Friday, March 12, 2010

Politics Isn't Broken, Which is Exactly Why They Are a Problem

Interesting piece at the Mises Economics Blog written by D. W. MacKenzie titled Politics Cannot Be Fixed. An excerpt towards the conclusion of the piece.

American politics is not broken: it is working in the dysfunctional way that it should be working, given its unwieldy size and scope. What may be breaking are naïve idealistic beliefs that politicians can use a large and intrusive government to serve “the people.” And the demise of such beliefs would be a good thing.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/12 at 10:42 AM
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Amazing Kingfisher Photos

The Coolest Pic of a Kingfisher You’ll See All Day

I agree.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/12 at 09:32 AM
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Detroit and Land Conservancies - A Marriage Made in Green Heaven

Both Detroit, Michigan and Flint, Michigan desire to shrink in size. Both cities, which are urban wastelands, should shrink in size.

A recent conference, attended by over 60 nations, suggests that reforestation could be the key to staving off alleged manmade global warming. Of course the reforestation suggestion put forth at this conference can only be accomplished by forcing money from individuals’ pockets.  There is nothing voluntary about it.

But back to focusing on Detroit and Flint.  One idea that has been floated in regards to Detroit, is for individuals to simply step in and turn the urban wasteland into farms, without the blessing of the state.  Of course an alleged businessman latched on to this idea and sweetened it to obtain the approbation of the state.

A more voluntary solution to Detroit and Flint’s urban wasteland ills, their desire to shrink, and accomplish reforestation for the benefit of the environment, without forcing individuals to pay for it via taxation, would be for land conservancies, which are supported by voluntary contributions, to band together and purchase swaths of Detroit and Flint’s urban wastelands and simply return them to nature.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/12 at 08:17 AM
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Thursday, March 11, 2010

They're In There Already

Drudge links to a Reuters news story under the headlined SNOOP: Federal regulator weighs ‘black box’ requirement for all new vehicles... which informs us of the following.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief David Strickland told a congressional hearing on Thursday that the regulator is considering whether to make “black boxes” mandatory for all new vehicles.

Those little “black boxes” are already in many new cars, they are called Event Data Recorders.

And since they are already in many new vehicles, why doesn’t National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief David Strickland just sit down, close his yap, and let the manufacturer and the markets decide whether if there actually is a mandatory need?  This is not only about snooping, this is about controlling what is manufactured and how.  This is not the United States government’s business.

Check your vehicle here.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/11 at 09:05 PM
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The Enforcer

Glenn Reynolds says:

I think that everyone who votes should pay income tax. And the amount should go up and down with federal spending.

I do not vote.  Does that mean I do not have to pay income tax, Glenn?

Posted by John Venlet on 03/11 at 07:15 PM
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A Free Individual's Service Announcement

Are you aware of the website InjusticeEverywhere.com?  I was not until just now, when I stopped by The Indpendent Institute website and read a post under the heading Public Justice.

The post begins this way.

A favorite resource of mine for news about corruption in law enforcement is InjusticeEverywhere.com. Their Twitter feed is hard to stomach, but I do my best and I try to call attention to it when I can.

The post then continues as follows.

I think it is important to note that in the last few days alone, InjusticeEverywhere posted stories that involved officers with one or more of the following allegations, arrests, or convictions:

battery
sexual misconduct with a minor
child pornography
spousal abuse
intent to sell
posting nude pictures of a detained woman (in handcuffs) online
molesting a 15 year old boy
inappropriate contact with a 12 year old
suspicion of child abuse since the 1970s
DUI after running into own mail box
doing 150 mph while on disability
filing false reports
conspiring to cover up beatings
fraud
assault
excessive force
grand theft
stalking
public indecency
drug dealing
theft from evidence
supplying drugs at sex parties
having sex while on duty
armed robbery
shoplifting
selling impounded vehicles
coercion of a fellow officer to write a false summons
kicking cuffed suspects in the head
lying about traffic stops
racial profiling
rape

This is only a partial list from InjusticeEverywhere’s tweets since roughly March 6th. Yes, of 2010.

Feeling safer, now?  Judas, frickin’ priest.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/11 at 05:04 PM
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Studies in Self Reliance - Anonymity Edition

A gentleman by the name of Roger George recently died in a Tampa Bay area hospital.  He was ninety-three (93) years old, possibly, as no one has been able to establish Roger’s age with any degree of certainty.

The TampaBay.com story about Roger George is mostly speculations, some outright outlandish.  Why I am drawn to Roger’s story is that the government has NO record what-so-ever on this old man.  No social insecurity number, no birth certificate, nothing, he does not exist.  I’m somewhat envious.

Here, nestled against the plump white pillows of a hospice bed, tucked under four soft blankets and sipping coffee through a straw, lies a man who does not exist. He is very old, and maybe a little deaf. His hair has gone white and his teeth have gone missing. He will tell you he is 95. But later he might say 94, or 93. He says he has traveled the world as a hobo. Slept under trucks, on park benches, in barns. Played football with Burt Reynolds and baseball with Fidel Castro. But his stories shift and change, and he admits he hasn’t always been truthful. But no one knows why. He carries no identification. He swears he’s never smiled for a passport photo. He has no birth certificate, no Social Security card. No family. Just a couple of old friends. And before he dies, even they want to know: Who is Roger George?

Roger did receive charity in his final days, so you may ask how can I title this post as a study in self reliance.  I can title this post in that manner because Roger George did not plead for the charity he received, he did not claim the charity he received as a right, nor did he ever in his life, as the blank record seems to indicate, ever appeal for a free lunch.  Roger George made his own way.

God rest your soul, Roger George.

In a Tampa Bay area hospice, the mystery of a man with no identity

Linked via Fred Lapides’ GoodShit.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/11 at 02:37 PM
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New York City Goes Medieval on Salt

Salt, which is essential to life for man, and animals, is under attack in New York City.

Some New York City chefs and restaurant owners are taking aim at a bill introduced in the New York Legislature that, if passed, would ban the use of salt in restaurant cooking.

When I read this, early this morning before spending some time behind my windshield, all I could think was that New York City was going medieval, and that NYC chefs would soon be baking only saltless Tuscan bread, and purchasing Mrs Dash in bulk.

The story headline is Chefs Call Proposed New York Salt Ban ‘Absurd’, I simply think it is medieval.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/11 at 02:16 PM
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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Aren't Schools Gun Free Zones?

The United States Deparment of Education is in the market for some shotguns.  Specifically:

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) intends to purchase twenty-seven (27) REMINGTON BRAND MODEL 870 POLICE 12/14P MOD GRWC XS4 KXCS SF. RAMAC #24587 GAUGE: 12 BARREL: 14” - PARKERIZED CHOKE: MODIFIED SIGHTS: GHOST RING REAR WILSON COMBAT; FRONT - XS CONTOUR BEAD SIGHT STOCK: KNOXX REDUCE RECOIL ADJUSTABLE STOCK FORE-END: SPEEDFEED SPORT-SOLID - 14” LOP are designated as the only shotguns authorized for ED based on compatibility with ED existing shotgun inventory, certified armor and combat training and protocol, maintenance, and parts.
The required date of delivery is March 22, 2010.

Glenn Reynolds states, in regards to this news, “Maybe if they just brought back paddling instead."

No word on what type of loads they desire for the ammo.

Here’s the Federal Business Opportunity notification.

Reynolds linked to this via WeaselZippers.net.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/10 at 07:33 PM
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French, Fried?

Wendy McElroy continues her thoughtful posting in a piece titled Will a 2nd American Revolution be French? From Wendy’s piece.

America has become a society of elites. Specifically, those in the political class who enjoy an endless economic bounty that comes from the sweat and blood of taxpayers. At the pinnacle are politicians with rich salaries, plush expense accounts (not counting bribes), platinum pensions and health insurance, etc. Then there are the millions of civil servants who are paid considerably more than their private-sector counterparts, who have greater job security due to unions, and who enjoy a pension plan that others can only dream about. The devouring appetite of these elites is fed by the ever-increasing taxes, fees and other money-grabs from the private, productive sector of society. As the level of theft increases, more productive people are being driven in poverty, homelessness and a despair that could easily turn into rage.

You’ll note, if you read Wendy’s post, that she does not state that there will be a 2nd American Revolution, but she also does not state that there will not be a 2nd American Revolution, but if you are paying attention, you’ll have noted Billy Beck’s insight from August 2009.

All politics in this country now is just dress rehearsal for civil war.

Stay aware.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/10 at 01:29 PM
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Detroit's Dollar Menu

Dollar menus are all the rage nowadays.  All the fast food restaurants offer a plethora of items for just a buck.  Not to be outdone by mere fast food restaurants, Detroit’s real estate market is so tanked that it is now the fast food industry’s competitor.

Houses on sale for a few dollars are something of an urban legend in the US on the back of the mortgage crisis that drove millions of people from their homes. But in Detroit it is no myth…

Joan Wilson, an estate agent in the north-west of the city, whose firm is offering a three-bedroom house on Albany street for $1...

Unfortunately, investing a dollar in Detroit’s real estate market would probably yield the same result as ingesting a dollar menu food item.  A temporary satiation followed by a troubling bout of indigestion.

Detroit homes sell for $1 amid mortgage and car industry crisis

Linked via Mises Economics Blog, where a commenter notes the following.

What we see in Detroit is a capital consumption symptom of a socialist economy. When it is all consumed socialism will have reached its ultimate destiny – a two class system made up of a parasitic State-connected class and the second class citizens with no incentive to be productive.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/10 at 01:05 PM
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Oregon's Proactive Rubber Room Imprisonment Policy

Concerns about an Oregon Department of Transportation employee who purchased several guns after being placed on leave prompted law enforcement across Southern Oregon to step in.

Negotiators and a SWAT team from Medford police safely took a man — whose name wasn’t released — into protective custody Monday morning in the 500 block of Effie Street, Medford police said in a news release.

He was taken to Rogue Valley Medical Center for a mental-health evaluation.

The above three paragraphs were lifted from a Southern Oregon Mail Tribune article headlined Police act swiftly after gun purchases. The article also notes that the individual in question legally purchased the weapons, but evidently the legality of the individual’s purchases do not matter to the authorities when they have been informed by busybodies that the individual may be disgruntled, so the authorities swoop in and summarily declare the individual as a mental case and imprison the individual in a mental health facility for his own good.  The citizens of Oregon must be feeling so safe today.

Via a Sipsey Street Irregulars post with the appropriate heading of Department of Pre-Crime opens for business in Oregon.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/10 at 10:34 AM
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Running Away is No Solution

In a blog post at Let A Thousand Nations Bloom, titled Exit From the Road to Fiscal Serfdom, Mike Gibson points to a Tim Kane post at Growthology.org under the heading Generational Shift? Fiscal Crisis Plus Global Migration Equals ..., which was inspired by a Robert J. Samuelson piece in The Washington Post titled Will Millennials become the chump generation?

Kane posits the following after reading Samuelson’s piece.

Samuelson asks the question...if young voters will punish fiscally irresponsible representatives in Washington. My alternative theory focuses on the context of immigration. Already you may have heard about the millions of illegals who departed the U.S. when the Great Recession dried up job opportunities. A lot of crass nativists might think “Good Riddance!” but I wonder what they’ll say when their own children seek greener pastures abroad in 10 or 20 years?

Consider: almost everyone younger than the Baby Boomers expects to get the short end of the fiscal stick. We were laughing about the unlikeliehood of getting Social Securiyt (sic) Checks when I was in high school in the 80s. So now that the reckoning is all but unkickable, do the Boomers think their kids and grandkids will just become fiscal serfs?  Think again…

The threat America faces is a world that competes for our greatest natural resource: it’s young. If we make the tax climate hellish, the U.S. is going to suffer outmigration as places like Canada, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Chile realize what an opportunity they have to cream our entrepreneurial talent. If we don’t, and let the deficit spiral out of control, the dollar will fall and workers will go elsewhere for value reasons. There’s already a migratory tension in Europe, waged primarily with favorable tax treatment for high net worth immigrants.

Kane mentions Canada, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and Chile as possible landing places for individuals outmigrating from the United States for “favorable tax treatment.” Let’s take a look at tax rates in these countries, which I’ve pulled from here.

Canada:  individual:  0 - 29% (federal) 0 - 24% (provincial); payroll:  4.95%
Australia:  individual:  0 - 45%; payroll:  4.75 - 6% (state)
Brazil:  individual:  0 - 27.5%; payroll:  31%
Mexico:  individual:  3 - 29%; payroll:  None at this time
Chile:  individual:  0 - 40%; payroll:  None at this time
United States: individual: 15 - 39% (federal) 0 - 12% (state); payroll: 15.3% - 2.9% regressive (federal)

In reviewing just the countries mentioned by Kane, one notes that the “favorable tax treatment” one may consider fleeing to are not necessarily so favorable.  Additionally, if a sizable outmigration from the U.S. did occur, how long do you think the countries of favorable tax treatment choice would remain favorable to their newly minted immigrant pool of potential tax revenue?

Running away is no solution.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/10 at 08:31 AM
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Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Watch That Backcast

When flyfishing, especially on the small streams I am apt to frequent, it is important to watch your backcast or you are liable to end up with your fly caught in a tag alder or some other streamside vegetation.  This is problematic for a number of reasons, least of which is losing the fly to the vegetation, so it is quite important to watch that backcast.

I mention this after reading a story which Drudge links to under the headline New Obama rules may prohibit citizens from fishing the nation’s oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters... Drudge’s link actually takes you to an ESPN story headlined Culled out Obama administration will accept no more public input for federal fishery strategy, which begins this way.

The Obama administration will accept no more public input for a federal strategy that could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing the nation’s oceans, coastal areas, Great Lakes, and even inland waters.

Some strategy.  Obama, and the Obama adminstration, seem hell bent on destroying economic prosperity, whether directly attacking it via ObamaCare (DeathCare), or via more subtle attacks on a pastime which has enthralled generations of young and old for thousand of years, fishing.

I don’t care whether you’re a worm dunker, fly fisher, bobber fisherman, catch and release enthusiast, as I am, or simply enjoy a freshly caught trout fillet thrown on the coals, while the gills of the carcass of the trout are still flapping up and down, reading that the Obama administration is even considering prohibiting fishing should raise your ire like a nicely tied fly will raise a finicky trout.

Watch that backcast, and more importantly watch the government before it snatches your fly rod or fishing rod from your hand.

UPDATE: The Executive Editor of ESPN, Steve Bowman, has issued an explanatory, rambling note, though not a retraction, in regards to the ESPN article originally cited in this post.  It can be read here.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/09 at 12:29 PM
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Marijuana Drug War Stupidity

Fifty-four (54) year old Henry Walter Wooten, of Tyler, Texas, was just convicted and sentenced to thirty-five (35) years in prison for possessing 4.6 ounces of marijuana.  This is unimaginably stupid.  Believe it or not, Smith County Assistant District Attorney Richard Vance, who prosecuted Wooten, desired to put this man behind bars for ninety-nine (99) years.  How has this benefited Tyler, Texas, or even society, in any way shape or form?

Tyler Man Gets 35 Years For Drug Possession

Linked via The Raw Story via Fred Lapides.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/09 at 11:58 AM
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