The Latest Political Class Insanity From Reason Magazine and More - June Edition, Zombie Special!

The June issue of Reason magazine arrived this week so it is that time of month again where we review the latest, most insane antics from the political class. These incidents come from both Reason magazine and a whole host of other sources. Reason magazine is one of the best publications for examining how destructive the politicians in this country are to the basic concepts of freedom and liberty. Their articles are well thought out and well researched but usually very easy to understand how taxes, wasteful spending, onerous laws, official corruption, and other actions continually weaken the Constitutionally guaranteed rights of Americans.

Thus, the following from Reason starts this month's listing of political class insanity:

- In a short article called "Lunar Lunacy", Reason discusses the Constellation program that is run by NASA. Constellation is, or was, the space program that was supposed to bring American astronauts back to the moon. However, the Obama administration shut down the program last year. But, in March 2011, Congress voted for a three week continuing budget resolution that compelled NASA to continue spending $1.4 million a day on Constellation, a program that was officially killed in 2010. This wasted about $29 million worth of taxpayer dollars during the three week budget window. What a disgrace.

However, it gets worse. Similar problems happened many times last year as Congress tried, unsuccessfully, to pass a budget last summer. Each time they failed, they had to pass a continuing budget resolution, resolutions that Alabama Senator Richard Shelby insisted continue to fund Constellation, a dead program. The reason: much of Constellation's funding went to businesses and employees in Shelby's state.

Even though the NASA administrator, Charlie Bolden, wrote a letter to Shelby last June warning of the waste, by the time the budget issues got resolved, the American taxpayer had paid out more than $250 million to fund a program that had already been axed by the President, $250 million paid for absolutely no benefit received. The classic example of a political zombie, a program that cannot be killed or starved.

- Recently, three Americans decided that they did not want to be enrolled into the government's Medicare program when they became eligible. They did not ask for a refund of the Medicare funds and taxes that they had paid into the system during their working years, they just did not want to enroll, probably happy to get their health care coverage elsewhere.

Sounds like a good deal for the government, especially in these times of Medicare's fast arriving bankruptcy: a customer has already paid for the service but then does not want to receive either the service or a refund. Any rational business would love to have these kinds of customers.

Apparently, the Federal government and the political class that operates it is not quite so rational. The government took these three ordinary Americans to court, saying that they HAD to enroll into the Medicare program and pay the monthly fees involved until they died. Unfortunately, the judge hearing the case agreed with the government, saying that no loophole or provision existed for someone to opt out of what now appears to be a mandatory government program.

The lead attorney for the three plans to appeal but did make an insightful comment after the verdict: "an entitlement is now an obligation." You cannot live in a free country when the government demands that you pay for a service you may not want, whether it is Medicare in this case or Obama Care in the larger sense.

- In Baltimore, a police officer is supposed to sign every ticket that is issued as a result of a traffic light camera, i.e. those tickets where a physical officer did not issue the ticket on the spot. The officer signing the camera tickets is supposed to swear that he or she had reviewed the video footage and a traffic violation had actually been captured on tape.

Unfortunately, although Officer James Fowler had passed away in September, 2010, his signature continued to appear on tickets issued as recently as January, 2011. Makes you wonder if you can believe anything the political class tells you, especially when it is sending out tickets from dead people. Or maybe this is just another example of a political zombie, akin to the NASA program above that would not die!

- 80 year old Delia Gluckin had recently left her Manhattan apartment building and was heading for the subway when she tossed a newspaper into a city trash can on her street. Unfortunately, this resulted in a $100 ticket for throwing "improper refuse" into the trash can.

Apparently, unknown to Ms. Gluckin, city trash cans are only for litter and her newspaper was legally deemed to be household trash, trash she should have disposed off prior to leaving her home. The only comment I can make here is that if NYC has someone on the payroll that is worried about how a newspaper is disposed of, then NYC has too many people on the payroll.

- Speaking of too many people on the payroll, a short Reason blurb this month talked about how Chicago employs more than 1,400 truck drivers at an average wage of $30 an hour. The city's inspector general recently reported that about 200 of these drivers are "severely" underemployed. All they have to do is transport people and equipment to work sites, at which point they they then sit around all day, collecting their pay, until they need to take everything and everyone back from the work site.

The inspector general estimated that if the drivers themselves were forced to actually work during the day, the city could save about $18 million a year in its budget. However, the city's contract with the union will not allow those work rules to be changed. Thus, the good taxpayers of Chicago pay an additional $18 million a year for no services received.

Think maybe the city's school system might make better use of the wasted $18 million? Think that city departments serving the unemployed or homeless might make better use of the wasted $18 million? Think that the Chicago taxpayers might like the wasted $18 million back in their wallets?

Some more political class insanity that Reason missed:

- According to an article in the February 14, 2011 issue of the Washington Examiner, as reprinted in the Cato Institute's Policy Report in June, an employee of the D.C Metro System was found to have stolen more than 70 pieces of Metro System equipment including a 32 inch computer monitor, tools, camera equipment, and a portable generator. The employee took some of the equipment directly out of Metro facilities but also used his Metro employee credit card to purchase items directly for himself. The Metro's inspector general, investigators, and police found all of the stolen merchandise at the employee's home.

Good police work, got the criminal, you say. Well, not so fast. While the employee was forced to retire as a result of his larceny, he will not face any criminal charges. Why? The county's district attorney decided not to press charges since the Metro "may have served to create an atmosphere where such behavior, although not explicitly condoned or excused, was part of an implicitly tolerated practice." In other words, this guy is not guilty because everyone else stole from the Metro System. That is a place I would like to work at, I can steal anything I can get my hands on because my co-workers are doing the same thing. Unbelievable.

I wonder what Metro's ridership thinks of such waste relative to their fares. Maybe if there was not such a practice and so much stolen merchandise and credit card abuse, the fares go could go down.

- We have discussed the financial disaster that the state of California is today. Huge revenue shortfalls and serious expense problems. A prime example we talked about previously was the small California town that was close to bankruptcy, probably because the people running the town, both high ranking employees, and city council members, had voted themselves salaries in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range.

Now comes word from the June 3, 2011 issue of The Week magazine, that Newport Beach, California citizens are going nuts because it has come to light that many city lifeguards make over $100,000 a year, with two lifeguards making over $200,000 a year in salary. No wonder the state and the towns in California are going bankrupt, outrageous salaries for occupations that do not warrant such pay levels.

- By just about any standard, America pays more for education than any other country in the world. And what do we get for a our generous funding? Well, not much if you are a taxpayer in Detroit. According to an Associated Press report that was summarized in the May 20, 2011 issue of The Week magazine, 47% of the adults in Detroit are functionally illiterate. According to the AP report, only 10% of those who are unable to read have made attempts to learn how.

How sad and pathetic. We have almost half of the population, in what is now a semi-major city, existing as illiterate zombies. These types of educational failures are a direct threat to our democracy and freedoms since if a large part of the population is not able to read and think for themselves, than someone else will do it for them, to the detriment of society and the benefit of those that would take advantage of illiterate people.

- According to the May 27, 2011 issue of The Week magazine, the United States had spent $750 million on the military actions against Libya. Remember, Libya is a country that holds no strategic significance for the United States, that provides virtually no oil to this country, is not a terrorist haven, is half a world a way, and represents absolutely no reason why the United States needed to expend military resources. For no purpose and to no end with the exception of laying almost another $1 billion of wasteful spending onto our $14 TRILLION national debt.

- But politicians screw up around the world also, not just in this country. In Britain, they had passed a very generous paternity leave law several years ago for pregnant women. The law  apparently grants a woman a full year of maternity leave with pay, at the expense of the company she works for, to care for the new infant. This was viewed as progressive and supportive of women's rights in the work place.

Unfortunately, the rule of unintended consequences kicked in, according to an article in the May 27, 2011 issue of The Week magazine. According to the article, companies now hesitate to hire women of child bearing age, lest they get pregnant and take a year off with pay. Thus, "the rights put in place to protect women at work are now functioning against them."  Did not quite think this one through, did they?

- And finally, some international political insanity from Turkey. It seems, according to a June 3, 2011 article in The Week magazine, that at least 10 members of a Turkish religious political party, a party that bills itself and its principles as guardians of Islamic values, were caught in a sex sting. Apparently, the behavior caught on videotape is not totally consistent with the values the party is supposed to represent. Many of the party members caught on tape, meeting young women for sexual encounters, have already resigned.

However, you have to give one of the party members credit for originality. He blamed President Obama for the sting and the videotapes. Original, but stupid.

That's it for this month. The beauty of writing about the political class, in all countries, is that they continue to prove how insane, wasteful, and incompetent they are, providing a never ending stream of incidents to report about. Which is a shame. I would much rather write about politicians actually acting sane, being efficient with our tax dollars, and competently going about a process, any process, that actually addresses and accurately implements programs to eliminate the major issues facing the country.

But I guess zombies are hot in our culture today and the political class is more than happy to provide their versions of zombie programs, zombie government employees and other assorted zombie insanity.


Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.loathemygovernment.com
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.com

Celebrating Memorial Day: A Soldier Remembered

This post originally appeared on Memorial Day, 2010. However, the thoughts expressed then are just as relevant a year later as we honor those that have served and who are currently serving our country in our armed forces to protect ourselves and our freedom.

No political ranting and raving today. No pointing out how the politicians continue to screw up the country, constantly denying and depriving us of our freedoms and liberties to the benefit of their political careers. Today is a day of remembrance, of the millions of Americans that have served the country in the past and in the present, many times sacrificing their lives for our freedom and liberty. Please spend a few minutes today thinking of them in any way possible and remembering that many of our fellow citizens and family members are on the front lines around the world today, facing serious danger, but unselfishly protecting us.


One soldier in particular is on my mind today. My father served in World War II with the 203rd Engineer Combat Battalion. It is my understanding that the 203rd came ashore at Omaha Beach in June, 1944, served across France, was involved in the Battle Of The Bulge in late 1944 and eventually made its way into Germany. It was destined for the Pacific Theater but had those plans cancelled when Japan surrendered. He was honorably discharged in late 1945.


I say that it was my understanding because my father rarely spoke of the war, I had to find out this information from secondary sources. He did not brag about his service, he did not boast of the battles he may or may not have seen, he did not regale us with tales of heroism. It is also my understanding that he is not alone in this approach. Stories abound of similar attitudes among World War II veterans. They did what had to be done, often at great cost, to protect the country and the ideals it stands for. They did not consider themselves heroes, they just did what had to be done. They then returned to become regular citizens and got on with their lives. No egos, no self-centeredness, just a dedication to country and family.


I never thanked my father for his service in the fight for liberty and freedom, not sure growing up that I fully understood the sacrifices he and others made for us. I would like to do that today, seventeen years after he passed away. I would also like to hope that our politicians eventually realize what great costs have been expended to keep us free and that they re-dedicate themselves to maintaining freedom, for all Americans in so many different ways. Making freedom the core of their service in politics and government should be their highest priority, not their re-election.



Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.loathemygovernment.com
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.com

The Mexican Drug Cartel Terror Threat Continues to Grow: A Potential, Short Term Solution

Terror is a word that can take on various meanings and different connotations. Unfortunately, given the 9-11 terrorist attacks, we have tended to think only about Bin Laden-like terror threats over the past ten years. The reason why is clear: Bin Laden and his followers, in whatever form they took, were dedicated to destroying the United States in anyway possible and killing as many U.S. civilians and military personnel as possible in the process. This type of terror has occupied most of our attention.

This is not to say this is a bad thing, Bin Laden and his followers were, and will continue to be, a large threat. But at least most of their actions were stunted by sheer geography, thousands and thousand of miles and two vast oceans, geographic barriers to their terror plans.

However, there are other types of terror in this world and unfortunately, one type is growing in strength, violence,  and ferocity just south of our southern borders. For this type of terror we do not have the luxury and safety of geography, this terror is right next door.

Of course, we are talking about the drug cartel violence and situation in Mexico. We have blogged many times about the drug cartel situation and its associated violence in Mexico, they have been some of our most popular posts. And although, we have not revisited the issue for a little while, that does not mean things have settled down. In fact, based on the following press accounts, the situation and the potential for drug cartel violence to spill over into this country have grown significantly over the past month or so:

- In the April 29, 2011 issue of The Week magazine, an article described how sixteen police officers were arrested and connected to the killings of 145 fellow Mexicans. The police were accused of providing protection for the actual killers who are suspected of being from the Zetas, Mexico's most violent drug cartel. The 145 victims were bus riders who were kidnapped and then killed when the probably refused to join the cartel as gunmen or drug carriers.

The article reports that over 15,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico just in 2010. Serious stuff when innocent people are given the choice of either joining a criminal gang or being executed.

- A May 15, 2011 Associated Press report told how at least 27 Guatemalans were killed by assailants who in addition to killing them also decapitated most of the bodies. Police believe that these killings were related to a 2008 ambush of an alleged Guatemalan drug boss by the Mexican Zetas drug cartel. In that attack, the Zetas allegedly killed eight other people.

This activity is viewed as the Zetas' attempt to control international drug operations, not just Mexican drug operations. According to the article, Guatemala has become a major shipping point for illegal drugs headed for the United States.

- A May 26, 2011 Associated Press article reported that a gun battle between two rival drug gangs in a Mexican city left 29 people dead. The article reported that the gun battle took place along a highway and the scene was littered with fake military uniforms, bulletproof vests, hand grenades, and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

In a related story within the same article, AP reported that Mexican military troops had been deployed after another gun battle between rival drug gangs had resulted in 1,200 civilians leaving their homes to find safety in the military guarded shelters in nearby towns. This was similar to an incident last November when 400 civilians left their homes and took refuge in surrounding towns to get away from cartel gun battles.

- A May 15, 2011 Associated Press article discussed another frontier when it comes to drug smuggling. The article reports that the Mexican drug cartels have moved some of their smuggling operations into Canada which also serves as a transport place to move the drugs into the United States. This is viewed as an easier way into the country because the U.S./Canadian border does not have as much anti-smuggling resources as the Mexican/United States border.

The article explained the preferred method of smuggling, namely small planes flying low into U.S. air space from Canada, land at a multitude of small airports along the border where they are met by their partners to unload the contraband form the plane. One example cited explained the the entire unloading operation took about 90 seconds and involved the smuggling of 175 pounds of marijuana and 400,000 Ecstasy pills. The efficiency and small footprint of the operation makes it almost impossible to stop.

- But drugs are not the only things being smuggled into the United States. A May 19, 2011 Associated press report described how 513 people from South America and Central America were recently found being transported in two tractor trailers. Their destination: the United States. Each had paid about the equivalent of $7,000 to an organized smuggling ring to get into this country. The United Nations estimates that this type of smuggling is about a $6.5 billion business annually. The article reports that 95% of Mexicans now crossing illegally into America were paying smugglers to help them get across.

The more disturbing fact was that included in the 513 people were not just poor people looking for work from South and Central America. The 513 people also included Nepalese and Chinese. Who is to say that for the right price, these smugglers would not consider smuggling in Bin Laden followers into the the United States. I am sure they could afford the $7,000 fee.

- An article in the May 20, issue of The Week magazine reported that a rally was recently held in Mexico to protest both the actions of the drug cartels and the government's military-like reaction to the cartels. The article stated that almost 14,000 people have been killed since the Mexican government began using its  military against the drug cartels.

Kidnapping, refugees, unspeakable violence (e.g. decapitations), smugglers of both drugs and human beings, crooked cops, etc., certainly a defined and dangerous source of terror. And all of these incidents occurred just within the past month or so and probably does not capture all of the terror-like actions of the drug and smuggling cartels. Again, this is happening right outside our borders, both our southern and northern borders. We do  not have that geographic safety afforded to us against Islamic terrorists.

Unless the political class and the government does something soon, there is little doubt in my mind that this form of drug cartel terror will intensify within Mexico and soon spill over into our country. Unfortunately, with the 2012 Presidential election process already preoccupying every politician, the odds of this terror infecting the United States is very, very high as our politicians become more and more distracted by their own political careers in 2012 vs. our safety.

"Love My Country, Loathe My Government" proposed a serious of steps that need to be taken to solve these intertwined problems of leaky borders, illegal immigrants, and the war on drugs. In order to do a comprehensive root cause analysis, formulate the proper solutions to these problems' root causes, sell solutions to the country, and execute the plans, time and focus is needed. However, I do not believe we have the time, given the growing violence and strength of the drug cartels or the focus of our politicians, given the 2012 elections.

In order to get around these problems, I would propose the following, short term band aid fix in order to stave off this terror threat:

1. First, I would recall the tens of thousands of U.S. troops we currently have stationed around the world that are serving no strategic or military purposes. This would involve bringing home the 84,000 U.S. troops stationed throughout Europe, the 30,000 troops stationed in South Korea, the 30,000 troops stationed in japan, and the 50,000 or so U.S. troops in Iraq. Bringing these troops home would not compromise our nation's effort to counteract Islamic terrorism abroad.
2. The United States border with Mexico is about 2,000 miles long.
3. The number of troops being brought home would total about 194,000.
4. These troops would be deployed into three eight hours shifts of about 67,000 troops per shift.
5. At any one time during a 24 hour day, there would be 67,000 trained U.S. troops lined up along the Mexican border, facing south, with the mission of blocking the smuggling of people looking for work, drug cartel refugees, and contraband both into and out of the country. This would be the equivalent of putting one soldier every 50 yards along the border.
6. This type of deployment would relieve some of the U.S. border agents who would be moved to the northern border to handle the more difficult job of intercepting contraband coming in from Canada.

This would help seal our borders from illegal activity, would certainly be less costly than deploying these 194,000 troops all over the world, would not compromise our other anti-terror efforts, and would at least temporarily restrict the wealth, growth, and influence of the drug cartels.

In the meantime, the steps regarding illegal aliens, leaky borders, and drugs form "Love my Country, Loathe My Government" would be undertaken to come up with a long term solution to this problem. Long term options to be explored would include the legalization or decriminalization of drugs, increasing or decreasing the penalties for drug dealing and usage, increasing drug abuse treatment research and services, exploring how other countries deal with their drug cultures, etc.

Until our political class has the will, focus, and brains to attack these problems, we need to secure the borders from this ever growing, ever present terror threat. Failure to do so may eventually result in a 9-11-like debacle that far away terrorists unleashed on this country. The Mexican drug cartels apparently do not hesitate when it comes to murdering, butchering, and kidnapping their own countrymen, I doubt they would have any problems doing the same to any American if it served the cartel's interest.




Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.


Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.loathemygovernment.com
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.com

The Latest Insanity, Disgraces, And Misbehavior From Our Political Class

Although I have been on the road and away from home the past two weeks, the insanity, disgraces, and misbehavior that is our political class continued unabated. It is difficult to keep up with their antics while traveling, there are so many of them. It is unbelievable that we allow these types of people and their actions to go on. Their actions are rarely conducive to problem solving and their lack of focus and ability often makes bad situations worse.

The first step in treating an illness is identifying the symptoms and causes. Thus, in no particular order, I bring you the latest maladies from the American political class:

- A May 25, 2011 Associated Press article reported that former North Carolina Senator and Presidential hopeful John Edwards will likely be indicted on criminal charges in the next few days by the Justice Department. This is a result of a two year investigation of whether Mr. Edwards illegally used campaign money from his political backers to cover up an extra martial affair. This affair took place while Edwards' wife was battling cancer and resulted in an out of wedlock child.

This affair has been disgraceful all along and now might turn criminal with jail time if the charges are proven in court against a man that was reasonably close to being named the Democratic party candidate for President. How is it that our political processes allowed this to almost happen?

- I recently came across a short blurb from the April 15, 2011 issue of The Week magazine that I have verified from other sources. It appears that President Obama had accepted an award in April for supporting government transparency, a major campaign goal of his. However, the presentation was done in secret in a private ceremony from which reporters and the public were barred from. Tough to figure this one out, quite insane. You campaign for government transparency, you get an award for government transparency, and then you  receive the award in secrecy. Go figure. I cannot provide anymore details because...it is a secret.

- A report published on May 24, 2011 on the Huffington Post reviewed the analysis and report done by four university researchers that tracked and analyzed the investments made by members of Congress over the past sixteen years. The researchers examined over 16,000 stock transactions made by various members of Congress during this time. Their findings included the following:

• House Of Representatives members enjoyed "significant positive abnormal returns," with their stock trades beating the general market performance by six percent annually.
• A similar study done on Senators by the same group of researchers five years ago found that the Senators' stock trading outperformed the market by 10%.
• The researchers found these measures to be "economically large and statistically significant."
• Democratic politicians do better at beating the market performance than Republicans by a wide margin.
• Newer members of Congress do better than more senior members of Congress, possibly because they need the money more and are willing to take the risk while as more senior members have already made their money from insider trading.

The researchers concluded that since members of Congress often have insider insights to legislation that may or may not influence the market and the stock price of companies in that market, they often have advantage of what a piece of legislation might influence and could possibly be using this unique position of power for personal gain.

Members Of Congress are not required to divest any stock holdings when the assume office, they can freely trade stocks while in office, and they do not have to disqualify themselves from voting on legislation that they may have a stock interest in. Attempts to reign these types of investment abuses have always been blocked. Thus, if you or I indulge in insider trading, we go to jail. If the political class indulges in insider trading, they just get higher stock investment returns than the rest of us outside of the political class. Disgraceful

- A New York Post report earlier this week reported that President Obama's political campaign personnel are digging into New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's background for scandal, dirt, and other information that the Obama campaign could use later on if Christie is a Presidential opponent.

Two problems with this scenario. First, Christie is adamant that he is not running for President and will continue to serve out at least his first term as New Jersey governor. Thus, why is the Obama operation so worried, do they fear him that much more as a political opponent than those Republicans that have already declared their intent to run? Maybe Christie should run if Obama is so concerned about what Christie brings to the Presidential table.

Second, and this is the big concern and disgrace, this feels like Richard Nixon and his slimy dirty tricks campaign all over again. For once, could our political class please run a campaign based on ideas, ideals, and plans and not mud, dirt, and hollow campaign themes?

 Is Obama that scared of 2012 that he needs to send out his minions to dig up dirt on someone who is not even running for the office? Insane. How about worrying about problems and issues in a campaign, the press will dig up whatever dirt there is to dig up. A disgraceful, Richard Nixon-like operation if there ever was one.

- Speaking of insanity, a recent article by Arthur Laffer of the Wall street Journal was summarized in the April 29, 2011 issue of The Week magazine. Mr. Laffer's analysis showed how inefficient our current tax system is:

• For every dollar an average taxpayer pays in Federal income taxes, an additional $.30 is spent on conforming to the ever growing tax code requirements.
• This jungle of tax regulations results in the country spending $431 billion annually just to stay in compliance with the tax code. Theoretically, reducing this burden by 50% would annually put about $1,800 back into every American household's pocketbook.
• The insanity of our tax code causes individuals and companies to take extra effort and make changes to how the run their business in order to comply and optimize their tax burden, efforts that might be better spent actually growing their businesses and thus, growing the economy.

Thus, our tax processes are expensive from a monetary perspective and distracting from a business operations perspective, a double dose of insanity. The complexity of the tax code also promotes misbehavior by those individuals and companies that try to leverage  the complexity of the system for their own benefit to the detriment of the rest of us.

- Several weeks ago, four U.S. Senators wrote a joint letter to Apple, Blackberry, and other smart phone manufacturers, strongly suggesting that these companies no longer provide apps for their smartphone users that identify likely police drunk driving checkpoints. At that time, we blogged that this really was a waste of political time, that the rising national debt, two foreign wars, failing public schools, leaky borders, and other major issues were more worthy of attention than a smartphone application or two.

Well, talk about insanity. A USA Today article from last week reported that sales of these apps have doubled since the Senators intervened. Seems that many smartphone users did not know about these apps until the Senators raised this minor issue, resulting in the exact opposite behavior the Senators desired. If the Senators could not foresee the likely unintended consequences actions of this relatively straightforward issue, do you really think that they understand the unintended consequences of the 2,000 page healthcare reform bill they passed? Not a chance.

- An April 29, 2011 article in The Week magazine reported on a U.S. Senate report that reviewed the causes of the Great Recession. The report concluded that just about everyone involved was to blame for the financial meltdown including mortgage banks, investment firms, ratings agencies, and Federal regulators. Of particular disgraceful behavior was the Federal Office Of Thrift Supervision. This Federal agency allowed Washington Mutual to become the largest bank to ever fail in the country's history even though it had cited the bank for over 500 "serious deficiencies" over a five year period.

The main disgrace in this area, as pointed in the report, is that a needed criminal investigation was never undertaken. I believe that very few of the main characters in the guilty entities above ever suffered jail time, fines, or the loss of jobs, both inside and outside of government. Thus, misbehavior without any consequences, a sure formula for crisis.

- If the city government of San Francisco is like most other U.S. governing bodies, I would assume they have a lot on their plate. Given the dire economic circumstances of the state government in California, I would bet that the San Francisco local government is facing revenue shortfalls, high government employee pension and health care costs, reduction of city government services, ineffective schools, etc. Serious, serious challenges.

However, according to an Associated Press May 18, 2011 article, the local government has worked on and has cleared a voter referendum proposal that would outlaw the circumcision of male children within the borders of San Francisco. They have nothing better to do on the ruling body than work on this issue, assuming it is an issue, while budgets and schools continue to suffer. The article points out that this proposal could easily be viewed as an intrusion to the personal and religious life of families and more importantly, if passed, it's implementation would almost immediately be delayed for years while court cases were heard.

Thus, why do it now? Wouldn't the sane thing be to work on some of the dire immediate threats to its citizens and not worry about overreaching government intrusion into our lives that would take years and years to implement, assuming it passed AND survived court cases? Insane from a logic perspective, a disgrace from a liberty perspective, and serious misbehavior when other, more pressing issues exist.

- Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Enough said relative to insanity, disgrace, and misbehavior.

There you have it. A small sampling of the types of people continually elected to office.  Wouldn't it be nice to occasionally talk about sanity, honor, and integrity when it comes to our politicians rather than the exact opposite? Not going to happen until we change our political processes including the implementation of term limits, the removal of institutional money from election campaigns, and we start demanding sanity, honor, and integrity from those that are supposed to be serving us, not themselves.





Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.



Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.loathemygovernment.cpm
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.com

Did You Know? And Possibly Do Not Want To Know?

Recently, I came across an interesting presentation that was shown at the 2009 Sony shareholder meeting. It was entitled "Did You Know?" and it contained some very interesting facts about today's reality around the world. Given that it was presented to Sony's shareholders in a public forum, I am assuming the information presented was factual and accurate at the time.

Thus, did you know:

• China will soon become the #1 English speaking country in the world. In other words, quite soon, there will be more English speaking people in China than in the United States.
• The 25% of India's population with the highest IQs are greater than the total population of the United States.
• India has more honors kids in school than America has total kids.
• In the past five minutes, 67 babies were born in the United States...274 were born in China...395 were born in India.
• The top ten in-demand jobs in 2011 did not exist in 2004.
• We are currently preparing students for jobs that do not exist...that will use technologies that do not yet exist...to solve problems we don't know about yet.
• Today's American student will hold 10-14 jobs, on average, by the time they are age 38.
• 25% of American workers have been with their current employer for less than one year.
• 50% of American workers have been with their current employer for less than five years.
• If MySpace users were a country, it would be the fifth largest in the world.
• Bermuda has the highest broadband Internet penetration in the world, the Untied States ranks 19th.
• The amount of new technology information doubles every two years making  half of what an incoming college freshman learns, in a technical degree career path, obsolete by the time that student is a junior.
• In 1984, 1,000 Internet compatible devices were in use...by 1992, 1,000,000 Internet compatible devices were in use...by 2008, 1,000,000,000 Internet devices were in use.
• In a typical month in 2009, 31 billion Google Internet searches were done...in a typical month in 2006, 2.7 billion searches were done.
• It took radio 38 years to reach a market penetration of 50 million users, it took television 13 years to reach a market penetration of 50 million users, in took the Internet four years to reach a market penetration of 50 million users, it took iPods 3 years to reach a market penetration of 50 million users, and it took Facebook two years to reach a market penetration of 50 million users.

Fun facts but also distressing facts in many ways when viewed in comparison to the political class that operates our government and nation today.  Ask yourself these questions in light of the fast moving world we live in today:

1. Do we really believe our current set of politicians is capable of managing the country in the ever evolving and faster moving reality? Remember, these same people had trouble putting together a one year budget for the country these past few months, delivering a fiscal 2011 U.S. government budget six months into the fiscal year. Not only was it late, but it will add at least another $1.5 TRILLION to our national debt. Nimble is certainly not an apt adjective for this group of people.
2. Do you really think that our current set of politicians is capable of and nimble enough at managing an education system in the ever evolving and faster moving information age we are whizzing through? These same people have given us our current education system that produces education performance that is surpassed by dozens of other nations, that results in nearly 25%  of U.S. armed forces inductees failing basic math and reading skills tests, and results in about 40% of community college students requiring high school remedial classes before beginning their college studies.
3. Do you really think that our current set of politicians is capable of and smart enough to deliver a coherent and effective energy policy and strategy in the face of the ever growing demand for energy? Forty years ago, a typical American household might have owned a television or two and several radios. Now, a typical American household might own several televisions, a fax machine, several DVD players, a cable box or two, several computers, several iPods, maybe an iPad, a computer scanner, one or more digital cameras, etc., resulting in an ever increasing demand for just domestic energy. Skyrocketing relative birth rates in India and China will result in further worldwide demand for energy and the sources that provide it. Given that our political class has yet to develop any kind of effective energy policy, it is doubtful they will be able to in the face of a new energy reality crashing over us today.
4. Do you really think that our current set of politicians can stop focusing on yesterday's problems and start leading for the future? While the current set of U.S. politicians have recently been focused on Libya, the Israel/Palestinian impasse, Yemen, Syria, abortion, gay rights, etc., the Chinese and Indian governments have been busy building their economies for tomorrow, improving the education levels of their kids, and focusing their resources on improving the lives of their own citizens. We deploy U.S. armed forces around the world, at great expense to the nation, preparing for crises that vanished decades ago (80,000+ U.S. troops in Europe, 30,000 U.S. troops in Japan, 30,000 U.S. troops in South Korea, 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq ,etc.) while China and India spend their wealth, not on foreign deployment of troops, but by preparing their people for tomorrow's reality.
5. Do really think that our current politicians can solve any problem when their focus is almost always on how to get re-elected and not how to solve a national problem?

Albert Einstein once said: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." The nation faces some serious problems. It faces a reality that changes at an ever faster clip. It faces demographic, education, and energy challenges that become more and more difficult the more time is wasted in not addressing them. It faces these situations with a selfish and ineffective political class, whose manner of thinking, analyzing, and acting is no better than an abacus in a broadband world.

That is why many steps in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" need to be taken as soon as possible. We need to fix our political processes so that we finally get some 21st century thinkers and actions out of Washington. These political process steps include instituting term limits for all Federally elected positions so that we finally get a current and up-to-date set of people in office. We need to task groups of smart Americans with the responsibilities of developing coherent and effective education reform and energy policy strategies and tactics to address our ever more challenging world and competition. Waiting for the current political class to do so has turned out to be a doomed expectation.

We need to stop accepting political slogans as solutions. President Obama's "change" theme turned out to be just that, a hollow political theme. Hollow themes and unfulfilled promises got us into this mess, they will not get us out of it.

Finally, we have to accept the above insights from Einstein. We have to really change the way we do things in this country, we have to change our way of thinking. Otherwise, you do not want to know what could and will happen if we do not.


Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.


Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.loathemygovernment.cpm
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.com

Retro #7: Eve Of (Financial) Destruction - The New Lyrics

Due to massive family obligations in the short term, time will be at a premium for the next few days or so. Thus, rather than rush through new posts, I am taking the opportunity to do a "best of" series of past posts. These "retro posts" have been the most popular posts in this blog from the past year or so. All of them have been viewed hundreds of times and seem to have made a connection to our readers vs. other posts and topics. Please enjoy them again or for the first time.

Also, feel free to put the new lyrics below to music to make the words and their meaning come to life. Anyway to promote our dire financial straits is welcome.





A few weeks ago we had some fun comparing the extremely reckless deficit spending of the Obama administration to the 1960s Vietnam protest song from Barry McGuire "Eve Of Destruction." Our intent was to show that Obama was about to do what the Kaiser, Hitler, Mussolini and Bin Laden had been able to do: topple the United States government, not through violence, but through reckless economic policies.

As a quick review, recall the following facts:

-In its first year, the Obama administration overspent its revenue stream by $1.4 TRILLION, more than 60% more than it collected in taxes and other fees. The shortfall had to be financed by selling debt instruments to individuals and foreign national governments.

- In the current year, it will overspent its revenue stream by about $1.5 TRILLION or 70% more than it took in.

- The Obama administration is proposing that the national debt be increased by $8.5 TRILLION over the next decade. This increase would theoretically impose a deficit liability of over $65,000 on every American family. Additional taxes beyond the $65,000 would have to be paid by each family just to cover non-deficit government expenses.

- Obama recently increased the United States government debt limit to over $14 TRILLION. Since the 400 wealthiest Americans are worth about $2.4 TRILLION, as estimated by Forbes magazine last summer, if the government confiscated the total wealth (not their income, their wealth) of these four hundred Americans, the rest of us would still have to pay over $11.6 TRILLION to pay off the nation's debt. On a per household basis, this debt obligation comes to about $90,000 per household. Of course, the government would never confiscate the total wealth of its richest citizens, at least I do not think they would, so the $90,000 obligation per household is a conservative estimate, it is likely much higher.


Very depressing information. Even more depressing is the fact that we are not even getting our money's worth for the high taxes and high deficit spending. Public schools are failing, the War on Drugs has been lost, Social Security and Medicare are heading for insolvency, there is no national energy strategy, highway infrastructures are falling apart, etc. Plus, our freedoms continue to erode as the deficits pile up, with more and more of the freedom and wealth sent to Washington and outside forces, e.g. the Chinese, exerting more and more influence, further restricting our freedom as individuals and as a nation.

Below are the reworked lyrics to Barry McGuire's "Eve Of Destruction" (the original lyrics are listed further below), updated to represent the horrible financial jam the Washington political class has gotten us into. At least we can have a sense of humor about where we are economically and realize that Mr. McGuire was correct back in the 1960s, he just got the cause wrong:

The financial world it is imploding
Debt is rising, banks are folding
The deficit spending, it is out of control
Americans are ticked, just ask any poll
Even the Potomac River has red ink flowing.
Let me tell you over and over and over again, my friend
Financially, we’re on the eve of destruction.
Billions and billions are wasted each day
Our debt is many trillions, what can I say
If the spending keeps going, we’re all going to pay
Even your grandkids will owe when you’re in your grave
Look at our deficit, boy it’s bound to scare your, boy.
Let me tell you over and over and over again, my friend
Financially, we’re on the eve of destruction.
My wallet’s so thin, it gets so frustrating
GM and Chrysler, you all know the truth, economy’s stagnating
Bickering Senators don’t pass legislation
No politicians are cause for celebrationTheir voices and shrill are all so nerve grating.
Citi Bank, pork, earmarks are all so degrading.
Let me tell you over and over and over again, my friend
Financially, we’re on the eve of destruction.
Think of all our debt that is now owned by China
They could buy, sell and trade all of California
Obama and Bush, both so much to blame
They seem to think this all just a game
Rich versus poor, it’s all starting to foment
All pols are all to blame for this predicament
I still love my country but loathe its government.
Let me tell you over and over and over again, my friend
Financially, we’re on the eve of destruction.


The Original Lyrics:


The eastern world it is exploding’
Violence flarin‘, bullets loadin’
You’re old enough to kill but not for voting’
You don’t believe in war, what’s that gun you’re totin‘?
And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin’.
.But you tell me over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction.
Don’t you understand, what I’m trying to say?
Can’t you see the fear that I’m feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there’s no running away
There’ll be no one to save you with the world in a grave
Take a look around you, boy, it’s bound to scare you, boy.
But you tell me over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction.
Yeah, my blood’s so mad, feels like coagulation
I’m sitting here, just contemplatin’I can’t twist the truth, it know no regulation
Handful of Senators don’t pass legislation
And marches alone don’t bring integration
When human respect is disintegratin’
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin’.
And you tell me over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction.
Thing of all the hate there is in Red China
Then take a look around at Selma, Alabama
Ah, you may leave here for four days in space
But when you return it’s the same old place
The poundin’ of the drums, the pride and disgrace
You can bury your dead, but don’t leave a trace
Hate your next door neighbor but don’t forget to say grace.
And let me tell you over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don’t believe you’re on the eve of destruction.




Our New book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Retro #6: Historical Politica Quotes, Contemporary Political Crises

Due to massive family obligations in the short term, time will be at a premium for the next few days. Thus, rather than rush through new posts, I am taking the opportunity to do a "best of" series of past posts. These "retro posts" have been the most popular posts in this blog from the past year or so. All of them have been viewed hundreds of times and seem to have made a connection to our readers vs. other posts and topics. Please enjoy them again or for the first time.


A little quiz on quotes relating to politics in America, try to figure out who said it and when they said it:


1) In reference to why political parties have lost the confidence of the public: "Their machinery of intrigue, their shuffling evasions, the dodges. the chicanery, and the deception of their leaders have excited universal disgust, and have created a general readiness in the public mind for any new organization that shall promise to shun their vices."

2) Also in reference to why political parties have lost the confidence of the public: people "saw parties without any...difference contending for power, for the sake of power. They saw politics made a profession, and public plunder an employment. They beheld our public works the plaything of a rotten dynasty, enriching gamblers, and purchasing power at our expense."

3) "It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except for Congress."

4) "The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employees, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy."

5) "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies."

6) "An election cannot give the country a firm sense of direction if it has two or more national parties which merely have different names but are as alike in their principles and aims as two peas in a pod."

Great quotes, all of them. Unfortunately, it seems as if we are living everyone one of them today. The interesting thing is that these quotes are quite historical, not contemporary:

1) According to the Real Politics website, this quote was from the book, "The Origins of the Republican Party" by William E. Gienapp and the quote is dated from 1855. The New York Times called it "dodges", today we call it "spin doctoring." The Times called it "universal disgust," we call it having Congressional approval ratings around only 20%. The Times called it "chicanery", we call it a variety of names including earmarks and outright corruption. It is remarkable how closely a quote from 155 years ago captures the nightmare we are living through today with our political class.

2) This quote is also from Gienapp, also from 1855, and it appeared in the New York Evening Post. This also captures our current state of political affairs. We also see most of our politicians vying only for power, not for the opportunity to make the country better. With their high salaries, great benefits, many, many perks, our current day politicians fit the Post's description that politicians "saw politics made a profession, and public plunder an employment."

Without term limits, our politicians see being elected not as a service to the nation but as a life time job. And their gerrymandering Congressional districts, rigging campaign finance laws, and handing out taxpayer dollars as earmarks allows them to ensure perpetual re-election, regardless of the quality of their work.

3) This third quote is from Mark Twain and is obviously well over a hundred years old. However, even back then he realized that the power allocated to politicians many times results in outright criminal behavior. Congressmen Traficant, Jefferson, Cunningham and other Congressional politicians have served time due to their corrupt and unlawful behavior while in office. How many former Illinois governors have either served prison time, are currently serving time, or are aggressively trying not to serve prison time?

Charles Rangel and Maxine Walters, two current members of Congress, are likely to face a House Of Representatives trial within the next few months on ethics and corruption charges. The House ethics office has investigated or is currently investigating potential crimes by other members of Congress. The more you list out what has happened to our contemporary politicians, you marvel at how right Mark Twain may have been way back when.

4) This quote is from Woodrow Wiilson who said it early in the last century. At that time, he realized the influence that non-voting entities can and do have on government functions and corruption. Wilson called them "special interests," we call them lobbyists.

5) My source attributed this quote to Groucho Marx and is likely more than fifty years old also. Back then, even comedians like Groucho recognized that politicians were not any good at identifying the root causes of problems, if a problem even existed, and then putting together a coherent, efficient and cost effective plan to solve that problem. Our politicians are no different:

- Nixon declared War On Drugs in the 1960s and we are no closer today to having a coherent national drug strategy and policy than the day he declared war.

- Carter muddled through the oil crises in the 1970s and we are no closer to having a coherent, national energy strategy and policy than we were when we waited in long lines at gas stations.

- Reagan identified the problems with public education with a Presidential Commission in 1983 and 27 years later, U.S. public schools badly trail many, many other nations in the education of their children.

- Clinton presided through numerous terrorist attacks including the first World Trade Center bombing and the African embassy bombings and never came up with a coherent terror defense policy and strategy, resulting in the death of almost 3,000 Americans on 9-11.

- Over the years over 10 million illegal aliens have come across our borders with no politician able to come up with a coherent immigration strategy and plan.

Unfortunately, Groucho was right back then and he would be right today if he saw the incompetence of today's politicians.

6) This last quote is from Franklin Delano Roosevelt and is at least 65 years old. When you really come down to it, are the Republican politicians much different from the Democrats? Sure they pick their friends and identify their enemies, e.g. Republicans are generally pro-life and pro-guns while Democrats are generally pro-choice and anti-guns. But when you look at their records, neither party has accomplished much of anything positive over the past fifty years. Just look at what we listed above under Groucho's quote: no solutions to the drug, immigration, terrorist, public school and energy problems. The only reason they pick their friends is to get money to finance their constant re-election, not to solve any meaningful problems.

While Obama the candidate promised change you can believe in, Obama the President is hardly any different than Bush. Obama drew down U.S. forces in Iraq but it was on the timetable Bush established. Bush set up the terrorist prison in Guantanamo and so far, Obama has kept it open. Our border still leaks illegal immigrants and we still have no new policy or plan for energy or public schooling. Bush enacted the Patriot Act and Obama basically rubber stamped its renewal.

Gay rights are no further along under Obama than under Bush and the amount of earmarks in our national budget is as high under Obama as under Bush. The only significant difference between Bush and Obama is that the Obama administration has run up spending deficits orders of magnitude higher than Bush.

This is why the whole area of U.S. politics can get so depressing. the incompetence and corruption we face today appears to have been going on for a long, long time. The only difference may be is that government is so much larger, wasteful, and intrusive then it was in 1855 or when Twain, Roosevelt, Marx, and Wilson spoke their quotes above. That is why we need to find a way to start shrinking the size of government immediately in order to start cutting back on the corruption and waste that apparently is inherent in the genes of all politicians:

- Step 1 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" would start the government shrinkage process by reducing all government functions and budgets by 10% a year for the next five years.

- Step 5 would step up fraud and corruption activities in all government areas, hopefully including the investigation of fraud and corruption form our elected officials.

- Step 39 would implement term limits for all politicians in order to avoid the problem discussed in the Post quote above, i.e. politics should not be a profession, it should be a temporary calling and service calling.

- Steps 23 to 29 provide a process for systematically attacking and solving the problems that politicians have been unable to solve with their own capabilities and intelligence including drugs, energy, schooling, and immigration.










Our new book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respectfreedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

www.cato.org
www.reason.com
www.robertringer.com
www.flipcongress2010.com
www.realpolichick.blogspot.com

Retro #5 - Nancy Pelosi: Comedy Central or SyFy Channel?

Due to massive family obligations in the short term, time will be at a premium for the next week or so. Thus, rather than rush through new posts, I am taking the opportunity to do a "best of" series of past posts. These "retro posts" have been the most popular posts in this blog from the past year or so. All of them have been viewed hundreds of times and seem to have made a connection to our readers vs. other posts and topics. Please enjoy them again or for the first time.


Two ideas come together for the last post of 2010. The first is the Twilight Zone television marathon that is going on today and tomorrow on the SyFy channel. This channel does this marathon every year and it never ceases to entertain as it looks into the possibility of alien life, different dimensions and strange and eerie situations. The second factor of today's post is the fact that within hours, Nancy Pelosi will no longer by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Both of which raises the question: if Nancy Pelosi and her term as Speaker was a television show, would she more likely be on Comedy Central or the SyFy channel along with the other Twilight Zone episodes? Before giving my opinion, consider some of the following quotes, theories, and economic understandings of Nancy Pelosi, listed below along with their YouTube verification, if available:

1) The first quote puts the Twilight Zone in the early lead where the Speaker lays out how economics works in her world. According to the quote and her understanding of basic economic theory, the more people that are unemployed in this country and the more people that collect unemployment benefits, the more jobs there will be. You cannot make this stuff up. Thus, in her world, if everyone was unemployed, more and more jobs would be created. But everyone would be unemployed so who would fill the newly created jobs? Reasoning certainly not of this world.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omxdAj8zui6ss&feature=related

2) Continuing along this same twilight zone economic logic, the Speaker also believes that food stamps are a better economic stimulus than tax cuts. Thus, why not give everyone food stamps, not just the unemployed, doesn't it seem to reason that the economy would be so much better off? We would all be fat and well stocked in food (unless you lived in California where food stamp budget dollars could be used for cigarettes, casino gambling and just about anything else until recently), and it would get rid of those pesky tax cuts. Americans might spend that tax cut money on actual stuff that THEY needed and wanted, not what the government wanted them to spend it on, and we cannot have that kind of rampant freedom going on under this administration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?mxQuDtF1ZM&feature=related

3) Before the massive budget busting economic stimulus bill was passed, Ms. Pelosi was so funny when she said that she would not allow any extraneous or nonessential programs to be loaded onto the economic stimulus legislation. Either she was not able to attain that objective or she considers funding research of insects on an island off the coast of Africa as essential for job creation, she considers replacing windows in a closed and extinct visitor's center at Mt. Saint Helen's essential for job creation, she considers the replacing of windows in a Wyoming Catholic church as essential for job creation (I never knew window replacement could be such a great economic stimulus), she considers replacing a heating system in an Indiana Methodist church as essential for job creation, you get the message. It was a ludicrous statement to make, given the hundreds of billions of dollars of waste that unfolded. A vote for Comedy Central.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwMHH2ONtbw&feature=related

4) In Ms. Pelosi's world, the counting system is entirely different, if you believe her numbers. In the following YouTube clip, the frantic Speaker boldly states that every week, 500 million more Americans lose their jobs. In our world, there are only about 308 million total Americans in the country, including kids and infants, making it impossible for 500 million Americans to lose their jobs in one week, never mind many weeks. However, in her world, the counting process must be different in order to count 500 million job losses a week. Twilight Zone material.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UR5M5teyQ0

5) At the height of the raging debate over the massive overhaul of the health care industry in this country, the Speaker was quoted in a USA Today column where she stated that any citizen who disagrees with the proposed legislation is "un-American." Definitely Twlight Zone material. In my America, citizens are allowed to have a difference of opinion with their politicians and to debate and discuss the pros and cons of their positions without fear that the political class, who rule only because we allow them to rule, will brand them and threaten them for simply disagreeing. In Ms. Pelosi's totalitarian world, freedom to dissent and have an honest difference of opinion is forbidden and viewed as an unpatriotic act.

6) Ms. Pelosi declared, upon her coronation as Speaker in 2007, that no additional government spending would be approved in her Congress unless corresponding budget cuts could be made elsewhere in the Federal budget to offset the additional spending.

However, in four short years, her Congressional reign managed to increase the Federal national debt four TRILLION dollars. In other words, she increased the Federal debt burden on every American family by about $35,000. This goes far beyond SyFy. It belongs on a horror only channel, given the recklessness and treasonous spending behavior of Congress over the past four years, spending that got the American public nothing in return.

7) "But we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy." These were Ms. Pelosi's words and justification for passing the over 2,000 page legislation to reform America's health care industry. Let's follow this logic: you (citizens) are too stupid to understand what is in the bill until after we pass it. Do they want us to just trust them? This from a Speaker of the House that claimed there would not be any wasteful spending projects in the economic stimulus bill and look what happened. This from a Speaker who said we are losing over 500 million jobs a week. This from a Speaker that claimed the national debt would not go up. We are to trust our politicians, politicians that have not track record of trust and honesty and an approval rating of only about 20%?

8) Given all of the problems above, you do have to give Ms. Pelosi credit for one moment of sanity. In the following clip she agrees with most of America, namely that Congress has done nothing worthwhile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hbuph-qHdc&feature=related

So let's review. As Nancy Pelosi leaves her position as Speaker of the House, what is her legacy? The major problems facing American families, including drug addiction, failing public schools, terrorism, a rationale and cost effective health care reform effort, an effective national energy policy, and the illegal immigration that streams over our southern border have not even been seriously discussed, never mind solved. The national debt burden has increased dramatically under her watch.

Her understanding of economics, or lack of understanding, has resulted in legislation such as Cash For Clunkers, Cash For Caulkers, Cash For Appliances, Home Mortgage Relief, First Time Home Buyers Credit and other economic incentive programs that resulted in high and stubborn unemployment, a disastrous housing and mortgage industry, and more national debt. It has been a Keystone Kop approach to serious economic policy.

If the above disasters were not so serious they would be as funny as the quotes above and would fit right into Comedy Central. However, the issues facing the country are serious and it puts Ms. Pelosi's tenure over on the SyFy channel along side the Twilight Zone. How much stranger and scarier could our political class get? Hopefully, this is not un-American to think this way.

Post script:  Since this post originally ran on December 31, 2010, Ms. Pelosi has continued to astound us with her behavior and quotes. When House Democrats decide to honor her with a proclamation after she stopped being Speaker Of The House, listing out her accomplishments as Speaker, Ms. Pelosi insisted that she have edit rights over what the proclamation said. Funny, funny stuff, some co-workers want to honor you and you insist what words they use.


A month or so ago, Ms. Pelosi issued these words at Tufts University: "But the fact is that elections shouldn't matter as much as they do."  This is definitely SyFy channel stuff. The primary vehicle for freedom in this country is our election process. However, an important player within the political class and the government it runs, Nancy Pelosi, thinks that elections, and in turn, our freedoms, should not matter as much as they do. Very scary, definitely Twilight Zone material, the twilight and ebbing our freedom if Pelosi has anything to do with it.




Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.


Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment.org

Retro #4, George Orwell, Doublethink, and Today's Politicians

Due to massive family obligations in the short term, time will be at a premium for the next week or so. Thus, rather than rush through new posts, I am taking the opportunity to do a "best of" series of past posts. These "retro posts" have been the most popular posts in this blog from the past year or so. All of them have been viewed hundreds of times and seem to have made a connection to our readers vs. other posts and topics. Please enjoy them again or for the first time.


I am a big fan of George Orwell's classic Novel, "1984." I think he was a great writer and a better prognosticator since many of the predictions he made on "1984" of how democracies would die are actually unfolding today, throughout the world and throughout America.

One of the concepts he talks about is "doublethink" which he defines as the ability "to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them." If a leader can establish doublethink in the minds of his followers, then the credibility of that leader will never be questioned since whatever he says is right, doublethink suppresses free thought and free will.

I was thinking of how proud Orwell would be of our current day political class. Many examples abound of how our politicians and the government they run can implement two contradictory programs and never once stop to consider the incongruity and disconnect between the two programs. Consider:

- One of the leading drivers of escalating health care costs in this country is the poor eating habits and exercise habits of many Americans, leaving them overweight and susceptible to many diseases. In fact, one of the main activities of Michele Obama since coming to Washington has been to work hard to reduce the obesity problem plaguing many, many kids in this country. One of the efforts that both Ms. Obama is pushing, along with other parts of the government, including the Agriculture Department, is to reduce the amount of saturated fat that Americans eat, encouraging us to move towards low fat milk and other low fat dairy products.

This all sounds good. However, consider an organization called Dairy Management, as described in a November 8, 2010 New York Times article. Dairy Management is financed by a government mandated fee on the dairy industry and receives millions of dollars a year directly from the budget of the Agricultural Department. The Agriculture Department sits on Dairy Management's board, approves its marketing campaigns, and interfaces with Congress on its work. But Dairy Management recently worked with Domino's Pizza to develop a new line of pizza offerings. These new pies had 40% more cheese and Dairy Management helped develop and pay for the associated $12 million marketing campaign.

But wait. Each slice of these new pizzas contains as much as two thirds of a person's daily recommended amount of saturated fat, which has been linked to heart disease and other diseases. Thus, our government is telling people to eat better and reduce the amount of unsaturated fat in their diets while they are funding support for private companies to put more saturated fat back into Americans' diets. The particularly ironic part of this Domino's example is that I would assume that kids are high pizza eaters, the same type of Americans that Michele Obama is trying to get healthy. Doublethink in the Agriculture Department - eat healthier but don't eat healthier.

- There has been a lot of hype lately regarding all electric cars, some of which will be available shortly for consumer use, e.g. General Motors' Volt. The hope behind electric cars is that they will not spew out pollutants like the gasoline internal combustion engine, improving the environment, and will help wean us from dependency on foreign energy sources. Our political class is so excited about the future of electric cares that, according to an electric car article that was in the October 9, 2010 issue of The Economist magazine, you can get up to a $7,500 subsidy rebate from the U.S. government if you purchase one.

Sounds like a great deal. Get taxpayer money to buy a new car while helping the environment. But, are these vehicles really helping the environment? While the car itself is less polluting, the energy creation needed to generate the electricity to power these cars will increase. In the United States, we get a lot of our electrical power from coal electric plants, which are not the cleanest producers of electricity from an environmental perspective. Thus, we need to find a way to reduce the amount of coal created electricity if the potential of electric cars is to be fulfilled.

But, according to a Washington Post article from May 14, 2007, the government's National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, another Agriculture Department effort, plans to spend $35 billion over the next decade to help build conventional coal electricity plants. More doublethink in the Agriculture Department - the government hands out taxpayer funds for the purchase of electric cars to clean up the environment but uses other taxpayer money to dirty up the environment with coal electricity plants to power the cleaner electric cars.

- Over the past sixty years, the United States has probably spent hundreds of billions of dollars supporting the security and prosperity of South Korea. We fought on South Korea's side, defending them from North Korean and Chinese troops in the Korean war, we provided aid for the recovery, and have stationed tens of thousands of troops in the country since the end of that war. As a result, the South Korean economy has grown into one of the strongest in the world. Besides providing a security cover for their economy to blossom, we are also an important trading partner and market for their companies.

Recently, our State Department has been working to generate support for economic sanctions against the Iranian government in retaliation for the Iranians supposedly developing a nuclear weapon technology. The State Department strategy is to make life so uncomfortable for the Iranian people and government that they will become less likely to develop a nuclear bomb capability.

So what do the South Korean do relative to Iran? According to an article in the October 9, 2010 issue of The Economist magazine, South Korea still wants to protect its annual $10 billion trade volumes with Iran so it recently signed a deal with Iran so that Korean and Iranian business partners could settle trade accounts via a special facility established in two Korean banks and in Korean currencies. State Department doublethink: South Korea is our ally even though they go out of their way to bypass the very sanctions the State Department wants to impose on Iran.

- For years now, the Federal government has subsidized American corn farmers, recently to the tune of $7 billion a year, enticing them to grow more corn, which is eventually turned into ethanol. The ethanol is then added to our national gasoline supply to theoretically extend our gasoline supplies, reduce our dependency on foreign oil and clean up the environment by burning more ethanol and less gasoline.

But the inconvenient truth is that none of the benefits never really materialized and additional problems were created. Since ethanol contains significantly less energy potential than gasoline, more gasoline has to be burned to make up for the energy loss when burning ethanol. According to Robert Bryce of the National Review Online, studies have shown that ethanol use as a motor vehicle fuel increases nitrogen oxides and other key pollutants by 7% over gasoline and also corrodes the fuel lines of older cars and other engines.

According to Cornell Professor David Pimentel, as covered in the energy policy section of "Love My Country, Loathe My Government," corn ethanol is a terrible fuel. It diverts corn crops from the food chain to the energy chain, increasing food costs, it takes a terrible toll on the soil environment, and it is a net user of energy, i.e. it uses more energy to produce than it creates.

Sounds horrible: bad fuel economy, air pollution, soil pollution, bad economics, etc. So what is the political class about to do? According to Mr. Bryce, President Obama recently announced that his administration was going to allow the blend of gasoline to ethanol, currently 90/10, to rise to 85/15. He did this as a favor to the corn industry which has more ethanol distillery capacity than it needs. Energy Department doublethink: using ethanol in a 90/10 mixture is a bad thing to do but moving to an 85/25 mixture is a good thing.

- According to a November 8, 2010 Associated Press report, our war effort in Afghanistan faces a dire shortage of 900 trainers and not enough Afghan officers in the race to build up a viable native Afghan fighting force, which would allow NATO and the United States to get its troops out of the country as soon as possible. According to the recent report, the head of the training operation in the country said that if these trainers are not brought on board soon, the July, 2011 pulldown date of American forces is not going to happen.

Training challenges include a high illiteracy rate among Army and police forces (over 90%), high corruption among the officer ranks, and high levels of attrition (which I think is the code word for desertion.) Nine years after we entered Afghanistan, these elementary problems have not been addressed.

Since this situation is critical to successfully ending our occupation and expense of Afghanistan, one would have hoped that every effort and resource would be used to fill this training need. However, a November 4, 2010 article in the St. Petersburg Times reported that the U.S. government will spend over a half a billion taxpayer dollars to expand its embassy in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul. How many trainers do you think $511 million could buy? How many Afghanistan police officers and soldiers could be made semi-literate, enough so that they became good soldiers?

Thus, we have some Obama administration doublethink going on: we want to get out of Afghanistan as quickly as possible, our number one priority, we need a 50% increase in military trainers, 900 additional trainers, to make that happen, but we will lavishly spend resources to expand a single building complex in the capital. This is a major disconnect in logic: if we cannot produce a viable native fighting force via training, who cares how big or how nice the U.S. embassy is? It will eventually be occupied by the Taliban.

Fix the root cause of the problem, the Afghan military, don't try to convince yourselves that both the military readiness and a single building are equally important. A non-doublethink approach would devote some of that $511 million to the training issue since that would recognize the vastly different priorities and importance at play here.

I am sure that you can find government and political class doublethink examples all around you. Sometimes doublethink happens because we have allowed the a Federal government to get so large that one part of it does not know what the other parts of the government are doing. One part wants to reduce pollution by promoting electric cars while another part subsidizes coal burning electric plants that dirty up the air. One part of the government wants Americans kids and adults to get healthy by eating low fat foods while another part, in this case within the same Cabinet Department (Agriculture), helps Domino's Pizza get more fatty, cheesy pizza into Americans' diets.

Sometimes doublethink happens because no one in the political class prioritizes needs and importance, e.g. the wasting of millions of dollars dressing up an embassy when military trainers, vital to our military success, go wanting. Other times politicians do doublethink to please their election campaign donors, e.g. corn farmers who get favorable treatment from the political class, even though those in the political class know that the favorable treatment is not good economically or environmentally.

Whatever the reasons underlying the doublethink situation, you can bet that the American taxpayer is footing an unnecessary bill. That is why Step 1 of "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" is so important. The Step itself calls for an annual 10% reduction in the federal government budget for five years. One way to accomplish this reduction, according Step 1, is to do a bottoms up, zero based budget review. Every government program, law, department, expenditure, etc. would be on the table, stripped down to it's core function and mission in order to look for redundancies and doublethink situations, like the Dairy Management situation described above.

Only then can we rationalize what we are paying for, why we are paying for it, should we be paying for it, and not paying for it if not worthwhile. Hopefully, once our politicians had far less government to think about and to track, they could focus much more closely on a smaller set of priorities, identifying wasteful doublethink quicker and more efficiently. Think about that wonderful goal: a quicker and more efficient government run operation. A government that has retired Orwell's concept of doublethink from our world forever.





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