Pirates!
If you don’t live under a rock, you know that there have been multiple high-profile, extremely expensive episodes of piracy around the horn of Africa in the last few weeks.
Most of this, if not all of it, comes from the coast of Somalia, which is a completely lawless country. The Sirius Star (which is kind of a redundant name if you have any knowledge of astronomy) is carrying a full load of Saudi oil which was bound for points abroad. The cargo and the 25 crew are all now hostages off the coast of Somalia while the pirates deal with Prince Faisal and his crowd.
There used to be a way to deal with Pirates… it involved blowing them to smithereens or forcibly (and by coincidence lethally) putting them in a “gravity driven neck stretching device”. Nowadays we have better cannons with which to obliterate these terrorists (that’s what they are), which largely frees up the necessary rope for other uses.
Now, this is just the capitalist in me, but this sounds like an extremely good opportunity for someone with a military (preferably Naval) background to start an “Escort Service” for ships. Heck, I might even look into it myself. Think of the benefits… a killer tan, you get to carry a gun and the unique satisfaction of helping to solve the world’s “Islamic Terrorist Overpopulation Problem”. I could call the company “Death Boat” in a play on the similar, but opposite term “lifeboat” and the slogan could be “Even one Pirate is too many”. I would be a millionaire in a very short time and could probably solve the problem in about 6 months. Then I sell the company to an international conglomerate and retire. You see, capitalism is a GREAT system. The market has needs, I offer solutions and everyone benefits… well not everyone, but the pirates get what they deserve.
I’m currently taking applications for Captains, Gunners and Navigators. A hatred of thievery and a drive to enforce international shipping law is a must. Salaries commensurate with experience. Naval gun experience a big plus!!
More on the Auto Bailout
Here’s a couple of follow-up pieces regarding the proposed bailout of the auto industry.
First, if you paid close attention to my first post regarding the the auto bailout, you will notice that I mentioned that the UAW was lobbying the Democrats to send an obscene amount of money to the auto makers to delay their inevitable demise.
Looks like I was correct. UAW president Ron Gettelfinger has stated the workers will not make any more concessions to help the slumping auto makers. Gettelfinger called for Congress to act quickly on a bailout plan for the auto industry.
Don’t you just love this? The UAW refuses to make concessions and then demands money from the government. Does it matter that a big reason the auto industry is failing is because unionized employees blackmail employers into paying far more in benefits and salary than they are worth? No. What matters is that unions retain their power. If Ford and GM go under, these unions and union leaders suddenly hold no power and they will not stand for that. So, instead of making concessions from their insane salary and benefits demands, they require that government give the industry money to keep it afloat. They trade the votes of the union membership for money in order to retain their power. Democrats are more than willing to play along since they are also seeking to retain power in the government.
Now to address another article I read regarding the auto industry bailout. I stated before that the Democrats were putting on a clinic on how to buy votes by pushing for an auto bailout. As it turns out, the current administration is guilty of this as well.
Bush is suggesting that the money used to bailout the auto industry come from loans that were approved in September (but not dispersed). He is suggesting that Congress accelerate the availability of these loans. Originally, these loans were earmarked for the purpose of helping auto makers build more fuel-efficient vehicles so that they could become more competitive in the global marketplace (even though they have failed to do this for decades spending their own money). Now these loans will be used to simple keep the companies from crapping out financially.
To sum up – Democrats want to send $25 billion from the financial bailout to the auto makers to secure their votes and Bush has upped the ante by allowing money that was originally set aside for the development of fuel efficient vehicles to be used to keep the auto makers from going under. Looks like the Republicans are going to secure a few votes for themselves in the next election.
Its bi-partisan vote-buying like this that has driven me to libertarianism. And the worst part is that they are buying votes with MY money.
Wait, Did Paulson win the lottery?
Jumping in where Beezer left off, guess who else wants a bailout? The mayors of three cities; Philadelphia, Phoenix and my illustrious home town of Atlanta. Why the hell should a bailout that was originally intended to shore up the financial markets be used for anything but that?? (You will notice that I as well am opposed to the idea of financially blunting the effects of poor business decisions).
When I heard about this yesterday, and after a brief period of ‘impolite sililoqy’, the first thought that came to my mind is a bunch of redneck relatives coming out of the woodwork to see if they can get a piece of someone’s lottery winnings. It actually made me laugh a little. Why is this even happening? The bailout bill was passed with wording that actually gives Henry Paulson the power to do whatever he wants with the money that he thinks will shore up the American economy. This is political genius in it’s purest form. Now not only is Paulson the only one that can make the decision, he is also the only one who can be blamed for screwing it up!! It was an act of purest optimism to believe that the government would (for once) do something that didn’t have detrimental effects on the taxpayers of the US. Now we have made ‘Uncle Henry’ everyone’s favorite rich uncle. Such disgusting behavior…
I don’t know about the other two cities, but Atlanta could use a serious clean-out of city hall. The city is a bloated, incompetent bureaucracy with dozens and dozens of un-needed (and essentially useless) employees. Decisions are not made on fact, but on how best to keep the SCLC, NAACP and ACLU from protesting. The administrators of many of the various departments are unintelligent, career government employees who couldn’t run a lemonade stand for a profit (or to break even for that matter) because they’ve never had a job that required that they spend their own money. Waste and fraud are chronic and customer service is seen less often than the half-invisible pink, sparkly unicorn that lives in the right hand elevator shaft on the third floor. Sometimes he prances down to the building department, but I think that the mythical “Customer Service” is locked in Shirley Franklin’s desk. She lets it out occasionally when her administration is in the grinder over something, but poor C.S. is largely serving a life sentence in “middle-right drawer solitary confinement.”
This leads me back to the city asking for a bailout. We have been told that it is essentially to help pay for pensions for former city employees. WHAT?! You mean the city didn’t have a privately run independent retirement fund that would continue to pay regardless of tax income?? What a dim decision that was… wait, it’s government. This is why career government (generally union) employees are useless and expendable. The people of Atlanta ought to DEMAND top to bottom reform out of the city government and a total independent audit of every cobweb in the joint. Maybe they could use the bailout money for that instead….
Vote Buying 101
Senate Democrats are putting on a clinic in Washington on how to buy votes. They are pushing forward with plans to introduce legislation that would earmark a portion of the $700 billion bailout for the failing American auto companies.
So how is this vote buying? Simple. The auto makers employees are members of the UAW. The UAW is lobbying the Democrats to send money to the auto industry in exchange for votes. If the Democrats send money to the auto makers, the unions will strongly suggest (i.e. coerce) that their membership vote Democrat in the next election.
The Democrats don’t give a crap about whether the workers in Detroit and other auto factories across the country keep their jobs or not. They care only about seizing power and using that power to steal the American public’s money and spend it on more vote buying programs so that they can maintain power.
Now, I think it’s been evident from other posts that I’ve made, that I am against the bailout. But just the possibility of the auto makers being bailed out makes me madder than anything else. The auto makers have been failing for years – why should they be bailed out now (other than the aforementioned vote buying scam)?
Companies like AIG, Bank of America, etc. are being bailed out because they got caught up in the booming economy and made some incredibly risky decisions revolving around the expanding credit markets. Things suddenly went sour and they lost a ton of money. Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t think that’s an excuse to bail them out, but it makes more sense than the auto makers.
Auto makers – and let me be clear, I’m talking about GM and Ford – have a history of making poor decisions that long ago crippled them and begin their demise. They weren’t caught off guard by a slumping economy and suddenly found themselves in the tank. They’ve been in the crapper for a long time.
Why? Because they allowed their employees to unionize and control all their employee related costs. Because they failed to understand the American auto market and adapt quickly. Because they failed to make themselves more efficient when their competitors (Honda and Toyota) were revolutionizing the industry with how they assembled cars and changed production lines. Because they failed to control overhead by reducing the number of employees, factories and dealerships as the demand for their cars fell.
For all of these reasons, GM and Ford don’t deserve our money. All this $25 billion will do is delay the inevitable. GM and Ford are ill equipped to compete in the auto market in today’s economy because they have completely failed to change the way they do business. Even as they lay dying, they continue to crank out SUV’s, even though the American market is moving away from gas guzzling behemoths. They will crash and burn with or without our money.
This is another opportunity for us as Americans to use our purchasing power to make a statement to government and private industry that we are displeased with the bailout. Don’t buy Ford or GM products. Actually, I don’t really need to say that, as most people don’t buy them now.
Don’t let the Democrats get away with buying votes using your money. Contact your Senator and make him or her fully aware of your displeasure in what the Democrats are attempting to do. Make them aware that your vote cannot be bought and will be used to support another candidate should they support the Democrats in their bid to buy votes.
You have a voice America. Use it.
Witch hunt? Halloween was last month…
Today in my web wanderings I came across an article in the New York Times online edition. You would be wise to note at this point that this brand new, right out of the package blog has more readers than the New York Times does any more… Anyway, the article is about the Democrats moving forward in the next administration with investigations of the Bush administration. See Article Here
You might remember the absolute travesty that was the Scooter Libby Investigation. If not, here are the highlights: Someone leaks the name of Valerie Plame (who is a desk worker for the CIA) to the media. Robert Novak reports it in a piece that he writes and Scooter Libby gets blamed for it. Now, here comes the really fun part… the special prosecutor KNEW before the investigation actually targeted Libby that he was NOT the leak. There was never any evidence to support the fact that Libby did anything illegal. The leaking of the name of a DESK AGENT at the CIA is NOT a federal crime. The law that the democrat prosecutor tried to use specifically states that agents who ARE or have within the last few years (I’m not sure of the actual time, I think 3 years?) been COVERT operatives are to be protected by name and that leaking their name is a federal crime. I’ll say it again, Valerie Plame was a desk jockey. She was such a ‘covert’ operative that it was common knowledge around DC that she worked for the CIA. In the end, the prosecutor badgered Libby for so long (better than a year) with questions that eventually he said two things that contradicted each other. A HA! Now the prosecutor can say that he’s lying! What a load of horse apples. There was no crime to begin with, and now someone is being sent to prison for lying about a crime that never existed. I detest party driven investigations. There is necessarily a larger focus on smearing the other party than there is actually finding the truth of the matter. The truth may very well make the party doing the investigating look worse than the potential target! Of course, there was no real investigation into former Clinton cabinet member Sandy Berger for stuffing classified documents into his pants and purposefully misplacing and destroying other documents related to the Clinton administration and 9-11… something for which anyone else would see long federal prison time… He was just being ’sloppy’.
Now we have word from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse who sits on two committees that are considering investigations that he intends to follow up on a number of possible crimes. Amongst them: abuse of Detainees (presumably at Gitmo), and the outstanding subpoenas in the U.S. Attorneys matter.
Who is this guy? He’s a former trial lawyer turned Clinton-appointed Attorney General and the senator ranked second most liberal for 2007. (He lost to our current President Elect in that contest…) He is a pro-choice, pro gay marriage, anti-Iraq war, tax and spend liberal who believes in an even more progressive income tax and supports affirmative action. Now, tell me how the hell this guy could even pretend to be objective in his capacity to investigate ANYTHING…
Just to recap: The people who are housed at Gitmo are the worst of the worst. They care nothing about international law, and they would surely ignore it in their attempts to kill as many ‘infidels’ as possible. Which makes it all the more interesting that groups like Human Rights Watch want to make sure that we are following international law to take care of them… This idiot, Whitehouse, is presumably amongst the genius ranks that wants to bring them here and confer upon them constitutional rights as citizens so that they can be tried in our criminal courts. I on the other hand prefer a preventative method… just shoot them on the battlefield. If they surrender, fine.. Put em in a small cell with enough to keep them alive. If they know something, do what you have to in order to find out what they know.
Oh yes, and the U.S. Attorneys (all of them) serve at the pleasure of the President. If he wants to fire them for wearing blue pants on Tuesday, he is within his rights to do so. Most of the attorneys that were fired by the way were let go because they would not follow up on voter fraud investigations that would have most likely crippled the democrats for a while. Hmmm….
This is going to be an absolute circus for 4 years. These idiots (and their willing accomplices in the Media) are going to make sure that there is nothing but Republican ’scandal’ in the news for the next 4 years, and 8 if they can swing it… So forget any coverage of the ‘Chosen One’ flubbing a foreign policy decision. It will be on page G37 under the fold in small type. On the up side, these morons are going to provide me with endless reams of garbage to skewer for the next 4 years, on the bad side these morons are going to use the power of the state to punish a political party and the conservative way of thought for the next 4 years and make sure that everyone hears about it.
Ugh. Will somebody go find me the next Reagan? Good grief do we ever need the Gipper back.
Strike Back at the Bailout
If you’re like me, you’re not a fan of the government bailing out companies who decided to to make incredibly risky bets with borrowed money and companies that have been chronically mismanaged. When it’s all said and done, it’s not the federal government paying to bail-out these companies – it’s you and I. How do you suppose the government is going to pay back the money they borrowed to lend to these companies? Cut spending? Not a chance in hell – especially with Barack in the White House. If you think Bush spent a ton of money, just wait for the Obama Era.
Nope. The government will come to it’s people for the money. And they’ll come to us in the form of taxes. That’s right, they won’t ask us to help them out; they’ll forcefully take our money in the same way that they’ve been taking it since February 12, 1918 – through the income tax and other forms of taxation.
For the time being, you and I are powerless when it comes to avoiding taxes (unless you want to go to prison). However, we do have power over the companies receiving the bailout money. We can refuse to use their products and services. We can refuse to do business with them. If we’re already doing business with them, we can take our business elsewhere. If you’re really bold, you can demand your share of the money in the form of cash or discounts from these companies.
You’re government isn’t looking out for you – you have to look out for yourself. For a list of the companies and how much they’ve received thus far check out ProPublica. And for a blog with bailout news, check out BailoutSleuth.
Don’t just sit around and let these undeserving, foolishly managed companies take your money. Make your voice heard – use your power as a consumer to fight back.
Veterans Day
Do yourself a favor today and take a few minutes to sit down and watch something like the first 30 Minutes of “Saving Private Ryan” or the whole of “Black Hawk Down”. Don’t bring popcorn, don’t invite friends. This is not about entertainment. Watch the countless men and women die in those films and realize this: What is in front of you may only be a movie, but the action is REAL.
Throughout the history of this nation, countless men and women have sacrificed their lives and their well-being in service to this nation’s military forces. From the first shots fired at Concord and Lexington, to the bloody battles of Shiloh and Antietam… From the ambushed islands of Hawaii to the battleship-cratered shores of France and Italy… Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan… Old and young, rich and poor, republican and democrat, black, white, hispanic, asian, Christian, Muslim and Jew. No matter your politics, these men and women DIED so that you could go about your life without the fear that is regular throughout the world today.
Some of you undoubtedly know these men and women. Some of them are your family, some your friends and some are the names you see on the evening news or in the local paper. I have been privileged to follow one such man around the globe as he served his country. Although he never saw conflict (that I know of) he got up every day and went to a job that was dangerous and absolutely vital to the safety of the United States of America. My father served in the United States Navy for 20 years, and was stationed all over the US and Northern Europe during the 80’s and 90’s. His father was a Marine and a Veteran of World War II. I say was only because he is no longer with us.
As part of my father’s service, I was afforded the opportunity to go places and see things that most Americans never will. I have walked the beaches of Normandy… I have seen the seemingly endless rows of white Crosses, Stars of David and markers for unknown men.
My only regret is that I had no idea what I was looking at then. Not until years later did I see “Saving Private Ryan” for the first time. I had heard about it, but when I saw it… I wanted to wretch. Just the thought of my sorry little teenage self wandering through that cemetery without the first care in the world… I wanted to cry. That beach had seen such carnage, such bloody, savage wrath… I had viewed it as another tourist attraction. So many today will wave the flag and don’t even know why they’re doing it. Our nation has an all volunteer military force. Thank God for them and what they have done, are doing today and will do for you in future.
Happy Veteran’s Day and Thank you to all who have served.
“In with the new…”
Today is the Wednesday after the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November. If you don’t know why I said it that way, look it up…. Barack Obama has been elected President of the USA. So what does that mean? It means a bunch of things…
First, it means that the Representative Democracy that is our Republic has once again transferred the mantle of power without violence or bloodshed. That, in and of itself, is great cause to celebrate. This country remains as a shining light to the citizens of the world as a nation of free choice and the ability to elect representative leadership to provide governance.
Second, it means that our nation has finally driven a stake in the heart of the demons of slavery and racism. Just hang with me for a minute here… I can sense your rising ire and urge to vomit. What I mean is simply this: Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson need to retire, and no longer have any reason to march, protest or incite riots starting today. The most powerful seat in the world is about to be filled by a black man who was raised by his grandmother… NO ONE has an excuse any more. No more whining about lack of opportunity in this nation… no more complaining that minorities need special treatment or consideration. All that garbage has now been put to rest permanently. If a black man from a ‘broken home’ can become the President, who amongst us has any reason left that would keep us from being a success? Nobody. So now the US is being put on notice: Knock it off with all this ‘I’m a victim” crap. It’s over. Get up off your sorry rear and make your own success story. Just keep in mind that your success is going to be heavily taxed…
Third, it means that those of us who value the Constitution and the Ideas that founded this nation have a LOT of work to do. The next four years are going to be a constant onslaught of radical liberal thought and policy that will require a hearty defense and resistance. I for one am not going to accept for one minute the stated policy positions that Obama made on the campaign trail. I will work through my elected representation to make sure that my opinion is heard, and heard well. You who are reading this ought to do the same. It takes very little time to email a congressman (or woman) and it is absolutely imperative that we do so in this four year period. Just as importantly, it is incumbent upon us to re-stoke the fires of personal industry and self sufficiency in ourselves, our neighbors and in our communities. Teach your children (please for the love of all that is sacred) teach your children to be self sufficient and not reliant upon government. Teach them hard work, instill in them the entrepreneurial spirit that gave birth to this nation and by all means teach them what the Constitution means to each and every one of us! There are three documents that I treat as sacred. One is Holy, the two other inspired. The Holy Bible is openly displayed and used in my house. The others are the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. I am convinced, now more than ever, that they also should be on display in my home as a constant reminder to myself and my family what great blessings we have in our freedom; and why we should endeavor to defend those blessings. Any of the three, most especially the first, would make an excellent addition to any home and an excellent Christmas present!
I will support Barack Obama as the President of the United States in all capacities that I may. He deserves, and must have the support of the nation to effectively deal with foreign threats (which George W. Bush was denied as a whole), and he should be given every prayer and mode of protection that the Presidency requires. Remember folks, no matter who is in office, an attack on the President is still an attack on the nation. Pray for him and for our nation that he would have the wisdom to lead and to defend this nation during his tenure, and that we might continue to be the greatest nation in the world. Conservative thought will never be extinguished, so long as there is one person alive who yearns to succeed and values the well-being of his neighbors. There will certainly be (at least) one at this web address for the forseeable future…
God, please Bless the USA!
Election Day 2008
Well, here it is at last… Election Day. I for one will be glad to see it in life’s rear-view mirror regardless of the turnout. Don’t get me wrong, I have a definite hope for a particular outcome, but I am entirely fed up with lying commercials. (By the way, if you can’t tell what that desired outcome is by now, you don’t need to go vote.) Today is the day that the citizenry of the United States will go to the polls to cast a ballot for the person that they believe will give them the most stuff. No, that is not a typo. Unfortunately, with the percentage of the population that pays little or no income tax at all (about 47%) the day is soon coming where the ‘takers’ will outnumber the ‘makers’. That is one of the larger reasons that we have a contest of any sort between a man with a clear, defined history of service to country and a man who has not been examined in any realistic fashion by the media or the electorate. John McCain has opened his records, produced documentation required, and been thoroughly vetted by the media and the masses. Barack Obama STILL has yet to answer questions about his citizenship, has never had to answer to his Communist leanings and role models, and just recently on a major media network was repeatedly described as an enigma… what does he believe? Who are his mentors? What is his foreign policy? Where does he stand on China?… ARE YOU SERIOUS????! This guy has been given the biggest ‘pass’ by the media that could ever be created. If I actually owned a tin-foil hat, I’d swear that it was a conspiracy of sorts… The truth is that the media (when they aren’t suffering from Barack-induced leg tingling) have salivated over this guy since the last Democratic convention. He’s the perfect candidate for them. He has no record to attack, he is reasonable attractive, he’s a member of a racial minority, he is an eloquent speaker when he’s scripted, and he’s the tip of the feather out there on the left wing! George Soros probably wets his pants with excitement when people even say “Barack”…
I read an article in the UK Spectator yesterday where the author-ette asked: “Is the US really going to do this?” You see, people who are regularly exposed to the effects of socialism actually recognize it when they see it. The UK has LONG had a socialized medical system and let me tell you, it ain’t gettin’ any awards for service. I have NEVER in the years that I lived in Britain (or since) heard one positive word from any British national about their health care system. Not a single syllable. It is abysmal. Getting back to the point, the people of the US don’t have the first clue what socialism will do to this nation, or how it is completely at odds with our defined system of government. Make sure to send a thank you card tomorrow to the US Department of Education and to your local school board for that very reason. They have done you the great service of producing generations of lazy, poorly-educated, unmotivated slobs that are just waiting for someone to feed them, coddle them and wipe their backsides. Trust me, I came through the same system… it taught me that our Government is a democracy (it isn’t) and that the Civil War was all about slavery (which it wasn’t). I am just fortunate enough to have had a father and grandfathers that knew about hard work, self sufficiency, faith in God and had the sense to marry hard-working, loving, faithful women. I make no bones about it, I am a product of my forbears, as my children will be of me. It is incumbent upon me to instill in them the values, lessons and traditions that have upheld this nation for more than two centuries, not vote myself a ‘middle class’ welfare-style tax cut so that I can have what I want now, future be damned… When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his army, he knew that his actions would necessitate conflict. He had directly challenged the standing governmental system of the Roman Empire. His response? “The die is cast” – what would follow had been set in motion and would not be undone. Caesar marched on Rome and ended up a ruler and dictator until his death. Let us hope in this case that the challenge to our basic form of government is left broken and defeated on the ideological battlefield… Let McCain be our Pompey and this time a winner…