Van Jones and "Mockingjay"

Former Marxist/Communist Van Jones (who was booted from Obama's advisory team for being a former Marxist/Communist) has written a silly review of the new film "Mockingjay". 

For those without a young daughter, the Hunger Games/Mockingjay series is about a dystopian future where the children of the outlying regions are forced into gladiatorial combat for the purpose of entertaining the government elites at "The Capitol".  (Spelled with an "O"....)

Jones claims that the film is a "sweeping indictment of income inequality". 

Horseshit. 

It's a sweeping indictment of the Van Jones political philosophy. 

Here's a pic of the wealthiest counties in the U.S., most of which now surround the U.S. Capital.  (With an "A".) 

Every dollar forcibly extracted from taxpayers goes to the Capital, and a little bit trickles back to the outlying regions.  This is what you wind up with....

Every child in the U.S. now has a $100,000.00 share of our national debt. 

The unfunded liabilities are now around $1,000,000.00 per child. 

I bet a few kids wish they could be randomly chosen to get a free pass from the current mess by....

Naw, I'm not going to go there. 

Pass the popcorn. 

 

Australia - #1 in happiness, #3 in freedom

CNN reports that Australia is the happiest country in the industrialized world. 

Paris (CNN) -- Australia has been named the world's happiest industrialized nation for the third year running, based on criteria including satisfaction, work-life balance, income and housing, a survey released Tuesday has found.


The so-called "lucky country" beat Sweden and Canada to take the top spot in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Better Life Index.

Good for them. 
Any time a nations are ranked in anything that's good, happy, fun, or awesome in general, I compare those rankings to The Heritage Foundation's Freedom Index.  It turns out that Australia is ranked #3 in overall freedom. 

So what about all the other happy-happy fun-fun nations?  Any chance that Cuba or North Korea or Iran made the cut?  No. 

Here are the Top Ten Happy Nations, along with their rankings in the Freedom Index.  Needless to say, this is a reassuring comparison for liberty-lovers. 

#1 Australia - #3 in freedom
#2 Sweden - #18 in freedom
#3 Canada - #6 in freedom
#4 Norway - #31 in freedom
#5 Switzerland - #5 in freedom
#6 U.S. - #10 in freedom
#7 Denmark - #9 in freedom
#8 Netherlands - #17 in freedom
#9 Iceland - #23 in freedom
#10 United Kingdom - #14 in freedom

The correlation is slightly askew because of the absence of happiness in the Asian Tiger economies - Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan.  I suspect it's a reporting error.  (I've spent about 6 months over there, for what it's worth.)  Claiming to be "happy" in some Asian cultures is almost like claiming to be "rich" or "handsome".

Anyway, the survey shows that if you want people to be happy, leave them alone. 

Who Was The Most Intriguing Person Of 2012?

What makes someone intriguing?

What makes you take a few minutes to swing by someone else's workspace to hear what they have to say? 

I have some employees and some co-managers that I try to contact as often as possible.  They're usually up to something different, something out of the ordinary. 

There are others who depress the living hell out of me, because when I ask them about their night, what they did with their lives, etc., they say that they went home and watched "Dancing With The Stars".  To each his own, and all that, but we have a limited amount of time on this planet to define ourselves. 

I think that former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson is intriguing.  I think he has ideas about government that are different from almost anything else out there.  Get out of other countries' bidness.  Reduce the size of the military.  Cut government by 43%.  End the Drug War.  End the ban on gay marriage.  Gary Johnson will say these things in short, concise sound bites.  Try to find a recording of someone from the Obama/Boehner team saying the same things in words anyone can understand.   

I've hung out with Governor Johnson a couple of times and listened to him explain how he could have easily cut New Mexico's state government size in half, and no one woulda noticed. 

Gary Johnson climbed Everest with a broken foot.  He paraglides.  Hops on his bike and goes a hundred miles every now and then.  I sat beside him at our Joe T. Garcia's fundraiser, and they brought him a special order, one that someone had obviously arranged long ahead of time.  This platter of meat made an Atkins Plan look like something from a donut shop.  A serious carnivore, that Gary Johnson. 

On the other hand, there's Barack H. Obama. 

I swear, I think I can finish his sentences for him.  At this point, I wouldn't go out of my way to hear his opinions on the NBA draft, much less his opinions on the economy, the unemployment rate, foreign relations, or the national debt. 

He's an absolute failure on all of those issues.  Why his blather is of interest to anyone is beyond me. 

CNN just named Barack Obama the "Most Intriguing Person Of 2012".   

Don't be so nosy

This editorial actually ran on the CNN website yesterday. 
Swear to God, they published it. 
It's about the "Fast And Furious" debacle, the one where the government sent thousands of guns across the Rio Grande to prove that American guns were crossing the Rio Grande.  Then a couple of Federal Agents got shot with them. 

I didn't edit any of this.  Here's the kicker:

By allowing guns to infiltrate Mexico's drug cartel, we thought we could trace them up the ladder to the leaders. Take off the head and the body dies. As for the innocent people who lost their lives? Collateral damage. That's the uncomfortable backstory to this scandal. And there are likely other operations like it in our nation's history that we don't even have a clue about.

And maybe it's better for us not to be so nosy, not to know everything because, to paraphrase the famous line from the movie "A Few Good Men," many of us won't be able to handle the truth.

Yes.  Yes.  Yes. 
Go back to watching "Dancing With The Stars".  Take some happy pills.  Don't be "so nosy". 

You probably couldn't handle the truth: We're trying to continue the War On Drugs, maintain the Drug Lords' monopoly, plus prove that you really shouldn't be allowed to keep those pistols in your house. 

Don't be so nosy. 

Nothing to see here.  Move along, people, move along. 

On Objective Journalism

“So much for Objective Journalism. Don't bother to look for it here--not under any byline of mine; or anyone else I can think of. With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms.” - Hunter S. Thompson

Go here for additional proof.  It's pretty funny. 

Worst. Debate. Format. Ever.

I decided to Tivo last night's Republican debate, choosing to go drink coffee with The Aggie instead of liveblogging it.  Heck, they invited Donald Trump to participate, but didn't invite the only semi-Libertarian with executive-level experience (Gary Johnson). 

Spending time on something else last night was a good call.  Lord have mercy, what a horrible format.  Let's have the moderator ask a question of just a few candidates, then cut to someone in the audience who wants to spend a few minutes asking a question, giving two candidates 8 seconds to answer, let's bracket the commercials with cutesy "either/or" "Letterman/Leno" "sadism/masochism" questions, and then cut to another CNN personality who introduces someone in Gobbler's Notch, New Hampshire, who says something like this:

"Hello, my name is Whited, and I have a Libertarian blog at www.thewhitedsepulchre.blogspot.com, and while I have no children serving in the military, but I support our troops, and have written extensively on the subject for mulitple periodicals, and have dozens of dozens of Twitter followers, I'd like to ask the candidates a question that I believe goes to the heart of our predicament as taxpayers and voters.  As a blogger and a shipping manager (and a libertarian activist), I depend on a stable fuel supply to run my business.  While this does not have a direct correlation with ObamaCare, what would you do, as President, to defend marriage?" 

I've noticed this for years at literary and political events.  If you're lucky enough to ask, say, Stephen King or Ron Paul a question, get to the point.  The rest of the audience doesn't care about what books your currently reading, your job, or your motivation for asking the question. 

Just ask the question. 

A couple of other things.... When Newt started bragging that he wrote the Defense Of Marriage Act, I almost spewed my breakfast across the den.  I don't care who you are, that's funny. 

Last, with ALL Republicans at this event brandishing their small government credentials for an hour and a half last night, how is it that we're 14 trillion in debt ?

Good Night, Sleep Tight, and don't let The Bed Bugs Bite ! !

The law of unintended consequences is back! 

MYFOXNY.COM - The AMC Empire 25 movie theater complex in the Times Square area shut its doors Tuesday night to deal with a bed bug problem.
AMC said it has been testing and treating its theaters after getting complaints from some patrons about bed beg bites.
The company said it inspected the Empire 25 Tuesday and found bed bugs in an auditorium that had previously tested negative.

Here's an email sent out to the CNN employees working in the Time Warner Center:

August 13, 2010
To: TBS, Inc. Employees
From: TBS, Inc. Human Resources

The Time Warner Center Facilities Department advises that bed bugs have been detected in Time Warner Center. This determination was made after testing was conducted on several floors of the building. In response, Time Warner Facilities is working with pest control providers to address the issue in an environmentally safe manner, and during non-working hours...

There's only one effective, efficient way to get rid of bedbugs.  That would be DDT. 
Our government banned DDT in 1972. 

"To only a few chemicals does man owe as great a debt as to DDT... In little more than two decades, DDT has prevented 500 million human deaths, due to malaria, that otherwise would have been inevitable."
- National Academy of Sciences

I'm sure that our government knows best.  But in the meantime, if you see Wolf Blitzer scratching his privates on camera, you now know the reason why.  CNN can't spray their building with DDT, which, if used properly, is ok to drink in small quantities.  (There used to be a cocktail called the Mickey Slim - Gin & a pinch of DDT.)
 If you see Larry King scratching his privates on camera, it's because he has grown old and forgetful after all those years of throwing softballs to Democrats.
If you see Anderson Cooper touching himself on camera, it's because he thinks there's nothing like the feel of Anderson Cooper.
If Candy Crowley starts scratching herself on camera.....aww....never mind.    I'm not going there. 
Sorry for the digression.  I'm really enjoying the idea of The Castro News Network having a bed bug breakout.  I apologize. 
 
Here are the folks from Reason magazine on the DDT scare campaign:



Can we find a volunteer to sneak bed bugs into the EPA headquarters?

Bail Out Studebaker ! Bail Out T. Boone Pickens !

I saw this bumpersticker in Fort Worth today, and started thinking....

....would bailing out Studebaker be any sillier than bailing out Chrysler?  What could be sillier than the current rounds of bailout mania? 

Well, I found out when I went to Bally's fitness to put in some mandatory treadmill time. 

The Bally's TV's were tuned to CNN, which featured Larry King interviewing T. Boone Pickens, mostly about the BP oil spill, but partly about AMERICA'S DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL and the Pickens plan to replace oil with gentle gusts of wind from unseen fairy flatulence which would be enough to power Pickens Inc. windmills paid for by your taxes. 

T. Boone Pickens wants your money, just like Chrysler wants your money.  They both go through government to force the wealth transfer.  In the case of T. Boone, he just wants his bailout up front.  Just like Chrysler, he can't make it without you.  Nobody in his right mind would voluntarily a dime of their own funds for the windmill scheme unless he knew up front that Boone was going to get some pork.     

One thing about AMERICA'S DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL....think of an individual that you do business with, preferably a little guy.  Think of somebody with an oil change franchise, or a seamstress, or a Mom'n'Pop restaurant.  Do you depend on them, or do they depend on you? 

It's mutual, isn't it?  You're trading stuff with each other.  If you didn't buy the oil changes, the clothing, or the meals from them, they would have to find someone else to sell the stuff to.  Finding new customers is a hassle. 

Political hacks like to talk about AMERICA'S DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.  Well, that street runs both ways, but you never hear them talk about FOREIGN OIL'S DEPENDENCE ON AMERICAN DOLLARS.  If the dreaded foreigners couldn't sell their oil to us, they would have to sell it to someone else.  Their overhead is high, just like ours is.  They have to keep the money rolling in.. If they want to cut us off, they still have to sell it to somebody who is not yet purchasing very much oil.  Somebody like....well, I can't think of anybody else.  But whoever bought it would wind up selling most of it to us. 

Frederic Bastiat figured it out 150 years ago.  He wrote:

The sort of dependence that results from exchange, i.e., from commercial transactions, is a reciprocal dependence. We cannot be dependent upon a foreigner without his being dependent on us. Now, this is what constitutes the very essence of society. To sever natural interrelations is not to make oneself independent, but to isolate oneself completely.

Giving T. Boone Pickens his bailout money ahead of time would be like reviving Studebaker to end our dependence on Toyotas. 

Lewis Black doesn't think that Lewis Black pays enough taxes. So he has a tax accountant do his taxes.

I watched this Lewis Black/Anderson Tucker interview during last night's Mandatory Treadmill Time.  It's part of the celebrity guilt festival that we see every tax day:

You'll have to go here for the very brief clip.  YouTube won't let me embed this one. 

If Lewis Black feels that he doesn't pay enough taxes, he should simply pay more taxes. 
If Lewis Black believes believes he doesn't pay enough taxes, but has hired a tax accountant?  He should fire the tax accountant.  It really is that simple. 
If Lewis Black feels that he should "give something back", he should continue to produce stand-up comedy routines, bestselling books, and all the other things that have made him one of the top 10% earners in the U.S.   "Giving something back" is not a synonym for "Flushing it down the toilet". 

End of rant. 

Anatomy Of A Cable News Story

Warning: Adult language alert.
Another Warning: It's 100% accurate.
Final Warning: Finish your coffee and step away from the computer. This thing is funny.



Found it on Ace Of Spades.

How CNN blew the debate coverage

To begin with, Lou Dobbs was allowed to spew his huffy outrage for an entire hour before the debate began. You can read an outraged real-time response here.

Dick Morris, no stranger to The Clintons, had the best evaluation of CNN's coverage of The Democratic Presidential Debate. He's right about the treatment of Hillary. I haven't seen that many softballs since the last time I went to the batting cages.
RealClearPolitics - Articles - CNN Caves, But Clinton Will Still Struggle in Iowa
In the meantime, the world now knows who controls The Blitzer Manhood....

Photo is from Grouchy Old Cripple

I tried to do a real-time blog of the debates, but didn't note anything about Wulf Blitzer taking it easy with Hillary till here, sometime after the 2nd break. Blitzer asked if Clinton was too polarizing, and then just let it die....

I didn't catch that Bill Richardson was possibly given more mouth time, possibly because of his being the nice, let's not dogpile-advocate in the previous debate.

The other issue, which I've ranted about previously (in defense of Clinton), was the issue of canned questions....Questions from the audience that had a longer preamble than The Constitution. And these people were butchering the questions ! ! Stumbling and fumbling all over them....Does anyone actually think these folks were generating those questions on their own?

Addition on Saturday night, November 17th....various bloggers are looking at photos of the randomly selected audience members chosen by CNN to ask questions, and are determining that the Nevada debate had more "plants" than The Rain Forest.

And then Sunday morning, there's this little jewel, from The New York Holy Times, wondering why James Carville was allowed to pose as an impartial commentator.