OBAMA BODY COUNT
July 21st, 2009
The Failure of Socialism
May 9th, 2009
We often see the failure of socialism used as an excuse to curtail freedom.
Usually in the past, the failure of socialism is used as an excuse to force motorcycle riders to wear helmets, force people to wear seat belts while driving, raise taxes on smokers, mandated vaccinations and other medical treatments and myriad other nanny state ideals.
The argument goes like this, “Your irresponsible behavior is costing the rest of us in increased medical and hospital fees. This raises premiums and taxes for everybody else”.
Recently, the failure of socialism has been used to bash immigrants and to curtail their freedom to move about. Apparently, some people think that socialism could be made to work if only those “brown people” didn’t use our roads and hospitals and schools!
I certainly have my doubts. The failure of socialism will never be overcome, and historically never has been, regardless of the restrictions on beneficiaries.
In a just society, all people are treated equally. Indeed, our US Constitution guarantees “equal protection before the law”. And this includes all people, even those with brown skin or those that talk with different accents.
The people that say the immigrants, both those with bureaucratically approved papers and those without, are draining our socialistic infrastructure are of course wrong. Every study shows that immigrants pay far more into the “system” than they take out. Indeed, most studies show that immigrants without documentation are far less likely to use government “services”.
Somali Piracy or Somali Patriotism?
April 15th, 2009I always get a little skeptical when I see democrats and republicans agreeing on almost anything. Especially when it comes to their propensity to ignore the US Constitution.
Recently, both the democrats and the republicans were cheering President Obama’s violation of the US Constitution. Article 1, Sec. 8 pretty clearly authorizes Congress to define and punish matters of piracy and crimes on the high seas. There is probably a good reason the nation’s founders included this reference.
There is nothing in the US Constitution that authorizes the President to order US Navy snipers to kill persons on a Coast Guard vessel (of a country we don’t recognize) in order to keep a Danish owned ship from paying it’s toll to cross a section of water.
Why don’t we and others recognize this country? For starters, western nations then would be forced to stop over fishing (and depleting the food reserves of a very poor country) off this country’s coast. But that could mean paying a little more for sushi!
Secondly, it has long been alleged that many European and Asian countries have been dumping hazardous wastes into these same waters. Largely ignored by western media and human rights organizations, the issue came to a fore after the 2004 tidal wave washed tons of waste and waste containers ashore, particularly in the northeastern secessionist state of Puntland.
Nick Nuttall, a UNEP spokesman had this to say “And the waste is many different kinds. There is uranium radioactive waste. There is lead, and heavy metals like cadmium and mercury. There is also industrial waste, and there are hospital wastes, chemical wastes– you name it.”
And still, the UN and it’s benefactors refused to act on the atrocities against the people of the former nation of Somalia.
There are currently at least four different operating governments in this former country. In the northwest is Somaliland, the only one with quasi recognition from any country (Ethiopia needs a port). In the northeast is Puntland. The south appears to be ruled by the Islamic Courts Union. And it is in the mid section (around Mogadishu) where much of the recent fighting has occurred between the ICU and the “Transitional Federal Government” (which claims all of former Somalia) along with their Ethiopian “peacekeeping” troops/partners.
It is important to note that it is very doubtful the nation of Somalia will ever be reunited, and for good reason. With reunification will come heavy taxation to repay exorbitant loans taken out by previous puppet regimes.
So it is simply easier for the rest of the world to ignore the people, poison the coastline and deplete the coastal waters of Somalia. Allowing the “Volunteer Coast Guard” to assess a toll to pass is a small price to pay, except for the occasional embarrassment.
You might recall that the “Faina”, a Lithuanian freighter was brought into port, on it’s way to Kenya. On board the Faina are 33 T-72 Russian made tanks. This is sort of an embarrassment because Kenya does not now, and never has used Russian made tanks*. Kenya denies that these tanks are on their way to a Sudanese secessionist regime, which does use Russian made tanks. The Faina, after several months, is still being held.
It is easy to get caught up in a hysteria over an American flagged (but Dutch owned) ship being detained by a government that we don’t want to recognize. And hopefully it is hysteria (and not something embarrassing, such as campaign contributions) that caused President Obama to order the attack.
If the US Congress had debated these issues as authorized, then a different outcome might have come about. All of these issues should be in the open. I would love to see democrats and republicans refer to “uranium repatriation” with a straight face.
And we would not be seeing the President thumbing his nose at the US Constitution, which he swore to uphold.
Ohio’s 12th Congressional District Candidatesprofiled by the Columbus Dispatch
April 5th, 2009Taxes, troops, energy top 12th District talk
Tuesday, October 14, 2008 3:12 AM
By Catherine Candisky
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
During four terms in Congress, U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi has tried hard to keep close ties with his constituents, he says.
But despite all the calls for him to oppose the $700 billion federal bailout of Wall Street, the Genoa Township Republican eventually voted to approve it.
During a debate yesterday, Tiberi said he opposed the first version of the bill but switched his position after assurance that the legislation would protect taxpayers by requiring repayment of the money.
“What is more important is making sure our credit markets did not collapse,” Tiberi said during an hourlong debate in the WOSU studios at COSI Columbus. “We had a real problem we had to deal with.”
Democrat David Robinson of Columbus said he would have supported the bailout from the start, noting that $1.4 trillion was lost during the days Tiberi contemplated his position.
Libertarian Steven R. Linnabary of Columbus distinguished himself from both, saying that he opposes the bailout.
“I’m not sure how adding $150 billion of more debt helps the taxpayers,” he said of Democrats’ proposal for an additional economic-relief package. “We should liquidate the debt on these failed institutions. We should also cut taxes so we can free up money for reinvestment and cut regulations, especially for the community banks which are hurting, and abolish the Federal Reserve.”
The three candidates for Ohio’s 12th Congressional District seat in the House sparred over taxes, government regulation, alternative energies and health care during the debate sponsored by WBNS-TV (Channel 10), the Ohio News Network (ONN), ThisWeek Community Newspapers and The Dispatch.
Sparks flew briefly when Tiberi suggested that Robinson’s “Apollo II” energy plan sounded like the “New Apollo Energy Project” proposed a few years ago by Washington Democrat Jay Inslee.
“I was reading it over the weekend. I thought it sounded familiar remarkably similar,” Tiberi said.
Robinson snapped back, “The Apollo II initiative is a product of my own mind, my own research and I resent the fact that you suggest it is plagiarism.”
Robinson’s proposal calls for government investment in research, development and production of new green technologies, independence from reliance on foreign oil by 2030, and an 80 percent reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions by 2050.
Tiberi said he supports an “all of the above” energy plan: one that would include alternative fuel sources, expansion of nuclear power and offshore oil drilling.
Linnabary said government “should not be in the business of picking and choosing winners and losers. When you do that, only the lobbyists win.”
On U.S. involvement overseas, Linnabary was the only one calling for an immediate end to the war in Iraq and the return of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and the 130 other countries around the world where they are stationed.
Robinson said he supports sending more troops to Afghanistan, which he sees as the central front in the U.S. fight against terrorism. Tiberi did not address Afghanistan but said President Bush’s surge of troops to Iraq worked, and he predicted that a drawdown of U.S. troops would start at the beginning of the year.
ccandisky@dispatch.com
http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/10/14/copy/debate12.ART_ART_10-14-08_B1_QHBJJVP.html?adsec=politics&sid=101
A Government Owned Auto Industry?
April 4th, 2009It’s a bit misleading to claim that GM & Chrysler are now government controlled. The government may be the biggest current investor, but that isn’t quite the same as government controlled.
OTOH, if it IS government controlled, that should be very scary for anybody still employed there. Recall that fifteen or so years ago the IRS took over control of the “Mustang Ranch” in Nevada. The IRS is not allowed to put people out of work when they take over a profitable business, and yet they managed to run it into the ground.
If the US government can’t make money with a whorehouse, how can they be expected to run a car company?