How To Create Little Libertarians

A friend of the Tarrant County Libertarian party has invited us to participate in Fall Festival of some sort. We can set up a booth and hand out literature on October 19th, from 10:00 a.m. til 2:00 p.m. for just a $20.00 fee.

There's one other catch....each booth must have a "kid-friendly" activity, like a beanbag toss, duck pond, coloring, face paints, or something similar.

I proposed the following at our recent Exec Committee meeting, and most of the group liked it. I think it will create some future Libertarians. It needs some finesse, though.... Here goes: We make two spinning wheels.

Each kid gets a spin on each. On the first wheel, make it statistically likely that the kid lands on a space where he wins 2 pieces of bite-sized candy. (Either 3,2, or 1 pieces for everyone.) If they land on "Start A Business" they get three pieces of candy. Land on "Create Jobs and Get Rich" they get two pieces of candy. Land on "Work Hard" and get one piece of candy.

But that's not all

... Then the kid has to take a spin on the 2nd wheel. While there is a slight chance that the kid doubles his haul by landing on "Make Friends With A Congressman" or "Start Building Drones" there's an even more likely chance that the kid'll have to give up some candy if he lands on a space reading "war - lose two pieces", or "green energy company - lose one piece", or "pay taxes - lose 1 piece", or "government healthcare - lose your life" (just joking there) or something similar.

Any kid who gets wiped out by this little economy could possibly receive a "bankrupt" spin card or something until he gets at least one piece of candy. And it should be fairly difficult to get that one piece of candy.

Then we give him a bright little piece of paper that says "The Libertarian Party believes that you should share your money and your candy, but it should be your choice, and your parents' choice."

Ideas like this are why I'm probably going to hell. Your thoughts on this?

 

Republican primary preferences by age group

The Mainstream Media often seems perplexed by the college kids voting for Ron Paul. 
Why do they vote for Ron Paul?
Because he as always advocated a smaller government and a stable money supply. 
Why is that attractive to college students? 
Because they will be the true "producers" who will have to work overtime to clean up their parents' mess. 

It really is that simple. 

People who didn't get what they wanted for Christmas

To see the complete list, go here.

Note to The Aggie: Aren't you tired of going to school ????

I am trying to get the child known as The Aggie through college. 

College is expensive.  Textbooks, thanks to this idiot, are still incredibly expensive. 

The Aggie wants to be a veterinarian.  She has loved mammals, reptiles, bugs and amphibians ever since she learned to walk. 

During the summers, she works as a lifeguard.  Lifeguard training and certification, if I remember correctly, required that she undergo a grueling series of qualifications, then pass a ten day lifesaving course.  The cost for all of this was $200.00

A degree from Texas A and M will cost you around $16,000.00 per year. 

Until today, I saw lifeguarding as a means to an end, nothing more.  Depending on whose statistics you believe, a good vet can bring home between 75K and 115K per year. 

But wait....Here's the Orange County Register:

High pay and benefits for lifeguards in Newport Beach is the latest example of frustrating levels of compensation for public employees. More than half the city’s full-time lifeguards are paid a salary of over $100,000 and all but one of them collect more than $100,000 in total compensation including benefits.


When thinking about career options with high salaries, lifeguarding is probably not one of the first jobs to come to mind. But it apparently should. In one of Orange County’s most desirable beach destinations, Newport Beach, lifeguards are compensated all too well; especially compared with the county annual median household income of $71,735.

It might be time for a career change.

According to a city report on lifeguard pay for the calendar year 2010, of the 14 full-time lifeguards, 13 collected more than $120,000 in total compensation; one lifeguard collected $98,160.65. More than half the lifeguards collected more than $150,000 for 2010 with the two highest-paid collecting $211,451 and $203,481 in total compensation respectively.  Even excluding benefits like health care and pension, more than half the lifeguards receive a total salary, including overtime pay, exceeding $100,000. And they also receive an annual allowance of $400 for “Sun Protection.” Many work four days a week, 10 hours a day.

I don't begrudge anyone whatever they earn, as long as they're not taking it from someone else by force.  But these are government employees, and their compensation is taken from others by force. 
If you live in Newport Beach,  and put your foot down, and refuse to pay your share of this, and say "I'm not going to pay $200,000.00 per year to have Jack Johnson sit on a tower all day, watching damp supermodels frolic in the sand and the surf," the government will show up with guns at  your house and take your assets or put you in a steel cage. 
But all libertarian rants aside, how in the hell can you justify paying $200,000 per year to a freakin' lifeguard?  Is it possible? 
Well, yes.  You just compare the compensation to that of other lifeguards in government jobs, and it all makes sense. 

In a phone conversation, Brent Jacobsen, president of the Lifeguard Management Association, defended the lifeguard pay in Newport Beach: “We have negotiated very fair and very reasonable salaries in conjunction with comparable positions and other cities up and down the coast.” “Lifeguard salaries here are well within the norm of other city employees.” And therein is the problem: Local public worker pay has become all too generous and out of line with private sector equivalents.


On face, the compensation packages for these guards are staggering. But take into consideration the retirement benefits being paid to currently retired lifeguards and lifeguards who will retire at these pay levels in the future and the problem is further compounded. Lifeguards are able to retire with 90 percent of their salary, after only 30 years of work at as early as the age of 50.

Here's a video put out by a California Watchdog group (yes, that's an oxymoron) called Americans For Prosperity - California. 



Note to The Aggie:  Pack your bags.  Pack up Fat Kitty.  Pack up the idiot Labrador.  We're going to California !!!  (The City Of Los Angeles is hiring Duplicating Machine Operators, and I think I could work my way up to Senior Duplicating Machine Operator before retirement time.  Hit the link.) 

Libertarian Gubernatorial Debate, Southern Methodist University, February 16th 2010

I have about 5,000 good things to say about the Libertarian Gubernatorial Debate that was held at SMU last night. 
Any of the four Libertarian candidates for Texas governor, Jeff Daiell, Ed Tidwell, Steve Nicholls, or Katherine Youngblood Glass, would be a superior alternative to the gang leaders being offered by The Crips and The Bloods.  I'll try to post some opinions about each candidate later tonight. 

Here's what impressed me most, though.  Check out the SMU Libertarian website.  The Southern Methodist University Libertarians have divided up their organization into a variety of interest groups: NORML (National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws), GLBTA (Gay, Lesbian, Bi-, Transexual, and I have know idea what the "A" stands for, and I'm not going to speculate here), Tea Baggers (note the SMU mustang's tail on the logo), and Gun Rights.  They listed some other new goups in their intro to the debate, things like Austrian Economics.  This way they have a subdivision for kids who might be passionate about fighting Victim Disarmament Laws, but who might be lukewarm about economic issues.  Good idea. 

I sat behind some of their officers, and couldn't help overhear one particular conversation.  They were sitting in a pack, of course, and one of the leaders stood up and said "Hey, guys, look around this auditorium at all these people.  These are our potential group members.  Leaders don't sit and chat with each other at an event like this.  Let's get out there and mingle."  They got out there and mingled. 

Well said, sir.  We can be a traveling evangelist, or church preachers.  We need evangelists.     

8 or 9 kids were there from Allen, Texas.  They have a Libertarian Facebook group, and were at the debate simply because they're into it.  After the debate I walked with them back toward the parking garage and was pleasantly surprised at how well they caught the distinctive hot button characteristics of each candidate. 
BTW, more than one kid said told me that his/her parents were a bit cynical about their involvement with the Libertarians. 
Hang in there guys.  The Republicrats and Demoblicans are running up a huge bar tab on your credit cards, and I apologize for my generation and the one that came before me.  If you're really lucky, somebody will attack Pearl Harbor again and we can bomb some of our competitors back into the Stone Age and take all their property.  (Kinda joking, but I see no other way out.) 
Guess who the Allen High School Libertarians thought won the debate? 
Jeff Daiell. 
Jeff Daiell has read, researched, campaigned, and fought for the Libertarian Party for ages.  Jeff isn't in the best health and therefore is kind of frail looking, and he's got hair made for radio.   
And one of the Allen High School Libertarians said "Jeff Daiell rocked." 

Our children (my own little Aggie among them) are figuring this stuff out.  They know they're the ones who will have diminished lives if present trends continue. 
I was impressed with all four of our candidates for governor. 
I was blown away by the audience. 

Here's The Who, from 1965.  The Kids Are Alright. 



I feel better about my country than I did yesterday. Thank you, Texas gubernatorial candidates for putting yourselves out there for us.  Thank you SMU Libertarians and Dallas County Libertarians for hosting, Thank you Paul Peterson for moderating, and thanks to the Allen High School Libertarians for improving my outlook.

Caption Contest - Spycam Edition

I need a caption for this picture, which may have been taken with one of the new spycams that concerned parents use to monitor babysitters.


Tarrant Liberty Guy, in a last minute effort, won last week's contest.

Miko Andres, the world's youngest sharpshooter

From The Telegraph in the UK, where even the police don't have guns:


Pictured here at the Armscor Shooting Club, Miko loads, aims and fires his semiautomatic weapon at moving targets.
Complete with a gun belt, shades and a tailored shirt, Miko travels across the country participating in national junior competitions.

Competing against children ten years his senior (in the 9-17 age group), Miko is now looking to travel to America to test his talents.
For Miko's father, Cresencio "Mike" Pascua Andres JR, the boy's passion and natural ability for practical shooting has been carefully monitored by his family and shooting community.
"It is within the family and friends that Miko was influenced to love and enjoy the practical shooting sport," says Mike. "Because of his interest, we took turns in teaching, training and coaching him on the basics of the sport."
Practical shooting is one of the fastest growing sports in the Philippines and Miko took up the sport in January this year.
Seven months later, Miko is fully versed in the strict laws of the sport.
Despite the obvious dangers and concerns raised over a boy of six handling such a weapon, Mike is eager to stress that safety is always at the forefront of his mind.


Click here to read the rest of the article, which, BTW, reads like it's been translated from Choctaw to Philippino to English by someone using Google Translate. A rarity for British journalism.
Here's a random video of Miko in action on the range:



A coat of Whitening to Perry De Haviland of Samizdata, who congratulates Miko on not being British.