Thoughts on the Death of a Husband and Father

900-Pound Man Dies after Cut from Chair - Disinformation http://bit.ly/73pTQR
Ever wonder why junk food is so cheap? It's not just "mystery meat" and chemicals. Every "Super-sized" combo in the U.S. is subsidized by the Federal Gov't with U.S. tax dollars. Disinfo - http://bit.ly/84ItWY
The AMA calls obesity "the greatest threat to public health today." What are some of the big solutions?
Tax soda: http://bit.ly/6uD5KO
Menu labeling: http://bit.ly/81sTTb
Stop the subsidies and let the farmers put some variety back in our diet!

Three Feds are Not Better than One

"[The] Senate ... proposed stripping the Federal Reserve of its supervisory powers and creating instead three new federal agencies to police banks, protect consumers and dismantle failing institutions." - http://bit.ly/3prQuE
So that would be three MORE Federal Agencies plus whats left of the Reserve. That is NOT a solution, that is three NEW problems. Just dismantle the Fed and be done with it! - http://bit.ly/10rVql

Serious Like A Heart Attack II: The Prequel

CNSNews.com - Senate Judiciary Chairman Unable to Say Where Constitution Authorizes Congress to Order Americans to Buy Health Insurance http://bit.ly/3Da6U2

That little gem was posted the day before Rep. Pelosi claimed R. U. Sirius gave Congress the authority for the insurance mandate act. Excuse me? No, I'm pretty sure she said "R. U. Sirius." That just makes more sense.

Leahy, whose committee is responsible for vetting Supreme Court nominees, was asked by CNSNews.com where in the Constitution Congress is specifically granted the authority to require that every American purchase health insurance. Leahy answered by saying that “nobody questions” Congress’ authority for such an action.

That's the same answer I would give if asked "Why is everything so screwed up anyway?" Perhaps a more direct question was called for:

What he should have asked was, “Madam Speaker, do you really think the Supreme Court would let you get away with such a blatantly unconstitutional move?” Had he done that, Pelosi could have said, “What a ridiculous question. They always do!” http://bit.ly/P4sBt

Serious like a Heart Attack

CNSNews.com - When Asked Where the Constitution Authorizes Congress to Order Americans To Buy Health Insurance, Pelosi Says: 'Are You Serious?' http://bit.ly/VOfWh

Just two things I want to say here:
1) The final word on interpreting the Constitution will always be from the People.
2) The 'Auto Insurance' argument is irrelevant. Several States may have mandatory Auto insurance laws, but these are not Federal laws. These laws provide no precedent.

G-20: Here to Save the World

A Review of the G-20 Statement http://bit.ly/AvHQ7 via Reason Foundation - Out of Control Policy Blog
Anthony Randazzo compares what the G-20 leaders say to what they have done.

Education, not Litigation!

Education Funding Lawsuit Unlikely to Improve Education Outcomes in California http://bit.ly/BUvtn via Reason Foundation
Lisa Snell of the Reason Foundation "Out of Control Policy Blog" provides a rundown on the effectiveness of "adequacy lawsuits. "

Caring About Health

Image by wstera2 via Flickr

Where the ‘economic argument’ regarding health care reform fails.

Professor Hans-Hermann Hoppe has a great article at Mises Daily: A Four-Step Healthcare Solution. Please give it a read. I am very much in agreement but there is a point I think needs to be addressed in the light of current events.

Points one and two, regarding government licensing and over-regulation of health care providers and the medical industry, are right on the money. Using licensing and regulation to “paper over” the cracks simply doesn’t work. Government intervention does nothing that academic accreditation and consumer watchdog organizations can’t do for themselves.

Point three paints a clear picture of how government interference rewards the irresponsible and breaks the feedback needed to provide quality service. Addressing consumer concerns creates quality service. Defending the irresponsible at the cost of the responsible creates… well you can clearly see what that policy has created.

All of these arguments provide useful talking points on health care reform. But point four has a problem. The unsentimental analysis of the economist simply opens the door to “Death panels will kill my baby” reactions.

Where the logic is true, subsidizing the irresponsible creates a market for irresponsibility, many of the causes for ill-health and infirmity lie far outside the sphere of personal responsibility. Age, for example, or the simple fact that the actions of a few irresponsible people can easily overwhelm the precautions of the responsible.

I personally think the argument for point four is simply the government is incapable of participating in the “care” portion of health care. Any given government policy, no matter how well-intentioned, devolves into a series of detached bureaucratic functionaries matching perfunctory profiles against arcane checklists and stamping “denied” or “approved” in the appropriate box. Those involved with the people themselves become dispensers of '”policy” instead of care.

Private charities can do so much more when people are free to give of their time and resources without interference. People, not “programs” provide real care. That’s what builds community and that’s what creates reform.

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• Urgent Care Required (thehealthcareblog.com)

Nasty, Brutish and Short

Image via Wikipedia

In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes presents a sad picture of the nature of mankind: “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Back in the days of Bellum omnium contra omnes ("the war of all against all") you could define “health care” as a strong arm, a fast mind and a sharp stick. Better sharpen those sticks, folks, it looks like "the war of all against all" is back again.

It seems everybody is plagued by signs and portents of a fascistic coup. Rush Limbaugh is seeing Nazi eagles in the Greek caduceus and Rep. Brian Baird is hiding from brownshirts. Those not seeing apparitions of Hitler (or the Joker) seem to be obsessed with Astroturf.

How will it all end? After all the carefully staged theatrics and “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” orations are at an end, Pres. Obama will warm up the Executive Pen and sign off on his own Healthcare Package, making it an Executive Order. This will be followed quickly by a stern, fatherly speech on the theme of “Now look what you made me do.”

The skies will part, angels will sing and the Republican Brownshirts will be taken up by the Rapture. Democrats will raise high their Nazi Caduceii(?) and align with the Planetary Intelligence. The rest of us will bear witness to the Miracle of Astroturf turned to (purely medicinal) Marijuana.

The petty bickering will cease and the output of carbon dioxide will suddenly drop by two-thirds, quickly killing most plant life. The death of most animal species (us included) will follow soon after. Better sharpen those sticks.

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California Legislature Surrenders Database

"Settling a lawsuit with political-watchdog and open-records groups, (California) state officials have agreed to provide a computer database for tracking thousands of legislative votes." http://bit.ly/2AoCYG

Blogola: The FTC Takes On Paid Posts - BusinessWeek

The Federal Trade Commission wants bloggers to disclose when they've been wooed with cash or freebies from companies they cover

read more | digg story

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What to do when you're stopped by police along the road

What should you do if you're traveling along the highways, and have an unplanned meeting with the forces of law and order? Several organizations concerned with protecting and expanding individual rights have created resources useful in just such situations.

read more | digg story

Buy USA Program puts US Workers Out of Work

"You need to tell me how inhibiting business between two companies located one mile apart is going to save American jobs," said Bob Miller, Duferco Farrell's executive vice president. "I've got 600 United Steel Workers out there who are going to lose their jobs because of this. And you tell me this is good for America?"

read more | digg story

California Election Measures Fail to Address State's Problem

Californians already pay some of the highest taxes in the nation. Imposing ever more taxes--like the $16 billion in additional taxes that Proposition 1A would authorize--to support the state's spending binge won't solve the structural deficit, and will only erode California's already poor business climate...

read more | digg story

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The Barack Obama Book Club

Mary Anastasia O'Grady, editor of The Wall Street Journal's weekly column "Americas," provides a useful corrective for Uruguayan Marxist Eduardo Galeano's "Open Veins of Latin America." In her recent article "The Idiot's Bible" she introduces us to "The Manual of the Perfect Latin American Idiot," written by three Latin American journalists — Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, Carlos Alberto Montaner and Alvaro Vargas Llosa. Many baseline media sources have misrepresented "Open Veins" as the sole repository of Latin American political thought, due entirely to President Hugo Chávez's gift of the book to President Obama at the recent Summit of the Americas.
I'm hoping we can find enough copies to give the gift of political literacy to President Obama's speech writing corps and supply them with a more balanced view.

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Pimping the Pandemic

Image by Fugue via Flickr

There are a LOT of Spin-Doctors on both (all?) sides of the fence working the "Flying Pig Flu Pandemic" angle to get their pork barrel (ha-ha) projects through congress. Special interests and Big Government and going to be spliced together in strange ways to take advantage of this. Just like the rumors that this outbreak is some "Crypto-fascist Military-Industrial plot."
So, wash your hands and keep your powder dry.

National RFID Tags

Michigan Rep. Paul Opsommer, District 93, makes some pertinent observations in his post SNAKE OIL & DRIVER’S LICENSES regarding the Department of Homeland Security's "Enhanced Drivers License" (EDL) program and the federal Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). The EDL is a license with an RFID chip, readable from up to 30 feet away. Chris Paget has posted his experiment in RFID tag security:

Chris' gear cost less than $250. How much money have the drug cartels already spent on identity theft? Useful identities are just a commodity, easily purchased by terrorists. Adding RFID tags to drivers' licenses and passports is meaningless gesture of pacification. It provides only a new avenue of attack for well-funded drug lords and political extremists to exploit.

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The California Legislature Is Being Misled

The California Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation is holding hearings today on bill AB 279, the “Great Schools Tax Credit Act.” This bill is much like the scholarship donation tax credit program in Florida, which is a bi-partisan success that saves the state $1.49 for every $1 it reduces state revenue.

But you wouldn’t know that if you read the Committee’s remarkably flawed official Bill Analysis.

Full article here

XKCD - Can't Sleep

Welcome to my life...

read more | digg story

Free World Outlaws Free Speech

Depressing overview of the criminalization of free speech. http://ping.fm/4BR7w

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50 FOOT ROBOT STUDIOS

50footrobot.com — Publishers and creators of comic books, crossing many genres both online and soon in print. Also a graphic design house whose artists have over 10 years of experience in corporate design, web design, and the comic book creation process. Check out the dark, edgy science fiction world of "Skip Tracers" and the virtual reality murder mystery "Vent."

The 5 Most Popular Safety Laws (That Don't Work)

cracked.com —Is it ever possible to be too safe? Yes. Especially when the rule or law intended to protect us is so poorly thought-out that it either does nothing or creates a ripple effect of unintended side effects.

more...

Stop Spending Our Future!

Our economy is in crisis, and our government says that bold action is required. So we're diving in head first to get things back on track. But... what are we diving into exactly? Take a closer look at the government response to our current economic crisis with narrator Nick Gillespie of ReasonTV. And please visit http://stopspendingourfuture.org.

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The Afpak muddle (part 2): How serious is the threat?

"In America, the danger of drowning in a bathtub is greater than the risk of dying in a terrorist attack. And that would be true even if the United State were to suffer one 9/11-scale attack every ten years. Given these numbers, does it really make sense to double down in Central Asia?"

read more | digg story

The Serve America Act

Last week, the House passed the Serve America Act (SAA), which will triple the number of federally funded "volunteer" positions, create a "Clean Energy Corps" to weatherize homes, and make September 11th a “National Day of Service.”

read more | digg story

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The Human Cost of Foreign Aid

Thought provoking look at the failure of foreign aid from the inside. Throwing money at severe problems my soothe the conscience of those doing the throwing, but what about the people who still have to live with the problem? Additional insights at Reason.com http://www.reason.com/blog/show/132720.html

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Personal Foul: Poor Sportsmanship as Federal Crime

How the federal government is manufacturing high-profile court cases to expand executive power beyond all reasonable bounds and 'win the war on drugs.'

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The Top 10 People Who Almost Destroyed Fun

We take a lot of things for granted. We turned the internet into a free utopia of naked boobs, girl-on-girl pornography, funny drunken retards, and grown men, beating the living juices out of each other for our amusement. But there was a time when these moments of euphoria were in danger of becoming nothing more than a distant memory.

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The Credit Bubble Explained

Please take a moment for this brilliant video:

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.
A clear, straightforward look at wtf happened without the political "blamemanship" or Procrustean cant of the Demopublican/Republicrat Party.
Except for the portrayal of the "credit risk" family. I think that was a little elitist. :)

Where I Stand

Image via Wikipedia

"Give me a place to stand and I will move the Earth." -- Archimedes

"This is Where I Stand:" --

Seymour Hersh and the Assassins' Guild

Didn't Tom Clancy already cover this in "Clear and Present Danger"?
MinnPost.com
Reason.com

$99 Music Videos

I remember back in the Dark Ages, all the weirdly brilliant video madness I found while hunting up content for local cable. Stuff made on budgets much less than $99. Do it now, you know you want to.

From: http://ping.fm/vDGZL

Viva la evolución!

Happy Birthday Charles Darwin! 200 years young! Check for events in your area: http://ping.fm/1G0LM

Crime Dosen't Pay Dept.

From WhatsTheHarm.net:
"In the midst of allegedly embezzling money from his own clients, this stockbroker received an email from someone claiming to have an inheritance for him. He lost $400,000 to the fraud scheme."

From: http://ping.fm/uLopq

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