The Global Warming Cult has plans for those who will not submit to The New World Order

If you don't cut your carbon emissions by 10%, the followers of Saint Albert, The Goracle Of Music City, are going to splatter your guts all over the office. 
There's going to be nothing left of you but a greasy spot. 

That's the message of this video, and it is not a parody.  It's a fantasy. 
What you're about to see was produced by a group called 10:10, who want everyone to reduce their carbon emissions by 10%.  Or else.
There's a link at the bottom of this post where you can read 10:10's apology to the environmental movement for pulling back the curtain too far.  Hell, we've now seen behind the curtain, the man behind the curtain, his underwear, his hernia scar, and that tattoo he got during that wild trip to New Orleans. 
Goodgodalmighty, they should also apologize to their mothers, their children, and everyone who knows them.  

Don't they know that in the last century, governments killed 200 million of their own citizens? 

Here's Ed Morrissey on what you're about to see:

What makes this fascinating is that the people who produce this dreck have no clue as to just how far removed they have become from normal human sensibilities, or at least they didn’t until the video began provoking the fully-predictable reaction. They have become so wrapped up in Gaia that they seem to have little connection to humanity.

(Go here if you want to learn more about the mindset of the lady with the sign.  It's a subject for another day.) 

The most alarming part of the video?  To me it is when the office workers slowly start raising their hands, looking around to see if everyone else is raising theirs.  They look like they don't agree with what is being asked of them, but they are afraid to express anything except mindless conformity. 

Otherwise, you see, the nice man might hit his red button.  Get in line, you mindless sheep.  Start goose-stepping.  You see, there's No Pressure. 

Ok, enough ranting.  Here's the video. 



Hope everyone has a great Saturday.  I'm going to dispatch 6 semi-tractor drivers and have them ride around Fort Worth all day, just for the hell of it. 
I'm turning on every light in the damn house. 
The contents of my city-mandated recycling bin are going into the regular garbage. 
I'm breaking every CFL ObamaBulb I can find, and dumping the mercury into the sewers. 
In a few minutes, people in Abbot, Texas, will be able to hear Lynyrd Skynyrd's One More From The Road blasting forth from my stereo, Limey Nanny-Staters with red buttons be damned. 

Go here to read an apology from the producers of this mess. 
Go here to see Audi's "Green Police" ad, just in case you've forgotten about it.  You see, this was not a fluke.  The authoritarians among us really do believe that this imagery is appealing. 

Mark Boler for Congress, Texas District #26

Due to some long-forgotten gerrymandering, my house sits in the southern panhandle of Texas Congressional District #26.
Come November, this accident of geography gives me the privilege of voting for Mark Boler, the Libertarian candidate for Congress.

Here's why I think Mark Boler would be great....
Go here to check out his responses to the Dallas Morning News Voter Guide survey. 

You can also go here to his campaign website, but Mr. Boler's Facebook page has a much more concise summary of his beliefs and principles:

I am a Libertarian. I am outspoken. I believe in extremely limited government and maximum personal and individual freedom. And I believe the United States of late is moving in the opposite direction and is in need of REAL change.



I believe that government is best that governs least. The role of the government is to protect INDIVIDUAL rights and DEFEND the country from attack. I believe in free trade and no entangling alliances.


I firmly believe in the non-aggression principle of the Libertarian Party. I believe in cutting taxes, bringing all of our troops back home and ending the Federal Reserve system.

Because I believe in a strong DEFENSE, however, I do not believe the US should dismantle all nuclear weapons. Other countries will acquire them in the future no matter how hard we try not to let them.

I am running for US Congress, Texas' 26th District. The platform I believe in that will restore this country to greatness includes these tenets:



* Dramatically reduce the size and scope of government.

* Shut Down the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

* Abolish the Federal Reserve System and return to a policy of sound money.

* Restore the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 8th amendment rights of every American.


* Repeal the Patriot Act and other legislation that violates 4th amendment rights.

* Return the United States to a foreign policy of non-intervention. Note: This does NOT mean isolationism.


* End the war on drugs and get rid of drug prohibition

* Withdraw the United States from the United Nations and other one-world organizations.

* Remove "big government" Republicans and Democrats from office.


* Phase out Social Security, Medicare, Welfare, Food Stamps, WIC, and other communist programs and eventually replace them with free market, insurance and charity based systems.

* Restore individual sovereignty and reduce the role of government in our lives.

* Restore the rule of law and criminally prosecute politicians, corporations and other individuals who violate the law.


* Allow American citizens to spend their own money, own their own property, raise their own children, practice their own religion, be secure in their persons, be free from government harrassment and regulation, own and carry deadly weapons for protection, travel and do business from state to state unmolested, and speak and think freely without danger of imprisonment.

Does this sound extreme?  Heck yes, it sounds extreme. 
Now, tell me if this sounds extreme....Your government has you on the hook for $50,000.00 in debt.  If you, like me, have a family of three people, you are $150,000.00 in debt. 
There's also your share of the unfunded liabilities are somewhere north of $350,000.00.  (More than a million dollars if you're in a household of three.) 
Once all the teachers, soldiers, policemen, jailers, parole officers, congressmen, bureaucrats, and African Genital Washers start retiring, they're going to want your money.  And they're going to get it.  We're doomed.  The piper is going to have to be paid. 

However, there is some hope for our grandchildren.  We can start electing Libertarians who pledge to shut down entire departments within our government, get us out of the Korean/German/Japanese defense business, get us out of the bailout industry, and force us to spend only about 75% of what we take in while we whittle down the debt.
 
Congressman Michael Burgess (R-Monsanto) is probably a great guy, but he will no more shut down the Department Of Energy than shut down the orbit of Venus.  Republicans just aren't the shutdown types. 



Extreme?  Maybe so.  But say your family is one million dollars in debt, and if you're an average American earner with a family of three, your family really is going to have to come up with a million bucks to fund this disaster. 

Can you think of a way out that's "moderate"? 

Back to Mark Boler's Facebook page:

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing" ~ Albert Einstein

Go here to send the Boler campaign a donation. 

The "True Grit" trailer

They're doing a remake of "True Grit".

Lord have mercy, I hope they don't mess this up. 
Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn.
Matt Damon as whoever it was that Glen Campbell played.
Barry Pepper as Ned Pepper. 
Directed by The Coen brothers. 
Please, please, please don't mess this up. 

Swiss Gun Control: The Ability To Hit Where You Are Aiming

From the BBC:

Guns are deeply rooted within Swiss culture - but the gun crime rate is so low that statistics are not even kept.

The country has a population of six million, but there are estimated to be at least two million publicly-owned firearms, including about 600,000 automatic rifles and 500,000 pistols.
This is in a very large part due to Switzerland's unique system of national defence, developed over the centuries.
Instead of a standing, full-time army, the country requires every man to undergo some form of military training for a few days or weeks a year throughout most of their lives.
Between the ages of 21 and 32 men serve as frontline troops. They are given an M-57 assault rifle and 24 rounds of ammunition which they are required to keep at home.
Once discharged, men serve in the Swiss equivalent of the US National Guard, but still have to train occasionally and are given bolt rifles. Women do not have to own firearms, but are encouraged to.

From The American Rifleman:
 
The nation (Switzerland) is ready to mobilise on a moment's notice. Said one Swiss citizen-soldier, "If we start in the morning, we would be mobilised by late afternoon. That is why the gun is at home, the ammunition is at home. The younger people all have automatic rifles. They are ready to fight." 
 
From Wikipedia (granted, not a reliable source, but I can't read the linked references in German.)
 
Police statistics for the year 2006 records 34 killings or attempted killings involving firearms, compared to 69 cases involving bladed weapons and 16 cases of unarmed assault. Cases of assault resulting in bodily harm numbered 89 (firearms) and 526 (bladed weapons). As of 2007, Switzerland had a population of about 7,600,000. This would put the rate of killings or attempted killings with firearms at about one for every quarter million residents yearly. This represents a decline of aggravated assaults involving firearms since the early 1990s. Some 300 deaths per year are due to legally held army ordnance weapons, the large majority of these being suicides.

Remember, Switzerland has a population of 6 million.  And that's 34 killings or attempts that weren't necessarily succesful.  Now, let's bring it all back home.  Here's the Washington Times:

If Chicago were serious about bringing its violent crime problem under control, it would recognize the constitutional right of residents to use firearms to protect themselves.

Chicago's population is around 2.8 million, for purposes of comparison to Switzerland's 6 million.

The city's troubles are so extreme that a pair of state lawmakers are calling on a fellow Democrat, Gov. Pat Quinn, to deploy the National Guard to help restore calm. The latest figures show that Chicago had racked up 122 homicides for the year, exceeding the 116 killings over the comparable period in 2009, a very bad year. Among the top 10 U.S. cities, Chicago is within shooting distance of advancing from second place to win the dubious distinction of being the U.S. murder capital. It's no coincidence that the Windy City is already the U.S. gun-control capital.

Since 1982, Chicago has banned the private ownership of handguns and rifles by requiring a convoluted registration process designed to be impossible to complete. Exceptions to the rules enable politicians and their personal friends to own and even carry handguns - but nobody else. This unconstitutional scheme has been a colossal failure. Before the ban took effect, Chicago's murder rate had been falling relative to the nine other largest cities, the 50 largest cities, the five counties that border Cook County, and the United States as a whole. After the ban, Chicago's murder rate rose relative to all these locations. During the first 19 years of the ban, there were just three years when the murder rate was as low as when the ban started.

Here's some video.  Be sure to catch the part where the government actually supplies ammo for recreational target practice and shooting events. 



Best quote in the video: "The key to freedom is the ability to be able to defend yourself, and if you don't have the tools to do that, you are at the mercy of whoever wants to put you away."

When time permits, look up the Nazi invasion of Switzerland. 

On Russ Carnahan's wind farm, 10,000 teachers, and everything else

Some people in Missouri are working up some outrage over Rep. Russ Carnahan giving $105 million dollars worth of Porkulus funds to his brother's company, the Wind Capital Group. 

Here's The Wall Street Holy Journal:

A wind farm in Missouri that got a $107 million stimulus grant is generating some turbulence for two prominent Democratic candidates, Robin Carnahan, the state’s Democratic Senate candidate and her brother, Rep. Russ Carnahan.


The wind farm is a project of Wind Capital Group of St. Louis, whose president, CEO and founder is the Carnahans’ brother, Tom Carnahan.

....An Energy Department spokeswoman said the grants in lieu of tax credits had been awarded to all eligible applicants, and that the department had reviewed Wind Capital Group’s application in the same way it had reviewed all the others.

Yeah.  She looked at who was pushing for the grant, and said "yea" or "nay" based on the Congressman's clout.  Carnahan has clout.
 
Look, these things have absolutely nothing to do with usefulness, the public good, the general welfare, or common sense.  They are about recruiting and rewarding donors.  If the Carnahans could loot the public till  by claiming that wind farms prevent alien invasions from the planet Nekthar, that's the justification they would use. 

Please be patient with me.  I'm going somewhere with this.....

This next excerpt is from The Cato Institute, where they are working up some outrage over The Teleprompter Jesus wanting to hire 10,000 more teachers. 

This week, President Obama called for the hiring of 10,000 new teachers to beef up math and science achievement. Meanwhile....public school employment has grown 10 times faster than enrollment for 40 years (see chart), while achievement at the end of high school has stagnated in math and declined in science (hit the link to see the other chart).

Either the president is badly misinformed about our education system or he thinks that promising to hire another 10,000 teachers union members is politically advantageous–in which case he would seem to be badly misinformed about the present political climate. Or he lives in an alternate universe in which Kirk and Spock have facial hair and government monopolies are efficient. It’s hard to say.

So what?  Russ Carnahan gave his brother's Superstition-Based Energy Company a total of  $102 million dollars, despite prayer, wind, and wishful thinking all being less efficient than oil. 

Barack Obama wants to add 10,000 more public school teachers to the public tit, despite the dismal results shown above.

So when are we going to stop believing that their stated goals have anything to do with these wealth transfers?  It is all about rewarding supporters, folks. 

Wake the hell up ! 

On every survey or poll taken, you claim that you don't trust Congress, you don't approve of Congress, and you think Congress does a rotten job.  You would let Ted Bundy babysit before you would allow Congress to trim your hedges.

But when Congress wants to spend a few jillion bucks on an anti-poverty program, or an education program, or a new machine to blow up A-rabs, the same surveys claim that you support these programs (based on party affiliation, of course).    

It's easy to get worked up over the Carnahan family, simply because the quid isn't far enough removed from the  pro quo.   
Very few people can look at that chart above and think we need 10,000 more teachers in our Gladiator Traning Institutes, but when Obama wants to hire more teachers we think it's a good idea.  It would be rude to point out that these 10,000 teachers aren't going to start biting the hand that feeds them. 

But take a look at who gets the rest of your the government's money.  If The Pentagon needs to buy bullets, do they just purchase them from some random-assed bullet manufacturer?  Absolutely not.  They purchase them from a supporter, or someone who is about to be a supporter. 

What about a jail?  Are those built and constructed by generic contractors? 

Absolutely not.  They are built by supporters.  Supporters who lobby for laws that guarantee plenty of occupants for their jails, BTW.     

99 cents of every taxpayer dollar spent goes to the supporters of at least one of our two governing factions.  (I think the other penny is stolen.) 

It's getting harder and harder for entrepreneurs to get loans to start a new business unless they've have a strategy for some sort of rent-seeking partnership with government. 

Yeah, The Carnahans should've covered their tracks better.  But somebody was going to get your money, and unless you were politically connected, it wasn't going to be you. 

Vote Libertarian.  We're know that some government is necessary, but when we're finished, it'll be small enough to drown in the bathtub.

Quote of The Day

Stolen from R. Lee Wright's Facebook page:

"In order to prevent democracy from becoming a tyranny over minorities, individual rights must supersede all democratic voting and all regulations. Rights must come first. Laws should come second, and only to protect those rights; nothing more." - Stuart K. Hayashi

The pic of the wolf in sheep's clothing came from here.      It doesn't matter how nice the words Democracy, Majority Rule, or Nation Of Laws sound.  If Democracy interferes with anyone's rights, it becomes Tyranny. 

Happy Blogoversary To This Site

Please allow me to pause for a moment of gratitude ! 

Happy Blogoversary To This Site ! (here's the hits per day for the last 3 years)

Happy Blogoversary To This Site ! (here are the hits per month, and you can see where I had to shut 'er down for a while this summer....)

This has been lots of fun....(hits per year, and the year ain't over yet.)

Happy Blogoversary To This Site ! 

I first took this site out for a spin three years ago today.  I had absolutely no idea what I was going to write about, and I still don't.  In the words of the greatest man I've ever known, "I just let the day come to me." 

It's been fun, and the hits per day are starting to get there.  If the readers keep doubling every year and none go away, I'll catch up with Instapundit in the year 2019.  Circle it on your calendar.     

Thank you Cash For Clunkers, Congressman Hank Johnson, The Southern Baptist Convention, Macaulay Culkin, Dr. Brett Younger, Cedric Katesby, Dr. Ralph, Fembuttx, Libertarian Reddit, Denny at The Grouchy Old Cripple, the stimulus package, the damn dachshunds, Counting Cats, Dr. Rober Atkins, Texas Republican Ballot Proposition #4, Milton Friedman, Al Gore - The Goracle Of Music City Tennessee, The Aggie, Cal Thomas, Whoever wrote the last 8 verses of the Gospel Of Mark, Obnoxio, Harper, Thomas Sowell, Joe Biden, Ron Paul, John Jay Myers, John Spivey, The Criplets, Brent Rinehart, David Nolan, Jay at Subdujour, and most of all, President Barack Obama.  I don't have time to link everybody, so Google "Sepulchre" and any name or topic in the list above.  You'll find 'em. 

Thank you all for providing inspiration, opposition, confirmation, and debate topics.

Especially President Obama.  Seriously.  Can you imagine anything more bland than a rant about John McCain? 

Thank you Jesus, for calling the Pharisees "Whited Sepulchres". 

Oh, and thanks to this guy for the Blogoversary Headline pic.

Why Libertarian?

My friend John Jay Myers recently explained himself on The Libertarian Party Blog.  (John Jay is running as a Libertarian for Congress against Pete "Bailout" Sessions in Texas 32nd district).  Since no one who visits this site EVER hits a link, I've scraped the whole thing and put it in place below.  This is the absolute best justification I've ever read for The Libertarian Party.   I've put so much of John Jay's stuff here, I might as well give him a password:

Why Libertarian ?

I am asked, “Why don’t you run as a Republican?  You could do so much good in the Republican Party.”  I should not be upset.  After all, it’s sort of a compliment -  “They like me.  They really like me!” It’s hard to respond because I don’t feel like knocking anyone's attempt at freedom or smaller government.

Some in the Libertarian Party might take exception to my comment “I believe in Principle before Party.” I do believe this, but let me say I also believe the Libertarian Party needs to flourish and become a true option for the American people.  It would be silly for me to tell people that they should not always vote for party and then tell them that they should only vote for mine.  However, I would like to take this time to explain the many reasons why I believe people should vote Libertarian and run as Libertarians.

But My Teacher Says...

I was forwarded a letter the other day from the Texas Secretary of State.  It was an instructional tool for teachers to help them explain to students why we have a two-party system.  It went on to say that “it helps preserve majority rule in a democratic state.”  If you know me, you would understand why this completely gets under my skin.   We don’t have a two-party system.  If you look in the constitution, you will not find any mention of having parties whatsoever.  I am quick to point out that the words majority rule, democratic, and democracy are also all not found in the constitution.  Not once. 

Democracy is the idea that people can vote themselves things.  But the first question is where do things come from?  That is where it should hit you.  A direct democracy is theft.  It is legal theft, but it is not much different than a gang with guns stealing from you.  Because if you do not submit to the will of the majority, a man with a gun will soon come and take your stuff, and possibly put you in jail. 

A simpler analogy is that democracy is simply two wolves and a lamb voting on what is for dinner, and you can bet that the answer will be lamb chops.

So we actually live in a republic.  The difference is that individuals have rights, and the government has no power to take them away.  This is why we have a constitution. So as Thomas Jefferson put it,  “In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution.” 

I personally do not have any confidence in the man known as a politician, except that he is probably a "confidence man" (con-man for you kids out there).  Which is why I ask the left and the right, “If we are all so sure the government is corrupt, why be so quick to give them more power?”

When we are taught that we only have two parties, they are robbing us of choice.  What we really have is a majority opinion, and no one standing up for the opinion or rights of the minority.  This smells a lot like lamb chops cooking to me.

Libertarians endorse many methods of ending the two party monopoly.  Among them are Ranked or Approval Voting.  Either is a step in the right direction from where we are now.

R’s and D’s are opposites?

Let’s play a game: which side supports the drug war, Iraq, Afghanistan, Patriot Act, and Gitmo?  If you said Republicans, you would be right; if you said the Democrats, you would be right as well.

Which side supports socialized medicine, bailouts, stimulus, and debt?  If you said the Democrats, you would be right; if you said the Republicans, you would be right as well.

Far from being opposites, neither will bring the troops home, restore fiscal responsibility, deal with entitlements, or promote free markets.

You may be starting to see why it is important that we have a strong Libertarian option.  Libertarians would have a none-of-the-above approach on all of these issues.

Libertarians are the Party of Principle.  The others are Principally Party.

America is ripe with crony capitalism, foreign intervention, debt and inflation, economic  controls, and Ponzi schemes.  Yet every election cycle we are led to believe that the major challenges facing us are “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and mosques.  Well ladies and gentlemen, I am here to tell you that we need to focus on the issues that unite us, and stop being divided by the idiocy of the election cycle.  It is time to stand up and say, “Stop stealing my stuff!”

As long as we remain divided and so full of hate towards one side or the other, we will always fail to notice the two major parties slipping out the back with our wallets, our future, and our freedoms.

This is where the constitution comes in, and why we must return to it.  Right now the Republicans and the Democrats are constantly giving deals to Big Insurance, Big Pharma, Big Energy, Big Oil, Big Banks, Big Auto, Big Agriculture, Big Education, Big Foreign Aid, Big Religion, and Big War.  I ask you, by what right?  By what right can they do this?  It is not our government’s job to take our stuff and give it to the politically connected friends of politicians.  Their only job is to protect our life, liberty, and property.  This is a relatively simple job the current crop of leaders seems completely unable to handle.

If you turn in your constitution to Article 1 Section 8, you will find the 17 enumerated powers of government.  Where do you see the power to give our money to any of those industries?  It is not there. War is actually in there, but we don’t even have an officially declared war going on.  We have strayed far from what our founders envisioned and more towards what Eisenhower warned us about, the corruption of the Military-Industrial Complex.

But we can change the Republicans...

No, you can’t.  God bless ya for trying.  We may be able to get a few reasonably good Republicans in there, and in my opinion Ron Paul is one of the greatest men in America.  But, most of the liberty candidates were shot down, and even Rand Paul has had to fly very low on the radar, and either has intentionally toned down his message or is not as much like his father as I had hoped.

But my question is, where do you think all the hardcore neo-con nanny staters are going to go?  They simply are not leaving the GOP.  Those people believe we need to outlaw masturbation and have constant wars with half the world regardless of the cost or the lack of sense that it makes.  Those people believe being fiscally conservative is not good enough - they have to tell people how to live their lives, and in some cases die.

They are not leaving the Republican Party, and their influence and power is growing.  Christine O’donell didn’t win the primaries because she wants to end the wars and let people be free.  She won because she is a social conservative who is willing to say, “We should stop spending money, and live within our means” - the meaningless mantra of every shell Republican who can’t figure out that Barack Obama’s health care plan did not double our debt during George Bush’s 8 years in office. 

Do you believe these people are just going to disappear?  It’s not going to happen.  The Republicans will always find themselves bitterly divided, and that will not work when it comes to spreading liberty.  It is a package deal.  You can’t just take a little freedom.

Do you want to spend years of your life pounding your head against a brick wall only to find that half the bricks will never break?

The Power of Being Libertarian

This year I think we are going to see some very good poll numbers from Libertarians despite the fact that the media ignores us, and then they don’t allow us in the debates because they say we haven’t gotten enough media attention.  If it wasn't so horrifying I would have to laugh.  For some strange reason they say we don’t poll that well when we either aren’t included in the polls, or haven’t been mentioned in the media.

But, there is another reason why we should vote and run as Libertarians - because we are right.  Our message is true, and we do not have to sacrifice some of our policies in order to appeal to a hard core wing of our party.  We do not have to soft sell the message.  The message is freedom, and when we start turning in numbers from 10-20%, we just may see that the Democrats and the Republicans, who are two sides to the same coin, just might start thinking a little more Libertarian.  This to me would be a small victory on the way to major party status.

It is however very important that Libertarians stay true to the message of Less Government and More Freedom, and stand strong behind Social and Fiscal freedoms, which include religious freedom and tolerance, and ending the wars.

"But I am an Independent!"

No you are not; you are dependent.  You are  dependent on the two major parties to come up with a candidate that you are going to vote for.  But as we have already shown, both sides are the same.  Who is going to get the candidate who shares your belief on the ballot?  Now is not the time to think, “The two parties got us into this mess and I am done with parties.”  You would still only have those two.  Now is the time to support a party that most represents you.

If those people only knew how hard it is to achieve and maintain ballot access for anyone but the two major parties, they would be more willing to help.  Libertarians work very hard to get on the ballot especially considering we get no donations from major corporations because when elected they know we would not give them anything.

For those people who say they are independent I say, sorry, you are very dependent.  If you don’t help a third party, any third party for that matter, you always will be.

John Jay Myers is Running for Congress against Pete Sessions in Texas’ 32nd District.

He is the Vice-Chair of the Dallas County Libertarian Party.

He is on the Executive Committee for the Texas Libertarian Party.

For more information go to www.johnjaymyers.com

Rahm Emmanuel - Why So Soon? (It just doesn't seem right)

From Talking Points Memo, where they are feigning confusion over why staffers are leaving the White House like rats leaving a sinking ship:

The word out tonight is that Rahm Emanuel is leaving the White House (to run for mayor of Chicago) and his departure will likely happen this week. I know people have strong feelings on both sides about Rahm. But I must say I find it somehow unseemly and almost bizarre what a rapid departure he's making.


Chief of Staff is usually considered a pinnacle job rather than a stepping stone. You do it until the president is done with you or you burn out, neither of which usually takes very long. And five weeks before an election? On very short notice? It just doesn't seem right.

--Josh Marshall

Mr. Marshall,

Rahm Emanuel has taken the suckers at the national level for all they've got.  There is now substantial opposition at the national level to any more Porkulus, Stimulus, Clunkulus or Rahmulus.
 
Prior to his "service" in the White House, Emanuel made $16 million dollars in just two years on Wall Street.  After that, he helped set up the implosion of Freddie Mac.  There is now substantial opposition to any more taxpayer gifts to Wall Street or Freddie Mac. 

Mayor of Chicago is one of the few opportunities that remain open to a looter of Rahm Emanuel's talents.  Despite sending more politicians/governors/mayors to jail than almost any other region, Illinois still has no serious opposition to grand scale theft.  At least not until the plunder has been thoroughly distributed to all the underlings. 

I hope this clears things up for you,

- Whited

P.S. - I'm setting the Over/Under for Rahm's first indictment at 6 years.  Do you want the Over or the Under? 

The Neighbor In A Cage test

Here's a good rule of thumb for any government project, from NRO's Kevin Williamson.  If someone absolutely refused to contribute to the project, would you be willing to lock him in a cage until he did so??

....The resort to violence is what makes the question of what kind of things it is legitimate for states to do an important moral concern. It seems to me perfectly reasonable to shove a gun in somebody’s face to stop him murdering, raping, or robbing. It seems to me entirely unreasonable to shove a gun in somebody’s face to extort from him money to fund a project to get monkeys high on cocaine.   (Or to fund a project about African Genital Washing - TWS)  Those seem to me fairly reasonable distinctions. It is illegitimate for government to use force or the threat of force for projects that are not inherently public in character.


The question of how much illegitimacy a state may perpetrate before becoming generally illegitimate itself is of real interest and has been, of late, the subject of some spirited discussion between some of my colleagues here and me. (You probably can guess on which side of the fault line I stand.)

But I would like to make it clear that I am not indulging in a figure of speech: I think it’s a pretty useful heuristic: If you’re not willing to have somebody hauled off at gunpoint over the project, then it’s probably not a legitimate concern of the state.

This is the sort of talk that gives (his Statist opponents) the howling fantods, inasmuch as they seem to operate under a kind of distributed version of the divine right of kings — always asking whether the rulers rule wisely, seldom asking whether they have the right to rule at all, and never asking whether and how much we actually need them.

So....would you be willing to throw someone in jail if he refused to help pay for The Lawrence Welk Museum?  If not, then we probably don't need the government involved in the project. 

Say your neighbor wants no part of paying for the Charles B. Rangel Center For Public Service, one of the most gloriously mis-named abortions since the Employee Free Choice Act. 
If your neighbor refused to pay one dime toward this memorial to a jackal, would you be willing to lock your neighbor in a cage until he changed his mind?  If not, then perhaps the students of Charlie should pay for Charlie's school. 

From now on, this concept will be called the "Neighbor In A Cage" test of government spending. 

Ok, let's keep going.  If Timmy The Tax Dodger Geithner wanted to back his getaway car up to The Treasury one more time for one more stimulus package, and the little old lady down the street thought it was a total ripoff, would you be willing to throw her in jail for not paying the taxes to support it?  I think not. 

Out of fairness, let's try this one.  New England is invaded by Canada.  The Canadians are headed southward.  If your neighbor refuses to contribute to the defense of the U.S. in this situation, would you be willing to throw him in jail for not paying his taxes?  I probably would.  You might.  Therefore, there's a possibility that defending the U.S. against a Canook invasion is a legit function of government. 

The picture of the kitten being taxed came from here. 

South Africa's minimum wage laws are working.

From The New York Holy Times:

....16 years after Nelson Mandela led the country to black majority rule, more than half of blacks ages 15 to 34 are without work — triple the level for whites.

....The sheriff arrived at the factory here to shut it down, part of a national enforcement drive against clothing manufacturers who violate the minimum wage. But women working on the factory floor — the supposed beneficiaries of the crackdown — clambered atop cutting tables and ironing boards to raise anguished cries against it.

Go here to read more about the racist origins of the U.S. minimum wage laws.  The authors of this legislation wanted to guarantee full white employment at the expense of blacks.  The issue was debated along those lines in Congress, and is one of the most successful pieces of legislation ever written, IF you look at it from the point of view of a Klansman.  
 
The cartoon above came from Carpe Diem, Professor Mark J. Perry's blog about economics and finance.  This next cartoon is somewhat off-topic, but I think it illustrates the same mindset. 

It's not about helping you.  It's about how I feel while I pretend to help you. 

Spontaneous Nostril Combustion

People in a hurry can safely skip to the 2:30 mark.

Quotes Of The Day

Here are two quotes for your Sunday morning devotions, compliments of John Jay Myers' Facebook page: 

“I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is ``needed'' before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents "interests,'' I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can.”  - Barry Goldwater

And from Guy Herbert's Facebook page:

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - CS Lewis

Some Libertarian websites for your consideration

More and more libertarians are going online with their opinions.  Having Statists run the country is probably a factor.
Please consider bookmarking these (relatively new) bloggers.  You will be enlightened and entertained. 

I don't even know where to start with this first character.   As best I can tell, he is Baron Von Liberte on Facebook....

...and he is the proprietor of TheSwash.com - a site dedicated to Swashbuckling, Liberty, and Waffles.  Yes, waffles.  But enough about breakfast foods.  Here's The Baron's take on the recent Stephen Colbert congressional testimony debacle:

Our country is in a shithole right now and we waste time on Stephen Colbert playing fictional Stephen Colbert in front of our real Congress? What’s next? Robert Downey, Jr. playing fictional Tony Stark in front of the Senate debating over who owns his fictional armor? How many tax dollars were wasted on this pointless stunt? What a stupid f***ing move, especially before the midterm elections....

The Baron also has a regular feature called "Libertarian Spotlight" where he posts videos and quotes from celebrities, academics, and musicians who value liberty.  Go here to see the total collection.  (I didn't know about Kurt Russell and Dean Koontz.)  And if you don't already know who this drummer is, and what he believes, you haven't spent enough time on Objectivist websites.  Hit the link for more info !

Here's a link to one of The Barron's motivational posters.  NSFW, but my thoughts exactly. 

My next suggestion is a site called Liberty On Tour.

These guys ride around on a bus promoting liberty and freedom.  "Liberty On Tour is a dynamic freedom-oriented project created by two friends, Pete Eyre and Adam Mueller, who are touring 13 cities in 13 weeks in their RV (dubbed MARV) to advance the message of voluntaryism and a free society."

But there's obviously gotta be more to it than that, right? 
Yes. 
Their pet peeve, and they will run into it in almost every city they visit, is law enforcement/code enforcement officers who keep people from feeding the homeless. 
I repeat...there are people out there with the authority to put you in jail if they don't approve of your giving food to street people.  Here's something from a post called Food Not Bombs:

PHOENIX, AZ – This past Sunday (just a couple short hours before Adam was arrested) we joined the good folks associated with Food Not Bombs Las Vegas who were providing food to people in need.

Their group is doing great work. Yet as many of those featured in this video touch on, harassment from the police is common. A Google search of “Food Not Bombs arrest” results in over 500,000 results and in 2006, this particular chapter was targeted by local law enforcement. Its members were issued citations and threatened with arrest simply for feeding the homeless. Fortunately, they teamed up with the ACLU and recently the court ruled in their favor.
Still, even if the court had not sided with them, they are not doing anything wrong. Far from it. They are voluntarily helping those less fortunate. When the State, or more accurately, individuals wearing silly costumes and badges, tell them that they cannot give freely of their property to consenting individuals it violates their rights.
So why the use of aggressive force? It could be a couple of things – State agencies that were created to supposedly help the homeless may feel their legitimacy eroded when people see that they can better help each other directly rather than through inefficient, unaccountable (and immoral) government (for more on this, check out David Beito’s From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State). For the cops, since they claim a monopoly, they simply lack any incentive to have good customer service (their salaries are paid via stolen money) so they seek to maximize the number of arrests and citations issued for those who violate arbitrary man-made legislation for which there is no victim. They are nothing more than revenue generators for the State (for more on this, check out Bruce Benson’s The Enterprise of Law).
Despite these hurdles, the Food Not Bombs folks have kept at it, and they’ve undoubtedly saved lives in the process.
Like what Food Not Bombs does? Good news – they have over 1,000 chapters and are on every continent save for Antarctica. And, if there’s not yet one near you, you can start a chapter in seven steps.

They do good work, those boys at Liberty On Tour.  They're going to stay on the road through the beginning of November. 

Now take a deep, deep, deep breath and hold it.....
Exhale and go visit The Libertarian Stoner. 

After reading that poster, I'll never again read the book of Genesis in the same way. 

Here's The Stoner on a friend who our government has put in a steel cage for 5 years. 

Marc Emery,our fallen Prince of Pot,has been sentenced by a U.S. Court to five years in prison for selling a seed created by God grown wild for thousands of years that never hurt a soul...

...."U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan told the court Marc Emery made millions of dollars by shipping seeds into the United States and now he’s paying the price for being part of the illegal drug trade.

“Marc Emery decided that U.S. laws did not apply to him, but he was wrong,” Durkan said in a news release Friday.

“Now, Emery is paying the price for being part of the illegal drug trade that damages lives, homes and the environment.”"

Let me ask you readers has marijuana ever once damaged a life, home, or the environment?

Beyond the fact that ,like a gun, marijuana is inanimate and thus can do nothing good or evil the only thing that has ever damaged the lives,homes, and environment in this issue is prohibition enforced by the police.
 
Police raid homes,murder innocent people,and burn down massive fields every year and yet according to Jenny Durkan Marc is the one to blame, not them. Was he really the one that caused all that suffering?

The really long answer is "no". 

The next two are Aggregator sites.  These folks tirelessly search The Web for liberty-oriented stories so you don't have to. 
The first is a site called Hammer Of Truth.   Stephen Van Duke typically posts about a dozen links per day and provides commentary on at least one of them. 

Go here for a first-class rant about whether it should be legal for our government to tag you like a Ducks Unlimited experiment in wildlife migration. 

Last is NewsAlert.  I think this guy has been around for a while, but I only found him sometime in the last 6 months.  Gaze upon his blogroll and despair, O Ye Mortals !  Wow. 
Steve Bartin provides tons of links to the liberty-loving masses, and now has almost two million hits to show for it.  I wish he would write more of his own stuff, because his comic asides are usually great. 

That's all I've got.  Hope you like these folks.  Bookmark them, blogroll them, and email their good stuff to your friends. 
Have a great Saturday !

The Washington D.C. food truck wars, with another brief rant about illegal tamales

Here's some classic protectionism for those who are fans of the genre:

From the Washington City Paper:

If anyone can understand the tension between brick-and-mortar restaurants and the mobile army of food trucks that has stormed D.C. in the past year, it’s Stephan Boillon. After he lost his job at Dino in Cleveland Park in 2008, the veteran chef sought to launch an upscale sandwich shop on Connecticut Avenue NW. His plan was to offer only cold sandwiches, which would enable him to build a restaurant with no burners, no oven, and no deep fryers.

But even Boillon’s stripped-down concept was going to cost $750,000 before the doors opened—a figure that didn’t include rent, utilities, insurance, advertising, taxes, labor, association fees, or any of the other overhead it takes to operate a business in a neighborhood that expects a lot from its entrepreneurs.

So with credit tight and investment money scarce, Boillon found a cheaper way into the gourmet sandwich business: a food truck.

For $50,000, one-fifteenth of the price to build his brick-and-mortar concept, Boillon started El Floridano, his rolling unit dedicated to home-made roast-pork Cubans and other bread-driven bites. Boillon had traded a restaurant’s higher profit margin for a truck’s lower start-up costs.

**********

If only supply-and-demand economics were so easy. The sudden appearance of gourmet food trucks that delighted so many lunch-hour consumers simultaneously horrified the established restaurant community—a deep-pocketed, politically wired bunch.

Now, like in Brooklyn and Los Angeles and every other city where mobile vendors represent new competition, the District’s inline businesses are turning to the legislative process to ease their pain. Thus when it comes to the street-food options, you may not have the ultimate say. Lawyers, lobbyists, social-media activists, councilmembers, and business owners are all working the levers of power to determine what rolls your way for lunch.

And here’s the unique D.C. twist to this traditional battle between the rolling and stationary food providers: The old-school street carts, and the powerful depot owners who represent them, don’t care much for these four-wheeled foodies, either.

In the battle for Washington’s food dollars, the mobile vendors have public opinion—and 47,000 Twitter followers—on their side. But their competitors have what might be a more powerful weapon: money.

Well-financed entities like the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District, the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, the Dupont Circle Merchants and Professionals Association, and the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington have all submitted proposals asking the D.C. Council to put new restrictions on trucks. Some of the proposals are downright draconian.

Go here to read the proposals, all of which are designed to keep consumers from getting what they want. 

Fort Worth has businesses doing the same thing but at a lower level.  In Cowtown, it's usually the food truck guys who are trying to stifle the competitors. 

Several years ago at Jukt Micronics, I had a Roach Coach operator complain to me about the Mexican dude selling tamales from a bicycle to my employees (which they were joyfully purchasing instead of buying the nuclear winter-proof gunk from her Roach Coach).  She wanted me to throw the bicyclist out of the parking lot because he didn't have a Food Handler's Permit, and no one knew what he was putting in those tamales. 


This confrontation took place before my political awakening, but I already had enough sense to ridicule the notion that a government-issued permit was enough to purify the contents of the bicycle tamale bin or the preservative-laden cholesterol bombs in her van. 

I don't remember how that worked itself out.  But speaking of illegal tamales....


Go here for a much later rant about illegal tamales being sold outside another Jukt Micronics location.  Something about businesses and regulators trying to stifle the tamale market gets me fired up.


Here's a video about the D.C. Roach Coach food truck operators. 




I do love me some homemade tamales.  A fresh coat of Whitening to The Agitator for the link.

A Libertarian Contract With America

The Republicans have released their "Pledge To America".  If they honor any of it (except the pledges to continue blowing money overseas) I'll be amazed. 

The Democrats haven't released any summary of their goals and objectives since it is hard to predict the direction of an ongoing train wreck. 

One cool thing about being a Libertarian is that our platform doesn't really change. 
I own me, you own you. 
 Leave everyone alone as much as possible. 
Government should provide some infrastructure, some defense, plus enforce contracts and referee in disputes. 
That's it. 

Let me propose the following Libertarian Contract With America.  (Yes, this could probably use some crowdsourcing.)

1)  If Libertarians are elected in sufficient numbers, they will repeal ObamaCare.  They will lower medical costs for all Americans by allowing a free market approach to medicine.  Things are costly when they are scarce, and any healthcare proposal that doesn't begin with eliminating scarcity is doomed to failure. 

2) If Libertarians are elected, they will ensure that The United States is the most secure nation on earth.  However, the United States will no longer ensure this security for Europe, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, or any of our other economic competitors.  Our boys and girls will come back home. 

3) Since we will no longer be defending the borders of South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, or Europe, we will no longer need 50% of our military capability.  Our government will give some of this savings back to the American taxpayers, and apply some of it to our national debt.  Even if we cut defense by 50%, we will still have the largest military on earth. 

4) The Libertarian Party will shut down a random Cabinet-level department, partly to prove that it is serious, and partly for the sheer fun of it.  The Department of Energy has more than 100,000 employees and does nothing but consume energy.  That would be a good place to start. 

5) The government will audit the Federal Reserve and publicize the findings.  The government will limit The Fed's ability to print money to pay off government debt. 

6)  Anyone wanting a bailout will have to consult his brother-in-law.  Ditto for earmarks, grants, subsidies or other forms of pork. 

7)  As American taxpayers have a sentimental attachment to public education, we will provide parents with an education voucher for their children.  Public schools will have to compete for these vouchers since this will be their only source of funding. 

8)  Since I own me and you own you, it makes no sense to continue locking recreational drug users into steel cages with rapists and murderers.  "No harm, no foul" will be the order of the day.  The violence along the Canadian border ended when our government legalized alcohol sales, and the same approach will end the violence along our border with Mexico if marijuana prohibition is ended. 

9)  The government will no longer have an opinion on who can or cannot marry, as long as he or she has reached the age of consent.  Marriage is a religious issue.  Civil Unions are a government issue and will be available to any adult partners or groups willing to be united civilly. 

10)  Throughout history, the nations with the highest levels of trade were the nations with the highest levels of prosperity.  Therefore all protective tariffs, quotas, and import taxes will be reduced to the lowest possible levels.  When Target has a sale on jeans, we don't worry about the impact on Wal-Mart, or worry about protecting Wal-Mart from unfair competition.  The same philosophy will apply to all manufacturers and other businesses.  Protecting business equals shafting consumers.   

11)  The government will support your right to shop where you want to shop.  The government will support the rights of businesses to charge whatever they want to charge, as long as it doesn't violate a pre-existing agreement.  The government will support the rights of workers to unionize and also support the rights of employers to kick out the unions and hire someone else. 
It's called "freedom of contract", and these financial transactions are none of the government's business unless one side or the other doesn't follow through on its promises. 

12) As minimum wage laws set an arbitrary minimum threshold for employment, thereby making it illegal to hire anyone whose labor is not worth this amount, minimum wages will be abolished.  The government will no longer saw the lower rungs off of the employment ladder. 

13)  Abortion rights will be left to each state.  No federal funds will be used for abortions, or any other medical procedures. 

14)  Anyone who has paid into Social Security, Medicaid, or Medicare will be given a "cash out" option that he or she can use for retirement, for immediate needs, or to take to Vegas.  Those wishing to remain in the system can do so.  (The money IS still there, right?) 

15)  Anyone wanting to bring ghosts, goblins or gods into a school will have to start a school of his own.  Anyone wanting to pray to these spirits can do so on his own time.  Silently. 

There.  That should do it.  Does anyone want to run those savings past the Congressional Budget Office?  Would we then have some money available to save and create jobs ? 

Unions hire non-union help, at low wages, to protest hiring of non-union help at low wages

When my employer, Jukt Micronics, goes to trade shows, we are invariably confronted with the stereotypical union "help".  (Note the scorn quotes.)
They charge us more to forklift the equipment to our booth than it costs us to ship the equipment from Fort Worth to Chicago, or Fort Worth to Vegas. 
THEN they ask for a kickback, "just to avoid any problems in the future". 

When Yellow Freight and Roadway merged to become YRC Worldwide, The Teamsters sent us a bewildering array of "drivers" (once again, note the scorn quotes) who couldn't succesfully back up to a toilet in just one attempt, much less a freight dock. 

Then there's the glorious mess that you're paying to straighten out at Chrysler and G.M. 

And the teacher's union. 

Well guys, when you've lost Jon Stewart, you've lost America.  Greatest. Daily. Show. Video. EVER ! !

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Working Stiffed
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

550 LIVING PEOPLE VOLUNTARILY PAID $100 TO LISTEN TO BARACK OBAMA ! !

Gay and Lesbian activists are finally figuring it out.  The person who programs The Teleprompter Jesus isn't going to do anything for them.  Here's Politico:

NEW YORK – President Barack Obama was heckled multiple times during his speech at a Democratic fundraiser in one of the country’s most Democratic cities.

....Obama showed a flash of irritation after he was forced repeatedly off his prepared remarks. “We listened to you, we heard your point,” he told the “young lady” who continued shouting at him about AIDS funding. “This is not the time or the place to do what you’re talking about.”....The “don’t ask, don’t tell” protest came moments later, as Obama began talking about how incomes for the middle class fell by 5 percent – a statement he had to repeat twice.

Blah blah blah blah blah.  Here's the truly amazing part of the article.  Brace yourself:

“We need your energy and enthusiasm,” he told the 550 donors who had paid $100 to hear him speak.

I'm sorry, but if you'll pay $100 to listen to this guy after what we've heard for the last year and a half?????   I've got a ski resort in New Orleans' 9th Ward that I would like to sell you. 
Please send me your email address so I can forward it to Nigerian email scammers.  We know some people who have been trying to get in touch with you.
Oh, and I've got tickets for an Elvis concert.  Cash only, please. 
Here's Doctor Zero, with a fresh coat of Whitening to Instapundit:

Let me put this bluntly: virtually no one in America gives a damn what Barack Obama says about anything at this point.
What could be more predictable, and less interesting, than Obama’s opinion on any given subject?
Who wants to contemplate the economic wisdom of a guy who looted the Treasury for a trillion dollars, with less benefit than we could have achieved by stuffing hundred dollar bills into random cereal boxes?
Who’s excited to hear about the next plan to convert taxpayer dollars into Democrat campaign funds? Who’s hungry for another hour of tedious excuses about permanently broken markets and the titanic dead hand of George W. Bush?
Who wants a lecture on ethical business practices from the titular head of the party that gave us Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters?
What use is another hollow foreign-policy speech from a man who sees no global adversary to rival the menace of Arizona?
Even Obama’s supporters don’t hear anything he says any more.
There’s nothing left to hear. 

Agreed.  But he still has an audience.  A paying audience.  (Just curious here....Are there still people who go to vaudeville performances?  How about minstrel shows?) 
Still.  I can't believe they found 550 people willing to pay $100 to listen to this guy. 

OK GO: White Knuckles - amazing dog music video

From Radley Balko's blog:
I bet you can't watch this just once ! 
Incredible. 

Public Education Billboard Of The Day

From HolyCoast.com:

NOT a Photoshop.