Thoughts Aloud

Archive for February, 2009

I suspect that most city folk would… but enough country folk won’t to ignite a civil war. One thing I would bet on after observing the political climate for the past month – it will be tried sometime in the next four years. Expect some false flag operation to ignite the passions of the sheeple against the patriots to give them the excuse. The “authorities” will be against us, and it won’t be pretty; but the sons of Liberty just can’t allow the Marxists to disarm us. No matter how horrific the battle… we just can’t… and we know it… ◄Dave►

E-mail of the day:

Back in the 1929 Financial Crash it was said that some Wall Street Stockbrokers and Bankers JUMPED from their office windows and committed suicide when confronted with the news of their firms and clients financial ruin…

Many people were said to almost feel a little sorry for them…

In 2009 the attitude has changed somewhat:

Can’t say as I blame them. ◄Dave►

The following is the winning entry in an annual contest at Texas A&M University calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term…

This year’s term was “Political Correctness.”

The winner wrote:

“Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.”

Someone added that it is the motto of the Democratic Party.

Outstanding! ◄Dave►

I keep saying this question isn’t going to go away before the SCOTUS rules on it. Now a retired major general has joined they fray:

On the heels of two active duty members of the U.S. military serving in Iraq calling for President Obama to prove his eligibility to be president, a retired major general has agreed to join the case, saying he just wants “the truth.”

WND reported earlier when 1st Lt. Scott Easterling confirmed to California attorney Orly Taitz that he wanted to be a plaintiff in the legal action she is preparing on behalf of members of the U.S. military, both active and retired. A second soldier who asked that his name be withheld for now became part of the action just a day later.

Now retired Maj. Gen. Carroll D. Childers has submitted a statement to Taitz and her DefendOurFreedoms.us website, agreeing to be a plaintiff in her pending action.

If “the truth” were palatable, Sir, he would have cleared this up months ago. More lawsuits like this one are being filed all the time. Sooner or later the SCOTUS isn’t going to be able to duck them all. ◄Dave►

It is past time to call BS on the Obamessiah’s damnable lies regarding taxes, which he forcefully repeated last night. He again told the lie that he was going to raise taxes on only the top two percent of earners and said everyone earning less than $250K would not pay one more “dime,” and would in fact be getting a tax cut. Many are quick to point out that an income tax “rebate” to those who pay no income tax is really a welfare payment; but the big lie is much worse than that.

Taxes can only be extracted from wealth. Wealth is created by the industry of productive private sector individuals. When someone applies their labor, talents, and intellect to producing a good or service desired by others, the earnings they receive for their efforts, beyond the very basic needs for survival, is wealth. The premise of capitalism is that individuals have an equal opportunity to create and amass as much wealth as their talents, industry, and personal ambition can muster.

What industrious individuals do with the wealth they earn is their business. They can spend it on luxuries and toys. They can risk losing it, by loaning it at interest to someone else, or investing it in hopes of a return. They can save it for a rainy day and their retirement; or they can give it away as charity to a worthy cause of their choice.

Then, of course, they can contribute some of it to pay their fair share of the costs of the infrastructure of their community, and the services they receive from public servants like fire and police protection. Few wealthy individuals begrudge these necessary public expenses, which benefit everyone; but many challenge the notion that they should pay more than their neighbors for similar benefits. Equitable user fees, infrastructure assessments, bridge tolls, etc. are seldom protested.

It is when individuals are taxed for unwanted and never used services that they balk. However anyone tries to justify it, coercing someone to pay an objectionable tax is arguably armed robbery. It is also akin to serfdom or slavery, since taxpayers are required to toil, effectively without compensation, to earn the confiscated tax money. The Progressives should be cursed daily for foisting the Sixteenth Amendment on an ill-informed public, to undo the wisdom our Founders demonstrated in Constitutionally preventing the Federal government from taxing American citizens directly.

Speaking of Progressives, the core of the aforementioned big lie is that taxes are “progressive.” The rhetoric is rooted in class warfare, and the demagogues are masters at convincing the public that they tax the “rich” at a much higher rate than the “poor.” Leaving aside the absurdity of calling any American “poor,” when the poorest among us is wallowing in an embarrassment of riches compared to life in many regions of this planet, this simply isn’t true. The vast majority of taxes collected in this country are ultimately paid by the Forgotten Man, not the so-called “rich.” Who is the Forgotten Man? He is the seemingly invisible working class stiff, who earns too much to be entitled to the welfare largess of the state; but not enough to afford the luxuries and lifestyle of the upper class elites.

He is diligent, reliable, and responsible. He asks little of government other than to be left alone to raise and take care of his family as best he can. Yet he is caught in the middle between the indigent victim class, demanding their “entitlements,” and the wealthy class, assuaging their guilt for their success, by pushing the notion of altruism for the “less fortunate.” Unfortunately, he ends up paying for the sloth and the guilt. How can this be if taxes are “progressive?”

It is elementary, actually, and it is amazing that the truth is so easily obscured by the politicians. The reality is that most all wealth flows from the sale of products and services. It matters not where the politicians pretend to extract the taxes; whether on income, profits, property, dividends, capital gains, etc. The money that is paid in taxes ultimately came from a paying customer. Taxes are just a cost of doing business to an enterprise. Raise corporate taxes, and they will have to raise their prices to cover the increased cost. It could not be otherwise.

Thus, it should be obvious that most all taxes are ultimately paid by consumers. When anyone buys a loaf of bread, every tax incurred by anyone or any entity along the entire chain of production – from the farmer who grew the wheat, through the truckers, mills, bakers, packagers, marketers, wholesalers, etc. all the way to the retail grocer who sells it to the consumer – are built into the price the consumer pays for the loaf. Even if your State does not add sales tax to food purchases, most of the cost of a loaf of bread is a well hidden tax on the consumer. That is bad enough for the Forgotten Man, but it is actually even worse, and getting more oppressive every day.

For a large and growing segment of our society pays no taxes at all, not even as consumers. Those who receive their income from a government check are tax spenders, not taxpayers. Only private sector producers really pay taxes. It is merely a charade for the government to pay public servant employees or welfare recipients enough extra cash, so they can pretend to give some of it back as their own fair share of taxes. This sleight of hand adds no new revenue to the treasury; it only shuffles real taxpayers’ money around between bank accounts. It matters not how useful or necessary the government employee’s job is to society, he is by definition a spender of taxes, not a taxpayer.

This is why the burgeoning rolls of public employees are so insidious to the Forgotten Man forced to pay for them. Every job that is removed from the private sector, where they would be taxpayers, to the public sector where taxes are only consumed, increases his tax burden. This is why New Deal style make work projects won’t grow an economy out of a depression. It matters not how useful some may find the infrastructure enhancements of WPA type projects; they only provide a measure of dignity to those forced on the dole. They do not create the wealth necessary to provide sustainable jobs in the private sector.

So, if you find yourself among the ranks of the Forgotten Man (or woman, of course), please realize that you are the one being saddled with all the expense and debt for the glorious Marxist revolution going on in Washington DC at the moment. Don’t believe the spin and outright lies being told by the silver tongued Obamessiah. The socialist utopia this man is peddling won’t work here any better than it has worked anywhere else, and for the same reason.

You, my friend, are the golden goose who pays for it all; and you just cannot afford all the wonderful programs he is promising. You will break under the load and our economy will collapse in a spectacular crash. Hopenchange may have sounded good; but the change he is bent on implementing will bury you in a hopelessly unsustainable mountain of debt, as he chokes the life out of the golden goose he doesn’t even understand.

His Marxist mindset thinks he will only be fleecing the fat cats, who can afford it and are not paying their fair share. He is wrong. They are not the golden goose… it is you; and you are paying far more than your share already. Buckle up, pay attention, and don’t be fooled… this is going to get ugly… and soon. ◄Dave►

Why are these sheeple aloud to vote?

John Ziegler has put together quite an indictment of the MSM in a documentary entitled, “Media Malpractice - How Obama got elected and Palin was targeted.” He isn’t likely to get too many more interviews on MSM; but he sure has had fun with the ones he has already done. Must see TV. Watch the Today Show clip before watching the Norah O’Donnell one, because they are related. This was my first exposure to David Shuster’s show; I sure hope it is the last. What an asinine fool. The View segment was good too; although Elisabeth Hasselbeck was a bit distracting. ◄Dave►

Wow! Who would have expected sage advice from the former head of the KGB? Here is a transcript of Putin’s speech at the opening ceremony of the world Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last month:

There is a certain concept, called the perfect storm, which denotes a situation when Nature’s forces converge in one point of the ocean and increase their destructive potential many times over. It appears that the present-day crisis resembles such a perfect storm.

Responsible and knowledgeable people must prepare for it. Nevertheless, it always flares up unexpectedly.

The current situation is no exception either. Although the crisis was simply hanging in the air, the majority strove to get their share of the pie, be it one dollar or a billion, and did not want to notice the rising wave.

In the last few months, virtually every speech on this subject started with criticism of the United States. But I will do nothing of the kind.
[...]
The entire economic growth system, where one regional centre prints money without respite and consumes material wealth, while another regional centre manufactures inexpensive goods and saves money printed by other governments, has suffered a major setback.
[...]
Unfortunately, excessive expectations were not only typical of the business community. They set the pace for rapidly growing personal consumption standards, primarily in the industrial world. We must openly admit that such growth was not backed by a real potential. This amounted to unearned wealth, a loan that will have to be repaid by future generations.

This pyramid of expectations would have collapsed sooner or later. In fact, this is happening right before our eyes.
[...]
Excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence is another possible mistake.

True, the state’s increased role in times of crisis is a natural reaction to market setbacks. Instead of streamlining market mechanisms, some are tempted to expand state economic intervention to the greatest possible extent.

The concentration of surplus assets in the hands of the state is a negative aspect of anti-crisis measures in virtually every nation.

In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.

Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.
[...]

[bold emphasis mine]

While the rest of the speech reveals his concern over falling oil prices, which are devastating his own economy, and nervousness over the specter of us destroying them again with another military spending spree, the above remarks were profound. I just cannot imagine one of our own politicians delivering such a frank speech in an international forum. I am glad I treated myself to reading it.

What I can’t understand is why our own academics and politicians can’t see what he acknowledges was the failure of socialism and the advantages of capitalism. It is downright embarrassing that now that the world has seen the folly of Marxism and is trying their best to free themselves of its cancer, we are plunging headlong into it. I weep for my country. ◄Dave►

Here is an interesting address by Ron Paul to the Von Mises Institute, discussing the need to end the Federal Reserve system. He discusses what is happening in the world economy, and predicts that a new world central bank will emerge to take control of the world’s reserve currency away from us:

It is interesting that some of his congressional colleagues are starting to take him seriously. His enthusiasm for the awakening on college campuses would be encouraging if it weren’t too late already. ◄Dave►

Mark Steyn has a piece worth the read at NRO:

The Home Secretary is best known for an inspired change of terminology: Last year she announced that henceforth Muslim terrorism (an unhelpful phrase) would be reclassified as “anti-Islamic activity.” Seriously. The logic being that Muslims blowing stuff up tends not to do much for Islam’s reputation — i.e., it’s an “anti-Islamic activity” in the same sense that Pearl Harbor was an anti-Japanese activity.

Anyway, Geert Wilders’s short film is basically a compilation video of footage from various recent Muslim terrorist atrocities — whoops, sorry, “anti-Islamic activities” — accompanied by the relevant chapter and verse from the Koran. Jacqui Smith banned the filmmaker on “public order” grounds — in other words, the government’s fear that Lord Ahmed meant what he said about a 10,000-strong mob besieging the Palace of Westminster. You might conceivably get the impression from Wilders’s movie that many Muslims are irrational and violent types it’s best to steer well clear of. But, if you didn’t, Jacqui Smith pretty much confirmed it: We can’t have chaps walking around saying Muslims are violent because they’ll go bananas and smash the place up.

Anti-Islamic Activities? That has to be the crowning achievement in Orwellian Politically Correct Speech. ◄Dave►

Let the revolution begin:

Wow! Is this guy awesome, or what? The market dropped a percent and below 7500 immediately after this performance. We need more people who can stand up on their hind legs and speak truth to power like this. ◄Dave►

I think I will order H. L. Mencken’s 1926 book, “Notes on Democracy.” Perusing this book review, it seems like $15 well spent:

It’s no wonder it’s hard to get. There is more truth in these pages than most Americans are willing to face. Nor will there ever come a time when they will face them. For what Mencken delivers here is probably the most scathing attack on the idea of mass rule that has ever been written.
[...]
Mencken is known as the chief heretic of the American civic religion, and this book shows why. Your eyes will pop out at not only his dazzling prose but, and most especially, at the thoughts that he dares put in print, almost as a revolutionary act.

Here is a slight sample, passages sampled nearly randomly:

What does the mob think? It thinks, obviously, what its individual members think. And what is that? It is, in brief, what somewhat sharp-nose and unpleasant childrern think. The mob, being composed, in the overwhelming main, of men and women who have not got beyond the ideas and emotions of childhood, hovers, in mental age, around the time of puberty, and chiefly below it. If we would get at its thoughts and feelings we must look for light to the thoughts and feelings of adolescents.

When the city mob fights it is not for liberty, but for ham and cabbage. When it wins, its first act is to destroy every form of freedom that is not directed wholly to that end. And its second is to butcher all professional libertarians. If Thomas Jefferson had been living in Paris in 1793 he would have made an even narrower escape from the guillotine than Thomas Paine made.

What the common man longs for in this world, before and above all his other longings, is the simplest and most ignominious sort of peace: the peace of a trusty in a well-managed penitentiary. He is willing to sacrifice everything else to it. He puts it above his dignity and he puts it above his pride. Above all, he puts it above his liberty. The fact, perhaps, explains his veneration for policemen, in all the forms they take—his belief that there is a mysterious sanctity in law, however absurd it may be in fact.

A policeman is a charlatan who offers, in return for obedience, to protect him ( a ) from his superiors, ( b ) from his equals, and ( c ) from himself. This last service, under democracy, is commonly the most esteemed of them all. In the United States, at least theoretically, it is the only thing that keeps ice-wagon drivers, Y. M. C. A. secretaries, insurance collectors and other such human camels from smoking opium, ruining themselves in the night clubs, and going to Palm Beach with Follies girls…Here, though the common man is deceived, he starts from a sound premise: to wit, that liberty is something too hot for his hands—or, as Nietzsche put it, too cold for his spine.

Politics under democracy consists almost wholly of the discovery, chase, and scotching of bugaboos. The statesman becomes, in the last analysis, a mere witch-hunter, a glorified smeller and snooper, eternally chanting “Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum!” It has been so in the United States since the earliest days. The whole history of the country has been a history of melodramatic pursuits of horrendous monsters, most of them imaginary: the red-coats, the Hessians, the monocrats, again the red-coats, the Bank, the Catholics, Simon Legree, the Slave Power, Jeff Davis, Mormonism, Wall Street, the rum demon, John Bull, the hell hounds of plutocracy, the trusts, General Weyler, Pancho Villa, German spies, hyphenates, the Kaiser, Bolshevism. The list might be lengthened indefinitely; a complete chronicle of the Republic could be written in terms of it, and without omitting a single important episode.

It was long ago observed that the plain people, under democracy, never vote for anything, but always against something. The fact explains in large measure, the tendency of democratic states to pass over statesmen of genuine imagination and sound ability in favour of colorless mediocrities. The former are shining marks, and so it is easy for demagogues to bring them down; the latter are preferred because it is impossible to fear them.

How could I pass it up? The man actually says what he thinks, seemed to do thinking rather well, and ever forces one to examine one’s prejudices. ◄Dave►

Remember the Obamessiah’s promise to establish a paramilitary “civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as our military? This report disturbs me:

A little-publicized Department of Defense Directive (Number 1404.10) establishes a “DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce” and rescinds a prior directive dealing with the emergency use of civilian personnel.

The new 1404.10 cancels the prior directive of the same designation (“Emergency-Essential (E-E) DoD U.S. Citizen Civilian Employees”), which was issued in 1992 under President Clinton. The 1992 directive specifically deals with overseas deployments of civilian personnel. It does not mention terms like “restoration of order” or “stability operations”, prominently featured in the new directive.
[...]
The 1992 directive mentions the term “overseas” no fewer than 33 times.

The 2009 directive does not mention the term “overseas” in the body of the directive even once.

Consider the nebulous terms used: “…contingencies, emergency operations… restoration of order… and stability operations.”

Who will define “Contingencies”? “Restoration of order”? “Stability operations”?

On a lighter note, while you are checking the above link to Doug Ross’ Journal (which I have definitely bookmarked) check out his awesome pictures of “The 8 Most Terrifying Holes on Earth.” Don’t miss the last one!

Life is becoming surreal. I can’t decide whether I should corner the market on wheelbarrows so I can sell them later as purses, or on brown cloth because it will soon be in high demand for making shirts. ◄Dave►

I found another interesting resource for financial data that hasn’t been spun by the politicians. John Williams’ Shadow Government Statistics is worth a look. It is a subscription service; but there is plenty worth perusing out front. Of particular interests are the graphs which tell what the real inflation rate, money supply, unemployment percentage, etc. Then, there are the Primers on Government Economic Reports: What You’ve Suspected but Were Afraid to Ask. It is five years old, so it must be read for process not current conditions, yet even that will yield surprising data for 2004:

The current Bush administration has expanded upon the Clinton era initiatives, particularly in setting the stage for the adoption of a new and lower-inflation CPI and in further redefining the GDP and the concept of seasonal adjustment.

As a result of the systemic manipulations, if the GDP methodology of 1980 were applied to today’s data, the second quarter’s annualized inflation-adjusted GDP growth of 3.0% would be roughly three percent lower (effectively netting to zero percent or below). In like manner, current annual CPI inflation is understated by about 2.7% against the pre-Clinton CPI methodology (would be about 5.7%), and the unemployment rate is understated by about seven percent against its original design and what many people would consider to be actual unemployment (would be about 12.5%).

As to the financial results of federal operations, the application of accrual accounting and generally accepted accounting principles to federal operations shows an actual fiscal year 2003 deficit of $3.7 trillion, as reported by the U.S. Treasury, versus the reported cash-basis $374 billion.

Personally, I don’t believe a damn thing any politician or DC bureaucrat says anymore, so resources like this are valuable to anyone who desires to know what is really happening. ◄Dave►

Must see TV:

This is really well done, and I wish all Americans could watch and grasp it. I do wish they had put just a little more emphasis on the advantages of a Republic to protect minority rights from the tyranny of the majority in a mobocracy. The way they collapsed rule by “one” into an effective oligarchy, and summarily dismissed anarchy was elegant. Well worth the ten minutes to watch and pass on to others. ◄Dave►

An awesome valentineto the Federal Government is posted at LewRockwell:

Dear Federal Government,

Drop dead.

Excuse us. Some may consider such bluntness to be indecorous, but why beat around the bush? In any case, we’ve been around this bush (Bush?) too many times to count already. It’s time to let you know what we really think of you, what we say behind your back, what we whisper to each other when you leave the room.

We hate you. We want you to drop dead. Or, anyway, to go away and never come back. You are not welcome anymore. We have tolerated you – and we emphasize “tolerated” – for a long time, long after whatever romance there may have been was gone. We can pretend no more. You are disgraceful, boorish, nauseating, corrupt, shameful, arrogant, dishonest, self-serving, parasitic, disgusting, hypocritical, and rotten to the core. You have not even one redeeming quality. There is nothing you offer that we want any longer. We’re not even sure what it is we ever saw in you to begin with…

Treat yourself to the whole thing. ◄Dave►

With all the attention on the economy, our existential struggle with Islamofascism is on the back burner. Since Europe is rapidly turning into an Islamic continent, they are not so easily distracted from that reality.
The speech that Geert Wilder was invited to give to the UK Parliament is here. Since they threw him out of the country, this passage was poignant:

Thank you very much for letting me into the country. I received a letter from the Secretary of State for the Home Department, kindly disinviting me. I would threaten community relations, and therefore public security in the UK, the letter stated.

For a moment I feared that I would be refused entrance. But I was confident the British government would never sacrifice free speech because of fear of Islam. Britannia rules the waves, and Islam will never rule Britain, so I was confident the Border Agency would let me through. And after all, you have invited stranger creatures than me. Two years ago the House of Commons welcomed Mahmoud Suliman Ahmed Abu Rideh, linked to Al Qaeda. He was invited to Westminster by Lord Ahmed, who met him at Regent’s Park mosque three weeks before. Mr. Rideh, suspected of being a money man for terror groups, was given a SECURITY sticker for his Parliamentary visit.

Well, if you let in this man, than an elected politician from a fellow EU country surely is welcome here too. By letting me speak today you show that Mr Churchill’s spirit is still very much alive. And you prove that the European Union truly is working; the free movement of persons is still one of the pillars of the European project.

It is worth the time to read the whole thing. If you have not seen Fitna, his film that he was going to screen for them, and you do not have a weak stomach, here it is:

Fitna

Personally I thought Obsession was the better documentary. If you haven’t seen it, here it is:

Obsession

I suppose it is good to remind myself occasionally just how much I despise these miscreants. Death to all Jihadists! I got your Martyr Maker right here, and the bullets are all lubricated with bacon grease. Bring your Koran with you, so I can draw cartoons of that famous pedophile and toy boy Mohamed on the pages with your miserable blood; before I shred them for bedding in the farrowing pen. Allah and Politically Correct Multiculturists be damned. Religion of peace, my ass. ◄Dave►

A lesson never to be forgotten?

Everybody knows you can’t spend yourself rich, anymore than you can drink yourself sober.

They used to sir. Back when common sense still counted. You may have brought the USSR to its knees, old friend; but the Marxists in academia now have our children down on theirs, worshiping the Obamessiah, and cursing you. History belongs not to those who created it; but to those who write the textbooks. Alas, your lifelong totalitarian nemesis owns that franchise, and they have not been kind to you.

They have numbed the minds of your posterity into a nation of helpless sheeple, sir, who haven’t a clue that they are being fleeced. Indeed, they are begging to be shorn… and I don’t know whether I want to be despondent or angry about it. It looks like I am going to have to decide soon, for this trend is unsustainable. ◄Dave►

Jackson Jambalaya has uncovered a Phil Donahue show featuring Ayn Rand when she was 75 years old:

JJ is posting a treat for you today as I found these clips of Ayn Rand, Objectivist philosopoher and author Atlas Shrugged, appearing on Phil Donahue’s show decades ago. Even at her advanced age, her wittiness and sharp intellect is on full display as she enjoys the give and take with Phil. She makes some statements conservatives today would do well to heed. Enjoy.

Agreed. It is broken into five clips of about ten minutes each. What a treat! Do yourself a favor and watch them. Enjoy. ◄Dave►

Pamela Geller at the Atlas Shrugs blog has a must see clip from C-Span where Democrat Representative Paul Kanjorski discusses what started the economic crisis we have been dealing with for the past few months:

On Thursday Sept 15, 2008 at roughly 11 AM The Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous draw down of money market accounts in the USA to the tune of $550 Billion dollars in a matter of an hour or two. Money was being removed electronically.

The Treasury tried to help, opened their window and pumped in $150 Billion but quickly realized they could not stem the tide. We were having an electronic run on the banks. So they decided to closed down the accounts.

Had they not closed down the accounts they estimated that by 2 PM that afternoon. Within 3 hours. $5.5 Trillion would have been withdrawn and the entire economy of the United States would have collapsed, and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed.

He concluded with:

Someone threw us in the middle of the Atlantic ocean without a life raft. We are trying to determine which is the closest shore and whether there is any chance in the world to swim that far. We don’t know.

It is interesting that nobody is saying who was behind this obviously coordinated attack on our economy. Surely they must have figured it out by now. Pamela speculates that it was a political move by George Soros & Co. There are other thoughts in the comment section, which are worth perusing. The sobering thing is to realize just how vulnerable our civilization is to such an attack, and how clueless and feckless our government is to counter one. ◄Dave►