While the article below was written in 2005 it is very timely today. One needs to ask the question: WHERE ARE THE REPUBLICANS? Sadly, nowhere...America has only the left today and that means the discredited ideology of socialism - the takeover of the economy by the government and perhaps the disappearance of individualism, and American can do spirit. Read John Lewis' great analysis of the right and understand how a man like Obama was able to become President of the noblest country in history.
The evidence of the past two decades is unimpeachable: the political right in America no longer stands for individual rights, limited government and capitalism. The "rightists" now advocate expanding the welfare state, increasing government intrusion into our intimate private affairs, and sacrificing American lives to foreign paupers. They call it "advancing the cause of freedom."
This is not what the right once stood for. Fifty years ago one could recognize serious problems in their positions, but also that by and large they favored individual liberty, opposed the growth of government beyond necessity, and advocated a strong military defense. In contrast, the left wanted socialism, the welfare state, and, following Vietnam, military humility.
Historically, and in broad terms, the right often tried to uphold the virtues of productiveness, independence, self-reliance, and American self-interest. They opposed the New Deal and the Great Society, as well as foreign wars that were not in America's interests, as assaults on freedom. It was Democrats such as Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman and Johnson who brought America into such wars, and who institutionalized massive redistribution of wealth at home. The right co-opted many statist measures of the left—such as anti-trust—but they generally saw America's proper condition as peaceful production and free enterprise.
When the socialist assault began, the right became the opposition, facing a tide of motivated leftists who claimed that science and history were on their side. But what arguments, and what moral principles, did those on the right have for their own programs? Only vague statements of American ideals and virtues, held as floating ideas rather than with secure understanding. Consequently, "normalcy" in the 1920's was accompanied by huge increases in foreign aid, and ever larger infringements on domestic, especially economic, affairs.
They called on "Rugged Individualism" as an ideal—but could not say why this was morally right. They said "the business of America is business," but had no answer when told this was rule by robber barons. They proclaimed that "what is good for GM is good for America," but could not defend GM's profits. They spoke up for "capitalism" but wilted when told that it did not make everyone equal. They often maintained that America should pursue its own interests, but could not say why those interests did not include American soldiers dying for foreigners overseas...(READ at Capitalism Magazine).
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Does Obama Want to Be "The Devalued Leader of a Devalued Government" Like Gordon Brown?
Larry Elder writes in The Atlasphere about Obama: "He does not pay the slightest attention to the founding principles of this country — a limited government and a maximum of responsibility by its citizens."
Following is the courageous British MEP Daniel Hannan speaking to and about the England's Prime Minister Gordon Brown who is doing the exact same thing to his country as our President is doing to his own country - sellling it down the road to the highest bidder.
“Prime Minister,” MEP Hannan said, “I see you’ve already mastered the essential craft of the European politician, namely the ability to say one thing in this chamber and a very different thing to your home electorate.
“You’ve spoken here about free trade, and amen to that. Who would have guessed, listening to you just now, that you were the author of the phrase ‘British jobs for British workers’ and that you have subsidized, where you have not nationalized outright, swathes of our economy, including the car industry and many of the banks?
“Perhaps you would have more moral authority in this house if your actions matched your words. Perhaps you would have more legitimacy in the councils of the world if the United Kingdom were not going into this recession in the worst condition of any G-20 country.
“The truth, Prime Minister, is that you have run out of our money. The country as a whole is now in negative equity.
“Every British child is born owing around 20,000 pounds. Servicing the interest on that debt is going to cost more than educating the child.
“Now, once again today you try to spread the blame around; you spoke about an international recession, international crisis. Well, it is true that we are all sailing together into the squalls. But not every vessel in the convoy is in the same dilapidated condition.
“Other ships used the good years to caulk their hulls and clear their rigging — in other words, to pay off debt. But you used the good years to raise borrowing yet further. As a consequence, under your captaincy, our hull is pressed deep into the waterline under the accumulated weight of your debt.
“We are now running a deficit that touches 10 percent of GDP, an almost unbelievable figure — more than Pakistan, more than Hungary, countries where the IMF have already been called in.
“Now, it’s not that you’re not apologizing; like everyone else, I have long accepted that you’re pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility for these things.
“It’s that you’re carrying on, willfully worsening our situation, wantonly spending what little we have left. ... In the last 12 months, 100,000 private-sector jobs have been lost, and yet you created 30,000 public-sector jobs.
“Prime Minister, you cannot carry on forever squeezing the productive bit of the economy in order to fund an unprecedented engorgement of the unproductive bit.
“You cannot spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt. And when you repeat, in that wooden and perfunctory way, that our situation is better than others, that we’re ‘well-placed to weather the storm,’ I have to tell you (that) you sound like a Brezhnev-era apparatchik giving the party line. You know and we know — and you know that we know — that it’s nonsense!”
Following is the courageous British MEP Daniel Hannan speaking to and about the England's Prime Minister Gordon Brown who is doing the exact same thing to his country as our President is doing to his own country - sellling it down the road to the highest bidder.
“Prime Minister,” MEP Hannan said, “I see you’ve already mastered the essential craft of the European politician, namely the ability to say one thing in this chamber and a very different thing to your home electorate.
“You’ve spoken here about free trade, and amen to that. Who would have guessed, listening to you just now, that you were the author of the phrase ‘British jobs for British workers’ and that you have subsidized, where you have not nationalized outright, swathes of our economy, including the car industry and many of the banks?
“Perhaps you would have more moral authority in this house if your actions matched your words. Perhaps you would have more legitimacy in the councils of the world if the United Kingdom were not going into this recession in the worst condition of any G-20 country.
“The truth, Prime Minister, is that you have run out of our money. The country as a whole is now in negative equity.
“Every British child is born owing around 20,000 pounds. Servicing the interest on that debt is going to cost more than educating the child.
“Now, once again today you try to spread the blame around; you spoke about an international recession, international crisis. Well, it is true that we are all sailing together into the squalls. But not every vessel in the convoy is in the same dilapidated condition.
“Other ships used the good years to caulk their hulls and clear their rigging — in other words, to pay off debt. But you used the good years to raise borrowing yet further. As a consequence, under your captaincy, our hull is pressed deep into the waterline under the accumulated weight of your debt.
“We are now running a deficit that touches 10 percent of GDP, an almost unbelievable figure — more than Pakistan, more than Hungary, countries where the IMF have already been called in.
“Now, it’s not that you’re not apologizing; like everyone else, I have long accepted that you’re pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility for these things.
“It’s that you’re carrying on, willfully worsening our situation, wantonly spending what little we have left. ... In the last 12 months, 100,000 private-sector jobs have been lost, and yet you created 30,000 public-sector jobs.
“Prime Minister, you cannot carry on forever squeezing the productive bit of the economy in order to fund an unprecedented engorgement of the unproductive bit.
“You cannot spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt. And when you repeat, in that wooden and perfunctory way, that our situation is better than others, that we’re ‘well-placed to weather the storm,’ I have to tell you (that) you sound like a Brezhnev-era apparatchik giving the party line. You know and we know — and you know that we know — that it’s nonsense!”
Monday, April 27, 2009
The Shame of Going from Excellent Health Care to Socialized Health Care
With the reality of an Obama "universal Health Care" fraud - oops I mean scheme, ever looming over this nation - it would be good for everyone to pause and understand what this means in reality not in the fantasy land of Washington bureaucrats: as always Thomas Sowell explains it the best.
If you don't think government bureaucrats can make questionable decisions, then you haven't dealt with many government bureaucrats.
It is one thing to deal with bureaucrats when you are at the Department of Motor Vehicles and in good health. It is something else when you have to deal with bureaucrats when you are lying on a gurney and bleeding or are doubled over in pain on a hospital bed.
People who believe in "universal health care" show remarkably little interest -- usually none -- in finding out what that phrase turns out to mean in practice, in those countries where it already exists, such as Britain, Sweden or Canada.
For one thing, "universal health care" in these countries means months of waiting for surgery that American get in a matter of weeks or even days.
In these and other countries, it means having only a fraction as many MRIs and other high-tech medical devices available per person as in the United States.
In Sweden, it means not only having bureaucrats deciding what medicines the government will and will not pay for, but even preventing you from buying the more expensive medicine for yourself with your own money. That would violate the "equality" that is the magic mantra. (READ)
If you don't think government bureaucrats can make questionable decisions, then you haven't dealt with many government bureaucrats.
It is one thing to deal with bureaucrats when you are at the Department of Motor Vehicles and in good health. It is something else when you have to deal with bureaucrats when you are lying on a gurney and bleeding or are doubled over in pain on a hospital bed.
People who believe in "universal health care" show remarkably little interest -- usually none -- in finding out what that phrase turns out to mean in practice, in those countries where it already exists, such as Britain, Sweden or Canada.
For one thing, "universal health care" in these countries means months of waiting for surgery that American get in a matter of weeks or even days.
In these and other countries, it means having only a fraction as many MRIs and other high-tech medical devices available per person as in the United States.
In Sweden, it means not only having bureaucrats deciding what medicines the government will and will not pay for, but even preventing you from buying the more expensive medicine for yourself with your own money. That would violate the "equality" that is the magic mantra. (READ)
Saturday, April 25, 2009
"Elections Have Consequences" (Judd Gregg)
For those of you who voted for Mr. Obama there's a future of haunting consequences that will bite you for a long time to come. Remember Judd Gregg who was nominated to be Obama's Commerce Secretary? He withdrew his name when he realized he would be working for a socialist. He doesn't call it socialism in the article but anyone with a brain knows what Obama's budget is: BIG GOVERNMENT and that by any other name is Socialism."From health care to global warming, financial regulation, spending and tax policy, Mr. Gregg doesn't pull any punches in his criticism of the new president. He may be "a charismatic person" with "a very strong understanding of who he is and what he wants to do," but when it comes to the substance of what Mr. Obama seeks to accomplish, Mr. Gregg is less charitable. "They have a goal," the senator says, "and he's very open about it. They are going to grow this government."
Mr. Gregg believes the stakes are high. "This is the first time a budget's had real meaning in a long time," he says. In recent years, presidential budgets have been formulaic exercises. Even if Congress went on to adopt them, they would only serve, at best, as rough guidelines for the real work of crafting the appropriations bills that actually set discretionary funding levels. But this budget "is real, and he [Mr. Obama] intends to push it."
That's bad news, in Mr. Gregg's view, because "We're headed on an unsustainable path. The simple fact is these [budget] numbers don't work and the practical implications of them are staggering for the nation and the next generation."
His "main concern," he says, "is that if you look at the Obama budget, it projects on average about a $1 trillion deficit [every year] over the next 10 years." And as a result of all that spending, "You see the size of government growing from 21% [of gross domestic product] to 22%, to 23%, 24%, 25% . . . toward 30%." (READ WSJ)
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Our Constitution Is The Law of The Land
Because our GOVERNMENT RUN Schools are so abysmal we do not know our Declaration of Independence or understand our Constitution. It's time we get acquainted with these two amazing and historic documents. Things are happening in the USA that leave no doubt now about where we have been headed for the past 80 years - Socialism.
Larry Elder writes: The New Deal, launched almost 80 years ago, represented a giant leap toward collectivism. But only in the last few weeks, as a result of President Barack Obama's New Deal Reloaded, have some 20 states rediscovered the Constitution and the 10th Amendment.
Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution sets forth the limited duties and obligations of the federal government.
The Founding Fathers designed a federal government that focuses primarily on national security, the rules of naturalization, and a handful of other matters. And the Ninth and 10th amendments to the Constitution leave all other rights and powers to the people and to the states, respectively.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, standing with members of his state Legislature, said: “The 10th Amendment was enacted by folks who remembered what it was like to have a very oppressive government — to be under the thumb of tyrants in an all-powerful government. Unfortunately, the protections it guarantees have melted away over the course of the years.”
During the early days of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Supreme Court actually ruled that the Constitution meant what it said and said what it meant...(Larry Elder at The Atlasphere).
Walter Williams writes: Our Colonial ancestors petitioned and pleaded with King George III to get his boot off their necks.
He ignored their pleas, and in 1776, they rightfully declared unilateral independence and went to war.
Today it’s the same story except Congress is the one usurping the rights of the people and the states, making King George’s actions look mild in comparison.
Larry Elder writes: The New Deal, launched almost 80 years ago, represented a giant leap toward collectivism. But only in the last few weeks, as a result of President Barack Obama's New Deal Reloaded, have some 20 states rediscovered the Constitution and the 10th Amendment.
Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution sets forth the limited duties and obligations of the federal government.
The Founding Fathers designed a federal government that focuses primarily on national security, the rules of naturalization, and a handful of other matters. And the Ninth and 10th amendments to the Constitution leave all other rights and powers to the people and to the states, respectively.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, standing with members of his state Legislature, said: “The 10th Amendment was enacted by folks who remembered what it was like to have a very oppressive government — to be under the thumb of tyrants in an all-powerful government. Unfortunately, the protections it guarantees have melted away over the course of the years.”
During the early days of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Supreme Court actually ruled that the Constitution meant what it said and said what it meant...(Larry Elder at The Atlasphere).
Walter Williams writes: Our Colonial ancestors petitioned and pleaded with King George III to get his boot off their necks.
He ignored their pleas, and in 1776, they rightfully declared unilateral independence and went to war.
Today it’s the same story except Congress is the one usurping the rights of the people and the states, making King George’s actions look mild in comparison.
Our constitutional ignorance — perhaps contempt, coupled with the fact that we’ve become a nation of wimps, sissies, and supplicants — has made us easy prey for Washington’s tyrannical forces.
But that might be changing a bit. There are rumblings of a long overdue re-emergence of Americans’ characteristic spirit of rebellion.
Eight state legislatures have introduced resolutions declaring state sovereignty under the Ninth and 10th amendments to the U.S. Constitution; they include Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington.
There’s speculation that they will be joined by Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, Maine and Pennsylvania...
The Founders tried to limit that power with the 10th Amendment, which reads: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” (READ)
There’s speculation that they will be joined by Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, Maine and Pennsylvania...
The Founders tried to limit that power with the 10th Amendment, which reads: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” (READ)
Saturday, April 18, 2009
The Culmination of Our Morality of Self-Sacrifice is Barack Obama but What We Need is a JOHN GALT
Do you ever ask yourself why we are always asked to sacrifice for this, sacrifice for that, in ever escalating demands? Has it ever occurred to you that it's a great way to control us? Obama is the result of this morality of sacrificial lambs at the alter of the poor, the needy, the planet, the bears, the atmosphere etc. But have we ever asked why we had to sacrifice ourself for everybody else and for everything else on this earth? The famous literary character, John Galt, warned us 50 years ago that it was this morality of self-sacrifice that was destroying the world and that we needed to discover a new morality- the morality of living by holding "three things as the supreme and ruling values of ones life: Reason - purpose - and self-esteem." (For The New Intellectual by Ayn Rand).
Friday, April 17, 2009
America Abandons its Allies and It's Role As Defender of The Free World
Caroline Glick has written a very important article describing the shambles and ruin that Obama is making of our foreign policy and how he is making the world dangerous and allowing evil to flourish. It is disheartening to watch this administration tear down this country and the free world policy by anti-reason policy. Is it time to ask the question - Does this man love his country?
Whether they are aggressors like Russia, proliferators like North Korea, terror exporters like nuclear-armed Pakistan or would-be genocidal-terror-supporting nuclear states like Iran, today, under the new administration, none of them has any reason to fear Washington...
But while the media couldn't get enough of the new US leader, America's most stable allies worldwide began a desperate search for a reset button that would cause the administration to take back its abandonment of America's role as the protector of the free world...
Tokyo was distraught by the administration's reaction to North Korea's three-stage ballistic missile test. Japan recognized the betrayal inherent in Defense Secretary Robert Gates's announcement ahead Pyongyang's newest provocation that the US would only shoot the missile down if it targeted US territory. In one sentence, uttered not in secret consultations, but declared to the world on CNN, Gates abrogated America's strategic commitment to Japan's defense.
India, for its part, is concerned by Obama's repeated assertions that its refusal to transfer control over the disputed Jammu and Kashmir provinces to Pakistan inspires Pakistani terror against India...
Then there is Iraq...
Hearing Obama's statements, and watching him and his advisers make daily declarations of friendship to Iran's mullahs, Iraqi leaders are considering their options for surviving the rapidly approaching storm.
Then there is Europe... his words were anything but music to the ears of the leaders of former Soviet satellites threatened by Russia. The Czech, Polish, Georgian and Ukrainian governments were quick to recognize that Obama's strong desire to curry favor with the Kremlin and weaken his own country will imperil their ability to withstand Russian aggression...
And as for Russia, like Iran, which responded to Obama's latest ode to the mullahs by opening a nuclear fuel plant and announcing it has 7,000 advanced centrifuges in operation, so Moscow reacted to Obama's fig leaf with a machine gun, announcing its refusal to support sanctions against North Korea and repeating its false claim that Iran's nuclear program is nonaggressive.
Finally there is Israel. If Obama's assertions that Israel must support the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state, his declarations of support for the so-called Saudi "peace plan," which requires Israel to commit national suicide in exchange for "peace" with the Arab world, and his continuous and increasingly frantic appeals for Iran to "engage" his administration weren't enough to show Israel that Obama is sacrificing the US's alliance with the Jewish state in a bid to appease the Arabs and Iran, on Tuesday Vice President Joseph Biden made this policy explicit.
Whether they are aggressors like Russia, proliferators like North Korea, terror exporters like nuclear-armed Pakistan or would-be genocidal-terror-supporting nuclear states like Iran, today, under the new administration, none of them has any reason to fear Washington...
But while the media couldn't get enough of the new US leader, America's most stable allies worldwide began a desperate search for a reset button that would cause the administration to take back its abandonment of America's role as the protector of the free world...
Tokyo was distraught by the administration's reaction to North Korea's three-stage ballistic missile test. Japan recognized the betrayal inherent in Defense Secretary Robert Gates's announcement ahead Pyongyang's newest provocation that the US would only shoot the missile down if it targeted US territory. In one sentence, uttered not in secret consultations, but declared to the world on CNN, Gates abrogated America's strategic commitment to Japan's defense.
India, for its part, is concerned by Obama's repeated assertions that its refusal to transfer control over the disputed Jammu and Kashmir provinces to Pakistan inspires Pakistani terror against India...
Then there is Iraq...
Hearing Obama's statements, and watching him and his advisers make daily declarations of friendship to Iran's mullahs, Iraqi leaders are considering their options for surviving the rapidly approaching storm.
Then there is Europe... his words were anything but music to the ears of the leaders of former Soviet satellites threatened by Russia. The Czech, Polish, Georgian and Ukrainian governments were quick to recognize that Obama's strong desire to curry favor with the Kremlin and weaken his own country will imperil their ability to withstand Russian aggression...
And as for Russia, like Iran, which responded to Obama's latest ode to the mullahs by opening a nuclear fuel plant and announcing it has 7,000 advanced centrifuges in operation, so Moscow reacted to Obama's fig leaf with a machine gun, announcing its refusal to support sanctions against North Korea and repeating its false claim that Iran's nuclear program is nonaggressive.
Finally there is Israel. If Obama's assertions that Israel must support the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state, his declarations of support for the so-called Saudi "peace plan," which requires Israel to commit national suicide in exchange for "peace" with the Arab world, and his continuous and increasingly frantic appeals for Iran to "engage" his administration weren't enough to show Israel that Obama is sacrificing the US's alliance with the Jewish state in a bid to appease the Arabs and Iran, on Tuesday Vice President Joseph Biden made this policy explicit.
Let's Remember that The Government is Our Servant NOT the Other Way Around
It would do us well to remember what 1776 was all about: The fact that those early Americans decided that the age old idea that the people were at the beck and call of the king, the ruler, the cleric, the landowner was wrong and immoral. They came up with the brilliant idea that government should be the servant of the people. Dr. John Lewis makes this point and reminds us that liberty has to be fought for and protected but that it seems that we are giving it up in order to be coddled and "taken care of" from the cradle to the grave.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Cello - And An Amazing Composition
Listen and watch this amazing Youtube video of this man playing all the parts of the cello...how did he record this?
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Socialism is the Power of the State Over Your Life-It is Something Worth Defeating If You Love Life
What we are fighting now is the great enemy for the past 2000 years: STATISM - the powerful government that wants to rule our every move and pick our pockets to boot.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Ayn Rand Private Roads, Schools and Post Offices
Listen to a great mind speaking - Ayn Rand says that all depressions are caused by the government. Our government started this one and Obama is making it worse.
Milton Friedman Defends Greed
Phil Donahue is the most sanctimonious creep I've ever laid eyes on or heard. But the late Milton Friedman a famous economist, just shreds him to pieces in a very kind way and lays him out flat with a couple of punches. Yes, Donahue, even you live under the banner of greed which more rational people would call self-interest. If you don't have self-interest, aka greed then you will die - Mr. Donahue.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Mr Obama Is Silent On Pirate Attack; Thomas Jefferson Fought Them
Do you find this pirate business as astounding as I do? There has been 6 attacks this week alone and 66 attacks this year by Somali pirates. Thomas Jefferson had tremendous problems with pirates attacking American commercial vessels. But he stood up and fought them any way he could. Why aren't we attacking their base of operations in Somalia? Where's our President and his leadership on this issue? Silence.
Is this an sign as to how Mr Obama will address future attacks on us? Can we count on this President to defend our interests? Isn't this THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB an American president has - TO DEFEND AMERICANS AND OUR HOMELAND? Well, maybe he's too busy plunging us into this mountain of debt we will be trying to shovel our way out of for the next few decades than to concentrate on the evils that confront us everyday. The following are comments from a former CIA agent.
"The American response to date has been incredibly naïve and woefully ineffective. Now, predictably, you have an American taken hostage. All of which should have been prevented. You’ve got a failed state in Somalia and pirates operating in an area of ocean that is larger than the state of Texas but we’ve been trying to deal with this from the ocean side, by sending the navy and with a limited application of technology, such as satellites and drones. We can’t afford to patrol that big a piece of the ocean; it’s too expensive to leave a naval task force out there."
Is this an sign as to how Mr Obama will address future attacks on us? Can we count on this President to defend our interests? Isn't this THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB an American president has - TO DEFEND AMERICANS AND OUR HOMELAND? Well, maybe he's too busy plunging us into this mountain of debt we will be trying to shovel our way out of for the next few decades than to concentrate on the evils that confront us everyday. The following are comments from a former CIA agent.
"The American response to date has been incredibly naïve and woefully ineffective. Now, predictably, you have an American taken hostage. All of which should have been prevented. You’ve got a failed state in Somalia and pirates operating in an area of ocean that is larger than the state of Texas but we’ve been trying to deal with this from the ocean side, by sending the navy and with a limited application of technology, such as satellites and drones. We can’t afford to patrol that big a piece of the ocean; it’s too expensive to leave a naval task force out there."
"...The pirates have a base of operations and infrastructure. They’re not going out 400-plus nautical miles from shore in shitty boats; they have fuel supplies, docks, mechanics, and support infrastructure, on the beach. It’s all findable and disrupt-able. We need a contingent of agency personnel in Ethiopia and Somalia to go after this infrastructure, leadership and control elements in Somalia, and an aggressive humint [human intelligence] effort in Lebanon to follow, and choke off the money.
This is a challenge to confront, but it has to be dealt with. A band of thugs are tying up international shipping along a gigantic stretch of Africa that’s an approach area for the Suez Canal. Last year, the hijackers made $80 million, which is a staggering sum of money in that country. Up until now, little has been done to deal with it because of the expense, complexity and necessary commitment of manpower and resources required. Also, given the long history of Al Qaida in Somalia, no one wants to discuss the possibility that it may have a role in this pirate activity as a revenue stream. That’s a question that could be answered if we had better humint (human intelligence) in Somalia.
...In 1803-05, Jefferson sent Captain Eaton to conduct a covert action attack against the pirates and their infrastructure and leadership on the beach. Captain Eaton assembled a handful of of U.S. Marines and a group of Arab, Greek and North African mercenaries and attacked the Basha from the desert, overland side, while the Naval task force bombarded the sea side. (READ)
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Michigan is One of Those Robber States That Will INCREASE TAXES On its Citizens
Gee! We have such creative politicians in Lansing.Look! See the politician think.
See him come up with new ways of robbing Michiganders of the little bit of money they have left after paying all the national taxes, current state taxes, county taxes and city taxes, property taxes, cigarette taxes, land taxes, etc.
Here is a new list of idiotic taxes these people have come up with to steal our money:
High school sports
Bottled water
Entertainment
Vending machine items
Vacant houses
Property transfers
Abandoned vehicles
Septic systems
Court filings
In addition, they want to give expanded taxing authority to local governments and school boards and increase the gas tax by fifty cents a gallon.
You would think that would be enough. What more do they want? The governor wants to impose a graduated income tax. That would increase a middle class family’s income taxes by 50% or more. In addition, two democratic lawmakers would like to see your income tax increase by 25% for their pet project.
Get ready Michigan for a big migration to friendlier states just like people from California are leaving that robber state. (To see how the politicians of your state will rob you of more of your money go here.) Join your State's Tax Tea Party April 15th.
Pirates: We Need Millions for Defense not as Tribute to Obama
The nation's first Secretary State, Thomas Jefferson, told Congress it must choose "...between war, tribute and ransom." He believed war was the only reasonable choice, and advocated the creation of a navy. Tribute paid to the pirates was "money thrown away," and the only thing they truly understood was gunpowder and shot. Just as Luther 250 years earlier, Jefferson called for a united military alliance among the European powers, along with America, to blockade North Africa and provide for a military solution against the pirates. Europe chose to continue paying tribute.
"Would to Heaven we had a navy to reform those enemies to mankind, or crush them into non-existence," said George Washington in 1786. Said one American envoy, "There is but one language which can be held to these people, and this is terror."
... It was 19th century colonialism that finally put an end to centuries of North African piracy, just as it was the Western nations that finally ended the Slave Trade.
Unfortunately the slave trade, taking of captives for ransom, and terrorism lives on Islamic societies (Read the rest of this most interesting history of the epidemic of pirates in the 1800's).
The pirates in the water's off Africa are not new what's new is the the fact that Western nations have done nothing to rid us of this evil. For America, it appears this is the first time an American ship, carrying aid to Africa by the way, has been hijacked. Now ask yourself, why now? Under Obama's tenure?
"Would to Heaven we had a navy to reform those enemies to mankind, or crush them into non-existence," said George Washington in 1786. Said one American envoy, "There is but one language which can be held to these people, and this is terror."
... It was 19th century colonialism that finally put an end to centuries of North African piracy, just as it was the Western nations that finally ended the Slave Trade.
Unfortunately the slave trade, taking of captives for ransom, and terrorism lives on Islamic societies (Read the rest of this most interesting history of the epidemic of pirates in the 1800's).
The pirates in the water's off Africa are not new what's new is the the fact that Western nations have done nothing to rid us of this evil. For America, it appears this is the first time an American ship, carrying aid to Africa by the way, has been hijacked. Now ask yourself, why now? Under Obama's tenure?
- 'It was believed to be the first US merchant ship hijacked since the North African Barbary Wars in the early 19th century, underlining the anarchy raging off Somalia despite an international naval effort against piracy.' (Read)
Monday, April 06, 2009
Is Obama the First Strongman of The United States?
More and more evidence is gathering that we have elected a fascist, a strongman. We may have elected ourselves a man whose secret desire is to become a dictator. Well, there were signs before the election and many people decided to focus on his physical appearance and his "charm" instead of his past and his words. We will pay dearly for this mistake as we seem to have already started to pay in fact. Judge Andrew Napolitano writes about how Obama is using the same strongman techniques he used with GM, now on the banks.The Federal government committed extortion and they’re not being held accountable. What’s next? Listen to this: I recently met with the Chair and CEO of one of the country’s top 10 bank holding companies. His bank is worth in excess of $250 billion, has no bad debt, no credit default swaps, no liquidity problems, and no subprime loans. He told me that he and others were forced by Treasury and FDIC threats to take TARP funds, even though he did not want or need them.
There is simply no authority in the U.S. Constitution for Congress to exercise the level of control it now seeks over private industry.
The FDIC — with Treasury backing — threatened to conduct public audits of his bank unless his board created and issued a class of stock for the Feds to buy. The audit, which he is confident his bank would survive, would cost it millions in employee time, bad press, and consequent lost business.
He pleaded with the Feds to leave his successful bank alone. He begged his board to let him tell the Feds to take a hike. But they gave in. The Feds are now just a tiny shareholder, but want to begin asserting more and more control. This is a classic extortion: Controlling someone’s free will by threatening to perform a lawful act. (Blackmail is the threat is to perform an unlawful act in order to control someone else’s free will.) There are no exceptions in the statutes prohibiting extortion for government persons.
This happened in September 2008, but the demands for more control are more recent. It sounds to me like Paulson, Geithner, Bernanke, and Sheila Blair have all read a biography of Benito Mussolini. I guess they skipped the last chapter.
There is simply no authority in the U.S. Constitution for Congress to exercise the level of control it now seeks over private industry. ..(READ).
Rob Tracinski at TIA Daily writes: "In every dictatorship, there is a tradeoff between power and prosperity. Every strongman takes actions that clearly and obviously diminish his nation's ability to produce wealth, but which increase his regime's ability to control the lives of the people. Iran, Venezuela, and Russia, for example, are all notorious for exercising political control over oil production—their main source of wealth—even when that has resulted in a decrease in foreign investment and thus in long-term output. "
"No, we're not in a dictatorship yet, but it is ominous that the Obama administration is making the same tradeoff."
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Learn How We Got To This Financial Meltdown
Richard Salsman writing for The Objective Standard's Spring 2009 edition explains how we arrived at this economic abyss. And you probably won't believe the answer - but think about it and look back on history and you will see the truth. And President Bush helped this mess by giving it a big push. Here is an excerpt to wet your curiosity but go to the article itself it's free and accessible at www.theobjectivestandard.com.
...The above interpretations ignore the plain fact that America today does not enjoy a free-market system—let alone a free-market financial sector—nor has it enjoyed one for most of the past century. Only through a profound misunderstanding of what constitutes a free-market system could anyone honestly blame capitalism for the financial crisis. For decades the American politico-economic system has been a mixed system—a combination of some freedom of choice and action offset by large (and growing) coercive interventions. It was precisely these coercive elements—the regulation, taxation, and subsidization—that caused today’s financial crisis. Washington’s recent and massive interventions did not follow from free-market “failure”; they followed from the market distortions caused by prior government intervention in the economy. Government interventions have both instigated and aggravated the latest financial crisis.
By surveying the government interventions that caused the latest turmoil and wealth destruction in housing and banking, this article will demonstrate that the current financial crisis was caused not by a return to free markets or pro-capitalist policies in the past decade, but by a tragic progression toward socialism. More importantly, it will demonstrate that altruism—the notion that being moral consists in sacrificing oneself for the needs of others—is the basis for this government intervention, and thus the root cause of the crisis.
Of course, in order to recognize that capitalism is innocent of the latest charges against it, we must bear in mind what capitalism is. Capitalism is the social system of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.11 Capitalism upholds the rule of law and equality before the law, forbids government favors to any person or group (including businesses), entails the complete separation of state and economics, and thus leaves each individual free to act on his own judgment for his own sake. With that in mind, let us consider the relevant facts surrounding the financial crisis.
...Perhaps no single U.S. government intervention has destroyed more capital or wasted more taxpayer funds in recent years than the establishment of “Fannie Mae,” “Freddie Mac,” and “Ginnie Mae”—“government-sponsored enterprises” (GSEs) that for years have been used by politicians to secure campaign funds and votes by promoting artificially cheap home mortgages and “the American dream of home ownership.” The quaint, disarming nicknames for the GSEs actually stand for the Federal National Mortgage Association, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and the Government National Mortgage Association. Read more if you want to know the history and reason for why we are where we are today.
...The above interpretations ignore the plain fact that America today does not enjoy a free-market system—let alone a free-market financial sector—nor has it enjoyed one for most of the past century. Only through a profound misunderstanding of what constitutes a free-market system could anyone honestly blame capitalism for the financial crisis. For decades the American politico-economic system has been a mixed system—a combination of some freedom of choice and action offset by large (and growing) coercive interventions. It was precisely these coercive elements—the regulation, taxation, and subsidization—that caused today’s financial crisis. Washington’s recent and massive interventions did not follow from free-market “failure”; they followed from the market distortions caused by prior government intervention in the economy. Government interventions have both instigated and aggravated the latest financial crisis.
By surveying the government interventions that caused the latest turmoil and wealth destruction in housing and banking, this article will demonstrate that the current financial crisis was caused not by a return to free markets or pro-capitalist policies in the past decade, but by a tragic progression toward socialism. More importantly, it will demonstrate that altruism—the notion that being moral consists in sacrificing oneself for the needs of others—is the basis for this government intervention, and thus the root cause of the crisis.
Of course, in order to recognize that capitalism is innocent of the latest charges against it, we must bear in mind what capitalism is. Capitalism is the social system of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.11 Capitalism upholds the rule of law and equality before the law, forbids government favors to any person or group (including businesses), entails the complete separation of state and economics, and thus leaves each individual free to act on his own judgment for his own sake. With that in mind, let us consider the relevant facts surrounding the financial crisis.
...Perhaps no single U.S. government intervention has destroyed more capital or wasted more taxpayer funds in recent years than the establishment of “Fannie Mae,” “Freddie Mac,” and “Ginnie Mae”—“government-sponsored enterprises” (GSEs) that for years have been used by politicians to secure campaign funds and votes by promoting artificially cheap home mortgages and “the American dream of home ownership.” The quaint, disarming nicknames for the GSEs actually stand for the Federal National Mortgage Association, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and the Government National Mortgage Association. Read more if you want to know the history and reason for why we are where we are today.
Stand Tall Obama - Stand Tall against Tyrants
Why is this man, Obama grovelling at King Abdullah's feet? Good question! Does he find an affinity with this king of a desert country that produces nothing but oil (which by the way was nationalized aka stolen from the countries that actually discovered and brought up this oil...the Arabs did not even know what it was!)Yesterday when Barack Obama met with the Queen of England in the Queen’s Palace in the United Kingdom, he merely offered her a handshake. However, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, a man who presides over a nation where women are considered to be less than 3/5 human, got a whole bow from Barack Obama (READ).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)