A Question About "Quantitative Easing"

Ben Bernanke and the boys at the Federal Reserve have been printing an extra 85 billion dollars per month.  All in the name of "stimulus". 

North Korea has been printing a couple of million dollars per month.  In their case, it is called "counterfeiting". 

Both sets of printing press owners, Bernanke's and North Korea's, are churning out bills for themselves and their buddies - the people who get to spend them first. 

But let's assume that "stimulus" of this sort is a good thing. 

Does it matter where the stimulus is printed? 

A modest proposal for the Federal Reserve

I found this over at Cafe Hayek, written by Sheila Baer. 

Are you concerned about growing income inequality in America? Are you resentful of all that wealth concentrated in the 1 percent? I’ve got the perfect solution, a modest proposal that involves just a small adjustment in the Federal Reserve’s easy monetary policy. Best of all, it will mean that none of us have to work for a living anymore.


For several years now, the Fed has been making money available to the financial sector at near-zero interest rates. Big banks and hedge funds, among others, have taken this cheap money and invested it in securities with high yields. This type of profit-making, called the “carry trade,” has been enormously profitable for them.

So why not let everyone participate?

Yep.  Bernanke prints the money.  Loans the money to friends at Zero interest.  Friends of Ben invest it at a higher interest rate.  Then profit.  Then repeat, over and over. 

In the meantime, any money that you 99% suckers have saved becomes devalued. 

Stop Adjusting For Inflation

Statists and their apologists often claim that government spending isn't out of control if you adjust for inflation. 

Bullshit. 

Inflation is nothing more than government spending without legislation. 

Every penny lost from these 1947 dollars was lost because of government-sponsored inflation.  They printed more and more money.  Flood the market with dollars, and dollars will purchase less and less. 
In an honest accounting system, any record of government spending would include the amount stolen from these dollars. 

Go here to see the source for the chart.  Interesting post. 

Ben Bernanke now has another competitor

This kid has done something illegal that Ben Bernanke is paid to do. 

Hit This Link !!!

Poster came from here. 

Coming Soon: The One Hundred Trillion Dollar Federal Reserve Note

This is a one hundred trillion dollar Federal Reserve Note.  (It's from the Zimbabwe printing press, not the Bernanke Publishing Company.) 

No one in Zimbabwe thought they would ever hold one of these. 

The people who inflated Zimbabwe's currency to the point of uselessness claimed to be doing so for the good of The People. 

This piece of paper isn't linked to anything of value, just like the U.S. currency isn't linked to anything of value. 

Printing one hundred trillion-dollar banknotes creates massive problems for the general populace, but it solves problems for the elite few who run the government printing presses.  Therefore, the elite few are going to run the shit out of the government printing presses. 

Like Zimbabwe, the U.S. has very few safeguards in place to prevent someone from printing all the money they think we need, and using it to pay their buddies for stimulus packages, TARP plans, deficit non-reduction schemes, and the like. 

It will happen here.  Hide and watch. 

Can you spot the difference between the genuine and the fake $100 bills?

This is a counterfeit $100 bill. 
Counterfeiters are printing them in China, and they are virtually indistinguishable from the ones that The Fed prints over on Blue Mound Road in Fort Worth. 

The FBI is working with the Secret Service to figure out how to stop these guys.  According to an agent that I met at a wedding, they're magnifying these fake bills to the size of a basketball court, and trying to detect little mistakes that will help distinguish these fakes from the real thing. 
This counterfeit money isn't backed by any commodity (gold, silver, etc.) and it could wreak havoc on our economy. 

This is a genuine $100 bill. 

There is almost no way to distinguish this one from the Chinese counterfeit one.  It isn't backed by any commodity (gold, silver, etc.) and it could wreak havoc on our economy. 

If you take either of these to a bank, you can swap them for 100 pictures of George Washington, or 20 pictures of Abraham Lincoln, or 5 pictures of Andrew Jackson.  The bank will not give you any gold or silver in exchange for them.  They are only worth what people think they're worth. 

Chinese counterfeiters and Ben Bernanke are both paying their bills with worthless paper.  All discussions of the new debt ceiling are fundamentally silly, because we've been paying our debts with worthless paper for about 35 years. 

In the meantime, don't bother looking at your paper money very closely.  All of it is fake. 

Ben Bernanke is puzzled

We've allowed the government to spend almost a trillion dollars on make-work projects to stimulate the economy. 

We've destroyed almost 3/4 of a million automobiles so we could recycle the metal and make new automobiles (see: Cash For Clunkers)

We've introduced ObamaCare, a program that has scared the living shit out of anyone foolish enough to consider hiring new employees. 

The Federal Reserve is printing new de-valued money faster than McDonald's prints Happy Meal boxes.

We've elected a president who would have to study for 5 years to rise to the level of "economic idiot".   

The National Labor Relations Board is now telling companies where they can and cannot build factories. 

The Democrat Party is floating all sorts of potential policies to raise taxes and punish success. 

And Ben Freakin' Bernanke, chair of the Federal Reserve, says he doesn't "have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting".   

I swear to God, he said it. 

Why bother with taxes? Why not let Ben Bernanke print all of it?

Seriously. 

Why bother with a debt limit?  We've raised it 75 times in the last 50 years.  What does a debt limit do?  Who does it fool?

Which leads to the next point....Why bother with collecting taxes at all?  If we're going to let Ben Bernanke and The Federal Reserve print an arbitrary amount of money at will, why not let him print up a massive $14 trillion dollar batch, bring in some forklifts and shipping containers, load up the entire press run, and send the whole batch to China and get it over with? 
Then print another 3 trillion or so to keep the TSA crotch-gropers paid, and the Department of Transportation parasites paid, and the borders of South Korea and Germany and Iraq and Afghanistan and England guarded with our armies.  Let's get it done !! 

What kind of finesse about printing money are we attempting?  The Chinese are dumping dollars as fast as they can.  They're not loaning us any more.   

Go here for a complete discussion with Mark Steyn. 

This picture (being developed for a Bernanke Buck) came from Dan McCall's Facebook page. 

The Hope And Change Sticky Note Campaign

There's a new Facebook campaign for people who are tired of Ben Bernanke/Barry Obama releasing all of their newly printed money into the environment. 

It's called the "Hope And Change Sticky Note Campaign". 

Next time you see a higher price on milk, eggs, gasoline, rent, Coca-Cola, detergent, bacon, or anything else you purchase with your Bernanke Bucks, stick a "Hope And Change" Post-It note beside the price. 

Take a picture. 

Mail it in. 

Do your part. 

Hope.  Change. 

In which Barack Obama goes on a Witch Hunt for the cause of high fuel prices

One day a couple of years ago I was doing my Mad Prophet Of The Internet routine, smearing myself with peanut butter and locusts, raving in the streets and banging pots and pans together.  I got no attention whatsoever.
 
I was predicting some mega-inflation. 

You see, printing money is the only way that the Reagan / Bush / Clinton / Obama big spenders will ever get their debts paid.  But if you print all this money, prices go up. 

I said that rising prices would soon be blamed on corporate greed, and asked folks to send me copies of Lamestream Media editorials blaming the rising prices on greedy corporations, greedy people, and greed in general.  Hit the link.  But if you don't have time to read the link, here's the kicker to that old post:

Good luck when prices start doubling. A special prize will be awarded to the reader who sends me the first earnest MSM editorial blaming greedy corporations for the price increases.

I still haven't seen one of those indignant editorials, but if you spot the first one and post a link, I promise to mail you a free dachshund.  The first and second runners' up will also get a free dachshund. 

In the meantime, our Inflator In Chief is taking this waaaaay beyond anything I could've dreamed possible.  It's freakin' unbelievable.  (Most of these links I'm using came from The Streetwise Professor. )

Believe it or not, this beautiful example of finger-pointing crap is actually on the Department Of Justice website.  Barack Obama, without getting drunk or stoned first, has actually started a task force to look into possible fraud, collusion, and speculation as the cause for rising gasoline prices.  I swear to God, he's doing it.  He's trying to get waaaaay out in front of the story:

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the formation of a Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force Working Group to focus specifically on fraud in the energy markets. The Oil and Gas Price Fraud Working Group will monitor oil and gas markets for potential violations of criminal or civil laws to safeguard against unlawful consumer harm.


The working group will include representatives from the Department of Justice, the National Association of Attorneys General, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board, the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the Departments of Agriculture and Energy.

“Rapidly rising gasoline prices are pinching the pockets of consumers across the country,” said Attorney General Holder. “We will be vigilant in monitoring the oil and gas markets for any wrongdoing so that consumers can be confident they are not paying higher prices as a result of illegal activity. If illegal conduct is responsible for increasing gas prices, state and federal authorities should take swift action.”

And so the Witch Hunt begins. 

Here's more on this charade, from Fuel Fix:

Craig Pirrong, a finance professor at the University of Houston who specializes in commodity prices, says the task force is hardly needed, since the agencies already have the tools to monitor for fraud and take action.


“This is a transparently political fishing expedition that insinuates that fraud or manipulation is distorting oil prices without providing even the flimsiest factual basis for such a suspicion,” Pirrong said. “This is part of a broad effort by the administration to deflect criticism with regard to gasoline prices.”

Yeah. 

Get ready for higher fuel prices, higher clothing prices and higher food prices.  Higher everything prices.  Barack Obama and Ben Bernanke are printing money all day every day.  The supply of goods is remaining stable, but the money supply is increasing. 
Don't you wish you could pay your bills with a printing press? 

Pics of Witch Hunt came from here. 

You cannot accept gold as payment. You must accept Ben Bernanke's worthless paper.

From Sovereign Man:

The United States Department of Justice delivered a very clear and unfortunate message on Friday:

“Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism. While these forms of anti-government activities do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and represent a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country.”

These remarks were released by the US Attorney’s office in the western district of North Carolina following the conviction of one Bernard von NotHaus, the creator of the ill-fated Liberty Dollar.

As you likely recall from a few years ago, Liberty Dollars were privately minted gold and silver rounds. Paper certificates, akin to warehouse receipts were also issued, effectively giving the bearer a right to claim a certain amount of gold or silver at the group’s warehouse in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

This is traditionally how the system of money used to function– precious metals would be stored in private, secure storage facilities, and paper certificates were issued as a medium of exchange that entitled the bearer to redeem metal from the vault. Liberty Dollars represented a return to that system.

Clearly, the Justice Department feels otherwise… instead viewing these silver rounds as an attempt by terrorists to undermine the US dollar.

Hit the link to read the rest of Sovereign Man's post.  It's worth the trip. 

Anyway, back during the previous Great Depression, FDR decided that he didn't want gold to compete with his valueless paper money.  Here's Wikipedia on the infamous Executive Order 6102:

Executive Order 6102 required U.S. citizens to deliver on or before May 1, 1933, all but a small amount of gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates owned by them to the Federal Reserve, in exchange for $20.67 per troy ounce. Under the Trading With the Enemy Act of October 6, 1917, as amended on March 9, 1933, violation of the order was punishable by fine up to $10,000 ($167,700 if adjusted for inflation as of 2010) or up to ten years in prison, or both. Most citizens who owned large amounts of gold had it transferred to countries such as Switzerland. 

Order 6102 specifically exempted "customary use in industry, profession or art"—a provision that covered artists, jewelers, dentists, and sign makers among others. The order further permitted any person to own up to $100 in gold coins ($1,677 if adjusted for inflation as of 2010; a face value equivalent to 5 troy ounces (160 g) of Gold valued at about $6200 as of 2010). The same paragraph also exempted "gold coins having recognized special value to collectors of rare and unusual coins." This protected gold coin collections from legal seizure and likely melting.

The price of gold from the Treasury for international transactions was thereafter raised to $35 an ounce ($587 in 2010 dollars). The resulting profit that the government realized funded the Exchange Stabilization Fund established by the Gold Reserve Act in 1934.

So what? 

Well, if people are ever allowed to swap real honest-to-god silver and gold coins in exchange for goods and services, it won't be long before people refuse to do business with Bernanke Bucks.  There is a relatively limited supply of gold and silver.  Bernanke's capacity to print $20.00 bills is unlimited.  If you ever wrap your mind around why counterfeiting is illegal, and why debtor governments love inflation, then you'll understand why our government doesn't want a currency competitor. 

If I agree to accept a gold nugget as payment for goods and services, it's nobody's business but mine.  If I agree to accept Mickey Mantle baseball cards, ditto.  I'm making the choice.  As long as nobody mis-represents the nuggets or the cards, government has no business getting involved. 

But if people continue to accept worthless paper from Bernanke's printing press?  Well, somebody ought to be a good neighbor and suggest some alternatives.  I'm just sayin'.....

The picture of Bernanke's Printing Press came from here. 

Ron Paul, the cost of diapers, and Ben Bernanke's toilet paper

Kimberly-Clark is about to raise the prices of diapers and toilet paper. 

DALLAS, March 17, 2011-Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB) today announced that its baby and child care and consumer tissue businesses are notifying customers of plans to raise prices in North America during the second and third quarters of 2011. The company said the increases are necessary to offset inflationary pressure from higher raw material and energy costs.

Net selling prices in the U.S. and Canada for Huggies baby wipes and diapers, Pull-Ups training pants and GoodNites youth pants will increase on average between 3 and 7 percent, with implementation timing ranging from June 19, 2011 to August 17, 2011. In addition, net selling prices in the U.S. for Cottonelle and Scott 1000 bathroom tissue will increase approximately 7 percent, effective June 19, 2011. The price changes vary by brand and pack size. Kimberly-Clark's net sales in North America for these consumer products exceeded $4 billion in 2010.

Here's who the price increase is hitting the hardest, from a piece by Monika Diaz of WFAA:

DALLAS — A Dallas non-profit is keeping a close eye on the disposable diaper price hike soon to hit stores, and it worries it will hurt their budget.
"We can't afford to be hit," said Jeanne Reyer, executive director of Captain Hope's Kids.
Every week, the charity distributes 9,000 diapers to agencies that help homeless babies and toddlers across North Texas.
"We are spending nearly $7,000 in diapers a month," Reyer said.
Irving-based Kimberly-Clark Corporation announced it is going to increase its prices in North America for products including diapers, tissue paper and toilet paper.
For example, the cost of Cottonelle toilet paper will go up 7 percent; the price for Huggies diapers, baby wipes and and training pants will jump between three and seven percent.
Kimberly-Clark claims the hike is needed because of the rising costs for raw materials to make its products.
Other companies, including Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive, are also looking at rolling out price increases.

And here's the reaon for all of this misery, as explained by Dr. Ron Paul.  Ron Paul's political opponents paint him as naive, out-of-the-mainstream, an extremist, and overly pessimistic. 
They call him Dr. No. 
But he's almost always right. 
This is an excerpt from his book The Revolution: A Manifesto:

When the Fed intervenes like this, increasing the money supply with money and credit it creates out of thin air, it causes all kinds of economic problems.  It decreases the value of the dollar, thereby making people poorer.  and in the long run even the apparent stimulus to the economy that comes from all the additional borrowing and spending turns out to be harmful as well, for this phony prosperity actually sows the seeds for hard times and recession down the road. 

First, consider the effects of inflation, by which we mean the Fed's increase in the supply of money, on the value of the dollar.  By increasing the supply of money, the Federal Reserve lowers the value of every dollar that exists. 

(That's why the government is trying to get you out of dollars, and into purchases of things they want you to buy.  Like purchasing all the houses that they're stuck with from their Community Reinvestment Act/Fannie/Freddie real estate debacle, or purchasing cars and trucks from those new auto companies they acquired.  They are honest to God trying to get you to spend money by announcing that your money will soon be worth less.  Good God in heaven.)

If the supply of Mickey Mantle baseball cards were suddenly to increase a millionfold, each individual card would become almost valueless.  The same principle applies to money: the more the Fed creates, the less value each individual monetary unit possesses.  When the money supply is increased, prices rise -  with each dollar now worth less than before, it can purchase fewer goods than it could in the past.  Or imagine an art auction in which bidders are each given an additional million dollars.  Would we not expect bids to go up?  The market works the same way, except in a free market there are numerous sellers instead of the one seller in an auction. 

All right, some may say, prices may indeed rise, but so do wages and salaries, and therefore inflation causes no real problems on net. 

This misconception overlooks one of the most insidious and immoral effects of inflation: its redistribution of wealth from the poor and middle class to the politically well connected.  The price increases that take place as a result of inflation do not occur all at once and to the same degree.  Those who receive the new money first receive it before prices have yet risen.  They enjoy a windfall.  Meanwhile, as they spend the new money, and the next wave of recipients spend it, and so on, prices begin to rise throughout the economy - well before the new money has trickled down to most people. 

The average person is now paying higher prices while still earning his old income, which has not yet been adjusted to account for the higher money supply.  By the time the new money has made its way throughout the economy, average people have all this time been paying higher prices, and only now can begin to break even.  The enrichment of the politically well connected - in other words, those who get the newly created money first: government contractors, big banks, and the like - comes at the direct expense of everyone else.

These are known as the distribution effects, or Cantillon effects, of inflation, after economist Richard Cantillon.  The average person is silently robbed through this invisible means and usually doesn't understand what exactly is happening to him. 
And almost no one in the political establishment has an incentive to tell him. 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why the price of diapers and toilet paper is going up.  There isn't a long-term shortage of wood pulp, paper, or anything else.  There's an increase in the money supply.   Ben Bernanke is printing it. 
If you caught someone in your home stealing 3-7% of your savings, I hope that you would shoot him, or at least knock him in the head, "civility" be damned. 
Nobody voted for this, nobody is debating it.  The Fed is paying off Washington's debts by printing more money.  It doesn't hurt the rich that much, since they typically get to spend the funny money first, and it's a horrible burden on the poor. 

If current trends continue, we won't have to worry about the high cost of Kimberly Clark's toilet paper.  Ben Bernanke's will be a lot less valuable. 

Pics came from here and here and here. 

Why Libertarians favor a small government

This is why LIbertarians are so adamant about a small government.  We want a very small government.  In the words of Grover Norquist, we want a government small enough to drown in a bathtub. 
Here's Rep. Maxine Waters, quizzing Ben Bernanke and confusing the heck out of the Discount Rate and the Federal Funds rate.   

Watch CBS News Videos Online

If you need help, you can go here, or read this. 

Please remember, Rep. Waters has been on the House Financial Services Committee for years.  Years.  She has a staff.   
I'm no Ben Bernanke (or Federal Reserve) fan, but you have to enjoy the look on Bernanke's face.  Remember the Fed hearings where Alan Greenspan had to answer questions that Mary Bono (the late Congressman Sonny Bono's widow) was reading from index cards?  This is kinda like that, but worse. 

Go here, where even CBS is wondering "Is Maxine Waters Really As Dumb As She Seems?"

Remember, when it comes to government involvement in almost anything, small is good.  Very small. 

I found the Dummies book cover on Stephen Smith's blog.

Ben Bernanke - Time Magazine's Person Of The Year

Ben Bernanke, violently fighting against Ron Paul's "Audit The Fed" movement, is Time Magazine's Person Of The Year.

Gag me with a dirty diaper.

My vote would go to The Climaquiddick hacker/whistleblower. Remember when whistleblowers (who saved taxpayers and investors millions of dollars) were lionized and admired?

The Climategate Hacker's achievements makes Bernanke's inflationary achievements look small.

Saturday Morning Reading

Where to begin, where to begin....
Let's start with the left, briefly pause in what passes for the center, move through the right, and then get to the good stuff.
From Talking Points Memo.

President Obama took questions today after giving a speech on the economy at a community college in Pennsylvania. The first question, from a college sophomore, challenged Obama to look at new ways of creating jobs.
"I really appreciate how you're trying to stimulate the economy," the student said. "Maybe, if you checked out some of the statistics about legalizing prostitution, gambling, drugs and non-violent crime in order to stimulate some of the economy."
The audience broke into giggles.
"I appreciate the boldness of your question. That will not be my jobs strategy," Obama responded, to more giggles. "Part of what you're supposed to do in college is question conventional wisdom. So you're doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing."

But there was no response from The Teleprompter Jesus on why he's going to continue spending billions fighting victimless crimes and imprisoning the participants.

Also from Talking Points Memo, an ugly little story on 8 million incidents of police requesting GPS data. I don't think any warrants were required....

Under a new system set up by Sprint, law enforcement agencies have gotten GPS data from the company about its wireless customers 8 million times in about a year, raising a host of questions about consumer privacy, transparency, and oversight of how police obtain location data.

What this means -- and what many wireless customers no doubt do not realize -- is that with a few keystrokes, police can determine in real time the location of a cell phone user through automated systems set up by the phone companies.
And while a Sprint spokesman told us customers can shield themselves from surveillance by simply switching off the GPS function of their phones, one expert told TPM that the company and other carriers almost certainly have the power to remotely switch the function back on.

They know where you are. They know when you are there. They aren't bothering to get 8 million warrants, either.
One more thing from Talking Points Memo:

The New Jersey state senate is scheduled to vote on legalizing gay marriage next week.
Sen. Ray Lesniak (D) announced Thursday on the Statehouse steps that the Judiciary Committee will take up the bill on Monday. The full senate will vote on the measure Thursday.

Coming just days after the New York state senate defeated a gay marriage bill, the New Jersey votes present a big risk. It's not clear if the votes are there.

That's enough of Talking Points Memo. Reading their other crap about Copenhagen, the merits of a Pelosian Healthcare System, and.....well, it makes my head hurt. Let's move on to the mainstream middle:

CNN has a link on their front page entitled Big Improvement For Job Market. Our unemployment rate, according to those who keep the books, has gone from 10.2% to 10.0% ! ! ! Hit the second link. I think so many people were laughing about it that they took down the story.
That's enough from CNN. In the words of God in the Book Of Revelation, Chapter 3, verse 16, "But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."
Here's some stuff from Real Clear Politics, one of the best political aggregator sites:

The Washington Post is waking up from its Rip Van Winkle-ish slumber to report on Climaquiddick a little more. Those poor guys have been distracted by the giant sucking sound of all the potential grant, research, and stimulus money going back to the taxpayers as a result of the leaked emails.

It began with an anonymous Internet posting, and a link to a wonky set of e-mails and files. Stolen, apparently, from a research center in Britain, the files showed the leaders of climate-change science discussing flaws in their own data, and seemingly scheming to muzzle their critics.
Now it has mushroomed into what is being called "Climate-gate," a scandal that has done what many slide shows and public-service ads could not: focus public attention on the science of a warming planet.
Except now, much of that attention is focused on the science's flaws. Leaked just before international climate talks begin in Copenhagen -- the culmination of years of work by scientists to raise alarms about greenhouse-gas emissions -- the e-mails have cast those scientists in a political light and given new energy to others who think the issue of climate change is all overblown.
The e-mails don't say that: They don't provide proof that human-caused climate change is a lie or a swindle.

Well, yeah, they do. They were government funded, they were trying to raid The Treasury, they were acting to silence criticism, and they've thrown away all the original data. Much like the outfit in East Anglia, NASA has been ignoring Freedom Of Information Act requests for two years.

The RCP guys also link to a New York Times piece by Obama Economics Apologist, Bush Basher, and therefore Nobel Prize Winner, Paul Krugman, who says that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has done a very bad thing.

At his confirmation hearing for a second term as chairman, Bernanke emphasized that the government has spent less than half of the money in the $787-billion package passed earlier this year and that analysts are still determining its impact.

“Only about 30 percent of the funds have been disbursed,” Bernanke said. “It’s a little bit early to make a strong judgment, a little bit early to decide whether or not to do additional fiscal actions.”

Krugman responded to the Bernanke quote with the following: "Bear in mind also that fiscal policy is slow to get underway. Waiting to be absolutely, totally sure that we really need more strikes me as deeply irresponsible."

"This was a very unhelpful statement."

You're dang right, it was unhelpful. There's going to be some kind of changing of the guard in 2010, the clock is ticking, and the Red Digital Readout is working its way down to zero.

Bernanke's most irresponsible acts? He won't allow an audit of The Fed. He won't shut down The Fed. But he has one advantage that Paul Krugman doesn't.
Bernanke isn't totally full of bullshit. Bullshit is not leaking from his ears. Bullshit doesn't impact Bernanke's ability to walk without slipping in it.

This is taking longer than I thought, and I have to go help with a church project we're doing with a low-income family. I'm gonna hit "Publish Post", and comment on some other links later today. Sorry.
*********************

Ok, I'm back. Let's move on to the good folks at Hot Air. They've got a story about some Afghan guerillas parading into an abandoned U.S. military facility in Nuristan province.

“Glad Tidings of Victory,” a video released by the Taliban’s Al-Emirat video production unit, shows the Afghan guerrillas strutting around an abandoned U.S. military base in Nuristan province. Taking a filmed “victory” lap around an American facility might make some sense as a propaganda tool. But taking a giggly victory lap on an elliptical in said base – as two Taliban enthusiastically do in the video – is a big infowar fail."

"....While some items can make for effective propaganda symbols, the display of (of Taliban fighters exercising on) lower body exercise machines, generally speaking, tends to dilute their impact."

I've brought this story to the attention of The Jihadist Safety Consultant, and he'll probably chime in sometime next week. We can't have terrorists working out on infidel exercise equipment without proper training, can we?
They've got another link to a Pajama's Media piece on the Dutch team that's been studying the ice cap on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Newspapers and news sites in the Netherlands today extensively broke the news of the findings of a research team led by Professor Jaap Sinninghe Damste — a leading molecular paleontologist at Utrecht University and winner of the prestigious Spinoza Prize — about the melting icecap of the Kilimanjaro, the African mountain that became a symbol of anthropogenic global warming.

Professor Sinninghe Damste’s research, as discussed on the site of the Dutch Organization of Scientific Research (DOSR) — a governmental body — shows that the icecap of Kilimanjaro was not the result of cold air but of large amounts of precipitation which fell at the beginning of the Holocene period, about 11,000 years ago.

The melting and freezing of moisture on top of Kilimanjaro appears to be part of “a natural process of dry and wet periods.” The present melting is not the result of “environmental damage caused by man.”

....DOSR calls Al Gore’s iconic use of the melting cap of Kilimanjaro “unfortunate” — since it now seems to be mainly the result of “natural climate variations.”

With the exception of handing Ross Perot some portraits of Smoot and Hawley, Gore's entire career has been "unfortunate". His Grammys, Oscars, and Nobels were "unfortunate". But his iconic use of the melting cap of Kilimanjaro has been a godsend.
Yes, we should be grateful for Gore's choice. We are fortunate.
There would've been no way to disprove an Al Gore scam to save the melting ice cap on Mount Asfertimondig Hoittpifflesteinin Grogger on the forbidden planet Nekthar.

Hot Air also links to a Weekly Standard piece on Climaquiddick:

No drug company could get through the FDA approval process with data handling this slapdash, yet the climate policy process contemplates trillions of dollars in costs to economies around the world based partially on this incompetent work. Worse, it suggests the possibility that the CRU circle might not be able to replicate its own findings from scratch, let alone outside reviewers. No wonder Mann keeps issuing new versions of his hockey stick....

Climate change is a genuine phenomenon, and there is a nontrivial risk of major consequences in the future. Yet the hysteria of the global warming campaigners and their monomaniacal advocacy of absurdly expensive curbs on fossil fuel use have led to a political dead end that will become more apparent with the imminent collapse of the Kyoto-Copenhagen process. I have long expected that 20 or so years from now we will look back on the turn-of-the-millennium climate hysteria in the same way we look back now on the population bomb hysteria of the late 1960s and early 1970s--as a phenomenon whose magnitude and effects were vastly overestimated, and whose proposed solutions were wrongheaded and often genuinely evil (such as the forced sterilizations of thousands of Indian men in the 1970s, much of it funded by the Ford Foundation).
Today the climate campaigners want to forcibly sterilize the world's energy supply, and until recently they looked to be within an ace of doing so. But even before Climategate, the campaign was beginning to resemble a Broadway musical that had run too long, with sagging box office and declining enthusiasm from a dwindling audience. Someone needs to break the bad news to the players that it's closing time for the climate horror show.

Of course Climate Change is a genuine phenomenon. It's a freakin' cliche. "If you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait a few minutes", etc etc etc.
Thank God this farce is almost over. But think of the millions that industry, interest groups, and individuals have had to spend to protect themselves from the Statist Chicken Littles.

That's enough from the Left, the Right, and the bland Center. On to the Libertarian-leaning forces of goodness.....
Here's some stuff from Reason magazine's Hit & Run section.

First, they link to something in The Nation, where you can get a Garden Noam For Your Killing Fields. (It's a Noam Chomsky pun. Lefty academic Noam Chomsky was an apologist for Cambodia's Killing Fields. Get it? A Garden Noam For Your Killing Fields?)

....along with a Karl Marx plush toy,

....and some Great Revolutionaries Finger puppets.

That's Gandhi on the far left, whose non-materialist philosophy required the wealth of 3 princes to maintain, and whose peaceful approach required hundreds of thousands of soldiers to implement.
Then there's mass-murderer Che Guevera.
Then there's Leon Trotsky, whose revolution resulted in the death of millions from purges, starvation, or worse. Yeah, worse.
And finally, on the far right, Nelson Mandela.
Chomsky, Marx, Gandhi, Che, Trotsky, and Mandela. Treat those guys like an SAT question. Five were famous statists, one was a victim of the state. Circle the correct answer.

But wait, there's more. They've also got a link to a Bowlsheviks bowling T-shirt that you can order through Mother Jones for only $39.95. It has Lenin's profile on the bowler !

Lord have mercy. I guest if you're dense enough to continue buying into The Nation's post-Marxist, death of the Bolshevik dream, collectivist nostalgia, you're probably dense enough to purchase a $39.95 T-shirt.

Reason also has some good stuff on Climaquiddick.

Americans honor the courageous informant, the gutsy citizen who stands against the savagery of the profit-mongering conglomerate. Well, sometimes. It appears, believe it or not, that there are those who aren't religiously tethered to this sacred obligation.

....Yet Barbara Boxer, the Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is off hunting bigger game.

"You call it 'ClimateGate'; I call it 'E-mail-theft-gate,'" Boxer clarified during a committee shindig. "We may well have a hearing on this; we may not. We may have a briefing for senators; we may not." Boxer, as steady as they come, went on to put the focus where it belongs: on hackers. She warned: "Part of our looking at this will be looking at a criminal activity which could have well been coordinated. ... This is a crime."

If this hacker(s) is unearthed on U.S. soil (or anywhere in the Middle East, actually), Boxer can jettison the guilty party to Gitmo for some well-deserved sleep deprivation.

The more we get into this mess, the more it looks like a whistleblower, not a leaker. Remember when Whistleblowers were Time magazine's Person Of The Year a while back?

Somehow, I don't think this anonymous whistleblowing (or hacking) hero will get that honor. This hit 'em all where it hurts.

Let's move on to Radley Balko's Agitator blog. Mr. Balko has a link to the greatest newspaper correction ever published.

And here's a surprising story on Senator Max Baucus....

....the man who is apparently going to save health care for all of America nominated his girlfriend to be a U.S. Attorney. So yeah. I can’t see any problem with having our health care system dictated by politicians. No problem at all. I’m sure all decisions will be made based on what’s best for America and stuff. Never on what’s best for the politicians themselves.

It's because Free Market Capitalism is just too corrupt.

Now let's move on to Instapundit.

Instapundit has a link to something written by Free Market Goddess Virginia Postrel called "Gifts And The Knowledge Problem".

An article in Sunday’s NYT travel section carries the season-appropriate headline, “Brad Pitt’s Gifts to New Orleans.”

The piece suggests, rather gently, that the actor has made a common mistake: giving what pleases him rather than what the recipient wants.

The displaced residents of the Ninth Ward would like comfortable, inexpensive, and quickly available houses.

Pitt prefers cutting-edge architecture. Residents are grateful for his generosity and good wishes, but their gratitude is tinged with regret for what might have been if he’d heeded their desires.
....The problem of buying good presents for other people, even people you supposedly know well, illustrates that old familiar Hayekian concept, the knowledge problem. If you can't even give your loved ones the right presents, how likely is it that a central authority could make the right decisions for everyone?

Well, Virginia, I believe in Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. I trust them to make the best decisions for my health, my company, my family, and whether or not we should go to other continents and shoot people. Who needs knowledge when we have this level of trust?

Finally, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit shares an update to one of his favorite charts. The lines in blue were provided by The Teleprompter Jesus Economic Team. The red lines are provided by employers who are scared shitless about what those Messiahs are going to do next, and are understandably reluctant to invest anything with this batch of goobers at the helm.

Please remember this chart the next time you hear them call for another Stimulus Package.

That's it for today, Saturday November 5th, 2009. I can't believe there are bloggers out there who claim there's never anything to write about.