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February 25, 2006
A Cool Tool to Explain Inflation
I was in my 30's before I bothered to find out the true definition of inflation. Coinflation.com is a cool tool you can use to educate other people as the value of the metal in our coins outstrips the denominations in which they were originally minted.
Posted by Robert Jackson at 07:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Bush Administration Won't Reconsider Ports Deal
A Dubai owned company bought the rights to run those ports and they’ll likely do a good job of running them too, if past performance is any indication. All this Arab bashing is simply racism and xenophobia. The question is does America really believe in free trade or not? Now we're gonna find out, one way or another.
Posted by Ali Massoud at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2006
Ever New Ways to Tax
The "Driver Responsibility Tax" appearing in some states can turn a one time speeding ticket for an out-of-state driver into an annual tribute.
"One Connecticut motorist, who asked that his name not be used, discovered this after driving in October in Niagara Falls, New York. Despite being caught in what he considered a brazen speed trap -- the speed limit was 45 MPH where he was caught, but 55 MPH at the same location in the opposite direction -- he accepted the $155 fine for driving 72 MPH thinking by paying the matter would be settled.
Last week, however, the state of New York notified him that it now considers him an "at risk" driver and therefore he must either pay the state an annual $100 tax or a lump sum of $300."
The abuse never ends and in evermore imaginative ways.
Posted by Robert Jackson at 02:42 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 22, 2006
My Last Word on the Danish ‘Cartoons’ Affair
The violence and uproar aside, the larger issue is this though: We in the post-modern, secular, cynical, and worldly West just simply cannot fathom that there still exist in the world people who do in fact “believe in things”. Things like ideology, religion, tradition, and a knowable sense of right and wrong. Things they believe in passionately, completely, and without reservation. Things that they are willing to kill for, die for, and sacrifice anything for.
I cannot imagine Senator Edward Kennedy would ever be willing to sacrifice himself, his fortune, his family, or his place in the world to stop the Bush administration, the NRA, or Judge Alito’s appointment to the SCOTUS. Or conversely, rightwing Senator Rick Santorum either for his agenda. But this level of commitment would go without saying in most of the Middle East and the rest of Muslim world.
You see, they really do believe. Truly, and without reservation too. All the “rhetorical crap” (as we in the West view it) they mean. Ponder on that.
Posted by Ali Massoud at 01:36 PM | Comments (2)
Looking for a Storm in a Port
Justin Raimondo has an excellent column on the whole port management brouhaha. There's much more to it than just the sound-bite arguments heard on talk radio, including double standards on foreign "outsourcing" of security issues and machinations by another port-management company that stands to make a profit by scuttling the Dubai deal.
Posted by Mike Tennant at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)
Value of a Dollar
EH.net (Economic History) has a lot of interesting measures and calculators for tracking the value of various monetary items like an ounce of gold or a U.S. dollar through the centuries.
Posted by Robert Jackson at 12:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 20, 2006
Why Mommy Is a Democrat...
I haven’t seen propaganda that was this fookin’ lame since Baghdad Bob was still broadcasting.
Posted by Ali Massoud at 08:48 AM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2006
Dollar Hegemony
On Feb .15, Rep. Ron Paul delivered a speech in the U.S. House that lays out clearly the connection between our fraudulent monetary system and government's bullying and war. An excerpt:
"Since printing paper money is nothing short of counterfeiting, the issuer of the international currency must always be the country with the military might to guarantee control over the system. This magnificent scheme seems the perfect system for obtaining perpetual wealth for the country that issues the de facto world currency. The one problem, however, is that such a system destroys the character of the counterfeiting nation’s people – just as was the case when gold was the currency and it was obtained by conquering other nations. And this destroys the incentive to save and produce, while encouraging debt and runaway welfare."
Dr. Paul's speech is well worth reading, at least twice.
The link above also includes a link to a Windows Media Player video of Paul delivering the speech.
Posted by George F. Smith at 01:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 15, 2006
The Theology of the Bush Cult
Norman Singleton at the LewRockwell.com blog directs us to this dead-on piece by Glenn Greenwald called "Do Bush followers have a political ideology?"
Writes Greenwald:
It used to be the case that in order to be considered a "liberal" or someone "of the Left," one had to actually ascribe to liberal views on the important policy issues of the day – social spending, abortion, the death penalty, affirmative action, immigration, "judicial activism," hate speech laws, gay rights, utopian foreign policies, etc. etc. These days, to be a "liberal," such views are no longer necessary.
Now, in order to be considered a "liberal," only one thing is required – a failure to pledge blind loyalty to George W. Bush. The minute one criticizes him is the minute that one becomes a "liberal," regardless of the ground on which the criticism is based. And the more one criticizes him, by definition, the more "liberal" one is. Whether one is a "liberal" -- or, for that matter, a "conservative" -- is now no longer a function of one’s actual political views, but is a function purely of one’s personal loyalty to George Bush.
Ain't that the truth?
Posted by Mike Tennant at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2006
For the Love of Democracy
If there were ever any doubt that our government's commitment to democracy in the Middle East was a bunch of hogwash, this ought to put such doubts to rest:
The United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats.
The intention is to starve the Palestinian Authority of money and international connections to the point where, some months from now, its president, Mahmoud Abbas, is compelled to call a new election. The hope is that Palestinians will be so unhappy with life under Hamas that they will return to office a reformed and chastened Fatah movement.
On the other hand, the PA has problems of its own, namely, that "at least one-third of the Palestinian population," or 140,000 people, work for the PA itself. This is not the way to a peaceful and prosperous future.
One more thing--it's easy to see why Mr. Bush likes Abbas so much:
In preparation for a Hamas-led government, Mr. Abbas is also said to be insisting on reinforcing his position as commander in chief of all Palestinian forces, even though the prime minister and the interior minister also have control over them through a security council that the prime minister chairs.
On Monday the departing parliament made an effort to boost Mr. Abbas's powers by passing legislation giving him the authority to appoint a new constitutional court that can veto legislation deemed in violation of the Palestinians' basic law.
Mr. Abbas would appoint the nine judges to the new court without seeking parliamentary approval. . . .
Democracy is only a good thing, as far as the United States government is concerned, when the "right" people win.
Posted by Mike Tennant at 04:09 PM | Comments (1)
February 13, 2006
Darn Those Sox!
The story about the White Sox members who won't be attending their make-the-president-look-like-he-won-the-World-Series session at the White House (linked on today's STR home page) reveals a manager, Ozzie Guillen, who has his priorities straight:
Guillen is vacationing in the Dominican Republic with his wife, Ibis, and their youngest son, Ozney. The oldest of Guillen's three sons, Ozzie Jr., said Thursday that his father had considered re-arranging his vacation plans to accommodate a White House visit. But when he was told no wives or families were permitted to accompany the team on the visit, he chose to spend time with his family.
"My dad cares about two things, his baseball team and his family,'' Ozzie Jr. said. "He's not interested in pleasing other people. The White House had changed the date of this visit a couple of times. It was supposed to be right after SoxFest [at the end of January]. Mr. Daley probably doesn't know that."
Is there any chance Ozzie Sr. will reconsider and interrupt his vacation with a quick stop in Washington?
"No way. Not at all," Ozzie Jr. said. "To Ozzie, his family is more important than getting attention for himself. You have to remember, Mr. Daley is a politician. My dad is not."
Well said, Ozzie, Jr. Way to go, Ozzie, Sr.
Posted by Mike Tennant at 04:25 PM | Comments (0)
Million-Dollar Murray
One homeless drunk cost the taxpayers of Nevada $1million in medical and related services over the course of a decade. And that is typical too. Compassion has a price.
Posted by Ali Massoud at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2006
Isn't "Conservative National Energy Policy" an Oxymoron?
President Bush, citing America's "addiction" to oil in his State of the Union show, set a goal of reducing our oil imports by more than 75 percent by 2025 and listed a whole bunch of expensive, wasteful, counterproductive federal initiatives that he thinks will achieve this goal.
Had a Democrat offered up such a ridiculous, unconstitutional, big-government idea, conservative commentators would be up in arms. Instead, most applauded, saying it was about time we had a national energy policy.
One Republican Congressman, Maryland's Roscoe Bartlett, even wrote a column called "The Next Conservative Energy Policy," as if there had been a previous conservative energy policy and as if conservatives should believe that the federal government ought to have one. Bartlett bluntly states that we need an expensive, big-government solution:
Conservatives should recognize that unless we have a national energy conservation program with the commitment, breadth and intensity of the Apollo moon mission and the Manhattan Project to create the atom bomb, our country is unlikely to achieve the goal of replacing "more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025" and even less likely to break our oil addiction.
Hey, Congressman Bartlett! How about just letting the market solve the problem? As the price of oil rises, people will naturally seek out alternatives. Letting the market work, however, would not help this clown look important and get re-elected, and so we will get bigger government yet again, if he has his way.
Posted by Mike Tennant at 04:09 PM | Comments (1)
February 09, 2006
The Circular Firing Squad Effect of Federal Anti-Terror Programs
The immediate post-911 Arab/Muslim round-up by the feds went largely unreported by the mainstream media and has certainly gone down the memory hole of the American public some five years later. However Americans of Arab descent or of the Muslim religion sure haven’t forgotten those times.
I know I haven’t. The FBI, apparently peeved that I blew off two phone calls that they made to my home requesting that I present myself at their downtown Detroit HQ for an “informational interview” (sic), sent two agents to my then employer’s office to “remind” me of their desire for this interview. I have to say my anger, fear, and lingering paranoia at this sort of thuggish behavior on their part has never fully diminished even some five years later either.
And now it seems that professional libertarian gadfly James Brovard has decided to remind the public of those days. Writing an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times he seeks to revive our fading memories of the post-911 round-ups.
“In the mass roundup of more than 1,200 people shortly after 9/11, for example,” says Brovard, “it took very little for a Muslim or Arab illegal immigrant to be considered a ‘suspected terrorist,’ according to a 2003 report by the Justice Department's inspector general. Arab students were locked up as suspected terrorists for working at pizza parlors (in violation of their student visas); a Pakistani immigrant was jailed after attracting attention because he and his Queens housemates let their grass grow long and hung their underwear out to dry on the fence; and one Muslim was arrested because ‘he had taken a roll of film to be developed and the film had multiple pictures of the World Trade Center on it but no other Manhattan sites,’ the inspector general noted. Some FBI agents were even instructed to look in phone books to find Arab- or Muslim-sounding names, according to Newsweek columnist Steven Brill.”
Oh and by the way; the 1,200 or so people detained that Brovard refers to above was only in the Los Angeles area. The whole number nation-wide was in the thousands. How many people Leviathan’s minions rounded up, imprisoned, tortured, exiled, ”disappeared”, or killed outside the USA’s borders will likely never be known.
So when the neo-con talking heads attempt to explain away President Bush’s illegal and intrusive spying campaign as a “terrorist surveillance program” consider that these days nearly any undefined or vaguely suspicious behavior, notion, or idea on some fed’s part can land one in a detention cell as an “enemy combatant”.
“When Americans hear Bush say ‘terrorism surveillance program,’ says Brovard “they should recognize that the crosshairs may very well be on them. The more expansive and arbitrary the definition of ‘suspected terrorist,’ the more of our rights the feds can violate. Invoking the word ‘terrorism’ must not raze all limits on the government's power to target citizens who pose no threat to public safety.”
And anyone can be denounced by anyone else because no one is above suspicion. Ever. So it seems that the more people start pointing fingers at one another, the more feds ask for people to be pointed out as suspects. In other words a “circular firing squad”.
Posted by Ali Massoud at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)
February 08, 2006
Rebutting the Ignorant One Man at a Time
The main reason I found this article so unpersuasive and just plain wrong in its factual assertions is contained in this little anecdote from Mr. Davies:
"Have you ever seen a Muslim smile, or heard one laugh? I've known so very few, that I'm not a good person to generalize, but I don't believe I ever have. The one I got to know best--a young gentleman and scholar, at Cambridge--was the antithesis of the rioting, rocket-toting, illiterate slogan-chanting fanatic portrayed on TV; a truly gentle person, firm and unshakeable in his religious beliefs but courteous to a fault. Even he, though, had no visible sense of humor that I recall. I dare say that, on the whole, they are a pretty humorless bunch."
To rebut this cluelessness:
Muslims and Arabs are great joke tellers and pranksters when and if you get to know them. Just because he doesn't know any proves nothing but how socially isolated Mr. Davies is. How many jokes do you see Christian, Jewish, Hindu or other religious fundys cracking? This is a problem with all the overzealous of whatever politics, philosophy, or sect.
WTF does a WWI sea battle have to do with any of this either? The paper that published the "cartoons" (drawings would be a better term actually) is printed there but so what? Calling them cartoons makes them seem more innocuous than they really are as well.
Posted by Ali Massoud at 01:30 PM | Comments (1)
February 02, 2006
Billions and Billions of Wasted Dollars
Remember how Bush's economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey was fired for publicly stating that the Iraq war was going to cost $200 billion?
Well, the latest word is that the administration is going to request "about $70 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the ongoing budget year." Add that to the previous cost, and we're well over Lindsey's estimate.
How some people can continue to insist that this president is an honest, upright man is beyond me.
(Thanks to Antiwar.com for the link.)
Posted by Mike Tennant at 03:09 PM | Comments (0)
Take the Citizenship Test
Clyde Wilson has developed a handy, 40-question test "designed to test your qualifications as a citizen." Try it out and see how you do.
The only two questions where I wavered are 24 and 25.
As to number 24, I'm really not familiar enough with Islam to know whether it's a naturally violent or peaceful religion. Perhaps "Chemical Ali" can enlighten me here. I would say, however, that since the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful people, being a Muslim is not a sufficient condition for being a terrorist any more than being a Christian was a sufficient condition for being a Crusader.
Number 25, I think, should be broken into 2 parts. It is clear that all religions are not similar. Some, for example, worship God, while others worship Satan--a big difference. On the other hand, all religions should be tolerated unless their leaders are specifically causing their followers to violate others' rights, and even here we get into "iffy" territory.
Still, overall it's an excellent test. Expect your average "conservative" or "liberal" to score highly on this and to denouce as a "bad citizen" anyone who doesn't. Just for fun, I went back and answered the questions as I thought a conservative and a liberal would. Both came out with scores over 20, the conservative scoring higher only because he trusts the government more now since it's run by Republicans and the liberal trusts it less because it's run by Republicans. Ten years ago some of the answers would have been reversed.
Posted by Mike Tennant at 02:30 PM | Comments (1)