Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-46C: Politics

Posted on 2012-11-04 by TPOL Nathan

Yes, I know the election is in just a few days.  The ballots have been mailed in, the mail box and post office box is filled with political junk mail, the in-boxes are filled with even MORE political spam.  I’m getting “personal” e-mails from all my “good friends” – Mitt and Newt and Anne and Barack (not “Barry” – a disappointment) and Michelle and Harry, as well as a few from people who really are friends (at least somewhat) like Gary and Jim and Michael.  And from a few friends and even co-workers (like the one I responded to and posted as a “rant” here on TPOL) like Ron and Denny and Casey and Margaret.

I’m sick of it.  The ballot, except in very rare cases, offers nothing but a choice of the least of two (or maybe three) evils. It should come as no surprise that evil has been on my mind this week.

And the term “evil” increasingly describes the choices:  I am not saying that every one of these individual names on the ballot, whether it is an incumbent or a “transplant” (someone term-limited in the House who is running for a Senate seat or vice versa) or a “new face” in that particular venue, is individually and personally evil, but they are vying to become a PART of a set of institutions that ARE evil and becoming MORE evil: city councils, county boards of commissioners, state legislatures, and especially the Federal legislature, administration (including the bureaucracy and not just the elected and appointed officials), and judiciary.

I don’t buy into the idea that we are “opting-in” or “legitimizing” governments and elections by participating in elections, by campaigning, rooting for, or voting for (or against) someone or some referred or initiated law or constitutional amendment or tax increase (we never seem to vote for questions that REDUCE taxes, do we?).  No, it is no different than being accused of “legitimizing violence” by using force to defend ourselves against force, or “legitimizing tyranny” by obeying a cop’s order to put our hands up against the wall when he has the drop on us.  It is common sense to seek EVERY possible way to defend ourselves, and if that includes voting AGAINST the various evil choices, and voting AGAINST evil laws.  (Yes. evil laws: in SD this year there is a proposal to RAISE taxes – sales taxes – by a penny a dollar to have more money to WASTE on government-run, tax-funded schools and worthless union teachers.  Evil.)

But I don’t have to like it.

Yes, I’ve seen all and read many of the articles saying “Romney is the best hope for the future of liberty” in the nation, and I’ve read many saying “Obama is the best hope for the future of liberty” in the nation (like Doug Casey’s here).  The logic is convoluted and may actually be reasonable.  Who knows?  What we DO know is that (a) neither will solve any of the fundamental problems with the nation and the federal government today, (b) neither will actually INCREASE liberty of Americans, no matter what they say, and (c) both will continue most of the policies of the last 4, 12, and 20 years – tinkering here and there and crowing about how they are better than the other guy because stamp prices only went up one penny instead of five, or because now we can deduct gerbil food instead of only deducting cat food.  And we’ll have spent somewhere around $20 billion dollars to do it.  Sorry, I see neither the rationality or morality of that.

More on this later, but first some real news commentary:

Natural Disasters – Stupid government tricks(2 stories)
Sandy aftermath: Lights back up in New York, but fuel rationed
(NDTV‎)

Sandy’s aftermath: The latest stats – CBS News Video
(CBS News) The latest stats – The death toll from superstorm Sandy is now at 82. Also, about 3.8 million people remain …

Nathan:  If I recall, the “damage” is now estimated at 80 BILLION dollars – expect that number to climb: there isn’t near enough graft built into that figure.  Expect the “messiah” and Romney to continue their bidding war to the “survivors” (sorry, but 82 dead in a population probably in excess of 30 million in the region hit isn’t even a blip on the statistics radar).  And looking at the damage from a population point of view, the total (if it is really 80B) is only about $2,700 per person: significantly LESS than the federal taxes paid per year by those people (on average of course)  And less than the average cost of a traffic accident in vehicle damage, these days.

But WE can figure that the FedGov will go out and borrow twice that amount to pay for the “rebuilding” – plus whatever the insurance companies have to shell out.  And our children and grandkids and great-grandkids will pay for it just as they paid for Katrina and Rita in ’05 and Bloody Tuesday (9-11) in ’01: later rather than sooner – in gold or silver, or blood, eventually.  As do all debts ultimately get discharged.

But of course, the media and the politicians point out how VITAL government aid and government control is, because otherwise the utilities would not repair the power lines (unless Bloomberg and the various governors FORCE them to do so, according to pronouncements this week), private businesses would intentionally hold back critical supplies from sale and then jack up the price to gouge people mercilessly (unless anti-gouging laws and rationing – if not government-sanctioned and -performed looting (excuse me, “confiscation and/or commandeering”) are in place and enforced at the point of a gun.  Bloomberg has his own private thiefdom – excuse me, FIEFDOM, and wants only NYPD cops on the streets to terrorize and wound and abuse and kill NYC citizens: even the National Guard of New York must stay out.  (Is a unilateral declaration of independence next on his agenda now that the sodas and high-salt foods and guns are under control?)

The truth is, government CAUSED and continued to cause much of the problems associated with Sandy, just as was done with Rita and Katrina and other storms. Jeff Tucker points out that it is government meddling with the markets that creates much of the problem.

This is a similar problem with unions:  Godfather Politics tell us:

Home front – Union stupidity
New Jersey: Unions more important than people
(Godfather politics) A crew from Decatur Utilities from Alabama answered the call [from New Jersey] and traveled up to Seaside Heights [NJ] and started to work on the downed power lines.  However, it was not long before they were told to pack up and go back home.  It turns out that the Decatur company received paperwork requiring them to have union affiliation before they would be allowed to work in New Jersey.

Nathan: “Might makes right” is NOT a motto for a free people: just because the unions have so much power in New Jersey does not give them the right to deny the community the benefits of having people travel hundreds of miles to assist, just because they aren’t union members and haven’t done the paperwork.

Local tyranny – death by cop
Video shows Omaha man’s dog ‘executed’ by police
(Rawstory) A home surveillance camera in Omaha, Nebraska filmed police officers earlier this year arresting a man for walking too close to a search area, then shooting and killing his dog in what the man now calls an execution.

Nathan: The police state is not satisfied with killing people: pets are automatically put down both for the convenience of the officer and to further terrorize the person(s) who didn’t immediately fall to their hands and knees and lick the officer’s boots.

Politics 2012 – Theft by government
To blunt ‘fiscal cliff’ pain, administration could assert broad powers, experts say
(Washington Post)  The Obama administration could blunt the economic harm caused by the “fiscal cliff” at the end of the year by using its unilateral powers over spending and taxes, for instance, by freezing how much in taxes is taken out of payroll checks, according to former senior officials and other tax and budget experts.

Nathan: This SHOULD be sounding an alarm bell that the White House has accumulated such power – more than Caesar Augustus, THAT worthy dictator, ever had.  If the White House can waive some or all taxes for ALL the people, they can certainly do it for SOME people – and probably keep it hidden.  AND THAT is yet another abuse of power, as even the work to “blunt'” the harm of the fiscal cliff is.

Commentary of the week:
Rampant INjustice Exposes Federal Abuse of Power
By Jan Morgan
This documentary exposes the blatant trampling of the Constitutional rights of Americans during white collar crime investigations by the Department of Justice and the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service.

More a libertarian point of view than a conservative one: the abuse has gotten intolerable.  But NO ONE will do anything about it.  Clearly, the feds and local police are WORRIED that someone will, one day, snap and fight back: otherwise why use 50 heavily armed cops to raid a place with only 20 or 30 workers?  If this bottling company had known and prepared and been willing to fight, they could easily have killed everyone of those fifty cops with little or no loss of life on their own.  One day, someone will be desperate and fearful and frustrated enough to do just that.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-46B: This and That

Posted on 2012-11-04 by TPOL Nathan

How much longer, O Lord, how much longer must we live in such a time and condition as this?

Local tyranny – Evil in our land
Suit: Officer shot boy, 10, with stun gun
(UPI.com‎) TULAROSA — A New Mexico 10-year-old is suing police after he was allegedly shocked with a stun gun during a career fair. [for not washing the cop’s car] Officer Chris Webb is accused of saying to the boy he would be shown ‘what happens to people who do not listen to police’ during the event at Tularosa Intermediate School in New Mexico.

Nathan: Is this a hanging offense?  In New Mexico, it once was – even if the boy was a tribal member or a despised wetback.  It should be, again.

Mama’s Note: Where was this child’s mother, let alone his father? Why wasn’t this thug taken down and beaten within an inch of his life by the MOTHERS present for this little horror show?

Why was this child put into a position to be tortured and damaged by this copscum thug in the first place? Good old “public school?”

Why do so many women spend their entire lives emasculating their husbands and sons, and creating helpless victims of their daughters? And that didn’t just start last generation…

Why are so many people seemingly content to be helpless victims – regardless of who the predator might be or what sort of costume he/she wears?  Why are people so stupid as to allow this sort of aggression, against their own children?

Theft by government
Feds Say No Dice in Retrieving Your Data Seized in Megaupload Case
(Wired.com ) Federal prosecutors are proposing a process that would make it essentially impossible for former Megaupload users to recover their data following the government’s seizure of the file-sharing service’s servers and domain names in January as part of its prosecution of a criminal copyright infringement indictment of Megaupload’s employees. That’s according to Julie Samuels, an Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney representing an Ohio man seeking the return of his high school sports footage.

Nathan: So who is doing the thieving now?  Two wrongs do NOT make a right – they are just more evil.

Mainstream Media – Politics 2012
MSNBC Attacks Romney’s Charity as Offensive
(Breibart)
MSNBC’s Martin Bashir poses the question to Ana Marie Cox as to whether she finds it “strange” that Romney is helping with relief efforts, and she responds, “I found that sort of fake relief rally, whatever it is, to be pretty offensive, and also wrong-headed.”So what other alternative does Romney have? He could have decided not to help out and instead continued campaigning. Bashir would have asked the question, “Do you think it strange that Mitt Romney continues to campaign through all of this?” and Cox would have responded, “Yes, I find it to be pretty offensive, and also wrong-headed.” Of course, Romney could have done absolutely nothing, neither helping nor campaigning. But then the question from Bashir would have been, “Do you think it strange that Romney isn’t helping out with relief efforts?” and Cox would have said, “Yes, I find it to be pretty offensive, and also wrong-headed.”

Nathan Readers know that I am no fan of Mitt Romney, but this goes way overboard.  With the media, Romney cannot win, of course, just as the “messiah” cannot lose.  This will, of course, continue even if the current occupant has to move from 1600 PA – assuming he is willing to.  What kind of scum do we have working in the media that they turn doing good works into something that is WRONG?  That is just purely evil on the media’s part: their hatred is so vicious that anything is used against him.  Even  evil people can do some good things.

East Asian Front – Killing
China to stop using organs from executed prisoners
(Democratic Underground) China to stop using organs from executed prisoners Beijing says current transplant sourcing system is both unsavoury and inefficient
Associated Press in Beijing guardian.co.uk, Friday 2 November 2012 03.33 EDT

Nathan: Now they will harvest the organs BEFORE they are executed.  Seriously, I really don’t believe this: they think that they can control what goes out well enough to keep their own people and the West from knowing.  Given the medical technology available, I suspect that most organs – possibly even the heart – can be removed before actually letting the convict die.

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Elections, the NDAA, and Our Present State

Posted on 2012-11-04 by TPOL Nathan

A friend sent me, in good faith, an e-mail this morning.  Like me, he is a military veteran (though retired and no longer reserve status), but unlike me, he is a conservative and he still seems to have some hope that we can reform our current mess in DC, Pierre, and elsewhere.  I appreciate his concern, but there are a few problems.

Here is what he sent, in part:
On Sat, Nov 3, 2012 at 7:38 AM
Senators Demand the Military Lock Up of American Citizens in a “Battlefield” They Define as Being Right Outside Your Window
By Chris Anders, Washington Legislative Office at 10:46am
UPDATE III: The Senate rejected the Udall amendment 38-60.

While nearly all Americans head to family and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving, the Senate is gearing up for a vote on Monday or Tuesday that goes to the very heart of who we are as Americans. The Senate will be voting on a bill that will direct American military resources not at an enemy shooting at our military in a war zone, but at American citizens and other civilians far from any battlefield — even people in the United States itself.

Senators need to hear from you, on whether you think your front yard is part of a “battlefield” and if any president can send the military anywhere in the world to imprison civilians without charge or trial. …

Here is what I wrote back to my friend.  His e-mail to me on this first Saturday in November and the last weekend before “the most important election of our lifetime” (as I’ve been told by countless friends and acquaintances) stuck a chord deep in my heart.

Hi!  Thanks for sending this, but you did know that this Update was from November of last year:

Nov 23, 2011 – Senators Demand the Military Lock Up of American Citizens in a “Battlefield” They Define as Being Right Outside Your Window. By Chris …

This bill has already passed and signed into law – with all these hideous provisions – in 2011 and has been the law of the land ever since: and though going through court, has been used multiple times against civilians, reservists and National Guardsmen, active duty AND retired military personnel, like the Marine put into a psychiatric ward a few months ago?  It could happen to you or me, today or tomorrow.

We could be in our homes, on the road, in the meetinghouse worshiping God, in a store, or at work:  they’d come and not even read us our rights before they put the cuffs on and shoved us into the back of a cop car and hauled us away – probably not to a jail but to a hospital (Fort Meade or Hot Springs, probably) or just to a temporary “holding area” which might actually be a building or have a canvas awning or tent.

The Constitution, despite the rituals and procedures being carried out right now, is a dead letter:  we are no longer a republic, we are not even a “democracy” anymore; at best we are an “elective” tyranny in which we are again supposedly electing our masters for the next four years.  But the differences between Democratic and Republican administrations is nil: neither one will repeal this NDAA (passed by a Democratic Administration with a Democratic Senate and Republican House), or the USA PATRIOT Act (passed by a Republican Administration with a Republican Senate and Republican House), nor the hundreds of Executive Orders or the hundreds of thousands of pages of Federal Regulations that dictate nearly every waking (and sleeping) moment of our lives, from how much water we use to flush our toilets and what kind of bulbs and toilet paper we use and the temperatures on our dish washers, washing machines, and showers to the ever-growing percentage of our income that is sucked up as taxes by the federal government, state government, county government, town or city government, special districts and intergovernmental agencies and agreements.  Of course, that paycheck is made ever more worthless by the even more stealthy theft by mind-boggling borrowing of trillions of dollars, the “quantitative easing” of the Federal Reserve which is nothing more than the electronic printing of more trillions backed by nothing – not even the hot air out of politicians’ mouths.

One of the few hopes we have left is that our brothers and sisters still in uniform DAILY or MONTHLY, when the balloon DOES go up, will NOT obey their immoral, unconstitutional but supposedly “legal” orders to round the likes of you and me up and put us in O’Hara Stadium or a hastily-erected tent camp out on Range Road between Stevens High School and the armory.  Of course, they’ll be told by their officers and the politicians and the DHS and such that it is for “our own protection” and if the SPs or the ARNG don’t do it, the RCPD or PCSO probably will do it anyway, and then disarm our brothers and sisters in uniform and stick them in there with us old, dangerous people who have such quaint but dangerous ideas about freedom and liberty and defending our nation against our enemies – our really DANGEROUS enemies, who aren’t a few ragheads with suicide vests and AK-47s made in 1950 hiding in tunnels outside of Kandahar. But until then, they’ll continue to distract us with political circuses, just like they distract us with circuses like football and basketball and baseball and the latest Hollywood divorce scandals.  And they will also continue to distract us with “bread” paid for by our own taxes and then graciously given back (minus a 25-50% “commission” of course) to provide food stamps and build roads and waste water treatment plants and “highway art” and non-profit museums and foundations that tell us how evil Americans were and how bad religion and morality and tradition are.

Pray to God that we be spared the judgment we deserve for letting our people and land and nation be sold up the river for a whole lot less than that bowl of beans for which Esau sold his birthright.  As a people, we don’t even have Esau’s excuse that he was hungry: we apparently lost our hunger for liberty and righteousness somewhere along the road to this awful reckoning we now face.

Nathan

PS: For another view of this, visit and view RAMPANT INJUSTICE

This documentary exposes the blatant trampling of the Constitutional rights of Americans during white collar crime investigations by the Department of Justice and the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-46A: Politics 2012 and Storms

Posted on 2012-11-01 by TPOL Nathan

With panic and wrack and ruin in the Northeast, and the final seven-day countdown to election defeat (we ALL lose, no matter who wins), the week is business and busy and – lovely weather!  But for some of us, the days are not so great, like this next guy.

NOT Self Defense
Arkansas: Father shoots a man he found under his child’s bed
(KSPR News) “Police say no charges will be filed against an Arkansas man who they say shot someone who tried to break into his home. Officers say a man who lives on Fick street came home today to find Ryan Gingerich hiding under his child’s bed. Wtnesses say Ginerich had a wrecking bar and a screwdriver in his hands. The homeowner ran to get a gun and Gingerich jumped out a window. Police say Ginerich didn’t stop when the homeowner told him to, so he was shot.” (10/26/12)

Mama’s Note: Whole different story if he’d been shot breaking IN… but he was
running away. I’m astonished they didn’t press charges against the shooter.

Nathan: No, it is not self-defense, and the father clearly lost his temper: the crisis was over, no further harm was possible.

Notice the writing though: something doesn’t make sense or the writer is an idiot:  “someone who TRIED to break in” – he was under a bed in the house for crying out loud!

The “messiah” – Politics 2012
Obama on ‘Flexibility’ with Putin: ‘It’s Hard to Negotiate Additional Treaties When I’m Off Campaigning’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Ah, he makes a strong argument for a one-term limit for the White House, doesn’t he? Exactly how much work did we get out of this man?

Mama’s Note: Well, that depends on what sort of “work” one actually wants such a person to do, doesn’t it? Personally, I’d have been much better pleased if he’d spent all of his time on the golf course, or in bed with the covers pulled over his head. Every speck of “work” this man (or any of the rest of them) does leads only to more tyranny, more destruction of the economy and hopes for peace everywhere.

Politics 2012 – The “messiah’s” minions
Rahm Emanuel to 4th Grader: ‘After The Election, I’ll Tell You Some Funny Stories’ About Obama
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Funny, ha-ha?  Or “funny” as in queer and twisted?  Probably “ha-ha,” but with people like Biden (next story) and Emanuel, you never know.  Is this an indication that the “messiah” will be more open about himself if he is reelected, or has Emanuel decided that the current Administration is toast?

Politics 2012 – The “messiah’s” chief minion
Biden to Slain Navy Seal’s Father: ‘Did Your Son Always Have Balls the Size of Cue Balls?’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Biden’s crudity, contempt for others, and apparent inability to know what is true and what is not continues to be a minor irritant to the Administration, but it also serves a distraction from more serious issues.  As the latest in a long line of “funny” (not “ha-ha”) Democratic VPs, he maintains their stellar reputation as a pack of idiots.

Mama’s Note: Seems to me this moron is very fortunate that he’s not already had an “unfortunate accident”… Insulting the memory of a Navy Seal does not seem to be particularly good for longevity.

Culture wars: killing babies
Philadelphia Archbishop on Abortion: ‘We’re Catholics Before We’re Democrats … Before We’re Republicans’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Which raises the point – when did a majority of Catholics become Democrats? And why? Catholicism has been a political religion since its formation in the 600s,  and has been that way in the US for a long time.

Mama’s Note: No question about it, really. Regardless of the names given the factions, organized religion has always been political in nature because the very core of politics is the same: control of the people. The only contest is which of them is to be “the boss.”

Politics 2012
Gallup Asks About ‘Greatest Strength’ of Romney, Obama; 3% Say ‘Good Liar’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Only three percent?  Of course, maybe more people believe that they are good liars, but don’t consider that actually to be a strength.

Home front – Tyranny
For DHS, Cybersecurity Education Begins in Kindergarten
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Cyber security?  Why not?  Cyber sex ed already begins in Kindergarten in many states.  And just as sex education often teaches them how to do what they should not be doing, expect the same on Cybersecurity classes: a new generation of hyper-hackers is being educated!

Mama’s Note: Forgetting for a moment here that government control of education is the problem no matter what is being taught. And, at least for now, it is fairly easy to remedy. The children must be removed from these “schools” and educated privately, one way or another.

Broken Windows Theme
Insurance may soften blow of storm’s impact
(NBC News) The economic hit from Superstorm Sandy may have a big silver lining. It will be offset by the boost in spending that will accompany insurance-fueled clean-up and rebuilding efforts.

Mama’s Note: Too stupid to come in out of the rain. Why don’t they advocate leveling the cities with nukes if “rebuilding efforts” are that wonderful? Idiots..

Nathan: Based on the rapid collapse of things for some of those eastern cities, I will bet that a lot of this doesn’t get fixed for years, if ever. But the FedGov will borrow billions to give out and loan to the various “victims.”  The “messiah” will use this for the next few days to wale on RR and GJ-JG and “show” how much he cares..

Mama’s Note: Unfortunately, far, far too many people simply can’t see the forest for the trees. A friend this morning mentioned the “silver lining” in this storm… that it would create many jobs for a long time…

I suggested she go out and wreck her car, tear up the carpet or even burn down the house… and asked how many “jobs” she thought that would “create.” And who she thought would pay for the repairs.

There was silence for a few minutes… and then she changed the subject. But I think she got it.

I think that the core problem is the fact that far too few people truly understand that the government does not have anything to “give” that isn’t first stolen from everyone else… not to mention the even worse problem with what the government considers “borrowing,” which is theft from the unborn – if the next generations don’t resist and refuse that debt eventually, of course.

They don’t understand private property, self ownership or much about freedom and prosperity at all. But things like the East Coast disaster may teach some… God willing.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-45D – California Stupid

Posted on 2012-10-31 by TPOL Nathan

Somehow, some way (we all have our suspicions), the state that was once the perfect example of the American dream: resources, scenery, wealth, energetic and productive people, new ideas, and so much more, has turned into a sick and bizarre mixture of Italy and the Ukraine and Cambodia.  The few outposts of sanity left in the state look like a VERY mild case of measles on the map.  With such a large population, there are, of course, all kinds of people (including a fair number of Libertarians, but the state’s Libertarians are considered by many to be best represented by Starchild than by Judge Jim Grey, sadly), but too many – too high a percentage (perhaps 90?) are STUPID.  As this story shows:

California, People’s Republic of – Stupid, stupid, stupid
California Gasoline Consumers Hurt by Few Suppliers, Outages
(Los Angeles Times) Virtually all 14.6 billion gallons of gasoline sold in California last year were made by nine companies that own the state’s refineries… Conventional economic wisdom dictates that lack of competition can handicap the local market it functions in. California is riddled with these market fractures. This is particularly evident in the state’s energy economy. Since 1980s, the number of refiners operating in California has decreased by half; as a result, gasoline prices are prone to price spikes, which can impair the local economy, says the Los Angeles Times. When it comes to the gasoline market, the Golden State is largely protected from external competitions — paralleling the oligopolies present in the oil producing economies of the Middle East.

  • The state’s strict clean-air rules mandate a specially formulated blend used nowhere else in the country.
  • Producers in places such as Louisiana or Texas could make it, but there are no pipelines to get it to the West Coast quickly and cheaply.
  • As a result, virtually all 14.6 billion gallons of gasoline sold in California last year were made by nine companies that own the state’s refineries.
  • Three of them control 54 percent of the market.

The lack of competition is manifested at the retail sector.

  • Around 85 percent of gas stations offer brands such as Chevron, Arco, Valero or Mobil.
  • Additionally, the pump prices are directly or indirectly controlled by refiners.

In contrast, in other states, such as Texas, independent, non-branded fueling posts make up around 50 percent of the market, thus more competition, which buffers against price volatility that harms local economies. Given that gas is an integral input for numerous economic activities, by extension, it means that the higher prices will translate to a higher cost of doing business in California. Further complicating the picture, the current push on limiting greenhouse gas emission and promoting alternative fuel opportunities may coerce nearly eight of California’s refineries to shut down in the coming years. This thrusts California’s energy supply edifice into a more fragile state, characterizing the energy marketplace with monopolistic features. In the short run, it makes the market vulnerable to price hikes, and in the long run, this can have major detrimental ramifications.

Nathan:  Okay, Californians have created and supported a state government which (together with the feds and county and local governments) made it into a state which is its own worst enemy.  They have CREATED the very monopolies which they now suffer from, and can’t seem to come up with anything to “solve” the problem but MORE GOVERNMENT.  Then we have the next three stories from Reason Magazine (courtesy Mama Liberty).

58 Percent of Californians Oppose Eliminating the State Income Tax, 36 Percent Favor

Californians Think Half of Every Dollar the State Government Spends Is Wasted

65 Percent of Californians Say Legislature Drives Jobs From the State

Mama’s note: Ok now… if 65% of them know the state drives out jobs, and most think half or more of their money is being wasted by the state… yet the majority don’t see any reason to eliminate the income tax… What are they smoking?

Nathan:  Whatever it is, it is REALLY GOOD at causing mental upset and damaging brain cells.  There are what, 40 million Californians, but many of the smart ones have been fleeing from the state for decades, at a rate of at LEAST a quarter-million a year.  Which means that the overall intelligence of the California electorate is dropping at measurable rates.  As is, no doubt, the percentage of people with a higher score than 25-25 on the Nolan Chart.  As these stories prove.  As for the refineries, never mind that the feds and state have crippled the industry and made it impossible to build new ones – which probably makes the existing owners pleased that they don’t have to compete with anyone else.

Mama’s note: There is that… I was talking with a friend there in California the other day and she mentioned that the cost of water in the city has gone up sharply even while use of it is ever more restricted. She was outraged when I said that was probably a good thing. Anyway, I tried to reassure her that there would likely be more water for everyone soon, when all of the rest of the unwilling taxpayers finally moved to another state. Oh, and she thinks life will be so much better if she moves to New Mexico… [Boy will SHE have a shock! (Nathan)] Better for her, maybe, but not for New Mexico as she will no doubt continue to vote “Californian.” [As so many who move to Colorado do – they are smarter than the average Californian and even more conservative than the average Californian, but incredibly stupid and liberal even by lax Colorado standards – to say nothing of Wyoming or West River standards. (Nathan)] She’s leaving because it costs too much to live there retired… yet she still can’t see that the “state” is the reason for it. sigh  Just have to elect the “right people” and that will be all fixed.

Nathan: Of course!  Click your heels three times and say, “I want to go home…”  Or is it sprinkling fairy dust on your head?

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #12-45E

Posted on 2012-10-30 by TPOL Nathan

Politics 2012
Texas AG Tells Int’l Election Monitors to Butt Out
(CNSNews.com)  Now, if he’d only tell the Washington DC “national” monitors to butt out, too.  But perhaps we should ALL remember, “Do unto others as you wish them to do unto you,” the next time someone gets the bright idea of sending election monitors to Belarus or Zimbabwe or Gaza.  The best election monitors are informed and powerful, armed and vigilant citizens.

Islamic wars: African front
Sudan: Regime claims Israeli airstrike to blame for arms factory fire
(UPI.com) “Four military planes attacked an arms factory in Khartoum where there was a huge fire overnight, a Sudanese minister said on Wednesday, blaming Israel for the air strike.” (10/24/12)

Nathan:  This reminds me of stories from WW2 in which both Soviet and Nazi functionaries sometimes blamed enemy action for their own stupidity in doing things like letting factories burn down.  Although it would surprise none of us if Israel DID launch the raid to take out a plant which was apparently making weapons for some Iranian operation (shows how hard up Iran is, if they are resorting to getting Sudan to manufacture things for them), it could very well be that microminiature- stealth-invisible Israeli warplanes (no doubt using Starfleet teleportation technology) started a fire in a trashcan where everyone put their cigarettes out – or whatever it is that Sudanese smoke during breaks.

Hoploclasts – Politics 2012
Gun Control Advocates Recommend New and Stronger Regulations
(CNSNews.com)  Of course they are.  That is why they are “gun control advocates.” Bloomberg with his new Super-PAC is upset that gun control laws are at their lowest ebb since the infamous Act of 1968 (but have a LONG way to go to come close to “liberty” anytime soon.

Stupid government nanny tricks – Politics 2012
Food Activists Name Only Dems As ‘Champions’ in ‘Non-Partisan’ Congressional Scorecard
(CNSNews.com)  The joke is on us: I’ve seen nothing to indicate that the Democrats (or at least those who are Tranzis) care about essentials of “food security.”  The bills used to rate the Congressmen and Senators and the position these “food activists” take on each bill are clearly based on the idea that more government control is better, that the US must dictate to the world in matters of food, that welfare is good and more welfare is better, and that ordinary people are too stupid and/or uneducated to choose for themselves what is good to grow or raise and eat.

The Tattletale State
Secret Service Asks Americans to Report Tweets That ‘Concern You’
(CNSNews.com)  Ah, yes, stoolies ALWAYS wanted.  Anything you say CAN and WILL be used against you.  Another hammer for someone who doesn’t like you (or your sons or daughters or parents or cousins) to use to create problems for you.  Once again I see the irony of the initials of the Secret Service being “SS.”

Islamic wars: Arab Street Revolt
Oil-Rich Gulf States Worry About Muslim Brotherhood Agenda
(CNSNews.com)  “And it’s up against the wall, all you oilmen,” or so goes that old redneck song, and I guess that is what they are worried about.  See, in the Arab world (with or without Islam), no matter how much they hate and fight and kill the ferengi or infidels or pagans or whatever, their real efforts are spent on killing each other.  One reason that Mohammed (peanut butter und honig) tried to get them all interested in jihad against the unbelievers.  Well, it only works some of the time.

Government-run, tax-funded schools
Indiana school: no more preachers in lunchroom
(Onenewsnow.com)Thanks to a potential lawsuit against an Indiana school district, a youth pastor will no longer be allowed to speak with students in the lunchroom.

Officials for Southwest Allen County Schools say the district no longer allows a local youth pastor [sic] to interact with students because of the legal threat. But Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel asserts that this kneejerk reaction is wrong.

Nathan:  Does anyone else remember “release time” when schools let children out of “regular classes” one or two times a week for Bible classes taught by local preachers?  And when ANYone in town was welcome to come visit the kids at lunch?  How we have changed.  That, of course, was a long ways back in the devolution of public schools into modern prison institutions.  Get your children OUT of these places, people!

Nanny-state tyranny
Government Targets The Animal Breeders
(Sportsmen’s and Animal Owners’ Voting Alliance via Laissez Faire) APHIS proposes to revise the definition of “retail pet store” to bring more pet animals sold at retail under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) licensing and regulations. APHIS will narrow the definition of retail pet store so that it means a place of business or residence that each buyer physically enters in order to personally observe the animals available for sale prior to purchase and/or to take custody of the animals after purchase. Under the proposed rule, no dog or other pet animal will be sold at retail without either public or APHIS oversight.

WHO WILL BE AFFECTED?
Anyone who sells the following animals to the public for use as pets: Dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, rats, mice, gophers, chinchilla, domestic ferrets, domestic farm animals, birds, and cold-blooded species.

APHIS plans to license and regulate these retail sellers unless they can meet the exemption requirements in the revised definition of retail pet store. A breeder may gain an exemption by selling only to buyers who physically enter the premises to observe the animals available for sale prior to purchasing them. A breeder can be exempt from regulation if income from sales (for listed species) is less than $500 a year; this does not include wild or exotic animals, dogs, or cats. Finally, a breeder may be exempt if he/she maintains a total of four (4) or fewer breeding female dogs, cats, and/or small exotic or wild mammals, such as hedgehogs, degus, spiny mice, prairie dogs, flying squirrels, and jerboas,and who sells only the offspring of these dogs, cats, or small exotic or wild mammals, which were born and raised on his/her premises and sold for pets.

LIVING WITH USDA LICENSING *** DOWNLOAD FILE IN PDF

Nathan:  Thanks to the good folks at Laissez Faire for this one – but guys and gals, we missed the boat: the comment period closed on 15 AUG and the rules apparently will go into effect at any time. Is there NOTHING that this administration, that the federal government will not seek to regulate, tax, and mess with in the name of some higher power or justification? The answer is a resounding “NO.” The government is incredibly stupid, with a track record of failure in every endeavor, and dead broke, borrowing or printing money to the tune of more than a TRILLION a year, and yet they create more and more work for themselves. It doesn’t matter WHICH “massa” or “messiah” is elected in two weeks, we will NOT see this sort of garbage stop.

LF has it right in their commentary: Meanwhile, the market moves underground, same as with so many other sectors. Less transparency, less quality control, less information. In the future, you will be buying your puppies off a park bench, exchanging money for the content of a brown paper bag. It is the result of an invisible process of restriction that has been going on one hundred years and it is strangling the life out of society itself. Every step matters. Every step is evil. But this evil flies under the cover of night.

TSA Thugerry – Nazgul – Stupid juries
Mom Found Guilty of Disorderly Conduct After Refusing TSA Pat Down
(Freedom Outpost) Andrea Abbott, 42, of Clarksville, Tennessee was convicted of disorderly conduct in Nashville for berating Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers who attempted to pat down her teenage daughter and then refused to submit to the procedure herself at a Tennessee airport back in July 2011. Note for Breitbart writer Dana Loesch: This is what standing up against the tyranny of the TSA looks like, not going along with it. The jurors deliberated four house before reaching the verdict. The sentence could have resulted in Abbot facing thirty days in jail and a $50 fine. However, the judge placed her on a one year probation due to the fact that she has no criminal record.

Nathan: There is so much incredibly wrong with this, including a complacent and compliant jury that failed to do its job to preserve liberty, and as for the murderous rapist thugs at TSA, what do we expect?  IS there any other answer than violent self-defense?

Mama’s Note: Of course there is another answer, at least for the short term. Stay away from the airports! That’s simple enough. If you would not walk down the streets of S. Central Los Angeles alone, unarmed, in the dark… why would you deliberately enter the den of these thugs, thieves and rapists? You actually might have a better chance of coming out of LA unharmed. And yes, I know that is inconvenient and disruptive to business, but at the very least one would think people would keep their children out of such a place.

The “messiah’s” minions – Murder most foul – Islamic wars: Arab street front
Former Obama Press Sec poohpoohs US killing of 16-year-old American
(Freedom Outpost)  Former Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about a 16-year-old American boy, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, who was killed by an American drone attack, authorized by Barack Obama, callously said that he “should have (had) a far more responsible father.”

Nathan:  This is something that didn’t come out months ago, when al-Awlaki, the “American citizen” born in New Mexico to Islamist parents, was killed and then a few months later, the 16-year-old was killed. He probably WAS an enemy of the US, given who raised him, but the casual attitude of Gibbs is just reflecting that of the entire administration: they don’t care WHO they kill.  The next story reports that they intend to keep on doing it.

Murder most foul – The “messiah’s” minions – World wars
Administration plans to continue kill lists indefinitely
(Washington Post)  Over the past two years, the Obama administration has been secretly developing a new blueprint for pursuing terrorists, a next-generation targeting list called the “disposition matrix.” The matrix contains the names of terrorism suspects arrayed against an accounting of the resources being marshaled to track them down, including sealed indictments and clandestine operations. U.S. officials said the database is designed to go beyond existing kill lists, mapping plans for the “disposition” of suspects beyond the reach of American drones. Although the matrix is a work in progress, the effort to create it reflects a reality setting in among the nation’s counterterrorism ranks: The United States’ conventional wars are winding down, but the government expects to continue adding names to kill or capture lists for years.

Read more

Nathan: The killings will continue, and NOT just by the FedGov and NOT just overseas, as the next story (from Mama Liberty) shows

Murder most foul – Home front – Local tyranny
2 dead after flying trooper fires at vehicle
MCALLEN, Texas (AP) – Three people were found wounded, two fatally, in a vehicle that was fired upon by a Texas state trooper in a helicopter. The incident happened Thursday afternoon near the South Texas border with Mexico near the town of La Joya (HOY’-yah), about 70 miles northwest of Brownsville. Katherine Cesinger (SEHS’-ihn-jur) of the Texas Department of Public Safety says a DPS aircraft was helping a state game warden in a high-speed pursuit when the DPS officer on the aircraft opened fire. She says two people from the vehicle died, one was injured and six others were arrested. She called the shooting “an enforcement action” but declined to say whether police caused the deaths and injuries. She says the Texas Rangers are investigating and no other information was available.

Mama’s Note: It would seem the stakes are getting higher all the time… especially in border states. How many helicopters do police departments operate these days? This is starting to sound like Iraq or Afghanistan.

More from Freedom’s Phoenix

Nathan:  Texas DPS thugs are rapidly getting the same reputation as their Federal counterparts – or NYPD officers (did you see about the one arrested because he was plotting with several other NYPD officers to rape, kill, and eat several women?)  Many states have helicopters, but how many have ARMED their helicopters to be able to do this?  And what are their rules of engagement (other than “secret”)?  And exactly when did driving on a Texas highway justify a death penalty, even with a high-speed chase?  I know of at least two other high-speed chases this week, one in the Black Hills that lasted about 30 miles, and one in Greeley, Colorado that caused $100,000 in damage or more: both of those perps are in hospital waiting to be moved to jail – no gunships YET in those states.  If Texas needs gunships, it is on the border against the drug lords and the Border Patrol and Mexican forces, NOT against unknown persons in a civilian sedan.  I pray that this DPS trooper is tried and convicted of murder.

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Imperial America (Part 1)

Posted on 2012-10-27 by TPOL Nathan

Liberty seems so fragile a thing, does it not?

We have it, gaining it at great cost.  But think, piece by piece, year by year, it seems to slip away, or to decay into something as useful as a sucked-empty egg shell, pretty on the outside and with little but corruption within.

We have gotten so accustomed to this happening that we are scarcely aware it is happening.  Yes, we see or hear about a friend, a neighbor, a family member, or some 10-second sensation on talk radio or the hourly news, but the long, slow, steady decline is hard to notice.

It is the same thing concerning our imperial status.

What’s that?  Imperial America?  What kind of weird thing is that?  Americans have always FOUGHT empires, right?  The British, the French, the German, the Austria, the Ottoman, the Japanese, the Soviet “evil empire,” and a few more?  How can “WE” be an empire?

Good question, but one easily answered. Many of the AmerInd who inhabited this continent prior to European colonization were imperialists:  of note are the Azteca, the Maya, the Iroquois Confederacy, and the great Confederacy of the Southeast, and very likely the Chaco Culture and others in the Southwest, and the Cahokia culture.  Not all of these were empires for their entire existence, but they all had imperial characteristics.

The same thing was obvious with the first European explorers and settlers:  they represented and were part of (or fleeing from) various empires.  For example, the vast Hapsburg domains (not just Spain but much else in Europe), the French Bourbons, and of course the British: first the Tudors and then other royal houses, while in the fringes and niches of the big powers were the smaller imperial ventures: the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark.  But the ultimate big winners in North America (despite a valiant showing and an indelible mark by France) were the United Kingdom and Spain.  Those colonists along the largest part of the Eastern Seaboard, from Newfoundland through Nova Scotia and Massachusetts Bay to Chesapeake Bay and on down to Savannah were British: English and Welsh and Scots and Irish.  They were proud members and junior partners in the great British Empire (version 1.o, as it turned out).  Their blood was imperial blood, as great as that of Ancient Macedonia or Ancient Rome or Medieval Angevin or Bourbon or Hohenstaufen or Welf or other great imperial ventures and dynasties of Europe.   They sought to expand the empire at the expense of Spain and France and the various AmerInd tribes and confederations that occupied the continent.

What we call the War of American Independence or the American Revolutionary War could equally be called a civil war: a war of secession from the Empire.  A war which, unlike the Second American Revolutionary War, was won (or at least not lost) by the secessionists.  Not hardly what we are taught in history, of course.  But ridding themselves (officially) of a royal family and monarch did NOT change their imperial nature all that much: nor did the outbreeding to AmerInd, all of Europe, and a good chunk of Africa.

American imperialism swept across AND around a continent, assisted and encouraged the defeat of still more opposing imperial ventures (Spain, France, then Mexico and Brazil) and while much of North America was still unconquered, leaped the oceans as had Portugal and Spain and Britain and the Netherlands before us. (Long before the last AmerInd revolts and resistance was put down, the US or her surrogates had already laid claim and taken control of dozens of little out-of-the-way islands and ports, working in cooperation if not consultation with British interests, usually against Spanish and French efforts.)

The various squabbles between Brits and Americans (War of 1812, Jenkins’ Ear war, etc.) as well as internal American squabbles (slave revolts, the War between the States, etc.) were truly internal issues – more akin to bureaucratic infighting than much else.

Meanwhile France was virtually banished from the Americas, followed by Spain and Portugal and their New World successor empires, and then their successor states.

Too many people think that American imperialism did not develop until the late 19th century and the war against Spain.  At that time, American imperialism WAS beginning a new phase, but it was at least two centuries old.  Spain’s last pieces were swept from the New World gameboard, filibustering had been nationalized in the Western Hemisphere, and the American part of the Anglo-American Empire finally jumped nearly completely across the oceans – to the Philippines.

Too many people think that imperial powers must have a single center, but history does not teach us that: Ancient Israel, even before – but especially after the kingdoms divided, had Jerusalem and Samaria; Persia had Persopolis and Susa; for centuries the Roman Empire was ruled from Constantinople (modern Istanbul) and Roma (mostly).  Both London and Washington have, and still are the centers of the modern Anglo-American Empire: a global empire still greater than any previous in history.  That was even more obvious in the early 1900s.

Imperial dominance can come in many forms – and is often disguised.  The French empire, for example, still exists in much of Africa, where France controls the economies of supposedly independent nations and frequently intervenes in their local affairs.  Although the United Kingdom has pulled back from the same tactics itself, nevertheless it supports American interventions, and works through its Commonwealth surrogates: Australia and Canada in particular.  And today, Anglo-American (or American-Anglo) control – dominance – exists in most of the world in some degree or another: including the European Union and even the Muslim world, as well as much of East Asia and South Asia.  Official title and control are not necessary de facto control.

Like Rome, modern America has conveniently come up with various ways to conceal its imperial power and promote the de facto condition both at home and abroad.  And like Rome, it is both hated and loved by those IN the empire as well as those running and supporting the empire.

In part II, I’ll look at what this means and has meant for the past 40 or so years, and could mean in the future.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-45C

Posted on 2012-10-25 by TPOL Nathan

Crash of 2009 – Free enterprise
US may soon become world’s top oil producer
(online WSJ) “U.S. oil output is surging so fast that the United States could soon overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggest producer. Driven by high prices and new drilling methods, U.S. production of crude and other liquid hydrocarbons is on track to rise 7 percent this year to an average of 10.9 million barrels per day.” (10/23/12)

Nathan: Note that this is DESPITE the continued depression and DESPITE more and more federal (and state and local) restrictions on drilling and production and all the ancillary systems and actions necessary to take a barrel of crude oil from thousands of feet down and convert it to a useful product, sometimes thousands of miles away.  And oddly enough, we are sending more and more of it overseas: more than many members of OPEC.  Once more we see that free enterprise, even when crippled and abused and supporting an ever-heavier burden of government on its shoulders, is able to perform amazing things.  But it COULD be better, as the story below reports:

Gas Prices Doubled, Obama Locks up National Reserve
(Investor’s Business Daily) In August, the Obama administration closed off 23.5 million acres of the most productive areas of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska…

Nathan: Alaska isn’t alone, of course: many states (especially Western states) have huge reserved tied up in Federal control.  Is it any wonder Arizona has a new sovereignty item on its ballot this year?

The “messiah” – Crash of 2009 – Theft by government
Maker of Batteries Files for Bankruptcy
(New York Times) It is difficult for the Obama administration to explain the failure of electric car battery maker A123 Systems considering the similar fate other energy companies like Solyndra…

Nathan: Gutted, looted, and abandoned, no doubt.  Seems like I recall that from some book plot. Atlas Shrugged, maybe?  This administration has honed the techniques it learned from previous administrations and does a far more effective job of looting private business and the economy in general than those tinpot dictators in Africa and Latin America.  Aren’t we proud?

Theft by government
U.S. Government’s Foreign Debt Now $47,495 Per Household
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Gee, that isn’t too much: no more than HALF the average annual income.  What are we worried about?  Gunboat diplomacy to make us pay?  If all these people in other countries are stupid enough to loan us all this money for us to use to build a military that dominates the world and threatens them constantly, who loses?

Mama’s Note: Not “us,” my friend… the psychopaths who inhabit the halls of government have done all this borrowing and it is not our obligation to pay any part of it. Let them take the bureaucrats and politicians. They might find a few coins if they hold them upside down and shake hard enough.

Politics 2012 – Culture wars: killing babies
Ann Romney: ‘Mitt Has Always Been a Pro-Life Person’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: So let us take her at her word.  What does that make the former governor of Massachusetts?  A hypocrite – a murdering hypocrite.

Home front – Stupid government
Pentagon Will Not Classify Fort Hood Shootings as Terrorism — or Anything Else
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: What, not workplace violence?  The man is a traitor (to his nation, his service, his comrades (and their families) and to his word – but not to his religion) and his actions were obviously in support of enemies which are themselves condemned as terrorists.

The “messiah’s” broken promises – Worldwide war
Obama Says Congress Needed to Close Gitmo
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan:  Funny, he doesn’t seem to need Congress to do all these other things that he just has an executive order drafted for.  So why for Gitmo?  One more lie and one more broken promise.

Politics 2012 – Media
Third-party presidential candidates rail against Obama and Romney at debate (VIDEO)
(Washington Post) CHICAGO — Away from the bright lights and fanfare of the just-completed presidential debates, four third-party White House hopefuls debated Tuesday night, coming from starkly different political perspectives, but uniting in agreement that neither Mitt Romney nor President Obama can solve the nation’s biggest problems.

Nathan:  Funny, eh?  No mention BEFORE the debate, just a sop to the millions of people who favor one of these candidates AFTER, when the real audience of such debates has no opportunity to see it.  (Yeah, I know this debate is on YouTube and no doubt many other places, but there is a big difference between seeing a recording and viewing this sort of thing live.)

Theft by government
State-Local Tax Burdens Higher on Individuals Living in Blue States
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This is, at best an absurd generalization.  Truth is, state and local taxes are too high – even from a minarchist point of view – in EVERY state and EVERY locality.  Adding insult to injury, the money is wasted as often as not.

Stupid people
L’Aquila earthquake scientists sentenced to six years in jail
(Telegraph.co.uk‎ ) A group of scientists are facing six years in jail for manslaughter after providing “an incomplete, inept, unsuitable and criminally mistaken” assessment of risks posed by the devastating L’Aquila earthquake that killed more than 300 people. … On Monday, Judge Marco Billi announced the manslaughter sentence to a packed courtroom in a temporary building erected to hear the case in the still devastated city. He also ruled that the defendants should pay 7.8 million euros (£6.4 millions: $11.5 million) in damages, with two million euros to be paid immediately.

Nathan: I am as appalled as anyone about this – and see a lot of folks comparing it to the Galileo trial centuries ago.  This conviction is criminal and evil, but most of the stories reporting get the verdict wrong: they were not convicted of not being able to predict the killer quake but of failing to do their assigned duties properly and of giving a false impression of safety. Even so, the manslaughter conviction is nuts!

But at the same time, let me interject a note of caution.  These six scientists and the bureaucrat (supposedly an engineer) ARE guilty of incredible arrogance and are caught in a trap of their (and their colleagues’) making. The idea being that Science is nearing perfection and can AND SHOULD be trusted, even while they make a mockery of scientific process and have in essence turned it into a religion.  Of course people will seek out scapegoats when those who are the most likely candidates present themselves (or seem to) as (nearly) infallible sages and keepers of all true knowledge. Wired has a good column on the subject. I don’t agree with all the conclusions or comments, but there is a lot worth pondering.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-45B – Stupid People

Posted on 2012-10-24 by TPOL Nathan

Stupid people
Parched in the West but Shipping Water to China, Bale by Bale
(Wall Street Journal) Alfalfa is a water-guzzling crop, and the amount that was exported to China in 2012 is enough to supply the annual consumption of around 500,000 American families…

Shades of Prof. de la Paz in “The Moon is A Harsh Mistress” indeed.  But unlike wheat from Luna, alfalfa from California to China is NOT going to destroy the environment or the economy or anything else.  California’s problems with water will not be solved by saving a half-million families’ worth of water by NOT making China pay through the nose for alfalfa (as anyone knows, shipping the stuff thousands of miles is insane).  What WOULD?  Learning that green is not always necessary, and that using nuclear power to desalinize water does NOT make water radioactive.  Too many people, too many lawns, too many fancy parks and all the rest – but if they are that stupid, then let them pay for the cost of building huge nuclear-powered distilling plants to provide their water so that they don’t drain the Colorado (or Mono Lake, or the Big Valley).  Let markets work by stopping government subsidies of huge water projects!  Of course, since California is apparently losing a quarter-million people a year, all that water won’t be needed in 5 or 6 years, anyway!

More Stupid people
9-year-old girl shot after relative mistakes her for skunk
(NBC News) A 9-year-old Pennsylvania girl was shot in the shoulder with a shotgun at a Halloween party Saturday evening by a relative who mistook her for a skunk, a Beaver County dispatcher confirmed to NBC News.

Mama Liberty: Know your target! Besides… who takes a shotgun to a halloween party?

Nathan: Well, a lot of us go armed to parties, but probably this was in the person’s home where they keep their arms.  But more to the point, who is idiotic enough to shoot a skunk PERIOD except in a good safe area where the smell doesn’t get embedded in everything.  And of course, as Mama Liberty said, KNOW your target.  Shooting animals at night is a bad practice.

Mama’s Note: Well, of course we carry our arms, but I’ve not seen anyone ever take a shotgun to a party and it would have had to be handy for anyone to shoot in a situation like this, not something retrieved from a gun room or safe. As usual, the story is far more remarkable for the information that is not included than the actual facts conveyed, but I’d love to have a long, serious talk with this shooter in any case.

Her Majesty’s subjects – more stupid people
Scotland leads charge as Europe’s separatists push for change
(CNN) “Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, is fond of saying that when the United Nations was first formed in 1945, it had just 50 members. Today, he adds, that figure has risen to almost 200. It’s a nice line, although in reality the emergence of a new nation remains relatively rare.” (10/19/12)

I am all for Scots’ independence from London – as much as I am for all Brits independence from London.  Fond as I am of the monarchy, I believe its role is to restore and preserve the liberties of her “subjects” and to END the tyranny of Parliament, unelected bureaucracies, and do-gooder Tranzis who want to merge that storied isle into the morass of the Continent.  I admit that it is sentiment speaking here, and that Brits deserve liberty as much as Americans or Schweizers or any other people.  The problem is, 21st Century Scotland has been the most liberal and socialist of the British nations, and they are very likely to vote themselves an even MORE socialist “paradise” modeled more on Chavez’s Venezuela than traditional Scots liberties.  They are selling themselves into slavery.  Second problem is one that ALL the newly-independent or autonomous regions of Europe (Flanders, Wallonia, Catalonia, Padania, Scotland, etc.) face: they are declaring their freedom from the old national capitals but NOT from the enormous overreaching nanny-state called the European Union with its cancerous bureaucracy in Brussels and elsewhere.  And by separating from their nation-states, they make it far more likely that Brussels will accelerate its tyranny.  It is far more likely that Brussels will be willing and able to use “peacekeepers” (whether they wear UN blue or EU blue or NATO blue) in a “free Catalonia” than in a region of Spain, or in a “free Scotland” than in part of the United Kingdom.  Unless they can be free both from their old capitals AND the EU, their independence is a farce.

Stupid people – Detroit insanity
Someone is shooting at motorists in Michigan; police hunt for suspect
(NBC News)WIXOM, Mich. — Police are teaming up to track down a suspect in 16 shootings near the Interstate 96 corridor outside of Detroit, NBC station WDIV reported.

Mama Liberty: I can’t understand why, but this just strikes me as very strange.

Nathan:  More stupid people, obviously.  Or at least one very stupid person.  Of course, this IS Detroit, and recall that one of the baffling things about Muslim societies is that they seldom try to restrict ownership and carrying of firearms BUT that their usual idea of ANY celebration is to shoot guns everywhere and anywhere.  And that their idea of training people to shoot is to say “Insha’Allah” (As God wills) without instantly facing Mecca while spraying automatic fire everywhere.  (Remember, that is why Janissaries are so important to Muslim regimes: it is very difficult to teach someone that hitting a target with a firearm is not just a matter of “As God wills” or “If God wills”)  So maybe this is some Muslim celebration?  At least until SOMEONE gets a clear shot at this idiot.

Stupid people – No self-defense
Father dies shielding children from gunman who set home ablaze; boy killed
(NBC News) Updated at 6 p.m. ET: INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The man believed to be behind a shooting rampage and arson in Inglewood that left a father and his 4-year-old son dead and three other family members wounded was in the process of being evicted from his home, said a relative of one of the victims.

Mama Liberty: They died because victims most certainly can’t have a gun, of course.

Nathan: So he took it out on someone else?  And since no one was armed and able to deal with it before the cops showed up after a 9-1-1 call, this happens.  This is the kind of idiocy that one of the Nazgul demonstrated a few days ago with his stupid comments: “Cell phone with a predialed 911 at your bedside might be better …” (City-Data.com, 6 days ago) – Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, speaking at an event hosted by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence’s Legal Action …

This tragic incident in Southern California again demonstrates the stupidity of people like Stevens.  How many more dead does it take?

Stupid people: Non-news – Politics 2012
Historic Presidential Debate – October 23
(dailypaul.com) This debate is the only 2012 Presidential debate where the top six Presidential candidates have been invited to participate. Confirmed candidates include: Gary Johnson, Libertarian Party | Jill Stein, Green Party | Virgil Goode, Constitution Party | Rocky Anderson, Justice Party

LOTS of stupidity here.  First, the mainstream media for their games with the debates (by the way, thumbs-down again on the bits I heard about).  Secondly, honestly, the people who shelled their money out to do this:  who is going to pay the slightest attention?  The vast majority of the several thousand people who will attend or watch this are those who have already decided whom they are voting for in a few weeks.  The MSM will bury this right behind the classifieds. Far better to use the money to buy things to survive the mess ahead!

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-45A – South Dakota politicians RIP

Posted on 2012-10-24 by TPOL Nathan

News of the week and Commentary from a Libertarian Point of View

This week is starting out with a definite downside for South Dakota, having lost two of her best-known sons in a matter of a few hours.

George S. McGovern, Democratic nominee who lost to Nixon in ’72, dies at 90
(Washington Post) George S. McGovern, the three-term senator from South Dakota who carried the Democratic Party’s liberal banner in the Vietnam War era, launched a star-crossed bid for the presidency in 1972, and energized many of the leading Democrats of the past generation, died Sunday at a hospice in Sioux Falls, S.D. He was 90.

His death was not unexpected.  Like much of South Dakota politics, his were badly messed up.  An article posted today hailed his late-life libertarian or conservative views, caused by trying to run a bed-and-breakfast back east after getting out of politics and learning at first hand how bad government is for business and people, but I don’t buy it.  I never met or knew him, but I know a lot of his protégées, several of whom WERE also small businessmen (or women) but who have never given up their statist, liberal, and now Tranzi views of life and politics.  His legacy is NOT a good one, not from the point of view of the liberty of South Dakota and the other forty-nine States.

But he is not the only loss to South Dakota this week.

Russell Means dies at 72; American Indian rights activist, actor
(Los Angeles Times‎) One of the leaders of the famed 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, Russell Means helped thrust the plight of Native …

Nathan:  I heard of Russell’s death early this morning, and our esteemed publisher also sent me this link to share:
Russell Means is Dead
Russell C. Means, the charismatic Oglala Sioux who helped revive the
warrior image of the American Indian in the 1970s with guerrilla-tactic
protests that called attention to the nation’s history of injustices
against its indigenous peoples, died on Monday at his ranch in
Porcupine, S.D., on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He was 72.

Nathan: As I said, I learned about this on the 0800 news.  He had claimed (last month) to have overcome throat cancer, but that apparently did for him.  According to friends in Pine Ridge, he died about 0500 West River Time (Mountain Daylight Savings Time).  Porcupine is in eastern Shannon County, the major part of Pine Ridge.  His body will be cremated and ashes spread over the Black Hills (quite contrary to Lakota tradition).   He looked really bad in pictures and a video last month, and despite his protestations, this is again not that much a surprise.

It is ironic that I was delayed in finishing the fourth part of my commentary on Steven Lendman’s article about Russell’s Republic of Lakotah.  As a result, I did revise my Part 4 somewhat, but his death doesn’t change my opinion of his politics and his personal attributes.

Russell Means’ politics (like almost all South Dakota politics) was very confused.  He ran for the LP nomination for President in 1987 (and lost to Ron Paul) and he endorsed Ron Paul this year for President, but I cannot consider him to be even a Minarchist based on his conversations and writings and his actions over his entire life.  But he was a very intelligent man and enormously informed about the world and willing to take action in many ways.  And I can say that he and his views (wrong though they often were) will be missed.  Pine Ridge is a poorer place now.  My prayers are with his tiospaye.

The cause of death was esophageal cancer that had spread recently to his tongue,
lymph nodes and lungs, said Glenn Morris, Mr. Means’s legal
representative. Told in the summer of 2011 that the cancer was
inoperable, Mr. Means had already resolved to shun mainstream medical
treatments in favor of herbal and other native remedies.

Mama’s Note: I met both Ron Paul and Russell Means 25 years ago during my time with the Calif. LP. Means impressed me as a forceful, typical politician and showman, while Ron Paul was simply a truly humble man with a passion for liberty – however much I disagree with some of his ideas that include the “constitution” as a  path to freedom.

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