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Milton J. Madison - An American Refugee Now Living in China, Where Liberty is Ascending

Federalism, Free Markets and the Liberty To Let One's Mind Wander. I Am Very Worried About the Fate of Liberty in the USA, Where Government is Taking people's Lives ____________________________________________________________________________________________ "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Tolerance in the face of tyranny is no virtue." -Barry Goldwater-

Friday, May 30, 2008

Tax Something And Get Less Of It...

The Democratic Congress in the US is again bantering around the idea of a 'windfall profit tax' aimed at oil companies. Willy Sutton, the depression era bank robber was best known for this being attributed to him....
Sutton is famously (and probably falsely) known for answering a reporter, Mitch Ohnstad, who asked why he robbed banks by saying, "because that's where the money is."
Therefore, the Willy Sutton Democrats in Congress see this as a fortuitous opportunity to raise taxes on a small group of companies and take advantage of them during a time when they are not too popular. Additionally, our representatives in Congress looking to protect their sorry asses since they have foiled every attempt to generate energy domestically from Bill Clinton vetoing drilling in ANWAR and the Kennedy's fighting against clean windpower generation in Massachusetts. So now that there is strong growth in global energy demand, they feel compelled to try justify their idiotic miscalculations by blaming oil companies. Remember that only around 6% of global oil reserves are controlled by the big US based oil companies whereas 80% is owned by state owned national oil companies around the globe.

So what are the clowns in Congress to do? Tax oil companies is their answer. Of course Democrats answer to every problem is to tax. But these idiots plan to tax American oil companies making doing business in the US more expensive for these enterprises. So, why should they continue to invest in the US under a hostile tax regime? They won't. They will invest capital on the margin in other places and sell external to the US. The old economic adage 'when you tax something you get less of it' will create further problems. Marginal increases in availability of energy will only benefit those outside of the US and not Americans. But why pick on oil companies?
Or suppose Congress decides to expand a windfall-profits tax to other sectors of the economy. After all, the financial performance in 2007 of a number of other major U.S. industries far exceeded the oil industry's performance.

The latest published data for last year show that the oil industry earned 9.6 cents for every dollar of sales, compared with 20.1 cents for Internet information providers, 19.1 cents for beverage and tobacco producers, 16.7 cents for drug manufacturers, and 15.8 cents for computer equipment makers.

Wouldn't it be logical to pursue industries that are twice as profitable as Big Oil if populist politicians really believed the kind of voodoo economics they propound in congressional hearings?
So lets just punish anyone that makes money in the US. How juvenile can these blockhead Democrats get? Unfortunately, very very juvenile as these clown intend on raising taxes on everyone.

Are Taxes Fair In The United States?

Clearly, given the political posturing, they are not fair. Democrats think that taxes are too low and have promised to raise them. Republicans think that taxes are too high and claim to keep the tax cuts made several years ago. So, clearly, there is a disconnect between these two groups of people.

So what to do? Raising taxes would go against what Republicans think is right and lowering taxes would be devastating to Democrats that have never met a tax that they didn't like.

I think that a perfect solution is create a fair tax. One that is truly fair to everyone. So I propose that taxes are raised on Democrats so that they feel that they are paying their fair share and that taxes are cut on Republicans so that they can can move their pro-growth free market agenda forward.

So, therefore, both groups can be satisfied that tax policy is appropriate.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Obama Says That The Policies Of George Bush Have Not Made Us Safer....

Here are some of the notable terrorist attacks against Americans on US soil and against Americans and American interests abroad....
1988
February: Marine Corps Lt. Colonel Higgens, Chief of the U.N. Truce Force, was kidnapped and murdered by Hezbollah.

December: Pan Am flight 103 from London to New York was blown up over Scotland, killing 270 people, including 35 from Syracuse University and a number of American military personnel.

1991
November: American University in Beirut bombed.

1993
January: A Pakistani terrorist opened fire outside CIA headquarters, killing two agents and wounding three.

February: World Trade Center bombed, killing six and injuring more than 1,000.

1995
January: Operation Bojinka, Osama bin Laden's plan to blow up 12 airliners over the Pacific Ocean, discovered.

November: Five Americans killed in attack on a U.S. Army office in Saudi Arabia.

1996
June: Truck bomb at Khobar Towers kills 19 American servicemen and injures 240.

June: Terrorist opens fire at top of Empire State Building, killing one.

1997
February: Palestinian opens fire at top of Empire State Building, killing one and wounding more than a dozen.

November: Terrorists murder four American oil company employees in Pakistan.

1998
January: U.S. Embassy in Peru bombed.

August: Simultaneous bomb attacks on U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed more than 300 people and injured over 5,000.

1999
October: Egypt Air flight 990 crashed off the coast of Massachusetts, killing 100 Americans among the more than 200 on board; the pilot yelled "Allahu Akbar!" as he steered the airplane into the ocean.

2000
October: A suicide boat exploded next to the U.S.S. Cole, killing 17 American sailors and injuring 39.

2001
September: Terrorists with four hijacked airplanes kill around 3,000 Americans in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

December: Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber," tries to blow up a transatlantic flight, but is stopped by passengers.

The September 11 attack was a propaganda triumph for al Qaeda, celebrated by a dismaying number of Muslims around the world. Everyone expected that it would draw more Muslims to bin Laden's cause and that more such attacks would follow. In fact, though, what happened was quite different: the pace of successful jihadist attacks against the United States slowed, decelerated further after the onset of the Iraq war, and has now dwindled to essentially zero. Here is the record:

2002
October: Diplomat Laurence Foley murdered in Jordan, in an operation planned, directed and financed by Zarqawi in Iraq, perhaps with the complicity of Saddam's government.

2003
May: Suicide bombers killed 10 Americans, and killed and wounded many others, at housing compounds for westerners in Saudi Arabia.

October: More bombings of United States housing compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killed 26 and injured 160.

2004
There were no successful attacks inside the United States or against American interests abroad.

2005
There were no successful attacks inside the United States or against American interests abroad.

2006
There were no successful attacks inside the United States or against American interests abroad.

2007
There were no successful attacks inside the United States or against American interests abroad.

2008
So far, there have been no successful attacks inside the United States or against American interests abroad.
Golly gee, it appears to me as if the list above does not really support the contention that we are less safe or even evenly safe. It appears to me as if we are safer.

Why is this? Maybe due to Bush policies....

1. Invasion of Afghanistan- eliminated a safe place for al Qaeda to train and operate from.

2. Waterboarding- the capturing and waterboarding of several select al Qaeda operatives completely disrupted plans and the exposed the some of the operational aspects of the organization.

3. Invasion of Iraq- created the perfect storm for al Qaeda, where they were forced to come to defend themselves within their own 'territory' and eliminated. Its a derivative of Chairman Mao Zedong's "100 Flowers Campaign" where he sought to "entice snakes out of their lairs." Bush has enticed al Qaeda and its financiers out of their 'lairs' into the open where they can be exposed and defeated.

4. Using technology and data mining to generate leads that then can be legally follow up upon to find risk within the Islamic extremist community.

5. In Iraq, exposing al Qaeda to the world to what it really is- these people are not freedom fighters but frothing at the mouth crazy fanatics that are just as willing to kill anyone including innocent Muslim civilians as they are to attack the targets such as the West or the Great Satan, the US. Normal humans and stable communities do not want these zealots operating around them since they could either kill them or their families arbitrarily or these people risk their lives upon the inevitable response to kill these al Qaeda zealots.

Ha Ha....



Obama is nothing more than a typical leftist that has almost no accomplishments at all under his belt.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Shut Up And Do Your Schoolwork....



The recent devastating earthquake in Sichuan province took the young lives of an extraordinary number of young children. From the picture above, one can see that the 10 story hotel in the background was still standing and the kindergarten school on the left appears to still be in good shape. However, one can see in the center, the remains of a primary school and its collapse crushed to death 100's of young children.

Why?
An examination of the collapse of Xinjian Primary School offers a disturbing picture of a calamity that might have been avoided. Many parents say they were told the school was unsafe. Xinjian was poorly built when it opened its doors in 1992, they say, and never got its share of government funds for reconstruction because of its low ranking in the local education bureaucracy and the low social status of its students.
Rack up the deaths to culture of corruption that continues to cost hard working Chinese people their lives. The school was built substandard, identified as being substandard years ago, but never received the attention that it deserved. China does has national building code standard intended to withstand earthquakes, but these standards are ignored. Building codes are ignored, typically due to bribes that line the pockets of sleazy officials and to increase the profits to slimy construction companies that have access to these officials.

Chinese government officials take bribes and the citizens that they are responsible for die. That is China today. What a hellhole.

And then there is this....
Mr. Ma saved several children the day of the disaster but cannot shake the memory of one girl. Her leg had been pinned beneath a heavy concrete slab. Two small cranes had failed to free her. Her body temperature was quickly dropping. So Mr. Ma told her father, “She can keep her leg or her life.”

The father was led away. Mr. Ma used a serrated knife he kept in his jeans. He said the job took three cuts across the girl’s shin. “She will hate me when she is older if she has trouble with love,” he said with a grim smile.

He does not know the girl’s name. “I have dreams every night,” he said. “She was very pretty. Very strong.”

No One Else But.....

No other country but the US does these kind of things. The US has just landed another unmanned robot on Mars.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Redneck Seafood Dinner....

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Quote Of The Day....

"no people in history have ever survived, who thought they could protect their freedom by making themselves inoffensive to their enemies."
Secretary of State, Dean Acheson. life long Democrat and Secretary of State under Harry Truman

Acheson...
...he played a central role in defining American foreign policy during the Cold War. He likewise played a central role in the creation of many important institutions, including Lend Lease, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, together with the early organizations that later became the European Union and the World Trade Organization. His most famous decision was convincing the nation to intervene, in June 1950, in the Korean War.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

I Just Have To Cut And Paste This Letter.....

From a blog that I regualry read on economics. I usually do not cut and paste political or economic commentary without my own material, but I found this very funny and thought provoking....
Let's get this straight. Hillary Clinton now complains that she's a victim of sexism ("Sen. Clinton Discusses 'Sexist' Treatment," video at Washingtonpost.com, May 20). Forget that she graduated from Wellesley and Yale – that she handily won two terms to the U.S. Senate – that she earned millions of dollars during her adult lifetime – and, most relevantly in this case, that she gathered many more Democratic primary votes than did John Edwards, Joe Biden, and other middle-aged white guys running for this year's Democratic nomination.

Instead, focus on this fact: If Mrs. Clinton's failure to win her party's nomination is due to sexism, surely her claim that she's the strongest candidate to run against John McCain is mistaken on its face - unless it's the case that Democrats are more sexist than are American voters overall.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
So, if there is sexism, then she can't possibly expect to win the general election... unless, of course, its only sexism within the Democrats. Hahaha. Of course this is the perfect storm for Democrats. If Clinton loses the primary, then its sexism. If Obama loses, then its racism. Just the contest itself creates a whole new swath of sexism/racism victims. Of course, Democrat's reason for being is an argument that promote equality. Of course, both of these candidates cannot win. So, with all of this identity Democrat populism politics, they will not be able to please all the people all of the time!

Duh....

It seems as if a majority of Americans prefer lower taxes and less government services than higher taxes and more government services.....
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 62% of voters would prefer fewer government services with lower taxes. Nearly a third (29%) disagrees and would rather have a bigger government with higher taxes. Ten percent (10%) are not sure.
A majority of Americans still remain American maintaining the traditional values of self-reliance, a faith in God, prayer and the Bible, honor and respect for the family, diligent work ethics, absolute values of right and wrong, honesty in business practices, wholesomeness in leadership, respect toward authority, moderation rather than excess, marriage as a prerequisite before having sex or bearing children, a family which consists of both a father and mother, taking responsibility to provide for our own — such as one’s spouse, family and children, and so forth.

Nowhere in the portfolio of American traditional values is there anything even approaching asking or demanding government to provide us services or goods. The United States is not Europe and if they want to have or try to achieve cradle-to-grave entitlements, then they are a free people and should pursue this course. Its their choice. But because Europeans want to go down this path, it does not mean that we have to travel that road. We, as Americans, have always blazed out own trails.

When our forefathers in the US decided to go out on their own they wrote the Declaration of Independence. In that document, supporting the inalienable rights of man included "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," the writers were adopting 17th century philosopher John Locke's concept of "life, liberty, and estate." Estate refers to one's own property as one's own to use and consume as one see's fit.

Unfortunately, a swath of American society seems to think that since they are lucky enough to be born there, that they are due such things as healthcare conveniently paid by someone else. The concept of healthcare, obviously very important to one's life, is a consumer good that people have been convinced is now a 'right' that they are entitled to. But this is not what the United States is all about. There is no right to the specific good of healthcare, but there is the right to life, liberty and to pursue one's happiness. Do these rights, particulary the right to life, entitle one to access to healthcare even if one cannot afford it or a right to frantic and expensive healthcare that only extends terminally ill people short periods of time? What I think that the framers had in mind is that one has the right to life and this refers to the right that your life cannot be arbitrarily taken from you by either government or by your neighbors. One still has to be self-reliant, whether the reliance be on yourself, your family or your community and people need to consider that one may have to save or consider options for the potential that one may need to pay for healthcare that extends life. I do not think that what this means is that you have a right to this healthcare and that therefore someone else is compelled to pay for it. As far as I am concerned, seizing my assets to pay for someone else's healthcare is a seizure of my property and infringing on my own right to pursue my own happiness. Is my right to pursue happiness as I see fit, trumped by someone else's need, even if I do not even know them, to my assets to pay for their healthcare? What if the need to funds is so great to provide healthcare to others that it takes all of my property to provide these services?

So, in the end, I just don't get it. It has become a mystery to me why anyone would vote for Democrats. People that want to take your money through seriously higher taxes to distribute to people to create some kind of Utopian society molded in what they think is right. This is not what my nation is all about. If one wants to be European, then one has the opportunity to move to Europe. Of if one wants to create this utopia, then why not create it in one state. I figure that all kinds of progressive Democrats will move to that state and prove how wonderful their plan is. But, in the meantime, I cannot foresee me ever voting for a Democrat since I do not think that Democrats have my best interests nor the best interests of the nation in mind.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

More On Global Warming.....

Here are all of the things that global warming impacts. Hours of fun clicking through all of these things.

But some people are worried about a new ice age, here. It seems that reduced sunspot activity has caused global average temperatures to fall by 0.7% during 2007 from the previous year which is particularly troubling given that global temperatures have risen only 0.6% over the past several decades. Something better heat up or else their will be lots of air conditioners that will be sitting on store shelves.

A Perfect Storm....

You have to give Democrats lots of credit for their primary fight to feature a woman and a sort-of 'Black' candidate. And in true Democratic fashion, they couldn't help themselves and played the race card, this time not against Republicans but against themselves. Additionally, Clinton supporters are feeling that the Democrats have treated their candidate shabbily and have allowed sexism to creep into the fight designed to injure her campaign....
But as others watched a campaign that starred two possibly transformative figures, they felt a growing conviction that the contest was unfair. Mrs. Clinton’s supporters point to a nagging series of slights: the fixation on her clothes, even her cleavage; chronic criticism that her voice is shrill; calls for her to exit the race; and most of all, the male commentators in the news media who, they argue, were consistently tougher on her than on Mr. Obama.
So the perfect storm for Democrats is that no matter who wins, the loser can claim all kinds of racism/sexism victimization. Democrats without victims is like McDonalds without hamburgers. The gas in the Democrats tank is victimization. So, through this campaign process, huge swaths of the Democratic party and the nation can claim to be a victim of racism/sexism from the party that raison d'etre is to protect these very people from these crimes.

Liberation Army Against Freedom [LAAF]....

Indulge me and have a look at this great youtube. I got a side splitting laugh out of this one.



I posted a link to this fabulous website before, see it here.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Hillary....



You can buy the poster here at the Hillary Store.

For some reason it reminds me of this Japanese military flag from WWII....




And kind of like the Tibetan flag....



But really, this old Chinese imperial flag reminds me a lot of Hillary. He he....



There is a likeness?

How True.....



Fair weather friends in Europe are caving in fast to Islamists in trying to appease these violent jihadists. They are hoping that these mad people won't kill them. But they will.

Then there are those American Liberals, that for some reason are unable to see the real world. They think for some reason that Republicans are trying to destroy our way of life. To what end? Who is the bigger risk? Islamists or Republicans? In reality, Liberals are also hoping, like the nihilist Europeans, that some kind of appeasement will mollify frothing at the mouth crazed Muslims and that they will 'see the light' of the enlightened Liberal elite and put down their guns and end their jihad against the 'evil' West. Well, brilliant Liberals fail or don't want to see that it is their ideas and nihilistic ways of living that the Islamic crazies hate.
nihilism:
An approach to philosophy that holds that human life is meaningless and that all religions, laws, moral codes, and political systems are thoroughly empty and false. The term is from the Latin nihil, meaning “nothing.”

Flubbing With The Best Of Them....

Kentucky is closer to Arkansas than Illinois? Maybe if you are a Senator from Chicago and not from all of Illinois. And then the flub on visiting 57 states in the campaign, could this be Bush 3?

Obama And The 54DD....

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Quote Of The Day....

Two substantive political issues are the federal budget deficit and the war in Iraq. Now, if you're electing Democrats to control government spending, then you're marrying Angelina Jolie for her brains. This leaves the Democrats with one real issue: Iraq. And so far the best that any Democratic presidential candidate has been able to manage with Iraq is to make what I think of as the high school sex promise: I will pull out in time, honest dear.
- PJ O'Rourke.

Democrats are all form over substance.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Babes Or Burkas, You Decide....

Interesting Perspective On The Obama Candidacy....

From a Hillary supporter.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Barack Is A Homosexual?

Wow, this guy makes all kinds of accusations....



I doubt if any of this is even remotely true.

Scary Obama....

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Quote Of The Day....

What's the difference between a catfish and a lawyer? One's a scum-sucking bottom feeder, and the other is a fish.
-US Presidential candidate John McCain-

What's the difference between a catfish and a Democrat? One's a scum-sucking bottom feeder, and the other is a fish.
-Blogger Extraordinaire Glenzo-

Mark Steyn.....

I just read this book, AMERICA ALONE: THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT. Mark Steyn is an interesting fellow. He occasssionally gets interviewed or is a commenter on various TV programs but is now being accused of being a racist due to his strong criticisms of Islam. He was recently interviewed on a TV program in Canada where he was sued or charged in the coourts there with some kind of bias crime due to his writing of this book. The Youtube interview of Mark can be found here.

Clinton Vs. Obama Star Wars Style....

Sunday, May 11, 2008

History Of Barbed Wire And A Museum Celebrating Its History....

Since there are over 2,000 varieties of barbed wire, you can even get pointers on how to start and maintain a collection. Kansas Barbed Wire Museum in La Crosse, Kansas, here

Why is barbed wire important? Because....
Good fences make good neighbors

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Its Difficult Being Barack Obama....

Barack claims that he visited 57 states in his campaign for the Democratic nomination. There is one more to go, he says, I suppose he is referring to the continental 58 states and he says that his campaign didn't allow him to go to Alaska or Hawaii. So, maybe Barack, wasn't just referring to the 50 'physical' states that make up the United States.



Maybe he was also referring to some other states. Mental states, states of well being, etc. Here are the other states that I think that he is referring to amongst his 60 states:

1. The state of confusion
2. Altered states
3. The welfare state
4. State of anxiety
5. Heightened and excited states
6. States of consciousness
7. The socialist state
8. State of fantasy
9. Solid state

Any states that I missed?

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Why Terrorists Never Use Volkswagens....

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Dairy Comfort Bras....



Probably one of the most appropriately named products I have seen in a long time. The Japanese always have the best names!

Monday, May 05, 2008

Why Europeans Are The Pinnacle Of Humanity.....

Already having solved the problems surrounding human rights, Europeans forging ahead with creating a more perfect socialist world are now debating "Plant Rights." I suppose that 'Plants are people too' will be a new phrase passing the lips of the most elite well educated European intellectuals.

I wonder if they ever consider how unbelievably stupid they look to normal people?

Liberation Army Against Freedom....

Crazy Muslims show us how not to handle explosives, here.

Tibet....

"Free Tibet" flags manufactured in factories in China. Someone will get into trouble I figure.

The Blonde Handywoman....

A blonde, wanting to earn some extra moneydecided to hire herself out as a 'Handywoman' and started canvassing the neighborhoods. She went to the front door of the first house and asked the owner if he had anyodd jobs for her to do.

'Well, I guess I could use somebody to paint my porch,' he said. 'How much willyou charge me?'

The blonde quickly responded, 'How about $50?'

The man agreed and told her that the paint and everything she would need was inthe garage.

The man's wife, hearing the conversation, said to her husband, 'Does sherealize that our porch goes all the way around the house?'

He responded, 'That's a bit cynical, isn't it?'

The wife replied, 'You're right. I guess I'm starting to believe all those dumbblonde jokes.'

A short time later, the blonde handywoman came to the door to collect hermoney. 'You finished already?' the husband asked.

'Yes,' the blonde replied, 'and I had paint leftover, so I gave it two coats -no extra charge.'

Impressed, the man reached into his pocket for the $50 and handed it to her.

'And by the way,' the blonde added ... 'it's not a Porch -- it's a Lexus.'

Urine Test For A Job?

I got this one from a friend.
I HAVE TO PASS A URINE TEST FOR MY JOB... SO I AGREE 100%. Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test with which I have no problem. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test.

Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them? Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their A**, doing drugs, while I work. Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?Pass this along if you agree or simply delete if you don't. Hope you all will pass it along, though. Something has to change in this country -- and soon!