I post these just to get hits from the other 800 million people who get Nigerian mail fraud emails. Every time I receive one, I add it to the post. When it gets too long, I start a new chain.
Don't even attempt to read this garbage. If you've found me through Googling any of these names, then welcome to my funhouse. I generally write about Libertarian Politics, and I spend waaaaay to much time ridiculing the Stimulus Package and Al Gore.
Now, on to the emails.....
This one has a better story than most, but the grammar is worse than mine.
THE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR.
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIATINUBU SQUARE,
LAGOS-NIGERIA.
Our Ref: CBN/OHG/OXD1/2009
TELEX: CENBANK.
PAYMENT FILE: CBN/BEN/08.
Attn: Please PAYMENT NOTIFICATION OF YOUR FUNDS.
Definitely, I am sure that the receipt of this email will be of utmost blessing to you. Firstly, I will like to introduce myself formally; I am Mr. Richard Walter, the secretary to Prof. Charles Soludo, The Executive Governor of The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). You are been officially contacted by me today because I was instructed to do so by my boss, kindly note that your Funds were Re-deposited into the \"Federal Suspense Account\" of the CBN last week, because you did not forward your Claim as the Right beneficiary. The Central Bank of Nigeria is the parent Bank of all commercial Banks here in Nigeria.
My boss the Governor, was visited in his office by some Gentlemen today, really these men were unexpected by him because their visit was impromptu. He had to ask them why they came to see him in person and they said that they were here to collect the Inheritance/ contract funds Bill Sum of (US$7,500,000:00) $7.5 million which rightfully belongs to you as due payment on your behalf.
At this development He asked them who authorized them to come down to Nigeria for the Collection of this Payment and they told him that you asked them to come and collect these Funds on your Behalf. In fact this was the biggest shock that this Bank has ever received so far because your Inheritance Funds is still in the \"Federal Suspense Account\" of CBN, yet you sent these men to come and collect this Funds on your behalf without notifying us.
We do not understand why you should send these men to come and Collect your Funds on your behalf. If actually you want them to help you collect your funds, you should have at least informed him officially as the Executive Governor of this Bank. Note that they actually tendered some Vital Documents which proved that you actually sent them for the Collection of these Funds. Honestly, it really shocked him that you took such a decision without his consent. Below is list of the Documents which they tendered to this Bank today:
1. LETTER OF ADMINISTRATION.
2. HIGH COURT INJUNCTION.
3. ORDER TO RELEASE.
Actually, these Documents which they tendered to this Noble Bank are a clear Proof that you sent them to Collect this Funds for you.Finally, He, Prof Soludo told them to come back tomorrow morning and they promised to come back.As the Governor of this Noble Bank, he was supposed to Release this Funds to them but he refused to do so because he wanted to clarify this from you first. KINDLY DO GET BACK TO ME WITH YOUR TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBER, OCCUPATION,AGE,AND ADDRESS SO I CAN REACH.
Due to the Nature of his job, he cannot afford to make any mistake in releasing these Funds to anyone except you whom is the Recognized Bonafide Beneficiary to these Funds. Kindly clarify us on this issue before we make this Payment to these foreigners whom came on your behalf.Kindly direct your response to the private email address of my boss, Prof. Charles Soludo, The Executive Governor of The Central Bank of Nigeria CBN).below for quicker deliberation and response from him on the release of your funds to you.
Name: Prof. Charles Soludo
Phone:+234 8034627314
Email: centralbankof.nigeria@pisem.net
OR c.bankofnigeria@ymail.com
Yours Faithfully,
Mr. Richard Walter.
Secretary.TO THE GOVERNOR.CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIATINUBU SQUARE, LAGOS- NIGERIA.
STATEMENT OF CONFIDENTIALITY:The information in this email and in any attachments may contain confidential information and is intended solely for the attention and use of the named addressee(s). It may not be disclosed to any person without authorization. If you are not the intended recipient, or a person responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient you are not authorized to and must not disclose, copy, distribute or retain this message or any part of it.IMMEDIATE RESPOND NEED TO THIS
This next one has better grammar, but it doesn't do anything to get me excited....
Sir / Madam
Re: Next of kin to my late client Eng. Adams.
I am Barrister David Brimley, a solicitor at law; I am the personal attorney to late Eng. Adams, who used to work with shell - Development Company. Herein after shall be referred to as my client. On April 25th 2005, my client, his wife and three children were involved in a train accident in Japan during their visit to Japan which all the families were dead. Here is some news about the train accident:
Click on the web address:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/25/AR2005042500187.htmlhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4480031.stm
Since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy to locate any of my client's extended relatives, but this has also proved unsuccessful. After several attempts to locate a member of his family, hence I contacted you. I am contacting you to assist me repatriating the money and properties left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where this huge deposit were lodge. Particularly, the bank where the diseased had an account valued at [$25 million dollars] has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have the account confiscated within the next official banking quarter.
Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relative for the past years, now I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to my late client. Since you are a Foreigner you are capable of doing this transaction. So that the proceeds of this account valued at [$25 million dollars] can be paid to you, then you and I can share the money 60% for me and 30% for you, while 5% will be used to offset all the expenses incurred in the course of this transaction including tax and 5% for the poor in your country. I have all necessary legal documents that can be used to back up our claims. All i require is your honest co-operation to enable us seeing this transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.
Please get in touch with me by my email and send the following information to me.
Your full name Residential address Phone and fax numbers to enable us discuss further about this transaction.
Looking forward to your prompt response. get back to me through my private email address:davidbrimley1@rediffmail.com
Best regards to you and your family.
Thank you.
Barrister David Brimley
Here's one that arrived on February 12th, embedded in a graphic, making it somewhat trickier to copy.
Dear Friend,
I am Mr.Salisu Omar a banker in ECO bank Burkina Faso
I contacted you now on a business deal of USD$7.5,000.000, to transfer to your account
The depositor of the said fund died with his entire family during the Iraq war in 2006.
The customer & his entire family died, unfortunately, leaving nobody for the claim. if we make this claim, we will share it 40%/60%.
If you are interested reply I will give you the full details.
Waiting for reply
Best regard,
S Omar
An older one that slipped past me, trying to exploit the Madrid bombing:
I am Mr. T.Patrick, Senior Staff, with a Bank here in Madrid- Spain .
I got your contact while searching for a reliable someone to contact for this transaction in regards to a business transfer for a huge sum of money in a dormant account. I need your assistance to transfer to overseas Nine Million, Five Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars Only (US$9,550.000.00).
I am seeking your humble assistance to provide either an existing bank account or set up a new Bank account to receive this fund, even an empty account can serve this purpose, or you help to seek an honest and, reliable businessman who can assist us. Though I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make any one apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that this transaction is being handled by me and my colleagues, who are also departmental heads in the same bank.
During the course of our auditing we discovered a floating fund in a domiciliary account opened in the bank in 2000 and since 2004 nobody has operated on this account, after going through some old files in the records we discovered that the owner of the account who is a foreigner died in Madrid Bombing of 11th of March 2004,without any traceable next of kin hence the dormant nature of the account and if nobody come to claim this funds it will be re- channel to government coffers as unclaimed funds.
If this proposal is acceptable by you, do not take undue advantage of the trust I have bestowed in you, I await your swift response via my personal mail : (teddypatrickbanker@gmail.com)
Yours faithfully,
Mr. T.Patrick.
T. Patrick needs some emails from all of you, just to help fill up his day. Here's another one, retrieved from the Spam file. After you look at these for a while, you have to wonder why the all make the mistake of mentioning Nigeria, long after the phrase "Nigerian Email Scam" entered our vocabulary. Why don't they improve their odds by saying "Estonia" or "Eritrea", or even "Stimulus Package" ???
Dear Friend
I am John Enoh Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, National Assembly Chambers of Federal Republic of Nigeria I write to honorably request your assistance in helping to receive amount of money into your account forsafe keeping and for future investment in your country.
By virtue of my position as the chief supervisor of foreign contracts, thesum of US$25,000,000.00 (Twenty Five Million United States Dollars) is available in escrow account that I intend to transfer overseas through yourassistance as a foreign partner.This money is as a result of Over provision in the Federal government budget for unpaid contract amount to foreign contractors who executed contract in theNiger- Delta in Petroleum industry. As soon as the contract amount is paid to you, I will share with you 40% and60% for me, my share you will help me to invest in any profitable and lucrative business in your country or any other country that you will so advise.
You can reach me by return mail, including
(1) Your full names and Age
(2) Your contact address and country of Origin
(3) Your company's name (if any)
(4) Your confidential telephone (cell) and fax number
The above information will enable me brief you more details of the transactionand also start the application process/documentation that will lead to therelease of the funds to you through bank to bank transfer.
While waiting foryour quick response I remain your potential investment partner.Best Regards,Honorable John EnohN.B. FOR CONFIDENTIAL REASONS DO GET BACK TO ME THROUGH THIS EMAIL ADDRESSmailto:ADDRESSjohneenoh@yahoo.co.jp----------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through bangla.net,
The First Online Internet Service Provider in Bangladesh
Now this one I kinda like. It has the appearance of legitimacy, if read while drunk. It's too long for me to fix the sentence/paragraph breaks, so I'm just going to paste it "as is".
Mr. George Kevin. 17c Av.Ghilat Age:58 years Marrital Status: Married with 3 children Occupation: Banker Country: Burkina FasoTel: +226 70 84 88 34 Dear Friend, Please, I want you to read this letter very carefully and I must apologize for briging this message into your mail box without any formal introduction due to the urgency and confidential of this issue and I know that this message will come to you as a surprise, Pls this is not a joke and I will not like you to joke with it. Before the U.S and Iraqi war our client MR.Hassan El Mahdi who was a business man and also an oil supplier to The republic of Burkina Faso made a numbered fixed deposit for 18 calendar months, with a total value of Thirty million United State Dollars($m30 000,000)only in our bank.Upon maturity several notices was sent to him, even during the war which began in 2003. Again after the war another notification was sent and still no response came from him. We later find out that the dceased customer along with his entire family(wife and children)died in a bomb blast that hit their home. You can read more about the bombings on visiting these: sites :http://http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/11/iraq.deaths/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6040054.stm After further investigation it was also discovered that the late customer did not declare his next of kin in his official papers including the paperwork of his bank deposit. And he also confided in me the last time he was at my office that no one except me knew of his deposit in our bank, So I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of($30 000 000)millions USD into your bank account within 14 working banking days. What bothers me most is that according to the laws of country a Burkinabe cannot come out and claim this fund.I don't want the money to go into our Bank treasury as an abandoned fund. Therefore this is the reason why I contacted you so that our bank will release this money to you as the next of kin to the deceased customer. Please I would like you to keep this proposal as a top secret and delete it if you are not interested.Upon the receipt of your reply and indication of your capability, I will give you full details on how the business will be executed and also note that you will have 40% of the above mentioned sum if you agree to handle this business with me while 60% will be for me. I don't want anyone here in our bank to know my involvement until you confirm this fund into your account and ask me to come over for the sharing as iindicated. Then after I will retire from our bank and come over to you contry fordisbursement acconding to the percentage indicated. therefore to enable theimmediate transfer of this fund toyou as arranged, you must apply first to the bank as relation or next of kin ofthe deceased, Please, dont entertain any atom of fear because the transaction is 100% risk free. Be rest assured that I will provide all the necessary information which the bank may require from you during the process to make sure everything goes well and fast. Best Regards Mr George Kevin
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Alisa In Wonderland wants you to think about something
Alisa In Wonderland, my favorite Israeli blogger, has posted an interesting thought experiment.
It's extremely rare for Alisa to type in English and when she does so, we should all take notice.
Ignore the Hebrew at the top of the post. That's strictly for home consumption.
She went to the hassle of translating all of this for your benefit, so get over there ! ! !
I think the answer to question "A" would be "eternity".
I think the answer to question "B" would be "about a year".
I have no idea what would happen on the West Bank.
Also, if you try to comment on Alisa's blog, the text will appear from right to left since it's designed for Hebrew. The three blanks above the comment field are for name, email address, and URL.
It's extremely rare for Alisa to type in English and when she does so, we should all take notice.
Ignore the Hebrew at the top of the post. That's strictly for home consumption.
She went to the hassle of translating all of this for your benefit, so get over there ! ! !
I think the answer to question "A" would be "eternity".
I think the answer to question "B" would be "about a year".
I have no idea what would happen on the West Bank.
Also, if you try to comment on Alisa's blog, the text will appear from right to left since it's designed for Hebrew. The three blanks above the comment field are for name, email address, and URL.
JUST 94 MONTHS UNTIL THE CLIMATE TIPS ! ! !
Check this out: A countdown clock that shows how many months we have before passing the "climate's" tipping point.
Note that they didn't say the Global Warming tipping point, or the Global Cooling tipping point.
It's just a countdown to the "climate's" tipping point, which, in spite of serious competition, is the most ignorant-assed statement I've ever seen gullible organizations sponsor (see list at the bottom of the clock page).
It started at 100 months, and now it's down to just 94.
PANIC ! PANIC ! PANIC ! THE CLIMATE IS GOING TO TIP ! ! THROW AWAY YOUR MONEY ! ! RUN NEKKID IN THE STREETS ! ! VOTE FOR ANTI-CLIMATE TIPPERS IN 2010 ! ! !
It's too bad they don't post the HTML for the clock, otherwise I'd have it in the sidebar with appropriate doomsday verbiage.
Here's The Devil's Kitchen on the topic of Climate Tipping, the motivations of Climate Tipping alarmists, and such like. Pleae, please, please hit that Devil's Kitchen link. It's glorious.
Dr. James Hansen, high priest of Anthropogenic Global Warming, comes in for well-deserved abuse in Satan's Snackbar. What most people don't understand is that Dr. Hansen isn't going to get any money to study AGW unless he can convince people that AGW exists.
(Anthropogenic Global Warming is the belief that we change the weather with our actions. It's very similar to the Pat Robertson/Jerry Falwell belief system that homosexuality causes hurricanes to hit New Orleans.)
Thanks again to NickM with the Cat Counters for telling the world about THE DAY THE CLIMATE TIPS ! ! !
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The Libertarian Blog Place
Here are a few things from today's Libertarian Blog Place.
Russell Roberts of the Cafe Hayek blog won't be shedding any tears over Tom Daschle removing himself from consideration for a Cabinet post.
Kevin Colby has a fun list of the items under the Stimulus Package Christmas Tree. The post is called "Pork Found In Senate Version Of Stimulus". In related news, there's been "Liquid Found In The Pacific", "Retirees Found In Miami", "Tax Dodgers Found In The Cabinet", and "Poo-Poo Found In The Latrines At Fort Pemberton".
Samizdata has Brian Micklethwait musing about cannabis. My favorite paragraph: "....it looks like cannabis may soon be legalised, but simultaneously nationalised. A bit like the Church of England with religion. This is the other way to discourage things, when outright banning has failed. As an agnostic about cannabis, I favour outright legalisation on libertarian grounds. As an atheist about religion, I have rather a soft spot for the Church of England."
Also on Samizdata, Johnathan Pearce wonders about the ethics of using tax money to pay for art. While you're over there, check out Nick M's comments on the subject, where he gives a shout-out to his debating buddy, Dr. Ralph. (Note to Nick: Put Counting Cats on the Libertarian Blog Place. You won't get but 10-20 hits per day from that site, but a lot of readers will save the link and keep coming back.)
Stephen Moore at "Point Vs. Counterpoint" believes that we're all living in a badly produced community theatre production of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged". Stephen Moore's got a good point.
Christopher Manion at The LRC blog writes that because ofthe flood in New Orleans ice storms in Kentucky a lot of people drowned 55 people have died while Bush was on vacation while Obama tried to find cabinet members who paid their taxes and a lot of people still don't have homes and a lot of people still don't have electricity.
Also on the LRC....Kathryn Muratore reveals a new bill in the Maryland State Senate that would require certain government buildings (including schools !) to have a picture of the President in a prominent location. (If these shrines are constructed, look for school prayer to be a mandate, not a forbidden activity. All hail to thee, Obamessiah !)
And the UK Libertarian blog has dredged up one of my favorite Ezra Levant videos. Kids, if you're looking for a role model, be like Ezra.
Russell Roberts of the Cafe Hayek blog won't be shedding any tears over Tom Daschle removing himself from consideration for a Cabinet post.
Kevin Colby has a fun list of the items under the Stimulus Package Christmas Tree. The post is called "Pork Found In Senate Version Of Stimulus". In related news, there's been "Liquid Found In The Pacific", "Retirees Found In Miami", "Tax Dodgers Found In The Cabinet", and "Poo-Poo Found In The Latrines At Fort Pemberton".
Samizdata has Brian Micklethwait musing about cannabis. My favorite paragraph: "....it looks like cannabis may soon be legalised, but simultaneously nationalised. A bit like the Church of England with religion. This is the other way to discourage things, when outright banning has failed. As an agnostic about cannabis, I favour outright legalisation on libertarian grounds. As an atheist about religion, I have rather a soft spot for the Church of England."
Also on Samizdata, Johnathan Pearce wonders about the ethics of using tax money to pay for art. While you're over there, check out Nick M's comments on the subject, where he gives a shout-out to his debating buddy, Dr. Ralph. (Note to Nick: Put Counting Cats on the Libertarian Blog Place. You won't get but 10-20 hits per day from that site, but a lot of readers will save the link and keep coming back.)
Stephen Moore at "Point Vs. Counterpoint" believes that we're all living in a badly produced community theatre production of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged". Stephen Moore's got a good point.
Christopher Manion at The LRC blog writes that because of
Also on the LRC....Kathryn Muratore reveals a new bill in the Maryland State Senate that would require certain government buildings (including schools !) to have a picture of the President in a prominent location. (If these shrines are constructed, look for school prayer to be a mandate, not a forbidden activity. All hail to thee, Obamessiah !)
And the UK Libertarian blog has dredged up one of my favorite Ezra Levant videos. Kids, if you're looking for a role model, be like Ezra.
Monday, February 2, 2009
An apology and a retraction
I made a major error a couple of months ago, and would like to apologize. I made the following statement:
So here's my prediction. We don't learn from the past. We're throwing huge amounts of our kids and grandkids' money at this problem. (The problem: investors have lost money at the Wall Street Blackjack table, and wish to be made whole again.) So far, that hasn't worked. The next thing we're going to do is shut down NAFTA and other Free Trade agreements. Then we're going to put prohibitive tariffs into place.
I was wrong, wrong, wrong. And I deeply regret what I wrote.
The freakin' idiots are going to put prohibitive tariffs into place FIRST. Then they'll screw up NAFTA. I got it backwards.
I can't believe I didn't catch that, and I deeply regret the error.
Seriously, here's the problem.....
1) The stimulus package has a provision which states that no foreign steel can be used in the upcoming infrastructure projects.
2) We've been buying a lot of steel from people who can produce it for less than we can.
3) If we make it illegal for American road contractors to purchase American steel, our former trading partners WILL make it illegal to purchase various items from us. Count on it.
4) The last time this happened was the result of something called the Smoot-Hawley tariff act, and it gave us the joyous decade called The Great Depression. It's hard to get an economy going when its illegal to trade with the other 95% of the world.
5) This doesn't even rise to the level of Economics 101.
6) They really are that freakin' dense. (The politicians, not the steel.)
photo of regret and remorse from here.
So here's my prediction. We don't learn from the past. We're throwing huge amounts of our kids and grandkids' money at this problem. (The problem: investors have lost money at the Wall Street Blackjack table, and wish to be made whole again.) So far, that hasn't worked. The next thing we're going to do is shut down NAFTA and other Free Trade agreements. Then we're going to put prohibitive tariffs into place.
I was wrong, wrong, wrong. And I deeply regret what I wrote.
The freakin' idiots are going to put prohibitive tariffs into place FIRST. Then they'll screw up NAFTA. I got it backwards.
I can't believe I didn't catch that, and I deeply regret the error.
Seriously, here's the problem.....
1) The stimulus package has a provision which states that no foreign steel can be used in the upcoming infrastructure projects.
2) We've been buying a lot of steel from people who can produce it for less than we can.
3) If we make it illegal for American road contractors to purchase American steel, our former trading partners WILL make it illegal to purchase various items from us. Count on it.
4) The last time this happened was the result of something called the Smoot-Hawley tariff act, and it gave us the joyous decade called The Great Depression. It's hard to get an economy going when its illegal to trade with the other 95% of the world.
5) This doesn't even rise to the level of Economics 101.
6) They really are that freakin' dense. (The politicians, not the steel.)
photo of regret and remorse from here.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Another Nomination For "The Whitey" - Tom Daschle
There are several ways to eliminate government waste. The best way, of course, is to avoid giving the government any of your money.
That was the subject of a post I did a couple of weeks ago, where I nominated several great Americans for "The Whitey", an award given for hiding money from the government.
Nominees included Hillary Clinton, Timothy Geithner, and the two guys who wheeled a corpse into a convenience store in an effort to cash the dead guy's Social Security check. (Hey, if that dead man's money had gone back to the government, it would've been spent on inaugurations, stimulus programs, or bailouts, instead of drugs and alcohol.) A few commenters made other nominations, but no individual or group received more than one vote.
To complicate matters, we now have another candidate. Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, nominee for Secretary Of Health And Human Services, neglected paying $147,000.00 in taxes.
As nominee for the Secretary Of Healthy And Human Services position, Daschle has proposed a Federal Health Board to oversee most, if not all, of our health care system.
This would not be cheap.
Daschle made similar proposals in his recent book "Critical: What We Can Do About The Health Care Crisis". Here's an escerpt from the Publisher's Weekly review of his book: "The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee necessary health care to all of its citizens, and as former senator Daschle observes, Skeptics say we can't afford to cover everyone.... blah blah blah."
Well, of course we can't afford to cover everyone. So why should Daschle bother giving the government an extra $147,000.00 of his money ? A brilliant move on Daschle's part, especially in light of his consistent support of higher taxes for high earners.
Like Tim Geithner before him, Daschle tried to suck up to the IRS before his confirmation hearing. Yes, he eventually wrote them a check. Yes, that's a tragedy. But at least he tried.
Therefore, I nominate former senator, current lobbyist, and future Obama cabinet member Tom Daschle for The Whitey award.
That was the subject of a post I did a couple of weeks ago, where I nominated several great Americans for "The Whitey", an award given for hiding money from the government.
Nominees included Hillary Clinton, Timothy Geithner, and the two guys who wheeled a corpse into a convenience store in an effort to cash the dead guy's Social Security check. (Hey, if that dead man's money had gone back to the government, it would've been spent on inaugurations, stimulus programs, or bailouts, instead of drugs and alcohol.) A few commenters made other nominations, but no individual or group received more than one vote.
To complicate matters, we now have another candidate. Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, nominee for Secretary Of Health And Human Services, neglected paying $147,000.00 in taxes.
As nominee for the Secretary Of Healthy And Human Services position, Daschle has proposed a Federal Health Board to oversee most, if not all, of our health care system.
This would not be cheap.
Daschle made similar proposals in his recent book "Critical: What We Can Do About The Health Care Crisis". Here's an escerpt from the Publisher's Weekly review of his book: "The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee necessary health care to all of its citizens, and as former senator Daschle observes, Skeptics say we can't afford to cover everyone.... blah blah blah."
Well, of course we can't afford to cover everyone. So why should Daschle bother giving the government an extra $147,000.00 of his money ? A brilliant move on Daschle's part, especially in light of his consistent support of higher taxes for high earners.
Like Tim Geithner before him, Daschle tried to suck up to the IRS before his confirmation hearing. Yes, he eventually wrote them a check. Yes, that's a tragedy. But at least he tried.
Therefore, I nominate former senator, current lobbyist, and future Obama cabinet member Tom Daschle for The Whitey award.
I also propose that we end these long confirmation hearings immediately, and simply rubber stamp all future cabinet members. With this ghastly crew of tax-dodger nominees, there's no telling how much more tax money they'll discover hidden away in mattresses.
And we wouldn't want to see it wasted.
Another Theoretical Question
There is a provision in the new Campaign Donor Reward Program Stimulus Package that prohibits the use of foreign steel in any of the new highway and infrastructure projects.
We currently purchase 40% of Canada's steel output.
Canada currently purchases lots of software, technology, and food from the U.S.
Let's assume that theChristmas Tree With Presents For Everybody ! ! ! Stimulus Package makes it through the Senate.
What do you think Canada will do in response ?
We currently purchase 40% of Canada's steel output.
Canada currently purchases lots of software, technology, and food from the U.S.
Let's assume that the
What do you think Canada will do in response ?
Saturday, January 31, 2009
We're The Government - And You're Not.
Remember the truly horrible Civics videos of the 60's and 70's ?
What if they messed up and released an accurate one?
What if they messed up and released an accurate one?
Irony Is Dead
Irony is now dead.
Hold a mirror up to its mouth, and you'll see no fog.
Irony has achieved room temperature.
You can bury it now. Don't even bother to take the morgue tag off its toe.
In the past, liberal western democracies have understood that no nation has ever "protected" its way to prosperity. The only way for anyone or anything to prosper is through trade. Trade with other people, families, neighborhoods, counties, cities, states, and especially, nations. That's the only way for consumers in one area to take advantage of the comparative advantage held in another area.
Well, it ain't looking good for Free Trade these days, mostly because those who can only survive and prosper inside a Protectionist Greenhouse are bribing others to put up more trade barriers.
But wait ! ! ! Four unlikely heroes, men of good sense, logic, and an understanding of history have risen to save the day ! ! They understand math, psychology, and economics ! ! According to some accounts, they can read books ! ! Some say they can read books without moving their lips ! !
Here's Lee Hudson Teslik, writing for RCP :
Pleas for economic openness rang out at this year's summit, particularly among the leaders of emerging economies. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned against reliance upon intervention and protectionism to cure economic ills, saying such policies could backfire (Guardian). Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao backed Putin, saying world leaders must remain vigilant (Xinhua) in their efforts to curb trade protectionism. Egypt's trade minister echoed concerns (Reuters) about protectionism, as did India's (Reuters).
Russia, China, Egypt, and India. Four of the most bass-ackwards places on earth. They get it.
We don't.
The date and time for Irony's funeral service has not yet been announced. But the family asks that you not bring any flowers or food that you didn't produce yourself. You might as well get used to it now.
Irony pic from here.
Hold a mirror up to its mouth, and you'll see no fog.
Irony has achieved room temperature.
You can bury it now. Don't even bother to take the morgue tag off its toe.
In the past, liberal western democracies have understood that no nation has ever "protected" its way to prosperity. The only way for anyone or anything to prosper is through trade. Trade with other people, families, neighborhoods, counties, cities, states, and especially, nations. That's the only way for consumers in one area to take advantage of the comparative advantage held in another area.
Well, it ain't looking good for Free Trade these days, mostly because those who can only survive and prosper inside a Protectionist Greenhouse are bribing others to put up more trade barriers.
But wait ! ! ! Four unlikely heroes, men of good sense, logic, and an understanding of history have risen to save the day ! ! They understand math, psychology, and economics ! ! According to some accounts, they can read books ! ! Some say they can read books without moving their lips ! !
Here's Lee Hudson Teslik, writing for RCP :
Pleas for economic openness rang out at this year's summit, particularly among the leaders of emerging economies. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned against reliance upon intervention and protectionism to cure economic ills, saying such policies could backfire (Guardian). Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao backed Putin, saying world leaders must remain vigilant (Xinhua) in their efforts to curb trade protectionism. Egypt's trade minister echoed concerns (Reuters) about protectionism, as did India's (Reuters).
Russia, China, Egypt, and India. Four of the most bass-ackwards places on earth. They get it.
We don't.
The date and time for Irony's funeral service has not yet been announced. But the family asks that you not bring any flowers or food that you didn't produce yourself. You might as well get used to it now.
Irony pic from here.
The White Man's Burden, by Rudyard Kipling
This was Kipling's response to the American takeover of the Phillipines in 1899.
"Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
Take up the White Man's burden--
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"
Take up the White Man's burden--
Ye dare not stoop to less--
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloke your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your gods and you.
Take up the White Man's burden--
Have done with childish days--
The lightly proferred laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!
"Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.
Take up the White Man's burden--
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.
Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.
Take up the White Man's burden--
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper--
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go mark them with your living,
And mark them with your dead.
Take up the White Man's burden--
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"
Take up the White Man's burden--
Ye dare not stoop to less--
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloke your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your gods and you.
Take up the White Man's burden--
Have done with childish days--
The lightly proferred laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Trying To Drink Ourselves Sober
A 40 Year Wish List, from the Wall Street Journal
You won't believe what's in that stimulus bill.
Oh? Try me.
....We've looked it over, and even we can't quite believe it. There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years;
But think of all the Americans who just might use Amtrak one day. Maybe. Perhaps.
$2 billion for child-care subsidies;
In other words, a breeding incentive....
$50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts;
Hello, Doctor Ralph ! Tell all the BoHo's to break out their paintbrushes !
$400 million for global-warming research....
Hmmmm.....I wonder what conclusions they'll reach? Is there any doubt? Should they even bother with buying thermometers?
and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects.
That's $2.4 billion just to DEMONSTRATE carbon-capture. They're not yet paying for it to be done in the real world. But you soon will be.
There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.
That's paying a lot of bread for people to watch the circus. Didn't Juvenal have something to say about that?
....Most of the rest of this project spending will go to such things as renewable energy funding ($8 billion) or mass transit ($6 billion) that have a low or negative return on investment. Most urban transit systems are so badly managed that their fares cover less than half of their costs. However, the people who operate these systems belong to public-employee unions that are campaign contributors to . . . guess which party?
The Greens? Strom Thurmond's Dixiecrat Party? The Constitution Party? The Surprise Party? I give up. Tell us, Oh Wall Street Journal, tell us.
Naw. Let's delete that part.
.....Here's another lu-lu: Congress wants to spend $600 million more for the federal government to buy new cars. Uncle Sam already spends $3 billion a year on its fleet of 600,000 vehicles.
Well, how are they going to demonstrate Carbon Capture unless they have Carbon Emitting Cars to capture the carbon from? Doh !
....As for the promise of accountability, some $54 billion will go to federal programs that the Office of Management and Budget or the Government Accountability Office have already criticized as "ineffective" or unable to pass basic financial audits. These include the Economic Development Administration, the Small Business Administration, the 10 federal job training programs, and many more.
Those people vote too, you know. Don't they deserve something for Christmas?
Oh, and don't forget education, which would get $66 billion more. That's more than the entire Education Department spent a mere 10 years ago and is on top of the doubling under President Bush. Some $6 billion of this will subsidize university building projects. If you think the intention here is to help kids learn, the House declares on page 257 that "No recipient . . . shall use such funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools." Horrors: Some money might go to nonunion teachers.
I'll let that one stand on its own.
The larger fiscal issue here is whether this spending bonanza will become part of the annual "budget baseline" that Congress uses as the new floor when calculating how much to increase spending the following year, and into the future.
No, that's not an issue. Don't act like they're even arguing the point. This is going to become a permanent part of the budget. Nothing is more permanent than temporary government spending.
This is supposed to be a new era of bipartisanship, but this bill was written based on the wish list of every living -- or dead -- Democratic interest group. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, "We won the election. We wrote the bill." So they did. Republicans should let them take all of the credit.
I'm really tired of people talking about bipartisanship as if it were a good thing. Republicans worked hand in hand with Democrats to run up our current bar tab of $10,800,000,000,000.00
And now the Republicans want to run for the parking lot without paying? Just because the bar tab is about to double? Now that we're teetering on the edge of a spending disaster, they don't even want to argue about who ordered the last Margarita or the three JaegerBombs or the extra-spicy buffalo wings with Ranch dip?
Freakin' cowards, all of you.
Texas Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison ! ! ! I'm calling you out on this one ! ! ! Get your wrinkled butts back in there and help the Democrats blow some money.
You won't believe what's in that stimulus bill.
Oh? Try me.
....We've looked it over, and even we can't quite believe it. There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years;
But think of all the Americans who just might use Amtrak one day. Maybe. Perhaps.
$2 billion for child-care subsidies;
In other words, a breeding incentive....
$50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts;
Hello, Doctor Ralph ! Tell all the BoHo's to break out their paintbrushes !
$400 million for global-warming research....
Hmmmm.....I wonder what conclusions they'll reach? Is there any doubt? Should they even bother with buying thermometers?
and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects.
That's $2.4 billion just to DEMONSTRATE carbon-capture. They're not yet paying for it to be done in the real world. But you soon will be.
There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.
That's paying a lot of bread for people to watch the circus. Didn't Juvenal have something to say about that?
....Most of the rest of this project spending will go to such things as renewable energy funding ($8 billion) or mass transit ($6 billion) that have a low or negative return on investment. Most urban transit systems are so badly managed that their fares cover less than half of their costs. However, the people who operate these systems belong to public-employee unions that are campaign contributors to . . . guess which party?
The Greens? Strom Thurmond's Dixiecrat Party? The Constitution Party? The Surprise Party? I give up. Tell us, Oh Wall Street Journal, tell us.
Naw. Let's delete that part.
.....Here's another lu-lu: Congress wants to spend $600 million more for the federal government to buy new cars. Uncle Sam already spends $3 billion a year on its fleet of 600,000 vehicles.
Well, how are they going to demonstrate Carbon Capture unless they have Carbon Emitting Cars to capture the carbon from? Doh !
....As for the promise of accountability, some $54 billion will go to federal programs that the Office of Management and Budget or the Government Accountability Office have already criticized as "ineffective" or unable to pass basic financial audits. These include the Economic Development Administration, the Small Business Administration, the 10 federal job training programs, and many more.
Those people vote too, you know. Don't they deserve something for Christmas?
Oh, and don't forget education, which would get $66 billion more. That's more than the entire Education Department spent a mere 10 years ago and is on top of the doubling under President Bush. Some $6 billion of this will subsidize university building projects. If you think the intention here is to help kids learn, the House declares on page 257 that "No recipient . . . shall use such funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools." Horrors: Some money might go to nonunion teachers.
I'll let that one stand on its own.
The larger fiscal issue here is whether this spending bonanza will become part of the annual "budget baseline" that Congress uses as the new floor when calculating how much to increase spending the following year, and into the future.
No, that's not an issue. Don't act like they're even arguing the point. This is going to become a permanent part of the budget. Nothing is more permanent than temporary government spending.
This is supposed to be a new era of bipartisanship, but this bill was written based on the wish list of every living -- or dead -- Democratic interest group. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, "We won the election. We wrote the bill." So they did. Republicans should let them take all of the credit.
I'm really tired of people talking about bipartisanship as if it were a good thing. Republicans worked hand in hand with Democrats to run up our current bar tab of $10,800,000,000,000.00
And now the Republicans want to run for the parking lot without paying? Just because the bar tab is about to double? Now that we're teetering on the edge of a spending disaster, they don't even want to argue about who ordered the last Margarita or the three JaegerBombs or the extra-spicy buffalo wings with Ranch dip?
Freakin' cowards, all of you.
Texas Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison ! ! ! I'm calling you out on this one ! ! ! Get your wrinkled butts back in there and help the Democrats blow some money.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Super Bowl Picks
Okay, enough about politics and theology and other deep chin-stroking topics.
We have a football game this weekend.
Super Bowl 43.
The Arizona Cardinals vs The Pittsburgh Steelers.
The line opened with Steelers -6.5, and there was so much money wagered on the Steelers that they've increased the spread to Steelers by 7. Super Bowls are usually blowouts by the home team. The favorite usually wins. But I like the Cardinals to at least cover a 7-point spread.
And now, the fun stuff....
The winning coach usually gets a sideline Gatorade shower. Odds are 3-1 that the Gatorade will be yellow, instead of any other color. Load up on the other color. There's been so much publicity on this bet, I'm predicting some contrarians have stocked the coolers with the Red Fruit Punch flavor.
Here are a few others listed by Fox Sports:
Kurt Warner -23.5 passing yards over Ben Roethlisberger. If the Cardinals are going to at least cover a 7-point spread, it'll be because Warner throws at least 75 yards more than Big Ben. Take Warner.
Will Kurt Warner break Joe Montana's Career Super Bowl Record of 1,142 Passing Yards? Yes: +475 No: -700 (If you don't understand Money Line "Yes/No" bets, click here.) Take the NO, and quickly. Warner would need 364 passing yards to do this, and that ain't going to happen.
Total rushing yards by Willie Parker — Over/Under 75.5 The guys at Fox News don't like the odds of Parker breaking 75.5, and took the under. The guys at Fox News also didn't like the odds of Barack Obama being elected President. Take the over.
Total receiving yards by Larry Fitzgerald — Over/Under 83.5 Larry Fitzgerald is a beast. Larry Fitzgerald is not human. Larry Fitzgerald doesn't just bite, he also chews. Take the over.
Total kickoff returns by both teams — Over/Under 9.5 Remember, you have a kickoff to begin each half. That leaves you with only 8 more touchdowns or field goals needed to break this one. I think we'll have plenty of field goals. I like the over.
Total distance on the first punt of the game — Over/Under 41.5 yards Yeah, your typical NFL punter can boot it a lot further than 41.5 yards. But what if you're kicking from somewhere in no-man's land between midfield and field goal range? Go under.
Pittsburgh + Arizona total points -12.5 over LeBron James total points at Detroit For newcomers to Super Bowl betting insanity, you might need me to break this one down for you. Here's how it works. Add up the total points scored in the Super Bowl. Subtract 12.5 points. (The half point eliminates any chance of a tie.) Is this number higher or lower than the number of points that the NBA's LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers will score against the Detroit Pistons?
LeBron knows about this bet, right? LeBron will want to reward everyone who picked him to cover this, right? LeBron has been averaging 28 points per game, right? LeBron can control his own destiny in this thing easier than the Steelers and Cardinals, right? Take LeBron.
Pittsburgh + Arizona total sacks -0.5 over Ernie Els fourth round birdies (18 holes/Dubai Classic) It's golf, fer heaven's sake. Who cares? Take the sack total anway.
How long will it take Jennifer Hudson to sing the National anthem? — Over/Under 1:54 Just one minute and fifty four seconds? Jennifer Hudson is going to throw in more obligattos, fermatas, trills, shakes and shimmies than Francis Scott Key could have imagined. Yes, I know the music at these things is always pre-recorded. There are people out there who already know the exact length of Sunday's national anthem. But if you're singing at the Super Bowl, you don't sing it like a marching band plays it. Take the over.
What color will (Cardinals owner) Bill Bidwell's bow tie be? Red -600, Any other color +400 Cardinals are red. The team and the bird. Bidwell usually wears red bow ties, except for when he doesn't. He wears red so often that I think this one is fixed, simply because they're willing to take money on it as a competitive wager. I think someone has gotten Bidwell a good luck bow tie in a color other than red. Take the other color.
These picks have been brought to you by The Whited Sepulchre Sports Wagering Ministry.
We have a football game this weekend.
Super Bowl 43.
The Arizona Cardinals vs The Pittsburgh Steelers.
The line opened with Steelers -6.5, and there was so much money wagered on the Steelers that they've increased the spread to Steelers by 7. Super Bowls are usually blowouts by the home team. The favorite usually wins. But I like the Cardinals to at least cover a 7-point spread.
And now, the fun stuff....
The winning coach usually gets a sideline Gatorade shower. Odds are 3-1 that the Gatorade will be yellow, instead of any other color. Load up on the other color. There's been so much publicity on this bet, I'm predicting some contrarians have stocked the coolers with the Red Fruit Punch flavor.
Here are a few others listed by Fox Sports:
Kurt Warner -23.5 passing yards over Ben Roethlisberger. If the Cardinals are going to at least cover a 7-point spread, it'll be because Warner throws at least 75 yards more than Big Ben. Take Warner.
Will Kurt Warner break Joe Montana's Career Super Bowl Record of 1,142 Passing Yards? Yes: +475 No: -700 (If you don't understand Money Line "Yes/No" bets, click here.) Take the NO, and quickly. Warner would need 364 passing yards to do this, and that ain't going to happen.
Total rushing yards by Willie Parker — Over/Under 75.5 The guys at Fox News don't like the odds of Parker breaking 75.5, and took the under. The guys at Fox News also didn't like the odds of Barack Obama being elected President. Take the over.
Total receiving yards by Larry Fitzgerald — Over/Under 83.5 Larry Fitzgerald is a beast. Larry Fitzgerald is not human. Larry Fitzgerald doesn't just bite, he also chews. Take the over.
Total kickoff returns by both teams — Over/Under 9.5 Remember, you have a kickoff to begin each half. That leaves you with only 8 more touchdowns or field goals needed to break this one. I think we'll have plenty of field goals. I like the over.
Total distance on the first punt of the game — Over/Under 41.5 yards Yeah, your typical NFL punter can boot it a lot further than 41.5 yards. But what if you're kicking from somewhere in no-man's land between midfield and field goal range? Go under.
Pittsburgh + Arizona total points -12.5 over LeBron James total points at Detroit For newcomers to Super Bowl betting insanity, you might need me to break this one down for you. Here's how it works. Add up the total points scored in the Super Bowl. Subtract 12.5 points. (The half point eliminates any chance of a tie.) Is this number higher or lower than the number of points that the NBA's LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers will score against the Detroit Pistons?
LeBron knows about this bet, right? LeBron will want to reward everyone who picked him to cover this, right? LeBron has been averaging 28 points per game, right? LeBron can control his own destiny in this thing easier than the Steelers and Cardinals, right? Take LeBron.
Pittsburgh + Arizona total sacks -0.5 over Ernie Els fourth round birdies (18 holes/Dubai Classic) It's golf, fer heaven's sake. Who cares? Take the sack total anway.
How long will it take Jennifer Hudson to sing the National anthem? — Over/Under 1:54 Just one minute and fifty four seconds? Jennifer Hudson is going to throw in more obligattos, fermatas, trills, shakes and shimmies than Francis Scott Key could have imagined. Yes, I know the music at these things is always pre-recorded. There are people out there who already know the exact length of Sunday's national anthem. But if you're singing at the Super Bowl, you don't sing it like a marching band plays it. Take the over.
What color will (Cardinals owner) Bill Bidwell's bow tie be? Red -600, Any other color +400 Cardinals are red. The team and the bird. Bidwell usually wears red bow ties, except for when he doesn't. He wears red so often that I think this one is fixed, simply because they're willing to take money on it as a competitive wager. I think someone has gotten Bidwell a good luck bow tie in a color other than red. Take the other color.
These picks have been brought to you by The Whited Sepulchre Sports Wagering Ministry.
US Air Rescue Cartoon - Please discuss
Please discuss this cartoon. Be thorough. All religions, communities of faith, bodies of believers, and skeptics are welcome.
Did God intervene in the US Air jet landing and rescue operation on the Hudson river?
If God does intervene, why didn't he do something about the 25,000 or so people who died of malnutrition on the same day as this rescue?
If God intervenes, why didn't he simply intervene to save the geese?
Why are there no rescue tugboats in the cartoon?
Are we terrified to admit/affirm that we've been in an unbroken chain of cause and effect ever since The Big Bang?
Did God intervene in the US Air jet landing and rescue operation on the Hudson river?
If God does intervene, why didn't he do something about the 25,000 or so people who died of malnutrition on the same day as this rescue?
If God intervenes, why didn't he simply intervene to save the geese?
Why are there no rescue tugboats in the cartoon?
Are we terrified to admit/affirm that we've been in an unbroken chain of cause and effect ever since The Big Bang?
John Cornyn - Damaged ! Defective ! On Sale While Supplies Last !
Texas Republicans are attacking Obama's Stimulus plan, or so says the Houston Chronicle.
Big, Fat, Hairy Deal. It doesn't matter. These are symbolic little protests, meaning nothing.
The fix is in. They've already thrown the fight. Senator John Cornyn (Daddy Party, Texas) voted in favor of the Timothy Geithner confirmation. If you can vote to confirm Tim "The Tax Dodger" Geithner as Chief Tax Collector/Big Brother Of The Bailout , is there anything you won't do?
Here's the frustrating thing.... John Cornyn is great on Free Trade and 2nd Amendment rights. He's consistently votedanti-mafia anti labor union.
But he believes that Social Security benefits are sacred, that we need a constitutional amendment against flag desecration, and that we need a constitutional amendment against gay marriage. When George W. Bush did the right thing and vetoed the latest obscene Farm Bill, John Cornyn voted to overide the veto. Cornyn is also for teacher-led prayer in the public schools.
In short, John Cornyn is a typical Daddy Party politician. (All of the above info comes from a site called On The Issues. Long-time libertarians will be interested in the chart at the bottom of the page....)
Our current party system has an infuriating division with The Daddy Party advocating economic freedom and an insane amount of government interference in what should be private matters, while The Mommy Party fully embraces economic insanity, but has an ok record on social freedom (after the mid-1970's, anyway).
Having to vote between The Daddy Party and The Mommy Party is like shopping in a massive warehouse full of Factory Seconds, Damaged & Defective Product, and goods that couldn't pass the final Quality Control Inspection. Every now and then a Jeff Flake or a Ron Paul appears on the warehouse shelf by mistake, but those guys are like diamonds in a dungheap.
In the meantime, $1,000,000,000,000.00 gets taken from your pocket and given to the Daddy/Mommy Party supporters because you don't think you have any other choice.
Just a reminder....there are other warehouses where you can shop.
Big, Fat, Hairy Deal. It doesn't matter. These are symbolic little protests, meaning nothing.
The fix is in. They've already thrown the fight. Senator John Cornyn (Daddy Party, Texas) voted in favor of the Timothy Geithner confirmation. If you can vote to confirm Tim "The Tax Dodger" Geithner as Chief Tax Collector/Big Brother Of The Bailout , is there anything you won't do?
Here's the frustrating thing.... John Cornyn is great on Free Trade and 2nd Amendment rights. He's consistently voted
But he believes that Social Security benefits are sacred, that we need a constitutional amendment against flag desecration, and that we need a constitutional amendment against gay marriage. When George W. Bush did the right thing and vetoed the latest obscene Farm Bill, John Cornyn voted to overide the veto. Cornyn is also for teacher-led prayer in the public schools.
In short, John Cornyn is a typical Daddy Party politician. (All of the above info comes from a site called On The Issues. Long-time libertarians will be interested in the chart at the bottom of the page....)
Our current party system has an infuriating division with The Daddy Party advocating economic freedom and an insane amount of government interference in what should be private matters, while The Mommy Party fully embraces economic insanity, but has an ok record on social freedom (after the mid-1970's, anyway).
Having to vote between The Daddy Party and The Mommy Party is like shopping in a massive warehouse full of Factory Seconds, Damaged & Defective Product, and goods that couldn't pass the final Quality Control Inspection. Every now and then a Jeff Flake or a Ron Paul appears on the warehouse shelf by mistake, but those guys are like diamonds in a dungheap.
In the meantime, $1,000,000,000,000.00 gets taken from your pocket and given to the Daddy/Mommy Party supporters because you don't think you have any other choice.
Just a reminder....there are other warehouses where you can shop.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
How Jesus Evolved
Here's Bishop John Shelby Spong, from "Why Christianity Must Change Or Die", Chapter five:
"We need to be prepared....to discover that there is an enormous gap between the theological claims that have been made for Jesus in the life of institutional Christianity and the record that was actually contained in the Gospels....Most believers....do not learn in church that the virgin birth accounts were not original to Christianity, and did not appear in Christian history until the ninth decade."
Then came the Gospel of Mark.
Matthew was next.
Then Luke.
Then John.
Got it? Paul, Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. You can argue the fine points, but even some of the most fundamentalist of Biblical scholars agree with that timeline. The Apostle Paul was blogging away long before the first Gospel accounts of Jesus' life were written.
Paul writes as if Jesus didn't perform any miracles during his lifetime. Not once does Paul mention a virgin birth. Paul says that Jesus was designated a "son of God", but God did all the designating. There's no sense of divine equality between God and Jesus. You can search Paul's writings (and the rest of the Bible) in vain for the word "Trinity".
Paul claimed that the designation of Jesus as God's divine son took place by his "resurrection from the dead." You could make the case that Paul believed Jesus wasn't thought of as God's son until Jesus experienced a spiritual resurrection, something totally different from the heroic "Jeff Bridges In White" moment shown below.
About ten or fifteen years after Paul, someone wrote the Gospel of Mark. Like Paul, the author of Mark doesn't seem to know anything about virgin births, Mary being visited by angels, or even any post-resurrection appearances. (Note how the oldest copies of Mark end at Chapter 16, verse 8. Someone got creative with Mark about 100 years after the first draft.)
The author of Mark wasn't content with Paul's theory that "God designated Jesus as 'God's Son' at the time of the resurrection". Some one-upmanship was in order.... Mark took Paul's words and put them in the voice of God during Jesus' baptism. When Jesus is lifted out of the water, the voice of God says "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased". But read the text in Mark 1:9-11, and you get the idea that no one saw the heavens splitting open or heard God's voice except Jesus.
Yeah, right. Good job there, Mark.
Anyway, Mark moved the moment of Jesus' divinity forward about three years, from the resurrection to the baptism.
Then, about 50-55 years after the time of Jesus, came the book of Matthew. Spong writes that "It was for Matthew an intolerable idea that Jesus became something either at his baptism or his resurrection that he was not already,"
So an unnamed angel appears to Joseph (only in a dream) and tells him that Mary's child is from the Holy Spirit. "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
Matthew trumped Mark and Paul nicely, giving Jesus a divine pedigree at the moment of his conception.
Just a few years later, Luke used the same storyline, but firmed it up a bit. The angel was given a name (Gabriel), and appeared in person to Mary, not Joseph. Gabriel tells Mary that she's to be the mother of "the Son of God", the "Son of the Highest", and that "The Holy Spirit will come upon you".
So Luke is sitting back, in the words of Mark Twain, with "the calm confidence of a Christian holding four aces". Nobody would EVER be able to improve on that. Conception is the earliest point in our existence, right?
Wrong.
Here's Bishop Spong again: "Jesus' identity with God had become so complete by the tenth decade of the common era that he was said to have shared in that identity prior even to his conception and birth. So pre-existence became a category of which Christians began to talk."
Near the end of the first century someone composed the Gospel of John. Chapter one of John begins like this: " 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made..... 9 And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."
And there, ladies and gentlemen, is your proof that plants and animals aren't they only thing to evolve.
Gods do it too.
Pictures from here and here and here and here and here.
"We need to be prepared....to discover that there is an enormous gap between the theological claims that have been made for Jesus in the life of institutional Christianity and the record that was actually contained in the Gospels....Most believers....do not learn in church that the virgin birth accounts were not original to Christianity, and did not appear in Christian history until the ninth decade."
"Perhaps more important....the divine nature of Jesus....was also a late-developing reality."
Then came the Gospel of Mark.
Matthew was next.
Then Luke.
Then John.
Got it? Paul, Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. You can argue the fine points, but even some of the most fundamentalist of Biblical scholars agree with that timeline. The Apostle Paul was blogging away long before the first Gospel accounts of Jesus' life were written.
Paul writes as if Jesus didn't perform any miracles during his lifetime. Not once does Paul mention a virgin birth. Paul says that Jesus was designated a "son of God", but God did all the designating. There's no sense of divine equality between God and Jesus. You can search Paul's writings (and the rest of the Bible) in vain for the word "Trinity".
Paul claimed that the designation of Jesus as God's divine son took place by his "resurrection from the dead." You could make the case that Paul believed Jesus wasn't thought of as God's son until Jesus experienced a spiritual resurrection, something totally different from the heroic "Jeff Bridges In White" moment shown below.
About ten or fifteen years after Paul, someone wrote the Gospel of Mark. Like Paul, the author of Mark doesn't seem to know anything about virgin births, Mary being visited by angels, or even any post-resurrection appearances. (Note how the oldest copies of Mark end at Chapter 16, verse 8. Someone got creative with Mark about 100 years after the first draft.)The author of Mark wasn't content with Paul's theory that "God designated Jesus as 'God's Son' at the time of the resurrection". Some one-upmanship was in order.... Mark took Paul's words and put them in the voice of God during Jesus' baptism. When Jesus is lifted out of the water, the voice of God says "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased". But read the text in Mark 1:9-11, and you get the idea that no one saw the heavens splitting open or heard God's voice except Jesus.
Yeah, right. Good job there, Mark.
Anyway, Mark moved the moment of Jesus' divinity forward about three years, from the resurrection to the baptism.
Then, about 50-55 years after the time of Jesus, came the book of Matthew. Spong writes that "It was for Matthew an intolerable idea that Jesus became something either at his baptism or his resurrection that he was not already,"
So an unnamed angel appears to Joseph (only in a dream) and tells him that Mary's child is from the Holy Spirit. "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
Matthew trumped Mark and Paul nicely, giving Jesus a divine pedigree at the moment of his conception.
Just a few years later, Luke used the same storyline, but firmed it up a bit. The angel was given a name (Gabriel), and appeared in person to Mary, not Joseph. Gabriel tells Mary that she's to be the mother of "the Son of God", the "Son of the Highest", and that "The Holy Spirit will come upon you".So Luke is sitting back, in the words of Mark Twain, with "the calm confidence of a Christian holding four aces". Nobody would EVER be able to improve on that. Conception is the earliest point in our existence, right?
Wrong.
Here's Bishop Spong again: "Jesus' identity with God had become so complete by the tenth decade of the common era that he was said to have shared in that identity prior even to his conception and birth. So pre-existence became a category of which Christians began to talk."
Near the end of the first century someone composed the Gospel of John. Chapter one of John begins like this: " 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made..... 9 And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."
And there, ladies and gentlemen, is your proof that plants and animals aren't they only thing to evolve.
Gods do it too.
Pictures from here and here and here and here and here.
Does Your Package Need Stimulating ???
Here's The Cato Institute on the proposed stimulus package.
The video proposes several obvious things:
1) The stimulus package is nothing more than a payoff to contributors, or a way of bribing selected voters to become Big Government Sheeple.
2) George W. Bush increased government spending at a previously unimagined rate. This failed to stimulate the economy, or anything else, except the packages of military contractors.
3) All government spending is money taken out of the "regular" economy. Therefore, it is money taken from those who will use it most efficiently, and given to those who will use it least efficiently.
4) If you need to have your package stimulated, persuade someone else to stimulate it for you. Or stimulate your package yourself. Forcing someone else to stimulate your package is just wrong.
The video proposes several obvious things:
1) The stimulus package is nothing more than a payoff to contributors, or a way of bribing selected voters to become Big Government Sheeple.
2) George W. Bush increased government spending at a previously unimagined rate. This failed to stimulate the economy, or anything else, except the packages of military contractors.
3) All government spending is money taken out of the "regular" economy. Therefore, it is money taken from those who will use it most efficiently, and given to those who will use it least efficiently.
4) If you need to have your package stimulated, persuade someone else to stimulate it for you. Or stimulate your package yourself. Forcing someone else to stimulate your package is just wrong.
Caption Contest - Frosty Edition
I need a caption for this picture.
According to The Competition Committee, Flea won the last caption contest. There would have been more entries, but the comments degenerated into analysis, deconstruction, and mutual admiration.
It reminded me of a basketball game where the players stopped the action to critique each others' jump shots.
Monday, January 26, 2009
So Many Blogs, So Little Time
Check out the Fort Worth Renaissance site when you get a chance.
They have good general interest posts and other Town Of The Cow-related stuff.
The site has the look and feel of a Pete Wann production.
Going to Pete's site led me to Fort Worth Foodie. It's all about unhhh....Fort Worth Food. You get hungry looking at the screen.
And The Ghetto Plainsman.... one of the Fort Worthers I'd most like to meet. He's your typical African-American vegetarian fitness expert environmentalist kind of person.
Thimblethwicket - by Cynthia Shearer, a TCU writing perfesser. Check out this post about Mississippi (NOT CHICAGO, DAMMIT) blues legend Muddy Waters. She even gives a shout-out to Nicholas Lemann's brilliant but forgotten "The Promised Land", the best book ever written about the Black migration from the Mississippi Delta. And Good Lord Have Mercy, she used to be a curator at William Faulkner's house. Ms Shearer must have deep Mississippi roots, and therefore she is the best writing professor at TCU. Sign up now. I bet space is limited.
All are now blogrolled in the Fort Worth Bloggers section, and all are worthwhile.
Everybody on this planet is now typing faster than I can read. I love it.
They have good general interest posts and other Town Of The Cow-related stuff.
The site has the look and feel of a Pete Wann production.
Going to Pete's site led me to Fort Worth Foodie. It's all about unhhh....Fort Worth Food. You get hungry looking at the screen.
And The Ghetto Plainsman.... one of the Fort Worthers I'd most like to meet. He's your typical African-American vegetarian fitness expert environmentalist kind of person.
Thimblethwicket - by Cynthia Shearer, a TCU writing perfesser. Check out this post about Mississippi (NOT CHICAGO, DAMMIT) blues legend Muddy Waters. She even gives a shout-out to Nicholas Lemann's brilliant but forgotten "The Promised Land", the best book ever written about the Black migration from the Mississippi Delta. And Good Lord Have Mercy, she used to be a curator at William Faulkner's house. Ms Shearer must have deep Mississippi roots, and therefore she is the best writing professor at TCU. Sign up now. I bet space is limited.
All are now blogrolled in the Fort Worth Bloggers section, and all are worthwhile.
Everybody on this planet is now typing faster than I can read. I love it.
Smoking Bans
At the latest Texas State Libertarian Executive Committee meeting, we took the "smoking ban" issue and beat it to a bloody pulp.
If someone wants to smoke on their own property, it's their own business.
If they want to allow others to smoke on their property, it's their own business.
Like carpenters who risk their thumbs, like high rise construction workers who risk their life, like schoolteachers who risk their sanity, if you're willing to expose yourself to 2nd-hand smoke, it's your own business.
If someone wants to smoke on their own property, it's their own business.
If they want to allow others to smoke on their property, it's their own business.
Like carpenters who risk their thumbs, like high rise construction workers who risk their life, like schoolteachers who risk their sanity, if you're willing to expose yourself to 2nd-hand smoke, it's your own business.
Fort Worth Weekly's Blog (Blotch) has an article on our effort to fight The Health Nazis (yeah, I just violated Godwin's Law).
Here's a brief excerpt:
I’ve never really understood how a city can legally force private property owners to ban smoking in their own establishments, whether a bar, restaurant, or whatever. It seems like a smart thing to do health-wise, but doesn’t seem legally possible. Still, cities across Texas and the country are cracking down on public smoking.The Libertarian Party is fighting back, calling it a private property rights issue. Here’s their announcement about an upcoming legislative push....
The comments have already gotten interesting, and it would be nice to see a few dozen more added to the dogpile.
"First they came first for the Gays and Lesbians, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t Gay or Lesbian;
And then they came for the Pot Smokers, And I didn’t speak up because I didn't smoke marijuana;
And then they came for the Gun Owners, And I didn’t speak up because I didn't own a gun;
And then they came for the Cigarette Smokers, And I didn't speak up because I didn't smoke cigarettes;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.
But they kept the tobacco subsidies in place, because lots of millionaire tobacco farmers liked the money, and they were big time campaign contributors."
With sincerest apologies to Pastor Martin Niemoller
Verbosity - An Example, and A Test
Sometimes I get long-winded.
This is because I truly believe that if you disagree with me, it's because you're not aware of all of the facts.
But I'm an amateur.
Click HERE to see the longest comment in the history of the internet. I gotta admit, I'm proud to host it. I can't even walk onto the same verbosity playing field with this guy.
I Googled some of the phrases used, and found that he (why do I just know that it's a He?) has copied the same comment onto more than 900 websites and blogs. You have to admire that kind of commitment and stamina.
While looking for a picture to illustrate this post, I discovered somthing called the Blog Verbosity Test, which should probably be taken with not a mere grain, but an extremely large shaker of salt.
They claim that my average post is 67 words in length. That's 87% fewer words than other bloggers who took the test.
So take that, YOU and YOU.
This is because I truly believe that if you disagree with me, it's because you're not aware of all of the facts.
But I'm an amateur.
Click HERE to see the longest comment in the history of the internet. I gotta admit, I'm proud to host it. I can't even walk onto the same verbosity playing field with this guy.
I Googled some of the phrases used, and found that he (why do I just know that it's a He?) has copied the same comment onto more than 900 websites and blogs. You have to admire that kind of commitment and stamina.
While looking for a picture to illustrate this post, I discovered somthing called the Blog Verbosity Test, which should probably be taken with not a mere grain, but an extremely large shaker of salt.
They claim that my average post is 67 words in length. That's 87% fewer words than other bloggers who took the test.
So take that, YOU and YOU.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Church Of Global Warming might be due for a membership drive
Here's on Saint Albert, The Goracle of Music City, Tennessee, from Dan Sernoffsky of the Lebanon Daily News:
In 1971, perhaps entertaining thoughts of entering the full-time ministry, Al Gore, raised in and baptized into the Southern Baptist Church, entered the Vanderbilt Divinity School.
His sojourn was relatively brief. In three semesters, he enrolled in eight classes. He received an “F” as his grade in five of those classes.
I left Southwestern Baptist Theological Semetary (not a typo) with a 3.0 Not that I'm particularly proud of abandoning the same grad school program as The Goracle.
So, having failed out of school, he entered the family business, which was politics. But he apparently never lost his desire to enter a ministry, and since he couldn’t make the grade in the conventional sense, he did the next best thing. He started his own religion.
The result was the Church of Global Warming. With Gore as its high priest, the church was not long in establishing tenets of faith, nor in immediately branding those who refused to worship there as apostate.
The tragedy is that Gore, in his tenure in the family business, learned well how to work the political system, and when he turned to evangelizing for his new church, he was able to effectively use what he learned as a politician to grant government sanction to that church, sanction that would have been vehemently opposed had he attempted to grant government sanction to the church in which he grew up.
Think about the similarities between the global warming/cooling/climate change movement and a religion..... The earth is our mother (God is our father) something must be "saved" (You've got to get saved), people who deny that the earth is warming are compared to holocaust deniers (You filthy atheist), we've got to act now - we don't know what tomorrow will bring, no sacrifice is too great (If you were to die tonight, do you know where you would spend eternity?) The earth is offended, and it's all your fault (God is offended, and it's all your fault) I could go on and on....
The entire article is worth reading. Here are a few more that take a hatchet to the Church Of The Inconvenient Thermometer. Let's start with The Washington Times:
Turn up the heat, somebody. The globe is freezing. Even Al Gore is looking for an extra blanket. Winter has barely come to the northern latitudes and already we've got bigger goosebumps than usual. So far the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports 63 record snowfalls in the United States, 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month.
How are anyone's campaign donors going to make any money off of that? You mean, it's not getting warmer? Not to be undone, The Goracle's disciples have introduced a new threat to all that is holy. We're not worried about global warming any more. The One True Church is now threatened by.....Climate Change ! ! !
The polar ice is accumulating faster than usual, and some of the experts now concede that the globe hasn't warmed since 1995. You may have noticed, in fact, that Al and his pals, having given up on the sun, and no longer even warn of global warming. Now it's "climate change." The marketing men enlisted by Al and the doom criers to come up with a flexible "brand" took a cue from the country philosopher who observed, correctly, that "if you've got one foot in the fire and the other in a bucket of ice, on average you're warm." On average, "climate change" covers every possibility.
Watching the Church of Climate Change try to loot The Treasury for money to invent perpetual motion machines is going to be comical, now that most of the nation is colder than a well-digger's posterior. The sad thing is, they'll probably be succesful.
They've got God on their side.
(Thanks to the G.O.C. in Atlanta for the Church of G.W. article)
In 1971, perhaps entertaining thoughts of entering the full-time ministry, Al Gore, raised in and baptized into the Southern Baptist Church, entered the Vanderbilt Divinity School.
His sojourn was relatively brief. In three semesters, he enrolled in eight classes. He received an “F” as his grade in five of those classes.
I left Southwestern Baptist Theological Semetary (not a typo) with a 3.0 Not that I'm particularly proud of abandoning the same grad school program as The Goracle.
So, having failed out of school, he entered the family business, which was politics. But he apparently never lost his desire to enter a ministry, and since he couldn’t make the grade in the conventional sense, he did the next best thing. He started his own religion.
The result was the Church of Global Warming. With Gore as its high priest, the church was not long in establishing tenets of faith, nor in immediately branding those who refused to worship there as apostate.
The tragedy is that Gore, in his tenure in the family business, learned well how to work the political system, and when he turned to evangelizing for his new church, he was able to effectively use what he learned as a politician to grant government sanction to that church, sanction that would have been vehemently opposed had he attempted to grant government sanction to the church in which he grew up.
Think about the similarities between the global warming/cooling/climate change movement and a religion..... The earth is our mother (God is our father) something must be "saved" (You've got to get saved), people who deny that the earth is warming are compared to holocaust deniers (You filthy atheist), we've got to act now - we don't know what tomorrow will bring, no sacrifice is too great (If you were to die tonight, do you know where you would spend eternity?) The earth is offended, and it's all your fault (God is offended, and it's all your fault) I could go on and on....
The entire article is worth reading. Here are a few more that take a hatchet to the Church Of The Inconvenient Thermometer. Let's start with The Washington Times:
Turn up the heat, somebody. The globe is freezing. Even Al Gore is looking for an extra blanket. Winter has barely come to the northern latitudes and already we've got bigger goosebumps than usual. So far the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports 63 record snowfalls in the United States, 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month.
How are anyone's campaign donors going to make any money off of that? You mean, it's not getting warmer? Not to be undone, The Goracle's disciples have introduced a new threat to all that is holy. We're not worried about global warming any more. The One True Church is now threatened by.....Climate Change ! ! !
The polar ice is accumulating faster than usual, and some of the experts now concede that the globe hasn't warmed since 1995. You may have noticed, in fact, that Al and his pals, having given up on the sun, and no longer even warn of global warming. Now it's "climate change." The marketing men enlisted by Al and the doom criers to come up with a flexible "brand" took a cue from the country philosopher who observed, correctly, that "if you've got one foot in the fire and the other in a bucket of ice, on average you're warm." On average, "climate change" covers every possibility.
Watching the Church of Climate Change try to loot The Treasury for money to invent perpetual motion machines is going to be comical, now that most of the nation is colder than a well-digger's posterior. The sad thing is, they'll probably be succesful.
They've got God on their side.
(Thanks to the G.O.C. in Atlanta for the Church of G.W. article)
Friday, January 23, 2009
The Ron Paul Page-A-Day #3
Here's the 3rd installment of the Ron Paul Page-A-Day, in which I supply a section of Ron Paul's "The Revolution: A Manifesto" for your enlightenment and commentary. I hope to continue this until I've posted the entire book, or until Congressman Paul's publishers say "cease and desist". In the previous installment, The Good Doctor lamented the Republican anti-intellectualism and Democratic naivete and inconsistency. In this installment, he indulges in a wee bit of back-patting before explaining why his short-lived campaign exceeded initial expectations:
"In late 2006, a number of friends and colleagues urged me to consider running for president. I was a reluctant candidate, not at all convinced that a sizable enough national constituency existed for a campaign based on liberty and the Constitution rather than on special-interest pandering and the distribution of loot.
Was I ever wrong.
On November 5, 2007, we set a record when we raised over $4 million online in a single day. That December 16, on the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, we broke that record by raising over $6 million. In the fourth quarter of 2007, we raised more than twice as much money as any other Republican candidate. Not only is the freedom message popular, but if fund-raising ability any indication, it is more intensely popular than any other political message.
By the end of 2007, more than twice as many Meetup groups had been formed in support of our campaign than for all the rest of the candidates in both major parties combined. I have never seen such a diverse coalition rallying to a single banner. Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Greens, constitutionalists, whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, antiwar activists, homeschoolers, religious conservatives, freethinkers - all were not only involved, but enthusiastically so. And despite their philosophical differences in some areas, these folks typically found, to their surprise, that they rather liked each other.
The mainstream media had no idea what to make of it, since we were breaking all the rules and yet still attracting such a varied and passionate following. I began making this a central point of my public speeches: the reason all these different groups are rallying to the same banner, I said, is that freedom has a unique power to unite us.
In case that sounds like a cliche, it isn't. It's common sense. When we agree not to treat each other merely as means to our own selfish ends, but to respect one another as individuals with rights and goals of our own, cooperation and goodwill suddenly become possible for the first time.
My message is one of freedom and individual rights. I believe individuals have a right to life and liberty and that physical aggression should be used only defensively. We should respect each other as rational beings by trying to achieve our goals through reason and persuasion rather than threats and coercion. That, and not a desire for "economic efficiency" is the primary moral reason for opposing government intrusion into our lives: government is force, not reason.
"In late 2006, a number of friends and colleagues urged me to consider running for president. I was a reluctant candidate, not at all convinced that a sizable enough national constituency existed for a campaign based on liberty and the Constitution rather than on special-interest pandering and the distribution of loot.
Was I ever wrong.
On November 5, 2007, we set a record when we raised over $4 million online in a single day. That December 16, on the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, we broke that record by raising over $6 million. In the fourth quarter of 2007, we raised more than twice as much money as any other Republican candidate. Not only is the freedom message popular, but if fund-raising ability any indication, it is more intensely popular than any other political message.
By the end of 2007, more than twice as many Meetup groups had been formed in support of our campaign than for all the rest of the candidates in both major parties combined. I have never seen such a diverse coalition rallying to a single banner. Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Greens, constitutionalists, whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, antiwar activists, homeschoolers, religious conservatives, freethinkers - all were not only involved, but enthusiastically so. And despite their philosophical differences in some areas, these folks typically found, to their surprise, that they rather liked each other.
The mainstream media had no idea what to make of it, since we were breaking all the rules and yet still attracting such a varied and passionate following. I began making this a central point of my public speeches: the reason all these different groups are rallying to the same banner, I said, is that freedom has a unique power to unite us.
In case that sounds like a cliche, it isn't. It's common sense. When we agree not to treat each other merely as means to our own selfish ends, but to respect one another as individuals with rights and goals of our own, cooperation and goodwill suddenly become possible for the first time.
My message is one of freedom and individual rights. I believe individuals have a right to life and liberty and that physical aggression should be used only defensively. We should respect each other as rational beings by trying to achieve our goals through reason and persuasion rather than threats and coercion. That, and not a desire for "economic efficiency" is the primary moral reason for opposing government intrusion into our lives: government is force, not reason.
"I Want Some TARP", by Bill Zucker
The "Troubled Asset Relief Program" has finally been immortalized in song.
Here's Bill Zucker's "I Want Some TARP".
HT to here.
Here's Bill Zucker's "I Want Some TARP".
HT to here.
Just Say "No" to Timothy Geithner
Our government is allowed to use force to accomplish its objectives.
Therefore, all government officials appointed or elected to use force in the course of their duties should be chosen very carefully.
I pay my taxes. Many of you pay your taxes. But the current nominee for Secretary of The Treasury, the person who might soon be in charge of the IRS? He tried to avoid paying all of his taxes.
Therefore, all government officials appointed or elected to use force in the course of their duties should be chosen very carefully.
I pay my taxes. Many of you pay your taxes. But the current nominee for Secretary of The Treasury, the person who might soon be in charge of the IRS? He tried to avoid paying all of his taxes.
I heard on the radio that Geithner had apologized for not paying his taxes "on time". Well, Al Capone didn't pay his taxes "on time" either. That's why he went to jail.
Don't get me started about using Summer Camp as a Daycare credit.
Geithner is a driving force in the bailout - the greatest wealth transfer from the poor to the rich in the history of our universe. He is a hardcore advocate of all the Loot The Children ® programs.
Timothy Geither is a tax dodger. He is seriously being considered for the post of chief tax collector. He will soon be authorized to take your money.
Let's say that again, for the sake of those who received The Gift Of The Holy Spirit on The Day Of Pentecost, also known as The Inauguration.... Timothy Geither is a tax dodger. He is seriously being considered for the post of chief tax collector. He will soon be authorized to take your money.
Is irony dead? Are we so bedazzled by the recent annointing of the Obamessiah that we're going to tolerate this?
In short, are you willing to give this __________ your money?????
Here are the names of representatives who have voted "No" in the recent Senate Panel hearings. God bless 'em. The confirmation vote from the full senate is Monday.
Here's a link where you can email your senator, and ask them to vote NO on this confirmation.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Relying on government to solve the problem....
What problem are these inauguration crowds in Washington going to be relying on government to fix first?
(Hint: you will get a clue at the 1:05 mark....)
With undying gratitude to Iowahawk.
(Hint: you will get a clue at the 1:05 mark....)
With undying gratitude to Iowahawk.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
"Fitna", by Geert Wilders - A film about "The Religion Of Peace"
Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs brings us the disturbing news that Dutch politician and filmmaker Geert Wilders will be prosecuted "for inciting racial hatred with anti-Islamic statements that include calling the Quran a "fascist book," a Dutch court ruled Wednesday.
Well, look at the man's movie, Fitna. That's what all of this is really about. Youtube breaks it into two eight minute sections. It's very well done. Wilders gives references from the Koran or a Haddith, then shows newsclips of the consequences of following the teachings of the seventh century pedophile who inspired those references. There's little or no narration, no voiceover explaining the things we're seeing, and no deniability about the accuracy of his film.
Let's break it up a bit with this from Jihadwatch: "And make no mistake: even though the Muslims in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the West present themselves as embattled victims of racism and "Islamophobia," that is exactly what is going on here: this is just one part of the 57-government Organization of the Islamic Conference's efforts to silence speech that they deem critical of Islam -- including "defamation of Islam" that goes under the "pretext" of "freedom of expression, counter terrorism or national security."
I don't consider myself to be Islamaphobic. The word seems to imply a fear of Muslims. I've liked the Muslims that I've worked with ok, simply because they didn't really believe that Jews were evil, or that I was evil, or that Muhammad flew from Mecca to Jerusalem on a winged horse that had the face of a man.
But this thing with Wilders is bad news. Surf the 'net for a while, and you'll see that he's probably going to come to the U.S. to escapepersecution prosecution. The Dutch government will make Tut-Tutting noises about minority rights, sensitivity, and respect for the beliefs of others. In the meantime, they've allowed artists like Theo Van Gogh to be beheaded by Muslim extremists, and they'll probably drive Wilders across the Atlantic.
This is bullshit. It's not sensitivity. It's not respect. It's the whimper of whipped dogs, rolling on their backs before one of the most evil belief systems ever devised by man.
Here's Samizdata's Perry De Havilland on the same issue.
Well, look at the man's movie, Fitna. That's what all of this is really about. Youtube breaks it into two eight minute sections. It's very well done. Wilders gives references from the Koran or a Haddith, then shows newsclips of the consequences of following the teachings of the seventh century pedophile who inspired those references. There's little or no narration, no voiceover explaining the things we're seeing, and no deniability about the accuracy of his film.
Let's break it up a bit with this from Jihadwatch: "And make no mistake: even though the Muslims in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the West present themselves as embattled victims of racism and "Islamophobia," that is exactly what is going on here: this is just one part of the 57-government Organization of the Islamic Conference's efforts to silence speech that they deem critical of Islam -- including "defamation of Islam" that goes under the "pretext" of "freedom of expression, counter terrorism or national security."
I don't consider myself to be Islamaphobic. The word seems to imply a fear of Muslims. I've liked the Muslims that I've worked with ok, simply because they didn't really believe that Jews were evil, or that I was evil, or that Muhammad flew from Mecca to Jerusalem on a winged horse that had the face of a man.
But this thing with Wilders is bad news. Surf the 'net for a while, and you'll see that he's probably going to come to the U.S. to escape
This is bullshit. It's not sensitivity. It's not respect. It's the whimper of whipped dogs, rolling on their backs before one of the most evil belief systems ever devised by man.
Here's Samizdata's Perry De Havilland on the same issue.
How do you define a Rottweiler? Let's leave it to the Muleshoe City Council.
I took a random sampling of my dachshunds to meet some friends at Fort Woof Park this past Sunday. Channel 11 was there doing a story on a proposal that might be brought to the Texas State Legislature this spring. The legislature might once again consider giving Texas towns the authority to ban certain "dangerous" dog breeds.
I apologize for the lack of a Youtube, but here's a link to the Channel 11 video:
http://cbs11tv.com/video/?id=37411@ktvt.dayport.com
Dog pics from here and here.
I apologize for the lack of a Youtube, but here's a link to the Channel 11 video:
http://cbs11tv.com/video/?id=37411@ktvt.dayport.com
That's my friend Brenda at the end of the video (not in the picture above), sounding suspiciously like a libertarian, advocating personal responsibility and less government intervention. My friends Elaine and Dr. Liz were encouraging me to get in front of the camera and hold forth, but the only thing I could think of was a racial analogy. (Our prisons have a disproportionate number of Hispanics and African-Americans, but we would never dream of using the same logic to ban racial groups from certain areas based on the actions of a few bad apples, blah blah blah. I didn't feel comfortable trying to properly express that awkward comparison to everyone in Fort Worth/Dallas. And that's probably a good thing!)
Here's more info on the proposal from the Houston Chronicle:
In a letter to Attorney General Greg Abbott, Republican state Rep. Tony Goolsby requested an opinion to clarify a state law that cities and counties have interpreted as preventing them from targeting breeds. He wrote that confusion caused by “varying interpretations” of the law has stopped local governments wanting to pursue such measures. Most of the confusion concerns whether the law would apply to a dog that has not been deemed “dangerous.”
Here's what I should have said to Channel 11, but couldn't pull my reasoning together until the ride home:
"The Texas State Legislature is possibly going to give the Abbot, White Settlement, Uvalde, Muleshoe, and Rio Frio City Councils the authority, expertise, and funding to determine exactly what is and isn't a Rottweiler? How do you tell the difference between a Rottweiler/Portuguese Water Dog/Labrador mix that is harmless and a similar one that's dangerous? Would it be legal to own a Pitt Bull/Cocker Spaniel mix? Where would you draw the line? This bill would be a feast for lawyers, which is probably what the advocates of this bill intended."
You know how frustrating it is to think of the perfect thing to say when the opportunity has already passed. Anyway, I checked it out with the Aggie. There's no way to be 100% sure what percentage of breeds make up any particular mutt dog.
Pitt Bull owners should be responsible for their dogs, and keep them safely enclosed. There are plenty of laws to that effect already on the books.
Parents should be responsible for their toddlers, and keep them safely enclosed. There are plenty of laws to that effect already on the books.
Voters should be responsible for their legislators, and keep them safely enclosed. There aren't nearly enough laws to that effect on the books.
We need a ban on bans.
"Good fences make good neighbors" - Robert Frost
Dog pics from here and here.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Best description of the inauguration
Here's the Coyote Blog, on the fawning adoration surrounding the changeover from The Daddy Party to The Mommy Party:
For a libertarian like myself, its like watching people line up at 3am to be the first to be in the store when McDonald’s switches its fountain drinks from Coke to Pepsi.
The Coyote Blog. Save the link. Blogroll him. There's more good sense on that site than there is in all of D.C. tonight.
For a libertarian like myself, its like watching people line up at 3am to be the first to be in the store when McDonald’s switches its fountain drinks from Coke to Pepsi.
The Coyote Blog. Save the link. Blogroll him. There's more good sense on that site than there is in all of D.C. tonight.
The hidden cause of the recent airliner crash
After a week of careful surveillance, the CIA has determined what caused the US Air jet to crash into the Hudson river....
The Obamessiah now dwells among us
From The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 3, verses 13-17:
13 Then the Obamessiah came from Chicago to the Temple to be blessed by The Sheeple.
14 But The Sheeple tried to deter him, saying, "We need to be blessed by thee, for we are the ones who should be serving; for we are not worthy to touch the hem of thy garment, Obamessiah."
15 The Obamessiah replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all that the prophets foretold." Then The Sheeple consented, and brought forth from The Holy of Holies the Ark Of The Covenant, and from it the Chief Priests took The Book Of The Seven Seals.
16 And when The Obamessiah lay his hand upon The Book, he slowly levitated from the Temple steps, and ascended halfway unto the heavens. And we beheld his glory. And at that moment the heavens were opened, and we saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him.
17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased. And you are The Sheeple of his pastures. And you shall be fleeced, lo, even unto the third and fourth generations, for his yoke will not be easy, and your burden will not be light."
Picture of The Obamessiah from here.
13 Then the Obamessiah came from Chicago to the Temple to be blessed by The Sheeple.
14 But The Sheeple tried to deter him, saying, "We need to be blessed by thee, for we are the ones who should be serving; for we are not worthy to touch the hem of thy garment, Obamessiah."
15 The Obamessiah replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all that the prophets foretold." Then The Sheeple consented, and brought forth from The Holy of Holies the Ark Of The Covenant, and from it the Chief Priests took The Book Of The Seven Seals.
16 And when The Obamessiah lay his hand upon The Book, he slowly levitated from the Temple steps, and ascended halfway unto the heavens. And we beheld his glory. And at that moment the heavens were opened, and we saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him.
17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased. And you are The Sheeple of his pastures. And you shall be fleeced, lo, even unto the third and fourth generations, for his yoke will not be easy, and your burden will not be light."
Picture of The Obamessiah from here.
Monday, January 19, 2009
New Blog Widget
Regular readers might notice that there's a new "Obama The Warmonger" widget off to the right.
In the interest of fairness, I'm giving him until midnight on inauguration day to pull the troops out of Iraq. Then the official countdown begins.
I've not yet created the countdown code for "Lowering The Sea Level", "Raising The Dead", or "Firing Hillary".
In the interest of fairness, I'm giving him until midnight on inauguration day to pull the troops out of Iraq. Then the official countdown begins.
I've not yet created the countdown code for "Lowering The Sea Level", "Raising The Dead", or "Firing Hillary".
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Salon.com is now shocked ! ! ! ! ! !
The earnest chin-stroking Left-wingers at Salon.com are SHOCKED. Shocked, I say !! ....when they discover that "[the President-elect's] support of the bank bailout is payback to his wealthy Wall Street supporters."
He had wealthy Wall Street supporters? I thought his campaign was paid for with $4.37 (average) contributions from retired seamstresses, gay orphans, and the people who pick up trash on the side of the highway because they have a vision of everything America could be.
What is going on here? I mean, the Salon editorial is very well written, but..but...but....
He had wealthy Wall Street supporters? I thought his campaign was paid for with $4.37 (average) contributions from retired seamstresses, gay orphans, and the people who pick up trash on the side of the highway because they have a vision of everything America could be.
What is going on here? I mean, the Salon editorial is very well written, but..but...but....
The First Annual Whitey Awards
Government waste has always been a favorite topic on this site.
It's time for the readers of The Whited Sepulchre blog to vote on who in the last year has done the most to eliminate government waste.
There are several ways to end government waste. The best method, of course, is the one least discussed: don't give the government any of your money.
I'm going to nominate three candidates below. Nominate others as write-ins if you wish. The candidate with the highest total will receive the highly coveted Whitey Award.
It's time for the readers of The Whited Sepulchre blog to vote on who in the last year has done the most to eliminate government waste.
There are several ways to end government waste. The best method, of course, is the one least discussed: don't give the government any of your money.
I'm going to nominate three candidates below. Nominate others as write-ins if you wish. The candidate with the highest total will receive the highly coveted Whitey Award.
And the nominees are:
1) [the President-elect's] nominee for Secretary Of The Treasury, Timothy Geithner, who at the time of his nomination for the post of chief tax collector, owed $42,000.00 in unpaid taxes, and, according to The Washington Post, is also being investigated for including using his child's time at overnight camps to calculate deductions for dependent-care, taking deductions for ineligible donations to charity and failing to pay an early-withdrawal penalty from a retirement plan.
A brilliant man, Mr. Geithner. Had he paid that 42K in taxes, it would've been wasted. Had he not deducted sending his kids to camp as a childcare expense, that money would've been blown on something useless. Timothy Geithner will be hard to beat.
2) James P. O’Hare, and David J. Dalaia. This is the duo that wheeled their deceased friend's rotting corpse into a check-cashing store in a failed attempt to cash their dead friend's $355 Social Security check.
Yes, they failed. Yes, they might have spent the $355 on alcohol. But if that money had stayed in The Treasury, it would've been given to some millionaire as an agricultural subsidy. A noble failure, and worthy of consideration for The Whitey.
3) Hillary Clinton, our next Secretary of State. Ms. Clinton's act of heroism didn't occur in the last 12 months, but since this is the first year The Whitey has ever been awarded, I'm allowing it for consideration. It is, after all, my damn award.
Former Senator Clinton, lover of Big Government, Policy Wonk, and disparager of Free Markets and Nafta, once claimed a two dollar tax deduction for donating some of Bill's used underwear to charity.
Remember, it's not the quantity saved, it's the quality. Who else would go to such extreme lengths to save such a paltry sum from The Gaping Maw Of The Beast? Every penny counts.
Those are my nominees. You may wish to nominate others.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)