Natural Resources and the Government in America

Posted on 2013-11-08 by TPOL Nathan

Government in the United States in the past half-century has demonstrated a truly amazing ability to damage the economy.  This has been done in several ways:

(1)  Denial of natural resources:  Government, in the guise of “conservation” and “protection of the environment”, has made it impossible, or at best insanely difficult, to obtain natural resources, especially minerals, necessary for our economy.

(2)  Regulatory totalitarianism:  Government has created a monstrous edifice of regulations and procedures which outright prevent, or at best delay, economic development by all types and sizes of business and private enterprise – even “public enterprise.”

(3) Prevention of common sense actions to use technology and the resources available in the most effective way: Government has thwarted efforts, again at all levels, by individuals and businesses to obtain and use natural resources and products of other people to create new wealth, while promoting false ideas of exploitation and winners versus losers in economic activity, and making a once free market into a command economy in which mistakes and stupidity are rewarded, and individual and private initiative and responsibility are trampled under.

While the last two items are important, this article concentrates on the first: denial of natural resources.

The free market has been more and more subverted, starting with the rationing and government central planning beginning in the Great War (World War I), continuing with the evil government response to the Crash of 1929 which CREATED the Great Depression, and then the amazing degree of control in the Second World War which continued, with only a brief respite into the Cold War, and now into the “Global War on Terrorism.”

Over the decades, government actions (together with their allies in the progressive-controlled multinational corporations) have denied access to trillions of dollars of resources.  It started with government edicts that withdrew locations with known mineral resources from being claimed, and got steadily worse.  This is not just in the West, but across the nation and the globe.  We can point to the “protection” of vast acreages that have huge deposits of conventional oil, of low-sulfur coal, and of billions of tons of iron ore, copper, silver, gold, and other essential industrial metals.  We can point to government edicts that shut down (and destroyed) gold and silver mines and processing during the 1930s and 1940s.  We can point to farm “support” programs that reduced production of wheat and corn and sugar and other commodities one year and subsidized them (raising prices arbitrarily) the next year.  We can point to the attacks on nuclear power, fracking, on construction of new refineries (and the closure of dozens), on the Keystone XL pipeline, on construction of new railroads and powerlines, and many other actions which have resulted in severe damage to the economy, current and future.  (And coupled with it, permitting and regulatory requirements that restrict entry into the market by new, small enterprises, and create monopolies and cartels.)

In recent years, more esoteric resources are the flash points.  One of the major ones are the rare earths.  This article recently was published.

Stupid government tricks – Technology
US limits rare earth mining: Another firm tries to do it in Wyoming
(Conservative Action Alerts) The U.S. is one of only a few countries with known recoverable [Rare Earth Elements, or ] REE deposits (with approximately 13 percent of the world’s total known reserves), and we have more commodity minerals and metals than any other country. Yet, today, less than half the minerals U.S. manufacturers use comes from domestically mined resources. More specifically, China currently has a near-monopoly on the production of REEs—generally supplying approximately 85 percent of the world’s current REE supply and 100 percent of several REEs.

Rare Element Resources is positioning the Bear Lodge Project, located in northeastern Wyoming, to be the next North American source of rare earths.  … expected +40-year life, the project has the opportunity to produce many of the critical rare earths necessary to support today’s evolving technologies.  …

Rare Earths at the Bear Lodge Project

The quantity and quality of the resource at Bear Lodge make it a world-class mining district and a dependable, long-term source for the rare earths elements (REE) … [and] rich in “critical rare earths,” or CREE, those elements that are less common, higher valued, and expected to experience better demand growth and price support over the longer term.  Bear Lodge is situated in one of the best mining districts in the world.  The mine site is located just off I-90 [northwest of Sundance], with easy access to power and good supporting infrastructure.  The hydrometallurgical plant will be located just outside of Upton, Wyoming, in an existing industrial park with good road access and an existing rail spur. Additionally, both communities contain a ready work force, skilled in natural resource development … [with a] goal of beginning operations in 2016. Location … two major components.  First is the Bull Hill Mine, which includes both the Bull Hill and Whitetail Ridge deposits, … approximately 12 miles north of Sundance, Wyoming, in central Crook County.  Second is the Upton Hydrometallurgical Plant (Hydromet), located 40 miles south of the Bull Hill Mine and approximately 2 miles west of the town of Upton, Wyoming, in north-central Weston County. The project consists of approximately 9,000 acres and is located on both private land and land administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service – Black Hills National Forest.

Nathan: I am quoting at length both from the CAA story AND from the company’s own site, because this is a critical element of modern technology and society and because this is Wyoming.  And specifically, this is the Black Hills, one of those special areas God blessed with an absolutely insane amount of mineral and animal and vegetable wealth for us poor humans to exploit.  This is one of the (many) reasons I support the Free State Wyoming project:  North America is so richly blessed with natural resources, but some areas on this continent are even more blessed: the Black Hills is one of those few places on the planet that can sustain high technology AND a stable and libertarian society that is far more free than 95% of the planet.

I fully expect that all the usual suspects: the various government regulatory agents and their enablers in Congress and the lobbying industry, the whole rainbow of environist groups, and the multinationals and their allies in China (and elsewhere); that all these will focus on ensuring the Bear Lodge Project fails.  It is in keeping with the attacks on other natural resources and the people and enterprises that have sought to provide them: foundations for a strong economy and a better standard of living for us all.  Government wants none of that, because that leads to a need for LESS government and creates conditions in which free people prosper in peace.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-42C: Theft by government and other evils

Posted on 2013-11-08 by TPOL Nathan

Theft by government
A Black Box in Your Car?
(Los Angeles Times) As America’s road planners struggle to find the cash to mend a crumbling highway system, many are beginning to see a solution in a little black box that fits neatly by the dashboard of your car, says Evan Halper, writing for the L.A. Times…

Nathan: What are really talking about is ANOTHER way to steal money from you.  We pay for roads through our fuel taxes at the federal and state level (and sometimes local), and in some states, like California, they add insult to injury by charging sales taxes as well.  But THOSE revenue streams are routinely tapped (i.e., stolen from) by governments to spend on other things “art on the highway” and “beautification” and “mass transit” (never mind that for 90% of Americans, “mass transit” is getting in a car or truck and going someplace).  Now, thanks to GPS and other tech, they can measure and TRACK every mile you drive, from inside your garage (or three miles down a private road) to EVERYWHERE – and charge you a “nominal” fee to pay for roads:  it might be as “little” as a mil per mile (cute ring).  It is STILL theft, and it adds up quickly.  Today, lets say that fuel taxes (fed/state) are 50 cents a gallon and you get 25 miles to the gallon in your beater:  that is 2 cents per mile.  Add a mil to that, and it doesn’t sound like much, unless you drive the average of 12,000 miles per year they say we do.  Then that is 24 MORE bucks per year, in addition to the 240 you already pay: a 10% increase.  This year.  Next year, they add another mil or two.  Just like they did to the fuel tax, and like they do about every other year.

It isn’t enough for government to steal money from the American people – they must also steal health and hope for the future, as this next story tells us.

Home front: economic collapse – Tranzi evil follies
We Are Heading For The Greatest Doctor Shortage In American History
(Commentary by Michael Snyder, The American Dream) The United States already has an emerging shortage of doctors, and thanks to Obamacare that shortage is about to become much, much worse. Right now, the U.S. has close to a million doctors, and about half of them are over the age of 50.  Many of them are beginning to wonder if practicing medicine is worth it anymore.

Mama’s Note: They have good reason to quit, and d**n little reason not to…

Nathan: One more very large stake in the coffin of the American society and economy.  We have gone from a free market a century ago (which was at the time the healthiest “civilized” nation in the world) to a command economy in medical care which is incapable of doing what it exists to do, because of a government which is so evil that it cannot see the damage it does.  Indeed, it now sees what is really evil as a positive good:  people are treated like incompetent juveniles who are not allowed to make their own decisions, EVEN while the powers that be tout how much they support the “right to choose.”

Some people think that the American desire for “choice” will be the doom of ObummerCare:

Why Obamacare Will Not Conquer American Culture
(Freeman’s Perspective) Obamacare is one of these society-wide European-style solutions, shoved down the throats of American culture. Confused by politics (which is, more or less, the purpose of politics), most Americans haven’t known what to think about it, so they are waiting to see what happens. At the moment, what they see is very bad and while they may hope it works itself out, we know it won’t for one simple reason: Americans expect to choose, and to change their choice whenever they want.

Mama’s Note: Excellent analysis! I hadn’t thought of it quite this way, but it is true. What is the single thing most people, even Obama supporters, are upset about? Choice. The lie that people could continue to choose their insurance carrier, their doctor, their plans… Most people don’t even think about the incredible layers of theft and nonsense… but are zeroing in on the destruction of their ability to choose.

Nathan: Both the original article and Mama make some very good points – and I agree, but there is one factor to consider.  The demonstrated ability of politicians in general and this regime (both branches – executive and legislative) to lie and lie and lie.  They are busy selling “choice” in everything and giving the appearance of “choice” on the failed website, in speeches, in press releases (published without analysis as “news stories”) and in press conferences and other media.  They still have many opportunities to push this false concept that we will have choice, even while more and more quickly we slide into a single-payer system.  Just as the “messiah” lied in 2008 and 2010 and 2012, he and his minions (and his controllers) will CONTINUE to lie about ObummerCare and virtually everything else in 2013 and 2014.  And sadly, most people can see the difference between the truth and lies.  Even now, his lies about “you won’t have to change your health plan or your doctor” are STILL being reported as “true” and as just a “misunderstanding” or a “misstatement” or a “confusion.”  We are bombarded daily, nay, hourly, with so many lies on this and other topics that we are unable to contest even a small part of them.  If the system does not break down soon, we will find ourselves in much the same situation as the German people found themselves in 1938:  a world so totally different from five years earlier as to wonder if some sort of magic has been worked.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-42B: Self defense – Stupid government tricks

Posted on 2013-11-06 by TPOL Nathan

Self-defense
Colorado: Another School District Arms Staff
(Greeley Tribune) The school board decided to hire additional officers or any of the current staff members could go through the extra training courses and obtain permits to have weapons. According to a resolution passed by the school board, staff members who sign up for extra duty to provide security must maintain a concealed carry permit, must participate in a refresher training course twice a year, must provide proof that they shoot 100 rounds at a certified range every month, and must complete tactical medical training. With advanced medical training on top of the firearm training, [Superintendent] Mondt said staff members who sign up for security duty will be an asset in any type of disaster.

Nathan: Thanks to “LastResistance.com” for this one.  This is not happening BECAUSE the school is a public school, but IN SPITE of it being a public school.  Now, Briggsdale is NOT one of your inner-city, high-risk school districts: it is out in one of the relatively empty areas of Colorado’s Eastern Plains, inhabited by wheat farmers and ranchers and the few tradesmen that supply those farms and ranches.  (It is another of those places I stomped around in a lot growing up and since.)  So if they were not generally law abiding people, most of the students and staff would continue to have rifles and pistols in the gun racks of their pick-ups parked outside school, and probably still be making nice gunstocks in shop class.  But still, this is interesting both for their resistance to popular culture (such as the generally liberal attitude at UNC in Greeley and the Metro Denver area) AND because of the tough requirements they are putting on the staff, as well as his comment: “any type of disaster.”  The community is pretty familiar with getting cut off by storms and even recently floods, so the biggest “disaster” they probably face is that they are too close to the Front Range when the cities blow up, and will have to deal with refugees and marauders of all types.

Home front – Self defense
A Psychiatric Trick or Treat
(National Review) Untreated mentally ill individuals are now responsible for at least 10 percent of all homicides and half of the mass killings such as those at Virginia Tech, Tucson, Aurora, Newtown, and the Washington Navy Yard, says E. Fuller Torrey…

Nathan: As Mama Liberty pointed out, of course ANYone who kills someone except in self-defense is, by definition, mentally ill and probably “untreated.”  But the point is still valid: as we have (as a society) been more willing to allow the obviously and seriously mentally ill to wander around AND as we have allowed the psychiatrists to dictate and “mainstream” the mentally ill AND as we have resorted to more and more “anti-psychotic” and other drugs which modify reasoning and other personality traits, we have seen this problem increase.  But even the mentally ill are likely NOT to act on their nightmares IF they know they face an armed “victim” or general population able to defend themselves.  So this “untreated mentally ill” schtick is in many ways just an excuse to disarm more and more of us.  And it must be rejected.

Mama’s Note: Actually, MOST people with mental and emotional problems never even come close to violent behavior to start with, any more than do most gun owners, grocery store clerks or dog lovers. In other words, MOST people, MOST of the time, have no intention to hurt anyone else. The idea that the mere presence of a gun (but not other weapons?) can somehow cause such desire is one of the more disgusting myths of those who would disarm us. Why don’t people then routinely run down pedestrians, just because they drive a car? They could, of course, but MOST wouldn’t dream of it.

The only area where mental/emotional illness can regularly be connected to gun (or other weapon) use is in suicide. Guns are, by far, the most effective means, and it is a tragedy that some choose to end their lives that way. But removing guns from their hands, even if it were possible, would not end the problems or distress that brought them to that decision – nor would it prevent them from using one of the many other options available. Further, they own their lives and, for good or ill, they have every right to live – or die – as they wish.

Government-ruined, Theft-funded Schools
How to Help Boys in the Classroom
(American Enterprise Institute) If boys are constantly subject to disapproval for their interests and enthusiasms, they are likely to become disengaged and lag further behind in the classroom, says Christina Hoff Sommers…

Nathan: The same is of course true for girls, but today, as this and many other recent stories point out, it is the boys that are the major targets of teachers and administrators in “public schools.”  And even in private ones, as the education establishment is increasingly feminized.  One commentator has even suggested that the solution is reestablishing single-sex education (which would also deal with a good many other problems), showing that the few male-only and female-only segregated classes (even in mixed schools) have much better records for academic success AND better socialization.

Environism
Big Wind’s Dirty Little Secret
(Rightside News) The wind industry is dependent on rare earth minerals imported from China, the procurement of which results in staggering environmental damages…

Nathan: It is not just the environmental impact in China (which is itself triggered by a regulatory regime in the United States which does not allow huge deposits of known rare earths in several states to be mined in an environmentally-sound manner), but the other direct and indirect impacts on the environment which are ignored by the fanatic proponents of wind power.  But that will not stop them from pushing for it.

Home front
Alcohol Crimes Decline After Liquor Sales Privatization
(Competitive Enterprise Institute) Economist Patrick McCarthy examined 111 California cities and found that a higher number of take-away alcohol stores actually correlated with decreases in fatal and nonfatal alcohol-related car accidents…

Nathan: Not “prohibition” but “privatization.”  Many states, for decades, had state (or city) owned and operated liquor stores to control the “dangerous substance.”  (I expect one or more states to try this path as MJ legalization spreads.)  Like most government attempts to mimic the free market, it failed for many reasons, and created more problems (as this study shows).  This could be predicted, and is one more example of how stupid government (and people in ANY large group) can be.

Space – Future of Freedom
Study: There Are 8.8 Billion Earth-Size, Just-Right Planets
(The Blaze) Astronomers using NASA data have calculated for the first time that in our galaxy alone, there are at least 8.8 billion stars with Earth-size planets in the habitable temperature zone.

Mama’s Note: That’s fantastic. Should be plenty of room for some free societies. Next question: How do we get there?

Nathan: We will find a way, Lord willing.  And freedom is the big motivator, I think, to do so.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-42A: This and That

Posted on 2013-11-06 by TPOL Nathan

Five days work and on the road, so just now getting back to commenting on the news.  Welcome to November and the end of daylight savings time for all of five months!

Abominable Act (ObummerCare) – Home front
Patients, Firms Shop for Better Health Care Deals
(Associated Press) Insurers, employers and individuals are shopping around for health care as they try to tame rising health care costs…

Nathan: Like so many other articles, this blames the “market” even though the Abominable Act has destroyed the last remnants of the free market, and takes away the little power left by consumers to “shop around.”

Economy – Crash of 2009
Who Really Employs Minimum Wage Workers?
(Wall Street Journal) Contrary to the rhetoric of organized labor and its allies, the vast majority of people earning the minimum wage aren’t working at large corporations with 1,000 or more employees…

Nathan: Once more, we see that the “information” put out by the left – by the transnational progressives – is nothing but propaganda, pure lies for the most part designed to sway the public opinion to their side and to further their ambitions to gain more power.  (Not that conservatives are really any better: just different lies.)

Abominable Act (ObummerCare) – Home front
Docs Resisting ObamaCare
(New York Post) New York doctors are treating ObamaCare like the plague, a new survey reveals…

Nathan: Too little, too late.  We’ve heard rumors of this for three years, but if they had made their stand clear immediately, they might not now be in such a bind, and their patients as well.  We find doctors literally leaving the country, and many retiring or just plain quitting, which right now does little but give the White House and its bumblers perfect opportunities to create MORE controls and gain MORE power to “deal with the crisis” caused by these “kulaks” and their “betrayal” of the public trust.

Mama’s Note: On the contrary, I don’t blame any of the healthcare professionals who retire or leave the country. Many of those who “quit” are entering various aspects of the underground economy as well, and the entire situation is putting pressure on people to find viable alternatives for both health care and employment. None of that is lending itself to increased government control, actually… but the reverse. Obummercare is very, very likely to turn out to be a massive misstep, and an important break in government control as it spirals into insanity that even former supporters are starting to see all too well.

Abominable Act (ObummerCare) – Home front
Obamacare: ‘Adverse Selection’ Followed by a ‘Death Spiral’
(New York Times) Younger people, who tend to have very low anticipated medical costs, are supposed to help pay for the medical costs of older or sicker enrollees. Without them, so-called risk pools might become too risky, forcing insurers to raise premiums, says the New York Times…

Nathan: The contrast between the last article and this (and between the Post and Times) is interesting and even funny.  The tone of this is to BLAME young people who have their own self-interests for messing up the rest of us.  Why are ANY of us obligated to pay for ANYone else’s medical costs?  Why are we not responsible for our own?  This turns medical care into just another welfare program, in which the politically-favored are supported by the money stolen from the pockets of those who are singled out by the politicians for fleecing.  And when some of those singled out wiggle off the hook, THEY are to blame and THEY are the evil villains, whom the thugs in government must punish.

Stupid government tricks
More Nonsense from the Energy Department
(Washington Times) To save customers $1.20 per year, Department of Energy standards push manufacturers toward a technology for microwave display clocks that can render half of their customers’ clocks useless within a week or so, says David Kreutzer…

Nathan: Ah, what else do we expect?  Some bureaucrats no doubt got great ratings for coming up with this, and like all fads and most stupid ideas, it is run into the ground.  This goes into the Hall of Infamy of Government Mandates like limits on toilets and bans on Freon, and bans on light bulbs:  government run amok.

Culture wars
Polyamory on the rise
(CNN) Polyamorous families see an opportunity now to come out. They say polyamory isn’t swinging or cheating, but does involve multiple partners.  Researchers say polyamory is more common, even appearing on TV.  Some relationship therapists say polyamory can hurt relationships more than it helps.

Nathan: Thanks to Dave Jolly at “Last Resistance” for this CNN article.  With the barriers falling to “same-sex marriage,” many have predicted that next would be polygamy and polyamory in general, similar to Heinlein’s Looney “gang marriages” and his “triads” (the novels The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Friday).  Even in cultures (such as some AmerInd tribes and Arabic society) where this was common, evidence is that society is destabilized by this, even more than the “serial monogamy” which is now commonly practiced here in the US and many other Western nations.  Indeed, the article fails to point out that a defacto polyamory exists in many inner-city “homes” in which a single woman may have multiple male partners, with children by several – but simply rotating between them.  Given the high instability which already exists in the US, this is sure to create more problems.  The article points out, again, the “revulsion factor” which has always been present, going back to the 50-year quarrel over LDS polygamy, now 120 years behind us.

Mama’s Note: Equating the revolving door welfare households with various forms of stable, committed relationships between several people is a bit disingenuous. The bottom line is that personal relationships are nobody else’s business. I would suggest that the problems are more related to all of the government theft and coercion involved. The “revulsion factor” simply indicates the age old desire of some people to control the lives of others.

Islamic world
Five arrested in Arabia for raping 3-year-old
(Gulf News) Manama: Police in Saudi Arabia have arrested five people in connection with the rape of a three-year-old girl. The suspects, three men and two women, were apprehended in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, the police spokesman for the local police, Nawaf Al Bouq, said. …A private hospital had alerted the police about finding the girl in front of the front gate. The victim had bruises and bore traces of violence on her body and was bleeding in the vagina, the daily said. Her clothes were torn. The police launched a wide manhunt and were able to arrest the suspects who were remanded in custody pending the investigation.

Nathan: THREE YEARS OLD.  Mohammed (peanut butter und honig) at least waited until his “wife” was NINE.  This story is related to the last one:  Although “polyamory” is supposed to be inclusive of 1male-Xfemales, 1female-Xmales, and Xmales-Xfemales, apparently it tends to weigh heavily on the 1male-xfemales: that is, polygamy.  And historically, polygamy seems to be closely connected with pederasty and abuse of children (and women) in general.  Perhaps it is because such societies seem to always end up with a surplus of unattached males.  Or because such systems provide significant opportunities for psychological damage to the women and men, both as children and adults.  Two of these arrested in this case WERE women, only three men raped the child.  But women are also officially very much second (or even third) class citizens in countries with Shari’a law.  In the United States, this sort of thing is almost always the action of some (obviously deranged) individual, but this is just one of several examples of gang rapes this year in Islamic nations which have been prominent in the news.

Politics 2013
Billboard advocating jury nullification concerns local prosecutors
(Washington Post) The illuminated billboard in the Judiciary Square Metro station near the F Street entrance was strategically placed. Prospective jurors who take the subway to D.C. Superior Court and exit near the National Building Museum see these words: “Good jurors nullify bad laws” and “You have the right to ‘hang’ the jury with your vote if you cannot agree with other jurors.” Since the billboard went up this month, District prosecutors have been worried that the message could sway their cases. In the past week alone, they have asked judges in three ­cases to ensure that jurors had neither seen nor been influenced by the billboard.

Nathan: This is part of a three-city campaign, and indeed, “the hit dog barks.”  Public knowledge CAN have a big impact, if done right and consistently.

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False Guilt and The Common Good

Posted on 2013-11-01 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

As we approach the holidays, it is a good time to take a look at ourselves, to examine our motives and the principles on which we base our decisions.

My father’s favorite saying was about the man who complained he had no shoes, until he met the man who had no feet.

Properly understood, that would lead one to appreciate what they had and, probably, to sympathize with the person who had less. But, Dad would go on to say that unless you had chopped off the other guy’s feet yourself, you were not responsible for him in any way.

He might have been born that way, or had been injured through no fault of his own. Or, just as possible, he might have been too lazy to take proper care of himself, or otherwise caused – or contributed to – his own condition.

Either way, you can feel sorry for him all you want, but that doesn’t make you responsible unless you actually did it to him. There is a fundamental difference here, vital to understand.

My mother had a friend who was not much of a cook, but very religious. Once in a while, we’d wind up there for a meal – which mother would turn into a serious lesson as soon as we got home. This lady never failed to tell the children to clean up their plates because “there are starving children in China” who would be grateful for what we didn’t want.

Of course there are starving children all over the world, and any good person would take advantage of a real opportunity to help a child anywhere, but the idea that we should assume some sort of personal guilt over it, let alone because of what we did or didn’t eat then, is tragic – and downright evil. The five and six year olds she said this to had no part in starving the Chinese children, and no responsibility to stop it – even if it were possible to mail them the leftovers.

This false guilt is exactly the burden socialism and many religions attempt to place on your back every minute of every day. They use your natural compassion and sympathy to impose the totally irrational idea that such guilt – and the theft of your life and property – is required for the well being or happiness of everyone else in the world. This is staggering, evil, especially when you consider how many people actually fall for such a monstrous lie.

Examine your own conscience. What have you done, personally or by encouraging and supporting others, to harm another person? Your only honest guilt is for those actions. You owe them, and them alone, whatever reparations are possible to make it right. You and I do not owe anything for actions taken by others, especially before we were born. And nobody not actually a victim of those wrongs is due any sort of compensation. You cannot logically assume guilt for other people, nor be liable for the debts of others unless you freely assume them.

This false guilt then leads to theft, murder and torture of other human beings in the name of a utopian “equality” of outcome – the idea that everyone must sacrifice their own life and needs for some nebulous “greater good,” never defined in any but the most global, irrational terms.

What is “the greater good?” Is it universal misery and poverty? That is the usual outcome of such thinking when the individual is denigrated and abused.

The world has seen many examples of this, but people foolishly continue to dream that the next round of theft, murder and subjugation to the elite masters will produce something different. Do remember the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.

On the other hand, the world has seen many instances where individuals followed their own ultimate self interest, in voluntary cooperation and mutual support, and achieved unprecedented productivity, prosperity and peace. The early history of the US is a prime example.

Isn’t this, by far, more productive of the “common good” and a template for building ever more of the same? The more people who are productive and free to create, the more will be prosperous and happy because there is no limit to the creation of wealth and peace.

The fact that these examples were not universal, and often did not last long, does not remove the fact that they existed. In almost every case, some “government” managed to legislate or tax the productive to the point where they quit producing. These people were not perfect, of course, and mankind has a long road to reach a point where most people are free.

But the choice for each of us seems very clear: Individual sovereignty, self ownership and responsibility with integrity, or slavery to false guilt, universal poverty, war and endless death.

I am an individual sovereign. I choose life.

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D.C. Follies

Posted on 2013-10-31 by TPOL Nathan

Nathan:  Just read this from a friend, who has asked to remain nameless.  I find his comments refreshing:

Decriminalize marijuana possession before legalizing it, says a man who wants to be the next mayor of Washington, D.C.
(CNS News)

Nameless: Man, oh, man.  I am a huge supporter of ending the war on drugs and making marijuana as legal as beer, wine, liquor, or all the various forms of tobacco.  (And use none of them, and advocate the USE of none of them, for health and moral reasons.)  But, people, is this REALLY a good idea?

Think about it.  We know that DC pumps stupid juice into the water 24-7.  Including the water they use to serve and prepare all the soda, drinks, and so forth.  And the stupid juice can be absorbed into the skin, no doubt: bathing, showering, skinnydippin’ in the Tidal Pool, you name it!  And we want these idiots: not just Congress and staff and the lobbyists but all the bureaucrats and the cops and the judges and all the rest – to get HIGH?

Really?  We want THEM to have the pleasures LEGALLY that they deny collectively to 300 million of us?  (We know that they do enjoy them illegally, but that illegality does keep the odor down in the SOB and the HOB and the “hallowed halls” of the White House, Capitol, and Supreme Court Building.)  For one thing, we KNOW what their appetites and inability to control their lusts, greed, and desires is like.  We are not talking your ordinary MJ user, especially not your typical MMJ user.  We are talking about people that WILL toke up 24-7, and with warped minds that they will decide on just how much fun it is to torture MORE Americans and foreigners!  And for them, I betcha MJ really IS a gateway drug to everything that they can swallow, sniff, inject, and probably, insert rectally.

Nathan: The solution, for a self-governor, is simple.  Take ALL power away from the District of Criminals and anyone associated in ANY way with Congress, the FedGov, the DC gov, and all these NGOs – and then let them toke to their hearts’ content.  In fact, GIVE them the stuff.  It will be cheap compared to the damage they will be stopped from doing if we take away their power.

Mama’s Note: Those who rule the District of Criminals and, to a little lesser extent, all who “rule” everywhere else, are so drunk with power and stolen loot that a general trend toward cannabis use could only be an improvement. One of the effects of cannabis is a softening of the whole personality, the release of stress and negative emotions. Cannabis users are the least aggressive, least controlling people I know – and I’ve known a great many of them through my long nursing career.

I don’t see a down side myself. Ship boxcars of the stuff to every politician and bureaucrat in the world. We’d all be so much better off. Cannabis could just be the thing to turn off the “stupid juice” factories everywhere. And THEN it would be fairly simple to dismantle the entire state apparatus. The “pot” smokers would no longer care. We’d just have to deal with those who didn’t partake.

But this politician isn’t even talking about “decriminalization,” only a slightly lesser “crime” if users don’t pay the “penalty” – really, just another tax, and probably another boatload of “regulations” to be added as well. The gestapo will continue to harass the mundanes, and reel in all those nasty non conformists. And I didn’t read a word about elimination of all the asset forfeiture insanity.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-41C:

Posted on 2013-10-31 by TPOL Nathan

Abominable Act (ObummerCare) – State tyranny
25 States, Unfortunately, Expand Medicaid
(The Daily Beast) Twenty-five states, plus the District of Columbia, have now signed on to take part in an aspect of the Affordable Care Act that is both optional and ill-considered…

Nathan: It all depends on HOW YOU DEFINE “ill-considered” – the entire objective is to increase government control, so for the states to participate (much less DC) makes great sense.  To them.  A CNS Story (Jindal: 41% of Louisiana Residents Would Be in an Expanded Medicaid Program) shows the huge impact of this, so it is easy to see just why so many politicians are willing to be gauleiters.

Abominable Act (ObummerCare) – Politics 2013
The Next Headache from Obamacare
(Politico) On Nov. 1, the health law’s malfunctioning enrollment system is supposed to send reams of data to states so they can begin placing thousands of people into Medicaid, but the transfer system has barely been tested and could be vulnerable to technical failures…

Nathan: Based on the way many states are seeing a slow-motion collapse of their various agencies and regulatory bodies, this could be the stress that REALLY causes a crack-up of the system.  In many states, bureaucratic processes are slowing, no, grinding to a halt – and here we are, adding multiple layers of NEW bureaucracy within a very short time.  Could be fun, people.

Economy 2013 – Energy
Natural Gas Causes Energy Debate
(Forbes) The [switch] from coal to gas is not without its critics, especially those who say that the shale-gas boom is preventing the escalation of much cleaner fuels [sic] such as wind, solar and even nuclear energy, says Ken Silverstein…

Nathan: Well, my oh my, folks.  This is the way the free market is supposed to work. “Clean” is just ONE of several factors that influence buying decisions on the part of individuals and businesses.  And there is “clean” (as in less hassle to use, no soot, etc.) and there is the fancy-Dan “environist” clean (less “greenhouse gases,” less environmental damage in obtaining, transporting, and processing it, etc.)  I am NOT convinced that a TRUE and OBJECTIVE environmental assessment of wind OR solar is going to show it is “cleaner” than natural gas, conventional or unconventional.  And admit it, people, if the government hadn’t stuck its nose in and muddled and messed around for 60 years, no one would probably have ever developed fracking because we wouldn’t NEED it: we’d have reactors – specifically Thorium reactors in every neighborhood.  But because they put Thorium on the bottom of the back shelf in the walk-in freezer, we don’t have the nearly unlimited energy that would let us have a REAL 21st Century economy AND be free of most government.

Government-run, Tax-funded schools (upper level)
Transforming Teacher Colleges
(Wall Street Journal) Four months ago, the National Council on Teacher Quality released a report asserting that approximately 1,100 of the nation’s 1,400 teacher-preparation programs are inadequate…

Nathan: Notice, people, they kept this buried for FOUR months.  Not only that, but notice, this is a bunch of educrats stating that 80% of their OWN schools are “inadequate.”  Imagine just IF – it was a truly objective and neutral group doing this evaluation.  I suspect that the total would be more like 98% – but I’m being generous.  What are the standards to which “teacher colleges” (most of which now claim to be real, honest-to-goodness “universities” now – and don’t even really know what a university is supposed to be!) are compared?  How well they teach the latest teaching fads?  How well they mold the future teachers into robotic dispensers of the party line of Transnational socialism?  How badly they mess up their students’ minds and lives? There is no transformation possible of the evil institution that public schools have evolved into, from PS all the way to 20+.  The best thing is to drive a stake through their hearts and start over.  It is time for truly private and homeschooling of TEACHERS – teachers who can provide technical advice and assistance to parents to teach their own children.  Fourteen HUNDRED of these places?  Graduating what, a thousand teachers a piece, each year?  1.4 million teachers?  One in every 200 people?  How on earth do the med schools give that many lobotomies each year?

Stupid cities – Crash of 2009 – Theft by government
U.S. Cities Grapple with Finances
(Wall Street Journal ) American cities’ fiscal health is lagging behind other sectors of the economy as the recovery slowly takes hold, says the Wall Street Journal…

Nathan: Why?  Because the average city government has been riddled with unionism, cronyism, a belief that they can continue to steal and steal and steal from their voters and visitors and federal and state governments (which is, of course, just more stolen money) and grow and grow and grow.  And most especially because there IS NO RECOVERY.  Economies in virtually EVERY state are still grinding ever slower and slower, descending into a slow-motion death spiral.

Mama’s Note: As I see it, one of the core problems is the ever increasing debt, in addition to what you noted here. The endless round of theft and destruction of commerce with mindless regulations and taxes is second, but just by a hair. The fact that anyone still manages to stay in business, especially in the cities, is a miracle – and one that won’t last much longer.

Abominable Act (ObummerCare) – Stupid government
Sebelius: ‘We Do Not Have Any Reliable Data Around Enrollment’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: How very comforting to those who have enrolled, or tried to.  One more reason to kill this program.

Mama’s Note: Someone asked me the other day what I planned to do about this insanity. I told them I had no intention of allowing anyone else to control my health, any more than I would allow them to control my guns. Molon labe.

Stupid government – World wars (2 stories)
Seriously? US Embassy Offering Free Tickets to Movie Exposing US Covert Ops
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This and the next story expose (again!) the stupidity of our intelligence and diplomatic operations around the world.  Free tickets to an expose, and the same agency that worries that crippled grandmothers and tiny children might be coerced into carrying bombs or nasty chemicals on board aircraft isn’t worried about Libyans working in aviation and nukes who probably do have relatives back home, even if their own background is pure as the driven snow!  Can you spell s-t-u-p-i-d?

Stupid government tricks
DHS Proposes Lifting 30-Year Immigration Ban for Libyans Working in U.S. Aviation and Nuclear Fields
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This idea is so incredibly stupid that we KNOW it has to be a political decision.  Yes, we all understand how important the Libyan-American vote is to Democratic efforts to regain control of the House of Representatives, and to their efforts to take “homosexual marriage” nationwide and keep religion out of schools, but surely there is a limit?

Congress in Action – Abominable Act (ObummerCare)
Boehner: ‘We Want to Repeal Obamacare’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: What?  Are we to believe him?  Why should we?  This is just another lying incident in the career of this piece of Republican garbage.

Mama’s Note: Well, of course he is… but heck, if he could figure out a way to dump this stupid pile of horse poop, I’d be cheering.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-41B: Federal Evil On Parade

Posted on 2013-10-30 by TPOL Nathan

The War on the West – Stupid government tyranny
Kid Cages at School Bus Stops Spark Outrage
(Townhall) Serious problems with wolves are not limited to their capacity to kill. They are known carriers of disease that can cause severe problems and even death in both animals and humans. In Alaska 300 people have contracted the deadly hydatid disease from encountering wolf scat and tracking it into homes. This disease has been identified in over 60% of wolves in Montana and Idaho. Wolves spread anthrax, brucellosis and other diseases throughout wildlife and livestock populations, causing infertility, miscarriage and death.

Mama’s Note: Incentive for serious SSS. (For those who do not know this acronym, may I suggest a visit to Claire Wolfe’s website. )

Nathan: This is wrong on SO MANY levels.  I and many of my neighbors have to live with the ESA on a daily basis: it costs us money and time and other resources.  The “kid cages” remind me of an incident in Aurora, CO, several decades ago, where they put up wire mesh to keep kids “safe” when going to school and crossing a freeway.  The mesh made the narrow pathway into a bully-haven: older children could trap and bully younger and weaker children as much as they wanted to, unobserved and with no where for the bullied children to flee.  That might not be the case in Catron County (one of the most rebellious of New Mexico’s counties), but it presents many other dangers.

The two most simple solutions for the parents is (1) GET YOUR KIDS OUT OF THESE SCHOOLS, and (2) ARM YOUR CHILDREN.  My own sons, during one of the brief periods we had them in a public school and using a school bus, had a problem with feral dog packs while walking to and from the school bus stop and at the bus stop.  We could arm them and cache the weapons (no weapons on buses, even then, of course).  It seems like if the Sheriff (and the County Commissioners and School Board) are as concerned as they claim, that they could help parents arm their children with more than pepper spray.  In fact, the Sheriff could coordinate teaching the children to deal with wolves with shotguns or pistols…  Yeah, even in Catron County there might be a few liberal parents who panic over armed children – let THEM homeschool to protect their little ones.  But the real issue of the article and the real cause of the problem is the ESA and the huge bureaucracy and special interest community that supports it and drives the abuses it has created and sustained.

The very legitimacy of the ESA is problematic (to use a weasel-word): there is not just NO authority for it, but its real purpose and objectives are suspect and the regulations spawned by it even more so.  It causes millions if not billions in damage, especially to the West.  It has made the FWS and various state wildlife agencies even more thuggish than they started out to be, and this article barely touches on the evils it has caused.  Attempts to protect animal species on federal lands (assuming that the lands in question should be in federal ownership and control) might be only obnoxious, but even by limited constitutional analysis, the ESA assumes FedGov authority over private and state lands and actions which do nothing but confirm the FedGov as the master rather than the servant of the states (and their people).

Understanding this in turn points out the hideous power and growth in power of the federal government in the last 115 years:  The FedGov is more powerful in the states today than it was when they were just territories, and its control of land is an increasing burden on the liberty of the people.  The ESA is just one facet of this evil.  Indeed, the gray wolf is a better symbol of the FedGov today than the eagle: vicious, killing with no need or reason or remorse (or recourse), growing explosively, and protected from the predation it so richly deserves.

Back to MamaLiberty’s suggestion.  Yes, it is possible to deal with the wolves this way – keeping in mind that collared, tracked wolves are pretty common and it takes some imagination to deal with that.  People in South Dakota and Wyoming have shown a bit of ingenuity in dealing with collars on mountain lions.  But the real SSS solution might need to apply to the human predators walking among us, especially in those game refuges like the District of Criminals.  And THAT will take concentrated and coordinated defensive action and very great care.

Mama’s Note: Rope, lamp post, politician… some assembly required.

World wars – Stupid US government tricks
US weighs end to spying on leaders
(Bellingham Herald) “The Obama administration is considering ending spying on allied heads of state, a senior administration official said, as the White House grappled with the fallout from revelations that the U.S. has eavesdropped on German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The official said late Monday that a final decision had not been made and an internal review was still underway.” (10/28/13)

Mama’s Note: I doubt they’ll stop, of course, and ALL governments spy on the mundanes. More kabuki theater.

Nathan: That is the point I made in the comments last week:  everyone freaks out when the “leaders” get spied on but it is business as usual when the hoi polloi are spied upon: like the 60 million phone conversations a year in Spain. Once again, THIS cabal in the WH is making MORE of a mess: surely this has been going on since January of 1942 – and probably before, in Berlin and then Bonn and now Berlin again.  Everyone is willing to conveniently overlook it, but they have made such a fouled-up mess that everyone’s noses are getting rubbed in it.  This “considering ending” comes out as “null content” to anyone with a good meter: the “messiah” is up to his usual tap-dancing campaign trips: appear to promise everything and do nothing.

If there were truly an international or world system of justice, the US action would be seen and designated as what it is: unwarranted AGGRESSION against nations which are NOT threats and against which the US does NOT need to defend itself.  And those other nations – even and especially their individual citizens, have every right to defend themselves against this unprovoked aggression against them by the NSA (and other US government agencies).

How do you get restitution for someone spying on you with no moral (or legal) justification?  Frankly, I don’t know.  It has to be a complex and difficult process.  But I do know what the FIRST necessary action is: Get them to STOP doing it.  And that applies for Americans as well as Germans and Dutch and Schwitzers and anyone else.  That time has come.

Mama’s Note: The tighter the fingers are squeezed, the more leaks out between them. The more the lid is nailed on, the more cracks appear in the body of the containers they are attempting to close. Pandora is NOT going back into the box.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-41A: Stupid government

Posted on 2013-10-30 by TPOL Nathan

Government-run, tax-funded schools – Families
Military parents embrace homeschooling
(Associated Press) A growing number of military parents want to end the age-old tradition of switching schools for their kids.

Nathan: Thanks to Debby and MamaLiberty for this.  This is near and dear to our heart, as we barely avoided having to deal with this sort of constant move for our children.  In the “old days” when the school system on large military installations, stateside and overseas, was DoDDS (Department of Defense Dependent Schools) or the earlier single-branch systems, the level of teaching and the curriculum were good quality and the officers and NCOs which coordinated the schools were parents and generally honest and forthright.  Turning the schools on post over to local districts and state educrats meant the same thing as for all other schools: deterioration and decline.  But even though more military families tend to be one-income families in which the WIFE (and mother) is at home mostly, homeschooling was frowned upon as being elitist and antisocial.  That attitude is changing, even though the military is being corrupted ever more rapidly by the administration and societal pressure.  Why home schooling now?  Because of that deterioration and the increasing isolation of military personnel and families, they see a need to share as much as they can with those of like mind, both religiously and politically.

Stupid government
Burned out: Obama’s first land auction for solar goes bust
(Washington Times) So much for the White House dream of solar selling like hotcakes. The first federal auction run by the Bureau of Land Management to sell chances to build solar power projects on public land went completely bust on Thursday. Nobody showed to bid.

Nathan: This cabal in the White House has this oddly naive idea concerning the free market.  They hate and despise it, but they think and act as though it is always there for them to manipulate and use, and that people will buy anything: health care, pollution credits, rights to use empty desert, and such, just because it is “on the market.”  And they won’t learn from this – they’ll go do it again.

Mama Liberty points out the many comments to this story at the Washington Times website.  If you get past the usual fussing and stupid name calling, a lot of people point out the obvious (which BLM and the other minions of the “messiah” carefully ignore):  after the way private operators were treated on federal land during the 16-day shutdown, no one with the money to invest who does NOT already have their hands in the government’s pocket is willing to risk billions with such a fickle partner.  And those who already have their deals sewn up because they are insiders didn’t have to participate in this very bogus auction.

Congress in action – Abominable Act: ObummerCare
Don’t Like Obamacare? It Was the Republicans’ Idea, Says Liberal Democrat
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Yes, in large part it WAS: both old parties are to blame.  The GOP tried to (and got) a sweetheart deal for the big Pharma and big Health: especially the insurance companies.  The Dems went along with them on that (they get a rakeoff, too) and then the GOP went along with them and the administration on the rest of this piece of junk. The GOP, based on its history, its attitude, and most especially its leadership for decades, is as tyrannical and evil as the Democratic Party, for the same reasons: greed for money, lust for power, and everything else that government gains for its adherents and the elite more easily than in any other way.

Congress in action – Abominable Act: ObummerCare
$174K-Per-Year Rangel: ‘No Question About It’ Taxpayers Should Help Him Buy Obamacare Plan
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Rangel represents about the worst of Congress in every way: he is an uber-statist who believes that everyone should be required to not just pay taxes (30, 40, 50% directly apparently) but also be a (paid) slave of the state for two years or more, through the reinstitution of that most evil institution, the draft.  But as his attitude in this matter shows, he is also an entitlement and privilege junkie:  it is HIS right to have all these congressional privileges, with more each year.  Keep in mind, Congress HAS health “insurance” – full and free medical treatment and “health maintenance” on your dime.  Applying the subsidies in this case is just frosting on the cake: proof that they are the elite and can demand and get special, worshipful treatment in every way.

The “messiah” – Border jumpers
Obama: ‘It Doesn’t Make Sense to Have 11 Million People Who Are in This Country Illegally…’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Funny how selective he can be.  He uses this argument to urge legalization of all the border jumpers.  Now, apply the same argument to those in prison for federal drug offenses.  Does it make any more sense to imprison millions who used something that was illegal but harmed only them?  By the way, if he believes that people should be able to cross borders without any restraints or concerns, why should those people not be allowed to take (or send) money across borders without restraints, concerns, OR reporting it?  And why should ANY good or service not be able to be brought or sent across borders without restraints?  Once more, the hypocrisy of this man and his puppetmasters is obvious.

War against religion
Army orders stand-down on anti-Christian briefings
(American Family Association) The Pentagon has announced it’s putting a halt to U.S. Army briefings that label evangelicals and pro-family organizations, including the American Family Association, as domestic hate groups. Read the Army’s directive here.

Nathan: Thanks to Darryl for this.  The problem is, the AFA is NOT telling the truth.  That is NOT an Army (or DoD, as the title claims) directive.  And it does not say what the AFA press release/article/fundraising letter says it does, without a LOT of reading between the lines and fond hopes. The “directive” is nothing but a very sanitized version of what appears to be a memorandum probably published by III Corps in Fort Hood, referencing (improperly – probably that part of the memo was stripped off) a FORSCOM directive.  It is NOT a “DoD” directive and absolutely no proof of all the things that AFA is claiming.  It doesn’t apply to anyone but III Corps units: less than 1/10 of the Army, and doesn’t apply to other services at all.  I don’t know who is advising the folks at AFA about military matters, but if someone is, they aren’t listening. I suspect that we will continue to see more and more incidents of shaming and warning and blackballing, on an increasing scale.  This is no indication that either the White House or the Pentagon have changed their basic hostility.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-41D: Abominable Act (ObummerCare) and the “messiah”

Posted on 2013-10-26 by TPOL Nathan

Abominable Act (ObummerCare) – The “messiah” in charge
Administration Grants Itself 3-Month Exemption from Individual Mandate
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: So why are we funding Congress?  Is it for the entertainment value?  The “messiah” can do whatever he pleases, and then tell Congress and us. Many folks would LIKE to get a permanent exemption; this is just insult to injury.

Mama’s Note: Indeed… and I’ve heard so many people say seriously that if this is such a wonderful deal for all of us, why are all of THEM exempt? Sort of like all the other “laws” that don’t apply to them.

Nanny-Thug state – Home front
Census: 49% of Americans Get Gov’t Benefits; 82M in Households on Medicaid
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Well, this explains most of my relative’s tenants – every one seems to be part of this 82 million (she doesn’t get a DIME in direct government benefits: no Social Security, no Medicare, nothing, but it seems everyone else in her town does).  And this explains why more and more drop out of the workforce.  You can still lead a pretty comfortable life these days on government benefits:  food stamps, SSI, Social Security, and indirectly via food banks and everything else that government seems to subsidize. Another relative sent out that hoary old joke about the man whose 1040 keeps getting rejected because he claims too many dependents: the 47 million on food stamps, the 3 million getting free drug treatment from the government, etc…

Government-run, tax-funded schools (higher ed) – The “messiah’s” minions
Duncan on New College Ratings System: ‘I Can Promise You, We Won’t Do It Perfectly’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Surely a rare promise from a politician – one certain to come true! What was wrong with having private business (US News & World Report) do this?  Because, in Duncan’s view (and that of his chieftain, the “messiah”), government should do EVERY thing in education, from pre-pre-school to post-doctoral studies, and continuing education, and all the rest.

Abominable Act – Congress in Action
Pelosi: Obamacare’s ‘Going to Be a Beautiful Thing’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Yes, in HER view and those of Tranzis and Statists and thug government types around the world.  In the eyes of those who have to live with the mandate (or die because of it), well… beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

World wars – World Thugocracy
U.S. ‘Is Not  Monitoring’ And ‘Will Not Monitor’ German Chancellor’s Cell Phone
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Yes, and if you believe this lie, you think that Uncle Adolph was good for Germany. Dozens of other nations’ “leaders” (and tens of millions of other nations’ peons) have been monitored by NSA and other US FedGov agencies.  Along with tens of millions of American “citizens.”  Why not Merkel?  Queen Elizabeth?  The Pope?

Home front – Politics 2013: the “shutdown”
WashPost Poll: 78% Didn’t Miss Government During Shutdown
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: What shutdown?  All 17% at max?  But despite the efforts of the White House to make it as miserable as possible for as many of us as possible, it really did NOT affect 90% of Americans.  WE CAN LIVE WITHOUT GOVERNMENT.  Unfortunately, THAT lesson did not get through: we did not stop paying taxes (remember fuel excise taxes on gasoline and diesel), we did not start disobeying all the stupid federal laws about “discrimination” and education and health care, and we did not go out and rape the environment.  Again, THIS WAS A JOKE.

Abominable Act – The “messiah’s” minions
Sebelius: I’m Not Signing Up for Obamacare
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Yes, and of course, she doesn’t have to: she has that incredibly luxurious and full-coverage federal employee health care insurance. NObody in the Executive, Legislative, or Judicial branches of the FedGov need to do so.  Which is ONE reason ObummerCare is such a hideous thing.  But it should not distract us from the fact that government has NO business being involved in the health care business.

Government-run, Tax-funded schools (higher education) – Theft by government
Failing Grade for Student Financial Aid Programs
(ECONOMIC POLICIES FOR THE 21st CENTURY) The U.S. Treasury Department found that for every dollar provided in tax-based aid, scholarships fell a dollar — shifting the burden from students and schools to taxpayers…

Nathan: This is not news, just that the Treasury is WILLING to admit it.  Real observers and real (not government or statist) economists have understood this for years: it is a form of Gresham’s law: government (bad) money drives away private (good) money.  The theft is a vicious circle, and it is students, parents, and the taxpayers (now and future) who lose.  It is college administrators, faculty, contractors, and of course government agents that all benefit.  We know this is going on: a major reason (together with lack of competition) that college prices have skyrocketed such in the past four decades.

Mama’s Note: I had one small student loan in my first year of college, and so many scholarships that I actually had money to give back to the various donors when I graduated. The scholarships I had were only good for education related expenses, not for cost of living, but I was able to work part or full time while I studied and never worried about it. I paid off the one, small student loan within a few months of graduation. That was in the 1980s, before this became such a scam.

Stupid people tricks
New Mexico: Chili powder cloud brings out the hazmat team
(CBS via MSN News) Habanero devotees would have you believe that if you’re not wearing a hazmat suit, you’re not cooking chili. But the high heat wasn’t a laughing matter to workers in the Santa Teresa Industrial Park in Las Cruces, N.M., who finally called 9-1-1 when a cloud of chili powder began gave them bloody noses, irritated eyes and breathing problems. The hazmat crew discovered the particles emanated from Deli-Food Chile and Spice LLC, which grinds habanero pods into powder, and lingered in the air long enough to get into ventilation systems. One woman with a previous breathing issue went to the hospital and 30 others were treated on the scene.

Nathan: What CAN I say about this?  Panic and fear over nothing?  Or a serious and real problem.  Oh, for some common sense: if something doesn’t seem right DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.  Don’t just depend on government!

Mama’s Note: One of these days I’ll have to tell you the funny story about my very first experience with growing Jalapeño peppers – and the miracle cure for the burning.

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