Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-39D: Stupid is as stupid does

Posted on 2013-10-10 by TPOL Nathan

Politics 2013: Shutdown – Theft by government
NIH Stops Therapy Dogs From Visiting Sick Children
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Of course, this is NOT “essential” because it is NOT the FedGov’s responsibility to do this – but again, don’t you think that someone might have been willing to do this without pay, “for the chillun’s sake?”

Politics 2013: Shutdown – Theft by government
‘Shutdown’ Day 7: Government Buys $47,174 Mechanical Bull
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Oh, yes, of COURSE this is essential: safety training and all that.  Never mind the couple that almost died in the desert when they were cast out of Big Bend National Park in Texas last week – that isn’t about safety like mechanical bulls are.

Politics 2013: Shutdown – Theft by goverment
Roll Over Plan: Treasury Needed to Pay Off Record $7.5T in Maturing Debt in FY 2013, Issued $8.3T New Debt; Increased Net Debt $777B
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Funny, I thought that there had been no new debt for the last six or nine months, yet here we see $777,000,000,000 NEW net debt?  Not only are they not telling us the truth, they are not playing with a full deck.

The “messiah’s” minions
HHS Secretary Goes on Comedy Show to Defend Obamacare Dysfunction
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Well, the venue is appropriate – if you like black comedy.  The entire nation is one big joke today.

Politics 2013: Shutdown – Theft by government
Obama Says He’s Willing to Negotiate, As Soon As Republicans Do What He Wants
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Hmm.  Channeling a whole bunch of folks now: Nero, Caesar, Napoleon, Onkel Adolph, Uncle Joe – oh, and don’t forget Abe Lincoln and FDR.  This is practice for when he pulls off the velvet gloves and we all see the mail-armored fists.

The “messiah’s” minions – Theft by government – IRS Thugs
IG That Watchdogs IRS–And Uncovered Targeting of Tea Party–‘Shut Down’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Definitely not essential.  We know HIS answer to “who watches the watchers?”  NOBODY.

Abominable Act – The “messiah”
WH: We Will Release Obamacare Enrollment Data on Monthly Basis
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Of course you will – after all, you are the most transparent administration in world history – indeed, in the history of the universe.  We know about every hole of every golf course and every vacation day and stop and what you have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and where she buys her dresses and where the kids go on vacation (all at our expense).  And we know all about how you stripped off your dress suit and leaped across the Atlantic in your supersuit to get Osama and to slay the dragon.  So I am sure we will know exactly who enrolled – even if they didn’t.

Politics 2013: Shutdown – Theft by government
Let’s Move? Park Police: ‘It’s Against Law’ to Use Mt. Vernon Trail
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: And the trails at Valley Forge, even if the parking lot isn’t blocked.  Of course, that is $100 to offset the budget deficit, right?  Just as it is illegal to walk across federal property to get to a private business, whether on private land or on a long-term lease for which they paid through the nose.

New religions – Culture wars
National Cathedral Leader: ‘Homophobia’ a Sin; Same-Sex Marriages Will Be Performed
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: No doubt from the Orange Catholic Bible, new “messiah” edition.  Sorry, don’t really mean to dis Frank Herbert’s great novel, but it was the first thought that popped into my head.  The NC is Episcopalian, of course, which used to be the same as Anglican, but isn’t any more, as a lot of “Anglican” priests and parishioners have decided that enough is enough and they are tired of trashing (and ignoring) the real Bible.

Stupid people tricks – Hoplophobes
Newtown residents vote to tear down Sandy Hook, build new school on the same site
(Guns.com) In the greatest voter turnout since the 2008 presidential election, the overwhelming majority – nearly 90 percent – voted to spend over $49 million in state funds to demolish the school and rebuild it on the existing site.

Mama’s Note: Well, how about that. They all voted to spend other people’s money… lots of it. 90%… of what? Not the state taxpayers, just the thieves in Newtown.

Nathan: What, they are building on that bloody ground?  Not a new location, demolishing two or three dozen homes and adding another $11 million or so?  What pikers!  The essence of welfare, for this rich community.  And the insanity of the once free State, and its legislature, to do this for sentimentality?

The “messiah” – Stupid government: The Shutdown
Obama to GOP: ‘I Will Talk about Anything’ If You Pass a Clean CR, Debt Ceiling Bill
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Sounds reasonable, doesn’t he?  Like ANY tyrant, do it my way and I’ll be nice, listen to you, and even talk back nicely.  Just, do it MY way.

Mama’s Note: Sure, exactly as “reasonable” as the rapist who says, “don’t make me hurt you.” It’s all your fault you got hurt if you resist.

Stupid government – World wars
GAO Audit: U.S.-Bound Cargo Not Monitored at Half of ‘High Risk’ Seaports
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: So, where is the government’s responsibility for defending the nation against attack?  The reason we are supposedly in virtually EVERY country in the world is to defend America, but we don’t do it.

Nazgul – Home front
Judge Sued After Sending Girl Back to Her Home Where She Was Raped
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Sovereign immunity, of course, will get him off this – that and a total lack of any concern for the mundanes.  It literally is no skin off his nose: he has no obligation except to his superiors to collect his paycheck.

Mama’s Note: And yet, this is the perfect example of why the “courts” and police can do little or nothing to solve the real problems, and most assuredly not domestic violence problems. The very best they can do is interfere with the things the people themselves need to do. The courts and judges are not omnipotent, and we don’t want them to pretend to be. Lawsuits don’t solve the problems when they make inevitable mistakes.

This girl was obviously NOT a “child,” and should have been perfectly free to defend herself by any means necessary, including finding another place to live. Her learned and enforced helplessness – and that of her mother – didn’t start with this court decision, by any means.

Stupid people – Welfare state
Randi Weingarten: ‘Women Actually Have to Work to Feed Their Families’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Really? All those welfare single mothers will be surprised to hear this:  their kids are nothing but a ticket to free government handouts, just as THEY were to their mothers, and now back about three generations.

Mama’s Note: The multi-generational “welfare family” is not actually all that common, except perhaps in a few major metro areas. I couldn’t find any recent studies, but in the 90s the average welfare recipient received benefits for only a year or so. Many would take a job if they could find one. The fact that most jobs they qualify for pay less than the welfare benefits – including free health care – is not a good incentive to work.

The answer, of course, is for government to completely get out of our business and stop destroying the economy. A truly free market would create enough opportunity for everyone to work, whether for themselves or others. The strangle hold of taxes, regulations and fiat “money, debt and nanny government, not only attracts people to dependence, it cements them there all too often.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-39C: Stupid government, dangerous people

Posted on 2013-10-09 by TPOL Nathan

The “Messiah” and the Mainstream Media?
Why reporters fear Team Obama
(New York Post) Many reporters covering national security and government policy in Washington these days are taking precautions to keep their sources from becoming casualties in the Obama administration’s war on leaks. They and their remaining government sources often avoid phone conversations and e-mail exchanges, arranging furtive one-on-one meetings instead.

Mama’s Note: Ah, privacy and confidentiality are now “furtive.” I wonder if the “journalists” are starting to realize that they were never really part of the privileged elite after all.

Nathan: My oh my, and here I thought that only Republican Administrations hated and abused the Press.  But somehow, I suspect that the Media elite will continue to back/kiss up to the “messiah.”  Obviously the peons are NOT part of the elite: not until they demonstrate their allegiance to the PTB by crushing stories and doing other things to demonstrate their loyalty.  Certainly, getting info from whistleblowers hardly proves that.

Stupid-stupid government
Could shutdown make federal government dumber?
(NBC News) A 2011 government study found that, across all occupations, federal workers took home paychecks of about 26 percent less than non-federal workers doing comparable work. Within the District of Columbia, that number jumped to 37 percent. But those calculations did not include the value of benefits received other than pay.  The conservative Heritage Foundation calculated in 2010 – incorporating benefits like health insurance and retirement plans – that federal workers are compensated 30 percent more than those in the private sector.

Perhaps the most commonly cited number is from a 2012 Congressional Budget Office report, which estimated that federal workers, on average, received about 16 percent more compensation than private sector employees. But that difference was much higher among workers who did not have any college education. Highly educated federal workers actually took home almost 20 percent less than their counterparts outside the government.

Mama’s Note: You can’t wet a river…

Nathan: True, but when you are dealing with human stupidity in groups, it is impossible to reach the bottom of the gutter and not find a way to get MORE stupid.  Of course, remember that a BIG reason for people to go to work as a civilian in the federal government is “job security” so this IS going to scare some people off – but at the same time, they know that inevitably, Congress restores them their back pay.  As for the government studying itself to see how their pay compares with the private sector – yeah, right, of COURSE they are going to report the truth.  Not outright lies, of course, but using statistics in the way that governments tend to use them: leaving out inconvenient facts. And clearly, NBC wants to present the shutdown in the worst possible light.  Me?  The more brains drained from the FedGov the better: if we soon have a bureaucracy with an average IQ of 75 or so, we’ll all be better off.

By the way, I have been referring to “stupid government” and “stupid government tricks” about as long as I’ve been writing these commentaries, so what can I do now?  More-stupid government?  Stupider government?  Stupid government extreme? Of course, we constantly have examples of how stupid the government is right now, as the next story reminds us.

Mama’s Note: The bottom of the “stupid” barrel is the grave. Ultimately, stupidity is fatal.

Islamic wars: African front – Stupid government
Failed Navy SEALs raid on Somali target could bolster Al Shabab
(Security Watch) The predawn raid Saturday came unstuck when the US troops were faced with heavier-than-expected return fire, and pulled out to avoid civilian casualties, two security sources said. No Americans were injured.

Mama’s Note: Should be of interest especially to those who cry that it is futile to resist the might of the US military.

Nathan: Indeed.  It is not just al-Shabab that will gain from this.  Even the success in the equally-illegal Libyan raid does not offset this failure.  Given the circumstances and the limits and orders, I do not fault the men on the ground for pulling out, if the reason (keeping from killing more civilians) is the real one.  But I very much question the entire legitimacy of the operation, and the senior officers in command for executing this without constitutional or moral authority.  And you wonder just who at some civilian level made the decision to try and pull this off – and WHY?

Mama’s Note: I was thinking more of those here who moan that freedom folks can’t ever hope to stand against the regular military or all their tanks and bombs. The history of Iraq, etc. gives the lie to that one.

Self-defense – Stupid crooks
Stork Clerk With a Machete vs. a Crook with a Gun: Guess Who Wins
(TheBlaze.com)

Mama’s Note: The key, as I see it, is that the clerk thought the robber had a toy gun. The robber, even though actually armed, wasn’t interested in being cut up with the big knife, obviously, and decided to run. I very much suspect that the round fired was reflex because the dumb cluck had his finger on the trigger.  All in all… good outcome. And NATURALLY, the stupid police tell the guy he should just “give them what they want.” Dumb owner too… Hope this guy goes out and finds a better job. He won’t be so lucky always.

Nathan: Many people fear naked steel more than a gun.  But we have to also remember that this thug seems like most: his courage is so small that ANY resistance with some basis: gun, knife, club; is enough to get him to run.  And we have to remember, the big advantage of firearms is that they level the field of combat: a weaker, older, slower person can offset the advantage of a stronger, faster, younger attacker.  But ANY use of weapons requires courage to some degree.  Who said, “there are no dangerous weapons, only dangerous men.”? Speaking of which…

Man Wielding Scissors Stabs 5, Including Toddler, in 9 Minutes at Upper West Side Park: Officials
(NBC News, New York)

Mama’s Note: Aren’t we so glad that nobody there had a gun? Why, someone could have gotten hurt!!  …oh, wait!!

Nathan: Nine minutes is a long time, but not long enough for cops to respond.  But if even ONE person in that park had been armed…  This man could have been armed with a ice pick or a steak knife… it is impossible to disarm people enough to keep this from happening when a disturbed person goes wild:  but it IS possible to have enough self-defense weapons available to counter them.

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The Government Shutdown – Just a bit more screaming, please

Posted on 2013-10-09 by TPOL Nathan

Stupid government – Theft by government : “Shutdown”

Nathan: Okay, we’ve now been in the so-called “Shutdown” for a full week.  Every time I think I’ve said the last thing I want to about it, another news story comes along that screams for a comment. So here is some more screaming at the White House and the idiots in that big domed building at the other end of Pennsylvania.

Welcome, once again, to “UnAmerica” the bizarro country that replaced the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.  While overall the “Shutdown” is bogus (come on, 87% of normal spending is taking place, 75% of ALL civilian federal employees are still working and 100% of ALL military personnel (except for National Guard technicians, apparently) are working), the Shutdown is REAL for some people, like this group out in Wyoming and Montana:

Wyoming: Gestapo Tactics meet Seniors at Yellowstone NP
(Newbury Port News, via Freedom’s Phoenix)  A busload of senior tourists, including visitors from overseas, are held at gunpoint by Park Rangers in a Yellowstone National Park hotel for two days, not even allowed to see Old Faithful, then escorted nonstop for 2.5 hours to the gate, not even allowed to stop and use the toilets at a private facility.  Those with poor English skills have to have it explained to them that they are NOT under arrest.

Nathan: Well, being detained for 48 hours in a hotel and not even allowed to go outside surely sounds like “arrest” to me, and despite protestations in some of the comments, it seems that “Gestapo” is a reasonable word to use.  These Park Rangers do NOT have to obey their orders, which are clearly unconstitutional and unlawful.  They can and should (especially if they are “under oath”) refuse to do so, and make public exactly what these orders are, coming from the Park Service, Department of Interior, and obviously, the White House.  The following commentary explains a wee bit.

Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior under President George W. Bush in an interview to the National Review Online summarized the problems the NPS has had with staying out of politics.

“The National Parks Service has a long history of dramatizing budget issues by inconveniencing the public… They often choose the most dramatic type of action in order to get their message across. It’s something I had to guard against when I was secretary — not letting them play budget games. I can see why there are places that need to be closed — historic areas that need to be protected. But when you’re talking about open-air memorials, or scenic, natural areas – those types of areas can be open to the public without the need for much monitoring… NPS has a choice to make between amplifying the political message, and making commonsense arrangements to avoid inconveniencing visitors. I don’t see many commonsense solutions. Given the fact that they have closed so much, and acted so broadly, I imagine that decision was made at the highest levels of park service leadership, in cooperation with department leadership and the White House.” Read more here.

Nathan: Norton is no doubt right.  The objective of the National Park Service is to make as many people as possible as miserable as possible.  It does not matter to them if it is tourists that paid thousands of dollars and came thousands of miles, or the employees of concessionaires in the parks or of the businesses that all too often have been surrounded by parks but are still on private land, and privately owned, or of the businesses who sprang up to meet the demand of tourists coming to these sites decades ago, and their employees.  The NPS personnel “furloughed” have a 90-95% chance of getting their back pay – and usually, their pay is so much higher than the private workers around them that, unless they have extraordinary circumstances or are incredibly wasteful spendthrifts, they can survive a week, two, or three without their pay.  (And many banks are willing to lend them money against that back pay, to boot.)  For many people in the private sector, that is not the case.  But it is MORE than just money at stake here (I’ve been accused of being too concerned with money), it is liberty and tradition and the fabric of our society that is at stake.  Here are some more examples, starting with one near (and dear) to me:

South Dakota:  Lay-bys near Mount Rushmore closed illegally by Park Service to bar viewing of Memorial
(Argus Leader) Over the past seven days, event after event has been marked: closing of the privately-funded, privately-owned and operated parking structure, followed by using cones to prevent people from stopping along US-16A and SD-244 (both State-owned highways), and to prevent them from using scenic overlooks on those roads, followed by a refusal to an offer by SD Governor Daugaard to have the state pay for the cost of operating Mount Rushmore, and then the impact of a massive, early-season snowstorm.

Nathan: Thousands of people’s jobs are threatened, directly and indirectly.  There are the contract vendors and their employees in the visitation complex at Mount Rushmore, the gatekeepers at the parking structure (built and operated by a private Foundation), the workers at tourist facilities in Keystone, Hill City, and even 30 miles away in Rapid City, and more.  The photo montages (RapidCityJournal.com and ArgusLeader.com and KOTARadio.com) show the faces VERY clearly of the Rangers who COULD have refused orders but instead are seen bullying travelers and visitors and being jackbooted thugs in all but clothing.  They may want to find other employment or get reassigned to someplace else a LONG LONG ways away.  Black Hillers have long memories, especially when neighbors turn against them.  There are places where you can see the faces and NOT be on Park Service or Forest Service lands, but because for more than a century these lands could NOT be homesteaded or purchased by private cities and companies. These and other government agencies have been actively buying back the land instead, or in some cases outright stealing it.

Every day, I am reading another dozen or more stories of the shutdown and the selective nature of the shutdown.  There is now a very good list at Breitbart. The majority of these are National Park and National Forest lands, but there are some that are just plain cruel and stupid.  For example, the commissaries on military bases stateside were closed for a week (most reopened yesterday or today):  this is insane because while the buildings are government owned, the bases on which they are located are operating, and the operating costs (salaries, wages, utilities, etc.) are paid for by surcharges – NOT by Congressional funds.  And to do this on a payday (1 OCT) meant disaster for many families.  Another example of stupidity was arbitrarily ending experimental cancer treatments IN PROGRESS and shutting down the Amber Alert site.  All these things are clearly intended to make life as miserable as possible for as many opponents of the current regime as possible.

The range is instructive: from WW2 and Vietnam veterans not being allowed to visit open air monuments in DC itself, normally open 24-7-365, to agencies being told NOT to allow contract chaplains even to volunteer to conduct services for soldiers, to refusal to allow access to privately owned activities (such as Mount Vernon and private homes along Lake Mead, the Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge, and Cliff House in San Francisco, among others) to locking up tourists in a motel.  Meanwhile, foreign aid gets paid, prisoners at a federal pen in Arkansas get paid (although the guards do not), and Michelle Obama’s website remain open.  It seems that all sorts of things get bought with the “broke” government’s money (stolen from taxpayers), even if that money wasn’t appropriated yet, while other small companies who are OWED money which WAS appropriated over a year ago and DID the work, aren’t getting paid (because of the shutdown – according to a very good source very close to me, who is suffering as a result).

Of course, who could have guessed a couple of years ago that the face of open tyranny in this nation would NOT be an FBI agent or a DEA agent or TSA thug, but someone in the green and gray uniform of a Park Ranger?  I always figured that it would be some new federal agency (perhaps the “Federal Law Enforcement Administration” – always liked that acronym).  Instead, the “messiah’s” front-line goons are the folks who have been folk heroes for decades.

ONE LAST mention, from Breitbart:

Shutdown Denies Death Benefits to Families of Fallen Soldiers – “The families of five U.S. service members who were killed over the weekend in Afghanistan have been notified that they won’t be receiving the $100,000 benefit normally wired to relatives within 36 hours of the death. The “death gratuity” is intended to help cover funeral costs and help with immediate living expenses until survivor benefits typically begin.”

Nathan: Adding insult to injury, he uses these troops for his own evil purposes, lying to them about how they are protecting freedom and this nation while expanding the Imperium, but uses the $100K of their death benefits to try and make the GOP look bad, and to use as an excuse to not only not compromise, but to demand that they give in completely.  Words fail me.

This is a gauntlet thrown down in front of people who already dislike the government, and want it to go away.  Of course, if the government REALLY shut down, most of these things would get done by private people just doing the best they can to do what they are supposed to do: serve people, care for people, respect the land, and so much more.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

It is time to retaliate by refusing service to Federal agencies and Federal workers – especially those deemed “essential” (like the White House chefs, the workers at the golf course used by the “messiah,” the NSA spies, the drone operators, and especially the Park and Forest Rangers who are carrying out their thuggish orders).  Refuse to let them use government credit cards, refuse to let them buy ANYthing at stores and gas stations and movie houses and hotels and motels.  I know we won’t be able to get the airlines to refuse to sell them plane tickets, but I’d LOVE to see the flight attendants refuse to serve them.  Ask to see IDs and if they show a government employee credit card, tell them “Sorry, I can’t serve you, you might not be able to pay me, because you are furloughed or going to get furloughed, and I can’t call your bank to see if you really can pay me.”  “And because you are part of a bunch of idiots working for the criminally insane in BOTH parties in Congress and the White House.”

Mama’s Note: For those truly interested in “doing something,” take a look at the Knappster” blog.

A New Project, in Beta

When it comes to negative social preferencing, the more the merrier: It should be crowd-sourced. If I refuse to have anything to do with you, no biggie. But if you can’t get a sandwich at your favorite deli, receive communion at your church of choice, etc. because everyone thinks you’re an asshole and doesn’t want to have anything to do with you, you’ve got a real incentive to stop initiating force against others, apologize for initiating force against others, and make restitution to those you’ve harmed.

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Steps to Return Some of Our Lost Freedoms

Posted on 2013-10-08 by TPOL Nathan

Bakers Dozen™ Steps to Return Some of Our Lost Freedoms

I probably should entitle this a “moderate, minarchist” checklist as part of my hopefully-famous Baker’s Dozen ™ series.  These are intended to be thought-provoking and do NOT reflect my true self-governor’s concept of government.

  1. Repeal ALL of “ObamaCare” (ObummerCare, Abominable Act, or Patient Protection  and Affordable Care Act)
  2. Repeal Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare and eliminate all related taxes (return these functions and the money to states and private people)
  3. Repeal the Sixteeenth Amendment and get rid of the Federal Income Tax.
  4. Repeal the Seventeenth Amendment and return to State election, not direct election, of US Senators.  Then replace ALL current serving US Senators with newly appointed people. NO incumbents or past members of the Senate or House should be appointed.
  5. Eliminate the Departments of Health and Human Service, Housing and Urban Development, Energy, and Education.  Eliminate minimum of 95% of employees and return 90% of all programs and activities to states or private sector.  There may be a few programs which should be (temporarily) left in federal hands until the best way can be found to get them on their own or closed down, like the Centers for Disease Control, or college loan programs.
  6. Merge the Departments of Agriculture and Interior, Veterans Affairs and Defense and Homeland Security, and Labor and Commerce and Transportation, while reducing their size by at least 80 percent.  Return virtually all functions to the states, leaving primarily coordination (such as establishment of standards and cooperative efforts between states).  For example, the Border Patrol would be replaced by National Guard units federalized for limited periods (say, maximum 13 months) which would provide border security.  These active Army units would be required to coordinate directly with local and state law enforcement, and NOT authorized to perform any police functions.  USDA programs would be transferred to states. Most labor and commerce programs would be transferred to states, perhaps with a small residue to coordinate data collection and resolve issues between states.
  7. Transfer ALL of the US Army and US Air Force, including the Reserves, to the National Guard, assigning units based on population of the various states, with some consideration as to stationing near if not in their states.   Transfer all installations to the states.  Reduce full time personnel to no more than 10% of the total force, plus any personnel stationed overseas, which must be approved by each state having troops overseas. This leaves the Navy and the Marine Corps and Coast Guard under US control.  However, even their bases and ports would belong to the state in which they are located, to be lent or leased to DoD.
  8. Transfer ALL federal lands outside of the District of Columbia, including military installations and post office facilities, to the states or the tribes in which the lands are located, with covenants for the protection of historical and cultural artifacts and natural features.  (Keep calling them National Parks, Forests, etc. but convert the NPS, USFS, and BLM into agencies for establishing standards, recognizing such, and coordinating work and research.)
  9. Eliminate ALL federal police agencies and convert the FBI into a training and standards agency which advises but does not assist state and local and tribal agencies.
  10. Require that ALL federal revenue be collected through the states, eliminating any direct collection of excise taxes, tariffs, import fees, service fees, or similar revenue.  (With elimination of the income tax, there is no need for the IRS: it would already be gone.
  11. Eliminate all federal grants or subsidies of state and local health and welfare programs and activities.
  12. Eliminate all federal laws which make anything which is a criminal act under state or tribal law (in ANY tribe or state) a “federal crime.”  For example, if “kidnapping” is a crime in ANY state (believe me, it is a crime in all states), then any federal law which makes kidnapping a crime will be eliminated.  No more “two-tier” criminal laws and charges.
  13. Convert as many residual functions of the various agencies to private (profit or non-profit) organizations.  For instance, the USGS and the NWS could both be converted to private, non-profit, member- and service fee-funded companies providing the same services, but in competition with other existing or new companies (such as the Weather Channel, Weather Bug, etc. for the NWS, and Bing, MapQuest, Royal Ordnance Survey, etc. for USGS).

These actions will STILL leave us with far too big a national government, and all the evils of big government on the state and local level, but it might be a good start.  It would free up trillions of dollars each year, so that people and companies can decide how to spend their money (rather than politicians and bureaucrats: we know how bad they are at it).

In this scheme, the Federal Government would return to being an employee or agent for the states, and to mostly dealing with foreign affairs, national defense, and resolving disputes between states and tribes (and honoring those treaties).  Notice this does not address any really challenging issues like getting rid of fiat money (and the Federal Reserve), or campaign finance reforms, or the incredibly low IQ of too many in Congress.  Those may not be resolvable until these thirteen things are done.  And perhaps, then, they may be a moot point.

Notice, I offer NO suggestions as to how to implement these:  a constitutional convention might be one way, but you can be sure that the politicians and their Tranzi friends and supporters will be far too numerous at such a thing to get this kind of slate passed.  Other ways shall be left to the discretion (or frustration) of the reader.

(c) 2013, Nathan A. Barton

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-39B: Religions and government and guns

Posted on 2013-10-08 by TPOL Nathan

Religion 2013 – Politics 2013
Pope Francis calls on the Church to divest itself of ‘worldliness’
(RawStory.com) In an address to the poor, he said: “Many of you have been stripped down by this savage world that does not give jobs, that does not help that does not care about children dying of hunger.”

Nathan: And just how does this differ from what the Lord lived in 2,000 years ago.  Exactly 2,000 years ago, He was probably about 16 or 17, and his father was no doubt having much the same problems as any small businessman or craftsman does today.  And those around Him included everyone from the very poor to the insanely wealthy, but whom by today’s standards we would consider ALL very poor.

Mama’s Note: Unfortunately, he gets this just backwards. What the poor people of the world need is the same thing we all need… freedom. The end of official theft and coercion, government murder and war… these are the things that bring starvation and death, prevents wealth creation, stops trade and insures hopelessness to billions of people. He needs to understand that the “world” can’t “give jobs,” or anything else. Having everyone sitting around starving in sackcloth and ashes solves nothing.

Nathan: Indeed, the Man whom Francis claims to be the Vicar of did NOT condemn the wealthy for being wealthy, but rather pitied them because it is so hard for the wealthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven because of their riches and the attitudes those riches engender in them.  His Gospel was one of personal salvation: change yourself and change others one or a few at a time, and YOU and THEY will change the society and the nation and the world around you: not by FORCING the world to change, but by your example and your actions.

Christians stopped the awful practice of exposing unwanted babies (equal to our modern partial-birth abortions and abortion in general) not by changing the laws, but by ignoring the law and proving God’s love in them by loving others.  Eventually, even a severely-degraded christianity stopped (for the most part, in most of the world, in an obvious form) the institution of chattel slavery, again not by changing the law (that came later) but by showing and proving love and helping people to change to see that their profession of following the Christ could not match with slavery.

Catholicism and their Orthodox and Protestant counterparts today have made a mockery of religion by claiming to be the church of the Lord, yet substituting a social gospel (“change the society and you change the person”) for that Gospel He brought to this earth.  Jesus did not say “You must give jobs to people,” nor did He say  “You must force others to pay money to keep children from starving,” or “You must get laws passed to make people help each other.”  He taught and did what was right voluntarily for the love of God and your fellow man, and because obedience to Him was given freely and sincerely because those who loved Him wanted to prove their love and thus fulfill their OWN goals and desires.  They could not “give themselves to others” because they had already given themselves to their Creator, for their OWN eternal destiny and not because they were altruistic or forced to do so. Until Francis and those around him and like him – from the Patriarch of Athens to the President of the LdS to the Archbishop of Canterbury all understand Christ and His Gospel, not politics and power and pressure and wealth, they will not be able to change the world.

Economy 2013 – New religions: environism
United States Becomes Largest Oil-and-Gas Producer
(Wall Street Journal) The United States produced the equivalent of about 22 million barrels a day of oil, natural gas and related fuels in July; Moscow’s forecast for 2013 oil-and-gas production works out to about 21.8 million barrels a day…

Nathan: Well, well.  Guess maybe we are not all washed up economically after all.  Of course, this is IN SPITE OF the federal and state governments’ interference with every aspect of oil and gas; just imagine what it would be like in a free market!  Of course, this is just HIDEOUS according to the Environists and similar religions, especially that of the Global Warming Cultists (GWC) who now have decided that “fossil fuels” are best left in the ground forever…

Stupid government – Theft by government
Federal Budget: “Use It or Lose It”
(NCPA) In many cases, Congress requires agencies to spend all their allotted funds by Sept. 30 or lose the money; as a result, in a single day, the Agriculture Department spent $144,000 on toner cartridges…

Nathan: This has been so much a part of everyday life for me for three-plus decades that I forget that most people don’t understand how broken the federal purchasing system has ALWAYS been.  This is called “obligation” which means that money from FY12 (which ended on 30 September) can be used to buy things even if they are not actually delivered until FY 13 (which began on 1 October).  When the vendor is paid for the goods, he gets paid with “last year’s” money.  HONEST!  I’m NOT making this up.  Congress hasn’t authorized any NEW money for this new fiscal year, either through that old-fashioned budget and program system OR through some piece of garbage legislation called a “continuing resolution.”  The entire system is set up to nominally control the spending of every penny, but has gone so far overboard that it in reality promotes waste and makes it EASIER to commit fraud and abuse the system.  That is why spending $5 billion dollars awarding contracts the day before the “shutdown” is not the big deal that so many people want to make it out to be.  For that matter, even the $2 billion dollars a day in various things is not an intentional zinger against the shutdown but just the way they are doing business.  What IS directly and obviously thumbing their noses at the shutdown is the fact that 75% of federal workers were NOT furloughed because they were “essential.”

Stupid People – Hoplophobes and Hoploclasts
Cleveland: NFL Rule Revokes “Only Ones” Status of Off-Duty Cops Carrying Guns
(Examiner.com) “NFL rule bans off-duty cops from bringing guns into FirstEnergy Stadium,” Brandon Blackwell reported Friday on Cleveland.com. “A new NFL policy will keep off-duty cops from taking guns into FirstEnergy Stadium,

Mama’s Note: I seriously doubt that… Even if someone “asks” or searches them at the gate. Remember, only “law abiding” folks disarm on command.

Nathan: Yes, calling cops “law-abiding” is a joke.  Of course, unless they are running everyone through metal dectectors, and unless their security force is NOT a bunch of off-duty cops themselves, it is likely that even those with more “dubious” authorization to carry are going to get by.  So there is a good chance that NFL fans will still have some level of “unofficial” protection.  Obviously the Examiner needs to assume that the ban will be carefully and fairly enforced, but you can be sure that it will not be, in the best interests of the security guards responsible for administering it, themselves.  They don’t want to be facing that off-duty cop looking up from their driver’s window next time they have a heavy foot on the gas pedal.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-39A: African collapse – Government “shutdown”

Posted on 2013-10-07 by TPOL Nathan

African Collapse – Islamic war: African front – Stupid government
During Siege at Kenyan Mall, Government Forces Seemed Slow to Respond
(NY Times)  NAIROBI, Kenya — When the first shots of automatic gunfire burst out, Raju, a member of a local gun club, was waiting in line in a bank at the Westgate shopping mall. He crouched down, pulled out his phone and feverishly pecked out a text message: “I am inside and I can confirm this is not a robbery.” Within minutes, his fellow gun club members, neighborhood watch volunteers, off-duty police officers and other armed Samaritans rushed to the mall. They found no command center, no SWAT team — in short, no coordinated government response as heavily armed Islamist militants shot civilians at will.

Mama’s Note: We can’t ever know the full truth, of course, but this seems to give a great deal of depth to what we were already told. At least SOME people there were armed, it seems… and the death toll would have been much worse otherwise.

Nathan:  I suspect that we can and will know a lot more, though.  And the little available so far indicates that government fell flat on its face.  Once more we have proof that the state is unable to carry out the PRIMARY responsibility for which it claims authority and jurisdiction: protecting their citizens from attack.  What is more. if this is correct and the first response was from private volunteers – imagine what it could have been like if most people did NOT assume that the government forces would respond quickly and effectively. and the mall’s owners, the store owners and employees, and the customers and neighbors had given even a LITTLE thought to defending themselves!  This is a lesson which Americans MUST learn and apply:  self-defense, not just in frontier and rural areas, but in urban areas, is something that CAN be done voluntarily and cooperatively with one another: formal or informal.  And it MUST be planned, at least a basic concept: even if all it is doing is following basic concepts like standard military planning and its civilian spinoff, NIMS.  And MUST be planned based on the assumption that government forces (whether police or sheriff or state) are either NOT going to be available or are going to be part of the problem!

Politics 2013: “Shutdown” – Stupid government tricks (3 stories)
Treasury Was Open for Business on 3rd Day of ‘Shutdown:’ Issued $106B in New Debt
(CNSNews.com)

In 3 Days of Shutdown, Gov’t Has Spent $3B on HUD–Same as Without Shutdown
(CNSNews.com)

Priests Risk Arrest for Offering Sacraments to Catholic Troops During Shutdown
(CNSNews.com)  Contract priests at military installations were ordered NOT to celebrate mass, and instructions went out that they could not even volunteer (instead of getting paid) to do it.  Most, it seems, ignored it, and apparently local commanders have not taken the action demanded by the Pentagon.

Nathan: Three of MANY stories demonstrating that the “shutdown” is bogus and hyped, and that what IS shut down (about 1/4 of US civilian employees and a long list of national parks, monuments, forests, other USDA offices, much of the Departments of Interior and Energy and Commerce) is planned intentionally and carefully to punish the American people by inconveniencing them and American business by stinging them.  Some of the examples I know of personally:  The scenic overlooks on the highways (State Highways) around Mount Rushmore were closed off – not by SD Highway Patrol or Sheriff’s Deputies (as many people were claiming), but by National Park Service rangers on orders from above: the same orders as given in DC for the National Mall.  I can’t find out if they did the same at Wind Cave National Park, where there are many scenic overlooks on the roads.  Mesa Verde is also closed, but they are having some problems because a lot of people live up there, and because there is a privately-operated hotel and campground.  But the new visitor center is closed, of course, and barricaded off.  We can get weather information, but very little of the data normally available for historical climate information: same for the soils data from NRCS and wetlands data from FWS. Agencies supporting tribal governments, including their finance departments (the interaction and mingling is intense) have been shutdown, meaning that contractors and vendors as well as basic functions (road maintenance, etc.) are grinding to a halt.  In DC, those nasty evil veterans are getting their wheelchairs oiled, fueled, and resupplied with ammo, and getting hopped up on all their meds, to assault and take back ALL the memorials that have been closed (despite the fact that they are normally open 24-7 withOUT security), and keep them permanently free of federal agents – or so some of my spies in the WW2 veterans camp are saying.  That may be as soon as today (Monday the 7th).

The goal seems to be to get businesses and individuals so mad at the GOP for refusing to roll over and play dead that they will punish them by withholding campaign money and votes.  The GOP, of course, tries to place the blame on the White House and the Dems in the Senate.  A lot of us wish there was a REAL government shutdown, while we stop paying taxes and expecting anything!  And it appears that the GOP story line is being accepted by a few more people than the Demo-“messiah” line, but that may be because my sources are more GOP-philic than not.  Visit the Dally Caller for a fun look at what is going on.

Modern Technology – Economics
After 279 Years in Print, World’s Oldest Newspaper To Go Digital-Only
(CNSNews.com) [Lloyd’s List, of London, continuously published since 1734, is going digital: only 2% of its subscribers rely on the printed version: everyone else reads it electronically.  It publishes shipping data.

Nathan: Its owners and publisher and editors are obviously NOT your usual media types: they know how to provide for customer requirements.  The List is in business to make money from and for its subscribers, and NOT to make money for its advertisers and act as a propaganda instrument for governments or anyone else.  Would that MORE newspapers understand their purpose as well!

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A Tale of Davy Crockett, Charity and Congress

Posted on 2013-10-04 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

This is great, far as it goes. The big problem is that it assumes theft from the people is somehow justified for other things.  If some people wish to “delegate” any powers or their property to government, I have no objection. But they can’t delegate anything for me. They can’t justify the theft of my property or the subjugation of my life by any means. I do not consent to the “constitution” or to be ruled by anyone, for any reason.

Just how many people would opt for any government if they could only speak for themselves, and there was no money involved except what they and those who agreed with them put into it personally? How many would even go through the motions if there was zero opportunity to gain control of the lives and property of others against their will? I think very few…

A Tale of Davy Crockett, Charity and Congress
No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose. If twice as many houses had been burned in this county as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of Congress would have thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief. There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they had shown their sympathy for the sufferers by contributing each one week’s pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are plenty of wealthy men in and around Washington who could have given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life. The Congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them spend not very creditably; and the people about Washington, no doubt, applauded you for relieving them from the necessity of giving by giving what was not yours to give.

The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.”

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The Coming Civil War? Oathkeepers’ dilemma

Posted on 2013-10-04 by TPOL Nathan

Are things in this nation heating up?  Today’s little DC street scene (reminding so much of Deadwood’s and Hill City’s daily gunfights during the tourist season, except for (maybe) the real blood) is a reminder of just how on edge things are in this land.  What will it take for a major dust-up to develop as the result of yet another person on some kind of psychoactive drugs (duly prescribed, OF COURSE) to trigger not just a hot pursuit and street chase followed by a shootout and sheer terror and panic in DC, but actual sustained and high-intensity combat?  Consider this:

Politics 2013 – Home front
Oath Keepers going “operational
(Info Wars) “Oath Keepers is instructing its 30,000 members nation-wide to form up special teams and sub-teams in each Oath Keepers chapter, at the town and county level, modeled loosely on the Special Forces ‘A Team’ (Operational Detachment A) model, and for a similar purpose: to be both a potential operational unit for community security and support during crisis, but also, as mission #1, to serve as training and leadership cadre, to assist in organizing neighborhood watches, organizing veterans halls to provide community civil defense, forming County Sheriff Posses, strengthening existing CERT, volunteer fire, search-and-rescue, reserve deputy systems, etc., and eventually to assist in forming and training town and county militias (established by official act of town and county elected representatives).” (10/01/13)

Nathan: PLEASE keep in mind the source of this information.  Info Wars has a deservedly VERY bad reputation.  And the entire premise of Oath Keepers is significantly flawed from a christian point of view, AND from a libertarian/self-governors’ point of view.

But IF this information is anywhere near accurate, and IF the members of Oath Keepers respond (as many would expect) “badly” to the treatment of WW2 veterans and others by the regime of the “messiah,” everything COULD heat up a lot, very quickly.  The reference to various government programs (local and state-level) indicates that unlike much of Info Wars’ garbage, this MIGHT have a bit of truth to it.

Keep in mind that too many serving military and police are very simple people who have strong (but warped) senses of right and wrong.  They are doers and not necessarily thinkers.  They want to DO something: not just KILL something (although that is certainly a common response) but ANYTHING that might help to put the bad guy (in their eyes) down and out. And in this case, more and more people – including those military and police folks – think that it is those INSIDE the iron dome and 1600 PA that are the bad guys.  REALLY bad guys.

First reports of the dustup in DC today have a definite odor of panic to them.  Crashing the gate, the police chase, and especially the flurry of gunfire and the pictures of massive security actions (and security forces panic).  And I can guess at the panic INSIDE those big white buildings, especially with the shutdown and the stupid business with the WW2 vets on Tuesday and Wednesday.  How many of those boys and girls in power suits raking in a $100,000+ a year as parasites on the body politic thought that someone was finally coming after them?  The day after Tom Clancy dies, how many wondered which (or how many?) of his plots was being enacted, with THEM (or THEIR Senator or THEIR Congressman, or THEIR Political-appointee-minion-of-the-“messiah”) as the target of bullets, bombs, gas, or a Fairbairn dagger?  It is, so the saying goes, the hit dog that barks.  And there was a LOT of barking (panic) going on in that little piece of DC today.

As regards the Oath Keepers (and those comrades of theirs who think that Oath Keepers are a bunch of right-wing extremists), we need to be prepared for another panic reactions.  What I am thinking of is the same sort of thing as when some people get hyper: after being robbed or surviving an attack, they grab their gun and go after the bad guy, often running him down and shooting him in the back.  This is NOT self-defense, and NOT justified morally.  But this kind of action is likely to be the case if violence breaks out.  Indeed, the recent rash of cops shooting people is perhaps the beginning of the curve, ticking up to spasms of violence coming from both sides.  We’ve seen it happen: Iraq and now Mesopotamia, Turkey, Kurdistan, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Honduras, and more.  It HAS happened here before:  look at Missouri or Bleeding Kansas, or even the flare up in South Dakota that culminated in Wounded Knee.

For the Oath Keepers, setting up A teams may be logical, and may even be necessary, but it isn’t going to be nice.  And who knows WHAT powder kegs those flying sparks will find?

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-38C: Government’s wars and the abyss

Posted on 2013-10-04 by TPOL Nathan

The nation seems to be staggering into the abyss, as today’s stories hint.
Abominable Act (ObummerCare) – War on Some Elderly
NIH Offering Grants to Study ‘Palliative Care’ for Elderly, Even in ERs and ICUs
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Bad as the “tax” or “fine” or “involuntary contribution” part of the Abominable Act is, there is worse to come, that the Abominable Act lets be developed and take place, if not immediately then in the future.  As far as NIH and HHS and the rest of the toadies and minions of the “messiah” (and HIM) are concerned, they should all be put down anyway.  They can’t wait for ObummerCare to do that, so these grants will find ways to speed that up.

Congress in action (or not) – War on religion
Latest House CR Funds and Permits Obamacare’s Attack on Free Exercise of Catholicism
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: As a group, GOP congress members don’t really care any more about the free exercise of religion than the Dems do, except when they can make a buck or get a goodly number of votes.  All that Bill of Rights stuff is just nonsense to them, something to be gotten rid of or ignored.  Yeah, there are a few that really don’t feel this way, but it clear who is in charge.

Congress in action (or not) – Shutdown stupid government (3 stories)
AKA Government’s war on anyone that is a target

GOP Reps Topple Barriers to Memorial So Veterans Can Enter During Shutdown
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: I heard about this very quickly yesterday, but not the role of some GOP representatives.  Good for them: statists, true, but at least with a shred of human decency.  Unlike the career bureaucrats and thugs in the National Park Service and the Park Police there in DC, who seem to relish playing the heavy in shilling for the “messiah.”  This entire business seems obviously thought through to try and blacken ANY opponents to the current “messiah’s” regime.

‘What Are They Going to Do Next? Hang a Drapery Over Mt. Rushmore?’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This is a quote from Rep. Goehmert of Texas, who helped an anger-crazed mob of 84 to 99 year old coots (who claimed to be WW2 veterans) illegally break down barricades and ignore the LAWFUL orders of Park Police to NOT enter the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in DC.  He just echoed what my son and I had speculated about: that since you can still see Mount Rushmore’s faces withOUT going through the visitor center, but just by driving by on state highways, that they’d have to put a tarp over the faces as part of the “government shutdown” to make us all suffer for what the GOP representatives have done in DC.  (Unfortunately, Matthias and I forgot to take the road through Keystone to go past Rushmore this afternoon to see if there WAS a drapery on Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and T. Roosevelt, or just on Jefferson’s face.

Mama’s Note: Actually, I consider Rushmore to be large scale graffiti and have no desire to see it at all. I’ve driven Hwy 16 many times, and never saw it either, just that “Crazy Horse” thing. That is little more than graffiti either, but at least it’s privately owned (I think).

Politics 2013 – Shutdown stupid government
Gov’t Shutdown Blamed on ‘Cruzites’ – ‘Anarchist, Radical Libertarians’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Gee, we get blamed and didn’t have ANYthing to do with it.  Cruz is NOT, of course, either an anarchist nor a libertarian: not even a minarchist.  But Reid and his fellow Democrats have picked up this new meme and seem to be trying to make hay with it.

War on some AmerInd – Tranzis
HHS Promoting ‘Long-Acting’ Contraception, ‘Sterilization’ in Dwindling Navajo Nation
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Hmmm.  A story close to home.  Actually, the decline of 3.6% of population in Dinetah is problematic: it may not really have happened.  The Census ALWAYS has a problem counting people on the Rez, and distinguishing between enrolled members and total population.  Even on the Big Rez, there are a lot of people who live there that are NOT enrolled in the Navajo Nation – you must have AT LEAST 50% Navajo blood to be enrolled.  And people move back and forth all the time: but unlike many tribes, you cannot vote or participate in any Navajo governmental activities if you don’t actually LIVE on the Rez.  And since there is no private land ownership, if you want to own and live on your own land, you must move off-rez, even if just across the border.  I know several people who have done just that.  But the main point of this request for grant proposals is that HHS seems to want to encourage population reduction of the Navajo (don’t know about other tribes): so why isn’t this GENOCIDE?

Europe’s collapse – Morality’s collapse
Pope Francis stirs debate yet again with interview with an atheist Italian journalist
(Washington Post) “Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is good . . . Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place.”

Mama’s Note: He’s no libertarian, by any means, but I’m starting to like this guy a little better. I’ll just bet the newspaper secretary about had a heart attack. The pope, calling in person? All the stuffed shirts in Rome are probably beside themselves.

Nathan: What Francis says is certainly true, and NOT what you would expect to hear from the sitting pontiff.  But what he does NOT say is also important: people WILL receive the reward (or punishment) for their choices, according to the laws of nature and nature’s God.  If their visions, actions, their ideas, their choices are the wrong ones, they WILL pay for them, by falling into the abyss, and (sadly, I agree) taking many with them.  This has always been implicit in Roman Catholic theology, wrong as it is.  But the Vatican has long fallen into the trap of the end of the Book of Joshua:  “There was no king in Israel in those days, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”  Being FORCED to “do the right thing” is no solution for morality and salvation:  it just ensures that a lot of people will be with you!

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-38B: Feral “humans” and stupid government

Posted on 2013-10-03 by TPOL Nathan

More and more, it is clear that basic human values are not being passed on to new generations from their parents and grandparents, and when those who lack these values are in turn having and “raising” children, the problem expands, possibly exponentially: we are, as Heinlein once stated, raising the “barbarians” (“savages” is a better term) that will (ARE!) destroying our civilization IN that very society.

Home front – amorality
Shocking “bum hunts” on the rise?
(CBSNews.com) – In 2006, 60 Minutes reported on a perverse national trend referred to as “bum hunting,” in which packs of teenagers stalk, attack, even shoot homeless people. Seven years later, that trend is still on the rise. In the original story, correspondent Ed Bradley and producer Graham Messick reported that since 1999, there had been 500 attacks against homeless people, resulting in 180 deaths. That number has since doubled. In 2010, the National Coalition for the Homeless reported there had been over a thousand acts of violence and
more than 300 deaths.

Mama’s Note: And people don’t think there are any such things as “zombies?” These young sociopaths certainly qualify in my mind. They kill helpless people for “fun?” Dear God.

Nathan: Well, they just want in on the “fun” – after all, cops and occupation troops get to do it all the time.  So do “terrorists.”

Mama’s Note: The key was mentioned in the article, actually. They have no idea at all the difference between right and wrong.

Nathan: No, they are “feral” and it is getting that more and more people are:  not immoral but amoral.  And with little or no fear of getting caught, and if caught, of getting punished.  And since more and more people believe that bums or beggars should have been aborted, well, what’s the down side for the thrill seekers?

We see this same hideous situation in foreign areas, where the civilized are preyed upon not just by the savages, but by the governments which claim to exist to protect them.

African collapse – Islamic war: African front
The Nigerian military has collected 42 bodies and transported 18 injured students to Damaturu Specialist Hospital
(Breitbart.com) … said a military intelligence official, who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press. The school’s other 1,000 enrolled students have fled the college that is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the scene of similar school attacks around Damaturu town, said provost Mato.
See also.

Nathan: This is the latest in the weekly attacks against religious schools and assembled churches in Nigeria: a war that uses “terror tactics” against unarmed and unprotected people as its major method of waging war.  It is not just “christians” that are attacked, though they seem to be the major targets.  Muslims that are “moderate” (and thus WORSE than infidels) are routinely killed.  Yet, the US FedGov and most Western nations refuse to condemn these with anything more than lip service.  And of course, their own governments refuse to allow these people to defend themselves: indeed to the point of killing anyone who arms themselves to protect themselves, their families, neighbors, churches or other congregations.

On to some other news.

Home front – Energy
Colorado: Shell abandons Western Slope oil shale project
(Casper Tribune)

Mama’s Note: The good news is that the oil will still be there when conditions are again right to reclaim it. 🙂

Nathan: Indeed.  Shell joins Chevron in bailing out, and it has happened before and no doubt will again. The shale oil project has been going on for near a half-century, with ups and downs, including (as I recall) a couple of nuclear “devices” (explosives, people) used to break up the shale and let the oil out.  But this oil shale is much different from the shale we are pulling oil and gas from now in the Bakken in North Dakota and Montana, and the Marcellus in Pennsylvania and West Virginia: harder and more expensive to deal with and extract the oil.  The efforts to deal with the newer, more valuable finds mean this again gets shelved, but the technology developed in the shale gas and oil sector will be useful when they do decide to go after this stuff.  In the meantime, it isn’t going anywhere.

ObummerCare – Home Front (2 stories)
Gallup: At Least 25% of Uninsured Americans Say They Will Stay That Way
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: It IS their choice, at least for now.  And government can’t STAND that.  Of course, government will steal more and more money from them as time goes on, supposedly to “provide” for these uninsured people.  Any and every excuse to steal money and grow government, whether Democrat or Republican.  Of course, they CLAIM that they don’t know what they are doing, according to the next person.

Dem Senator: ‘We’re Going to Have to See on Oct. 1’ How the Health Exchanges Work
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Sound familiar?  Dems didn’t used to be this stupid:  Imagine if Kennedy and Johnson had run the Moon program this way?

Mama’s Note: It will “work” exactly as intended. Before too long, all things remaining equal, this aptly named “train wreck” will be so terrible that a lot of uninformed and hurting people will begin to demand single payer, national “health care.” This has ALWAYS been the goal. The really sad thing is that it is so obvious, and it’s still going to happen unless something else truly terrible gets in the way.

Stupid government

Rep. Moore: A Gov’t Shutdown Would Be To ‘Punish The People For Electing Barack Obama’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Sounds more like the people being punished are those who voted for people who don’t want to waste money on ObummerCare.

With the example of government predation on the general population,  is there any wonder that “private-enterprise” thugs – ferals – would assume an open season on everyone?

Mama’s Note: Everyone who can’t or won’t fight back. That number seems to be shrinking fast.

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