Propositions Revisited

I read up on the propositions some more and have some revised views.  I think I have more yes votes than before.  Yes for Marriage is still a yes, of course

100  Yes - This would prevent a future law to tax real estate transactions.  I wish there weren't so many complications in the text that could create problems but the basic issue is to vote yes to prevent a future potential tax

101  Healthcare - vote yes.  Another one with too many words but the idea is prevent someone from being punished for opting out of Hillary Care when Obama puts it in place.  Once government takes over healthcare then the next step will be to punish those that don't participate because not playing along will be considered unfair.  

102 Yes for marriage.  Marriage is a man and woman.  Any questions?

105  majority rule  - This could be a scary one but I will vote yes based on republican principle.   This would help to get rid of all the propositions we have in Arizona.  The power to legislate lies with the people and they can reserve this right.  But in our republican government we turn over this power to the legislature and elect representative to create law.    The problem with propositions is there is no room for debate and compromise.   Bad laws go into effect without this required tempering.  After this passes it will make it much more difficult to pass a ballot proposition.   That I agree with.  You will have to have a majority of registered voters to pass an initiative.  The vocal minority will not be able to get things done.  Only when most of the people are very excited about something will you be able to get another ballot proposition to pass.

200  I am voting no like I always do unless I see a good reason to vote yes.  Payday loans are stupid but don't need to be illegal.  They will expire if you vote no.  But I am sure they will find a new way to renew them because too many people are making money.  Let the legislature talk this out and find a way to renew if people really want them so bad.  

201  Homeowner right bill - vote no!  This is a bad idea.  If you can read you will see how silly.  The homebuilder are not evil and don't need to be punished.  Unions are horrible and we don't need them.  Arizona has done well as a right to work state.  One effect is that it will take away legal rights of businesses.  It will remove people from bidding on work.  It is a lawyers dream and people will wait for courts to settle disputes

202 Don't employ illegals.  Vote no.  Our laws to keep illegals out of the system is just starting to take effect.   Don't ruin it now by voting yes.  It isn't perfect but things are improving.    This proposition guts all past attempts to curb illegal hiring.   The signs may say "stop illegal hiring - vote yes"  but if you read it then you will see.  Vote no to stop illegal hiring

p.s. once we get illegal hiring under control then we can work on guest workers.  It is the only logical progression

 

300 pay raise  Yes.  The legislators aren't overpayed.  I would like to get rid of their retirement program.   I think all government pensions are a bad idea but that is a different topic

There are still a few more weeks to read for more details if you want but they are pretty boring.  Note that 102 is the shortest. 

$700 billion bailout

Pres. Bush quickly signed the $700 billion bailout today. Everyone said it was critical, it was an emergency. Also that it won't solve the problem but without it there will be disaster. I am glad that my congressman was among those that voted against it. So if this amount of money won't solve it, what will? More money?

I can only hope that more responsible legislation will follow that will limit the influence of government on the market. It is government involvement that made the mess in the first place. The reports about meddling that started at least as far back as 1999 are becoming more clear that the GSE's Fannie and Freddie and other large mortgage holders were purposefully giving loans to those that could not pay them. Without going too much into conspiracy theories I think it was done intentionally to crash the market in order to gain control. But even in more sensible terms it was a terribly ignorant thing to do.

It is also racist. Martin Luther King dreamed of a day when his children would be judged by their character and not by the color of their skin. I think this should apply to home loans as well as all other aspects of life. Some people were approved for loans because of the color of their skin rather than on their credit score. That is not helpful. It is demeaning and racist. I am in engineer and so I think of this in terms of process control. If you don't measure something then you can't control the outcome of the process. You can't improve something without measure and understanding it. Worse than that is too ignore the data you get and make random judgements. Credit rating (not just scores BTW) have been used to control the mortgage loans. To ignore that data is to ruin the process. Like trying to control the water level in the tank while ignoring the level sensor. Just throw the valve wide open, fill it quick and ignore all else.

A measurement only has value if you are going to use it. Something ignored obviously has no value. Ignoring character and judging by race is wrong. Ignoring someones history of payments or credit score in place of demographics is wrong.

Another reason this interference is a bad idea is because it interferes with the free market which should not be violated. Even smart people are not smarter than "the market". Why is that? Because many people making many decisions in their own best interest is better than one person making decisions for everyone else.

I don't know if that is what caused the housing bubble. That may have been a big contributor. That sort of things happen when people mess with the market. If you take the average house appreciation to be 7% then we're just returning to normal marketplace. If you bought a home eight years ago at $150,000, then it would be worth $256,000. And that it's exactly what a house like that is going for these days. So there hasn't been a huge market crash. It only looks bad compared to the price of that same house two years ago when it sold for $400,000. But of course, everyone knew that that wasn't real. The bubble has burst, but the market hasn't crashed. It looks like things returned to normal.

Vote no on Budget increase

My rule is that any time you can vote for a tax reduction it should be a yes vote.  That is pretty simple but especially on anything regarding property taxes which is the worst sort of tax possible. Property tax is worse than income tax.  (Even worse than HOA fees.)  The school district is funded with property taxes.

Schools should make do with less money, just like everyone else.  Pouring more money into the system won't help it.   If there are extra needs and parents want them then they can write a check.  I agree with all the arguments that say that children need a good education and it improves society but that should have no connection with property taxes.  

Some of the other arguments however are pretty silly.  I read in the information packet that James thinks that out of date teaching materials will negatively impact the emotional health of children.   Marty thinks that a no vote is turning your back on obligation as parent or citizen.   Must be in the Biden camp that believes taxes are patriotic.  Or perhaps a religious duty.

Don't tax yourself.  Vote no

Did you see the fireworks?

The Constitution fair ended with a nice fireworks show. The kids enjoyed it again this and as usual we missed the Sunday evening activity. Something always happens, tonight it was a sick baby. Sept 17th is Constitution Day so the organizers of Constitution Week pick the closest Saturday.

We spent the day helping to set up. The organizers claim to have the largest Constitution Day celebration in the country. I don't think there are many challengers. Everyone loves to celebrate the 4th of July but not many on Sept 17th. Why do we do it? Because our country is founded on many documents with the Declaration and Constitution separated by thirteen years. The Declaration was about freedom and stated why we were willing to fight for it. But the Constitution gave us law and order. Without it we wouldn't have our government.

3 countries in Iraq

I was in favor of breaking up Iraq after we kicked Saddam out. 

It is a mistake. It would be a mistake to do so.  Let the people make their own countries. Iraq was a British creation which started the whole mess.  They also made the mess in Kashmir after WWII.  And they argued a long time against Israel.  I am glad the Brits are our allies but they sure made a mess of things when they collapsed their empire.

The Iraqi's should be left to choose their own fate and for now they have decided to stick together in one country.  That might be hard but they choose the challenge.  

Sarah is stupid

Sarah Palin is being called stupid. This idea is spreading among critics of the VP. This is a tired argument against conservative candidates. Look up the quotes about Reagan. He was called stupid constantly. Then Bush and now Palin. They are dismissed as stupid because they are conservative. Because intelligent people must be liberal, in their opinion. It won’t work in the campaign because there isn’t time for it to sink in and because of the sympathy that is generated by the vicious attacks against her. Although it has had some effect against those that don’t like Pres. Bush. For example, he is a good public speaker but most critics call him a bumbler. Strategory was a Saturday Night Live skit that stuck.

I would bet Pres Bush has a higher IQ than either Gore or Kerry who are considered intellectuals. He has performed well except for his socialist tendencies like no child left behind, embryonic stem cell research, medicare prescription drug program, business bailouts, “compassionate conservativism”, deficit spending etc. But other than that he is okay. Anyway, Sarah Palin is not stupid and her opponents should find a new criticism and a better method of attack. I heard part of the skit on SNL and the accent was pretty funny.

Why did Democrats lose the last two elections?

The answer to that is easy - because they nominated losers.  

But to be more specific, they lost by nominating someone from the extreme left.   Why don't they nominate someone more centrist?  Gore was a huge liberal.  Kerry was left of him.  And now Obama is left of Kerry.    Do they think that going farther left is a good strategy?  There are good democrats that are not among the Kennedy, Biden, Hillary crowd.  Why can't they fix their system so they can nominate one of them?

Gilbert Elections 2008

Primary is over - time to think of the general election. Get registered to vote, the deadline is Oct 7th



President
I wish there was another candidate to vote for other than John McCain. Where are my options?


Congress
No Senators up for election this year. Flake will win in this congressional district


State
Support Thayer for Senate, should be easy race. Andy Biggs has done a good job and should be returned to office. Who knows who the other guy is, but he will win because he has an R by his name. Hope he is a good guy. We'll see what these people are up to


Corporation Commission

no info



Gilbert
Council elections are in the spring.




Propositions
I will have to do some research. I will welcome any arguments. You can get info on elections website. I always vote no unless there is a compelling argument. New laws are generally worse than the old bad laws.


First is Prop 102 because that one is easy.
Vote yes on marriage amendment. Time to explain to the smart guys in black robes what marriage is.


Prop 100 real property
Prop 101 health care
Prop 102 YES marriage
Prop 105 Tax rules
Prop 200 Payday loans
Prop 201 Housing
Prop 202 Employee Identity
Prop 300 Salaries


Judicial Review
My theory to vote no to all on question to retain judges until they clean up their act. There are few that are good. You can usually find a list of those to support at the CAP website - but I don't see it up yet. I can update when I get more info

Fannie Freddie buyout

Do I need to say anything about this? Stupid, ignorant and wasteful. This rescue proves that GSE's cannot function. Don't ever try them again. Break these companies and sell them and let's return to capitalism. Socialism is designed to destroy markets and money. It performs every time. Don't bail out the big car companies. Let them die. America can continue without the existence of GM. (capitalism works too - I will be able to buy a another car from another new manufacturer.  Time for a new one to start.) Let banks and airlines fail.   They are not so critical that taxpayers need to come to rescue they are poorly managed and not prepared for changes in the market.  It is part of how things work. Everyone will be better when they go out of business, that happens as part of creative destruction.

Isn't the purpose of a loan to make money?  Is there any chance of taxpayers making money off all these bailouts?  Will I get an employee discount for insurance, airline tickets or car purchase from all these welfare handouts to businesses?

The most poorly managed, out of money, shortsighted, broken backwards corporation in the world is the US government.  What happened to all the cries about the dangerously large deficit?  What is now $400 billion?  There is no money to be giving out to companies.  It is fiction.

Obama on abortion

I grabbed this aim.org

Obama Regrets Abortion Answer
By Don September 7, 2008
In an interview aired on ABC's "This Week" Barack Obama says he probably was too flip with his answer to an abortion question posed by Pastor Rick Warren.
From the Politico.
Barack Obama says his answer about abortion at the Saddleback Church forum was probably” too flip.During separate televised interviews last month, Pastor Rick Warren asked the two presidential candidates when a baby gets human rights. Obama replied that the question is “above my pay grade,” while John McCain won love from the right by saying quickly, “At the moment of conception.”Now, Obama tells ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in an interview taped for “This Week”: “What I intended to say is that, as a Christian, I have a lot of humility about understanding when does the soul enter into … It's a pretty tough question. And so, all I meant to communicate was that I don't presume to be able to answer these kinds of theological questions.”
To most observers Obama did fare poorly at the Saddleback Forum and raised doubts about his ability to speak effectively off the cuff rather than from a teleprompter.

I will try to find this video and watch it. I am very curious about the pause in this sentence - "I have a lot of humility about understanding when does the soul enter into … It's a pretty tough question."

When the soul enters into .....what? What word would you put there? Why can't he finish a sentence?

9/11/08 p.s. I watched the video and you could see him struggle to avoid the dead end he was driving into. The pause was filled by George S. who threw in Augustine. Obama agreed with him but they are both on bad theological ground. Just as Nancy Pelosi - it was the same pit she fell into. But Archbishop Chaput is giving her a lifeline

McCain/Palin in Arizona

I am glad I don't have to worry about McCain winning Arizona.  Otherwise I would be disturbed by losing to uninformed voters. Living in Arizona my vote for president won't mean much.   McCain will easily carry the state.   I am glad about that so I won't have to think about all the silly people voting for Obama.  Some know-no-thing goofball is going to cancel my vote but there are plenty of other Arizonans ready to vote for McCain.  I don't really like McCain but I would vote for him because he picked a real conservative like Palin.  Ask a typical Obama supporter why they like him and you won't get much for a response.  I don't know many that will admit it.  I know of three and they don't have a reason.  They just like him and their friends are voting for him.  

Arizona Marriage Prop 102

Time to get organized to support Prop 102. It will be on the ballot in November.

One group that is driving this is Yes for Marriage

If approved the following language will be added to the Arizona Constitution:

"Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state."

It is very sad that we have to do this - I know of no society in history that recognized same sex marriages like the judge in California just tried to impose. Marriage between men and women is just common sense.

wow! Sarah Palin VP?

I was skeptical of Sarah Palin as VP for many weeks. I figured it was a long shot and not really a good idea. She is doing very well in Alaska. The biggest argument against her is that she lacks experience but Obama has conveniently removed that argument. Palin has as much experience as Obama. I think more since she is governor. She has executive experience that he lacks. She is family oriented, pro-life. I read she has a son in military. She doesn’t listen to the green communists (environmentalists). I am beginning to think McCain made a great choice – if only to point out what a unprepared newbie Barack is.

Plus it is fun to cheer for a home town hero.

I have to admit it is a good choice after review. In five minutes of leaking it might be Sarah Palin, John McCain created more buzz than the whole democratic convention. He eclipsed them too easily

Gilbert Election Picks

Vote Tuesday Sept 2

My picks for the upcoming 2008 election

First we have to get through the republican primary

Senate:  Eddie Farnsworth

Representatives:  Biggs & Armer.   

Don't know much about corporation commission

County Assessor

Don't really like Kevin Ross.  Guess he did an okay job and the democrats don't like him.

JP

JC Cox

All the others are unopposed so I don't vote for them.

I won't vote for Jeff Flake because he is violating his pledge to only serve 3 terms.  but he will get elected and I think he does a decent job

Pick a Number

Pick a number between one and ten. Closest guess wins the prize.

Remember the strategy? First, try to pick last. Second, play the odds and select the number next to your opponents that secures the most remaining numbers.

Obama boldly staked his claim by going as far left as he could by picking number 1. What is John McCain supposed to do? I don’t like him but he’s smart. He is aiming for 2. He can’t lose.



…..until people refuse to play this game to select presidents

Hinchey (C-NY)

Maurice Hinchey (C-NY)
Is Maurice Hinchey a communist? Should he change parties? He is definitely a socialist. I am looking for a transcript or audio. It was played on Hugh Hewitt also.

Hinchey said the oil situation was a mess and that the people should take it over and run the industry for the benefit of all. (That is communism)

Just to be clear - this has been tried before and it doesn't work. Hugo Chavez just did this. Of course the "people" still don't own the oil in his country. He does. The "people" have never owned anything. Socialism is designed to destroy money and capital. Its purpose is not economy but power and so those in charge ruin everything in attempt to get and keep power.

The "people" (which means would-be tyrants) cannot take property from oil companies except through theft aka legal plunder. Such a suggestion violates all property rights.

Hinchey's plan is that he own the oil so he can set the price (and get rich meanwhile) instead of oil companies providing a service to their customers.

I didn't find the audio but got one quote from FoxNews which is this:
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), member of the House Appropriations Committee and one of the most-ardent opponents of off-shore drilling

"We (the government) should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets out into the market."

The Hope Drive

I was laughing listening to the radio the other day when Dean Barnett substituted for Hugh Hewitt. They were mocking Barack Obama's ideas about creating a car that doesn't run on gas. I wonder if I could find the audio on their website?

I found his post on the site and it includes audio from Barack. Check it out. here is audio link (hope that works right)

Drilling won't help but a new warp drive will. Dean named it the "Hope Drive". It runs on
90% Hope
5% Change
5% Corn

Ha! Very funny!

from hughhewitt.com:

"We will have spent by the time this thing is over well over a trillion dollars, one trillion dollars. Think about what we could have done with a trillion dollars. Think about, think about what we could have done if we had invested even half of that even a quarter of that into research into clean energy, developing new ways of transporting people, if we had tried to look at how are we going to create a new engine that doesn't run on fossil fuels. Imagine that. Over the last five years, we could be in a position now where we could have perhaps sliced our energy consumption by a third, and if we had done that gas prices would be low because people wouldn't be using gas."

Barack on the economy, carbon etc

A couple comments:

The economy is not in recession. Many economic indicators are up.

The oil prices are just a bubble. There is no shortage. It is just speculation driving prices. I bet it won't last as long as the housing bubble. And likely crash harder

Barack Obama is mourning the loss of money spent in Iraq that could have been used to make a car that gets better gas mileage. Check your Constitution buddy. It allows for war but not for research projects. He doesn't want to drill for oil because that won't help. But I have to write a separate post on that.

Besides Global Warming is a hoax, nothing but green communism.

Drill now. Drill in ANWR. Drill off shore. Get the oil shale. There is no oil supply shortage in the US. The only problem is that congress has placed so much out of reach. I wonder about the legalities behind that. How does one go about purchasing a piece of coastal shelf on which to drill? Why does DC own it?

Carbon is not the enemy. Carbon Dioxide is not a pollutant. Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe according to Wiki. You aren't going to rid of the stuff. Politicians and environmentalists should speak more precisely about carbon when they refer to carbon credits, carbon footprint etc in my opinion. Carbon is not the same as carbon dioxide any more than sodium is the same as sodium chloride. Some things you can eat and others you can't.

Apathy as an American value

The world is sometimes ugly. I am sometimes amazed that we survive. Hard not to be depressed at times when you see bad things in the world. I wonder that everything hasn't fallen apart. For example, a judge in California recently decided that homosexual marriage is legal in that state. That is pretty bad - the people just clarified the law and gave common consent to the idea that marriage is man and woman. Everyone knows what marriage is and most people just want to play a game with the kids after work. I don't have energy to fight judges about the definition of marriage.

If one person can cause so much havoc then how do you resist it? I read Liberal Fascism and he gives a bunch of examples of how things got bad and how the fascist ideas keep coming back and reaching for power. They are always the same. But they don't quit. Mussolini, Wilson, Hitler, FDR, peaceniks. All on the same script.

Dennis Prager is sometimes pessimistic about the goodness of humanity. I am more optimistic than he is, believe it or not. He has a good example though. It takes 10,000 good drivers to keep traffic moving well and only one to mess the whole thing up.

So if one bad person can hurt so many then how do we survive? How can things be fixed or improved if no one cares? We had an election recently and the voter participation was somewhere around 5%. Almost no one voted. Trying to get people involved or to man volunteer booths is nearly impossible.

While reading Liberal Fascism I tried to think of a reason that they have failed in so many attempts to seize power. On one hand they have had a lot of success. I am not fond of most government programs. In my view both major parties have taken a steady march to the left and we have come a long way from the constitutional republic we started with. But on the other hand I think the struggle to get people involved shows the positive side of American political apathy. We just don't care enough to get excited. People prefer to watch football over attending political rallies. I think there is too much goodness and kindness to support fascist tendencies for long. Ruling your neighbors world takes to much effort. The elitist minority can't keep up the excitement long enough to fire the average Joe into socialist revolution. It seems to work in our favor somehow.

Liberal Fascism

I read Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg and I recommend it. It took a while to finish since he covers a lot of history but it is worth reading. I should write about it and some of the things I learned. I was amazed at how twisted historical view can be. It reminds me of all the college kids wearing Che t-shirts, thinking its cool. Goldberg even mentioned it in the book. He was a murderer, but I guess as long as you murder the right people....

May Day?

I missed May Day?

ah, bummer.   I heard a little about Earth Day but mostly that was the annoying commercials from all the corporations explaining what wonderful things they are doing for the environment.  They are wasting their money.  There are those of who don't expect a corporation to save the planet.  That's not their job.   And the rest don't think anything a corporation does is good.   For anyone, including the environment.  I read an article about how the real environmentalists have abandoned the holiday because it's been taken over by the man.  Sad, kinda like someone stole Christmas.  I almost feel bad for the socialists that can't support their holidays.  Maybe Earth Day and May Day are too close together?   Do they want a "holiday season" or is it like having your birthday on Dec 24th?   Not enough money or energy for both

Earth Day is on Lenin's birthday in case you forget next year.  Intentionally on his birthday. May Day is the pagan holiday squashed by Christians, and then revived by socialists (and re-adopted by pagans).   

Well in honor of all the lunatics I have some info on saving energy:  Blackle doesn't work.   It is a dumb idea.  The plan was to use Google but with a black screen to save energy.   It doesn't save energy (except on some CRTs).   I give you permission to laugh at anyone using blackle.  I love their explanation though.   "Well even if it doesn't work it is a good reminder to save energy."    I have a better idea.  Turn off your monitor when you aren't using it.   That will really save you some money.

here is some info on blackle and testing:

http://techlogg.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=360&Itemid=9

"It doesn't work but it is a good reminder" should be the slogan of environmentalist.  Nothing they do works.  Mostly because they are interested in power and not the environment but also because they have bad ideas.  Just look at their poster child, Al Gore.  He lies and gets a Nobel.  He's wrong but he is a good reminder. 

And Gore endorsed Obama.  Ha!  Just keep 'em coming.  Next endorsement he needs is John Kerry.   That poor guy.  (who's next?, Fidel, Kim Jong Il?) He is going to get wiped out by John McCain who is a weak candidate.  That's my prediction.  

Engrish humor

Time for a little Engrish humor. I hadn’t seen this for a while and they had all new signs so I started chuckling as I read it. Cumulative humor. By the end I was trying not to disturb my coworkers with laughter. So in honor of the Olympics here is some Chingrish:

http://www.engrish.com/category_index.php?category=CHINGLISH

Budget and taxes

Over 52 cents of every dollar spent on socialist programs like social security, welfare education etc .
42 cents of every dollar is spent on defense including veteran’s benefits and military debt interest and the Iraq war etc.
(Total is rounded out with roughly 5% on general government expenses)

We should cut federal spending in half by eliminating all socialist programs.

no recession

The economic growth has slowed but no recession.   Slowing growth does not equal receding economy

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080430/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy;_ylt=An9kXyTBXscIDOqSmXfMKJ6s0NUE

Obama's buddies

Obama’s voting record –most liberal of all?
http://nj.nationaljournal.com/voteratings/



Major General Rick Lynch
http://www.taskforcemarne.com/command-corner/19-command-profiles/45-major-general-rick-lynch

He has given some interesting interviews. Hugh Hewitt has transcript here
http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/talkradio/transcripts/Transcript.aspx?ContentGuid=2e0278ff-f379-47ed-85fa-bd7d374a0171


Michael Yon
The best source I have found for what is happening in Iraq
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?view=article&catid=53%3Ahunting-al-qaeda&id=351%3Ahunting-al-qaeda-part-iii-of-iii&option=com_content&Itemid=79

Who are Obama’s friends?

Most of the reviews of Obama’s associates come from partisan sites so you have to look past that but the list of his friends is pretty ugly. The list of his supporters is horrific although to be fair he can’t control that. It isn’t his fault that Hamas endorsed him. This thing is spreading and he has no answer for this crazies that he hangs out with. He is sunk.
A couple samples:
http://www.abovepolitics.com/forum/thread346223/pg1
http://www.redstate.com/stories/elections/2008/obama_ayers_and_wright

there are a lot more. Just do a search for Davis, Ayers, Wright, Obama and you can find some interesting stuff

-Michael

Why Vote for McCain?

Why Vote for McCain?

I don’t like John McCain. He isn’t conservative and he is wrong on so many issues. Those that support him say that he is the only republican that can beat Hillary or Obama. I wonder where that idea comes from. Who will support him against the democrats? If one had to vote for John or Hillary, who do you pick? What a horrible position to be in. That is the dream choice of leftist and socialists. The liberals would love to put conservatives in a position of choosing between the lesser of two evils. They forced that with Al Gore. Vote for Bush or you get a lunatic environmentalist moron. So Pres. Bush won. Conservatives don’t like McCain but liberals and “moderates” like him. Liberals and the press will push McCain and call him a hero and the front runner but who will they tout in the general election? Will they want a moderate socialist like McCain or a leftist socialist like Obama? They will just keep pushing left and select the biggest government candidate they can get. McCain will be their second choice.

If McCain does well then my ideas lose either way. I won’t vote him over Hillary. I don’t want him and I won’t run up his vote numbers to make it looks like he has some support. I am not voting against someone like Obama just because McCain is just a little better.

People that think McCain is a good candidate listen to MSM too much. They hold him up now and make it look like he has momentum and potential to win but they will dump him when put up against a democrat. For example, the New York Times endorsed John McCain. Will they endorse him over Hillary? No way. So what does their endorsement mean? It means that they want McCain to run against her so she can win. That defines him as the worst candidate to run against her, not the best. The idea that he is the only one to beat Obama or Hillary is completely backwards. With McCain conservatives will lose whether he becomes president or not.

global warming: reason for population control

Taxes on people to support the environment.

http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/187_11_031207/wal10921_fm.html

This is a scary article. Some people believe in their cause so fervently that they are willing to enforce it on others. Very much like medieval muslims spreading their religion by the sword, these doctors and scientists aren't concerned about your beliefs. Or like 19th century arrogant philosophers and utopians spreading false ideology of socialism, they think they are smart enough to control everyone. This is how it starts but where does it lead??

Of course, they deserve to make the rules because they are smarter than you are. And if their plan fails then the cause is only that they weren't given enough control over your life to make you do what was best for yourself and everyone else.

We have seen the results of this thinking before. Some obvious examples? Hitler - 10 million dead. Stalin - 20 million dead. Mao - 30 to 45 million dead (but who's counting, there are still too many Chinese people)

I remember hearing about population control when I was young. I was glad that it went away, for a while anyway. The scare-mongers thought everyone would starve to death if more babies were born. The population was going to explode! But they were wrong and people found ways to make more food than we could ever eat. So they are trying a new tactic: Go Green! Don't breath, don't eat, don't breed. Or everyone will die and you will be responsible. If you can't control yourself then we will make you pay. If that doesn't work, then we will begin "selective reduction" of the worst offenders, and maybe some people that just don't contribute to society anyway. If you don't have skills and abilities that can contribute to the solution then you are just a parasitic free-loader draining the earth's dwindling resources.

These ideas have been wrong for a hundred years and that hasn't changed. They have no right to control people, especially how many children one has. That is a basic human right. All people are children of God and should be treated with respect. To play with them as cattle is horrific. We can always use more people and we will always find better ways to clothe and feed them.

No updates

My job has kept me swamped. No energy or time to write. It may be a few more weeks

Oil Conspiracy - price fixing revealed

Powerful groups are working against America. Powermongers and lobbyists have conspired to push up oil prices. They have schemed to prevent new oil from coming to market. They have rallied around oil industry chokepoints and hindered all attempts to build new refineries. They have isolated oil rich areas, keeping them hidden and undeveloped in order to increase power of foreign oil.

But you can fight back against this dark mob.

Vote them out of Congress and elect people who understand economics

FICA Tax

I am sure you have looked at your paycheck and seen a large sum of money taken out as FICA tax. Ever wonder where it goes? Into the lockbox? Ever try to get it back on tax return? I haven't complained about socialism for a few posts so here it is. Social Security and Medicare are a scam. If this money was invested by the owners then they could all retire on their own. Instead it is stolen and then wasted.

-Michael


Comments and article sent to me from a friend.......

Missing from all of this is the concept that all Ponzi schemes mathematically fail given enough time. That is why they are illegal to set up and execute, unless of course you're the government. Then it's called a "program".
The term "trust fund" is also a misnomer, as it implies that there is money sitting in the fund with your name on it. Not until the very last sentence does the real picture begin to emerge - the "trust fund" is nothing more than a stack of government IOU's.
Anyone ever see the movie "Dumb and Dumber"? They found a suitcase full of cash, spent it and filled the suitcase with slips of paper that said IOU $XXX? The crook came back to get his money, and when he had them at gunpoint, the idiots explained, "All the money is there. These slips of paper are as good as money. See, this slip of paper is worth $250,000. You might want to hang onto that one."
It was funny because no one in their right mind would actually believe those slips of paper were money, even though the two idiots in the movie thought they were accounting for it all. But the government can make good in its IOU's. The problem is that when it does so, it hurts the economy either by inflating existing currency, or stealing wealth from the private sector, or both.
To raise the actual cash, the government must:
(1) Print more money - which is just another tax that depreciates the value of already existing dollars, but don't expect the report to say that.
(2) Raise taxes - self explanatory
(3) Cut spending - no necessarily "in other programs". Likely they'll legislate that payouts are less but are distributed over a longer time, though they can't also legislate that you live X years longer.
Most likely a combination of all three will be done. The Feds will also print more money since this is a proven method of bamboozling more money from the public without their knowledge. They will also raise taxes, and likely will cut spending from the program itself as described above.
And oh yeah - the Supreme Court has already ruled that you have no actual claim to this money. Kind of redefines the concept of a "trust fund". The money isn't really there, and it isn't really yours anyway. Ladies and gentlemen, this is "our social safety net".


Social Security, Medicare Trust Funds Sink

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer 57 minutes ago
The trust fund for Social Security will be depleted in 2040, a year before expected, and Medicare will exhaust its trust fund reserves just 12 years from now, trustees for the programs said Monday.
Their annual report showed deterioration in the financial condition of both of the government's two largest benefit programs.
A year ago, the depletion of the Social Security trust fund had been projected to occur in 2041 and the Medicare hospital insurance fund in 2020.
The trustees, who include the head of the Social Security Administration and three members of President Bush's Cabinet, painted a sober assessment of the health of the two programs in advance of the looming retirements of 78 million baby boomers.
"We do not believe the currently projected long-run growth rates of Social Security or Medicare are sustainable under current financing arrangements," the trustees said in this year's report.
Bush's efforts last year to overhaul Social Security went nowhere in Congress. Even members of his own party refused to support the benefit cuts that would have accompanied the establishment of private accounts for younger workers.
Treasury Secretary John Snow, who is the chairman of the trustees' panel, told a news conference that the country faced a "looming fiscal crisis as the baby boom generation moves into retirement." He said the administration stood ready to work with Congress to come up with a solution.
"The serious concerns raised by the trustees' reports demand the attention of America's policymakers and the public," Snow said.
Bush, facing bleak prospects for winning approval for any changes in an election year, called in his State of the Union address for creation of a bipartisan panel to study the issue and come up with recommendations, just the latest in a number of commissions that have examined the programs.
While the depletion of the reserves built up over past years is projected to occur in just 12 years for Medicare and 34 years for Social Security, both programs will face financing issues much sooner at the point that the amount paid out each year exceeds the amount the government collects to fund them.
For Medicare, that occurred for the year of 2004. However, the program is projected to be in the black again before crossing over to paying out more than it takes in again.
For Social Security, the point at which the program will pay out more in benefits than it takes in will occur in 2017, the trustees projected, the same as in last year's report.
The trust funds contain the equivalent of government IOUs. To raise the actual cash to meet obligations, the government must either borrow more money from the public by issuing marketable Treasury securities, raise taxes or cut spending in other programs.
___
Social Security: http://www.socialsecurity.gov
Medicare: http://www.cms.hhs.gov

Gas Price Investigation

Terry Goddard wants to begin investigation into high prices and gouging. Silly man, there is no suh thing as gouging. Price controls mean shortages. If something is cheap than people buy a lot. The cause of shortages is bad legislation. Poor government has created the problem. More ill government will not solve it.

Great column on opinionjournal.com about prices and the messed up republicans
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008286

We need to reduce gas taxes, open more drilling and build more refineries and eliminate the EPA to get rid of high prices.

Phoney AIDS crisis

You may have heard about an AIDS crisis in Africa. Like global warming it is not true

links in the article from aim.org

Steyn on nukes

Iranian president is a nut - or is it just me?

Mark Steyn wrote great column on Iranian nuclear strategy.

http://www.city-journal.org/html/16_2_iran.html
Back when nuclear weapons were an elite club of five relatively sane world powers, your average Western progressive was convinced the planet was about to go ka-boom any minute. The mushroom cloud was one of the most familiar images in the culture, a recurring feature of novels and album covers and movie posters. There were bestselling dystopian picture books for children, in which the handful of survivors spent their last days walking in a nuclear winter wonderland. Now a state openly committed to the annihilation of a neighboring nation has nukes, and we shrug: Can’t be helped. Just the way things are. One hears sophisticated arguments that perhaps the best thing is to let everyone get ’em, and then no one will use them. And if Iran’s head of state happens to threaten to wipe Israel off the map, we should understand that this is a rhetorical stylistic device that’s part of the Persian oral narrative tradition, and it would be a grossly Eurocentric misinterpretation to take it literally.

Kill him already

It is an embarassment and a violation of justice that Moussaoui hasn't been hung yet. He is an evil murderer. We have an obligation to kill him. It is a legal, Christian, patriotic, and humane duty.

Politics and blogs

FEC ruled that blogs will not be subject to all campaign laws. Aren't they kind to allow people to write what they want? Even if it contains political messages or endorsements they will only be restricted in terms of disclosure of finances. Ad payment will have to be dislosed, for example. Sen. McCain should be run out of the country for this violation of rights called Campaign Finance Reform. Maybe we should revive the practice of burning in effigy. What a slime. And of course he excluded the Indian Gambling where he gets millions of dollars.
But my real question is why? Why don't they regulate internet content? Some people want to. I am sure McCain will come up with a new law and the President will sign it. I think I know why they back away from trying to control political speech on the internet - because they can't. No one will care or listen. No one would obey such a stupid law. And you can't have mass violation of the rulings of government or the power of government would be undermined. They would rather back down and maintain illusion of supremacy.

May Day

Of course the illegal immigrants would plan a big march for May 1st. Because they are fools misled by communists and socialists.

Religious schools

From comments: The only alternatives are either private or home schooling. Private schools can be cost prohibitive for many families or depending on the community, the majority of the private schools can be of a different faith, which can be uncomfortable for some people. I don't know that I would send my kids to a Catholic or Baptist (or whatever) private school. I don't like home schooling either. So what is a parent like me to do?


See the problem? If someone isn't Catholic then they are not comfortable with idea of sending their kids to a catholic private school. Why then is it okay to send them to school where they are told there is no God? Maybe the obvious contrast is easier to correct and teach than the confusion of slightly different doctrines among churches. My children are young and mostly focused on basics like grammar and multiplication but even now there are getting reading assignments to test their comprehension that include political/moral statements. One involved a thief running away from the scene. Multiple choice answers led reader to conclude that you shouldn’t get involved and let the police handle it. That’s garbage. Another involved global warming and how people are destroying the world. My kids don’t believe that because I have taught them better. Another incident with a cousin: teacher contradicted student who stated belief that Adam and Eve were first people on the earth. It starts early. It can be corrected but why do we allow it to happen? They should be reinforcing Sunday school not opposing it. Education cannot be separated from religious teaching. All the real lessons are the moral ones. Why shouldn’t they cheat on tests? Why shouldn’t the biggest kid be first in line? Why sit quietly and respect the teacher?

What don’t you like about home schooling? Private schools don’t have to be expensive. If people could get their tax money back that goes to schools they could use that to pay tuition.

illegal immigration marches

Seeing marches of people waving Mexican flags and demanding so-called “rights” angers me. Did they learn this socialist garbage from the French riots?

Arizona legislature is considering resolution to make English official language of Arizona. I don't think this is a new law, just a resolution stating purpose and opinion. I didn’t think much of it at first. I would generally agree with critics that these things are a waste of time. All the recent marches show that such action is needed. All these illegals marching in the streets waving Mexican flags is just wrong. They should be rounded up and driven to the border. All the kids ditching school can have fun explaining that to their parents. "mom, can you come pick me up?"

The Arizona taxpayers have no responsibility to teach people English. People should pay for such services. I definitely don't want my property taxes going to school classes to teach such things. One more reason to have each parent right a check for their student's school tuition. If they want to pay someone to teach their children English that would be great.


Some might think it strange but I am in favor of guest worker programs. I think people should be allowed to come here to work. I have no problem with that. It helps everyone. Work is good. Socialist welfare is not.


Part II

The marches will gain nothing except the wrath of working Americans who don't really begrudge illegal immigrants as long as they do what they came here for: Work. Marching in the street for non-existent rights will back-fire.

Congress may notice large crowds now because they put on a show but they will get another message come election time from the millions who are too busy to march for their cause but will take the time to vote later. Elections will go against those who make concessions to non-voters. Illegal aliens shouldn't be surprised at being treated like "second-class citizens". They aren't even that. They are criminals.

What is all talk of immigration reform to protect immigrants rights? They have human rights because they are human but they don't have civil rights because they are illegal aliens. You can't kill them because that violates Christian principles but you can deport them. They can claim rights like those described in the Declaration of Independence: Life, Liberty and Property. But they don't have civil rights desccribed in Constitution because they are not citizens.



p.s. I am opposed to line item vetos

more on labor unions

Interesting article on unions. It is another in a series from Paul Weyrich trying to plot out strategy of next conservativism. He separates labor from union and says that we need to work with labor to help them keep good jobs with out sending union dues to causes that damage them.
here

Lead in to war

I am a better reader than a writer. I don’t think I can finish the essay I wanted to write on slavery. But I will tell you the theme and you can read some of the material below to see if you agree.

Slavery is bad. The founders of the country realized this and struggled with it. But something so pervasive in one region is hard to get rid of. Slavery was part of the debate in Constitutional convention. Several compromises were added. The goal was to limit the power of slave states and to contain the practice. They did not successfully solve the problem but instead decided it was best to have a country and get rid of slavery later rather than have slavery and no country. It was debated from day one but not fixed. They only succeeded in delaying the fight for generations.

As soon as was allowed by the new Constitution the Atlantic slave trade was stopped in 1808. There was a self-sustaining population of slaves, however. Slavery was abolished in the northern states and in the northwest territories. Problems were created as vast new territories were added to the US possessions. Each required a new compromise as to how slave issue was to be handled. Louisiana Purchase, Texas and California, later New Mexico and Utah Territories. As the population grew and spread new states were added to the union. Balance was maintained with various agreements so that national abolition laws could not be forced on states that allowed slaves. Missouri Compromise of 1820 seemed a good attempt at this. A north/south line was established but needed to be extended because of western expansion. It seems talking and compromise worked until about 1854 when Stephen Douglas tried to get the planed railroad connected from California to Chicago instead of St. Louis. He also wanted to be President. It was a bad idea with too much given up to slave owners. Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed Compromise of 1820 and created confusion as to future of slavery. Containment was destroyed and talks broke down. In theory, all open territories could have slaves.

Dred Scott case was finally decided in 1857 and was another blow to peace because the court gave opinion that not only was a slave not free just because owner had resided in a free state for years. Plus they added a few things. They wrote that slaves were not citizens and descendants of slaves could never be citizens. As non-citizens they had no right to bring suits to court. They declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. (Second time that ever happened, I read.) They basically said that all laws restricting slavery were not allowed. Slavery should be allowed everywhere. This got people upset of course. This is similar to the so called right to privacy. They just made it up.

Lincoln countered Douglas in his 1854 speech. Good speech, I will include a link below. Basically the fighting didn’t stop after 1854 and led right into the War Between the States. Bleeding Kansas, attack on Sumner in the Senate etc. With all this I'm not sure why the first shot is considered to be fired at Fort Sumpter in 1861. But after reading his speeches I can see why the slave states were so opposed to a Lincoln presidency.



These are some of the better websites I read. Not all are that great but you should read Lincoln’s speech about Kansas.

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=51

In no particular order
Bleeding Kansas http://www.assumption.edu/ahc/Kansas/
http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_slav.html
Rise of republican party http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/biography6text.html
Dred Scott http://www.gdg.org/Research/Causes/causes5.html
dissenting opinions http://www.hrcr.org/docs/US_Constitution/dscott4.html
impact of Dred Scott http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/scott/impact.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2933t.html african in america
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2933.html dred scott
http://www.mce.k12tn.net/civil_war/compromise_of_1850.htm
http://www.mce.k12tn.net/civil_war/kansasnebraska_act.htm
http://mattstodayinhistory.blogspot.com/
http://www.infoplease.com/timelines/slavery.html
http://blackhistory.harpweek.com/2Slavery/SlaveryLevelOne.htm
http://members.aol.com/digasa/dubois.htm war to preserve slavery

Immigration Law needs reform

Marches in support of immigration lately in LA and Phoenix are crazy. How can anyone support illegal aliens? What a stupid idea. And why was the march targeted at Senator Kyl? I wonder if it has anything to do with the senator’s re-election this fall? He is a much better leader than McCain. Why didn’t they march on him? I might have joined them. This is a political ploy to get the opposition excited about the election. And make the republicans waste a bunch of money on the campaign to keep him in office. They can’t beat Kyl because he does a good job but they can force spending millions here in strategic move for other elections.

We need to improve security at the border. My vote is to close the border. Here is what needs to be done to solve this problem. For a start anyway…

1. Eliminate social programs that bait people into entering the US
2. Make entering the US illegally a felony
3. Add a worker program
4. Revise 14th Amendment so that children of aliens and tourists are not automatically US citizens. The slavery question that this clause addressed is long past. Should read “All persons born to citizens or those naturalized in the United States….”

Missouri Compromise

I sent the following question to History According to Bob. Hopefully he will respond in his podcast (which I highly recommend).


I have a question about the Missouri Compromise and later actions taken to repeal it.

I read in the Dred Scott decision (1857) that Justice Taney declared the Missouri Compromise of 1820 unconstitutional. Odd that, and wasn't it already repealed because of the Kansas- Nebraska Act (1854)? And the Compromise of 1850 appears to negate most of the 1820 Compromise. The deal struck in 1820 seems the best of them to me. Situations change but why go back and destroy what seemed a good idea? Doesn't seem like the best compromise is to throw out all the last compromises that have kept the peace.

Do you have a podcast on this or book to suggest on the topic?

Government schools not religiously neutral

Should government education continue? Is government education beneficial? Is government education allowed according to powers granted to government in Constitution?
Education is good. Everyone agrees on that. Quote from Washington:

"Promote then as an object of primary importance, Institutions
for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the
structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is
essential that public opinion should be enlightened. "

-- George Washington (Farewell Address, 19 September 1796)

I know some people think these organizations are crazy but I agree with stance taken by ExodusMandate.org on education. They say Christians have mandate to leave government schools. They refute argument that children need to be an example to the world. That is more the job of the adults.

Be a light? Salt of the earth? Yes, but only in cases where the children are not in danger. The Christians sending their children to government school are assuming the education they receive is religiously neutral. Something along the lines of the Freedom of Religion or "Let all worship according to the dictates of their own conscience". Government school is not religiously neutral. It is godless, humanistic, pagan by design. Most children not yet ready for that environment and that challenge. Would the same parents send their children to Jehovah’s Witness or Unitarian Sunday school for their religious teaching? That would be spiritually forbidden and morally irresponsible.

Socialism makes people worse

Ah, the French.
They are a like a crystal ball, letting us see our future if we try to act like them. What a disaster. They are rioting again because the country is falling apart and someone expects them to work. Economic cannabalism. They believe the myth that they can all support themselves off the labor of others. Legal plunder gone mad where everyone spends the whole day stealing from others pockets.
Go get a job!

Okay, that is my rant. Inspired by Dennis Prager's latest writings about the riots over at Real Clear Politics. (thanks Ross)

And it is time again for a plug of the greatest book written about socialism, from a frenchman no less, "The Law" by Frederic Bastiat. It is short - Read it.

And now I will accept submission of French Jokes.

such as......
(from purepolitics.com)



Why did the French Army cross the road?
The road just happen to be in the path of their retreat.

What do you call a french woman who sleeps with every man she meets?
Married.

And why are French streets tree lined?
So the Germans can march in the shade.

How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris?
No one knows. It's never been tried.

What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up?
The army.

How many gears does a French tank have?
Five, four in reverse and one forward (in case of attack from behind).

How do you identify a French soldier?
Sunburned armpits

What do you call someone in France taking a bath?
A tourist

FOR SALE: French rifles . . . never fired, only dropped once.




p.s. another good one about french youth from Investor Bus. Daily
I had to add this because I love the last line comparing French and American systems:

Why the big difference? The U.S. system is based on the realities of economics, not the delusions of socialist policymakers who dream up nonexistent rights and believe that labor and risk should not be required to achieve comfort and security.

Amen

Katrina and gun control

Good articles on NCPA on Katrina and unlawful gun control during that time of crisis. Ask you lawmakers to protect your rights so they don't try this again during the next emergency.

http://www.ncpa.org/newdpd/dpdarticle.php?article_id=3064

"New Orleans was the first city in American history to disarm peaceable American citizens door to door at gunpoint, says NRA Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre, and it must be the last."

Gilbert Constitution Week

Gilbert Constitution Week
September 11 – 17 Lots of volunteers, sponsors and promoters needed.
Highland High School Gilbert, Arizona

Great lessons the whole week. Theme will be centered on celebration of Benjamin Franklin’s 300th birthday. Statesman, revolutionary, scientist, inventor, writer, printer, diplomat

Website needs an update but mark it so you can come back for updates.

I read the First American by H. W. Brands which was good. A lot of great quotes are attributed to him, whether he thought of them or just wrote them all down I don’t know. My latest favorite is:

Better to go to sleep supperless than to wake up in debt.

Crayons, snacks ... & HIV

Aids talk in Kindergarten

Your government schools in action. They decide what your little children need to know about (homo)sexually transmitted diseases.

Author Tom Bethell writes in his book, “Politically Incorrect Guide to Science” that there is no AIDS epidemic, not even in Africa.

Here is the news article about New York schools.

The party of smaller government?

Smaller government? Not a chance – Republicans are a long way off from Reagan’s view when he said that government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem. (I rip on republicans because democrats are a lost cause)

Charleton Heston said

It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. David Hume, the great Scottish philosopher, said that. I am a Scot myself. He was bloody right. For more than half a century, the shining Republic created by the blood of the Continental Army and a few great men has been nearly nibbled to death by the Democratic ducks in the Congress and a warmly cooperative Supreme Court.

There is now no aspect of American life, public or private, that the federal government does not invade, instruct and finally coerce to its will. Farm and factory, home and school, university and research center, club and playground-all are overlaid with a spidery network of laws, guidelines, restrictions and Draconian penalties that stifle the spirit, the energy, the creative capacity of what was once the freest nation on earth. In this hemisphere, now that Ortega and Noriega have fallen, the collectivists' sentiments discredited around the world fly best, I fear, in Cuba and Washington, D.C.

Of course, government is the problem. The armies of bureaucrats proliferating like gerbils, scurrying like lemmings in pursuit of the ever-expanding federal agenda testify to that amply. Tom Jefferson, the only genius we ever had, said that government is best which governs least. I am amazed you Democrats are still comfortable with Mr. Jefferson as your designated logo.

From AIM.org

Republicans have controlled the House for over a decade and the Senate for much of that time. The White House has been in Republican hands for six years. During the last decade Federal Government spending rose by 49% to nearly $2.5 trillion (FY 2005). The debt is now $8.2 trillion, an increase of two-thirds since 1995, when it stood at $4.9 trillion.

You likely did see a small note in news reports last week that Secretary Snow warned the government that they were going to run out of cash. They had reached the debt limits set in law. A friend sent me an email about it.

You can read the story here on yahoo

They approved the debt allowance even quicker than I thought. Not even time to call your representative to give him your views on the debt. New debt ceiling is $9 trillion. They should be knocking on that in less than a year at the rate they are going. No talk of actually stopping the spending. These guys are out of control.

Neil’s comment:

If government services weren't provided at the barrel of a gun, there would be market feedback to set the price of their services at an appropriate level. People would either abandon them for other service providers, or that gubmint function would go in the red and go out of business (ideally). This type of behavior can't go on forever. There's either going to be overt increases in taxation and the problems that causes (black market avoidance of taxation and capital flight) or continued monetization of the debt which will lead to hyperinflation. Either way, giving the junkies more junk is not a healthy response.

Democracy is not Freedom

I get tired of hearing about democracy. There aren't many good examples of democracy. Try to think of one and let me know. There are lots of bad ones. Mob rule. I thought I had written about it but couldn't find it. So I will add links to two articles that can explain it better than I.

Republic v. Democracy by David Barton

Democracy Is Not Freedom by Ron Paul

Gilbert Bonds

I hate debt. I hate bonds. I can't believe the town voted for this. Very dumb idea. Embarassing that we couldn't get more than 1292 people to vote against this thing.

$75 million in Bonds for streets

TOWN OF GILBERT
QUESTION 1 - STREET HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT
100% (20 of 20) precincts reporting

VOTES FOR THE BONDS
3379 72.34%

AGAINST THE BONDS
1292 27.66%

Only a total of 4671 people out of 150,000 residents voted in the bond question. An amazing 3 percent. 3379 voted for the bonds. So Gilbert will now spend $75 million on streets. 3379 people spent 75 million dollars. That’s $22,195 a head. I wonder if those people would just mortgage their own house to buy the roads instead.

Reading Applied Economics

I am reading Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One by Thomas Sowell which has excellent insight on politics and economics. Not finished yet but I can recommend it already.

Political Correctness from Neil

got an email from a friend that made me laugh. From a conversation about the 71 yr old teacher who became a "her" and was upset that some parents rejected the idea of it returning to the classroom.


Self sexual mutillation is exalted, but the sexual mutillation that African tribes perform on their women is disdained by tolerant liberals as misogynistic, even under multiculturalism. It's so hard to keep track of victimhood rankings status these days. Meanwhile, PETA disdains neutering animals, but the statists at the humane society and animal control offices do it pre-emptively to anyone whose pet "rat is a pig is a dog is a boy" falls into their clutches. What's a tax paying unit to do?

"Today we are going to display some body piercing "art" at show and tell..."

The non-awards

Top ten grossing movies of 2005 according to boxofficemojo

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
War of the Worlds
King Kong
Wedding Crashers
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Batman Begins
Madagascar
Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Dominate theme seems to be good vs. evil. Mostly aimed at families; 5 marketed to kids. Only 1 R-rated movie made the list.

Lesser of two evils

If the presedential election was between Hillary Clinton and Fidel Castro, who would you vote for?

no minimum wage increase

I was listening to Dave Ramsey and a caller asked why the government hasn't raised the minimum wage. Very funny. Because it hurts poor people. Because it damages economic structure. Because it is a dumb idea. Dave said the minimum wage is using the force of government to make your employer pay you more than what you can convince him to pay you.

Better to ask for a raise after proving good skills and performance. It is better to get an improved job. There are a million better ways to improve life and make more money than the government forces emplyers to pay.

Minimum wage is related to the false poverty level. You can set them anywhere you want. Make the minimum wage $20 an hour but then poverty level will be set at comparible level by the welfare agencies to hand out the generosity of better workers. Somewhere around $45,000 a year. And milk and bread will cost 4 times as much.

You can't succeed by forcing someone to give you something you haven't earned. That is theft

Forced abortions in Holland?

Alderman Marianne van den Anker has proposed forced abortions in certain conditions in Holland. Another abomination I read about today. And we thought only China would do something like this. She thinks it is better in cases were mothers are on welfare and HIV positive, mentally damaged rape victims etc not just anytime, of course. Also children of Aruban and Antilles gangs. Yep, thats compassionate. What a monster. I guess she expressed frustration that people were twisting her words. She was trying to help people.

"It's for your own good."

Right to Mobility

I have another rash of commercials lately for mobility devices primarily for the elderly. Scooters, power chairs, they have a lot of names. The commercials and the concept is very annoying.

It must be a pretty good scam because it has been going for years and more people are getting into it. Sucker the elderly into demanding a product or service for which others will pay. With all the future retirees I don't see this going away any time soon.

People have forgotten what "rights" mean. They must be baffled by civil rights, human rights and minority rights and all such nonsense. There is no such thing as civil rights. Silly words for an obscure concept. Using language like this for a product is absurd. "regain your right to mobility" "restore your freedom and independence" How about paying for it out of your own pocket!? All these companies advertise that the scooters are free because the government will pay for them. Well, that means that I am paying for them. Guess what? I don't want to. You force me pay. That is evil. Of course my beliefs in rights prevents from me retaliation.

I will have to write another post on definition of rights. But in short....It is something universal, extending to all, that cannot be granted or taken away. Mobility is not a right. Freedom on the dime of someone else is not liberty. Indepedence in terms of free scooters is not a right. You have a right to live. To protect that right you should avoid government care. I read this morning about the people killed in New Orleans after the hurricane. Many patients were given lethal doses of painkillers so the "caregivers" could evacuate to safety. Very nice. Ah, but who cares? They are just a drag on the socialist system, right? Lived past their usefulness? What monsters. Socialists pretend to care and offer all the benefits of a more advanced civilization but they lie and they kill.

I won't buy you a scooter but I would never kill you. I would never abandon a loved one to the control of others. My mom and dad would always be welcome at my house.

Unions stink

What is the purpose of unions? They are worthless, corrupt and a waste. They may have served a purpose in the past. I was surprised to read Ronald Reagan speak so highly of them. They resemble communists. Why are they still around? Why do people still pay them dues? They don't guarantee good work or results.

unforeseen consequences

do-gooders. I don't think Woodrow Wilson was evil but a lot of bad things happened while he was president. Complex systems should not be strictly controlled. Especially when they have controls built into them, like a market. I have also complained about the 17th amendment before which greatly disrupts control of Senators and representative government. Senators should not be elected by the people.

American Minute
with Bill Federer
December 28

He thought tariff taxes between countries caused wars, so he worked to replace them the Income Tax. Four years later the United States entered World War I.
After the financial Panic of 1907, he promoted the Federal Reserve Act to prevent future national economic disasters. Eight years after he left office the Great Depression began.

His name was Woodrow Wilson, born this day, December 28, 1856.
While serving as the twenty-eighth President, he married Edith Bolling Galt, a descendant of Pocahontas. His administration saw the completion of Panama Canal, begun under President Theodore Roosevelt, and the purchase of the Virgin Islands from Denmark.

During World War I, in May of 1918, he proclaimed: "I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim...a day of public humiliation, prayer and fasting, and do exhort my fellow-citizens of all faiths and creeds to assemble on that day in their several places of worship and in their homes, to pray Almighty God that He may forgive our sins and shortcomings as a people and purify our hearts to see and love the truth... beseeching Him that He will give victory to our armies as they fight for freedom."
___www.AmericanMinute.com
P.O. Box 20163,
St. Louis, MO 63123
1-888-USA-WORD

President Bush giving away the country

Remember when everyone got mad at Pres. Clinton for giving secrets to the Chinese? Pres Bush approved technology transfer to the Chinese. Why do they do this? I think it is very ignorant.

Michael Savage was upset about security on the way home from work today. Why are we selling commercial U.S. port operations in Baltimore, Miami, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia to UNited Arab Emirates? Because Pres. Bush thinks they are important War on Terror?

(What happens if someone keeps attacking us when we turn around? Are we going to have a War on Back Stabbers?)

p.s. I think Exxon should get an award for the highest profits. Bravo. They are successful. They should get a trophy that they can keep until someone can beat them and make more money.

Gilbert elections and county islands

Vote no on the bonds.
Vote no! Vote no!
Gilbert Bond election March 14 2006.
I am amazed that people will vote for higher taxes. Its crazy but the bond issues always pass. I am sure this one will too. Another $75 million in debt. I was ripping on Queen Creek in an earlier post for their terrible roads. Roads are good to have but bonds are the worst way to pay for them. Why put the whole town in debt? Question of street improvements? Vote no. The roads will have to be replaced before the bonds are even paid off. Stupid idea.

Leave the county islands alone. People like that situation. Town of Gilbert is just looking for more revenue by annexing residents and scaring them by denying them emergency services. I don't know Rural Metro's part in this. They are business so it can't be just turning down customers for them. Very sad.

News items

News Items

Some of these are old since I haven’t written for a while but here are some important stories and my comments

Walmart vs. Maryland or Walmart and health coverage
Why does government think they have an ability to determine how a corporation spends it profits? A state is forcing a company to spend more money on health care for its employees. Absurd. This must be rejected. If allowed this will not end. Right now the limitation is companies with more than 10,000 employees. Why? No reason. This is an arbitrary number because some person hates Walmart. Why only 7% or 8% of profits on health benefits? No reason. Because it doesn't sound outrageous. In a few years every state will require every company to spend 65% of its money on health insurance and benefits just like the federal does with its budget. Do you think someone will question the rationale then?

Coal miners and nuclear energy
Sad that people died. Why don't we have more nuke plants so we don't need so much coal and oil? Because people are afraid of things like stupid movies with Jane Fonda that show nuclear near misses. BTW America still has the best safety record for mining. Proof that we care about people more than money.

Chinese competition
Is Chinese our competetitor? They are winning in one area but we are catching up fast. That is the race to bad government and excessive bureaucracy. They had a huge head start with the Great Leap Forward but we have George Bush.
Regarding manufacturing: clarification is needed in debate because we may be losing jobs but we are not losing manufacturing. America produces more than ever but much is automated. Effeciency gains means less people are needed. That is a good thing. But people need jobs. Sure but that is not a reason to hold back on effeciency and productivity. I heard an example that illustrates the situation. America produces far more food now with less farmers (less than 1% of population?) in 2006 than we did in 1906 when 30 or 40% of people were involved in agriculture. Why? Automation. Did America crumble because of changes in farm equipment?

Muslims and cartoons
Religion of peace rioting over a cartoon. Get a sense a humor. Freedom of religion does not include rioting in my book. If they try that here they should be shot. Best commentary I heard was from Ann Coulter.

p.s. minimum wage laws hurt the poorest the mostest

Build your own roads

Build your own roads
Traffic in Queen Creek is horrible.  I won’t describe geography or growth statistics that have made the problem in this corner of Arizona unbelievably bad. The Mayor of Queen Creek isn’t taking prompt action to improve roads but is asking the county to improve the roads in the nearby area.  Build your own roads.  Pinal County doesn’t have a magic pot of gold to pay for road building.  Pinal County needs to improve roads in the county.  The towns need to improve roads in incorporated areas.  Transferring these costs up to the county or state (or federal government) solves nothing because it is a form of socialism.  
Pinal County can’t put all its resources in Queen Creek.  Coolidge and Florence and Casa Grande are also begging for money.  Why pretend to steal money from the county as though it won’t raise taxes?  And then you pay for it anyway.  Build your own roads.  You can’t live off everyone else.  

Medved sells out?

Medved sells out?
I heard a few minutes of Michael Medved’s radio show yesterday when he spoke about hybrid vehicles.  Interesting ideas but I was disappointed by him again.  He said one of the selling points was the $3,000 tax break.  You get money from the government for buying the car.  Government wants to promote alternatives to gas-fueled cars.  Good for the environment?  Socially conscious?  No, vile socialism! and behavior control.  We the people must be self-governed.  Don’t sell out for $3,000.   Medved said he has principles but he isn’t stupid.  He disagrees with the tax law but isn’t stupid enough to turn it down.  

I understand what he means.  I get a tax credit for my child.  Should I turn it down on principle because it requires me to enroll my child in Social Security, ensuring that my children can never work in this country without the government taking what wages they want in withholdings?  

Are Medved’s principles worth $3000?  Phrase it in the language of Bastiat – I know the law is illegal but I will plunder $3000 from my fellow citizens.  Everyone claims to have the advantage, living off of everyone else.  The government does not have $3000 to give him without taking it from me.  I can gain nothing through the government without taking it by force from someone else.  In fact, we are taking money from our children and grandchildren because the country is so many trillions of dollars in debt.   It is all legal theft.  Might as well steal from others because they are stealing from you.  

A new budget

A new budget
We have a new budget for 2006.   The government will spend over $2.5 trillion dollars. They will confiscate nearly $2.2 trillion in taxes.   They plan to spend $390 billion more than they make.  That deficit will be 3% of GDP for this year.  Over 60% of the budget is spent on socialist programs.  No way you can argue we are not a socialist country.  It is taking from one to give to another – legal theft.   When you look at the numbers it is amazing what a low percentage goes to military and defense.  Social Security and Medicare are continuing to ruin the country.  

Budget surplus?

Budget surplus?

The legislature is going to decide how to spend the $700 million surplus. How about using it to pay for part of the $1,000,000 shortfall they had last year for spending too much? I think the state is still $300,000 in the red

Morgan Freeman on Black History Month

I recall thinking Black History Month was silly when I was in school. Of course saying so is "racist". So I am glad Morgan Freeman says we can help by stop talking about it

link to article and video

Bogle

I heard a review of “The Soul of Capitalism” by John Bogle on a podcast (Constitution hour I think). He was complaining about morality justice of CEO salaries. As though he owned the company. You have no say. Who cares what money they make? Don't buy their products. He claimed it was obscene compensation and that the people were looting. Fine, then fire them. Oh you can't. Don't work for the company. Don't buy their products if you want to protest. Keep your socialist government out of business.

Government Schools

I think government schools are a bad idea. I can think of much better ways to educate children. They seem to be obvious but many are opposed to them and state control of school has nearly unanimous support.
I like home schooling. No one is better suited to teach a child than its mother. Mothers do not cease to teach and educate their children from birth to a period extending beyond teenage years. The reasons given to turn this education over to others are pretty shallow. There is one good reason. Moms give their kids to specialists who will teach their children things that they do not know. That is a great sign of progression in the family. A daughter learning to play piano from an instructor because a parent cannot teach it is acceptable, for example. Advanced education will be difficult for a parent to provide (examples: calculus, quantum physics). So let’s limit this discussion to elementary school.

What is the purpose of school for children? Why does a mother turn her young child over to others for many hours to educate them? What are they supposed to learn? Why is home schooling a bad idea?

The main accusation against home schooling refers in some way to a lack of socialization. The first complaint is that the bulk of socialization received is very poor. I don't want my kids to act like those kids.

Pooling of resources
Worthless. A joke. See my posts on socialism. Don't force me to give my money for education at gunpoint (taxes!)

This was a comment I received after writing about the bad quality of government schools.

"And yet, despite (I'm assuming) your government education your entire life, you turned out okay."

Yes, children and society are resilient. Family and church help a great deal. I survived in spite of public schools not because of them. Homeschoolers consistently outperform public school education. It is not a drain on the system and doesn't crowd school buildings but instead of encouraging it, government fights against it because they control. The goal is controlled submissive kids, not smarter kids

Random Topics

My friend, Kevin, called and wanted to give me some blog topics. No time to write now but here is the summary:

Patriot Act – I have mixed feelings on this. It could be re-written I suppose to be safe but as it is gives government too many powers. It needs to define exactly what police and intelligence agencies may do and restrict all else.

Christmas – Say Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays

Drilling in ANWR – Do it! The arctic desert isn’t going to care. I want the cheap oil that isn’t coming from islamists.

Pres. Bush and wiretaps

I wrote some comments about secret wiretaps on Small Green World

Specialization is for insects

quote from Robert Heinlein

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

supposedly from "Excerpts from the Notebooks of Lazarus Long" I didn't verify

Atmospheric changes

Atmospheric changes
I watched various discover channel shows recently. Someone commented on the size of plants and animals. It was unknown why everything was so big in the fossil record. The largest dragon flies now are about 20 centimeters. The largest in fossil record are 75 centimeters. That is more than 3 times increase in size. I don’t know anything about the behavior of the old dragonflies but assuming they are similar to dragonflies we see now they flew and hunted prey. That requires some speed and agility. Their bodies appear similar. If their flight patterns were the same and body construction was the same then it should require a different environment to allow the larger size. I wouldn’t expect a 75 centimeter dragonfly to be able to turn or sprint like a smaller dragonfly. Mass to lift ratios don’t match. Nature’s design appears to limit size. Although bird construction is very light there is a limit to the size of birds. Condors and vultures are the largest. I remember the old nature shows which would show these birds struggling to take flight after eating because they had reached their weight limit. Yet these are dwarfed by flying dinosaurs called pteranodons or pterasaurs. Some of these had wingspans of more than 35 feet. Again more than 3 times what we have today. Scientists agree that the designs could glide but debate about how they would have become airborne.

My guess is that the atmosphere was 3 times as dense as it is today. There must have been changes in the atmosphere. The size of dragonflies should be optimized for prey and environment. They would not have grown so large if flight was hindered. Fossils don’t seem to show structural differences to decrease weight or improve flight. The air must have been thicker to allow lift/buoyancy required.

I thought about it and did a search and found that some people have put a lot more effort into this.
http://www.levenspiel.com/octave/dinosaur1.htm

Death Penalty stuff

I pulled comments from Federalist Patriot who quoted Jeff Jacoby on the death penalty. I imagine it was inspired by Williams the gangster's excecution. This is for the benefit of the silly protestors who don't understand justice and the value of life. "When murderers keep their lives, human blood is cheapened. That is why reverence for life and capital punishment belong to the same ethical tradition."


"No passage in the Bible—Old or New Testament—disapproves of the death penalty... The penalty for those who violate 'You shall not murder' (Exodus 20:13) is made explicit just a few lines later: 'Whoever strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death' (Exodus 21:12). The text goes on to specify that this applies only to deliberate murder, not unintentional killing. Accidents are not capital crimes. But for a willful killer, there can be no sanctuary: 'Take him even from My altar and put him death' (Exodus 21:14). Similar declarations appear in all five books of Moses, nowhere more dramatically or universally than in Genesis. Speaking to Noah after the Flood, God enjoins him—and through him, all of human society—to affirm the sanctity of human life by making murderers pay the ultimate price for their crime. 'Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has man been made' (Genesis 9:6)... Scripture could hardly be more explicit... When murderers keep their lives, human blood is cheapened. That is why reverence for life and capital punishment belong to the same ethical tradition. Civilized communities have not only the right but the responsibility to execute murderers. It may be a difficult responsibility to carry out. It may involve an assertion of moral authority that modern thinkers condemn. But easy or not, popular or not, the duty is ours to perform. The protection of human life is a grave obligation—never more so than when it involves taking a life away." —Jeff Jacoby

Rachel Carson is a fraud

Before I begin -
I only write things when I get excited or mad so this blog represents the loudest of my opinions. I realize that sometimes it may sound crazy. There are lots of things that are correct but don't sound right without proper introduction. But I usually only login and type when there is something more interesting than a million other distractions.
-

As for Rachel Carson, I don't know a lot about her. I don't really care. I would never read her book because I think it is stupid. I described her and other environmentalist as human-hating creeps. I think they are. Or they just use it to make money and get power. The results are terrible and I think the motives are worse.

I thought the article that Mel shared was interesting, informative. But far too diplomatic for the damage that is done in countries plagued with malaria and other diseases. Steve Milloy has assembled a report here. Milloy's death clock estimates that 90 million people have died since malaria was banned.
Some statements from the Reason article are good

-"effects of DDT on wildlife, especially birds, still vexes researchers." Eggshell thinning is shown to be a fraud.
-"Carson improperly cited cases of acute exposures"
- "Carson’s statistic is essentially meaningless unless it’s given some context, which she failed to supply. It turns out that the percentage of children dying of cancer was rising because other causes of death, such as infectious diseases, were drastically declining."
-In fact, cancer rates in children have not increased
-Meanwhile, Carson’s disciples have managed to persuade many poor countries to stop using DDT against mosquitoes. The result has been an enormous increase in the number of people dying of malaria each year. Today malaria infects between 300 million and 500 million people annually, killing as many 2.7 million of them
-the legacy of Rachel Carson is more troubling than her admirers will acknowledge.


Article from Front Page illustrates some of the damage done by banning the chemical. Poor people die from diseases that are easy to eradicate. For example

"Malaria keeps Africa down, and down is where the rest of the world wants us to be. If this was a disease of the West, it would be gone," Mamadou Kasse, medical editor of Senegal's largest newspaper, Le Soleil, told Atlantic Monthly's Ellen Ruppel Shell for her August 1997 article, "Resurgence of a Deadly Disease."
If Carson's crusaders are really concerned about saving lives and helping developing countries, then must allow DDT to be used without repercussions.
"Malaria kills a few million every year; each life lost is a potential Mandela, Shakespeare, or Edison, and nothing is less reversible than death, nor more tragic than the death of a child," Dr. Roger Bate said. "Hundreds of millions suffer chronic illness, which creates a painful economic burden and perpetuates poverty. This may not be the intention of those who are debating a DDT ban, but it surely will be the outcome."
If that is not enough to convince them, Carson's crusaders should realize that their actions against DDT might eventually boomerang.
"[B]anning DDT worldwide is beyond ignorance, it is just plain stupid," Koenig said. "[Although m]alaria still is prevalent in the countries in the equatorial regions . [it] is only a matter of time, a short time, before we see these diseases again in the regions between the tropics and the poles."
Until that time comes, the malaria plague seems to be off the public radar. However, let there be no mistake: Rachel Carson and the worldwide environmentalist movement are responsbile for perpetuating an ecological genocide that has claimed the lives of millions of young, poor, striving African men, women and children, killed by preventable diseases.

I saw a headline from Milloy that people want to name a bridge in Pennsylvania after her. Her picture is on the wall at Bookman's. The Reason article said her book is the most influential of the last 50 years. So how does a person like this get a bridge named after her? One could argue she is responsible for more deaths than Hitler. (How is that for sensationalist?)

Response to Katrina

I thought I had previously posted a link to this article. Couldn't find it so here it is again. Author questions the response to Katrina from the government. If their goal was other than helping (like grabbing power) than they did pretty well.

Government did not fail

Communism vs. capitalism

Was it communism vs. capitalism in the Cold War? Joe says no. He writes about license and freedom. Very good and short

Topics

I have topics adding up again but not enough thought to finish a post.

Penicillin and DDT
Reading “Brave new world Revisited”. Huxley was speaking of overpopulation, on which he was dead wrong (along with Ehrlich and others) and said that advances in medicine and technology such as DDT and penicillin were saving so many lives that it was creating a population crisis. Interesting. I bet DDT saved more lives than penicillin ever has. Probably why the human-hating creeps like Rachel Carson wanted it banned.

Declaration of Independence
I would like to finish part II of what I wrote. I was comparing King George and the Brits to Pres. George and the DC bureaucrats. Americans had less taxes and more representation under the King.

Government School
I really don't like government schools. Waste of time and resources. I tire of explaining it. Hard to keep energy up in that fight. Too many people trying valiantly to save the monster.

More disgust with Katrina and the welfare

No good Arizona governor candidates

Individuals vs. collectives I think collectivism of any sort is evil :)

So many topics to write on........

Medicaid is welfare

New article from NCPA.org

Medicaid, the joint federal-state health program for the poor, is a welfare
program, says health policy expert Merrill Matthews. "So why isn't the goal to
get people off the Medicaid rolls and into private-sector insurance?"

Cracked me up when I read this - have to remind people that these socialist programs are welfare.