Wars Storm Troopers and go kick some ass!

These people look like a couple of "old hippies" who just want to live a simple life. A group of like-minded people and farms got together to make their lives easier. That's a crime now?

They offended some bureaucrat and all hell broke loose.

These people were able to get legal representation and are suing the ass off the government, but at what cost? They had a year's worth of personal food stolen, plus the co-op has been in disarray in the interim. Nanny wins regardless of the outcome. Don't fuck with us.
----------

There are entire websites devoted to this topic, yet nothing seems to be changing. The MSM just rolls over and plays nice. Just off the top of my head, I can rattle off a bunch of Nanny-Run-Amuck crap -

Waco
Katrina
Ruby Ridge
The Mormon's in Texas
The BART cop shooting the kid in the back
Countless "No Knock" warrants gone bad
Asset Seizure Laws
The USA PATRIOT Act

Good Lord, what's going on here?
----------

Cache - food, guns, money, ammo, durable goods. Don't have "all your eggs in one basket". Stay off the ridge-line, but don't cower. Exercise your rights, but be prepared for "blow-back". They WILL hurt you if they desire, at least in the short-term. Have a plan. No, have multiple plans.

Document - your best chance for proving your innocence is by having proof of what is taking place. I was recently telling a friend about a "trick" we used in our bank branches.

We had big, obvious cameras in all of our lobbies so everyone knew we were filming everything that happened. In the back of the office was the recorder - right out in plain sight. It was recording everything that happened. What was not so obvious is that we also had a web feed to our central office.

If the office was robbed, we expected the crooks to take the tapes (or even the whole machine). It gave them a sense of assurance that they were going to get away with their crime, and it lowered the likelihood that one of our customers or employees would get hurt.

The fact that the entire incident was simultaneously recorded offsite never entered their heads...

Document what happens and make sure you have duplicates. Assume your primary source of evidence will be "lost". Paranoia isn't always a bad thing...
----------

[Rhetorical question...] In the past, how have the "repressive regimes" been dealt with?

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, Ethics, Fascism, Media Bias, nanny state, Propaganda, Self-Reliance, Thought Crimes, welfare state

The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.
--Malcolm X

I had a great day with my biz yesterday, but it kept me from seeing what was going on in the world. Maybe that's not such a bad thing. I did a scan of the major news outlets this morning to get caught up, and here's what I found:

Michele Obama is descended from slaves.

What?! Stop The Presses! Can you believe it?! Slaves?! It must have been horrible living with that burden all these years. Didn't the slave masters know she was going to become the first-lady of the US? What WERE they thinking?!

OK, how could the New York Times spend more than 10 seconds on this? I'm surprised they didn't do a companion piece on some prominent Republican to show that he/she was a descendant from slave owners. Oh, the horror!

Maybe they could put in a half hour or so, and do a piece on something that actually matters outside of Obama's family.

Hey look! Here's something they could run with:

Beverly Gossage, Research Fellow for Show-Me Institute and founder of HSA Benefits Consulting wondered which insurance companies rejected the most claims. She found her answer in the AMA’s own 2008 National Health Insurer Report Card. The chart below appears on page 5 of the 16-page report.

Any guess which health care insurance provider had the highest claims rejection - both in terms of actual numbers and as a percentage of claims?

You got it - It's Nanny!


Click the image to see the chart. For those of you who are "click challenged" (a medical malady?) the biggest denier was Medicare. They rejected 6.85% of their claims for service, which equated to 475,000 claims.

Aetna was the only insurer that was even close, at 6.8%, but that only represented 43,000 claims.

The biggest "bitch" against the current system is that the insurance companies deny claims or don't give you insurance if you have a pre-existing condition. I'm assuming Medicare has some regulation that mandates it to accept everyone, but if you can't get care once you're on The Nanny Plan, what good is the insurance?

The White House and Congress want to put Nanny in charge of the whole shooting match? Are they insane?!

Why wouldn't the Times have this information plastered all over their front page? Yeah, yeah, we all know the answer. Michele Obama's family tree is much more important to the health and welfare of the nation...
----------

Having lived in the Land Of Fruit And Nuts (that'd be California) for my entire life, I've written a number of times that all the rest of the nation needs to do is look at us for what's going to happen to the country in the future.

We've long been trail blazers in socialism. Basically, all you need to do is ask for money from the state, and you'll get it. That goes double if you can insert, "for the children" or "under-privileged" into your proposal.

Well, it seems as though things aren't working out so well. For some reason, when you tax and abuse the Producers for the sole benefit of the Looters, the Producers tend to leave.

Big time -

Now, incredibly, California, which has been a natural target for immigration throughout its history, is losing people. Between 2004 and 2008, half a million residents upped sticks and headed elsewhere. By 2010, California could lose a congressman because its population will have fallen so much – an astonishing prospect for a state that is currently the biggest single political entity in America.

It's getting so bad, even the Looters are FINALLY getting cut off from the teat-sucking:

Outside the Forum in Inglewood, near downtown Los Angeles, California has already failed. The scene is reminiscent of the fallout from Hurricane Katrina, as crowds of impoverished citizens stand or lie aimlessly on the hot tarmac of the centre's car park. It is 10am, and most have already been here for hours. They have come for free healthcare: a travelling medical and dental clinic has set up shop in the Forum (which usually hosts rock concerts) and thousands of the poor, the uninsured and the down-on-their-luck have driven for miles to be here.

The bottom line is, it's bad here. It's failing because this state has bent over backwards to wipe the ass of anyone who asks. These policies have made it painfully clear that is can be more profitable to NOT work. Nanny will take care of all your needs, regardless of your education or skill - or most importantly, regardless of your motivation. You don't need to have any.

Why would the tax-paying Producers stick around?

Some other reasons this shit-hole of a state is failing?

At the start of summer the state government was so deeply in debt that it began to issue IOUs instead of wages. Its unemployment rate has soared to more than 12%, the highest figure in 70 years.
---

California's schools are ranked 47th out of 50 in the nation. Its government-issued bonds have been ranked just above "junk".
---

If it was an independent country it would be in the G8. And if it were a company, it would likely be declared bankrupt.
---

California's attorney-general, Jerry Brown, recently sued one county government for not paying enough attention to global warming when it came to urban planning.

Sound like the direction any country you know is heading?

So, where did this very extensively researched article come from? The LA Times? SF Chronicle? San Jose Mercury News? Oakland Tribune (OK, that was thrown in there for chuckles)?

No. It was The Observer/Guardian in England. For some reason, THEY have the time to do an article about what is likely to happen to the entire US unless we change our spending and taxing ways.

Apparently, no one in America wants to hear news like that.
----------

Buy gold and silver while you can still afford it. Seriously.

Labels: communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, Global Warming, Health Care Fraud, Media Bias, nanny state, Propaganda, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs-partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.
--Booker T. Washington

Waa waa waaa! Dry your tears, beeoch.



Shockingly (not), the Virgina NAACP has its panties in a wad over a huge Barry Joker poster that's been unfurled in Richmond -

The Virginia NAACP called it an abomination and a sign of disrespect. The owner of a downtown Richmond strip club called it exercising his right to free speech.

In predictable fashion, the Executive Director is doing his damnedest to drag race into an economic issue.

"It is apparent that he and others are comfortable disrespecting the president," King Salim Khalfani, executive director of the Virginia NAACP, told the crowd.

Hold on to your hats, folks, but I agree with him there. The owner DOES feel comfortable disrespecting the president. So what? So do I when he's promoting a socialist agenda.

That's allowed in America. Just ask all of the leftists that painted Bush as a Nazi, an unintelligent dullard, and a puppet of Cheney.

Oh, look! He was portrayed as a joker, too...


So, uhm, King... why might this strip club owner feel comfortable disrespecting Barry?

"Why? The answer is simple: because the president has African blood."

Holy shit. Could you have pulled out that race card from deeper in your ass?

OK, fine. Let's say it was racist. Then just as clearly, you leftist fucktards disrespected Bush because of his Caucasian blood. That can be the only logical explanation, right?

You make me sick to my stomach, you race-baiting, woe-is-me, piece of shit.
----------

The press, not happy with just promoting the agenda of these racist bastards, feels the need to do the old ad hominem attack on the club owner.

Moore's club is awaiting a Nov. 9-10 state Alcoholic Beverage Control hearing on alleged violations. Last year, Moore was convicted of three misdemeanor charges related to having sex with a minor and another female at his apartment above the club, and filming it illegally.

Wow, a strip club owner who's a scumbag. That's about as shocking as there being a racist heading a 'civil rights' group.

Why would the "reporter" feel the need to bring up facts that are totally unrelated to the issue at hand? Of course, it's used to cast aspersions on the guy - to detract from the message he's trying to make.

Well, here's a little ad hominem back at ya, asshole.

You are a racist, and are proud of it. You proclaim it at the top of your voice.

Here is the mission statement of the NAACP:

The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.

The vision of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights and there is no racial hatred or racial discrimination.

Equal rights for everyone. They state - at least publicly - that they are "color blind". You are the Executive Director of the NAACP for the entire state of Virginia. Here is your biographical information, taken directly from your website -

My greatest accomplishment is that I am by choice a revolutionary Afrikan Man. I am a Pan-Afrikanist. I am one who speaks truth to power unashamedly on behalf of Afrikan people. I have not cringed or cowered when faced with criticism, ostracism or threats of bodily harm. l have represented my people with Integrity.

Hmmm. That seems to run counter to the official mission of the NAACP. They specifically say they are for equal rights for everyone, and you specifically say you are ONLY for people of African (Afrikan?) descent.

Isn't promoting a specific race the very definition of racism?

Naw, it must be an oversight. Surely he is proud of some kind of non-race-based accomplishment -

He founded the Pan-African Resource Center. African Awareness Association, Sons or Africa, Operation STRIKE (Students Tackling Racial Issues with Knowledge and Enlightenment) and African Perspectives, a weekly live call-in television show ...

It appears as though this racist - this statewide executive of a national organization - doesn't have a single thing he's ever done for anyone other than blacks.

Where is the MSM in reporting THAT? Why wasn't that conveniently inserted into the article along with the information on the club owner?

[Insert chirping crickets]

And the newspapers wonder why they're losing circulation numbers.... At least they can look forward to some Barry Bailout Bucks.

Labels: communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Media Bias, Propaganda

It was beautiful and simple as all truly great swindles are.
--O. Henry

A buddy of mine sent me a link to a press release from GATA - the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee that discussed Gold Swaps. In particular it was about how the Federal Reserve was apparently lying about participating in these swaps. Go here to get an overview, and copies of the letters from the FRB basically admitting that they do these swaps, but have no requirement to disclose this fact.

I read the article and the accompanying documentation. From what I can see, GATA is right - the FRB does participate in Gold Swaps. I shot my friend an email basically asking, "So what? How does this affect anyone in a negative way?"
----------

WTF are Gold Swaps? I found a short report (PDF file) from the International Monetary Fund explaining what these are (pgs. 3 and 4).

In short, a Gold Swap is where a central bank "lends" gold to another central bank. There are a number of reasons they may do this, which generally have to do with foreign exchange accounts. At least that's the official story.

With these swaps there are two very important things to know: First, no gold is actually sent from one central bank to the other - it's a paper transaction. Secondly, the "sending" central bank does not show a corresponding reduction in their gold reserves once the swap takes place.

The result: The amount of gold shown as being held by central banks is essentially doubled.

The statistical implications of gold swaps and gold loans/deposits are complex and have not been fully worked through. Work is still being undertaken by the Committee to address the implications. In particular, gold may be double counted with either a gold swap or gold loan/deposit if the party acquiring the gold were to on-sell it outright, because both the original owner and the outright purchaser would report ownership of the gold.

Country A (who actually has the gold) does a swap with Country B. They may do a swap for 1 million ounces of gold. Both countries now show the SAME 1 million ounces of gold in BOTH of their reserve accounts that are disclosed to the public.

Since the FRB has a number of legal exemptions in their charter, they don't have to disclose which countries, and for what amounts they have done these swaps. The letters GATA received from the FRB show that the US in involved with these swaps, but we don't know how big this is.
----------

Why would we do this? What benefit would there be to the US to participate in these swaps?

One word: Confidence.

Supply and demand drive the price of commodities. More supply equals lower prices.

The dollar is the world's currency (at least for now). If the perceived value of the dollar begins to decline against gold, central governments that are holding dollars in their foreign exchange accounts will start getting jittery, possibly selling them off. Sell offs result in greater lack of confidence, resulting in more sell offs....

You get the idea.

BUT, if you're able to push the price of gold down in relationship to the dollar, you can keep the confidence in check. You can do that by either producing more actual gold, or you can artificially "produce" it by doing swaps with other central banks.

What do you think would happen to the value of the dollar if it were disclosed that a large portion of our gold reserves were being double-counted around the globe? It certainly wouldn't help things.

What kinds of things might bring on the lack of confidence in the dollar? Oh, maybe things like the fact we're printing up money left and right, reducing its value. The fact that we're now monetizing our debt. The fact that we're absolutely, positively going to have to raise taxes, which ALWAYS reduces productivity in the private sector.
----------

Waddaya do? Not much, really. The FRB will continue to do these swaps, and they'll continue to NOT report them.

Conspiracy Theory Alert: Since there's no world CPA auditing firm, what is to stop the FRB from doing swaps in excess of the amount of gold we hold?

Seriously, when we do a swap with Country B, we're not going to open our books to prove we have not done swaps in excess of our holdings. Both parties get what they want. We help to maintain confidence in the dollar, and the other country gets to show they have a butt-load of gold in their reserves.

Ponzi would be proud...

Labels: Corruption, criminal, Ethics, Taxes

What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.
--Oscar Wilde

A buddy and I were talking yesterday about what's going on in the economy. We were talking about some different strategies for buffering ourselves for what's coming down the line. The difficulty is in knowing exactly what's coming - and when.

We discussed everything from the purchase of real property to going big into precious metals. The idea being putting our money in places where we would have something tangible to hold on to if/when we get a financial SHTF, but not being totally screwed if by some miracle, the economy makes a real, significant rebound.

From where I sit, I simply cannot see a way around the US being battered mercilessly by both inflation and taxation.

From AIER - The American Institute For Economic Research

Over the next 10 years, federal spending is projected to remain at historically high levels, revenues are projected to rise from their current post-World War II lows to near postwar highs, and ongoing federal deficits are projected to add $10 trillion to the federal debt. This according to the latest analysis from White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

The AIER analysis is based upon projections by the White House, so I personally consider this to be a Best Case Scenario. In delving into the White House numbers, I see that they've only budgeted a bit over $600 billion (over 10 years) for Universal Health Care. Of course it will be considerably more than that. The recent "affordable" Senate version had a price tag of "less than $900 billion" according to Senator Baucus.

Reality will probably be triple that number. At least. And we're going to have to pay for it somehow.

On the spending side, outlays are now at 25 percent of GDP, the highest since World War II. This percentage is projected to fall as the economy rebounds and the financial crisis passes, leveling off at 23 percent of GDP, which again would be unusually high in historical terms.

One source of higher outlays will be rising interest payments on the ballooning federal debt. By 2019, the government is projected to spend more on interest payments than on national defense.

Where will THAT money come from? Does anyone who has lived in America for longer than 60 seconds believe that one, single Federal program will be cut to pay for the increased debt payments? Really?!

And then there are us Boomers -

Moreover, these projections stop in 2019, before the full wave of baby-boom retirements hits Social Security and Medicare. So the longer-term budget outlook is actually even worse. Barring some unexpected improvement or a stretch of exceptionally rapid economic growth, it would appear that some combination of higher taxes, reduced spending, or increased inflating (printing more money) is inevitable.

I guess some, "stretch of exceptionally rapid economic growth" could hit, but I'm not betting on it.

In the 1980's and 1990's there was a "buzz" with computers and the Internet. We could see progress. Chips kept getting smaller, faster and cheaper. Memory got bigger and cheaper. We went from 1200 baud to T-1 speeds seemingly overnight. There was reason for optimism because all of the changes were truly innovative. It wasn't a re-branding of old ideas.

What do we have before us now? Giving more free shit away to more people. Jobs will be all "green" - even though everywhere it's been force-fed in the past, it's failed. We have the government attempting to control the economy, instead of letting the capitalists do their thing.

Why innovate when the fruits of your labors will be taken from you?
----------

Fed Head Bernanke is now laying the groundwork for the excuses. The excuses for why the economy just won't respond to his ministrations -

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s efforts to stoke a U.S. economic recovery may be undermined by the central bank’s other goal of restoring the banking system to health.

The Federal Open Market Committee, at the conclusion tomorrow of a two-day meeting, will probably maintain its assessment that “tight” bank credit is impeding growth, said economists including former Fed Governor Lyle Gramley. Lending contracted for five straight weeks through Sept. 9, a drop that in part reflects Fed orders to banks to raise more capital and toughen lending standards, analysts say.

If you dig deeper into the article, the real reason for the tightened lending standards is uncovered - the soon-to-go-tits-up commercial real estate market.

Falling values of commercial real estate are also a problem for banks, with an “uncertain degree of losses” to come, said Ryding, a former Fed researcher. Loans made for commercial property will probably sour and lenders will need to raise more capital to cover credit losses, Mike Mayo, a banking analyst at CLSA Ltd., said today at a conference in Hong Kong.

Banks are preparing for the massive hit that's coming. To put it into perspective, the FDIC has $10 billion or so in cash. Some are predicting it will cost them in the range of $400-$500 billion (to a worst-case estimate of $800 billion) before this financial system hemorrhaging is complete.

How do we NOT raise taxes or feed inflation by printing more money?
----------

As I've written before, I hope TS doesn't HTF before late October/early November. If things can hold together until then, my family should be in a good position to plop ourselves down on a semi-rural piece of property with very little debt.

It will allow us to significantly reduce our monthly outlays. That, in turn, reduces the amount of reportable income that is necessary to justify our lifestyle to Nanny (should they come snooping around).

One of the reasons we're taking this path is that we can't see a down-side to it. If the economy is somehow able to rebound, we're sitting even prettier. If it tanks as I believe, we could slide under most of Barry's (and his successors) tax tiers to help us to NOT fund this bastardization of America.

As God is my witness, I hope Barry, Ben and Tim's plan works. But, I don't see a snowball's chance in hell of it happening, and I'm not willing to bet my family's future on "hope".

Labels: American Ingenuity, American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

I'm only grouchy and moody on days that end with Y.
--Unknown

I just had a "lively" exchange on the role of government over at Pearl's place. The broad topic was about when private industry and government are in the same "business," private industry ALWAYS does a better job.

Hell yeah!

Still, I took issue with one paragraph she posted -

Here is where I am. Everyone wants people to get the medical treatment they need - EVERYONE. You have to be a rotten SOB to deny medical care - seriously. Thats why in this country you can walk into any hospital and get treatment. Yeah, we roll like that here in the USA.

My issue was that I don't believe health care is a right.

Health care, like any other service, requires the skills of another person and the assets of another organization. You don't have a right to require that they divest themselves of their skills and assets.

Meadowlark (of whom I'm a big fan!) took issue with me taking issue (click Pearl's link above to see the exchange)!

In my eyes, it all boils down to morality. I don't want the federal government imposing its definition of morality on my pocketbook.

As an example, in my discussion with Meadowlark, I noted that in the eyes of the federal government, a poor child needing health care is exactly equal to a heroin addict that has chosen to pump himself full of drugs. Both of them get exactly the same level of care, because Nanny says so.

I think that is immoral.

In yesterday's post, I grumbled about being pissed off because Nanny is giving away 10% of our national supply of Swine Flu production.

Why are they even involved in this in the first place? Shouldn't this be handled at the local hospital, or perhaps at the state level? The Feds have no Constitutional right to be doing this (only the brute force power), but in one fell swoop, they not only do so, then some bureaucrat in DC decides it's the "moral thing" to give a huge chunk of it away.

WTF?

Where's it going to go? Who's going to get it? Who decides who gets it? How much is this going to cost us for the vaccine AND its administration? If one single American dies because he or she could not get a dose, who will be held responsible?

If we want to encourage compassion, maybe Barry could squeeze in a public service announcement between his ObamaCare speeches, and ask American's to give to their favorite charity to send some vaccine abroad.

Ahhh, but then he loses the power and prestige of spending YOUR money for you. His compassion is coming out of your hide.
----------

Perhaps I AM a mean, grumpy SOB. I don't care. I've been a silent partner to this disgusting abuse of federal power for much too long. No more.

I know we're too far gone to get this to change - at least in my lifetime - but that doesn't mean I have to quietly go along for the ride. Maybe my kid's kids can reminisce about, "that old grumpy SOB, Grandpa Other Mike", and have things different for their lives.

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, Health Care Fraud, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

Leadership is based on inspiration, not domination; on cooperation, not intimidation.
--William Arthur Ward

I was watching TV last night, and this interview was shown. This is a US Congressman from Georgia saying that Joe Wilson is a racist because of his, "You lied!" outburst.

Well, he goes a bit beyond just calling him a racist. He suggests that this is the start of a new wave of the Klan.

"I guess we'll have folks putting on white hoods and white uniforms again..... that's the logical conclusion if this type of attitude is not rebuked."



That man's lack of integrity is stunning. The thought that a grown man, let alone a congressman, could stand in front of cameras with a straight face and pull such an obscene conclusion out of his ass is mind-boggling.

That the MSM swallows his bullshit like the good little whores they are, is less surprising. At least wipe your chins and dust off your pant knees when you're done...
----------

Then there's Jimmy.

Look at this NBC News (LOL, 'news' and 'NBC' in the same phrase) clip of an interview they did with Carter. The anchor starts off saying that the Tea Parties and Town Hall meetings are full of racist tone and imagery.

Huh? The meetings are supposedly full of racist banter, yet, they are only able to show one single image from across the country of a swastika, and that one is on a placard that specifically says they are against Barry's brand of change. No racial messages at all.

**UPDATE** As you can see, NBC has pulled their approval to allow the clip of Jimmeh from being played. Kinda embarrassing when a major news organization has a pack of race cards shoved up their ass, huh?

A clip from the Glenn Beck show - complete with Jimmeh's lips saying the same disgusting words - is now embedded below the original. **





"An overwhelming portion of the intensly demonstrated animated animosity towards President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man."

WTF? How about the "fact" that Barry surrounds himself with racist Marxist and is trying to nationalize all major industry in our country? How about the fact that he is proposing to saddle us and our children's children with mind-boggling debt that can never be repaid? How about the fact that he wants to establish various, "tax it if it moves" schemes - from VAT to Cap-and-Trade?

But you disparage tens of millions of pissed-off people across the country because you think we care that Barry is black? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!

By any sort of logical conclusion, since Barry now has a 50% approval rating, you MUST imply that America has 150 million racists. Half of the country.
----------

Enough.

If speaking against Barry makes you a "racist", then count me in.

If the media wants to hijack the word to include anyone who says anything counter to the Barry Express, then yep, I'm a "racist".

If it includes people who point out the lies in the socialist's speeches and writings, then I'm a "racist" by their definition of the word.

I will not be shamed into silence when I've done nothing shameful.

Labels: communism, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, Media Bias, Race-baiters

I would never lie. I willfully participate in a campaign of misinformation.
--Fox Mulder

I read - slack-jawed - article after article yesterday that Uncle Ben Bernanke says the recession is over. WTF?

"I've seen some agreement among the forecasting community that we are in a recovery," Bernanke said, "But the general view of most forecasters is that the pace of growth in 2010 will be moderate."

This disingenuous SOB is playing it cutsie - he qualified his statements by saying that it may only be a "technical recovery". If we have one single quarter with growth, we are technically out of the recession.

Let's see, is there any chance we might have an "up" quarter? Maybe one artificially 'stimulated' by, oh, I don't know, handing out $3 billion to people to buy cars? Hmmmmm?

The problem is, this was an artificial 'blip' - the stimulus brought people that would have bought cars in 3, 6, 9 or twelve months down the road, and front-loaded them into this past quarter.

What's going to happen in 3 to 12 months with the auto industry? All of those people already have their cars, so the auto manufacturers are going to take a shot to the nuts.

Since it "technically" takes 3 consecutive quarters of contraction before the next recession officially begins, Barry and Company have bought themselves at least a year of respite from the financial press.
----------

Gold and Silver continue to climb (which actually surprised me, as I expected some profit-taking to temporarily drop prices).

Gold ended yesterday at $1,008 and silver ended OVER $17.
----------

A buddy of mine sent me a link to a recent interview with Gerald Celente. He's the top dog over at Trends Research. He's one of the few folks out there that have been screaming that we're going to take it in the shorts unless we stop artificially messing with the markets.

This interview is a bit long but is well worth the time.



This thing isn't over until jobs steadily rise - not just end up being better than the number of job losses the government predicts. Until people are working, economic growth will be hampered since they have no money to spend. It's really a vicious circle.
----------

OT: My wife had made a comment about the ObamaCare scam - she didn't understand why a law being passed in 2009 would not start until 2013. You understand why that date was picked, right?

Barry and Company can claim a victory for getting it going, but nothing will happen to our economy as a result of the law. Barry can restore his reputation, get re-elected, etc. No one that voted for it has to be burdened at election time - in 2010 and 2012 - by what happens to the country when it goes into place.

By the time the shit starts hitting the health care fan in 2013, they'll all be comfortably re-elected. It's a great plan.

If the Repubs were smart, they'd throw a fit saying that if it's so good, it should start right NOW. Get right on it to keep poor babies from dying. Barry's a man of action!

At least they would then have a couple of years of this thing killing the country and seeing it reflected at the polls.

But they're NOT smart, so they'll just play along...

Labels: communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, Health Care Fraud, Media Bias, nanny state, Propaganda

Bouncing around a bit...
----------

Astroturf? Headline on CNN online:

Tea party movement has anger, no dominant leaders

Shockingly, the headline hits the Tea Party movement squarely on the head. It is buckets of people, from widely differing backgrounds, from every state in the nation, that are pissed off. Pissed off enough to get off their butts to protest what is happening to our country.

And they're doing it all on their own. No conservative equivalent of ACORN or SEIU or any other major organization are coordinating this. It is the epitome of grassroots.

Isn't that a story in and of itself? Of course it is, but since the story runs counter to the MSM agenda, it is denigrated and marginalized.
----------

Have you folks heard of Scribd.com? Holy crap, what a great resource. They have zillions of documents available online. If you sign up for a free account, you can download most documents in PDF or Word format. Again, for free.

They sure seem to have a lot of stuff that says "copyright" all over it. I was looking for some information on knife making, and they have a number of books that I have purchased in bookstores available for the taking.

Seriously, pick a topic and see what they have. It's quite impressive.
----------

Tonight is either the start of a new era, or the continuation of a steady decline.

Am I talking about American freedom? Socialism and fascism creeping into our way of life? Taxes crushing the very soul of citizens for generations to come?

No. I'm talking about tonight being the season opener for the Raiders.

I'm off in a while to try and find parking for our tailgater. I'm bringing a 5-gallon keg of Amber Ale to help numb the expected pain after we play San Diego in front of the nation (although I'm guessing those of you on the east coast will be tucked in bed when the game starts at 7pm here on the left(ist) coast).

We'll try and set up camp in our usual place (the BART parking lot across the street from the Oakland Coliseum). We'll be eating brats and tri-tip while we watch the early game on rabbit ears. I just picked up one of the digital converter boxes, so this should be interesting.

It will be very difficult for anyone to explain why the Raiders don't win a butt-load of games this season. We have some incredible talent. Serious talent.

But we also have Al Davis. 'Nuff said (plus, I don't want to get sued by the leader of Walking Dead).
----------

ACORN popped again?

First Baltimore, then DC, now NYC.

I swear - I thought I heard the ACORN scum emphatically state that the Baltimore incident was isolated. Two bad employees that were dealt with quickly.

Hmmmm..... seems to be a bit deeper than that, huh?

Not surprisingly, the MSM is barely covering this. No questions of a massive, rotten organization - just excuses and (not so) subtle hints of prosecuting the reporters for doing their job.

Whistle-blower laws protect conservatives too, right?

Labels: communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, Health Care Fraud, Life and Times, Media Bias, Propaganda, Taxes

If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.
--Mark Twain

Quite busy of late - sorry for the light posting.

I swear, you could make millions of dollars if you launched a news source that just reported the news. Leave out the left wing and the right wing, and just give us the facts. The Joe Friday Gazette, perhaps?
----------

I'm taking a break, watching some TV. I clicked on Fox News, and they're showing images of somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 people who have marched on Washington DC.

Out of curiosity, I flipped to MSNBC, CNN and Headline News (HLN).

MSNBC - Images of a gathering in Minnesota for Barry to continue with his con job on health care. They are showing the place filling up. They actually had a headline on the screen describing the images they were showing as, "Awaiting Obama At Healthcare Rally In Minneapolis".

They're not covering the news-making event that is ACTUALLY HAPPENING in DC - they're showing people taking their seats at one that will start in a few hours. I guess they don't have enough cameras to cover both events.

HLN - Running a piece on the Kennedy brain cancer - and how he was a 'champion' of health care. They followed that up with a stint about Larry Gelbart - the guy who produced MASH - and how he just croaked. They then showed a hard-hitting piece on a website that CNN has just developed where you can speak your voice if you're a veteran. Wow! A blog - who'd a-thunk it? Apparently, they ran out of cameras as well.

CNN - Doing a piece on boxer George Foreman - "Rolling with the punches" - about how to weather the bad economy. Oooooo, George shadow-boxing. Gripping stuff. Hey, maybe we could reduce taxes! They then went to some guy that makes hot pepper sauce - with prisoner labor. OK.....

On all three networks, I watched the rolling ticker of breaking news. Not a single one mentioned what's going on in DC. Not one.
----------

Cindy Sheehan and a half-dozen protesters sit outside the president's personal residence, and they get world-wide press attention. Upwards of 100,000 people gather in the nation's capital, and a single network covers this? Amazing.
----------

Did you see that another ACORN video has turned up? This time it was the DC office that was working to set up a whore house with our tax dollars.

Hmmm. I thought ACORN said the Baltimore incident was an "isolated incident". Apparently not.

The Census bureau has shockingly dumped ACORN to do the census next year. Really, I'm shocked. Call me cynical, but I'd bet a good number of dollars that they'll be involved when the actual census starts. Any takers?

What is it going to take to get Congress to start an investigation on these scumbags? Do they actually have to be filmed as they RUN a whore house? It's not enough they're using our tax dollars (with $8.5 billion MORE in the pipeline) to fund a whore house?
----------

Wow, gold ended the week over $1,005 an ounce. Silver was at a bit below $17 an ounce.

Squirrel some away while you still can...

Three more banks bit the bullet yesterday, bringing the total this year to 92 failures. These three will cost us a cool $2 billion.

Those green shoots just keep poppin' up all over the place...
----------

LOL! Fox is now showing Barry's health care con job in Minnesota. He's in the middle of a story about getting, "fired up". It's the exact same story he told the union members in Ohio on Labor Day!!

C'mon, Barry - get your speech writers to give you some new folksy, aw-shucks stories. We enjoy being treated as mouth-breathing, drooling idiots.

Labels: communism, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, Ethics, Health Care Fraud, Media Bias, Propaganda, Taxes

You lie!
-- SC Representative Joe Wilson to Barack Obama

Barry did his health care speech last night. I could not listen to it live. I had the same problem when Dubya would talk. I knew that if his lips were moving, he was lying to me, one way or the other. I knew that it would cost me either money or freedom, or both.

It's the same with Barry.

The TV and radio were both playing clips of the speech, and I had it in my head to discuss his comment that marginalized Americans who are exercising their right to petition the government for a redress of grievances as "bickering".

I spent a part of this morning reading the transcripts of the health care speech. I wanted to see what he said, not be influenced by how he said it.

The transcripts took me down another path.
----------

What is a 'right'? I found a definition that most matches with my beliefs on FreeRepublic.com -

A right is the sovereignty to act without the permission of others. The concept of a right carries with it an implicit, unstated footnote: you may exercise your rights as long as you do not violate the same rights of another—within this context, rights are an absolute.

I like that. You can do as you wish as long as it doesn't stop another person from exercising the same right. For example, I don't get to exercise my right to keep and bear arms, then use my guns to stop someone else from doing the same.

This concept of exercising rights while not infringing on the rights of another goes deeper, though. Your ability to exercise your rights cannot place a burden on another individual.

Simply because you want to exercise your first amendment right to free speech, does not give you the right to require a newspaper to spend their money on paper, ink, presses and manpower to print your words.

If you want your words in print, you must bear the burden of getting them printed.

Again, FreeRepublic said it very well -

A right must be exercised through your own initiative and action. It is not a claim on others. A right is not actualized and implemented by the actions of others. This means you do not have the right to the time in another person’s life. You do not have a right to other people’s money. You do not have the right to another person’s property. If you wish to acquire some money from another person, you must earn it—then you have a right to it. If you wish to gain some benefit from the time of another person’s life, you must gain it through the voluntary cooperation of that individual—not through coercion. If you wish to possess some item of property of another individual, you must buy it on terms acceptable to the owner—not gain it through theft.

The only legitimate claim or burden placed upon another is through taxes paid to the government to enforce your rights. Using the example from above, the government is not in place to provide you with printing presses. They are there to ensure you can operate your presses.
----------

fascism - a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

So, I read through Barry's speech, and I was horrified. Plain as day - with no qualification or excuse - he is conferring a right to a select few individuals, and requiring that I pay for it.

Now, even if we provide these affordable options, there may be those -- especially the young and the healthy -- who still want to take the risk and go without coverage. There may still be companies that refuse to do right by their workers by giving them coverage. The problem is, such irresponsible behavior costs all the rest of us money. If there are affordable options and people still don't sign up for health insurance, it means we pay for these people's expensive emergency room visits. If some businesses don't provide workers health care, it forces the rest of us to pick up the tab when their workers get sick, and gives those businesses an unfair advantage over their competitors. And unless everybody does their part, many of the insurance reforms we seek -- especially requiring insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions -- just can't be achieved.

In one fell swoop, he is granting a right to health care. It's actually more than that - he's requiring you have health care insurance if you live in the United States. Most importantly, it will be a crime if you don't have health care insurance.

In the good old days, before a new right could be granted, the congress and the states had to agree to it. It used to be called the 'amendment process' as detailed in Article 5 of the Constitution.

Now, we just pass a law, and it's called, 'progress'.

Suppressing dissent. Regimenting industry and commerce. Aggressive nationalization.

Sounds like fascism to me. What else could it be called?
----------

Look at what he's saying, and the implications -

If there are affordable options and people still don't sign up for health insurance, it means we pay for these people's expensive emergency room visits.

He's using a federal law that prohibits a hospital from refusing treatment to anyone that shows up on their doorstep, as rationale for requiring we all continue to pay for this treatment, but in a different way, and somehow it will be less expensive.

How about you allow private hospitals to turn people away, or to at least transfer them to the county hospitals that were established for the indigent?

But far and away, this was the single most frightening aspect of his 'vision' -

If some businesses don't provide workers health care, it forces the rest of us to pick up the tab when their workers get sick, and gives those businesses an unfair advantage over their competitors.

I thought he was all about 'competition'. Why not just be right out front and say you are nationalizing all business in America?

There are a million things that go into a company business plan. Price, product, quality, location. A huge component is employees.

A business makes a decision on how to least expensively produce its product or service. It may decide that it doesn't give a damn who fills the jobs it has. Quality and customer service are irrelevant - it just wants to produce the most products for the lowest cost and charge the highest prices it can get. The market will decide if their business plan is correct - they'll either buy the product or not.

Another business may wish to pay a salary of 150% of the market, offer flexible scheduling, a great 401k plan, but no other fringe benefits. They may believe they can retain the best employees for their particular business with that model. Their employees can decide to spend the higher wages on health care insurance or on crack cocaine. Or leave and take a job with a company that DOES offer benefits. It's their choice. Again, the market will decide if their business plan is correct.

Barry's plan takes those options away. If a business is mandated to offer benefits, IT is now placed at a competitive disadvantage. It will either have to cut salaries, cut employees, cut retirement benefits or cut quality to stay competitive. Or go out of business.

Is Barry going to tell them what to cut as well - or allow them to make any cuts at all?
----------

I'm telling you, if this passes, there will be one way, and one way only to survive: Get out of the tax paying business.

The 'public option' will destroy the private insurers. Despite Barry's assurances that not a single tax dollar will be spent on the plan, do even the most parched Koolaid drinkers believe that?

Pretty soon, Nanny HealthCo will be the only game in town, and your tax dollars will be paying for it.

The end result will be crappy, rationed health care for all. If you're going to get the same care whether you pay for it or not, why pay?
----------

An Atlas Shrugged Moment of Zen -

"Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it...

There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.

Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt.

Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, criminal, debate, Ethics, Fascism, Health Care Fraud, Media Bias, nanny state, Propaganda, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state

Most of what we object to as misconduct in children is a natural rebellion against the intrusion of an unimaginative adult despotism in their lives.
--Floyd Dell

Busy last couple of days.

Saturday, I was supposed to brew up some beer with one of my brothers and another friend. Instead, my buddy bailed on me [some weak story about a romantic weekend with his wife up in Tahoe - yeah right! ;-) ] and my brother and I did some emergency repairs to my backyard sprinkler system.

We got lucky and found two plumbers to speak with at Home Depot while we were looking for a part, and got it done very cheaply.

My brother also crawled up on my roof and sprayed WD-40 up under some eves. I have a HORRIBLE pigeon problem, and one of my next door neighbors told me he started with the WD-40 and hasn't had a problem since.

So far, not a pigeon to be seen!

I then went over to my brother's house to help him install a new stove, oven and range hood. It took us a good 6 hours or so, but it looks very nice.
----------

This whole weekend, we seemed to talk about Barry's speech happening today, and the health care scam.

The health care thing has gotten so divisive - I'm not sure I know what Barry is trying to fix. Tell me if there are any issues other than these:

• The poor need to have access to health care.
  
• Regular working folks need to have access WITH pre-existing conditions.
  
• Gotta bring the cost of the insurance down.

Easy peezy.

Item one is already in place. Let them choose either their local county hospital (THAT is why they are built in the first place), or allow them access to Medicaid. Have congress pass a law to change the eligibility standards for Medicaid. The program is ALREADY IN PLACE!

Good health is important to everyone. If you can't afford to pay for medical care right now, Medicaid can make it possible for you to get the care that you need so that you can get healthy – and stay healthy.

Medicaid is available only to certain low-income individuals and families who fit into an eligibility group that is recognized by federal and state law. Medicaid does not pay money to you; instead, it sends payments directly to your health care providers. Depending on your state's rules, you may also be asked to pay a small part of the cost (co-payment) for some medical services.

While they're at it, pass a simple law that says -

It is illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage for pre-existing medical conditions.

To allow insurance companies to spread their risk across a greater customer base, the prohibition against insurance companies offering their product across state lines is hereby rescinded.

With those three things - Medicaid, no pre-existing conditions and opening up the entire country to insurance companies (as is the case with life and auto insurance already) the problem is fixed.

If they really want to make a substantial change, they can introduce tort reform so that doctors aren't encouraged to cover their asses by testing you for every damned possible ailment under the sun so they don't get sued. The problem with health care costs isn't with "greedy insurance companies", it's with greedy trial lawyers.

Guess who has the better paid lobbyists?
----------

Hooch update: After sitting for 10 days in my freezerator, the hooch has cleared up considerably -
While not perfectly gin-clear, it is getting there. There is still just a hint of haze from suspended yeast, but it's much better than the grapefruit juice clarity from right after the fermentation. I transferred the liquid to a secondary container and will let it sit for another week or so.

I'll then put 1/3 of it on the rest of the blackberries I foraged to make a fruit brandy/wine of sorts. One-third will be left as-is to be used as a mixer for "girlie" drinks, and the last one-third will be used for experimentation. I'm just going to leave it at that.
----------

I read the speech Barry will be giving today. In general, I like the message. Stay in school, work hard and you'll achieve your dreams. Good stuff. He slid in some inferences to health care and other crap, but in general, it was OK.

(Did you notice all of the product placement ads included with the speech? Ipod, Xbox, Google, etc? I wonder if they had to pay for the mentions like they do when their products are shown or mentioned in movies.....).

I read the speech out loud to my brother and his kids. We had a little discussion afterwards about volunteerism and service to your community. My brother and I disagreed quite sharply.

My brother feels it is appropriate for schools to have a requirement that kids perform some sort of community service before they graduate (BTW, Mrs. TheOtherMikeS agrees with him). He feels it shows them what volunteerism is all about.

I have a HUGE problem with it. I have a problem with any required service to the state or at the direction of the state, for free people. It is nothing less than indentured servitude. It plants the seed that it is OK for the state to tell you what to do with your time.

I'd be OK with a civics class where volunteering got you extra credit, but not as part of the requirement to graduate.

The idea of civics is to want to make your community a better place to live. It isn't to make it a place conceived in the mind of some bureaucrat. Until people see with their own eyes that unless THEY do something for their community, it will rot, no real change will be made. If Nanny continually "rides to the rescue," people have no incentive to improve their community.

We're not teaching civics, we're teaching dependence on the state.

Labels: American Spirit, communism, Constitution, Corruption, Ethics, Fascism, Health Care Fraud, nanny state, Self-Reliance, Taxes, welfare state