1000 Needles

Head in the Clouds: The Existential Journey of Final Fantasy VII’s Main Protagonist

2010-07-06T20:20:00.000-05:00

Final Fantasy VII is just one of many games in what is considered one of the greatest canons of video games. However, this particular addition has been named one of the best of the Final Fantasy canon if not one of the best games of all time due to the complexity of its characters, the elaborate storyline, the use of cutting edge graphics, and many other qualities. Indeed, the story is rife with issues political and philosophical from which to draw upon: from the dualistic Bourgeois-Proletariat society to radical environmentalism to genetic engineering and scientific dystopia, this game radically changes direction in comparison to the previous games in the anthology which were comparatively shallow and based on the fantasy genre set in medieval times. In this paper I will focus solely on the existential development of the “main” character (the story line is based largely around him, however, there are multiple playable characters), Cloud Strife.

Our heroes exist in a world with two classes: the rich Shinra Corporation and the impoverished people that inhabit the slums. Shinra is an energy company that makes money from drawing power from the planet’s “lifestream,” a stream of pure energy (with some mystical qualities as well) that gives life to all things on the planet. They also control the military (known simply as SOLDIER) and are the de facto government of the world (there is no real political institution). Underneath the giant structures within which Shinra employees live, are the slums: devastated areas in which a small underground economy exists based on whatever meager livings the inhabitants can procure for themselves. Outside of these central cities lay several smaller communities who generally live in peace, although Shinra continues to attack and destroy these sporadically-placed oases. Out of this dystopian nightmare arises a small revolutionary faction named AVALANCHE whose sole mission is to destroy all of the Shinra reactors that suck the lifestream from the planet.

Cloud was born in Nibelheim and lived next door to his friend and future companion in arms, Tifa Lockheart. He was raised by his single mother and lived a largely solitary life due to the harsh treatment he received from the other children in the village. When his only friend Tifa perilously climbed Mt. Nibel after the death of her mother, Cloud ran after to save her, only for Tifa to be injured and to have the townspeople blame it on Cloud. Believing he could make Tifa and the townspeople like him, Cloud expressed his plan to run off to join SOLDIER. If he could be stronger like the famous Sephiroth, he could finally get people to appreciate him. However, Cloud never makes the cut. Instead he spends his days traveling around with friend and First Class SOLDIER Zach, and the hero Sephiroth, as a lowly grunt and assistant. In one mission, he has to return to Nibelheim to investigate a damaged reactor. Ashamed of his failure to achieve SOLDIER status, he hides his face from everyone, especially Tifa. It is here that the real supervillian emerges.

The group discover information about experiments performed using a substance called Mako (from the lifestream), and Sephiroth discovers that he was genetically engineered using DNA collected from Jenova, an ancient alien that preyed on other organisms by taking on their own memories and forms, acting like a two way genetic conduit. This revelation (as well as the massive amounts of Mako and Jenova cells within him) cause Sephiroth to go mad, believing he is the last of the Ancients, with the sole purpose to destroy mankind for what he believes was the annihilation of the Ancients 2,000 years prior. When he subsequently assaults Nibelheim, Cloud and Zach defend it, eventually chasing off Sephiroth. However, as a result both are seriously injured and are captured by Shinra for the purpose of experimentation. When the two escape, Zach is killed, although Cloud is left since he is considered to be too weak. The mixture of anger, despair, and experimentation on Cloud has warped his mind, and he eventually takes on much of the personality and memories of his former companion, Zach. Honestly believing he is an ex-SOLDIER First Class who fought alongside Sephiroth, he joins an anti-Shinra eco-terrorist group known as AVALANCHE as a mercenary. Here he meets up with his old friend Tifa Lockheart—who has also joined the movement—who is somewhat confused as to the behavior and memories of Cloud, but decides not to question him. Instead, she convinces him to stay with AVALANCHE longer, although in reality she wants to keep her eyes on her old friend out of concern.

What neither Cloud nor the group knows is that Sephiroth did not die; he is waiting out his days to summon a large meteor to destroy humanity. Additionally, since the lifestream flows towards all “wounds” in the planet to heal it Sephiroth plans to soak up all of this energy, making himself a god. To make matters worse, he can control any other individual who underwent experiments similar to his, making instant drones willing to do his bidding while he rests safely away. Unfortunately for our heroes Cloud is one of these drones, however he is rarely used by Sephiroth and it seems like he only has a limited power over Cloud. Sephiroth used the bond between them to force cloud to give him the “black material,” which resulted in Sephiroth being able to summon meteor and generally raise havoc.

As Cloud progresses through the game, his fake persona reaches some critical roadbumps. Between blacking out of consciousness, sporadic regurgitation of both real and fake memories, and mind control by Sephiroth, it becomes clear that no one—not even Cloud—knows who he really is. This internal tension meets a breaking point when Professor Hojo (who did all of the experiments) lies to Cloud, telling him that none of his memories are real, and that he was actually created by Hojo. Cloud and Tifa fall into the lifestream shortly after and emerge in Cloud’s subconscious. Here, Tifa walks through Cloud’s real memories, piece by piece, until Cloud finally realizes his true self. Shortly after, Cloud emerges from the lifestream with Tifa, no longer an incoherent comatose mess. He apologizes to his comrades for the pain brought by his instability, as well as for giving Sephiroth the black material. Cloud vows to fight alongside his friends, not for money this time but for the good of the planet.

Here Cloud embraces the factity of his being: his past, his persona, his failure to be a soldier, and finally his involvement in AVALANCHE. He establishes himself as a being in the world. He used to be “just a mercenary,” with little to no regard for others, not even the world itself. When a comrade is frustrated by Cloud’s indifference, he says, “The planet’s dyin’, Cloud!” Cloud responds: “The only thing I care about is finishing this job before security and the Robogaurds come.” He immerses himself in his role as mercenary, consuming himself in the quest for monetary gain while at the same time using his position to absolve himself of responsibility. Cloud is acting in bad faith; instead of defining himself and his own goals, he allows himself to be defined by his uniform. Even worse, Cloud never was a SOLDIER nor a mercenary! His entire being is a lie, and in living like this, he is denying himself both of the freedom to live as a being in itself as well as the responsibility that such freedom entails.

His denial of authenticity begins in his youth, where he strives to be accepted by the other children. This pattern follows him into adulthood, as he decides to join SOLDIER so that he can be seen as a hero and approved of by his townspeople and Tifa. When this falls through and Cloud endures mental and physical anguish, he does not climb out of the ashes but instead subconsciously creates a new persona—that of his deceased friend Zach. The death of Cloud’s dreams, as well as the malevolence of his hero, Sephiroth, act as the death of his God, and when Cloud awakes from his coma he finally comes to terms that he is condemned to be free and that he is a being in the world. He admits to his friends that he was inauthentic, and he chooses to not only fight for himself and the planet, but accept responsibility for his actions throughout the game:

“I’m…Cloud…the master of my own illusionary world. But I can’t remain trapped in an illusion anymore….I’m going to live my life without pretending…..I’m the reason why Meteor is falling towards us. That’s why I have to do everything in my power to fight this thing….It’s like you always told me, Barret…There ain’t no getting offa this train we on!”

Cloud understands that he alone is responsible for the consequences of his choices, whether or not he knew he was making them. Now, however, he becomes a truly conscious being, aware of the possibilities before him, opening up his freedom to choose and define himself. He also embraces greater virtues than money. He finally learns to not only appreciate himself, but his friends as well as the planet, too. He chooses not only to atone for his poor decisions, he chooses to define himself as a crusader against evil, and although seemingly hopeless, he chooses to save the world—or die trying. He becomes almost like Kierkegaard’s Knight of Faith: he no longer is worried about his own weakness, nor is he concerned only with money. Cloud finally chooses to be passionate and dedicate himself to the cause of saving the planet and destroying evil. He ultimately has faith not only in himself, but his friends as well; that they will somehow be able to defeat Sephiroth and Meteor. In the end their faith is rewarded, although their victory is less than ideal (some damage is sustained by the planet).

It would seem as if Cloud finally accepted the conditions of his “thrownness:” the world within which he lives is absurd, scary, even evil. At first he was living a lie, deciding to reject value in his own world (all values except money perhaps). He is not alone, as a train man says in the Midgar station:
"When you've been a train man as long as I have, you see a lot of people meeting, parting, joy, sadness... After a while, it doesn't even get to you anymore. I wonder how long it's been... There's an invisible rail between me and the passengers. I could never live their lives. I'm just a train man plain and simple. It's easier that way.”

He is “just a train man,” much like Cloud is “just a mercenary,” who cares solely about financial gain. At this point we may deny that he actually exists in and for himself. He is en soi, or, just living as himself—no more alive in an existential sense than any other lifeless entity such as a pebble. However, at the revelation of his past, he realizes that he cannot reject value as he was, nor can he get value from others (i.e., when he was seeking appreciation and acceptance from others). He decides to create value in the world and live in it for himself, or pour soi. Our heroes also act outside of any definitive political or religious system. While the lifestream has some mystical properties in it, there does not seem to be any concrete foundation of religion, and most people are concerned with materialistic anxieties. Instead, Cloud and AVALANCHE are radically opposing the system that exists and impose their own sense of justice and value on the world, even if done violently. Cloud becomes the embodiment of justice and value, a veritable Ubermensch.

The entire evolution of Cloud as a character is a story of internal despair, torment, and angst. It is a tumultuous battle against his own nature, which results in a couple different manifestations of his being. The first: a boy who strives to be accepted by others and their value systems, the second: a man who values nothing, perhaps even his own life, and the third: a man who is at peace with himself since he realizes that he is the sole creator of value in his world; he redeems himself as an individual in and for himself. He chooses what his values will be and defends them vigorously, while at the same time rejecting worldly material gains and the approval of others who are slaves to their passions. At the same time, Cloud accepts responsibility for the consequences of his actions, while also embracing the inevitable:

“There ain’t no stoppin’ this train we on!”

He understands his options and not only accepts the impending war for survival, he makes it his own and chooses to be a hero, embodying his own justice and value—not fighting for his own sake but for something greater than himself.

Tifa: “Cloud…do you think the stars can hear us? Do you think they see how hard we’re fighting for them?”
Cloud: “I dunno…but…Whether they are or not, we still have to do what we can. And believe in ourselves.”

Dems Spin Kennedy's Death, Dissent Grows Anyways

2009-08-27T07:08:00.000-05:00

Shortly after the Death of the Lion of the Senate, Democrats were already using him as a reason to back the President's health care reform:

Securing universal healthcare coverage for Americans was a decades-long quest that eluded Sen. Edward Kennedy. In the wake of his death, however, several key Democrats on Wednesday saw a chance to break this year's stalemate by invoking his legacy and last wishes.

``In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on healthcare reform, which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to [ensuring] the health of every American,'' Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said in a statement.

Absolutely shameless.

However, this kind of political pandering over Kennedy's passing still cannot dissuade the growing dissent that seems to be splitting into a choir of specialized interests:

Anti-abortion groups are gearing up for a battle in the fall over health-care legislation, another headache for Democrats who already face concerns about the measure's cost and reach.

Most versions of the Democratic health plan would create subsidies for lower-income people to buy private health insurance. If that insurance includes coverage for abortion, as many existing private plans do, it effectively means federal taxpayers are subsidizing abortion, critics of the legislation argue.

This just goes to show (1) how complicated this issue is; health care is an issue that covers a broad spectrum of philosophies, and some one is bound to be pissed off; and (2) this shows just how poorly the administration, congress, and the media have educated people about the plan. If the administration would have involved the public earlier with an education campaign (not a propaganda one mind you), or had the media been responsible and forthcoming with information about the plan, then there might not be as much vitriol coming from as many diverse groups.

Of course, when you try to slam through 1,100 or more pages (who the hell knows anymore) of legalese as fast as possible, most people in congress or the media are not going to have read the WHOLE bill (of course, that's what their staffers are for, but staffers don't go on CNN nor are they responsible to constituents).

Sorry guys, packaging and selling the death of a legend is not going to save you from amount of rancor coming from Americans. Not to mention that unless his seat is filled precipitously, a filibuster is now in the cards.

Like Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) said recently:

Sen. Russ Feingold has touched off a mini controversy over his comments last week that lawmakers are unlikely to pass a health care bill before the end of the year, if at all.

“Nobody is going to bring a bill before Christmas, and maybe not even then, if this ever happens,” Feingold said during a listening session in Iron County. “The divisions are so deep. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Too Funny Not to Post

2009-08-21T22:40:00.001-05:00

Rally Car Collides With Horse - Watch more Funny Videos

Ugh. Times are tough, I'm stressed. But this always makes me laugh.

Please, no comments from the PETA gallery.

Whats Going on in North Korea?

2009-08-20T07:20:00.001-05:00

It seems that as of late, barring North Korea's missile launch, the country is making conciliatory efforts towards their southern counterparts and the West:

North Korea announced Thursday it will dispatch a high-level delegation to Seoul for two days to pay respects to the late former President Kim Dae-jung - a rare visit that raised hopes of improved relations between the two Koreas.

[...]

The trip is the latest in a series of conciliatory gestures made by North Korea in the past week, including the government's release of a South Korean detained for four months and the announcement it will allow some stalled cross-border projects to resume. On Thursday, Pyongyang sent a message to the South that it will lift border restrictions imposed in December, beginning Friday, the ministry spokeswoman said.

North Korea is sending some mixed messages as of late, but overall they seem to be making an attempt at reconciliation...little by little. Could this be a sign of detente between the communist nation and the West?

A delegation of North Korean diplomats told New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that Pyongyang was prepared for expansive disarmament talks with the Obama administration, but wants to talk directly instead of in the multicountry format Washington prefers.

The comments made to Gov. Richardson Wednesday in New Mexico are the clearest signal yet from North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that his reclusive state is prepared to resume negotiations over its nuclear program following Pyongyang's May detonation of an atomic device and a string of missile launches that have rattled Northeast Asia. Gov. Richardson met two North Korean diplomats Wednesday at his office in Santa Fe.

One thing we need to remember is that Kim Jung Il has not been well lately. Like Castro, there are rumors and speculation about his health and potential expiration date. While this may seem like an overly intrusive observation, the leader in question IS the country. In a personalist regime, especially one that cannot stand without complete authority and separation from the outside world, the loss of a leader can be the end of a whole society. Of course, there is speculation as to Kim's successor, but it is possible that North Korea is building up diplomatic capital for use in the future.

Critics of the White House have charged Mr. Obama risks rewarding North Korea's provocative actions by allowing such high-profile meetings between Democratic stalwarts and Pyongyang. Mr. Clinton's trip received particular attacks, as Kim Jong Il seemed to use the former U.S. leader's presence to enhance North Korea on the diplomatic stage.

Gov. Richardson Wednesday acknowledged Pyongyang was pursuing this tactic. "The North Koreans obviously used the journalists as a bargaining chip and now they want a gesture in return," the governor told CNN.

The question is, if they're building up capital, what do they plan to use it on?

Is the White House Leaving Congress Behind on Health Care?

2009-08-20T06:37:00.001-05:00

While I wrote a bit ago about the "waffling" of the White House on the public option, it seems that it might just be a temporary situation. A mixture of town hall rancor, partisan finger pointing, and Obama's support plummeting at terminal velocity has stopped the Hope-mobile in its tracks. It's only natural that the White House would give a little ground before things get worse for the Democrats. But as Republicans get cocky about their temporary victory, it seems the White House may just go it alone:

President Barack Obama now realizes he probably will have to pass health reform with Democratic votes alone, White House officials say.

The admission is a monumental shift in Washington’s top fight of the year, with the energy now shifting to differences among Democrats, rather than efforts to lure a critical mass of Republicans.

Indeed, splits among Democrats in Congress are also dragging down the chances of successful health care reform, although the administration has held multiple meetings with blue dog democrats, who are concerned about not only the public option but most importantly how to pay for it. With inter- and intraparty conflict weighing down White House hopes of an expeditious bill passage, it the White House has focused on the "moral" side of healthcare:

With his health reform efforts on the ropes, President Barack Obama is courting the religious community with an unabashedly moral message that played little role in the White House’s earlier arguments for changing America’s health care system.

Speaking on a conference call Wednesday evening with what organizers estimated were 140,000 members of churches and religious groups, Obama also suggested that some critics of his health care
proposals were violating the Biblical commandment against lying.

[...]

In an odd bit of messaging, Obama urged the religious communities, many of which offer outreach and even sanctuary to illegal aliens, not to believe reports that health reform would cover foreigners in the U.S. illegally.

“That’s not true. It does not provide health insurance for those individuals,” Obama said.

Obama also insisted the plan would not provide government funding for abortion.

A couple interesting things to note: Obama, like most figures in American politics, is using a normative approach to his campaign when justification on empirical grounds has failed. Additionally, instead of making his moral approach universal, he's turning to religion. Like Bush, Obama is trying to whip up religious fervor in what he hopes will become another American moral crusade.

Secondly, Obama here is not trying to appeal to progressives. He is trying to focus on an interest group that contains a good deal of both conservatives and liberals, but tend to lean more towards the middle or right.

Lastly, what of the public option?

During the afternoon call, Obama did not address the hottest issues in the health reform debate at the moment: whether the White House-backed plan will include a government-run health plan open to all Americans, known as the “public option.”

Before Obama spoke, his domestic policy adviser, Melody Barnes, did get a question about the president’s stance. She did not answer it immediately, but later returned to the subject. She assured participants that Obama still supports a public option, though she said there might also be other ways to reduce costs and give Americans more choices.

Like I said, his backpedaling is only temporary. Could he be leaving Congress behind? It wouldn't surprise me if the White House distances itself from the finger-pointing and shouting in Congress while formulating a strategy to regroup successfully. But is this what he means by post-partisan or non-partisan politics? Clearly not. This is more indicative of what has been for at least 70 years an imperial presidency.

A Marshall Plan for Africa?

2009-08-17T07:00:00.001-05:00

Glenn Hubbard at Foreign Policy Magazine has an interesting solution for Africa:

The Marshall Plan made loans to European businesses, which repaid them to their local governments, which in turn used that revenue for commercial infrastructure -- ports, roads, railways -- to serve those same businesses. Aid to Africa has instead funded government and NGO development projects, without any involvement of the local business sector. The Marshall Plan worked. Aid to Africa has not. An African Marshall Plan is long, long overdue

Quite true. Foreign aid and development loans have possibly made Africa even poorer, since most of that money is skimmed off the top at every level of corrupt bureaucracy, leaving projects empty handed and Africans struggling to repay the debt. There are many objections and challenges to such a pro-business plan, but Mr. Hubbard has it all covered:

"The Market Failed in Africa."

But take a look at the World Bank's annual report, "Doing Business," and you'll realize that many African economies have never had a business market to fail -- thanks to their governments' dense, unnavigable regulations.

[...]

The Marshall Plan in Europe came with conditions: Each country had to adopt policies that allowed its businesses to operate normally. It made the same offer to all of them, and those that refused got no aid. The offer went out to all Europe, but the Eastern bloc, under Soviet threat, declined. Some African countries will also decline. That means they don't get the aid.

"Strong Businesses in Africa Will Be the New Colonialists."

This argument flies in the race of reality. First, Africa was poor before colonialism, and for many countries, colonialism may well have made Africa richer. There were some exceptions, such as the Belgian Congo in the early 20th century, where forced labor for rubber extraction made the people poorer. But overall, Africans in 1960 were healthier, lived longer, and had higher incomes than Africans in 1900.

[...]

What has not made Africans richer, however, are their countries' own governments, which have cut off that prosperity in favor of government and NGO assistance and foreign investment that benefits only the elite.

"Infrastructure Must Come Before Business."

In all rich countries, the development of a thriving business sector came before physical and social infrastructure. In fact, the Marshall Plan worked because it made loans to European businesses first, which then paid money back into a national pot to fund commercial infrastructure.

[...]

Besides, businesses that have a stake in the maintenance and viability of a given project are bound to be far more apt at building and maintaining infrastructure than aid agencies, which have been trying to do it and failing for the past 40 years.

"Democracy Must Come First."

The real question is not how to promote free elections -- which are certainly a good thing -- but how to promote lasting democracy. For that, the answer is very old and common across the globe: a middle class, created by local business. That's how it worked in Europe, the United States, and in every other enduring democracy on Earth.

"Microfinance Is Enough."

The "Doing Business" rankings show that most poor countries put up huge barriers of red tape that prevent citizens from starting small businesses and getting credit for them. Microfinance goes to unregistered businesses, so it stays under the radar. Yet small and medium businesses are the long-term answer to poverty -- as they have been in developed countries -- and microfinance cannot help them.

"Anti-Corruption Measures Will Make Aid Programs Work Better."

In Africa today, anti-corruption programs are doomed to failure because they leave the anti-business economic system intact. That economic system is based on aid, where the basic unit is government or NGO projects, rather than local businesses, as it is in prosperous countries. Anti-corruption measures do nothing to correct this flawed equation; in fact, they reinforce it. And no amount of transparency will yield economic growth until the structure of the African economy changes.

I don't have much to say about this article except that I absolutely love it. I've felt for a long time that aid to Africa has been deleterious to prosperity and democracy and Glenn has it absolutely correct. I don't care what the socialist and liberal sympathizers say, the reality is unavoidable. I believe such a plan could work, but only under certain conditions, as the original author stated above. I'm almost certain that the plan would fail in some countries, but I really think it could work more often and more powerfully than not.

And if we can help a handful of countries in Africa, the spillover effects could completely transform the entire region.

The Word of the Day is Waffle

2009-08-17T06:30:00.001-05:00

Much like his Democratic predecessor Bill Clinton, it looks like Obama's public option has hit the proverbial fan. A President of big aspirations and a big mouth has finally succumbed to political reality:

Bowing to Republican pressure and offering political cover to fiscally conservative Democrats, Obama's administration signaled on Sunday that it is ready to abandon the idea of giving Americans the option of government-run insurance.

While H.R. 3200 is still on the table, and while much of the talk on Sunday was rather vague, the political realities are striking. Obama's support for health care reform has plummeted, and without some kind of compromise on what is the most complicated and emotional issues in American politics, Obama could see his "mandate" turn into irrelevance (much like when Bush tried his hand at Social Security reform).

The potential alternative? Well, it looks like there is much talk about "co-ops" at the moment:

Under a proposal by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., consumer-owned nonprofit cooperatives would sell insurance in competition with private industry, not unlike the way electric and agriculture co-ops operate, especially in rural states such as his own.

With $3 billion to $4 billion in initial support from the government, the co-ops would operate under a national structure with state affiliates, but independent of the government. They would be required to maintain the type of financial reserves that private companies are required to keep in case of unexpectedly high claims.

Not quite sure what this is supposed to mean yet, or how such a "co-op" is to be organized:

The government would offer start-up money -- Conrad said $6 billion would be needed -- in loans and grants to help doctors, hospitals, businesses and other groups form nonprofit cooperative networks to obtain and provide healthcare.

The cooperatives could be formed at the national, state and local levels. A temporary government board would help get things started. Conrad said only about 25,000 members would be needed to make a cooperative financially viable. But in order to negotiate competitive rates with health providers, a cooperative would need at least 500,000 members, he said.

Co-op membership would be offered through state insurance exchanges where small businesses and individuals without employer-sponsored plans would shop for health coverage.

The co-ops would function as a mutual insurance company where policyholders would have some ownership rights. Conrad said co-ops could quickly bring health insurance to some 12 million people, which would make this the third-largest insurer in the country.

Co-ops are less likely to bring down health care prices as much as a public option (though we will be paying the difference in taxes), but I'm all for competition. However, there still remain huge obstacles to the price problem which are not addressed as of yet in H.R. 3200. Some possible issues with co-ops?

Many Democrats worry that co-ops would be too weak to provide any real competition to the private insurance industry. Public plan advocate Senator John Rockefeller points out that healthcare cooperatives have been tried in the past to provide medical care to rural areas. Thousands were formed and almost all of them failed.

Conservative critics argue that the co-operatives would just be another form of government-run insurance because of the role the government would play in setting them up and overseeing their operations.

I agree with both. Like I said before, there is much more to be done about lowering the price of health care. Hopefully, with the public option out of the arena, more attention will be paid to cost reduction, competition, and consumer choice.

Health care needs to be private, individual (not tied to employment), portable, and deregulated. There is also an inherent problem with the insurance system in the first place which has driven up prices as demand for gratuitous services has spiked.

One thing is for certain: I'm glad that Obama has been stopped in his tracks for now, so we can have more time to research our options and discuss alternatives, instead of steam-rolling "reform" over a confused and unwilling American populace. However, with Obama and the Democrats waffling, and the balance of power leaving credence in the hands of Republicans, it is unclear where the debate will go from here and how far back the administration is willing to backpedal.

An Interesting Solution to the Insurance Problem

2009-08-14T06:53:00.000-05:00

John Cochrane from the Wall Street Journal has his say:

There is only one way to reduce costs in such a business: intense competition for every customer. The idea that the federal government can reduce costs by negotiating harder or telling businesses what to do is a triumph of hope over centuries of experience.

Indeed.

A truly effective insurance policy would combine coverage for this year's expenses with the right to buy insurance in the future at a set price.

[...]

A "guaranteed renewable" individual insurance contract is the simplest way to deliver both. Once you sign up, you can keep insurance for life, and your premiums do not rise if you get sicker.

Cochran is talking about covering pre-existing conditions. Certainly, the goal of the federal government is universal coverage, but there are many economic problems that are involved which need to be addressed. Certainly access to health care is one problem, and renewable life contracts would help bring people in at a younger age while securing them from being dropped in the future.

The right to future insurance could be transferrable to another company, for example, if you move. You could have the right that your company will pay a lump sum, so that a new insurer will take you, with no change in your premiums.

The mobility of coverage is also a problem. This includes things such as changing working conditions, interstate transferability, and mobility between different hospitals and the providers they will accept.

How do we get to a competitive market? The tax deduction for employer-provided group insurance, which has nearly destroyed the individual insurance market, is a central culprit. If we don't have the will to remove it, the deduction could be structured to enhance competition and the right to future insurance. We could restrict the tax deduction to individual, portable, long-term insurance and to the high-deductible plans that people choose with their own money.

He's right. Coverage tied to employment is one of the biggest issues in the arena. It has removed the individual freedom to purchase one's own healthcare in favor of tying people to a particular job which, as experience tells us, is not tenable. Americans change jobs at least a handful of times in their lives, and god forbid downsizing or a recession hit. Leave it in our hands, and give the deductions to us, possibly on a progressive scale tied to income.

More importantly, health care and insurance are overly protected and regulated businesses. We need to allow the same innovation, entry, and competition that has slashed costs elsewhere in our economy. For example, we need to remove regulations such as the ban on cross-state insurance. Think about it. What else aren't we allowed to purchase in another state?

Regulation certainly is a problem:

A far more accurate “bottom-up” approach suggests that the total cost of health services regulation exceeds $339.2 billion.

[...]

Moreover, this approach allows for a calculation of some important tangible benefits of regulation. Yet even after subtracting $170.1 billion in benefits, the net burden of health services regulation is considerable, amounting to $169.1 billion annually.

In other words, the costs of health services regulation outweigh benefits by two-to-one and cost the average household over $1,500 per year.

[...]

Moreover, 4,000 more Americans die every year from costs associated with health services regulation (22,000) than from lack of health insurance (18,000).

Possibly more to come on the specifics of health care regulation and other issues. You can download a PDF of the Cato report at the hyperlink provided above.

2009-08-14T06:04:00.001-05:00

From the ACLU:

Since 2000, it has been the policy of the federal government not to use such technology. But the OMB is now seeking to change that policy and is considering the use of cookies for tracking web visitors across multiple sessions and storing their unique preferences and surfing habits.

I'll be the first one to say that this does not necessarily mean that the Government will be taking a 180 on privacy policy, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

The Office of Management and Budget responded on the 11th on the White House blog:

Over the past two weeks, during the public comment period on OMB’s cookie policy, we have received significant feedback and suggested revisions to the current policy. These comments reflect individual opinions on all sides of the issue.

Our main goal in revisiting the ban on using persistent cookies on Federal websites is to bring the federal government into the 21st century.

Yeah, like wiretapping? Or public cameras in the UK (now they actually have some in citizens' homes)? What an excuse! Bringing federal government into the 21st century does not explain a damned thing. The issue here is obviously to facilitate the enforcement of federal laws, from national security issues to child pornography, et cetera. Of course it would come from the OMB then. However, we have significantly trampled on privacy rights in the past 8 years, and anyone who thinks Obama is going to do anything to reverse the shift towards information mining on American citizens is delusional.

At this point, there's no need to be an alarmist; and hey, at least were not the UK...yet.

Obama Drumming Up Support on Healthcare Reform in His Own "Town Hall" Format

2009-08-12T05:28:00.002-05:00

Obama took to the states this week in an effort to dissuade what has become ravenous dissent and disinformation from conservative groups stacking town hall meetings with rancor and discord:

Obama assailed "wild misrepresentations" of his health care plan Tuesday during a town hall-style meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., taking on the role of fact-checker-in-chief for his top domestic priority. It's a strategy he will employ at two more town halls this week in Montana and Colorado, and on the White House Web site.

Just goes to show that the Campaigner-in-Chief has never stopped campaigning. Of course, when you are up against a majority of the nation, 44% of which strongly oppose the measures, it takes a lot of propaganda to push one of the most controversial reforms (other than SS benefits) in the past few decades.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that opposition to the plan has increased to 53%, up nine points since late June.

More significantly, 44% of voters strongly oppose the health care reform effort versus 26% who strongly favor it. Intensity has been stronger among opponents of the plan since the debate began.

Now, I'll be the first to point out that the disinformation goes both ways; Democrats have been overly vague and optimistic about the reform proposals, while Republicans and conservatives have done little more than pick up their anti-socialism pitchforks. One problem is that much of the conversation has centered around the CBO estimates (which the White House is not too happy about) which place the cost of H.R. 3200 at approximately $1 trillion over 10 years. Another problem is that the media has also placed too much emphasis on rationing, and the scare of "Death Panels." All in all, not too many people are aware of exactly what H.R. 3200 actually stands for.

This has led to the well intentioned, but poorly managed, town hall maelstroms that congresspersons have been dealing with lately. Of course, when you're the President, you don't have to deal with the average local; why not just stack the "town hall" meeting?

Even some in the White House press corps are upset about it:

It’s fair enough for Presidents to hold Town Hall meetings and to pretend that he’s taking questions from something other than an infomercial audience. But it is phony, the stuff of campaign commercials. The White House press corps is right to challenge the pretense that a legitimate give-and-take represented as a news event is being held when it’s a sham.

Whether or not this will work is uncertain. However, even if Obama's "town halls" are crap, they still are likely to get great press coverage, and positive at that since he won't have to endure the inconvenience of public dissent.

The HealthCare Maelstrom: A Short Explanation

2009-08-12T05:25:00.000-05:00

With all of the bullshit being espoused by the media and by politicians, it's pretty hard to get ANY real information out there. Hopefully, this brief explanation will help.

The one sponsored in the House by Democrats (HR 3200):

"The measure would require everyone to have health care and prohibit insurance companies to deny coverage to people with preexisting conditions. Companies with payroll over $250,000 will be required to provide health insurance to their employees or face a tax penalty. Existing employer based insurance can be grand-fathered into the new system and must meet minimum federal requirements.

People who do not have employer health care, and do not qualify for Medicaid, will be required to purchase it from a pool of providers regulated by the Health Insurance Exchange that will include private plans and potentially a government run program. People who are not insured will also face a tax penalty. The whole plan, if passed, will begin in year 2013. There is no guarantee of it passing."

LOL I love how they're passing it on until 2013, that way they don't have to deal with it when it finally goes to shit a few years later.

According to the bill, the public option has to meet the same benefit requirements and comply with the same insurance market reforms as private plans. The public option is also required to become financially self-sustaining and build up its own start up costs and contingency funds into its premium rates. In other words, while Medicare funds will likely help launch this program,the public option won’t be Medicare, and, to the chagrin of some on the left, won’t be able to use Medicare’s purchasing power with prescription drugs and other health care products to bring down costs.

I highly doubt it will be self-sustaining, although it looks like it may eventually be extirpated from the bill once it gets to the Senate, thanks to some blue dog democrats.

H.R. 3200 mandates that employers provide a certain level of benefits established by a Health Benefits Advisory Committee, created by the bill, or be subject to a tax of up to 8% of payroll. All employers with payroll over $250,000 will be required to offer health care insurance to their workers. Also, employers that offer health care but fail to meet minimum health coverage requirements would be subject to a tax of $100 per day for each employee to whom the failure applied. Employers with payroll below $250,000 will be exempt from health care requirements.

I can hear the sound of either 1) the doors of small businesses slamming shut, or 2) the sound of employees being laid off so that employers can drop below the $250,000 requirement level.

Individuals, regardless of income or employment, would be required to have health care or face a financial penalty of 2.5% of their annual income. The penalty, proponents argue, is to discourage mostly healthy and young folks from going without a plan. The idea behind it is that the more people who buy into the plan, especially healthier people, the more prices will be driven down for everyone.

Thank you Democrats, I've always dreamed of being penalized for being healthier and younger than other people. Is this not a tax on being well? Is this not age discrimination? Don't you DARE fucking look to me to support your Big Mac habit. HELL NO.

People earning under 133% of the poverty rate, or under $14,400 a year for an individual, will become eligible for their state run Medicaid system—which is free.

For people earning between 133% and 400% of the federal poverty line (400% is 43,320 for an individual or $88,200 for a family of four) will be eligible for “affordability credits” offered at a sliding scale rate based on income. While exact numbers still need to be worked out, an individual earning 133% of the federal poverty level will pay 1.5 percent of their income for health care: about $216 a year. An individual earning near 400% of the federal poverty line will pay 11% of their income for health care: $4,765 a year.

First of all, nothing is free. It's us healthy and young folk, as well as the taxpayer that'll pay for that shit. Additionally, it looks like people are being penalized just for having higher incomes. This just looks way too bureaucratic. And expensive. Not to mention other things. They are hardly even concerned with why Health Care costs are high in the first place. Perhaps I will write a blog on that one later.

Dave is pissed.

http://tinyurl.com/m24h97

WSJ: Michigan Needs to Move into a 21st Century Economy

2009-06-16T07:47:00.003-05:00

William McGurn has it right:

As Mr. McCain so bluntly put it on the eve of last year's Republican primary, "Some jobs that have left Michigan are not coming back. And the answer to that isn't to raise false hopes that somehow we can bring back lost jobs but to create new ones."
Mr. McCain took a lot of grief for those words and ended up losing the primary to Mitt Romney. But Lou Glazer thinks Mr. McCain had it right. Mr. Glazer heads a nonpartisan think tank called Michigan Future. And he advances a simple argument: While the reliance on manufacturing made sense in the 20th century, the sooner we recognize that manufacturing is no longer the key to a prosperous middle class, the better off Michigan will be in the 21st.

I certainly hope those in Wisconsin are listening, as auto makers lose jobs in Kenosha. Stop giving them false hope; it'll come to bite you, them and the economy in the ass someday.

Mr. Glazer says that the state's most pressing need is to transition to the "knowledge economy," which Michigan Future defines as any industry where the proportion of workers with bachelor's degrees or higher is 30%. That's important, because the knowledge economy is more than the Googles and the Microsofts. The top knowledge industries include information, finance, insurance, professional services, health care and education. Not only are these industries creating jobs, they pay higher wages.

Instead of paying out bribes to help outdated industries move here, help more people go to college and invest in their human capital. Not all people can go to college, but there are ways of increasing access to higher education, including human capital contracts.

The larger point is that what the middle class needs more than anything else is an economy where employers have to compete for their labor. The more open a state's economy is to investment and entrepreneurship, the more employers there will be. And the more education a state's citizens have, the more advanced the industries they can support.

Amen.

Swine Flu: By the Numbers

2009-06-14T15:34:00.002-05:00

According to the CDC, the total number of cases reported in the United States of H1N1 infection is 17,855 cases, and the number of deaths is now up to 45 deaths. While some news outlets continue to try to make us panic (albeit however, the story has died a bit), here are some sobering facts.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 35 to 50 million Americans come down with the flu during each flu season.The CDC estimates that in the US more than 100,000 people are hospitalized and more than 20,000 people die from the flu and its complications every year.

90 People are killed by lightning strike every year.

120 are killed in airline crashes.

779 by accidental discharge of a firearm.

7,600 are killed by aspirin (NSAIDs)
So, my question to the news media is, "Why so serious?" Although I already know the answer: scaring the shit out of us brings more ratings than telling us everything is going to be okay.

Wisconsin Budget: Fun Facts

2009-06-14T14:20:00.003-05:00

MJS gives us a couple key issues on the new budget attempting to be rammed through by Senate and Assembly Dems:

Oil company tax: To generate $224 million for highways and other transportation programs, Doyle and Democratic legislators want to tax oil companies. But Assembly Democrats dropped a provision saying that oil companies couldn't raise gas-pump prices to cover the tax.

Let me guess, to "create jobs?" No doubt, some of that money will be funneled towards the proposed KRM rail that will prove to be another economic suckhole finding its way towards the red on the Government's account balance. At least they dropped the provision on pump prices. Taxing gasoline, an inelastic good, will undoubtedly pass on most of the cost of that tax to consumers as opposed to producers. But if producers had to bear most of the burden, we would likely see at least some suppliers moving out or going out of business. Theoretically, this could lead to a shortage of supply, and people lining up at the pumps for hours.

Thankfully, the provision was removed, although I would object to the tax increase in the first place.

As for other provisions that have proven less controversial:

• Making residents with taxable incomes of $225,000 for a single person and $300,000 for married couples pay $287 million more in income taxes the next two years. That would be done by creating a 7.75% tax rate.

• Raising income taxes on capital gains, costing some investors an estimated $170.4 million.
• Raising the $1.77 state tax on a pack of cigarettes to $2.52, costing smokers an estimated $310.4 million.

• A 75-cent monthly fee on all phone lines, which would cost customers $102 million. The money would go to protect local police, fire and other emergency services.

• Requiring vehicle owners to buy more liability insurance coverage, which the state insurance commissioner has said will raise premiums.

Hmm. My personal favorite is the one taxing investments. That my friend is a sure-fire way to jumpstart an economy: penalize entreprenuership, which, as Econ 101 tells us, is one of our four factors of production other than land, labor, and capital.

Kenosha, WI to Implement Public Panopticon?

2008-11-30T17:44:00.002-06:00

Kenosha Police Chief John Morrissey is requesting $500,000 in public funding to obtain and install up to 28 public cameras to be placed in "high crime" areas.

Twenty-eight cameras will be considered Wednesday by the City Council as part of the 2009-13 Capital Improvement Plan. Police are requesting $500,000, spread over 2009-10, to buy cameras.

While some are concerned the plan moves into “Big Brother”-like intrusion, Police Chief John Morrissey disagreed, noting the well-marked cameras will be in public areas.

“If you’re in a public place ... I’m all for it,” Morrissey said. “If I’m doing something wrong, then shame on me. But if something happens to me, I hope there’s something out there that will assist the police in figuring out what happened to me, or anybody else. I don’t have any problem with them as long as they’re in public places.”
Many aldermen agree.

Of course many alderman agree, I know these people. These are the guys that got a 2500 foot mandatory distance on sex offenders from schools, and other places that might have children, officially keeping them from within city boundaries completely. These are the guys that wanted a public smoking ban including in bars and homes. Now they want to make sure they can "check up" on us to make sure we aren't doing anything wrong.

Though locations are still being determined, Morrissey said he would like permanent cameras at some troublesome spots — such as the downtown bus transfer station — while the other cameras will be movable.

My poor ass uses that bus station all the time to get to class and back home or use the gym, or whatever else. Never have I seen criminal activity. The notion that it is a dangerous place in need of monitoring is absolutely false and ludicrous.

Exhibit A

Terry Rose, a county supervisor and local attorney, believes the plan amounts to government spying.
[...]

“This concept of ‘Big Brother is watching’ is something that every generation has fought to oppose, and we need to oppose it as well,” Rose said. “That type of concept smacks too much of the authoritarian, totalitarian way of thinking as opposed to what we cherish. Every time constitutional rights are deprived of people or limited, we give up a certain part of our American heritage, and I’m not willing to do that.”
[...]
“One can always use the argument, ‘If people are complying with the law, they have nothing to worry about,’” Rose said. “But as we’ve learned in the last eight years, people’s rights can be shortchanged by a theory that is in the best interest of the general public.”

Ditto.

Morrissey said the cameras could help investigate allegations of officer abuse.

“If this suspect comes in and tells me the cops beat me, well guess what? I’m watching the whole thing here,” Morrissey said. “There’s benefits to that too. It’s not just the public that’s under eye; my cops are under eye.”

Because, you know, the cops won't know where the cameras are, so they can't just go to another location to do the beating. Besides, I doubt that suspect's safety is the first thing on their minds.

Minimum Wage, Unemployment, Inflation

2008-07-24T05:30:00.003-05:00

...are all going up today. The sad thing is that it is all accepted with warm cheers and fanfare. Hooray for the nanny state, right?

The increase, from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour, is the second of three annual increases required by a 2007 law. Next year's boost will bring the federal minimum to $7.25 an hour.

Workers like Walter Jasper, who earns minimum wage at a car wash in Nashville, Tenn., are happy to take the raise, but will still struggle with the higher gas and food prices hammering Americans.

But the problem with minimum wage laws is well documented. They are a price floor on wages. That is, they set a minimum level of value for employment. Every time minimum wage goes up, an unskilled workers are boxed out of jobs. What do we hope to achieve by keeping the unskilled and the poor from working in entry level jobs? Instead, laws like this end up favoring those who are skilled or have experience. At the same time, minimum wage laws actually cut the number of jobs available, since it is harder for companies to pay for labor, i.e., they are forced by law to hire people who are overpriced for certain jobs. Thus, they combine jobs, or add on to responsibilities by cutting staff, to more closely reflect wage levels (That or they higher illegal immigrants).

Then comes the inflation. No matter what, the economy has to deal with an artificial increase in the value of labor. Companies pay more for labor and may raise prices (even if by a modest amount). However, at the same time workers who are on the receiving end of minimum wage increases have more money to spend on goods, thus increasing demand, and also driving up prices (again, even if by a modest amount). Sometimes, the inflationary effect is almost completely undetectable at the micro level. However, when one pans out, one sees that inflationary effects costs the macro economy billions. With inflation an already pressing concern, I would say now is not a good time to throw more straws on the camel's back.

David Heath, owner of Tiki Tan in College Station, Texas, said the increase will force him to raise prices for his monthly tanning services by about 12 percent. Tiki Tan had been paying its employees $6 per hour.

"There just isn't any room for profit, and so this is why prices will have to go up," he said, citing the wage increase and higher fuel costs. "I have to recoup those costs."
The increase in the minimum wage could push food prices even higher by rising the pay for agricultural workers, said Brian Bethune, chief U.S. economist at consulting firm Global Insight

Eh, who needs food anyways right?

But he said he did not expect the change to have a major impact on the economy because recent increases in productivity, which enables companies to produce more with fewer workers, are keeping labor costs in check.

Still think minimum wage laws help the poor and unskilled?

When the minimum rises again next year, catching up with more states, more than 5 million workers will get a raise, said Lisa Lynch, dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

I can't wait.

Fannie and Freddie: What to do?

2008-07-23T08:32:00.003-05:00

The New Yorker has a great post explaining a brief history of the mortgage giants:

When do the words “not guaranteed” actually mean “guaranteed”? Whenever the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are involved. The two companies have long been required to tell investors that their securities are not guaranteed by the federal government. But in the financial markets everyone has always assumed that this demurral was just window-dressing, and everyone, it turns out, was right. Last week, when fears of a possible collapse of the two companies threatened to spark a major financial crisis, the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve quickly came up with a rescue package. What had been an implicit guarantee became an explicit one.

However, I disagree with the author's conclusions:

Whatever their sins, Fannie and Freddie clearly couldn’t be allowed to fail, but that’s no argument for letting them go on as they are. Either they should be forced to make it as private companies or they should be nationalized. Given that their business depends on the promise of government assistance and that their current state remains woeful (despite an upturn in their fortunes late last week), nationalization seems more sensible. If Fannie and Freddie are going to run up a tab and stick taxpayers with the bill, why should shareholders profit?

No, why should taxpayers be stuck with the bill in the first place? James Suroweiki makes the assumption that profiting shareholders are the bane of the financial markets, even though earlier in the article he clearly shows that in a free and private market, Freddie and Fannie would not have gotten away with these shenanigans:

Because everyone assumed that the government would make good on Fannie’s and Freddie’s debts, they could borrow money more cheaply than their competitors. They used this cheap debt to increase the number of mortgages they bought. Had Fannie and Freddie been ordinary private companies, there would have been a natural check: companies with more debt are usually seen as riskier, and that makes shareholders and bondholders less willing to invest in them.

Freddie and Fannie had been able to lend outrageous quantities of low rate mortgages, on very very very little capital. Why? Because though they were "privatized," they still were largely attached to the government--that is, they knew they could get away with it, and so did their investors, thus did they invest such a large amount in these banks.

Could it be that Freddie and Fannie's distortion of the market prompted other banks to follow suit? Possibly. In any case, the banks knew that they were taking a huge risk, but they also knew that the government would most likely bail them out--a hunch that has thus far proven accurate. However, Suroweicki sees the problem in a different light:

...had Fannie and Freddie been government agencies, budget constraints would likely have limited the scope of their lending. Since neither the market nor the state checked their growth, they were able to swell extravagantly

...Right. Lord knows the government constrains its own budget...since when? More likely instead, the government would further tax the nation to subsidize further irresponsible loans to irresponsible people. At the same time, it would still be probable that other banks would follow suit to keep business going--that is, to be able to compete with Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae, other banks may be prompted to make, oh I don't know, adjustable rate mortgages and other irresponsible loans?

They constructed a giant pyramid of debt on a very small base of capital (eighty-one billion dollars, by the most recent publicly available figures), and by May, 2008, either owned or guaranteed more than five trillion dollars in mortgages.

If a bailout were the case, as has been suggested in some circles, guess who would foot the bill?

They say Americans are addicted to oil. I say we are addicted to debt. We depend on banks to give us money that doesn't exist to buy things we don't need (and probably can't afford). Banks depend on us to build their capital by paying on our debts, and depositing money, so that they can create more debt, in a never ending cycle of debt accumulation and usury. Meanwhile, both of us are dependent upon a nanny state government to prop up the whole charade.

WAAAAAY too busy as of late

2008-07-09T21:51:00.001-05:00

Forgive my abhorrent lack of posts to date...it is summer: a time of relaxation and vacation for many university students. Unfortunately, I am not one of them, as I am taking summer courses as well as working and trying to function as Legislative Affairs Director of PSGA in between. Also, the current state of politics has me fairly....discombobulated. Thusly, my posts will be few and far between. Please be patient.

What a surprise :P

2008-07-02T20:47:00.000-05:00

What is your political ideology? Your Result: Libertarian This quiz has defined you as a Libertarian. Keep in mind, this ideology can be applied to the right or left in the social sense. You believe in a minimal role of the government in solving problems and believe that the "Free market" can handle almost all economic situations.
Conservative
Liberal
Social Democrat
Fascist/Radical Right
Communist/Radical Left
What is your political ideology? Make Your Own Quiz

Thanks to Doug Mataconis at Below the Beltway

OH HELL NO: A New Manhattan Project?

2008-06-16T19:50:00.002-05:00

It's not what it seems to be (at least at first glance), but it sure is one bad name for a program dedicated to energy independence:

H.R. 6260, The New Manhattan Project for Energy Independence
H.R. 6260 would ensure the energy independence of the United States by promoting research, development, demonstration, and commercial application of technologies through a system of grants and prizes on the scale of the original Manhattan Project.

I don't know about you, but when they say, "Manhattan Project," I think:

Call me crazy, but probably not the smartest PR move.

H.R. 6257: Assault Ban Reauthorization (bleh)

2008-06-16T19:18:00.003-05:00

And it goes on. I'm sure more and more weapons are going to be added to this list, possibly until we get to the point that SPORKS are banned.

To be sure, this is not just a reauthorization. It includes further stipulations on weapons the American people are too EVIL to use:

(a) RESTRICTION- Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding after subsection (u) the following:

[...]

(b) DEFINITION OF SEMIAUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPON- Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding after paragraph (29) the following:

`(30) The term `semiautomatic assault weapon' means--

`(A) any of the firearms, or copies or duplicates of the firearms in any caliber, known as--

`(i) Norinco, Mitchell, and Poly Technologies Avtomat Kalashnikovs (all models);

`(ii) Action Arms Israeli Military Industries UZI and Galil;

`(iii) Beretta Ar70 (SC-70);

`(iv) Colt AR-15;

`(v) Fabrique National FN/FAL, FN/LAR, and FNC;

`(vi) SWD M-10, M-11, M-11/9, and M-12;

`(vii) Steyr AUG;

`(viii) INTRATEC TEC-9, TEC-DC9 and TEC-22; and

`(ix) revolving cylinder shotguns, such as (or similar to) the Street Sweeper and Striker 12;

`(B) a semiautomatic rifle that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least 2 of--

`(i) a folding or telescoping stock;

`(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon;

`(iii) a bayonet mount;

`(iv) a flash suppressor or threaded barrel designed to accommodate a flash suppressor; and

`(v) a grenade launcher;

`(C) a semiautomatic pistol that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and has at least 2 of--

`(i) an ammunition magazine that attaches to the pistol outside of the pistol grip;

`(ii) a threaded barrel capable of accepting a barrel extender, flash suppressor, forward handgrip, or silencer;

`(iii) a shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles, the barrel and that permits the shooter to hold the firearm with the nontrigger hand without being burned;

`(iv) a manufactured weight of 50 ounces or more when the pistol is unloaded; and

`(v) a semiautomatic version of an automatic firearm; and

`(D) a semiautomatic shotgun that has at least 2 of--

`(i) a folding or telescoping stock;

`(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon;

`(iii) a fixed magazine capacity in excess of 5 rounds; and

`(iv) an ability to accept a detachable magazine.'.

I'm sure further gun bans will make us safer. Just ask Washington D.C. how it's been for them since their COMPLETE ban in 1976:

John Stossel has his way with the myths about Gun Control and Crime:

My solution for the United Council Budget

2008-06-16T19:13:00.002-05:00

Although it would work beyond the magnitude of my estimates, I know it will probably not be accepted due to the overwhelming power of the status quo as well as the centralized decision-making structure known as the Board of Directors who, for the most part, choose their own pay and benefits.

Not on my watch. Here is my proposal to fix the 60,000 dollars of debt that the United Council Budget contains:

Line 65 (Medical Reimbursement) 4000

Line 66 (Loan Reimbursement) 19200

Line 71 (Cell Phones) 5500

Line 76 Cut the Lease, Buy a copier

Line 77 Why are we paying 1200 for a computer?

Programming: Cut conferences, focus more on GA’s and Lobbying

Combine LGBT Q, Multicultural, and Women’s Issues

Separate Women’s and Environmental Issues

Estimated Benefits

Salaries: approximately 28,000 for Environmental Issues, approximately 28,000 for Equity and Diversity (combination LGBTQ, Multicultural, and Women’s Issues). Cost: approximately 56,000 dollars.

56,000 – 28,504.80 – 28,248 – 27, 580 = 56,000 – 84,332 = -28, 332

Health benefits: cost is 247.08 per month, per employee. Total is minus one employee (7), therefore: 27,765.56/8 = 3470.70.

27,765.56 – 3470.70 = 24,294.86; Total savings – 3470.70

Medical reimbursement: 500 per staff, therefore savings – 500.
Student Loan reimbursement: not enough information to calculate. Potential savings: 2,400.
Miscellaneous other savings: hard to calculate; would include board travel, per diems, supplies, other travel expenditures and registration fees. No estimate made.

TOTAL SAVINGS: 34,702.70

TOTAL SAVINGS WITH APPROVED REMOVAL OF LINES 65, 66: 31,802.70

Total Proposed Budgetary Savings: 60502.70

Let it also be strongly recommended to take another look at combining or eliminating some conferences, with more focus on legislative and lobbying affairs along a broad spectrum. Currently, a disproportional amount of time is spent looking at a variety of specific issues outside of relevant and tangible fronts in higher education today. Let it be recognized that focusing more on the lobbying and Shared Governance aspects of United Council would be more likely to produce a functional and effective student activist/lobbyist population, which would ultimately yield more favorable and numerous results.

Money saved would be on travel, costs of literature and advertisements, per diem, hotels, etc.

That should do it.

UW Tuition to Rise 5.5%, Largely in Response to Initiatives Supported by United Council

2008-06-10T08:19:00.002-05:00

Like I said before, The United Council of UW Students has a terrible problem (called Liberalism) in which they continue to recklessly demand funds from the state for higher education, whether they be loans, grants, remissions, or other initiatives ("Civil Rights" and Green initiatives for example). United Council rarely does their own economic impact study, nor do they care about where that money comes from, as long as they get it.

Well, now it's come to bite them in the ass:

Students who are resident undergraduates at four-year schools in the University of Wisconsin System would pay 5.5% more for their tuition this fall - in part to subsidize tuition for veterans, who can go to public colleges here for free under state law.

Unfortunately, this bites the rest of us in the ass too. While I am all for cutting the costs of education for veterans, is it absolutely necessary to provide 100% remission? Was 50% not generous enough, especially once considering other benefits such as the G.I. Bill, Chapter 31 program, and other programs specifically for veterans in higher education?

Throw this on top of substantially decreased state revenue and a running deficit, as well as an already over burdened UW System and what did you expect to happen?

The United Council of UW Students supports the GI Bill but doesn't think the money for it should be from on other students' backs, said Patrick O'Connell, the group's spokesman.

That's the same way UW-Milwaukee student and Iraq war veteran Anthony DeWees feels.

"I just don't think it's right that the state has decided not to fulfill its promise to veterans and has passed the buck on to students," said DeWees, who receives the tuition benefit.

Just like tuition shouldn't be from the back of students? Not surprising, coming from a group that uses the premise "Education is a Right" as their bedrock philosophy.

Secondly, just what promise is he talking about? I don't ever remember the state making any promise for education for veteran's, short of the original 50% remission program. And what does that have to do with increasing tuition? Tuition is a huge component of system revenue. When you increase burdens on the system, the system will require more money. Easiest and most rational way? Tuition.

Chew on that for next time.

United Council General Assembly

2008-06-08T12:55:00.002-05:00

I was in Waukegan this weekend for a General Assembly for the United Council of UW Students, a 501 C3 organization comprised of students of member UW campuses who come together to propose legislative as well as other initiatives in the interests of UW students (theoretically), as well as support or condemn actions or current initiatives of the Board of Regents, Wisconsin Legislature, etc. It's basically a large lobbying group.

My committee (Legislative Affairs) was relatively uneventful, and whereas I couldn't get the time of day to propose my initiative, I went back to the hotel to draft my own resolution for the following day's General Assembly. I lobbied other delegates, some more successfully than others, while still others went on tangental tyraids against capitalism blah blah blah. While I was able to gather some support, including one fellow Libertarian (in an organization of hardcore liberals and socialists) I knew the resolution was DOA. However, we had the largest delegation, and might have had some swing (which we did).

Long story short, the intiative failed, but not before I got some good words in, swung some potential votes, and utilized some good parliamentary procedure. From there on in our delegation was generally quiet on most initiatives, trying to gain some leverage over the upcoming budget (I will cover that one later). We ended up adjourning four and a half hours later than expected (budgets are like that), if not for the sole reason of incoming tornados, a problem we had faced both on our way to and from the GA. Indeed, a good portion of our travel time was through tornado sirens.

It was postponed for further research (even though there was plenty), until the next GA, which means we can count on the resolution being on the agenda. This is fine with us, because the intention was primarily to force them to acknowledge our initiative, and then swing the meeting with parliamentary procedure since we were the largest delegation, and necessary for qourum. Our delegation is currently working primarily with Milwaukee, but there are other key delegations we have on our side, more than we expected or could have asked for.

The hardest part of the whole thing was trying to explain to people who are accustomed to demanding government money (without regard to how its going to be paid for) for school, how creating a strong bedrock for economic development and growth is essential to supporting the very programs (and University System) they talk of. The well is already drying up, where do they think this money is going to come from? Also, the more pressure put on the system by increasing subsidized grants and scholarships as well as tuition remissions, the higher the very cost they are fighting will go.

I will have pictures, potentially video up possibly late tonight/tomorrow. Class + work = busy summer.

It's Over: Obama Defeats the Clinton Machine

2008-06-03T20:39:00.009-05:00

Clinton is in New York right now giving a campaign speech; I'm waiting for her concession any minute now.

[UPDATE]

8:50pm Clinton says she won't make a decision tonight, you have to go to her website and tell her what to do...?

8:54pm Speech is over...I'm pretty disappointed.

What the hell is she getting at? She has to know it's over, short of the HRC Machine paying delegates to switch (I wouldn't put it past the Clintons) she doesn't stand any chance. He has surpassed the amount of necessary delegates. McCain is already jumping on Obama:

"He is an impressive man who makes a great first impression," McCain said. "But he hasn't been willing to make the tough calls, to challenge his party, to risk criticism from his supporters, to bring real change to Washington. I have."

In a speech intended to mark the start of the general election, the Republican defended himself against Obama's frequent claim that McCain is "running for President Bush's third term" because McCain supports the Iraq war and wants to extend the president's tax cuts.

[UPDATE]

9:10pm Obama is about to give his speech in St. Paul.
9: 13pm Obama talking up "change" again. Oh, "hopes" and "dreams" as well.

New Mars Pheonix to Land Today at North Pole

2008-05-25T13:29:00.002-05:00

Watch it stream live today, directions here

The last attempt to land on Mars in 1999 went terribly, in fact, a good majority of missions have gone wrong due to difficulty landing on the damn thing (and thus the name "seven minutes of terror").

The Pheonix will be searching the North Pole for traces of organic compounds, the building blocks of life, in ice. More information here.

And the official site for the project is here.

Libertarian Debate

2008-05-24T20:05:00.002-05:00

Watching it right now. Can someone tell me how Gravel is a Libertarian? Check it out now on Cspan.

[UPDATE]

Live Blogging going on at the Liberty Papers

Hillary Clinton Speculates About an Obama Assassination

2008-05-24T15:21:00.002-05:00

...and uses it as a reason she is staying in the race.

I'm getting sick and tired of hearing jokes, speculations, and allusions about Senator Obama and any potential assassinations. It would probably be a good idea for him to confront this kind of talk formally.

U.S. Cannot Discharge Homosexuals?

2008-05-22T02:20:00.003-05:00

From the AP:

SEATTLE (AP) -- The military cannot automatically discharge people because they're gay, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in the case of a decorated flight nurse who sued the Air Force over her dismissal.

This, following what happened in California, should give the LGBT(QISA) community a victory, as well as the sense that tides may be changing in their favor. The newest movement in civil rights issues may have struck two major victories in one week! However, the "Don't ask don't tell" policy may have a chance to stick, if and only if:

The three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not strike down the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. But they reinstated Maj. Margaret Witt's lawsuit, saying the Air Force must prove that her dismissal furthered the military's goals of troop readiness and unit cohesion.

[...]

Under Wednesday's ruling, military officials "need to prove that having this particular gay person in the unit really hurts morale, and the only way to improve morale is to discharge this person," said Aaron Caplan, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington state who worked on the case.

My bet is that they can't. I think that the era of institutionalized homophobia may be coming to an end. While we may still have a conservative leaning Supreme Court, I think that this issue is becoming more "gay-friendly." While it would be better to face these issues after the elections this fall, it seems that we are moving towards a more accepting (albeit reluctantly) outlook on LGBT issues in our nation.

From the 9th Court of Appeals:

"When the government attempts to intrude upon the personal and private lives of homosexuals, the government must advance an important governmental interest ... and the intrusion must be necessary to further that interest," wrote Judge Ronald M. Gould.

One of the judges, William C. Canby Jr., issued a partial dissent, saying that the ruling didn't go far enough. He argued that the Air Force should have to show that the policy itself "is necessary to serve a compelling governmental interest and that it sweeps no more broadly than necessary."

In other words, the right to privacy (the same right invoked in Roe v. Wade) is used as a buffer against governmental discrimination. However, unlike Roe v. Wade, I think there is a case here, since no one else's rights are involved. Therefore, the military has the burden of proof to show that being "gay" is a detriment to the military forces (which both I, and the courts I believe deny).

Could this be the beginning of the end for the movement? For sure this was a serious victory at the least.

The Poor Are Getting Poorer? Maybe Not.

2008-05-19T22:58:00.002-05:00

If only I had a nickel for every time I heard someone decry the situation of inequality today: "The rich get richer while the poor only get poorer!" But then, I would be the rich, and then I would be the bad guy.

I've always had a problem with this common complaint, and I have attempted to justify my positions. However, I am no economist, and thus my opinions are not made with the sharpest of prose.

I did get lucky though, to stumble upon a New York Times blog by Steven Levitt:

When people talk about inequality, they tend to focus exclusively on the income part of the equation. According to all our measures, the gap in income between the rich and the poor has been growing. What Broda and Romalis quite convincingly demonstrate, however, is that the prices of goods that poor people tend to consume have fallen sharply relative to the prices of goods that rich people consume. Consequently, when you measure the true buying power of the rich and the poor, inequality grew only one-third as fast as economists previously thought it did — or maybe didn’t grow at all.

Why did the prices of the things poor people buy fall relative to the stuff rich people buy? Lefties aren’t going to like the answers one bit: globalization and Wal-Mart!
[...]

Not only are Wal-Mart’s prices lower, but its entry also induces competitors to lower prices. The impact is much larger on the poor than the rich, both because the poor are more likely to shop at Wal-Mart and because they spend more of their income on food.

Here is a link to the study.

This is not meant to be a complete defense of those who make millions or perhaps billions of dollars a year (although I see no harm in it). I mean to show that the rich ARE getting richer, but not at the expense of the poor or middle class; instead the opposite is true: what benefits the rich in the end is directly tied to how they benefit all others. In other words, capitalism continues to be to the benefit of most (if not all) individuals, whether it is overtly evidential or not.

Of course, I do have a better grasp of freedom and economics than most people, so when I saw the comments to the article I had to cringe:

At what point does Wal-Mart stop having the incentive to keep their prices low. If they become a towns only grocer they have complete price control and can at some future point raise prices artificially high.

— Posted by Billy

Actually Billy, their prices are that way for a reason: it makes them more money than it would if they raised it to a point at which fewer people could buy their goods. What would be the point in that?

Food prices are going up rapidly, correct? So this gap in equality will start to show up pretty damn soon, I would imagine.

— Posted by Grant

This is tied to gas prices, Grant, yet the general trend HAS been downward. Also, who do you think uses more gas? Poor or rich?

I believe that there’s a point missing. In principle, of course, you’re right in saying that the real income matters. What is missing though, is the fact that people who reside at the lower end of the income distribution would probably like to change their consumption patterns but aren’t capable of doing so.

— Posted by J0k3r

I hope you're joking, Jok3r; if not, then I call bullshit. What makes you think that someone cannot change their consumption patterns? In fact, many people are able to become rich because they don't spend their money as frivolously as many poor people (including me), and invest or save it intelligently until they are comfortable enough to be able to spend more on superior goods.

There are many more comments that I do not have the energy to comment on.

McCain Looks to the Future in New Campaign Commercial: 2013

2008-05-18T10:16:00.000-05:00

30,000 Burmese Children May Starve; UN Envoy Pleads Junta

2008-05-18T09:35:00.003-05:00

30,000 children may starve in the crisis following Cyclone Nargis as Myanmar's Junta continues to create roadblocks to foreign aid and relief.

Save the Children said that under-fives living in the Irrawaddy delta were already "acutely malnourished" when the cyclone hit on May 2 and it believed some children in the stricken areas of Burma may now be dying from lack of food.
The foreign office minister Lord Malloch-Brown today criticised the "man-made bottlenecks" that were causing the crisis and preventing help from getting to the cyclone victims.

The delta is also a major rice producer for the region, a place previously undernourished and poor, yet so very important to the Burmese economy and food supply. Flood rains pelted the area the other day, worsening conditions, and many may only have a couple of days to live if conditions and aid proliferation do not improve. Things have gotten so bad the some are considering forced delivery of aid as conditions lay grounds for charges of crimes against humanity:

Yesterday, Gordon Brown said forced airdrops of aid were being considered, but noted that charities warned they could be "counter-productive".
"We rule nothing out and the reason we rule nothing out is that we want to get the aid directly to the people," he told the BBC's World Service.
[...]
The French ambassador to the UN, Jean-Maurice Ripert, warned that the junta's refusal to allow delivery of the supplies "could lead to a true crime against humanity".

All of this as a UN envoy traveled to Myanmar today to monitor current humanitarian conditions and plead for the Junta to allow foreign aid in, as the death toll climbs to 78,000. The Junta claim that they have all the aid that is needed.

The junta says it has completed relief operations and now will turn to reconstruction. It has barred foreign aid experts, including the U.N.'s international staff, from traveling to the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta.

Meanwhile, the Junta explained their reasoning for barring foreign aid and officials from entering the country:

On Sunday, the regime accused foreign news organizations of falsely reporting that the government was refusing or hindering international relief aid.

"Some foreign news agencies broadcast false information and thus some international and regional organizations are assuming that the government has been rejecting and preventing aid for storm victims," a government statement said. "Those who have been to Myanmar understand the actual fact."

And yet you wont let them in! Ok, you won't allow foreign media in because they falsely report, and yet you also say that only those that travel there can know the truth...? I smell Bullshit. Whats the real reason?

The military junta's xenophobia stems from the fear that allowing foreign aid workers to mingle with ordinary people will embolden them to rebel against 46 years of authoritarian rule.

And yet letting them starve to death is really going to embolden their support of the Junta?

UC Berkely Students Protest at Graduation

2008-05-18T07:47:00.002-05:00

50 or so students decided to make a statement at the graduation ceremony of their fellow students, asking their administration to fire Prof. John Yoo for his support of the Bush Administration's torture policies.

"We want to see him fired and disbarred for being a war criminal," said Anne Weills, an Oakland attorney who said she was with the National Lawyers Guild, one of the groups that protested. "Academic freedom stops when you intend to harm or injure somebody."

Yoo, a tenured constitutional law professor at Boalt Hall, took a leave of absence from 2001 to 2003 to work for the U.S. Department of Justice. During that time, he wrote what critics call the "torture memos," which protesters say outlined the legal basis for the use of torture at the Abu Ghraib (Iraq) and Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) military prisons.

The students, dressed as Guantanamo Detainees and sitting in makeshift cages, called Yoo a war-criminal and called for him to be disbarred, fired, and tried.

Yoo drafted an August 2002 memo, signed by his boss, former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, providing the legal basis to justify torture in interrogating terrorism suspects. Among other things, Yoo argued that habeas corpus and other legal protections don't apply to CIA detainees because Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib are not on U.S. soil.

While I would disagree with Yoo substantially, I don't think it was prudent to make such an elaborate protest (even flying a plane with an anti-Yoo banner overhead) while my fellow students are trying to celebrate the culmination of four (or more) years of hard work and dedication. For some, this could be one of the happiest days of their life. I guess it doesn't surprise me though, we've seen actions like this from many fringe liberal crazies, as well as the nuts religious right (Westboro Baptists anyone?). It would be insane to fire him from the job, much less disbar or indite him just because of his political views.

William Upshaw of Oakland, who was at the event to see his wife graduate, was unhappy with the hoopla outside the theater.

"It's interesting, but unexpected," he said as he filed past the protest, carrying a bouquet for his wife, "and, actually, I don't think it's appropriate."

No shit.

12,000 Dead in China Today

2008-05-13T05:04:00.003-05:00

As a result of a 7.9 magnitude earthquake:

The Chinese people have become panicked over a powerful earthquake that claimed about 10,000 lives and trapped untold numbers under debris in central China on Monday. First our hearts go out to the families of the victims. And we hope that those trapped in the rubble will be rescued as soon as possible. The quake reminds us that humans are vulnerable to the "rage of nature.''

As of right now, 12,000 dead and counting:

Too Funny Not to Post

2008-05-11T18:33:00.007-05:00

Every now and then I can't help but take time off from serious news to showcase something funny. Yes, believe it or not, I have a sense of humor. Anyways, whilst traversing the internets I came across a gem called Horribleville, and decided to rummage.

So I bring to you from the Archives of Horribleville:

She Just Doesn't Give Up

2008-05-11T16:56:00.002-05:00

Yep. And now that Obama is in the lead with Superdelegates as well, she's toast. The media has even started calling en masse for her to call it quits before she becomes even more of a joke. Just check out the new SNL clip (priceless).

Obama did just what he needed to do today: Pretend Hillary does not exist.

There’s something missing from the Barack Obama campaign this weekend: virtually all mention of his primary opponent, Senator Hillary Clinton. In speeches and in brief press conferences, Senator Obama has been pounding away on the presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain, often using the identical rhetoric that was served up against Mrs. Clinton just days ago.

8 Reasons Why My Generation is Dumb...

2008-05-11T16:16:00.002-05:00

From Boston.com:

Take a look at eight reasons the Emory University English professor gives to ''not trust anyone under 30'' -- see which you think is the best. Disagree, or have your own spin?

Their reasons are as follows:

They make excellent "Jaywalking'' targets
2. They don't read books -- and don't want to, either
They can't spell
They get ridiculed for original thought, good writing
Grand Theft Auto IV, etc.
They don't store the information
Because their teachers don't tell them so
Because they're young

They also introduced a poll to see what readers thought was the biggest reason:

What reason makes the most sense for "The Dumbest Generation?"
2. Books? No thanks!
	26.6%
7. Easy teachers, parents
	19.9%
4. Clear thought ridiculed by peers
	13.3%
8. Just age
	12.4%
6. Don't retain information (who needs to?)
	10.4%
3. Can't spell
	6.7%
1. "Jaywalking'' gaps in knowledge
	6.2%
5. Grand Theft Auto, etc.
	4.6%
Total votes: 21783

I voted for "Books" and it appears a plurality of readers would agree. With 21783 votes, its doubtful that the margin of error is too large to overturn that.

However, I would not be so quick as to say our generation is dumb in the first place. I believe that we may be lazy, but I have also heard that Intelligence quotients have been rising over the years. I think it is easy to point out the failures of the young, especially if older people are alienated by the increasingly fast pace at which culture is reinventing itself (mostly attributable to increases in the speed and efficiency of communication mediums). While I can agree to a point that people my age do not read as much or know as much as older folks (hell, I read more than most people, but I still wish I read more), I have doubts as to how "dumb" we are.

Also, if there is a decrease in the level of intelligence in our age, why not look to the institution of public education? God knows that this institution sucks too, and continues to degenerate.

I guess I will just have to read the book. That is of course, unless I'm too lazy, haha.

Hezbollah Gunmen Take Over Parts of Lebanese Capitol

2008-05-09T09:37:00.002-05:00

The new fighting threatens to re-engulf the nation in civil war:

Hizbollah swept through major areas of Beirut in an overnight push that resulted in the deaths of 11 and forced Lebanese MPs out of the capital.

[...]

But the army has largely avoided getting involved in the street battles, preferring to remain above the political fray for fear of being dragged into the conflict. The institution could break up on sectarian lines if it takes on the powerful Hizbollah, which survived a war with Israel in 2006.

As if the Shiite terrorist group wasn't bad enough, it appears they're getting help from a neighboring terror sponsor:

Dozens of fighters from the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, a Hizbollah ally, also appeared in the streets off Hamra, some masked and carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

As time has shown, a conflict anywhere in the Middle East involves all Arabs, particularly when it breaks down to Pro-West/Anti-West lines. As the Arab world looks for some sort of resolution, Bush rattles sabers:

“Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere," U.S. President George W. Bush said in a speech in the United Arab Emirates in January. "So the United States is strengthening our longstanding security commitments with our friends in the Gulf and rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it is too late.”

In the same speech, Bush also accused Iran of exporting terror. He did not have to specify for his audience the destinations. Washington has often charged Iran and Syria with helping to arm the Lebanese Shi’ite Hizballah and of using it to destabilize the Western-leaning government in Beirut.

Fortunately, some countries are calling for an Arab meeting to discuss the situation, although I have some doubts as to how effective they will be.

Egypt and Jordan voiced support for an Arab meeting.

"Egypt and other Arab countries are very concerned by the actions of Hezbollah in Lebanon," an Egyptian diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"A party backed by Iran cannot be allowed to take control of the running of Lebanon.

"The situation today in Lebanon is 10 times worse than it was yesterday and we are very concerned at what is happening, because that means that Iran wants to control the country."

President Shimon Peres of Israel - whose country fought a war against Hezbollah in 2006 - claimed the violence was fomented by arch foe Iran to further what he said was Tehran's goal to control all the Middle East.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose country long dominated its smaller neighbour, said the political crisis there was an "internal matter" and called for it to be resolved through dialogue.

A statement by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said he was "profoundly worried" at the fighting and said the rival factions should start a dialogue to overcome their differences.

Jordan also backed the proposal for a foreign ministers meeting in order to "bring to an end the political crisis and restore calm," Foreign Minister Salah Bashir said in a statement to news state agency Petra.

Yemen contacted rival Lebanese factions and regional governments outlining an alternative plan involving mandating Lebanon's army chief Michel Sleiman to chair a dialogue to halt the fighting, the state Saba news agency reported.

Soviets Conjure Up Images of the Motherland, Show Off Weaponry

2008-05-09T08:59:00.006-05:00

Dmitry Medvedev was sworn in Wednesday as Russia's new President:

Forced out of the presidency by constitutional term limits, Putin on Wednesday handed off his title to a longtime protégé, Dmitry Medvedev, who in turn nominated his old boss as prime minister.

[...]
Putin's nomination never was in doubt. His party, United Russia, holds more than three-quarters of the Duma seats.

Thursday's debate was the final, theatrical exercise in the long-guaranteed ascension to the job he chose for himself.

Sworn in on Wednesday, appoint Putin on Thursday, and on Friday conjure up memories of Old Motherland in the international community:

Russia celebrated Victory Day today with a show of military might not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The annual parade marks the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, and remembers almost 27 million Soviets who perished in World War II. Russia has not displayed heavy weaponry at the parade in Red Square since 1990.

[...]

It was Putin who, before stepping down as president, ordered generals to revive the Soviet-era tradition of driving tanks, howitzers and missile launchers through Red Square on May 9.

Video:

Myanmar Junta Seizes Foreign Aid, UN to Halt Shipments

2008-05-09T08:46:00.003-05:00

The United Nations World Food Program, one agency that finally was approved to distribute foreign aid in Myanmar, had shipments seized by the Junta today.

"All of the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated," U.N. World Food Program spokesman Risley said.

"For the time being, we have no choice but to end further efforts to bring critical needed food aid into Myanmar at this time," he said.

The Junta told the U.N. that it wants supplies, not people, sent to the country.

Myanmar deported a search and rescue team and reporters who arrived on a May 7 flight from Qatar because it expected the plane to carry only emergency aid, not workers, AFP cited the Foreign Ministry as saying.

Perhaps the Junta is embarrassed that they cannot effectively govern?

Myanmar will distribute international supplies itself and ``is not ready to receive search and rescue teams as well as media teams from foreign countries,'' Agence France-Presse cited the government as saying today.

Yep, I thought so.

Myanmar has been under international sanctions since the military rejected the results of elections in 1990, won by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

The junta plans to press ahead with a referendum tomorrow for a new constitution before elections in 2010. The ballot will be delayed until May 24 in the worst-affected areas.

All the more reason for them not to involve the international community.

Now, normally I completely respect the sovereignty of a nation-state, and I generally do not endorse meddling in their affairs. However, when an illegitimate government cannot provide for it's people, and a humanitarian crises of this proportion emerges, it is no longer meddling, it's a damn tragedy. The world must step in the help the 1.5 million in need of aid before the situation deteriorates, and if the Junta had decency (they wouldn't be a Junta then, would they?) they would suspend the referendum Saturday.

100,000 Dead and Counting; The Junta Place Elections Before Foreign Aid

2008-05-08T08:34:00.005-05:00

The Cyclone that hit Myanmar last week has killed more than first suspected, and I expect more to come as the ruling Junta blocks the United States and other nations from sending foriegn aid and providing airlifts:

YANGON (Reuters) - Desperate survivors cried out for aid on Thursday nearly a week after Cyclone Nargis killed up to 100,000 people, as pressure piled up on Myanmar to throw its doors open to an international relief operation.

The United Nations was able to get in after some delays, but the overt distrust between Junta generals and the U.S. may further prolong aid efforts. Apparently however, the U.S. is not the only country having problems:

The WFP's Risley said aid agencies normally expect to fly in experts and supplies within 48 hours of a disaster, but nearly a week after this cyclone, few international groups have been able to send reinforcements into Myanmar.

The Junta continues to under-exaggerate the loss of life as well.

State media had reported a death toll of 22,980 with 42,119 missing as of Tuesday, but diplomats and disaster experts said the real figure is likely to be much higher.

"The information that we're receiving indicates that there may well be over 100,000 deaths in the delta area," said Shari Villarosa, charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy in Myanmar.

Whether this is the work of incompetent dictators, or a function of an overinflated ego being faced with its own ineptitude and inadequacy, I cannot say. Probably both, I presume, and I don't know how long it will be before the Burmese people take matters into their own hands. However, some think that the Junta is dropping the ball on foreign aid in order to juggle the referendum coming up this Saturday.

BANGKOK - Disregarding the disaster caused by Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar's military rulers are bent on holding a constitutional referendum on Saturday, said to be designed to enhance the junta's grip over the country.

"The relief efforts are being hampered by the junta's obsession with getting the referendum vote over and done with," a Western diplomat based in the former capital Yangon told Inter Press Service (IPS) on condition of anonymity.

[...]

"The government's attitude is that the referendum is the top priority and the cyclone is an inconvenience; we believe any government's priority should be the humanitarian response rather than the referendum," the diplomat said.

And why is that? With the international eye upon them, the Junta want to move quick before their "democracy" game is exposed for the fraud it really is. Most voters have absolutely no clue as to what they are voting on:

Burma News International (BNI) - an umbrella group of more than 10 publications and agencies - which interviewed more than 2,000 voters across the county, before the cyclone struck, produced startling results.

BNI secretary Mu Hlaing Theint told IPS that a two-page questionnaire, to ensure statistical consistency, was used to compile the results from telephone and face-to-face interviews.

Almost seven out of 10 interviewed said they had no idea what was in the constitution. One in four voters had still to make up their minds which way they would vote. So, despite the regime's intensive propaganda campaign there remains a significant number of undecided voters.

Don't worry about the opposition though:

There is no doubt though that the real vote is not going to be announced - it has been rigged from the start. The junta has carried out a concerted campaign of harassing and intimidating voters. "The police called on our family last week and told us we had to vote 'Yes' or we'd go to jail for three years," a middle-aged mother in Yangon said over phone, on condition of anonymity.

In true Junta fashion, they have made sure that the voters don't know what they're voting on, by keeping it available only to those few who actually have money in a country where many live on as little as $2 a day, by overwhelming the public with state-run newspaper propaganda, and by using threat and coercion to drive away those who oppose the Junta's draft constitution, which in the end will change only one thing: it will make permanent and "legitimate" what has been forcibly institutionalized for too long in Burma.

Obama: “Why can’t I just eat my waffle?”

2008-04-21T21:43:00.004-05:00

A reporter today was unfortunate enough to get between Barack Obama and his waffle:

SCRANTON, Pa. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama kicked off a day of campaigning in Pennsylvania by dropping by a Scranton diner for a breakfast of waffles, sausage and orange juice.

But the press corps went hungry — hungry for an answer that is.

The Illinois senator brushed aside a question from one reporter on his reaction to former President Jimmy Carter’s description of a positive meeting with leaders of the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas.

“Why can’t I just eat my waffle?” Obama replied.

Republicans, long known for their opposition to waffles, jumped at the chance to blame the breakfast food for aiding Obama's evasion of the foreign policy question.

“Today, Obama continued to dodge questions from the media, responding that he just wanted to eat his waffle,” the Republican National Committee said in an email sent to reporters that included press accounts of the waffle incident at the Glider diner.

Student Loans are Beginning to Bounce

2008-04-21T00:06:00.002-05:00

SHIT.

Norton thought he was set when he deposited a $16,000 student-loan check to pay for summer classes and the fall semester. But when he started to pay bills for classes, rent, and other expenses last week, his checks bounced.

Jefferson warned us against spending money we don't have. Now, the effects of a debt-based society are beginning to show.

More than 50 firms have abandoned or cut back their federal or private student loan programs this year, unable to raise money in the financial markets. Yesterday, Citigroup, one of the largest private lenders, said it would stop lending at some schools and end its federal loan consolidations.

How this will affect UW-Parkside? Well, considering the fact that 40% of us are in the lowest economic echelons, our students are in trouble. Couple that with an increasing lack of funding for WHEG and Lawton grants, as well as increasing tuition and SEG fees, and you can see that the future is not bright for young people in Southeastern Wisconsin. Time will tell.

Police Punked by Root Beer Pong Party

2008-03-28T09:19:00.002-05:00

A Wisconsin high school student who was suspended from a dance team for being in Facebook photos drinking from red plastic cups (apparently all red plastic cups contain alcohol, fun fact), decided to get back at the school by throwing a tongue in cheek root beer kegger:

So Zebro, an 18-year-old senior, devised a plan to show that things are not always as they appear. He bought a quarter-barrel - of root beer - and a tall stack of red cups, and he spread the word that the party was at his house in Kronenwetter, a village just outside Wausau, on a Saturday night this month.

"There were keg stands and root beer pong and all that, so it looked like a real party," he said. The idea was to post photos on the Internet and fool the school, he said.

Police showed up because of a complaint about cars blocking the road, and an officer administered breath tests to 89 teens.

Surely, someone had to be drinking right?

Every kid blew 0.0.

[..]

With each negative breath test, the crowd cheers and shouts out encouragement like, "Good form." One guy flaps his arms as he's blowing into the mouthpiece. Several seconds of the song "I Believe I Can Fly" was edited into the video for that scene, and even the officer can be seen smiling.

[...]
Dustin Zebro admits that no one should assume root beer is always the beverage of choice for these or any other high school seniors. Plenty of underage drinking goes on.

We have a tendency to believe the worst when it comes to kids this age. It's refreshing to be wrong about that sometimes and to find a houseful of soda-chuggers, even if they're doing it ironically. That's easy for me to say, of course, when it wasn't my house packed with 89 teenagers.

Kudos to Dustin for throwing it in the face of the Police and High School for their blatant ageism and profiling. One last point...Zebro admits one should not assume that teens are drinking root beer...but why is it better to assume that teens are drinking alcohol? Sure underage drinking goes on, but so does a lot of soda guzzling, chip munching, pizza partying, and video gaming.

Copy of the video on YouTube:

1950's PSA: Beware of Homosexuals

2008-03-27T22:18:00.001-05:00

Oh.My.God.

Somers Passes Draconian Sex Offender Ordinance

2008-03-26T12:44:00.004-05:00

Draconian action, from a municipality in the Kenosha Area, that could have untenable consequences:

SOMERS - Despite assurances from a Department of Corrections official that the department does a good job at supervising sex offenders, the Somers Town Board on Tuesday unanimously approved an ordinance that will restrict where sex offenders can live.

Board members Vern Wienke and Ben Harbach were absent, but with three of the five board members present a quorum was still met.

The ordinance prohibits registered sex offenders, who did not previously live in the town, from residing within 2,500 feet of schools, churches, parks, trails, day cares, places of worship and wherever children gather. Convicted sexual offenders who previously lived in Somers will be prohibited from living within 500 feet of those places.

Additional requirements include barring convicted sexual offenders from living within 2,500 feet of each other and requiring offenders to notify the town of their residence.

Under the ordinance, violators - the offenders and those who rent to them - would be fined $500 per day and could face up to 90 days in jail.

Besides the fact that retribution AFTER sentencing is completely unethical and not jurisprudent, this ordinance will do a few things.

1. It will prohibit most sex offenders from locating to Somers from somewhere else (2500 feet is slightly less than 1/2 a mile).
2. It will severely restrict the ability for current residents to live in the city, and could possibly restrict them to areas where residential property is more expensive (500 feet is no insignificant distance).
3. It will either create a complete physical impossibility, or it will extirpate most if not all sex offenders from the town.

Naturally, municipalities in the area will seek to mitigate what they will undoubtedly see as an exodus of pedophiles marching into their schools, churches and homes, to feed on innocent children everywhere. This mitigation will involve the use of similar draconian measures that in the end could prove disastrous for sex offenders as well as every other citizen. We have seen this happen before...

The men have flocked to the Ced-Rel and other rural motels and trailer parks because no one else will, or can, have them. A new state law barring those convicted of sex crimes involving children from living within 2,000 feet of a school or day care center has brought unintended and disturbing consequences. It has rendered some offenders homeless and left others sleeping in cars or in the cabs of their trucks.

[...]

Of the more than 6,000 people on Iowa's registry of sex offenders, 400 are now listed as "whereabouts unconfirmed" or living in "non-structure locations" (like tents, parking lots or rest areas). Last summer, the number was 140.

[...]

Before September, Sheriff Zeller said, he knew where 90 percent of Linn County's sex offenders were living, and today he knows where slightly more than half live. Just before Christmas, the sheriff said, one man began spending his days inside the sheriff's office because he had no where else to go.

Further evidence:

Federal law requires states to create registries of offenders convicted of sex crimes or offenses against children. And it mandates that local law enforcement agencies provide information to the public about sex offenders living in the community. But Georgia went a lot further and enacted restrictions on where offenders on the registry can live and work.

Suddenly, aging Alzheimer's patients were being evicted from nursing homes that were near playgrounds, and 18-year-old boys who'd had sex with their 15-year-old classmates were ordered out of their family homes because of a neighboring family day care center. People had to quit long-term jobs because their workplace was too close to a church.
[...]

In passing its law, Georgia looked to Iowa, which pioneered blanket residency restrictions in 2002. Today the Iowa County Attorneys Association says, "The research shows that there is no correlation between residency restrictions and reducing sex offenses against children or improving the safety of children." The Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault said the number of sex offenders who are unaccounted for has more than doubled since the law went into effect.

With research showing these methods to be ineffective, and with no positive results to be seen, why in the hell do we keep doing this? Why do we continue to undermine civil liberties to enact unconstitutional and unethical ordinances/laws/statutes that have absolutely NO positive effect?

Two reasons that I propose:

1. Society always has its witch to burn.

2. Society votes for politicians who are "tough on crime."

Forget however, the fact that the State Legislature passed a Statute barring municipalities from proposing such an ordinance:

State law prohibits a town from passing such an ordinance, contending that zoning in unincorporated areas must be handled by the county. But town officials say it's not a matter of zoning - it's a matter of health and safety.

Give me a break.

God Hates Wisconsin

2008-03-21T14:38:00.002-05:00

As if we hadn't seen enough snow, Winter decided to extend is death grip upon Wisconsin:

Remember that whopper of a storm on Feb. 6 when nearly 12 inches of snow closed the malls, schools and made for treacherous driving?

"This will be something quite similar to that form with what we are seeing right now," meteorologist Tom Zajdel said this morning of the 10 to 15 inches of snowfall predicted for southeast Wisconsin by the National Weather Service.

Godamnit.

The Sad Truth About Relationships

2008-03-21T03:10:00.000-05:00

Found here.

The Sad Truth About Relationships

Hah.

Global Warming on Hiatus?

2008-03-19T21:13:00.003-05:00

Could this be a sign that maybe we don't really understand the phenomenon of Global Warming? Or maybe the whole thing isn't as bad as we originally though:

Some 3,000 scientific robots that are plying the ocean have sent home a puzzling message. These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren't quite understanding what their robots are telling them.
This is puzzling in part because here on the surface of the Earth, the years since 2003 have been some of the hottest on record. But Josh Willis at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says the oceans are what really matter when it comes to global warming.
In fact, 80 percent to 90 percent of global warming involves heating up ocean waters. They hold much more heat than the atmosphere can. So Willis has been studying the ocean with a fleet of robotic instruments called the Argo system. The buoys can dive 3,000 feet down and measure ocean temperature. Since the system was fully deployed in 2003, it has recorded no warming of the global oceans.

Don't hold your breath, however. Heat has been flowing from the water to the air (aka El Nino). This phenomenon can be the reason why global air temperatures have risen while global sea temperatures have actually dropped by a small degree. The rise in global air temperatures have caused an increase in sea levels, due to the increase in the melting of Antarctic glaciers.

However, the increase in sea level cannot be accounted for with only glacial melting.

"But in fact there's a little bit of a mystery. We can't account for all of the sea level increase we've seen over the last three or four years," he says.
One possibility is that the sea has, in fact, warmed and expanded — and scientists are somehow misinterpreting the data from the diving buoys.
But if the aquatic robots are actually telling the right story, that raises a new question: Where is the extra heat all going?

Time will tell.

One Day, Several Protests

2008-03-19T15:13:00.004-05:00

Associated Press - March 19, 2008 11:44 AM ET

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco police have made the first arrests in what is expected to be a busy day of protests in the Bay Area.

A police spokesman doesn't have an exact number, but says a handful of people have been arrested outside of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

The protest outside the bank is 1 of several planned throughout the day in the Bay Area.

A rally and march is also planned this evening at San Francisco's Civic Center.

San Francisco police have extra officers on duty, with a spokesman saying officers will work to keep protesters from closing streets and blocking traffic.

A march and protest is also planned outside the Marine recruiting station in Berkeley.

Berkeley police say they'll have 50 to 60 extra officers on duty to help with crowd control.

Protests and candlelight vigil are also planned in San Jose, Palo Alto and Oakland.

The main groups responsible for the protests are ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and DASW (Direct Action to Stop the War), who organized the events on the fifth aniversary of the invasion of Iraq.





  







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Wow, That Didn't Last Long

2008-03-19T14:58:00.002-05:00

Looks like the 3/4 point cut didn't help:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Wednesday as investors sold stocks to take profits after Tuesday's Fed-aided rally, while a sharp drop in oil prices drove energy shares lower.

The Standard & Poor's index of materials stocks fell 4.9 percent as persistent worries about a recession and the health of the U.S. economy weighed on commodity prices.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 made its biggest one-day jump in more than five years after the Federal Reserve cut short-term U.S. interest rates by 75 basis points. The Fed's decision, which was expected, brought the benchmark fed funds rate for overnight bank loans down to 2.25 percent from 3.0 percent.

The Fed knew this might happen, so why did they make such an aggressive cut?

"What you're probably seeing right now is simply profit-taking. People have decided that they got what they can out of the Fed meeting and they are now taking some money off the table," said Peter Jankovskis, director of research at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

Business using the Fed? Never would have expected that...

Lhasa Riots on Tape

2008-03-19T14:27:00.002-05:00

Tibetans in Lhasa riot, caught on tape by Australian journalist:

Will China be able to save face in time for the Olympics? Or will de facto martial law be imposed like in 1989?

More from the AP:

Beijing has learned a lot about controlling unrest since 1989. While China contained the fallout from crushing Tibet protests that year, its bloody quelling of the democracy demonstrators in central Beijing stigmatized the government and set back the economy for several years.

The government has since poured resources into building up police and paramilitary riot squads. Protests have become commonplace in China in the past decade, by workers laid-off from restructuring, bankrupt state industries and farmers displaced from their land by development. Police have developed a play book for dealing with these incidents - keep the protesters in a confined area, defuse the situation with payoffs or promises, and settle scores later.

Beijing has tried to stanch unrest and buy Tibetans' loyalty in recent years by investing billions of dollars in the region, lavishing spending on infrastructure projects.

Yet the flood of Chinese migrants that money brought and ever tightening restrictions on Buddhist observances left Tibetans feeling marginalized in their homelands. The riot-control plans that have proved so effective elsewhere in China also seemed to fail on March 14, as Tibetans briefly seized parts of Lhasa.

With foreign governments holding off calls for a real boycott and independent media given little access to Tibet, there are worries that China will resort to quick brutal measures, leaving Tibetans more angry and alienated.
"There's a number of people outside in the free world who also believe China's hopes for the Olympics is a window of opportunity. I believe it's a window of opportunity," said Lodi Gyari, an aide to the Dalai Lama who conducted a fitful dialogue with Chinese officials that broke off in 2006. "The Chinese themselves have created this global image. Tibet is precisely the image they wanted to avoid."

And that is the reason why I don't think China will be as violent in their reaction this time around.

Meeting David Wilson

2008-03-18T14:38:00.001-05:00

No, not me silly.

Meeting David Wilson is a feature length documentary about the enduring legacy of slavery in today’s young black society.

David Wilson, a 28-year-old African-American journalist, journeys into his family’s past to find answers to America’s racial divide. Along the way he meets another David Wilson, the descendant of his family’s slave master. This discovery leads to a momentous encounter between these two men of the same name but whose ancestors were on the opposite sides of freedom. Through DNA testing, David determines his African roots and returns to his native land.

MSNBC TO AIR WORLD PREMIERE OF “MEETING DAVID WILSON,” FRIDAY, APRIL 11 AT 9 P.M. ET
“Today” Correspondent Tiki Barber To Host Documentary
90-Minute Live Conversation About Race Moderated by NBC News’ Brian Williams To Air Immediately Following
Entire Event To Stream Live On MSNBC.COM
Ford Motor Company Is Presenting Sponsor Of Event

This ought to be good.

The Fed Strikes Again

2008-03-18T14:17:00.002-05:00

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve on Tuesday slashed a key interest rate by three-fourths of a percentage point, moving aggressively to contain a credit crisis threatening to push the country into a severe recession.

The latest action brought the federal funds rate - the interest that banks charge each other - down to 2.25 percent, the lowest point since late 2004. It marked the second back-to-back cuts of three-fourths of a percentage point.
[...]
In explaining its actions, the Fed said that it was having to navigate a difficult policy environment that included sluggish economic activity and rising inflation pressures.

The Fed statement said that "the outlook for economic activity has weakened further" but that "inflation has been elevated" with some signs that expectations of future inflation pressures are rising, a dangerous sign for the Fed.

No shit. Inflation? Could it be from the prolific and perpetual rate-cutting that the Fed has been doing? Could it be a result of the liquidity generated by the Fed? Could it be a result of the constant borrowing of a culture that has been raised with a dependency on credit and debt, which ultimately demands more money be put into a system than there is money to pay back? The direct consequent of which, is further generation and devaluation of currency?

And when bubbles held together by artificial value and credit dependency finally burst, you see what we see now: a breakdown starting in one small market that will finally spread to all others because of the bullshit economics we have been utilizing. And of course, the Fed's only response is that something HAS to be done (which translates into developing more debt for the sake of Wall Street). Sometimes, as painful as it may be, no action is better than trying to prop up a system that is inherently doomed to crashes like this.

Mish also has a great article HERE on the problems of too much liquidity and "liquidity traps."

EU Fines Microsoft $1.3 Billion for "Unreasonable Prices"

2008-02-27T07:36:00.003-06:00

In a sickening case of socialist authoritarian market intervention, the European Union fined Microsoft $1.3 billion dollars for charging "unreasonable prices" to competitors looking for software information:

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The European Union fined Microsoft Corp. a record $1.3 billion Wednesday for the amount it charges rivals for software information.

EU regulators said the company charged "unreasonable prices" until last October to software developers who wanted to make products compatible with the Windows desktop operating system.
[...]
The fine comes less that a week after Microsoft said it would share more information about its products and technology in an effort to make it work better with rivals' software and meet the demands of antitrust regulators in Europe.

But that's not good enough for the EU Competition Commissioner, who was far too eager to make a stand against the software powerhouse:

"Talk is cheap," Kroes said. "Flouting the rules is expensive."

[...]

"We could have gone as high as 1.5 billion euros ($2.23 billion)," she said. "The maximum amount is higher than what we did at the end of the day.

Oh, well thank you Almighty European Union for saving Microsoft from having to pay $2.23 billion.

Microsoft had initially set a royalty rate of 3.87 percent of a licensee's product revenues for patents and demanded that companies looking for communication information - which it said was highly secret - pay 2.98 percent of their products' revenues.
The EU complained last March that the rates were unfair. Under threat of fines, Microsoft two months later reduced the patent rate to 0.7 percent and the information license to 0.5 percent - but only in Europe, leaving the worldwide rates unchanged.

Apparently the EU has jurisdiction outside of Europe? Is a rate drop of almost 550% for patents, and almost 600% for information licenses not good enough? And most importantly, why does the EU get to decide what prices Microsoft should charge?

Why not just nationalize them? Is it not Microsoft's right to determine when and if to share their information, and how much they will charge? Is it not THEIR information, implying ownership? Also, to say that their prices are too high and that they must be lowered, one implies that in some way, others have a claim to Microsoft's property. But in that case, it's not property is it?

Should I ask you to sell me a car, and you ask price X. Would it be ethical for a third party to force you down to price .5X because they think your prices are too high? You would be outraged. If I was willing to pay the price in the first place, I obviously made an economic choice where I believed that the car was worth more to me than the sum of price X. What is wrong with that?

Naomi Wolf

2008-02-26T08:44:00.002-06:00

On her book, "The End of America:"

She makes a decent point, although I think we are far from the kind of authoritarian state she talks about. At the same time, she is trying to talk about post-9/11 America, an America that is 7 years old and has had only one president. Her speculation, therefore, seems to be devoid of any really compelling evidence for her argument. In any case, it's important to be able to recognize and prevent the existence of such a state, so it would do well to listen.

Wholesale Inflation Rises at Highest Rate in 26 Years

2008-02-26T08:27:00.003-06:00

And I can almost guarantee it's only the beginning:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Inflation at the wholesale level soared in January, pushed higher by rising costs for food, energy and medicine.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that wholesale prices rose 1 percent last month, more than double the 0.4 percent increase that economists had been expecting.
The January surge left wholesale prices rising by 7.5 percent over the past 12 months, the fastest pace in more than 26 years, since prices had risen at a 7.5 percent pace in the 12 months ending in October 1981.

And the Fed's rate cuts still haven't kicked in. Is it safe now to say I told you so? Maybe not, the real indication will come sometime by late summer, when liquidity will have had it's chance to move around the market, hopefully spawning some kind of economic growth before stagflation (as I predict) will begin in full force. I'm no economist, so only time will tell I suppose.

Pride Foundation of Seattle gives $65 Million to the LGBTQISA Community and HIV/AIDS Groups

2008-02-24T20:31:00.002-06:00

SEATTLE (AP) -- The estate of Ric Weiland, a high school classmate of Microsoft Corp. founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen and one of the first five people to work at the software giant, has left $65 million to gay rights and HIV/AIDS organizations.

[...]

The bequests were announced Sunday by the Pride Foundation of Seattle, where Weiland was a board member for several years. The foundation called it the largest single bequest ever given to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender causes.

Wow, that's a lot of money.

Huckabee Makes an Ass of Himself on SNL

2008-02-24T20:14:00.001-06:00

Nader to Run Again/Fail Again

2008-02-24T18:36:00.002-06:00

The former Green Party candidate for President makes an headache-inducing return, officially throwing his hat in the ring:

The anti-establishment consumer advocate made the announcement in a televised interview on Sunday.
Mr Nader was accused by many Democrats of handing the presidency to George W Bush in the November 2000 elections. He ran again unsuccessfully in 2004.

I would like to address that for a second. First of all, it is no lie that Nader took votes away in 2000 and 2004. Nader could very well be a partial cause to the Bush legacy, and could very well injure the Democratic nominee enough in November to hand the White House to McCain, effectively perpetuating the Bush legacy. Some speculate that he does this on purpose, though I highly doubt that; to me it seems more feasible that he is just plain CRAZY.

Mr Nader denied he was seeking to be a spoiler candidate - and accused the main parties of "political bigotry".
Referring to the three main contenders in the race so far, he questioned: "Do they have the moral courage, do they have the fortitude to stand up to corporate powers and get things done for the American people?"

Mr. Nader forgets that government itself is inherently an oligarchy, and that the free market gives "The Many" more power over their own decisions, and ultimately allows the individual to choose what is best for them. How is taking power and rights from companies (which in turn hurts individuals) via the state (thus centralizing more economic control in an fractionally equivalent body) not oligarchical? How is it ethical? What Nader means by "get things done for the American people," is, "take away from the American people their right to choose what gets done and how."

Milwaukee to have a statue of the Fonz

2008-01-25T21:11:00.000-06:00

Yes, I am completely serious:

It's now official: the bronze statue of the Fonz will be added to downtown Milwaukee's landscape later this year. The $85,000 needed to create the life-size statue of "Happy Days" TV show character Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli has been raised, according to an announcement today by Visit Milwaukee, the group leading that effort.

The sculpture, which is planned for the plaza south of E. Wisconsin Ave. and west of N. Water St., near the Chase Plaza office tower, will likely be unveiled around Labor Day.

Doyle Looking For Statewide Smoking Ban

2008-01-20T13:16:00.000-06:00

But alcoholics need not fear! Taverns will be delayed for a whole year! And why am I still not enthused? Apparently the state thinks that one whole year of being able to light up in bars is consolation for those who like to frequent their liquor with a good smoke.

Madison - A statewide smoking ban would not apply to bars and restaurants for the first year, under a measure advanced Tuesday by a Senate committee.
The ban for other workplaces and public buildings would begin in January 2009, with bars and restaurants following in 2010, under the compromise.

The prospects for the measure are uncertain.

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle said bars and restaurants should not get a special exemption. A statewide smoking ban is a top priority of Doyle's.

Because Doyle is the biggest nanny-state socialist our poor state has ever had for Governor. As with all infringements upon liberty, this one comes with a pathetic excuse for our health and the aesthetic value of a "smoke-free" state.

"Close to half the states in the nation are moving toward smoke-free public places," said Canter, who noted that statewide bans have become law in neighboring Minnesota and Illinois.

Thats right folks. All the cool kids are doing it, why not us?

"The Legislature should act so that Wisconsin does not become the ashtray of the Midwest,"

That's cute. So now we're afraid that a mass exodus of smokers is going to come here to smoke in our bars? Bring em! Better for us! Or maybe he meant that it would ruin our AMAZING reputation by imposing further state control over the rights of businesses. We already have problems attracting business. Why should the state be hostile to the few we still have?

The compromise, approved 3-2 by the committee, would:

• Ban smoking in workplaces and public places - except for bars and taverns - on Jan. 1, 2009.

• Ban smoking in bars and restaurants effective Jan. 1, 2010. Sen. Pat Kreitlow (D-Eau Claire) asked Senate committee members to give bars and restaurants 15 additional months - until April 1, 2011 - to implement the ban, but his proposal was rejected.

• Allow hotels and motels to set aside up to 25% of their rooms for smokers. Owners of hotels and motels with three or fewer rooms could designate one of them for smokers.

• Exempt businesses operated by manufacturers, importers, wholesalers and distributors of tobacco products, including tobacco leaf dealers and "tobacco storage" facilities. American Cancer Society lobbyist Alison Prange called that exemption a major loophole that could lead to "cigarette bars" in the state.

God forbid businesses meet a demand by opening bars for smoking.

FDR was an evil son of a bitch

2008-01-16T23:08:00.000-06:00

So sayeth Glenn Beck. You know there are times when I want to slap this guy, but I couldn't agree more at the moment:

Why is business suffering in Wisconsin?

2008-01-16T02:30:00.000-06:00

The Journal Sentinel gets a clue:

Executives Richard Armbrust of The Oilgear Co., Jeff Joerres of Manpower Inc., Paul Purcell of Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc., John Shiely of Briggs & Stratton Corp. and Tim Sullivan of Bucyrus International Inc. engaged in an unusual session during a Public Policy Forum luncheon Thursday that was notable for its frankness.

Taxes are too high, they complained. Health care costs are out of control. The public school system is broken and doesn't align with the skills needed by employers. Business success isn't celebrated.

[...]

Wisconsin and the Midwest is in a global fight for its economic life, and its business climate isn't competitive in fundamental ways. Armbrust's point was that other regions - other countries - are competing hard and understand the importance of economic development.

No shit, really? Get a clue Wisconsin, you can't have your cake and eat it too! Quit spending and taxing and maybe we might have some opportunities. All of the bullshit flying around Madison about helping poor people and the social welfare are only exacerbating poor economic conditions and both the politicians and the public are to blame.

First Corporations, Now Chimpanzees?

2008-01-15T12:01:00.000-06:00

Thankfully, no.

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Austria's Supreme Court has dashed hopes by animal rights activists to have a chimpanzee declared a person, a statement suggested Tuesday.

The court recently rejected a petition to appoint a trustee for the chimp, named Matthew Hiasl Pan, the Vienna-based Association Against Animal Factories said, and subsequently vowed to contact the European Court of Human Rights over the matter.

Animal rights activists just get crazier and crazier. Do any of these people understand what rights are?

Would he have the right to bear arms?

What's next: rights for robots?!

A study commissioned by the Government that suggests robots could one day have rights was attacked by leading scientists yesterday as a red herring that has diverted attention from more pressing ethical issues.

It said that if true artificial intelligence were ever developed, such robots might have to be given similar rights to humans, including the right to vote. “If granted full rights, states will be obligated to provide full social benefits to them including income support, housing and possibly robo-healthcare to fix the machines over time,” it added.

I think I am going to be sick.

Economics or Psychology?

2008-01-14T21:22:00.000-06:00

A Story in the L.A. Times mixes fields of psychology with economics, blurring the lines of rational and irrational. Based on the study question, I do not see any particularly correct answer.

Would you rather earn $50,000 a year while other people make $25,000, or would you rather earn $100,000 a year while other people get $250,000? Assume for the moment that prices of goods and services will stay the same.

Surprisingly -- stunningly, in fact -- research shows that the majority of people select the first option; they would rather make twice as much as others even if that meant earning half as much as they could otherwise have. How irrational is that?

Actually, not so irrational if you think about it. If the question is taken to mean that option B meant making $100,000 while living in a society where a median income was $250,000 per year, then option A might not be so bad. The individual would make "more" money, but that money would be worth far less than if, as in option A, they made twice the median income. Money does not necessarily mean wealth, and buying power does not hold equal at all times. In such an inflated society as option B, the par value for the dollar would be much less. Of course more is always better, but not when it fails in comparison to the average income of a given society. In this case, more was less. $50,000 in a society with a median income of $25,000 would mean more value per dollar as well as a better living standard, when one's income is double the median.

LA Times needs to check their economics.

However, if the study question were placed in today's socioeconomic averages, it would be more advantageous to make the $100,000 dollars, because buying power would not have any difference between dollars for each income. Less is less and more is more because the comparative value per dollar is equal.

This research goes a long way toward debunking one of the biggest myths in all of psychology and economics, known as "Homo economicus." This is the theory that "economic man" is rational, self-maximizing and efficient in making choices. But why should this be so? Given what we now know about how irrational and emotional people are in all other aspects of life, why would we suddenly become rational and logical when shopping or investing?

What is this, some kind of Marxian stump article? A choice in an economy works like this: i trade something for something else. Both parties will trade only if they believe to benefit from it. This may or may not be true, but at least I don't have someone else making the choice for me. Who is to say what is efficient and what is not?

This comes down to the fact that efficiency is relative to the values individuals ascribe to things and their projected loss/benefit weighed against real loss or benefit. Therefore efficiency can be justly described as relative in some sense of the word. I would like to see the author's explanation as to who exactly should be the judge of economic fairness or rationality? The state? Hardly so. I may not make the best decisions, but at least they are MINE.

UPDATE: I know that the article assumes that the prices of goods stay the same, but this is economically absurd if we are applying the test to society as a whole rather than a specific group.

T.O. Cries Postgame

2008-01-14T18:59:00.000-06:00

Sweet tears of defeat. As a Packer fan, and professional hater of the Cowboys, I take much joy in this.

Bush Continues to Fund Terrorism

2008-01-14T10:19:00.000-06:00

In a stunning move at the efficiency of our tax dollars at work, Bush continued to hand over weapons to "allies" in the middle east, amounting to the sum of $20 Billion this go-around.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- President Bush, on his first visit to this oil-rich kingdom, delivered a major arms sale Monday to its ally in a region where the U.S. casts neighboring Iran as a menacing threat to stability.

Bush's talks with King Abdullah also were expected to cover peace between Israelis and Palestinians and democracy in the Middle East.

The administration was notifying Congress of its intent to sell $20 billion in weapons, including precision-guided bombs, to the Saudis. It is "a pretty big package, lots of pieces," national security adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters on Air Force One.

Saudi Arabia, an ally? The home Osama bin Laden? The home of most of the 9/11 hijackers? One of the greatest funders and sponsors of terrorism? From the Times Online:

Yet wealthy Saudis remain the chief financiers of worldwide terror networks. “If I could somehow snap my fingers and cut off the funding from one country, it would be Saudi Arabia,” said Stuart Levey, the US Treasury official in charge of tracking terror financing.

[...]
An analysis by NBC News suggested that the Saudis make up 55% of foreign fighters in Iraq. They are also among the most uncompromising and militant.
Half the foreign fighters held by the US at Camp Cropper near Baghdad are Saudis. They are kept in yellow jumpsuits in a separate, windowless compound after they attempted to impose sharia on the other detainees and preached an extreme form of Wahhabist Islam.
[...]
School textbooks still teach the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious antiSemitic forgery, and preach hatred towards Christians, Jews and other religions, including Shi’ite Muslims, who are considered heretics.
Ali al-Ahmed, director of the Washington-based Institute for Gulf Affairs, said: “The Saudi education system has over 5m children using these books. If only one in 1,000 take these teachings to heart and seek to act on them violently, there will be 5,000 terrorists.”

UPDATE: Congress is poised to affirm the arms deal.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Democratic-led Congress is unlikely to block U.S. plans to sell $123 million worth of sophisticated precision-guided bomb technology to Saudi Arabia, despite concerns from some members that the systems could be used against Israel.

Or the United States. Saudi Arabia happens to be the largest sponsor of home grown terrorists that attack United States troops in Iraq.

Supreme Court Refuses Medical Rights For Terminally Ill Patients

2008-01-14T10:11:00.000-06:00

Without even bothering to take a look, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal over the right for terminally ill patients to use experimental drugs in the fight for their lives:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court refused Monday to review a ruling that terminally ill patients have no constitutional right to be treated with experimental drugs - even if that means the patient will likely die before the medicine is approved.
A federal appeals court, siding with the Food and Drug Administration, last year said the government may deny access to drugs that have not gone through extensive testing and received FDA approval. The process can take years.

The Supreme Court did not explain its decision to leave the appeals court ruling undisturbed. Chief Justice John Roberts did not take part in the action.

What a surprise! The one branch created to keep the constitution intact, effectively saving the rights of the people from authoritarian government, now sides with them.

Abigail Alliance was created by Frank Burroughs, whose daughter, Abigail, was denied access to experimental cancer drugs and died in 2001. The drug she was seeking was approved years later.

The alliance said all it was asking for "is a right for terminally ill patients with no remaining treatment options to fight for their own lives."

The FDA said the appeals court was correct and in line with other rulings "that have rejected constitutionally based demands for access to unapproved investigational drugs."

You heard it right, you don't have a constitutional right to drugs unless the FDA says so. It's funny that a conservative leaning Supreme Court doesn't hold to their affirmed beliefs to the right to life.

Way Too Close for Comfort

2008-01-07T21:22:00.000-06:00

Today as many as eight tornadoes landed in the Kenosha County area:

Six to eight homes in the area of Highway 50 and Kenosha County Highway O in the town of Wheatland were either collapsed or heavily damaged by a tornado that ripped through the area between 4 and 4:15 p.m. today, according to Sgt. Mark Krueger of the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department.

Krueger said injuries were either minor or moderate, and no one was killed.

An undetermined number of cars were blown off the road at the same intersection when the tornado hit, Krueger said.

I passed through there on my way to Lake Geneva today, right before getting pounded with rain and hail. We made it through and stopped for a bit at a coffee place before turning around. Communication was pretty bad, and power was out in a lot of places, so we had no idea what we were heading into. Thankfully, we followed the back end of the fast moving storm back into the town, noting the damage that had been caused just minutes after we passed through.

A little too close for my tastes.

Irony at it's Best

2008-01-05T20:17:00.000-06:00

The State of Wisconsin has implemented, as I blogged before, a digital list of tax delinquents throughout the state to be posted on the internet. Guess who showed up on the list?

Madison - The co-chairman of the Legislature's budget committee was stunned Friday to learn that his name was on the state Department of Revenue's newly expanded Internet list of delinquents who owe $5,000 or more in unpaid taxes.

"This is news to me," said Sen. Mark Miller (D-Monona), who was listed as owing $5,776 in unpaid income taxes. "I thought it had been taken care of."

And as if they didn't learn anything this time around, legislators are talking about implementing a shame list for individuals who owe child support:

In a related development, state Rep. Steve Wieckert (R-Appleton) said Friday he wants to change state law to post the names of anyone owing more than $500 in unpaid child support on the Internet site.

About $2.8 billion in unpaid support is owed by about 263,000 parents to more than 500,000 children in Wisconsin, Wieckert said.

"That is an enormous amount of money," Wieckert said in a prepared statement that noted the success of the Revenue Department's Internet list in getting tax delinquents to pay up.

I'm not even going to bother debating this one (sigh).

Oil Over $100 a Barrel

2008-01-02T14:03:00.000-06:00

First day of trading in 2008:

From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Crude oil prices soared to $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time, reaching that milestone amid an unshakeable view that global demand for oil and petroleum products will outstrip supplies.

Surging economies in China and India fed by oil and gasoline have sent prices soaring over the past year, while tensions in oil producing nations like Nigeria and Iran have increasingly made investors nervous and invited speculators to drive prices even higher.
[...]
Separately, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said its member nations may not be able to meet demand as early as 2024, though OPEC also said that deadline could slide for decades if members increase production more quickly. Word that several Mexican oil export ports were closed due to rough weather added to the gains.

Is Bill White and AlterNet Credible About Ron Paul?

2007-12-30T01:05:00.000-06:00

The man that AlterNet uses in its article, Bill White, claims that Ron Paul is racist. Any one who knows anything about Ron Paul ought to know that this is not true. But let's look at the man himself:

I have kept quiet about the Ron Paul campaign for a while, because I didn't see any need to say anything that would cause any trouble. However, reading the latest release from his campaign spokesman, I am compelled to tell the truth about Ron Paul's extensive involvement in white nationalism.

Both Congressman Paul and his aides regularly meet with members of the Stormfront set, American Renaissance, the Institute for Historic Review, and others at the Tara Thai restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, usually on Wednesdays. This is part of a dinner that was originally organized by Pat Buchanan, Sam Francis and Joe Sobran, and has since been mostly taken over by the Council of Conservative Citizens.

I have attended these dinners, seen Paul and his aides there, and been invited to his offices in Washington to discuss policy.

There is no evidence in this statement whatsoever to prove his accusation. None. Hearsay evidence is no evidence, especially from someone who would only stand to gain from Paul's losses. Bill White is the leader of the American National Socialist Workers Party, and a man like Ron Paul scares him to death.

While White is hardly the most reliable reporter on any subject, his testament to Paul's racist credentials does tend to corroborate what Dave and I have been telling you all along: Paul's got longstanding connections to the looniest loonies on the loony right. You may not be able to hear the dog-whistle code in his speeches, but they sure as hell hear it loud and clear.

And thousands of people believe that the twin towers were brought down by Bush, but that doesn't make it true, just because a few far left commies agree on it. Of course the left is going to take Paul's message of limited government and run with it. The far right does the same thing, and calling Paul far right is absolute proof of their ignorance to LIBERTARIAN philosophy. Yes boys, there is more than left and right.

We've also been telling you that it's not just that Paul shows up for their events: he also takes their money. There's an old saying in politics that ya gotta dance with them what brung ya -- and guys like Bill White are the ones that brung Paul to Congress in the first place.

Oh please, money is money. Paul should be happy to get money, and his use of it will be the antithesis to those who blindly donated it to him in the first place (I mean the white supremacists). I agree he should have returned it, but I disagree that accepting a donation is solid proof of racism. Try again.

However, the editor of the New York Times published a correction refuting White's and Alternet's claims; you can find it here.

Moreover, Alternet quoted Bill White from VNNforum.com, hardly a respectable media organization, and I think we all know the bullshit that flies around in forums that are know to have professional IDIOTS in them.

Ron Pauls true words, from 2002:

“The true antidote to racism is liberty. Liberty means having a limited, constitutional government devoted to the protection of individual rights rather than group claims. Liberty means free-market capitalism, which rewards individual achievement and competence, not skin color, gender, or ethnicity. In a free market, businesses that discriminate lose customers, goodwill, and valuable employees – while rational businesses flourish by choosing the most qualified employees and selling to all willing buyers. More importantly, in a free society every citizen gains a sense of himself as an individual, rather than developing a group or victim mentality. This leads to a sense of individual responsibility and personal pride, making skin color irrelevant. Rather than looking to government to correct what is essentially a sin of the heart, we should understand that reducing racism requires a shift from group thinking to an emphasis on individualism.”

The State Assembly Actually Does Something Right

2007-12-29T20:42:00.000-06:00

Republicans in the Assembly have voted for a bill that would return protections of the Second Amendment to the people of Wisconsin.

Madison - State lawmakers want to clip the power of the governor and local officials to seize people's guns during emergencies, saying that authority could trample the rights of citizens.

[...]
Legislators said they decided to try to curb those powers after seeing New Orleans police officers take guns from people during the recovery from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The Republican-run Assembly passed the bill this month on a bipartisan 84-13 vote, and the Democratic-led Senate is looking at doing the same soon.

Why did it take Katrina to prove this? Does anyone in Madison read history or philosophy? Apparently not. In any case, at least this would effectively restore the Consitution's provisions for the right to bear arms, although the chance of it passing the Democrat controlled Senate is slim. And although there are some Democrats who are in favor of this, I don't know if Doyle will sign it.

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle will review the bill if it gets to him to decide whether to sign it, aide Carla Vigue said.

"We really need to understand the implications of curtailing the powers of emergency management during a time of crisis," Vigue said.

Right. Power of government is all that is at stake here.

On a final note, why do we need a law to protect this? It is already under the constitution...

14,000 More Tax Delinquents to be Posted on State Website

2007-12-29T20:32:00.000-06:00

14,000 individuals and businesses in the state of Wisconsin will be posted to the website in 2008 for not fulfilling their duties to the nanny state:

Madison - About 14,000 more Wisconsin residents and businesses will start 2008 with an Internet hangover, when their names and addresses are added to state government's list of tax delinquents Friday.

[...]
The Wisconsin legislator who sponsored the change, Rep. Frank Lasee (R-Bellevue), doesn't apologize for widening the Internet spotlight of shame.

"They legitimately owe the debt, or the system says they do," Lasee said.

Well, they may owe the debt, but I think there is a good argument against the legitimacy of debt by ~~theft~~ taxes.

With state government continuing to face a long-term deficit, "We need to look under every rock for revenue," Lasee added.

Or, here's a good idea for the ~~commies~~ state legislators in Madison: STOP RAISING TAXES. Why can't we keep good business here? Why do we have a "brain drain?" Because taxes are killing what little economy we may have had before. You want to change the deficit? Raising taxes won't help. How about CUT TAXES AND SPENDING? Quit all your nanny state micromanagement of individuals and municipalities and stop grabbing for more power like the true fascist state we are becoming.

But that would make sense, and god knows nobody in the state has a clue about economics or philosophy. They just like power and money.

Bin Laden Saber Rattles, Musharraf Passes the Buck

2007-12-29T16:58:00.000-06:00

A new wave in the perpetual tit for tat:

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Osama bin Laden warned Iraq's Sunni Arabs against fighting al-Qaida and vowed to expand the terror group's holy war to Israel in a new audiotape Saturday, threatening "blood for blood, destruction for destruction."

[...]

The tape did not mention Pakistan or the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, though Pakistan's government has blamed al-Qaida and the Taliban for her death on Thursday. That suggested the tape was made before the assassination.

First of all, I would hope this isn't a surprise to anyone. Of course bin Laden is going to keep threatening Israel and the U.S. in Iraq as long as we continue to exist. Fundamental Islamist militants, while a small minority of actual Islam, are radicals who would stop at nothing to achieve their desired end state, even if it means abandoning parts of their religion in favor of bloodshed and violence. The War on Terror is not the right way to fight these extremists, and as you can see, it does nothing to stop al-Qaida nor any other terrorist organization. Nation building will continue to fail time and time again, and even if it does succeed in Iraq, it will continue to thrive in other underdeveloped nations. Also, momentary successes in Iraq do not ensure a continuously stable future. If democracy and secularism are not embraced at the grassroots level, top-down management will show to dissolve over time and push democracy farther to the unachievable, leaving a bitter anti-American taste in the mouths of the people.

This has happened time and time again with nation-building practices and I can garauntee the War on Terror is a waste. Ron Paul pointed out the effects of blowback and he was right:

I am not saying we should give up. There are ways to fight wars and this is not it. If we would usefully and practically employ counter terrorist and defensive intelligence, we would have no need to fight useless wars in sovereign nations with no ties to terrorism, nor any strategic link to defend against it. If we would have used the intelligence we had before, we could have stopped 9/11 in it's earliest days. War will not protect us.

On the second point, it seems Musharraf has been passing the buck on investigations into Bhutto's assassination:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan rejected foreign help in investigating the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on Saturday, despite controversy over the circumstances of her death and three days of paralyzing turmoil.

The Islamic militant group blamed by officials for the attack that killed Bhutto denied any links to the killing on Saturday, and Bhutto's aides accused the government of a cover-up.

[...]

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that an international probe was vital because there was "no reason to trust the Pakistani government," while others called for a U.N. investigation.

I don't think the international community has any reason to interfere in this at the moment. This is not under the jurisdiction of any state, nor any people, save the Pakistani people. With that being said, it does seem fishy that Musharraf would not do any thorough investigation (international or domestic), and even more interesting is that Bhutto implied an imminent attack upon her life shortly before her assassination. Guess who she blamed?

After an October suicide attack targeted her in the city of Karachi, Bhutto accused elements in the ruling party of plotting to kill her. The government denied the claims, and Babar said Bhutto's allegations were never investigated

Of course they weren't investigated. Nothing is in Pakistan it would appear. Another question is why did Musharraf allow for this to happen? He is currently blaming it on Talibani forces in Afghanistan, so why couldn't he keep his borders safe? Also, why couldn't he provide for security or protection for his own people, especially after an attempted suicide attack almost took her out the first time? Her blood and the blood of his people are on his hands as well. If he truly had no part in plotting to kill her, he definitely made no effort to stop it.

Tasteless Humor

2007-12-23T16:26:00.000-06:00

Tim Russert: Journalist or Jackass?

2007-12-23T12:18:00.000-06:00

See for yourself:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

George Bush and Dick Cheney have better interviews than this! How could Tim Russert use 20 year old quotes, quotes from ex employees, and other quotes that were not even Paul's? Why should Paul have to answer to quotes that weren't his? Also, Russert bombarded Paul the whole "interview." I myself would call it an interrogation. I can't recall one decent question, and all of the questions were spun out of control, delivered at ninety miles an hour, and often multiple at one time. Paul couldn't answer all for the life of him, particularly when most answers are not doable in fifteen second soundbites.

A Whole New Scarlet Letter

2007-12-21T14:28:00.000-06:00

In November, the Wisconsin legislature introduced a bill that would create a "violent offender registry" much like the sex offender registry we currently have.

The Assembly Bill, AB 566 would force people to register for up to 15 years after their release, and up to life if they meet the following criteria:

1) he or she has been, on two or more occasions, convicted, or found
not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, of a violent offense, including if the
first conviction or finding occurs before the effective date of this bill;

2) he or she has been convicted, or found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, of a violent offense, including a conviction or finding that occurs before the effective date of this bill, and is subsequently subject to a court−imposed registration requirement;

3) he or she is subject to a court−imposed registration requirement for a second time; or

4) he or she is subject to a court−imposed registration requirement and then is
subsequently convicted, or found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, of
a violent offense. In addition, a person who has a lifetime requirement to register
as a violent offender in another jurisdiction must register for life in this state.

Furthermore:

This bill requires DOC to establish an Internet site containing information
from the violent offender registry. The Internet site must be organized in a manner
that allows a person to get the information that DOC is currently authorized or
required to provide to the person. In addition, the site may provide access to any other information that DOC determines is necessary to release for protection of the public.

Those who fail to register can be fined up to $10,000, imprisoned for nine months, or both.

Section 51.20 (13) (cu) defines a pattern of violence as "the commission of, attempt to commit, or solicitation to commit 2 or more of [a violent offense] if the last of those acts occurred within 5 years after a prior act."

“Violent offense” means a violation, or the solicitation, conspiracy, or
attempt to commit a violation, of s. 940.01, 940.02, 940.05, 940.19 (4), (5), or (6),
940.21, 940.305, 940.31, 943.02, 943.06, 943.10 (2), 943.23 (1g), 943.32 (2), or 948.03
(2) (a) or (c).

In summation, "violent offensives" would be: First-degree intentional homideFirst-degree reckless homicide, Second-degree intentional homicide, Battery, Substantial battery, Aggravated battery, Kidnapping, Taking hostages, Arson, Molotov cocktails, Armed burglary, Auto theft while armed, Armed robbery, and Child abuse. From what I read, it is possible that even more could be applicable.

One more time

2007-12-21T10:58:00.000-06:00

I love this video.

The Lakota Have Seceded

2007-12-20T10:55:00.000-06:00

The Lakota have effectively separated themselves from the United States:

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States, leaders said Wednesday.
"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us," long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means told a handful of reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy, gathered in a church in a run-down neighborhood of Washington for a news conference.

Russel has been gathering international support, mostly from developing countries, or countries who aren't so hot on the freedom index:

They also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and will continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months, they told the news conference.

Probably not the kind of support they should want, but it's probably all they're gonna get. I hardly see any of the developed allies jumping on board with the Lakota.

Withdrawing from the treaties was entirely legal, Means said.
"This is according to the laws of the United States, specifically article six of the constitution," which states that treaties are the supreme law of the land, he said.
"It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest of the international community in 1980. We are legally within our rights to be free and independent," said Means.

This is more than just a legal issue, it's a moral issue. It's about time the Indian nations stood up against the U.S. Government and demanded independence. Only one problem: where are they going to go, and how are they going to develop their economies?

The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free -- provided residents renounce their US citizenship, Means said.

No taxes? Now that's how you do it! And where will this new tax-free state be?

The move to form an independent nation will focus on property rights in a five-state area where the treaties in question were drawn up. The states include South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana – areas that the group say have been illegally homesteaded for years despite knowledge of Lakota as the historic owners.

This could effectively displace American homeowners, might come into contact with military bases, and cut off trading routes to the rest of the state(s). However, I think the most harm will befall the Lakota. They will be sitting on ground that has not been developed for ages, trading will be extremely hard without foreign direct investment and an inflow of capital. With low taxes, this may be possible, but I hardly doubt the Lakota will be too open to that kind of idea. Furthermore, the US might choose to cut off supplies to the new nation, which would effectively be surrounded by U.S. territory. Not a historically good or strategic place to be. I can't wait to see how this develops, although I don't see it ending well for anyone.

Ron Paul Fans are Chasing Giulianni Everywhere

2007-12-20T03:13:00.001-06:00

And these ones are particularly amusing:

A couple of them reminded me of muppets, waving around with flailing arms and big dumb grins. I love it!

Toy Guns to be Taken as the Real Deal

2007-12-19T20:02:00.000-06:00

In November, the Wisconsin legislatures introduced SB 323 and AB 603, which would increase the penalty for threatening someone with a "facsimile firearm" by 20 times.

Under this bill, a person is subject to the same penalties as he or she would be
under current law for using a dangerous weapon if the person commits a crime using
a facsimile firearm. A “facsimile firearm” is any replica, toy, starter pistol or other
object that bears a reasonable resemblance to or that reasonably can be perceived to
be an actual firearm.

Current law also prohibits a person from carrying or displaying a facsimile
firearm in a way that would alarm, intimidate, threaten, or terrify another person.
Anyone who does so is subject to a Class C forfeiture and may be required to pay a
forfeiture not to exceed $500.

This bill increases that penalty to a Class A misdemeanor and a person who
violates the provision may be fined up to $10,000, imprisoned for up to nine months,
or both.

Airsoft enthusiasts beware: the state is watching YOU.

Can you tell the difference? Our legislature can't.

Ron Paul Shatters Fundraising Expectations!

2007-12-16T19:57:00.000-06:00

As of 7:58pm today, Ron Paul has raised over 5 million JUST TODAY! Four hours to go!

[...]

UPDATE: 9:41pm Central

Ron Paul has topped 17 million so far this quarter 5.5 Million of which is just today! Also, 22,392 NEW donors just today! The campaign is growing! I know the main stream media might not register Paul in polls, or the Zogby polls show him in single digits, but when he raises this much money, and wins just about EVERY straw poll, I know for a fact that this is going somewhere. I have now donated twice to this man, and if I have the funds (being a college student) I will again. I ask all of you who might frequent my blog, please donate to Dr. Paul if you believe in the ideals of liberty, prosperity, security, and peace!

[...]

Update! 9:47pm Central

Somehow, as I posted the last part of this blog, Paul raised almost 500,000 dollars! I need another drink!

[...]

Ron Paul has just broken John Kerry's record for most donations in one day! 5.7 million according to his website! Still over half an hour to go!

[...]

Ended at 12 Eastern, I wish we went with central time so we could get more funding, but Ron Paul has still raised over 17.9 million in donations this quarter, with just under 6 million today ALONE!!! I was optimistic about today, and I donated twice, but I had NO IDEA he would do this well!

Ron Paul on Mad Money

2007-12-14T22:35:00.000-06:00

What a great interview. It was nice to see someone who actually agrees with Paul on economics. Of course, it is important to consider that those who chastise Paul turn out to be wrong, time and time again. Anyways, Jim seems to be rather enthusiastic about Paul, but then again it could just be because he yells ALL THE TIME.

TV in the Nanny State

2007-12-13T21:28:00.000-06:00

Not that I think ANYONE other than market demand should determine who does business where, but honestly, why do we have to move central planning to the State level?

Madison - The Assembly on Tuesday approved a cable regulation overhaul that would require state government - and no longer local governments - to issue franchises to cable TV companies.

[...]

Sponsors of the bill said it will foster competition that will hold down costs for consumers. But opponents said it will eventually starve public-access channels that now rely on fees charged by local governments and make it harder for consumers to resolve complaints about cable TV and satellite-dish services.

Doyle still has to review the final bill before deciding whether to sign it, said his spokesman Matt Canter. Canter added that Doyle supports competition and believes the proposal would offer greater competition in the market and more choices for consumers.

[...]

Under the bill, companies wanting permanent franchises would apply to the state Department of Financial Institutions. But it would be up to the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to investigate complaints about cable and, for the first time, satellite dish service.

Since when is this the role of government? Why do I have to complain to the State about my cable service? Oh that's right, when government gives out contracts to these companies, they practically maintain a MONOPOLY in the region. I lose the power of my money to choose someone else. So much for the free market...

Go figure, and idiot nanny state liberal like Doyle would support this measure and attempt to call it "competition."

Abstinence Only Education Does Not Work!

2007-12-13T21:06:00.000-06:00

How much do you want to bet it won't work?

In a new online campaign, the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin and Milwaukee's Serve Marketing take a less dogmatic approach to convincing teens to postpone sex.

This local effort relies on humor and participation to make its point.

"I know there's research out there that says abstinence campaigns don't work," said Gary Mueller, creative director of Serve. "But no one's done anything like this."

Oh really? And what is so different this time around?

The infomercial parodies feature a man with the improbable name of Richard Woody, Ph.D., who promotes a faux product called the Abstinator. The kit - "designed to protect you from the temptation of sex" - includes garlic-flavored gum, anti-sexy specs and B.O. brand body spray. At the end of the videos, a tagline acknowledges the joke but encourages viewers to visit the Web site, where statistics on teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases await.

"It uses humor in such a powerful way to get people's attention on a critical health issue: young people engaging in unprotected sex," said Mike Gifford, chief operations officer at AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin. "People are receiving the Abstinator clip, and they choose to go to the site."

I have seen the site. I have seen the videos. I can tell you right now this won't work. At the front page to the site, you are treated to two options: choose, "I want sex right now" and you are treated to a web page with Genital Herpes "facts." I will not spend time debating the validity of the assertions on that page.

If you choose, "I would like to know the value of waiting," then you are treated to an extremely boring dialogue. If you click on "watch the tv spot," these completely horrid movies that prove nothing at all except for the stupidity of those who made it. I'm sorry guys, but kids are not that stupid. The cornier you make that shit, the less likely they will take you seriously.

And yes, once again abstinence only education DOES NOT WORK. And why is sex so bad in the first place? Why should we recreate a social stigma about a perfectly normal part of human life? Secondly, even if you manage to scare the shit out of kids at a young age, chances are they still won't be waiting until marriage. At that point, don't you wish you would have spent more time telling them how a condom could protect against STD's and pregnancy?

For more on why it won't work:

Here.

And here.

Central Banks Around the World in Panic Mode

2007-12-13T06:25:00.000-06:00

If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again:

Central banks in Europe and North America moved Wednesday to increase the amount of money they could lend to banks and to make it more readily available in an attempt to ease the credit squeeze.

It was the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and on the Pentagon that these central banks have coordinated their support of financial markets.

[...]

The move by the central banks should get more money to banks at interest rates lower than what they would have to pay if they borrowed at the Fed's discount window. The Fed will auction up to $40 billion in loans to banks at two auctions next week and undetermined additional amounts at two auctions in January.

The Fed also said it was making funds available to allow the European Central Bank to lend $20 billion and the Swiss National Bank to lend $4 billion to European banks that needed to borrow dollars.

In Frankfurt, the ECB said it would offer euro-zone banks as much as $20 billion to help cover their dollar-denominated liabilities.

"The general objective is to address elevated pressures in the short-term money market," said Lucas Papademos, an ECB vice president.

At its meeting Tuesday, the Fed lowered its target for the federal funds rate, the rate banks normally pay on overnight loans to each other, by a quarter point to 4.25 percent. It also lowered the discount rate, the rate at which the Fed will lend to banks on loans secured by virtually any collateral, by a quarter point, to 4.75 percent.

There are billions being "liquidated" into the market. What does this mean? We are printing more money while at the same time lowering interest rates. Savings will go down, borrowing will go up, a mini credit boom might happen (but it's still going to end in a huge bust), and inflation is going to destroy what little earnings many poor Americans make. This is welfare for people (primarily overambitious homeowners and upper class bankers and investors) who made terribly poor decisions by over inflating the credit market with artificially low rates on mortgages. The effects of this keep going on and on, and the Fed keeps making move after desperate move, but nothing seems to work too much.

Granted, the "liquidity" might be a short term solution MAYBE. If anything, the Fed does it for those assholes on Wall Street who are just lining up for the slaughter. They want more liquidity so that stocks can rise, not realizing that the amount of the stocks may actually be worse LESS due to inflation (although it won't be instantaneous). This is a tax on the POOR, and the middle class that actually acted responsibly.

Immanuel Kant: Wrong For America

2007-12-10T20:01:00.000-06:00

Welfare for Politicians

2007-12-09T19:00:00.000-06:00

Is your campaign in shambles? Nobody likes you? Can't raise enough money? It's OK! If you are running for office in Wisconsin, we've got just the thing for you:

SB 12, sponsored by Sens. Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) and Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) would:

• Set voluntary spending caps at $4 million for governor, $150,000 for state Senate and $75,000 for state Assembly races. Accepting these caps will trigger access to public financing.

• Create a Public Integrity Endowment Fund to which anyone can contribute to publicly finance elections for those who agree to the spending caps.

• Increase the checkoff contribution on state income tax forms to $5, also for public financing of elections, with the taxpayer able to designate which party the money goes to.

• Provide General Purpose Revenue funds to be tapped should these other funds be insufficient to cover 35% of expenses for participating candidates for state office.

• If a candidate eschews public financing and tries essentially to buy an election, the candidate who does agree to the limits gets up to three times the limit to mitigate at least some of the impact of the other candidate's spending.

The bill also effectively eliminates the legislative campaign committees that funnel special interest money to candidates and prohibits campaign fund raising by legislators and statewide elected officials during the state budget process.

What is so special about interests? Some of those "special interests" are my money. Now at least I get to choose what party my money goes to, but what if I only like one candidate? I surely wouldn't want to give money to anyone but Ron Paul for the Presidency. Cracking down on special interests puts a limit on my say and my money just as much as it does any organization that donates. And for the record, many of these organizations are donated to by people who agree with their cause. Now all of a sudden their freedom of speech is moot too?

And the best part is, as long as someone chooses to forgo public financing, the other people get THREE TIMES as much from our wallets! Awesome!

As usual the super liberal media is eating this all up.

DHS is Slap Happy for Screening and Surveillance

2007-12-03T06:44:00.000-06:00

Right in your own back yard:

The federal government disclosed details yesterday of a border-security program to screen all people who enter and leave the United States, create a terrorism risk profile of each individual and retain that information for up to 40 years.
While long known to scrutinize air travelers, the Department of Homeland Security is seeking to apply new technology to perform similar checks on people who enter or leave the country "by automobile or on foot," the notice said.
The department intends to use a program called the Automated Targeting System, originally designed to screen shipping cargo, to store and analyze the data.
[...]
In around-the-clock operation, targeters match names against terrorist watch lists and a host of other data to determine whether a person's background or behavior indicates a terrorist threat, a risk to border security or the potential for illegal activity. They also assess cargo.
Each traveler assessed by the center is assigned a numeric score: The higher the score, the higher the risk. A certain number of points send the traveler back for a full interview.
[...]
The parent program, Treasury Enforcement Communications System, houses "every possible type of information from a variety of federal, state and local sources," according to a 2001 Federal Register notice.
It includes arrest records, physical descriptions and "wanted" notices. The 5.3 billion-record database was accessed 766 million times a day to process 475 million travelers, according to a 2003 Transportation Research Board study.

[...]

According to yesterday's notice, the program is exempt from certain requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974 that allow, for instance, people to access records to determine "if the system contains a record pertaining to a particular individual" and "for the purpose of contesting the content of the record."

So we can't even contest it. Well try not to piss of whoever is screening you, eh? And what if you leave the country more than once in a lifetime? Do you have to reset the clock on another forty years? Who is going to manage 300 million+ people's profiles? More bureaucracy means more wasted money, more time, less liberty, and inevitably, people are going to mess this up. Seriously. How subjective is something like a number rating? And considering how militarized government agents and police are, they'd be more than happy to slap a 10 on anyone that looks at them the wrong way.

Straw Poll RIGGED: People Voting up to 80 Times!

2007-12-02T16:04:00.001-06:00

Ron Paul on Medicine

2007-12-01T22:40:00.000-06:00

Other than John Stossel's, "Sick in America," which by the way you can find on YouTube, this is the best explanation of why we don't need socialized medicine and how a free market really can work. Dr. Paul, an OB/GYN lays out his plans for a better health care system.

This one's for you, Carly.

Putin, Russia Pull Out of NATO

2007-12-01T22:11:00.000-06:00

In a not so surprising, but nonetheless significant move, Putin signed for the withdrawal of Russia from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization:

Russia says Nato members have not ratified an amended version of the pact and accuses it of flexing its muscles near Russia's borders.
Putin has also been sparring with the US and EU over plans for a missile defence shield in Europe, and proposed independence for Serbia's Kosovo province.
[...]
Moscow argues it has been used by an enlarged Nato to limit Russian military movements while Nato builds up forces close to Russia, in contravention of earlier agreements.
[...]
Moscow's key problem with the treaty is flank limits which prevent Russia from moving tanks and artillery around its own territory, Russia's top generals say.

And not to be missed:

Polls show that talking tough about Russia standing up to foreigners strikes a chord with millions of Russians who yearn for the return of the Soviet Union's once-mighty superpower status.

Awesome, just what we need right now, the revival of Cold War tensions. I don't really think thats going to happen, but Putin has really been pushing towards that lately.

More on Campaign Finance Reform

2007-12-01T21:24:00.000-06:00

I have argued that limiting donations to candidates by individuals is a violation of first amendment rights. I have also argued that a ban on private funding of campaigns is wrong. What is one way we can have our cake and eat it too? If we want to get CORPORATE money out of campaigns, its very simple:

Because of the unique frailties and depths of passion unique to humans, just after the United States Constitution was ratified Thomas Jefferson and James Madison began a campaign to amend it with a 12-point explicit statement that would clearly and unambiguously place humans - who had created government - above their creation. This was the birth of what would become the Bill of Rights, and it originally had twelve - not ten - protections for citizens’ rights.

[...]
But on the issues of banning a standing army and blocking corporations from gaining monopolistic control over industries, Jefferson was getting resistance. The nation had just fought a bloody war against England, and there was little sentiment for completely dismantling the army. And the Federalists who were in power - a party largely made up of what Jefferson called “the rich and the well born” - were opposed to government constraints on business activities.

Thus only ten of his twelve visions for a Bill of Rights - all except “freedom from monopolies in commerce” and his concern about a permanent army - were incorporated into the actual Bill of Rights, which James Madison shepherded through Congress and was ratified as the first ten amendments to the constitution on December 15, 1791.
[...]

During this same period, because everybody understood Paine and Jefferson’s argument that human-made institutions must be subordinate to humans themselves; virtually every state had laws on the books that regulated the behavior of corporations.

The corporate form is, after all, just a legal structure to facilitate the conversion of products or services into cash for stockholders. As Buckminster Fuller wrote in his brilliant essay The Grunch of Giants, “Corporations are neither physical nor metaphysical phenomena. They are socioeconomic ploys-legally enacted game-playing-agreed upon only between overwhelmingly powerful socioeconomic individuals and by them imposed upon human society and its all unwitting members.”
Thus, states made it illegal for corporations to participate in the political process: politicians were doing the voters’ business, and corporations couldn’t vote, so it didn’t make sense they should be allowed to try to influence votes. States made it illegal for corporations to lie about their products, and required that their books and processes always be open and available to government regulators. States and the Federal government claimed the right to inspect companies and investigate them when they caused pollution, harmed workers, or created hazards for human communities, even if in the early years that right was unevenly used.

[...]

With the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, the owners of the what were then America’s largest and most powerful corporations - the railroads - figured they’d finally found a way to reverse Paine’s logic and no longer have to answer to “we, the people.” They would claim that the corporation is a person. They would claim that for legal purposes, the certificate of incorporation declares the legal birth of a new person, who should therefore have the full protections the voters have under the Bill of Rights.

[...]

Another great irony of this event is that the Bill of Rights was designed to protect human persons because of their vulnerability in relations with other human persons who may be much more powerful. But corporations are bestowed with potential immortality, can change their identity in a day, or even tear off parts of themselves and instantly turn those parts into entirely new “persons.” Yet regardless of all these superhuman powers, corporations are now considered persons.

[...]
An internet search on the phrase “corporate personhood” will find thousands of sites discussing or devoted to the topic, and models of legislation to remedy the error of 1886.

But the first step, as always, is awakening people to the root cause of the problems we face - the use of corporate personhood by a handful of the world’s largest enterprises to insinuate themselves into governments and seize control of legislative and regulatory agendas. As enough voters learn the history and realize the consequences of this, the solution - ending corporate personhood - will become more and more possible, and Paine’s and Jefferson’s original idea of democracy representing “we, the people” will come back to life.

The Bush Administration Halting Interest Rates

2007-12-01T10:58:00.000-06:00

In a glorious move to devalue the dollar even more, the Bush administration is calling for a temporary freeze on interest rates:

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration and major financial institutions are close to agreeing on a plan that would temporarily freeze interest rates on certain troubled subprime home loans, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

An accord could reassure investors and strapped homeowners, both of whom are anxious as interest rates on more than two million adjustable mortgages are scheduled to jump over the next two years. It could also give a boost to the Bush administration, which is facing criticism for inaction amid the recent housing turmoil.

It may reassure Wall Street, but foriegn investors are going to dump our currencies and start investing in the Euro if the dollar keeps devaluating. Even if Wall St. surges, every dollar they gain and have gained will be worth less. The dollar is going to hell, and we are going to see inflation. I don't think we have fully realized the inflation yet, but when we do, this is surely not going to help. So why then would they do this?

Many subprime loans carry a low "teaser" interest rate for the first two or three years, then reset to a higher rate for the remainder of the term, which is typically 30 years in total. In a typical case, the rate would rise to around 9.5% to 11% from 7% or 8%. That would boost an average borrower's payment by several hundred dollars a month.

Exactly which borrowers will qualify for the freeze and how long the freeze would last are yet to be determined. Under one scenario, the freeze could run as long as seven years. The parties are developing standard criteria that would determine eligibility. The criteria should be finalized by the end of year.

[...]

The creditors are likely to look at whether the borrowers have equity in their homes, despite falling house prices, and whether their incomes are holding steady.

In effect, it's a bailout. A conservative one at that, but it still will have negative consequences. Why should a certain group of people get special privileges just because they can't pay? Is that not their own fault, and the fault of the mortgage group? Why should we give them what in effect is corporate and individual welfare?

As a drumbeat of bad news about housing has continued -- including news of fewer home sales, falling prices and higher foreclosures -- the Bush administration has come under pressure to be seen as actively addressing the problem.

[...]
Interest rates are set to reset next year on $362 billion worth of adjustable-rate subprime mortgages, according to Banc of America Securities. An additional $85 billion in such mortgages is resetting during the current quarter. The estimates include loans packaged into securities and held in bank portfolios.

Borrowers whose loans are resetting are likely to have a tougher time sidestepping the rising payments by refinancing or selling their homes. Lending standards have tightened and many borrowers can't qualify for refinancing. And falling home prices mean that many borrowers have little or no equity in their homes. Some owe more than their homes are worth.

So? Shouldn't you have to take responsibility for your actions? The market will inevitably come to a "correction" and it won't be nice. The more we try to bail out and put it off, the worse it will be.

Top Treasury officials fear that unless creditors agree to relax the terms on many of those mortgages, borrowers will default at a higher pace. About 6.6% of subprime mortgages were in foreclosure as of August, the most recent data available, according to First American LoanPerformance.

I think Mish has it right:

But let's get one thing straight right up front. This has nothing whatsoever to do with "saving people's homes". This is about saving financial institutions from collapse. And the plan will fail. It rewards those who cannot afford to pay. The details are not in yet but I suspect one measure of the ability to pay will be whether or not one is current on their loans.

[...]

How those collective minds think this plan will work is beyond me. Here are three simple reasons the plan will fail:
This plan will encourage those on the edge to fall behind just to get a freeze.
This plan will foster resentment from those not being bailed out.
This plan is a transparent attempt to make people debt slaves forever.

Ditto.

Doyle Calls for Campaign Finance Reform in Wisconsin

2007-12-01T08:05:00.000-06:00

Doyle wants to take away your freedom of speech:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Gov. Jim Doyle called on the Legislature Friday to pass a campaign finance reform package that includes public financing for Supreme Court races and other measures that have traditionally divided lawmakers.

[...]

"I think what he’s doing is he’s basically saying to the Legislature we really have to do something on this," Erpenbach said. "There may not be a deal on this, but we have to do something."

[...]

"I just think it’s in everybody’s interest to sit down and do this," Heck said. "I don’t think either party wants to be viewed as the party that’s an obstacle to political reform in Wisconsin."

In addition to 100 percent public financing for Supreme Court races, Doyle also said the proposal should ban fundraising from the moment the state budget is introduced until it is passed. It should also establish a system of matching grants for some candidates who take public financing and increase spending limits for candidates accepting public financing.

Erpenbach said the bill will also do something to reign in issue ads paid for by special interest groups.

[...]

Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, said the Republican-controlled Assembly will take up Doyle’s call and debate the reforms but he did not say what, if any, parts he would support.

Assembly Majority Leader Rep. Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, said there may be some parts of the proposal that are workable but he is opposed to public financing of campaigns.

Isn't that just great? Even the Republicans can't save you now. They don't even know how to object to the abridgment of our first amendment rights. So now what? We have to pay taxes to pay for candidates we HATE? If Hitler got enough signatures to be on the ballot, he would get just as much funding as say, Jesus. Does this sound fair? I think not. I enjoy donating money to candidates I like. I did this with Ron Paul. Why should I be FORCED to fund candidates who I would hate to see make it on the ballot? And who decides how much money each candidate gets? A million? Five million? Where do you think this comes from? That's right: YOU. Even if you have never voted and never intend to vote.

They might find ways to work around that last point, but the fact still stands that I could not give money to someone I like; it would be illegal. Does this sound fair to you? I would hope not.

Some problems with Campaign Finance Reform From the Heritage Foundation:

A political candidate has an absolute First Amendment right to spend an unlimited amount of his own money expressly advocating his own election (unless he voluntarily waives that right in order to receive public financing).

Individuals and organizations also have an absolute First Amendment right to spend an unlimited amount of their own money expressly advocating the election or defeat of particular candidates so long as there is no coordination between the individual or organization and the candidates. And governments may not presume that there is coordination under certain scenarios--unless there really is some.

Other articles include John Samples from USA Today, and CATO Policy Analysis 547.
Hopefully these can help you decide to oppose campaign finance reform.

Kenosha, WI to raise taxes

2007-12-01T07:44:00.000-06:00

The ~~Communists~~ honorable people at City Hall are proposing to raise taxes AGAIN. When asked for what reasons, the City goes on to say that it's all the State's fault:

The city's proposed 2008 budget calls for a 4.7 percent tax levy increase. That figure could mean a 2.3 percent increase for the city's portion of the tax bill.

The city's proposed 2008 budget calls for a tax levy for the city, museum and library of $50,151,658, city finance director Carol Stancato said. That is a 4.7 percent increase from 2007's levy of $47,918,755. The 2007 levy was about a 3.5 percent increase from the previous year.

[...]

Stancato said the average price of a house in Kenosha is estimated at $165,073 for 2008, the same as this year, which would bring the city's portion of the average tax bill to about $1,368.45 before lottery or state credits are figured in. That total is about $32.09 more than this year's rate.

[...]

Antaramian said some changes at the state level created some difficulties in crafting the budget.

"The toughest part of any budget are the changes in state law," Antaramian said. "We were waiting on the levy limits and the city has not done well on the state revenue side, with the lion's share of funds going to the school district. It would be nice to see some of those revenue streams go toward cities, which the governor did propose, but it didn't make it through committee."

Maybe we shouldn't be so dependent on State revenue to get by? Why are we building a whole new museum, and building a damn statue of Christopher Columbus (as if he sailed into Kenosha Harbor?) when we could be fixing roads, lowering taxes, and boosting the dead and dying economy? This whole state is going to hell with the Democrats in control, but the city need not make it worse.

A breakdown of our REAL reasons for the increase:

"The biggest increase is overtime," incoming Kenosha Police Chief John Morrissey said. "The city boosted all of our overtime accounts for 2008 based on this year, and we felt we needed it."
The police budget also includes 15 new vehicles for 2008.
The Kenosha Fire Department is slated to see a 1.1 percent decrease compared to 2007, with a budget of $11.2 million. That budget includes one additional employee, an emergency services instructor.
That department's funding is proposed at $2.79 million for 2008, up 38.4 percent from 2007. The largest increases are in the department's utility costs, up about $180,000 from 2007, and about $300,000 more for salaries.
Storm water utility budget increased by about 18 percent with a proposed $4.87 million total for 2008.
The Parks Department is proposed to move up about 4.4 percent with a $4.14 budget for 2008. Strong said the department's undetermined cost for next year is how much vandalism it will have to deal with.
The Public Works Department is slated to take on a number of major street projects, including work on 63rd and 75th streets, next year.
But the operating budget, at $8.03 million, is only 0.7 percent higher than this year's estimated costs.

At least some money is being spent on infrastructure, but our police force just keeps growing, and we have to lose business, homes, and jobs to pay for our beloved Police State. The museum is a waste of time. If we had a good ECONOMY then maybe the museum would build ITSELF. The Police say that they had to increase their overtime pay. Could it be because we have more of them on the street than ever before, or maybe because they are working even more hours? They're damn near everywhere!

The Debate Tonight

2007-11-28T21:34:00.000-06:00

(I have updated and revised this since my first blogging)

The Republican YouTube Debate tonight was....interesting. Giulianni and Romney duked it out, as predicted, and McCain didn't go much of anywhere. Romney as usual could not find solid ground on any questions, repeatedly saying he would "consult people" or tiptoeing around the questions completely.

Giulianni repeatedly used 9/11 and New York to answer every question, as if the whole United States revolves around terrorism, and if New York was the center of the universe. Come on, Rudy, Kenosha, Wisconsin is not New York, and neither is any other town. What worked there will not work here, and I would hate to see you use the White House as an instrument to push your police state, anti-liberty, war-mongering beliefs on all of the FEDERAL governments in this nation. Hunter....weak. Tancredo...crazy. Everything to him is about immigration.

Thompson surprised me in many ways, and at times I could swear he was a real conservative. However, just as most of the candidates on the stage, he talks about spending and saving without looking at the greatest cost to this country: empire. Also, while he may be witty and humorous, what I am really looking for is a straight answer. He fails.

Finally, Ron Paul. Tonight was his chance to shine, and he failed. While the audience absolutely loved him (I think this stems from his having more money, and being more able to buy seats), he came across rather weak on issues, and at one point could not remember "those guys in the north (of Iraq)." They're called Kurds, Ron. It doesn't help that he was cut off repeatedly, not allowed to reply, nor given many questions to begin with. CNN spent more time on useless jabber than on foreign policy (Ron's strong point) and Ron Paul did not even get much attention at all in this area. However, considering the boos that McCain, Romney, and Giulianni got...I think Ron Paul did alright. Enough to continue to exist without shame.

It is hard to declare any real winner, but if I had to rank...it would go as such:

1. Thompson (Not a strong performance at all, but better)
2. Huckabee (Acted like a career politician, full of shit. But a lot of support)
3. Giulianni (No real gain or loss)
4. Paul (Not eloquent at all, but had a lot of support, unfortunately came off as crazy)
5. McCain (No real gain or loss, strong on torture and the troops)
6. Romney (Looked terrible, stumbled, flip flopped)
7. Hunter (Nothing groundbreaking. He's out)
8. Tancredo (He is definitely out)

Although I favor Paul in this race, he is going to need to speak clearer next time.

Paul on Economics

2007-11-26T20:32:00.000-06:00

enjoy.