Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-03D: This and that

Posted on 2014-01-17 by TPOL Nathan

Theft by government – Congress in action
McClintock: $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill ‘Moves Our Country in the Wrong Direction’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: In other words, no change in the situation from the last couple dozen budgets and spending bills.  The nation continues to go to perdition in a pushcart.  But probably at a faster rate, of course.

Government-ruined, Theft-funded schools – The “messiah’s” minions
Prediction: Racial Quota for School Discipline Will Aggravate Zero Tolerance
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Clearly Holder and his bosses and thugs don’t think that the FedGov had ENOUGH control over the “public” schools and is going to push more.  And clearly, he is hoping for a backlash to give and EXCUSE for even more control.  Presumably, this will allow the DoJ to flush out the few remaining non-liberals in the school systems, and to create databases that will track students from pre-school on – for life.

Congress in action – No more liberty
Sen. Rand Paul: ‘You Name It, Your Freedom of Choice Is Gone’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Yes, he is right.  But he still seems to be willing to make compromises to give up a little more here, a little more there, and of course, the other 99 members of the Senate also seem happy to do so.  I admit, Paul is pushing more than most, but he will be even more ineffective with the loss of Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who is resigning two years early, perhaps in the hope that a new Senator elected from Oklahoma in 2014 will be a firebrand willing to push for a decade plus of quasi-libertarian actions in the Senate.  But I wouldn’t count on it.

The “messiah” – Rule by imperial edit
Obama Says He Won’t Wait for Legislation: ‘I’ve Got a Pen and I’ve Got a Phone’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Yes, and a whole lot of guns and panzers and drones…  We (supposedly) elect a man who has severe personality and security and power issues, give him what seems like unlimited power, and then we wonder why he turns into another Nero or Caligula, and treats even other members of government like trailer trash.

Culture wars: killing babies
Study: Contraceptive Use, Multiple Partners Linked to Higher Rate of Abortion
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This study seems to be linking things that aren’t necessarily connected in the way they are trying to claim.  And making statements that are obvious.  I see it as a moral issue: people who have the morals of an alley cat are likely to demonstrate in various ways:  multiple partners and “eating” their own children.  And since many religious groups shun contraceptive use as it is immoral, even that can be seen as related.  And we also have a factor of intelligence:  if anyone is stupid enough to kill their own child, is it a surprise that they are probably too stupid to TAKE the contraceptives properly, as well?

Politics 2014
Gov. Christie: ‘I Am Ultimately Responsible’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: A surprising admission – and one which obviously makes him unsuited and unqualified for either the elective office he now holds, or any other office.  Seriously, this guy had already proved himself to be a politician that we want in higher office almost as little as the current squatter.  But people are asking the obvious:  why did the media suddenly turn on a liberal that they had been grooming for several years?  What is there about him that set off their alarm bells?  And how much further is this going to go?

Cop thuggery – Self-defense
Florida Man in Maryland: How did Cops Knew he had a CCW?
(Tampa Tribute via Personal Freedom) – A Florida man was traveling South with his family on the way home from a wedding in New Jersey when the Maryland Transportation Authority Police (MTAP) began tailing his Ford Expedition. After about 10 minutes, the police pulled him over and told him they knew he owned a gun. They demanded he produce it for them on the spot — even though the firearm was locked away in a safe 1,000 miles away.

Nathan: Welcome to the Police State, Mr. Filippidias.  Yes, the big question here is HOW did the Maryland state thugs in their unmarked car know he had a concealed carry weapons permit from Florida?  But there are other issues, especially with the man’s wife, who was stupid enough to blab nonsense to the cops, and so won the family two hours of misery that SHOULD result in a hefty settlement in a court. And why is the MTA so panicked about a CCW that they pull this kind of stupidity?  And about THIS family?  What twisted pattern of “logic” went through this cop’s mind?

It is this sort of thing that compels me to stay out of the Northeast as much as possible.  For someone from Florida, he probably needed the weapon to protect him and his family MORE in Jersey and Maryland and vicinity than he does in Florida.  But he disarms himself and still gets in trouble for it.  Still, one of the main points to remember is that families need to talk.  Often.

Congress in action
Congress Wants More Potatoes in WIC Program
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Because lobbyists and voters want more?  Or because the parasites (not saying that some people on WIC are NOT really in need) want more?  Why put a food item in the program?  Usually, because you can sell more of it, increase demand, and thereby raise (or maintain) prices.  The same reason that so many other foods are commodities to be issued or purchased with SNAP and the like: cheese, powdered milk, and raisins all come to mind.

Mama’s Note: If this is limited to fresh, whole potatoes, I doubt they’ll move many of them. Many people, especially the “poor,” have little or no idea how to cook common, whole foods and rely on instant, packaged, prepared and frozen things – or fast food “takeout” almost exclusively.

Congress in action
Women are wielding notable influence in Congress
(Washington Post) After decades of trying to amass power, several women have vaulted to the top of influential congressional committees, putting them in charge of some of the most consequential legislation being considered on Capitol Hill.

Nathan: Leave it to the WaPo to publish an article that presents the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, and Olympia Snow as part of a downtrodden minority desperately struggling for recognition and a seat at the table, instead of the powerful, corrupt, lying, thuggish powermongers that they are.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Charter Forests?

Posted on 2014-01-17 by TPOL Nathan

The Federal Government “owns,” without Constitutional authority, much of the Fifty States – and oddly enough, far more of many of those states than it claims in the District of Columbia, the ONLY place it is authorized to own anything beyond military installations and postal and customs offices.  One of the agencies which administers probably the largest part of that government land is the United States Forest Service, which controls 10 percent of the land in the Fifty States.  And does a VERY bad job of administering (caring for) that land.

Independence Institute published an interesting article this week.
Taking an Ax to Traditional Forest Management

It talks at length about the problems with the USFS, and a little about WHY there are the problems, and then suggests creating “Charter Forests” the way “Charter Schools” have been established in many school districts in recent years.

That was very close to a concept I first offered to the voters of South Dakota when I ran for governor in 1994 (when I was young and REALLY stupid).  South Dakota (unlike most of the West) only has parts of TWO national forests (and parts of three National Grasslands), but they take up a sizable chunk of the state, and the economy is impacted for both good and bad for the 130 years we’ve had them here.

My proposal was to “commercialize” these.  (Not “privatize” because that has come to mean do things the government (stupid) way, just have a contractor do that instead of having government employees be stupid.  The worst of two worlds.)  I modified the proposal somewhat by specifying that it had to be non-profits and not for-profit companies, and that the companies be cooperatives so that there was a LOT of public participation.  But the concept was simple:  let the land remain in “federal” or “state” ownership, but operating them: managing and caring for them, would be in the hands of this non-profit cooperative association that would break-even and provide the materials and services to its members and to the general public.

The contract or agreement between the USFS (or USDA, its parent) and the State of South Dakota and the cooperative association would specify the objectives, goals, and limits – BUT NOT THE METHODS OF ACHIEVING THOSE things – and some form of insurance or surety would be maintained (just like mining companies and landfills do) to protect against negligence and gross (that is, governmental-level) stupidity.  The association would be freed from the six or eight levels of “supervision” that the current Forest/Grassland Supervisors in Custer and Fort Pierre and Bison and such “enjoy.”  (Think about the heirarchy: makes the Roman Catholic Church look flat: District Ranger, Forest Supervisor, Regional Supervisor, Chief of the USFS, Deputy Undersecretary, Undersecretary, Secretary of Agriculture, and of course, the MAN in 1600 PA.)

This is indeed similar to the proposal for charter forests now launched by Independence Institute, and they will no doubt be listened to much better than I was two decades ago.  Both of us point out that something HAS to be done.  The continued federal ownership of land that SHOULD have remained in ownership of tribes or gone into private ownership, and the government mismanagement of that for 120 years, has damaged the forests severely: more so than the so-called ravages done before the forest reserves were created except in a VERY few locations.  But worse, the current conditions of the forests of America, especially those of the West, means that much of the destruction we’ve seen is only a pale shadow of what will happen with the economy and federal government collapse, and there will be only enough “federal management” to keep anyone from doing anything about the longterm decay in ecosystems, and the massive fires sure to sweep so much of the forests.

Local, private management is the only alternative which is both able to accomplish the objective of managing the forests to support humans (and wildlife and everything else), that is both sustainable and affordable.  The same system could be applied to the National Park lands, and to the vast lands controlled by another of the great failed bureaucracies, Interior’s Bureau of Land Management.

By the way, this is NOT a totally outlandish or new idea by any means.  Forests both in the United Kingdom and the Fifty States nave been privately owned and operated for centuries, and can be visited today.  They are not utopias, but they are sustainable and thriving.  In the US, look at much of the Eastern Seaboard, especially Maine and Pennsylvania, but in the West, look at the land owned by Union Pacific, BNSF, and other railroads, as well as millions of acres of “inholdings” inside national forests.  It DOES work.

Mama’s Note: Might be a “step in the right direction, as so many like to say. The real answer, of course, rests on reverting all this land to private property, controlled by individuals with the rational incentives, rewards and punishment of the free market. The “non-profit” works fine as long as it is administered by saints and watched closely by everyone involved – which doesn’t happen much in the real world, and certainly not on the logistic and economic scale of that much land and it’s resources.

Posted in Nathan's Rants | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-03C: Government Panic/Permission

Posted on 2014-01-16 by TPOL Nathan

Government permission, or liberty in food
Virginia Bill Would Expand Farm and Food Freedom
(Reason)

Nathan: Sure, it sounds catchy, but aren’t they doing this all wrong?  Maybe I’m just being too simple-minded, but rather than listing all the foods that it is okay to make and sell without five or ten different permits and inspections and nanny-state nonsense, Reason and the other interested parties should pass a very simple law:  Anyone eighteen or older who is not under the care of someone else, and anyone responsible for anyone, has the natural right to buy and consume whatever they are voluntarily willing to do so, based on information they and the grower/preparer/seller of the food agree to share as far as its source, origins, contents, and methods of preparation and preservation.  Period.  Virginians survived for hundreds of years without the nanny-state and thousands of bureaucrats to protect them, and without refrigeration, high-tech sterilization and sealed packaging, and without detailed “nutritional reports.”  We can have all these things and DO NOT need government to provide or demand them for us.  THEY are the ones that need to do something to panic every time a potential voter gets a tummy ache from something that they are sure is in the food.

Mama’s Note: Who needs all that verbiage, and why in heck should there be an arbitrary age limit? I have the perfect law for this: No human being has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, nor to delegate such initiation of force. Every human being has the absolute right to self defense.

What more could we need?

Islamic wars: Afghan front
Pentagon Map: Afghanistan an Eldorado of Mineral Wealth and Natural Resources
(Blacklisted News)

Nathan: Thanks to Scott for this: his comments:
Scott: 95% of the world’s poppies are grown in Afghanistan. How many of the drugs come to the U.S.?  Remember the “Opium Wars” [UK versus China, to force China to allow opium to be imported], as the same thing still goes on…if you only knew. The U.S. will never totally pull out as, it’s business and business is good. The former China U.S. Ambassador said the day after the U.S. military moved into Afghanistan, China moved in to mine. Make you wonder, it should. He said it during 1 of the first presidential debates. If we could talk…

So, grow the poppies in the Great Basin, already! (But totally decriminalized, so the Great Basin don’t become a huge, military restricted zone.)

Nathan: Afghanistan is probably an Eldorado, but SO is North America – and the folks here are friendlier and don’t submit to Allah.  But because of NIMBY and BANANA and all the other environist head-space timing problems, we literally go around the world to find this stuff.  Because the politicians panic every time someone screams about damaging the earth or showing disrespect to a tree.  And too many of us don’t think of Afghanis as real people, or that beautiful land as real world.

Home front – Stupid media/politicians
Cities Fear Railroads Carrying Crude Oil
(Wall Street Journal)

Nathan: Do newspaper “reporters” ever bother to investigate and learn the truth and the details about something any more?  This sort of “panic journalism” does no one any good, except the fanatics who want to return us all to XIth Dynasty Egypt.  Bakken crude oil is lighter and sweeter than most other oil from the north and east – like Permian Basin (better known as West Texas Intermediate) and therefore is more flammable and flows more easily than other crude oils.  Which means that you have to be prepared to handle it differently.  Just like you have to treat cotton seed differently from sunflower oil and differently from corn or wheat or many other ag products.  We KNOW that politicians are not going to do anything to prepare for any disaster that does not reap handsome benefits.  Can’t ANYone prepare for problems?  Nope, they just panic, and the news media feeds on their panic.

Home front – Economy & Liberty
America’s Dwindling Economic Freedom
(WALL STREET JOURNAL/HERITAGE FOUNDATION ) After seven straight years of decline, the United States has dropped out of the top 10 most economically free countries…

Nathan: I have a sick feeling in my stomach.  Yes, I live with this every day, and I see clients and friends and vendors burdened more and more, but it still gnaws at me to see it quantified like this.  Of course, one of the big reasons is taxation and government spending, as the next article brings to mind.

Theft by government
State Sales Taxes and Exemptions
(MERCATUS CENTER )As tax rates rise, lobbying — and ultimately tax exemptions — increase, because those facing higher taxes have an incentive to lobby in an effort to get them lowered…

Nathan: It is a vicious cycle of terror – used intentionally.  Chicago, for example, has a sales tax of more than 10.5 percent: something that only VATs in Europe used to hit.  Of course various industries and groups lobby to get exemptions. For example, South Dakota has low sales taxes: 4 percent state, up to 2 percent local, and 1 percent added for “tourist items” (like motels and tourist attraction fees and books), but they are very broad: even engineering and medical services are taxed.  But we are constantly bombarded with attempts to make this and that “exempt.”  Food, clothing, baby medicine, tuition, etc.  Exemptions, and the process of carving them out and defending them, give power to legislators, making them MORE of a burden on the economy.  IF we must have taxes (and I am NOT saying that), the broader and lower rate a tax the better, especially if it is supposed to be “voluntary.”  For one thing, it makes it easier on the businesses who have to figure this out.  For another, it spreads the burden more equally.  I realize that selecting the kind of taxes is like selecting the way you want to be robbed:  in broad daylight, or in a dark alley at night; by a simple stick-up or an actual mugging with such niceties as pistol-whipping and a boot to the groin.  Still, some ways are easier on the victim than others.

Mama’s Note: None of these studies or indicators include the black and gray market, however. People have been finding ways around the problem of government theft and micromanagement for a long time. I suspect that smuggling is actually the “oldest profession,” or a close second. And the black/gray market is not all “illegal drugs” either. Things like raw milk, home made sausage, hair braiding, and now the services of doctors – anything “prohibited,” taxed, and regulated may be found available – if you know the right people and are prepared to pay cash.

There would be no politicians, regulations, taxes or vast numbers of people kept in cages if the general population could get rid of the insane superstition that these psychopathic “rulers” have any legitimate authority over them. Those who live in and trade with the black and gray markets already understand this, to a great degree.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-03B: Government “health care”

Posted on 2014-01-15 by TPOL Nathan

The entire idea of government health care gets sillier and sillier by the day, as more and more people realize what a ride they’ve been taken on – and how they are NOT allowed to stop the train or truck and get off,  like that woman in the LA area who had to jump from a moving police car to get away from her arresting-molesting cop.

Abominable Act (ObummerCare)
HHS: 5.6M of 6M Who Signed Up on Exchanges Will Get Federal Funding
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: More and more troubles for our beloved “messiah” and his signature plan that was to get him anointed in the history books forever, eh?  Not only this, but it is also pointed out that only 25% instead of the 40% of the critical, low-maintenance 18-35 year old age group was in the six million that signed up.  That 40% is essential, so that the older ones signing up can suck the younger’s blood to pay for the thing.  Ain’t gonna happen:  Millennials would rather pay the penalty than get sucked into another Social Security scam.  Meanwhile, Uncle Sugar continues to bleed ALL of us dry, and this piece of garbage just speeds up the process.  Theft, theft, and more theft, and they can’t leave well-enough alone.

Mama’s Note: Since the older folks didn’t set up this scheme, it is hardly fair to characterize them as “blood sucking.” In any case, even if the 6 million figure is accurate, and even if it were composed only of seniors (which it doesn’t seem to be), there is a big disconnect with the rest of the 300+ million strong population. And that is very good news, of course. This is one batch of kool-aid that most people are not prepared to swallow. But, as I’ve said before, this “failure” was intended, to set us up for the next part.

Theft by government – Ex-minions of the “messiah”
Former DOT Secretary LaHood: ‘Let’s Raise the Gas Tax’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Always thought this guy’s name was appropriate. Once more, he shows what a thug (hood, hoodlum) he is.  I just wrote an analysis of the demand for more government spending, especially by local and state agencies; this is right along with the demands for more local funding.  The excuse is roads and bridges and the trillions of dollars of backlogged/deferred maintenance and repair, but the WAY this money will be used is to subsidize all the good-feely, unmarketable dreams of the controllers:  more bike paths, more hiking trails, more “alternative transportation” like light rail and fancy trolleys and so forth, more “street art,” and more dubious environmental “improvement” projects.  And of course, government agencies will grow their (nonproductive) budgets, contractors will get rich on unnecessary work, and politicians will line their pockets with more campaign cash, all sucked out of taxpayers’ pockets.  It is GOVERNMENT that makes the most profit from selling a gallon of gasoline at $3/gallon or a gallon of diesel at $4/gallon:  nearly 60 cents on average, while the dealer: the guy or gal who owns and operates the fuel station, might get 5-10 cents.  Who is gouging whom?

World wars: State Department Stupidity – Culture wars: Same-sex “marriage”
Kerry ‘Deeply Concerned’ By Nigeria’s Ban on Same-Sex Marriage
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Sure wish he were as concerned about the way Muslims in Nigeria kill more and more people every Sunday.  But his masters have told him what his agenda is, and he’s sticking to it.  Like Edwards, like Dukakis, like Teddy and others, the man’s brain cells (what he had) have atrophied into something that probably resembled dead, dried-out coral, and we are lucky that he doesn’t just collapse into a drooling blob as he walks out of the plane on one of those foreign airports.  Of course, that COULD be fun.

Congress in action – Culture wars: “Homosexual marriage”
Prompted by Utah Gay Marriage Case, Weber Introduces Bill to Protect State Sovereignty
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Too little, too late, Mr. Weber.  The cows are out of the barn.  Of course, if you and the others in DC and the Fifty State capitols had been more concerned about your vaunted “state sovereignty,” then this case would not have even shown up.  If you and the others had done ANYTHING serious to restrict government, this would not be an issue today.  But you sold out… and will do so again.

Politics 2014
Feds investigating Christie’s use of Sandy relief funds
(CNN)  Just days after dismissing two top advisers for their roles in the George Washington Bridge scandal, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is facing questions over the use of Superstorm Sandy relief funds. CNN has learned that federal officials are investigating whether Christie improperly used those relief funds to produce tourism ads that starred him and his family….

Nathan: Do YOU smell a rat?  I surely do.  Sounds like the Dirty Tricks Department has decided that Christie needs to be taken down several notches, and that the White House is doing the same thing that the NJ governor’s staff did to Fort Lee…

Mama’s Note: I just love it when politicians fight…  As for White House “dirty tricks,” it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy than Christie. He just radiates sleaze.

Local government tyranny – Theft by government
Analysis Of National Data Finds No Benefit To Red Light Cameras
(The Newspaper.com) Peer-reviewed statistical analysis finds insurance industry data actually proves no benefit to red light camera use.

Nathan: Apparently, once again “science” has been used to lie by twisting the way a study was done and coming up with false conclusions.  I know we should be used to this, but too many people have this deep, abiding (and totally misplaced) faith in science.  And too many people in government and contractors who salivate with greed know that.  So they keep on doing things like this.

Mama’s Note: I have a feeling you mean the original “studies” used to “prove” that the red light cameras would save lives. The analysis by the insurance industry, itself suspect in many ways of course, seems to mesh with what has actually been happening wherever these cameras are used.

Economy 2014

NFIB (National Federation of Independent Businesses) [Hardcopy magazine, not found on line] survey participants were asked what is the single-most-important problem facing their business:

  • 29% said “poor sales.”
  • 22% cited taxes
  • 15% cited “government regulations and red tape”
  • 7% cited “cost and availability of insurance” — which IS a government-created problem.
  • Only 4% cited availability of credit.

Nathan: My oh my. isn’t it great that we spent billions in bank bailouts in the last six years to keep the lines of credit open, isn’t it?  Small (Independent) businesses know (or should) that one of their worst enemies is GOVERNMENT.  The government does not like small business, as they are just that: independent.  They do things without making sure that their campaign contributions and other donations to government, government officials, and government employees are up to date.  They are harder to force to do things, unlike national businesses which can go from profitable to bankruptcy in a matter of a few days of negative media coverage.  And since their margins of profit are small, they are not the cash cows of the big, multinationals.  No, government really does NOT like small business, and so regulations are slanted against them (except for a very few, really heavily publicized ones that really don’t help that much).  Of course, government, being collectively stupid, is always skating the edge – or coming close to butchering the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Culture wars: killing babies
Planned Parenthood Did 1 Adoption Referral Per 149 Abortions
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Making sure that supply is always less than demand?  Which is why people go to Vietnam, China, and other places to adopt when they find themselves childless?  Keeping population down, of course.  Keeping a demand for border jumpers to do work, also.  And according to some reports, keeping crime levels down.  Ah, the love of the Tranzis for their rituals and sacraments!

Mama’s Note: Abortion is still a very personal decision made primarily by the pregnant woman, regardless of the agency, and many factors influence their decisions. I highly doubt that immigration or population control are included. Those may figure into the agenda of the agency, of course, but I suspect it is far more a matter of money. The good news is that abortion numbers seem to be falling, and that most people believe abortion is wrong or a serious problem.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What’s going on? County and Tribal Government Deteriorate Still More

Posted on 2014-01-14 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton – with commentary by MamaLiberty

Looking back to 2013 and in the first few days of 2014, one trend stands out very much to me, and to a number of the people I work with, on projects, politics, and religion.

That is very much the decline in the quality of local government, especially county and tribal governments.  I’ve seen it in municipal governments, as well, and we have ALL seen it in state governments and DC.  But the situation is accelerating, or so it seems, in local governments.  Some of it is stuff that has just come out, and in some pretty big cities, but has been going on for a long time, like the New York City-centered arrests of 100 first responders who have been bilking the taxpayers of $400 million dollars in bogus disability payments.  And like that scumbag mayor of Toronto (now running for reelection on his record) or the similar mayor of Detroit or tribal officers tried and convicted of forging checks after nearly killing themselves by DUI.

I am going to avoid names and locations, simply describing events and persons.  I’d appreciate some feedback, to see if we all are noticing it.

I won’t address the fact that police forces seem to be raging out of control in more and more places, tazering people with abandon, beating (kicking, slapping, thumping, throwing them against walls and floors), and just outright shooting people (even children) in cold blood, and one even said, “because we don’t have enough time for that.”  City (and other) police forces are a bad idea anyway, because they don’t even have an elected leader or chief: supposedly the boss is always a “professional”  and a “sworn officer,”  reporting to a bunch of (or just ONE mayor or city manager) cruddy civilian pukes.  Not that elected Sheriffs are much better these days; for one thing, they almost ALL have to have years of experience as “sworn officers” and “professional law enforcement” to even be allowed to get on the ballot.  As with all other elected officials, they supposedly have the power of incumbency AND a following of trained thugs, but when do you hear about the electors recalling one?

No, I think I need to address the growing incompetency, greed, and power-madness of those “cruddy civilian pukes” and their counterparts:  city council members or aldermen or board members; tribal officers or council members or delegates; county commissioners or directors or judges and their like from the tip of Maine all the way to San Diego and Guam.  Oh, and don’t leave out school district board members, directors of special districts, and various and assorted APPOINTED officials from dog-catchers to treasurers and town clerks and health department bosses and so forth.  Anyone with a tiny bit of (steadily increasing) power: anyone who is becoming less and less productive and therefore more and more a parasite, from county road and bridge superintendents and town engineers to social workers and welfare directors and – dare I whisper it? – county extension agents!  I would like to think that there are places they aren’t that bad, and since I only pay a lot of attention to a hundred or so municipalities and counties and tribes, there probably are  a few good ones here and there.  But I sure ain’t seeing them.

Nor are my friends and associates and correspondents.  I had one business partner ask me this week, “Nathan, how do we keep electing good guys who turn out to be corrupt, stupid b******s as soon as they get into office?”  Another was telling me, “that council [in a tribe] has two hundred years of business and management experience, and ever’ durn bit of it got washed away between election day and when they took over.”  (Sounds close to jokes Mama Liberty and I were making about brains and Congress and such.)

Here are some examples:

A tribal council where the members have turned on each other to the extent that they are impeaching one another – since multiple impeachments of the tribal president have not given them enough excitement and change.

A county commission which started its term in office by immediately (and without any planning or examining the consequences) fired the longtime county attorney AND his aide, and THEN decided to see if they could hire a new one.  Their reason for firing him?  Basically, he was too old and tired.  They then followed up by angering their county administrator so much he quit – effective immediately.  The next year, again without planning for transition they fired both the road superintendent and his deputy.

Another tribal counsel allowed a minor dispute over who authorized a private company to cut down a tree on privately-owned land (which was in trust) to turn into a situation where an unscrupulous council member was able to avenge “an insult to his ex-wife” by causing the tribe to spend more than $200,000 more to build a trash facility than they would have needed to if they had awarded the contract to the low bidder – which also happened to be owned by tribal members, instead paying $200K more to an outside, Anglo-owned firm.

Another county which created an elaborate bureaucracy with half-a-dozen employees, most of whom used their positions to threaten people that they didn’t like, and which created such a mess that attempts to develop property and even build new buildings and houses dropped from 100 a year to less than 10 a year.  One by one, they fired the planning and development employees, or they quit, until today, the only employee left is the receptionist/clerk who used to work for both the planning department AND the road department.  But in the process, the corrupt county administration and commission bankrupted their county, drove businesses to their deaths, and in essence destroyed development.

There are hundreds of other examples, and some have been going on for decades, but the trend is obvious:  local governments are more and more dysfunctional and provide less and less service to their constituents.  Things are going downhill rapidly, and we better learn to live without them.  Even a rollback to 1950s level will trigger massive temper tantrums among their residents/enrolled members and businesses, but if not done, there may be virtually NOTHING surviving.  (Which isn’t necessarily a bad idea, except that states and the fedgov would try to take on the responsibility themselves.

And we don’t need that.

Mama’s Note: The fulcrum is the power to tax. None of this tyranny and insanity would be possible without the ability to confiscate the productivity and property of their far, far more numerous victims. It could not happen without the false “authority” to redistribute that wealth, and distort the economy as they do today.

The amount of theft, corruption or insane behavior is only incidental to the core problem. People have been conditioned, for many centuries, to believe that the “rulers,” the elected “officials” and their stooges have some legitimate authority to do what they do. When all is said and done, most people can see absolutely no alternative to the tax, spend and control type government, and most don’t even look for one.

The “war lord” with brute force, the “divine right” of kings, and lately the vast fraud of socialism and “democracy” of all flavors, have all been used to impress the common people that they have no real authority over themselves in the long run, and that they have no real choice except to hope for the least harmful tyrants. They have been convinced that, in the end, the government actually does own them and, by extension, everything they have or ever will have – including their children.

The Most Dangerous Superstition, by Larken Rose, gives the best and clearest description of this false belief. The truth is that nobody has any legitimate authority over another person without their consent. Each person owns their own life, body, and is personally responsible for themselves and their voluntarily chosen dependents.

The idea that there is no need for rulers, officials or tax collectors is fairly new, but is gaining strength. Self ownership, and self government is the ultimate answer, and that’s why our non-voluntary government hates and fears those who choose to own themselves and refuse to be slaves any longer.

But we outnumber the tyrants and their goons significantly. When enough people give up this most dangerous superstition of “legitimate” tyranny, they can begin to find liberty and justice for all.

Posted in Nathan's Rants | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-03A: Regulators (stupid government)

Posted on 2014-01-14 by TPOL Nathan

Stupid government – Regulators
West Virginia Chemical–Spill Site Avoided Broad Regulatory Scrutiny
(Wall Street Journal) The site of a West Virginia chemical spill that contaminated the water supply for 300000 people operated largely outside government oversight, …

Nathan: It is not hard to imagine what the response to this chemical spill is.  It is of course the usual panic, and with lots of screams of “we MUST have more government control,” and “we MUST pass new laws to prevent this from ever happening,” and of course, “We MUST punish this company and all the people that let it happen.”

But that is NOT going to solve the problem:  this plant was under government oversight at the county, state, and federal level for more than 20 years, in one of the states with the highest concentration of government agencies and regulators in the nation, and subject to tens of thousands of pages of regulations.

All these regulations and oversight were SUPPOSED to keep something like this from happening.  And they failed.  As with gun laws that do NOT prevent aggressive gun violence, and harm peaceful and innocent people, these laws, most on the books for forty years or more, have FAILED.  It is time for something different.  The best way seems to be private insurance companies, who can keep track of their clients and would be liable for ANY actions.  When there are companies who have a vested interest in NOT letting things like this happen – where profits and jobs are on the line – and where the companies canNOT just get “permits” to allow things to happen that would otherwise be illegal, then this won’t happen nearly as much.

Stupid government – Regulators
DOE Plugs Energy Rating for Homes, Similar to MPG Rating for Cars
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This makes sense only if you wish to see government expand, still more, into more and more of the economy, and have people grow more dependent.  It will NOT result in more energy-efficient homes, just in more paperwork and blather.

Stupid government makes stupid companies
Ford Introduces a New F-150 Made of Aluminum
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This is NOT “Ford has a better idea,” but rather, “Ford is getting beat on by government.  It is also crazy: doing the same thing over and over again.  Aluminum has been tried, time and again, and it just does not work.  It is not the strength, it is also the durability, and the cost.  And a whole host of other issues.  MAYBE Ford will get it right where they and Chrysler and General Motors didn’t in the past.  And maybe pigs will fly.

Mainstream Media
Study: Network News Viewers at All-Time Low; Half under Age 30 Never Watch News
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This should come as no surprise.  More and more of us are sick and tired of seeing the MSM cooking up nonsense to serve to the adoring public.  Of our family of four, my wife watches more news than the rest of us: maybe an average of a whole five minutes a day – most of which is weather.  We can listen to radio on or off line, we can READ.  And I dare say we are more familiar than 95% of television watchers – indeed, the public – with what is going on and going down.  As with newspapers, network news is less and less useful, and less and less tolerable, as time goes on.

Theft by government
New Rule Could Cut Into Restaurant Workers’ Tips
(Watchdog.Org) A new IRS rule now requires that gratuity automatically collected for large parties be added into payroll, which means that workers will have to pay taxes on the tips and wait up to two weeks to get them…

Nathan: Oh, taxes are not going up, are they?  Of COURSE not – because this isn’t a “tax increase” but just “better enforcement.”  It is STILL theft, because that is what government does.  While trying to get through a “minimum wage” increase, they steal with the other hand.

Mama’s Note: The whole “tip” thing is a grotesque joke these days in so many ways. A “tip” was originally supposed to be a gift, a way to thank an especially helpful servant. This was basically destroyed when the “tips” became part of their wages, and ludicrous when they became “automatic” and expected. I don’t go out to eat much, and I don’t travel anymore, but I have never given in to the pressure to “tip” that way, and tip only if I actually feel it is appropriate –  putting the cash into the hands of the person I believe merits it with my verbal thanks.

The “messiah” – Tyranny at work
Obama Plans to ‘Mobilize’ Americans Around a ‘National Mission’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This is right on the checklist of “how to be a successful tyrant.”  Napoleon did it, Bismarck did it.  So did Lenin and Stalin, Il Duce (Mussolini), Onkel Adolph, and all the rest.  A “national mission” becomes a jihad, a holy crusade, which allows MORE money and MORE liberty to be stolen from the people.  Making government fatter (in both gut AND head) and giving more power, and more reason to crack down on anyone who is not on board.

Stupid people and ideas
Carrier Pigeons Eyed As Way to Foil Hackers, Government Snoops
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This is what we are back to?  Give into the NSA, the FBI, all the other alphabet agencies and government contractors and private firms that want to (or have to) suck up to government? Does it surprise any of us to hear that this stupid proposal comes from a UN bureaucrat?  Or that the article talks about ancient Egyptians, Julius Caesar, and the failed “Bridge Too Far” attack in 1944?

Mama’s Note: Really, really dumb for anything beyond very local applications. The pigeons must first be taken TO the area from which the message is to be sent. As useful as they were at times in the past, that was always one major limiting factor.

Energy
Report: U.S., Canadian Energy Resources Could Provide 100% Domestic Liquid Fuel Needs by 2024
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This assumes, of course, that the various governments will allow the fuels to be produced, and allow people to burn them.  A look forty years back to the “Energy Crisis of 1973” shows that the potential has always been there for this “100% domestic liquid fuels” but that various agencies and people have worked incredibly hard to keep it from happening.  No reason to expect that they will not continue to do so in the next 10 years.  It won’t be a direct attack, but where are the new pipelines?  the new refineries? the new rail lines and off-load facilities?  All locked up – some for decades – by bureaucracy and NIMBY-nuts who will NOT go away.

Politics 2014
Republican Party Chairman: ‘We’re a Young, Fresh Party’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Isn’t that what they advertise for hookers?

Mama’s Note: Indeed. Good grief, if “young, fresh” was all that was needed, we could install five year olds in every government office and reap far superior results.

Politics 2014 – Theft by government
Rubio: ‘Significant Number of Americans’ Don’t Have ‘Equality of Opportunity’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: That is undoubtedly true:  MOST Americans don’t HAVE much opportunity any more, equal or not, because government has stolen that along with everything else.  And the GOP has done MORE than its fair share of that theft.  Here, I assume, he is talking about just “economic” opportunity.  But let us consider some OTHER opportunity that government has stolen:  the opportunity to get a decent education, the opportunity to get good medical care of your choice, the opportunity to keep all the money you earn, the opportunity to do what you want with your property, and of course, the opportunity to defend yourself and others.

Mama’s Note: All of those things are part of “economic opportunity,” as well as every other kind. Obummer isn’t really concerned with “opportunity” at all, but with outcome – as are all statists and socialists. And the outcome is only important to them as a measure of what they can use to inspire envy and hate among the “have nots,” while whipping up the false guilt in those who “have” a bit more. It’s a ploy as old as the hills and, unfortunately, about as effective at divide and conquer as it ever was.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Paying for Highways

Posted on 2014-01-13 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

The Tax Foundation just released a study on how states pay for highways, and you can read it here.

The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) (in their daily e-zine) released a summary, which has some telling numbers: Only Half of State Road Spending Is Covered by Gas Taxes and User Fees

Most funding should come from user fees (such as tolls) and user taxes (such as a gasoline or vehicle license tax), so as to ensure that those who are using the roads are bearing the largest part of the cost. If funding is taken out of general revenue funds the roads appear to be free, which can lead to overuse or congestion.

I am showing their numbers as a table, and calculated out the rest:

2011 State/Local Transportation Spending

Highway user fees and taxes                                  $153.0 billion spent

State/local:     User fees and tolles                      12.7

Fuel taxes                                                                41.2

License fees                                                             23.2

Total state/local                                                     77.1 (50.4%)

Federal  Aid (mostly fuel excise tax)                 46.0 (30.1%)

General state/local revenue (general fund)     29.9 (19.5%)

Nathan: The article goes on to explain: Delaware, Hawaii, Florida and California raise at least two-thirds of their transportation spending from user fees and taxes, while in Alaska, South Dakota, Wyoming and Louisiana, most spending comes from general revenue funds.

The Federal Highway User Trust Fund (called by various names in various states) was created about 95 years ago, and originally provided federal assistance for primary and secondary roads to states, which usually passed much of that down to counties and municipalities.  In fact, virtually ALL roads in the nation are designated as “Federally Assisted Primary” (FAP), Federally Assisted Secondary (FAS), and Federally-Assisted Interstate (FAI) highways, the FAI designation coming along in the 1950s.  Originally this assistance was 10% of the cost of building and improving roads (for FAI it was, as I recall, either 20 or 25%).

Of course, this was intended to spread out the cost of roads and to balance the fact that someone buys fuel in Kansas but drives on I-70 in Missouri, and fills up again in Illinois.  And because it was politicians robbing Peter and paying both Paul and Peter with stolen money.  Oh, and it was also used by Congress to do a little bit of “social engineering” along the way.  Actually quite a bit: like destroy the privately-owned passenger railway system that once served this country, in part because the “big railroad tycoons” didn’t pony up as much campaign contributions as the auto industry and the heavy construction industry.  And in part because the highways, unlike the railroads, were PUBLICLY owned and not privately owned.  (There WERE a few privately-owned roads: all long since bought by governments.)

You notice that in 2011, the Feds pay a whooping 30%, not the 10% or 20% of days of yore.  And as always, that money has strings – cables, in fact – attached.

And THAT, of course, is the problem.  Federal and state fuel taxes (and don’t get me started on local taxes) and all the license fees and tolls and such are NO LONGER “user fees” because over the decades, LARGE percentages of this money, which is supposed to build and maintain highways for truck and car traffic, has been diverted over the decades to pay for government boondoggles, starting with Lady Bird Johnson’s highway beautification (litter control was just one part of it) and continuing to fund “alternative transportation.”  So this $153 billion in 2011 was split into a LOT of slices.  Subsidizing bus lines (especially inside cities) and handicapped on-call taxis and bike paths and hiking trails and overpasses/underpasses to serve as chokepoints (sometimes literally) for kids walking to government-ruined, theft-funded schools and light rail and more.  And worse: “public art” – things that sometimes look like what tow-trucks pull OFF the highways after a bad accident, and more.  And “safety campaigns” like seat-belt and helmet and anti-drinking campaigns.  And travel promotion campaigns (admittedly, to get people to drive more, at least in the past, and therefore buy more fuel).  And law enforcement agencies who have long rejected their origins as “courtesy patrols” to help travelers, and grandiose rest areas and “travel information centers.”  And of course, MASSIVE bureaucracies to shuffle paper back and forth, and meet all the hyperactive demands of the fedgov for red tape.  All of these little welfare schemes were added, leech-like, to the basic “build and maintain roads” scheme.

In other words, like virtually ALL government programs, it lost its way and became corrupt.

So the Tax Foundation’s recommendations are good, but not necessarily right.  The FIRST thing to do is get the spending under control.  And part of that is naturally, getting the FedGov OUT of the road business, except for those things that are actually authorized in the Constitution (which amounts to ZERO spending, near as I can figure).  Then states can fix their funding systems – and the best way to do that is to commercialize (not “privatize”) the road network, so that the money isn’t frittered away on things that have nothing to do with Truck X and Car Y going from point A to point B.

Then, we’d have one less political football, and one less reason to grow government in DC and the Fifty States.

Mama’s Note: Unfortunately, that can’t happen until the same thing is done for all government programs, spending and theft. Pandora isn’t going back into the box easily or willingly.

Posted in Nathan's Rants | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Crime Rates drop except in NY DHS (Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-02E)

Posted on 2014-01-12 by TPOL Nathan

Home front – Technology
Are the Xbox and unleaded gas helping keep you safe from violent crime?
(NBC News)

Mama’s Note: And, of course, not a single word about the role played by an increasing number of people both willing and able to defend themselves.

Nathan: This is quite an astonishing list: I really AM as surprised as you are that both concealed carry AND open carry expansion in the past three decades are not also listed.  Other studies, many peer-reviewed, have indicated the huge impact.  In fact, L. Neil Smith just mentioned that, going back to 1971 in Florida, and the huge impact in Florida in just over four decades.  We’ve both seen articles on some of these “causes” and the logic and numbers aren’t always there.  For example, the causation between abortion rates and crime.  Or that between lead (based paint and gasoline additives).  Now that the last known lead smelter in the US has been closed, does that mean that crime rates will again come down?  (Of course, now that I think about it, the vast majority of those currently in power from town hall right up to the White House) were children during those lead-present eras: is THAT why they are so stupid?)  And sometimes, his logic is just plain missing.  White collar crime is STILL crime, even if the yuppies and Gen-Xer criminals prefer on-line theft to the honest old-fashioned way with a sap from a dark alley.

But the plain fact is, government and the nanny state did little or NOTHING to create this drop in crime (and of course, we are assuming it IS a real drop, not just a failure in reporting and recording – or criminal manipulation of the data), and there is NOT ONE EFFORT to try and claim “100,000 extra cops on the streets in year X” had effect Y, or “a 10% increase in spending on law enforcement resulted in a XX% drop in crime in location Z.”

And of course, I see that the author did not compare ANY of these factors to the crime rate among serving and ex-Congressmen.  That would probably not help his thesis at all.

Of course, in SOME places the crime rate is going up, like the NY DHS underground bunker:

New York Homeland Security Director uses laser target designator as pointer:(Times-Union) Jerome M. Hauer, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s director of homeland security, took out his handgun and used the laser sighting device attached to the barrel as a pointer in a presentation to a foreign delegation, according to public officials. It happened Oct. 24 in Albany at the highly secure state emergency operations center below State Police headquarters.

Nathan: This just popped up (so to speak) here.

I had to share this example of a bureaucrat’s stupidity with our esteemed publisher.  She wrote: Hmmm, and none of us can be trusted with a gun? He was, of course,  immediately tasered, or at least tackled and smashed to the floor with a thug scrum of 20 “officers” and handcuffed, facing life imprisonment…
No? Hmmmm…..

Nathan: I pointed out: triple standards: one for us, one for grunt cops (who surely would not have gotten away with this), and one for the elite.  Of course, the gutless people of NY will do nothing to squawk about this, and Swedes?  In 200 years they’ve gone downhill faster than the French. (Yes, I realize I am being disrespectful of both Sweden and France.)

Mama’s Note: You know… I missed this originally. It might well be that this was done deliberately to impress the foreign delegation with the idea that all Americans are insane, especially those who have guns. Could be…

Nathan: Of course, even Swedes are aware of the great cultural differences found in the Fifty States.  But understanding a tiny bit about the way New York State Government operates, there may be SOME strange and bizarre reason for him doing this.

Mama’s Note: Most criminals have “strange and bizarre” reasons for the things they do. Blatant disregard, or incredible ignorance of, the absolute rules of safe gun handling may be a “reason,” but of course is no excuse.

  1. Never put your finger on the trigger until you have your target sighted and are ready to shoot.
  2. Never point a gun at anything you are not prepared to destroy.
  3. All guns are considered “loaded” at all times, and treated accordingly.
  4. There is no such thing as an “accidental discharge.” All unintended discharges are due to negligence. Guns do not fire unless the trigger is pulled. (see rule #1)

On to other news:

Stupid government tricks
DOD Reviewing Its ‘Equal Opportunity’ Training–After Anti-Christian Materials Exposed
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Well, you’d hardly expect them to review BEFORE it came to light.  Several people have pointed out, with strong justification, that the DoD’s Equal Opportunity Program and the EEO officers and NCOs required to be appointed in every unit and office, are in fact the American (post-Republic) version of Political Officers or Kommissars (and are the replacement of “chaplains” mimicking the role chaplains played in the military of religious dictatorships). There is much to be said for it.

Stupid government tricks – The “messiah”
Krauthammer: ‘How Can a President Commit Troops If His Heart Isn’t In It?’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Krauthammer is speaking like an idiot here.  He knows that MANY occupants of 1600 PA have “not had their hearts in it” – or indeed, not cared about anything except what political power they keep or gain by using the troops.  No different than Congress.

Stupid government tricks – Congress in Action – Tranzis
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: Change the Word ‘Welfare’ to ‘Transitional Living Fund’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Exactly what we can expect for her.  Like using “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program” (SNAP) instead of food stamps.  Liberals seem to be such childish people, who are satisfied with calling something a different name in order to pretend that it is different.  Or redefining the definitions of simple English words, to twist them into reflecting their world-view.  And the rest of us let them get away with it.

Mama’s Note: I’d say that SOME people let them get away with it. Others have been battling this problem for a long time.

First Minion – Ex-Minion – Politics 2014 (2 stories)|
Gates bashes Biden in memoir
(Washington Post) Former defense secretary Bob Gates, in his new memoir, reserves some of his harshest criticism for Joe Biden, saying the vice president is almost always on the wrong side of foreign policy. “I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades,” Gates wrote of Biden, according to the New York Times.

Nathan: Takes one to know one: Gates has a wonderful track record of being wrong on foreign affairs AND defense.  Especially when he was in office.  Biden is your typical ne’er-do-well scion of a wealthy and successful man:  a problem faced by most American family-held corporations, Mafia families, and of course, royal dynasties.  We are so LUCKY to have him.  Of course, the White House couldn’t leave well enough alone:

White House responds to Gates’s criticism of Biden
(Washington Post) In an e-mailed statement, the White House weighed in on former defense secretary Robert Gates’s judgments about President Obama’s leadership and his commitment to the Afghanistan war, as well as his harsh criticism of Vice President Biden, both contained in Gates’s new memoir, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War.”

Nathan: Harsh?  Harsh would be exaggerating what an idiot the First Minion really is, how he is incapable of keeping his mouth shut, and how his chief talent is to be a clown. Not a GOOD clown, maybe, but a clown.  If Gates wanted to be nasty, he could have included a modification of THIS story in his book:

Last Saturday afternoon, in Washington, D.C. , an aide to former     House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the Cardinal in the Catholic cathedral in D.C. He told the Cardinal that Nancy Pelosi would be attending the next day’s Mass, and he asked if the Cardinal would kindly point out Pelosi to the congregation and say a few words  that would include calling Pelosi a saint. The Cardinal replied, “No. I don’t really like the woman, and there are issues of conflict with the Catholic Church over certain of Pelosi’s views. Pelosi’s aide then said, “Look, I’ll write a check here and now for a donation of $100,000 to your church if you’ll just tell the congregation you see Pelosi as a “saint.” The Cardinal thought about it and said, “Well, the church can use the money, so I’ll work your request into tomorrow’s sermon.”

As Pelosi’s aide promised, Nancy Pelosi appeared for the Sunday worship and seated herself prominently at the forward left side of the center aisle. As promised, at the start of his sermon, the Cardinal pointed out that former Speaker Pelosi was present. The Cardinal went on to explain to the congregation, “While Ms. Pelosi’s presence is probably an honor to some, the woman is not numbered among my personal favorite personages. Some of her most egregious views are contrary to tenets of the Church, and she tends to flip-flop on many other issues. Nancy Pelosi is a petty, self -absorbed hypocrite, a thumb sucker, and a nit-wit. Nancy Pelosi is also a serial liar, a cheat, and a thief. I must say, Nancy Pelosi is the worst example of a Catholic I have ever personally witnessed. She married for money and is using her wealth to lie to the American  people. She also has a reputation for shirking her Representative obligations both in Washington, and in California. The woman is simply not to be trusted.” The Cardinal concluded, “But, when compared with President Obama, Speaker Pelosi is a saint.”

I could not resist sharing that – it just took a while to find a story where it matched!  Thanks to Gillie for sharing it with me.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-02D: Light bulbs and News Quickies

Posted on 2014-01-11 by TPOL Nathan

Stupid government tyranny and theft – New religions: environists.
More Incandescent Lamps GO AWAY – BUT!|
(RumorMill News.com): Still smaller wattages of Edison incandescent lamps are now banned as of the first of the year.  However, there ARE alternatives.

Nathan: The Light Bulb Store of South Hackensack, New Jersey (Yes, I know it sounds like Rush Limbaugh’s “Spatula City” ads.) is offering “Newcandescent Lamps” in sizes up to 300 watt.  (PLEASE NOTE:  This is NOT a commercial endorsement; I know nothing about this company’s reputation or business, except that they are trying to provide a product, made in the USA, which sticks it to Congress, the EPA, and all the rest of the Nannies, from the heart of the evil East Coast (the “Other” Left Coast).)  Going to their websites is fun, especially their splash page, and their history page. Larry, the owner, claims to be the grandson of an associate of Thomas Edison, so they go way back.  You can buy their stuff at their customer page. (Again, this is NOT an endorsement, and I don’t know these guys and they haven’t paid me a dime, but I will probably buy some of their stuff.)

The point is, ONCE AGAIN, Congress and the White House have shoved something about the size of one of those old 200-watt clear incandescent bulbs down our throats with NO authority except the guns of EPA, DOJ, and all the rest of the hired thugs.  And made a worse mess: CFLs present significant hazards to everyone from your pet cat or dog to your kids and your grandmother.  Yes, we can deal with them, but why should WE not individually decide what and which risks we want to take?  (And frankly, spiral CFLs are UGLY and collect insane amounts of dust and grit. And unless you buy them by the pallet load, they probably do NOT break even unless you are paying 25-cents a KwHr.) LEDs are WONDERFUL – but only if you can afford to replace a 50-cent item with a $15 item.  Do you know how many bulbs you have in YOUR house or business?

Self Defense – Home front
Miami man fights off home invaders with AK-47
(NBC Miami via Eagle Rising) A Miami man is very thankful for being a proud gun owner after he was the victim of an armed home invasion. Last week three armed men entered a man’s apartment, pistol whipped him, and proceeded to beat him. At some point in the altercation the man was able to get a hold of his AK-47 and fight back.

Nathan: Details are sketchy, and the report seems to contradict itself in several places.  The Davie Police captain is a poor spokesperson, in my opinion.  But it appears that the police believe that the man (“the attacker” according to the TV) who used his AK-47 to shoot and kill one invader and either scared off or wounded and chased off two others was acting in self-defense in accordance with Florida law, since the police have released him.  (Fate of his weapon is unknown; pray he has something to deal with the other two men if they return.)

Mama’s Note: This is something I’ve pointed out to several new gun owners… if you ever actually have to use the gun for self defense, you’d better have a backup gun or you will wind up with NONE. And the way these things go sometimes, you may never get the original gun back anyway. The key, then, is to carry an adequate gun that is not too expensive, and keep at least one in reserve. In some places, that would need to be kept very well hidden.

Stupid government tricks – Stupid people tricks
San Francisco:  Can’t have anything but automobiles in your garage [?]
(Institute for Justice) In San Francisco, one of the examples of leftist policies that are just simple outgrowths of leftist philosophy, is the micromanagement of a community. In this case it has to do with your garage.

§ 603 GARAGES. [Added by Ord. 399-89, App. 11/6/89; amended by Ord. 161-92, App. 6/4/92; Ord. 350-95, App. 11/3/95; Ord. 256-07, App. 11/6/07]

(a) No automobile or other motor vehicle shall occupy any portion of an apartment house or hotel except in a garage which meets the requirements of the Building Code and other provisions of the Municipal Code.

(b) Use. Private and public storage garages in apartment houses and hotels shall be used only for storage of automobiles.

(c) Separation. See Section 406.1 of the Building Code. When approved, existing separations in existing buildings may be acceptable.

What’s that? You want to put your old Christmas decorations in a box in the garage? Well you could… but you’d be breaking the law. Want to store your bicycle in your garage instead of your living room? Criminal. Read more here.

Nathan: WHY THE QUESTION MARK ON THE HEADLINE? Because I believe that, after reading the ordinance, the people reporting this are stupid. San Francisco is full of single family dwellings as well as “apartment houses and hotels” as stated in the ordinance.  It therefore ONLY applies to apartment houses and hotels, and NOT to townhouses, rowhouses, detached and semi-detached (duplex) houses.  It still may not make sense, but the IJ and whoever else is spouting this stuff needs to READ THE ORDINANCE (and probably consult both an attorney and a shrink) before they write this stuff.  Secondly, this law has been on the books for at LEAST six years and possibly TWENTY-FIVE YEARS.  Last I checked or heard, there has been NO huge roundup of scofflaws, even IN “apartment houses and hotels.”  This ordinance MAY actually be a dead letter that is NOT enforced or only enforced when a tenant (apartment houses and hotels are seldom owner-occupied) has done something to tick off a landlord.  COME ON, PEOPLE.  There is ENOUGH REAL TYRANNY and abuse by government going on in this country that we don’t have to go out and twist things and make them up.  It makes YOU look stupid and makes anyone who passes it on without bothering to read or investigate look silly.

Theft by and from government
The War on Poverty turned 50 yesterday.
(HotAir.Com)

Nathan: Ain’t that just disgusting?  Unfortunately I know a lot of people who are around fifty that seem to have been on welfare for that whole time; maybe with a brief break now and then to get fired from some job or another.  No wonder that idiot in Congress wants to rename it to Temporary Transition Assistance or Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard or something equally silly.  If it WERE temporary and transitional, the best way to do it would STILL be for private, volunteer, local people and groups to pay for it and give it away.  All LBJ and the goonies in Congress in 1963-64 did was institutionalize AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL what had already proven to be unworkable and accomplishing NOTHING at the state level.

Politics 2014
Did Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) use his authority to inflict a traffic nightmare on his opponents?
(CBS, New York)

Nathan: “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?” (wink, wink)  Still, folks, he is a POLITICIAN: of COURSE he will do someone else, especially a podunk mayor who dissed him, dirty.  It IS NEW JERSEY: that light bulb guy is an exception to the way government AND a good deal of business (see them right there on the other pillow in government’s bed?  Rented by the hour, I admit, but still) ACT in New Jersey.  The only way you tell the OFFICIAL bad guys from the government and business bad guys is that the bodyguards for the OFFICIAL bad guys (you know, the mobs) usually dress better.  And smile now and then.

Islamic wars: Persian front – The “messiah”
Iraq’s Ambassador had some harsh words for President Obama and some kind ones for President Bush.
(Washington Times)

Nathan: Hmmm.  Why kind ones for George W?  Because at least they knew where he stood?  Or just in contrast to the present squatter in 1600 PA?

Politics 2014 – The “messiah”
So the guy heading the investigation into whether or not the IRS was persecuting conservatives is an Obama friend and donor.
(Breitbart)

Nathan: As the guy (thanks, Mark) who sent this to me said, “Business as usual in Washington, D.C.”  But even more blatant than what everyone from JFK to GWB did:  the Spoils system on steroids, I guess.  What better way to award a donor and buddy, than give him a chance to GET PAID to whitewash you?

Here is a HUGE LIST of all the things that global warming has been predicted to have done/do.
(NumberWatch.co.uk)

Nathan: thanks to several folks for this.  The list of links appears not to have been updated in a while, but it is truly astonishing, and more than reason to laugh out loud.  Keep in mind that many of these SAME things were predicted of “global cooling” (AKA the “New Ice Age”) back in the 1970s.  And the solutions were always the same: Zero Population Growth (kill the babies, kill the old folks), Stop Harming the [FILL IN BLANK] (more government control and taxes to pay for it), and of course, Buy my books to see what to do/not do.

East Asian front – The final decay of “Communism”
Dennis Rodman has turned into a “useful idiot” for the North Korean regime.
(Fox News)

Nathan: Turned into?  Of course, the “useful” part (except maybe on a basketball court) is highly debatable.  But then, Kim himself is hardly way up on the useful intelligence scale:  kind of a Caligula studying to be a Nero, but without the brains or the looks or the charisma.  Communism today is such a sideshow/carnival event:  China, Vietnam, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea.  Obviously, TRAZI-ism is the way to go.

Congress in action – Politics 2014
The GOP is turning up the heat on President Obama when it comes to jobs and immigration.
(Breitbart)

Nathan: Which might be FINE if he hadn’t jumped out of the pot a while ago.  This is like watching the NYPD cracking down on drug-dealers, child-abusers, and scam-artists: we know it is all just kabuki theatre.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-02C: Theft BY/THROUGH Government

Posted on 2014-01-11 by TPOL Nathan

Theft by government
New York: More Than 100 Cops and Firefighters Rounded up in Connection to Massive, $400M Scam
(The Blaze) Prosecutors say the group worked at the scheme for more than two decades. The suspects rounded up Tuesday are accused of scamming millions in disability benefits by falsely claiming to suffer from stress-relates illnesses.

Mama’s Note: The politicians and bureaucrats certainly don’t tolerate much competition. Their scams come FIRST!

Nathan: This is creme dela creme: NYPD, NYFD, City Attorneys, doctors, and more.  The “elite” of municipal government from not just the three states (NY, CT, NJ) have been bilking the taxpayers for DECADES. Was it Will Rogers who once said, “Don’t steal – government doesn’t like the competition?”  I know I refer to ALL taxes as theft by government (because they are here in the United States and all free nations).  But then that money gets stolen over and over again: by elected officials and appointed ones, who get paid for doing little or nothing, by corruption and cons like this one, by welfare queens (whether they are living in a housing project or driving to their corporate offices in a limo) and many other ways.

Culture wars: homosexual “marriage” – Nazgul
The Supreme Court just hit the pause button on homosexual marriages [sic] in Utah
(Los Angeles Times, via Last Resistance)) A federal district judge had overruled Utah’s state constitutional ban on homosexual marriage, stating that Utah’s citizens had a federally-protected constitutional right to homosexual marriage if they wanted it. The Supreme Court, in so many words, said “Nuh-uh.” This decision has left many people puzzled. It had seemed that the Supreme Court was positive about homosexual marriage. Just last year, the Supreme Court decided (in a 5-4 decision) that homosexual marriages sanctioned by states could receive federal tax benefits.

Nathan: Thanks to Last Resistance for this; see their whole discussion here.

This makes little sense, given what I understand of the Court and its recent decisions, but it still amounts to Judicial tyranny.  Frankly, this just raises people’s hope for logic in the court, while there is no chance at all of that.  I am reminded of a story I saw posted on USA Today about how political considerations (votes and campaign contributions override basic scientific knowledge and training of politicians, who will lie about ANYTHING to get those votes and dollars (or D-Marks, or Euros) that they are so greedy for.  Even in non-elected positions, (like monarchs), this trend is clearly seen throughout history.  Utah has always been a sore, sticking point in the federal craw, which was a major reason for the FEDERAL ban on polygamy which was shoved down Utah’s throat 120 years ago and now apparently overturned.  But THIS action shows that the Federal government (including its courts) are STILL unwilling to cede back the sovereignty to the Fifty States.  Another form of government theft: not allowing people to decide what is right and wrong, responsible to God for their own actions.

Congress in action – Economics
Murkowski urges end to US ban on crude oil exports
(Business Week) “The top Republican on the Senate Energy Committee urged President Barack Obama to end a 39-year ban on exports of U.S. crude oil, joining what is shaping up as an election-year debate over energy policy. … Most exports of U.S. crude oil are prohibited under a 1975 law meant to counter surging gasoline prices after an Arab oil embargo. Advances in drilling techniques have led to increased production, and the Paris-based International Energy Agency projects that the U.S. will surpass Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer by 2015.” (01/07/14)

Nathan: No doubt this would be a BIG boost in the fortunes of Alaskan oil patch companies and workers, and it is one more stupid law that has been around for far too long.  But anything SHE has her fingers in will have to be checked very carefully.  She is slimy and a politician and conniver through and through.  Be very careful with anything she touches.

New religions: Global warming – The “messiah”
White House: Global Warming Probably Responsible for Polar Vortez
(The Blaze) The White House on Wednesday released a video suggesting that the “Polar Vortex” responsible for record lows throughout the U.S. was actually caused by global warming. “If you’ve been hearing that extreme cold spells, like the one we’re having in the United States now, disproves global warming, don’t believe it,” President Barack Obama’s science adviser, Dr. John Holdren says in the video posted to the official White House YouTube channel. … “A growing body of evidence suggests that the extreme cold being experienced by much of the United States as we speak is a pattern that we can expect to see with increasing frequency as global warming continues,” he adds. …

Nathan: Once more, I am reminded of this quote by Douglas Adams: “Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as the final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.
The argument goes something like this: “I refuse to prove that I exist,'” says God, “for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.”
“But,” says Man, “The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn’t it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don’t. QED.”
“Oh dear,” says God, “I hadn’t thought of that,” and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.
“Oh, that was easy,” says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.”

Nathan: HE and his advisors are clearly running scared on this (and why not).  The pitiful appeals to esoteric logic and mystery science and hidden wisdom is worse than what people claim for the Kabbalah and Illuminati.

Mama’s Note: Anyone who wants the straight answers to the “climate” thing would do well to visit this website.  Watts Up With That? explores the real science behind a great number of things, climate being a specialty. Informative, and very often quite humorous besides.

Islamic wars: Afghan front
Ten Year Old Girl Caught With Suicide Vest – Not Saddest Part of Her Story
(The Blaze)  The sister of a prominent Taliban leader was beaten by her father after she failed to cross a river to kill a group of Police with her bomb, and fled her home (still with the bomb) to surrender herself and ask for protection from her family.

Nathan: Of course, here in America we do worse: we sacrifice our unborn daughters and sons on the altar of feminism, “choice” and a better standard of living.  Doesn’t make this right, of course: she could have been better used as an incidental casualty of the next NATO-US drone strike.  (Like the Syrian or “Palestinian” family who was attacked by Israeli monsters in the Gaza Strip and then a few months later attacked by Syrian government monsters in the fighting east of Damascus.  Is there really that big a difference between being a “victim” of war and a weapon of war?

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment