Thursday, October 30, 2008

Struggling Lower-Class Still Unsure How Best To Fuck Selves With Vote

WASHINGTON--As election day nears, millions of the nation's poorest voters have reportedly yet to settle on the most profound and enduring...

http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/daily/~3/437197177/struggling_lower_class

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Sowell: A Perfect Storm

An economic crisis. A war for our culture's survival. Will Americans really vote now for symbolism and style over substance?

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTY3MzcyNjA3NjJmZTk0Zjc5ODBhMmI1ZDFhNjJlZGQ=

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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Muslims In Belgium Seek To Form Own Party

Muslim immigrants in Belgium are compiling a list of candidates to run in the country's 2012 elections, with the aim of establishing an Islamic party.
The new party&#039;s platform will include helping immigrants, particularly Muslim ...<br>October 28, 2008, 12:04 pm

http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/10924.htm

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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Defining Problems With Socialism For The Post-Cold War Generation

Election '08: John McCain has finally called Barack Obama's agenda by its proper name. But if he assumes voters understand what he means when he...

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InvestorsBusinessDailyOpinion/~3/dZzJqOWt3LA/EditorialContent.asp

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“Go Fail, Young Man!”

<p>An end to failure seems to be the new American creed of the twentieth-first century. If you were on Wall Street, and bought and sold subprime mortgage paper, gambled on derivatives, garnered spectacular bonuses as you piled up debt—and then helped to bankrupt your investment company—the government was often there to ensure that your past profits were your own, and your present failures everyone else's. In our brave new world, no one took too many millions he didn't earn, or was a fool who squandered someone else's 401(k)s. Instead, nebulous forces, not real people, did this, and so an equally nebulous "government" must set things right.</p>
<p>If you were a federal banking bureaucrat at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and enriched yourself by cooking the books under the politically-correct cover of putting the poor and unprivileged in homes of their own—at the cost of ruining hallowed institutions— then no problem: you failed; others cleaned up your mess; while you sought refuge in victimhood with millions in past bonuses.</p>
<p>For much of the 1990s, the Big Three auto companies preached the gospel of let the market adjudicate popular tastes in automobiles, when warned that their big-profit Tahoes, Yukons, Hummers, and Escalades might make both America more vulnerable to foreign oil spikes and themselves at the mercy of a sudden radical shift to small cars should gas prices ever rise.</p>
<p>Then energy prices spiked. Consumers did not want any more 15-mpg behemoths. Cars went unsold—and Detroit then asked for, and received, a bailout guarantee to cover their own failures. We never heard that the CEOs, the marketers, the advertisers, and the designers failed—only that union health care costs, or market forces, or consumer choices did the automakers in, and thus the government had to intercede to save automakers from themselves</p>
<p>But at the other end of the spectrum, failure is becoming just as obsolete. We are told hourly that millions of Americans have lost their homes, rarely that 94% of home debtors continue to pay their monthly mortgages. And there is almost no information given on how or why those who defaulted walked away? Did at least a few buy a house who had no business taking on a mortgage? Did at least some wish to speculate, buy property, flip it, and profit in a perceived permanently bullish housing market? Did some others take out second and third mortgages to expand their consumer spending and hope to make it deductible on their income taxes? Did others still simply make a business decision to walk away from a freely incurred debt that proved larger than the falling equity in their homes?</p>
<p>Yet it seems to matter little how these mortgages failed, since both political parties are now outbidding each other to offer some sort of debt relief, mortgage reduction, or suspension on foreclosures. Indeed, no one failed at all—"they" (fill in the blanks with "the banks", "the economy" or "George Bush") caused the defaults, and so "they" should make it right.</p>
<p>Listen to almost any Congressman, or tune in to radio ads, and rather quickly you will hear a plan to bail out those with onerous credit card debt. No one dares to ask anymore what was charged on the Visa or Mastercharge. Were such debts always heart operations or food purchases to stave off hunger, rather than an occasional plasma television, video game, or vacation? Instead, the failure to pay one's debts is assumed again to be the fault of someone else.</p>
<p>The message in all of these cases is now becoming unmistakable: if you are hyper-wealthy, gamble with someone else's money, and lose big-time, then the government will cover your losses. Or better yet, work for a quasi-government agency where the bonuses are yours, while the losses belong to the public. If you build the wrong car, and bet wrongly on the future price on gas, then your successful gambles make you rich, and in times of miscalculation your government covers your losses. And if you buy a house beyond your means, or decide it makes no sense to pay off the mortgage, then someone or something, not you, failed to honor your debt.</p>
<p>But what happens if you are not enormously rich and not rather poor—and, worse still, made the ethical, but old-fashioned decision to pay your debts and not default on what you owe others?</p>
<p>Let us hope that you do not make over $250,000 like many family physicians, small business owners, or restaurateurs. You are way too big to be part of the fifty percent of wage owners who would, under the Obama tax plan, not only be excused from income taxes, but in many cases receive a check from the government.</p>
<p>You are also way too small to be a corporation in need of a bailout, or a megafarm that needs more agricultural subsidies. Instead, as a reward for belonging to the 4% who pay 60% of the nation's income taxes, and working industriously to achieve an enviable income, you may well soon pay between 60% and 65%—or more— of your gross income in state income, federal income, Medicare, and social security payroll, taxes. And you will be considered the suspect "rich" and then told it is "patriotic" to "spread the [rather than your] wealth around." Nor can you sigh that your tax liability will ensure that the deficit disappears—not when another trillion dollars in federal entitlements are promised by would-be President Obama.</p>
<p>In the mid-nineteenth century, young people of industry and vision were advised "Go West, Young Man!" Today we might instead suggest "Just Fail!"</p>


http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/%e2%80%9cgo-fail-young-man%e2%80%9d/

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Monday, October 27, 2008

Steyn: Point of No Return

Obama's path of personal glory has been, in terms of policy and philosophy, the path of least resistance.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Nzk5MWY5YjU0MDI0ODFkYTZjMDQ2MjlhZDM0MjAwNTA=

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Friday, October 24, 2008

McCain for President

Contrarian that I am, I'm voting for John McCain. I'm not talking about bucking the polls or the media consensus that it's over before it's over. I'm talking about bucking the rush of wet-fingered conservatives leaping to Barack Obama before they're left out in the cold without a single state dinner for the next four years.

http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/~r/wp-dyn/rss/linkset/2005/03/24/LI2005032401690_xml/~3/pU151dGWrYU/AR2008102302867.html

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Thursday, October 23, 2008

Hero

Everybody say Hi to my good friend Capt Ben Stoner. He is in Baghdad for a year. We wish you good luck and God speed home Ben!
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"Spread the Wealth" this Halloween

From a reader:
Larry,

Halloween is coming up, and with it comes a great opportunity for parents to show their kids how the world really works, with the added bonus of touching on current political and economic themes. When their kids get back from trick-or-treating, parents should take 30% or so off the top as "income taxes." (I did this last year – the reaction on my kids' faces was priceless. I didn't have the heart to keep it, though.) Then, parents can take another 5% or so to bail out kids who've already eaten their candy, and another 5% or so to "spread the wealth" to kids who didn't go trick or treating. Then, parents can take away anything that's left that has transfats, and some more to sell to offset the carbon produced in the candymaking. When the kids complain, the parents can tell them that they can go out and collect some more –except that since the kids are already "rich" with candy, the marginal rate on any additional candy they bring home will go up from 30% to, say, 50%.


http://kudlowsmoneypolitics.blogspot.com/2008/10/spread-wealth-this-halloween.html

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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Trick or....

This gives a new spin to the term 'smashed pumpkins'! Happy Halloween!
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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Steyn: Joe the Plumber vs. Joe the Hair-Plugger

Obama's still willing to talk to Ahmadinejad without preconditions. But never again will he talk to Joe the Plumber without preconditions.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTUzMWU1ZDExNzM5ZDFkZmIyMDYxYTk3ZjhjYTdlZjI=

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Friday, October 17, 2008

Southern Sheriff Pulls Over Obama Campaign Bus For Broken Taillight

FOXWORTH, MS&mdash;Addressing him as "Barry," the sheriff told Obama that "someone 'bout his height, 'bout his skin color knocked out a Piggly Wiggly a coupla hours ago."<img src="http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/daily/~4/423715782" height="1" width="1"/>

http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/daily/~3/423715782/southern_sheriff_pulls_over_obama

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Hawaii Ending Universal Child Health Care After 7 Mos.

Hawaii is dropping the only state universal child health care program in the country just seven months after it launched.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,439607,00.html

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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Lessons Learned Part 2

1. Real equality before the law runs contrary to our government's tendency to promote equality of result. Democracy runs best when general legal principles are applied and adhered to at all times. Socialism runs best when eclectic, arbitrary rules are passed to address current social problems.

2. A socialist government, due to the prominence of planning, becomes anything but impartial.

3. Morality to socialists is one's subservience to government policies, whether these are actually moral or not!

4. By judging a governments' actions as viable due to legislative consent instead of the Rule of Law, invites tyranny to creep into legitimacy.

5. Socialism tends to install itself when a government invests tremendous powers in agencies, boards, etc. with no caps on regulation.
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Lessons Learned.

Here are a few interesting bits of info I picked up while reading "The Road to Serfdom" by F A Hayek:
1. Socialism is the pet project of frustrated idealists who use look upon democracy and capitalism as impediments to planning for the common good.

2. Socialism inevitably leads to authoritarianism due to the need for uninhibited social planning.

3. As a society evolves and gets more complex, the greatest asset for its' flourishment is NOT increased central planning, but increased decentralized democratic capitalism. It is foolish to think a small body of experts can conceive of a planning system more responsive to socio-economic needs than that produced by a free market.

4. There is a fine line between the saint campaigning on social reform for the common good and the fanatic who believes in authoritarian power to impose his programs.

5. Collectivism is the death knell of capitalism.

6. Socialism is often introduced as 'our only option' in dealing with emergencies.

7. Socialism requires a legal system that operates on political arbitrariness instead of moral judgements and strict interpretation. There are no absolutes, just malleable decisions designed to effect a certain group at a specific time.
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Beware of Idealists!

"The hopes they (social planners & Idealists) place in planning, however, are the result not of a comprehensive view of society but rather of a very limited view and often the result of a great exaggeration of the importance of the ends they place foremost. [I]t would make the very men who are most anxious to plan society the most dangerous if they were allowed to do so. From the saintly and single-minded idealist to the fanatic is often but a step."

Frederich Hayek
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Woman, 90, Dies After Crashing New Sports Car! Are you kidding me?

A 90-year-old woman was killed when she lost control of her new sports car and slammed into a pole, officials in Florida said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,437522,00.html

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Monday, October 13, 2008

Steyn: The Indefinable Barack Obama

That big empty hole in the heart of the Obama logo will not stay blank for long.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzFiZDgzZDY0ZTUzMTY2NjI2MzQwZmQzZTdjNDNiMzE=

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Financial Planner Advises Shorter Life Span

This is what things might come to:

TUCSON, AZ&mdash;After reviewing his client's income, assets, and personal budget Tuesday, Morgan Stanley financial adviser Henry Dalton...<img src="http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/daily/~4/419609798" height="1" width="1"/>

http://feeds.theonion.com/~r/theonion/daily/~3/419609798/financial_planner_advises

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Poor guy!

It looks like my boy is a little backed up!
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Saturday, October 11, 2008

Trick or Treat will be tough this year!

Too bad they're not former CEOs of Freddie Mac.
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Friday, October 10, 2008

If only he knew!

The question is: are services being offered or requested?
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We give this laurel and hearty handshake to our new....

Can't help but think about that scene from Blazing Saddles when the residents of Rock Ridge hold a welcoming ceremony for their new sheriff, only to learn the Governor had played a nasty trick on them and sent them a black man! I hope the voters on Nov 4th have a similiar epiphany! Hahaha!
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Thursday, October 9, 2008

Fatty want cake!

I recently overheard 3 girls talking about what their favorite things were. When the question turned to favorite fruit, one of the girls in the trio (who was quite rotund for her she) responded "Pineapple upside down cake!" Can't say I didn't see that coming!
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Demonizing Deregulation

Legal minds know better than anyone what clamping down on Wall Street will mean.

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=14018

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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Growing evidence of our financial troubles!

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Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Sowell: The Real Obama

Jeremiah Wright, Father Michael Pfleger, William Ayers, and Antoin Rezko are not just people who happened to be at the same place at the same time as Barack Obama.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZmM1NzBkNGI4MGRkZjFmOTg4ZjU3ODVjNmE5ZGM0OGI=

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Saturday, October 4, 2008

Steyn: With a Wink and a Smile

Palin sounded like the citizen-politician this countrys Founders intended.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZmNjYTc3NzFiZGU1NjM2YmQ3NmMzNTM3NjJlNGMzMjU=

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The Dems did it!

Exclusive: Henry Lamb blames meltdown on Clinton-era policy of lending to credit risks

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=76922

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What Obama means for our military!

Social engineering is not cheap! So move over GWT, make your money available for slavery reparations, putting financially strapped citizens in houses they cannot afford, and universal healthcare for you and all illegals!
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Friday, October 3, 2008

De Tocqueville on Socialism.

Democracy extends the sphere of individual freedom, socialism restricts it. Democracy attaches all possible value to each man; socialism makes each man a mere agent, a mere number. Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.
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Thursday, October 2, 2008

Faust, Greenspan and America's financial collapse

Exclusive: Ellis Washington compares 'sell your soul' literary classic to current crisis

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId=76725

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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Middle-Class Warfare

Election '08: Barack Obama accuses John McCain of ignoring the concerns of middle-class Americans. But it's Obama who doesn't really give a hoot...

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?secid=1501&status=article&id=307666870183054&secure=1&show=1&rss=1

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