Quote of the Day
The golden moments in the stream of life rush past usand we see nothing but sand;
the angels come to visit us,
and we only know them when they are gone.
George Elliot
 |
| Via the NBA |
The first 10 minutes or so were awful--the Spurs couldn't hit a shot, the defense was breaking down; it looked like Miami was going to blow them out, but I had faith they would settle down, which they did, chipping away at the lead until they finally took the lead, never to look back. I think the comeback broke Miami's spirit. When they tried their comeback bids, it was like the Spurs hit long jumpers one after another, and the outcome was inevitable throughout the second half. I don't recall a game I've watched where the momentum changed so radically. The Spurs were the first professional sports team I ever saw play, back in my undergraduate days... (For more detailed coverage about the Spurs domination in the Finals rematch, see here.)
Image of the Day
 |
| Via Voluntary Virtues |
Chart of the Day
 |
| Courtesy of Cato Institute |
 |
| Via CNS |
Neocon Paradox
From a financial newsletter:
The U.S. government seeks to topple the Assad regime in Syria by funneling money and weapons to Sunni Islamist rebels. Some of those rebels are in league with the berserkers of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). But that's supposed to be OK, because if Assad goes, Iran loses a critical ally.Spot on. The interventionists who were all but ready to attack Iran over its nuclear program, seem to have forgotten they helped arm UBL as an Afghan Freedom Fighter against the Soviet occupiers before he attacked the US and Saddam Hussein was backed against theocratic Iran... When will they ever learn? When will, they, EVER, learn?
Meanwhile, the U.S. government simultaneously seeks to prop up the Maliki regime in Iraq -- which is under threat from the berserkers of ISIS. The situation is so grave U.S. officials are thinking about acting in concert with Maliki's most crucial ally -- Iran.
Silver and Gold, Silver and Gold...
From the Daily Pfennig:
You know, I like Sprott's explanation of the Gold & Silver prices meltdown in 2013 (the first annual one in over 10 years!) Let's listen in to what Eric Sprott said about this.." I have been speculating since late 2012 that Western central banks could be running out of gold. I put the sell-off in gold and silver in 2013 to the fact that the Western banks needed a way to generate physical gold supplies. As the metals prices went down, there was a lot of liquidation of gold which increased the supply by an estimated 900 tonnes last year."Several posts back I had noted that the Fed reportedly owed Germany gold that it didn't have at hand, and I speculated that the Fed had an incentive to intervene in the market, driving down the price of gold to acquire it. I can't prove it, of course, but given all the fiat currency being printed, I don't see viable alternative explanations: global depression/deflation? Stop losses? Asset rebalancing? A cyclic correction? Softening demand from China and India?
Makes a lot of sense doesn't it? For as I said over and over again, as the prices of Gold & Silver fell, that the fundamentals didn't change, and the drop in prices didn't make much sense to me. Interest rate were still zero and continuing to fall in the major economies around the world, Debt levels were still unsustainable around the world, and geopolitical problems still existed around the world.
Personally, I am not a gold bug, although I hold a percentage of retirement savings in hard assets. (I still remember a work colleague in the early 80's who was so much of a gold bug, he actually had his utilities shut off over nonpayment; I can't imagine how much he lost by buying at the top. When inflation was finally tamed under 20-odd% interest rates under Fed chair Volcker, gold steeply corrected, only to rise again in response to Fed money printing over the past 15 years or so. I do think that some form of convertible asset-backed currency will eventually emerge as an alternative to fiat-based currency, with the Fed, the ECB, and Japan taking turns watering down their currencies. The US, the European Union, and Japan all have aging populations with unsustainable welfare nets, regulatory regimes, and senior entitlements. If Japan has taught the West anything over past generation, expansionary monetary and fiscal policies have been unable to revive its economy; arguing the mix is wrong or insufficient is more of a state of denial.
Guest Post Comment: Dondero V. Schlussel
This exchange actually raises an interesting point that is never directly addressed: how is it that someone who claims to have worked for Ron Paul completely disagrees with his views on foreign policy?
Nancy Pelosi: Another Nomination for JOTY
The Wicked Witch of the West Coast, a nominal Catholic in Name Only, calls the annual DC march for traditional marriage "venom masquerading as virtue"; she and the other conspirators in the SF Troika of Political Correctness (including current and former SF mayors Ed Lee and California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom) sought to intimidate San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone from attending the march; the faithful bishop responded:
I appreciate your affirmation of my Church’s teaching—not unique to our religion, but a truth accessible to anyone of good will—on the intrinsic human dignity of all people, irrespective of their stage and condition in life. That principle requires us to respect and protect each and every member of the human family, from the precious child in the womb to the frail elderly person nearing death. It also requires me, as a bishop, to proclaim the truth—the whole truth—about the human person and God’s will for our flourishing. I must do that in season and out of season, even when truths that it is my duty to uphold and teach are unpopular, including especially the truth about marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife. That is what I will be doing on June 19th.
The Real Story of Robin Hood
A few weeks back I made reference to the Robin Hood legend in terms of the popularized class warfare redistributive theme and found myself attacked by other libertarians. FEE has a good essay suggesting that the classes were not the Marxist concept of socioeconomic classes but political classes (in particular th productive and the parasitic crony class which abused their authority to legally plunder the productive). Robin and his followers did not target rich men in general but from the corrupt rentseeking political class (especially corrupt politicians and tax collectors) whom profited from legal plunder. In particular, after the Black Plague wiped out nearly half of commoners, landlords found that it was more of a workers' market, and they found they had to compete for workers, e.g., with higher compensation. Crony landlords, unwilling or failing to compete, got politicians to restore wage ceilings at pre-Plague levels
Get a Life
Hall of Shame: Criminalizing Charity for the Homeless
From NBC:
To date, 33 cities have adopted or are considering such food–sharing restrictions, according to the coalition, which shared with NBC News a draft of its soon-to-be published study. Police in at least four municipalities – Raleigh, N.C.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Daytona Beach, Fla. – have recently fined, removed or threatened to jail private groups that offered meals to the homeless instead of letting government-run service agencies care for those in need, the advocacy group reports. NBC News has chronicled the legal battle waged by a Florida couple, Debbie and Chico Jimenez, who had cooked and served hot meals to homeless people each Wednesday for the past year at a Daytona Beach park. The couple and four friends were cited by police and collectively fined by more than $2,000 for violating a local ordinance that prohibits such public feedings. The ticketed six refused to pay. On Wednesday, Daytona Beach police opted to dismiss the fines.SCOTUS Gets One Right: Restores Political Speech Rights 9-0: Thumbs UP!
A failed Democratic imcumbent Congressman, Steven L. "Steve" Driehaus, filed in Ohio under a new law criminalizing "false" political speech when a pro-life group, the Susan B Anthony List, alleged that his support of ObamaCare effectively amounted to taxpayer-subsidized abortion. The Ohio Election Commission, with a majority of Democrats, ruled in favor of the challenge on a party-line vote. Clarence Thomas correctly pointed out the law has a chilling effect on political speech and thus violates the First Amendment.
Victoria Wilcher
[Important Update - 6/24/14. An independent investigation by KFC has failed to corroborate details of the incident. The grandmother is sticking to her story. The FB page, Victoria's Victories, has been taken down. The little girl's injuries, not involving KFC, are very real.]
 |
| Victoria before the dog attack -- donate here |
 |
| Via NBC |
 |
| Beautiful Victoria loving baby sister Abby |
What brought Victoria to national attention was an incident at a KFC in Jackson, MS; Victoria's grandmother was bringing her home from a medical appointment, and they went in to purchase some mashed potatoes and iced tea. While seated in the restaurant, a KFC employee allegedly approached them and asked them to leave, saying that Victoria's appearance was disturbing other customers. Victoria's attitude up to that point in time had been positive, but the suggestion that other people found her appearance disturbing shattered her self-confidence and made her self-conscious over her looks to others; grandmother Kelly Mullins said that Victoria cried all the way home. I have to say here that I have commented on a number of atrocities, but heartless cruelty to a young child is intolerable: I consider this a form of child abuse; if I had been in that restaurant, I would have intervened and read the employee the riot act. I am not happy with the insurance company either, but that's another story.
Although the family has not been personally told this, KFC has posted this on their Facebook page: Update: As soon as we learned of the report on Friday, we immediately began an investigation. This kind of hurtful and disrespectful action would not be tolerated by KFC. Regardless of the outcome of our investigation, we have apologized to Victoria's family and are committed to assisting them. We are making a $30,000 donation to help with her medical bills. The entire KFC family is behind Victoria and her recovery.
Please accept our sincere apologies while we try to investigate this incident. If you could help provide details of the incident at social.media@sertec.com and we will look into this immediately. We have zero tolerance for any kind of disrespectful behavior by our team members. Once we have further details, we will immediately investigate this and take action, and we wish nothing but the best for Victoria in her recovery.Facebook Corner
(Catholic Libertarian). Someone needs to tell Pelosi about the separation of Church and state. Kudos for Archbishop Cordileone for not bowing down. #religiousLiberty
This is what happens when Pope Francis engages in ambiguous rhetoric ("who am I to judge...?"), resulting in his own words being thrown at bishops whom dare to exercise their First Amendment rights to support consistent moral teachings of the Church. That whole concept of "hate the sin, love the sinner" is beyond Pelosi; she worships the false god of political correctness.
(Tom Woods). Amy, my 8-year-old, writes in her Father's Day card: "Dad, you are so nice and fun. You're even nice when I get in trouble."
I'm glad you forgave her for quoting Krugman at the dinner table..
(Tom Woods). I'm probably going to release a book this year. I haven't released one in 3 1/2 years. Title suggestions welcome. See the link for details, and thank you!
Reclaiming the Lost Promise of American Liberty
(Tom Woods). Check out my unilateral Twitter war with Senator Thad Cochran (R-Pentagon).
Tom, surely you remember from the 2012 primary season that neocon bashing of Ron Paul and his noninterventionist views was one of the few things that united all the other candidates. I've maintained one of Romney's biggest strategic mistakes in 2012 was not throwing Bush and Obama under the bus, with their anemic economic policies, regulatory empirebuilding, horrendous fiscal policies, and nationbuilding madness. I've been waiting for conservatives to rediscover the Old Right to no avail. Recently another libertarian group posted one of Ron Paul's quotes, and I responded with a quote attributed to Bastiat, i.e., when goods don't cross borders, armies will, I got hit back by a neocon image mocking Bastiat and libertarians. I pointed out that oil embargo of Japan didn't work out so well, and he ranted back at me about my "nutty isolationist logic". I should know better than to poke a bear with a stick, but Matt Drudge seems to be cheerleading the neo-cons over recent developments in Iraq; I think Clinton and Obama don't think it's really war when we launch missiles, drones or bombers. It's sophistic rationalizations of the type "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is." As for Cochran, he's just pissed that Ron Paul is backing his Tea Party primary opponent (whom just fell short of 50%). He's trying to discredit his opponent by being dismissive of him as an extremist; let's face it: he can't run on his record, so he resorts to attacking his opponent.
Political Humor
Political Cartoon
 |
| Courtesy of Gary Varvel via Patriot Post |
 |
| Courtesy of the original artist via Independent Institute |
Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Series
Neil Diamond, "Forever in Blue Jeans"
