September 11th as Architectural Reform

During the unpleasantness of last November, I signed up as a supporter on all the political websites (Demoblican and Libertarian). and I still get mail from both. President Obama left this gem in my inbox sometime last night.

Whited --

This evening, at 11:15 p.m., the House of Representatives voted to pass their health insurance reform bill. Despite countless attempts over nearly a century, no chamber of Congress has ever before passed comprehensive health reform. This is history.

Where to begin, where to begin..... Let's start with the way we use the word "reform". If you destroy something, are you reforming it? Were the 9-11 attacks "Architectural Reform"? In 1941, did the Japanese Air Force carry out a policy of "Naval Reform" at Pearl Harbor? Did Jack The Ripper carry out a policy of Prostitute Reform? Yes, this is history.

But you and millions of your fellow Organizing for America supporters didn't just witness history tonight -- you helped make it. Each "yes" vote was a brave stand....

Brave? Person A takes money from person B to give to person C, so that C will support A in the next election? That's bravery?

.... backed up by countless hours of knocking on doors, outreach in town halls and town squares, millions of signatures, and hundreds of thousands of calls. You stood up. You spoke up. And you were heard.

Speaking of knocking on someone's door, reaching out in a town hall, and making a few thousand phone calls, Joe Cao of Louisiana was the only Republican who voted for this abortion, mostly because it won't allow federal funds to be used for abortions. Please contact Joe, and let him know how you feel about him voting to give government control of the medical industry (because it will keep government out of the abortion industry).
Thank God for Louisiana. Their politicians make those of Texas and Mississippi look like the Founding Fathers.

So this is a night to celebrate -- but not to rest. Those who voted for reform deserve our thanks, and the next phase of this fight has already begun.

Like I said, hit the link. Thank Joe.

The final Senate bill hasn't even been released yet, but the insurance companies are already pressing hard for a filibuster to bury it. OFA has built a massive neighborhood-by-neighborhood operation to bring people's voices to Congress, and tonight we saw the results. But the coming days will put our efforts to the ultimate test. Winning will require each of us to give everything we can, starting right now.

Please donate $5 or whatever you can afford so we can finish this fight.

I suggest you hang onto your $5.00 and start hoarding penicillin.

Tonight's vote brought every American closer to the secure, affordable care we need. But it was also a watershed moment in how change is made.

I just woke up the Sepulchral Wife, half the neighbors, and all 12 dachshunds, banging my head through the refrigerator door. Can ANYONE name something that our government has voluntarily made more affordable? (Note: spreading the costs around to people still in diapers doesn't count.) Your share of the national debt is already near $40,000.00 Your share of the unfunded future liability is somewhere between $350,000.00 and $400,000.00

Safe. Secure. Affordable. As long as you die within 5 years. Everyone after that is screwed.

Even after last year's election, many insider lobbyists and partisan operatives really thought that the old formula of scare tactics....

Here's Thomas Sowell, on the use of scare tactics: What is so wrong with the current medical system in the United States that we are being urged to rush headlong into a new government system that we are not even supposed to understand, because this legislation is to be rushed through Congress before even the Senators and Representatives have a chance to read it?

....D.C. back-scratching and special-interest money would still be enough to block any idea they didn't like. Now, they're desperate. Because, tonight, you made it crystal clear: the old rules are changing -- and the people will not be ignored.

Here's some more from The Good Doctor Sowell: All this makes a farce of the notion of a "public option" that will simply provide competition to keep private insurance companies honest. What politicians can and will do is continue to drive up the cost of private insurance until it is no longer viable. A "public option" is simply a path toward a "single payer" system, a euphemism for a government monopoly.

In other words, the D.C. back-scratchers and special interests are buzzing around this thing like green flies swarming over a fresh cow patty. (That additional commentary is mine, not Dr. Sowell's)

In the final phases of last year's election, I often reminded folks, "Don't think for a minute that power concedes without a fight," and it's especially true today. But that's okay -- we're not afraid of a fight. And as you continue to prove, when all of us work together, we have what it takes to win.

Yep. Anyone robbing Peter to pay Paul will always have the support of Paul. And Joe Cao. Here's Cao going home to read what he voted for. This YouTube is actually on his website:

Please donate to OFA's campaign to win this fight and ensure that real health reform reaches my desk by the end of this year:

https://donate.barackobama.com/History

I'm tempted to hit the link and send the damn fool some money. If he sends out emails this funny for free, no telling what I can get for $5.00.

Here's Jerry Pournelle: With Detroit a ruin and manufacturing industries on the ropes, small business is the only possible engine of recovery from what they don't call a Depression; so the Congress is going to add an 8% tax on employing people. We already have the longest period of increasing unemployment since the Great Depression; I presume we are going for a really big record setting period of increasing unemployment.

What incentives people have to invest and create new jobs in this environment is pretty murky now; with the health bill there will be fewer incentives to invest in new jobs in the US. The incentives are now to the job black market -- hire illegal immigrants who don't have to have health insurance -- or to export the job if that can possibly be done.

Let's keep making history,

President Barack Obama

Buy A Pelosicare Policy, or go to jail for five years ?

Can anyone really describe how badly they're going to screw this up?

Buy something from my constituents, or you're going to go to jail? (Granted, we have similar requirements on auto insurance, but that is to protect other drivers from you.)

Unbelieveable.

I'm gonna go to The Texas Motor Speedway, and watch people drive around in circles. Y'all have a good weekend.

Sara Island, Goodfellas, Fort Hood, and Gun Control

When I was a kid, my father and I would go to a deer hunting camp called Sara Island (actually a peninsula) on the Mississippi River. If I remember right, if you started off in north Mississippi, you had to go through Arkansas and Louisiana to get there. And it was in Mississippi.
That place had more guns per acre than anywhere I've ever been.
About a hundred yards outside each entrance to the camp housing area was a sign stating YOU MUST UNLOAD GUNS NOW ! $50.00 FINE FOR ANY LOADED WEAPON IN CAMP. Hunters who had been friends for life didn't hesitate to check each other's guns, good manners be damned, just to be sure. Ammo was everywhere, in pockets, vests, and glove compartments, but the guns were unloaded in camp. We were in an incredibly remote area, but had no fear. No one in his right mind would attack us, rob us, or anything else. It was one of the safest places I've ever been.

Remember the wedding reception scene in Goodfellas, where Ray Liotta's new bride is worried about whether their wedding cash will be safe if left alone at their table? Liotta laughs, and says that they're probably in the safest room in the United States. She doesn't know that everyone in the room is Mafia. Would anyone have dared to rob someone in that room?

Which gets me to my point.... Are military bases gun-free zones? Can anyone except M.P.'s carry while on base? Is there a point to having 500,000 U.S. soldiers on duty if every single one of them isn't packing heat? This is an incredibly sad day, and I don't want to cheapen the tragedy by making a cheap anti-gun control point, but lord have mercy, how can someone go onto a U.S. military base and kill that many soldiers before people start shooting back?

But I can't resist cheapening the tragedy by taking this cheap shot:
This must have been one hell of a conference. Before our president got around to delivering the national announcement about the Fort Hood shooting, he gave us two-minutes worth of remarks about an incredible policy wonk conference, including a shout-out (:25) to his homies in the crowd. Dang, I wish I could have been at that conference. Sandwiched in the middle are some incidental remarks to the nation about the shooting at Fort Hood. At the 4:35 mark, he gets back to the conference.

We're in the best of hands....

Paul Krugman tries for a Teachable Moment and fails

Here's the White House pet economist Paul Krugman, learning the hard way about statistical polling samples:



Whoops.

Why Jesus only had six disciples

As I've stated in earlier posts, I've devoted the last 6 months to re-translating the New Testament. (Since I work in the shipping and logistics industry, this qualifies me for almost anything.) You can hit the "Bible re-interpretation" tag at the bottom of this post to read more translations.
The section posted today is so shocking that I'm bracing myself for harsh and savage criticism from the theological, political, and economic communities. The properly translated text reveals that there were some complications when Jesus called his twelve six disciples. This is from the Gospel Of Mark, Chapter 1, beginning with verse 16.

16. As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
17. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
18. At once they left their nets and followed him.
19. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets.
20. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
21. And Matthew the tax collector came unto James and John, saying "Here is a W-4 form so that your share of our donations can be withheld in Jerusalem." And James and John disputed among themselves over who would claim their father, Zebedee, as a dependent.
22. Jesus rebuked them, saying, "You sons of vipers, you whited sepulchres, for both of you are registered Democrats, and have clamored for more spending. What care you for tax deductions? Let he who votes Libertarian claim the first deduction. Let all others reap what they have sown, and pay until the budget is balanced."
23. And Judas, the disciple who would betray Jesus, came unto the brothers, saying "Here is form I-9, which will show that you are not a Samaritan, a Roman, a Greek, an Ethiopian, or any other form of Gentile, especially a Mexican. Bring me your a) Social Security cards and your Drivers Licenses, or b) your passports for I must keep copies on file with our Human Resources Department, lest we be audited for hiring illegals.
24. For our brother John The Baptist was busted using non-documented workers to harvest locusts and honey, and his head was handed to Herod on a silver platter."
25. Simon The Zealot came unto them, saying "I am Simon, the union steward, and we are all now your brothers. We have negotiated a four-day work week with mandatory overtime pay for all healings done after 5:00 p.m., seven days off with pay after casting out any demons, and an automatic pay increase after you complete evangelism training. This is a Card Check shop, and we can not require you to sign this union card. But I would hate to see something happen to those nice camels you have out there in the parking lot."

26. When Bartholomew saw the brothers, his heart was filled with compassion for them, and he said "Here is our insurance program, which has a ninety-day eligibility waiting period, for we are a small company and we are sustained by the kindness of others. Have you considered The Public Option?"

27. And Thomas said, "I doubt it." For the brothers had seen other government programs and wanted no part of them.

28. And James and John were filled with remorse for putting down their nets and abandoning their father, and they left the six disciples and returned to their boat on The Sea Of Galilee.

29. Then Jesus looked at the economy, the paperwork, the tax witholding, the business climate, the administrative expense, and the union organizers, and said "Verily, verily, I say unto you, we shall not call more disciples; we shall bring in shipments of loaves and fishes from China.

30. If we have the faith of a mustard seed, we can cast out demons using the new software. When we go into all nations sharing the good news, we will use a Temp Service, for this reduces our liability. And this will be called downsizing, and six disciples is a nice number."

The picture of Jesus calling his disciples came from here. Hit the link, and look at the little blog widget about halfway down the page showing how many people have died and gone to hell since you opened the link. Ya gotta love it.

Al Gore - "Compel, Don't Sell"

Al Gore might be set to become the world's first Carbon Billionaire. Here's John M. Broder in the New York Times:


The deal (to purchase perpetual motion machines from a Gore company) appeared to pay off in a big way last week, when the Energy Department announced $3.4 billion in smart grid grants. Of the total, more than $560 million went to utilities with which Silver Spring has contracts. Kleiner Perkins and its partners, including Mr. Gore, could recoup their investment many times over in coming years.


And just how will The Goracle Of Music City make good on his investment?


Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, asserted at a hearing this year that Mr. Gore stood to benefit personally from the energy and climate policies he was urging Congress to adopt.
Mr. Gore says that he is simply putting his money where his mouth is.
“Do you think there is something wrong with being active in business in this country?” Mr. Gore said. “I am proud of it. I am proud of it.”


Al, if you are lobbying for government grants for your company, you are taking taxpayer money. If various Climate Warming/Cooling/Changing legislation passes, homeowners will be forced to use your voodoo gadgets. Local governments will be forced to pay for them.


This is called "Compel, Don't Sell".


You aren't "being active in business in this country" when you do this. You are participating in a theft when you force people to use your products. It's nothing to be proud of.

Libertarian Party positions on proposed amendments to Texas Constitution

Here are the Texas Libertarian Party positions on the proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution. One thing to remember.... even if some of these pro-tax amendments fail, you can still give the state more of your money. Hit the link, and read away.


One brief word on #11, the Eminent Domain amendment....

The proposed amendment would appear on the ballot as follows: "The constitutional amendment to prohibit the taking, damaging, or destroying of private property for public use unless the action is for the ownership, use, and enjoyment of the property by the State, a political subdivision of the State, the public at large, or entities granted the power of eminent domain under law or for the elimination of urban blight on a particular parcel of property, but not for certain economic development or enhancement of tax revenue purposes, and to limit the legislature's authority to grant the power of eminent domain to an entity."

This one is so poorly worded that it defies logic. On the one hand, it claims to prohibit the taking of private property. On the other hand it allows "a political subdivision of the State", meaning "damn near anybody" to take away your house and give you less than you want for it. Or it allows them to take land because of "Urban Blight". They would call The Bass Hall in downtown Fort Worth "Urban Blight" if doing so would help them get their grubby little hands on the land beneath it. What a horribly worded piece of junk. If this bill passes, we'll think we have an anti-Eminent Domain bill, and that whatever the State steals in the future is justified. If it doesn't pass, it gives the impression that Texas voters support land theft by the State. What a horribly worded piece of junk.

Please vote. Flip a coin on #11. You're damned if it passes, and damned if it doesn't.

Velociman and Scribbler Spiders

During the last Camp Blownstar Meetup, Denny recommended a guy who blogs under the name Velociman. I don't understand why he's got the Spaghetti Western picture of Eli Wallach at the top of his site, but that's ok.
Lord have mercy, that man can type. Here are some excerpts from something Velociman wrote about seeing a Scribbler spider, a variety known for webs that look like handwriting:


I should take her appearance as a portent of Good Things, that I will find the ability to write something, anything, of value. I believe there is a direct relationship between the fullness of one's soul and the desire to put fingertips to keyboard. Even as the well of the soul is dry, so does the inkwell of ideas empty for me. And my inkwell of late has been as encrusted and moistureless as a sclerotic old artery.


He continues:


What we have now is a different thing altogether. As different as that Scribbler and the dangersome Brown Recluse. I am free to impute ill will and bad faith to my opponents in this arena, as they are with me. I consider bad faith to be preferable to rank stupidity at any rate, so it's not that demeaning a charge.


And then:


The loyal opposition (Republican Party) is no help: they brought us to this tear in the fabric of our civilization in the first place with their free-whoring ways and glib repudiation of their constituents.
Perhaps I should have smashed that spider; not all omens are favorable, after all. And spinning a fabric of such unfathomable despondency is normally considered poor form, if not self-destructive. Fortunately, they haven't re-introduced Prohibition, so there's the John Barelycorn approach to the tip of Maslow's hierarchy. Perhaps I should just go self-actualize myself, two fingers at a time.


Velociman. He posts stuff like this about three times a week. Go there to read the whole thing. Hope he can make it to the next Blogger meetup.

Steve Fromholtz, Mike Blakely, warehouses, NORML, Halloween Parties, Proton Nectar, and dachshunds

I've had the privilege of attending a lot of great events during the last few weeks, and I've been doing one long post of pictures every weekend. Political rants not included.
Here goes:
Friday night I went with The Jihadist Safety Consultant to The Texas Theatre in Waxahachie. (According to The Aggie, Waxahachie is an old Indian name meaning "small town with no mall".)
The Consultant also brought his long-suffering wife, and his daughter, Dobby The House Elf. We were there to hear Steve Fromholz and Mike Blakely.

Steve Fromholz has been described as "Texas' legendary songwriter, poet, author, humorist, river guide, cowboy, entertainer extraordinaire and Texas Poet Laureate Emeritus." That's a mouthful.
Fromholz had a stroke several years ago, and briefly lost the ability to play guitar, speak, sing, or even remember lyrics and songs he wrote prior to the stroke.

I thoroughly enjoyed this guy. He's got a great stage presence and wonderful sense of humor. He doesn't have the physical skills to do his older material any more, but the new stuff is still fun. Imagine Roy Rogers after being stranded on a desert island for 10 years with nobody to jam with but Yoko Ono, then getting high and performing some Steve Martin cover tunes. I don't know any other way to describe his new music.

Here's a cover version of Fromholtz's "I'd Have To Be Crazy", also recorded by Willie Nelson:



I know I've done wierd things, told people I hear'd things
When silence was all that abounds
Been days when it pleased me, to be on my knees
Followin' ants as they crawed across the ground.
I've been insane on a train, but I'm still me again
And the place where I hold you is true
So I know I'm alright, 'cause I'd have to be crazy
To fall out of love with you.


Brilliant lyrics. Brilliant.


Fromholz was joined on the stage by singer, songwriter, rancher, and novelist Mike Blakely. This guy is good. Great songwriter. Sort of a cowboy Harry Chapin. I WILL be going to hear Mike Blakely again as soon as possible.


Mike was Willie Nelson's ghostwriter for this western novel "A Tale Out Of Luck". Go here to see all the other books Mike's written. (My father and I used to read Western novels all winter long, back on the farm.) The Jihadist Safety Consultant knew both of these guys, and introduced me to them before the show. I can't believe I'm getting to meet all these people.

Here's some video on Mike's book. I apologize for the commercial at the beginning:

Watch CBS Videos Online


I worked at the Jukt Micronics New Everman warehouse Saturday morning. Thanks to Danny Ray for loaning help to put up all the new pallet rack. One day that place will be filled with pallet rack. One day, it won't hold any more. One day. One day. Thanks to Igor for help with taking apart things to make them another color (long story).

Saturday afternoon, I went to the DFW NORML meeting in Arlington. (That's the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.)

They had a speaker named Rusty White, from LEAP. (That's Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.) Rusty is a riveting speaker, and I'm going to try to get him to a Tarrant County Libertarian event ASAP. I'll post what he had to say sometime later this week.

Saturday night our neighbors Amy and Cheryl had a Halloween party. The Aggie came dressed as The Neon Color Spectrum. I came dressed as Geek Apnea.

Our neighbor April came dressed as a Monopoly board, and brought her daughter dressed as a lamb. Here's a picture of Zaria, the little lamb, being held by Mary. Get it? Mary had a little lamb? Get it? Get it?
Amy Don, one of the two hostesses of this event, came dressed as Dr. Peter Veckman (Ghostbusters). Her proton pack dispensed something she called proton nectar. Good stuff.

Here's Amy Don recharging the Proton Nectar dispenser. I participated in this party until about 2:00 a.m. Somewhere out there are pics of me smoking through the Sleep Apnea mask. Maybe even video. I don't remember. If they appear, I'll post them.

My sister and nieces came by Sunday morning to see the new babies. This bunch of puppies is LOUDER than any of Mandy's previous litters. I can't wait to see what racket the next month will bring....
I'm posting these dachshund pics every week so whoever adopts these little yipping balls of meat can show their kids what the dogs looked like as babies. (Compare these to last week's pics when they were newborns. They take up a lot more space this week.)

Sunday afternoon I met a friend to not have drinks with (long story), and gave a tour of some of our warehouses. That was enough to remind me that this next week will be a difficult one, but hey, at least I've got a job.

Here's my favorite line from the Steve Fromholz concert Friday night. I'm sure I've gotten some of these lyrics wrong. This was written by a guy who had a stroke and lost the ability to play guitar, to sing, or even remember lyrics written prior to the stroke:

Sometimes you think there ain't no point,

you haven't got a prayer....

Well, there ain't no use bitchin'

About the heat in the kitchen.

It's always been hot in there.

Words to live by.

Pics of Texas Theatre came from here.

Give unto Caesar. And then give some more unto Caesar.

I've devoted the last 6 months to re-translating the New Testament. The document that you think of as "Bible" is filled with so many translation mistakes that I believe some of the errors were intentional. You can hit the "Bible Re-interpretation" tag at the bottom of this post to read more translations.

You might be familiar with the story of the religious leaders coming to Jesus and trying to trap him with his own words. They ask if it's ok to give money to the government. In the erroneous version, Jesus replies "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

This is wrong, wrong, wrong. Here's the corrected text, based on more recent scholarship (mine). This is from Matthew, Chapter 22, verse 15.

15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.

16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are.

17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?

19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius,

20 and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"

21 "Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar that what is Caesar's, and then follow up by giving to Caesar that what is God's. Give unto Caesar that which is not yet even yours, through the Value-Added Tax. Give unto Caesar your firstborn sons to be his warriors, and give him your daughters to be his maidservants. Give Caesar your chariot manufacturing companies, and give him the right to lower the compensation of executives. Give unto Caesar all responsibility for your brother, and the aged, and the poor, for this relieves you of responsibility. Make your wealthy neighbor give more unto Caesar, for he thinks he's better than you. Oh, and I almost forgot. Put Caesar in charge of healthcare, since he does such a great job of delivering the mail."

22 And then Jesus finished by saying "Caesar is freakin' awesome."

23 When the Pharisees heard this, they were relieved, for they knew their faith-based funding from The Empire would remain intact. So they left him and went away rejoicing.

The pictures of Rendering Unto Caesar came from here and here.

Stimulus Plan Works ! ! And costs Texans only $545,000.00 per job saved ! !

Don't even bother reading this rant. It's just a collection of links that I want for future reference.



From Darren Barbee and Aman Batheja, writing in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Texas gained 19,572 jobs created or saved by federal stimulus funds, at a steep cost to taxpayers: $545,000 per job, according to data from a new but flawed government report.
The information, available on recovery.gov, shows that 376 contracts worth $608.9 million created 1,458 jobs. Grants totaling $10 billion contributed 18,114 more.
Administration officials argued that it was "calculator abuse" to figure the cost per job because many contracts haven’t been completed so additional people could be hired....

So we can now pile "calculator abuse" onto the mound of logic abuse that was required to pass the Porkulus bill. Are calculators members of a protected category in the new Hate Crimes Legislation? Just wondering.....

....A company called Affiliated Western received a $2.6 million contract to repair hangar doors. Total jobs created: a single position. Or two, since an interactive map on recovery.gov counted the contract twice.
The city of Arlington reported that $853,342 in stimulus money for "new pedestrian infrastructure" — a sidewalk — and a van service would create 130 jobs. Though the city reports that the project is less than 50 percent completed, it claims that 100 of those jobs would come from providing more transportation options to low-income residents.

Let's go back to basics here. Look at what you pay in taxes. That's money that you can't spend on something else. Look at the $2.6 million that the government printed to create two garage doors. That's money pumped into our system that dilutes the buying power of the money already in your wallet.
What they're doing is preventing you from spending your money on your preferred purchases, and giving it to their supporters.
Does anyone doubt that Affiliated Western, who got $2.6 million in porkulus, is now a huge financial supporter of whichever legal whore wrote them into the porkulus bill?

In another case, Tarrant County got credit for a contract awarded to B.W. Strayhorn of Wichita Falls worth $2,559,791. But zero jobs were created or saved, according to recovery.gov. The contract calls for the company to conduct embankment repairs at Bardwell Dam and shoreline erosion repair at Lavonia Park and Lavon Lake.

Which brings up another issue....How in the hell can someone directly credit, or not credit, this stimulus money for saving a job? Jobs are being lost by the tens of thousands because investors are worried about which insane card checking/earth saving/wealth transferring/red taping/productivity penalizing scheme that our Spreadsheet Messiahs are going to roll out next.

Here's The Gay Patriot:

Last week alone, more Californians filed for jobless benefits for the first time than the number of jobs created by the “stimulus” since it passed nearly nine months ago. The Golden State had largest increase in claims for benefits (of any state) with 5,774 citizens asking for government help after being laid off (H/t Instapundit).
According to recovery.gov, the “so-called stimulus” created (or saved) 2,260 jobs in the Golden State since the President signed the bill in February. At that time, the Golden State’s junior Senator, Barbara Boxer, heralded Senate passage of the legislation, promising it would “put Californians to work“.
Hey, Ma’am, it doesn’t seem to be putting Californians to work. You said, “This bill will put Californians to work now building the highways, bridges, transit and rail systems, and renewable energy sources of the 21st century.” The data show layoffs “in the construction, services and agricultural industries.” So, maybe 2,260 Californians are building bridges for the state. 5,774 fewer are building other things (or otherwise engaging in productive and remunerative activities).
Let me repeat: More than twice as many Californians lost their jobs in just one week in October than the number of Californians put to work by the “stimulus.”

So please, please, please, please, please..... Can all government busybodies, saviors, messiahs, and earnest hand-wringers call in sick for the next year? We'll get through this thing just fine if you promise to do so. Please. Think of the children.

Here's Caroline Baum, of Bloomberg.org:

....the government has no money of its own to spend; only what it borrows or confiscates from us via taxation. Oops.
“Government job creation is an oxymoron,” said Bill Dunkelberg, chief economist at the National Federation of Independent Business. It is only by depriving the private sector of funds that government can hire or subsidize hiring.
That’s why “jobs created or saved” is such pure fiction. It ignores what’s unseen, as our old friend Frederic Bastiat explained so eloquently 160 years ago in an essay.

Lordy. Even CBS News is calling bullshint on this mess.



I got most of these links from Instapundit.

Obama, Hate Crimes, and Some Are More Equal Than Others

Nat Hentoff of The Cato Institute wrote the following letter to The Washington Post, shortly before The Teleprompter Jesus signed the recent Hate Crimes Law (tacked onto the end of a $680,000,000,000.00 Defense Bill, BTW):

The Oct. 28 editorial "A civil rights advance," applauding President Obama's imminent signing of "hate crimes" legislation, ignored the legislation's plain violation of the 14th Amendment's "equal protection of the laws." As a result of this law, those convicted of serious bodily harm against protected classes of Americans -- based on their gender or transgender identity, sexual orientation, disability, race, color, religion or national origin -- could get longer prison sentences than persons convicted of bodily harm against victims outside protected classes. Perpetrators of a violent act not designated a "hate crime" -- for example, against a homeless person on the street, or a police officer, or a former employer -- could receive lesser prison terms.

Furthermore, the Fifth Amendment states: "Nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb." This "hate crimes" statute gives federal prosecutors the authority to try a defendant a second time for an alleged hate crime after prosecution in a state court.
Nat Hentoff, New York

Obama could've done several things to improve quality of life for Gay and Lesbian Americans. He could've finally become an advocate for Gay marriage, for instance. Here's an interesting hypothetical situation for you: Give Barack Obama the power to legalize Gay marriage, or the power to further isolate a victim group. Which one do you think he would choose?

He enhanced gay and lesbian minority/victim status. Instead of taking action to assist them in becoming like everyone else, he went to great lengths to keep them quarantined as a special needs group.

Almost all crimes are hate crimes. The perpetrators can already be brought to trial under existing law. But Obama has increased the penalty for crimes against some, relative to crimes against others. Does the idiot really believe this will help gays and lesbians?

The Hate Crimes Demotivational Poster came from here.

Jesus and The Rich Young Ruler and Mandatory Compassion Outsourcing

Many of you are probably familiar with the story of The Rich Young Ruler: A guy comes up to Jesus and asks "What do I have to do to be saved?" Jesus says "Take what you have, sell it, and give the money to the poor". The guy sadly walks away, because he has lots of money that he doesn't want to part with.

That entire story is a mistranslation from the original Greek. I've spent the last 6 months working on this. I don't know how these textual errors have lasted for 2000 years, but I've set it all straight.
This is from Matthew 19:16-22.

16 Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"

17 "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."

18 "Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony....

19 ....honor your father and mother, and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'

20 "All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"

21 Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, lobby for Hope and Change. Set up large programs administered by your government, in which other people are forced to give up their money to fulfill your agenda. Keep a lot of this money for yourself. Dole it out to your favorites. Give nothing of your own, for you know best how to use it, and nothing feels better than spending other people's money. Ensure that the multitudes retain their dependent victim status, and that they will be with you always. For such is the Kingdom Of God."
22 When the young man heard this, he went away rejoicing, for none of this would cost him a dime.

I'm sure that all of you are relieved to learn this. This new interpretation relieves you of all personal responsibility, and puts the burden on others.
I've found other passages that have been mis-interpreted, and I'll be getting to them later.

The painting of Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler came from here.

Barack Obama, William Ayers, "Dreams Of My Father", and ghostwriters

During the unpleasantness of last November, there was considerable debate about Barack Obama's relationship with former Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers.
Obama described him as "a guy who lives in my neighborhood".

Mr. Obama didn't mention that William Ayers helped write the Obama memoir, Dreams Of My Father.

The following is from “Barack And Michelle – Portrait Of An American Marriage”, by Christopher Andersen. 2009, William Morrow Publishing.
Perhaps Andersen made all this up. Perhaps William Morrow's fact-checking department fell down on the job.
But if it's true, it would explain a lot about the direction of the last 9 months, wouldn't it? If someone wanted to destroy capitalism and the free market, could anyone improve on what we're now going through?
Indulge me here....
Here's the complete controversial text, from "Barack and Michelle" by Christopher Andersen, pages 164-166.

"Desperate to finish the book, Barack and Michelle took a leave of absence from their jobs and decamped to the Indonesian island of Bali so that, as his sister Maya put it, he could “find a peaceful sanctuary, where there were no phones, to work on the book.” When he returned in early 1994, Barack burrowed even deeper into the Hole (the office behind the Obama kitchen) in a last-gasp effort to finish it.
Two months later, with a September 1994 deadline looming, Barack was still stymied. It was around this time that, at Michelle’s urging, he sought advice from his friend and Hyde Park neighbor, Bill Ayers. Michelle had known Ayers’s wife, Bernadine Dohrn, at Sidley Austin, where Dohrn worked as a paralegal between 1984 and 1988. Dohrn’s father-in-law, former Commonwealth Edison CEO Thomas Ayers, just happened to be one of the firm’s most important clients."

One brief interruption. Like Fidel Castro, and like Che Guevara, Bill Ayers grew up very well-off, but wanted to rebel against the only system proven to make people well-off. Bill Ayers' father ran Commonwealth Edison. Sheesh.

"Barack got to know Bill Ayers’s father and his brother, John, when all three served on the Leadership Council of the Chicago Public Education Fun. Ajnother mutual friend of Ayers and Barack was Jean Rudd, whose nonprofit Woods Fund had provided Jerry Kellman with the money he needed to hire Barack as an organizer back in 1985.
Neither Michelle nor Barack seemed particularly troubled to discover that William Ayers and Bernadine Dorhn had been two of the 1960s’ most infamous radicals – leaders of the Weather Underground terrorist group that set off thirty bombs in the 1960s and 1970s.

After an explosion in the Weathermen’s Greenwich Village bomb-making laboratory killed three of their fellow Weathermen (including Ayers’s girlfriend at the time, Diana Oughton) and virtually destroyed the neighboring town house owned by Dustin Hoffman, Ayers and Dohrn went underground. In 1973 charges against them were dismissed due to prosecutorial misconduct, but Dohrn remained a fugitive until she finally turned herself in to police in 1980.
Ayers made no apologies for his terrorist past, and in the 1990’s still described himself as “a radical, Leftist, small ‘c’ communist….The ethics of communism still appeal to me. I don’t like Lenin as much as the early Marx.”

I love that phrase. "The ethics of communism". Communism killed somewhere between 60 and 100 million people. They made the Nazis look like amateurs. But their intentions were so good and wholesome.

Ayers’s radical past didn’t seem to bother Chicago’s civic leaders, many of whom worked with him on education reform. He worked particularly closely with Mayor Richard M. Daley on reshaping the city’s school programs – an effort that also brought him into contact with one of Daley’s assistants at the time, Michelle Obama.
What did interest Barack were Ayers’s proven abilities as a writer. Unlike Barack, Ayers had written and cowritten scores of articles and treatises, as well as several nonfiction books beginning with Education: An American Problem in 1968. But it was the tone Ayers had set in his latest book – To Teach (1993) – that Barack hoped to emulate.
The tale of a maverick teacher who takes her students onto the streets of New York to teach them firsthand about history, culture, and survival, To Teach was written in a fluid, novelistic style. Barack asked for Ayers’s input, and Ayers, who like so many in his circle was greatly impressed by the charismatic young activist, obliged.
To flesh out his family history, Barack had also taped interviews with Toot, Gramps, Ann, Maya, and his Kenyan relatives. These oral histories, along with his partial manuscript and a trunkload of notes, were given to Ayers. “Everyone knew they were friends and that they worked on various projects together,” another Hyde Park neighbor pointed out. “It was no secret. Why would it be? People liked them both.”

In the end, Ayers’s contribution to Barack’s Dreams from My Father would be significant – so much so that the book’s language, oddly specific references, literary devices, and themes would bear a jarring similarity to Ayers’s own writings. Even the caveat at the beginning of Dreams, in which Barack points out that he uses invented dialogue, embellished facts, composite characters, inaccurate chronology, and pseudonyms to create an “approximation” of reality, resembles Ayers’s defense of the inaccuracies in his memoir Fugitive Days. In the foreward to his book, Ayers states that the book is merely a collection of his personal memories and “impressions.”

In other words, don't bother fact-checking either book. Like the other products produced by these two, the books are bullshit.

“There was a good deal of literary back-scratching going on in Hyde Park,” said writer Jack Cashill, who noted that a mutual friend of Barack and Ayers, Rashid Khalidi, thanked Ayers for helping him with his book Resurrecting Empire. Ayers, explained Cashill, “provided an informal editing service for like-minded friends in the neighborhood.”
Certainly none of these authors hesitated to acknowledge their admiration for one another at the time. In his 1997 book, A Kind And Just Parent, Ayers would cite the “writer” Barack Obama (along with Muhammad Ali and Louis Farrakhan) as one of the celebrities living in his neighborhood. In turn, Barack would write a glowing review of that same book for the Chicago Tribune, and Michelle would host a panel discussion on the book at the University of Chicago, with Ayers and her husband as the principal speakers.
Thanks to help from the veteran writer Ayers, Barack would be able to submit a manuscript to his editors at Times Books. With some minor cuts and polishing, the book would be on track for publication in the early summer of 1995. In the meantime, he began showing the rough draft to a chosen few relatives.

From the dust jacket of "Barack and Michelle": Christopher Andersen is the critically acclaimed author of twenty-eight books, which have been translated into more than twenty-five languages worldwide. A former contributing editor of Time magazine and senior editor of People magazine, Andersen has also written hundreds of articles for a wide range of publications, including Life magazine, the New York Times, and Vanity Fair.

Fortunate Son - Party In Power version

Pretty funny, if you know enough about each politician's background.


Thanks to Moe Lane for producing.