The cure for unemployment that we're waiting to discover

There are hundreds if not thousands of potentially devastating videos just waiting to be created about The Teleprompter Jesus and his ability to make bad situations worse.

Note the unemployment rate early on in this video, as employers defensively react to every word that this guy says.

Kinda like the way the stock market reacted during his speech on the economy.

Here's the Obama speech that employers are waiting to hear:

"Yeah, we made some mistakes.
We're not going to try to do anything else to create jobs for the rest of our lives.

Why not?

Because we suck at it.
Taking money from group A to give to group B so they will hire more people from group C ? That merely causes group A to hide their money, causes group B to create projects that Washington likes rather than consumers, and creates a nastly little political bloc out of group C.


Also, we're going to settle in on a Flat Tax system. It's going to slide between 5% and 15%. If you're homeless, you're still going to pay 5% of your "profits" to Washington. If you're Bill Gates, you're going to pay 15%. No loopholes in exchange for campaign donations. Ever.


Oh, and one other thing. ObamaCare is now over. If you hire someone, you're not expected to be his nursemaid, doctor, surgeon, or insurance agent.


I almost forgot... CardCheck is now over. If you hire someone, you don't have to worry about him banding all of your labor vendors together to force you to hire from a certain group.


I'm going to remain on vacation for the forseeable future.


Hope this helps.

Now, watch this swing....

The State Department wasn't the only one playing Footsie with Gaddafi

Muammar Kaddafi was "Dictator Du Jour" on this site a few days ago.  It's a new program I've started to honor the murderous dictators that our State Department blesses with lots of free stuff - training, military hardware, etc. 

(Note: I'm no longer even trying to spell this guy's name consistently from link to link.)

It gets better and better.  This is from The Business Insider:

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) promised to help former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi obtain U.S. military hardware, as one of the United States' partners in the war on terror," according to a U.S. diplomatic cable released Wednesday by anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.

If the Nobel Peace Prize committee wants to atone for giving the prize to The Teleprompter Jesus, they oughta give it to Julian Assange, the founder and publisher of Wikileaks. 

The meeting, which took place just over a year ago on Aug. 14, 2009, included other influential Americans, such as Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. Susan Collins (R-SC) and Senate Armed Services Committee staffer Richard Fontaine, the document explains.

McCain opened the meeting by characterizing Libya's relationship with the U.S. as "excellent," to which Liebermann added: "We never would have guessed ten years ago that we would be sitting in Tripoli, being welcomed by a son of Muammar al-Qadhafi."

"Lieberman called Libya an important ally in the war on terrorism, noting that common enemies sometimes make better friends," the cable continues. "The Senators recognized Libya's cooperation on counterterrorism and conveyed that it was in the interest of both countries to make the relationship stronger."

Part and parcel to that relationship: military hardware, including helicopters and non-lethal weaponry, meant to ensure the security of Tripoli. In exchange for this and assisting the nation in rehabilitating its image with other lawmakers, Gaddafi pledged to send Libya's highly enriched uranium supplies to Russia for proper disposal.

Note that the article doesn't say "in exchange for this, Gaddafi gave us money".  It just says that "in exchange for this, Gaddafi pledged"....to do something or other. 

The cable does not mention anything about the senators pressing Gaddafi for democratic reforms. 

On the places where Warren Buffett chooses to invest his money, Part 3, The final conflict !!!

Warren Buffett wishes he could pay more taxes, if only someone would make him. 

Check out my two previous posts,

Then look at what this guy wrote. 

Lord have mercy, what a Corporatist/Statist tool. 

An update on the places where Warren Buffett chooses to invest his money

Read the previous post before you read this bit o' greatness....

Here's some more about Warren Buffett, who says he should be paying MORE taxes, out of fairness !!

But if he (Buffett) were truly sincere, perhaps he might simply try paying the taxes the IRS says his company owes? According to Berkshire Hathaway’s own annual report — see Note 15 on pp. 54-56 — the company has been in a years-long dispute over its federal tax bills.

According to the report, “We anticipate that we will resolve all adjustments proposed by the IRS for the 2002 through 2004 tax years at the IRS Appeals Division within the next 12 months. The IRS has completed its examination of our consolidated U.S. federal income tax returns for the 2005 and 2006 tax years and the proposed adjustments are currently being reviewed by the IRS Appeals Division process. The IRS is currently auditing our consolidated U.S. federal income tax returns for the 2007 through 2009 tax years.”

Americans for Limited Government researcher Richard McCarty, who was alerted to the controversy by a federal government lawyer, said, “The company has been short-changing the tax collection agency for much of the past decade. Mr. Buffett’s company has not fully settled its tax bills from 2002-2009. Yet he says he’d happily pay more. Except the IRS has apparently been asking him to pay more going on nine years.”

The mind recoils. 

On the places where Warren Buffett chooses to invest his money

Zillionaire Warren Buffett has been in the news a lot. 

First, he made worldwide headlines by complaining in a New York Holy Times editorial that he isn't forced to give enough money to our government. 

This is strange.  Anyone wanting to give more money to the government can do so by hitting this link, which gives you some helpful information, plus this address:

Gifts to the United States

U.S. Department of the Treasury

Credit Accounting Branch

3700 East-West Highway, Room 622D

Hyattsville, MD 20782

No New York Times editorials are necessary.  No complaining is necessary.  No righteous posturing is required.  All Mr. Buffett has to do is write a check for the amount he thinks he should be paying, mail it to that address, and his money will be wasted just as quickly as the money that Washington is borrowing from China.  (And if Mr. Buffett wants some publicity and increased stature amongst The Statists, that would do it.  The more rational half of the nation, however, would know that he'd gone stark, raving mad.) 

Or perhaps Buffett just wants other people to pay more money, but not himself.  We'll never know.  You can go here to read an analysis of why Buffett's claims about his tax rate are somewhat misleading.

Here's something else about how Warren Buffett chooses to spend his money, this time from The Wall Street Journal:

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will invest $5 billion in Bank of America Corp., giving the nation's biggest bank a much-needed vote of confidence amid questions about the credibility of its management.What do you think? Will that figure shore Bank of America up adequately for a return to profitability? Is Buffett seizing a golden opportunity, or taking too risky a gamble?

Hmmmm..... This is a strange one.  You can go elsewhere on the internet and read that it isn't just the 5 billion investment that has caused Bank Of America's stock to increase.  It's that Warren Buffett, The Sage of Ohama, has taken a look at Bank Of America, thought about it, and declared BofA to be worthy of his money and his shareholders' money.  If Warren Buffett says it's a good investment, it's a good investment. 

Why would Warren Buffett voluntarily throw money at a risky proposition like a failing bank, but complain about not being forced at gunpoint to give more money to a failing government? 

I think it is because Bank Of America is probably a good investment, and a good use of Buffett's money, and a good use of the money of the investors who trust Warren Buffett. 

The United States Government, under present leadership, is not. 

Money talks, bullshit walks.  Especially if it is Warren Buffett's money. 

Quote of the day, on a logical consequence of huge debt

I found this on Samizdata:

During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Christians were not supposed to charge interest. Therefore, the most common moneylenders-to-kings were Jews. They could loan money at a profit, and were thus more likely to lend it.

But whenever the King's debts got too large to repay, he began to demonise the Jews. And eventually came a pogrom. And hey-ho, the debt went away along with the Jews.

I'm seeing the demonisation of banks. I wonder how long before government throws a pogrom?

- Ellen Kuhfeld

I don't believe we have any boots on our throats yet, but....

....this is kinda cool to think about. 

Muammar al-Qaddafi - Our Dictator Du Jour (we were for him before we were against him)

Ron Paul has a reputation amongst The Statists as being totally naive on foreign policy. 

This means he is always right. 

Not just kinda right, but gloriously validated and vindicated.   You don't earn a bad reputation in Big Government circles by being wrong. 

Here's a little dustup that Paul had with our Secretary Of State, also known as She Whose Name Is Not Spoken:

“A lot of people in this country have come to the conclusion that our policy overhaul has been inconsistent; that sometimes we support the bad guys and the bad guys become our enemies,” Paul told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a hearing of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Rep. Paul pointed to America’s support for Osama bin Laden when he was fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, its collaboration with Saddam Hussein against Iran in the 1980s, and its propping up the Shah in Iran for decades before that.

“But we keep supporting Algeria, Morocco, Yemen, all these dictators, and yet we pretend that as soon as, well, it looks like the dictator might fall, we're all for democracy and we're for freedom and we're against these dictators,” he said.

To which The Hildabeast responded:

“Congressman, you make a very passionate argument, and my response is that, you know, the United States, over the course of its entire diplomatic history, has had to make some very difficult decisions,” she said.

“We try to balance what we believe to be in our interests. Sometimes, and I would argue most times, we get it right. Sometimes we don't,” America’s top diplomat conceded.

You can go here for a partial list of dictators that we've supported, and that most sane and sober people would examine and say "Dang, Hillary.  You sure got that one wrong.  What possessed you folks to give that dictator a bunch of money?"  

So here's today's update:  Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi is now on the run.  Rebels have almost taken Tripoli, and our State Department will soon be able to claim that our military involvement in Libya was justified.  But what about this, from 2009 ??

The State Department has designated $400,000 in international aid funds for two foundations run by the children of Libyan dictator Muammar Kaddafi, a move that two Republican members of Congress today called a misuse of taxpayer funds that should be immediately cut off by President Obama.

The Congress members’ complaints on Thursday came just a day after Kaddafi delivered a bizarre speech to the United Nations in which he suggested the Israelis may have been behind the Kennedy assassination and the swine-flu virus was cooked up in a corporate lab. It also comes amid mounting international criticism of Kaddafi’s regime after it provided a hero’s welcome to Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 that killed 270 people.

Ironically, one of the groups designated for $200,000 in State Department funds is the Kaddafi Development Foundation, headed by Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, the Libyan leader’s son who personally arranged for Megrahi’s flight back to Tripoli last month after the convicted terrorist was released on “humanitarian” grounds from a Scottish jail. Another $200,000—part of $2.5 million in State Department economic-support funds for Libya—is slated to go to an organization headed by Kaddafi’s daughter Aisha, to promote “women’s economic opportunities.”

“This waste of taxpayer dollars is particularly outrageous following the hero’s welcome given to the Lockerbie bomber,” said Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Relations Committee. Ros-Lehtinen wrote Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking her to cut off the entire $2.5 million designation for Libya, noting that it was provided by Congress in order to “promote democracy and human rights” in Libya. “How could this assistance effectively promote democracy when entrusted to the dictator’s family?” she asked.

Yeah.  Good question.  I think that funding got blocked, but I don't have time this morning to research it properly.  But how about this later attempt to give Qaddafi some money?  Not just some money but an increase in his allowance?  This was going on in March of this year !!!!

While President Obama calls Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi a threat to his own people, just one month before attacking Libya the president asked Congress to increase U.S. aid for Qaddafi's military to $1.7 million.

According to State Department figures, the money was earmarked to train Libyan military officers, improve its air force, secure its borders and to counter terrorism.

If this seems contradictory, welcome to the world of U.S. foreign aid, where billions of tax dollars go to people we don't like and nations some say don't need the help. The latest unrest has drawn renewed scrutiny to these policies. 

Hell, by the way they keep trying to throw money at him, you would think that Qaddafi worked for SEIU or ACORN or maybe the Wisconsin Teachers' Union.  If time permitted, I'd check to see if he got any stimulus funds. 

If you have time and don't mind getting depressed, you can go here and see that, through various aid organizations, we've given Libya $176 million since Qaddafi took over as dictator. 

Good job, Hillary. 

*********************

I think my next Dictator Du Jour will be Spain's Francisco Franco or Cambodia's Pol Pot.  We supported both of them until we were against them.  Or I can take nominations for other dicatators from you folks.  The floor is open, and there are plenty of candidates. 

The pic of our man in Libya came from here.  The Aid Trap picture came from here, and that entire article should be tattooed on Hillary's thighs. 

From the CBS News website Gift Shop

Obama, Obama, Obama, Obama, Obama, Kennedy. 

'Nuff said. 

Die quickly, Mainstream Media.  die quickly. 

Why Penn Jillette is a Libertarian Nut instead of just a Nut, and other stuff

I'm reading magician/comedian Penn Jillette's "God, No".  The chapter "Why I'm A Libertarian Nut Instead Of Just A Nut" is so good, so spot-on, that I was going to pound it into the internet this morning. 

This guy beat me to it.  So all I have to do is copy and paste. 

I don’t speak for all Libertarians any more than Sean Penn speaks for all Democrats. I’m not even sure my LP membership card is up to date. I’ve voted Libertarian as long as I can remember but I don’t really remember much before the Clintons and the Bushes. Those clans made a lot of us bugnutty. When I go on Glenn’s show he calls me a Libertarian, I think that’s my only real credential.

There are historical reasons and pragmatic reasons to be a Libertarian, but there are historic and pragmatic reasons to be a Democrat, a Republican or a Socialist. I don’t know if everyone would be better off under a Libertarian government. I don’t know what would be best for anyone. I don’t even know what’s best for me. What makes me Libertarian is I don’t think anyone else really knows what’s best for anyone. My argument for Libertarianism is simple - personal morality.

I start with the Declaration of Independence: “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” So, essentially our government does what they do with my consent.

I know barely enough about Max Weber to type his name into Google, but it seems he’s credited with asserting the idea that the state has a monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force. I put those two ideas together (my consent and use of physical force) and figure we all give our government the right to use force. So, the way I figure, it’s not okay for our government to use force in any situation where I personally wouldn’t use force.

For example, if I’m not willing to kill a cute cow, I shouldn’t eat steak. I don’t have to kill Bessy right now with my bare hands, but I have to be willing to snuff her if I want to chow down on a T-bone. If it’s not okay for me, it’s not okay for a slaughterhouse. Asking someone else to do something immoral is immoral. If it’s not okay for me to break David Blaine’s hands so my magic show has less competition, it’s not okay for me to ask someone else to beat him up. Someone else doing your dirty work is still your dirty work.

If I had a gun, and I knew a murder was happening, (we’re speaking hypothetically here, I’m not asking you to believe that I could accurately tell a murder from aggressive CPR), I would use that gun to stop that murder. I might be too much of a coward to use a gun myself to stop a murder or rape or robbery, but I think the use of a gun is justified. I’m even okay with using force to enforce voluntary contracts. If I were a hero, I would use a gun to protect the people who choose to live under this free system and to stop another country from attacking America. But I wouldn’t use a gun to force someone to love something like say…a library.

Look, I love libraries. I spent a lot of time in the Greenfield Public Library when I was a child. I would give money to build a library. I would ask you to give money to build a library. But, if for some reason you were crazy enough to think you had a better idea for your money than building my library, I wouldn’t pull a gun on you. I wouldn’t use a gun to build an art museum, look at the wonders of the universe through a big telescope, or even find a cure for cancer.

The fact that the majority wants something good does not give them the right to use force on the minority that don’t want to pay for it. If you have to use a gun, it’s not really a very good idea. Democracy without respect for individual rights sucks. It’s just ganging up on the weird kid, and I’m always the weird kid.

People try to argue that government isn’t really force. You believe that? Try not paying your taxes. (This is only a thought experiment though -- suggesting someone not pay their taxes is probably a federal offense, and while I may be a nut, I’m not crazy.) When they come to get you for not paying your taxes, try not going to court. Guns will be drawn. Government is force.

It’s amazing to me how many people think that voting to have the government give poor people money is compassion. Helping poor and suffering people yourself is compassion. Voting for our government to use guns to give money to help poor and suffering people is immoral self-righteous bullying laziness. People need to be fed, medicated, educated, clothed, and sheltered. If we’re compassionate, we’ll help them, but you get no moral credit for forcing other people to do what you think is right. There is great joy in helping people, but no joy in doing it at gunpoint.

I’m a Libertarian nut because I don’t want my government to do anything in my name that I wouldn’t do myself.

Here's another excerpt where Jillette explains the connection between his religious beliefs (none) and his Libertarianism.  He doesn't believe that he knows.  He has no freakin' clue what is best for you, sitting there in Clovis New Mexico, or Birmingham Alabama, or Birmingham England.  He doesn't know what you need !!  Neither does Barack Obama, or John Boehner, or Rick Perry, or David Cameron, or The Pope.  They are ALL ordinary people that some of you good folks want to put on pedestals.  Penn Jillette doesn't understand why. 

“What makes me libertarian is what makes me an atheist — I don’t know. If I don’t know, I don’t believe. I don’t know exactly how we got here, and I don’t think anyone else does, either. We have some of the pieces of the puzzle and we’ll get more, but I’m not going to use faith to fill in the gaps. I’m not going to believe things that TV hosts state without proof. I’ll wait for real evidence and then I’ll believe.

And I don’t think anyone really knows how to help everyone. I don’t even know what’s best for me. Take my uncertainty about what’s best for me and multiply that by every combination of the over 300 million people in the United States and I have no idea what the government should do.

President Obama sure looks and acts way smarter than me, but no one is 2 to the 300 millionth power times smarter than me. No one is even 2 to the 300 millionth times smarter than a squirrel. I sure don’t know what to do about an AA+ rating and if we should live beyond our means and about compromise and sacrifice. I have no idea. I’m scared to death of being in debt. I was a street juggler and carny trash — I couldn’t get my debt limit raised, I couldn’t even get a debt limit — my only choice was to live within my means. That’s all I understand from my experience, and that’s not much.

It’s amazing to me how many people think that voting to have the government give poor people money is compassion. Helping poor and suffering people is compassion. Voting for our government to use guns to give money to help poor and suffering people is immoral self-righteous bullying laziness.

People need to be fed, medicated, educated, clothed, and sheltered, and if we’re compassionate we’ll help them, but you get no moral credit for forcing other people to do what you think is right. There is great joy in helping people, but no joy in doing it at gunpoint.

Here's a random Penn Jillette video on the merits of Libertarianism as compared to the other choice.  If you are offended by F-bombs, don't hit "play".  The F-bombs are, however, appropriate. 

The Comedy Genius of Charlie Delta !!!!!!!!

My California friend Charlie Delta has written a blog post in which our political situation pushes me over the edge. 

Stolen Forklifts in heavy traffic are involved. 

Shiner beer is involved. 

I'm not going to tell you how much of this might be true.

Here's the video that inspired Charlie Delta's story.  It takes a few seconds to get started.  Be patient.  This thing is worth it.  Let this be the soundtrack for what you're about to enjoy....

I've been around the world twice.  I've been to China five times.   I've been Employee Of The Year at two different companies.  I'm the father of my daughter. 

I don't know that any of that is better than this.  Hit the link and enjoy the pure comedy gold of Charlie Delta ! 

God's comments on Rick Perry

Something to think about

The documentation for this startling statement is in the fine print at the bottom of the poster. 

Jon Stewart nails it. In Orwellian terms, Ron Paul is an Un-Person

Jon Stewart nails it.
There's something weird going on in the Lamestream Media coverage of Ron Paul.
Enjoy.

Miss USA: Should Evolution Be Taught In Schools?

Humanity is fortunate that the answers to the question "evolve" as the video progresses.

Miss California (at the 2:00 mark, the self-professed science geek) won the pageant, BTW.

Since the other government departments have been so freakin' great....

Please allow me to beat the crap out of a few dead horses before getting to my point....

The Department of Education was founded in 1980. 

Here's a graph showing education spending vs. test scores.  Did you notice how test scores improved and lurched upward in 1980, when all the insane spending on education got started?  I didn't either. 

Next topic....The Department of Energy was founded shortly after the oil non-crisis of 1977 during the Carter administration, and now has 16,000 employees, 100,000 contract employees and an annual budget of over $24 billion.  The Department was created to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. 

(I firmly believe that wanting to reduce our dependence on foreign anything is a silly concept.  You can reduce your dependence on Proctor and Gamble by making your own soap.  You can reduce your dependence on Joseph A. Banks by sewing your own suits.  You can reduce your dependence on the internet by going to the library.  But that is no way to live your life.  Depending on others is good.  The only truly self-reliant people on our planet live in mud huts and have trouble keeping their feces out of their food.  But at least they don't depend on foreigners.  And they have a very small carbon footprint!!!) 

Sorry for the digression.  The Department of Energy was supposed to reduce our "dependence" on foreign oil.  Here's another chart.  Do you see the massive decrease in oil imports after the founding of the Department Of Energy?  I don't either. 

Let's pick on another recent Cabinet level Department, just for grins and giggles.  Lyndon Johnson birthed the Department Of Housing And Urban Development in 1965 because some government employees conducted a study that found there was a larger possible role for the Federal Government in solving urban problems, a role that would save and create jobs for more government employees. 

One of HUD's most notorious blunders was to round up large numbers of the urban poor, bulldoze their homes, and move them into high-rise hellholes where they had no connections to former neighbors, no sense of community, and no real reason to give a rip about their surroundings. 

Forget the charts.  Forget The Village Voice claiming that HUD was "the worst landlord" in New York City.  For these guys, we need video !!!!

Here's a time lapse of the destruction of the infamous Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago:

Why the demolition of a beautiful HUD project?

During the worst years of Cabrini–Green's problems, vandalism increased substantially. Gang members and miscreants covered interior walls with graffiti and damaged doors, windows, and elevators. Rat and cockroach infestations were commonplace, rotting garbage stacked up in clogged trash chutes (it once piled up to the 15th floor), and basic utilities (water, electricity, etc.) often malfunctioned and were left unrepaired. On the exterior, boarded-up windows, burned-out areas of the facade, and pavement instead of green space—all in the name of economizing on maintenance—created an atmosphere of neglect and decay. The high "open galleries" were enclosed with steel fencing along the entire height of the building to prevent residents from emptying rubbish bins into the yard, from falling, and from being thrown off to their deaths (giving the visual appearance of a large prison tier, or animal cages, which further enraged community leaders).

Here's a video of Missouri's Pruitt-Igoe housing project implosion:

To be fair, this particular hellhole was built prior to HUD's existence. But it was still a government housing project. You can scour the 'net in vain trying to find someone saying a good thing about the place.

If you're really into this kind of thing, you can go here to watch all the videos of the demolition of Chicago's Robert Taylor Housing Project. 

Now.  Just to cleanse the palate before our main course, here's the video of the last flights out of Saigon, April 1975. 

I could bring up ethanol subsidies, the Department of Motor Vehicles, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, TARP, the Bailouts, the government-inflicted Housing Bubble, the looming bankruptcy of Social Security, the Porkulus Package, the 15 trillion dollar debt/bar tab we're going to leave to our unborn fetuses, and our government's thousands of other debacles.

I don't have time for those.

Here's the kicker.

Barack Freakin' Obama, who couldn't organize a dinner luncheon, is seriously thinking about creating a Department Of Jobs.

The administration may also merge the Department of Commerce, the Office of the United States Trade Representative and some economic divisions at the State Department into a new agency, administration officials said. Possible names include the Department of Jobs or the Department of Competitiveness.

May God have mercy on us all.  I can't imagine how badly he's going to screw that up. 

We've had a good run since 1776.  Maybe our time is over. 

It has been a pleasure writing for you.  Good luck, everyone. 

King Barack declares that fuel efficiency will improve, or we will face his displeasure

Having failed in his quest to lower sea levels around the world, Barack Obama has declared that big rigs will get  better mileage. 

WASHINGTON--President Obama announced the first-ever fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for long-haul rigs, work trucks, and other heavy duty vehicles Tuesday, the second mileage pact with manufacturers in less than a month.

The regulations call for reductions on fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 2018 of 9 to 23 percent, depending on the type of vehicle. Trucks and other heavy vehicles make up only 4 percent of the domestic vehicle fleet, but given the distance they travel, the time they spend idling and their low fuel efficiency, they end up consuming about 20% of all vehicle fuel, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

These things always puzzle me.  If you're going to go into the business of improving efficiency by Imperial Decree, why stop at 23% ?  Why not declare that "I, King Barack Of Chicago, hereby mandate that all semi-tractors will reduce fuel consumption by 50%, or ye shall face my wrath."

Experts say that a 20 percent reduction in heavy vehicle emissions would boost fuel efficiency to an average of 8 miles per gallon from 6 miles now.

Precisely.  And if the driver could be replaced by the Walt Disney Animatronic Driver, payrolls and other transportation costs would be slashed by 25%.  If tires could be made of Mississippi mud instead of rubber, replacement costs would be lowered by 89%.  If we ever get that big engineering breakthrough, the one where they make diesel engines out of Play-Do, vehicles will be 23% cheaper.  And on and on and on.....

Ok, rather than Fisk the rest of this piece of White House Boosterism, which would become tiresome, I'm just going to highlight the individual words that I think are funniest.  If you have any understanding of how the world works and why auto companies are going along with this crap, and the concepts of "collusion" and "corporatism", you'll get it. 

The announcement comes less than two weeks after Obama and the country’s automakers unveiled new fuel economy rules for passenger vehicles that would boost fleet-wide average gas mileage to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, from about 27.8 miles per gallon now.

The success of the Obama fuel efficiency program (!!!!!!!), some of it hard-won through difficult talks with car makers, stands in sharp contrast to the failure of other environmental initiatives, like climate change legislation.

At a time when nearly all major corporate lobbying groups and the Republican Party insist that the administration’s environmental regulations destroy jobs, the auto makers, the United Auto Workers union and now truck and large engine manufacturers are collaborating on rules they think could create jobs. Most environmental groups also praised the new truck standards.

The automobile industry has been more cooperative with the government since the federal bailout of two major car makers, General Motors and Chrysler. It is also mollified by the fact that the new, 2025 auto rules have what critics consider loopholes that allow the carmakers to improve fuel efficiency on their most popular models at a slower pace.

Moreover, the new standards encourage car and truck makers to use off-the-shelf technology, some of which they have already deployed, rather than invest in scientific breakthroughs.

“We’d be able to meet the standards by reducing weight, using low rolling-resistance tires to cut down on drag, making vehicles more aerodynamic and have less idling: those are available in the U.S. now,” said Jed Mandel, president of the Engine Manufacturers Association, the truck and engine makers’ trade group. The federal government has “done a great job in allowing flexibility for truck makers to build vehicles.”

Sorry.  I've got to interject something here.  The Federal Government has no damn business "allowing flexibility" in anything that doesn't harm someone else.  Period.  They've done a great job in allowing flexibility.  They've done a great job in allowing flexibility.  They've done a great job in allowing flexibility.  That's another way of saying "As long as we behave in the way they like, they'll let us get away with a few things." 

We're a nation of sheep, bleating about how our Master allows us greater flexibility. 

Gag. 

The new standards would increase the cost of heavy duty trucks, which cost tens of thousands of dollars, by several thousand dollars each, depending on the vehicle. But the administration and the manufacturers’ group estimated that the higher costs would be recouped very quickly, often within a year or two, because of savings at the pump, one of the biggest expenses for any cargo or trucking business.

The administration estimated that businesses using big trucks could save about $50 billion in fuel costs over the program’s duration.

And in the meantime, competition is decreased.  Barriers to entry are erected.  Choice is eliminated.  Government and trade group alliances are strengthened. 

Mission accomplished.  And it doesn't have a damn thing to do with fuel economy or the environment. 

End of rant. 

The pic of Ozymandias came from here.  The posters came from Dan McCall's Facebook page. 

"Acoustic Song Circle" this Sunday afternoon in Fort Worth

"Acoustic Song Circle" at The Corporate Image, this Sunday at 2:00.  5418 Brentwood Stair Road in Fort Worth.  Bring your guitar and 3 chords, or just show up and listen and drink a few.  It's a fun time!

(The gent who is 2nd from the right in the gray T-shirt is our infamous Dr. Ralph.  Dr. Ralph can play his Democrat rear end off, BTW.) 

Here's how it works.  Somebody starts a song.  The people who know the song play along with whoever is taking the lead on it.  The people who DON'T know the song play along with whoever is taking the lead on it.  Sometimes harmonicas are brought into the equation.  No fake British accents are allowed. 

Other people take turns soloing over the chords every now and then. 

This is me, trying really hard to remember the lyrics to something. 

We're doing this every Sunday afternoon until football blows up the Sunday afternoon time slot.  Hope you can make it this weekend !!

A modest proposal from Perry de Havilland for those who are under attack

Samizdata's Perry de Havilland, one of the guys whose excellent typing got me hooked on this blogging thing, has an excellent suggestion for those trying to respond to the London rioters:  Be a vigilante. 

I am delighted to see that some people are 'taking the law into their own hands' and not just abandoning their communities to the barbarian thugs...

When the trouble came, hairdressers, sales assistants and butchers were among the scores of Turkish and Kurdish workers who stood outside their businesses in Green Lanes, Haringey, from 8pm having been warned by police to expect trouble.

The Guardian filmed others – some armed with baseball bats – on guard outside shops and restaurants in Kingsland Road, only a mile away from Hackney's burning high street. Three workers from Re-Style Hairdressers were among those out in Green Lanes, after word spread that an attack was imminent at about 4pm [...]

"We were outside ready and expecting them," said the manager of Turkish Food Market, who asked not to be named. "But I felt very panicky because we are not safe from either the rioters or police. We put all of our efforts into this shop. It took 20 years to get it like this. But we do not know about our rights. I'm scared that the police and the government will attack us if we defend our businesses. We are being squeezed between the two."

Firstly, to those blaming 'immigration' rather than the welfare state, and the utterly grotesque way the state demands you do not protect what is yours, well people would do well to emulate the Turkish and Kurdish community in Britain. Indeed the looters we see on television and streamed over the internet are so multi-racial it must gladden the hearts of the Welfare Statists who created them.

So when the police decry 'vigilantes', I would point out that communities can often do a better job at protecting themselves than the police can and the folks who got out on the streets, not to loot but to defend their neighbourhoods, well they are the real heroes here.

The safety of you and your property is only tangentially of interest to the state (certainly they want to tax what you own, so to that extend they do indeed care about your life and property), but as demonstrated starkly over the last few days, the state also created the conditions that led to these riots and is therefore rather uneasy about punishing people who, after all, only do what the state does every day only without having to smash any windows.

A community of few people with rifles and something worth protecting are not such a soft target to thugs, even armed thugs, than a disarmed general population looking vainly for the Plod to save them. But for all sorts of reasons, the British state has so effectively propagandised this country that to even suggest armed self-defence puts you on the lunatic fringe... so crowbars and cricket bats it is then.

If these last few days shows anything it is that when push comes to shove, only you and your neighbours can defend against what can only be called barbarian scum. Contrary to what the state would have you believe, you have the right to defend yourself and your property that morally supersede any law that would deny that right. The rioters 'took the law into their own hands' so I applaud those Turks and Kurds (and many others whom the Guardian would not be so keen to report on) who did the same... they took the law back from the barbarians with and put it where it belongs: in their own hands.

Go here to read de Havilland's last sentence.  It says it all. 

If any Fort Worth readers disagree or think it is over the top, come live in the East Side for a while.  Yeah, some places aren't safe.  But if you have proper armaments in your castle, you can sleep like a baby. 

Good luck, London !!!

Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?

From The Boston Herald:

A Quincy mom has disconnected her support for striking Verizon workers yesterday after a group of mouthy picketers surrounded non-union repairmen and turned a phone-line fix at her home into what she is calling a “ridiculous” protest scene.

“I looked in the street and there are picketers, 10 of them or more, doing a circle around the Verizon truck,” said Karen Austin, 64, a mother of five who lives on Forest Avenue. “Every time (the repairmen) would walk up to my house they would follow them. I couldn’t believe my eyes. This is ridiculous. Why are they picketing my house?”

With tensions rising in a work-stoppage now in its fifth day, Verizon filed lawsuits in five states, including Massachusetts, yesterday to limit picketing by the 45,000 striking workers.

The company claims picketers have harassed non-union workers, and has reported suspected sabotage, such as sliced cables. The union has denied sabotage.

Paul Feeney, spokesman for IBEW Local 2222, the Dorchester-based union for 6,000 Verizon landline workers, said picketers take to the streets because that’s where the work is done.

“For us to be able to effectively picket the work that’s being done we have to go out in the field,” he said.

Feeney said the union strategy is to send its message to management outside Verizon offices and stores, and to the public on main streets with high traffic volumes.

“We haven’t actively sought out residential work,” he said. “The last thing we want to do is disrupt the neighborhoods.”

But Austin, who reported the 9 a.m. protest to Quincy police, said she believes the union went too far in her neighborhood.

“I’m not on a main street ... I’m not a business. I’m a person who needed a line fixed,” she said.

The upside of the London riots

From Zero Gov:

The Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass has released a statement in support of the economic stimulus activities undertaken this week in London.

“Over the past three nights,” said guild spokesman JM Keynes, “The brave young people of London have taken it upon themselves to guarantee the economic health of our city for years to come.” Keynes went on to explain that the Glaziers expect a 10,000% increase in demand for new glass windows over the coming weeks, which will employ hundreds of new glassmakers, who are paid as much as six francs for each new window produced.

Shopkeeper F (Frederic) Bastiat took a rather dimmer view of the stimulus package, citing its cost to his business. “Look here,” he said, gesturing to his store’s broken window. “They broke that, broke the door, came in and took things right off the shelves.” Bastiat expects that his insurance will cover some of the damages, but that much of his inventory will be a total loss. “I had a year’s profits tied up, just in what was on the shelves,” he explained. “And some of it they just destroyed! This television was too heavy to steal, I suppose, so they just smashed it.”

Bastiat’s selfishness, though, is not representative of most Londoners. In addition to creating jobs and increasing private spending, the stimulus is providing an increased standard of living for some participants. ”I got tones of stuff todayyyy!” explained one of the stimulus agents via twitter, ” … whop whop … wat ev;; it was free so i took it ennit,, didn’t get caught so[.]”

Hit the link up top to read the rest.  This guy is greatness. 

There is no chance of a U.S. credit default

I heard former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan say this on Meet The Press yesterday. 

"The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default."

There.  Don't you feel better already? 

Why don't we go ahead and print 14 of some trillion dollar bills, and call it even?

Obama 2012 Campaign Poster

This poster isn't fair. 

The Republican Party should be featured in the background of this thing.  The Obama/Reid/Pelosi Axis Of Incompetence didn't get us downgraded by acting alone. 

But damn, this is funny ! 

 

Finally

Someone finally did it.  Thank God. 

(CNN) -- The Standard & Poor's rating agency announced Friday that it has downgraded the U.S. credit rating to AA+ from its top rank of AAA.

Our national debt is now 100% of GDP.  Think of your yearly household income.  Go in debt by that amount.  Can you pay it off?  Didn't think so. 

Think of the yearly household income of your supermarket shelf-stocker.  Put him in debt by that amount.  Can he pay it off?  Didn't think so. 
Ditto for Bill Gates and the guy who mows your yard and everyone else you know.

(Yeah, I know there's a difference between yearly income and yearly production.  The analogy works the same way, though.) 

"The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics," the agency said about the move, which was announced after the markets had closed.

Rating agencies -- S&P, Moody's and Fitch -- analyze risk and give debt a grade that is supposed to reflect the borrower's ability to repay its loans.

Hey China !  Russia !  Latin America !  Silly people who buy government bonds !  All of you !  Stop lending us money !  We are not going to pay you back in any way, shape, form or fashion, with the possible exception of Ben Bernanke Gift Certificates from the Federal Reserve printing presses !  We are not going to pay you back !  We are not going to pay you back !  We are not going to pay you back !  We are not going to pay you back ! We are not going to pay you back ! We are not going to pay you back ! We are not going to pay you back ! We are not going to pay you back !  So, for the love of God, please stop giving those idiots money.  They spend it on harmful things, and it takes the money away from productive, useful projects.  Please, please, please, please !!! 

Just because you've gotten money from us before doesn't mean things can't change.  You've been warned ! 

The safest bets are stamped AAA. That's where U.S. debt has stood for years. Moody's first assigned the United States a AAA rating in 1917.

Fitch and Moody's, the other two main credit ratings agencies, maintained the AAA rating for the United States after this week's debt deal, though Moody's lowered its outlook on U.S. debt to "negative."

What the hell are they waiting on?  This is like a fleet of submarines going deep into the Atlantic to consider putting some more lifeboats and safety equipment on the Titanic.  The disaster has already happened.  We're on the hook for the money.  The Republicrats recently joined hands with the Demoblicans to increase the debt goal by another 2 trillion dollars that we'll never ever pay back. 

 

Don't say I didn't warn you.  I'm looking out for your best interests, even if Fitch and Moody's aren't. 

 

End of rant. 

Fred Bastiat Quote Of The Day

“Poor people!” he lamented of the duped French populace in the same tumultuous year [1848]. “How much disillusionment is in store for them! It would have been so simple and so just to ease their burden by decreasing their taxes; they want to achieve this through the plentiful bounty of the state and they cannot see that the whole mechanism consists in taking away ten to give it back eight, not to mention the true freedom that will be destroyed in the operation!” - Frederic Bastiat

From The Coyote Blog

Picture of Fred Bastiat The Dachshund and Fred Bastiat The French Economist came from my dining room table. 

Libertarian Street Art - Who Will Watch The Watchers?

I found this on Libertarian Reddit:

Quote Of The Day, on Greed

I saw this little gem at the Libertarian News blog. 

"It’s true: greed has had a very bad press. I frankly don’t see anything wrong with greed. I think that the people who are always attacking greed would be more consistent with their position if they refused their next salary increase." – Murray N. Rothbard

Coincidence??

69% of Americans believe that it is likely that scientists have falsified Global Warming / Cooling / Climate Change research. 

In related news, GM sold only 125 Chevy Volts last month. 

Yes, Joe Biden said that

From the comedic greatness of Vice President Joe Biden:

Why I love the war on drugs

I hire a lot of ex-convicts.  Sometimes they are a bargain. 

Think about it.  Imagine a 25-year-old who would be making 50K per year in a just and fair world, based on his intelligence, computer skills, and work ethic.  But suppose he got caught up in the George Bush/Barack Obama War On Drugs because of possession of a trifling amount of a weed, and he now has some prison time on his record. 

He is now lucky to get minimum wage. 

My company pays most people a lot more than minimum, but not for employees that no one else will hire.  We sometimes can hire ex-convict geniuses for 9 bucks an hour. 

If you're willing to put up with employees having to leave work at odd hours to waste time meeting with probation officers, parole officers, government counselors and other bureaucratic pygmies, ex-cons are a bargain. 

It doesn't seem fair, does it?  I get great employees for half-price !!   Thank you Democrats !!!!

So what should be done about my unfair advantage?  Well, a nation that didn't have its head up its collective ass would legalize marijuana use and possession, along with other victimless crimes.  We have 6% of the world's population and 25% of its convicts.  We do love turning our children into Food For The Machine. 

San Francisco is now debating what to do about my discriminatory practices.  Are they going to legalize marijuana in their city?  Make it legal for entrepreneurs to sell plants without a permit?

Oh no.  Nothing like that.  They're going to leave all the current laws in place, but make it illegal for anyone to ask about convictions.  I swear to God, that's the approach they're taking.  Here's a quote from the Coyote Blog:

A legislative proposal in San Francisco seeks to make ex-cons and felons a protected class, along with existing categories of residents like African-Americans, people with disabilities and pregnant women. If passed by city supervisors, landlords and employers would be prohibited from asking applicants about their criminal past. [...]According to The City’s Human Rights Commission, San Francisco has the highest recidivism rate of any big city in California, almost 80 percent. With an influx of new prisoners set to be released because of the state’s budget crisis, supporters argue felons need legal protections before they’re disqualified simply because of their record, which could be decades old and for crimes that have nothing to do with the job they’re hoping to get.

Yep.  They're going to continue ruining lives because, after all, jailers, probation officers, parole officers, counselors, border patrol guards, Narcs, and SWAT teams need jobs.  But they're going to make it illegal to ask about it. 
I love being alive, just for moments like this.  

What 28 ounces of gold would purchase in 1916. And today.

From Tarrant County Libertarian Party Chair John Spivey's Facebook page:

Hey Federal Reserve fans! I just did some fun research - Shortly after the Fed was hatched, in 1916, Chevy released it's "Model-T Slayer", the 490! Very slick, this roadster with the optional "full electrical system" ran $550 or 28.9 ounces of gold. Today, the Chevy's roadster, the Camaro Convertible 2 SS with several fun options runs $47,145... or 28.3 OUNCES OF GOLD! ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME!!!!!!

On "The Tea Party's War With America"

Joe Nocera has an editorial in The New York Holy Times that almost perfectly illustrates the difference between the Statist and Libertarian mindsets.  Fisking the entire thing would grow tiresome, but the main points show up in the first few paragraphs. 
Here's Mr. Nocera:

You know what they say: Never negotiate with terrorists. It only encourages them.

You know what's coming after that, right?  Yeah.  The people who want more freedom for themselves and for others are "terrorists".  To paraphrase an Instapundit commenter,  "This has to be the first ‘Terrorist’ movement in the history of mankind that, if it gets everything it wants…will leave you the hell alone.”

Back to Mr. Nocera:

These last few months, much of the country has watched in horror as the Tea Party Republicans have waged jihad on the American people.

Oh for the love of God.  Washington D.C. has indebted every f-ing taxpayer with a $130,000.00 bar tab.  The Statists want to increase that debt.  They've already doubled the debt since Bill Clinton left office.  The Tea Party Republicans have trotted out a 2.4 trillion in cuts (over 10 years), a 2.4 trillion that will be cut out of future increases, not from the current geysers of gloppy glutinous pork.  And these people making the pitiful little efforts to reduce the spending are jihadists ????

Back to Mr. Nocera:

Their intransigent demands for deep spending cuts, coupled with their almost gleeful willingness to destroy one of America’s most invaluable assets, its full faith and credit, were incredibly irresponsible. But they didn’t care. Their goal, they believed, was worth blowing up the country for, if that’s what it took.

I, for one, don't want America to have any more credit.  I want those Chinese bastards to stop mailing credit cards to Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner.  I want it to stop now.  I don't want my daughter to be burdened for the rest of her life with paying for George Bush and Barack Obama's ineffective wars on poverty, illiteracy, inflation, unemployment and brown people. 

Seriously, can you imagine a credit card company sending a card application to a person whose debt was 100% of his yearly income? 

Mr. Nocera thinks it would be a great idea.  Otherwise, things would, er....change. 

Like ideologues everywhere, they scorned compromise. When John Boehner, the House speaker, tried to cut a deal with President Obama that included some modest revenue increases, they humiliated him. After this latest agreement was finally struck on Sunday night — amounting to a near-complete capitulation by Obama — Tea Party members went on Fox News to complain that it only called for $2.4 trillion in cuts, instead of $4 trillion. It was head-spinning.

Well, numb-nuts, we are 14 trillion dollars in debt.  A 4 trillion dollar cut over a ten year period is nothing.  2.4 trillion cut from a 10 year period doesn't even cover the defict of each year. 

The "Tea Party" Republicans have suffered a hellish defeat.  Despite all the howling and cloth-rending from the Statist side, nothing has changed.  This is 100% business as usual. 

There's no point in going further with this.  Hit the link to read the rest of Nocera's editorial, in which he explains why taking money away from legit job producers and giving it to bureaucrats is the best way to end unemployment.  Gag me with a dirty diaper. 

Debt Ceiling Quote Of The Day

The Debt Ceiling should be renamed "The National Debt Target" - Peter Schiff

To understand that quote is to understand the nature of the problem. 

You're gonna pay !!!

This is the best thing I've seen on our habit of passing our bills on to the unborn.  The clip of Harry Reid holding the little zygotes at gunpoint is classic.