Texan hypocrisy on display

Posted on 2023-05-08 by TPOL Nathan

I happened across the MSN news story this afternoon. Even MSN called it shocking news: a Texan House committee passed a bill on an 8-5 vote that will raise the age in which people are “allowed” to purchase “AR15-style” semi-automatic rifles from 18-21.

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When the church meetinghouse was the center of our communities

Posted on 2023-05-06 by TPOL Nathan

Today, especially since the Pandemic Panic, government both in the States and across the planet has expanded into more and more areas of human life. Not only that, but governments actively seek to take control of and provide more and more services. There is often little pushback against this, which is the perfect opportunity for government to grow larger and more powerful while private and cooperative, voluntary efforts are dwindling away.

It has been nearly a decade since Anthony Bradley’s excellent article was published by the Acton Institute, and worth revisiting now. We here at TPOL have added [additional discussion in brackets].

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Too many jobs? Too few people?

Posted on 2023-05-05 by TPOL Nathan

This came across our screen desktop from a correspondent, and seems to match what was broadcast on various shows on 2 May 2023. We cleaned it up some, but otherwise verbatim:

‘You’re telling me we’ve got too many jobs in the country?’: Sen. Josh Hawley tears into Biden’s Interior Secretary Deb Haaland for saying U.S. has ‘a lot of jobs’ – as he claims ‘over 3 million jobs have gone to China’ in recent years.
Hawley slammed Biden’s ‘radical climate agenda’ during a hearing Tuesday [when he] criticized Interior Secretary Haaland for saying there are ‘too many’ U.S. jobs for blue collar workers to fill. Republicans argue more natural resource production and mining should happen domestically to provide jobs, up [increase?] competition and decrease reliance on China.

‘Why should those things for millions of Americans be sacrificed in favor of your agenda for radical climate agenda?’

‘I know that there’s like 1.9 jobs for every American in the country right now. So I know there’s a lot of jobs –’ Haaland responded, but was cut off by the Missouri Republican senator.

‘Wait a minute, wait a minute. You’re telling me we’ve got too many jobs in the country?’ Hawley scoffed with a sarcastic chuckle.

‘Well, I’m saying that we don’t have enough people,’ Haaland clarified. ‘That’s why we are having a hard time finding folks to work at our Department.’

Hawley wasn’t buying it. ‘You’re telling me we have too many jobs for blue collar workers?’ he questioned. ‘Have you seen the number of jobs we have lost in this country to China in the last 20 years?’

US Senate committee hearing, 01 May 2023
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Transgender, now transabled?

Posted on 2023-05-04 by TPOL Nathan

As lovers of liberty, we do very much support the God-given (if not God-approved) right for people to do whatever they want with their lives. And that includes their bodies. It is their choice, so long as they do not aggress (physically, including financially) against others in doing so. However silly, foolish, or stupid their decision and action is.

However, none of us here at TPOL see the liberty extending to forcing anyone else to do something.

Examples? Provide teaching and training without that provision being voluntary and for which the provider is paid. Ditto for medical care. And for food and clothing and shelter.

Now let us look at one current issue and see how that works out.

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Economic turmoil? Is there a “liberty” solution?

Posted on 2023-05-03 by TPOL Nathan

In the last five weeks we have four of the nation’s (and world’s) largest banks collapse. It doesn’t matter what terms the governments and the financial communities use – they collapsed. Every year – every month – there are bank failures, but for the most part these are small, local or regional banks. The impact is as hard on individual shareholders, bondholders and accountholders, but the big collapses have a much greater impact. (Obviously.) There is a macro-economic impact on the national and world economy when billions and billions of dollars seemingly dissolve into the air.

The banking crisis is far from over, as is not just clear to the financial pundits and experts (except those who shill for the FedGov and the political parties and transnational entities). It is clear to anyone who watches the streets and towns they drive through, the people trying to keep their businesses run, and those who patronize grocery stores. We don’t see the root causes, but we see the effects in exploding interest rates, rapidly rising prices, empty store shelves, delays in getting parts and services done, and a constant drumbeat of increasing taxes and spending by governments. Today’s decision by the Fed to again raise interest rates will just worsen the crisis.

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Foolishness and the one-party state

Posted on 2023-05-02 by TPOL Nathan

As a rule, politicians exhibit a large amount of foolishness. The only thing more foolish than the politicians (at least, the successful politicians)? The people who believe them, who believe in them, and vote them into power. Or to put it another way, refuse to throw them out.

Why? Perhaps Douglas Adams had the answer: “It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it… anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”

Perhaps it is another inherent defect of “democracies” and any entity that thinks it can do anything with enough support (votes) and money. Maybe it is because too many people today are truly sheep.

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Facing facts on energy, the economy and the environment

Posted on 2023-05-01 by TPOL Nathan

Publisher’s Note: Several postings were delayed by travel and computer/internet fun and games. These are being posted belatedly and may not be as up-to-day as we want.

Belated happy May Day (the non-Socialist/Communist/Tranzi kind)!

Demolition of the Navajo Generating Station near Page Arizona in 2020 – decades ahead of its planned life-end

Just a collapsing power plant or a collapsing economy?

History has shown us, time after time, that we have absolutely nothing essential to sustain life (except water) if we do not hunt/fish for it, grow it (whether vegetable or animal), or mine it. Sometimes it is a blend: we hunt deer, bison, elk, and even rabbits and squirrels, but we also grow cattle, sheep, bison, chicken and such. Timber produces lumber: we “hunt” for it when we let it grow generally wild and go out and cut it down: we “grow” it in plantations (tree farms for the squeamish). We may “mine” for materials by digging it out of the ground, drilling for it and either pumping it up or dissolving it and then pumping it up. Of course, virtually everything requires processing with the exception of a few fruits and vegetables. Even if the only processing is cleaning and cooking.

This is a fundamental fact of the human economy and society – fundamental to our survival.

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Cost-benefit analysis, environmental assessment, and politics

Posted on 2023-04-28 by TPOL Nathan

Engineers, especially civil and mineral and environmental engineers like myself, have to keep this important principle in mind in doing our work of designing and building the stuff we need for life, liberty, and prosperity. NOT the government excuse for cost-benefit analysis. (Which rivals or exceeds military music and military intelligence for supreme examples of non-sequitur ideas.)

Supposedly, all major government programs (who defines major?) are to have both environmental assessments AND cost-benefit analysis done before the programs can be approved – and implemented. Why? To protect the environment – ensure or restore environmental quality. And to protect the taxpayer: to prevent fraud and abuse and all the other results of government corruption when it comes to money.

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Funny and pathetic government agencies – and bears

Posted on 2023-04-25 by TPOL Nathan

How many government agencies are there? A FedGov website lists 438 federal ones. But other sources claim many more.
We here at TPOL suspect that no one really knows. And don’t even get started on State governments – supposedly there are more than 83,000 local governments, each of which may be considered to have at least one agency.

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It makes a joke of “land of the free” if (as we lovers of liberty do) we believe that government takes away freedom.

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Losing our heritage

Posted on 2023-04-24 by TPOL Nathan

It is happening as we watch. The heritage (good as well as bad) of Americans, of people throughout the Fifty States, is slowly being flushed down a toilet. The flushing is motivated by hatred and fear, empowered by “democracy” and by activists who push a Woke agenda that denigrates virtually everything about Euro-American history and Western Civilization.

And it is happening because of ordinary people. Why? Read on.

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