ANWR Drilling Would Provide Quick Relief

With record oil prices, many on the Right (as defined with today's labels) have understandably called for the federal government to remove its restrictions on oil exploration and drilling in ANWR (located in Alaska) as well as other federal lands and offshore water areas.[1] They point out that these federal restrictions, in conjunction with local environmental activism, have resulted in the absurd situation where 94 percent of federal land, and 97 percent of federal offshore waters, are not being leased by energy companies. The US government itself estimates that its own prohibitions currently render 18 billion barrels in the outer continental shelf (OCS) and 19 billion barrels located under federal lands off limits. Note that these are very conservative estimates, because nobody has gone out and extensively explored the areas where it is illegal to extract oil!

I'm scratching my head and trying to understand why the Democrats are so adamantly opposed to drilling in ANWR and elsewhere when we are sending billions to other countries in exchange for oil. I consider the ravings of Ms. Pelosi: "I'm trying to save the planet!" and Mr. Reid: "Oil is making us sick!" and I wonder if they're serious. Well, I know they're seriously nuts. Until we can develop economically feasible technologies to incorporate nuclear, solar and wind power in our homes and cars, we are going to require coal and oil. We might as well use what we have instead of paying the Saudis and others for theirs.

The cost of socialism

America was blessed both with abundant natural resources and individual freedom, the backbone of enterprise. The combination rendered American productivity the envy of the world. Based on the strength of our industry and productivity, the American Treasury became the world's largest.

Why would America swap a history of successful capitalism for a murky future of socialism? The answer is politics.

Government intervention in the functioning of the economy is counter-productive.

Consenting to be Abused

Stopped on a lonesome stretch of highway, at the mercy of an armed man who has the power to arrest, very few citizens feel free to refuse. The Illinois State Police report that 94 percent of white motorists and 96 percent of minority ones "consent" to such searches.

Is that because they have nowhere else they'd rather be? Is it because they get a kick from watching a cop take apart their cars in an effort to put them behind bars? Or could it be because they suspect that refusing a cop is far too dangerous?

Just say "no" and they have to let you go. If they really want to search your vehicle, they'll make up a reason to do it and won't need your permission.

Vote 'no' on Election Day

"Voting for a bad candidate of either party is the surest way to waste your vote," Farah says. "If you want to promote real positive political change in America in 2008, the best way is to reject them both – choosing a third-party alternative or writing in another choice. Just imagine the message this will send the Republican and Democratic party establishments if millions of us do that."

At the same time, "None of the Above" strongly encourages participation in the election and makes the case for cleaning house of deeply flawed, entrenched incumbents in Congress who also exceed their authority under the Constitution.

Another voice joins the chorus (see here and here) to not cast a vote for either of the two mainstream candidates.

Environmentalists' Hold on Congress

Let's face it. The average individual American has little or no clout with Congress and can be safely ignored. But it's a different story with groups such as Environmental Defense Fund, Sierra Club and The Nature Conservancy. When they speak, Congress listens. Unlike the average American, they are well organized, loaded with cash and well positioned to be a disobedient congressman's worse nightmare. Their political and economic success has been a near disaster for our nation.

Walter Williams explains how lobbyists control our politicians with money and influence.

The Greens are Going Crazy

It’s hard to ignore the fact that the Greens are going crazy, not just in the United States, but around the world. They are increasingly frantic over the opposition being voiced against global warming, one of the greatest hoaxes in modern history.

The Greens have bet everything on global warming as the reason for giving up the use of long established sources of energy such as oil, coal and natural gas. The object has been to slow everything the modern world calls progress.

In India, a spokesman for that nation of one billion people has flatly refused to accept the global warming hoax. China shows no sign of yielding to the global warming lies. The greatest agricultural and mercantile economy to have ever existed, the United States of America, continues to thwart its own growth by yielding to the lies.

Greens are basing their hysteria on weather prognostications over the next hundred years or so by people who cannot predict tomorrow's weather with a high degree of accuracy. They are also assuming we can affect the climate by altering human behavior which is insignificant when compared to global forces beyond our control.

Government Is Our Problem

Reagan's libertarian rhetoric was better than his actual governance or his ability to derail or even downsize the speeding train of Big Government. But his complaint about government is truer than ever.

Behind virtually every major social problem, financial crisis or corruption scandal that afflicts us lies the heavy hand or leaden foot of government, which today in all its levels gobbles up more than 50 percent of our annual GDP and controls more of our lives than ever.

The list of current government fiascoes and crises is long and bipartisan.

A list of abuses and usurpations by our government which is reminiscent of the listing of charges against King George in the Declaration of Independence. Rebellion anyone?

Nothing but pain

"I have days - growing more frequent all the time - when I'm convinced the time is now upon us that some Big Events are about to occur. The world economy and political system will share in the chaos about to be unleashed."

I know what you are thinking. You are saying to yourself, "Hey! That sounds a lot like what the Stupid Loudmouth Mogambo (SLM) is always yammering about, right before he starts getting hysterical about how it is all caused by the Federal Reserve creating too much money and credit, and proceeding from there to heaping justified insults on Congress (except Ron Paul), most of the Supreme Court, the United Nations, all foreigners and malevolent alien beings from outer space who are here to undermine the system prior to conquest by flying saucers and ray guns, which predictably leads to how we are freaking doomed, and if you are not buying gold and silver then you are some kind of drooling idiot!"

The Mogambo Guru regales us with dire news of inflation, deflation, stagflation, personal misery and crushing debt.

Democrats Try to Break Grip of the Senate’s Dr. No

Democrats say Mr. Coburn is also exaggerating the potential costs of the bills he blocks because most of the proposals would require a second round of approval before any money was shelled out.

But Mr. Coburn, as is his wont, begs to differ. He said the Senate was shirking its duty by failing to give closer review to the hundreds of bills that slide through by unanimous consent. And he said Congress should not be clearing the way for billions of dollars in potential new spending — even on meritorious projects — without making reductions elsewhere. Fearful of the public debt piling up, he said he wanted the opportunity to at least propose those cuts.

“We ought not be borrowing and expanding the federal government unless we get rid of stuff that is not working,” he said.

Key quote: “I am not a go-along, get-along guy if I think it is the wrong way to go. I am O.K. taking the consternation of my colleagues. I take my oath seriously.”

He's nicknamed Dr. No because he is an M.D. and he says "No" by blocking spending legislation with procedural objections which require the Senate to actually debate the bills instead of passing them with a voice vote. We need more M.D.'s in Congress like Tom Coburn and Ron Paul.

How separate must church and state be?

A taxpayer-funded program should not be permitted to hire and fire on the basis of what people believe about God or how they choose to run their private lives.

The Bush faith-based initiative allows religiously affiliated social services to engage in this kind of job bias, and it's just plain wrong. Polls repeatedly show that the vast majority of Americans oppose such discrimination in public programs.

The Bush administration has also failed to monitor faith-based grants to ensure that religious groups don't proselytize with public funds. People should be able to get the help they need from their government without being pressured to pray or take part in someone else's religious ritual.

It's time for religious organizations to be subjected to the same rules as any other business - that's what they are. If waitresses are taxed on tips, churches should be taxed on the money put into their offering plates. Churches offer a service just like lawyers. They advise their clients and receive renumeration in return. They should be no more exempt from property taxes than a lawyer's office should be.

A Weak and Dependent People

With its coming bailout of homeowners and mortgage lenders, the federal government refortifies its role as daddy for the American people and the people’s role as child-adults who are dependent on their daddy to take care of them.

The bailout, while strengthening the federal government, makes the American people weaker than ever. A people who look to the government for their sustenance and to protect them from their own mistakes and from the adverse vicissitudes of life will inevitably be a weak people.

The economic question is: How long can these paternalistic programs continue? Is the final day of reckoning just being delayed? After all, don’t forget that these programs of unfunded liabilities stretch all the way back to the New Deal in the 1930s. Every few years, a new crisis materializes, only to be jerry-rigged by the feds. Most everyone assumes that the process can go on forever.

Uncle Sam is running out of options to bail out overextended debtors but insists on rushing to the rescue one more time.

Zombie voters and fortune cookies

Garry Reed lambasts the two presidential candidates:

Obama:
Who are Barack Obama’s supporters?

Picture an old 1950s era black-and-white zombie movie. The undead rise from their graves, begin lurching forward, arms outstretched, eyes vacant, all murmuring eerily in unison, “Change, change, change…”

McCain:
John McCain stands for everything and nothing. He’s too liberal to attract conservatives, too conservative to please liberals, too big government power-wielding authoritarian to interest libertarians.

This is because the John McCain philosophy of governance is a gigantic grab bag of fortune cookies stuffed full of utterly unconnected and inconsistent bits and pieces of political chaff.

Spending Addicts

In 1947, after the costly war and America's huge investment in the rebuilding of Europe and Japan, the government's total debt stood at $257 billion. It took about 18 years for that figure to double, gradually edging up to $542 billion in 1975.

In many of the postwar years, the government actually operated in the black. It had a surplus of $4 billion in 1947 (the equivalent of about $38.3 billion in current dollars) and modest surpluses in 1948, '49, '51, '56, '57, 1960 and 1969 as well.

The pace of deficit spending and debt accumulation then accelerated. Total federal debt doubled from 1975 to 1982, when it broke the $1 trillion barrier, ending the year at $1.14 trillion. Only five years were needed to double the total again, increasing to $2.35 trillion in 1987. It nearly doubled again over the next seven years, hitting $4.64 trillion in 1994. And if the estimates of government accountants are accurate, it will have doubled again by the end of the current fiscal year, ending the year at $9.65 trillion, heading upward to an estimated $10.5 trillion by the end of the next fiscal year.

FLASH!!! Congress raised the debt limit on Saturday to $10.6 trillion - Bush will surely sign it.

Let's don't vote for President

Potiphar Gride doesn't think either presidential candidate is up to the task of handling the duties of the office and explains why he'll not vote for President.

On August 28th we'll know, officially, who the Democrat nominee for president is. Everybody expects he will be Barrack Obama, but as of now he is merely the presumptive suspect-in-chief. A taxpayer assisted overseas tour is intended to make him look "presidential" but it's all public relations puffery.

Obama has not yet been nominated by his party, but it doesn't matter to me. I don't plan to vote for him. I won't vote for John McCain, either. In fact, I have not voted for a Republican or Democrat presidential nominee since Barry Goldwater in 1964. (You may recall Goldwater's slogan, "In your heart you know he's right.") But Lyndon Johnson prevailed in that election, helped enormously by a TV commercial that showed a little girl picking petals from a daisy. She was obliterated by an atomic bomb, illustrating how the world would be if Goldwater were elected. It was a brilliant bit of propaganda.

In late 1964 I was already fuming over the news that Congress was going to relieve Americans of their silver money. Dimes, quarter-dollars, and half-dollars would be made of copper and nickel starting in January, 1965. President Johnson said, with a straight face, that the new cupro-nickel coins would circulate alongside the silver and would have equal purchasing power. However, the silver completely vanished from circulation before the end of 1965, obeying Gresham's Law which informs us that bad money always chases good money out of circulation. That's when I fully realized the folly of believing what politicians say. One must watch what they DO.

"You haven't voted since 1964?" calls a voice from the back row.

"Didn't say that," I respond. "I said I have not voted for a Republican or Democrat presidential nominee since 1964, so don't pin the blame for the expensive parade to the Oval Office for the past forty-four years on me."

My ballot is usually cast for the Libertarian candidate, although I won't even do that in November. I'll just leave that choice blank to convey the message that I'm tired of the trend to national bankruptcy and will not support a candidate who won't offer a plan to do something about it.

I would love to persuade lots of voters to cast "no" votes for president. It would send a strong message to the national political leaders that they have no popular mandate to pile phenomenal levels of debt upon posterity and steal from us every day through their devilish trick of money inflation.

I know this idea will bring e-mail from well-meaning people who will tell me that if "more people voted things would be better." That's nonsense, of course. What they are saying is "If more people who think as I do would vote, things would be better." Can't you picture these enthusiastic voters going door to door offering a lift to the polls for people who will vote for the opposition?

It's not the total numbers that matter, anyway. In the heyday of the Soviet Union the turnout on election day was about 98 percent. Who will say voters of that era got a good deal? The political opinion of America's adults can be accurately tabulated with a sampling of three or four thousand. There's no need to poll several million people to discover what popular opinion is.

A grumpy acquaintance of mine, "Boiling Ed," repeatedly advises his friends to vote the rascals out. The trouble is the choices are usually so thin we wind up voting another rascal into office to take the place of the one we're voting OUT. If the new hire is not an actual rascal he will be once he gets his hands on the controls of power.

Ed is right, though. The country is riding for a fall. Fifty years ago we were on top. The USA was the world's largest creditor nation. Today we're the world's biggest debtor nation and this week Congress proposes to raise the national debt ceiling to $10.6 trillion from the present $9.8 trillion. The politicians in Washington hope you won't notice.

Can you fix this mess by voting for Senator Obama? No. He has vowed to make it worse. How about Senator McCain? No. He's pledged to failed spendthrift policies of the Bush administration, which has racked up more unpayable debt in two terms than any other administration in the country's history.

Don't vote for either one. In fact, if enough Americans withhold their vote in the presidential race somebody in Congress will push a bill to make voting mandatory. Such nonsense might trigger an eruption among the people (call it a revolution) leading to a return to the U.S. Constitution in which the federal government ceases its role as operator of the inflation machine that is destroying us.

If we stuffed the federal government back into its constitutional straight-jacket who would rule over our comings and goings? Who would regulate our lives and hold our hands when adversity strikes? The individual states, that's who. They'd get their sovereignty back. If the state legislature went too far out of bounds it would be much simpler for the people to take up their pitchforks and march to the state house to prod the politicians into acting responsibly.

Not voting for president is my way of "voting the rascals out." I refuse to vote another rascal in. I couldn't bear the feeling of guilt.

July 24th, 2008

You must remember this: how the mind works

Words fail me. They used to be my friends but now they can't be bothered. They're happy to just leave me in the middle of a thought with a gaping hole where the end of the sentence is supposed to be, thrashing around in my own ridiculous frontal lobes, searching (as I was last week) for the name of the, the, you know... the twirly thing, the wine thing, you know, the chrome, tugging, grunting thing - the popping thing. Come on, man, come on! Corkscrew, yes. It was only a few seconds of gormlessness but how can you forget a word that so brilliantly goes to the trouble of describing itself?

Gormlessness? Well, at least there's a word for it besides senile or demented or Altzheimer's but I probably will not be able to remember it.

Saturday fun 07-26-2008

Busted for licking cop's face
"We encourage people not to lick our police officers. We want you to like them, not lick them."

US man charged for shooting mower
"It's my lawn mower and my yard, so I can shoot it if I want."

Should the votes of dead people be counted?
"I don't know how someone can say you're a qualified voter if you're deceased."

Boffins to redesign streets for drunks
Researchers came to the staggering realisation that drunk people trip over things.

Assault with a deadly peanut
Police say it's a case of assault with a deadly peanut.

He ventured forth to bring light to the world

And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child's journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.

The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.

And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.

Many are so devoted to Obama that they expect miraculous solutions from him. They will be sorely disappointed but his election this fall seems almost a certainty.

The Big Squeeze

Mr. McCain's Web site says he supports accounts only as a "supplement" to Social Security, suggesting that he no longer would allow workers to divert part of their taxes to such accounts. His top economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, says that such ambiguity is intentional. "The history on Social Security has been if you put out specific proposals or preconditions, you polarize the debate and the deal doesn't get done," he told the Los Angeles Times.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, has been much more straightforward about what he would do. It just wouldn't be much. Mr. Obama has ruled out both personal accounts and any change in benefits. Instead he would raise taxes.

Don't expect much discussion on the issue of government entitlement programs during the campaign season. It's embarrassing for the candidates to tell the voters that they have no clue about how to handle the looming crisis of government bankruptcy.

Doctors switch to 'concierge' practices

Sapin has an unusual request for his patients. He wants them to pay an annual retainer of $1,500, a fee that will buy these patients better access and more attention from the busy doctor.

Sapin is among a handful of Arizona doctors who are so frustrated with the pressures of being a primary-care physician that they are striking a new, more exclusive path known as concierge medicine. The practice typically involves charging an annual fee in exchange for better access, longer appointments, more emphasis on preventive care and other medical perks.

"The idea behind it is nothing more than a return to the days of Marcus Welby," said Dr. Steven Knope, a Tucson physician who operates a concierge practice for about 125 patients.

Government regulations are causing doctors to reconsider how they administer to patients. They are cutting out the middleman - i.e. government - and are dealing directly with their patients. Of course, the politicians are not going to like this very much and will probably try to bring the rebellious physicians to their senses with new regulations.

Thanks to Karen de Coster

Counterfeit Money at Wachovia

The following was clipped from wrisley.com - Thanks, John

A Central Florida couple has complained to the Secret Service that an Orlando Wachovia Bank gave them ten counterfeit $100.00 bills among the 36 they withdrew to take to Bank of America. Wachovia is reported to have settled with another party who claimed they were given $40.00 in counterfeit bills. Reports also circulate in Columbia, SC of fake bills occasionally showing up in cash withdrawals. Here's the video report from Florida. Fake Bills.

Here's a link to the official Secret Service web site that describes things to look for when phony bills are suspected. Spotting Counterfeits.

The Opposite of Progress

Why is Congress so unpopular? Because it is often intent upon doing things that will make life in America much worse.

The most important example is continued blockage of access to America's energy resources. No new nuclear power plants have been permitted in decades; no new oil refineries; no additional drilling off the coast of Alaska, California, Florida or parts of the Gulf of Mexico where there are huge amounts of useable energy; and continuing opposition to building liquefied natural gas facilities.

Key quote: "...the congressional priority is increasing the size, scope, reach and spending of the federal government."

Workingman’s blues

Regardless of their political beliefs, American voters are in a horrible mood this year. Democrats are sick of George Bush. Republicans are sick of the Democrats running Congress. Everyone worries about Iraq, either because they think the war should never have been fought, or because of the long, costly and thankless slog it has turned into. The latest violence in Afghanistan is depressing. The culture war grinds on: America is slouching towards Gomorrah or theocracy, depending on your viewpoint. The earth is either cooking or being overrun by eco-fanatics. And the American economy is tottering.

The Economist looks at the realities of the economic times we are in.

Honorable Exit From Empire

Tusk is demanding that America "provide billions of dollars worth of U.S. investment to upgrade Polish air defenses in return for hosting 10 two-stage missile interceptors," said Reuters.

Reflect if you will on what is going on here.

By bringing Poland into NATO, we agreed to defend her against the world's largest nation, Russia, with thousands of nuclear weapons. Now the Polish regime is refusing us permission to site 10 anti-missile missiles on Polish soil, unless we pay Poland billions for the privilege.

Has Uncle Sam gone senile?

Our imperialistic aspirations are costing us billions. Pat Buchanan thinks we can't afford to continue being the world's overlord - nor should we.

Strippers jockey for pole position

So how high can gold go? My usual answer is to first demand an estimate of, "How low can the dollar can go?", which is the same as asking "How low WILL the dollar go?", which is the easiest question on the whole mid-term exam; the answer is that it can, and will, go to zero.

How do I know that the dollar will go to zero value? Because it is a fiat currency, and all of the other thousands of fiat currencies tried by different countries over the millennia have ALL gone to zero! All!

So the height to which gold can go, in dollars, is infinity! And "infinity" is the answer to another question on the mid-term exam, namely, "How much is the market price of gold in dollars if the dollar is worth zero?"

The example of Zimbabwe comes to mind. Wads of $10,000,000 Zimbabwe dollars are required to buy a loaf of bread. Zimbabwe's answer to this problem is to print $10,000,000,000 worthless Zimbabwe dollars.

35 years of drug war failure

So, how's its track record after 35 years of difficult, often dangerous drug-war-making? If the DEA were a heroin addict, it would have overdosed on its own incompetence by age 6.

Despite its failures and the harm it's done to American society, however, the DEA has done more than merely survive. It's become a typically bloated, self-preserving federal bureaucracy whose power, budget and continuing existence bear no relation to its performance

The "War on Drugs" - designed to protect us from ourselves - has made drug dealers wealthy and emboldened many otherwise honest citizens to get in on the action. It has not made a dent in the amount of drugs consumed; it has just made them more lucrative for the dealers.

Excuse Me While I Get My Gun

If you're awakened in the middle of the night by a crash, may you carry a loaded gun with you as you investigate? Evidently not. The Washington Post reports that D.C.'s acting attorney general, Peter Nickles, "said residents could neither keep their guns loaded in anticipation of a problem nor search for an intruder on their property." According to Nickles, if you see an armed criminal charging your home, or in the event of "an actual threat by somebody you believe is out to hurt you," you're allowed to get your gun, unlock it, and load it.

How long will that take?

Too long if the intruder has already unlocked and loaded his weapon - which, of course, he has. D.C. is fighting back against the Supreme Court decision to allow homeowners to defend themselves.

X-Rated Security Screenings

Perry was also taken to a see-through room by a TSA agent when his artificial knee set off the metal detector.

"He yelled at me to get the belt off. 'I told you to get the belt off.' So I took the belt off. He ran his hands down over and pulled the pants down, they went down around my ankle," Perry said.

At that point, Perry was standing in his underwear in public view. He asked to see a supervisor. That made things worse.

"She was yelling 'I have power, I have power, I have power," Perry said.

Mr. Perry said "It makes you feel like you have no rights." Sorry Mr. Perry. Your rights are being removed daily.

The Mother of All Messes

Republicans are sending around the Internet a photo of a cute little boy whose T-shirt reads: "The mess in my pants is nothing compared to the mess Democrats will make of this country if they win Nov. 2nd."

One can only wonder at the insouciance of this message. Are Republicans unaware of the amazing mess the Bush regime has made? It is impossible to imagine a bigger mess. Republicans have us at war in two countries as a result of Republican lies and deceptions, and we might be in two more wars – Iran and Pakistan – by November. We have alienated the entire Muslim world and most of the rest.

The dollar has lost 60% of its value against the euro, and the once mighty dollar is losing its reserve currency role.

The Republicans’ policies have driven up the price of both oil and gold by 400%.

Inflation is in double digits. Employment is falling.

Click on the title link above to continue reading. Paul Craig Roberts is just getting warmed up. He doesn't think much of the Republicans efforts over the last eight years. If you're expecting things to get better when the Democrats get in the White House however, better buckle up and hang on tight for they won't do much better.

Range of acceptable opinion small

A chart of the PPI over the past 90 years, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows prices in this measure holding relatively stable until about the mid-70s and then taking a sharp upturn. Could this be related to the fact that the American dollar was fully taken off of the gold standard in 1971, and full control of the money supply was given to the Fed? Paul's answer is yes, and his solution is a return to the gold standard.

But because this proposed course of action falls so far from what is usually discussed, it is never seriously considered by any in power, nor discussed by the mainstream national media to any significant degree.

This is an individual case of a much broader problem within our political culture: the range of acceptable opinion in our country has shrunken to an almost impossibly narrow range.

True. We would much rather discuss what a candidate's preacher said a few years ago. Political discourse in the mainstream media is relegated to such meanderings and serious topics are found to be embarrassing to the uninformed hosts of so-called news shows or the editors of newspapers.

Black Education

Politicians and the teaching establishment say more money, smaller classes and newer buildings are necessary for black academic excellence. At Frederick Douglass' founding, it didn't have the resources available today. If blacks can achieve at a time when there was far greater poverty, gross discrimination and fewer opportunities, what says blacks cannot achieve today? Whether we want to own up to it or not, the welfare state has done what Jim Crow, gross discrimination and poverty could not have done. It has contributed to the breakdown of the black family structure and has helped establish a set of values alien to traditional values of high moral standards, hard work and achievement.

The government has spent a lot of money on education and the results are stark. Politicians, of course, think they haven't spent enough money to solve the problem. They are asking for just a little more.

Bankrupt "Exploiters"

What we need is more government regulation of lenders, they say, to protect the innocent borrowers from "predatory" lending practices.

Before going further down that road, it may be useful to look back at what got us into this mess in the first place.

It was not that many years ago when there was moral outrage ringing throughout the media because lenders were reluctant to lend in certain neighborhoods and because banks did not approve mortgage loan applications from blacks as often as they approved mortgage loan applications from whites.

Thomas Sowell points out that government interference in the economy caused the mortgage loan fiasco and more government interference is probably not the solution.

Why No Outrage?

"Raise less corn and more hell," Mary Elizabeth Lease harangued Kansas farmers during America's Populist era, but no such voice cries out today. America's 21st-century financial victims make no protest against the Federal Reserve's policy of showering dollars on the people who would seem to need them least.

Phil Gramm says we are just a bunch of whiners. James Grant can't believe we are not whining a lot more and explains why we should be whining - loudly!

America First

Don't get me wrong – I have nothing against foreigners. We can't blame them for milking us out of every dollar they can as long as we continue to elect stupid or corrupt politicians. You needn't pay any attention to all this global baloney you hear. The world has always had a global economy. Why the heck do you think Columbus sailed over here and Marco Polo walked to China?

Charley Reese wonders why we give money to other countries instead of spending it here. It's like all the celebrities and other muckity-mucks who want to help all the poor folks in Africa and elsewhere. There are plenty of people right here who could use some help.

Let's Have Some Love for Nuclear Power

In the U.S. at present, 104 nuclear plants generate about 21% of our electric power. Last November, NRG Energy, of Princeton, N.J., became the first company to file for a license to build a new nuclear plant since the 1970s. Almost a dozen more applications have now also been filed.
While we may be at a turning point, one enormous question still hangs over this revival of nuclear power in the U.S.: Who is going to pay for it?

It's clean and green but environmentalists will bring up Chernobyl and Three Mile Island and The China Syndrome over and over.

Drug-War Hogwash

The fiasco some people call the "war on drugs" is proof positive that most people learn nothing from history. What happened when the government outlawed the sale of alcohol? It created organized crime, vast organizations that smuggled booze into the country and set up wholesale and retail distribution of it. Since criminal organizations are denied the benefit of the law for settling disputes, you got gang wars for turf and distribution rights.

Charley Reese puts a spotlight on the "War on Drugs".

The Crisis Is Upon Us

I have, for the past 35 years, expressed my grave concern for the future of America. The course we have taken over the past century has threatened our liberties, security and prosperity. In spite of these long-held concerns, I have days – growing more frequent all the time – when I'm convinced the time is now upon us that some Big Events are about to occur. These fast-approaching events will not go unnoticed. They will affect all of us. They will not be limited to just some areas of our country. The world economy and political system will share in the chaos about to be unleashed.

Ron Paul is not given any attention by the mainstream media and, as a result, most Americans don't get to hear his opinions. It's too bad because no one else seems to understand the changes that will be necessary to prevent the impending disaster Ron Paul is predicting.

The Modern Stealth Depression

Yes, it's here. Welcome to the Depression. No, don't drop whatever it is you're doing. Don't get up. It's not going anywhere. It will wait. It's just going to sit over here in the corner and read a magazine while you do whatever it is you need to do.

A Depression doesn't run hot and fierce like some crazed meth burner. A Depression is methodical, purposeful, patient. It will build a shelter out of tree branches and newspaper, light a small, well-contained campfire and wait you out, brother. While you feed on the empty calories of denial and popcorn, it will quietly gather shards of broken dreams and fashion them into a terrible weapon of blunt force reality.

The depression is already here?

Bank unduly scapegoated

Why are the banks “greedy”? Well, according to The Boston Globe-Democrat, Countrywide loaned Taylor $260,000 to buy a condo, and now they actually want her to pay it back!

Heartless bastards.

She stopped making payments after a year, and Countrywide agreed to let her stay in the condo until her niece, who lives with her, finished the school year. But she refuses to leave.

“I’m taking a stand,” she says.

Some Bostonians - particularly those who pay their mortgages every month - may consider Taylor irresponsible. They may think that being evicted from your condo a year after you’ve stopped making the mortgage payment seems completely responsible.

Taylor doesn’t agree.

“Why should I be punished?”

If Congress can come to the rescue of failing banks and companies, why shouldn't it come to the aid of home buyers who can't (or won't) make their mortgage payments?

Making Americans Unsafe

"Hundreds of thousands of people" on a watch list that they have no business being on?

Yes. "Members of Congress, nuns, war heroes and other ‘suspicious characters,’ with names like Robert Johnson and Gary Smith, have become trapped in the Kafkaesque clutches of this list, with little hope of escape," said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.

And this is America, not Nazi Germany?

How can Airport "Security" possibly protect anyone when the idiots cannot differentiate a high-level American government official from a terrorist?

Do you feel safer now?

America Is Not a Post-Anything

Our 21st-century paralysis is surprising. The United States is not materially exhausted. We sit atop trillions of dollars worth of untapped oil, gas, coal, shale and tar sands.

America could mine more uranium, and reprocess fuels to build hundreds of nuclear plants. American agriculture is blessed with the world's best soils, most developed irrigation systems, and most productive and astute farmers.

There is as much sun and wind in the western United States as anywhere in the world. We have plenty of natural resources and the know-how to make all the wood, steel and cement products we need.

Finally, a note of optimism and hope. We are capable of dealing with our problems by using our resources wisely.

It Is Good for One To Be Free

We must take charge again of our lives: of our money and medicine and education. We must reclaim our Liberty, our peace and prosperity.

That means no more foreign wars, no more central banks to finance those wars, no more central planners, no more bailouts and billions for the bankers. No more worthless, irredeemable paper money, no more foreign aid, no more foreign wars. No more telling the people how to live, or looting us with lies about trust funds that don’t exist. No more stealing oil, which is cheaper to buy anyway, no more indebting our children with trillions borrowed overseas, no more telling our elderly where they can and cannot buy their medicine, and what the can and cannot do to relieve their pain.

No more. No more. No more. That is lesson from their failures. "No more." That is the message to take back home today. "It is time to say no more!"

Who is going to listen if we protest? We moan and groan and we are called whiners and snivelers. We have a statesman in our midst (Ron Paul) but he is regarded by our leaders as a lunatic. There are many other eloquent voices but their protests are going unheeded - so far, at least.

Visitors from the Planet Thrift

The world economy is slowing down. The global financial system is falling apart.

The whole situation is a mess…a disaster for investors…a catastrophe for homeowners…a Waterloo for the financial industry. But it is God's gift to us.

What fun it is to read the paper! So much nonsense! So many clowns! Such drivel…such claptrap…everything is working out just as we expected.

We had to put down our copy of the Financial Times this morning. We were afraid of internal hemorrhage. Besides, our eyes were watering so much we could barely see…

Gloom and doom from Bill Bonner on the financial woes we are facing.

'Have Nothing To Do With Conquest'

Wars over oil; wars over the religious conflicts of foreigners in which no genuine U.S. national interest at stake; and wars to impose secular democracy on people who will resist it to the death. This situation is surely the antithesis of what the Founders intended when they designed a constitutional system meant to limit the chance of an arbitrary government that inevitably leads to tyranny. The Founders knew – and Americans must relearn – that there is no better definition of tyranny than one that finds an entire nation led into war by the negligence, personal beliefs, or even whims of a single individual – be he or she a king, a dictator, or a popularly elected president.

We are capable of sustaining and defending ourselves within the confines of our borders. Meddlesome intervention not involving self-defense is costly and against the principles upon which this country was founded.

God, Guns and Gold

Everywhere we look, we see more evidence that post-Reagan Republicans and post-Thatcher Tories have given up on free enterprise. They have decided that the problems in the economy are too important to be left to business and Wall Street. Congress needs to intervene, say the meddlers, in order to guarantee the nation a smoothly-functioning financial system.

Everyone seems to feel the same way…the free marketers have had their chance. Now, it's time for a little "adult supervision." But adult supervision in this context - putting politicians in charge of the economy - is like adult entertainment; it is a salacious fantasy.

"When will oil prices go down?" President Bush was asked in his news conference yesterday. "I'm not an economist" President Bush responded. Maybe it's time to have someone who is an economist in the White House.

Oklahoma Rebellion

Both parties and all branches of the federal government have made a mockery of the checks and balances, separation of powers and the republican form of government envisioned by the founders. One of the more disgusting sights for me to is to watch a president, congressman or federal judge take an oath to uphold and defend the United States Constitution, when in reality they either hold constitutional principles in contempt or they are ignorant of those principles.

One state is fighting back. Oklahomans are trying to recover their lost sovereignty. We can only hope other states will follow their lead.

Good as Gold

On a 106-degree May afternoon in 2003, government agents raided several establishments belonging to Southern Nevada businessman Robert “Bobby” Kahre. With guns drawn, officials held more than 20 handcuffed workers in the sun without water as agents collected records and other materials.

Kahre hadn’t committed a crime. He had upset the Internal Revenue Service by paying his workers based on the face value of gold and silver coins, versus the market value in the Federal Reserve system (the value of the coins in U.S. paper dollars). Even though the coins were in circulation, displayed a face value, and were regulated by Congress, the IRS’s confusing and endless tax code did not determine how to handle these gold and silver coins if used for payroll. The tax code only references dollars. It does not distinguish between coined money and paper money.

What is money anyway? Is it a piece of paper with no intrinsic value or is it any medium offered in an exchange of goods or services? If you know, please contact the IRS immediately! They don't quite know how to tax you properly and need your assistance.

Speculation Frenzy: Is it Simple Ignorance or Something Else?

Time and again, we see the typical Congressman (or woman) making statements that boggle the mind, and so I find myself concluding that perhaps they simply are stupid and in need of education.

However, the older I become, the more I realize that the political classes really are not interested in economic education. They have had Ron Paul giving them almost daily lessons that would rival any good content from a Harvard doctorate in the subject, but he always is seen as a fringe character. Thus, I finally have come to realize that these are people who really could care less about the economic damage that they do.

Politicians are driven by political expediency. By placing blame on someone else, they can avoid having blame placed on them. Economic woes are welcomed as an issue with which to harangue their opponents instead of as a problem to be solved. Harry Reid is a prime example.

The Dark Twins of Mortgage Finance

Fannie and Freddie are "too big to fail," no doubt about it. But who has the money to stop them from failing? Where are those Sovereign Wealth Funds when you really need them? We doubt whether they are stupid enough to do it, but what a coup it would be! We mean, if the Sovereign Wealth Funds recapitalized America's largest mortgage lenders. So far, they've contented themselves with a few minor purchases of America's iconic buildings, infrastructure and industries. But if they bought control of Fannie and Freddie, they would hold the mortgage on America's housing too. And they could get rid of trillions of their unwanted dollars.

The chickens are coming home to roost. We cannot bail out Fannie and Freddie without printing more worthless dollars. Investors are getting nervous. Don't be surprised if the mortgage you owe to an American lender now is sold to an Arabian consortium in the near future.

Good Dog, Bad Dog

It seems that no suggestion is so fascist or patently tyrannical that you can't find a few morons-on-the-street to proudly proclaim, "If it makes us all safer, I think it's worth it!" For example, want to take a plane somewhere? Fine, just be ready to be subjected to warrantless searches, insulting inquisitions, and general degrading harassment. But it's for our own good, right? After all, maybe that little old lady WAS going to hijack the plane with her nail-clippers! Better safe than sorry. Right?

Larken Rose questions our commitment to liberty and freedom.

Cable news anchors choking on Jesse Jackson's "nuts"

Funny. News anchors can't quite bring themselves to quote Jesse Jackson's comments.

There Is No Reason to Panic

The only reason the Fed might want to regulate the investment banks is that it believes itself to be somehow at risk. The markets, ever clear-eyed, will read this for what it is -- potential Fed backing if the big investment banks get into trouble. In other words, we are now proposing to introduce a government-created moral hazard into investment banking. The resulting loss of market discipline will replicate the experience with the S&Ls and Fannie and Freddie.

According to reports, not an eye blinked in the House Financial Services Committee when the Fed's bid for more power was laid on the table last Thursday. This is fully consistent with the past willingness of Congress to condone -- and even encourage -- unimpeded growth at Fannie and Freddie.

The financial ruin of the economy is being assured by Congress as they continue to subsidize disastrous policies with money it does not have.

Will the Antiwar Movement Strangle the State?

We are on the right side, at least if America is to someday be a peaceful, constitutional republic, prosperous and free, happy and again a model for the rest of the world. We need do nothing at all and we will still be correct in our antiwar position, and our antiwar beliefs. But if we love our country, and believe in her, we do need to step up the revolution, and we need to fully understand that the health of the state is war. To excise war from the state, we will indeed need to excise a large portion of the state with it. If we act, we may be able to save our country, and help her weather the major shift from a war-based existence to one based on peace and liberty.

The state needs our support to control us. Whether we support it willingly or by coercion is of no concern to the state. Karen Kwiatkowski suggests some ways to begin withdrawing our support from the behemoth.

Enabling Tyranny

The position of the US Government is that the rights granted Americans by the Constitution facilitate terrorism. To be safe from terrorists, the argument goes, we must allow the government to take liberties with the Constitution. This argument gives government the power to set aside the Constitution, and, thus, enables tyranny.

After years of treating the Constitution as a "living document", it has become an antiquity with little basis for governance.

Recession: With War or Without It?

The good news regarding the economy in general is not backed up by anything specific. The government tells us that the worst is over, but there are almost no indications that the worst is over. The housing market is still in decline. Foreclosures are still rising rapidly. The lenders are not selling foreclosed properties at market prices. Instead, they keep buying back the properties. There is a growing inventory of unsold properties on the books of the lenders. Meanwhile the two major sources of liquidity for the housing market, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are verging on bankruptcy.

If that's the good news, I'm not sure I want to hear the bad news. Continue reading if you think you are ready to hear it.

The (Diminishing) Return of Pandering

In a political season simply oozing hope, change, and historical firsts, here’s something that might actually be encouraging: a widening gulf between promised election-year giveaways and the expressed desires of the populace on the receiving end. Has shameless political pandering become one more item on the long list of services Washington can’t deliver?

Maybe there is hope after all, but as long as Americans look to government for handouts, politicians will promise to deliver the loot.

Desk rage spoils workplace for many Americans

Get out of the way, road rage. Here comes desk rage.

Anger in the workplace -- employees and employers who are grumpy, insulting, short-tempered or worse -- is shockingly common and likely growing as Americans cope with woes of rising costs, job uncertainty or overwhelming debt, experts say.

"It runs the gamut from just rudeness up to pretty extreme abusive behaviors"

It appears the malaise in America is spreading to the workplace. It seems as if we retired from the rat race just in time.

The 'Respectable' People Continue to Make War on the Rest of Us

We can see a pattern in the apparent incoherence of the prohibitionists’ position if we recall that the war on drugs, like all the preceding prohibitionist crusades in American history (some of them still continuing), amounts to a defense of bourgeois WASP conventions against persons and classes deemed less respectable. So, SSRIs, yes, ecstasy, no; Benzodiazepines, yes, heroin, no; a pleasant cocktail party, yes, reefer madness, no; and so forth. Everything turns on the sort of people who tend to consume the substance.

The better sorts have been waging war for centuries to keep the rabble in line.

My recreational drug is OK. Your recreational drug is a menace to (my) society and must be prohibited. Hypocrisy in the drug wars.

TSA vs. passenger

Robin Kassner says "I was thrown across the room, into a metal chair and into a lady, and I was on the floor and realized I was being beat up."

Kassner says police officer Michael Urbina then used excessive force in handcuffing her.

Robin Kassner says "they picked me up and slammed me onto a metal table. Officer Urbina took his forearm and smashed me against the table."

Be sure to click on the video. TSA agents rough up Ms. Kassner for failing to follow their orders. Reason #16 why I'll never fly commercial again.

A Letter to Liberals

Do you want health care for those who cannot afford it? Then instead of working to have government “solve” the problem by mandating that all citizens be covered by medical insurance, work without government to establish, maintain and support independent charitable clinics and hospitals. Once we cease believing that government is “the answer” and accept that the rest of us, acting on the only basis we have at our disposal – voluntary cooperation, is the only “answer” that there’s ever going to be, our field of activity is wide open and there is much to be done.

As President Reagan said, "Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem."

Casualties of Financial Friendly Fire

Because the world accepted dollars as if they were gold, we only had to counterfeit more dollars, spend them overseas (indirectly encouraging our jobs to go overseas as well) and enjoy unearned prosperity. Those who took our dollars and gave us goods and services were only too anxious to loan those dollars back to us. This allowed us to export our inflation and delay the consequences we now are starting to see.

But it was never destined to last, and now we have to pay the piper. Our huge foreign debt must be paid or liquidated. Our entitlements are coming due just as the world has become more reluctant to hold dollars. The consequence of that decision is price inflation in this country - and that's what we are witnessing today.

The Fed is powerless in the face of the crisis which it has created.

Ban-Happy Busybodies

Saggy pants, fire places, plastic bags, light bulbs, poker—it's all been banned somewhere. Same with owning swine or fowl, feeding pigeons, owning pit bulls, and chomping on trans fats, a naughty little substance that makes food taste better.

The list goes on and on.

THE IDEA OF AMERICA, PART I

James Bovard provides a vivid description of how today's American state is powerful compared to the English state at the time of the Revolution:

The Massachusetts colonists rebelled after the British agents revived "writs of assistance" that allowed them to search any colonist's property. Modern Americans submit passively to government sweep searches of buses, schools, and housing projects. Virginia revolted in part because King George imposed a two-pence tax on the sale of a pound of tea; Americans today are complacent while Congress imposes billions of dollars of retroactive taxes…Connecticut rebelled in part because the British were undermining the independence of judges; nowadays, federal agencies have the power to act as prosecutor, judge and jury in suits against private citizens. Maine revolted in part because the British Parliament issued a decree confiscating every white pine tree in the colony; modern Americans are largely complacent when local governments impose almost unlimited restrictions on individuals' rights to use their own property. The initial battles of the Revolution occurred after British troops tried to seize the colonists' private weapons; today, residents in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other cities submit to de facto prohibitions on handgun ownership…

Then and now. Amazing and profound changes from the way we were. We cannot hope for a return to the halcyon days of limited government and personal freedom - maybe the good old days weren't all they're cracked up to be - but we can hope for a better use of our assets, both material and intellectual, and less plunder and self destruction by our politicians.

The aid Africa can't afford

President Bush, arriving in Japan on Sunday, made it clear he planned to push other G-8 nations to meet their 2005 promises to increase African aid.

Representatives of rich countries seem united in their belief that Africa would benefit from more international assistance and oblivious to the harm that aid has already inadvertently caused to African populations by propping up Africa's most dysfunctional states.

Instead of serving their people, most African states function as vehicles for the self-enrichment of political elites that have inherited none of the public-spiritedness of their colonial predecessors but all of the latter's contempt for the African masses.

Our altruistic attempts to aid the poor in other countries does not reach the poor but is gobbled up by the despotic rulers of those countries. Duh!

My Plan to Escape the Grip of Foreign Oil

In 1973, the year of the infamous oil embargo, the United States imported about 24% of our oil. In 1990, at the start of the first Gulf War, this had climbed to 42%. Today, we import almost 70% of our oil.

This is a staggering number, particularly for a country that consumes oil the way we do. The U.S. uses nearly a quarter of the world's oil, with just 4% of the population and 3% of the world's reserves. This year, we will spend almost $700 billion on imported oil, which is more than four times the annual cost of our current war in Iraq.

T. Boone Pickens has a plan to make us more energy independent. It should be considered by our politicians. They may accept his proposals or they may consider other alternatives. But they should also have a plan. And they should implement it. Immediately. As Charley Reese has said, "Vibrating one's vocal chords does not turn a shovel of dirt or drill a half-inch."

Political Correctness, Then and Now

Twain held up a mirror to nineteenth-century society, and society didn’t like it one bit.

None of it matters. In fact, according to the American Library Association, few books have been attacked as often as Huckleberry Finn. Since the public schools have been seized by dumbed-down political correctness, teachers are so worried that someone might hyperventilate at the sight of the n-word that they’ve banned America’s greatest anti-racist novel from the classroom.

An example of how political correctness imposes censorship. It affects classroom discussions and political discussions. Free speech is free only if you don't offend anyone and so many people are so easily offended.

Roll Over, Bark, and Beg

If I were a criminal, I would love this guy.

His advice is bad. He says, correctly enough, that most intruders want chiefly to steal things. Think a little. At two a.m., you hear a noise and turn on the lights. You find two guys with knives. You can now identify them. They have knives. Focus on this point. Knives, and you can identify them. Do you see where this leads?

Self defense advice from Fred. Hint: you don't want to wait for them to leave before you call the cops.

Race to the Bottom

The choice is between two men who both want power and relish power. Either one will use it to the fullest in the blind and arrogant belief that he is a savior. It is a case of Tweedledum and Tweedledee. I would not indulge in voting based on the fantasy that I actually could predict what these men would do once they become criminal-in-chief. Either one will surely surprise us in many dreadful ways, and that will be that.

Our dreadful electoral process has promoted to the forefront two candidates who are convinced they can save us all by increasing the power of the state.

The Market is Responding to the Oil Shock

Initially the automobile wasn't much competition for the horse. Then, around the turn of the century, a series of innovations involving the internal combustion engine and manufacturing (mass production, assembly lines and interchangeable parts) improved performance, reliability and costs. As car prices fell, the horse, the manure and the "typhus fly" were done for.

The same thing may be happening today.

Desperate times always inspire innovation. Tolerance for high gasoline prices is reaching a breaking point and alternatives are beginning to appear from the marketplace.

The Real Meaning of the Fourth of July

Contrary to popular myth, the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were not great Americans. Instead, they were great Englishmen. In fact, they were as much English citizens as Americans today are American citizens. It’s easy to forget that the revolutionaries in 1776 were people who took up arms against their own government.

So how is it that these men are considered patriots? Well, the truth is that their government didn’t consider them patriots at all. Their government considered them to be bad guys – traitors, all of whom deserved to be hanged for treason.

Anarchists are seldom regarded as patriots by the governments which they oppose. They are, until they have successfully overthrown the government, attacked mercilessly and punished as traitors if captured. If the colonial uprising had been unsuccessful, our history books would revere Benedict Arnold and Thomas Jefferson and his cohorts would have been hung.

Magic mushrooms' medical mojo

A team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore this week released the follow-up results of a study involving 36 volunteers who were given psilocybin - the chemical ingredient in "sacred" or "magic" mushrooms - in a carefully controlled laboratory setting.

A questionnaire completed 14 months after the one-day drug trial found the majority of participants considered the experience to be one of the most "personally meaningful and spiritually significant" events of their lives. Even more surprising, they felt the drug had a long-lasting effect that significantly contributed to their overall sense of well-being and life satisfaction.

We are aware of some testing about 40 years ago which bore similar results but the data was not released to scientific researchers.

U.S. debt woes

The massive debt of the federal government is the costly result of special-interest politics, enabled by the evolution of our political system from a constitutional republic, strictly limited in its powers, to a nanny-state democracy that redistributes wealth and tries to be all things to all people. Voters like politicians who spend money to their benefit, but detest politicians who tax them, and so all the political incentives lead toward deficit spending and ever-increasing debt.

The US economy, burdened with debt and stoked by inflation, is headed towards an inevitable confrontation with reality. It cannot possible repay the debt. It can only continue to print more and more worthless dollars to keep the illusion going until the creditors demand payment.

Salmonella signs point to peppers

Investigators are seeing more signs that the salmonella outbreak blamed on tomatoes might have been caused by tainted jalapeno peppers and have begun collecting samples from restaurants and from the homes of those who have been sickened, according to health officials involved in the probe.

USDA officials, having no idea what caused a possible salmonella outbreak, have cost tomato producers millions and are attempting to do the same to the producers of other produce such as jalapenos, cilantro, and avocadoes.

The Credit Crisis Is Going to Get Worse

Once upon a time, when credit conditions and the costs of borrowing money were normal, the bank opened at 9:00 a.m. and closed at 5:00 p.m. For eight hours a day, bankers made loans and took deposits, and then they went home.

But after 9/11, the Fed opened the spigot. Short-term interest rates went to zero in real terms and then into negative territory. When real interest rates are negative, borrowing money is effectively free – the debt loses value faster than the interest adds up. This led to a series of distortions in the financial sector that are only now coming to light.

Inflating the money supply leads to multiple bad consequences.

Advice from 1932

Advice from 1932

Although it has hung in our kitchen for several decades the printed advice by Scott Nearing from seventy-six years ago is rarely noticed by anyone. The kitchen is a source of food and drink, not a library. Yesterday, I accidentally knocked its frame from the wall and the glass shattered. This presented me with an opportunity to re-read it.

Before a reader rushes to a computer to inform me that Scott Nearing was an early twentieth century socialist who was booted from his teaching job because of his sympathy with communists, let me save time for us all. I have read his autobiography, The Making of a Radical, and am familiar with the works of his critics as well as his fans. I don't subscribe to his socialist views.

Nearing described himself as pacifist, a socialist, and a vegetarian. He wrote "I became a vegetarian because I was persuaded that life is as valid for other creatures as it is for humans. I do not need dead animal bodies to keep me alive, strong and healthy. Therefore, I will not kill for food." Apparently his vegetarianism wasn't harmful. He lived nearly three weeks beyond his 100th birthday and died on his own terms August 24, 1983.

His "terms" were simple. When he sensed it was time to end life's journey he stopped eating. In his last ten days he existed only on water. No hospitals or doctors, just a peaceful exit at home with his wife, Helen, at his side.

In 1932 Americans were in a jam. A full-blown economic depression descended on the country after the go-go 1920s. It was also the year Nearing offered the advice that is sensible even seventy-six years later. "Eliminate non-essential things," said Nearing. "Keep distractions to a minimum." His suggestion to "Do research and follow trends" may be misunderstood to mean that we should go along with whatever nonsense popular opinion is promoting, but he was really saying we should keep an eye on what's happening so we can avoid the pitfalls popular trends may place in our path.

With a severe economic recession comes a desire by a lot of people to simplify their lives and escape the tangled burdens that nearly overwhelm them. That's when they begin to discover people like Scott and Helen Nearing who "escaped the tangle" in the early 1930s and developed a self-sufficient lifestyle in Vermont. The Nearings attracted a large following in the inflationary '70s and, although they are both deceased, we won't be surprised to hear of renewed interest in their books, such as Living the Good Life.

The Nearings believed that living a well-ordered simple life resulted in living a happy life. The present economic turmoil may be the ideal time to experiment with the old axiom, "Simplify! Simplify!" It certainly worked for them.

July 4th, 2008

The staff curmudgeon at Wrisley.com offered this piece from days of yore to cope with the troubled times of today. (I clipped it because the url will not be a permanent link to this article.)

A Bunch of Spoiled, Whiny Brats

There are fundamental flaws not in the constitutional construct of the United States but in the people who are occupying positions in at least two of the three branches of the US government. The executive and legislative branches, according to polls, are sincerely reviled and that means both Republicans and Democrats get equal measure of disgust. But the two parties and their interested backers simply don’t care because they know the American people have no choice but to vote for one or the other.

Americans are fat and lazy and need to stop whining says John Stanton. Send him an email and tell him why he's wrong.

Ground Zero of National Paralysis

In olden days, Americans needed just 13 and a half months to erect the Empire State Building, four and a half years to build Hoover Dam, and six years, four months to install the Transcontinental Railroad. And yet this Independence Day, six years, nine months, and three weeks have elapsed since September 11, and Ground Zero remains an 80-foot-deep international embarrassment for the United States.

It's way past time to get over it and move on. No matter who attacked us or why, it's time to rebuild instead of morbidly longing for what used to be.

The crazy world of England’s smoking ban

If I had decided to launch myself into the street, reprising the dance routine from Singing in the Rain while wearing nothing but a cheeky grin, I would scarcely have got a more startled reaction. And my companions were no curtain-twitching Presbyterians, shocked by the slightest vice – they were people who hate New Labour’s smoking ban as much as I do. Their shock illustrated how far the illiberal climate in Britain has been internalised. I mean, all I was doing was having a fag.

An illustrative example of how tyranny can creep into our lives. Our fellow citizens are being enlisted to enforce the policies of the state.

Yankee Doodle Curmudgeon

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to save money like a maniac because the government has stolen 30% to 40% of everything you have made, it takes away a lot of the enthusiasm for celebrating the Declaration of Independence. When Jefferson wrote that document, the British were extracting approximately 1% of national income from the American colonies. For the southern colonies, it may have been 2.5%. If we could somehow get back to the tyranny of Great Britain in 1776, I would be willing to celebrate the Fourth of July with greater enthusiasm. But that would take a revolution.

Just when we were getting into the July 4 celebration, Gary North brings us back to reality.

FIXING THE NATION'S SACRED MOMENT

THE impatient patriots here had splendidly short fuses in 1775. Those who tilled the startlingly red clay or who lived in the town named for George III's wife Charlotte might have been bemused had they foreseen the annual hoopla that commemorates July 4, 1776.

What occurred that day in Philadelphia might have been a Declaration of Independence, but the first such was enacted here on May 20, 1775.

George Will defends the celebration of July 4th.

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

"Here's what we know so far. The presidency started and hit America around 10am EST back on January 20, 2001. Now, so far that presidency has caused some 9 trillion dollars worth of debt. Its left thousands of people dead and, still, even this morning it continues to rage on."

Satire - or not? You decide.

The Non-Issue that Should Be an Issue

It's the spending, stupid!

When was the last time you heard Senator Obama or Senator McCain give a speech on the bloated public sector? Did Senator Clinton, in her recently concluded presidential bid, ever scold voters who constantly want the government to "give" them more and more services?

These are rhetorical questions. Today our ruling parties tacitly agree that no government department can be eliminated, that major spending reductions are forbidden and that the spending spree must continue.

Shhhh! We're not supposed to talk about spending cuts. After all, we can always print more money.

Over-the-counter cloak and dagger

For all the public hand-wringing private military and security contractors have essentially tactical wartime roles, fulfilling specific tasks ranging from logistical support to guarding infrastructure and people. But private intelligence contractors are part of a strategic role. They are part and parcel of the process that generates the intelligence that decides whether a nation should go to a war in the fist place. Think back to the debates over Iraq concerning aluminum tubes, uranium from Niger, and mobile biological labs and then imagine how confident you would feel if such intelligence was the product of firms whose primary motivation was making a profit.

Who benefits from the war? Certainly it's not the taxpayers. Tim Shorrock's new book, "Spies for Hire" examines the scope and impact of outsourcing military and intelligence functions to private contractors. Do you feel safer now?

End of the Petroleum Age?

How do we know that the petroleum age is drawing to a close? Two key indicators tell us that this is so. First, many of the giant fields that have satisfied our massive thirst over so many years are experiencing diminished output. Second, although the major oil producers are spending more money each year to discover new reserves, they are finding less and less oil. Either of these factors by itself is cause for significant worry; the combination is deadly.

There will probably be enough oil in our lifetime - if you're as old as we are - but eventually, we'll need to find an alternative. I'm sure we will develop a new power source; i.e., solar, nuclear or something we haven't considered yet, but only when our backs are against the wall and we are faced with no other choice. The transition period may be painful. The environmentalists are correct in saying we need to transition to alternative energy sources, not because we are damaging the planet as they fear, but because at some point, we'll run out of petroleum.

McCain: Pump This!

I guess we're beginning to see the problem of basing a political platform on the passing fancies of "centrists." These are people who have no opinions because they know nothing about national issues. They're the ones who check the "not sure/no opinion" box on polls regarding the legalization of cannibalism.

You can't blame them: They're not being paid to know something about national issues. Those people we call "senators" and "representatives."

Ann Coulter points out that politicians who pander to the whims of unenlightened voter blocs instead of standing by their convictions can result in bad policy. By the way, she doesn't think too highly of McCain (or Obama).

Vaguely Resembling Real Price Inflation

What this newspaper ignoramus is saying is that he is some big blowhard expert on economics, but yet he is not remotely aware of the any of the constant jiggling of the CPI over the decades by the corrupt government trying to destroy the inflationary evidence of its gross mismanagement of the economy, culminating in the despicable actions of the odious Alan Greenspan and the equally despicable Michael Boskin in the '90s to introduce such bizarre, inflation-concealing concepts such as "the substitution effect", "the wealth effect", and "quality improvement (hedonic) effects", so that the Consumer Price Index now has only a vague, passing resemblance to real inflation in prices.

An economics lesson in one (long) sentence by the Mogambo Guru.

The DEA Turns 35 This Week!

The Drug Enforcement Administration was created by President Richard Nixon through an Executive Order [on] July [1,] 1973 in order to establish a single unified command to combat "an all-out global war on the drug menace." At its outset, the DEA had 1,470 Special Agents and a budget of less than $75 million. Furthermore, in 1974, the DEA had 43 foreign offices in 31 countries. Today, the DEA has 5,235 Special Agents, a budget of more than $2.3 billion and 86 foreign offices in 62 countries.

"Radical" Russ Belville examines the successes - or lack thereof - of he DEA.

Dire News from My Colleagues

America is not in recession, and who knows -- maybe we'll be less likely to have one if my compatriots would just chill. A recession is defined as two quarters of negative economic growth. We haven't even had one quarter of negative growth.

Yes, growth has slowed, and many people are suffering because of falling home prices and higher food and energy prices. These are real problems, but watching TV, you'd think we were in a recession so severe it must be compared to the Great Depression.

John Stossel thinks the media is fueling the fears by its reporting of the economy and that things aren't as bad as all that. I think he must be wearing rose-colored glasses.