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Friday, August 1, 2014

Miscellany: 8/01/14

Quote of the Day
A man who dares to waste an hour of time has not discovered the value of life.
Charles Darwin

Tweet of the Day
Image of the Day
Via Drudge Report

Via IPI
Via Eric Rautenstrauch

Nanny of the Month



"This is the most transparent administration in history.” 

From GretaWire:

Brennan and Clapper via GretaWire:
I Know What You Did Last Summer... Last Night...
DNI James Clapper LIED to the Senate:
“….And last year, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lied under oath to Congress when he told Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and the Senate Intelligence Committee that the National Security Agency did not collect any kind of data on millions of Americans, a claim later disproved by documents leaked by former NSA employee Edward Snowden.   click here
If the DNI wanted to seize data on Americans, they should have gotten a warrant – hence the lie.
And CIA DIRECTOR John Brennan LIED
“….As a Council on Foreign Relations event in March, Brennan said, “As far as the allegations of CIA hacking into Senate computers, nothing could be further from the truth. We wouldn’t do that. I mean, that’s just beyond the scope of reason.”  click here
Brennan has now confessed that there was hacking.  In other words, he lied.


Okay, I now have to add a new mock annual award: Scumbag Public Servant of the Year. My inaugural nominee, which goes without saying, is Lois Lerner. And I'm adding Brennan and Clapper to the list.

Facebook Corner


Without roads, what would chickens cross?
I love how no one actually tries to proselytize when they get this question rather than just ridiculing.This is a failure on the part of libertarians.
It's because we know there were thousands of miles of private tollroads before "Progressive" government decided on a public monopoly: "Unfortunately, rather than encouraging the revival of private toll roads for automobiles, politicians of the era favored abolishing the private ownership of roads and substituting state-owned "free" roads financed by taxes." In fact, private investment in roads has been greater than the public sector. See, for example, Cato Institute's "Downsizing Government" website. Instead of thinking through why libertarians ridicule the road stuff, you made a presumptuous judgment; the State can't compete in a true market.

(IPI). Here's a little good news story you won't find in many places today.
Why do you hate unions so much? I understand that most of your donors feel the 1890's were the golden age of America, but come on... really?
Stop thinking that everyone who criticizes crony union whores is being paid off. When crony unionists steal from taxpayers, it's EVERYONE'S issue, and you don't need to be paid off to object to corrupt Dem pickpockets.

(Catholic Libertarian). I don't know if this does anything, but the least we can do is sign a petition. http://citizengo.org/en/9810-save-iraqi-christian-community ‪#‎religiousFreedom‬
We need to step up and allow expedited immigration to these ultimate victims to our mistaken foreign policy and intervention into Iraq.

 (Catholic Libertarian). Some great libertarian Catholic ideas here from Cardinals Dolan and Archbishop Charles J. Chaput:
“Yet the answer to problems with the free market is not to reject economic liberty in favor of government control. The Church has consistently rejected coercive systems of socialism and collectivism, because they violate inherent human rights to economic freedom and private property.” - Dolan
The Pope, said Archbishop Chaput, “never lets us off the hook as individuals. He won't let us point at ‘them,’ big government and big corporations, as the people mainly responsible for creating a just society.”
He concluded: “What he calls ‘the political project of inclusion’ belongs not only to governments and the wealthy, but to everyone.”
Whereas Dolan's comments are a step in the right direction, what's a mystery is why Francis unnecessarily opened Pandora's box by repackaging Progressive talking points against strawman classical liberalism. Most libertarians are anti-war, anti-nationalism, and we have seen awful destruction by national interventionist policy, never mind the economically reckless policies of populist progressivism. So instead of looking at the misery caused by wars and morally hazardous, failed progressive policies, he spends time ranting at the upper 1% and scoffing at the invisible hand.

 (IPI). Workers dropping out of the workforce explains Illinois’ plunging unemployment rate. When workers quit looking for work, they are no longer counted as unemployed.
In fact, over the last three months, more than 46,000 Illinoisans gave up on looking for work. In June alone, a record 21,600 Illinoisans quit the workforce – the largest monthly drop in state history.
Read more: http://illin.is/1rJXbD1
But Quinn's new TV ad states he "increased jobs in Illinois". Are you saying that ad isn't true, IP?
Anyone who believes that raising taxes on businesses or individuals is a jobs winner is an economic illiterate. If the state made any progress, it's a tribute to the resilience of businesses despite Gov. Parasite, not because of him.

(Reason). Attorney General Eric Holder says mandatory minimum sentences are unnecessary and unjust.
It's the law of numbers. Sooner or later, even Holder stumbles across a good idea....

(IPI). Our CEO, John Tillman, joined John Kass and Lauren Cohn on WLS-AM 890 to talk about Gov. Pat Quinn signing the ballot referendum regarding the millionaires tax.
 Is there anything so repulsive as trying to justify stealing from the other guy's pocket?

(Sen. Coburn). "The VA suffers from the same problem as Congress: too much money and not enough leadership."
Sen. Coburn is correct, but more to the point, we need to privatize the VA programs.

(Reason). Here's a List of 700 (Out of At Least 2,300) People Killed in U.S. Drone Strikes in Pakistan. 99 are children.
If we ever do embrace impeachment of Barry (Just Call me Bush II) Obama, the first charge should be on an undeclared war on Pakistan and other countries.

(Independent Institute). Senior Fellow Benjamin Powell: "The United States government’s war on drugs is one of the main causes of the violence that they flee. In order to solve their crisis the children should be given refugee status and allowed to stay and the United States government should end its unwinnable war on drugs. That would help these children now. It would lower the violence and corruption in their home countries so that fewer families would feel the need to send their children North in the future."
Benjamin Powell is spot on; liberalized immigration is, by the preponderance of economic evidence, win-win. We also have a moral responsibility due to the unintended consequences of the economically indefensible War on Drugs, which not only has failed to kill demand but has led to a sinkhole of costs in prosecution and one of the highest incarceration rates in the civilized world. We need to eliminate the high profit margins attracting organized crime. Finally, I'm sick and tired of family value hypocrites denying family reunification; the kids are victims, not criminals, and if anyone should be deported, it should be the xenophobes.

We need to junk the past century of failed restrictive immigration policies and embrace the economic growth possible via win/win immigration.

More Proposals

No, not the start of another long series, but maybe every few days or so, depending on how many "new" videos I come across.









Political Cartoon
Courtesy of the original artist
Courtesy of the original artist via IPI
Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via Townhall
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Billy Joel, "It's Still Rock 'N Roll To Me"

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