time*treat's Blog

Let's see if this makes sense to anyone...

You work, you get paid some of what you've earned.

You take a bit of your after-tax income and buy a savings bond, i.e. you make a low (-er than the rate of inflation) interest loan to the gov't.

When you go to redeem your bond (which you bought with after-tax earnings), the interest due you is then taxable as income. 

Am I the only person who thinks the money you get back (even though nominally more) buys less than the money you entered this transaction with? Shouldn't they offer a little tube of vasoline with every purchase?

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source ('cause you think I make this stuff up... ): 
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/products/prod_eebonds_glance.htm

Ron Paul on Eliot Spitzer: He acted badly but didn't deserve this: By John Bresnahan

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), he of the quixotic GOP presidential campaign and unique policy positions, is never one to be shy about his opinions. Take the case of fallen New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D), whose political career fell apart this week after his liaisons with high-priced call girls became public. Spitzer resigned his office effective Monday.

Most politicians from both sides of the aisle publicly (at least) offered condolences for Spitzer and his poor family, including his three daughters, but didn't — of course — defend Spitzer's atrocious behavior.

But for Paul, Spitzer's downfall at the hands of a Justice Dept. investigation shows government at its worst. Yes, Spitzer climbed to power on the backs of political enemies he destroyed, making him not a swell guy, but he didn't deserve what happened to him. The FBI should have never been allowed to listen in to his phone call in the first place, according to the Texas Republican.

Here's the statement Paul made on the House floor last night. It's worth reading, at least for the enlightenment it gives into Paul's view of the world, which basically comes down to who controls the money:

"Madam Speaker, it has been said that 'he who lives by the sword shall die by the sword.'  And in the case of Eliot Spitzer, this couldn't be more true. In his case it's the political sword, as his enemies rejoice in his downfall. Most people, it seems, believe he got exactly what he deserved.

"The illegal tools of the state brought Spitzer down, but think of all the harm done by Spitzer in using the same tools against so many other innocent people. He practiced what could be termed 'economic McCarthyism,' using illegitimate government power to build his political career on the ruined lives of others.

"No matter how morally justified his comeuppance may be, his downfall demonstrates the worst of our society. The possibility of uncovering personal moral wrongdoing is never a justification for the government to spy on our every move and to participate in sting operations.

"For government to entice a citizen to break a law with a sting operation — that is, engaging in activities that a private citizen is prohibited by law from doing — is unconscionable and should clearly be illegal.

"Though Spitzer used the same tools to destroy individuals charged with economic crimes that ended up being used against him, gloating over his downfall should not divert our attention from the fact that the government spying on American citizens is unworthy of a country claiming respect for liberty and the Fourth Amendment.

"Two wrongs do not make a right. Two wrongs make it doubly wrong.

"Sacrifice of our personal privacy has been ongoing for decades but has rapidly accelerated since 9/11. Before 9/11, the unstated goal of collecting revenue was the real reason for the erosion of our financial privacy. When 19 suicidal maniacs attacked us on 9/11, our country became convinced that further sacrifice of personal and financial privacy was required for our security.

"The driving force behind this ongoing sacrifice of our privacy has been fear and the emotional effect of war rhetoric — war on drugs, war against terrorism and the war against Third World nations in the Middle East who are claimed to be the equivalent to Hitler and Nazi Germany.

"But the real reason for all this surveillance is to build the power of the state. It arises from a virulent dislike of free people running their own lives and spending their own money. Statists always demand control of the people and their money.

"Recently we've been told that this increase in the already intolerable invasion of our privacy was justified because the purpose was to apprehend terrorists. We were told that the massive amounts of information being collected on Americans would only be used to root out terrorists. But as we can see today, this monitoring of private activities can also be used for political reasons. We should always be concerned when the government accumulates information on innocent citizens.

"Spitzer was brought down because he legally withdrew cash from a bank — not because he committed a crime. This should prompt us to reassess and hopefully reverse this trend of pervasive government intrusion in our private lives.

"We need no more Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act! No more Violent Radicalization & Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Acts! No more torture! No more Military Commissions Act! No more secret prisons and extraordinary rendition! No more abuse of habeas corpus! No more Patriot Acts!

"What we need is more government transparency and more privacy for the individual!"

Survivor, now in Cobb, recalls Holocaust
By TAMMY CLABBY
For the Journal-Constitution
03/13/08

In the darkness of a sealed Bucharest apartment during
World War II, Andre Kessler most remembers the sounds
he heard as a tiny, Jewish toddler in hiding: his
mother constantly telling him to be quiet while the
squeals of other children playing outside seeped in
through the blackened windows and covered doorjambs,
or the marching of the Romanian Iron Guard, Nazi
sympathizers who wore hobnail boots and who could
easily threaten the lives of Kessler and his mother.

There were also the bombs.

the Parliament and King's Palace in Bucharest, near
our apartment, was bombed by day by the Americans, the
British by night, and ultimately the Russians who were
coming in from the east," says Kessler, now 68.

One night, a bomb blew out one of the blackened
windows in their building deemed vacant by the
Romanian government, which had warned residents to
flee the frequent shelling.

Kessler, then 3, and his mother, Olga, went into
hiding for 18 months, protected by the gentile
supervisor of their apartment building, who Kessler
says also saved two other Jewish families.
G[h]eorg[h]eiu Pop[e]scu is now known as a "righteous
gentile" or "someone who saved Jews during the
Holocaust without seeking anything for himself."
Popscu, Kessler said, provided the families with food,
but made sure none of those in hiding knew about the
others. He feared that if members of one family were
discovered, they would be forced to reveal the
whereabouts of the others.

Now a resident of east Cobb, Kessler is one of almost
three dozen Holocaust survivors who tell their stories
as emissaries from the William Breman Jewish Heritage
Museum in Atlanta. He spoke last week to about 500
members of the congregation of Cumming First United
Methodist Church, where he received a standing ovation
following his remarks.

"I am actually one of the youngest survivors now [in
Georgia] and I travel the state to witness, with the
hope that nothing like it will ever happen again,"
Kessler said.

"The oldest survivors are now in their 70s and 80s. We
are losing them."

Kessler said there are at least 60 Web sites on the
Internet that deny the Holocaust ever happened.

"It is important to carry on," he said. "There were 6
million Jews killed, but another 5 million gypsies,
Jehovah's Witnesses, gays and others who were simply
marked for death. The Nazis kept records. We can get
the figures from their own records."

Hiding after father's arrest

Kessler and his mother went into hiding shortly after
the 1942 arrest of his father, Ladislas Grunfeld, a
well-known soccer player who had owned two men's shirt
factories.

Kessler's father was taken to a slave labor camp in a
region known as Transnistria. It is believed thousands
of Jews perished in camps in the region. For 18 months
he was held there and forced to dig ditches, shovel
snow and make equipment repairs.

"My father was large," Kessler said. But a diet of
thin soup and bread made primarily of sawdust had
wrecked the 6-foot-4, 246-pound man Kessler remembered.

"When he was freed and finally returned, he weighed
only 132 pounds. I hid behind Mother in fear when he
came into our apartment. I did not recognize him."

During their time in hiding in Bucharest, Kessler and
his mother lived in one tiny room of the family
apartment near the bathroom, which provided water,
when it was running. Food provided by Popscu
consisted, largely, of cornmeal thinned by water.

Kessler's mother spent her days teaching her young son
to read and write while, unbeknownst to them, other
relatives on both sides of the family were being
rounded up and shipped to Nazi death camps.

"My mother finally was able to count them up, when
years later we arrived in America. In all she lost 120
relatives, primarily at Auschwitz — 80 percent of her
family."

When Romania fell to Communist rule in 1947, the
family fled. Ultimately, Kessler's parents divorced
and his father stayed in Paris. Kessler and his mother
were smuggled to Austria and later made their way to
the United States via an old troop ship.

While in Austria, Kessler says he was forced to carry
an identity card, which he held up and described for
the Methodist congregation.

"Imagine — I was only 10 years old and had to carry a
card that stated it was required for foreigners and
stateless persons," Kessler said, "and we had to pay for it."

Height leads to hoops

In the United States, Kessler and his mother lived in
a rough neighborhood in Queens. Kessler, like his
father before him, is tall — 6-foot-5. And as an
athletically talented kid who was able to fight,
Kessler admits to getting into serious trouble.

"Just before I graduated high school, I was taken
before a judge and given a choice: jail or the Navy,"
says Kessler. He chose the military and began a career
as a corpsman.

Ultimately, he says, a coach at New York University,
who had followed his sports prowess, worked for his
release from the military and secured a basketball
scholarship for Kessler at NYU.

After graduating from college, Kessler was drafted by
the NBA and played two years for the Philadelphia
Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors). There, he
played alongside basketball icon Wilt Chamberlain.

"The team's traveling secretary would often book us
into the same hotel room," says Kessler, "to put a
Jewish kid and a black kid together. They thought it
was an insult to both of us."

Ultimately, Kessler became a sales manager and in 1965
moved to Atlanta, married and raised two children.

Now, he averages two appearances a week for Holocaust
education, often for schoolchildren. He wants people
to know that during the Holocaust there were five
types of people: victims, perpetrators, bystanders,
rescuers and liberators.

"The overwhelming majority," Kessler said sadly, "were
bystanders. If you see something wrong, you must speak
up. Don't be a bystander. Sixty-three years after the
Holocaust, there is a genocide going on in Darfur.
Over 200,000 are dead and 2 million displaced, but the
world stands by deaf, dumb and blind."

Andre Kessler speaks regularly to prescheduled groups
at the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in
Atlanta. For more information, contact Judi Ayal at
404-870-1632.

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Sadly, those who dare to speak up are shouted down, ridiculed, and hated even more than the perpetrators. When they are finally listened to, it is often too late. The clock is running out on so many things. When history repeats, does the majority ever notice?

WHAT PRICE FREEDOM

Lynn M. Stuter
January 23, 2003
NewsWithViews.com
Standing on the steps of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, it is said that Benjamin Franklin was asked by a passerby, "... what form of government do we have?" to which Franklin responded, "a republic if you can keep it."

Now, over two hundred years later, the words of John Jay ring true, "Let virtue, honor, the love of liberty ... be ... the soul of this constitution, and it will become the source of great and extensive happiness to this and future generations.  Vice, ignorance, and want of vigilance, will be the only enemies able to destroy it."

No truer words were spoken.  John Quincy Adams, oldest son of John Adams and sixth president of the United States,  "Posterity!  You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom.  I hope you will make good use of it."

Have we made good use of it?  Have we remained vigilant to those principles for which the signers of the Declaration of Independence pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor?  Do we appreciate what these brave men sacrificed for us?

Vice and crime are rampant in America today.  Why?  Not for lack of laws, that's for certain, but for lack of individual self-governance, virtue, honor, and moral bearing.  The words of John Adams are prophetic, "Our constitution was made for a moral and religious people; it is wholly inadequate for any other."

The vast majority of children today, graduating public school where the curriculum, instruction and teaching methodologies are based on the humanist religion, have no understanding of the Declaration of Independence, our Constitution or Bill of Rights; and further, have no understanding of our form of government.  Our people believe the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights establishes a "wall of separation" between church and state.  Our politicians pay lip service to their oaths of office to uphold the Constitution.  While every other religion is welcome and acceptable in the public arena, all vestiges of Christianity have been banished.  "My children are destroyed for lack of knowledge."  Hosea 4:6

Stand on any street corner and randomly ask people what concerns them about our country today.  While you will often hear things like crime, housing, poverty, the homeless, social security, education, you will seldom, if ever, hear concern voiced that our government no longer holds to the principles and foundations laid by the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.  Why?  Lack of vigilance.  People don't care what the government does so long as the government takes care of them.

Thomas Jefferson,  "I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."  Today, more than people want to be free, independent and self-sufficient, they want to be secure, they want to [be] comfortable, they want to be taken care of.

Edward Gibbon, "In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security.  They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all — security, comfort and freedom.  When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free." We could easily change "Athenians" to "Americans".

The words of Thomas Jefferson are as true today as they were when spoken in 1816, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."

Joseph Story, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1811-1845, summed up the state of our nation today when he said, "Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens.  They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them."

Vigilance is truly the price of freedom.

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Rather than add my two cents here, I think I'll take them to the smelter where they'll fetch nearly twice that.

By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer

LONDON - As doctors struggle to eradicate polio worldwide, one of their biggest problems is persuading parents to vaccinate their children. In Belgium, authorities are resorting to an extreme measure: prison sentences.

Two sets of parents in Belgium were recently handed five-month prison terms for failing to vaccinate their children against polio. Each parent was also fined $8,000. (Did that have the same effect as the shots? If not...)

"It's a pretty extraordinary case," said Dr. Ross Upshur, director of the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto. "The Belgians have a right to take some action against the parents, given the seriousness of polio, but the question is, is a prison sentence disproportionate?"

The parents' sentences were delayed to give them a chance to vaccinate their children. But if that deadline also passes without the children receiving the injections, the parents could be put behind bars.

Because of privacy laws, Belgian officials would not talk specifically about the cases, such as why the parents refused the vaccine or how much longer they have to get their children vaccinated.

The polio vaccine is the only one required by Belgian law. Exceptions are granted only if parents can prove their children might have a bad physical reaction to the vaccine. There are no exceptions for people who object to vaccinations on religious grounds. (Is death or illness proof of a bad reaction?)

"Polio is a very serious disease and has caused great suffering in the past," said Dr. Victor Lusayu, head of Belgium's international vaccine center. (So has tyranny) "The discovery of the vaccine has eliminated polio from Europe and it is simply the law in Belgium that you have to be vaccinated. ... At the end of the day, the law must be respected."

The highly infectious disease is spread through water and mainly strikes children under 5. Initial symptoms include fever, headaches, vomiting, stiffness in the neck and fatigue. The polio virus invades the body's nervous system and can lead to irreversible paralysis within hours. In extreme cases, patients can die when their breathing muscles are immobilized.

Some ethicists back the hard-line Belgian stance.

"Nobody has the right to unfettered liberty, and people do not have a right to endanger their kids," said John Harris, a professor of bioethics at the University of Manchester. (But the gov't has that right when they send your kids off to war ... or public school)

"The parents in this case do not have any rights they can appeal to. They have obligations they are not fulfilling."

Aside from Belgium, only France makes polio vaccinations mandatory by law. In the United States, children must be immunized against many diseases including polio, but most states allow children to opt out if their parents have religious or "philosophical" objections.

In Maryland, prosecutors and school officials in one county threatened truancy charges against parents who failed to vaccinate their children. The measure sharply reduced the number of unvaccinated children although no one has been charged. (Our sheeple are a bit less defiant. Fluoridated water... try it.)

The only other case of mandatory polio vaccines is during the Muslim yearly Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Pilgrims from polio-endemic countries must prove they have been vaccinated. Saudi officials even give them an extra dose upon arrival at the airport. (Wonder how often they change those needles. BTW, they also confiscate any bibles carried by tourists from christian-endemic countries. They don't want that spreading, either)

Since the polio virus can live in the human body for weeks, it jumps borders easily. That makes health officials even in developed countries nervous, since the threat of an outbreak remains as long as the virus is circulating anywhere. (See, if they'd only make the virus get a REAL ID...)

Incidence has dropped by 99 percent since the World Health Organization and partners (would those "partners" be drug companies?) began their eradication effort in 1988. But the virus is still entrenched in Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan, and occasionally pops up elsewhere.

For developed countries, imported polio cases could cause chaos in the health system, warned Dr. Steve Cochi, an immunization expert at the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

He said that unlike other medical problems, in which rejecting treatment only affects the individual, refusing a vaccine for a transmissible disease such as polio puts others at risk as well. (By that logic, you'd have to give everyone shots ... for everything. Does he have stock options?)

Still, health officials doubt that Belgium's strategy will be useful to countries that are still battling polio. (Because their jails are already full of the people who pulled the wrong lever in the previous election, or were caught making homemade cheese without a license)

"It is up to individual countries to decide their own policies, but we do not feel that imprisonment would help," said Dr. David Heymann, WHO's top polio official.

printable source, sans my witty commentary: AP

Outlawing domestic food production - for your safety, of course.

It's been a fundamental right since the dawn of man for people to freely grow their own food. It is not discussed that the Great Depression hit hardest in the cities because there was neither jobs nor food, but many people in the rural areas at least were able to grow enough food to feed their families. The same can be said for post-Weimar Germany, and many other places. Those who could feed themselves were best able to ride out the difficult times. They could 'opt-out' of the system for a while and at least barter with other productive people (which leaves the paper-pushers hungry). Oh no, can't have that. The socialists in the EU have come up with a means of making life miserable for people who would be better off left alone, they even admit to possibly increasing poverty, but hey, "de rulez iz de rulez".

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A Toast to Tradition
by Ljubica Grozdanovska
28 February 2008

A favorite spirit may be threatened when Macedonia begins
negotiating for EU membership.

LISICE, Macedonia | As the distillation process ends and the
homemade brandy called rakija drips into a pot, all of Stojan's
neighbors gathered in his back yard, waiting to taste the fresh
liquor.

"Cheers!" they shouted in a chorus, celebrating the old Macedonian
tradition of producing the brandy. "It's a really strong one, pure
and warming," Stojan, 62, concluded after taking a sip of his new
batch.

The brandy, which is distilled mostly in private homes, is made from
fermented grapes and usually contains about 50 percent alcohol. For
Macedonians, the joy of rakija is as much in its production as it is
in the drinking. Producers often invite friends to taste the
product, spurring neighborhood parties. The liquor is considered the
national drink among many countries of the former Yugoslavia.

Source of wrath against EU.
Some Macedonians make a living or supplement their incomes by
selling the brandy produced at home, especially in wine regions such
as Tikves in the south. But the brandy's production may diminish
when Macedonia begins negotiating for European Union membership.
Talks could begin as early as late 2008.

According to EU standards, alcohol production must be licensed, and
homemade products put up for sale must carry a tax. Macedonia plans
to begin complying with these standards when accession talks begin.

The majority of rakija producers in Macedonia distill in their own
kitchens or yards, and they currently pay no tax to the government
for their sales. Many are unaware that EU standards would make their
unregulated operations illegal. The government has yet to spread the
word.

The homemade brandy is popular in other countries in the Balkans and
southeastern Europe. When Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, protests
were staged in front of the Parliament in Sofia to demand that
rakija not be taxed. There have also been discussions on the topic
on Internet forums set up in Serbia, another EU hopeful. Some
respondents radically claimed they would prefer dying to joining the
EU, mainly because of limitations on traditions like homemade
alcohol.

"We don't like the EU anymore. Why do we need so many limitations
and standards that only complicate our lives and contribute towards
the loss of our culture and spirit as Macedonians? " said Stojan, who
gave only his first name.

Rakija isn't the only product under threat. Regulations will also be
placed on homemade wines and cheeses put up for sale. Moreover, the
killing of animals for food in private homes will be forbidden.

According to the European Commission, killing outside
slaughterhouses "is restricted to a very limited number of
circumstances, such as disease control." What's more, "approved
methods" of killing must be used in those limited circumstances. All
meat for human consumption, however, must come from licensed
slaughterhouses.

These laws are violated in many EU countries, where traditions
frequently trump health or agricultural regulations, but people risk
being caught and fined if they sell their unregulated products or
slaughter animals.

Macedonia doesn't have official data about the number of people
producing and selling domestic food products. But so ingrained is
the tradition of home production that the numbers are easily in the
thousands.

Many people interviewed said they were unaware that their way of
life may change soon. They worry that the EU standards will smother
their cultural and economic traditions.

NO ONE'S BEEN TOLD
Bojan, 58, from the village of Dracevo, hadn't heard of the looming
EU standards. He started to cry when he learned that he would not be
allowed to slaughter animals for food or produce his own milk and
dairy products for sale.

He lost his job as a locksmith 10 years ago, Bojan said, and home
production is what now brings food to his family's table. Other,
modest income comes from Bojan's work in nearby fields his father
left to him when he died. Bojan had to take out a loan to get a
tractor to work the fields.

In his back yard, Bojan raises chickens, goats, pigs, and a cow. He
uses the animals to feed his family, and he sometimes sells some
eggs, milk, and meat to others. With the money he makes he buys
other goods his family needs.

"We will starve to death if this happens," Bojan said of the coming
regulations. "I've lost my job once, and this is the only way to
secure food for my family." He added that he had thought life would
be better if his country entered the EU.

Other Macedonians who hadn't heard about the regulations refused to
believe it, calling it a joke. They said they will continue to make
products or purchase them from neighbors.

"We won't give up the rakija … the honey, the incredible domestic
cheese – EU or no EU", says Lidija, 29, from Skopje.

"This practically means that besides gaining the possibility to
travel freely [without a visa], everything else is just too much
bureaucracy, " she added, referring to the benefits of EU accession.
The right to visa-free travel in the EU is a perk many Macedonians
are looking forward to, though it could be years in the making.

The government doesn't have a campaign planned to inform the
citizens about the changes that will occur once EU negotiations
start. Officials admitted that the campaign has been delayed in part
because of the possibility that there will be negative reactions
from the citizens, as there were in Bulgaria.

However, officials also claim that like it or not, the clock is
ticking.

"We purposely delayed the solving of this issue because the
tradition of domestic production is a several-centuries- old
tradition," said Zivko Jankulovski, the government's vice president
for agriculture and education. "However, very soon we will have to
start dealing with it."

Jankulovski emphasized that not all domestic production will not be
banned. Although killing animals for meat will be forbidden, other
production will just be regulated.

People will be allowed to produce rakija in their homes, for
instance, if they have a license to do so. They can sell it so long
as they follow new tax requirements.

"There also will be some trainings and exams connected to the right
of producing your own alcoholic drink," Jankulovski said.

Which of the government ministries will be in charge of conducting
an information campaign remains a mystery, but it likely will be the
Agriculture or Economy ministries.

HARD ROAD AHEAD
Jankulovski said it will be very difficult to boost public awareness
of the issue and to calm down the people it upsets. Moreover, it
will be a challenge to change people's habits and force them to stop
their home production or license and tax it.

Experts have said that the introduction of EU standards may have
negative side effects, like increasing poverty in some regions where
people currently rely on domestic food production for extra income.
If the regulations force them out of business or they choose to bow
out on their own for fear of being caught, their income could be
lost.

"Agricultural workers are quite often forced to produce and sell
domestic rakija because there are not enough wineries to buy out the
grapes that they produced," said one agricultural expert, who spoke
on condition on anonymity. "Similar conditions are present in
stockbreeding. "

But some experts have also said there are dangers in domestic
production that the EU standards will help alleviate.

Unregulated stockbreeding allows animals slaughtered for meat to go
unvaccinated, raising concerns that people will consume tainted
meat. Similarly, unregulated production of alcohol and dairy
products put up for sale presents health risks associated with poor
or contaminated ingredients.

Stojan said that while the government should tell people about the
new standards, he won't worry until Macedonia is an EU member – a
development that is years away.

"I'll make my rakija until someone comes in my house and reads the
standards," Stojan declared with a laugh. "But first I'll let
authorities try my homemade rakija and then let them read my
obligations. "

Watching his friends celebrate his brandy, he added: "I'll live for
today."

Ljubica Grozdanovska is a journalist based in Skopje.

---

How long before it extends to fruits & veggies ... and to our shores? Oh, wait... there's Codex Alimentarius.
Well, you know what I think about where a bureaucrat (on either side of the ocean) can shove his thieving pinche legislation.
Industrious people take all the risk, put in all the work, and pay 50% in taxes, licenses, fees, and the rest is stolen through inflation. At this rate, we'll have to call up our friends in Haiti and ask about a good recipe for dirt cakes (see pac's comments in my Feb. 4, 2008 entry: The world is running out of food)

Yes... I know... you've never heard of Codex. Well, now you have. Do a search.

Video clip of Peter Schiff & Art Laffer in August 2006 having a discussion on the near-term future of the U.S. economy.

Which one owes the other one a penny?

Here's a simple question. If law-abiding citizens comply with a gun-confiscating law, does that make the activities of non law-abiding violent criminals easier or harder?

Canada's C-68 Firearms Act (where the police do the criminals the favor of disarming their future victims)

Some people have difficulty grasping my more abstract "it's gonna happen here" write-ups.

Maybe some of these "it's already happening there" stories can uncloud their vision. 

Insurance of all kinds works on the principle that the majority of participants will not require the use of the service. This is why hurricane insurance would be much more profitable in Wyoming than in Florida. Flood insurance would be more profitable in Arizona than in North Carolina. FDIC works as long as 99% of the of the banks don't fail. FICA works as long as most people don't try to collect on it.

People like to use the claim that since some types of insurance are required, like car insurance, that it's OK to make other types mandatory. Since you can sue a bad driver who hits you, but cannot sue someone who gives you their bad cold (or worse), the arguement doesn't hold up.

Health insurance is not workable if only sick people participate. That is why insurance companies charge different rates depending on your age, habits, and health. That is also why every proposed scheme for nazional (my preferred spelling) health care requires the forced participation of healthy people.

I posted before where Hitlery Klinton wouldn't rule out going after wages to force participation. Even with a video clip of her saying so ...
George Stephanopoulous: "Will you garnish the wages of people who don't comply ... don't buy the insurance?"
Hillary Clinton: "George, we will have an enforcement mechanism, whether it's that (garnishment) or it's some other mechanism, through the tax system, or automatic enrollment..."
... I still got an "It ain't so, Joe".

Here is a clip explaining some of the whats and wastes of these programs (and why they are so costly) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B99rdAN0WZU

For those of you on dial-up or who want to be able to point to something less "subjective", than a blog entry or a vid clip, I went through the trouble of digging up her health plan summary - from her OWN campaign site (which her defenders obviously didn't).

source: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/healthcare/summary.aspx

3. PROMOTE SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

Relying on consumers or the government alone to fix the system has unintended consequences, like scaled-back coverage or limited choices. This plan ensures that all who benefit from the system share in the responsibility to fix its shortcomings.¹

    * Insurance and Drug Companies: insurance companies will end discrimination based on pre-existing conditions or expectations of illness and ensure high value for every premium dollar; while drug companies will offer fair prices and accurate information.

    * Individuals: will be required² to get and keep insurance in a system where insurance is affordable and accessible.

    * Providers: will work collaboratively with patients and businesses to deliver high-quality, affordable care.

    * Employers: will help financing the system; large employers will be expected to provide health insurance or contribute to the cost of coverage: small businesses will receive a tax credit to continue or begin to offer coverage.

    * Government: will ensure that health insurance is always affordable and never a crushing burden on any family and will implement reforms to improve quality and lower cost.

Now... still say it ain't so?

1) At the expense of those who neither created the problem, nor will benefit from the system, nor have any say in fixing the problem.

2) require: (verb) - to impose a compulsion or command on

On your next trip to the gas station ask yourself - how do you know that the amount of gallons on the display is really the amount that was pumped into your tank. How do you know your "5 gallons" isn't a pint short?

At the grocers when you buy a 5 pound bag of sugar, how do you know you're not paying for 5 pounds and getting 4 pounds 12 ounces?

You may have noticed those little red tags that say "NIST" and have a date written on them. Retailers are required to use scales that are calibrated, regularly checked, and certified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. These guys are the ones who see to it that your pound and gallon are not "adjusted" for the profit of the merchant.

The Tyrant-in-Charge and his minions claim that the Constitution and Bill of Rights are "living documents" that should be periodically "reinterpreted" to reflect the needs of the modern world.

Can I, in my gas station, sell 120 ounces of gas and call it a gallon, without gov't (not to mention the customers’) sanction against me? How about in my grocery store; could I call 14 ounces a "pound" and argue that it has "inflation" factored in? Perhaps I could "revalue" the fahrenheit and market ice that "won't melt below 40 degrees". If I were to build a car and claimed that it got 40 miles to the gallon, could I be charged with fraud if it turned out that my "mile" was "adjusted for inflation" and was in fact 1,800 (NIST standard) feet? My defense being "But it had an asterisk there and efferthin!"

The ability to redefine weights & distances at ones convenience could come in very handy for us all. Try it in traffic court. If you make "miles" longer and "hour" shorter, you weren't speeding after all.

Every measurement is a comparison, and you cannot accurately measure one thing against something else unless that something else is unchanging in nature.

When you discuss some distant place you traveled to, do you add “but that was in 1980 miles. It would be twice as far, today”? If not, why not? Is it reasonable to expect that the fence encircling your yard get a little closer to your front door, with each passing year?

That family recipe that called for 4 eggs, 2 cups of sugar, etc. when it was given to your great-grandmother 100 years ago, still calls for the same proportion of ingredients today, unless you want it to taste (not-so) funny. Or have eggs “inflated” so much that you now only need two?

Your great-grandpa could take twenty o' them "greenbacks" down to the bank and trade them for a “double eagle” twenty dollar gold coin. If you can find a bank that carries gold coins anymore, you can at least give the staff a good laugh by presenting a twenty dollar bill and making a similar request today... before they ask you to leave the premises. To be taken seriously, you'd need about 50 twenty dollar bills. Can NIST check and see if someone altered the dollar recipe? The buck is tasting not-so-good these days.

Look at public schools, public housing, and public rest rooms. Look even at ... public defenders. 

Now, people are clamoring for even more public medicine (socialized healthcare), which if you are in it you get low prices but lousy quality. If you are not in it you might get decent care but you'll certainly get exorbitant prices, to compensate for those people who are getting the low priced (but lousy) care. There are medicines which cost hundreds to thousands per month to the uninsured - to make up for the people on Medicaid/Medicare paying twenty bucks.

Here's Stott's take on public medicine. Perhaps we could even throw in some price controls to keep costs down.

Brilliant!!! Why haven't we thought of this before?

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It's looking like 'the people' know what they want ... and deserve to get it good and hard.

Katey demonstrates that when it comes to protecting your property, your home, your family, or your life from criminals (the unelected ones, at least) there are two basic options.*

Guess which option Obamanable & Hitlery prefer (for you, anyway). You can be sure the SS (Schutzstaffel) (Secret Service) aren't relying on "5 bars" and "no roaming".

"Oh, time*treat", the Libs baaaa, "they only want to ban assault weapons". Alright, define 'assault weapon'. They can't (or rather won't), because the term is vague enough to mean whatever they need it to mean. Here's 10 mins of truth & demo about "assault weapons". In fact, the vagueness of the term is pointed out by one of the BATF guys testifying before a Senate subcommittee @ 8:30. Listen to what a detective has to say about how many 'converted' fully automatic weapons his department has turned up, out of thousands of total weapons collected @ 9:30.

As the host of the vid demonstrates, the 'action' - not the appearance, determines how the weapon functions. Now you can go confuse and dismay a freedom-hating Lib with some facts.

 

*You can bet some moron is going to suggest pepper-spary as a third option, like you want to rely on that when someone kicks your door in at 3am. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1vIYgpCRpg

Your employer would never falsely report you as being 'disgruntled', right?

United Press International
Published: Feb. 20, 2008 at 8:48 PM

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- A top FBI official in Washington is refuting claims that the agency has given permission to InfraGard members to shoot to kill in the event of martial law.

Shawn Henry, FBI Cyber Division deputy assistant director, says a recent article published in "The Progressive" magazine claiming that the FBI's InfraGard program members have been deputized and given the authority to shoot to kill is false, the FBI reported.

"In short, the article's claims are patently false," Henry said in a statement. "For the record, the FBI has not deputized InfraGard, its members, businesses, or anything else in the program. The title (of the article), however catchy, is a complete fabrication. Moreover, InfraGard members have no extraordinary powers and have no greater right to shoot to kill than other civilians."

According to the FBI, the InfraGard association of businesses, academic institutions and law enforcement agencies among others is an information-sharing network to prevent hostile acts against the United States.

"The FBI strongly supports the InfraGard program and recognizes that the protection of our critical infrastructure -- most of which is owned and operated by the private sector -- requires that we develop trusted relationships with and amongst industry."

In case anyone is wondering why the moves in the dollar and the metals were so 'interesting' this week...

Excerpt from Al-Jezeera 

Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the US central bank, or Fed, has said that inflation rates in Gulf states, which are reaching near record levels, would fall "significantly" if oil producers dropped their US dollar pegs.
   
Speaking at an investment conference on Monday in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, he said the pegs restrict the region's ability to control inflation by forcing them to duplicate US monetary policy at a time when the Fed is cutting rates to ward off an economic downturn.

 ...

Qatar's stand
 
"We prefer always to act with all the GCC countries," Sheikh Hamad (prime minister of Qatar) said.
Qatar currently chairs the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council. 
"It's now time for the Gulf to have its own currency," he said. 
Sheikh Hamad said such a currency should be "like the Japanese yen or other currencies". 
Deutsche Bank said last month that both Qatar and the UAE will probably cut ties to the US dollar this year and track currency baskets as Kuwait did last May.

---

A little background: the deal for decades was that oil exporting Arab nations would sell oil only in dollars (so everyone who needs oil also needs dollars), in exchange, the U.S. would provide.. uh.. 'protection' - queue *Godfather* theme. Occasionally, someone gets 'mouthy' and starts talking about selling oil for euros, and weeze gotta go have a talk wit dem.

One would think, in a year when our sick economy is going to need round the clock care, the front-runner would be the doctor who has studied it and actually predicted the '87 recession ... in '83. Is a four year heads-up too good for you?

But, no, our 'top' 3 choices(sic) are a well-spoken empty-suit socialist, a shrill tyrannical socialist (to make Empty-suit seem reasonable) & a fascist who can barely pronounce "sub-prime" and whose mind is still fighting a war that ended 30 years ago in a jungle most people can't find on a map ... well when he's not following the advice of known supporters of the Reconquista.   

Excerpt from North Queensland Register
By Arlan Suderman ~ Tuesday, 26 February 2008

In the wheat price surge this week, the leading wheat contract in Minneapolis, US, has risen by more than the entire worth of the contract just months ago.

Prices rallied by $5.75 a bushel on Monday, being up by nearly 30pc at one point compared with Friday’s close.

Eight months ago on June 19, the lead Minneapolis wheat contract settled at over $US5.00 a bushel.

Panic over commodity shortages continues to emerge as the dominant factor in the global markets, with both end user and speculative buyers of corn, soybean, cotton, rice and a host of other commodities taking note of what’s happening in the wheat pit.

While US has made improvements to increase crop production efficiency in recent years, the world hasn’t really put sufficient investment into production agriculture for several decades.

The net result has been declining stocks at the same time that expanding global wealth has demanded more raw commodities.

The net result on Monday was new all-time record high prices for corn, soybeans and wheat on the same day.

Sentiment in the marketplace is changing from, 'buying just-in-time' to one of, 'buy what you need at any price' and then to 'buy even more to restock the shelves'.

In other words, there’s evidence to suggest that we’re beginning to enter the hoarding phase of the inflationary cycle.

Along that line, commodity traders are attempting to hoard land on which to produce their respective commodities by bidding up prices in an acres war.

The market should remain in this phase until supply reaches surplus levels and everything collapses, similar to what was seen in the late-90s.

However, there’s little evidence at this point that the market will begin that collapse anytime soon, especially with the US growing season still weeks away and weather being as large as it’s ever been this year.
...
China is said to be buying both to fight food inflation and to build inventories ahead of this year’s Olympics.

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I have been meaning to post maybe every 2 days or so, but now things are happening so fast and in so many places (economy, investing, politics, & more abstract ideas) that if I skip a day, I'm playing catch-up. This is becoming almost like a job. I miss the old days when giving out bad news was a niche market. You had to go dig for it. Now, you have to dig for bad news that someone else hasn't beaten you to posting.