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General/Misc. Archive

Wednesday

20

May 2009

0

COMMENTS

Obamaman Can

Written by , Posted in General/Misc.

Who can take tomorrow,
Spend it all today?
Who can take your income,
And tax it all away?

Obamaman!
Yes, Obamaman can.

Sunday

3

May 2009

0

COMMENTS

Governments Gone Wild Pt. 2

Written by , Posted in General/Misc.

Governmental members even turn their abusive powers on other members of government:

The mayor of Duncanville, Texas had a member of the city council arrested last Tuesday for speaking out against the use of red light cameras during an official meeting. The incident took place during the discussion of whether the city should spend $59,000 to make street repairs. Mayor David Green recognized Councilman Paul Ford to speak on the contract item.

“Thank you,” Ford said. “I want to let you know that earlier this evening during briefing, Mayor Green threatened me that if he told me to stop talking and I didn’t, he’d have me arrested, and I want to let you know what I told Mayor Green.”

Green became outraged and shouted, “Mr Ford, you are out of order. You are not recognized Mr Ford. You need to cease right now.”

…Before he had a chance to explain that the city could find the money for those necessary street repairs by cutting the city manager’s salary from $179,000 to $160,000 and reducing payments to local chambers of commerce by $40,000, Police Chief Robert Brown grabbed Ford. Ford repeated several times the statement: “Chief Brown, I will not leave voluntarily, but if you believe I am violating the law by discussing this agenda item, I will submit to arrest.”

Brown did not respond. Mayor Green had the audio of the city council video tape turned off as Brown dragged the councilman out of the chamber. Ford ended up hospitalized from injuries sustained during the arrest.

Governments are so crazy!

Thursday

23

April 2009

0

COMMENTS

Criminalizing Politics Is Undemocratic

Written by , Posted in Energy and the Environment, General/Misc.

The subject of torture is suddenly unavoidable.  I suspect this is a deliberate effort to distract from poor economic news and the recent tea party backlash against big government.  Be that as it may, the narrative needs to be addressed.

America, and Americans by and large, do not believe in torture.  This has always been true, and it’s no more true today than it was in the Bush administration.  Any government that seeks to avoid torture must, by necessity, define just what torture is.  The Bush administration sought to do this.  Now the Obama administration, not happy with the prior definition, seeks to adopt its own.  It’s to be expected that, when a new party comes into power, issues such as this will be readdressed and new positions taken.  But Obama is going one step further.  Not only does he find the Bush definition wrong, he wants to label it criminal.

This is a frightening development for anyone who supports our democratic system.  The United States has enjoyed a long track record of peaceful transitions that most of the world can only dream about.  A large part of the reason for this is that we do not seek to criminalize political differences.  When your average Latin American military junta assumes power, the first order of action is to jail everyone in power previously.  The United States is better than that. It used to be, anyway.

Barack Obama is willing to leave open the possibility that Bush administration officials may be tried for drawing a line in a slightly different place than Obama draws it.  Not, mind you, for wantonly and maliciously running torture dungeons where any and all practices were acceptable, but for approving a single tactic which Obama did not like, and which is routinely conducted on our own soldiers for training.  Peaceful democracies are not supposed to handle complicated legal and moral issues by jailing those who take opposing positions.  If Obama wants to elevate the game to that level, he should keep in mind that his entire economic agenda is flagrantly unconstitutional; whereas if he has his way on waterboarding, we might just have to start calling it criminal as well.

Friday

3

April 2009

1

COMMENTS

Pelosi Vows Economic Destruction By 2010

Written by , Posted in General/Misc.

She euphemistically calls it “global warming legislation:”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has set her sights on passing a global warming bill by the end of the year, pushing past strong misgivings from moderate Democrats in the House and Senate.

Asked Thursday when the House would pass an energy measure that seeks to reduce carbon emissions and possibly impose a cap and trade system, Pelosi said simply: “This year.”

It’s never too early to start blowing up the economy.

Monday

5

January 2009

0

COMMENTS

Third-Hand Stupidity

Written by , Posted in General/Misc.

A New Cigarette Hazard: ‘Third-Hand Smoke’

Third-hand smoke is what one smells when a smoker gets in an elevator after going outside for a cigarette, he said, or in a hotel room where people were smoking. “Your nose isn’t lying,” he said. “The stuff is so toxic that your brain is telling you: ’Get away.’”

Funny, that pounding sensation in my head when I read the New York Times tells me something similar.  I wonder, if I walk into a room and see a copy of the New York Times that someone has recently read, will I get dumber too?

Monday

8

December 2008

0

COMMENTS

Sunday

9

November 2008

0

COMMENTS

Obama Camp Backtracks On Involuntary Servitude

Written by , Posted in General/Misc.

As I previously reported, Obama’s transition website said this:

Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year.

Now it says:

Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by setting a goal that all middle school and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year and by developing a plan so that all college students who conduct 100 hours of community service receive a universal and fully refundable tax credit ensuring that the first $4,000 of their college education is completely free.

I guess we just have to hope, after he’s done changing, that we’ll know what Obama’s positions are tomorrow.

Friday

7

November 2008

1

COMMENTS

Obama Advocates Compulsory Service

Written by , Posted in General/Misc.

I knew the assault on our freedoms would come swift from an Obama administration. From his new Orwellian-named website, change.gov:

Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year.

Obama is, quite ironically, apparently not familiar with the 13th Amendment:

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Obama’s new chief of staff, aside from being a rabid partisan who mails dead fish to people who piss him off, authored a book called The Plan. In it he called for the following:

It’s time for a real Patriot Act that brings out the patriot in all of us. We propose universal civilian service for every young American. Under this plan, All Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five will be asked to serve their country by going through three months of basic training, civil defense preparation and community service. …

Here’s how it would work. Young people will know that between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, the nation will enlist them for three months of civilian service.

This has striking, and disturbing, similarities to the fascism that grew out of the progressive era in America.

Wednesday

22

October 2008

0

COMMENTS

Part Of Our Job

Written by , Posted in General/Misc.

What do liberals think is the job of government?

“I don’t know if I agree with them. Any kind of a plan, if it’s a good plan and a progressive plan, is going to take some property rights, but that’s part of our job – to channel evolvement, to get a good development, to have it proper and do it right,” Woodcox said.

Government must “channel evolvement,” create “good development” by insuring that they “do it right.”  I can think of no better example of everything that is wrong with modern liberal thinking.  They believe nothing can happen without government planning.  Their ignorance of the benefits of free markets, that order is emergent, drives them into disastrous interventions in the market.  This is not government’s job.  Government exists to protect, not infringe upon, our rights.

Thursday

2

October 2008

0

COMMENTS

An Altenative Explanation

Written by , Posted in General/Misc.

Contrasting with the narrative woven by the media, Jay Leno offered an alternative, and just as plausible, explanation of yesterday’s stock market rebound:

“With the Congress not in session, the stock market made a big comeback today. See, that’s the key to saving the economy. Send these idiots home so they can’t screw up anymore. Exactly. We need more holidays. That’s the problem. More holidays, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, get them all in there.”

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About Me

profileI serve as Vice President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-profit think tank dedicated to preserving tax competition and free markets. This site features my personal views, which are not reflective of CF&P.

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