Found this interview over at the wonderful blog by David Thompson, and I am dropping it here because I love Thomas Sowell, and because I WAS RIGHT! Or, to be precise, Mr. Sowell agrees with me. And that's even better than being right, because it also means I'm smart! Damn, I'm good.
The entire interview is worth listening to (not just the part where he agrees with me) for his theories on the intersection of wealth creation, geography and isolation. Basically, to sum it up, if you happen to get stuck in a shithole part of the world, like the Eskimos or the Aborigines, you will stay poor, backwards, and stupid. People need to interact to create wealth and to progress culturally.
Good stuff.
I would also interject into his thesis that FREEDOM is absolutely required for the creation of wealth because it ALLOWS people to interact on their own terms. You can't force creative interaction. You can only inhibit it.
Just my two cents, but seeing as how Mr. Sowell and I are BFFs now because we agree on "The Donald," I thought he wouldn't mind if I critiqued him a little...HAHAHA!
Heh...almost too true to be REALLY funny. I'm mostly just enjoying the hell out of the searing, wrenching, unicorn-decimating, teddy-bear-destroying PUMMELING the dreams of the moist-eyed liberals are taking. That's gotta hurt. And it's scary, too, huh...precious? Real life is scary for babies and widdle kiddies.
Here's just one example of how scary real life is going to be under Obamacare. BOO!
Apparently our National Park Service didn't think a parade on the anniversary of 9/11 to honor our fallen citizens and soldiers who have died in the last twelve years because of Islamic extremism was important enough to issue a permit.
So the bikers came anyway.
There is a lesson here, folks. The government is only as powerful as we allow it to be. If we, as free citizens, say not just, "No!" but "HELL NO!" then the government must stand aside or use force, because force is all it has. Force is all it is.
And the moment the government uses force, the game is ON. Because we will see it for what it is. Power. Control. Force.
Jon Stewart said he believes in "good government" even as we learn of spying, drones strikes, attacks on the Constitution, coverups, use of power to destroy political enemies, and flat out lies. I say there is no such thing as "good government." There is only big government and small government.
Kim Jong-un's ex-girlfriend was among a dozen well-known North Korean performers who were executed by firing squad on Aug. 20, reports said Wednesday.
Sources in China said singer Hyon Song-wol as well as Mun Kyong-jin, head of the Unhasu Orchestra, were arrested on Aug. 17 for violating North Korean laws against pornography and were executed in public three days later.
The victims of the atrocity were members of the Unhasu Orchestra as well as singers, musicians and dancers with the Wangjaesan Light Music Band.
They were accused of videotaping themselves having sex and selling the videos. The tapes have apparently gone on sale in China as well.
A source said some allegedly had Bibles in their possession, and all were treated as political dissidents.
What are the odds that she was set up?
Kim met Hyon about a decade ago, before either of them was married. But he was later ordered to break off the relationship by his father Kim Jong-il and she married a soldier. Since then there have been rumors that the two were having an affair.
Kim's wife Ri Sol-ju was also a member of the Unhasu Orchestra before she married him. Whether she had any hand in the executions is unclear. The Unhasu Orchestra and Wangjaesan Light Music Band have apparently been disbanded due to the latest scandal.
"They were executed with machine guns while the key members of the Unhasu Orchestra, Wangjaesan Light Band and Moranbong Band as well as the families of the victims looked on," the source said.
The source added that all of the families of the executed appear to have been sent to prison camps under North Korea's barbaric principle of guilt by association.
Well, that is certainly an effective way to silence any witnesses who might protest that you just had your girlfriend shot to keep things cozy at home. Kill her and eleven others, and force their families to watch, then ship them off to prison camps. Nice and tidy. President Peace Prize probably really envies little Kimmy now. Unfortunately Our Beloved Leader is "constrained by a system the Founders put in place." It would have been so much more convenient to be able to arrest, try and execute the survivors of Benghazi for, say, desertion or some other trumped up charge, instead of having to monitor them day and night, poly-graph them every month, and ship them around the country in witness protection programs so Congress can't find them and force them to testify.
And don't even get me started on the Seal Team Six being shot out of the air after the Bin Laden raid. THAT little operation was probably a logistical nightmare. Think of the headaches, the planning, the risk. Who knew if the damned Afghans could get the job done? If only Dear Leader could just have had them all shot.
It's not easy being president. It would be so much easier being king. Or emperor. But he's not and that's a problem, or so he says.
Apparently trickling down prosperity is so much more socially just and progressive when it's trickling down through the theft of government instead of the action of a free market. Who knew?
This is what our police look like now, kittens. And they
don't play nice. Or fair.
The Third Amendment, which forbids the “quarter[ing]” of “soldiers” in private homes in peacetime without the owner’s consent, is often the butt of jokes among lawyers, because it generates so little litigation. But the Amendment has come up in this ongoing Nevada case, along with the Fourth Amendment and state law claims [HT: my former student Michael Mortorano]:
Henderson [Nevada] police arrested a family for refusing to let officers use their homes as lookouts for a domestic violence investigation of their neighbors, the family claims in court.
Anthony Mitchell and his parents Michael and Linda Mitchell sued the City of Henderson, its Police Chief Jutta Chambers, Officers Garret Poiner, Ronald Feola, Ramona Walls, Angela Walker, and Christopher Worley, and City of North Las Vegas and its Police Chief Joseph Chronister, in Federal Court....
The Mitchell family’s claim includes Third Amendment violations, a rare claim in the United States....
“On the morning of July 10th, 2011, officers from the Henderson Police Department responded to a domestic violence call at a neighbor’s residence,” the Mitchells say in the complaint.
It continues: “At 10:45 a.m. defendant Officer Christopher Worley (HPD) contacted plaintiff Anthony Mitchell via his telephone. Worley told plaintiff that police needed to occupy his home in order to gain a ‘tactical advantage’ against the occupant of the neighboring house. Anthony Mitchell told the officer that he did not want to become involved and that he did not want police to enter his residence. Although Worley continued to insist that plaintiff should leave his residence, plaintiff clearly explained that he did not intend to leave his home or to allow police to occupy his home. Worley then ended the phone call.
Mitchell claims that defendant officers, including Cawthorn and Worley and Sgt. Michael Waller then “conspired among themselves to force Anthony Mitchell out of his residence and to occupy his home for their own use.”
The complaint continues: “Defendant Officer David Cawthorn outlined the defendants’ plan in his official report: ‘It was determined to move to 367 Evening Side and attempt to contact Mitchell. If Mitchell answered the door he would be asked to leave. If he refused to leave he would be arrested for Obstructing a Police Officer. If Mitchell refused to answer the door, force entry would be made and Mitchell would be arrested.’”
It continues: “The officers banged forcefully on the door and loudly commanded Anthony Mitchell to open the door to his residence.
“Surprised and perturbed, plaintiff Anthony Mitchell immediately called his mother (plaintiff Linda Mitchell) on the phone, exclaiming to her that the police were beating on his front door.
“Seconds later, officers, including Officer Rockwell, smashed open plaintiff Anthony Mitchell’s front door with a metal ram as plaintiff stood in his living room.
“As plaintiff Anthony Mitchell stood in shock, the officers aimed their weapons at Anthony Mitchell and shouted obscenities at him and ordered him to lie down on the floor....
We allow a militarized police force and then are surprised when they begin to act like the military? I'm not.
I am surprised that liberals/lefties/progressives aren't screaming their little heads off over such obvious incidents of police brutality. Remember that phrase -- police brutality? I had never EVER heard it until the hippies started throwing it around in the sixties. I was a little kid, but I remember the phrase. Oh, and "pigs". That's what cops used to be to progressives - pigs. Apparently, since the police have become lawless fascists, it's all good and they are now friends.
Scratch a liberal, find a fascist. But if you do scratch one, don't smell your finger afterwards.
When it's about the children -- and it's always about the children for the left -- there is no expense too great, no restriction of freedom too ominous, no increase in governmental power too dangerous. Every story of deprivation or hardship wrung from the trembling lips of some liberal politician would convince us that the entire human race was being brought to its knees because government was not big enough to stop some child's pain.
OH! The humanity!
Of course, we're talking about the right kind of children. When they are the wrong kind of children, children of Republicans or conservatives -- or children who haven't been born just yet -- tough. Federal government employees are eating lobster and drinking champagne in $3,500.00 per night hotel rooms, thank you very much. And you are furloughed and borrowing money for your child's birthday present.
Representative Trey Gowdy attempts to point out the hypocrisy. Of course, hypocrisy is lost on Democrats.
We have a government that has grown monstrous on promises that it could alleviate all our pain, if it were just a little bit bigger, had a little more power, and now it's become the biggest pain in
the ass in the neighborhood. Oh...and no receipts, either, on that party, dude. The lords at the IRS
needn't answer to anyone, least of all you, Mr. Average Citizen. Just
shut up and sit down. We'll get to you eventually. If you're (un)lucky.
Yes, well....Now we learn that the IRS spent tens of thousands on logo swag and line-dancing lessons, but you are only to remember that Ann Romney is a rich, unfeeling white raaaaaaaaacist who chose not to spend her money on children!!! Oh...and Mitt didn't hug his garbage man. Because he does. not. care. There is no other reason. None. I won't point out that I don't know a single Democrat -- not one -- who has ever hugged their garbage man, or taken him out a drink of water, or has even so much as waved at him, because that would be petty. And no liberal Democrat would get my point anyway.
We all know that anyone who supported Romney did so solely out of racism. We all know that anyone anywhere at anytime who has not supported President Peace Prize or has anything to say against President Peace Prize is simply racist. Because Obama has never done a thing wrong in his entire life.
In. His. Entire. Life.
EVER.
Oh. And neither has anyone in his entire family...just for good measure.
Wrap your heads around that, kittens, and try to reconcile it with a world that is still even marginally sane. I'm betting it can't be done.
Although, to be fair, there is this:
At this point the only way to prevent people from hearing your conversations is to have them on MSNBC.
— Rep. Steve Stockman (@SteveWorks4You) June 8, 2013
(Steve Stockman is my new favorite person.)
Because this, too:
Senator Obama is going to be irate when he finds out what the President has been doing.
— Rep. Steve Stockman (@SteveWorks4You) June 8, 2013
Remember when Ninny P. waxed poetic about the struggling artists who, under ObamaCare, would never need to get a real job to secure their own healthcare? That now, under the kind and wise guidance of Ninny in the Nanny State, no one would ever have to give up their dreams of performing true art for the more pragmatic reality of taking care of one's own ass.
Ninny P. assured everyone that they could stop working at real jobs and become performance artists or musicians, writers or poets, without worrying any longer that no one on the entire planet would ever choose to pay a nickel for the crap created and therefore would leave these poor sensitive creatures with bills to pay and NO HEALTHCARE! How crushing for the human soul to be faced with the reality of providing for one's own existence! How very, very adult! EEEUUUWWW!
But Ninny was there to rescue us all from adulthood! And it was going to be wonderful - for EVERYBODY! We were all going to pay less and have more through the wondrous powers of government. Of course, when people asked for some specifics on how that was going to happen, exactly, we were told we were just going to have to wait and find out.
So now we're finding out that Ninny can't remember just exactly WHAT she said all the way back in the olden days and it is churlish and unfair of anyone to expect her to. Besides, it is in poor taste to reduce the grand and caring COMPASSION she feels for the artiste to mere numbers. How does one pay for the promise of expressing one's soul through art? I suppose, like the VISA commercial, it's priceless.
Unfortunately for the rest of us, priceless always means hideously expensive.
This reminds me of the Abbot and Costello routine, "Who's On First?"
It's only funny because it hurts so much.Remember, as we watch it all burn, we got here under the advice and guidance of all the really, really, really smart guys. That is reassuring, isn't it?
In the very recent past, Mr. Maher stated that he was jealous of the dictatorship in China because they could get things done and didn't have to answer to the demands of the stupid people, which, according to Maher is virtually anyone who doesn't see things his way. He even suggested that Obama, our own poor darling struggling with the entanglements and inefficiencies of a constitutional republic, should just "drag them to it." You know, the stupid people. That would be you, kittens.
So how, Mr. Maher, do you suppose one might "drag" others to anything without a fair amount of force? Once you advocated for the powers of a dictatorship and its concomitant violence to gain your way, you are no longer believable when you wear your shocked face at a government that does just that. You don't get to get to look at what happened in Watertown during the apprehension of the second bombing suspect and say, "It's ridiculous. It's outa control."
Of course it's out of control. Power always goes out of control.
How did our government GET out of control? And under whom is it out of control? The sitting president of the United States is Mr. Peace Prize who stated categorically that he wanted a police force that was as big and powerful and well-funded as the entire US military. Well, you didn't even blink. You elected him. You armed him. You egged him on. You wanted him to "drag" people to your way of thinking.You wanted him to act more like a dictator.
So now he's using this force the way he wants to and it's not the way you think he should. Tough. The guy with the guns gets to decide who to shoot, stupid.
Remember, Mr. Maher, when the reality of a police state is fully implemented, you wanted this. You asked for it.
You just thought you could ride the lovely, heady, intoxicating power to smash and/or "drag" all the stupid people to your way of thinking. Turns out the stupid person here is you.
As I typed that headline, I considered typing it all in CAPS to convey the level of impassioned outrage displayed by our beloved Secretary of State Clinton as she railed against the indecency of a Senate committee actually questioning her decisions concerning Benghazi.
How DARE anyone question her? Besides, none of that mattered since we had four dead Americans!
The 46-page report accused Clinton — a possible White House contender in 2016 — of seeking to cover up failures by the State Department that could have contributed to the attack last year that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
The report, compiled by five House panels after a seven-month investigation, said Clinton approved reductions in security levels prior to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack, contradicting Clinton’s testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Jan. 23.
I'm sure Ms. Clinton just misspoke in the heaving passion of the moment. One can get important -- nay, vital -- information confused when one is beating one's chest and pounding the table in righteous fury. You try acting that outraged and keeping all the lies facts straight.
“Repeated requests for additional security were denied at the highest levels of the State Department,” it said. “For example, an April 2012 State Department cable bearing Secretary Hillary Clinton’s signature acknowledged then-Ambassador [Gene] Cretz’s formal request for additional security assets but ordered the withdrawal of security elements to proceed as planned.”
But Clinton insists that far too much crosses her desk for her to give a shit about any of it. Yes. That's her excuse.
Clinton testified that the more than 1 million cables that come to the State Department from the field every year are addressed to her and those that go out from Foggy Bottom bear her signature, regardless of who wrote them.
Democrats' best and most widely used response to their incompetency is always, "But I'm incompetent." And it always seems to work.
The report appears to be -- at least in part -- intended to protect Bubbling Boehner from conservative criticism over his overt efforts to bury the Benghazi scandal. Not surprisingly, it has infuriated Democrats.
Democrats slammed the report for “politicizing” the Benghazi attack; the ranking Democrats on the five committees that issued the report said Democrats had been excluded from the process that created it.
Oh boo hoo. If the Democrats had seriously desired to get to the truth, they've had seven months for just ONE of them to step up and demand an investigation. So they were left out -- finally? Doesn't appear they ever wanted to go to this party.
The independent audit faulted State for “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels” leading up to the deadly attack.
But the audit’s investigators did not interview Clinton, and did not recommend that anyone be fired because it “did not find reasonable cause to determine that any individual U.S. government employee breached his or her duty.”
The GOP report said State changed talking points that Ambassador Susan Rice used on television five days after the attacks in order to “insulate” the department from criticism, not to protect the FBI’s investigation.
When stupidity, arrogance and corruption are the expected characteristics of government bureaucracies, then you can't be FIRED for utilizing them so brilliantly. In fact, you're typically promoted. In Obama's case, you're re-elected.
One of the points Mr. Irons so eloquently makes as he thoughtfully ruminates on whatever he retrieved from his back molars, is that liberalism insults your intelligence. It is a philosophy based on the belief that most people just aren't that smart and need to be taken care of. With force, if necessary. Oh...and force is always necessary. Just ask any liberal. When was the last time a liberal looked for a solution to ANYTHING from anywhereother than the government -- nicely accompanied by the use of force? A law, a regulation, a ban, a tax...a jail sentence? As Mr. Irons points out, the government COULD just try to convince us, you know, like the evil corporate giants apparently do every day. So much power do corporations wield over our puny minds that we need a law or a regulation or a ban or a tax or a jail sentence to make us stop doing whatever they deliberately and easily program us to do. Why not use these supposedly highly successful marketing techniques that create, direct and virtually guarantee all kinds of behaviors, from buying a certain brand of soap to, well, perhaps using dental floss regularly? Okay...obviously they need better commercials for that last one...but oh well...
We could have some really interesting TV commercials, billboards, viral YouTube videos. Think of it. The government could rediscover its early and highly successful marketing techniques.
Remember? They used to be really good at it. Actually, they still are.
And while we're at it...public schooling must have sucked back then, too. What's with the little darling's countdown?
Liberals have been disingenuously posturing as the champions of the children, the poor, the disadvantaged, and the helpless for decades. However, if you might be the potential victim of a crime, you needn't look for their concern. Apparently they used it all up deciding the lunch menu for the precious little darlings at school.
At a recent Town Hall meeting in Colorado, a concerned citizen brings up the question of defending himself against more than one attacker. With more and more limitations on the size of magazines allowed, the situation where the homeowner may need to reload to defend himself should raise serious questions about his right to self-defense. But no. Colorado Representative DeGette succinctly points out, "You'd probably be dead anyway."
Besides, she notes that the gentleman lives in Denver, so it's all good. The police will be there lickety-split to clean up the mess.
I'm sure this gentleman feels better about his safety now. If he doesn't, it must be that he is a right-wing extremist with limited brain capacity and fantastical ideas of personal autonomy. You simply can't reason with those types.
Three-quarters of lesbians in the U.S. are obese, according to details of a new study, which has been given a grant of $1.5million to find out why.
This needs to be studied why? Seriously? All of western civilization is rocketing over the cliff of fiscal insanity, and yet, the proclivity towards weight gain in women of minority sexual orientation is vitally important and must. be. studied. This is not like understanding the significance of the God Particle or deciphering the language found in our DNA. This is fretting over -- to the tune of $1.5 million dollars -- the reason why women who aren't interested in being attractive to men are disproportionately fat. Duh. Little secret....
When you aren't even interested in "the perfect guy,"
you can just dig in!
High public-health significance. To whom? Honestly, I think I should submit a proposal for a $2 million dollar study to learn why men watch porn. Pay me and I'll explain it all. There will be graphs. And charts. No pictures, though.
Men are significantly more visual than women. Therefore, now stay with
me on this, kittens, either gender -- male or female -- interested in attracting visual males -- will NECESSARILY be more concerned with looking attractive. This
isn't hard, kittens.
Researchers said that there has been almost no work done on this social phenomenon.
No kidding. This is not a "phenomenon." Merriam-Webster defines phenomenon as:
c: a fact or event of scientific interest susceptible to scientific description and explanation
Scientific interest? It is not even a curiosity. Here's another little fact that you can pay me for elucidating. Men are more motivated by the sex drive than women. Women are more interested in being emotionally connected to their partners. That's why among homosexual men, being attractive and forming relationships around sex are primary motives. Among homosexual women, reading bad poetry and eating chocolate cake together are more engaging activities. This results in the infamous Lesbian Bed Death. Who can stay interested when your partner reads you this:
I'd like to make a YOU turn
Onto the highway that leads to
You being with me.
And once I get on that highway
I'll never look for an off ramp,
But I will slow down for the construction
Of a lasting relationship.
And I'll pay the tolls.
As long as those tolls aren't you telling me that
You don't love me the way I love you.
You, you, you, you,
I love you, and without you,
My soul would wilt like a flower in winter.
Water me.
Water me or I will die.
Shut up! Shut UP or I will die.
I need to get funding to do a study studying studies. Someone has to compile the data on just how much money can be pissed away by stupid "scientific" studies funded by politically motivated committees. Yeah. I could do that.
Bets that after all the chest pumping and fist pounding, not one slim dime is ever cut from the budgetless budget.
For how would we know, anyway? There hasn't been a budget since Obama was elected. Just recently he was assuring us that he had SAVED us over a TRILLION dollars. Okie dokie, Smokie.
"I would love a cup of tea. I need something to sip while watching the insanity."
"Yes, that's it!" said the Hatter with a sigh, "It's always tea time."
But apparently mere threats of death and despair and human sacrifice and dogs and cats living together were not sufficient to make President Peace Prize's point. So he has released thousands of serious criminals to the streets. Let's see how the little people like THEM apples! Maybe we'll learn our lesson and quit being so uppity. (Once upon a time that phrase was racist, but now that it can be applied to the ENTIRE COUNTRY, I think the code has been broken.)
I hear "release of criminal illegal aliens" and I think, "target practice." So bring it, asshole. The world needs a lot fewer bad guys and locking them away just keeps them from getting the killing they so desperately need.
All the while our very own Department of Justice is busily and carefully using the wrong words to explain very, very wrong actions as if they are right as rain.
I don't know about you, but just the fact that we must have conversations between a Senator and the highest law enforcement official in the country where they mull over the finer points of murdering Americans, you know, just working out the when and the how, is HORRIFYING. Why isn't everyone out in their front yards running around in circles and flapping their arms, screaming, "They're going to kill us aaaaaaaall!" Because if they didn't want the authority to kill us at their whim, they wouldn't be dancing around the issue like a finalist in Dancing with the Stars. Kudos to Senator Cruz for making Holder spin like a child's toy in an effort to NOT address the constitutionality of simply offing anyone they want because...THREAT!
Oh, and drones. Yeah. Way cool.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it the Left who insisted measures like the Patriot Act were unproductive, anti-American, and illegal, while the War on Terror was worthy of prosecution for war crimes when it was Bush and Cheney in office. Now President Peace Prize can take out anyone he wants, anywhere he wants for any reason he wants, and we're wrangling over whether it's constitutional or not. I'm no constitutional scholar like our esteemed president, so I must be missing subtle nuances hidden in the Constitution. I thought the document was pretty clearly written, with phrases like "shall not be infringed", but I'm simple like that.
I should just let super intellects like Danica Patrick convince me to stop worrying. I mean, if it's a good idea to let the government make all the decisions on when I should screw, it's just a tiny, baby step to letting the government screw me all by its lonesome.
Have I covered everything? Undoubtedly I've left out some of the madness. The room is swirling and my head hurts.
So about that light entertainment.
If you can get to the guinea pig and not bust out laughing, you're probably just more informed about the insanity than I. Sorry, kittens, but the truth hurts. And it's not that funny either.
