A Kinder Gentler Tone

Posted on August 3, 2011 | 8 comments

The irony is just too much.

It seems not so long ago that a mad-man did the unspeakable.  He took a gun and fired it.  Lots of times.  People died and a nation changed, and a dialogue on dialogue began.

And it got kinda personal.

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Posted in Liberty, Politics: National

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A Him

Posted on August 2, 2011 | 4 comments

Let’s get one thing clear.

  1. I care for the people less fortunate.
  2. The government has no role in that caring.

Okay, that’s two, but the second is important.  The government has a role.  And that role is to act as the referee in disputes.  It is to make sure that we all face the same rules and laws.  Sure, there is a cost in maintaining a government, so we tax to pay for it.  But that role of government is not meant to take money from those who have it and just flat out GIVE it to those who don’t.

When that role is given to the government, bad things happen.  Really bad things.

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Posted in Government, Idiots on Parade, Politics: National, Welfare

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Unintended Consequences

Posted on August 2, 2011 | Leave a comment

It turns out that this global economy has implications. Namely that money is movable and flexible. The other implication is that government is seen as damage and as much as possible people will avoid it; even uber-liberal ones like George Soros.

“It emerged that George Soros is to close his hedge fund to outside investors and will refund $1 billion to those who have put in money. The prominent financier blames new regulations that require investment advisors to register with the SEC.”

Nice.

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Posted in Economics, Liberty, Politics: International, Politics: National

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We Are Socialist: And So Can You

Posted on August 2, 2011 | 6 comments

I’m pretty free market.  I’m also of the mind that the best incentives are the ones that you remember your dad teaching you or that you teach your kids.  Hard work, eat your vegetables, save your money, do your homework….stuff like that.

I like to think that most America teaches these things to their kids.  And to the extent that some of us are better or worse, I guess that’s okay.  But the idea is the same.  This is a place where, if you work hard enough, you can have anything you want.  Which, I’ve always thought the inverse were then true as well.  This is a place where if you DON’T work hard enough, you can’t have anything you want.

So, I don’t like socialism.  Either as a way to teach our kids how to live or as an economic system where we organize our society.

But we are.

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6 Comments

Posted in Economics, Economy, Government, Politics: National

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Receipts and Outlays

Posted on August 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

So, it appears we’re close to an agreement on the debt limit. I’m confused how the Republicans allowed themselves to get beat so badly. Near as I can tell we are not going to reduce spending but we are going to raise revenue.

Democrat’s dream.

How pathetic.

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Posted in Government, Politics: National, Republicans Can Be Leftists Too

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Tea Party Is Me

Posted on July 29, 2011 | 2 comments

So, I’m sittin’ here looking at old articles regarding the Tea Party and how racist they are.  Right?

After all, we’ve seen the pictures that show how the Tea Party protests lack a certain…a certain, shall we say, touch of color.

And who can argue?

But what is your reaction when I tell you that those protests weren’t Tea Party protests?  Rather, they were Union protestors opposing Scott Walker.

Racists!

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Posted in Politics: National, Race

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What Is The Role Of Women

Posted on July 28, 2011 | 12 comments

I have greatly enjoyed this art of blogging –though I DO wish the name were different, it conotates a less mature effort than I think it is–that has allowed me to explore, connect and think about so many more issues in so many more ways than I otherwise would have.

How could people even as recently as 1995 been able to stay abreast of the current issues of the day like we do now?  Amazing.

Anyway, as is the nature of this thing we do, I was reading a post over at Poison Your Mind and the conversation turned in a very unexpected way/.  The post  had to do with the fact that the current crop of Republican governors are far more conservative than the constituency that elected them.  All this while the current Democrat governors were much more closely aligned.  Fascinating stuff.  Go read the whole thing.

However, we began discussing whether the current GOP governors were more fiscally conservative or socially.  I suspect that its the former, PYM felt otherwise.  And a quick discussion over some social issues took place with a comment that made me stop:

That’s because the pro-life movement is interested in preventing abortions, it’s about government mandating of traditional gender roles.

True?

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Posted in National, Technology

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If the United States Debt Were a Swimming Pool

Posted on July 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

If you aren’t reading Carpe Diem, you should.  Go, right now, check out Mark Perry’s site.

This whole thing started way back when.  I was an avid reader of Rob Neyer over at ESPN.  I was very much into baseball and stats and just the game.  I loved me some Neyer.  Since then, however, ESPN has made his stuff paid content and I no longer go to ESPN.  But whatever, ‘nother story.  One day, a long time ago, Rob mentioned a writer in Minnesota, Twins Geek.  And Twins Geek wrote a blog.   And I didn’t know what a blog was.  But it had the words, Twins, Geek and Neyer, so I checked it out.

And it turns out Twins Geek is a dude from Minnesota who works in an office doing office type work who just loves to write.

And I love that.

So, now I know what a blog is and I start looking for one.  And I trip upon Coyote Blog.  And NOW it’s on.  This is just too cool.  And, after reading Coyote for awhile, I notice he refers us to Carpe Diem on a regular basis.  And Mark Perry is from Minnesota.  And he writes about interesting stuff in a way that just makes sense.

So I read him everyday.

In fact, he is a large inspiration for the stuff I write here.  Only, like, he’s better and smarter, but hey, I have longer hair!

Anyway, via Mark Perry at Carpe Diem comes this:

We have what you call a spending problem.

By the way, if you like baseball and can stand the Twins, check out this most amazing site dedicated to Sabermetrics with a Twin’s twist.  This guy is the hero.  Dropped out of school at the UofM, living in his mom’s townhouse blogging about baseball at 3,000 words a clip.  Gets picked up by NBC sports and is livin’ large.

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Posted in Economics, Government

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How Conservatives Want To Destroy Your Food Safty

Posted on July 28, 2011 | 2 comments

Nancy Pelosi:

“This is an excuse. The budget deficit is an excuse for the Republicans to undermine government plain and simple. They don’t just want to make cuts, they want to destroy. They want to destroy food safety, clean air, clean water, the department of education. They want to destroy your rights.”

Milton Friedman:

The federal government has spent years considering whether to take steps to help keep dangerous strains of E. coli bacteria out of the food supply, a question that has become even more urgent in the face of a deadly wave of E. coli sickness that swept through Europe and raised alarms on both sides of the Atlantic.

Now, two major American companies, Costco Wholesale and Beef Products Inc., have gotten tired of waiting for regulators to act. They are proceeding with their own plans to protect customers.

Last month, Costco, one of the nation’s largest food retailers, quietly began requiring its suppliers of bagged produce, including salad greens and mixes, apple slices and baby carrots, to test for a broad range of toxic E. coli.

“We know this is where we have to go and there’s no reason to wait,” said Craig Wilson, the food safety director of Costco. In the last two weeks, he said, most produce suppliers have added a test that can detect the strain from the European outbreak as well.

We don’t need government to test our food.

Milton Friedman in a knockout.

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Posted in Government, Politics: National

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Spending: Obama vs Bush

Posted on July 28, 2011 | 6 comments

I think that I am consistent with the Republican party’s claim that one Mr. Barack Obama spends too much.  Further, I think that I am consistent with the same Republican party in their view that it’s spending, not revenue that’s the problem.  After all, I’ve demonstrated that receipts increase year over year at a 7.2%.  And by simply slowing the growth of government, we can balance the budget in as little as 19 years.   God forbid what happens if we actually REDUCE the year over year of the government spend.

To that end, there has been much talk in the nation about that government spending.  Where it came from and who is actually spending it.

Remember, the subject is spending.  And that Barack is doing more of it than anyone else.

The context is “who is contributing to the massive increase in government spending we are seeing?”

And the answer to that question is being answered by this graph:

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Posted in Diplomacy, Economy, Government, Politics: National

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