Liberty Book Discussion Group - "Anthem" by Ayn Rand

Thursday, April 26th at 7:30 p.m., we're going to get together at the Downtown Cowtown Barnes & Noble (401 Commerce Street) to discuss Ayn Rand's "Anthem", a mini-masterpiece about one man's struggle against a collectivist state. No struggle on your part, though, as you can easily finish the book in one sitting, and the complete text is available on numerous websites.  You still have time. 

I'll deliver a brief history and summary of the book, followed by discussion time. Before we wrap up the conversation, we'll vote on which book to read and discuss in June, and elect someone to lead that discussion. We intend to hold these book discussion events every other month, so "Capitalism And Freedom", "Atlas Shrugged", "Economics In One Lesson", "The Rational Optimist", "The Fountainhead", "The Revolution: A Manifesto", "The Road To Serfdom", and "Eat The Rich" all await us.

If things go as they usually do, we'll probably wander across the street to The Flying Saucer to continue the discussion, but more loudly. 

Hope to see you there, and when you're reading "Anthem" be grateful for your light bulbs. (That's a joke. If you don't get it, you will after you read the book.

Speaking of light bulbs, now that I've re-read "Anthem", I see something even more sinister about these damn things.....

Is it remotely possible that shortages are caused by price controls?

Don Boudreaux has read an article in the New York Holy Times, an article that speculates that maybe, perhaps, possibly, there is a potential theoretical smidgen of a chance that Bolivia's shortages are caused by price controls. You know, kinda like our current high minority unemployment rate is caused by price controls. Here's what Boudreaux wrote to the Times....

Regarding your report on the chronic shortages of consumer goods in Venezuela (“With Venezuelan Cupboards Bare, Some Blame Price Controls,” April 21): of course these shortages are caused by price controls. By preventing prices from telling the truth about underlying conditions of supply and demand, such controls spread economic lies. Producers and consumers are thus misled into acting destructively rather than productively.


Price controls, though, are only the most ham-fisted maneuver used by politicians to distort prices in order to mislead the public about market realities. Another favorite ploy is to condemn and threaten “speculators.” Consider Chavez himself. He irresponsibly increases the supply of the Venezuelan bolivar and then, when the inevitable inflation begins, combines overt price controls with a bellicose vow to punish what he sneeringly calls “bourgeoisie speculation.”

Such blame-shifting is very near a constant with politicians.

It’s worth noting that, although the President of the United States hasn’t the power of Generalisimo Chavez, Pres. Obama’s attacks on speculators are just as politically opportunistic and economically ignorant – and potentially as destructive – as are any such attacks issued by Latin American dictators.

Sincerely,

Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030

Ouch.  And his attempt at reducing the price of healthcare hasn't even kicked in yet. 

The Obamabanana poster came from The People's Cube.    The George Mason University coffee mug shwon below was a gift from Dr. Ralph. 

For Henry and Patricia

Will Campbell is the author of "Brother To A Dragonfly", which won the National Book Award in 1978. 

He was the inspiration for Reverend Will B. Dunn in the Kudzu comic strip. 

He earned a Doctorate from the Yale Divinity School. 

Any of those three things would be enough to earn some serious respect.  Campbell was also a civil rights worker in the Deep South during the 60's.  He spoke out against the Viet Nam war when almost everyone around him disagreed.  This was back in the day when "liberals" were against any war, not just Republican wars.  They didn't trust the government, no matter which team was running it. 

Heck of a guy, that Will Campbell. 

My friends Henry and Patricia are getting married this weekend in New Orleans.  I was planning to be there.  They even asked me to get ordained so I could perform the marriage ceremony.  (I got 'er done through the Universal Life Church.)  Because of some personal complications, I'm going to have to think about Henry and Patricia from afar during their wedding. 

Had I been able to be there, my part of the service would've been along these lines, boiled down and condensed considerably.....

Here's Will Campbell, writing about marriage in "Brother To A Dragonfly".  The italics are mine:

If there is a body, a community, which is truly Church, or even claims to be Church, why should it be the executor of Caesar’s documents? What is a marriage license but a legal contract? And what does any legal contract promise and offer except the right to sue one another at another time and place before another of Caesar’s agents? Perhaps such contracts are socially necessary but what does that have to do with us? And even if we are not Church now but want to become Church, free from the demands and legality of Caesar, why not start by returning all of his documents and refusing ever to do it again? “No, Mr. Caesar, that is not our understanding of what marriage is all about. If you must protect yourself and your citizenry in this fashion you may continue to do so. But not with our help and blessing. Let the faithful come before the altar of the One we must serve rather than, and before, you. And acting on His, and only His, authority we will pronounce them man and woman, husband and wife.”

Too Libertarian?  Probably.  Did Henry and Patricia know that's what they'd get if they asked me to do their wedding?  Probably. 

Back to Will Campbell:

I was never again to say, “By the authority vested in me by the State of Tennessee.” If my authority as a priest comes from the State, then I have no authority at all. From that time on, I began all weddings by saying, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. If you have a license, we will sign it at this time.” And then saying to the couple, “Now what we have just done is to endow you with a legal contract. It has nothing to do with Christian marriage. It is nothing more than a contract between you and this state which gives you the right to sue one another if you should ever desire to do so.” And the document is tossed casually, and sometimes contemptuously aside. “Now, the passage which begins ‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s continues. ‘And render unto God the things that are God’s.’ And the wedding begins at this point.”

Lord have mercy, I would have enjoyed contemptuously casting that document aside.  Especially during Jazzfest in New Orleans.  Oh well.  Back to Will Campbell:

Maybe one day I will yet follow my conscience and refuse to sign that document at all, ask the couple to have a Justice of the Peace sign the Contract of Caesar. And on a number of occasions there have been no such documents. And by the authority vested in me by Almighty God I have pronounced them man and woman, husband and wife. And I defy Caesar to question that they are married. But those without the document are required to spend an extended amount of time with me and with one another in making sure they are ready for such radical trust and commitment. For they do not have the protection that the legal contract would afford them. They cannot sue one another. They have only themselves, the community if there be one, and the source of the authority which so joins them. Those who have come with no license have not come flaunting liberation but bearing witness to servanthood. They are not products of a new morality but an anachronism of an old morality, a testimony to “Jesus Christ is Lord. Hallelujah!” (from Brother to a Dragonfly, 213-214)

You get the idea. 

Henry Farrish, my friend since the 4th grade, and Patricia Starnes, my friend since freakin' kindertgarten, would've come away from the ceremony knowing that they were by-God married.  I would've tied that knot and yanked on it in front of the entire Ninth Ward to make sure it was going to hold. 

Henry and Patricia have spent 40 to 45 years with me, and I am assured that they are ready for this type of radical trust and commitment. 

They don't need the protection of a legal contract.  Anyone who hangs out with them needs diabetes medication to keep from going into insulin shock. 

They will not sue each other. 

They have something that so many people do not have.
 
I do so wish them all the best. 

Right To Work States, 2008 Red States, and Swing States

My employer, Jukt Micronics, is about to open another factory at a location on the east coast.  (One of the east coast states is going to give us a deal on land, building, and equipment that will make the deal you gave us on forklifts look downright stingy.  Thank you so much, all you little people in the 99%.  PLEASE, please, please, keep voting for Democrats.) 

While I was researching the area, I looked up a map of the Right To Work states.  Places where you aren't forced to give money to a labor union. 

Mitch Daniels of Indiana has somehow managed to convert his state from Hoffa to Choice since this map was produced.  That's the only exception I've found.  Color Indiana red.   

 
The work map looked familiar. 
I looked up an electoral college map of the 2008 elections. 

Wow. 
The only outliers are Hawaii, Nevada, Montana, Iowa, Missouri, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana and Florida. 

Ok, here's a map of what CBS calls the Battleground States for 2012:

Of the outlier Union Vs. Choice states, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, and Iowa all made the CBS list.  (Some other Battleground/Swing State lists included Missouri and Indiana!) 

If the economy is supposedly the #1 issue, then whether or not a worker should be forced to give money to a union is the filter through which the issue is seen.
Fascinating stuff, I think. 

On the Sunday morning political talk shows

Here's a sampling of the Sunday morning political mess my TIVO is recording while I'm typing this, compliments of Hot Air:

NBC’s Meet the Press: David Axelrod, Obama campaign chief strategist; Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Rep. Peter King (R-NY); E.J. Dionne, Brookings and Washington Post; David Brooks, New York Times; Helene Cooper, New York Times; Chuck Todd, NBC

ABC’s This Week: Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME); Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX); Keith Olbermann; George Will, ABC; Donna Brazile, political strategist; Matthew Dowd, political strategist; Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal

CBS’ Face the Nation: Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT); Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX); Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD); Tom Comburn (R-OK); Norah O’Donnell, CBS; Stephanie Cutter, deputy Obama campaign manager; Eric Fehrnstrom, senior adviser to Romney campaign; Melinda Henneberger, Washington Post; Major Garrett, National Journal; John Dickerson, CBS; Cornel West, Princeton University; Tavis Smiley, talk show host

Fox News Sunday: Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT); Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN);

CNN’s State of the Union: David Axelrod, Obama campaign chief strategist; Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL); Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD); Dana Bash, CNN; Jeff Zeleny, New York Times

I watch this junk so you don't have to. 

I can sometimes predict what those folks are going to say long before they say it. 

Ughhhh. 

Believe it or not, Meet The Press usually includes David Brooks of the New York Holy Times because he's an economic conservative and will provide "balance". 

You might remember Brooks as the guy who called the ouster of Utah Republican Senator Bob Bennett "a damned outrage". 

Please note that the Court Eunuchs Of The ObamaMedia give Teleprompter Jesus programmer David Axelrod a slot on both CNN and Meet The Press. 

ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" is one of the most astounding examples of media bias you'll see this year.  Truly astounding. 

First of all, can you get drunk enough to imagine ABC airing a program called "This Week With Karl Rove"?  I can't either, but the two Stephanopoulos and Rove essentially had the same White House job.
George's guests this week include Susan Collins of Maine, one of only three Republicans to vote for Obama's Porkulus Bill. 
He's got Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, who once took to the podium in Congress to complain of the National Weather Service giving hurricanes nothing but "lilly white" names, and proposed giving hurricanes names like "Keisha, Jamal and Deshawn".  She has also described the Tea Party as racist. 
Keith Olbermann, so left-wing rabid and so afflicted with all the logical symptoms of that condition that even Al Gore won't give him any more money, is on board this morning. 
George Will is actually an interesting guy and is worth listening to.  Will came out in favor of weed legalization last week. 
Staphanopoulos has another Clinton Senior Advisor dropping in: Donna Brazile.
Matthew Dowd used to work for Texas Democrat Bob Bullock.  Then he worked for Texas Republican George W. Bush.  After that, he gained some notoriety by writing long pieces apologizing for the harm he did to Democrat John Kerry.  Matthew Dowd used to be a flip-flopper, but then he changed his mind. 
Rounding out the discussion with George is Reagan Speechwriter and Republican journalist Peggy Noonan.  Four years ago, Noonan endorsed Barack Obama.
Is anyone at ABC even pretending that they aren't in the tank for Obama and rank Statism of the worst sort????

Out of the entire unholy lot of Talking Heads broadcasting this Sunday morning, hosts and guests, Mitch Daniels is the only one of the bunch who comes within missile-launch distance of being a libertarian. 

Here's a modest proposal for the Fox Business channel, the closest thing we have to a libertarian-ish network (they cancelled Napolitano's show, but still air John Stossel).  It would be called "What The Hell Were You Thinking?"  Here's a sample lineup:

Fox Business "What The Hell Were You Thinking?"  John Jay Myers (Libertarian - TX); John Stossel, Fox Business; Gary Johnson (Libertarian - New Mexico); Nick Gillespie, Reason Magazine; David Axelrod, Obama campaign chief strategist;  Four libertarians strap David Axelrod into a chair and review the Obama record on the economy and civil liberties while asking "What the hell were you thinking?"  Next week's guest: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. 

I don't know about you, but I'd watch it. 

The media brainwashing picture came from here. 

The Best of Thomas Sowell

Please stand for this month's reading from The Gospel According To Saint Thomas. 

Economist Thomas Sowell, the smartest man in the world now that Milton Friedman is dead, is now of an age where his quotations are being compiled into "best of" lists.  Just as the collection of books loosely known as "Bible" now come in the "Stock Car Racing Bible" and the "Mossy Oak Camouflage Bible", I suspect that we'll soon see the quotations of Saint Thomas in specialty editions like "Thomas Sowell For Voters Who Just Don't Understand Why The Economy Isn't Better", or "The Complete Quotations of Saint Thomas on Why Cash For Clunkers Was Totally F'ed Up" or even "Thomas Sowell: What The Hell Were You Expecting When You Elected That Chicago Machine Dumbass?" with the really good parts in red letters. 

But Saint Thomas grows old.  His words come more slowly these days.  There was one embarrassing two week period (probably because of problems with his blood pressure medication) where he supported the horrific Newt Gingrich. 

We speak of Saint Thomas with reverence, all the same.  Those of you in the back, stop fidgeting and remain standing.  After the scripture reading, you can sit through the sermon. 

(Ahem...)

Thomas Sowell, the smartest man in the world now that Milton Friedman is dead, has had his life and work examined by John Hawkins of Townhall.com, and these are reported to be his best quotes.  Please read along from your Order Of Worship:

25) "Since this is an era when many people are concerned about 'fairness' and 'social justice,' what is your 'fair share' of what someone else has worked for?"

24) "Imagine a political system so radical as to promise to move more of the poorest 20% of the population into the richest 20% than remain in the poorest bracket within the decade? You don't need to imagine it. It's called the United States of America."

23) "Four things have almost invariably followed the imposition of controls to keep prices below the level they would reach under supply and demand in a free market: (1) increased use of the product or service whose price is controlled, (2) Reduced supply of the same product or service, (3) quality deterioration, (4) black markets."

22) "What sense would it make to classify a man as handicapped because he is in a wheelchair today, if he is expected to be walking again in a month and competing in track meets before the year is out? Yet Americans are given ‘class’ labels on the basis of their transient location in the income stream. If most Americans do not stay in the same broad income bracket for even a decade, their repeatedly changing 'class' makes class itself a nebulous concept."

21) "There are few talents more richly rewarded with both wealth and power, in countries around the world, than the ability to convince backward people that their problems are caused by other people who are more advanced."

20) "The poverty rate among black married couples has been in single digits ever since 1994. You would never learn that from most of the media. Similarly you look at those blacks that have gone on to college or finished college, the incarceration rate is some tiny fraction of what it is among those blacks who have dropped out of high school. So it’s not being black; it’s a way of life. Unfortunately, the way of life is being celebrated not only in rap music, but among the intelligentsia, is a way of life that leads to a lot of very big problems for most people."

19) "The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics."

18) "Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late."

17) "The vision of the anointed is one in which ills as poverty, irresponsible sex, and crime derive primarily from 'society,' rather than from individual choices and behavior. To believe in personal responsibility would be to destroy the whole special role of the anointed, whose vision casts them in the role of rescuers of people treated unfairly by 'society'."

16) "No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems — of which getting elected and re-elected are number one and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind."

15) "Life has many good things. The problem is that most of these good things can be gotten only by sacrificing other good things. We all recognize this in our daily lives. It is only in politics that this simple, common sense fact is routinely ignored."

14) "There is usually only a limited amount of damage that can be done by dull or stupid people. For creating a truly monumental disaster, you need people with high IQs."

13) "Civilization has been aptly called a 'thin crust over a volcano.' The anointed are constantly picking at that crust."

12) "We seem to be moving steadily in the direction of a society where no one is responsible for what he himself did, but we are all responsible for what somebody else did, either in the present or in the past."

11)” For the anointed, traditions are likely to be seen as the dead hand of the past, relics of a less enlightened age, and not as the distilled experience of millions who faced similar human vicissitudes before.”

10) "It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong."

9) "Intellect is not wisdom."

8)” The charge is often made against the intelligentsia and other members of the anointed that their theories and the policies based on them lack common sense. But the very commonness of common sense makes it unlikely to have any appeal to the anointed. How can they be wiser and nobler than everyone else while agreeing with everyone else?"

7) "Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good."

6) "Experience trumps brilliance."

5) "The problem isn't that Johnny can't read. The problem isn't even that Johnny can't think. The problem is that Johnny doesn't know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling."

4) "One of the consequences of such notions as ‘entitlements’ is that people who have contributed nothing to society feel that society owes them something, apparently just for being nice enough to grace us with their presence."

3) "Weighing benefits against costs is the way most people make decisions — and the way most businesses make decisions, if they want to stay in business. Only in government is any benefit, however small, considered to be worth any cost, however large."

2) "In short, killing the goose that lays the golden egg is a viable political strategy, so long as the goose does not die before the next election and no one traces the politicians’ fingerprints on the murder weapon."

1) "There are no solutions; there are only trade-offs."

Thus endeth the reading from the Gospel According to Saint Thomas.
The Man hath spoken. 
You may be seated while the Sepulchre's Cathedral Choir performs "Song Of Wisdom". 



You are dismissed. 

Penn Jillette on speaking the truth

Penn Jillette appears in this brilliant video about the difference between libertarian evangelizing vs. merely speaking the truth. 

In Jillette's opinion, speaking the truth as you see it is the superior method for winning converts. 

Those of us who grew up listening to Baptist evangelists have a hard time dealing with this.  We tend to believe that those who disagree with us simply aren't aware of the same facts. 



Perhaps Jillette has a point. 

If you disagree with me on any Libertarian vs. Authoritarian issue, from now on, I promise to simply speak the truth as I see it.  YOU ARE WRONG, WRONG, WRONG !!

Why 4-20 is important

I hope everyone has a great 4-20. 
Here's Wikipedia on the siginificance of the date:

April 20 has evolved into a counterculture holiday, where people gather to celebrate and consume cannabis. Some events have a political nature to them, advocating for the decriminalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States.

Why is something like this so important?

It's important because of a co-worker I had during high school.  His name was John Addams.  John got caught with a lot of weed. Because of who he was purchasing the stuff from, it became a federal case.
The FBI was putting pressure on John to testify. His suppliers (sons of an Arkansas state legislator) told him that if he testified they would kill members of his family. John did the logical thing and killed himself. John's death was one of the logical, predictable consequences of our drug war.

4-20 is important because of someone named Pablo Ramos of Juarez, Mexico. Pablo was my boss's brother-in-law. By all accounts he was an incredible chef. He was in charge of the food service at three different auto manufacturing plants in Juarez.
As you probably know, our drug war has turned Juarez into a living hell. The drug lords recruit teenage boys to work for them, give them money, drugs, women and palacial homes. When they get a little older, get a little slower, or merely get replaced, these young men are simply thrown out. Three or four of these displaced cocaine cowboys broke into Pablo's home, tied up the whole family, took all their money, and then left without harming anyone.
One of them had second thoughts about leaving Pablo alive, came back in the house a few minutes later, and shot Pablo Ramos in the head. This happened one year ago this week. The family is totally devastated.

4-20 is important because of two of my current employees. I'll call them Susan and Sheila. Susan and Sheila were caught with trifling amounts of marijuana almost a decade ago. They've been to jail. They've spent a fortune paying bullshit government counselors for bullshit government counseling sessions. For the rest of their lives, they'll have to give detailed info about this every time they apply for a job.

4-20 is important because of John Kerry, Al Gore, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. All of them affirm that they've smoked marijuana, but none of them got caught. Had they been arrested as teenagers, like my friend John Addams, their political careers would've ended at that moment. Their lives would've been ruined. (I don't include Bill Clinton on this list because he didn't inhale.)

We have 6% of the world's population and 20% of its prisoners. A huge number of these are because of drug-related offenses.
If we were to go back to 1970 incarceration percentages, it would mean cutting one million government jobs.
All we are doing is providing a monopoly for the Drug Lords of Mexico and Afghanistan.
40,000 men, women, and children have died in Mexico because of Obama's Drug War.
Yes, it is now Barack Obama's Drug War.
If you vote for him again, it's yours.
Have a good 4-20. Stay safe.
Vote Libertarian.

A modest proposal for the Federal Reserve

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

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


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

So why not let everyone participate?

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

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

Which candidate would never eat your dog?

David Huckabee, son of Arkansas governor and former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, once hung a dog and then slit its throat.   The governor had to pull some strings to make the story go away. 

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney once put his dog in a carrier, strapped it to the roof of his car, and drove 12 hours to Canada. 

According to his book "Dreams From My Father", our current Commander-In-Chief, Democrat Barack Obama once ATE a dog.  (Hit the link.  Please.  Then imagine The Teleprompter Jesus sitting down to a meal of Fido and French Fries.) 

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, in his last debate appearance as a Republican, quipped that "My next-door neighbor’s two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this president."

So let's be honest here....based on these anecdotes, which candidate would you trust with your dog? 

My vote goes to Gary Johnson !!

He would never, ever eat your dog. 

The picture of Obama's lunch came from here. 

GSA Scandal vs. Stimulus Non-Scandal

The Democrats and Republicans are working themselves into a bipartisan snit over who can express the most outrage over some videos and convention expenses. 
The General Services Administration spent about 800K on a mega-convention in Vegas.  There was a $75,000.00 "team-building" exercise that involved building bicycles.  Lots of great food.  Good times, good times. 
Here's Wikipedia, not always the best source, but usually the most concise:

On April 2, 2012, Martha Johnson, chief of the GSA, resigned after a report by the inspector general identified improper payments for a Public Buildings Service (PBS) Western Regions training conference in Las Vegas. Before turning in her own resignation, Johnson fired two other GSA senior executives, PBS head Robert Peck and senior advisor Stephen Leeds. Four PBS Regional Commissioners, who had been responsible for planning the conference, were placed on administrative leave. The conference was the most recent in a series of similar lavish conferences organized by GSA's Public Buildings Service. In previous years, PBS also held conferences in New Orleans, Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Lake Tahoe, where the Caesars hotel provided lakefront views, a lagoon-style indoor swimming pool and a 24-hour casino. U.S. Representative John Mica, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, called for a congressional investigation into the misuse of federal money by GSA. Mica indicated “The Las Vegas fiasco is just the tip of the iceberg,”


On April 5, 2012, a video was distributed by the House committee on Oversight and Government Reform after being uncovered through the Inspector General investigation. The video included a clip of a spoof video produced by GSA Public Buildings Service (PBS) employees and submitted as part of a contest during the controversial PBS Western Regions Conference. In the video, PBS employee Hank Terlaje jokingly brags about excessive government spending in GSA's Public Buildings Service in a parody of Travie McCoy & Bruno Mars’ “I Wanna Be a Billionaire.” Terlaje raps that if he were PBS Commissioner, he will never "never be under OIG investigation," would be "rollin' on 20s in my GOV," and "would buy everything your field office can’t afford." At the end of the video, uncovered by the GSA IG, it cuts to a clip from the actual PBS Western Regions Conference, in which the video was played at the conference's "Capstone Dinner Event." Following the playing of the video, Hank Terlaje received a standing ovation and applause from the crowd of PBS employees, and PBS Regional Commissioner Jeff Neely joined Terlaje on stage and exclaimed "Hank that was fun, that was amazing. I'm glad you won." PBS Deputy Commissioner David Foley went on to present Terlaje with an award as honorary PBS Commissioner for the day, and Foley joked that the hotel would like to talk to Terlaje about paying for the party that was held in the commissioner's suite during the previous night. Foley also joked about having to respond to congressional oversight and the Obama administration’s efforts to control executive pay.

Here are some of the video efforts of the GSA employees.  These guys do have some talent:



So why the uproar?  These people were given money to spend, and they spent the money. 
They pumped money into the economy.  In the words of The Teleprompter Jesus, the spending was "timely, temporary, and targeted". 

Here's a list of what some cynics have called the 100 Worst Stimulus Projects.  They include Monkeys On Marijuana studies, attempts to create Joke Machines, African Genital Washing programs and other methods of pumping money into the economy.

There is little or no difference between the parties of the GSA and the Stimulus programs of the last few years.  Both efforts got the job done, and rewarded the proper constituents. 

We should end the political grandstanding over the GSA conventions and videos.  This is the type of spending that pulled us back from the brink during the recent financial crisis. 

Be grateful.  And get back to work.  There are a lot of people in line waiting to spend some stimulus. 

Happy Day After Tax Day !!!

Not if Joe Biden has anything to say about it !!!!

Some blowhard named "Joe Biden" sent me a very aggressive email a few days ago. 
It's been a while since I've been on the receiving end of so much bluster and unbridled testosterone. 

Whited --


We know who our opponent is, and we know what he wants to do:

Knock this president out of the White House, tear down the progress we've made, and take our country backward.

Not if I have anything to say about it.

How about you?

Pitch in $3 or more today, and welcome our opponent to the race:

https://donate.barackobama.com/Starts-With-You

Thanks.

Joe

Just a regular, hard-working, two-fisted guy, that Joe.  He's not going to put up with any crap from someone wanting to tear down the progress (sic) that we've made in the last four years. 
Unemployment below 5%? 
A national debt under 16 trillion dollars? 
Just a couple of undeclared wars at a time? 
Two dollar gasoline?
No way.  Not if Joe has anything to say about it. 

We'll never go back.  If that's what you want for your nation, send Joe some money. 

"Violence is No Way For Civilized People to Get Their Revenue"

From Mark Hinkle, Libertarian Party National Chair:

“While everyone needs revenue, only criminals and politicians insist that they have to get it through violence. The criminals, however, do not pretend they're doing it in order to serve the public, and taxes make politicians public masters rather than public servants.

“Certainly, the present size of government at all levels depends on taxation – not only the explicit kind, but the invisible kind that the Federal Reserve System imposes through inflation of the money supply. People probably wouldn't voluntarily pay to bomb, invade, and occupy other countries, bail out large banks and other corporations, and try to dictate the personal choices of others. Good riddance! Government-monopolized services such as education and health care could be provided for less than half the cost if they could be returned to the voluntary sector of society with cost-raising regulations abolished and incentives restored. Both mutual aid groups and charitable donations filled gaps prior to the rise of the Welfare State for those in need with an efficiency that is impossible when those in charge of aid get more money and power for themselves the worse the job they perform. We’ll have to take some personal responsibility for our own lives and stop using the excuse Ebenezer Scrooge made that his taxes supported institutions for the poor so he could ignore them.

“It is obscene for those claiming to protect life, liberty, and property to obtain their revenue by violating life, liberty, and property. There are plenty of ways to obtain revenue without force: insurance, user fees, advertising, lotteries, and donations are already used by many local and state governments for a good portion of their revenue. Let them be true public servants and live within the means that these sources provide. People might even pay more voluntarily once they're no longer forced to turn over 1/3 to 1/2 of their wealth to governments.

“Ultimately, it is about the type of society we want to have. We can accomplish a lot voluntarily when we mutually respect each other's lives and property. It begins by respecting the right of people to keep the fruits of their labor. A good start would be the abolition of the personal income tax, which only adds insult to the injury of theft by invading every part of the taxpayer's privacy as well as making the second week of April a misery instead of a time to enjoy the early spring.”

P.S. If you have not already done so, please join the Libertarian Party. We are the only political party with a mission to give voters a choice to downsize Big Government, to do so in the most humane way possible, to greatly reduce taxes, and to slash high government spending. You can also renew your membership. Or, you can simply make a contribution.

What do you know about Democrats and Republicans?

I saw a link to this quiz on Denny's site. 
How much do you know about Democrats and Republicans? 
Here's the Pew Research Quiz that'll let you know. 

(I scored a 13 out of 13, BTW.) 

Che Poster

I've spent a pleasant weekend (so far) with The Aggie at Chilifest, the two-day country music event in College Station.
Haven't seen a single Che Fashion Victim in two days.

Adrian Murray and Ron Paul

A friend of mine from the Conservative/Republican side of the spectrum was at the Ron Paul event at the Will Rogers auditorium in Fort Worth last night.  Adrian Murray is one of my Hometown Heroes, and I was delighted to see him at that event. 

Here's Adrian Murray, writing on Facebook about his experience there:

COULD I BE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE?

Sometimes I think this whole world
Is one big prison yard
Some of us are prisoners
Some of us are guards

Bob Dylan

Having lost my preferred choice for a presidential candidate on Tuesday, I determined that after a suitable period of mourning and reflection the only viable option was to shake it off and begin the search anew, the presumptive, media-anointed frontrunner not being desirable or acceptable.

Last night, as part of this Quixote-like quest, I ventured into the heretofore unexplored dimension of a Ron Paul rally and was witness to something that can only be described as all parts exhilarating, befuddling, encouraging, depressing, moving, maddening and, ultimately, inspiring. More on all that later.

Over the years I have been to more political rallies, events, forums, roundtables, discussion groups, debates and whatever than I care to remember. While a whole range of adjectives from boring to thrilling could be used to describe these events, I have never before been moved to use contradictory metaphors for the same event. Attending a Ron Paul campaign rally is a singularly unique experience. I have never seen anything like it before. Perhaps phenomenal is the word that comes closest in accuracy, not in the ordinary “awesome” sense, but in the other-worldly, spatiotemporal sense.

A little truth in advertising first: I come from an old school of conservatism, a hodgepodge of Strauss, Kirk, Buckley, Reagan and a smattering of other modern day conservative thinkers who shaped my thinking while coming of age in the midst of a persistent nuclear threat during the so-called Cold War, replete with duck and cover, fallout shelters and a young girl sitting in a meadow picking the petals off a daisy. One is shaped by the world one is raised in and then, if playing the game right, uses those experiences to shape the world for those who will inherit it.

The purpose of this piece is not to analyze Mr. Paul’s specific policies, although my worldview does not coalesce with his on many fronts. I do not write this piece from the point of view of a longtime Paul devotee, many of whom (and you know who you are) I have exasperatingly debated over the fallacies I see in some (not all) of his positions. Over the years, though, I have learned (much to my surprise and dismay) that not everyone will agree with my positions on all things and I often frustratingly find myself having internal disagreements with my own stated beliefs. Such is the nature of evolving thought.

I have spoken before a lot of groups in the last several years as we have all grappled with the seeming dissolution of our country. I have half-jokingly said on many of these occasions that the other side doesn’t really have to defeat us politically, they just have to wait for us all to die off so they can implement their plans. My point has been that the greatest issue facing the conservative cause is a demographical one, a lack of diversity that will shortly render the conservative message irrelevant. Where are the youth? I and others have asked. Where are the people of color? Why doesn’t the conservative message resonate?

The answer to where they are could be found last night at the Will Rogers Auditorium. Often at political events there is a sense of excitement, anticipation, a certain buzz in the audience while waiting for the main event. Excitement, anticipation and buzz are weak and inadequate words to describe the pre-rally crowd last night. Energy is even inadequate. What undulated through the thousands who thronged outside before the doors opened last night was a kinetic power, the power of hope, the power of liberation, the power of anger at a system turned upside down, the power of liberation and, yes, the ultimate and emancipating power of freedom. You had to be there to understand it.

Once inside, for the only time in my politically active life, I was transported to a world I had not seen before. There was enough energy in that room to power a skyscraper. Teenagers, college students, whites, Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, middle-aged, elderly, every racial, ethnic, socio-economic, cross cultural ingredient of the American melting pot was there. The auditorium was a cauldron of American citizens who understand and have grasped the true nature of the tyranny which has befallen this nation, a conflagration, if you will, of passion and anger and joy and determination. This is where the fire starts this time. The eruption when Mr. Paul took the stage was deafening.

While I didn’t find much to cheer about on the foreign policy portion of his speech, it is on domestic policy that I find much agreement with Ron Paul. In fact, he could have lifted whole tracks of his speech from my book, Common Ground America. Foreign policy, while a crucial element of any president’s agenda, has slowly shifted from my center of attention to domestic policy, I having long come to the conclusion that the greatest threat to American freedom comes not from foreign governments, but from our own. Sadly, America has become one of the least free nations on earth. Increasingly, everything in our lives is being regulated by a faceless bureaucracy, to a degree that neither Orwell nor Huxley could have imagined. Want to add a room onto your house? Get permission. Want to get married? Get permission. Want to open a business? Get permission. Want to fly a flag in your front yard? Get permission. Want to own a gun? Get permission. Want to open a lemonade stand? Get permission. Want to play Frisbee on the beach? Get fined. Want to preach politics from the pulpit? Get fined. Want to protest your government without permission? Get arrested.

We have become a nation of regulations and licenses and permits, fines and punishment and intimidation by a remorseless, uncaring government. We have become, as Dylan sang in 1971, “One big prison yard”, in which our guards are always watching, always monitoring, always snooping, always threatening, always ready to swoop in with a fine or a cuff or a taser or a bullet should we wander outside the boundaries of what is allowed. The IRS can now revoke your passport should you owe too much on your taxes, making you not just a literal prisoner but a figurative one as well. It has been so long since we were truly free that we don’t even recognize it anymore. Freedom is slowly being snuffed out in American.

Obamacare is only the latest affront to freedom. While lawyers and pundits debate the constitutionality of this provision or that, what goes unstated is the insidious evil of the bill itself. Your very body, your existence, you own life will now belong to the state should Obamacare stand. If your physical body belongs to the state, how then is American freedom defined?

What exactly is our national security securing? Certainly not our liberty. We have been sacrificing ever larger chucks of our liberty to the gods of security for decades now and in the interests of securing our liberty have given it all away. Go to an airport if you want to witness the loss of liberty in all its glorious humiliation. One wonders if we actually were taken over by another power and our Constitution dismantled what exactly could they do to restrict our movements, monitor our activities and control our actions that would be any worse or oppressive than what our own government is doing right now?

This part of Mr. Paul’s message, if I have interpreted it correctly, is what resonates with me. All the other things pale in contrast to our becoming a nation of slaves.

Can Mr. Paul become the next president of the United States? At the risk of inflaming his supporters, I must say I doubt it. The media’s message is that he no longer exists, the question is settled and Mr. Romney is the Republican nominee. It is true Mr. Paul’s most ardent supporters are strenuously working at the precinct level to tilt the delegate count at the Republican convention in his favor. Do they have the numbers to pull that off? I don’t know. But knowing the ones involved locally I would guess their chances are better than 50/50. Will that type of organized effort be successful in enough states nationwide to put Mr. Paul over the top? Your guess is as good as mine. I’m not even going there.

So what did I come away with last night? It can be captured in one picture. Before Mr. Paul was introduced, part of his family took the stage: his wife, one of his sons, a smattering of cousins, nieces and nephews. That picture tells us all we need to know. They are us. They weren’t pulled from central casting, exquisitely coifed and finely tailored, prepped and ready for the cameras. No. They are a family. They are us.

Where personally do I go now? As I said, I have more internal debates than an outwardly sane person should admit. For over three years now I have been looking for an army - an army to take on the anti-Americans, the Communists, the statists, the outright criminals running our government. An army of citizens fiercely devoted to liberty and the founding principles of America. One rose up three years ago but slowly faded away. As I looked around the room last night, I saw a lot of faces I recognized from the past, from the ghost army that either became dispirited or no longer believed in the message. So this is where you all went….

The flame of liberty’s torch is no longer just slowly being extinguished. Each day brings new Executive Orders, new laws, new regulations, each more ominous than the last. Corruption in our government and our financial markets is rampant. The disease of dependency is infecting every layer of society. America is dying. We need an army of citizens, motivated and committed, to restore liberty in America, to breathe new life, new vibrancy into a nation on life support. We will not return our nation’s vitality with lawyers. We will not be prescribed the cures for our ailments by opportunistic politicians pedaling the latest edition of What Will It Take to Buy Your Vote. We simply will not. America is on the brink of flatlining.

Which logically only leads to one question:

Is there a doctor in the house?

Which logically only leads to one answer:

Ron Paul 2012

Adrian Murry has now been exposed to The Gateway Drug.  We all know what the next step is for him, don't we?  The man is too well-read and too smart to be in any party except.....

Ron Paul: Gateway Drug To Libertarianism

I went to hear Ron Paul speak at the Will Rogers Auditorium in Fort Worth last night. 
It was pure greatness. 
I tried live-blogging it by cell phone.  If you have the patience to wade through that failed effort, you can go here, and hit "next post" after every 1.875 sentences. 


I saw Anna Tinsley from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram in the crowd, and managed to get interviewed again.  Here's Anna's piece that ran today:

FORT WORTH — U.S. Rep. Ron Paul isn't getting out of the presidential race anytime soon.
But the Lake Jackson doctor did say that fellow Republican Rick Santorum's decision to suspend his campaign has led many to ask Paul about his plans.

"There were 12 [GOP candidates] at one time. Now there are three," he told a standing-room-only crowd at the 2,856-seat Will Rogers Auditorium on Wednesday night. "It looks like we are cutting the field down.
"They ask me if I'm going to quit. I thought we were just getting started. We have a revolution to fight, a country to change."

Paul, who trails Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, reiterated his themes of limited government, personal liberty and a balanced budget.

He said that troops should come home, that government should be reduced, that the Patriot Act should be repealed, that foreign policy interactions should decrease, and that the middle class needs to stop shrinking and stop becoming poorer. As for the nation's healthcare plan, "the easiest thing is to repeal the whole thing and start all over," he said.

Many in the crowd, who stood throughout Paul's speech, waited for hours to get in. Once inside, they were quick to show their support.

Four shirtless men had painted "R-O-N-!" on their chests. Others spontaneously chanted "President Paul." And many carried signs or wore promotional buttons and T-shirts.

Cries of "I love you, Ron Paul," could be heard throughout the auditorium once he began speaking.
Paul said such enthusiasm is encouraging.

The people with seats down stairs didn't sit down throughout the entire speech.  Can you imagine someone bothering to stand throughout another Obama lecture?  Or a Mitt Romney Powerpoint Sing-Along?  Ugh...

"People ask, 'When are you going to drop out?' When nobody wants to support the cause of liberty," he said. "There's a lot of people who care about freedom ... so we will keep going until we have victory."

Paul's supporters are expected to be a force at state GOP conventions nationwide -- as they were during his 2008 presidential bid -- trying to become delegates for Paul at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., in August. They hope for a brokered convention that could open the door for Paul to become the nominee.

This is his third bid for the White House. His others were in 1988 as a Libertarian and in 2008 as a Republican.

His goal with this week's three-city Texas tour -- Fort Worth is home to his doctor son Robert -- is likely to make sure that people in his home state hear his message.

"He's trying to preach to people his mission and create a libertarian understanding of politics," said Jim Riddlesperger, a political science professor at Texas Christian University.

"The longer this primary season goes forward, the more opportunities he has to preach the message of libertarianism across the United States.

"The people who have heard his message ... are true believers."

Count Allen Patterson, who heads the Tarrant County Libertarian Party, among those believers.

"Ron Paul has been the gateway drug to libertarianism for a lot of people," Patterson said. "His movement has gained an incredible amount of traction in the past eight years."

Lance Kennedy, 24, of Dallas said he is a fan but is afraid that Paul might not be able to win the nomination.
Kennedy, a law student at Southern Methodist University, said that even if Paul doesn't win, his libertarian message will continue -- perhaps through his son U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

"The movement will continue, and I think we could still see a Paul in the White House eventually," Kennedy said.

Marion Hostetler, 45, said his drive from Ovilla was worth it to see Paul.

"Ron Paul is one of the few people I actually believe," he said. "When he says something, I think I can count on it being true.

"Hopefully America will start waking up and see we only have one candidate."

I beg to differ with Marion on that.  The Libertarian Party will select a candidate in a week and a half.  Once RP drops out of the race, and he will drop out of the race, there will be two real choices:  The LP candidate or one of the Obamneys. 

One heck of a speech. Can't imagine any other candidate getting this response.

We've destroyed the wealth machine in this country. Lets rebuild it.

In case you're wondering what's going on, Ron Paul is speaking at the Will Rogers auditorium in Fort Worth.

The government isn't always going to be there for you.

Alcohol and drug companies are the worst prohibitionists.

Prohibition sucks.

Paul just made a great analogy about our tolerance for religious diversity as compared to our lack of tolerance for personal diversity.

"Neo-Jacobinism"

I'm thinking of staying up all night to pound "Liberty Defined" onto the internet.

No one downstairs has sat down.

...there wouldn't be any crowbars left at Home Depot.

If Ron Paul were to tell these kids to go destroy Ben Bernanke's printing presses on Blue Mound Road.....

Frenzy.

Ron Paul has been speaking for ten minutes. No one has sat down!!!!

What a great old man! !!!!!! The kids at this thing are going nuts!!!!

The "End The Fed" chants have begun.

(2/2) Telegram. The median age in the room is around 21. I can't imagine a crowd like this showing up for Romney.

(1/2) I'm three rows from the front at the Ron Paul campaign event at the Will Rogers Auditorium in Fort Worth. Got interviewed again by the Fort Worth Star

Interview with Gary Johnson

The Tarrant County Libertarian Party recently sponsored a debate between six candidates vying for the LP nomination. 
It was pure, undiluted greatness.  I'll post more on it when I get the final cut of the video.  10,000 Thanks to John Spivey for putting that event together.   


Shortly before the debate, Mike Coyne and I got a chance to talk with former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson.

Gary Johnson has been referred to as the ‘most fiscally conservative Governor’ in the country and was the Republican Governor of New Mexico from 1995-2003. Governor Johnson brings a distinctly business-like mentality to governing, believing that decisions should be made based on cost-benefit analysis rather than strict ideology.


An avid skier, adventurer, and bicyclist, he has reached the highest peak on four of the seven continents, including Mt. Everest.

Why libertarian?

I believe that most people are “closet libertarians”. Most of us are fiscally conservative. Most of us are socially tolerant.

What was the catalyst that brought you to libertarianism?

I received a free libertarian handout book/pamphlet around 1971, and it struck a nerve. The man who gave it to me simply said “Here, read this; pass it on.” The contents of that book have stuck with me, and every time an issue or policy came up, there was no ambiguity.

Johnson then told a couple of stories about going to conventions back in the early 1980’s, and discussing the Democrat, Republican and Libertarian policy positions and debate performances. The general consensus was that the Libertarians had the best positions and debaters, but the conventioneers would go back to their parties and continue voting the way they had always voted.
He also mentioned the undiluted thrill of recently going to the Florida State Fair and wearing a Libertarian T-shirt.

“I believe that certain Republican positions are indefensible – in my opinion – bombing the planet into submission, for instance.

I’ve never put myself into that position by wearing a Republican T-shirt. Guys, these events (like our debate) are like coming out of the closet for me.”

How can libertarians change the world?

“Poll at 15%. I’m already at 7% on an Obama/Republican challenger ballot ! That’s the opportunity. Once we hit 15%, the Libertarians can go onstage against the other two parties in the debates. The other game-changer….if we get 5% of the vote, the Libertarian Party gets 90 million dollars in matching funds for their next candidate. That would change everything.”

Here’s the unofficial Tarrant County LP stance on taking this money: Taxpayers voluntarily checked the box agreeing to send an extra dollar in taxes to fund presidential elections. This was a voluntary contribution. There is no moral or philosophical problem connected to taking this money. Whether a total of 270 million dollars is contributed to this pile every four years (90 each for the Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians) is a subject for further research.  Yeah, it's a problem.  One of the State Libertarian Executive Committee members sitting beside me almost birthed a large softball when Johnson made a similar remark during the debate. 

How would you contrast libertarians with conservatives and contemporary liberals?

“Libertarians embrace the best of the liberals or Democrats in protecting our civil liberties. The Democrats haven’t done very well on those issues. Conservatives, or Republicans, are supposedly the guardians of the checkbook, and they’ve not done well there at all. My first vote for a Libertarian candidate (David Bergland) was essentially against Ronald Reagan in his second election, mostly because of Reagan’s deficit spending.”

“Here’s how we get to 15%, and if I’m not the winning candidate in 2012, I’m coming back in 2016. I wouldn’t be in this thing if I didn’t think I could win. 80% of the electorate now say that they would support a 3rd party candidate. Independents now outnumber Democrats ! My pledge, if elected, is to present Congress with a budget in January 2013. It will have a 43% (or 1.4 trillion) reduction in spending. If we don’t (make these cuts) we’ll find ourselves with nothing.

We can do it. We just have to fix it.”

You eventually became known as "Governor Veto".  Vetoed something like 450 bills?  How difficult was that. 

Not very.  Actually it was closer to 700.  Look, the sky wasn't going to fall if these pieces of legislation weren't passed.  Only two vetoes were overturned.  But billions and billions of dollars were saved.

I believe that I vetoed more bills than all 49 of the other governers.  People liked it !  They knew what was going on. 

If I had been dictator, I could've cut government spending by 1/3, and no one would have noticed.

And I was always described as a libertarian. 

What's the secret of starting a successful business? 

I put out a circular that said "College Student Needs Work:  Carpentry, Painting, Cement, Everything!!".  I showed up on time, I got the job done properly, and then did a little more than necessary. 

What economists do you like to read or follow?

Jeffry Miron of Harvard is my top economics advisor.  (Miron is also the author of "Libertarianism: A to Z")

What about the "sick child" argument for government spending?  There's a sick child requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in care, and there's no way that private charity can handle the expense....

I oversaw the reform of Medicare in New Mexico, from a Fee For Services model to a Managed Care model.   If the Feds had block granted 43% less, I could've still served the poor with that much less in funding.  So how do you fix the system?  Give Block Grants to the states.  Establish 50 laboratories, each one experimenting to find the best solution, as opposed to a Washington "Top Down" model. 

Same model for education.  The states are (currently) getting eleven cents of every dollar they spend from Washington, but that eleven cents comes with sixteen cents worth of strings attached. 

Why do you think Civil Libertarians continue to support Obama? 

My ACLU Report Card is the best of any of the candidates. 

Johnson went on to give the scores for each candidate still in the race.  He was speaking faster than I could write at this point, and I didn't catch all of the numbers, assuming they would be on the ACLU site.  According to this guy, Gary Johnson scored a 21, Ron Paul was scored at 18, Barack Obama came in third with a 16, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry each were rated at 2, while Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum scored a zero.  
This ACLU Liberty Report Card shows the same ranking, but with slightly different totals. 


Anything else you would like to tell us, Governor? 

This is like "coming out of the closet" for me.  It's good to be here.   

Can you imagine how much money we would have saved if, back in the early '90's, Gary Johnson had been elected President instead of Governor?  Or how much lower The Butcher's Bill for our overseas adventures would be? 
Great guy, that Gary Johnson !!!

Why do you do claim tax deductions?

I'm gathering receipts so I can use them for tax deductions. 
I'm going to claim every deduction that I can possibly find. 

I think I'm the one who makes the best use of my money.  There are some charities that get a substantial chunk of the household income, but I like being able to choose which ones.  Knowing that I have a choice helps keep them honest. 

It irks the heck out of me that my employer has to act as tax collector, child-support gatherer, healthcare provider, and immigration status verifier.  I wish they could hang out a sign that says "Will swap money in exchange for labor" and go on with their business of making fruitstands.  Think of the administrative savings!!

 If we all had to write a check to Uncle Sam every month or every quarter, instead of having the money withheld, support for Mr. Obama's Dirty Little Wars on Brown People, Drugs and Prosperity would plummet.  Collecting taxes should be John Boehner's job, not the job of someone you swap your labor with.

Government is the worst possible way of getting most things done.  Possible exceptions are roads and other infrastructure, providing a courts system to enforce contracts and take care of externalities, and defending the borders (ours, not Korea's).  I think that delivering the mail, education, jobs, healthcare, energy, innovation, and spreading Democracy are jobs best left to the private sector.  (See: Eastern Hills High School, VA Hospitals, Solyndra, LightSquared and Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.) 

A lot of my statist friends fight tooth and nail to avoid paying any more than required.  I respect them for that more than they'll ever know.  I wish that I had the courage to take Uncle Sam to court. 

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway fund owes taxes going back to 2002.  Buffett could simply do what he advocates: Write the government a check for 1.2 billion.  I don't think he'll do that.  IMHO, Warren Buffett believes that he and his shareholders will use the 1.2 billion more wisely than John Boehner and John Cornyn. 

Anyway, back to my point.  Those are my reasons for claiming every deduction that I can find. 

If you disagree with me, what are your reasons for doing the exact...same...thing? 

The income tax bumpersticker came from Richard Forsythe's truck.  The pic of Buffett morphing back and forth between Capitalist Robber Baron and Capitalist Robber Baron Who Makes Pleasing Sounds For Obama came from here. 

Ron Paul, on "An Administration Gone Rogue"

Guess who scored a ticket to Ron Paul's speech at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Cowtown on the 11th???
That should be good. 

BTW, Ron Paul has hired relatives as staffers, he's added non-germane earmarks to bills, somebody wrote some incredibly disturbing racist stuff in his late 80's-early 90's newsletters, and I think he once lost his patience with an incompetent nurse.  He once farted.  He has delivered more than 4,000 babies, most of whom now contribute to Global Warming.  There are rumors that in the 7th grade, Ron Paul wrote a negative book report about To Kill A Mockingbird. 
(I'm going to start getting all the negatives out of the way early so my Facebook and website trolls don't have to work so hard.) 

Here's Dr. Paul's latest broadside against Those Who Program The Teleprompter.  It's called "An Administration Gone Rogue". 

Have certain parts of the Constitution become irrelevant, as a former Republican leader once told me at a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing? At the time, I was told that demanding a Congressional declaration of war before invading Iraq, as Article I Section 8 of the Constitution requires, was unnecessary and anachronistic. Congress and the president then proceeded without a Constitutional declaration and the disastrous Iraq invasion was the result.

Last week, Obama administration officials made it clear that even the fig leaf of Congressional participation provided by the 2003 "authorization" to use force in Iraq was to be ignored as well. In a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stated clearly and repeatedly that the administration felt it was legally justified to use military force against Syria solely with "international permission". Such "international permission" could come by way of the United Nations, NATO, or some other international body. Secretary Panetta then told Senator Sessions that depending on the situation, the administration would consider informing Congress of its decision and might even seek authorization after the fact.

While Senator Sessions expressed surprise at the casual audacity of Panetta in making this statement, in reality his was just a bluntly stated explanation of what has been, de facto, the case for many years.

If we had elected my Libertarian buddy John Jay Myers to Pete Sessions' seat in Congress, John Jay would've done more than merely "express surprise.  John Jay would've jumped the railing and gotten into Leon Panetta's fat, war-profiteer face.  Oh well. 

When President Obama committed the US military to a pre-emptive war against Libya last year, for example, Congress was kept completely out of the process. Likewise, military action in Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and so on, proceed without a Congressional declaration. In fact, we haven't had a proper, constitutional declaration of war since 1942, yet the US military has been engaged in Korea, Lebanon, Iraq, Bosnia, Liberia, Haiti, and Libya with only UN resolutions as the authority. Congress's only role has been authorizing funds, which it always does without question, because one must "support the troops".

Of course we should reserve our harshest criticism for Congress rather than the Administration. If the people's branch of government abrogates its Constitutional authority to the Executive branch, who is to blame? Who is to blame that Congress as a body will not stand up and demand that the president treat the Constitution as more than an anachronistic piece of paper, or merely a set of aspirations and guidelines? The Constitution is the law of the land and for Congress to allow it to be flouted speaks as badly about Congress as it does about a president who seeks to do the flouting.

Just last week the administration announced that it would begin providing material support to the rebels who seek to overthrow the Syrian government. Was Congress involved in this decision to take sides in what may develop into a full-fledged civil war? And what of reports that US special forces may already be operating inside Syria? Still, Congress sits silently as its authority is undermined. Does anybody really wonder why approval numbers for Congress are so low?

Many of my colleagues who stood by as then-President Bush used the military as a kind of king's army are now calling for Congress to act against this president for openly admitting that is his intent. I agree it is time for Congressional action in response to these attacks on our Constitution, but the solution is simple and Constitutional. The solution is simply voting to withhold funds, since Congress has the power of the purse. No money for undeclared wars!

The picture of Barack Obama as a jet fighter came from SodaHead, in an essay entitled "Hey, Obama, What do you say?  How many kids did you kill today?" 

On Rootgate

Semi-Libertarian sports handicapper Wayne Allyn Root has managed to stick his foot in it again. 

Drop in on Hammer Of Truth for details. 

I think the important thing now is to make sure Obama is not elected,and that means in my mind, I would love for a libertarian like Gary Johnson the two term governor of New Mexico would actually get elected President, but I think we all know that’s not going to happen so therefore it’s got to be Romney there is no choice.

Root is a fun guy, a nice guy.  John Spivey and I once spent a pleasant evening someplace in Austin drinking most of the free beer that Root had iced down in his bathtub.  He's still shaking off the Republicanism, but I'd rather have him inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in (to quote LBJ out of context). 

Go here to read Root's obligatory backpedaling. 

I know about a dozen Libertarians who are headed to the National Convention (in Vegas, BTW) with pitchforks and torches.