First Montana, Now Liechtenstein?

Awesome:

The government of Liechtenstein on Wednesday detailed plans to strengthen privacy guarantees for the investment vehicles at the center of a tax evasion scandal in Germany, a move that might prevent this tiny Alpine country from exiting a short black-list of international tax havens.

But wait, it gets awesomer:

Liechtenstein maintains that whether Germans or other foreigners with Liechtenstein-based bank accounts or foundations pay their taxes is none of its business. Klaus Tschütscher, the Liechtenstein justice minister, said foundations should not be tarred with a bad reputation just because some Germans might have set them up in order to avoid taxes, saying that was a separate matter.

"The Germans say, "Take this product off the market because some Germans may be using it wrongly," Tschütscher said at a news conference in Vaduz, the capital. "If someone puts their money in a mattress to avoid paying taxes, I can't say, 'You have to stop making mattresses.' "

It's the equivalent of the "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" argument. Good for them, at least some common sense is prevailing in Europe. Now if we can bring some of that back to this country we'll be all right. (Thanks to Montana for keeping hope alive here.)

Go Montana

They take the 2nd Amendment seriously out in Montana, unlike out here in LaLa land:

Montana officials are warning that if the Supreme Court rules in the D.C. gun ban case that the right to keep and bear arms protects only state-run militias like the National Guard, then the federal government will have breached Montana's statehood contract.

Can you imagine if the SCOTUS decided (though I can't see how) that the right to keep and bear arms was decided as a collective instead of an individual right? Would Montana secede? Would the feds let them go that easily?

Where is it? Oh yeah here:

...That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness...

I would love someone to ask John McCain his opinion on this.

"Senator McCain, what would be your response if Montana decided that their interests weren't being served by the federal government because the Supreme Court decided that the 2nd Amendment is a collective right? They also agreed to join the Union contingent upon the understanding that it is an individual right, your response?"

I don't know when the decision is going to be handed down, but oral arguments for the case DC vs. Heller are scheduled for next month.

The FEC and John McCain

An in depth look at John McCain and his problem with the FEC from the Center for Competitive Politics. This is probably the best rundown of McCain's run in with McCain-Feingold. In fact, it's probably more than you would ever want to know about it.

Spike Jonze and David Fincher Present

Tarsem Singh (The Cell) directed this movie called "The Fall" which was made a few years ago and nobody watched it. Spike Jonze and David Fincher are re-releasing it. If the movie is anything like the trailer, it should have gotten more recognition the first time around. Anyway, click over to FilmDrunk to watch it. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Payback is, well you know the rest

Jimmy Kimmel gets revenge on his girlfriend Sarah Silverman:



I don't think that there's going to be any topping this if you based it on who makes cameos in this video.

Pilfered from WWTDD

Worst Financial Crisis Since 1931 part 2

William Grigg over at Pro Libertate provides a great perspective on who the real criminals are when it comes to the government versus the private sector:

Klaus Zumwinkel, former CEO of Deutsche Post -- the German postal service and parent of the DHL parcel delivery company -- lost his job last week. He may soon go to prison. His "crime" was to protect his legitimately earned wealth from the omnivorous socialist bureaucracy that afflicts Germany. He did so by opening a foundation in neighboring Lichtenstein, where his earnings were protected by the banking secrecy laws of that tiny (pop. circa 35,000) but heroic principality.

During his tenure as head of Deutsche Post, concedes the New York Times, Zumwinkel "helped transform [the postal service] ... from a stodgy state bureaucracy into a publicly listed logistics and freight-delivery powerhouse...."

Despite operating within a thoroughly socialized business environment, Zumwinkel -- through the tenacious application of his considerable gifts -- added a great deal more wealth to his society than what he earned. Yet he is now being traduced by the German State as an enemy of society for the supposed crime of tax evasion. Even if he avoids prison, he won't get his severance.

Stefan Ortseifen is another German executive who is stepping down from a lofty post in Germany's corporate world. As head of the IKB, a Dusseldorf-based German bank, Ortseifen has presided over a lengthy series of government-subsidized catastrophes. In contrast with the huge net contribution to German wealth made by Zumwinkel, Ortseifen's ineptitude and mismanagement have destroyed billions of dollars' worth of capital, and his failing bank has devoured billions more in direct government subsidies.

With the serene confidence conferred by the knowledge that the taxpayers would absorb any losses, IKB invested huge sums in the sub-prime mortgage market here in the United States. As he did so, Ortseifen consciously defrauded investors, depositors, and the German public by assuring them that "uncertainties in the American mortgage market" would have "practically no effect" on the health of IKB's investments.

And so it goes. The whole article is here

I think I'm going to be on that list

Let it not be said that people weren't paying attention. This is a story from the San Francisco Chronicle:

U.S. Rep. Jane Harman, D-Venice (Los Angeles County) has come up with a new way to expand the domestic "war on terror." Her Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 (HR1955), which passed the House by the lopsided vote of 404-6, would set up a commission to "examine and report upon the facts and causes" of so-called violent radicalism and extremist ideology, then make legislative recommendations on combatting it.

According to commentary in the Baltimore Sun, Rep. Harman and her colleagues from both sides of the aisle believe the country faces a native brand of terrorism, and needs a commission with sweeping investigative power to combat it

We need a commission to study why people think the government sucks? How about they take too much of our money, do a crappy job, and are only looking out for themselves? No Representative Harman, the problem isn't us, it's you.

In the next paragraph, (in case you can't see where this is heading) there is a list of groups who "might" (or will) be targeted for investigation:

A clue as to where Harman's commission might be aiming is the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, a law that labels those who "engage in sit-ins, civil disobedience, trespass, or any other crime in the name of animal rights" as terrorists. Other groups in the crosshairs could be anti-abortion protesters, anti-tax agitators, immigration activists, environmentalists, peace demonstrators, Second Amendment rights supporters ... the list goes on and on. According to author Naomi Wolf, the National Counterterrorism Center holds the names of roughly 775,000 "terror suspects" with the number increasing by 20,000 per month.

If your name isn't on that list, give it time, it will be.

The whole article is here.

Dr. Coburn: Going into Iraq was a Mistake

From ThinkProgress:

During a town hall meeting in Muskogee, Oklahoma this past weekend, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) admitted that it was “a mistake” for the United States to invade Iraq in 2003. “I will tell you personally that I think it was probably a mistake going to Iraq,” Coburn told the crowd.

I have a feeling he's going to have to issue a clarification sooner or later because all of the warmongers who support him are probably going to have a hissy fit.

Pilfered from Hotair.

MaxedOutMama: Ooh, Bankers Lobbying Congress

Maxed Out Momma reporting on the story of, gasp!, Bankers lobbying Congress for a bailout.

It turns out that Bank of America has a nice little plan to solve the mortgage mess, which they have been submitting to your Congress Critters while y'all have been out there working to pay your mortgages. BofA, of course, has the little problem of the CW loans it just bought to deal with, and Congress Critters are relatively cheap in comparison to deeply underwater loans.

I say we let the banks just eat the writedowns and while we're at it, we get rid of the FED as well. But that's just me and a certain OB/GYN who happens to be running for president.

Colbert: Better Know a Lobbyist

Pilfered from Conservative Belle:

Maverick hamstrung by his own Legislation?

This story is wayyyy better than the NYT smear piece. Oh, and the irony so very very sweet:

John McCain had taken out (a loan), in which he tried to use his future eligibility for federal matching funds as collateral. Presumably, he did this in order to get the money he needed to keep his campaign afloat without using the matching finds themselves as collateral. And the reason it was important not to use those funds as collateral was that according to the FEC, doing so would constitute "accepting " those funds, and thus subjecting himself and his campaign to the limitations that go with it.

Read the rest here.

Also, Hilzoy (guest blogging at Sullivans place) gives additional background here.

So the campaign finance legislation that bears his name (McCain-Feingold) could also be the law that limits the amount of money that he can spend to win the presidency. I'm going to fire off a letter to the FEC right now.

Little Baby is all Grownz Up

Christina Aguilera recently had her first child and as a result her boobs are gianormous. I'm not really a breast man as it is and huge fake boobs really don't do anything for me . But they apparently do something to talk show host Ellen Degeneres.

edit: I will concede that I've had whole conversations with women wearing low cut tops like this and they could have a face like the Lochness Monster and I wouldn't know. So maybe boobs do a little something for me, but I'm primarily a butt man. Anyway:



Pilfered from WWTDD

Random Thought

I would love to see a Barack Obama vs. Ron Paul debate. To have both of them go head to head and present their ideas about the course that this country should take. Take an unabashed liberal, the most liberal Senator in the country and put him up against the most conservative Congressman in the country. THAT would be great, THAT would be a true battle of ideas.

California is in Trouble: Who woulda thunk it?

From Worldnetdaily.com:

California, which once lured Americans from near and far, is now driving out millions of the most productive residents – including high percentages of the most affluent.

"When California faced a Mount Everest-sized $14 billion deficit in 2003, one of the major causes for the red ink was the stampede of millionaire households from the state," says a report called "Rich States, Poor States" by economists Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore. "Out of the 25,000 or so seven-figure-income families, more than 5,000 left in the early 2000s, and the loss of their tax payments accounted for about half the budget hole."

Is it possible that California is going to end up like the rust belt but with better weather and better Mexican food?

CMStrapz and I were at the San Diego Convention center when Arnold launched his campaign after the Gray Davis recall (my personal favorites were Tom McClintock, or that porn star, or Gary Coleman, but mostly Tom McClintock). Arnold really is impressive as a political figure, but he has had a tough time trying to cut government spending. Partly because of the political climate out here, but also because he hasn't really been pounding away with cutting costs as part of his agenda.

The whole article is here.

Worst Financial Crisis since 1931?

The people of Germany might be screwed (from Der Spiegel):

The German government has had to bail out state-owned banks with taxpayers' money after their managements recklessly gambled away billions on subprime investments. But if a state-owned bank were to go under, the consequences could be disastrous for the whole economy.

But wait there's more further down:

...after investing billions in the high-risk US subprime mortgage sector, insisted that the "uncertainties in the American mortgage market" would have "practically no effect" on IKB's investments. A few days later, IKB was on the verge of bankruptcy, with its supposed wonderful US investments worth little more than the paper it was printed on.

Now keep in mind, this is a bank owned by the German government, so all of the taxpayers are on the hook for these losses. Isn't that grand? Read the whole article here.

When the banking crisis comes here who are we going to blame? That's right, the government. Kill the Fed.

Pilfered from Lew Rockwell

Monopoly and Anti-trust Laws

This is a great discussion about the worthlessness of government antitrust laws and stars Dr. Domenick Armentano and Dr. Ron Paul. Also making an appearance are Members Only jackets and feathered big hair.




Pilfered from Dailypaul.com

A Doctor Talks about Retail Health Clinics

Here's a great article about one solution for providing cheap, effective, healthcare:

Retail clinics are good for American healthcare. By giving doctors a run for their money, they force us to do something we don't do well: innovate. At their best, retail clinics can make doctors look like smart entrepreneurs instead of a self-interest group futilely trying to protect archaic ways of doing business.

To understand why that's the case, look at the business-as-usual model of medicine. Anybody who wants to run a competent medical practice -- from the country doctor to the tertiary care hospital -- must measure success in terms of access, quality and cost. It's safe to say traditional medical practice is struggling to succeed here. Access is unpredictable for almost any practice. Most of us simply don't have the ability to provide round-the-clock care, short of the mediocre phone service of an on-call doctor or the chaotic, overcrowded emergency room. Costs keep rising and being shifted to consumers in the form of higher premiums, deductibles and co-pays.

What I find interesting is that, once again, it's a special interest group (doctors) who look towards government to mandate elimination of competition. We see this all the time in industries as varied as politics (yeah it's an industry, look at all the douchebags who spend their "career" in public service), construction, telecoms, and in this case, medicine. The problem is that because we have let the government so large and allow them to interfere in the free market so much. We don't even recognize what a truly "free-market" is.

The whole article is here

What's more Liberal?

This is a game everyone can play:



Here's mine:

How about Alan Alda reading Maureen Dowd's column in the New York Times while getting man love from George Clooney?

American Justice

ABC news has the story.

California Town on the Verge of Bankruptcy

I'm guessing this is a harbinger of things to expect over the next few years. Remember: Who is to blame? The government. Period

Good Riddance

Fidel Castro is stepping down from his post as President of Cuba. Good riddance, I'm glad to see that our trade embargo was so effective in helping accelerate his inevitable downfall. It only took 50 years. We really showed him.

Computers vs. Healthcare

Over at Lew Rockwell, Bill Walker writes about why computers get better, cheaper, faster, and more advanced in this country while healthcare does not:

Computers work. We complain about them, but that’s because most of the time they work so fast that we don’t even notice them in the background. And they get cheaper by the second. They get cheaper so fast that we can see the prices of memory and processor speed falling even without adjusting for inflation.

Health care, on the other hand, gets more expensive all the time, even for techniques that were invented decades ago. Computers get twice as fast every two years, but technology for carbon-based organisms improves at a snail’s pace.Why? Biology isn’t all that complex. After all, our cells only have the equivalent of about 2.8 gigabytes of (very slow) DNA memory storage. The viruses that kill us often get by with 12 kilobytes. Your cellphone has more memory than most pathogens, and cellphone design mutates more over the course of a year than the flu.

Everyone repeat after me: The main reason that healthcare isn't getting cheaper and better is because of the the government.

It's frustrating to see the politicians on the GOP side of the aisle mouthing the words about the freemarket and how it's superior to government intervention in providing healthcare but not really believing it themselves. The expansion of Medicare by the Bush administration is a $29.7 TRILLION dollar albatross that should be hung around the neck of W and a complicit Congress. That "compassionate capitalism" sure sounds like big government welfare to me.

Oh, and we want MORE government healthcare?

Anyway, read the whole article here.

This was amusing

Film director Michael Bay returns to his roots and makes a commercial for the fiber optic internet service Verizon Fios, which, based on the buzz, is pretty awesome. This did make me laugh a little, but I am surprised he didn't put any slow motion of people running away from the explosions.



Pilfered from Filmdrunk

Happy Valentines Day

To tell you the truth, I didn't even watch the latest offering from Liv (my internet connection is slow right now), but I thought I'd throw it up here because she's in a bathtub with another chick. Happy Valentines Day? More like Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday all rolled into one. (I'd say based on Liv's other work, this one is probably PG-13):




Valentine's Day Surprises - video powered by Metacafe

Check out Liv's other shorts over at http://www.livfilms.com/

And this is a problem?

So a teenage girl in England finds out that she can't eat anything but tic tacs:

Through trial and error Natalie discovered that she can keep down the Tic Tacs and that they help stave off the sensation of hunger.

Natalie said: “They do give me a bit of energy, but I eat them mostly to get rid of hunger. It is psychological.”

She discovered she could keep the Tic Tacs down by experimenting with mints at home. Natalie, of Maidstone, Kent, said: “When they started to come back up, I started reducing the size. I went from Trebor Extra Strong Mints to Polos and ended up with Tic Tacs.”

She sounds like my dreamgirl! She's going to stay skinny her whole life, she's a cheap date (dinner is like eating for one!), and it's obvious she has self-esteem issues. What? She's 17? Awww, that's way too old for me. Sorry honey, this ship has sailed!

Pilfered from Janette at Alltothunder.

Soviet Show Trial in America

Regarding Roger Clemens testifying before Congress, Lew Rockwell writes:

Of course, the inquisitors are actually getting both men for the non-crime of allegedly fibbing to a fed. I know that poor Clemens can't do it, but when one of the creeps kept reminding him he was "under oath," I wanted him to respond, "Yes, unlike you."

Which does bring up a good point, cops and prosecuters lie all the time to get indictments, to "catch" people for crimes, or non-crimes (see the Duke Lacrosse Players). But what consequences do "the authorities" face when they are the ones engaged in criminal acts? In the case of the Duke Lacrosse DA Mike Nifong (the most egregious and publicized example), I haven't seen criminal charges filed yet. And it's unlikely that we ever will.

Why Everyone Should say F*** you to the IRS

You want smaller government? You want accountable government? Tired of working half the year for the bureaucratic class? The fight starts right at the point that the government takes your property from you. If that branch of the government isn't accountable to anyone why should any other branch be accountable to you? They already have what they want.

IRS Flouts Court Orders, Refuses to Release Data on Its Tax Enforcement Activities

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is flouting three court orders requiring it to regularly provide a nationally recognized researcher with the statistical data she needs for her studies, according to a court action brought today by the researcher.

Read the rest here.

Shenanigans in Washington State Part II

When the Washington GOP stopped the vote of caucus results at 87% and declared John McCain the winner, the action seemed premature. John McCain and Mike Huckabee were separated by less than 2% with Ron Paul right behind both of them. Well over at the Brad Blog, it looks like they are piecing together the story:

And yes, the process overseen by the state's GOP chair Luke Esser "the Suppressor" --- where Huckabee led McCain for the bulk of the day as returns were coming in, only to stop the counting at 87% once McCain took a 242 vote lead --- was anything but transparent.

Seattle's NBC affiliate KING 5 is now questioning the reported vote totals out of Snohomish County:

KING 5 News has determined that there are inconsistencies in the "votes" being counted and reported by the Washington State Republican party.

Throughout the vote reporting process, State Party Chairman Luke Esser has said the party is reporting the presidential preferences of the delegates who were elected at the caucuses. But today we learned that Snohomish County, the third-largest county in the state, reported the preferences of all caucus attendees instead of the elected delegates.

One Snohomish County caucus chairman told KING 5 that the delegate preferences are "dramatically different" than the attendee counts.

The Snohomish County Republican Party does not have the delegate preferences from many of its caucuses and is working to obtain them.

The rest of the piece deals with "Esser the "Suppressor" and his ties to, you never would guess it, John McCain.

Click here to read the whole thing.

I'm moving to Italy

This is exactly how every show on TV should be like. Hot girl makes a bet, then loses that bet, then has to hop into a shower, wearing a white dress.

No nudity, but totally hot (maybe it's everyone speaking Italian?)


http://view.break.com/449831 - Watch more free videos
Pilfered from Gorillamask

Viva le Revolucion!

NRO's John Derbyshire writes about the effects of the Ron Paul Revolution in Taki's Top Drawer:

He is a potent force because his ideas have deep appeal. He has, in fact, in these later stages of the primary campaign, been the only candidate of ideas. While not very presentable by modern campaigner standards, lacking as he does the cheery wit of a Huckabee, the content-free eloquence of an Obama, and the steely unprincipled ruthlessness of a Clinton or McCain, Paul has had no real competition as a promoter of ideas.

We all know, for example, that there is something horribly wrong with the way the federal government spends our money, and that whatever it is that is wrong gets wronger by the congressional session, under presidents of either party. I think we all understand, too, that the fault here is not, or not only, the stupidity or venality of our elected officials, but the dynamics of modern democracy. As David Frum explained fourteen years ago in Dead Right: “Conservatism has always been in danger of devolving from a philosophy of limited government to an ideology of middle-class self-interest … If you cannot say ‘no’ to middle-class constituents, you cannot lighten the crushing load of government upon society.”

Derbyshire goes on to address the PC rhetoric that accompanies the "racist" smear that Paul has to endure from the likes of Ace, Allahpundit, Malkin, and the rest of the Pajamas Media right.

This is the first in a series that's appearing in Taki's Top Drawer, and you can read the rest of this article here.

Pilfered from Deb Yost at Redstate Eclectic

Counting the Votes in Washington

Talking Points Memo is all over what's going on in Washington State emphasis is mine (actually just read the whole thing it's quite tasty):

Late Update: It seems that Washington State GOP chair Luke Esser spent most of the day avoiding calls from the Huckabee campaign. And when he finally got back to them he told a lawyer for Huckabee's campaign that they'd probably count the rest of the votes some time next week. When the lawyer, Lauren Huckabee, the candidate's daughter-in-law, requested that a Huckabee lawyer be present when the remaining votes were counted, Esser hung up on her. Before the hang up, Huckabee also asked Esser about the DIY statistical analysis he did to conclude that he should call the race (Esser's expertise in statistics apparently stems from previous work as a state prosectur and a sports writer). Was there an analysis of what precincts the remaining votes came from? According to Huck campaign manager Ed Rollins, Esser admitted that he didn't which precincts the remaining votes came from.

WTF?

I'm Calling Shenanigans Everywhere!!

UPDATE: Here's an email from the Washington State meetup coordinator for Ron Paul via the Ron Paul Warroom:

Hello everyone,
By our very preliminary count from you reports it is looking like we have at least twice the delegates as the other candidates!!
For this day and until the count shows otherwise I want you to congratulate yourselves for WINNING Washington State for Ron Paul!!
I wish I could share every single story I have heard over the past few days and all the happy reports from Ron Paul enclaves in WA towns I have never even heard of!
Please know this…the National Campaign is seeing these kind of successes all over the country…Every day that goes by we have new supporters and new contributers. I can’t believe I am saying this…I thought certainly I would sleep for 4 days once the 9th was over…but I am already so excited to prepare for our County Conventions!! The next few weeks are going to be very important…There were stories from almost every precinct about Huckabee and Romney voters changing their support to Ron Paul. Unfortunately some of the biggest threats to the Freedom Revolution can still come from within…our own perceptions…please read Ron’s letter again until you see the part that states he we are going to the National Convention! You know things have changed every day in this campaign with new information and new victories changing the course…now we have given him Washington and made the road to the Minneapolis a lot more golden!!
I will update you all when we get more final results…
You all did a wonderful job. Just wonderful.

Thank you for all you do!
Maureen McMahan Moore
Washington State Coordinator
Ron Paul 2008
425-345-4913

Picked up this story from Fox Via Michelle Malkin:

Fox News has learned that the Huckabee campaign has called for a “full investigation” into the Washington State Caucus results, and are sending campaign lawyers to the state to help in that pursuit. Ed Rollins, Huckabee campaign chairman, directly challenged Washington State GOP Chairman Luke Essers move in anounncing that John McCain had won the tight race with only 87.2 percent of the votes counted.

“The chairman showed very bad judgment in stopping the voting last night when announcing John McCain had won, when there was less that a 200 vote margin between the two candidates,” Rollins told Fox in an exclusive interview.” You never announce a vote, in my 40 years of politics I have never know anybody to announce a vote count before the vote is counted.”

You go Huck, rage against the machine!!

Seriously, though, what isn't being mentioned in the MSM and I'm surprised that the blogosphere hasn't picked up on it yet, is that in Washington State, the process is a wee bit quirky. Pilfered from the Daily Dose and highlighted for your convenience:

With 87% of precincts reporting, Ron Paul has won 21% of the vote in the Washington state straw poll, a strong third-place finish just a few points behind Huckabee (24%) and McCain (26%). The results from the remaining 13% of precincts may change things a little. But even when 100% of the straw poll results are counted, that won’t be the full story. What matters most are the delegates, and in several parts of the state Ron Paul has been winning more delegates than the straw poll results would suggest. We’ve seen this happen in several states: supporters of other candidates show up, vote in the straw poll, then leave — while Ron Paul supporters stay and vote in the delegate selection process. We’ve won delegates in precincts where we haven’t won the straw poll.

I do have a horse in this race still, so take this with a grain of salt. But IMO, the reason for the delay in the counting has to do more with the presence of the "uncommitted" delegates that were elected during the caucus, than the straw polling results that the MSM are reporting. That uncommitted number stands at 30 percent. From ronpaulforums (once again, caveat emptor, but it is an eyewitness account):

We won 21% (of the preference poll) in precincts where it wouldn't hurt us to be obvious for Ron Paul, or where those who showed up were likely more socially bold enough to either hold their own or build bridges. However, much of the uncommitted vote is ours because some volunteers and staff were telling them to go undeclared if they were unsure or weren't the type to haggle.

It has always been about delegates for the Paul campaign, and in this case, I think that McCain and Huck may be in for a surprise in Washington State.

Didn't they used to give away toasters?

Pilfered from Deb Yost over at RedstateEclectic :

My two cents worth: banks are losing billions, and replace it with more fiat money. Citigroup and Merrill Lynch holding lion's share of market risk, while local services are slashed; Yahoo! rebounds from layoffs by buyout notice; banks are losing hundreds of billions of dollars and those in the banking industry tell us only losing $1 billion is considered a good news event!

Want to know if it's time to pull your money out of those CD's that get 5% and put them into gold and bicycles? Well don't go over to the Bank Implode-O-Meter, if your bank or credit union gets mentioned there, it's already too late.

The RogueNation Cover Song of the Week

Marie Digby singing Umbrella:

Romney in 2012

UPDATE: It's started http://mitt12.com/

Ron Simpson over at the Cluttered Eclectic Mind is a committed Mitt Romney supporter. I left this in his comments:

McCain (unless he self-destructs, which isn't out of the realm of possibility) will get the GOP nod and lose to Obama/Clinton. What Mitt can do is burnish his conservative credentials over the next 4 years (and maybe replace some of that money that he spent from his personal fortune).

He could throw his support towards Dr. Paul now (since McCain pretty much has the nom locked up) and up his standing with conservatives. Since Dr. Paul isn't going to run in 2012, and the economy will be an issue at that time as well (and not terrorism). Romney could position himself to pick up the only segment of the GOP base that's growing, the libertarian Goldwater wing of the party.

Mitt is certainly more than capable as a politician and a good executive, but his credentials as a principled conservative have always been a sticking point with me. Could I vote for Mitt in 2012? He would have to reverse his position on the Iraq war, but I truly believe that it will be politically palatable 4 years from now because of the deteriorating economic situation here. People are going to be looking for places to cut government spending and the only place that is going to happen is in foreign policy.

That being said, Romney is young, (he's 60 but looks 50) and has the bankroll (and shown more than a willingness to use it) and he has shown great organizational skills. So 2012 could mark "his turn".

UPDATE:

It looks like Bryan over at Hotair is thinking the same thing:

What Romney doesn’t have and never really established is his conservative bona fides (the same goes for Huckabee, for that matter, whose social conservatism is solid while he lacks on the economic and national security fronts). Romney won endorsements from credible sources, but the voters either didn’t warm to him personally or didn’t trust him philosophically because he hasn’t always stood on the same side of many issues. From an organizational and personnel point of view he ran a great campaign, but from an ideological and emotional point of view he never made the deal. That’s the bad news.

The good news for him is that he has a few years in which the conservative mantle is up for grabs. No one owns it or has earned it. It could be his if he chooses to earn it. Reagan changed his positions on some issues over time, so it’s not the case that an honest change of mind is permanent political poison. It’s not. But Romney has to prove that where he is now is where he will always be and that he’s a studied and worthy leader.

Ron Paul at CPAC

Not even broadcast on C-span live but Dr. Paul illustrates the contrast between the presumptive nominee for the GOP and conservative values (and he doesn't get booed like McCain either)



part 2 and part 3, oh and the intro by Bob Barr (I haven't seen that name in awhile)

Ron Paul speaks to 8,500 at Liberty University

The school that Jerry Falwell founded welcomes the last conservative standing:




Pilfered from the Daily Dose

This is too cute

"My arm is soooo sore"

How Bad Is It?

I've had friends in New York City tell me about this, and now it's finally making the news:

In the latest example that the U.S. dollar just ain't what it used to be, some shops in New York City have begun accepting euros and other foreign currency as payment for merchandise.

"We had decided that money is money and we'll take it and just do the exchange whenever we can with our bank," Robert Chu, owner of East Village Wines, told Reuters television.

Everyone repeat after me: The business cycle of massive booms and busts that we have will go away, or be isolated to segments of the economy, when we get rid of the Federal Reserve.

In the End, Berkeley is Gonna Fold

UPDATE: Looks like Senator John Cornyn is throwing his support behind Demint.

In a story I found out about from Conservative Belle, the City of Berkeley wants to kick Marine recruiters out of the city. The reaction from the right has been to threaten to cut off all federal funding that gets earmarked to the city. Senator Jim Demint from South Carolina is leading the charge:

This is a slap in the face to all brave service men and women and their families. The First Amendment gives the City of Berkeley the right to be idiotic, but from now on they should do it with their own money. If the city can’t show respect for the Marines that have fought, bled and died for their freedom, Berkeley should not be receiving special taxpayer funded handouts. I am currently drafting legislation to ensure that American taxpayers aren’t forced to pay for this insult by rescinding all of the earmarks for Berkeley in the Omnibus Appropriations bill, and to transfer the funds to the Marine Corps.

The Senator is right, of course, I think that Berkeley should get completely cut off. On the other hand, what if Berkeley decided to say "screw you" and eschewed the earmarks? The city should escalate it further and say that since we aren't getting any earmarks, then the residents of Berkeley shouldn't send their tax money to the Feds.

Of course, that is not going to happen. Earmarks are crack and we (and I do mean all of us) have an addiction to it. If Berkeley were to quit cold turkey, they would earn my grudging respect on breaking that bad habit.

While it's Super Tuesday

Has anyone, other than CNBC, reported that the DOW dropped 370 points?

Look for further inflationary rate decreases from the Fed in the coming days. You know, they could drop rates all the way down to zero percent (like Japan did back in the 90's) and it still won't help anything because government spending is going to keep going up. Bush has the audacity to ask for $3 TRILLION. Where is that money going to come from?

Who's the big winner tonight? We are friends, we are.

Four Terms in Congress

Ron Paul's speech to Congress before leaving in 1984:

Thousands of men and women have come and gone here in our country's history, and except for the few, most go unnoticed and remain nameless in the pages of history, as I am sure I will be. The few who are remembered are those who were able to grab the reins of power and, for the most part, use that power to the detriment of the nation. We must remember that achieving power is never the goal sought by a truly free society. Dissipation of power is the objective of those who love liberty.

He goes on:

The most I can hope for is that someday a suggestion I've made is remembered: that the debate would shift to a different plane. Instead of asking which form of intervention and planning government should impose, perhaps someday Congress will debate intervention versus nonintervention, government versus voluntary planning, U.S. sovereignty versus internationalism – the pros and cons of true liberty. Today the debate basically is only that of deciding who will be the victims and who the beneficiaries. I hope the hours of debate over the mechanisms of the political system orchestrated by the special interests will give way to this more important debate on freedom.

The whole speech is nearly 24 years old but the problems are still the same. Read the whole thing here.

Thanks to Lew Rockwell

It's Uber Tuesday Tomorrow

And here's the official Randolphus Maximus voter guide for the State of California. You must be registered as a Republican because it's a closed primary out here. Also, if you aren't registered as a Republican or you don't agree with my endorsements stay home. Thanks.:


President: Ron Paul (or Alan Keyes) but mostly Ron Paul

For what it's worth here are the state propositions on the ballot:

Prop 91 - NO - it's no longer necessary because another proposition, 1A has already passed effectively rendering this initiative moot.

Prop 92 - NO whenever I see language like "Sets community college fees at $15/unit per semester; limits future fee increases" I smell price fixing, while the fee to go to community college may be limited, the cost of going to community college is definitely not going to be limited, and who pays for that? The taxpayer.

Prop 93 - NO - I would elect someone continuously if they just left me the hell alone and kept cutting taxes and spending. But that's not what politicians believe in nowadays.

Prop 94, 95, 96, and 97 - NO - It's precisely the mismanagement of government spending that caused the budget shortfall in the first place. Let California make due with the money that it takes in now and don't let one group (the indians) have to pay for the mistakes of the government. It's a targeted tax increase, better to make everybody pissed off and let the government make hard choices and the politicians take the heat.


Strapz has his ballot guide for California here.

Cracked:The 25 Most Nonsensical Protest Signs

The devil's homo machine? Not if my collection of college coed sorority cheerleader mpegs has anything to say about it. I have so much of that stuff I almost had to delete my favorite movie of all time from my hard drive. Next to Spartacus and 300 of course.


The whole list is here, beware some obscenities and pixelated nudity.

Pilfered from RedStateEclectic

This brings up some painful memories

This came out this week, and I'm posting it because this is exactly how I found out my last wife, er ex-girlfriend, I mean girl I was dating, was cheating on me. Damn you Matt Damon!! *shakes fist*:

Super Sunday

I was out walking the precinct earlier for a certain presidential candidate and am about to sit down for the big game. For those not football inclined I offer you PuppyBowl IV on the Animal Planet channel. Here's last years (pilfered from Tammy Bruce):



Wow, I'm watching FOX recite the Declaration of Independence. Good for them.

Nino Brown says F*** You to the IRS Part II

Wesley Snipes was acquitted today on the felony charges of "tax evasion". He was however convicted of 3 misdemeanor charges of failing to file tax returns. The New York Times has the writeup here.

The whole idea of the income tax has always offended me. From the way that it picks and chooses or "targets" who has to pay and who doesn't (so much for equal protection under the law). To how invasive it is into the privacy of our citizens (you show me your tax return and I can tell you who you are). To the way that it's enforced (is there such a thing as a tax preparer industrial complex? Yes, there is, we spend as much with tax lawyers, H+R Block etc. in administering the income tax as we do in collecting it. You don't think that there's not a lobby for THAT special interest).

This country was FOUNDED on a tax rebellion. It was fashionable at one time to tar and feather the tax collectors. It is certainly true that the founding fathers never intended us to work 5 months out of the year for the government. I'm in the prime of my earning years and the only thing I see is red ink for all the promises that our government is making that it can't keep. And who are the people who are making money in this country? The people who work or have contracts with the government.

In a perverse way, I hope that we do have an economy that crashes. I hope that we have a depression and that we have inflation that runs up to 20 percent. I hope the government becomes insolvent and China decides to cash in its dollar holdings. It may be the only thing that knocks some sense into everyone and makes people realize that more government is NOT the solution. It's the problem. /rant (just kidding IRS, DHS, FBI, CIA, SEC, FEMA, and BATF)

American Conservative Magazine endorses Ron Paul

Pat Buchanan's magazine "The American Conservative" formally endorsed Ron Paul for President:

On the key issue of foreign policy, the differences between the other Republican contenders can be measured in microdots. All remain enthusiastic supporters of the invasion of Iraq and of maintaining a presence there for years to come. All speak as if it is America’s right and duty to station its armed forces over much of the world. All have embraced neoconservative paranoia about the “threat” posed by Iran, setting the table for another war. All, that is, except Dr. Paul.

He is the one candidate who sees how the realities of world power have shifted since the 1990s, the one who recognizes that the time of unilateral American hegemony is over—and can’t be maintained even if it was in our interest to do so. He alone understands that the ever expanding federal government is a far greater threat to American liberty than some tinpot dictator in the Caucasus. By speaking about the benefits of smaller government and limited executive power, he has introduced a generation of young Americans to a more traditional and true style of conservatism—to the movement and the country’s benefit.

The whole endorsement is here.

The $49 Million Delegate

That's how much Rudy Giuliani spent on his doomed presidential bid. For all of that money, Rudy received a total of ONE delegate to the GOP convention. I wonder where the $12 mil that's left over goes?

At least he's not John McCain, who, while the presumed front runner for the nomination, had at the end of the 4th quarter about $3 mil cash on hand. He probably has had a surge in funding with his recent primary victories, but there is no way that he's going to be able to compete with Mitt Romney as far as cash for advertising is concerned.

Even worse off is Mike Huckabee, the Iowa caucus winner reported just under $700k cash on hand for the end of the 4th quarter. He's done after Super Tuesday.

Mitt Romney has a personal fortune of around $250 million and has lent his campaign around $40 million of it to date. His 4th quarter donations from people other than himself totaled around $9 million. He ended up with around $2.5 million cash on hand.

The big winner in the money raising race for the 4th quarter? Ron Paul. His donations totaled nearly $20 million, with the balance sheet reading nearly $8 million cash on hand by the end of the 4th quarter. What's interesting is that despite the media blackout, the lack of speaking time at the debates, and his ability to attract his fair share of kooks, nuts, and geeks. His fundraising totals have grown each and every quarter.

The FEC reports are here and a good write up from the LA times of last quarter is here.

Of course all of this pales in comparison to Barack Obama. In the month of January, he raised $32 million dollars.

My god, the GOP is gonna lose and lose big.

Yoga with Tara Stiles, Ford Model

This week: Yoga for the Feet

Interview with Bob Murphy: An explanation of the FED, Monetary Policy, and Inflation

A great interview by Scott Horton of Bob Murphy author of the book: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism

Find out why we don't really have a "free market" money system. Also, an explanation of the subprime mortgage crisis. An overview of the Federal Reserve System (and how it steals the wealth of the poor and the middle class, yet doesn't affect the young, rich, and ridiculously handsome people like me). Plus why stagflation is a very real possibility for the future of our country (which should be placed squarely at the feet of W and a complicit Congress).

Pilfered from Lew Rockwell

Reason Mag: Live blogging the Debate

David Weigel was on fire:

8:30: Huckabee's big ideas sound awfully stupid when they're pitched back to him. His super-awesome mega-highway 3000 will save America because people will use their tax rebates to shop more while getting 32 extra minutes to cuddle their kids. Then he dashes it all and admits it was a huge pander. "I said that when I was in Florida. Today, we might look at a Western highway!"

8:57: Future questions from Anderson Cooper: "Is Iraq better off than it was eight years ago? Is CNN's prime time lineup better off than it was eight years ago?" (Remember Aaron Brown with that finger on the side of his cheek thing?)

9:11: What had Ron Paul been doing during the eternal Romney-McCain smackdown? Apparently, injecting steroids. "They're arguing technicalities of a policy they already agree with!" He's collected, pissed off, and there's no Rudy Giuliani to tell him to shut up. (Even though Rudy left the race his presence is still felt, check the timestamp! OK, that's creepy)

Check out all of the entries here

Also, check out the story of Ryan Frederick, it's heartbreaking

Simi Valley Debate Clips

Pilfered from Mr. Chubbs at Liberty Maven and the Ron Paul Forums:

Q1 - Are we better off?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f7YgNa1zTw

Q2 - States Rights and a plea to answer previous question (not given)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg8kWK-IuQ8

Q3 - On Huckabee's Highway as economic stimulus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvXRhgPi_Ts

Q4 - On Appointing Justice O'Conner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfDb8hF9UFU

Q5 - On McCain's 100 Years in Iraq statement (He hit this one out of the park and made McCain squirm)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWPDyI3nZHo

Q6 - Leadership Capability(An excellent response on the true role of the President, for that matter for the the Federal goverment)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbn6IQtAO94

Q7 - Would Reagan Endorse You?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4LeSrTTUug

Bonus:

CNN Post Debate Interview (video starts about 30 seconds in, I'll put up another copy when I find it):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdc1R11jPHc

McCain wins Florida

and eliminates Rudy in the process. The "Final Four" comes down to McCain, Romney, Huckabee, and Ron Paul.

Here's an interesting take from James Ostrowski via Lew Rockwell:

McCain was civil to all his opponents tonight except one: Ron Paul. That was the tip-off that this is now a two-man race. Ron Paul got 60,000 votes tonight in Florida even though there has been a media blackout of his campaign since three days before Iowa.

We are already being told that McCain is a lock; it's all over. That's the conventional wisdom and anything else is just wishful Paulian thinking. But, as with all my prognostications this year and last--including that Rudy had "zero chance" to win when he was leading the polls by 14%--my analysis is based on facts. Such as: John McCain has only eight percent of the delegates he needs. And: McCain is a deeply flawed candidate who remains unpopular with the Republican base.

That last sentence rings true. I know I can't vote for him.

Mitt Romney has Good Listening Skills

While McCain, the soon to be departed Giuliani, and Huckabee have always been easy to dismiss as serious contenders for my vote for various reasons (too statist, too crooked, too much of a nanny stater, respectively). Mitt Romney, like Fred Thompson, got a second look from me a while back. Mainly because I wasn't too familiar with him and he did have a trackrecord of turning around enterprises that were failures (the SLC Olympics comes to mind).

I did have a little bit of sympathy for Mitt for the attacks that he had to endure because of his religion. However, this is the second high visibility time that Mitt has done the bob and weave when asked a direct question that you could tell he was unprepared for and it shows. The first time was here.

At issue this time is the income tax. Talk radio show host Mark Larson out of Tampa interviews Mitt and asks him to consider the "one tax" which is a value added tax on M1, so transactions at all levels whether it's a company that purchases huge volumes like say Walmart or Staples, or it's individuals who are at the 7-11 buying those nasty hot dogs that have been sitting all day under the heat lamps, the transaction is charged at 1 percent. It's an interesting concept and would definitely be an improvement over the current income tax. But an even better proposal would be to scrap the income tax and really shrink the size of the federal government. It's OK if the government at the state level expanded, if that happened, you could always move to another state while staying in the US.

Anyway, I get the feeling upon listening to the interview a second time, that Mitt didn't hear the part about "transactions at all levels" maybe the interviewer could have hit that point harder but I doubt it. You can listen to the whole Mitt interview here. However, I like the youtube version because Larson talks a little more about the interview during his next segment.

FISA and Telecom immunity

I have to give credit where credit is due. The left is always harping on the erosion of civil liberties in this country and on this I agree with them. Chris Dodd and his stand on telecom immunity which is 100% correct (pilfered from the commie pinko socialists at Openleft):

Few things are more detrimental to this country than the erosion of and attack on the civil liberties we enjoy. This isn’t a Democratic issue or a Republican issue; this is an American issue. If after debate, the Senate appears ready to pass legislation granting telecom providers retroactive immunity I will use any and all legislative tools at my disposal, including a filibuster, to prevent this deeply flawed bill from becoming law. More and more, Americans are rejecting the false choice that has come to define this administration: security or liberty, but never, ever both. For all those who have stood with me throughout this fight, I pledge, once more, to stand up for you.

A Good Interpretation of McCain's Answer to Dr. Pauls question on Economics

Pilfered from HotAir

GOP Debate: Snoozapalooza

Not very exciting tonight, but here are Dr. Paul's questions and answers courtesy of LibertyMaven and Ron Paul Forums (UPDATED Question 6 Link):

Q1: Economy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbXoxTXIrfo

Q2: Taxes/Economy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr_GuD_U-zY

Q3: Iraq
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tZwRfGTxLs

Q4: Ron questions McCain on Financial Working Group (it shows that McCain really doesn't know anything about economics) But to be fair, Ron's question was probably a little too esoteric for general audiences.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ1OB2iLxcY

Q5: Social Security (good one)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2apOUfmcpE

Q6: Third Party and Republicanism (THIS WAS GOOD)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF0lzfnhMzE
[UPDATED] Muchos Gracias to Mr. Chubbs at Liberty Maven http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVnOMMnMQSw

The Prescription for Prosperity

Ron Paul released his plan today. I'll have more on Dr. Paul's economic plan later, but suffice it to say there's a part in there that gets rid of the income tax and the IRS. The highlights of his tax proposals are pasted below (green emphasis is mine). You can read the whole thing here.

• Eliminate Taxes on Dividends and Savings. The basis of capitalism is savings, and Americans who do so should be rewarded.
  • Pass HJ Res. 23 to encourage savings over consumption.

• Repeal the Death Tax. Attacking small businesses and breaking up family farms smothers growth and kills jobs.
  • Pass H.R. 2734 to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.

• Cut Taxes for Working Seniors. Grandmothers and grandfathers working to make ends meet should keep all the fruits of their labor.
  • Pass H.R. 191 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the inclusion in gross income of Social Security benefits.

• Eliminate Taxes on Social Security Benefits. That money belongs to seniors, not the government. They paid into the system for a lifetime, and they should be free to spend every penny as they see fit.
  • Pass H.R. 192 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the 1993 increase in taxes on Social Security benefits.

• Accelerate Depreciation on Investment. We need to help companies grow and create jobs.
  • Pass H.R. 4995 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reduce corporate marginal income tax rates.

• Eliminate Taxes on Capital Gains. Investment should be embraced and rewarded.
  • Pass H.J. Res 23 (The “Liberty Amendment”), proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to abolishing personal income, estate, and gift taxes and prohibiting the United States Government from engaging in business in competition with its citizens.

• Eliminate Taxes on Tips.The single parents and working students who earn their income chiefly through tips deserve to keep all of their money. This tax on "estimated income" is unfair and should be ended.
  • Pass H.R. 3664 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that tips shall not be subject to income or employment taxes.

• Support the Mortgage Cancellation Relief Act. Working families who lost their homes should not be punished a second time with a big IRS bill.
  • Pass H.R. 1876 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from the gross income of individual taxpayers discharges of indebtedness attributable to certain forgiven residential mortgage obligations.

Ronald Reagan and Ron Paul: A Video Comparison

I've been waiting for something like this to appear on the tubes, it's pretty good:



CMStrapz has the first of a multi-part opinion piece on Reagan that is a good counterpoint to how he campaigned and the platform he ran on versus how he governed (the Department of Education is still around?)

Bill Clinton: Screw It, I'm Running For President

From the Onion:

"My fellow Americans, I am sick and tired of not being president," said Clinton, introducing his wife at a "Hillary '08" rally. "For seven agonizing years, I have sat idly by as others experienced the joys of campaigning, debating, and interacting with the people of this great nation, and I simply cannot take it anymore. I have to be president again. I have to."

In a show of respect, Clinton then completed his introduction of Hillary Clinton, calling her a "wonderful wife and worthy political adversary," and warmly shook her hand as she approached the podium. A clearly shocked Mrs. Clinton got halfway through her speech about the nation's obligation to its children before walking briskly offstage.

The whole thing is Onion quality and hits the right tone as far a political reporting goes. Good for a chuckle.

Ron Paul Linkorama

Dr. Paul was making the media rounds today and had a great interview on Glenn Becks radio show talking specifically about the economy. The audio is here, and a trancript of the interview is here.

He also made an appearance on Neal Cavuto (starts about 2 minutes in):



as well as on MSNBC:



He also called into a New Jersey radio station to and spent a few minutes talking about Murray Sabrin, who is running for the Senate seat as a "Ron Paul Republican" you can listen to that here

Yoga with Tara Stiles a Ford Model

This week: Adding binding variations to poses

Ron Paul Gets the Gold in Louisiana?

National Review gave a little taste of what transpired tonight:

Finally, there's Ron Paul, and he's well, being Ron Paul. He had 600 people show up at a rally yesterday in a bad part of Baton Rouge and was met with rousing applause. How many of the Paul people have actually gone to the work of registering as Republicans, and then will turn around and show up tonight will be determined, but still, Paul could surprise here. After all, he came in a strong second in a similar situation in Nevada last Saturday.

Stay tuned...

UPDATE: Just spoke with somebody on the ground in Louisiana, and caucus turnout is heavy all over the state. Romney and Paul supporters appear to be the most vocal and visible thus far.

And here is an interesting first hand account from a Mike Huckabee supporter:

I just got back your right, the Ron people had the whole delegate slate full (15) in district 7 they also had the alt. delegates full, and they auto. won them because no other candidate applyed for them. Anyway i voted the 2 huckabee delegates and threw the rest of my votes away(you get 15). Most of the people there were for RP or Mccain, Mccain also filled up the slate. Thats 21 delegates that will be voted on...

And based on other accounts I've read, it looks like Ron Paul could get a huge number of those 21 delegates. On top of which, there is also a primary election on February 9th which can determine where the remaining 20 delegates from Louisiana go.

If the winner of the primary wins by 50% or over, the 20 will go to him. Or, if a candidate doesn't take it with 50%, the 21 delegates from the caucus will vote for another 20 delegates.

Official word for caucus results should be available tomorrow.

Why Shouldn't Bush tell Israel What's What?

Over at the Hill Chronicles Layla writes this:

Bush has vowed to return to Israel in May to check if the government there is listening and heeding his threats, warnings, and implementing his plans - plans for a nation that he is not the leader of. Bush told the Kenesset to heed to the plan and stick by Olmert and help him to achieve the two state solution.

Who in the hell does Bush think he is? No one died and named him god. The one and only G-d, which is the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were bequeath the land by G-d and told to never divide this land or woe to the man that does.

If you read the comments, then you will see that I take issue with the premise of Layla's reasoning:

Don’t you think that since we give them aid we should have a say in what Israel and the other Middle East countries do?

That’s what our foreign policy is, we give aid to those governments and in exchange for that aid we get a say in how those governments conduct themselves. Period. Right?

She responded:

Maximus Israel is very capable of taking care of itself. Their economy is not based on oil, but based on technology and medicine. Per captia Israel is the fourth richest nation in the world.

Talk to me!

I wrote back:

I don’t disagree with you, I guess my point is, if we send taxpayer dollars to Israel, we should get a say in what and how they run things over there.

Why shouldn't Bush go over there expecting Israel to bend to our wishes? It's my tax dollars that are going over there, I should be able to go over there and declare a national holiday there if I want to.

The fact of the matter is, we give 3 times the amount of aid to Israel's Arab neighbors than we do to Israel herself (and it's not like we don't expect the Arab states to do our bidding). If we stopped all foreign aid then Israel still comes out ahead. I'm so friggin brilliant.

Jane Roe has an Announcement to Make

Jane Roe, the "Roe" in Roe vs. Wade, and whose real name is Norma Leah McCorvey, will be making an announcement tomorrow. From National Review:

WASHINGTON, DC – On Tuesday, January 22 – the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision – Texas Congressman and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul will hold a press conference with pro-life activist Norma Leah McCorvey. McCorvey, who runs Crossing over Ministry, is "Jane Roe" of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.

What/Who: Announcement by Norma McCorvey ("Jane Roe") and Congressman Ron Paul

Is the announcement that Ms. McCorvey will endorse Dr. Paul? I guess we'll have to tune in tomorrow to find out.

The Handwriting is on the Wall

The press is starting to see realize what a central banking system actually does to money. It devalues it, encourages and enables government largess and malinvestment, it exaggerates business cycles:

So why have investors been abandoning conventional assets, such as government bonds and stakes in blue-chip businesses, in favour of a metal that appears to offer no reward for holding it? The answer, I'm afraid, is crumbling faith in the world's central banks, and in particular the US Federal Reserve, where the presses have been working overtime.

Some argue that the soaring gold price has been driven by temporary anxiety over global instability. The metal is a safe haven in troubled times. But answer me this: when was the last time the world felt like a cosy hideaway? Ever since mankind turned up, Planet Earth has never been a safe place.

Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a more muscular Iran and the unpredictability of Moscow are contributing to nervousness. But what's really upsetting investors is the speed at which money is being printed by governments, especially America's, that cannot face the problem of funding wild expenditure plans solely from reserves or taxation.

The whole article is here and is a great summary of why everyone should be pissed off that the government is stealing your nest egg at the rate of 10% per year and why England, after a 100 year absence, is going to surpass America in standard of living.

One thing that should not be forgotten is that up until 1913, this country didn't even have a Federal Reserve Bank. We didn't have an income tax either. In fact, if we got rid of the income tax, and replaced it with nothing, spending levels would drop to those of 10 years ago. Didn't we have enough government back in 1998?

Pilfered from Lew Rockwell

The Crossed Pond: Primary Rundown

One thing I know for sure after today's voting:

On the Dems side, John Edwards should pack it up. It's down to Obama and Hillary with Hillary a little ahead on the momentum.

Today's primary contests in Nevada and South Carolina courtesy of Brad at The Crossed Pond:

For the Republicans, Nevada was weirdly uncontested, so Romney gets crowing rights and an impression of continued viability basically handed to him by his opponents. I think part of what has left this Republican field so wide open is the terror of ALL the candidate to even compete in states that aren’t already in their pocket. So they essentially get divvied up before voting even begins. The only people even appearing to run national campaigns at this point are McCain and Huckabee, which is why they’re winning. In any event, Romney gets a boost and said impression of continued viability from Nevada, enough so that he can probably count on being the third man in the race going into February 5th.

The whole analysis is here

What is missing in most of the MSM and the Pajamas Media Blogosphere coverage that Brad does talk about is Ron Paul's second place showing in Nevada and the demographics that go along with it:

It’s a little unfair for people to mitigate the showing by saying the rest of the candidates didn’t campaign there, as it’s not like John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, or Fred Thompson are nobodies that have to shake a lot of hands to be viable anywhere. Ron legitimately beat them here, and now HE gets to remind dismissive interviewers that he has beaten at least once every candidate in this race, and along with a national 4th place showing, has a small but existent cache of delegates (actually, there are a lot of reports coming out from Nevada that Ron may have actually done a lot better with the delegates than with the preference polling, and though it’s not being reported, he could well walk away with half of the delegates out of Nevada, which remember has more than South Carolina; it could turn out that Ron Paul comes in third today on the delegate count), and that his support isn’t large, but it’s not shallow or regional either.

That said, it also indicates that even in a field which his opponents very publicly pass on, Ron can’t break to 20%, meaning he’s running less against his opponents than against his own glass ceiling. Of course the flipside of that is even WITH his opponents in the race he STILL gets comparable results, which is interesting in its own right. In any case, he comes out of Nevada with an underreported silver medal that nevertheless gives him bragging rights and a bit of righteous credibility from now on. His campaign is legitimately more viable than Fred Thompson’s, John Edwards’, and, I would argue, Rudy Giuliani. Which is not to say Paul is particularly viable (he’s not, for the nomination), but he is JUST as viable as those other guys.

The cross-tabs are interesting also. Ron won—outright won—the independent vote (only 12% in this race), which is what pushed him past McCain (who is no slouch among independents). The only other demographic he outright carried was those who identify as having no religion. But most interesting to me is he continues to get about 20% of the under-30 vote in every single voting state, which is providing him his engine of vote-getting. When a party that is having a lot of problems staying viable in the face of shifting demographics, and which is in large part bleeding potential support, in particular younger voters, having this fly on the wall candidate who is nevertheless able to mobilize the youth of the GOP in a way nobody else this cycle is ought to be something the Republican party pays attention to.

Could Dr. Paul be the only man who can save America the party? The GOP has been in freefall since it became the party of big government and foreign interventionism. All of the other candidates (save Fred!) have nothing to offer but more of the same. McCain, Romney, and Huckabee offer nothing but a 3rd term for Bush IMO. Ron Paul and to a limited extent Fred have a fundamentally different message than the "heroic conservatism" garbage of the others. But Thompson is most likely out with a poor 3rd place showing in SC.

Other thoughts:

What will be interesting to see is who bails out on the race because of money. Fundraising comes into play with Florida and Uber-Tuesday coming up. Pretty much all of the GOP (except Romney) are going to have to pick and choose where to campaign.

Will the history of the winner of South Carolina winning the GOP nomination hold? For all that is holy in this world I hope not. I don't know what I'm going to do if McCain gets the nomination. I can't vote for him.

Rudy is still in this race, isn't he? He is going to look like either a genius or the biggest dope if Florida doesn't come through for him. According to the NYT article linked above, he's running short on cash also. Where the heck did all his money go? It doesn't seem like he's been campaigning anywhere.

80's video flashback

I wake up to this song every morning:

A Lawnmower DUI

Pilfered from Gorillamask:

It Has Come to This

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The First Amendment to the the Constitution

When people think of the First Amendment, many think of the freedom to have and speak your opinion or the freedom to worship as you like. If you ask some more knowledgeable people out there, you might even get someone to tell you about your right to associate with whom you please. How all of that translates into crucifixes dipped in urine, or the ACLU stopping a prayer by players before a football game is something to be saved for a different post.

What is obvious to me is that the First Amendment was designed to specify and preserve actions that individuals may participate in which do not necessarily have the interests of the State in mind. In fact, I would say that the First Amendment is geared to preserve and protect activities that are critical of the government itself. That's why stuff like McCain-Feingold is such a POS piece of unconstitutional legislation and John McCain should be run out of office for that. The fact that he's even in the running for President is quite distressing to me.

Getting back to my point, a press that isn't just a mouthpiece for the government shouldn't have to worry about retribution if it publishes pieces that are critical of the government. Or me as an individual shouldn't have to worry about what church I go to (and what morals it may instill in me, like big government is evil) or with whom I choose to associate with ( supermodels, Constitution freaks and computer nerds).

But what about that last clause of the Amendment? If read devoid of all the other distinct clauses, it says "Congress shall make no law respecting the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances" Which I translate as: a group of citizens has a problem with the government; it wants the government to address or respond to that problem.

A response of substance from the government to the "petition" isn't just implied but obligatory and should be obvious. You would think.

Alessandra Ambrosio is Pregnant

I've been away from my computer today and haven't had chance to post that much. But the news that supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio is "with child" comes as a surprise to me. Brendan over at WWTD broke the news via Page Six:

Victoria's Secret angel Alessandra Ambrosio won't be strutting down the runway in her skivvies anytime soon. The Brazilian beauty, 26, is pregnant with her first child. "She's a few months along," said our insider. Ambrosio is thrilled, she told pals at a weekend party at the Hollywood Hills house of her boyfriend, Jamie Mazur.

All I gotta say is, based on my experience with "hot" chicks and supermodels (which is pretty much limited to what I've seen on Nip/Tuck and Michael Bay movies). I wouldn't be that thrilled if I were boyfriend Jamie Mazur. You're talking about a woman who is at the height of her powers, she's young, gorgeous, and has a job that pays a lot of money and requires tons of travel and time away from home. So imagine how often she gets hit on by dudes (especially ridiculously charming, handsome and wealthy dudes like me) and chicks even. Got it? Now multiply that number by 100 and you get the idea of how many opportunities she's going to have to "test the limits of the expectation of privacy".