The 10 Best Things For Libertarians About The Upcoming Obama Presidency

Ok, it's time to start looking for the upside in having a Democrat president with a Democrat congress. There really could be one. Somewhere. If you look really hard.
Here are the 10 best things for Libertarians about the upcoming Obama presidency:

10. Reduced influence of the religious right. Amen.
9. Slightly better chance of drug law reform. The war on drugs is costing us an incredible amount of human capital.
8. Speaking of issues "owned" by the democrats....they have long advocated gay and lesbian civil unions, if not marriage rights. The democrats will have the presidency, Congress, a mandate, and no more excuses.
7. We have troops stationed in more than 100 countries. Most of these countries aren't 10 trillion dollars in debt, and are quite capable of providing their own defense. Perhaps the new democratic majority will question the wisdom of this situation. The democrats will have the presidency, Congress, a mandate, and no more excuses.
6. Maybe with a new administration in place, I can finally get my first economic stimulus check. I didn't ask for an economic stimuls check, my grandchildren will have to foot the bill for my economic stimulus check, but it might restore some of my faith in government if the treasury could write and sign and mail my economic stimulus check. (I hope they send it FedEx, not U.S. mail.)
5. Obama will have proven that the highest office in the land is open to a racial minority, which might hasten the end of all racial and gender based hiring and contracting quotas. Discrimination is bad, regardless of intentions.
4. There is no way that another president can add another 5 trillion dollars to the national debt in just 8 years. Not possible.
3. Hillary won't be able to run for another eight years. For this reason alone, we should erect larger-than-life statues of Barack Obama in every courthouse square in the nation.
2. For decades republicans have been campaigning as small government conservatives, but they've spent far more money than their predecessors. The more of them we immediately vote out of office, the better off we are.
1. The republican faction of the BiPartisans is almost totally discredited. They were handed a perfect opportunity to reduce the size of government, and they blew it. They were supposed to be the faction of increased economic freedom and personal responsibility. So they've socialized the banks and given billions to their irresponsible cronies. Go figure.
The democratic faction of the BiPartisans will now have a chance to increase personal freedoms, a stance they've long advocated. Chances are, they won't change anything. Obama claims to like Free Trade. Chances are, he won't change anything.
So maybe, just maybe, after another four years of BiPartisan rule, voters will be ready to give a 2nd party a chance in four more years.

Go Bob Barr.

Some Things Are Just Wrong....

One of the more popular Halloween Costumes this year....
Wait a minute....that looks suspiciously like my employer, Marvel Variants. Is it possible? I think he's lost weight ! ! !

A Rant - Republicans, yes Republicans, are concerned that Obama might be a Socialist.

Out of all the totally ridiculous things in the 2008 elections.... the number one absurdity, in spite of serious competition from Reverend Wright, moose hunting, how many houses McCain owns, flag lapel pins, and Hillary crying in New Hampshire....the number one absurdity is Republicans claiming to be concerned that Obama is a Socialist.

How in the name of All Things Holy, after the last two months, can anyone claim to be concerned that Obama could POSSIBLY rise to the same level of Socialist giveaways as the Republican party and their peerlesss feeder, George W. Bush?

If we had merely given our nation's collective Amex, Mastercard, Visa, and Discover cards to a gaggle of Shanghai harbor whores, could the damage have been any worse? Could anyone have intentionally added 20% to the national debt?

And now they're talking about another stimulus check. You want to know what's funny about that? You really want to know?

Here's what I got in the mail yesterday:

To: The Whited Sepulchre
Fort Worth, TX

Dear Taxpayer,

You are entitled to an economic stimulus payment of $1,200.00 as provided by the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. You can expect your payment by 10/24/08. If you do not receive it within six weeks of this notice, blah blah blah blah.....

I haven't gotten the first economic stimulus check yet, and the damn fools are already talking about billing my grandchildren for another one ! ! ! Isn't the whole idea behind Keynesian economics something about government being the only entity that can swiftly and efficiently control the levers of the nation's economic engine to prevent catastrophe????? Hell's Bells, when my first check was approved, we were in another universe. Everything, relatively speaking, was just peachy.

I'm re-reading "The Most Southern Place On Earth - The Mississippi Delta And The Roots of Regional Identity" by James C. Cobb of The University of Tennessee.

It's a great book about the area in Mississippi where I grew up. Cobb outlines all the abuses of the sharecropping system, especially the requirement that the (largely illiterate) sharecroppers purchase all of their supplies from "The Company Store" - i.e., the plantation owner.

Here's a brief excerpt about what went on after the plantation owners spent a long hard weekend partying:

Frank Smith recalled being told by a plantation bookkeeper of the time when the planter who employed him had ordered him to charge all the tenant families on his place with another barrel of flour, rationalizing this cheating with the explanation that he had lost heavily at poker the night before and could not bear the thought of his wife and children having "to pay for last night".

Does that remind you of anything in the Year Of Our Lord 2008? Anything at all? Let's see what that paragraph would read like 30 years from now:

(A future historian) recalled being told by a government accountant of the time when Paulson and Bernanke told him to charge every American with $2,500.00, rationalizing this theft with the explanation that their friends at Goldman Sachs had lost heavily in the housing market, and could not bear the thought of their wives and children having to pay for....well, just about anything.

Some people might be offended by the parallels I'm drawing between the 2008 American electorate and 1920's sharecroppers.

Well, if you're not yet offended enough to start voting for 2nd parties.....

Lord have mercy, we're a nation of sheep.

Who Are The Biggest Spenders? (Hint: It's not the Democrats. It's not the Republicans.)

I fear for my country when I think of a Democrat president and Democrat congress.

According to Reason magazine, my fears are somewhat justified.

Here's Veronique de Rugy, writing in the November 2008 issue:

"When it comes to out-of-control spending, conventional wisdom says the Democrats are most likely to bust open the coffers. That's why many fear an increased Democratic majority in Congress topped by a Democratic president. And we should be afraid. Democrats are indeed big spenders. Second only to Republicans."

If limited government is the goal, history tells us we should root for Democratic presidents and Republican Congresses. And regardless of party, _________'s should be kept far away from the White House."

I'll fill in the blank in a minute.....

She goes on to rank the various combinations of discretionary spending from mediocre to worst:

1) Democratic White House, Republican Congress

2) Republican White House, Democratic Congress

3) Unified Republican or Democratic rule.

De Rugy believes that growth in discretionary spending is the best indicator of financial responsibility, simply because it can be written out of the books each year. (It's only fair to mention that no one has ever decreased the total. Some combinations merely allow it to grow slower than others.... And she doesn't mention which combinations voted to approve the largest increases in non-discretionary spending. That would go back to FDR.)

And what group should be prevented from entering the White House under any circumstances, if reduced spending is your goal?

Not Democrats, and not Republicans.

Texans.

Yes, Texans.

"During the last 48 years, the six largest annual percentage increases in real discretionary outlays were split between two presidents, Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush.....While LBJ and GWB increased discretionary spending between 6.6 percent and 14.8 percent in their most profligate years, the average annual increase during the last 48 years has been a much more modest 1.7 percent."

So, to everyone living in the other 49 states, the next time you see one of these Lone Star State bumperstickers?

Encourage us. It's for your own good.

Obama, McCain, Barr, and Heath Ledger

Pat Buchanan, our nation's leading ultra-protectionist, has an editorial in Real Clear Politics in which he wonders which way Barack Obama will Flip-flop next.


The essense of the piece is that we're a right-center nation. Obama had to run to the left of Hillary to win the democrat nomination, then go toward the center against McCain. Unless Obama really believes in his current spiel, he'll have to flip-flop even more after the election, simply because he's not truly insane.

Buchanan outlines a few of Obama's many flip-flops for us:

Thus, though he is the nominee of a party that is in thrall to the environmental movement, Obama has signaled conditional support for offshore drilling and pumping out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
While holding to his pledge for a pullout of combat brigades from Iraq in 16 months, he has talked of "refining" his position and of a residual U.S. force to train the Iraqi Army and deal with Al Qaeda.
On Afghanistan, he has called for 10,000 more troops and U.S. strikes in Pakistan to kill Bin Laden, even without prior notice or the permission of the Pakistani government.
Since securing the nomination, Obama has adopted the Scalia position on the death penalty for child rape and the right to keep a handgun in the home. He voted to give the telecoms immunity from prosecution for colluding in Bush wiretaps. This onetime sympathizer of the Palestinians now does a passable imitation of Ariel Sharon.

Buchanan doesn't mention any life or death issues like flag lapel pins.

McCain has been honored with an online Master List of flip-flops. There are hundreds listed.

Decrying Obama's lack of executive experience, and then nominating Palin is in there somewhere. That was one big John McCain flip-flop.

Then there's my guy, Bob Barr - a man who has recently performed a breathtaking double-gainer, touch your toes, back-flip-with-a-spiral flip-flop.

The judges gave him a "10" just for having the nerve to try it.

Barr has flip-flopped on The Patriot Act, The Defense of Marriage Act, Reform of Drug Laws, and just about every other social issue out there. He now calls himself a Born Again Libertarian.

There are plenty of others, but let me bring up just one more person: Heath Ledger. You may have heard of him. Heath Ledger was a sensitive, caring gay Montana cowboy in 2005. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) Seemed like a nice enough person.

By 2008, though, something had happened. Ledger didn't give a rip about Jake Gyllenhaal any more. He seemed more like a psycho than anything else. He was killing people. He made a pencil disappear by shoving it into someone's eye. I have no idea what was going on with the makeup.

From 2005 to 2008, Heath Ledger went through a massive personality change.


What do Obama, McCain, Barr, and Ledger have in common?

Their scripts changed. (You don't really think these people write their own lines, do you?) When gas hits $4.00 per gallon, the "Ban On Offshore Drilling" script no longer makes sense. Preview audiences at Iowa shopping mall theatres gave it a "thumbs down". Therefore, the script got an alternate ending, known as "signaling conditional support for offshore drilling and pumping out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve".

McCain has a Democratic opponent with less executive experience than your typical McDonald's Assistant Manager, and didn't hesitate to say so. No one cared. So the new script called for a female governor who also had a shallow resume. This script drew crowds for about two weeks but now appears to be destined for cable.

Barr doesn't like being out of the public eye. He used to be a fairly generic Republican congressman until he got redistricted. Barr saw an opening in the Libertarian Party, got a new screenplay, and now there are at least two people driving around Fort Worth, Texas, with Bob Barr bumperstickers.

Heath Ledger, not necessarily the best actor listed on this page, was the most blatant offender. His movies actually gave credit to screenwriters ! ! ! Can you believe it? The nerve of that guy.

All of these changes are poll-driven, and are usually brought about by surveying small sample audiences. The alternate movie endings you sometimes get on DVD's are merely flip-flops not fully executed by the producers.

But from now on, let's not call them flip-flops. That's so John Kerry in the previous millenium.

They are all script changes.

I need a caption for this picture - Totally Unqualified Nominees Edition

I need a caption for this picture.

The winner of last week's caption contest is Nick M.
Flee came close.
Fembuttx took a scattershot approach, and overwhelmed the committee with too many entries. Otherwise, her "Whited In Drag" caption would've won. (I'm starting to like the beehive wig, glasses, and polyester outfit, now that she has suggested it. Very comfortable for lounging around the den.) The competition committee also took exception to her comments about my mother and my aunts. Mostly because the resemblance between that picture and some family photos from the 1950's is scary.

Obama and Palin picture from my aunts, via my mother.

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama

On "Meet The Press" yesterday morning, General Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for president.
Among the many reasons he gave?
Temperament. Steadiness. The conduct of the campaigns. The Economic crisis.

Plus, Republican SENATORS continue to whisper to him that Obama is a Muslim. I got the impression that General Powell has had it with The Daddy Party (R).


Do they not watch television, listen to radios, or read newspapers? Haven't they heard of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, whose (Christian) sermons Obama caught hell for listening to for twenty years?
Powell also said something like "and if he is a Muslim, should it matter?" He went on to tell about this photograph....

Should it matter?

Please discuss.