Friday, September 7, 2012

Things Caused By Global Warming

This is fascinating.
Have you noticed something strange, but don't know why it's happening?
Blame The Earth Goddess !!! We have offended her, and must atone !!
Here's the almost complete, reasonably canonical list of Things Caused By Global Warming. 
I defy you to read the links without laughing.  No need to hit 'em all, but try a few anyway. 

AIDS
, Afghan
poppies destroyed
, African
holocaust
, aged
deaths
, poppies
more potent
, Africa
devastated,
  Africa
in conflict,
African
aid threatened
,  aggressive weeds, Air
France crash
, air
pockets
, air
pressure changes
,  airport
farewells virtual
, airport
malaria
, Agulhas
current
, Alaskan
towns slowly destroyed
, Al
Qaeda and Taliban Being Helped
, allergy
increase
, allergy
season longer
, alligators
in the Thames
, Alps
melting
, Amazon
a desert
, American
dream end
,  amphibians
breeding earlier (or not)
,  anaphylactic
reactions to bee stings
,  ancient
forests dramatically changed
, animals
head for the hills,
animals
shrink
,  Antarctic
grass flourishes
, Antarctic
ice grows
, Antarctic
ice shrinks
, Antarctic
sea life at risk
,   anxiety
treatment
, algal
blooms
, archaeological
sites threatened,
Arctic
bogs melt
, Arctic
in bloom
, Arctic
ice free
, Arctic
ice melt faster
, Arctic
lakes disappear
,  Arctic
tundra lost,
Arctic
warming (not),
a
rose by any other name smells of nothing,
asteroid
strike risk
, asthma,
Atlantic
less salty
, Atlantic
more salty
,   atmospheric
circulation modified
, attack
of the killer jellyfish
, avalanches
reduced
, avalanches
increased
,  Baghdad
snow
, Bahrain
under water
,  bananas
grow
, barbarisation,
bats decline, 
beer and bread prices to soar
, beer
better
,  beer
worse
, beetle
infestation
,
beef shortage,  bet for
$10,000
, big
melt faster,
billion
dollar research projects
, billion
homeless
, billions
face risk
, billions of
deaths
,  bird
loss accelerating
, bird
populations dying
, bird
strikes
, bird
visitors drop
, birds
confused
, birds
decline (Wales)
, birds
driven north
, birds
face longer migrations
, birds
on long migrations threatened
,  birds
return early
, birds
shrink(Aus)
, birds
shrink (USA)
, bittern
boom ends
, blackbirds
stop singing
, blackbirds
threatened
, Black
Hawk down
,  blizzards,
blood
contaminated
, blue
mussels return
, borders
redrawn
,  bluetongue, brains
shrink
,
brewers droop, bridge
collapse (Minneapolis),
Britain
one big city
, Britain
Siberian
, Britain's
bananas
, British
monsoon
,  brothels
struggle
, brown
Ireland
, bubonic
plague
,  Buddhist
temple threatened
,  building
collapse
, building season extension, bushfires, 
butterflies move north
, butterflies
reeling
, butterfly
saved
, carbon
crimes
, caribou
decline
,
Cambodian sex trade fuelled,
camel
deaths
,  cancer,
cancer
deaths in England
,
cannibalism
,  cataracts,
cats more amorous,
caterpillar
biomass shift
,
cave paintings threatened
, 
chagas disease, childhood
insomnia,
children's
mental health
, chocolate
shortage
, Cholera,
circumcision
in decline
, cirrus
disappearance
, civil
unrest
, cloud
increase
,  clownfish
get lost
, coast
beauty spots lost
, cockroach
migration,
 cod
go south,
  coffee
threatened
, coffee
berry borer
, coffee berry disease,
cold
climate creatures survive
,  cold
spells
, cold
spells (Australia)
, colder
waters  (Long Island)
, cold
wave (India)
, cold
weather (world)
, cold
winters
, computer
models
, conferences, conflict,
conflict
with Russia
,  consumers
foot the bill
, coral
bleaching
,
coral fish suffer
, coral
reefs dying
, coral
reefs grow,
 coral
reefs shrink
, coral
reefs twilight
, 
cost
of trillions
, cougar
attacks
, crabgrass
menace
, 
cradle of civilisation threatened
, creatures
move uphill,
crime
increase
, crocodile
sex,
crocodiles
driven from water
, crops
devastated
, crop
failures increase
, cross-breeding,
crumbling
roads, buildings and sewage systems
, cryptococcal
disease
, curriculum
change
,  cyclones
(Australia)
,   damselflies
forced back to UK
, danger
to kid's health
, Darfur,
Dartford
Warbler plague
,  daylight
increase,
deadly
virus outbreaks
, death
rate increase (US)
, death
rate drop
, deaths
to reach 6 million,
decades
of progress at risk
, Dengue hemorrhagic
fever
, depression,
desert
advance
,  desert
retreat
,  destruction of the
environment
,  dig
sites threatened
,  disasters, diseases
move north
, diving
reefs closed
, dog
disease
,  dozen
deadly diseases
- or not,
drought,
   ducks
and geese decline
, dust bowl in the corn
belt
, dust
doubles
,  earlier pollen
season
,  Earth
axis tilt
, Earth
biodiversity crisis
, Earth
crumbling
, Earth
dying
, Earth
even hotter
, Earth light
dimming
, Earth
lopsided,
Earth
melting
, Earth
morbid fever
, Earth
on fast track
, Earth
past point of no return
, Earth slowing down,
Earth
spins faster,
Earth to explode,
earth upside down
,  earthquakes,
earthquakes
redux
, El Niño
intensification
,
end of the world as we know it
, erosion,
emerging infections,
encephalitis,
English
villages lost
, equality
threatened
, Europe simultaneously
baking and freezing
,  eutrophication,
everyplace hit hardest,
expansion of university climate groups,

extinctions

(apes,
human, civilisation, koalas, lizards, 
logic
, Inuit,
smallest
butterfly
, cod, 
penguins
, pikas,
polar bears, 
possums,
walrus,  tigers,
toads, turtles,
pandas,
penguins,
plants,
ladybirds,
rhinoceros, salmon, trout,
wild flowers, woodlice,
a million
species
, half of all
animal and plant species
, mountain
species
,  not
polar bears
, barrier
reef
, leaches,
salamanders,
tropical insects, flowers)

experts
muzzled
, extreme changes to
California
, fading
fall foliage
,  famine, farmers
benefit
, farmers
go under
, farm
output boost
, farming
soil decline
,  fashion
disaster
, fever,
figurehead
sacked
, fir
cone bonanza
, fires
fanned in Nepal
, fish
bigger
, fish
catches drop
, fish
downsize
,
fish
deaf,
  fish
feminised
, fish get
lost
, fish
head north
, fish
lopsided
, fish
shrinking
,  fish
stocks at risk
, fish stocks
decline
, five
million illnesses
, flesh
eating disease
, flies
on Everest
,  flood
patterns change
, floods,
 floods
of beaches and cities
, flood
of migrants,
flood
preparation for crisis
, flora
dispersed
, Florida
economic decline
, flowers
in peril
,
flowers wilt
, flying
squirrels move up
, fog
increase in San Francisco
, fog
decrease in San Francisco
, food
poisoning
, food
prices rise
, food
prices soar
, food
production increased
,  food
safety affected
, food
security threat (SA)
, football
team migration
,  
forest
decline
, forest
expansion
, foundations
threatened
, foundations
increase grants
, frog
with extra heads
, frosts, frostbite,
frost
damage increased
,   fungi fruitful, fungi
invasion
, fungi
rot the world,
games
change
, Garden
of Eden wilts
, geese
decline in Hampshire
, genetic
changes
, genetic
diversity decline,
gene
pools slashed
, geysers
imperiled,
giant
icebergs (Australia)
, giant
icebergs (Arctic)
, giant
oysters invade,
  giant
pythons invade
, giant
squid migrate
, gingerbread
houses collapse
, glacial
earthquakes
, glacial retreat,  glacier
grows (California)
, glaciers
on Snowden
, glacier
wrapped
,
glass melts
, global
cooling
, 
glowing
clouds
,  golf
course to drown
, golf
Masters wrecked
, grain
output drop (China)
, grain
output stagnating (India)
, grandstanding,
grasslands
wetter
, gravity
shift
,  Great
Barrier Reef 95% dead
,  great
tits cope
, greening
of the North
,  Grey
whales lose weight
, Gulf
Stream failure
, habitat
loss
, haggis
threatened
, Hantavirus pulmonary
syndrome
,    harvest
increase
, harvest
shrinkage
, hay fever
epidemic
, health
affected
, health
of children harmed
,
health
risks
, health
risks (even more)
, heart
deaths
, heart
disease,

heart
attacks and strokes (Australia)
,
heat waves, hedgehogs
bald
, hibernation
affected
,   hibernation
ends too soon
, hibernation
ends too late
,  homeless 50
million
,

home runs
, hornets,
human
development faces unprecedented reversal
, human
fertility reduced
,
human
health risk
, human
race oblivion
, human
rights violations
, hurricanes,
hurricane
reduction
, hurricanes
fewer
, hurricanes
more intense
, hurricanes
not
,  hydropower
problems
, hyperthermia
deaths
, hyphthermia
deaths
, ice
age
,
ice hockey extinct
,
ice sheet
growth
, ice sheet
shrinkage
, icebergs, ice sheet
tipping point
,  illegal
immigration
, illness
and death
, inclement weather,
India
drowning
, infrastructure
failure (Canada)
,  indigestion,
industry
threatened
, infectious
diseases
,  inflation
in China
,
insect
explosion,
insect
invasion
, insurance premium
rises
, Inuit
displacement
, Inuit
poisoned
, Inuit
suing
, invasion
of alien worms,
invasion
of Antarctic aliens
,  invasion
of Asian carp
, invasion
of cane toads
, invasion
of caterpillars
,  invasion
of cats
,  invasion
of crabgrass
, invasion
of herons
, invasion
of jellyfish
, invasion
of king crabs
, invasion
of lampreys
, invasion of
midges
, invasion
of pine beetles
, invasion
of rats (China)
, invasion
of slugs
, 
island disappears
, islands
sinking
, Italy
robbed of pasta
, itchier poison ivy,
Japan's
cherry blossom threatened
,  jellyfish
explosion
, jets
fall from sky
,  Kew
Gardens taxed
, kidney
stones
, killer
cornflakes
, killing
us
, kitten boom, koalas
leaves inedible
, koalas
under threat
, krill
decline
, 
lake empties
, lake
shrinking and growing
, landslides, landslides
of ice at 140 mph
, large
trees decline
, lawsuits
increase
, lawsuit successful,
lawyers'
income increased (surprise surprise!)
,  lawyers
want more
, legionnaires'
surge
, 
lives lost
,

lizards super intelligent
, lives
saved
,

lobsters grow
,  Loch
Ness monster dead
, locust
plagues suppressed
, low
oxygen zones threaten sea life
, lush
growth in rain forests
,  Lyme
disease
, Major
vegetation shifts
,  Malaria,
  Malaria
decline
,  malnutrition,
mammoth
dung melt
, mammoth
ivory bonanza
, manatees battle, mango
harvest fails
, Maple
production advanced,
Maple syrup
shortage
, marmots
fatter
, marine
diseases,
marine
food chain decimated,
Meaching
(end of the world)
, Meat
eating to stop
, Mediterranean
rises
, megacryometeors,
Melanoma, Melanoma
decline
, mental
health decline
, mental
illness
, methane
emissions from plants
, methane
burps
,
methane runaway
, melting
permafrost
, Mexican
climate migrant flood
, Middle
Kingdom convulses
, migration,
migratory
birds huge losses
, microbes to
decompose soil carbon more rapidly
, milk
production lost
, minorities
hit,
monkeys
at risk
,  monkeys
on the move
, Mont
Blanc grows
,
monuments
imperiled
, moose
dying
, more
bad air days
,   more
research needed
, mortality
increased,
mosquitoes
adapting
, mountain
(Everest) shrinking
,  mountaineers
fears,
  mountains
break up
, mountains
green and flowering
,   mountains
taller
, mortality
lower
, Mubarak fall, murder
rate increase
,  musk
ox decline
, Myanmar
cyclone
, narwhals
at risk
, narwhals
suffocate
, National Parks
damaged
, National
security implications
, native
wildlife overwhelmed
, natural
disasters  quadruple
, neurological
diseases
,  new
islands
, next
ice age
, NFL
threatened
,
Nile
delta damaged
, noctilucent
clouds
, no
effect in India
, Northwest
Passage opened
, nuclear
plants bloom
, oaks
dying
,  oaks
move north
, 
obesity
, oblivion,
ocean
acidification
, ocean
acidification faster
, ocean
dead spots
, ocean
dead zones unleashed
, ocean
deserts expand
, ocean
salt extremes
, ocean
oxygen crisis
,  ocean
waves speed up
,  Olympic
Games to end
, opera
house to be destroyed
, outdoor
hockey threatened
,   owls
turn brown
, oxygen
depletion zones
, oyster
herpes
, ozone
repair slowed,
ozone rise, peat
bogs problem
,

peat bogs no problem
,
penguin
chicks frozen,
penguin
chicks smaller
, penguins
in the dark
, penguin
populations devastated
, penguins
replaced by jellyfish,


penguins sex lives affected
,
personal
carbon rationing
, pest
outbreaks
, pests
increase
, pets
in danger
, phenology
shifts
,  pines
decline
, pirate
population decrease
, pirates
run rampant
, plankton
blooms
,   plankton
plummeting
, plankton
wiped out
, plants
lose protein
, plants
march north
, plants
move uphill
, 
polar
bears aggressive
, polar
bears cannibalistic
, polar
bears deaf,
 
polar
bears drowning
,  polar
bears fewer cubs
,  polar
tours scrapped
,  pollination
halved
, porpoise
astray
, profits
collapse
, psychiatric
illness
,  psychological
effects
,  puffin
decline
,
pushes
poor women into prostitution
, rabid
bats
,  radars taken out,
rail network threatened
,  railroad
tracks deformed
, rainfall
increase
, rainforest
destruction
,  rape
wave
, refugees,
reindeer
endangered
, reindeer
larger
, release of ancient frozen
viruses
, resorts
disappear
,
respiratory diseases worsen,  rice
less fragrant
, rice
production fall
, rice
threatened,
rice
yields crash,
  rift on Capitol
Hill
, rioting
and nuclear war,
   river
flow impacted
, river
rerouted
, rivers
raised
, road
accidents
, roads
wear out
, robins
rampant
,   rocky
peaks crack apart
, roof
of the world a desert,
rooftop
bars
, Ross
river disease
,    Russia
under pressure
, salinity
reduction
, salinity
increase
,  Salmonella,
salmon
stronger,
sardine run
unpredictable
, satellites
accelerate
,

Schmallenberg
virus
,  school
closures
, sea level rise,
sea level rise
faster
, sea
snot
, seals
mating more
, seismic
activity
, sewer
bills rise
, severe
thunderstorms
, sex
change
, sexual
dysfunction
, 
sexual promiscuity
, shark
attacks
, sharks
booming
,

sharks hybridise
, sharks moving
north
, sheep
change colour
, sheep
shrink
, shop
closures
, short-nosed
dogs endangered
,  shrimp
sex problems
, shrinking
ponds
, shrinking
sheep
, 
shrinking shrine
, Sidney
Opera House wiped out
, ski
resorts threatened
, slavery,
skinks
impacted
, slow
death
, 
smaller brains
,  smog, snowfall
decrease,
snowfall
increase
, snowfall
heavy
, 
snow thicker
,  soaring
food prices
,
societal
collapse
, soil
change
, soil
subsidence
, songbirds
change eating habits
, sour
grapes
, soybean
crop to drop
, space
junk increase
, space
problem
, spectacular
orchids
, spider
danger in UK
, spider
bites to increase
, spiders
getting bigger
, spiders
invade Scotland
,  squid
aggressive giants
, squid
larger
, squid population
explosion
, squid
tamed
, squirrels
reproduce earlier
, starfish
sperm eaten by parasites
, stingray
invasion
, storm
damage costs rise
, storms wetter,
stratospheric
cooling
, street
crime to increase
, subsidence, suicide,
sunset
displaced
,  swordfish
in the Baltic
, Tabasco tragedy,
taxes, tea
flavour change
, tectonic
plate movement
, teenage
prostitution
,   terrorists
(India)
, thatched
cottages at risk
, threat
to peace
, ticks
move northward (Sweden)
, tides
rise
, tigers
eat people
, tigers
drown
, tomatoes
rot
, tornado
outbreak
, tourism
increase
,
toxic bacteria
, toxic
seaweed
,  trade
barriers,
trade winds weakened,
traffic
jams
,  transport
snarl
, transportation
threatened
, tree foliage increase
(UK)
,   tree
growth slowed
, tree
growth faster
, trees
grow too fast
, trees
in trouble
, trees
less colourful
,  trees
more colourful
, trees
lush
, trees
on Antarctica
, treelines
change
, tropics
expansion
, tropopause
raised
, truffle
shortage
, truffles
down
, 
truffles increase
, turtles
crash
, turtle
feminised
, turtles
lay earlier
, UFO
sightings
, UK
coastal impact
, UK
Katrina
,  vampire bats,  Venice
flooded
,  volcanic
eruptions
, volcanoes
awakened in Iceland
, 
walnuts
threatened
, walrus
pups orphaned
,  walrus
stampede
,  walruses
come ashore
, wars over
water
, wars
sparked
, wars
threaten billions
, wasps,
water bills double,
water
shortage to increase vegetarianism
, wave
of natural disasters,
waves
bigger
, weather
out of its mind
, weather
patterns awry
,

weather patterns last longer,
Western
aid cancelled out
, 
West
Nile fever
, whale
beachings
, whales
lose weight
, whales
move north
,  whales
wiped out
, wheat
rust in Syria,
wheat
yields crushed in Australia
,  wild
boars thrive
, wildfires, wind
shift
, wind
reduced,
winds
stronger
, winds
weaker
,  wine
- Australian baked
, , wine
industry damage (California)
, 
wine industry disaster (US)
, 
wine - more
English
,
wine
- no
more French
,
wine -  England
too hot
, wine
-German boon
,  wine
passé (Napa)
, wine
- Scotland best
,  wine
stronger
, winters
in Britain colder
, winter
in Britain dead
, witchcraft
executions
, wolverine
decline
, wolverines
vanish
, wolves
eat more moose
, wolves
eat less,
women
cheat on vacation
, workers laid
off
, World
at war
, World
War 4
,  Yellow
fever
, zebra
mussel threat
, zoonotic
diseases
.


and all on 0.006 deg C per year! 

Be careful out there !!!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Let's Ban Corporate Profits !!!

I made a solemn vow that I was going to ignore the Democrat convention as much as possible. 
I lied. 
They aren't any more dangerous than the Republicans, but for the most part, the Republicans can display a little bit more "message discipline" and shut the hell up when necessary. 

Here's Libertarian demigod Peter Schiff, interviewing Democrat delegates.  I don't believe any special effects were used.  Remember, these are the brightest and best of the Democrat party. 

I want to get the names and addresses of every one of these folks, and mail them a copy of Schiff's classic "How An Economy Grows And Why It Crashes".  (It's mostly cartoons, BTW.)  I doubt it would help, but I'd feel better. 

I dare you to watch this without crying. 


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

The Government Is The Only Thing We All Belong To

Still kinda busy at work.  Can't blog much. 
And it's just sooo easy to post inspirational Democrat videos without commentary. 

We don't belong to the government.  It belongs to us. 
Confusion on that issue is at the root of most of our problems. 


Lordy have mercy on us all.  The Democrats would be the most tone-deaf party in history if it weren't for the Republicans. 
And here's a fun bumpersticker that summarizes last night's festivites....


Gary Johnson and John Jay Myers, our Libertarian candidates for president and U.S. senate will end as much of this mess as anyone possibly can. 

Sunday, September 2, 2012

What Obama Could Do

Long-time readers of these pages and my Facebook rants often assume that I have a deep and abiding hatred of Barack Obama. 
It ain't so. 
Obama promised to "spread the wealth around", and he's done his best to fulfill that promise, even though it has been disastrous for the economy overall.  The Porkulus bill was insane, but it hasn't cost any more than our recent wars against people who didn't attack us. 
I can quibble over Obama's broken promises to shut down Gitmo, his failure to bring home all the troops, and his general squishiness on gay marriage (until recently).

Compared to the Republicans, though, Obama has been a George Washington of honesty.  How the GOP can call itself "small government" after one Reagan and two Bushes remains a mystery.  In 2010, for the offices where we didn't have a Libertarian candidate on the ballot, I voted Democrat.  I'm sick, sick, sick of Republicans giving "small government" a bad name, especially the Republicans who are affiliated with the Religious Right. 

So let me know what you think of these suggestions for next week's Democrat Convention at Bank Of America Arena.  These are listed only as a public service. 

1) Ron Paul supporters are pissed.  I mean they are royally pissed.  They've been kicked out, shown the door and dumped on. 
Ron Paul is anti-war, pro-gay/lesbian marriage, anti-drug war, and anti-Federal Reserve.  It wouldn't hurt Obama to come out swinging against any more overseas adventures, and he could pledge to bring Hillary back to the house.  He could promise to legalize weed.  He could personally invite Ron Paul to speak at the Democrat convention !!  Who knows what would happen??
It would be difficult for Obama to speak out against Bernanke's counterfeiting operation at the Fed, but he could let Biden do it, since nobody takes Biden seriously anyway. 
All of this would be total B.S., but how many pledges and promises made at conventions and State Of The Union events are anything else? 

2) Trot out Bill Clinton as much as possible.  Clinton (and Gingrich) turned in a few years of balanced budgets.  He semi-reformed welfare.  He introduced NAFTA.  Yeah, he made a few failed stabs at an early version of ObamneyCare, but that was just to keep Hillary out of his hair so he could mess around with interns. 
Al Gore banished Clinton during his presidential run.  But the man has now been reformed and rehabilitated.  We did well while Bill was in office.  Obama should simply pretend that Clinton is the candidate. 

3) Keep Elizabeth ! Warren !! out of the convention hall.  Disinvite the woman from her current prime-time slot.  Obama was channeling Warren when he uttered his disastrous "You Didn't Build That" line.  That stuff probably plays well wherever Warren teaches, but it doesn't resonate with the folks who are having to pay ridiculous taxes to pay government contractors too much money for substandard services.  Have her call in with diarrhea. 

4) IMHO, Joe Biden is now officially stark, raving mad.  Paul Ryan is a bailout loving and TARP loving and stimulus loving Republican who has repeatedly voted for disaster while campaigning for sanity.  All that having been said, nobody cares about those votes except Libertarians. 
Despite his inconsistencies, Paul Ryan is also going to rip Joe Biden's head off. 
It's going to be brutal.  There is no point in it, no reason to broadcast this massacre during prime time when some of our children might still be awake. 
Biden couldn't even put away Sarah Palin. 
The Democrats don't want Biden going up against Ryan.  It's gonna be ugly, ugly, ugly. 

For a while, there was a "Draft Hillary" movement floating around, but she's even more polarizing than Biden. 

What to do, what to do.....

How about this:  Barack Obama should have Biden appear on Day One of the convention, and have him make his standard, goofy speech.  Then Biden should claim that he's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.  Express regret that he can't continue to carry on the fight against the other side.  The press won't demand a medical diagnosis from anyone; Hell, they print every word that Obama/Biden say without skepticism.  

Day Three: Obama comes out, makes his speech, and declares that ________ __________ is now his choice for Veep. 

I think these four proposals would work for him. 
He'll never do any of this. 
There's no money in it for his supporters/owners. 

So in the meantime, I hope you'll support a candidate who has pledged to give us the small government that Republicans have failed to provide, and the civil liberties that Democrats have failed to provide......


Saturday, September 1, 2012

Warren Buffett, sleep easy

"(G.M.) is again losing market share, and its stock, of which taxpayers own 26 percent, was trading Thursday morning at $21, below the $33 price our investor in chief paid for it and below the $53 price it would have to reach to enable taxpayers to recover the entire $49.5 billion bailout."  - George Will

Simply allowing G.M. and Chrysler to declare bankruptcy would've allowed them to restructure their truly godawful union arrangments, rework their deals with suppliers, and would've let them make the multitudes of changes necessary to compete in a world that's changing every day. 

That was politically impossible. 

But somehow, some way, our investor in chief likes to declare that G.M. is "roaring back". 

Incredible. 







Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Libertarian Responses To The Dallas Morning News Voter Guide

The Dallas Morning News recently sent out its Voter Guide to all candidates running for office in the DFW Metroplex.

Here are the issue-specific questions, along with what I think are the ideal Libertarian responses:

Why should voters choose you over your opponent?

Our opponent(s) are affiliated with the Republican and Democratic parties. Those two organizations have led our nation into undeclared wars, failing schools, and a $16 trillion dollar debt. Those two organizations are not going to reform themselves. As a Libertarians we understand that we’ll have to overcome considerable resistance from voters concerned about “wasting their vote”, plus a large amount of media bias. But liberty-oriented, small-government candidates are our only hope for extricating ourselves from the wars, the inefficiency, and the debt.
(Please note that this question assumes only one Democrat or Republican opponent, not multiple opponents from multiple parties offering other choices. Shame on you, Dallas Morning News!)

The Legislature cut billions of dollars from the state budget in 2011. Are there areas where lawmakers went too far? Not far enough? How would you change that in 2013? Please be specific.

The Legislature didn’t go far enough. They could save billions more by extending retirement ages of government employees, and offering less generous benefits, benefits that would be in line with those offered by the private sector. State employees could be given 401K accounts instead of pensions. Parents should be allowed to personalize their children’s education through a voucher plan. This would encourage competition and improved efficiency in the Texas school system.
The Legislature should immediately shut down the Emerging Technology Fund and the Texas Enterprise fund. These programs are corporate cronyism at its worst.
A simple Google search reveals that we’re spending $750,000.00 per year on a Department of Agriculture “Egg Quality Program”, which is supposed to prevent consumers from buying cracked eggs. Kroger, Wal-Mart, HEB, and Albertson’s can handle that responsibility. The list of other savings opportunities is almost endless.

The state’s business tax has not raised enough money to offset local property tax cuts. What changes, if any, do you favor?

The correct way to phrase this question would be as follows: The state’s spending has exceeded taxes. What spending reductions, if any, do you favor? We should continue to cut taxes and find new ways to reduce even more spending. The Texas Public Policy Foundation has produced excellent lists of logical spending cuts and ways to reduce government waste. The difficulty lies in having the political will to do so.

Texas’ business climate is touted as a jobs magnet for the nation. Are there areas where business regulation is too lax or too tight, and what changes would you make?

Even with the current level of wasteful spending by the state, Texas has found itself leading most of the other states in job creation. We should examine our current levels of regulation, taxation, and bureaucracy as compared to, say, California. Ask new businesses why they chose to locate here, and continue to ensure that red tape and financial disincentives are eliminated.
We should also work to give consumers the right to choose between “government regulated” and “unregulated” products, since the regulations put in place by retailers and distributors are generally more effective and sensible than those put in place by 3rd parties in Austin and Washington.

The governor informed the federal government that Texas will not participate in certain parts of the Affordable Health Care Act. Was this a wise decision, and what should the state’s course of action be today?

1) This was a wise decision.
2) Nullification. If something is expensive, it is because it is scarce relative to demand. ObamaCare does nothing to eliminate the scarcity of doctors, nurses, hospitals, medical equipment, or pharmaceutical supplies. It does, however, eliminate the scarcity of IRS agents, and mandates that 16,000 more be hired. ObamaCare is an ill-conceived, poorly written, disastrous piece of legislation.

Critics have questioned the benefits and oversight of the Emerging Technology Fund and Texas Enterprise Fund, both administered by the governor’s office. Would you continue to put tax dollars into these economic development funds?

No. These are slush funds for political contributors and cronies. Government agencies have a horrible track record for predicting successful “Emerging” technologies. If an entrepreneur can’t attract private capital, chances are that his idea will fail. Socializing risk while privatizing profit should not be a function of the Texas government.

Some regulators worry that environmental restrictions on power plants might compromise the state’s ability to keep up with electricity needs. Do you agree, and how should the legislature respond?

All environmental restrictions are the result of a compromise – we make small compromises in the air quality in exchange for not having to chop firewood for our stoves. The legislature does have a role as referee in any disputes arising because of these trade-offs. If an individual has been directly harmed, he or she should be compensated by the business or individual responsible for the damage.

State officials have fought a number of federal air-quality regulations, arguing that they’re bad for business. Is this the right strategy, or should Texas comply with the EPA? How should the state weigh environmental concerns against industry protests?

See previous question. EPA overkill has been well documented. There is a point where safety cannot be improved by another order of magnitude without ridiculous expense or inefficiency. We should demand that all new regulations by all regulatory bodies be subject to a vote in the Texas legislature, rather than being automatically implemented by unelected bureaucrats.

What is your view on the science of man-made climate change? Do you support legislation that would reduce the output of greenhouse gases, and, if so, what approach would you take?

If AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming) is a science, it has been a poorly administered one. The East Anglia “ClimateGate” emails have revealed a pattern of deception, fraud and mismanagement embarrassing to science. Researchers have actively worked to keep dissenting views out of peer-reviewed journals. Editors who published dissenting views on climate have suddenly resigned.
And it is puzzling to see how many of the leading Anthropogenic Global Warming advocates have gargantuan carbon footprints. We should believe that AGW is a problem only when those who stand to benefit most from regulation start acting as if AGW is a problem.

We’ve yet to see a real debate (as opposed to competing blog posts) between the leaders on both sides of the AGW debate. Perhaps Texas should offer to host such an event?

Natural gas production has been a boon industry in Texas, but regulators have cited it for adding to air pollution and contaminating groundwater. How should the legislature balance the benefits against environmental concerns?

The gas companies have indeed been good for Texas, but if gas companies have done harm, they should be held accountable. The legislature, along with the courts, should act as referees in any disputes or claims, but should not be in the business of favoring one form of energy over another. We should also bear in mind that the form of energy that is most harmful to the environment is the use of firewood. That’s what most of us were using for energy 100 years ago.

With dozens of school districts suing the state, lawmakers might have to contend with another court order to find a new way to finance public education. What would be a fairer, longer-lasting method of paying for schools?

We should implement the fairer, longer-lasting method that we use to provide for groceries, televisions, garden hoses, and most other commodities.  We should give parents a choice. Open the school system to competition by giving parents vouchers.
Since 1970, inflation-adjusted spending per student has tripled while test scores have remained flat. Give kids a ticket out of underperforming schools !
Also, there is no rational excuse for teachers to be working in a tenure system, or being given extremely generous retirement packages while in their early 50’s. No system that pays for more years of retirement than work is sustainable.

What changes, if any, do you advocate in certification, evaluation, or pay for teachers?

In an ideal system, certification, evaluation, and pay for teachers would be left up to the private institutions that employ them. In the current public school system, however, the two criteria that least influence effectiveness (certifications and # of years spent teaching) are the ones used to determine teacher pay.

Test scores for black and Hispanic students have traditionally lagged their white counterparts in public schools. How should the legislature address this?

By giving them educational choices besides those public schools. Give the parents a real choice. If people were assigned grocery stores based on their zip codes, you would also see a decline in the performance of grocery stores.  Give minority students a choice !! 

State universities have been challenged to ensure the productivity of professors, be more efficient and boost graduation rates. What measures are appropriate, and should they be tied to tax support?

In the age of the internet, there is little or no reason to bring students into one classroom to hear one professor. We have the opportunity to introduce every student in the nation to some of the greatest professors who have ever lived, and at a minimal cost. With the exception of a very few “lab” courses, some disciplines that require one-on-one instruction, and a few group activities, the cost of a university education could be slashed by a massive percentage simply by taking advantage of the internet. This is a "solved" problem.  All we lack is the political will to change the system.

Privatizing the college system and giving the right of 3rd Party Educators to issue certifications of competence in various areas of study would open up the world to a far greater number of students. 

The state should not be in the business of boosting graduation rates.

The drawing of new legislative and congressional maps was nothing short of chaotic, for voters and candidates. Would you support the formation of an independent, bipartisan commission to draw new districts after the next census?

No. There is no such thing as an independent, bipartisan commission.

Also, if the voters are going to tolerate racial gerrymandering from judicial appointees, then we are getting the system that we deserve.

Should Texas abolish its system of allowing straight-ticket voting in state and local partisan elections?

Yes. We should also abolish the system of putting party affiliations beside the names of candidates. A system of “Approval Voting” could eliminate the need for expensive primaries, run-offs, and final elections.

Texas has a 50-year water plan but no specific way to pay for it. What steps should the Legislature take to make sure the state has long-term water supplies?

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” The idea that we’re going to plan for an adequate water supply for the year 2062 puts a lot of faith in the flawed souls who make up the Texas Legislature.

The state has relied on new ways of tolling and borrowing to pay for road and bridge projects. Most major new highways in North Texas are being built as tolled or partially tolled roads. Is this acceptable, or is it time to raise the gasoline tax for the first time in more than 20 years?

This is acceptable. In these cases, the roads are being primarily funded by the users.

Should the Legislature enact laws to help combat illegal immigration? If so, what would you advocate?

Increased illegal immigration from Mexico is a direct result of our war on drugs. We should decriminalize recreational drug use and possession immediately, and totally legalize them as soon as politically feasible. We have turned Mexico’s justice and law enforcement system into a cruel joke. The drug lords don’t fear the Mexican military, police, courts, or the U.S. military. They don’t fear confiscation of their drug shipments, as these only cost them pennies on the dollar to produce. The drug lords in Mexico fear legalization. Let’s help give our Mexican friends their country back.

Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved eyewitness ID reforms and other measures in 2011 in response to troubling DNA exonerations. What other steps do you favor to improve the justice system?

We should discourage plea bargaining. We have tens of thousands of prisoners languishing in jail who have never been given a trial, but feared our ramshackle courts system more than they feared prison.

What additional safeguards, if any, are needed in the capital punishment system?

Capital punishment should be ended immediately. Most of us don’t trust the U.S. mail system with important documents. We avoid V.A. hospitals. We return from trips to the DMV with stories of waste and inefficiency. “Good enough for government work” is now a cliché. Why should we trust the government with taking someone’s life?  Texas has released 35 prisoners from Death Row because of shoddy DNA work. 

Texas homeowner insurance rates continue to rank among the highest nationally. How should the Legislature respond?

The Legislature should merely enforce contracts between homeowners and businesses, while working to remove any barriers keeping additional insurance companies from competing in Texas. We have more hailstorms, hurricanes, and tornadoes than the rest of the nation, and acts of the Legislature won’t change this.

Should the Legislature let voters decide whether to expand gambling by licensing slot machines or casinos in Texas?

No. Gambling is none of the Legislature’s business. It’s none of the voters’ business. If you choose to wager money on the performance of a slot machine, a deck of cards, Tony Romo, or a horse, it should be between you and the person/business with whom you are placing the wagers.

Should the state impose additional regulations on payday loan operations? If so, what should those rules include?

No. The typical payday loan operation charges $17.50 per $100.00 borrowed. The typical bank charges as much as $30.00 for a single bounced $5.00 check. Which organization is charging extortionate interest? Plus, the payday loan operations provide a service to many people that traditional lending operations often turn away.

That’s all of the questions. Hope this was interesting.

WE'VE HIT 16 TRILLION DOLLARS IN DEBT !!

Congrats to all of you in the USA!! 
We've hit the $16,000,000,000,000.00 in debt mark. 

Condolences to our friends in China who have loaned us a lot of this money.  We're going to pay it back by printing it in bulk, and it won't be worth very much.  Suckers. 

1 trillion is more than the combined gross revenues of Wal Mart, Exxon, General Motors and Ford Motors.  The Occupy Wall Street gang can tax the rich until every business in America closes, and it won't matter. 

Tyler Durden of ZeroHedge has extrapolated the trends, and estimates we'll be at 20 trillion in no time at all. 

•$17 trillion on June 10, 2013;


•$18 trillion on March 23, 2014;

•$19 trillion on January 3, 2015; and

•$20 trillion on October 16, 2015

All we need is another bogus "crisis" or "War On..." of some sort, and we'll get there.  You've gotta believe, you've just gotta believe.  Have faith in the fascists at the top, and their ability to spread it around to get elected, and we can do it.  20 trillion by 2015.    In the meantime, though, people who invest (their own) money are avoiding the U.S. money pit like it was on track to be the next Greece.  Which it is.     Here's an old pic of the team of economists that Obama assembled 3.5 years ago.  Four of the five have already resigned in disgrace:  

Geithner is still hanging in there because there's no way Congress would allow Obama to make the decision to replace him.  Not after the crap we've been through for the last three years.  They wouldn't let Obama appoint the next Assistant Ambassador to Lichtenstein.   

Here's what they've done for us with a quarter of a trillion dollars in stimulus.  Their results are worse than the numbers they were trying to scare us with !!


  Here's what could be done with a trillion dollars (and we're on the hook for 16 of them).    If you stack up $1,000 bills, $1 trillion would need a pile that is 80 miles high.

Assuming the United States consumes about 17 billion barrels of oil a year and assuming the cost of a barrel of oil is about $65, a trillion dollars will buy an entire year’s worth of oil for the USA.

You could buy a thousand Queen Mary 2 with accommodations for 2,620 passengers

With a population of approximately 300 million people, you could give away $1 trillion by giving every man, woman and child in the U.S. $ 3,400 each.

We could buy everyone on Earth an iPod.

We could pave the entire U.S. interstate highway system with 23.5-karat gold leaf.

We could buy 16.6 million Habitat for Humanity houses

There is only one solution. 
Stop the spending.  Now.  Keynesian stimulus doesn't work.  It didn't work when FDR stretched out the Great Depression for a decade, and it hasn't worked for FDR 2.0, also known as Barack Obama. 

Mitt Romney hasn't promised to shut down a government operation, much less a cabinet level department. 

But in his eight years as governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson vetoed more bills than all other governors combined. 

There is no "moderate" way out. 
There is no solution that isn't "extreme". 
There is no way out of a 16 trillion dollar debt that isn't "out of the mainstream". 

Gary Johnson will fix it. 

Monday, August 27, 2012

Damn, I've been busy !!

Too busy to blog much, although it's not for a lack of topics. 

The economy continues to tank. 

Republicans continue to confuse sex with rape and incest. 

Every word that comes out of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz's mouth just begs for fisking. 

Camden, N.J., probably the most dangerous city in the U.S., has laid off its entire police force (union), and replaced it with county cops (non-union).  The city cops are calling it "union-busting", and they're right. 

The Dems were going to send Joe Biden to Tampa so he could emit gaffes outside the Republican convention, but then they thought better of it. 

Gary Johnson continues to impress. 

At a recent meeting, our president and CEO, Marvel Variants, told us that because of increased unemployment insurance and ObamaCare, we've all gotten a $3,000.00 raise.  Unfortunately, it's all going to insurance companies.  Hope.  Change. 

Here's some Jimmy Buffett.



Thursday, August 23, 2012

If you've been unsuccessful, you didn't fail on your own

From Mark Perry's Carpe Diem blog.  Read the context (a potential business being strangled by government trolls, hobbits and munchkins) if you get a chance:

Look, if you’ve been unsuccessful, you didn’t get there on your own. If you were unsuccessful at opening or operating a small business, some government official along the line probably contributed to your failure. There was an overzealous civil servant somewhere who might have stood in your way with unreasonable regulations that are part of our American system of anti-business red tape that allowed you to not thrive. Taxpayers invested in roads and bridges, but you might have faced city council members who wouldn’t allow you to use them. If you’ve been forced to close a business – it’s often the case that you didn’t do that on your own. Somebody else made that business closing happen or prevented it from opening in the first place. You can thank the bureaucratic tyrants of the nanny state.


Yep.  They didn't let you build that. 

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

I'm not saying the government is too big, but....

I'm not saying the government is too big, but....

if it really is too big, what would it look like? 

Here's the Samizdata quote of the day -

What if we have reached a point where the scale and scope of government have become absurdly large? What you would observe is a growing gap between the theories used to justify government expansion and its practical impact. You would observe the cost of education and health care rising, without commensurate benefits. You would observe stimulus programs that increase employment according to computer models but not in reality. You would observe crony capitalism. You would observe budgets distorted by public-sector unions. You would observe fraudulent accounting that shifts costs for pensions onto future generations.


- Arnold Kling

Well, if you're going to put it that way....


Picture of bloated guy came from here. 

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Why We Can't Shrink Our Government, by a failed Obama economist

Three and a half years ago, the media was drooling over the geniuses Barack Obama had appointed to turn around the economy - Peter Orszag, Christina Romer, Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner, and Jared Bernstein. 


All but Geithner have now resigned, probably because the populace is about to figure out the con game that  Orszag, Romer, Summers, Geithner, and Bernstein have pulled on them. 

These jokers backed some semi-trailers up to the Treasury and looted the place.  In a less sheep-like society, the mobs with tar and feathers would've already surrounded their homes. 

One member of this crew, Larry Summers, has taken to the pages of The Washington Post to try to justify another couple of decades of looting.   His article is called The Reality Of Trying To Shrink Government. 

Summers says that we won't be shrinking the size of government, or our debt, anytime soon. Here's a summary of his argument:

1) We're living longer than the brain trust that invented Social Security anticipated.  In the near future, the number of people on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security is going to explode.  (Everyone has seen this coming, but nobody has done anything about it.  This is a good case for smaller government.)   

2)  The interest on the national debt is far bigger than anticipated.  It's going to consume 3.2% of our GDP by the year 2020.  (Everyone has seen this coming, but nobody has done anything about it.  This is a good case for smaller government.)

3)  Here's the funny one, the one where Summers goes Full Obama Retard on us.  Things that government purchases cost more than things that the private sector purchases !!!  Here's a terrifying glimpse into the mind of a Statist: 
Third, increases in the price of what the federal government buys relative to what the private sector buys will inevitably raise the cost of state involvement in the economy. Since the early 1980s the price of hospital care and higher education has risen fivefold relative to the price of cars and clothing, and more than a hundredfold relative to the price of televisions. Similarly, the complexity, and hence the cost, of everything from scientific research to regulating banks rises faster than overall inflation. These shifts reflect long-running trends in globalization and technology. If government is to continue providing the same level of these services, government spending as a share of the economy has to rise, by at least 3 percent of GDP.

It's almost impossible to write something that stupid without having gone to an Ivy League University for practice. 

Do you know why the price of TV's and clothing has dropped like a stone, while the price of healthcare and education has gone into the stratosphere? 

It's because TV and T-shirts are relatively unregulated, and the government, for the most part, stays out of the TV and T-shirt industries.  Jesus Christ Almighty, get a freakin' clue !!  Read some Milton Friedman or some Thomas Sowell or some Henry Hazlitt, or any other reality-based economist.  Subsidies and regulations drive up prices.  Prices are high for healthcare and education BECAUSE the government helps pay for them.  (Everyone has seen this coming, but nobody has done anything about it. This is a good case for smaller government.)

Summers goes on to make a few other lame points.  (The one about how we can't reduce defense spending is also a real knee-slapper.  We're responsible for 45% of the world's defense spending.) 

That's all he had to say. 

Anyone who finished middle school could go into D.C. and cut the staff and the spending by 50% with no loss of services that wouldn't immediately be taken over by the private sector at a much lower cost. 

Read his whole article.  Or Stephen King's Pet Sematary.  They're equally scary. 

Monday, August 20, 2012

The Chinese Washing Machine Story 2.0

I'm totally buried at work. 
No time to post anything new. 
There's a chance I'll be going back to China soon. 
I'm trying to put together an e-book of these stories. 
Hope you like this one.  It's a re-post from 2007.  This is how it really happened !

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

I've been posting old emails from my China trips any time I'm too tired to think but too wired to sleep. This one's from a little more than a year ago, when I made a Quality Control trip to a vendor called "Aifei" in Xiamen.
Wendy is Aifei's #1 sales rep., and translator.

Here goes....


Dear family, friends, co-workers, Moderate Baptists, retail booksellers, and people from the Starbucks on Camp Bowie,

I hope everyone is doing well. I still don’t have Internet access at the new apartment, and haven’t had much free time outside of working at the factory and getting moved into the new place. I’m writing from the Coffee Bar near our new apartment.

Our company apartment is bigger, nicer, and more luxurious than anything that 99% of the Chinese can afford, or have ever seen. I never doubt for a moment that I’ve been blessed, and am very fortunate to have been born where I was born.

All that obligatory gratitude aside, the apartment was designed to look like the Jettson’s. Unfortunately, the utilities were provided by The Flintstones. It’s on the 27th floor of a high-rise that’s still being built by small angry people with lots of hammers.

Let’s start in the kitchen: There is a double sink with cold water only. The left-hand side sink is about the size of a piece of photocopier paper. The right-hand side sink is about the size and depth of a shoebox. Fran will tell you that I can dirty enough dishes, forks, ladles, and colanders to fill both of these sinks just by microwaving one pack of popcorn.

To the left of the sink is the space where the microwave ought to be. But that’s the only space where I can chop up whatever small animals that I’m having for dinner. (The food suppliers, restaurants, and I have a mutual “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy....) So the microwave stays on top of the fridge until needed. There is a dual surface gas cooktop that works great.

Below that is a Thing that’s not quite a Dishwasher. They call if a “sterilizer”. When I asked Wendy why I needed the sterilizer after the dishes had already been hand washed, she said “Bad Water”. I know all about the Bad Water from the medical disaster of my first trip. She also suggested that I leave the dishes in the sterilizer at all times. I asked why. She said “Bad Air”. Considering that they’re always burning huge piles of leftover Asbestos, DDT, Napalm, Agent Orange, etc. all over the countryside, I’m taking her advice. Good Karma.

The refrigerator is small, but will keep beer cold. The only ice trays they sell here are about the size of two playing cards placed end to end. The ice is all dice-sized cubelets. Made from Sparklett’s, because of Bad Water. A minor hassle.

I’ve got two great balconies. One of them overlooks other high-rises, but the other one has a great view of the lake and the bay. That’s where I have my new washer/dryer. (All in one machine.) It has two digital dials, and about 20 buttons. The owner’s manual is only in Chinese, which I’m slowly trying to translate with a Character-Finder dictionary (don’t ask how that works, it’s too tiresome to explain. But I feel like I’m on the Medieval Committee that turned all the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew into the King James Bible.)

For reasons that I don’t understand, this Washing Machine can be programmed to wash one load for up to 20 hours. Yes, 20 hours. I think it has a similar capability for drying times, but I’m afraid to find out. I might incinerate something.


Combine all this with a safety feature that won’t let you open the door when there is ANY water or ANY heat in the machine, and it’s time for ADVENTURES IN LAUNDRY ! ! ! My first load washed for about 3 hours, and dried for about half that many. I don’t have accurate times for the 2nd load on Sunday, because there was a lot of starting and stopping involved - I’d call it 9 hours total. Every time I tried to move from washing to drying, it started a new wash cycle for a random length of time. And of course, the door wouldn’t open. Then, when I did persuade it to go from wash to dry, after about 3 hours of drying, the damn door still wouldn’t open because of the excessive heat.

It was ridiculous. My shirts were held hostage. All the crowbars were back at the factory.

Most businesses here have a little Buddhist mini-shrine/altar somewhere on the premises. They burn incense on the altar in front of the Buddha statue about twice a day. If things are going badly, they will even place sacrificial fruit in front of the statue (apples, oranges, plums, etc. etc etc. Some people try to fake it with plastic fruit, but I bet that doesn’t work as well..)

Anyway, I thought it would make for a funny photo to show Wendy if I took a picture of some fruit in front of my washing machine, as a sort of hostage exchange for my shirts. I put some bananas, oranges, and grapes on the balcony in front of the washer, and went to get my camera. When I went back on the balcony to take the picture, the door was open. The Chinese Washing Machine was apparently satisfied with my offering.

You can’t make this stuff up

My shirts had been washed so many times they were almost transparent. And they will now fit my little daughter perfectly.

The washer/dryer works very hard, and it works for long, long hours. It’s very complicated. And you’re not going to get anything out of it until it’s ready to give it to you. So I’ve named it Aifei….

My driver just showed up to take me to the factory.

There’s more to tell, like the hot water heater that doesn’t hook to either of the sinks or to the shower, but maybe is what keeps the toilet water so nice and toasty. The bed has a Chinese-style mattress - a term I wasn’t familiar with until this trip. “Chinese Style Mattress” translates into English as “If you have a Basketball, you can dribble on it.” But this email is already over-long. This coffee bar has 6 CD’s in the music rotation, and one of them is Christmas music. When “Joy to the World” comes over the speakers, the Chinese workers and customers don’t know the difference, but all the Westerners in the place look up from their laptops and smile at each other. It’s great. I’ve met people from all over the world in this place. I love this country.

Go here if you have time to read the Chinese Dog Story. 


Sunday, August 19, 2012

Gary Johnson rips Paul Ryan. In Fort Worth. Covered by Reason magazine.

Reason magazine has a reporter named Garrett Quinn following Gary Johnson's tour of Texas. 

Gary Johnson is unimpressed with Paul Ryan.  Here's Mr. Quinn's conversation with Johnson on the danger of Republicans in Libertarian clothing:

Gary Johnson is not happy that some in the media call Republican vice presidential candidate and Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan a libertarian.

“He voted for the Patriot Act, he voted for the National Defense Appropriation Act, he voted to ban online poker, he’s proposing a budget that gets balanced in thirty years. He is anything but a libertarian, anything but,” said Johnson after a packed campaign dinner at Hill’s Café.

Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee for president, noted that Ryan was a strict social conservative that voted to restrict abortion rights and against marriage equality.

“Paul Ryan submitted personhood legislation that is anything but libertarian,” he said. Johnson's eyes widened and his volume increased as he went into detail about Ryan’s support for a national version of Virginia’s controversial transvaginal ultrasound law.

Yeah.  Can you imagine the interest your grandkids will be paying on a budget that's not balanced for another 30 years???

Also, if you hit the link at the top, you'll see that the pic from the interview isn't from Johnson's appearance at Hill's Cafe in Austin, but from Fort Worth's own Joe T. Garcia's restaurant, where the Tarrant County Libertarian Party held a fundraise/rally. 



Saturday, August 18, 2012

Which lizard will you vote for ?

Samizdata recently posted this excerpt from Douglas Adams' brilliant novel So Long And Thanks For All The Fish. 

"On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."

"I did," said Ford. "It is."

"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"

"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."

"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"

"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."

"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"

"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in."
That's really all you need to know about the herd behavior that the Libertarian Party is trying to change before November 3rd. 

Mitt Romney gave the world RomneyCare.  He hasn't mentioned a single cabinet-level department he'd eliminate.  His Veep has approved more pork than Oscar Mayer.  Hasn't said a peep about slashing military spending or shutting down Foreign Aid Military Bases.  Calling him the small-government solution is laughable.   But at least he doesn't like gay marriage or abortion !!!  If you don't vote for Romney, the wrong lizard will win !!  It will be a victory for the wrong team of lizards !! 

Barack Obama has spent money like an East Lancaster pimp with only one week to live.  All other administrations pale in comparison.  Until recently, he's done nothing to support gay marriage.  He's a f***ing drug warrior.  He's raided medical marijuana dispensaries.  He would have to study for five years to rise to the level of economic idiot.  His predictions for what would happen without a stimulus aren't as bad as what he achieved with a stimulus.  But he doesn't like the Tea Party or Sarah Palin, and he supports National Public Radio !!!  If you don't vote for Obama, the wrong lizard will win !!  It will be a victory for the wrong team of lizards !!

Here's what Obama has done to employment:


Here's a comparison of RomneyCare and ObamaCare, and I don't know or care about the significance of the abortion coverage, which is circled.  The guys that circled it were trying to point out differences between the Democrat lizard and the Republican lizard, and it was a stretch:
Both of these guys are lizards.  They don't want to change the direction of the car, they just want to drive it. 

Gary Johnson wants to shut the thing off.  Pull it over to the side of the road and park it until it's 45% smaller. 

Ignoring the waste and ridiculous spending isn't going to make the problem go away.  Stop voting for lizards.  Vote for Gary Johnson !!


 

Friday, August 17, 2012

Let's roll this chart out again, shall we?

Whited's Law - "A depression is a recession that the government tried to kill." 

See: Roosevelt, Franklin D., Carter, James E., and Obama, Barack H. 

Thursday, August 16, 2012

So....What would it take to change your mind?

I've been phenomenally busy at work.
I'll be incredibly busy for the next four weeks.
So I'm thinking about posting nothing but updates to this chart until I have time to write something else. 

Obama predicted terrible, terrible things if we didn't pass his pork-laden stimulus bill.  Horrible things. 

A gang of idiots passed his stimulus bill. 

Ever since then, things have been worse than his predictions of what would happen without the thefts/giveaways. 

Is there anyone out there who can still defend this crap?  Anybody at all???

When thieves are in power, people with money hide their money.  It really is that simple. 

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Ungrateful Cubans

Things like this make me sick....This is from the Seattle Times:
MIAMI - They led a life of privilege in a society of chronic scarcity. Children of top Cuban officials from Fidel Castro on down, they attended elite schools and often received coveted visas to study abroad.


They were being groomed to lead Cuba into the 21st century. Yet, with the passage of time and the decline of communism in the world, many of the children of Cuban revolutionaries have stopped believing in their parents and their values. Some never did believe.

The recent spectacular escape to the United States of Castro's own daughter dramatized the crisis of confidence among the children of the Cuban revolutionary "aristocracy." Alina Fernandez Revuelta, Castro's 37-year-old daughter, is only the latest in a growing number of elite defectors, a few of whom are now in Miami.
Fidel Castro has provided his people with programs for jobs, healthcare, and education.  There's hardly a Cuban alive who hasn't benefited from his economic, medical, or academic systems. 

He's given them roads.  He provided infrastructure - telephone lines, plumbing, and electricity.  Every time a Cuban looks at anything on his island, he should proudly step back and say "I didn't build that". 

But there are so-called "reformers" in Cuba who want to destroy the very system that has supported them their entire lives!!! 

Some of them want to overthrow Fidel Castro.  Yeah.  You heard it right.  But whose roads are the idealistic revolutionaries going to march on?  Fidel's.  Whose food will they eat?  Fidel's.  Whose roofs will they sleep under?  The ones provided by Fidel Castro. 

The hypocrisy makes me ill. 

Cubans didn't plow those sugar cane fields, erect those buildings, or pave those roads.  The Cuban government did it. 

If any of those ungrateful little Cubans can read this blog post, it's because Fidel Castro provided a system that taught them how to read.