Liberty & Power: Group Blog
Entries by C.J. Maloney
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Mo' Money, Mo' Problems
The recent decision by the Federal Reserve to keep its balance sheet stuffed to bursting with whatever the Wall Street banks decide to throw onto it came as no surprise and crushed any hope that the Fed would tone down its policy of quantitative easing (QE) — or credit easing (CE), as Mr. Bernanke prefers to call it. With the US economy stalled despite the trillions of "stimulus" funds larded out to the politically connected, the people who helm the Federal Reserve likely felt they had no other choice. This was too easy to predict; for the past few decades the response of US monetary authorities to any crisis has been the same — print more money.
Click To Read The Rest
Sunday, August 29, 2010
This One's A Toughie...
On the one hand, anything that comes out of the mouth of a man like Fidel Castro can be safely discounted, being that he is a politician. But on the other hand, if Bin-Laden was found to be on the CIA payroll (as Castro claims), would anyone really be all that surprised?
Sunday, August 15, 2010
The Mob Disapproves
First Lady’s have “poll numbers?” Who knew…
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
A Moment of Clarity
Finally, amidst the carnage, someone looks up instead of down and comes to a perfectly rational conclusion regarding the supremely idiotic War on Drugs. It is said that Afghanistan is America’s longest running war – that is incorrect. Our War on Drugs has been decades long, and is all the sadder because it is us we are hitting over the head. I hope for the sake of the Mexican people that they listen to Mr. Fox, and I hope for the sake of the American people that we listen, too.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Workplace Drugtesting
Considering that China’s foolish policy of buying US Treasury bonds is the only thing keeping our Middle Eastern misadventures from running out of gas and ammo, Hillary Clinton's granting yet another example of her stunning talent in introducing the slack-jawed stupid into the world of international relations is troublesome.
I’d ask “what on earth is she thinking” with her poking China, but at this point in her storied diplomatic career I’ll make no such attempt. I've read her "It Takes A Village", and believe you me critical thinking is not her strong (pants)suit. There must be a deeper problem, though.
Keeping in mind that she is a child of the 60s, it is high time we instituted a policy of drug testing Mrs. Clinton on a weekly basis, live and on TV, if not for her own health then for the security of our country. Fox TV will undoubtedly pay a pretty penny for the rights to "Mrs. Clinton Meets The Cup" and we, and the world, may be able to breathe a little easier.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
A Little Less Hubris and A Little More Humility
The US Chamber of Commerce recently issued an open letter to President Obama and Pals taking them to task because, “Through their legislative and regulatory proposals the congressional majority and the administration have injected tremendous uncertainty into economic decision making and business planning.” It’s a crying shame eighty years after the carnage of the Great Depression that we learned absolutely nothing from it - we still hold fast to the idea that political intervention into economic matters is proper, rational, and just.
Amity Shlaes, in her excellent The Forgotten Man, makes the very same point as the Chamber, using FDR’s unending assault on private property as her example and, taking a page from Robert Higgs, she lays the blame squarely (and convincingly) on the New Deal for lengthening and deepening the Great Depression.
Naturally, the people who make up the Obama Administration are all deep admirers of FDR and the New Deal, and they responded to the letter by stating, “we are all working toward the same goal of putting Americans back to work and getting our economy back on track.”
I agree with that statement, as I am sure Obama and his friends are working with that very goal in mind but, like an auto-mechanic tasked to perform open-heart surgery, they simply have no idea how to do what they wish to do. To the man, they all suffer from a bad education, so they cannot even fathom the possibility that through the simple act of obeying the Constitution and leaving well enough alone the economy would recover without their “help”.
A little less hubris and a little more humility on their part would go a long way for the rest of us.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Does Hamas Owe Israel An Apology?
In one of the small benefits to be derived from the recent Israeli assault upon the Gaza relief flotilla, Israeli politicians have declared they will relax certain import restrictions enforced by their long running siege of the Gaza Strip. Life is hard and you take whatever good you can, and not only has this move alleviated the suffering of the Palestinians to a degree but also it’s given the world a shining example of what hell is wrought in any society which allows the mixing of the political with the economic.
Now you’d think any relaxation of the hands about Gaza’s throat would be a welcome change for the (…ahem) gentlemen who run Hamas, but that would be asking a bit too much. Amazing but true, it seems they are a bit taken aback by the Israeli decision to open the Gaza juice market to imports, the best minds in Israel finally declaring fruit juice to be an item not fitted for military operations. And now from the sordid coupling of politics with business is birthed an abomination - in this case Hamas re-instituting the blockade in fruit juices. Yes. The one Israel just lifted. That one.
For the Palestine Food Industries Co. (PFI) ( the only functioning juice maker in the Gaza Strip ) sales have increased ten fold since the seige began as they have been handed a (literally) captive audience thanks to the Israeli military. Since the PFI is under the umbrella of the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF), which is a political entity controlled by Hamas (in 2006 Omar Abdel-Razeq, at the time Hamas finance minister, referred to the PIF as “our Palestinian Investment Fund”), here you have the root of the continuing blockade of Gaza in the area of fruit juices, the ultimate aim of every political creed: Other Peoples’ Money.
Israel has removed the blockade, lightening the load off the working masses of Gaza, and Hamas quickly slaps it right back on, all so they may continue to take more from the pockets of the Palestinian workers than would be possible under a free market in fruit juices. As always when it comes to political maneuverings, the politicians insist it is being done for the benefit of a beloved, mythical unicorn called The People and not to line the pockets of them and their politically connected cronies. Per Bloomberg:
** The policy of the government is to protect and maintain local products and industry and employ a large number of workers
who have no job due to the siege," Ziad Zaza, the Hamas economy minister, said in an e-mailed response to questions about the
restrictions on Israeli goods. **
Excellent logic! Irrefutable! In fact, so much so that I ask why lift the Israeli blockade at all? If the policy of restricting imports - in effect, blockading yourself – is such a wise, beneficial economic policy, why isn’t Gaza blessed with a booming economy already? So if I follow his train of thought correctly, according to Hamas official Ziad Zaza the Israelis (bless their altruist hearts!) by blockading imports have been protecting and maintaining Gaza products and industry and making sure that they’re employing a large number of workers. I suppose Amnesty International, the G8 leaders, and myself all owe the Israelis an apology. And so does Hamas, for that matter, if they too believe economic blockades, whether internally or externally imposed, are of benefit to the working masses.
Forget all the blathering of the Hamas talking heads and focus on what they’re doing – maintaining a blockade on the people they supposedly speak for in order to keep alive their sordid, politically protected monopoly in the fruit juice market. And forget all the blathering of the Ivy League “economists” who agree with Ziad Zaza’s protectionism for a moment and think about their logic. If restricting your own imports – blockading your own country – was of such economic benefit, why do we strive to do exactly that to our enemy during times of war?
So either Adam Smith was a fool or Hamas owes Israel an apology and should, by their logic, stop biting the hand that feeds them and embrace the Israeli blockade.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The Audacity of A Dope
Not only is Bradley Birkenfeld – the former UBS banker who ratted out all the decent people trying to hide their wealth from political predators – a sleazebag for his actions, he is also a moron to think that when one dances with the devil, they get to call the tune and lead. Now in prison, he is lamenting his “unfair” treatment at the hands of America’s politicians.
He makes me wonder if the man who told the Gestapo where Anne Frank was hiding also demanded better treatment from the Germans. This episode is telling, as it is plain America does harbor a robust minority of people who are more than willing to perform Stasi like functions for the parasitic political class.
May he rot in prison.
Click To Read The Bloomberg Article
Thursday, June 17, 2010
The World Cup
Completely off topic, politics-wise, but everyone needs to take a deep breath every so often and just enjoy the sunshine.
Click To Read About the Exciting (Sort Of) World Cup!!!
Good Luck and Good Hunting
It is not often that I disagree with what passes my eye when reading libertarian websites. At this point I’ve guzzled the Kool-Aid and bask happily in the progressive sunshine, relaxed and red-eyed. So when I recently came across a libertarian-slanted review of Elaine Scarry’s Rule of Law, Misrule of Men that seconded that book’s condemnation of W and Obama’s policy of targeting enemy leaders for assassination, I was surprised to find myself muttering to the walls as I processed it. I usually only do that when reading Paul Krugman.
I’m not one to take on anybody over the subject of international law – I’m no expert – but I reserve the right to say that something disturbs the moral sense, and to follow the laws of "civilized" war that prohibits the assassination of the enemy’s political leadership is unjust and irrational. On this count I’m with W, Obama, and all the other bloodthirsty lunatics who have ruled America for the past half-century. While I disagree with their insatiable urge to meddle, bomb, and assassinate on a global scale, I am arguing my belief that their position on assassination is just, rational, and should be the primary tool of any nation at war.
Click To Read The Rest
Saturday, June 5, 2010
This Is Why Communists Shoot Rich People
I read this heartwarming story in today’s Wall Street Journal about a couple, richer than Croesus and more self-absorbed than a movie starlet, who have decided to sell, for a mere $68 million dollars, a 30,000 square foot, 12 bedroom complex – pardon, home – they have just completed for themselves. No kids. Just themselves. Maybe they have a lot of friends.
Private payrolls came in at a mere 41,000 today, people are suffering from the mess the Fed has wrought, and there’s plenty of charities that could have been funded with the saline pool landscaped into the backyard. So all my Irish Catholic brain could latch on to as my eyes feasted on a sweeping foyer of Italian and French marble was Matthew 19:24 - "Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
I grant that this couple, even if they deserve a medal for self-absorption, has every right to do as they please with their property. They earned it, they were in the field picking away, not I. I grant, too, that this couple probably has their useful part to play in God’s Unfathomable Plan, maybe to be a prime example of an important lesson.
One can be pure white trash, 30,000 square foot, 12-bedroom manse or no.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Hillary Clinton: The Mouth That Roars
As if America’s military wasn’t battered enough, it seems US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is angling to involve it in yet another conflict, this one on the Korean Peninsula. Considering that the American military has already lost a war on that very same piece of ground (and the fact that her chosen adversary, North Korea, most likely is nuclear armed) you’d imagine she’d be a bit more reluctant to throw our hat (and soldiers) into the ring. That, though, would require a sense of restraint and diplomacy, something Mrs. Clinton has never been known for.
So when North Korea recently torpedoed and sank a naval vessel of the South Korean navy her mouth leapt into the fray demanding an “international response” to such shameless provocation. And here we have America’s political elite, circa 2010; utterly incapable of understanding the hypocrisy of beating their breast over the very same behavior that, in the wake of their unprovoked attack upon two small, defenseless nations, has become as American as apple pie.
She has more important things to think about anyhow. Come this weekend Mrs. Clinton, along with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, is tasked with going to China to beg for more loans to keep those other two wars going.
When you travel the world, hat in hand, it is best to project an image of calm, rational restraint. After all, who wants to lend money to a raving, warmonger lunatic? China for one (so far) but the day they wish to see the US fleet drift with the tide due to lack of fuel, and two American armies abandoned to their fate due to lack of transport to bring them home, they simply will stop lending us money.
Hopefully, Hillary is playing the part of an empire’s chief ambassador and has no intention of upping the ante; that she is merely pretending for the mob back home things are Under Control. America has neither the resources, will, nor reason to get involved in yet another Asian land war – we’re already losing two and there’s no need (or money) to make it three.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Black Maverick, Forgotten Man
Fame is fleeting, and those who during their lifetime attain the debatable benefits of public acclaim will often, upon their death, have their memory entombed with them. Such is the case with T.R.M. Howard, who for a time was one of America’s most widely known, colorful, and respected civil rights pioneers. The husband and wife team of David and Linda Beito have labored nearly a decade to write a biography, Black Maverick, in hopes that they can raise the man’s memory from the grave. The book was worth the wait.
Well-written and deeply researched, the authors immerse the reader into Dr. Howard’s world, one that crossed paths with a litany of American greats such as MLK, Jesse Jackson, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Jesse Owens. Four days after seeing Dr. Howard give an impassioned speech at MLK’s Baptist Church, Rosa Parks took her famous stand against Jim Crow. She insisted that it was the thought of Emmett Till, who’s lynching was the subject of Dr. Howard’s speech, which spurred her to refuse to give up her bus seat.
As to why the memory of a man with such a litany of famous friends and accomplishments – a man of whom the authors insist “the modern Civil Rights movement could not have succeeded” (p.228) -- should have faded so quickly and completely from our collective memory, this book will answer to any reader’s satisfaction.
Click To Read The Rest
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Happy Birthday, Karl Marx
The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.
Karl Marx
I pass every April’s rain preparing for my favorite holiday – May 5th, birth date of Karl Marx, the father of communism. I sit in my corner chair, lulled by the roar of the electric space heater and raindrops striking the windowpanes. I hear neither, as I’m re-reading my collection of the great man’s work along with what, to my mind, is the most well written rundown of his life and thought, Thomas Sowell’s Marxism.
Born 192 years ago today in Trier, Germany, Karl Marx "grew up a brilliant and spoiled child" (Sowell, 165) then spent his college years driving his father to exasperation, poisoning his mind with Hegel, and writing of the day when he would obtain enough political power to "wander godlike and victorious...I will feel equal to the creator". (Sowell, 166) So even from his youth it’s safe to say the boy had issues. A man who knew him later in life commented "a most dangerous personal ambition has eaten away all the good in him" (Sowell, 183) so the wisdom of age slipped right through him, his monomania left every potential lesson unheeded and unlearned.
Click To Read The Rest
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Saturday, In The Burbs, With The New York Times
I’m in the burbs, though not by choice, sitting in a backyard surrounded by grass and bugs and sunshine. My son wings by in his electronic car with the neighbor’s kid riding shotgun; they’re screaming happily and trying to run over the dog. A bee roughly the size of a small airplane buzzes close – reminding me of my plans to pave over every square inch of the yard and build a subway station under it. God, to show His mercy, has kept me within radio range of the city so at least I can listen to the Mets.
For a change, the Mets are winning. I’ve got my New York Times, leisurely smoke, and try to ignore the bees as best I can so as to read about the people of Arizona. Unlike the Mets, they are not winning and what they’ve done, if left to stand, can drag us all down with them.
Click To Read The Rest
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Congressman Phil Hare, Take A Bow
In an exchange likely to trigger a law making it a felony to place a recording device within range of a Congressman’s mouth, a now formerly obscure politician, Illinois House member Phil Hare, was quoted – on camera – responding to a constituent’s question about the health care bill’s Constitutionality with a dismissive, “I don’t worry about the Constitution on this, to be honest”.
The interviewer laughed in amazement, and responded with words that, in an America ruled by law, would make the perfect epitaph for Mr. Hare’s political career, “Jackpot, brother!”
Having long waved good-bye to my elementary school civics texts, I am not the least surprised by Representative Phil Hare’s frank admission. I am merely happy that the man was good enough to provide such a perfect example to highlight how rotted this corpse of a republic truly is.
Monday, March 29, 2010
You Say You Want A Revolution? Think Again
The right to rebellion is sacrosanct in America, the completely humane, just, and natural right of any man to break bonds with another is embodied not only in our very Founding but in our divorce laws, too. No American would consent to law making marriage an indivisible, eternal commitment; we refuse any compulsion to remain wedded to the girl of our nightmares, let alone the likes of Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Anyone who questions the right of divorce and (if made necessary by the political elite) violent action to secure it is, like the pro-slavery proponents of the Old South, seriously deficient in humanity.
Click To Read The Rest
Monday, March 22, 2010
Brad DeLong Comes Up Short
Modern America, being democratic to the core, by its nature is inimical to rational debate, as the side with popular approval behind them can merely pretend opposing views don’t exist and watch them flounder under a wave of populist ignorance and myth. A fine example of such behavior was put on full display by UC Berkeley economics professor Brad DeLong, who not only refused an invitation from Bloomberg Radio to join Lew Rockwell for a discussion of their respective economic schools (Keynesian vs Austrian) but did so in a manner more befitting a closed minded fanatic than a college professor.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Friday, On The Subway, With The New York Times
In the event you haven’t heard, the Obama administration, meaning Obama, is sticking to his promised plan to withdraw troops from Iraq, in a kind of sorta’ way that makes you wonder if he’s pulling everybody’s leg, laughing inside as he waits for us to all get the joke. The New York Times reporters assigned to a recent column on the subject pitch in the question that, with the violence in Iraq ramping up with the election cycle and all, will this "delay the planned American withdrawal?"
It might, if there was a withdrawal planned.
When is a withdrawal not a withdrawal? When you will leave behind "no more than 50,000 American forces", according to someone named "Senior Obama administration officials" who, judging by the number of quotes he plants across the daily papers is a regular Gabby Gus. And, lest the eternally fearful war-hawks shit their feathers in fright at the word "withdrawal" Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. let’s out that, not to worry, regular Rambos will be left in Iraq as "we’re not leaving behind cooks and quartermasters". So Max Boot & Pals can come out from under the covers.
Click To Read The Rest
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Imperial Russia, Redux
It says much about the immaturity of American discourse that before one can say anything at all that might somehow, in some way, be construed as anti-Israel, you need to assure the readers of your pure heart, that you do not have a secret stash of Nazi paraphernalia hidden in the attic and get up to some goosestep late at night when the world is asleep. So here it goes: Fear not, I have nothing at all against Israel, harbor no ill will towards her, and the collection of totalitarian paraphernalia in my home has a decidedly communist bent. (My Chairman Mao collection grows daily.)
That being said, I find it strange how American politicians have such a mindless bent towards supporting the Israelis regardless of their actions, support of a fervor usually seen only in sports fanatics or Ayn Rand acolytes. Such unconditional love was put on display during the recent little hiccup in our relations with Israel. It started when the Obama Administration suggested that, to help along the eternally elusive goal of peace between the people of Israel and Palestine, perhaps the Israelis should stop building settlements on Palestinian land. Or at least land that the Palestinians claim.
So then, to add a chuckle to the entire farce of "peace" talks, during a visit to Israel by Vice President Joseph Biden (who spent much time during his latest campaign assuring anyone who would listen that he cherishes all that is Israel) the Israeli government announced that, peace talks or no, they are going to build more settlement housing in the face of Palestinian opposition. This makes sense as after all, how many F-16 fighter jets do the Palestinians possess? The Obama Administration issued a squeak of protest, said squeak instantly answered by a disapproving roar from Congress.
Monday, March 1, 2010
My Review Of "Complicit"
Complicit, by Mark Gilbert, the London bureau chief for Bloomberg financial news, is unusual — a book concerning our recently demised speculative boom that you can still take along to the beach. Using that peculiar British talent of evoking laughter by the use of sneering disdain (he refers to the last suckers to buy into the mania as "the hindmost"), Mr. Gilbert takes the reader on a tour of almost-impossible-to-believe tales of greed, stupidity, and woe across eleven short, engaging chapters.
Click To Read The Rest
Friday, February 26, 2010
Forecast: A Housing Shortage
Every so often, just when you think all hope is lost, along comes a bit of news that makes you wonder why you had any hope in the first place.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, In The Park, With The New York Times
Her name was Karen, and I worked with her at an investment bank in the late 90s. She went on to become a nurse, I think, and before she moved on she left glued to my head her favorite saying, “You white people and your dogs!”
Click To Read The Rest
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Bash A Fattie For Freedom
The Militarization of American continues apace: now Michelle Obama, wife to America’s president, claims an “epidemic” of obesity imperils – you guessed it – our all-important National Security. At a recent White House ceremony Mrs. Obama intoned, “This epidemic also impacts the nation’s security, as obesity is now one of the most common disqualifiers for military service.” I was unaware that sitting in some dimly lit room down in Florida, punching buttons to fly Predator drones on the other side of the globe, required a ripped set of abs.
Granted, every American president’s wife is expected to make the rounds of whatever Do-Gooder project rings her bell, and Mrs. Obama has simply latched onto bashing fat people. Her words are telling, though, as more than anything they point to the complete acceptance among our political elite of the idea that our children are raw material for their war machine. Years ago Charles Mackey wrote of Europe’s political masters “war was the business and the delight of their existence”. How little progress we’ve made.
Politics has always attracted a specific type of mind and for me personally I’d rather have as president a fat slob of a pacifist than a body builder full of health and blood lust. There are more important things in life than a trim waistline.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Roll Over Orson Welles
A civilization is often judged by the works of art that it leaves behind; so Lord knows what to make of this. The BBC did give us Fawlty Towers and Monty Python, so maybe history will take that into consideration when handing out a grade to Western Civilization.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Four Years Ago...
The symptoms of disease can escape the victim for a long time, but the infestation of American life with politics is beginning to be more noticeable of late. A fish rots from the head and the gathering of power by our politicians, coupled with all the abuse and petty tyrannies that are inseparable from any man’s addiction to rule, is filtering down into the commoners in a twisted version of the trickle down theory.
Our manner of speaking to one another is altering to reflect how the political is gaining the upper hand in so much of our lives. It can be seen in the corpulent peasants ambling through Wal-Mart half-dazed in their “Don’t Tase Me Bro!” t-shirts, in the tearful father begging Obama to provide some divine intervention, and in John Turturro’s character from Transformers holding up his government I.D. and snarling at a mere civilian “you see this? This is a do whatever I want and get away with it badge”. It is seen in the Joaquin Phoenix character from We Own The Night who - after he turns into a snitch for the local police and is secretly inducted into their ranks – holds up his shiny new government I.D. and snarls at the friend he’s betrayed “this is a do anything badge”.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Rise of the Mathletes
In a recent column on the political blog The Hill, Sean J. Miller reports that Peter Schiff, along with pretty much every other warm blooded organism on Earth, has expressed nothing but disdain over Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s recent speech before the American Economic Association.
Basically, Mr. Bernanke insists that loose monetary policy was not responsible for igniting the housing mania because the mathematical formulas he is so fond of declare that not to be the case. It was the “savings glut”, that favorite bugaboo of his predecessor Alan Greenspan, which was the culprit.
While undoubtedly economic logic and history tell us that ramping up the supply of money and credit leads to speculative bubbles, one must keep in mind the type of mindset Bernanke possesses, a mindset that is a basic tenet of the AEA. His disdain for any belief in economic laws is part and parcel to everything the AEA stands for.
Formed in September of 1885 by Richard Ely and a bevy of other young American economists who had studied in Germany, the American Economic Association was specifically designed to be an American version of the German Historical School, a school of German economists who explicitly rejected any belief in economic law. Bottom line, both schools are an irrational welding of math onto the study of human beings.
Keep in mind when listening to Bernanke that the man is not an economist, he is a Mathlete, and the American Economic Association is not an economic organization, but a mathematical one.
Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do.
Monday, December 28, 2009
A Most Demanding Mistress
The sun never set on the world straddling British empire, and not a moment in time may slip past America's Caesar without his steady, Harvard educated mind mulling it over, looking to see if there’s any room for improvement. Poor Obama is learning that power is a ravenous addiction, and not for a moment are you ever left alone.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Automatic for the People...
Happy Holidays to you and yours, and if you're looking for that perfect gift for your loved one may I suggest...
Friday, December 18, 2009
John Kennedy O'Hara
Thomas Wolfe took note in Bonfire of the Vanities of the donkey-like stubbornness innate to the New York Irish; he described it perfectly as “no matter what type of stupid fix you got yourself into, you never back off.” (1) For a purer exhibit of the type, one needs look no further than Brooklyn’s own John Kennedy O’Hara.
Friday, December 11, 2009
How To Extend and Deepen A Depression, In One Easy Step
Follow FDR, a man who had about as much economic sense as the fools he surrounded himself with. For one such example, we see Obama channeling his idol , while Krugman cheers him on from the sidelines. Outside of his undoubtedly silken tongue, I'm beginning to harbor doubt that Obama is much more than a Chicago ward boss who hit the political Lotto.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Stuped Is As Stooped Does...
Those who don’t know history are condemned to repeat it – same goes for those who do know history …
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Obama in Asia
Do they provide Obama with an official presidential begging bowl? They should.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Done As Done Can Be
Despite the back and the forth and all the public fireworks, every member of Congress can barely keep themselves from openly drooling on national TV at the thought of all the money and power they are going to vote themselves once they nationalize the health care industry.
Despite the entire manufactured furor , socialized medicine is a done deal.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Hillary Clinton Go Pakistan
She went, she saw, she insulted. Hillary takes the grrrrrrrrr in her grrl too far.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
That Giant Sucking Sound...
Far be it from me to begrudge the political class their hard earned keep, but it speaks volumes when, in the midst of a depression, Washington DC is partying like it’s 1999.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Ron Paul Goes Ivy League
As The Who sang, the kids are alright.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
It Takes One To Know One
I will freely admit that I am no fan of Rush Limbaugh. While I cannot look into another man’s heart, judging by his past public utterances on racial subjects he does not seem to be extending a welcome hand across the great racial divide. He strikes me as the type that as soon as he found out I was in an interracial marriage, he’d feel compelled, to my embarrassment, to begin the famous lecture “some of my best friends are….”
Yet, to allow the Rev. Al Sharpton to comment on the matter of Mr. Limbaugh’s removal from a group bidding on a sports team (due to concern over his past comments on race) is a perfect example of how the question of race causes Americans to immediately slide a few standard deviations down the Bell Curve. I suppose it does make sense though, as who better to tell us all about a racist than one of our country’s supreme race baiters, Mr. Tawana Brawley himself?
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Riding High On A Wave Of Misery
It should speak volumes about exactly what type of institution the US military has turned into when it can hardly contain its glee over the recruiting bonanza provided to it by America’s current economic depression.
With the Iraq and Afghani “cakewalks” turning into meat grinders, it is understandable (from a heartless, practical level) that the US military will take whatever it can get, however it can get it. But when Bill Carr, the “deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy” appears positively giddy over how the desperate plight of America’s unemployed "allowed us to be, for much of the year, in a very favorable position", it just gives yet another reason to pray for a quick end to our economic malaise.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Specifically, What Should Be Done For Jobs?
Specifically, we should stop listening to ex-government employees and economics professors. Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich falls into the camp of those who confuse the federal government with Microsoft. So in a blog post today , he urges the federal politicians to take money from one group of people and hand it out to small businesses in the form of loans. This, apparently, will “create jobs”.
Mr. Reich fails to notice the other side of the coin – all the jobs destroyed and people thrown into poverty by the removal from their lives of the funds he wishes to dispense so freely to his favored groups. Mr. Reich should spend less time blogging and more time reading Bastiat, where he can learn exactly what the phrase “the seen and the unseen” is all about.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Mission Creep
Since the day it was birthed in 1979, the Department of Education has funneled uncounted wealth into the hands of the type of people who believe that the No Child Left Behind Act will prod the schoolchildren to learn gooder. Yet, no bureaucracy has ever allowed complete and utter failure to deter it in its mission – whatever that mission may be.
In that vein, President Obama, invoking the powers granted to him under the Living Breathing Constitution that he keeps a copy of in his head, has suggested that the little ones stay in school even longer.
The federal politicians: they can even ruin a good summer.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Almost to Normal
This weekend is the eighth anniversary of George W Bush's " Twin Towers" speech.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Coyotes Need To Eat, Too
With the world (as always) awash in tragedy, taxes, and war, it’s important to sometimes take a step back from the big picture and take a look at the smaller conflicts that comprise our world.
Poor Daisy, from fashion accessory to dinner in the blink of an eye.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Hubris and the Hooker
A brief rundown of the very brief, action packed governorship of New York’s Eliot Spitzer
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Amity Shlaes – The Forgotten Man
If one reads a book on the Great Depression and pays attention, it is unavoidable to come to any conclusion other than the sad fact that FDR was, to be blunt, a lawless gangster.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Counting Billion of Chickens Before They Hatch
Despite the New York Times long history of promoting non-existent WMD and denying the existence of millions of starving Ukrainians, as a New Yorker I have a deep loyalty to the “paper of record”. In particular, reading any article in the Times that touches on economics is always the high point of my day, each attempt to read to the end without laughing is always happily futile.
Just today, we are treated to the spectacle of the Times waving it’s pom-poms , assuring the reader that yes, TARP is a bonanza for the much beloved taxpayer. “About $4 Billion So Far” the article assures us all heavy breathed, but I couldn’t long control my laughter as the third paragraph tells us “there early returns are by no means a full accounting”, effectively shooting to hell the rest of the article.
I’d stop buying the Times, but laughter is the best medicine…
Monday, August 24, 2009
Transcending the Genre
I am not much for comic books or, to use the nicer sounding term, “graphic novels”. While my wife has always been a fan, the thought of idling away my free time reading of masked avengers and people who shoot laser beams from their eye sockets never appealed to the snob that lay within.
Then, after repeated urgings from my wife, I picked up and read Watchmen , the cream of the graphic novel crop. Much to my utter surprise, I cannot recommend it more. It is, hands down, one of the greatest novels (yes, novels) I have ever read.
Even if it does have masked avengers in it.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Standing In The Shower Thinking
When did “global warming” morph into “climate change”? Once global warming conferences began to be held in the middle of April blizzards and the coolest New York City July on record, it was time not to drop the entire infantile idea of improving on what God has created, but instead to change the way we described the entire affair. So “global warming”, specific and measurable (to the embarrassment of its claimants), has morphed into the liquid mush of “climate change”. Climates change all the time, don’t they?
With the average American displaying the attention span of a two year old (a recent poll discovered that 87% of Americans could not name the second American Idol winner) it will be a few weeks, at most, before opinion polls, under relentless 20/20 specials entitled “Climate Change: America’s Peril…And Opportunity”, will show the needle has swung back to credulous, and climate change legislation will come oozing out of the Potomac.
It’s an age-old tactic, to change people perceptions about something they find odious or preposterous, just change the words you use to describe it. But it doesn’t always work, as Bill Clinton’s “revenue enhancements” kept morphing right back into “taxes”. So there’s some hope, I suppose.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
And Now: A Moment of Unintended Clarity
In one of his more bizarre moments, which will doubtless cause his handlers to weld a teleprompter to his body, President Obama, while making a case for the politicians to run the entire health care industry of the United States, inadvertently argued against himself with a fine example as to why Washington DC shouldn’t be running a lemonade stand.
At the risk of sounding cruel, the politicians took over a brothel in Nevada and…you guessed it…ran it into the ground. The same organization is suddenly going to “save money” running hospitals. America, you deserve this.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Making Democracy Safe For the World
Democracy, especially the virulent, vampire-like variety practiced in modern America, may very well be condemned to collapse, but that’s no reason to give up on it. Despite history telling us that all democracies inevitably devour themselves, history also tells us that every system of governance mankind can dream up have all come to an end, as for example the much lamented American Republic, snuffed out after barely a century or so.
Click To Read The Rest
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
How Firms Wooed a U.S. Bureaucrat With Billions to Invest
America long ago had the wisdom to seperate church and state - it is high time we did the same with business and the state or else we will forever be reading articles like this
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The New Deal - Live and In Person!!!!
The West Virginia town of Arthurdale sits on a plateau 1,800 or so feet above sea level, nestled comfortably high and isolated among the Appalachian Plateau of Preston County. Like almost every small American town it is virtually unknown to all but the few who either live or have lived within her borders. There is nothing unusual in that – except in this case there is.
For a time from the initial birth of the town in 1934, Arthurdale was the epicenter of the New Deal, the Roosevelt Administration’s showpiece for what could be done for the common man. It was the first and most lavishly appointed of all the Subsistence Homesteads, a rather small New Deal program with the big goal of redistributing "excess" population from one area to another, the hoped for end result would be a "new American," living a communal life that would be a vast improvement on our country’s traditional individualism.
Click To Read The Rest
Monday, July 13, 2009
OK, We Get It, She’s Hot
You are much hotter in real life.
-Alec Baldwin to Sarah Palin (2008)
If there’s any solace in the W Administration’s shredding of Our Country Tis of Thee, it’s that he has dragged down his Republican Party along with everything else. As proof to support my claim, I give you Sarah Palin.
I’ve written about her before but she keeps popping back into my life through the magazines and newspapers that I frequent. This last instance was the August 2009 Vanity Fair, which greeted our dame with a scathing attack on her and everything she stands for. Yet, even a magazine that prides itself on decorum and good taste couldn’t help but post a picture of Mrs. Palin, under label #1, in a very tight skirt, rear view. Why not just put her in a bikini for the next photo op and be done with it?
The RNC is so desperate for a path to follow, so devoid of any principles or ideas to guide them and their friends back to power, that they will cross any line and in Mrs. Palin they have the Republican Party’s pin-up girl, thereby gaining themselves that crucial voting block of males who like to watch women in bikinis fire automatic weapons, yet thankfully (from the point of view of a libertarian) sinking themselves to the level of the New York Libertarian Party’s 1994 nomination of Howard Stern for governor.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Survival, the First Refuge of the Scoundrel
Recently, US President Obama issued an edict ordering a gaggle of experts to "review" America's manned space flight program. In bureauspeak, what this means is that former President W's wish to send US space craft to infinity and beyond has a price tag that makes even so drunk a sailor as Obama take pause to count what's in his wallet. These days, not much.
Naturally, this vague hint at fiscal prudence has NASA bureaucrats scrambling to come up with a reason, any reason, plausible enough to get their hands on the loot that W's promise had dazzled them with.
Former NASA chief Michael Griffin pulled the first rabbit out of NASA's hat, claiming, "In the long run, human populations must diversify if it wishes to survive."
Well, if that's the case, here's my paycheck...
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Ain't His Money
In a perfect world, Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass) would not be able to throw his weight around the financial markets, but an imperfect world is the only one we know. So, therefore, I have to listen to Barney Frank’s ignorant blubbering almost every day on CNBC, which insists on interviewing him despite his complete lack of any knowledge concerning markets or economics.
After insisting that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – two government run entities – were excellent investments less than three weeks before they both collapsed into insolvency, Mr. Frank, a long time recipient of huge “donations” from both agencies, lately has been browbeating them to lower, yes LOWER, their credit standards.
Just yesterday, Fannie Mae reported a steep increase in the percentage of home mortgages 90+ days overdue. Doubtless, Mr. Frank, who has always displayed a bone deep imperviousness to reality, will keep insisting that credit standards be lowered further still. After all, it ain’t his money on the line.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Lying In Bed With Larry Flynt
Like taking too much ecstasy when hanging out with strange people, involving yourself in politics can land you in bed with some odd fellow travelers. As a libertarian, how many mornings have you woken to find yourself cheering on Hustler creator and general all around sleazebag Mr. Larry Flynt, a man seemingly always involved in one or another legal battle with America’s equally sleazy political class?
It appears that Mr. Flynt has been rushed to a Los Angeles hospital for reasons unknown, and while I would never want to spend any of my free time in his company, I say a prayer for his quick recovery. America needs more people like Larry Flynt -- brash, insane patriots, quick to rally around the liberty pole on behalf of the rest of us.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
WHY THERE IS NO HOPE
This quote is by none other than recent Nobel Prize winner and economic uber-genius Paul Krugman, giving his views of “how to fix an economy” circa 2002.
"To fight this recession the Fed needs more than a snapback; it needs soaring household spending to offset moribund business investment. And to do that, as Paul McCulley of Pimco put it, Alan Greenspan needs to create a housing bubble to replace the Nasdaq bubble."
(Paul Krugman, NY Times, August 2, 2002)
Paul Bremer (our first viceroy in Baghdad) gets a “Medal of Freedom” for his disaster, FEMA gets a huge budget raise after letting New Orleans drown, and now this arrogant, poorly educated fool is given a Nobel Prize after cheerleading the very policy that led us to our current disaster?
A fish rots from the head, and America’s appears all rotted out.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Justice May Be Blind, But She’s Got A Taser
A recent post on William Grigg’s blog, Pro-Libertate, outlines a story that I would not have been able to believe, except for two things. One, I had read about it a few days previous in my local paper, second, in America today anything goes when it comes to the actions of the police.
Apparently, the police in upstate New York had a suspect – a suspect, nothing more – that they wished to obtain a DNA sample from. The suspect – a suspect, nothing more – refused. So the police used a taser gun on him until he complied. Read that last sentence again.
Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza ruled that what the police did was perfectly acceptable, because it wasn’t done “maliciously, or to an excessive extent, or with resulting injury”.
Is there a way to use a taser gun in a non-malicious manner?
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Today In History, June 2, 455 A.D.
Starting with the Visigoths in 410, the fifth century A.D. ushered in a new favorite way among barbarian tribes to pass a long summer -- to saunter down or sail up to the former imperial powerhouse and sack its capital. “Oh, you’re going to Italy this summer?” one barbarian would say to another, “Do make sure you sack Rome while you’re there, it’s a delightful city”.
By this time in her history, the formerly warlike Romans could do little more than cringe and beg for mercy against any invader. The once proud Roman Republic had degenerated over the centuries to little more than a totalitarian shadow of her glory.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
WRITING HISTORY, HOW TO
Is there a “correct” way to write about history? Ludwig Von Mises, in his largely forgotten stepchild of a masterpiece "Theory and History" declares, “The history of human affairs has to deal with the judgments of value that impelled men to act and directed their conduct.” True enough.
Furthermore, sticking to the philosophical root of all his work he adds, “What happened in history cannot be discovered and narrated without referring to the valuations of the acting individuals.” Again, no argument here.
At base all history, to make any sense, must be a history of ideas. The task of the historian is not only to get the facts straight, in addition it is to try his best to deduce from the collection what the motives of the actors were. Yet according to some, including Von Mises, that is where the duty of the historian begins and ends. “It is not the business of the historian to pass judgments of value”, he insists, and whenever a historian should do so he “speaks as an individual judging from the point of view of his personal valuations, not as a historian”. And here Von Mises and I part ways.
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