It's costly to be the world's sheriff

Japan spends about 1 percent of GDP on defense. No NATO country spends more than 3 percent of GDP, and the average expenditure among NATO member countries -- excluding the United States -- is a paltry 1.74 percent. What is remarkable, then, is that the United States' considerable wealth, and our relatively advantageous geo-strategic position, should enable us to spend far less, rather than even more, on the military.

Key quote: The overarching question for Americans should not be whether we should spend more on defense, but rather why we spend so much. 

Who appointed us - U.S. - to police the world? If someone asks for our help, they should offer to pay for it. We could then decide if we are willing to help and continue the aid only as long as we are reimbursed for our assistance. If we set and enforced such requirements, we would spend much less time and money on military adventures.

High Priests of Woodrow Wilson's Covenant

At the inauguration of a new President, the imagery of biblical covenantalism is invoked for the sake of easily deceived voters. A man puts one hand on a Bible, which is not required by the Constitution, raises his other hand toward the heavens, from where no alleged Dweller is allowed to impose a political test oath to Himself, and swears allegiance to the Constitution. That event is the last time that he pays any attention to the Constitution unless he is re-elected four years later.

Gary North thinks we can trace our globalist mentality back to Woodrow Wilson.

$15 Billion in Iraq Funds Unaccounted For

The Pentagon cannot account for nearly 15 billion dollars in payments for goods and services in Iraq, according to an internal audit which members of Congress blasted Friday as a "shocking" accountability failure.

Of 8.2 billion dollars in U.S. taxpayer-funded defense contracts reviewed by the Defense Department's inspector general, the Pentagon could not properly account for more than 7.7 billion dollars.

It's only money. What's the big deal? If we run out we'll just print some more.

UK Grumpy Club is now recruiting

“Pubs should have grumpy hours. Well, they’re banning happy hours. We’re all middle class binge drinkers now, apparently.

“And another thing, people have smoked in pubs for centuries. Now they ban it…”

“And another thing” is, naturally, the official Grumpy Club motto.

Unite fellow curmudgeons! And another thing...

Commemorative Stamp

Clipped the following from Wrisley. 

 Every now and then we look in onThe Onion for a smile or a laugh.  The editors are tops at parody and leave no sacred concept untarnished. 

 The postal department is always looking for people and things to memorialize on their commemorative stamps...why not pay tribute to late 41¢ stamp?  

 By the way, in 1932 the price of a first class stamp was raised to 3¢. How much would that be in 2008 money? 47¢! In other words, first class postage today is cheaper than it was when Franklin Roosevelt first ran for office. Shows you what a long run of inflation will do.  

    However....prices are generally going up more than the official numbers tell us, says Bill Bonner.  "About the only thing that is going down, for the typical American, is the price of his house....The latest survey results from Case/Shiller show the average house in America’s largest 20 cities down 14.4% in March over a year earlier – the largest drop on record.  

    "So, who can blame the consumer for getting down in the dumps? Everything that we warned him about is happening to him. His bills are coming due...his assets are going down...and his income is falling."   Gad, what a grumpy review of these changing times.  But it's true.  On the one hand deflation. On the other, accelerating inflation.  How does one deal with them?  Uh oh! 

Drill, Coast Haste

Uncle Sam bans states from drilling in the Atlantic, Pacific and eastern Gulf mainly to protect the environment. Some 85% of the U.S. coastline is off-limits to energy production — including huge reserves off Florida's coast, which China is exploiting in Cuban waters.

To change that, a lawmaker is offering a novel idea. Rep. Sue Myrick of the House Energy and Commerce panel wants to let coastal states decide whether drilling is environmentally risky.

Proposing the exercise of States' Rights is a "novel idea" according to Investor's Business Daily. I wonder what they meant when they passed the 10th Amendment? 

Confessions of a Global-Warming Agnostic

Predictions of catastrophe depend on models. Models depend on assumptions about complex planetary systems — from ocean currents to cloud formation — that no one fully understands. Which is why the models are inherently flawed and forever changing. The doomsday scenarios posit a cascade of events, each with a certain probability. The multiple improbability of their simultaneous occurrence renders all such predictions entirely speculative. 

Yet on the basis of this speculation, environmental activists, attended by compliant scientists and opportunistic politicians, are advocating radical economic and social regulation.

More global warming skepticism - this time from Charles Krauthammer.

The Revolution, Phase II

Wise up: There is only one political party in America: The Government Party. The phony left-right paradigm is a shell game perpetrated by the ruling elite to distract people from that fact, because if it were overt that there's only one party, the entire political system would quickly become widely despised, and the people would be more likely to overthrow it.

And elections – especially presidential elections – are basically scams where the elite field two basically interchangeable candidates – both of whom are acceptable to them and are in their pockets – to con the rubes into thinking that they are running the government.

The differences between the two major political parties are largely rhetorical - not philosophical.

Cracking the Barr Code

While you spent the Memorial Day weekend barbecuing, Libertarians showed their patriotism in a different way: by nominating former Georgia Congressman (and Republican) Bob Barr to represent the party in November's presidential elections. Whether you consider that big news or small potatoes depends, in large part, on who you are.

Some think the Libertarian Party went for Barr because of his name recognition instead of other candidates with stronger libertarian convictions.

How the World's Richest Governments Starve the World's Poorest People

With hundreds of billions of dollars spent each year on development aid and various antipoverty programs in the so-called third world, with an array of governmental and intergovernmental agencies designed to lift the planet's poorest out of earthly misery, and with no notable natural disaster affecting crops and agricultural production, how can a food crisis that threatens millions with starvation have come about?

Where does the money go? Throwing money around in undeveloped countries and hoping it lands on someone who needs it seems not to be the way to help the poor.

Klaus ready to debate Gore on climate change

Czech President Vaclav Klaus said Tuesday he is ready to debate Al Gore about global warming, as he presented the English version of his latest book that argues environmentalism poses a threat to basic human freedoms. "I many times tried to talk to have a public exchange of views with him, and he's not too much willing to make such a conversation," Klaus said. "So I'm ready to do it."

Key quote: Klaus, an economist, said he opposed the "climate alarmism" perpetuated by environmentalism trying to impose their ideals, comparing it to the decades of communist rule he experienced growing up in Soviet-dominated Czechoslovakia.

Global Warming Skeptics Plot 'Carbon Belch Day'

Grassfire.org president Steve Elliott, in a statement, said such theories are off the mark. "It's time for Americans to purge ourselves of the false guilt that Al Gore and the Climate Alarmists have placed on us," Elliott said.

Grassfire.org said it chose June 12 as the day it wants Americans to rev up their SUVs because it coincides with expected debate in Congress over a $1.2 billion carbon tax rebate program. "Carbon Belch Day will have at least as much impact on the so-called 'planetary emergency' of man-made global warming as the goofy save the earth mandates telling us to turn our lights off for an hour," said Elliott.

Key quote: Conservative grassroots group Grassfire.org wants people to waste as much energy as possible on June 12 by "hosting a barbecue, going for a drive, watching television, leaving a few lights on, or even smoking a few cigars."

Futures Markets

Instead of condemning commodity speculation, we ought to recognize the vital function it serves. Let's look at it with a simplified example that captures the essence of speculation in commodity futures markets.

Walter Williams explains the functioning of futures markets.

Entrenched, Embedded, and Here to Stay

George W. Bush's two terms in office may be the greatest story never told of our time. It might, in fact, be the most important American story of the new century and, while you can find many of its disparate parts in your daily papers, the mainstream media has yet to offer a significant overview of the Pentagon in our time. This suggests a great deal about what isn't being dealt with in our world. 

Key quote: How, for instance, is it possible to have a presidential election campaign that goes on for years in which the size of the Pentagon never comes up as an issue (unless the candidates are all plunking for an expansion of American troop strength)?

In Refusal of Murder

It has been more than forty years since my outfit shipped out to the Vietnam war zone. When I read out the orders to the detachment of which I had charge, one of the seamen asked, "Why are we going?"

Taken aback, I had no intelligent answer for him.

Some say "America, love it or leave it." Jeff Knaebel left and explains why. 

Jeff Knaebel is an expatriate American domiciled in India since 1995. He formerly practiced as a registered professional engineer, having been trained at Cornell Univ. and the Colorado School of Mines.

All Sell and No Buy

"I can see by the look of horror on your face that you have heard enough today. We'll take it up again tomorrow, or whenever I sober up after hearing this Awful, Awful News (AAN) myself. Brrr! The blood runs cold!"

The Mogambo Guru is distraught by what he is witnessing at recent garage sales.

Senate Approves $165 Billion for War

In today's world, however, with the neoconservative (neocon) having replaced the traditional conservative in most cases, adherence to the Constitution is no longer a widely upheld virtue. The two sides disagree mainly about which favored causes are worthy enough to justify extra-constitutional governmental funding.

More lambasting of the government for its lack of attention to Constitutional limitations.

A New Argument About Immigration

As Americans are pinched between falling real estate values and the inflation of necessities such as gasoline, they are entitled to know how their tax dollars are being spent. The big bite that social benefits to immigrants (one-third of whom are illegal) takes out of taxpayers' paychecks should be factored into any debate about immigration or amnesty policy.

Your tax dollars at work.

I Sing of Toilet Seats

You’ve heard this? The Navy was supposed to have bought a toilet seat for $640 for one of its aircraft. Cartoons by editorial idiots showed the Secretary of Defense with a toilet seat hanging around his neck. You could get one at Home Depot for $9, was the implication, yet the Navy paid $640. Bad old Navy.

Fred Reed investigates the $640 toilet seat urban legend - and more.

Energy fears looming, new survivalists prepare

These energy survivalists are not leading some sort of green revolution meant to save the planet. Many of them believe it is too late for that, seeing signs in soaring fuel and food prices and a faltering U.S. economy, and are largely focused on saving themselves.

Some folks believe disaster is just around the corner and are making preparations. We didn't need those backyard bomb shelters in the 50's and 60's. We didn't need to stock up for the Year 2000 doom predictions. The sky isn't falling this time either - is it?

Fill Her Up with Hot Air

...if the House of Representatives has now declared it “illegal” for the government of Saudi Arabia to restrict oil production, why is it still legal for the Government of the United States to restrict oil production? In fact, the government of the United States restricts pretty much every form of energy production other than the bizarre fetish du jour of federally mandated ethanol production. 

Mark Steyn wonders if our energy "solutions" are creating our energy problems.

You won the battle but lost the war

AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR FATHERS AND GRANDFATHERS

You won a long, hard, painful battle. But when you came home, you lost the war. You lost the Bill of Rights and freedom. And so we all lost.

America is becoming a lot like the countries you fought against.

Key quote: Good Americans were once spirited, individualistic, independent, and skeptical of government power. Now, good Americans are a lot like the stereotypical "good Germans" of Hitler's day, compliant, docile, and worshipful of government.

Old Time Radio

He was a small... spindly... nerdy-looking... turtle-necked... oversized - black - glasses - and - bow - tie - wearing... hysterically funny... super-talented... little fella.... And, oh... that voice!.... None other like it!.... Once you heard it............................ How can that describe anyone other than the incomparable Arnold Stang.

A break from the somber news of today. Arnold Stang is the currently featured performer on Old Time Radio.

THE LAST ROUNDUP

Few Americans—professional journalists included—know anything about so-called Continuity of Government (COG) programs, so it's no surprise that the president's passing reference received almost no attention. COG resides in a nebulous legal realm, encompassing national emergency plans that would trigger the takeover of the country by extra-constitutional forces—and effectively suspend the republic. In short, it's a road map for martial law.

Who knows what secrets lurk in the bowels of government?

Jupiter's Three Red Spots

The newest red spot is on the far left (west), along the same band of clouds as the Great Red Spot and is drifting toward it. If the motion continues, the new spot will encounter the much larger storm system in August. Jupiter's recent outbreak of red spots is likely related to large scale climate change as the gas giant planet is getting warmer near the equator.

I wonder if Al Gore is going to blame us humans here on Earth for global warming on Jupiter.

Made blue by green initiatives

The idea is that production of paper cups causes more trees to be felled and Styrofoam cups cause more oil to be extracted. Such activities are deemed "ungreen." But the production of ceramic cups requires intense heat -- a requirement that consumes resources. And being heavier than disposable cups, ceramic cups require greater amounts of energy to be shipped to market. Finally, let's not forget that washing ceramic cups also uses energy and water.

Now I have no idea if disposable cups are better or worse for the environment than are ceramic cups -- which is my point.

Donald J. Boudreaux is skeptical of the calls for the "greening" of America.

Rand Paul on Plans for St. Paul

Rand Paul - Ron Paul's son who, I assume, was named in honor of Ayn Rand - speaks on behalf of his dad. The revolution continues...

Who's Kids Are They Anyway?

CPS is an agency that frequently runs amok in many states, an out-of-control organization that regularly tramples on the rights of adults accused of abusing children. The horror stories of parents humiliated by the storm trooper tactics of this bunch of state bureaucrats are lengthy.

Key quote: Everything about this story is rotten. It's the textbook example of a zealous government destroying the United States Constitution in order to grandstand and pretend that they are only interested in protecting the children.

"Innocent until proven guilty" does not seem to be a concern to the Child Protective Services in Texas.

Unmasking Tyranny Again

John Taylor served in the Continental Army, the Virginia Legislature and the U.S. Senate. But he is best characterized for causes that, from today's perspective, he was on the losing side of.

Key quote: Taylor's positions have been all but abandoned today. Americans hear the rhetoric of economic freedom, but every level of government has become a dispenser of special treatment at others' expense.

Amid th’Encircling Gloom

Dr. Paul’s main message is heartily, full-throatedly, unapologetically conservative, in a way we have not seen for a long time. It’s not going anywhere this season, nor likely the next, but the Paul campaign offers proof that conservatism is still alive and can still find converts among the thoughtful young. In the gathering gloom of failure and despair, that’s something to lift the spirits a little.

This piece is from the Republican mouthpiece, NRO (National Review Online) - the "conservative" think tank. There's little for conservatives to get a grip on they say. Except for Ron Paul they say. So why do they not cover Ron Paul in a more favorable light?

Quick Takes 5/23/2008

Quick Takes 5/23/2008

Court rules Texas had no right to seize sect children

About half of the more than 460 children placed in protective custody were babies or toddlers.

Fingerprint Registry in Housing Bill!!!

 a federal fingerprint registry totally unrelated to national security

Fear and Loathing in Denver

Barr's candidacy has generated an intense level of media interest in this year's convention

Ford cuts N. American production

said it will cut production of trucks and sport utility vehicles

Is It Time To Drive 55 Again?

There doesn't seem to be anything stopping these power-hungry politicians

Does the Libertarian Party Matter?

It's hard to know whether these anti-Bush, anti-McCain Republicans will vote for the Democrat this fall, hold their noses and vote for Sen. McCain, or just stay home on Election Day. While the apparent Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, has genuine support among a few conservatives – a friend of mine calls herself an "Obamacon" – the stay-at-home option would seem to be more likely.

The small minority who prefer small government, low taxes and non-intervention with other countries' problems have little to choose from among the current crop of "leading" presidential contenders. Voters may be reluctant to vote for a Libertarian because they think they are wasting their vote but revolutions often start with small steps.

Real Help for Cancer?

Gc-MAF is a naturally made molecule and is not patentable, though its manufacturing process is patent protected. There is no evidence of any current effort to commercialize this therapy or put it into practice. Should such an effective treatment for cancer come into common practice, the income stream from health insurance plans for every oncology office and cancer center in the world would likely be reduced to the point of financial insolvency and hundreds of thousands of jobs would be eliminated.

Bill Sardi and Timothy Hubbell assert the National Cancer Institute may be suppressing a cancer treatment in order to maintain profitability.

GOP Senate Massacre of '08

While Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) hangs in there, locked in a tough race with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the Republican undercard is facing obliteration in the 2008 general elections for the Senate. Polling suggests that a massacre may be in the offing — and one that’s possibly even greater than the worst of previous GOP years: 1958, 1964, 1974, 1986 and 2006.

No good news for the Republicans here.

The Naked Fat Lady on the Couch

Did anyone...anywhere...mention that capitalism could be relied upon to sort out the agricultural sector? Did anyone recall that a free market – with prices set by willing producers and consumers – works more efficiently than one that is rigged by lawmakers? Did anyone even notice that the farming industry has been corrupted by government money...or ask where the money would come from to corrupt it even more? Apparently not. Apparently, Americans don’t think they can trust free enterprise to feed them. 

(As I write this, crude oil is 134.99 and climbing) - Bill Bonner is not enamored with the consequences of political meddling with the economy.

Quick Takes 5/21/2008

Additional reading:

The State of Libertarianism, 2058

How the Rand Era gave way to the Surveillance Era—and what we can do about it. A speculative flight into the future.

Bush vetoes farm bill, override vote likely

Bush on Wednesday vetoed a farm bill that the administration has claimed is bloated with subsidies for crops and wealthy farmers.

Petards in Central Banking

Harsh policies are what everyone wants to avoid...especially before an election.

The state of the race

Will the LP decline the gift presented by the major parties this year?

Senate loads up war funding bill

It looks like the war funding bill is going to be another pork fest.

Banking on Incompetence and Theft

If you want to see how things are going to get after the elections, after the politicians have stopped pandering to us with their phony smiles, stupid ideas and alligator tears about "the poor" that they helped make poor, then let's look at the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, gasoline is selling for 1.61 euro per liter, which works out to, apparently, $9.45 a gallon.

A promise is a comfort for a fool.  ~ Proverb

Nightmare Ticket

WASHINGTON—Presidential hopefuls John McCain (R-AZ), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) announced Monday their plans to form what many Beltway observers have already dubbed the "2008 Nightmare Ticket," a calculated move that political analysts say offers voters the worst of both worlds.

After nearly a year of verbal attacks and negative campaign ads, the nominees announced that, for the good of the country, they were willing to push their differences to the forefront and grant the American people the ticket they've been dreading all along.

Key quote: "By themselves, none would have been capable of uniting the country. But the possibilities of what they could do together to drive it ever further apart are limitless."

PROVE IT

A recent Rasmussen poll shows that 62% of voters would prefer fewer government services with lower taxes. Well, isn't that just dandy. So, tell me: just where in the hell are these 62% of the people in this election so far? All that I've heard is, "I want my mommy. I want a government who will solve my problems. That's not my responsibility, that's the government's job."

Key quote: America today is an America of big government. This is the America of "what has the government done for me today."

GOP: Get back

Which of the principles articulated by Ronald Reagan, and the conservative revolution he led, does the GOP believe has failed? Lower taxes? Reduced spending and smaller government? Self-reliance? Strong defense? Defeating our enemies so they will fear and respect us, instead of appeasing them in hopes that they might like us? If such principles remain valid, why don't more Republicans articulate them?

Cal Thomas offers some advice to Republicans who are wondering why they are being abandoned by their constituents.

We'd Go Nuts

I wonder how we would react if 50,000 of us got killed in one whack, as apparently has happened in the China earthquake. Or, God forbid, 121,000, which is the high estimate for the number of dead in the Myanmar cyclone.

Judging from our reaction to the terror attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which claimed 3,000 lives, I suspect we would go nuts. 

Charley Reese thinks we overreacted to 9/11 attacks. 

The Economy: Another Casualty of War

Explosive growth of government is just another tragedy of this war. The "bipartisan" compromises made in Washington are at the expense of the taxpayer, not in the interest of fiscal responsibility, or peace. The taxpayer loses and government grows.

Oh dear! Ron Paul continues to blame the government for all our economic woes and provides suggestions for turning things around. The leading presidential candidates will not give these ideas any serious consideration nor will the media.

Striking Out on Energy

ExxonMobil chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson said it’s “astonishing” that Bush keeps asking Saudi Arabia to pump more oil, rather than working harder for increased oil production at home. Tillerson called this “terribly upside down,” and went on to say the president should be fighting to open U.S. coastal waters to drilling and production on the outer continental shelf. He correctly wants to end the federal moratorium on such off-shore drilling, where kajillions of barrels of oil and natural gas are being completely ignored.

Larry Kudlow on Bush's lack of direction. (He doesn't think much of McCain's approach either.)

'Oil Bust' Headline Makes a Good Punch Line

This is important stuff, so I call up the local paper and tell them that I want one of their stupid little reporters to come over for my news conference so that I can tell the world what is happening. The little receptionist asks, "Is this The Mogambo?" and I proudly say, "Yes, it is!" Then, suddenly, the line goes dead! So I call back, and the same little receptionist asks, "Is this The Mogambo?" and I proudly say "no!"

Then she says, "Is this about inflation?", and I say, yes, it will impact inflation, and before I can say another word, she says, "It's you, you Stinking Mogambo Idiot (SMI)!", and hangs up again!

So, if you never read in your newspaper how inflation is going to kill all of us, especially inflation in the price of energy, then blame the stupid little receptionist.

Oil prices are determined by traders speculating on the future supply and demand of the product. Their best guess right now is that there will be more demand than supply.

Libertarian Lesson for John McCain

During the Republican presidential debates, John McCain seemed to show as much disdain for Ron Paul as he did for Mitt Romney. But while McCain certainly has no use for Paul's antiwar views, he might want steal Paul's oft-stated idea that Americans are being hit hard by an "inflation tax."

Key quote : We cannot possibly expect the government to control spending when it has a blank checkbook.

The dollar is being devalued by the printing press. What is a dollar worth anyway?

Obama's swept away by sea of supporters

It was Barack Obama's wow moment.

The Democratic presidential hopeful spoke to the biggest crowd of his campaign - an estimated 65,000 people packed into a riverside park for an afternoon rally at a sun-splashed scene on the banks of the Willamette River in Portland, Ore.

Another 15,000 were left outside, fire officials estimated.

Editor's Note: Word is going around that he fed the multitude bread and fish and turned their water into wine. We have been unable to confirm these reports at this time.

Everything You Love You Owe to Capitalism

The state thrives on an economically ignorant public. This is the only way it can get away with blaming inflation or recession on consumers, or claiming that the government's fiscal problems are due to our paying too little in taxes. It is economic ignorance that permits the regulatory agencies to claim that they are protecting us as versus denying us choice. It is only by keeping us all in the dark that it can continue to start war after war, violating rights abroad and smashing liberties at home, in the name of spreading freedom.

Who is this talking about our ignorance of economics? Hint: It's not one of the leading contenders for President.

Couple comes home to find bear inside

The black bear wanted a free meal. The homeowners wanted their house back. Both got what they wanted, but as homeowner David Tisch said, there were no winners in the latest tale of Anchorage's big, wild life.

Key quote: "The bear needed to get out of the house," he said. "He's got all of Alaska to play in, and I'm just asking for this one small area."

I expect we'll soon be hearing from PETA about this.

U.S. Recession to End by September

The U.S. economy will probably exit from a recession by the end of the next quarter as credit markets improve after a year of turmoil, according to a survey by the National Association for Business Economics.

Recession? What recession? Bloomberg and others have been saying we aren't in a recession. 

What Would Freidman Do?

Americans finally will start working for themselves today rather than for their government masters. This milestone arrives two days later than in 2007, clearly proving that the era of big government is back with a vengeance. May 19 is Friedman Day, when the Massachusetts-based American Institute for Economic Research calculates that citizens finally will have toiled long enough to fund local, state, and federal spending.

Let's see. Today is May 19, the 140th day of 2008. So about 38% of our earnings this year is seized by the local, state and federal constabularies according to this group. 

Immigration Raid Jars a Small Town

Current and former officials of the Department of Homeland Security say its raid on the largest employer in northeast Iowa reflects the administration's decision to put pressure on companies with large numbers of illegal immigrant workers, particularly in the meat industry. But its disruptive impact on the nation's largest supplier of kosher beef and on the surrounding community has provoked renewed criticism that the administration is disproportionately targeting workers instead of employers, and that the resulting turmoil is worse than the underlying crimes.

"They don't go after employers. They don't put CEOs in jail," complained the Postville Community Schools superintendent, David Strudthoff, 51, who said the sudden incarceration of more than 10 percent of the town's population of 2,300 "is like a natural disaster -- only this one is manmade."

He added, "In the end, it is the greater population that will suffer and the workforce that will be held accountable."

Congressman Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) said enforcement efforts against corporations that commit immigration violations have "plummeted" under the Bush administration. "Until we enforce our immigration laws equally against both employers and employees who break the law, we will continue to have a problem," he said.

Illegal immigration enforcement starts at the border and requires constant vigilance.

Seven Principles of Sound Public Policy

The general assumption that private property and free-market economies are superior to state ownership and central planning is no longer just an opinion; rather, it is now a settled truth for people who value reason, logic, facts, evidence, economics and experience.

The seven principles of sound public policy that I want to share with you are pillars of a free economy.

Lawrence W. Reed delivered this address in 2001. It still is worthy of consideration. For those who don't have the time or inclination to click through and read the whole thing, here is a synopsis:

The seven principles are: 

· Free people are not equal and equal people are not free.

· What belongs to you, you tend to take care of; what belongs to no one or everyone tends to fall into disrepair.

· Sound policy requires that we consider long-run effects and all people, not simply short-run effects and a few people.

· If you encourage something, you get more of it; if you discourage something, you get less of it.

· Nobody spends somebody else’s money as carefully as he spends his own.

· Government has nothing to give anybody except what it first takes from somebody, and a government that’s big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you’ve got.

· Liberty makes all the difference in the world.

Wild Pigs: A Parable

The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist regime.

In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked: 'Do you know how to catch wild pigs?'

48% of Voters Dissatisfied With Candidates

Nearly half of likely voters — 48 percent — are not satisfied with the current candidates for president, with Republicans and conservative voters the most unhappy about their likely candidate choices in November, a new nationwide Zogby Interactive poll shows.

In what could spell bad news for the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, an overwhelming 86 percent of self-described “very conservative” voters said they are displeased with the current presidential candidates, and 65 percent of these voters said they are very unsatisfied.

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More senior citizens hauling drugs

Ruth Davis didn't look like a drug-runner on Interstate 95 in North Carolina.
But the 65-year-old Miami woman had 33 pounds of marijuana in the trunk of her rented Chevy Impala.

Key quote: Davis says she was making her sixth run to New York in an effort to raise money for treatment for a blood disease and plastic surgery for a daughter hurt in a wreck.

Senior citizens have to do something to occupy their time after they retire.

US soldier refuses to serve in 'illegal Iraq war'

He served in Afghanistan, Germany, Japan, and the Philippines and was due to be deployed next month in Iraq.

On Thursday, he refused to go, saying he considers Iraq an illegal war.

"I stand before you today with the strength and clarity and resolve to declare to the military, my government and the world that this soldier will not be deploying to Iraq," Chiroux said in the sun-filled rotunda of a congressional building in Washington.

Testimony before Congress by Iraq veterans who have turned against the war indicates they don't believe the U.S. effort in Iraq is succeeding.

Common Sense and the Drug Problem

The “war on drugs” has gone on since the Nixon administration in the 1970s and continues today. The “war on terror” is an infant compared with the war on drugs. The drug war is the longest war the United States has ever fought and for sure the most expensive.

The irony is that the war is unwinnable and the side effects make it certain that the problem will continue to grow, with law enforcement making very little progress against it.

Hank Sames makes a case for legalizing drugs.

Government Should Not Aid Myanmar

The case of Myanmar is a test of one's commitment to the freedom philosophy. A free society includes the freedom to be unconcerned, insensitive, or stingy. If the forced looting of the taxpayers for foreign-aid payments has always been wrong, then — cyclone or no cyclone — it is just as wrong now.

We pay for foreign aid with our tax dollars and are left with less in our pockets for causes we would otherwise choose to support.

The Oil-Addiction Fallacy

And just to show I'm not picking on just the Republicans, the Democrats won the majority at least in part by blaming Republicans for high gasoline prices. So what's happened to gasoline prices since they took office?

Democratic Congress is attempting to levy stiff taxes on domestic oil (and natural gas), all in the name of trying to force down energy prices. (Earth to Congress; slapping punitive taxes on anything ultimately raises prices for those goods and services.) The obvious purpose is to discourage domestic production of petroleum, making oil-based fuels more expensive, which is ironic, since one reason that voters turned out the Republicans was that they blamed them for high gasoline prices.

Here is the supreme irony: First we are told that we should not be importing oil from Middle Eastern countries or places such as Venezuela, but then we find that the government is also trying to squash domestic production.

Pity Party

The Democrats aren't the ones falling apart, the Republicans are. The Democrats can see daylight ahead. For all their fractious fighting, they're finally resolving their central drama. Hillary Clinton will leave, and Barack Obama will deliver a stirring acceptance speech. Then hand-to-hand in the general, where they see their guy triumphing. You see it when you talk to them: They're busy being born.

The Republicans? Busy dying.

Peggy Noonan explains how the Republicans have lost their way and why they are going to spend the foreseeable future trying to find their way back.

Pigs Take Wing

The farm bill increased welfare spending, continued massive subsidies to farmers currently earning record profits on crops such as corn and soybeans, maintained biofuel tariffs, and dished out prodigious amounts of pork-barrel spending. Visitors touring the Capitol report that Republicans not only voted for the bill, but did so in broad daylight and even bragged about it later.

Republicans make easy targets these days. Andrew Cline lampoons them over the farm bill they helped to pass.

New revealing Starbucks logo has group screaming 'Slutbucks!'

A Christian group out of San Diego has found grounds for outrage over the new logo for Starbucks Coffee.

The Resistance says the new image "has a naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute," Mark Dice, founder of the group, said in a news release. "Need I say more? It's extremely poor taste, and the company might as well call themselves Slutbucks."

I think we need some sensitivity training here.

Too "Complex"?: Part III

The Constitution tried to erect barriers to government power, of which property rights were one. But, once judges started saying that "the public interest" over-rides property rights, that left politicians free to call whatever they wanted to do "the public interest."

Most politicians don't pay any attention to the Constitution anymore.

Don’t Freak Out

Officials from the Institute for Somehow Managing to Hold It All Together warned that, despite their best efforts, everything appears to be falling completely apart and "getting way out of hand," according to a strongly worded report characterized by panic, frustration, and numerous typographical errors that was released to the American public Monday.

Key quote: "In summary, we have no choice but to accept that managing these complex and varied crises may be untenable at this time," the report concludes. "We're in way over our heads here, people. Oh God. God. What are we going to do?"