you will notice that when anyone in power speaks of 'redistribution' of wealth - it is NEVER their own.
No surprise - this guy has been humming the tune of Lenin since his first campaign. Be thankful he has only read the Cliff's Notes version of Communism - it could be ever so much worse if he figures out a true dialectic - for just a single one of his policies. As bad as he is - he is only half cocked.
Assume swear words. Assume a rant on micromanaging &^%$#&.
I'm glad I don't live in a town where the Mayor can tell me what to eat. A town that one political party has declared to be Doomed to be underwater unless they are given the power that not even Caesar dreamed of to regulate the temperature of my home, the protein I'm allowed to eat, and the way I am allowed to drive to work.
Yeah, ok. No one wants to live in a nanny state where the government is "saving us from ourselves," but how will you feel about paying for all the medical costs of all the obese and/or diabetics who are too ill-informed and if informed, too weak-willed to limit their consumption to reasonable amounts.
It's fine to be laissez-faire in these matters if (and only if) there is no cost to me or you for the medical disaster that ensues.
Also, on a related but more personal note, have you ever been on a city bus or subway? The fare is the same, whether you take up a single seat, or a seat-and-a-half (scary-gross to see, by the way).
Yeah, ok. No one wants to live in a nanny state where the government is "saving us from ourselves," but how will you feel about paying for all the medical costs of all the obese and/or diabetics who are too ill-informed and if informed, too weak-willed to limit their consumption to reasonable amounts.
Yeah, ok. No one wants to live in a nanny state where the government is "saving us from ourselves," but how will you feel about paying for all the medical costs of all sportbike riders who are too ill-informed and if informed, too weak-willed to limit their dangerous riding habits.
This is not mere hyperbole. This is the unintended consequence of allowing government to dictate what is "good" for you.
Actually, aside from the semi socialized medical system, and the disgust at people not as righteous and disciplined as yourself, what's wrong with the fat people?
Oh! they cost you money, as your bills are jacked up by their mooching off the system? Making bad choices?
That's a legit bitch.
Do you plan to use that excuse to allow you dictatorial control over all aspects of another's life? Like Sharia Islam, or Obamacare?
Is the justification that some are weak and foolish, ( and I'll admit to being both ) enough to allow you to treat them as slaves? ( there is an argument for that, I admit. )
Do you feel the mayor of NYC who bought his job with his vast wealth, has the right to tell you not to have a salt shaker on the table in your restaurant?
I'm all for making it a law to have nutritional info available, ( have you eaten at a street cart? ) and it would be nice to have nutrition as a health class subject, ( though apparently, the Food Pyramid somehow became too complicated for todays students ) But I don't think an armed policeman should tell me I can't buy a cupcake, if I want one.
Pity, though. If I was smarter, I'd be smuggling Big Gulps on to the island, dealing Mountain Dew out the back of a truck, and slipping favored customers a little Lard..... just to give them a taste.
"but how will you feel about paying for all the medical costs of all the obese and/or diabetics who are too ill-informed and if informed, too weak-willed to limit their consumption to reasonable amounts."
If the government wasn't in the health care business, we wouldn't have to pay for other people's poor decisions. Government meddling begets more government meddling.
Hootowl, although you have a good point, there is that difficult word "if" in your post.
As in, "If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a cart."
I really don't care whether someone is fat or not, as long as their fat does not spill over into my seat space (bus, subway, plane, train). I'm by no means thin. So, do I like Bloomberg? Not particularly. He could certainly put effort into fixing a broken health care and insurance system, rather than picking on junk food.
Anyway, heaven help you if you live in NYC and like fried food, salt, soda, smoking, and driving a car. Road trip to The Dinosaur NYC, anyone :-)
Ban corn syrup, ( which might actually be satanic in it's effects on the human body... but we don't know yet ) and sugar, and force the use of cancer causing sweeteners, and you have created a new health care crisis. That's hypothetical, today.
Yesterday, they added a chemical to Gasoline to make it burn cleaner, to reduce smog. MTBE. Turns out MTBE leaking into the water table from rusty gas storage tanks seems really carcinogenic. Ooops! So ban MTBE and replace it with ethanol. That also gives a guaranteed sale for the booze some want to replace gas. Then we find out that 10% booze in gasoline rots some seals and wrecks some alloys and plastics. Millions in new sales of small engine gear, right? Some old cars need new carbs. Car gas becomes unsafe to use in many airplanes ( using newer or rebuilt engines that can run on unleaded car gas ) More millions. The Farmers, and manufacturers get tax money. Some get lots of millions to produce booze for fuel, and fail. Others fail because it's more profitable to scam the system, and it's scamable.
Then the increased percentage of cropland growing corn ( so far corn is the most common US domestic source for booze... laws were written to deny us the import of Brazilian alcohol made from cane sugar... ) reduces the yield of other, food, crops. Food prices go up. Tortillas get expensive, food riots and starvation in the third world. Revolution. The Muslim Brotherhood prepares to rule Egypt, resume war against Israel.....
All to give a bonus to a couple of constituent groups, and make folk think politicians useful, "because they are doing something".........
So, deciding to burn corn as fuel, and making it MANDATORY, could lead to the nuclear destruction of Cairo, Tehran, Damascus....... L.A.?
never mind that they are engineering the corn so it is inedible, to be used solely for industry. The GMO Franken Corn with its infertile life cycle, and forced high yield - crashes the crop all together.
It is why they the large seed vaults and cold storage preserves for agriculture - they full know the end game for crops is coming. they are banking on it.
Ask yourself, I can plant several strains of my crop. One has the best yield per acre, another is very resistant to the herbicides I use to suppress weeds, another hits a good balance between the 2, and the rest, well, also rans, but no cigar. No one does manual weeding on an industrial scale. It's just not profitable. So you go with the great hybrid with good yields and resistance to Roundup. All is well with the world.
Then the new mutation of the fungus that preys on your crop takes a great liking to that one strain. Whole crop, gone.
Extrapolate that out to a county/state/national level, you get famine. Lucky for us, smart farmers rotate and plant diverse strains and crops for that reason. Still, on the scale American Agribusiness works, you get entire square miles wiped out as nature adapts to the new environment.
When Diesel hits a certain price, ADM ( and everyone else ) will determine that it's not profitable to bother growing crops. More money from the land would come selling it as a subdivision. When Letting land go fallow costs less than trying to farm it...... A family might struggle on. A corporation cuts it's losses. America grows more food for the planet than people realize.
Mutton punchers. By the by, grass fed beef don't break wind as much as their grain fed cousins. But, then again, Uncle Sugar's agents of doom don't like farming of any persuasion. Did you get your elk last year, City?
I shopped my algae biofarming system to a number of potential partners. Maybe I'll dust off the paperwork. 60,000 gallons, per acre, per year, in the sunbelt. Also works at Pt. Barrow, Alaska during the summer. Probably would work too well if they didn't have to haul in fuel oil on barges (the politics of transportation services in the north,etc.). I'll give away 90% ownership of the system, if someone would actually build it. Scab land in E. Texas & Louisiana would do fine.
I'm constantly astonished that in an era where we have microtechnology beyond past belief, and communications/social media, portable, affordable and nigh ubiquitous, that we seem to actually test and make physical stuff so..... rarely.
Then I run into "educated" people who, despite college degrees and high paying jobs, don't know the most basic things about reality, as taught to me in the "before time".
Kids are violent beyond belief, with no fear of authority. You are far more likely to be murdered by someone too young to drink than someone in his 40's.
Then ----- I recall how aghast my parents were at my school's lack of substance, and the prevailing belief that my generation is ignorant... And they are right.
... How many of you can name your two US Senators? How about the Vice President? Who is your congressman? How often is he elected? Can you give me the gist of the 10th Amendment?
Am I trying to insult you here? No, I'm trying to illustrate something.
What are the three branches of government? Who officially represents the government of this state -- not the people, the government -- in Washington?
How strong is your economic knowledge? Do you believe that the rich should pay their fair share? If so, can you tell me what percentage of total income the hated top 1% earns and what percentage of income taxes they pay? If you can't, don't worry too much. I've interviewed presidential candidates who can't tell you.
Here's a toughie ... What is the difference between a profit and a profit margin? Do corporations pay taxes? If so, where do they get the money?
A person who cannot answer virtually all of these questions is a person who is going to present absolutely no threat at all to current political thought. This is a person who will repeat government feel-good slogans and political mantras ... and then turn to a discussion of the last episode of "Lost."
Feeling pretty good about your education now, aren't you?
Now, I realize that most of you consider yourselves Liberals. In fact, you are probably very proud of your liberal views. You care so much. You feel so much. You want to help so much. After all, you're a compassionate and caring person, aren't you now? Well, isn't that just so extraordinarily special. Now, at this age, is as good a time as any to be a Liberal; as good a time as any to know absolutely everything. You have plenty of time, starting tomorrow, for the truth to set in. Over the next few years, as you begin to feel the cold breath of reality down your neck, things are going to start changing pretty fast .. including your own assessment of just how much you really know.
So here are the first assignments for your initial class in post-graduate reality: Pay attention to the news, read newspapers -- as long as we have newspapers -- and listen to the words and phrases that proud Liberals use to promote their causes. Then compare the words of the left to the words and phrases you hear from those evil, heartless, greedy conservatives. From the Left you will hear "I feel." From the Right you will hear "I think." From the Liberals you will hear references to groups --The Blacks, The Poor, The Rich, The Disadvantaged, The Less Fortunate. From the Right you will hear references to individuals. On the Left you hear talk of group rights; on the Right, individual rights.
That about sums it up, really: Liberals feel. Liberals care. They are pack animals whose identity is tied up in group dynamics and the principal of looting. Conservatives and Libertarians think -- and, setting aside the theocracy crowd, their identity is centered on the individual -- individual worth and achievement.
Liberals feel that their favored groups, have enforceable rights to the property and services of productive individuals. Conservatives (and Libertarians, myself among them I might add) think that individuals have the right to protect their lives and their property from the plunder of the masses. ...
What can I say? Some people actually believe that it is their religious right to screw with you for your own good.
While I can agree that passing a law against hurting other people makes some sense...... Nanny Bloomberg can bite me. I'm loaded with transfats, salt, and 20 oz CocaCola.
Come to think of It...I think I'm getting banned from NYC!
Aes when it hits the fan we will have a target rich environment or as many serfs we can put up with. Your choice to prepare and and live as a free man will confound the masses as the media can' t tell them what to think or do. The sheeple will follow the strongest man they can find even if he just kills them last!
Ah the lessons of the Mensheviks did not die with them ! Good to see. The OWS crowd should pay attention to it - they are the useful idiots this cycle through. The Machine is getting hungry - again.
This, as Hannah Arendt once observed, was one of the great innovations of the Communists: the ability to dispute any fact by questioning to motives of the presenter. In the 1950s this argument was given even more scientific luster, as Marxist social scientists claimed that the conservative (i.e., fascist) mind wasn’t merely a product of class consciousness but was in fact a diagnosable psychological disorder. —
P.46 J. Goldberg's “The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas”
Merely continue as we are now: innovative technology discouraged by taxes, environmental impact statements, reports, lawsuits, commission hearings, delays, delays, delays; space research not carried out, never officially abandoned but delayed, stretched-out, budgets cut and work confined to the studies without hardware; solving the energy crisis by conservation, with fusion research cut to the bone and beyond, continued at level-of-effort but never to a practical reactor; fission plants never officially banned, but no provision made for waste disposal or storage so that no new plants are built and the operating plants and phased out; riots at nuclear power plant construction sites; legal hearings, lawyers, lawyers, lawyers…
Can you not imagine the dream being lost? Can you not imagine the nation slowly learning to “do without”, making “Smaller is Better” the national slogan, fussing over insulating attics and devoting attention to windmills; production falling, standards of living falling, until one day we discover the investments needed to go to space would be truly costly, would require cuts in essentials like food —
A world slowly settling into satisfaction with less, until there are no resources to invest in That Buck Rogers Stuff?
I can imagine that.
Pournelle, Jerry. "A Step Farther Out" ( avail on kindle.)
Now think about this.
The above was written in 1978.
I often say that the coolest stuff was all made about when I was born or a kid. No, we didn't have Xbox. We had B-52's, Mach3+ Blackbirds, X-planes that were going to space, with a MAN in them, at Mach 7! We made things. Some worked, some didn't.
Flying stuff leave you cold? Ok, how about the First Sportsters? The 45 flathead. The '57 Chevy Belaire. The Chrysler 300, the crossram manifold, The Hemi.
When I was 10, we had the coolest Barracuda fastbacks. Now, we have the Volt.
My generation was ready to save up to go to the Lunar Hilton. ( the ones before us were going to build it. ) Our highways were being designed to do 200 mph.
Now? "It's the New Normal" to have 20+% unemployment. The New Normal is EXPECTING the President to be able to conceal his grades, his scholarships, even his sexuality.( ok, that last part is pretty old ) Today the President of the United States is a guy who has lied about being born in Kenya. He bragged about it because it gave him cool factor to sell more of his 2 biographies before he was 50. Lied about where he was born, for 16 years.
A prez who has bragged about raising the cost of energy, shutting down coal plants and stopping drilling... while spending your money, and, even worse, borrowed money, to pay off campaign donors with millions, while claiming it's to create "green jobs".
We are to make do with less. He is partying with rappers.
Enough about the guy who canceled the Space Program. Just one question.
Are the people telling YOU to make do,( while throwing lavish parties ) and demanding laws to keep YOU from buying a soft drink, ( for your own good, of course ) on the so-called Left, Or Right?
This is, unfortunately, Not new. The ideology is sharper, but the results are the same. Just more so now. Trillion$ more.
Anyone who wonders why they can get me ranting about LBJ, and McNamara, a$$holes long gone and ancient history, consider that those men sent thousands of Americans into Vietnam, with rules of engagement that, for example, made Off limits the fighter bases and SAM sites that were killing our men. Destroyed the military with cost cutting, while massively growing the Government, "entitlement" programs, and welfare spending.
History sure do rhyme.
Some people had better ideas. Mostly, they were ignored, while Bozos like McNamara...... ( froth...rant....)
The 'Never Trust Anyone over 35 ' Generation is the one driving this train wreck. The social reach of entitlements started with Social Security.... and it was right about the same time Hitler was branding Jews, deviants, homosexuals, dissenters and foreigners before imprisioning them and murdering them en mass.
Our system is just a more 'humane' way of managing the cattle - but it is born of the same kernal of thought and direction.
Is it better to cudgel and kill the heard to keep it manageable, or to regulate, track, sequester and 'husband' the herd to 'sustainability' ?
I found the number that they all tie into - at least for this generation - its 250,ooo. The Fed 'experts' predict that it will 'cost' that much to raise a kid to the age of 17 if they were born this year .....
Now if they can't get you to spend that on raising your own.... you can bet that they will come after you for a transactional slice on a distributive derivative 'need' based 'social' program to force your compliance to pay for the herd and its breeding.
working through the WHO numbers to see if that ratio number bears out - gotta love economics
Homeland Security Report Lists ‘Liberty Lovers’ As Terrorists
Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com Wednesday, July 4, 2012
A new study funded by the Department of Homeland Security characterizes Americans who are “suspicious of centralized federal authority,” and “reverent of individual liberty” as “extreme right-wing” terrorists.
Entitled Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States, 1970-2008 (PDF), the study was produced by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland. The organization was launched with the aid of DHS funding to the tune of $12 million dollars.
While largely omitting Islamic terrorism - the report fails completely to mention the 1993 World Trade Center bombing – the study focuses on Americans who hold beliefs shared by the vast majority of conservatives and libertarians and puts them in the context of radical extremism.
The report takes its definitions from a 2011 study entitled Profiles of Perpetrators of Terrorism, produced by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, in which the following characteristics are used to identify terrorists.
- Americans who believe their “way of life” is under attack;
- Americans who are “fiercely nationalistic (as opposed to universal and international in orientation)”;
- People who consider themselves “anti-global” (presumably those who are wary of the loss of American sovereignty);
- Americans who are “suspicious of centralized federal authority”;
- Americans who are “reverent of individual liberty”;
- People who “believe in conspiracy theories that involve grave threat to national sovereignty and/or personal liberty.”
The report also lists people opposed to abortion and “groups that seek to smite the purported enemies of God and other evildoers” as terrorists.
As we have exhaustively documented on numerous occasions, federal authorities and particularly the Department of Homeland Security have been involved in producing a deluge of literature which portrays liberty lovers and small government advocates as terrorists.
The most flagrant example was the infamous 2009 MIAC report, published by the Missouri Information Analysis Center and first revealed by Infowars, which framed Ron Paul supporters, libertarians, people who display bumper stickers, people who own gold, or even people who fly a U.S. flag, as potential terrorists.
The rush to denounce legitimate political beliefs as thought crimes, or even mundane behaviors, by insinuating they are shared by terrorists, has accelerated in recent months.
Under the FBI’s Communities Against Terrorism program, the bulk purchase of food is labeled as a potential indication of terrorist activity, as is using cash to pay for a cup of coffee, and showing an interest in web privacy when using the Internet in a public place.
As we have documented on numerous occasions, the federal government routinely characterizes mundane behavior as extremist activity or a potential indicator of terrorist intent. As part of its ‘See Something, Say Something’ campaign, the Department of Homeland Security educates the public that generic activities performed by millions of people every day, including using a video camera, talking to police officers, wearing hoodies, driving vans, writing on a piece of paper, and using a cell phone recording application,” are all potential signs of terrorist activity.
The DHS stoked controversy last year when it released a series of videos to promote the See Something, Say Something campaign in which almost all of the terrorists portrayed in the PSAs were white Americans.
