On Santa Claus and Jesus

I was in the 2nd grade, working on homework at a desk in our den. It must have been close to Christmastime, because my mother was explaining something about Santa Claus to my little sister.
I don't remember my sister's question, but it probably involved the North Pole, elves, reindeer, Rudolph, or (temporal) punishments and rewards for being either naughty or nice. In one blinding moment the Santa Claus/Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy Axis Of Impossibility revealed itself to me.
There are no elves. Reindeer can't fly. Old fat guys can't get down chimneys. A giant rabbit can't leave us colorful plastic eggs (from Gibson's department store) filled with coins or candy.
Any fairy with a tooth fetish must be very lonely fairy indeed.

I had figured out the conspiracy, and needed some clarification on the finer points so I looked up from my homework and asked "Hey, there can't be a Santa Claus who brings all this stuff. Is it just you and Daddy, or is it somebody else?"

My Mother went through a frantic series of shushing gestures, throat slashings, and brow-furrowings, and then said something like "Of course there's a Santa Claus", followed by a wink-wink nudge-nudge. Once my sister left the room, she explained that Santa Claus was something that parents did to make Christmas more fun for children, along with a follow-up conversation about the need to conceal this from my sisters and brother. I immediately felt like more of an adult since I was in on what was obviously a very adult secret.

I relished the conversations I could have with my parents and other adults about what other kids were getting from Santa Claus. I had access to the people behind the curtain, the ones who made the magic happen.

I had a friend named Glenn Williams who was a year younger than me. (Note to self: write a post about the day Glenn was working at The Rushing Winery and managed to bottle his thumb.) Another friend, Walt Burns, took Glenn aside one day and told him all about Santa Claus. Glenn has told me at least three times about how mad he got at Walt for doing this.

Up until the time Walt spilled the beans, Glenn had a worldview that included a benevolent old guy who paid attention to his behavior and rewarded him with great stuff every December 25th. People were killing each other in Viet Nam but Santa was watching. Elves were making toys for people who were good, even if kids our age were starving in communist China. And Walt Burns had to ruin everything. There was no magic guy in a sleigh, it was just Pat and Guy B. Williams waiting up past their normal bedtime to bring Glenn's toys down from the attic.
Other kids claimed to believe, or pretended to believe, until they were in the 5th or 6th grade. In their families, once you stopped believing, the quality and quantity of gifts from Santa declined. Why rock the boat?

Flash forward about 15 years.

I briefly attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Cemetery Seminary in Fort Worth. The place seemed to operate on two levels. In some classes the professors spoke as if every word in the Bible was inspired by God, and that all of scripture hung together as a unified statement and plan. But a few other professors would sometimes imply that the book was a mishmash. It was filled with time and place-specific rants that had to be twisted and tortured into relevance. A few brave souls, usually at the doctoral level, would introduce Biblical Criticism into the mix.

(Go here for a Dan Dennett video on what happens when seminary students encounter Biblical Criticism for the first time, but find that they've gone too far to change careers. Go here for something I wrote on the subject a while back. If you don't know the competing gospel stories of the resurrection of Jesus, don't bother. You won't get it.)

No professors publicly confessed any doubts about whether the basic story was true. And by true, I mean in the sense that this event happened, not true in the sense that something is a true to life parable or narrative that can teach us something about blah blah blah....

However, I found that if I could get these professors off the clock, and they would sometimes confirm that doubt was a valid response. Some of them would go so far as to give me further reading on the subject.

But by and large, the main response to doubt went something like this: "These stories have given comfort to millions. They are the foundation of our morality, our ethics, and our hope for the future. They are the received wisdom handed down from previous generations. If they weren't true, would God have given them to us? And one last thing.... people will give 10% or more of their income to spread God's Eternal Truth. But can you imagine anyone giving 10% of his money to spread a story that's just a parable? Churches and ministers that waver in their professed beliefs have a hard time paying the light bill."

In other words, once people start thinking of Santa Claus as a metaphor, you can't rely on them to put out milk and cookies in front of the fireplace.

Go back to the Dennett video above. We now have ministers all over the U.S. who no longer truly believe what they're preaching. So why do they continue?

They don't want to be the Walt Burns who tells Glenn Williams what they've learned. They don't want to hurt their colleagues, financially or professionally, who still claim to take it all literally instead of figuratively. In some groups, to go against the story is to go against the entire tribe, and would mean rejecting family, town, denomination, and (ahem) salary. Sometimes it's too late to re-invent yourself as an insurance salesman, retail manager, or freight broker.

Plus, the church still owes $250,000.00 on the new education wing they built 10 years ago.

When I'm feeling particularly dark, I sometimes tell people that I didn't learn the truth about Santa Claus until I spent 6 years training to be an elf.

Could there be anything sadder than a 25-year old who still believed in Santa?

On the other hand, could there be anything sadder than a 50-year old minister who lives on the same planet as theologian/scholars like Marcus Borg and John Spong, but who continues to proclaim the virgin birth, angelic visitations, and the eternal damnation of dead Muslim teenagers?

Let's make some changes, starting with a few obvious propositions. I don't believe in hell. I don't believe that I'll die and get some wings and a harp either. What happens after we die? I don't know. Neither does anyone else. But we can all agree on what happens to a tree when it dies, can't we? Let's start there.

Here's another one. I don't believe that Jesus got his Mama pregnant with himself.

I don't believe that languages were invented when people got uppity and tried to create a tower that would reach the sky and God felt threatened and punished everybody by giving them different languages. You don't believe that either. I promise, you don't. People... Just... Don't... Believe... That...

So if you're a minister who happens to read this rant, you have the blessing and approval of a lot of people to crawl up into your pulpit Sunday and admit what you don't believe certain things anymore. You're probably a good person with some good ideas. Give your folks something new to think about. The Santa Claus guided by Rudolph/Wise Men guided by the star in the east business - those stories don't work any more.

Sunday morning, tell us what you think will make the world better, without resorting to mythology.

I think you'll feel better afterwards. I feel better just writing all of this.

Merry Christmas !

Caption Contest - Snowman Edition

Because of Global Cooling, we're having our first White Christmas in The Town Of The Cow since sometime in the mid-1970's.
I need a caption for this picture.

Tarrant Liberty Guy won the previous caption contest.



Pic came from here.

Michele Bachman is a Welfare Queen

From Truthdig:

Michele Bachmann has become well known for her anti-government tea-bagger antics, protesting health care reform and every other government “handout” as socialism. What her followers probably don’t know is that Rep. Bachmann is, to use that anti-government slur, something of a welfare queen. That’s right, the anti-government insurrectionist has taken more than a quarter-million dollars in government handouts thanks to corrupt farming subsidies she has been collecting for at least a decade.

....But data compiled from federal records by Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit watchdog that tracks the recipients of agricultural subsidies in the United States, shows that Bachmann has an inner Marxist that is perfectly at ease with profiting from taxpayer largesse. According to the organization’s records, Bachmann’s family farm received $251,973 in federal subsidies between 1995 and 2006.

The farm had been managed by Bachmann’s recently deceased father-in-law and took in roughly $20,000 in 2006 and $28,000 in 2005, with the bulk of the subsidies going to dairy and corn. Both dairy and corn are heavily subsidized—or “socialized”—businesses in America (in 2005 alone, Washington spent $4.8 billion propping up corn prices) and are subject to strict government price controls. These subsidies are at the heart of America’s bizarre planned agricultural economy and as far away from Michele Bachmann’s free-market dream world as Cuba’s free medical system....

Go here for a USA Today listing of legislators benefiting from farm subsidies. The list includes Senator Charles Grassley (R-Ethanol), whose outfit has taken home more than $800,000.00

End it, Don't mend it.

Fight the power.

Pic of subsidies growing in a field came from here. Go here for a Shameful True Confession moment relating to farm subsidies in my family.

Gun Sales Up, Crime Rate Down

Sometime last week, I heard a radio ad for a gun shop. "We have firearms and ammo AT PRE-ELECTION PRICES !!!" was one of the lines used.

Gun sales have gone through the roof because of the Dems taking control of Congress and The Teleprompter.

So what is supposed to happen, with all these dangerous weapons in the hands of ignorant citizens, radical right-wingers, loony libertarians, and P.O.'d Tea Party Participants?

Crime should be up, right? According to the preferred narrative, we should be reading about an increase in violent crime.

Nope. Violent crime is still decreasing, and is a full 10% lower than last year.

When Jesus "cleansed" the temple, he used a knotted rope to knock some folks upside the head, possibly because assault rifles hadn't been invented yet.

Naww....I'm not going to go there.

Links and pics, one way or another, came from Ed Driscoll.

We Three Kings - The Demotivational Poster - Elvis Edition

Some neighbors of mine put this in their front yard every December.
I love it, love it, love it.

Even if some skeptics say he's buried in Memphis, I hope the King lives in your heart all year long, with a hunka hunka burnin' love.

Note to self: when time permits, write a post about your Mississippi neighbor's daughters who, in the mid-1970's, packaged themselves in dog crates and had themselves shipped to Graceland. And actually got inside the gate.

Merry Christmas Demotivational Poster

I created this thing last year when things were looking a bit bleak.
This year, they're worse.
Oh well. Hope'n'Change.



I hope everyone has a great Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Winter Solstice, Deer Hunting Season, etc.

Benevolent Government Saves Airline Passengers From Evil Capitalists ! ! ! !

This is from CNN, reporting on how the government is preventing those mean ol' airlines from keeping you stranded on the runway....

Washington (CNN) -- In what one advocate called "a Christmas miracle for airline passengers," the Department of Transportation on Monday announced a rule prohibiting U.S. aircraft on domestic routes from remaining on a tarmac for more than three hours with travelers aboard.

"Airline passengers have rights, and these new rules will require airlines to live up to their obligation to treat their customers fairly," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.

That sounds good, doesn't it? One of the instances where we would want government to intervene. But hold on a minute....
This is from a book by Michael Cloud. This little essay is entitled "How Government Blames Business". I just happened to read this last night.

Our United Airlines flight had been sitting on the runway for 40
minutes. Boston's Logan Airport is notorious for delays. The people
behind me and in front of me were grumbling.

"I hate these *$*%+*#*! airlines," said the guy behind me.

"They ought to do something about these fat cats," said a man across
the aisle.

"The Government ought to do something about it," said the woman in
front of me.

While pretending to talk to the person next to me, I spoke loud enough
to be heard 4 rows back, and 4 rows up:

"There must be 10 times as many flights today as there were 22 years
ago, before we deregulated the airlines. Probably 10 times as many
airplanes in the skies. Free enterprise builds the planes and puts
them in the air.

"But Big Government runs the airports. Big Government controls the air
traffic. Are there 10 times as many airports as there were 22 years
ago, when we deregulated the airlines? Are there 10 times as many
gates at the government-run airports? Are there 10 times as many air
traffic controllers?

"Government's causing this bottleneck. Free enterprise is generous
with airplanes, but Government is stingy with airports, gates and air
traffic controllers.

"Then Government plays the Frame and Blame Game against the airlines.
Government tells us it's United's fault. Or Delta's. Or American
Airlines'. The airlines have solved their part of the problem: getting
us planes and getting us seats. But Government can't deliver the
airports, the gates or the air traffic controllers needed to fly us
safely and on time. We're stuck on this runway because of
Government-created scarcity.

"What do you think?" I asked the person I pretended to be talking to
privately... while making a statement to the people around me.

"Gee, I've never really thought about it," he said. "But you know, the
Government hasn't made Logan Airport much bigger in the last 20 years.
It's kind of like the Big Dig, isn't it?" [The Big Dig is a typical
Government highway project in Boston: way over budget, late and a
mess.]

The people in the seats in front of and behind me started discussing
who caused the delays in our flight. These Massachusetts flyers openly
discussed how much Government was at fault.

Here's the Big Government Frame and Blame Game:

First, government frames business for the crime. They frame free
enterprise for causing the problems created by government. Then they
blame business and free enterprise for the consequences.

For example, government frames responsible gun manufacturers for gun
crimes. Then government blames the guns for the violence caused by the
Drug War. Gun violence has doubled since the War on Drugs. Need
another example? Compare gun violence during Alcohol Prohibition to
gun violence before and after Prohibition.

Government frames and blames HMOs. But the government created HMOs in
1974 and mandated their use in the early 1980's. Further, government
spends 52 cents out of every health care dollar in America and
regulates 100% of all health care services. Health care is the most
heavily regulated industry in America.

Yet in 1999, the Amherst, Massachusetts Town Government passed a
resolution to "end the free market carnage in health care." And the US
Congress regularly subpoenas and interrogates health care providers in
front of television cameras... blaming HMOs for the crimes of
government.

Libertarians need to think through and explain the following:
* How does Government increase the cost of the business you're
discussing?
* How does Government regulation create scarcity and reduce consumer
choice?
* How does Government red tape drive small businesses out of
business?
* How does Government increase the cost of everything you buy?
Taxes, restrictions, zoning, unfunded mandates... and what else?
* How does Government slow down service and reduce staffing?
* How does Government cause or contribute to the very problems they
blame business for?

To be effective, we must be well-informed. We need to read books like:
The Great Libertarian Offer and Why Government Doesn't Work by Harry
Browne; Freedom in Chains and The Fair Trade Fraud by James Bovard;
Losing Ground and What it Means to be Libertarian by Charles Murray.

As Huxley said, "A beautiful theory, slain by a gang of facts." The
facts are friendly to Freedom.

Sometimes no persuasion is necessary. We merely need to inform and
educate.

To show how, where and why Government has caused certain problems, or
made them worse.

Sometimes all you need is a captive audience, a voice that carries,
and a few thought-provoking facts and explanations.

It's funny how the perspective changes, isn't it?

We have seen the future of Health Insurance. And Health Insurance is delighted.

From The Business Insider:

Howard Dean, who knows a thing or two about medicine, and has long been an advocate for reform, just said on CNBC that "you may want to buy health insurance stocks if this thing passes."

Basically, "reform" has turned into a big ol' gravy train for private industry....

What? This isn't about providing low-cost healthcare for America? What else has Howard Dean had to say about the Healthcare Bill?

On Sunday's Meet The Press, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was asked a simple question about health care: What has President Obama achieved? His answer: "He has made a lot of people with insurance stock a lot richer."

"This [bill] is great for insurance companies," he explained. "They were going to reform the system [but] neither side wanted to take on the insurance companies. Neither side wanted to get rid of anti-trust exemptions. Neither side really pushed hard to allow you or me or anybody here to buy across state lines."
And as Howard Dean said -- and this is a devastating fact -- insurance companies' stocks reached [52-week] highs on Friday after this so called reform bill got its 60th vote. So David Axelrod, who I love and respect, but David Axelrod kept saying 'we took on the insurance companies, this is real reform, they're against it.'
Really? I don't think so."

What? Insurance stocks are now at a 52-year high? Do The Playahs know something that we don't know?

Well, yeah, they do.

When time permits, look up Regulatory Capture.

Then do a bit o' Googling on Barriers To Entry.

Speaking of Howard Dean, and our failure to encourage competition, here's Dr. Dean in full competition mode:

Fester's Den

Uncle Fester, Colorado Libertarian and long-time commenter on these pages, now has his own blog.

Go here. Bookmark it for future edification.

And now, compliments of Uncle Fester, here's something completely different.....




Its gettin thicker than dreadlocks
they treat us like we're dread scot
don't wanna see the feds pop
or be the one that they'd stopped
or get in trouble cause I talked shit to their mascot
frickin' busybodies need to go and buy an ascot
tellin' me you own me then makin sho' i'm taxed out
maxed out, deep in-debted from the easy credit
that the fed imbedded then they betted it all be copacetic
if they were the medic but forget it
the people are gettin' pissed
blowin up like some unleaded
they want control unfettered
but ya'll know that smells fetid
like the craphole that we're headed
to if they don't let me do me
and you do you
and all the guns in the gunverment
won't amount to a twenty-two
if they keep on stompin' on amendment number two
and we don't even need you
take your welfare and your brainwashing free-school
and ya'll are so see through; easy to see you is evil

chorus:
Nobody owns me
ya'll haters don't
I own me
so back the f*** off
(x 2)
I make my own rules
take my own tools
you ain't in my shoes
no you ain't get to choose
I ain't pay you dues.
I pay 'em for my self
don't expect shit from me
and I ain't need your help

and in case you didn't know
this song is for the parasites
the feeders that bleed us and treat us
like they're the hand and we're the dice
no utopian paradise to be had from any plan
the world's too complex for any man to comprehend
all the supply and again all the demand
when the few control the view
their mistakes are multiplied
the decisions should be ours
like our bodies. Let's take back our lives
Only a slave if you submit
and ya'll know I got some fight!
and this ain't racist
its for blacks, whites and asians
middle eastern people, latinos
and everyone who wants to be free, so
we'll even let it slide if you're emo
I never signed no social contract
I'm about to have to repo
myself, for my health
and my wealth
put your bills back on the shelf
capitol hill can go to hell
we should put them punks in jail
we could live our lives ourselves....

chorus

So who's to say Barack Hussein
knows what's best for me?
I knock the man and not the name
cause in my family tree
could be husseins so I take aim
at tyranny times three
branches that act just
like geriatric babysitters
poonannies.
but really you'll get beat-up
if you don't follow their edicts
there's a law against living
year its worse than shariah.
but where can I go if this
whole world is socialist
though we know that it failed for the soviets.
Its 1984 people please notice this.
F*** a tax feeder time to overthrow them tics
its in the declaration Jefferson wrote the shit
So choose to be a free man
governments we're over it
governments we're over it!

Go see Invictus

If you get a chance, check out "Invictus", Clint Eastwood's new movie about Nelson Mandela's decision to use the Springbok rugby team as a cause to unite South Africa after the end of apartheid.

Matt Damon is good, Morgan Freeman (of Clarksdale, Mississippi) is pure, undiluted greatness.




Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

-William Ernest Henley

The Obama Logo FDR button

From the Von Mises blog:

....Logically, one might think that the best way to fix this mess (the recession) would be to liquidate the malinvestments of businesses, pay down our debts and start fresh; in other words, allow for the market to correct the imbalances and distortions created during the artificial boom.

But the enlightened Barack Obama and his team of trusty economic advisers, along with the ever-compliant Messrs Bernanke and Geithner, have other ideas. Practically every single policy they have enacted is intended to stop the market from clearing out the wastes and excesses of the boom.

The government has undertaken programs to keep people in homes and cars that they cannot afford, fictitiously propping up GDP numbers. It has bailed out failing enterprises; abrogated contractual obligations; created make-work, politically oriented, and naturally often fraudulent and wasteful public-works projects; and increased the money supply at an unprecedented rate, easing the Federal Reserve–controlled interest rate to a ridiculous 0 percent. Our representatives have done all of this while vastly expanding a national debt that was already egregious.""....There is a final point that must be made. Just as during FDR's presidency, market entrepreneurs (as opposed to the political ones, who profit from government swindling) are now genuinely afraid of this administration. People in business do not know how arbitrary or onerous future government regulations will be."

Regardless of what you think of their argument, you have to admit this much: That button is funny.

Why things are costing more and more and more and more

I found a great link on Radley Balko's site.

Check out these pics of American currency.


If you go to the site, notice how many banknotes said "payable in gold" or "two dollars in silver" or "payable to the bearer on demand", or similar verbiage. You could walk into the bank and swap this piece of paper for some silver or gold.

Do you think our government was a little more careful about printing batches of these babies?

Compare that system to the junk you see below. The little piece of paper that you sometimes see blowing down the street, and don't even bother to chase after? It says "THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE".

Why is it legal tender? Because they say so.

There are no longer any safeguards in place to prevent our government from spending these in the billions and printing these things by the trillions. You can to RonPaul.com for a good explanation of Fiat Money, Inflation, and Dr. Paul's proposal for an open competition in currencies.

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

Jason Mattera gives the AARP an invoice for $1,800,000,000,000.00

This video was produced by Jason Mattera. Young Mr. Mattera is with an outfit called The Young America's Foundation.
He's shown here pursuing the Vice President of AARP, Nancy Leamond, to give her a massive "Obamacare Generational Theft Invoice" for $1,800,000,000,000.00

It's one of the most devastating things I've ever seen.
The AARP has endorsed Obamacare.
AARP, through a special loophole in Obamacare, would still be allowed to turn away people with pre-existing conditions, through something called "Medigap" coverage.
Nancy Leamond makes $400,000.00 per year.

These kids make Michael Moore look like Ed Wood.

All the more reason to lose this moment

All the more reason to lose this moment....

John Stossel's show on Healthcare

There are very few diamonds in the television dungheap.

John Stossel's new show, Stossel, is one of them. Thursday's show featured John Mackey, the founder of Whole Foods, and it was excellent. It will probably repeat on FoxBusiness a couple of more times. You owe it to yourself, you owe it to libertarianism, you owe it to John Stossel's ratings, and you owe it to the planet to Tivo this show every week. You owe it to third world countries. Think of The Children. It's the closest thing to a libertarian TV program that I've seen.


If you don't know his story, Mackey recently wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal advocating a more free market approach to healthcare. All of Mackey's proposals were simple, inexpensive, and fair. The ThoughtPolice were outraged, of course, and called for a boycott of Whole Foods.
(Whole Foods is the leading organic/locally grown/health food outlet in the U.S. Whole Foods' customers, until recently, didn't know that the Whole Foods CEO was a Libertarian who voted for Bob Barr in the most recent election, and who also contributes large chunks of money to Reason magazine. God bless him. He's doing more for humanity through his charitable work than he's ever done by providing locally grown organic arugula to the socially aware shoppers of Highland Park, TX. Please hit both of those links if time permits.)


Mackey claims that since the boycott, sales have actually increased. I intend to go to the Arlington TX store this morning for the first time ever. Guess why?

Stossel also had the leader of the Whole Foods boycott on the program, a guy who mostly fumed and sputtered and expressed his outrage. There are all sorts of links to various TV shows and resources on the boycott site, but there's no mention of this dude's appearance on Stossel's program. Mostly because John Mackey carved the poor guy up into tiny bite-sized organic pieces, doused them with a locally-grown marinade, and ate them (with sustainably produced utensils).


Last week, Stossel showed how you can get the taxpayers to buy you a free golf cart via the Cash For Clunkers scam. This week, he explained why you are insured for a free electric wheelchair, whether you want to be insured for one or not. (You are probably eligible ! ! Even if you aren't handicapped ! ! Our operators are standing by ! ! Call now ! ! Dial 1-800-WE-LOBBIED-FOR-IT ! !)


The program closed with a short piece on Lasik eye surgery. In the past ten years, the cost of a Lasik procedure on one eye has dropped from more than $2,000 to somewhere around $1,000, despite a near-doubling of all other medical costs.

Why?

Because Lasik isn't not covered by insurance, so people shop around. If the price isn't right, fewer people elect to have the procedure done. Lasik is one of the few free market medical procedures. Doctors have to compete for the business. Customers care about the cost. Therefore, the cost is dropping.


Stossel. FoxBusiness. Go to the Tivo now. Program it to record.

One other thing....in my previous post about Stossel, I mentioned that all of the audience questions were hostile. I kinda like that.
Others disagree. Go to Stossel's blog for a discussion.
Full Disclosure: See those display fixtures Mackey is standing near? I think they were made by my employer, Jukt Micronics.

Libertarian Credo

One more time....

I own me.
You own you.

This is my stuff.
That's your stuff.

If you and I decide to swap stuff, the existence of an arbitrary political border between us should matter no more than the existence of a highway or a telephone line between us.

Anyone requiring you to give your stuff to me is probably on my payroll in some way.

As long as your actions don't cause harm to me and mine, what you do is none of my business.

A few exceptions: We need a structure in place to enforce contracts, provide some very basic infrastructure, referee in disputes about externalities (see comments), and maybe defend the borders. If we limited government to that, and only that, our borders will need a lot less defending.

I don't care if you go on a crystal meth binge with gay midget hookers in a gas-guzzling SUV outfitted with semi-automatic weapons and the complete works of Barry Manilow on 8-track. As long as it doesn't hurt me and mine, we're fine. (I already know what its like to shoot skeet with Manilow's "Weekend In New England" in the background. Long, tiresome story.)

One more time....

I own me.
You own you.
Do what you said you were going to do.

That's all.
Thanks.

China's complete and total victory is assured.

Sorry for posting so many videos, but this stuff from Jay Leno's show is priceless. If you don't laugh out loud a couple of times during the last minute and a half, well, you're probably a schoolteacher and have developed an immunity.

There are those who say....I reject the view that....There are those who insist....that Obama's Strawman needs some recognition

Scott Stanzel has taken exception to Time magazine naming noted counterfeiter Ben Bernanke as Person Of The Year.


Who did Stanzel nominate? One of my favorite whipping boys: Barack Obama's Straw Man.

.

Straw Man should be the person of the year. He’s been employed by President Obama so much this year that he is certainly the busiest person in Washington. As the president has advocated his bloated stimulus package, his government intrusion into health care and his plans to return us to a pre-9/11 security mindset by treating terrorists as common criminals, Straw Man has provided the perfect foil for the president’s arguments. Straw Man deserves the Person of the Year recognition, particularly because he is rarely named. Most of the time he is referred to by his nicknames “some say” or “those who say.” Witness how busy Straw Man has been in 2009, as President Obama takes on his greatest hits:

Obama: “There are those who say these plans are too ambitious.”

Obama: “I know some folks on Wall Street who say we should just focus on their problems.”

Obama: “There are those embrace a view that can be summarized in two words: anything goes.”

Obama: “There seem to be a set of folks, and I don’t doubt their sincerity, who just believe we should do nothing.”

Obama: “"I reject the view that . . . says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity."

Obama: "A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy."

Obama: "We have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord."

Obama: “There are those who insist that we be defined by our differences.”

Obama: "Of course, there are some critics, always critics, who say we can't afford to take on these priorities.”

Obama: "A philosophy that says every problem can be solved if only government would step out of the way; that if government were just dismantled, divvied up into tax breaks, and handed out to the wealthiest among us, it would somehow benefit us all. Such knee-jerk disdain for government -- this constant rejection of any common endeavor -- cannot rebuild our levees or our roads or our bridges."

Straw Man’s influence in Washington is at an all time high. He deserves to be the person of the year.

Brilliant.

The Weekly Radley - From "The Wire"

I've never seen this series, but I might have to check it out.

The Polar Ice Caps Will Be Gone By 2013 ! ! ! ! ! !

I don't have enough clutter in my blogroll, so I've added one more distraction over to your right.

I've made a little countdown widget based on Al Gore's statement that THE ENTIRE POLAR ICE CAP WILL BE GONE IN FIVE YEARS (unless we give Gore and the Kleiner/Perkins venture capital firm a whole lot of money).
The countdown timer I chose doesn't go higher than a thousand days, so just add a "1" to the front end of the days remaining until the poles are ice free.

He made the statement during the week of December 13, 2008.
I'll be generous, and assume that he said it on New Year's Eve 2008.
The ice caps now have a little more than four years to melt.

Afghandyland

From Stephen Colbert, on Obama's Nobel speech, our strategy in Afghanistan, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Skate Expectations - Bobsled Team Tryouts
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

I can't believe I posted this before Dr. Ralph.
A fresh coat of Whitening to VampE for the linkage and for aid in Dachshund placement.

Science sources

For those wanting to get their science from science sources, go here.

The picture of the Warmist Industry Logo came from here.

Oral Roberts - Physician, Heal Thyself

Oral Roberts, the famed Oklahoma faith-healer, has finally bought the six-foot pine condo.

Here's one of my earliest memories of this fabled con artist, from one of my first blog posts:

My first exposure to these clowns was through my grandmother. She had been crippled by a severe stroke, and lived with us most of the time. I can remember her watching this charlatan's TV programs, and watching Roberts "heal" shills from the audience. "I just wish I had that kind of faith," she would say, after Roberts would shriek that her illness was still with her because of her unbelief.

I think my intense opposition to scams, ripoffs, and con artists, regardless of their party affiliation, comes from watching Oral Roberts with my grandmother.

If you want to see a present day healing, you could do worse than this video. You'll get the general idea after the first minute, the baby Nyquil wears off at the 6:45 mark, and the Superiority Dance starts around 7:15.

At the 8:03 mark, the kid demonstrates that she might still be inhabited by Beelzebub. Or KISS bassist Gene Simmons.

At the 8:20 mark, the child is restored, and spends the rest of the video begging to be adopted by a nice elderly widow in Somalia.



That's all I've got on Oral Roberts. I absolutely detest that pious fraud and what he put my grandmother through.
Lock me in a room with Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggart, Pat Robertson, and a gun with only two bullets?
I'd probably shoot Oral Roberts twice.

A lot of this is just the beer talking. But if I didn't make my point....I really, really, really didn't like that man.

Ben Bernanke - Time Magazine's Person Of The Year

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

Gag me with a dirty diaper.

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

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

Bernie Madoff vs The U.S. Dollar - which was the worst investment?

Now we're getting somewhere.
Ron Paul has made a motion for Congress to consider allowing alternative currencies in the United States.




Why is this a good thing?
We in the U.S. now have what is called a "fiat" currency. A fiat, according to these folks, is "a command or act of will that creates something without or as if without further effort".

In other words, all those pictures of dead presidents printed on greenish paper in your purse or wallet or checking account? They're only worth something because our government has declared that they are worth something, and must be accepted for all debts, public and private.

But that sounds like a reasonable system, doesn't it? What would happen to retail cashiers if they had to have registers with 3,682 different bill and coin slots? What would happen to pricing? Exchange rates? Wouldn't things get complicated?

Yes, having only one type of currency in circulation is convenient. But who controls the amount of this fiat currency in circulation?

Senators who have to be re-elected every few years. Representatives who believe that their congressional district is somehow special, and needs money. Presidents who want to send the kids off to Foreign Adventures in a sandbox somewhere on the other side of the world.

Our government spends more than it takes in because they know if they get in trouble, they can always print more money.
Here's a chart showing the number of dollars printed, in billions, ever since the creation of The Federal Reserve. Note the Obama uptick on the far right. A 2009 dollar is now worth a 1913 nickel.

This devalued crap was printed to pay off government debts.

The Federal Reserve was created to stabilize the money supply. The dollar has lost 95% of its value since then. Things have less value as they become more common.

What do you think this new mega-increase in the money supply will do to the price of eggs and butter and beer?

(A special prize will be given to the first reader to email me an editorial blaming these upcoming price hikes on GREEDY CORPORATIONS.)

And why can our government get away with this? It's because our currency doesn't have a competitor. If someone owes me money, I'm required to accept Obamabucks as payment. (Or Bushbucks, Clintonbucks, Reganbucks, Bernankebucks, Greenspanbucks, etc. I'll be fair.)

What would happen if some banks were once again allowed to print their own currency, the way many banks did prior to the government monopoly? (One of our worst presidents once made it illegal to own gold, BTW. Statists hate, hate, hate competition.)

What would happen if some of these banks had honest managers/owners, and conscientious boards of directors, and they vowed to keep their money supply at a constant level?

Whose currency would you prefer? The system run by these hypothetical banks, or the system currently overseen by Reid, Pelosi, Obama, Bernanke and Company?

People would start asking if there's anything worse than losing 95% of value. Taken as a whole, even Bernie Madoff's investors fared better than that.

The Aggie Is NOT amused. I repeat, The Aggie is NOT amused.

I have a bathroom full of these things.
Dachshund puppies. Go here to see pics as newborns, go here for a week later.
They go into the bathtub when we're cleaning the bathroom floor, and they go onto the bathroom floor (yeah, they GO there) when we're cleaning the bathtub.



They've been fun, but it's now time for these guys to go. (All are now spoken for, BTW.)
This one was recently adopted by a Fort Worth couple. Mom works at TCU, and Dad does some kind of computer work near Dallas. Dad is a University Of Texas graduate, and is a diehard UT fan. Guess what they're naming their new puppy?

Colt.

Yeah, Colt.

The Aggie is NOT amused.

Copenhagen- The Song

This is the legendary Robert Earl Keen's song about Copenhagen - the smokeless tobacco. He gets started after about a minute of onstage banter.

Mr. Keen left out a few verses. These are more timely.

First we tried some Y2K, then tried Acid Rain,
Bird Flu came and went 'cause it was too hard to explain.
Global Cooling, Global Warming, couldn't be arranged,
But now we've got 'em panicked with our talk of Climate Change !

Chorus:
Copenhagen, Let's all fly to Denmark,
Copenhagen, Let's all increase our worth!
Copenhagen, Let's release some carbon,
Fly to Copenhagen, and claim we're saving Earth!

So I to flew to Denmark with two drivers for my car,
Chatted and ate caviar with buddies at the bar,
Sat through half a seminar, voted Cap And Trade,
Doesn't matter, warm or cold, now we've got it made!

Chorus:
Copenhagen, Let's all fly to Denmark,
Copenhagen, Let all increase our worth!
Copenhagen, Let's release some carbon,
Fly to Copenhagen, and claim we're saving Earth!

The moral of this story is so easy to relate:
Selling is a hassle, why not just legislate ?
So try my little method and I promise you will win,
Fly to Copenhagen, start your money rollin' in !

Chorus:
Copenhagen, Let's all fly to Denmark,
Copenhagen, Let's increase our worth!
Copenhagen, You rent-seeking bastards
Fly to Copenhagen, and claim you're saving Earth!

(Repeat Chorus until North American and European manufacturing gives up and totally shuts down, and everyone is forced to purchase Al Gore and Kleiner Perkins Perpetual Motion Machines, and we have to spend most of our time digging furrows in the earth with sharp sticks.)

The Climate Change Hockey Stick, or Scythe, or "W", or Rollercoaster, or Heartrate monitor

Their "safe word" was "Whatever I say, Don't Stop !"

From Talking Points Memo:

Rod Jetton, the former Missouri House Speaker, fired a state lawmaker from his committee chairmanship in 2007 because the lawmaker had changed a bill in order to end a state ban on gay sex -- or what Jetton called "deviate sexual intercourse."

Jetton was charged with felony assault Monday after a girlfriend alleged that he had beaten and choked her during a recent sexual encounter, in which she failed to use a mutually agreed upon "safe word." The woman also suggested that Jetton may have slipped a date-rape drug into her glass of wine, causing her to lose consciousness. In the wake of the charges, Jetton announced that the political consulting firm he has run since leaving office last year would close its doors.

The picture of Big Daddy Rod Jetton swangin' his big ol' hammer, and showing the gavel who was in charge, and bending both the hammer and the gavel to his will and making them both submit to his desires, and asking them both if they want more? Huh? Do you want it harder? Faster? Does it hurt? Do you like it when it hurts?

Sorry. Got carried away there.

That picture came from here.

Welcome to Obamaville - Somewhere, Herbert Hoover is smiling

This is a picture of a Hooverville, the migrant shack and tent communities that sprang up during the Great Depression. This one was burned down by the Seattle authorities at least twice.
(Hoovervilles in your neighborhood are very, very bad for real eastate prices.)

It seems that the homeless tent communities aren't gone yet.... We have one in Colorado Springs.


Take note of the online messages about how the Obamaville sign money could've been better spent. "He could've taken the money spent on the sign, and given it to the homeless."
I disagree.
There are times when fighting against the cause of a disease is more important than fighting against the symptoms of a disease.

John Stossel's new show on FoxBusiness

Thanks to the miracle of Tivo, I was able to watch John Stossel's first show on FoxBusiness last night. (Stossel recently left ABC because he wasn't allowed any airtime to cut through the Statist fog surrounding that network.)

I've read Stossel's stuff online and in print for a couple of years now, but this was my first chance to see him on the tube. Overall, I was impressed.

The program, simply entitled "Stossel", had an unfortunate infomercial quality that I hope they can eventually tone down a bit.

The topic was climatechange.

His featured guest was Jerry Taylor, an energy researcher for The Cato Institute - probably the best of the Libertarian think-tanks, and therefore one of humanity's greatest treasures. Taylor took nothing but hostile questions from the studio audience, and handled them with ease, conceding some points, but asking the questioners to look beyond the basic goals of any energy regulation.

Assume that the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change's numbers are 100% correct. One hundred and seventy thousand people died last year because of man-made changes to our weather. Even if you assume that that number is accurate (it isn't), here's some numbers that are accurate:

3 million people died last year because of poor indoor air quality. That's what happens when your only fuel and heating source is human and animal manure.

Here's another accurate number, one that I've never seen anyone contradict....Mrs. Sepulchre is always reminding us that 25,000 people will die today because of malnutrition, most of them children.

Around two billion people are barely hanging on to existence. What's going to happen to them if the idjits in Copenhagen succeed in taking over the energy industry? We can't merely legislate lower carbon emissions and expect energy costs to remain the same, or expect the 2 billion mentioned above to ever claw their way out of poverty. The #1 mistake the Climate Alarmists are making is to assume that they can intervene without making the cure far worse than the disease.

The next guest was the dude in Arizona who gave Stossel a $6,000.00 golf cart. Perhaps I'm over-simplifying. YOU gave John Stossel a $6,000.00 golf cart.

Since the golf cart has zero carbon emissions, they qualify as an electric vehicle under one of the green energy scams. Stossel had to pay for the golf cart up front, but gets it all back on his taxes.

The golf cart dealer tried to defend the program based on the fact that most of us do our running around for trips that are less than 8-10 miles.

He didn't mention the carbon emissions of energy plants - coal burning, heat emitting, etc. energy plants. Once again, the alarmists can't look past the first stage of their energy programs. The golf cart is "green", therefore it is good. Pay no attention to the carbon emissions produced by charging the batteries.

The last guest was Stephen Dubner, co-author of the new Freakonomics book. Dubner sent the alarmists into a frothing rage a few months ago, when he and Steven Levitt publicized a proposal to spew some sulfur dioxide into the upper atmosphere through a massive garden hose. Climate engineers came up with the proposal a few years ago, after noticing that the earth cools significantly after volcanoes erupt.

This would only cost a few hundred million dollars per year. It would be simple. And there would be little or no opportunities for any Graft For Greenies programs.

Therefore, Dubner and Levitt were branded as heretics. Dubner took a few questions, mostly about acid rain from sulfur dioxide. He handled them with ease. (When's the last time you heard anything about acid rain, the former Panic Of The Decade?)

Overall, I really liked the show, and I hope Stossel can get some ratings. Every question from the audience was from someone disagreeing with the guest. Who knows, it could've all been scripted. At least it was a fair script.

Professor Stephen Schneider of Stanford faces a skeptical journalist, is frightened, calls security

Professor Stephen Schneider of Stanford faces an untamed journalist, apparently for the first time, at the Copenhagen Global Cooling Global Warming Climate Change Rent Seeking Conference....


Hey, this is what happens when you try to get yer science info from science sources.

Al Gore and Vogon Poetry

If any of you are fan's of Douglas Adams' Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy series, you probably remember Vogon poetry.
Here's a brief description of the relative awfulness of Vogon poetry, from the Hitchhiker's Wikja:

Vogon poetry is of course, the third worst in the universe.
The second worst is that of the Azgoths of Kria. During a recitation by their poet master Grunthos the Flatulent of his poem "Ode to a Small Lump of Green Putty I Found in My Armpit One Midsummer Morning" four of his audience died of internal hemorrhaging and the president of the Mid-Galactic Arts Nobbling Council survived only by gnawing one of his own legs off. Grunthos was reported to have been "disappointed" by the poem's reception, and was about to embark on a reading of his 12-book epic entitled "My Favourite Bathtime Gurgles" when his own major intestine--in a desperate attempt to save humanity--leapt straight up through his neck and throttled his brain.
The very worst poetry of all perished along with its creator, Paul Neil Milne Johnstone of Redbridge, in the destruction of the planet Earth. Vogon poetry is mild by comparison.

Hold on a minute ! ! We have a new entry for one of those coveted Top Three Spots ! !

Here's The Goracle Of Music City, Tennessee, with a new entry that he couldn't squeeze into his latest book, "Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis".



Be honest. Feel like gnawing a leg off ?

Weekly Radio Address tranlated into something reflecting more Truthiness

Someone has done us a great service by translating this blather into English.
It is worth multiple viewings, especially if you're wondering why nobody is hiring.


Found at the Tom Lewis Blog.

The Weekly Radley - From The Most Transparent Administration EVER

From Radley Balko's Agitator blog:

The Obama administration is sponsoring a workshop on government transparency . . . that will be closed to the public.

“I can understand skepticism anytime a meeting for government people is not necessarily open to the public,” Nisbet (director of the brand spankin' new Office of Government Information Services) said. “However, everything that is discussed there is absolutely available for the public to know about.”

We're having to submit paperwork and requests to have OUR government employees tell us what they're doing on issues like lobbying, bribery, quid pro quo pro Climaquidicks pro additional quo's, and which lobbyists are visiting the White House for plunder.

Raise your hand if you think everything is honest and above-board.....

Anyone ? Anyone at all?

The cartoon came from here.

A Redundant Phrase - Wasteful Stimulus

She Whose Name Is Not Spoken has been out of the public eye for a while. Yeah, she's now Secretary Of State, and there's lots of speculation going on about which pantsuit she'll wear to Chelsea's wedding, but the potential election nightmare of 2008 was avoided.
Well, she's back. Here we go.....

From The Hill:

Nearly $6 million in stimulus money was paid to two firms run by Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton’s pollster in 2008.

Federal records show that $5.97 million from the $787 billion stimulus helped preserve three jobs at Burson-Marsteller, the global public-relations and communications firm headed by Penn.

It took almost 6 million dollars to preserve three jobs? What were those three guys doing? Putting out oil well fires? Test driving experimental aircraft? Taking dangerous experimental medications that could benefit all humankind? Walking between the President and his teleprompter?

Burson-Marsteller won the contract to work on a public-relations campaign to advertise the national switch from analog to digital television. Nearly $2.8 million of the contract was issued to Penn’s polling firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, according to federal records.

(Critics have) noted that the advertising campaign took place on May 5, only 39 days before the digital television transition was scheduled (June 12).

GOP Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Tom Coburn (Okla.) held a news conference Tuesday to blast 100 “wasteful” projects funded by the $787 billion economic stimulus package Congress passed earlier this year, concluding that at least $7 billion of the $217 billion spent through November was wasteful and mismanaged

Wasteful Stimulus - the only thing wrong with that phrase is that it is redundant. Is there anyone out there, anyone at all, who can honestly claim that we need to let that Den Of Thieves raid the Treasury for a second stimulus package?

Anybody?

Obama Urges Major New Stimulus, Jobs Spending

From The Dallas Morning News. Unaltered. No commentary necessary. Use the video below as a soundtrack.



WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama called for a major new burst of federal spending Tuesday, aiming to jolt the wobbly economy into a stronger recovery and reduce painfully persistent double-digit unemployment.

Despite Republican criticism concerning record federal deficits, Obama said the U.S. must continue to "spend our way out of this recession" as long as so many people are out of work. More than 7 million Americans have lost their jobs since the recession began two years ago, and the jobless rate stands at 10 percent, a statistic Obama called "staggering."

Congressional approval would be required for the new spending, the amount unspecified but sure to be at least tens of billions of dollars.

"We avoided the depression many feared," Obama said in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. But, he added, "Our work is far from done."

It was the third time in a week the president had presided over a high-profile event on jobs, responding to rising pleas in Congress that he spend more time discussing unemployment as midterm election season draws near.

Obama proposed new spending for highway and bridge construction, for small business tax cuts and for retrofitting millions of homes to make them more energy-efficient. He said he wanted to extend economic stimulus programs to keep unemployment insurance from expiring for millions of out-of-work Americans and to help laid-off workers keep their health insurance. He proposed an additional $250 apiece in stimulus spending for seniors and veterans and aid to state and local governments to discourage them from laying off teachers, police officers and firefighters.

He did not give a price tag for the new package but said he would work with Congress on deciding how to pay for it.

Proposals in Congress being advanced by Democratic leaders that cover much the same ground would add up to $170 billion or more. Administration aides suggested the infrastructure proposals alone being weighed by the president could cost about $50 billion.

Republicans ridiculed the president's speech and his parallel call for doing more to hold down government deficits.

"At least the president's proposal will result in one new job - he'll need to hire a magician to make this new deficit spending appear fiscally responsible," said Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, the senior Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio declared the president "out of ideas and out of touch."

While Obama did not propose the kind of direct federal public works jobs that were created in the 1930s, he said government action could set the stage for more job creation by private business. Many of his proposals would extend or expand programs included in the mammoth $787 billion stimulus package passed last winter.

While acknowledging increasing concerns in Congress and among the public over the nation's growing debt, Obama said critics present a "false choice" between paying down deficits and investing in job creation and economic growth.

"Even as we have had to spend our way out of this recession in the near term, we have begun to make the hard choices necessary to get our country on a more stable fiscal footing in the long run," he said.

To find money to pay for the new programs, the administration is pointing to the Treasury Department's report on Monday that it expects to get back $200 billion in taxpayer-approved bank bailout funds faster than expected.

Obama suggested this windfall would help the government spend money on job creation at the same time it eats into the nation's debt, which now totals $12 trillion.

A rare moment of total honesty from Social Security

From a Social Security newsletter, which can be found at SSA.GOV , entitled "What Young Workers Should Know About Social Security And Saving".

"....Because people are living longer and the birthrate is low, the ratio of workers to beneficiaries is falling. Therefore the taxes that are paid by workers will not be enough to pay the full benefit amounts scheduled.

However, this does not mean that Social Security benefit payments would disappear. Even if modifications to the program are not made, there would still be enough funds in 2041 from taxes paid by workers to pay about $780 for every $1,000 in benefits scheduled."

Consider the nerve it takes to publish a statement like that one. I'm going to take your money under false pretenses. I'm going to claim that I'll give it back to you based on a certain schedule. But I know that I'm full of crap. Everyone knows that I'm full of crap. But hey, I'm probably good for 75% of what I promised ! !

No one has the nerve to stand up and claim that I'm not full of crap, including me. But if people don't start saving more on their own, it's going to be an even bigger mess. Therefore, you must continue contributing.

And I'm going to issue press releases that show how badly screwed my system is.

Unbelievable.

The scariest map you'll ever see

Want to see something scary? This is what U.S. unemployment looked like in January 2007.

Blue/Green on this map represents high employment. Red/Brown equals moderate unemployment. Yellow/Tan means low unemployment.

I found it on Small Dead Animals, but that's not the link you need to hit just yet.

Hang with me a second. Do you ever wonder why "small l" libertarians and "Capital L" Libertarians make such a big deal over the 10th amendment? (The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.)

The 10th Amendment allows us to experiment. For instance, if Mississippi once had laws prohibiting any industry but cotton farming, and Alabama didn't, well, one can glance at a map like this one and see that Mississippi is getting punished for that decision. And plenty of others. In 2007, the Alabama/Mississippi boundary was as plain as the lines separating Haley Barbour's chins.

The 10th amendment, very much under attack in the current Federalist nightmare, allows individual states to opt out of lemming-like conformity to one another.

What the heck was wrong in South Carolina in 2007? I won't pretend to know. But South Carolina operates under one set of laws and regulations, while nearby Georgia operates under another. Otherwise, they are only separated by an invisible line.

Why was rust belt Indiana faring better than the regulatory hell of Michigan? Or its backwoods neighbor Kentucky? I don't know.

Now hit this link to watch a monthly update of the same map, from January 2007 to now. Almost every U.S. county changes to a less desirable color, but some places are doing much better than others.

Last, go to this map published by the State Policy Index site, ranking every U.S. state by economic freedom, economic freedom being defined as an overall absence of nanny-state maternalism. Look for pages 22 and 23.

There isn't a perfect correlation between high employment and economic freedom, but perfect correlations don't exist. Economic freedom is a good thing. Regulatory hells are not.

Note to everyone moving to Texas from California, trying to outrun the consequences of your votes: Please stay home on election day.

Note to everyone living outside the Texas/Wyoming "Freedom Belt": Welcome to Mississippi.

Are you unemployed?????

Like so many other good things in life, this came from Instapundit.

Dallas Cowboys 24, New York Giants 31 - December is the cruelest month

Without nearly enough apologies to the works of T.S. Eliot....

December is the cruelest month, breeding
Defeats out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Fumbles in the Meadowlands.
Autumn kept us warm, covering
Earth with easy wins over lowly Oakland, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Eli surprised us, coming over the top
With a shower of passes; though we stopped not one,
Romo and Whitten set records; into the end zone
Giants returned punts, and treated us like losers.


LET us go then, you and I,
When the stadium is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through Arlington's half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of bulldozed houses near one-night cheap hotels
And bad chain restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question …
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
Let us go and make our visit.

In the room libertarians complain
Cursing both Jerry, and Eminent Domain.

The yellow curse that rubs its back upon the uniforms,
The yellow December curse that rubs its muzzle on the gray and blue uniforms,
Licked its tongue into the corners of the end zone,
Lingered upon the Cowboy drives that failed to move the chains,
Let fall upon its back the hopes that falls from gullible fans,
Slipped by the defense, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft December night,
Curled again about the Meadowlands, and fell asleep.


We'll soon see New Orleans riding Brees-ward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water gold and black.

We will linger in the Dome of the damned,
By cheerleaders wreathed with fabric gold and brown
Till the ref whistles wake us, and we drown.

And I have known the eyes already, known them all,
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To explain the theft of land and homes?
And how should I go on?

For I will show you fear, fear in a handful of dust....

Pics came from here and here.