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The language must be careful and must appear effortless. It must not sweat. It must suggest and be provocative at the same time.
-- Toni Morrison
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And a Stoplight on Every Corner... |
Oh, the promises politicians give the rubes. I offer a parable to showcase the lunacy of the left. There was a small town in middle America. It had its streets, its downtown, its people, and their cars. They drove all over town, getting to and from work. Somewhat frequently, there was an accident. In this town, there were no rules of the road, no stop signs - it was left to everyone's common sense. The mayor suggested that a few rules would be good. So she and the city council voted for speed limits, turning etiquette, right-of-way laws, and they implemented lanes. The people of the city were elated. Traffic flowed much smoother. Fewer accidents took place. Emboldened by her innovation, the mayor suggested that there should be stop signs at the city's major intersections near the downtown, where some accidents still occurred. Some of the townsfolk complained about this new mechanism to control traffic, but accidents were now reduced to almost nothing. The mayor was more popular than ever, but it started to annoy some people that they had to stop at every corner for several blocks in the busier parts of the city. A fella on the council owned a business that created lights of all kinds. One night, the idea hit upon him that a stoplight could replace the stop signs, and that by engineering the start/stop signaling, the lights could be timed for the busiest routes so that once a car started down the street, it could sail through without stopping. It would be like smart stop signs. The people of the town liked the invention so much that they elected him to be the new mayor. And he made good money doing it. It was good for the town, and good for his business. His wife then suggested that if he implemented more stoplights throughout the city, accidents would be further reduced and he would profit all the more. So he pushed the measure through the council. They passed it, though narrowly, and what he envisioned came to pass - fewer accidents yet, and he made a ton of money. His wife was so pleased. With all of the extra money, they essentially bought her a seat on the council to replace one of the people who'd voted against the measure. And passed yet more legislation for more stoplights. The people of the town were now forced stop in areas of the city where there was virtually no traffic. People argued that the stoplights were unnecessary, and some said that the new mayor was lining his pockets. But the mayor produced a study that showed the stoplights were bringing accidents almost to zero. Using the results of the study as the catalyst, he coerced yet another vote for more stoplights. He paid some on the council to vote for the new lights. The vote was close, but it went in his favor. Now, nearly half the corners in town had the stoplights. To pay for the stoplights, the council raised taxes. Some in town supported the lights, saying "What is the price of saving lives?" Others argued, "Why are our freedoms being stripped away and our money taken from us?" In the next year, there was one traffic fatality and it occurred at a corner with no stoplight at the far edge of town. The mayor published pictures of the horrific accident, and insisted that all traffic be regulated with a stoplight. Business owners and much of the town stood in protest. "This will kill all commerce!" A few citizens shouted back, "Greedy and uncaring!" The mayor strong-armed the council and forced a vote on the unpopular measure. After much bribery, it passed. Because productivity and retail dropped considerably for the difficulty in just getting around throughout town, jobs were lost. Unemployment skyrocketed. And tax revenue fell to a fraction of what it had been. The moral of the story? Only rubes think that a society riddled with stoplights is smart. Most citizens will calmly watch their freedoms stripped away because a few idiots complain and then rise to power to take advantage of the situation. Fight. |
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As his polling numbers steadily approach Tiger Woods' 9-hole golf score (or the number of women who've slept with Tiger while he was married), this quote is hilarious: Gallup Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport responded: "Gibbs said that if Gallup were his EKG, he would visit his doctor. Well, I think the doctor might ask him what's going on in his life that would cause his EKG to be fluctuating so much." Our resident Super Genius has the lowest score of any president ever at this point in a presidency.Of course, it doesn't help that the majority of Americans don't want health care reformed by the government. And it doesn't help that Obama can't do math - he just spends our money as though he can endlessly print it. No matter how cool you think someone is, if he keeps working to collapse your quality of life and doesn't hide his willingness to take money from your children, eventually his coolness doesn't matter. While the rubes will keep cheering for their guy (to their harm), the rest of the country sees this bullshit for what it is. ETC: There's a great difference between Obama and other presidents, like JFK and Reagan. JFK and Reagan thought that the American people were the best engine for economic growth, and so they passed across-the-board tax cuts to give money back to the people of America and each time it was tried, the economy roared back. Obama doesn't believe that at all. He believes that government is the best engine for economic growth - which has never worked to revive the economy. According to him, the government hasn't spent nearly enough of your money for you yet. He's no man of the people; he's the man of government. He's crushing our kids with debt. What an immoral jerk.  |
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The purpose of government regulation is to provide standardization and stability, and to protect the consumer and businesses alike from unfair business practices. In general, it's to help. From Wikipedia: Efficient regulations are defined as those where the total benefits to some people exceed the total costs to others. In short, a net positive.When the sum effect of regulation is to excessively increase the cost to the business and to the consumer, and destabilizes the free market, government is no longer an agent for help, but works to erode business and reduce jobs. And at that point, government must be limited by its citizens, or there won't be any income to tax as our expenditures outrun our revenue. America can regulate itself out of existence, and I'd say we're about at that point. Regulation can be a mechanism for growth - if growth is the goal - but clearly, nothing being suggested today in Washington promotes the growth of anything but more government. That impulse by our current crop of politicians is the only thing that needs regulation. |
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If I were the head of the Harcourt Pencil Co. that created these, heads would roll in the design department. "It's turned out to be really ugly," Jones said. "We're trying to get them out of the schools as fast as we can. It's a total nightmare." Yes, it is. On so many, many levels... |
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 The rendering is beautiful... The artist, Robert Crumb, is a truly warped individual, but his art is amazing and iconic. What's above displays his sheer artist talent. He didn't draw with a pencil, but with an ink pen. I listened to the documentary, Crumb, in the past two days. If vulgarity doesn't faze you, it'll make you think. |
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I'll never live in a neighbor governed by a Homeowners Association. Some Gladys Kravitz would get her undies in a wad and tell me I can't have a fence or that my garden is too big or that I can't have a flagpole from which to fly the American flag. 90 year-old Colonel Van Barfoot has until Friday to remove the flagpole from his yard.Barfoot lives in the Sussex Square community in western Henrico County. He moved there in July, and was ordered to remove the flagpole from his front lawn when he flew the flag on Labor Day, and again on Veterans Day. The homeowner's association doesn't explicitly forbid flagpoles but they must be "aesthetically appropriate". Short flags are allowed on porches, but Barfoot says that's not the way he was raised to respect the flag. Flying the flag is not "aesthetically appropriate" to Gladys and the ninnies that run the HOA? See, it's rules like that... who decides "aesthetically appropriate??"Of course, the HOA issued a bullshit statement, but come on... HOA's were designed to prevent disrepair and meadows where lawns are supposed to be. The US flag, flown on a flagpole, is never an eyesore. This is classic overreach. No doubt a liberal is chairperson. |
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I'm a Rush 24/7 subscriber, and I generally listen to at least the first 15 minutes of Limbaugh every day. I like the ability to access the content any time I want. Listening tonight while coding, I hear Rush tell me - plead with me - that there are differences so vast between the Democrats and the Republicans. He intones: Republicans aren't Marxists. Republicans aren't apologizing for America around the world. Republicans don't loathe our military. I paraphrase him above, but by that logic, he argues, there is no rationale for a third party for Conservatives.His argument is that just as Perot eroded support for Bush I and got Clinton elected, so too would a third party erode support for a Republican in 2012 and continue Obama's presidency and Democrat domination nationwide. Having participated in the Tea Party here in Iowa, I can tell you that many people don't see much difference between Democrats and Republicans. I'll counter Rush's insistent rhetoric: - Republicans spend and earmark money just like Democrats.
- Republicans hold statist positions, wanting to use government to implement their morality - just like Democrats.
- Republicans use their power for personal gain, just as Democrats do.
I'll point out that Rush has a famous parody entitled, "Citizen McCain," wherein McCain asserts that he is a conservative, "except for campaign finance reform, illegal immigration, tax cuts... and global warming." Rush has lampooned McCain for not being a Republican or a conservative for a long time.Is McCain a capitalist? No, he's not.
Is he a statist? In some respects, yes. And many other Republicans are like him: Snowe, Collins, Graham, Bennett, etc. Those big government solutions will kill our kids with debt. I get what Rush is saying: a third party for conservatives is a victory for Democrats. And he's right. But Rush had an opportunity to push the Republicans further toward embracing individual freedom, and passed it by. Though he'll never see it, here's my memo to Rush: it's good for the Republicans to sweat right now. If they want to quash a third party, the best way to do it is by becoming the party that thoroughly believes in small and limited government. And today, that's not the Republican party. |
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