Monday, August 30, 2010

Comment on "Talking about Social Security"
- Maggie's Farm

Talking about Social Security - Maggie's Farm

Current recipients of Social Security voted for the politicians and advocated for the policies that ensure that they receive a return vastly greater than the money they contributed and that future beneficiaries will be paid by other workers and not from accumulated funds. All future payments should be made into individual accounts modeled on the Thrift Savings Plan used by Federal employees. Persons over 50 should be paid a declining percentage of current benefits for a period of 20 years. The realization in the market that the cancer was being removed would produce an expectation of growth that would revive the economy.

Please do not tell my mother about my characterization of Social Security.

The Barrister at Maggies Farm commented on an original post at Viking Pundit.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Comment on Telegraph Blogs - Daniel Hannan:
"Do open primaries favour plutocrats and extremists?"

Do open primaries favour plutocrats and extremists? – Telegraph Blogs

Open primaries allow for tactical voting schemes which are a barely legal form of vandalism. If the Democrats have a left of center candidate running with only token opposition in the primary but vulnerable to a likely Republican in the general election then they can urge their extremist and fringe supporters to vote in the Republican primary for a vulnerable fringe candidate. The Republican primary is usually decided by a small number of votes and is more likely to be subject to this mischief. That may be how the Nazi David Duke got on the ballot in the 1991 Louisiana Governor's race. In fact the Democrats benefit additionally by having their potentially disruptive fringe members vote in the Republican primary.

The English model of strong local constituency organizations that have standing members who approve the candidates is a surer protection. Obviously steps must be taken to preserve the independence of the local party groups from domination by central organizations with their own agendas.

-----
(reply to alhamilton)

Running them all at the same time, as in a National Primary, does nothing except add problems from the time zone effect where West Coast voters are influenced by East Coast returns. Tactical voting does not necessarily weaken the Democrat in the primary for the reasons I have given. It reduces the influence of extremist voters in the Democratic Primary which strengthens the Democrats for the General election. It allows a small cadre of activists to derail the Republicans due to the small number of voters in many Republican primaries. I would prefer that local parties who choose candidates or State Committee members who then choose candidates be run like private corporations or non-profit social clubs, with provision to ensure that members who freely join and support the organization get to choose the leadership and select the candidates. The only people who benefit from the primary system are the advertisers and media corporations who make money off the current system. Allowing people who are not even previously affiliated with the party to vote in a Primary compounds that problem.

The worst system is the open caucus that invites fraud by having a rent a crowd show up to pack the room. That was what David Axelrod engineered to get Obama the nomination after Hillary Clinton won the Primaries and then lost the same day caucuses in Texas and Iowa.

What To Do With Fannie and Freddie

My modest proposal for how to deal with Fannie and Freddie is not to shut them down or simply privatize them. There is a legitimate government role in facilitating the orderly operation of financial markets, including mortgage markets. My guiding principles are that no institution should become "To Big To Fail" with government assistance, private ownership and market operations are the basis of the American system, and that historical structures designed to diffuse decision making to the local level are compatible with our federal system.

Fannie and Freddie should be broken up and replaced with 12 banks each tied to a regional Federal Reserve bank. Each Federal Reserve Mortgage Association or Fremmie Mae would be controlled by a 12 member Board of Directors. One Chairman would be appointed by the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, three would be appointed by the local Federal Reserve Bank's board, four would be elected by the regional banks who would capitalize the local Fremmie Mae in return for preferred stock with special voting rights for those Director positions, and four would be elected by the public owners of common stock. The local Chairman would be subject to biannual reappointment and all others would serve for staggered terms of four years, subject to a recall provision. State and Federal legislative interests in permitting some level of popular, that is to say political, input into Fremmie operations would be mediated through the ability of the Congress to hold oversight hearings on the operation of the Fed and the Senate to hold confirmation hearings on Directors of the Fed, as well as the power of the States to influence local banks through licensing and regulatory procedures.

The Each regional Fremmie Mae should be required to maintain 75% of its assets in the form of mortgages backed by real property located within the Reserve district. The purpose of the regional Federal Reserve system should be to ensure the orderly operation of markets and sustained prosperity within their respective regions.

Comment on James Taranto
Oikophobia - WSJ.com

Oikophobia - WSJ.com

James Taranto hits a home run, with generous quotes from Charles Krauthammer.

What the self appointed elites fail to recognize is that they must provide some value to those they presume to lead. By bludgeoning the populace with false accusations of bigotry and ignorance, and doing so for such essentially trivial purposes as advancing the career of Barack Obama they have debased the currency of their prestige. The Global Warming fraud and Cash for Clunkers revealed their pretensions of technical skill and academically certified expertise are empty. Prestige was essentially all that they had except for some accumulated wealth and the inertia or habit of obedience by those same people they denigrate. While the real impoverishment of the masses have made the elites relatively wealthier compared to the Commons even the elites are facing absolute decline as wealth is transferred to China and the Middle East. The problem is compounded by the gross incompetence of those who bitterly cling to socialist models that result in absolute impoverishment. China and the Middle East are themselves on the edge of an economic precipice since the productive American system was the wealth generating cow that they profited from.

All this destruction of wealth over the last two years was triggered by Clinton's Community Reinvestment Act and the Acorn lawsuit against Bank of America, that Obama participated in. That lead to Fannie Mae becoming the bloated piggy bank looted by Barney Frank's boyfriend, Herb Moses and the Friend of Hillary, Jamie Gorelick.

The Islamists are rentiers who extract wealth either from resource extraction or intimidation of productive societies. Putin is maneuvering Russia into a similar relation to Europe. While China could transform into a real wealth generating society the internal contradictions of the communist party oligarchy clinging to power and their contradictory drives to simultaneously trade with and import technology from while seeking to undermine the United States will likely result in a crisis. China may descend into another Civil War.

It is interesting but not amusing that for all their assuming the mantle of ecological conservation the Left are not only aligned with the legacy of the most environmentally destructive regimes, the Soviets and the Chinese and their clients, but also with those who accumulate and consume wealth obtained solely through unproductive extraction of natural and human resources.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Comment on Facebook | "Jim DeMint"
"Even the author of Obamacare hasn't read Obamacare"

Facebook | Links on "Jim DeMint"

Baucus should be arrested and charged with fraud. He offered a Bill to the Senate claiming it was his. This is not simply relying on staff to collate it but was clear misrepresentation. If he can submit the work of the White House under his name unread then he can submit the product of an industry lobbyist or a foreign government. The voters entrust the legislature to give their words that they approve of the law. If they have not even read it then their word is worthless.

Comment on John McCain, Facebook |
"Election Night Rally"

Facebook | Election Night Rally

Can Senator John McCain help craft a Republican majority & then run Congressional government for 2 years to oppose & deconstruct Obamism? After two years of far left extremism and serial fraud by the Democrats this is not the time to drift to split the difference compromise politics. There is a vacuum in Washington due to the collapse of the Democrat's credibility. Senator McCain has a unique opportunity to correct the record after the 2008 election. He can and should govern this country and build a Conservative majority that will restore us at home and abroad.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Comment on Daniel Hannan – Telegraph Blogs:
"The Internet is dragging Britain away from Europe and towards the Anglosphere"

The Internet is dragging Britain away from Europe and towards the Anglosphere – Telegraph Blogs

There are people on the Left who read Nineteen Eighty-Four when they were 17 and seem to have said "We can do that." It would not surprise me if they thought that declining wealth and the loss of internet access by the commons would be a good byproduct of their policies. Some communities they want to preserve as uncorrupted Disney lands of Primitivism. Those get get labeled as "authentic." Others, the ones inhabited by most of the average people who created the wealth that feeds and clothes the planet, need to be quarantined as hateful imperialist zionist christianist bigots. Access will always in the dreams of the elitists be available for the favored few.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Comment on Theo Spark:
"2010 Darwin awards."

Theo Spark: 2010 Darwin awards.

All Time Grand Champion;

In 2008 the American people ignored the bitter example of 3,000 years of written human history and 388 years of their own experience as well as the accumulated legacy of painfully and expensively gained defenses of liberty and said "Oh well what the Hell," giving the keys to a completely unknown and unqualified idiot and his criminal associates after being assured by foreign agents and generational parasites that unicorns would show up if we just gave it a try.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Comment on Theo Spark:
"The Great Unwinding.............from Rico"

The Great Unwinding.............from Rico

The important difference between the peak of debt now and that during the last Great Depression or WW-II is that this debt has not been used to purchase any worthwhile goods or services. It is simply consumed wealth as a deliberate government policy.

The Democrats have deliberately impoverished America to make it less threatening to thugs tyrants kleptocrats and Islamists.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Comment on George Will, WaPo:
"Netanyahu's warning"

Netanyahu's warning

First the magically multiplying descendants of the surplus peasantry of Egypt and Syria who moved in the 19th to 20th centuries to what is now Israel and the Disputed Territories have no claim on the land.

Second the small number of true native Arabs could have had their national aspirations met if they had accepted the state offered to them back in 1948. They rejected it. History, especially the history of their many murderous deeds since then, does not entitle them to a do over.

Third every square inch of Arab Muslim territory is stolen land. There were Jewish Arab tribes, they were exterminated. There are a few Christian Arab communities remaining but they are oppressed, dhimmified and being expelled from regions they populated for 2,000 years. There is no place in the Middle East that Islam is in control except by violence.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Picnic



Roast turkey on cranberry bread, 3.5" pear tart, Creamline™ chocolate milk, mango juice drink. The juice wasn't from Fairway. Usually I pick up the world's best pot pies there and, not in the Summer for some reason, good reasonably priced blintzes.

This cruise ship got underway while I was eating and motored, nobody uses steam power anymore, past Governor's and into the Narrows. Thanks to decades of government assistance we no longer have an American Merchant Marine that could move our troops in an emergency.



Not to worry though, the Democrats are eliminating the armed forces that would have embarrassed them by looking for transportation. The US Navy is smaller than it has been in over 90 years. Once the unilateral draw downs from Iraq and Afghanistan are done the Army and Air Force troops will be discharged, and watched as possibly dangerous proto-terrorists, with the encouragement of sympathetic TV plots about troubled veterans. It isn't just the US, the UK is reducing the Royal Air Force to WW-I size.

Sunday, August 08, 2010

Comment on Washington Post, John McCain -
"Georgia needs U.S. help in rebuilding ..."

John McCain - Georgia needs U.S. help in rebuilding, standing up to Russia

Putin pulled this thuggery off while President Bush was in China for the Olympics. That was a special degree of sacrilege the Left would have used against Bush if the tables were reversed. The Russians try to obfuscate by crying about Soros. Ther is a troubling Soros connection to the Georgian government but the real issue is that China and Russia work together through the Shanghai Cooperative Organization to undermine everything the US achieved between 2001 and 2008.

We should have given the Georgians the aid needed to blow the Salang tunnel in 2008. That would have trapped the Russians the same way Arik Sharon trapped Russians with the Egyptian 3rd Army in 1973.

Dragon Boat Races






This was Dragon Boat race weekend at Flushing Meadow Park. A nice crowd and a good time for all, especially the vendor of $3.00 corn.

This always brings out nautical nostalgia for me. The guy beating the drum in the front is the Engineering Officer of the Watch (EEOW) and the guy in the back steering is the Officer of the Deck (OOD). If it was a Greek Trireme then you would see the Chief Engineer. He'd be the one with the whip.

Comment on Facebook | Rachel Sargent
"The fact is that we have always ..."
- Martin Kite Powell on abortion

Facebook | Rachel Sargent "The fact is that we have always outlawed murder because it was immoral. To say something is murder and then not to outlaw it is to support injustice." Martin Kite Powell on abortion

Abortion and marriage are both issues that should be handled by the States through the legislative process. We need to focus on the Left using judicial tyranny. The Left combats that by slandering their opponents with the charge of supporting "State's Rights" racism. The truth is that the Democratic Party of the 19th century tried to defend slavery using coercive court centered means, like the Fugitive Slave Act, through the federal government. We need to keep our support clear for a union of free states with the laws made by the legislatures and the people.

If the people in some state such as Maryland actually vote for abortion or gay marriage then do not use the power of the courts to stop them. It is the basis of our security that the people are sovereign and create the law. To rely on the superior virtue of judges is as Sir Thomas More says in "A Man for All Seasons" to "cut a great path through the forest of the law." It would be better to trust that conversation and moral examples would convince your neighbors.

We should take care never to be complacent and to recognize that on some issues the people in a community might come up with an answer that while initially resisted might prove better over time. It is possible that a changed definition of marriage may be accepted in one state and then others may adopt the example. If that was to be done freely through the proper democratic process then I would have no objection.

My larger concern on the definition of marriage is not that it will provide cover for an explosion of zoophilia or primitive Mormonism. The real threat is by infiltration by Islamists. If the federal government was doing what was its job, protecting the borders, then that would not be a problem. Unfortunately, while the law prohibits issuing an immigrant visa to polygamists, we have been lax at keeping such people from sneaking in using non-immigrant visas. That is how Barack Obama Sr. got into the country. Permitting a changed definition of marriage will create pressure to remove the bars on open polygamy and open the floodgates to Islamization on a European scale.

Saturday, August 07, 2010

Comment on Telegraph:
RAF to shrink to World War One levels

RAF to shrink to World War One levels - Telegraph

There are things that some people do better than others. It is called comparative advantage. There are things that create Value and wealth and things that destroy them. The armed forces defend a society that permits individual choice and creative investment. They are part of the wealth creating system that benefits humanity. The people of the United Kingdom happen to be among the very best on earth at creating good military services. The Armed Services that protect and benefit society are being cut to pay for transfer payments and social services benefits that weaken and impoverish society.

Do what is both you do best and best for humanity. Transfer the funds from the welfare leeches to the military.

Friday, August 06, 2010

Comment on Fox News:
"Camden Closing Library System"

Camden Closing Library System

This is what as known in government as the "Washington Monument" ploy. For years the Department of the Interior responded to any threat of a budget cut by announcing that they would close the Washington Monument.

The librarians are among the lowest paid educated workers in most situations. Who in Camden is making over $100,000/yr from the government? Maybe a few in the Police and Fire could do so justifiably. For the rest set their pay scales into the $25K - $75K range.

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Comment on PJM, Ed Driscoll: »
General Electric Spokesman Advises Liberals to Stay Home in November

Ed Driscoll » General Electric Spokesman Advises Liberals to Stay Home in November

Who should be given the franchise to vote? Saying "it is a right" as if doing so ends the discussion, is not enough. The ability to vote like the ability to carry a weapon is not an emotional celebration of inclusiveness but a real conference of power and acknowledgment of sovereignty. As it is far to few of those with the ability to vote take the responsibility seriously and far to many people who lack any sense of civic responsibility have the right to vote. Here are a few modest proposals to rationalize the voting roles and restore community engagement in the election process.

1. No one should be allowed to vote without being positively verified. At this time that would mean with a tamper proof ID card. The technology exists to electronically read such cards and connect to a database that could store a photo and pertinent information. The vote is the most powerful and important act that most people can perform to control the government and establish its legitimacy. All of the arguments against using a secure ID system to ensure the validity of the voter are frankly unimpressive. Some of them, like the claim that it would be an "undue burden" on people to stop by an office like Motor Vehicles and get an ID are simply silly. Every person who enters the United States gets their Passport scanned and fingerprint checked in just a few seconds. We can do this and the only people who benefit from not doing it are those committing or benefiting from fraud.

That does not mean that I believe that outside of certain voluntary activities, such as boarding an airplane or entering a polling station, the government should be able to stop and demand ID. However I have also proposed that either the State or Federal government should be able to go to a Magistrate, and offer reasonable cause to believe that for a defined geographic area a significant percentage of the people present may be fugitives from justice or illegally present, in order to get a writ declaring the locality to be in a state of 'Civil Rebellion.' Under those circumstances the government should be able to identify all persons present and detain those who either have outstanding warrants or are illegal aliens.

2. The apportionment of representatives and state legislators should only be according to the number of citizens eligible to vote as recorded in the decennial census. All Citizens and Nationals should be identified along with their place of residence every ten years. All Lawful Permanent Residents should have to identify themselves annually. The XIVth Amendment should be amended to change the apportionment of Congress from the number of "persons" counted to the number of citizens eligible to vote. Convicted felons should be denied the vote subject to a legislature granting them amnesty. No legislator should be permitted to submit more than one name for consideration for such an amnesty during each day that the legislature is in session.

3. The XXVIth Amendment should be repealed and the voting age restored to 21. The XVIIth Amendment should be repealed and the selection of Senators restored to the States. The United States Department of Justice can properly devote its energies then to uncovering and prosecuting corruption in State legislatures. The popular election of Senators, like the transfer of powers and responsibilities to the central government in the 20th century, only served to spread local corruption into a raid on the entire nation. Similarly the lowered voting age has demonstrably subjected the election process to increased manipulation and made it more vulnerable to media influence and the money that controls that messaging. Any system that produced Bill Clinton's boxers and Obama Girl can be judged a failure.

4. No person should be eligible to vote unless they make a net positive contribution to the public treasury at the level of the office for which they are voting. In the United States there are two levels of government, the state and the federal. The local or municipal is considered a creature of the state. If a person or household derives over 50% of their income from the federal treasury, either as a government employee or as a contractor, then they should not get to vote for the Representative who allocates that money. The only exceptions that I would make for that would be enlisted members of the Armed Forces and officers called to extended active duty in time of war. Similarly if someone derived over 50% of their income from the state treasury then they should not get to vote for the state legislator who approves their salary.

Every W-2 or 1099 form could indicate what percentage of the funds described came from the public treasury and at what level. Each voter could be informed within 100 days of filing their tax return if they would be eligible during the following 12 months to vote at that level of government.

Remember that despite the efforts of some the President of the United States is elected by the State Legislatures who select the Electors. The efforts to predetermine the selection of the Electors as has been done by Massachusetts will hopefully be struck down as unconstitutional. If the Electoral College is preserved, and I have proposed that it be strengthened and made a permanent standing body, with three members ex officio heads of the executive most numerous branch of the legislature and the head of the state judiciary from each state and others selected for extended terms, empowered to fill any vacancy and act as a Court of Judicial Review, taking that political power away from the Supreme Court and possibly other duties, then it would make sense to encourage every citizen to vote, excepting convicted federal felons, in what is essentially a national advisory opinion poll on who should be POTUS. My proposal also includes having each state submit a list of up to five potential candidates for each office to the Supreme Court no later than four months before the selection of Electors, along with proof of each candidates eligibility for the office. The SCOTUS would be responsible for verifying the candidates.

5. The duty of overseeing the election process is now left to a handful of often superannuated workers selected for their loyalty to a political organization. In many parts of the country while the law states that there should be two inspectors of different parties overseeing the process at each step that simply does not happen. My proposal is to treat election inspection like jury duty. Once every seven to ten years a person should expect to be called to work an election. If people ask how the voters of Palm Beach could have cast their votes for Pat Buchanan then they should ask who supplied the election workers there who oversaw the voting. In that case the polls were controlled and largely staffed by the local Democratic Party. Younger and more energetic poll workers may have proven more effective at seeing to it that people understood how to vote.

Sunday, August 01, 2010

Comment on: Researcher detained at U.S. border, questioned about Wikileaks

Comment on: Researcher detained at U.S. border, questioned about Wikileaks

The United States is in a state of war as declared by Congress. The Authorization on the Use of Force has the full legal effect, that has already been adjudicated. There are seven ways that someone can give aid and comfort to the enemy during wartime.
1. They can be enemy civilians engaged in commerce that strengthens the enemy war effort. They may be subject to a certain level of violence and their physical environs may be targeted subject to certain restraints. They are generally protected from genocide and abuse, especially after surrender.
2. They may be neutrals trading with the enemy and subject to interdiction by blockade and possible violence if they attempt to resist or evade. While in territory controlled by the enemy they have no greater or special protection than the local civilians do, less if they associate deliberately with the government or armed forces of the enemy. This applies to Journalists and NGO agents who sometimes think that they deserve a special status.
3. Clergy, medical staff and neutral diplomats are entitled to special protection, and there are guidelines on how they should identify themselves.
4. They can be Lawful Combatants serving in the armed forces of the enemy while wearing a distinct uniform or device and subject to regular military discipline. They are entitled to Geneva Convention protections.
5. They can be unlawful combatants or pirates who are considered the common enemy of humanity (hostis humani generis) and who are not subject to the protections of the Geneva Convention.
They can be enemy agents who infiltrate to commit destruction (sabotage or terrorism) or to steal secrets (espionage) or foment rebellion (subversion.)
7. They can be citizens or subjects of one country giving aid to those the country is at war with. They are traitors. In the United States the crime of treason is defined in the Constitution.

The wikileaks project was openly designed to aid the forces that the United States is at war with. Persons who assisted the war effort are named and can be expected to be killed, as can their families. Further cooperation will be difficult to obtain and that will cost American lives and ensure either defeat or a longer and more brutal war. Mr Assange is not a US citizen. He therefor may be liable to charges of accessory to murder, for the Afghans whose live will be forfeit, and espionage.

Assange could be seized either through the assistance of a friendly government or by agents of the US, such as the DEA or CIA, who may be authorized to deliver him to US jurisdiction. Any complaint about how he gets placed in US custody would be a diplomatic matter between the two countries but would not be a barrier to prosecuting him once he found himself under US control. If DEA agents seize a drug dealer in Mexico and bring him over the border without getting the Mexican governments permission the arrest is still good.

Mr Applebaum is I believe a US citizen. US citizens are free to disagree with government policy. If they provide material assistance to a foreign person or organization that engages in Espionage they could not only be charged with that crime but also the additional crime of treason. Mr Applebaum's bland assurance that he had nothing to do with anything classified not withstanding I would expect the government to inspect him so thoroughly that every scintilla of information he could posses about wikileaks and Mr Assange and information networks is laid bare. He should be considering the real possibility of spending decades without the ability to access any means of electronic communications. If he is found to be complicit in this conspiracy then he should be denied even the possibility of accessing a telephone, let alone a computer. He could communicate with his lawyers using pen and ink.