BO Declares Homes Under Water a Good Thing

Obama’s Weekly Address Suggests He Has No Idea What’s Happened During His Presidency:

At about 25 sec into this mess BO declares that "your homes are underwater" as part of the rest of the "good lies". Oh, I'm sure it is just a gaffe -- if W made such a gaffe THE STORY would be "just how stupid is he really?"

We all know why unemployment is low -- nobody is even trying to work. Job participation is down over 3 full percentage points, which means that would have to be ADDED to the unemployment rate in an honest world.

Sure, the stock market and thus 401Ks are up on the printing of $85B a month for years now + essentially no interest on savings. The Feds have cooked the inflation books by using the reality of "Your Homes are Underwater" as the anti-inflation cheat. You know your grocery bills, fuel bills, electric bills, what a hotel room costs if you can afford to travel at all -- inflation is happening.

"let's embrace an economic patriotism that says that rise or fall together" -- We already KNOW that answer and it is FALL ... FALLING, FALLEN ... we have FALLEN already and we are falling fast! Look at the income chart in the article and it would be WORSE if the top wasn't doing as good as it is!

This guy is destroying our nation right before our eyes and the vast majority of people are just too blind to even see the plain truth in front of their noses!



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A Third of Americans Delinquent on Debt

A third of Americans delinquent on debt:

Now this is news that is not really news! Naturally like all statistics, some of these folks have some bills that "got lost" and went into collections and may be able to pay. It however doesn't include such things as the infamous "payroll loans", so it may be even worse, who knows?

I also ran into this little gem of job switch from '90 to '13 . Essentially, most of the people still working are working in healthcare. Not a lot of news there either from a town where in '90 something like 7K were working at IBM and maybe 10K at Mayo. Today less than 2K are at IBM and slipping fast, while Mayo is 35K and rising.

We are a nation something like 17T in debt with something like 60T in unfunded liabilities for FICA, Medicare and now BOcare coming due over the next 20-30 years.

On top of that, our people are largely operating on debt because they have an extreme belief that they are entitled -- not surprisingly since that is what our schools teach and is pounded into their heads every day by the MSM and The Party (Democrat). Something less than 25% of age 50 people even have a positive net worth, let alone being on any path to anything but being a ward of the state when they can't work.

The "whys" here are pretty obvious, but we will cover them again:

EVERYaction that government takes as MANY at least supposedly unintended (or at least hidden) effects.

• FICA leads people to believe that they need to do less for their retirement -- so they work less,  save less, etc. 
• Medicare put a huge amount of guaranteed money into healthcare for the elderly -- so the medical industry is incented to come up with ways to get that money. The results are similar to throwing an ever increasing amount of gasoline on a fire. 
• BOcare will do the same thing as medicare for the general population as it gets moving. 
• BOcare will also do what the combination of welfare and high tax rates do. It is mostly a transfer of wealth from those that make more than the subsidy values to those that make less ... so people will increasingly target making less money in order to get the subsidy. (and the government will borrow an increasing amount to pay the subsidy) 

This is of course only the very tip of the iceberg, and ONLY the extremely limited effects that can be discerned by destruction of the natural desire of people to compete, succeed, be responsible, etc.

The US has the highest corporate taxes in the world, PLUS, we are the ONLY nation that taxes profits made in other nations! Other than our historical stability relative to social unrest and out and out nationalization of business, we have become the worst place to do business on the planet!

Unsurprisingly, we have a LOT less business -- but we DO have a TON of "healthcare" ... funded largely by government debt.

Environmentalists have been telling us about all sorts of things being "unsustainable" since Malthus -- we have been "out of trees", "out of oil", "out of water", "out of cropland", etc, etc for 100's of years according to their calculations -- who knows, they may eventually be right.  Currently the big deal is "Global Warming" (or climate change, or climate disruption -- depending on how cold it is).

They say that "in a hundred years", the temp will be "something between a few tenths of a degree to maybe as much as a couple degrees" warmer ... and that is a catastrophe. Maybe so.

My prediction is that in 5, 10, or maybe if you are a REAL optimist, 20 years, the "Government bubble" will burst, because fewer and fewer people working at all, those that are working being mostly in healthcare, and paying for those few working with ever larger piles of debt is not "sustainable".

I'm just a curmudgeon I guess.

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Rich People Vote Their Self Interest, The Making of a Dependent

I was poor, but a GOP die-hard: How I finally left the politics of shame - Salon.com:

This column does a good job of covering many of the official mottos of "progressivism"

1. You have a RIGHT to free stuff -- income, education, healthcare, home, food, recreation, cell phone, you name it! 
2. Nothing bad that happens is your fault, nor the fault of "The Party" (Democrat) ... all bad stuff is due to "rich people", "Republicans", "Big Business", etc ... there is no such thing as "responsibility" for TP or TP members in good standing! 
3. Your "responsibility" begins and ends with voting TP! It shows you are "good, smart, correct, popular, etc" ... all the good stuff. All you need to know is VOTE TP! 

 They crash companies, loot pensions and destroy banks, and when they hit a snag, they scream to be rescued by government largess.  By contrast, I continued to pay my oversize mortgage for years, even as my home lost more than half its value.  I viewed my bad investment as yet another moral failure.  When it comes to voting and investing, rich people make calculated decisions, while regular people make “emotional” and “moral” ones.  Despite growing self-awareness, I pushed away reality for another election cycle.

One of the tough parts of the world is "de-referencing" the "they" ... in programming or internet activities, you need to do something like take "www.cnn.com" and convert it to something like 157.166.226.25 (DNS does this) ... in programming it is usually converting some "name" or "object" into an actual 32 or 64-bit memory location. 

So who are "they"? The writer wants to convince you that "they" are "Republicans" or "big business", but the whole "TARP" was engineered by a total control Democrat ( THE Party ) congress and BO! W was the lamest of lame ducks at that point -- so in fact, THE PARTY was the central power in buying out all the bad paper that the financial organizations had. 

Basically, "rich people" ARE "The Party" -- the smoke screen is that they are willing to give those willing to kiss the ring of lefty power a "basic living" ... maybe say 1K sq ft of living space, a smart phone, internet and a flat screen of say "50 inches" plus US Postal Health Care + mass quantities of mac and cheese to munch on and stay "comfortable".

Just how much is "guilt" worth? What is being given up is the idea that you are an independent and capable person that refuses to live in the "liberal" box.  But the author of the article finds the guilt of having to take responsibility for your actions to ultimately be too much, and is willing to become a docile and guiltless ward of "The Party". 

I'm sure they will treat him "fairly". 
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Is Pot Legal Nationally, Is Colorado Stupid, Or Is Joni Earnst?

Exclusive: GOP Senate Candidate Caught Saying States Can Nullify Laws - The Daily Beast:

We could have a good long discussion of the 10th amendment, States Rights and the Constitution in general ... or we could just look at the case of Pot.

Is Pot still illegal Federally? I think the answer to that is pretty simple.

So what did Colorado and now Washington do? They effectively nullified a Federal law in their state.

The writers of this column are just fine with that I'm sure -- let Feds like BO look the other way as Federal Laws that they they are sworn to protect but happen to not like much are nullified. They get to pick and choose -- which is completely unconstitutional, but they get to pick that too!

Joni Earnst is "stupid" because she doesn't understand that following the Constitution is completely optional for the left, but completely NOT optional for the right!

There we have it ... completely simple!







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We Demand A Single Choiceless World Government!

Inversion Therapy for Liberals | Power Line:

Good column, the punchline is very old though. The USSR understood that as long as there were alternatives to their system in the world, their system was in grave danger. Eventually you have to build walls to keep your people IN!

"Liberals" abhor actual choice -- because if people are allowed to choose, those that are productive and make money will avoid the system that the "liberals" think is "just". Their idea of "justice" can only ultimately be enforced by a gun -- so they want to make certain that they have them and nobody else does. People that actually practice and are able to operate independently are a very nasty obstacle to the "liberal" agenda that demands that the sheep bleat approvingly at any nostrum that the leftist shepherds trumpet.

"We need the revenue" indeed!

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Gun Control In Action, The Chicago Way

How Gun Control Works In Chicago – 22 Shot In 12 Hours:



22 shot in 12 hours, 60 shot over the 4th weekend. Chicago has one of the strictest gun laws in the nation -- and it works exactly like one would expect! The criminals have a lot of guns and use them with impunity and those that follow the law and do not have guns bleed and die.



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45 Years Ago, The Pinnacle and The Premonition

Forty five years ago I was a 12 year old with only one thing on my mind. THE MOON! America was the nation that took on the USSR, and even though no US politician had really had the guts to say it yet, we knew in our hearts it was indeed an "Evil Empire" and eventually it would be "them or us".

Politics were FAR from my mind while in giddy excitement and a good deal of anxiety I listened to the crackly voices from Eagle as it descended to the lunar surface. We were still a Christian Nation -- there were a lot of prayers going up from the USA for a successful mission that evening. I'd felt and heard nothing but joy the previous Christmas while Jim Lovell and the crew of Apollo 8 had read from Genesis 1 while circling the moon. We knew our place in the universe -- America was great, but God was greater.

At age 12, Chappaquiddick didn't register ... (nor does it STILL register on Google spellcheck!) America was at it's pinnacle, but just like I'm sure Egypt never recognized it when they built the pyramids, Greece when they built the Parthenon, nor Rome when Hadrian reconstructed the Pantheon in like 125 BC, the seeds of our destruction were well planted.

Our nation was at once so just, so capable, so dedicated and so focused that we could go to the moon and back multiple times in that era. We were also so corrupt, venal and disgusting that we could allow a sitting US Senator to effectively murder a young woman on his staff and not report it until the next morning, YET, still continue in what was once  "The Greatest Deliberative Body" for nearly 40 years beyond his crime!

"Justice is mine saith the Lord". People ask "Why are we so divided today"? Look at the Moon and remember what we once were. In those couple days, July 18-20 1969 we see the greatness of America and it's demise, clearly and plainly laid out for any that want to see.

But mostly, we as a nation do NOT want to see, so we are "divided". Unless a people is willing to accept a higher power than themselves and their nation -- even a nation that builds the Pyramids, the Parthenon, the Pantheon, or yes, goes to the Moon, it is doomed.

History shows that nations can be great without Christ being in that position (USSR, China). Although Western civilization and especially the USA did reach the absolute pinnacle of what was possible for human kind -- in technology, power both economic and military, and more importantly vastly superior opportunity, justice and living standards for even the poorest citizens.

Nations require some version of "we hold these truths to be SELF EVIDENT". Human leaders are mortal and often corrupt. Even the good ones die, and the bad ones MUST be replaced and identified as FAILED quickly and surely, or the rot expands and destroys all that was once great.

I'm so thankful to have been alive to experience the landing in '69, and to have been too young to even care about the premonition. To have been alive to see and feel what was and is possible for a great nation with purpose, meaning and FAITH! How sad to see how far we have fallen. The moon? We can't even put a man in orbit 45 years later.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" -- and losing that fear is the end.

Pond Elation

19 days since "Pond Depression". The rain generally shut off, the weather improved and the Water Feature is at like "85%" ... needs to be integrated better with the yard, path around the house needs to be finished off ... oh, it will be endless.

BUT, it sounds really nice, the water has cleared up, lots of plants have gone in around it (Thanks Marla!) and a few in it. There are low voltage lights around it (and in it).

Probably take the day off tomorrow and get the boat out on the river. As they used to say on the old "A-Team" show, "I love it when a plan comes together"!

Lots of sweat, lots of head scratching, a bit of cursing -- but IT IS ALIVE!

The Bear, The Cub and The Weasel

Funny-Because-It’s-True: Dan Bongino Zings Obama’s Absurd Nickname ‘The Bear’ with the Perfect Tweet:

BO thinks he needs a signature animal to go with his signature namesake stench. He has personally chosen "The Bear". Say what?

Some folks like to hang the "Bear" moniker on me -- school mascot Bear and large, but I'm not nearly aggressive or fearsome enough. Thus "Moose" ... need to shop at special "Moose Store" not for puny humans. Large "antlers" (ears stick out) ... generally docile, unobtrusive, dull witted, exceptionally good looking -- certainly "Moose" is the obvious choice!

"Bear" for BO??? Well, maybe "Cub", but even that seems really wrong. Cubs are nice, cuddly, cute and have the potential to grow into something fearsome -- BO has none of that. BO has a gigantic ego completely outsized for his "accomplishments" (TWO Bios before age 50?) Certifiable narcissism. He is a super sneak and a liar and has that long "whiny slinky look". A weasel is always going to blame someone else and never stand up and be counted. I rest my case!

No doubt in my mind "Weasel" is DEFINITELY the right animal for BO!

It is hard to even imagine how much derision any R president today would get if they tried to identify themselves with an animal!

Not to say it isn't fun sometimes  TR "Teddy" Roosevelt -- the R in name only that was the first major "progressive" was famously the foundation for the "Teddy Bear".

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United 232, Back When We Were the Home of the Brave

United 232 and the Miracle in a Cornfield | RealClearPolitics:



 Nowadays, commercial airliners crash on clear days with everything operating flawlessly because the pilots are unable to execute a straight in approach without instruments.



We have come a long way baby ... well worth the read.



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"Take Those S.O.B.s Out!" (Republicans) ... BO Approves this Message

Jimmy Hoffa Threatens GOP At Obama Event: "Let's Take These Son Of Bitches Out" | RealClearPolitics:



Oh the wonderfully civil rhetoric of class war and unions busting heads! Our very civil chief nasty gets up next and is "proud" of the speaker for wanting to "take the GOP out". How nice.



Never, never, never give up the 2nd amendment and arms! Nothing like those being "taken out" to start putting a few thousand high speed rounds in target to reduce the confident smiles!



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Leno, Passion, Cars

Passion and love drive Jay Leno to fill a 130-car garage - LA Times:



Good little read. I love to drive stuff -- a bit wider class of  "stuff" than Jay maybe.



If I had a similar setup it would have cars, trucks, motorcycles, tractors, heavy equipment like Cats and Payloaders, Bobcats, Jeeps, planes, boats ... and I'm sure I could pick out some more.



The Harley vs Honda whets the appetite, it is great to be able to ride both and savor the differences in engineering, style, "feel" ... I'd love to have a CanAm and an adventure bike as well -- plus maybe a trike just to see what they are like. Four or five side by sides ... a 4-place Razer with big HP, a CanAm for comparison, one with tracks ...



I do miss the sleds ... a mountain sled, a touring sled, a high speed ditch banger ...



I grew up with an IH - H ... to me, the essence of red tractors. Gotta have one of them. John Deere 4020, it was THE cool tractor right around High School ... oh, the IH 806 with a cab. Certainly one of the current big IH quadratracks, I would love to spend some time in one of those.



Why? Well, that is a really good question that has no answer at all -- like "why my pond / stream"? I happen to like messing around with it and seeing it come together. Passion? Insanity?



I'm sure there are people that are pretty much the "Wasting away in Margaritaville" speed on a permanent basis. I certainly know that feeling from time to time as well, but at least significant parts of the species have "passions" -- not necessarily "reasonable passions" (is that an oxymoron?). Evolution tells us we have only for drives ... the supposed "four F's" ... Feeding, Fighting, Fleeing and uh, "reproduction".  So which of those is the passion for cars, driving, architecture, music, art, technology, etc?



Oh, I know that the human materialist hard cores have mapped damn near anything to "dominance hierarchies" and thus breeding advantage. It is going to be harder to prove than even "Global Warming" that we are NOT just a bundle of "selfish genes" and nothing else ...



I still like to dream about my own version of the Leno stable -- as BO says, "sue me".



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TP "The Party" (Democrat) Lower Class Nation and Strategy

Why Democrats Need to Take Sides in America's Class War:

This rather long column lays out TP "gains" and strategy. The following chart from the article shows the huge "progress" of BO to date ... since '08 we have gone from a 53/25 middle/lower class identity to a 44/40 split! We are on the verge of realizing a core TP vision, America as a self identified lower class nation! :

The destruction of the "middle class", "bourgeois", "American Family", etc has been the agenda of left world politics since Marx, and solidly entrenched in TP since at least Wilson. Giant gains in increasing the dependency of Americans were made under FDR, but "the plan" was screwed up by WWII ... the war energized the nation and largely returned the Americans sense of "can do, self reliance, individual responsibility, etc".

Vietnam, the Cold War, Watergate, oil shocks, Stagflation and Jimmuh Carter had us on the ropes again in the late '70s, but before Jimmuh could close the deal, Reagan brought back the old virtues and it looked like MAYBE, America might actually figure out the "progressive" trap after all -- ah, the joy of Reagan and OPTIMISM!

But now it is the left that is highly optimistic -- less people IDing as "upper", far less as "middle", and MANY more as "lower"! The ultimate goal of TP! Everyone a dependent! Everyone focused on having the  government tear some little shred of a decaying nation away from someone else! Class warfare and dependency -- the mothers milk of TP!

So the rather long article calls out the needed strategy to double down on ways to force business to pay more -- which naturally moves more off shore and increases dependence. Another WIN!

Ever increasing taxation on the upper incomes to reduce their ranks further, help increase dependency of those to whom the money is transferred, AND make it less desirable to work toward a high income! A trifecta if winning TP strategy -- punish success, reward failure, reduce a set of voters you have trouble with (the successful), increase a set if voters that always vote for you (the dependent)!

Naturally TP writers are not yet totally direct in stating this, but one doesn't have to look very hard in this column to see the excitement of a "progressive" wolf that sees the US as largely bleating plaintively for his able wolf "assistance".

Expect a lot more celebration from TP.

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Murder of Middle Class

Protecting the American Dream: The murder of the middle class | Fox News:



Written in a very populist style, the column and I imagine the book pulls together a lot of things covered in the blog as well as some new stuff. Too busy to check some of it out today, but he asserts that China passes us as the #1 consumer economy this year, and Canada passes us as the #1 middle class this year as well.



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Even The Left (WAPO) Admits BO is Lying

Obama’s claim that the GOP has ‘blocked every serious idea’ - The Washington Post:

Sure it is obvious, but the lies occasionally get a little outlandish for even the WAPO!

If his lips are a flapping you can be sure that the truth is taking a beating.

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Administrative Law

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/letat-cest-moi

I'm sure that many find me alarmist on the issue of the extreme loss of rights that has already happened to Americans. The root assumption of the Administrative State is that the "general population" isn't capable to make their own decisions. The ideas of the Administrative State are so good, they have to be made mandatory -- your freedom MUST be restricted because you are not smart enough to make decisions on your own.

A few points:

1. Seat belts, car seats for kids. wearing a helmet on a bicycle or fire insurance are all things that most do to try to cover risk of things that we hope will not happen at all.
   
2. There is also a human tendency to work rather hard at denying risk or even known eventual outcomes like death. Seatbelts and car seats were made laws for basically that reason -- some people just DO NOT want to use them, as they DO NOT want to be reminded of the risk! I maintain that the only people that really enjoy riding a motorcycle are those riding without a helmet -- ideally shirtless wearing shorts. They KNOW they are not going to crash!
   
3. We have a hard time picking up slow incremental change, especially when we are being soaked in a media environment intent on us NOT picking up changes. Many will feel a "pang" when say voter ID is defeated even though they have to pull out their ID more and more frequently just to live, or say an old guy loses a basketball team over something he said on what he assumed was a private conversation that was taped -- BUT, the very fact that these things are happening makes the majority of people LESS likely to react (see 1).  

Just to be clear, I'm NOT saying that "everything" or even "most" things the Administrative State mandates are not "good ideas" (eg. I wear a seatbelt). The PROBLEM is that we become accustomed to thinking that the nanny state is always "protecting us". They are convincing us to be followers rather than thinkers, and they are molding us to THEIR world view! We are "outsourcing" or critical thinking!

For example, even though anal sex was certainly a major cause of AIDs, The Administrative State did not make it illegal like they effectively did with cigarette smoking. Their version of "morality" simply would not allow it!

This is why I think this review, although long,  is very worth reading. I may even skip this particular book as too arcane and focused on a single mechanism of tyranny (administrative law), although I'm very aware of the general phenomenon given books like "Liberal Fascism" and "The Forgotten Man", "The Road to Serfdom", etc. BUT WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS HAPPENING TO US!!!!

Here is how the column concludes ... I heartily agree!

But there is something even more fundamental about “necessity” and social “complexity.” The administrative state is a poor way to handle the complexity that has justified its existence all along. The administrative state assumes that it has reached answers to questions that ultimately might not have scientific conclusions. Federal agencies, thus, “have difficulty keeping up to date with science,” because their particularized controls for particularized problems are inflexible and cannot adapt to technological change.  

Administrative law depends on epistemological arrogance, assuming that there is one right answer to a given problem. But our entire society (like all free-market societies) presupposes that there exists a diversity of opinions, objectives, and needs. It is precisely in an “increasingly complex” society that there is no one-size-fits-all answer. 

If the tendency of modernized society is toward freedom or at least social fragmentation, then continual direction by the federal government may actually be inconsistent with modernity. 

Maybe humility—and constitutional government—are better after all.

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Paying the Vermin for "Softer and Gentler Treatment"

Isn’t It Rich? - NYTimes.com:

Wow, taking on Chelsea Clinton and even Bill and Hilly for being too rich! A NYTs columnist no less. This hardly seems safe if Maureen wants to stay a member of The Party (Democrat) in good standing!

I wonder what Maureen's net worth is? Since she is a long time successful columnist and has written a couple of books that have sold at least enough so it is "a couple" rather than one, I'm guessing that she is "comfortable" ... say $3-5 Million or so if she has been sensible at all. Definitely "top 5%er".

It is always mysterious to me how someone decides how much it is "right" for someone else to earn? I tend to see money like health, or good friends, or wisdom -- something that is at least based on God given blessings in ability, circumstance, etc. Can often be radically improved by work, habits, choices and of course the ever present "luck" ... or maybe again, blessings depending on your world view. It is almost always the same folks that claim that you "can't judge" on abortion, gay marriage, anything anti-Christian, etc that have an absolute 100% moral certainty about how much someone else ought to make. A topic I'll try to better understand another day.

What is one to make of this gem:

Chozick estimated that the lucrative family speechmaking business has generated more than $100 million for the former president and first lady, whose fees range from $200,000 to $700,000 per appearance. Bill alone earned $17 million last year doing what he likes to do best — talking. 

Based on history, how sure is Maureen that what Bill likes to do best is talking? But be that as it may, she is a writer -- I assume she enjoys writing, I certainly do ... and talking as well for that matter. Does she feel that her lifestyle is "undeserved" for "just writing"?

“It is troubling when corporate donors give to political charities with more or less obvious expectation softer and gentler treatment will ensue in the future. It is also troubling when some of the payers are public or nonprofit entities themselves such as colleges and universities, converting taxpayer funds and tax-exempt donations into signals that could end up in positive treatment when these institutions are themselves seeking access and favors, even if it is only a good word put in by one of the Clintons to a federal agency providing funding or to a regulator who might be taking a critical look at university tuitions and endowment payouts.

What part of "progressive" has Maureen missed? As the government progressively gets larger and ever more intrusive, the hope of those intruded on that they can pay for "softer and gentler treatment " gets more and more fervent and desperate. This is EXACTLY why we once had a Constitution and LIMITED government, so that law abiding people and business did not have to try to curry favor in hopes of better treatment. 

Maureen apparently gets that, but is just surprised there are people in government that will take advantage of the situation to their own benefit? She is a columnist and has no better grasp on the human propensity to use conditions to our advantage that that? Naive really doesn't cover it.  ALL human institutions need to have limits on power -- and ESPECIALLY the government, because it has the greatest chance of becoming an oppressor. Vermin like the Clintons are a sure sign of how deep the rot has become here -- they are like seeing rats around your grainery.

 Mareen may find that her life takes a very bad turn here.  Being a columnist with the NYTs and risking losing your status as a TPM (The Party Member) in GOOD STANDING is risky business. I will be actually surprised if I am NOT writing a "I told you so" in less than a year.
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US Wage Stagnation, Not Enough Government

The main reason the U.S. economy isn't doing better - CBS News:

In my years at IBM I observed that most all of our problems were caused by a lack of Vice Presidents -- tongue firmly in cheek. Except for Gerstner taking over in '93, most "solutions" at IBM involved minting a bunch more VPs or other high level management positions. Most of history's progress has been accomplished by large committees of black women (just ask Oprah), corporate middle management, or of course, Government. Just ask the right folks, they know it to be true!

CBS News, noted economists, business folks and document creators (W Bush fake National Guard documents) that they are,  is convinced that the problem with US wage growth is:

1. Not enough minimum wage
2. Not enough government 
3. Not enough progressive taxation. 

Certainly since the late '70s we have been horribly short on all of those things.

I'm thinking their crack research division might be able to avail themselves of a Google search, which would quickly show them that in constant 2013 dollars our minimum wage is historically high. Shockingly, the last time it was this high was in the 1970's ... I'm sure there is no correlation that the economy sucked then as well!

I'm not going to bother to go find the charts that show that the top 10% of US income earners are paying record levels of income tax and the percentage spent by the US Federal Government are at all time highs comparable with the 1930's and WWII. Turns out I'm actually correct, but since CBS News doesn't bother to look anything up, why should I?

So why does CBS News think these things are solutions? For the same reasons IBM is always a few short of a load of VPs and 1700's Doctors always felt a little more blood letting would do the trick -- that is what they ALWAYS think! The "solution" is 100% independent of any facts whatsoever.

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Chimps Unequal, Conservatives to Blame!

Why some chimps are smarter than others | Fox News:

One of my overarching theories of why civilizations fail is that "The in crowd", "The class officers", "The guy that gets the girls and the girls the guy wants to get",  take over the asylum.

When the world is recognized to be a dangerous place because of famine, war, disease, death and myriad other items beyond human control, people realize that some portion of "leadership" has to be actually "common get it done sense/smarts", and it can't all be just "looks good, reads from the teleprompter well, says what we want to hear".

The people that understand history (boring), actual hard science (not "whose chimp is smarter" -- hard, often arcane), actual success / failure of various technical and social nostrums (eg. warming, government healthcare, economics, etc) ... are often painful for "the popular and progressive", because what they do is not what "the in crowd" WANTS to be successful. Real common sense folks like Ronald Reagan or hard driving successful CEOs  have a horrible tendency to work themselves out of a job because things go well and the "in crowd" takes credit and takes over to wreck it all again.

The "real common sense doers" are as a group a bit hard to follow, often not as attractive or smooth talking, sometimes intimidating to the pretty folk, frustrating -- "why can't they just get with the view that EVERYONE KNOWS is true!" ... so when they get things working quite well, the more attractive folks step in to work on what they see has the REALLY important stuff -- color of the drapes, everyone "feeling good", "fairness" and the all important "cool factor".

The prettier, smoother talking, more artistic and more social have a natural tendency to be the "media", political leadership, entertainment, arts, and the top of the "in crowd". High School is the pinnacle of an environment where this group flourishes -- "social merit" is the only coin of the realm. Everyone has the same locker so to speak and the maturity level of the mass is "minimal", so natural human tendency reigns supreme. It is much similar to a Democratic Party convention.

Back to the linked article. To those with a minimal practical human brain that could survive for a week in the wilderness or a couple of hours in a seedy bar -- or for that matter even an above average chimp, there is no reason to do such an "experiment" at all. The answer is obvious and known, and what is important is that such knowledge is KNOWN AND INNATE. It is what our founders called "Natural Law". At a basic level, even the "In crowd" knows it -- they just don't like it much, and if given the chance they will make sure that every one plays by their rules rather than the Natural Law.

"Behaviorism" was one such grand experiment -- that told parents it was bad to cuddle babies for example. Note that this disaster held sway for 85 years in the West ... "Global Warming" is far from the first "scientific" disaster to be foisted on the human community by those more adept in the politics of science and academia -- but wrong in the apprehension of reality.

People don't usually talk about animal intelligence, but rather animal learning or cognition. American psychologists John Watson and B.F. Skinner developed the notion of behaviorism in the early 20th century, which said that scientists should study only the behavior of animals, not their mental processes. This was the dominant approach until about 1985.

So our founders developed the Constitution and  created a Republic rather than a Democracy (the Electoral College and having Senators appointed by the State ... we already screwed up the Senate part and are hard at work destroying the electoral college. Let's face it, the "in crowd" doesn't want  guys like Winston Churchill in charge unless they absolutely have to have them!

"Natural Law smart folks" -- the kind that understand that "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom" ... from history long ago figured out that man desperately needed religion, aristocracy, the "ancient regime",  to counteract the tyranny of the masses and ultimately the tyrants. The "in crowd" is just always intent to make sure the masses forget it!

Guys like Hitler, Stalin and Mao are examples of sort of the "Bad Girls" kind of manipulative leader that are ruthless about the rise to power, convert or kill any rivals for the peoples affections, and then make absolutely certain that everyone either loves them or is dead.

So as we continue our US slide to the abyss of tyranny, you can at least be aware of the mechanisms that drive the decline of successful civilizations.

God, Gold, Guns Gardening ... and perhaps a good Bourbon (not everything good starts with G) ... certainly we need to do all we can to warn and even reverse the decline if at all possible, but in general, the best that is likely attainable for those of with the "unpopular beliefs" is to make our seats to observe the fire as comfortable as possible.

As the title says -- when it all falls in, it will be our fault no matter what we do!

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Tear Down This Wall!

In an update of Reagan's prophetic 1987 speech at the Brandenburg Gate, we have our current caricature of an American, BO! Only he thinks the US is the "Evil Empire".

W Cuts In Line At Franklin's, Banned for Life

Obama Cuts In Line At Franklin Barbecue, Makes Up For It By Paying It Forward:

Ex President George W Bush cut in line at the famous Fanklin's BBQ in Austin this past week, then in typical noblesse oblige silver spoon 1%er audacity, thought he would "make it all better" with his stolen from the rest of us bankroll!

National outrage was justifiably extensive at the bumbling plutocrat, and the local Austin eatery has banned the unpopular ex-president, responsible for 9-11, hurricane Katrina, the great recession, income inequality, political deadlock, unrest in the mideast as well as being completely incompetent and unable to achieve anything in office.

St Obama could not be reached for comment, he was golfing.

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We Spy So They Love Us?

Berlin tells CIA station chief to leave in spy scandal | Reuters:

One of the things we were endlessly told when W was in office was that the rest of the world -- not just Arabs, but especially Europe absolutely hated us because of W. The contrast when his worshipfulness BO was coronated was gargantuan -- going to the horror of W to the super-stardom of BO was giddy experience for the press and many of the Sheeple.

So what the hell is BO up to here? It isn't just Germany, there has been Brazil and least and I think a couple of others? I'm a bit mystified -- I don't buy into his stupidity and incompetence as many on the right -- I think he is a legitimately capable anti-colonialist.

So is this "ops research" on the 2nd tier of "great nations"? Perhaps BO has larger plans for bringing a good number of folks down beyond just the US. He DID absolutely declare in his book that HE IS LUO! His identity is as a Kenyan tribesman! Not an American, Harvard grad, Christian, etc -- AFAIK, not even "President". He does seem pretty tired of that job.

He is a smart guy. A plan for the "just rulers of the world", the Luo Tribe of Kenya to take over the planet with BO himself at the head?

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Democrats Spend 3 Trillion to Hold Senate

Democrats Face a Tough Fight to Hold the Senate - NYTimes.com:

NYTs  is giving column space here to rally the faithful. What kind of spending does that count as? Here is how the column concludes:

But Democrats can’t lean on a single demographic. The corporatists, oligarchs and plutocrats are working in concert. Liberals must marshal all their constituent groups to do the same. Everyone must vote.

Why DOES "The Party" (Democrat) even need ANY contributions when the national "paper of record" (completely unbiased, TOTALLY unlike evil "biased" outlets like "Fox") is providing column space for 100% TP voter encouragement with a little negative advertising against the Rs thrown in at no charge ???

The article is loaded with the usual harsh warnings of those demons the Koch Brothers! But how exactly WOULD one total up CNN, NBC, CBS, NPR, NYT, WaPO, Salon and the vast majority of "news" outlets in the country save for Fox and talk radio?

How about the vote buying power of all the "free stuff" from public assistance, BOcare, Medicare, housing aid, education aid plus untold social programs and "grants" available if you "qualify"?

How about the entire education system of the US? Grade school through college and post graduate dedicated to convincing the impressionable young that ever larger government is the key to a "better life" (all be it a much more dependent one)!

Add to this millions of federal and state workers in AFSCME plus the still very significant number of non-public union members that are adjunct financial and foot soldier contributors to TP???

Our budget is nearing 4 Trillion, of which fulling 75% is transferring money from the pockets of the "makers" to the "takers" -- say 3 Trillion. Assume that isn't ALL buying votes, but calculate in the value of the entire MSM shilling for TP, the education system and all the government and union workers!

Three Trillion is not a horrible estimate -- but hey, maybe it is half that. Compare that with:

Lauren Windsor reported last month in The Nation that Charles and David Koch held their annual summer seminar for “a gang of the world’s richest people,” and, according to a source who attended the conference, “the explicit goal was to raise $500 million to take the Senate in the 2014 midterms and another $500 million ‘to make sure Hillary Clinton is never president.’”

Let's assume that the Kochs and their "gang" meet their goals of $500 MILLION ... there are definitely 100s of BILLIONS being spent to hold TP in power!

Our nations entire GDP is in the $16T neighborhood per year ... of which 1/4th is being spent by the FEDERAL government! Add in state and local government and we are talking 40%+ being spent by government!! We have found the "oligarchs and plutocrats" and they are heavily concentrated in Washington DC!



Not to mention their propaganda arm of which the linked article is a great example.

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One Party Fixes Nixon

Opinion: How Nixon's scandal still hurts America - CNN.com:

The reason that Americans don't trust government is Nixon!

 Other government scandals of MUCH larger import (Teapot Dome under FDR comes to mind) don't count.  The salient fact of Watergate was that a REPUBLICAN president was turned out of office. America took a large step in the right direction, but then, somehow, we lost "the lesson" which was SUPPOSED to be learned. REPUBLICANS CAN'T BE TRUSTED!!!

  A "cover-up"? Well, that isn't even remotely wrong if it is done by a Democrat -- the Watergate break-in was about ANTI-Democrat politics. One of the worst crimes (THE worst?) that can be committed! Oh sure, Nixon was attempting to "use the IRS to attack his political enemies" -- and that too was REALLY BAD. His "political enemies" were the good people of the left, not REAL enemies like the Tea Party or people that believe in marriage between a man and woman!

"Iran Contra" was a scandal that hung on from '87-'92 when HW Bush lost. There were indictments 2 weeks before the election -- but there was no problem at all with THAT scandal if you worked for CNN. I suppose if they had managed to get something on Reagan or HW to get them out of office that would have been another of "the right kind of scandal" -- that shows REPUBLICANS can't be trusted?

See, using the IRS for political purposes and losing all the evidence if you are a DEMOCRAT ought to be completely ignored. CNN will help you with that. How do we "fix" this problem?

To really banish the memories of Watergate and set the government on a better course, reforming politics is the most important solution.
Improving our campaign finance system by curbing the influence of private money and imposing stronger restrictions on lobbying, such as the revolving door between the government and lobbying groups, is an essential first start.
Until we take those kinds of steps, voters will always be seeing the shadow of Richard Nixon when they look at their elected leaders.

Got that? Get "private money" (read, "other side money") out of politics, and make sure that nobody can go back into business or "lobby" for business after being in government!

I suppose that he didn't just want to come out and say what he REALLY wants. One party rule! Why, there certainly would be no "Watergate" if there were only one party! In fact, there would be no "scandal" at all! End of story, goal achieved!

Who could argue with that? Well, usually shortly after one party, NOBODY -- at least nobody that isn't in jail or worse!


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Choosing our Way, Schadenfreude for Satan

Who Do We Think We Are? - NYTimes.com:

This column from terminal lefty Maureen Dowd might just as well be recycled from '78 - '80. Back then it would be Nixon that was to blame for destroying "Camelot", the "hope of the '60s", McGovern and the "If we can put a man on the moon, we ought to be able to ...." can-do American spirit. "The devils" beyond lefty Lucifer himself -- Nixon, were "Arab Oil Sheiks", "Japan" and of course Wall Street / Big Business.

There is a certain resonance that really goes back to the '30s, the first time the "progressives" solidly ran aground on the awful spectre of reality. "Big Business" as a constant villain. Ever more leviathan government is the saviour knight in shining armor -- tilting with billions, then trillions of dollars at every potential ill windmill. "Education" of an unknown and unspecifiable sort, but probably technocratic, "150 zillion easy steps" to a better whatsit or thingamajig of social, psychological, electronic, computerized brave new world sure to break us from this "malaise / depression / fear / identify crisis", etc.

"Progressives" live on "progress" -- to a "better world". One that is "fair", "sustainable", "just" -- but if you look a little deeper than the technical manuals of their progroms, nostrums, devices, etc, the "why", the "meaning", the "there / there" -- "at what cost", etc is sadly, awfully, terminally missing.

They have their "Great Men" ... FDR, BO ... even Jimmuh when elected was "plain spoken, caring, a man of virtue". When you have the media, you get such a good opening. FDR was saved by WWII, had it not happened it seems all but certain that the "New Deal" would have been fully seen through and dumped harder than Jimmuh was, but such was not the path that events dictated -- so the snake oil got a reprieve.

A reprieve -- but reality is a persistent thing. Like the Grim Reaper, it is never far away from the door.

I was only slightly surprised by this little nugget -- showing my all too human susceptibility to piper of the MSM juggernaut. The month after BO was inaugurated didn't make the list? But if one listened to the news it was as if the almighty himself had deigned to lead our wondrous nation, the Nobel Peace Prize winning "Citizen of the World" himself.

Andrew Kohut, who has polled for Gallup and the Pew Research Center for over four decades, calls the mood “chronic disillusionment.” He said that in this century we have had only three brief moments when a majority of Americans said they were satisfied with the way things were going: the month W took office, right after the 9/11 attacks, and the month we invaded Iraq.

But no, we were unified only after the evil W's inauguration, pulling together for a brief instant after 9-11, and on the invasion of Iraq (proof that Democracy is a bad idea?). 

"Progressives" can't believe that one would want to  "turn back the clock" ... to Ike, to Reagan. Why, that would be going back to "the old" -- which is INHERENTLY bad.  Things like hard work, equality of OPPORTUNITY rather than outcome, actual tolerance of other ideas and opinions, and yes, the most horrible of all,  foundational ideas like "the fear of God being the beginning of WISDOM", rather than the hubris that generates certain horror, "man as the measure of all things". 

The idea that the universe, and as part of that universe, human civilization, is based on completely solid truths, so easy to discern that they are in fact "self evident", written in our very hearts as Natural Law remains a truth simply impossible to believe for Lucifer and his minions of the left.

Oh, how "judgemental" and oh so "closed minded" those of the left will say. "Did he really say that you could not eat of any tree in the garden?". "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

I understand that "mammon" is now often translated as "money" which I find to be a VERY bad translation of "that which is counted". I would say that "this world" would be a better translation, and "man" a close runner up. "Money" lets us off the hook too easy -- just point to someone wealthier than you and those wonderful feelings "I'm OK" come flowing in.

"Judgement" doesn't come from me -- it comes from the same place that Natural Law that the left is so loathe to notice, even though it is written plainly on their very souls. They KNOW what the problem is, but they absolutely refuse to see it -- they do however still smell the inevitable stench of the rot. Even Maureen Dowd can't fully shut out reality!

Yes Maureen, reality is still reality, God is still God, and America has turned to "the other side" -- YOUR SIDE, yet again with the inevitable results which you now smell. Like the Israelites in the Bible, we have seen directly the blessings of God over and over, yet we persist in choosing our "own way". 

Satan cackles with special schadenfreude  at our stupid sense of "freedom" in choosing his way!

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Barbara, David, Monica, Crime

Barbara Walters, David Letterman have a fascinating conversation about Monica Lewinsky:

It is touching to see that Letterman has a little very late guilt about hammering away on a 21yr old woman taken advantage of at the workplace by a very powerful man. Maybe the "most powerful" --- he walked the halls of power with his pants around his knees. It is quite touching, 15 years or so after the fact to see this "sudden" soul searching.

We live in a nation where "harassment" or "racism" or "homophobia" or "bullying"  can easily destroy careers and even lives IF YOU ARE ON THE WRONG SIDE! If you are Slick Willie or others that "have their hearts in the right place", you skate.

These new "crimes" often leave no marks and require no "evidence" beyond the sworn feelings of the "victim".  "He called me a *****". "He touched me". "He made a remark about ****** and I was "offended / shocked / embarrassed / ?????". "I felt bullied". The "crimes have a few wonderful characteristics that "The Party" (Democrat) loves -- expect that there will be more of them.

• They are 100% in the eye of the beholder. Is Aunt Jemimah racially offensive? Sure could be -- but the products are still on the market. Is a Hooters shirt sexual harassment? Sure could be, but we do know that Owl Preserves still exist. The list is endless -- the "crimes" make a complete mockery of any semblance of "equal protection". The N-word being a great example -- well, what color was the person that said it? What political party? As when Bob Dole was asked "Boxers or briefs"? ... "Depends". 
• "Enforcement" is 100% optional -- Slick Willie is a great example, but there are thousands s of others every day. A  black man in good standing with TP making an awkward advance on a white woman? Certainly nothing to be done about that. A homosexual making an even more over the line on a heterosexual -- maybe even one far younger? Nothing required there! 
• All the "bad people" are guilty, and none of the "good" (see previous).  Mitt Romney was accused of "being a bully in HS". Herman Cain's campaign was destroyed by evidence of previous philandering -- had he been on the side of TP, it is quite likely that even the old accusations would never have been made/tallied,  but clearly they would have all been "old news, no story here" in a TP political setting. 
• They train the masses. Monica is a great example of "getting it wrong". Sure, as a woman you have the right to declare "harassment" AGAINST THE PROPER GROUPS!!! Clearly, the leader of TP is NOT the right group! Be silent, clean your dress and get on with your life. There are obvious targets that you need never have even been alone with that sexual harassment is a slam dunk! White or ESPECIALLY Black (the left has a word for this) Christian Republican heterosexual males are totally open season -- we know they are hypocrites, we know they are guilty -- all that is needed is an accuser! The left can barely contain it's disgust at the idea of a Black Republican -- who knows what sexual perversions go along with such unnatural political affiliation! 

The thought control involved in these sorts of "crimes" are as close as it comes to "core values" from the left. Hand a loaded weapon to be used against "oppressors" to the masses and show them how to use it. PLUS, it engenders the kind of combination  victim=entitlement=empowered  thinking that encourages people toward exactly the attitude that breeds tyrants. Personally, anything short of complete happiness and ease in your life means that you are a VICTIM! Joy of joys, that means that you are ENTITLED and even EMPOWERED to strike back against those that are "oppressing" you, or if you are not so bold, at least cheer on and revel in the "success" of other "victims" as they bring down the "oppressors".


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The Divine Right of Administrators

Is administrative law unlawful? A word from the author | Power Line:

A nice synopsis of a book that I would like to read.

An even briefer summary:

1. Much of our lives today are ruled by "Administrative Law" -- all the permits, paperwork, etc that accretes around government is one example. 
2. Administrative Law is in no way "modern or new", it is OLD and nasty, it has been used forever by rulers to gain as much power as possible. 
3. It is EXPLICITLY Unconstitutional 
4. It grows like a weed because any administrative organization becomes rent-seeking and wants to perpetuate and expand it's power. 

Well worth the read through the column if not the book.

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Hobby Lobby Crosshairs

Hobby Lobby ruling puts Green family in crosshairs - San Jose Mercury News:

http://gawker.com/5728545/shot-congresswoman-was-in-sarah-palins-crosshairs

When congresswoman Gabby Giffords was a the victim of a crazed shooter in Tuscon a few years back, the MSM initially went bererk on "The violent Tea Party rhetoric", of which exhibit A was "Sarah Palin's crosshairs".

Naturally, the reserved and civil left, noted for restraint and always non-violent is treating the HL decision with their usual even handedness by suggesting that Hobby Lobby stores should be burned down,

"Progressivism" deems itself to be the Robin Hood of "justice". "Take from the needy and give to the greedy" or maybe it is vice-versa, at least when it starts. Does that only work in a financial sense?

If a woman works at HL and doesn't like the ruling, she may:

• Work elsewhere
• Pay for her own do-over pill 
• Maybe even ask the involved male to help? 
• Go to a family planning clinic like Planned Parenthood and get it for at least close to nothing
• Potentially use birth control in advance? 
• Abstain ... oh, I ought to shoot myself! This is like asking an alcoholic to abstain, or someone that doesn't like to exercise to exercise, or a smoker to stop smoking ... we NEVER do that, it requires WAY too much self control. NOT POSSIBLE! 

Where HL could either comply or go out of business.

How about a "progressivism" that says that those with the most options ought to be willing to give up one or two rather than forcing those with less options to give up their last one?

I'm guessing that "progressives" are sure that "leveling bit" only applies to money.

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Charter, Linksys, IP, Nefarious Plot?

Is Charter Telling Customers Their Router Is Broken Just To Rent Them One? – Consumerist:

We have been having a lot of storms, so a couple power outages resulted. After one of them I had to do a router re-boot. Not THAT unusual, maybe "monthly" -- programs have memory leaks, intermittent wild pointers, loops, that sort of thing. I never did of course, but I know other programmers are not perfect ;-)

So yesterday PM, the internet is down, couple re-boots, nothing, figure "sleep on it, it often fixes itself overnight" ... which it does, probably Charter net resets or something cure the problem.

No dice this AM, so I get more serious. Hard reset the cable modem ( 30 sec reset button down, pull the power for 30 sec), take the  router off and plug in a PC. No dice, so do ipconfig /release then ipconfig /renew from a DOS prompt. Wala ... back in action! Whew!

So I unplug the PC, confidently plug the router back in and ... and .... nada, go to router admin status, no IPV4 WAN connection ... for some reason, the modem is not giving my router an address. Fiddlesticks! Couple more re-boots, no joy.

So I hook up a cell phone based tether connection and find the linked note among a number of different forums with ticked people. AND, I find the following solution.

DISCONNECT THE CABLE FROM THE MODEM, then do disconnect the power, wait "45 seconds" (it varied, I gave it 5 min, what the hell, I'm retired). Power off the modem and the router, disconnect router from modem.

Then:

• reconnect the cable to the cable modem
• reconnect the power to the modem
• reconnect the power to the router
• make sure all the internet connect lights on the modem are up
• connect the cable modem to the router

WALA! It worked ...

I'm not ready to jump to the nefarious conclusion of Charter plot YET.

It may be that they changed some policy on "one MAC address ONLY" ... or inserted more MAC address checks in some code somewhere so that I just "got lucky" with the PC I used. There is also the factor that I ALWAYS use that PC when I need to do this, the last time having been like 6months or more ago, so that was the MAC they had stored when they went to "one MAC only" or just stated actually checking something they long planned on.

Anyway, I'm like "95% certain" that something changed on the Charter network, based on both my experience and the posts, so others MAY be going to experience the same thing if/when you change a router, or potentially just "out of the blue". Again, this is assuming that it is NOT a nefarious plot.

If it IS actually a plot ... or just a weird MAC corruption / checking issue at Charter, then I'm likely to have this problem again and I will set my router to the MAC address of my favorite troubleshooting computer using the MAC address clone feature of the router and will re-report. I'm pretty doubtful that it is a plot -- "never postulate malfeasance when standard incompetence can explain the situation".

It seems unlikely to me that the MAC address solution could fix it if it is anything other than a plot directed against MAC address ranges used by router manufacturers though. If I'm forced to do the cable out reset again and go to a PC MAC and have no problems that seems pretty damning relative to Charter.

A weak point in my mind is that I have no idea why the cable disconnect should work. Hardware out at the post where my cable runs to that detects an "open cable" and then does something? I'm pretty sure it is the modem that hands out the IP to my router, not something higher in Charters network, but I may of course be wrong. Maybe they did some sort of upgrade to prevent some sort of piracy of their internet connect service?

Well, it is working now ... that is all the thought I'm giving it unless it craps out again.

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