John Jay Myers on the Iranian threat to Israel

From the Facebook page of my buddy John Jay Myers:

CNN just stated that Iran has threatened to destroy Israel, so the war drums continue.  Iran, however, has never said that. Iran's nuclear capability is the "Weapons of Mass destruction" lie continued needed for us to continue war, and give oil rights to our masters.


Iran would never drop a nuclear weapon on Israel....

Reason 1: Because we would flatten them like a pancake.

Reason 2:  Because they claim to want Israel (the land), so why would they nuke it? 

Reason 3:  Because millions of Palestinians live in Israel, so I am pretty sure nuking them would come across as an act of bad faith.

Reason 4:  Nuclear bombs are no small affair, Nuking Israel would also be nuking Syria, Turkey, Egypt etc. I believe that would cause them all to have to ask... whose side are these guys on?

Reason 5:  See Reason 1, the only reason that matters.

Now, why would they want one (a nuke)?  Because we seem to have this habit of taking over countries who don't (have nukes) and respecting the rights of those that do.
 
John Jay Myers.  Always short, sweet, and straight to the point.  Plus, he makes good gumbo. 
 

An Inconvenient Cooling

I've sworn off of this topic dozens of times, but in the words of Al Pacino in that 2nd Godfather movie, JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS OUT....THEY PULL ME BACK IN. 

Here's something from The Mail (UK).  (I apologize in advance for illustrating this piece with Global Cooling Panic magazine covers from the 1970's.) 

The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years.


The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17th Century.

Based on readings from more than 30,000 measuring stations, the data was issued last week without fanfare by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. It confirms that the rising trend in world temperatures ended in 1997.

Meanwhile, leading climate scientists yesterday told The Mail on Sunday that, after emitting unusually high levels of energy throughout the 20th Century, the sun is now heading towards a ‘grand minimum’ in its output, threatening cold summers, bitter winters and a shortening of the season available for growing food.


Solar output goes through 11-year cycles, with high numbers of sunspots seen at their peak.

We are now at what should be the peak of what scientists call ‘Cycle 24’ – which is why last week’s solar storm resulted in sightings of the aurora borealis further south than usual. But sunspot numbers are running at less than half those seen during cycle peaks in the 20th Century.

Analysis by experts at NASA and the University of Arizona – derived from magnetic-field measurements 120,000 miles beneath the sun’s surface – suggest that Cycle 25, whose peak is due in 2022, will be a great deal weaker still.

We must fight this.  Let's put a subsidy on Hummers and SUV's and a hellish tax on electric cars. 

Or maybe we should simply go back to calling it "weather" and admit that Al Gore, The U.N., the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit, and NASA have no idea what future weather is going to be like, and that attempts to change the weather are pointless, but profitable for insiders.   

I don't care who you are, this is funny

Gary Johnson on ending Prohibition

Our border with Mexico is looking like our border with Canada during the alcohol Prohibition Era.

No one travels across the border without fear, the bodies are piling up (40,000 Mexicans drug war deaths in the last five years), politicians are offered daily corruption opportunities, gangsters are making fortunes, and despite fences, naval patrols,  and indignant speeches about "sealing the border", the border still leaks like, well, something that leaks a lot. 

Alcohol prohibition lasted from 1920 to 1933. 

I'm writing this post at the Barnes and Noble near Northeast Mall in Fort Worth.  I looked for the companion volume to the recent Ken Burns TV series on Prohibition, but couldn't find it. 

Instead, I found this one: "Prohibition - Thirteen years that changed America". 

I'm not going to quote from it, or try to summarize the book.  Just look at the cover, from top left to bottom right. 

You have a picture of a vice officer taking an axe to a keg of beer, a picture of Al Capone, a girl with a leg flask in a speakeasy, a prohibition protest sign, a beer advertisement, and a group of well-to-do folks either violating the prohibition laws or celebrating their end.  

Just from the cover, one gets the impression that alcohol prohibition was a disaster. 

The other title I found was "The Lawless Decade: Bullets, Broads and Bathtub Gin"

Famed bootlegger/gangster Al Capone is not on the front cover of this one.  His picture is only on the back cover. 
I won't summarize this book, or try to pull some quotes from it.  But Paul Sann has written a book on the Prohibition Era called "The Lawless Decade". 

We legalized alcohol and the violence slowly ended.  Here's John D. Rockefeller Jr. on the failed experiment:

When Prohibition was introduced, I hoped that it would be widely supported by public opinion and the day would soon come when the evil effects of alcohol would be recognized. I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe that this has not been the result. Instead, drinking has generally increased; the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared; many of our best citizens have openly ignored Prohibition; respect for the law has been greatly lessened; and crime has increased to a level never seen before.

Interviewer: Your many opponents believe that legalization would exacerbate the problem. First, they say more people would do drugs if they were legal.

Johnson: Kids who have been surveyed say it's easier to get illegal drugs than beer. The evidence shows that more people won't do drugs if they're legal. Holland, where marijuana is decriminalized and controlled, has 60% of the drug use--both hard drugs and marijuana--the US has. They have a quarter the crime rate, a quarter the homicide rate, a quarter the violent crime rate and a tenth the incarceration rate. It suggests that more people don't do drugs because they're legal. But let's just say that the number of users would go up: I still would say it was worthwhile. Look at the trade-off.


Interviewer: What trade-off?


Johnson: Half of all crime is drug-related. Half. Half of what we spend--on law enforcement, on the courts, on prisons--is drug-related. If we legalized drugs, we would destroy the environment that allows and even encourages all those crimes.

*********

These moments make me question the wisdom of teaching history. 
Have we ever learned anything from it? 

Here's a brief excerpt from an interview with Gary Johnson, potential Libertarian candidate for President of the U.S.

The Tarrant County Libertarian Party has a new chair.

Big Daddy John Spivey has been the Tarrant County Libertarian Party chair for 6 years. 
He has done one heck of a job. 
Now he's stepping down.  He'll still be on the county executive committee, and the state executive committee, but he hopes to spend more time on some of his other passions. 

Thank you, John, for 6 years of great work !

After John's resignation today, the County Executive Committee got down to the business of Spivey's replacement.  They decided on....me. 

This is going to be a fun, fun year.
 
I can't remember a better year of opportunity for the Libertarian Party.  Obama has given us a 3-year primer on the non-effectiveness of Statism, the Republicans seem determined to nominate Mewt, and there are going to be a lot of voters looking for an alternative to whatever those two groups put out there.  We've got some great candidates on our ballot for statewide and local positions this year, but could always use more.   (see my previous post.  And hurry !!)   

I'll probably be writing a lot more about local issues, and posting fewer pictures of Obama picking his nose.  It's time to get serious about this thing. 

We're going to need a lot of help.  If you'd like to get involved, you can go here to join the Tarrant County Libertarians on Facebook.  Here's our Tarrant Libertarian Meetup page.   And here's the official Tarrant County Libertarian Party website. 

So what's the Libertarian Party about?  Here's something from our state website:

It's very simple: Let people live their own lives as they want and get the government out of our business. The Libertarian Party of Texas bases its philosophy on these core principles:


CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS. You, as stated by our nation's Founding Fathers, have the inalienable right to live, be free and prosper to your fullest potential without hindrance from any person or entity. You have the freedom to pursue your happiness as long as you respect others' rights to pursue theirs.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. You are responsible for your personal choices, able to take care of yourself and capable to do for others as you expect them to do unto you. Conversely, others are free to live their lives as they see fit and are responsible for their choices. We believe in tolerance toward others and respect for self-sovereignty.

LIMITED GOVERNMENT. Your government's principal function is to protect your freedom, your unalienable rights of Life, Liberty and Property, all crucial rights for building a free and prosperous society. Government should be of the necessary size and scope, as outlined in the United States Constitution, to efficiently support its constitutional duties and effectively maintain the rule of law. The Libertarian vision of government is of a government strictly confined to its constitutional role, a government that respects civil liberties, recognizes that the individual is more important than the State, exercises fiscal restraint and understands that each generation must pay its own debts, believes in free markets and practices a non-interventionist foreign policy of "peace toward all, entangling alliances with none."

The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest-growing political party in Texas and in the United States. It is also the only political party to advocate truly limited government, especially as established in the U.S. Constitution by our Founders.

That's what we're about, and I hope you can help out. 
Hope everyone has a good weekend.  I've got to go buy a new Spivey suit. 

You can still run for office !!

This is from the Texas Libertarian Party website.  You still have time !!  Get on the ballot !!

Run for Office:

Texas voters deserve a choice! The Libertarian Party wants Libertarians to appear on every November 2012 general election ballot in Texas. It's very easy to start that process; no filing fees or petitions are required to file as a Libertarian for these races. Fill in the Application for Nomination form and send it to us now.

Texas redistricting litigation is before the federal courts in San Antonio and Washington, DC, and on Jan. 9 argument was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The original filing deadline for Applications for Nomination was Jan. 2; however, a second filing period was ordered, now expiring on Feb. 1. As of now the opening date for this second filing is yet to be determined by the U.S. District Court for Western Texas, San Antonio Division. Nonetheless, if you have not already done so, we ask you to send in your Application now to our office so that we are prepared to formally accept it when allowed to do so by the court.

Call Heather Fazio at 512-291-6671 or email heather@lptexas.org for help. Thank you for stepping up!

__________

Why Libertarian? Because we love America and our liberty and are committed to the fight for both.

Like millions of other Americans, we believe that our country and our freedoms are under attack like never before, and may well be lost if we do not act to defeat these attacks on our constitutionally-recognized rights.
We believe that we are in a battle for America and that Texas is the battleground. These threats come from our federal government and beyond and at times from our own state government.

We believe that the broken two-party system is part of the problem and is not the solution. Washington will never fix itself, and the two major parties mired in the ways of Washington, D.C. will never reform themselves. New methods and better ideas are requiired to meet this threat.

If you are the kind of person who wants maximum control over your life, if you are fed up with the ways of the Washington crowd, if you want different and more effective ways to fight the assault on your individual and state sovereignty, have we got a party for you!

We invite you to learn more about us and hope to earn your support.

__________

While state and federal law requires me to place a label to the effect:
"This site is political advertising authorized by the Libertarian Party of Texas,"
that's a bunch of statist crap. This site is a place of free political speech,
as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States,
and as such is not subject to any government restrictions or permissions.
(With thanks to the Denton County LP)

Go here for a list of additional resources !

The ESPN set we built for the Super Bowl in Indianapolis

My employer owns a subsidiary called Infiniti Decor.  They specialize in retail and convenience store custom design and millwork.  (Hit the link to see more of their fine work.) 

Here are a few generic samples:

They can do "theme" stores, featuring the location of the store, Mississippi Delta Blues, NASCAR, fresh produce, the local university, or in some situations, beer. 

They've done these types of installations all over the United States. 

Last year, ESPN contacted Infiniti to design and construct their downtown Fort Worth booth for the Super Bowl.   Despite all of the ice and snow, the thing held up well. 

Then Infiniti Decor built the ESPN set for the Indy 500. 

They did a good job on the Indy 500, and this year's Super Bowl just happens to be in Indianapolis. 

Here's what ESPN is bringing to the table for this year's Super Bowl:

■More than 110 hours of television and radio programming;
■More than 25 on-air commentators (hosts, analysts, reporters and contributors) on site in Indianapolis – in all, an analyst team of former players and coaches with a combined 19 Super Bowl rings in 29 appearances in the NFL’s biggest game;
■Content across 18 ESPN platforms: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Classic, ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, ESPNEWS HD, ESPN Deportes HD, ESPN International, ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNRadio.com, ESPN Deportes Radio, ESPNdeportes.com, ESPN The Magazine, WatchESPN, and ESPN Mobile properties;
■Super Bowl XLVI aired live in more than 68 million households in 162 countries and territories via ESPN International.

The on-site operation includes:

■A 62-by-40-foot outdoor set, enclosed in glass and overlooking Lucas Oil Stadium;
■A 24-by-48-foot demo field;
■Aerial views via a “flycam” that spans 300 feet and is suspended 30 feet in the air;
■Two 16-by-9-foot LED screens for fan viewing of ESPN’s on-site programs; and
■Two pod camera locations at Pan Am Plaza that showcase the downtown skyline, Union Station and the stadium.

And we're building a lot of it !!!

Here are some pics of the framework.  I'll post more as they dress it out with footballs, memorabilia and Talking Heads. 
I love this stuff.  Love it, love it, love it. 

If you need to dress up your retail store, your shopping mall kiosk, or your broadcast stage for the greatest athletic event in the world, call Infiniti Decor in Godley, Texas.  1-800-810-9971

One other thing....GO GIANTS !!!  GO ELI MANNING !!! 

The Bleeding Heart Libertarians

For those who want to totally geek out with their libertarianism and roll around in the greatness of Rothbard, Nozick, Hayek, and the like, I've got the thing for you.   

It's a relatively new site called The Bleeding Heart Libertarians. 

Go ye therefore and bookmark it.  They have deep, thoughtful discussions of all things liberty-oriented, mostly from a left-libertarian point of view. 

In the meantime I'll still be here, posting pics of Barack Obama picking his nose.