••can ye pass the acid test?••

ye who enter here be afraid, but do what ye must -- to defeat your fear ye must defy it.

& defeat it ye must, for only then can we begin to realize liberty & justice for all.

time bomb tick tock? nervous tic talk? war on war?

or just a blog crying in the wilderness, trying to make sense of it all, terror-fried by hate radio and FOX, the number of whose name is 666??? (coincidence?)

Monday, November 28, 2011

the atlantic
By Daniel B. Klein

A libertarian economist retracts a swipe at the left—after discovering that our political leanings leave us more biased than we think. [more]
ny mag
By Jonathan Chait

You know how the supercommittee failed because the two parties couldn’t compromise on a plan to reduce the deficit? That’s the story all the media is reporting. It’s all wrong. The reason for the deadlock wasn’t that the two parties couldn’t compromise, it’s that they don’t agree on what problem they’re supposed to solve. And once you understand this, then you can see that the supercommittee didn’t actually fail. [more]

Sunday, November 27, 2011

#occupylondon
#ows
probably nothing has done so much harm to the liberal cause as the wooden insistence of some liberals on certain rules of thumb, above all of the principle of laissez-faire capitalism.
F A Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty (University Chicago Press, 1960), pp. 502–3

The successful use of competition as the principle of social organization precludes certain types of coercive interference with economic life, but it admits of others which sometimes may very considerably assist its work and even requires certain kinds of government action.
Hayek, The road to serfdom (University of Chicago Press, 1994)

To prohibit the use of certain poisonous substances, or to require special precautions in their use, to limit working hours or to require certain sanitary arrangements, is fully compatible with the preservation of competition. The only question here is whether in the particular instance the advantages gained are greater than the social costs which they impose.
—Hayek, The road to serfdom (University of Chicago Press, 1994)

Nor can certain harmful effects of deforestation, of some methods of farming, or of the smoke and noise of factories, be confined to the owner of the property in question, or to those who are willing to submit to the damage for an agreed compensation.
—Hayek, The road to serfdom (University of Chicago Press, 1994)

Even the most essential prerequisite of its [the market's] proper functioning, the prevention of fraud and deception (including exploitation of ignorance), provides a great and by no means fully accomplished object of legislative activity.
—Hayek, The road to serfdom (University of Chicago Press, 1994)

There is no reason why, in a society which has reached the general level of wealth ours has, the first kind of security should not be guaranteed to all without endangering general freedom; that is: some minimum of food, shelter and clothing, sufficient to preserve health. Nor is there any reason why the state should not help to organize a comprehensive system of social insurance in providing for those common hazards of life against which few can make adequate provision.
—Hayek, The road to serfdom quoted here

In no system that could be rationally defended would the state just do nothing.
—Hayek, The road to serfdom (University of Chicago Press, 1994)
free market hayek fans generally avoid mention of such inconvenient quotes, but some opponents of national health care will cite "without endangering general freedom" (in the next to last quote above) as a reason to oppose the individual mandate. i tend to agree. the mandate is inconsistent with social justice. supporters of the patient protection and affordable care act would do well to have a backup plan ready to go if and when the supreme court declares that the individual mandate violates the due process clause. even the idea of a public option has it backwards: what we need is a public plan (i.e., single payer) with a private option (so anyone who doesn't want to be in the public plan could choose private coverage, rather than the other way round).

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Saturday, November 19, 2011

old guys
wikipedia says:
The oldest president to assume office was Ronald Reagan (age 69 years, 349 days).
so he was not quite 78 when he left office.

ron paul turned 76 last august. he will turn 77 before the next election and 78 during the first year of the subsequent presidential term. if elected, he will set presidential age records every year he serves.

say, why don't we repeal the 22nd amendment so he can be not only our first octogenarian president but our first nonagenarian president too? i mean, if he lives....
best quote re gop debates
"it's like a reality show,
except the losers stay on"*

* don't ask me who said it. i didn't catch any of their names....
ows
rwnj
wow! was that fast!

ms conception
blankshooter
unable
gargantuarich
plasticman

who's next?
superdoc?
sandman?
nochanceman?

Friday, November 18, 2011

rwnj
did you ever google the word santorum?
rwnj
watching dominoes fall

ms conception
blankshooter
unable
gargantuarich

who's next?
plasticman?
superdoc?
sandman?
nochanceman?

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

bbc

Rival countries have squabbled over territory in the South China Sea for centuries - but a recent upsurge in tension has sparked concern that the area is becoming a flashpoint with global consequences. [more]

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Monday, November 14, 2011

rwnj


fox (666) news contributor karl rove announced a $600,000 tv ad buy attacking elizabeth warren and occupy wall street. (PCCC)





wikipedia:
American Crossroads is a 527 organization that has raised and spent tens of millions of dollars to defend and elect Republican candidates to federal office, and was very active in the 2010 U.S. midterm elections.[1] Its president is Steven J. Law, a former United States Deputy Secretary of Labor for President George W. Bush, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors is former Republican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan. Advisers to the group include Senior Advisor and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and former Counselor to the President and Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie.
...
American Crossroads lists its formal leadership as follows:[2]
...
American Crossroads raised $28 million in the 2010 election cycle.[8] 91% of the funds raised were from billionaires.[9][10][11]
...
Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (Crossroads GPS)[12] is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation that works in conjunction with American Crossroads. As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, Crossroads GPS's primary purpose is the advancement of social welfare including public policy advocacy, although it is permitted to engage in political spending as well. Crossroads GPS is required to report what it spends, but it is not required to publicly disclose any donor information.[13]
... [more]

Saturday, November 12, 2011

rwnj
almost missed this one from a couple days ago

No. 314 of 365 ways to drive a liberal crazy

Pick a fight with a liberal on:

LIBERAL MEDIA BIAS.

Quote the "great"—and remember to use the air quotes—Walter Cronkite: "I think most newspaper men by definition have to be liberal; if they're not liberal, by my definition of it, they can hardly be good newspapermen."

hey! what's the fight about? not only was cronkite entitled to his opinion, he was closer to right than the "right" ever was.

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

till killing stops
boycott mex dope

sure, ending the war on drugs and stopping the flow of arms across the border would be best, but until those unlikely events occur, we can help somewhat by getting our illegal drugs somewhere else!
npr
npr

Monday, November 07, 2011

Saturday, November 05, 2011

rwnj
james delingpole has a new book out. it's called watermelons: the green movement’s true colors.

oh, really? nuff said. or maybe not.


hey, why fool around? here's the 12 million results on google.

Friday, November 04, 2011

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

if you want to know what wall street really thinks of democracy, look how markets plunged when george papandreou announced the greek people would vote on whether to accept the EU bailout deal.
wikipedia

Milestones

The following shows estimates of when each billion milestone was or will be met:
Population1 billion2 billion3 billion4 billion5 billion6 billion7 billion8 billion9 billion
Year180419271960197419871999201120242042
Years until next billion12334131312121318
These numbers show that the world's population has tripled in 72 years, and doubled in 38 years up to the year 1999. Including some more estimates, the world population has been doubled or will double in the following years (with two different starting points). Note how, during the 2nd millennium, each doubling has taken roughly half as long as the previous doubling.
Population250 million500 million1 billion2 billion4 billion8 billion
YearAD 95016001804192719742024
Years until next doubling6502041234750
Population375 million750 million1.5 billion3 billion6 billion
Year14201720187519611999
Years until next doubling3001558638