Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.

The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinions of others, to do so would be wise, or even right. These are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him, or visiting him with any evil in case he do otherwise. To justify that, the conduct from which it is desired to deter him, must be calculated to produce evil to someone else. The only part of the conduct of any one, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.

Jon Stuart Mill - "On Liberty"

The Same Old Equality of Result

RealClearPolitics - The Same Old Equality of Result

Brillian piece by Victor Davis Hanson...........

American vs. French

The notion of freedom then butts up against equality, as if they are as often antithetical as symbiotic. (NB: note the French Revolutionary sloganeering of "fraternity" and "egalitarianism" versus the American Revolutionary emphasis on "Give me liberty, or give me death", "Don't Tread on Me!", "All men are created equal" [by opportunity rather than by result]. And note Obama's references to the French ideal.)

In response, the state has two choices to preserve its original ideal of equality (and we see elements of this further debate voiced in the Old Oligarch, Aristolte Plato, Hobbes, Hume, etc, as well as in histories of the middle and late Roman Republic).

One, the state and culture at large can be coercive to ensure a equality of result-in the modern liberal world by high redistributive taxes, generous means-tested entitlements, inflationary monetary policies to diminish the power of capital (in the ancient world by forbidding the alienability of land, mandating the maximum size of estates, coining cheap bronze/silver coated money in vast amounts, redistribution of property, cancellation of debt, etc.).

Such efforts at commonality are what we are now witnessing with income take hikes, $1.7 trillion dollar deficits, inflationary federal spending and borrowing, along with huge new entitlements. Its extreme form is the European Union, its extreme, extreme manifestations are the failed -isms and -ologies of the bloody 20th century where authoritarian elites broke the requisite eggs for the omelet of "for the people" and in service to "equality."

Prager University: The American Trinity

Love this idea. Dennis Prager will be posting short (5 min.) webcasts at Prager University going over the great issues in life. This first one is about the "American Trinity" and what makes the US different from Europe (and the rest of the world, for that matter).

Geithner: The Fox Guarding the Henhouse?

"What is going on in this country? The government is about to take over GM in a plan that completely screws private bondholders and favors the unions. Get this: The GM bondholders own $27 billion and they’re getting 10 percent of the common stock in an expected exchange. And the UAW owns $10 billion of the bonds and they’re getting 40 percent of the stock. Huh? Did I miss something here? And Uncle Sam will have a controlling share of the stock with something close to 50 percent ownership. And no bankruptcy judge. So this is a political restructuring run by the White House, not a rule-of-law bankruptcy-court reorganization."

--Larry Kudlow

Crowds gather in Madison, Milwaukee for tax protests - JSOnline

Crowds gather in Madison, Milwaukee for tax protests - JSOnline

We had a great time at the Tea Party today. There were well over 5000 people at the capital. Something is big building. Hopefully conservatives can take advantage of this anger with out of control taxing AND spending.

The smallest minority on earth

"The smallest minority on earth is the individual. We are all different. We are all individuals. We are being told to sacrifice our individuality. We're being told we must assemble in other groups of victims. Well, not all of us because some of us are the victimizers. The smallest minority on earth is the individual and thus those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities. This administration claims to be a minority administration, first black president, historical nature. This administration is out to destroy the whole concept of individual rights under the guise of sacrifice, pay equalization, equalization of outcomes in other areas. But the smallest minority on earth is you, as an individual. You have individual rights, as granted by God, who created you, and our founding documents enshrine them: Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. Those rights don't come from other men or governments or women. They come from our creator, God. Higher power, whatever, however you want to look at it.

"The smallest minority on earth is the individual, and I dare say that in this country today there's no one looking out for the individual, other than me. Nobody is looking out for the individual. In fact, in this country, just as it happened in Soviet Russia, just as it happens in North Korea, as it is happening in Venezuela, and as it happened in Cuba, the individual must be stamped out, the individual must be stomped upon, the individual as a concept must be done away with, and, as such, there go individual rights. You don't have individual rights nearly to the degree that you once did, not when you have been forced by either guilt or stigma to buy a car that you don't really want. When you're buying a car because you think it will get you less criticism, when you buy a car because you think people will think you're wonderful, but not because you want that car, you have sacrificed your individual rights. You have said, "My worth as an individual, my worth as who I am doesn't count anymore. I am going to define my worth by what somebody thinks of me. I'm going to define my worth by how little criticism I will get. I'm going to define my worth by how much I can make people think I care," based on the tug of popular sentiment each and every day. When any of you decide to do away with pursuing what you want in your best self-interest, you are sacrificing who you are. You are giving up control of your essence, and you are saying, I would rather be a member of a group that is approved by people so that I don't get criticized or so that I'm thought of as enlightened or so that I'm thought of as advanced. In the process, you are helping to destroy the very foundational building blocks of the greatest country on earth, the country in which you happen to be born and the country in which you happen to live. So giving up your individual identity, giving up who you are, sacrificing your passions and your desires and your own self-interests for the so-called common good, who gets to define the common good? I would define the common good as everybody acting as an individual, born as he or she is, pursuing self-interest. That's the common good. That built cities; that built a great country; that built railroads and engines. It built airplanes. It built everything. People denying who they are did not. When you deny your individuality, when you give it away for acceptance into a subgroup of people, you are harming the country; you are letting the country down; you are not pulling your weight. You are seeking approval, self-love and acceptance from all of the wrong sources. You're giving up the greatest gift you ever had, and that's who you are. And we have an administration that wants you to willingly and excitedly, eagerly give up who you are for a common good they define, a common good that requires you to deny who you are, your individuality, what makes you different from everybody else, whether you're not as good or whether you're much better at certain things. You will become a number. You will become a robot who can be programmed and inspired and motivated to behave in approved ways, and you will be taught to think you are virtuous when doing so, when all you've done is sold yourself and your country out. You give up your individuality, you sacrifice who you are, you allow that to be taken away for some mythical status as a member of a group, you are giving up your passion to become a moderate, or worse. People without passion never built anything. People without passion never got one thing done. People without passion are drags on achievement and accomplishment. That's what this administration wants you to become. "

Obama's Ultimate Agenda

Charles Krauthammer - Obama's Ultimate Agenda - washingtonpost.com

"Obama is a leveler. He has come to narrow the divide between rich and poor. For him the ultimate social value is fairness. Imposing it upon the American social order is his mission.

Fairness through leveling is the essence of Obamaism. (Asked by Charlie Gibson during a campaign debate about his support for raising capital gains taxes -- even if they caused a net revenue loss to the government -- Obama stuck to the tax hike "for purposes of fairness.") The elements are highly progressive taxation, federalized health care and higher education, and revenue-producing energy controls. But first he must deal with the sideshows. They could sink the economy and poison his public support before he gets to enact his real agenda"

"The reordering of the American system will come not from these temporary interventions, into which Obama has reluctantly waded. It will come from Obama's real agenda: his holy trinity of health care, education and energy. Out of these will come a radical extension of the welfare state; social and economic leveling in the name of fairness; and a massive increase in the size, scope and reach of government.

If Obama has his way, the change that is coming is a new America: "fair," leveled and social democratic. Obama didn't get elected to warranty your muffler. He's here to warranty your life."

Falling prices are not delfation but the antidote to deflation

George Gerald Reisdsman is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Pepperdine University.
His blog can be found here.

"...deflation is not falling prices but a decrease in the quantity of money and/or volume of spending in the economic system. To say the same thing in different words, deflation is a general fall in demand. Falling prices are a consequence of deflation, not the phenomenon itself.

Totally apart from deflation, falling prices are also a consequence of increases in the production and supply of goods, which are an essential feature of economic progress and a rising standard of living. In such circumstances, falling prices are not accompanied by any plunge in business sales revenues or profits, by any increase in the difficulty of repaying debt, or by any surge in bankruptcies. All of these phenomena are the result purely and simply of deflation, not falling prices."

"...there is no good way out of the present crisis other than by meeting it through the free-market’s means of a fall in wage rates and prices, mitigated to the maximum extent possible in ways consistent with the principle of economic freedom. What is required is a way out that once and for all ends the boom-bust cycle of inflation and credit expansion followed by deflation and contraction. The free market, a freer market than we have had up to now, is the only such solution.

Economic freedom and economic recovery both require that prices and wage rates be free to fall and that all legal obstacles in the way of their falling be immediately removed. In order for that to happen, as many people as possible must understand that falling prices are not deflation but the antidote to deflation."

Dear A.I.G., I Quit!

Part of me feels empathy for AIG employees, part of my wants to say, "You took government money and you expected no strings to be attached? How naive!"
Here is the letter:
Op-Ed Contributor - Dear A.I.G., I Quit! - NYTimes.com

HT: Brian Bies

The Europe Syndrome and the Challenge to American Exceptionalism

If you take failure out of the equation, how can a person enjoy there true successes? We seem to be going down a different path now....but this IS the change people voted for, and have been voting for quite some time now. Do we want to be like secular Europe? Read on....................

The Europe Syndrome and the Challenge to American Exceptionalism — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

Subsidizing Bad Decisions

Thomas Sowell is always right on....

"The same politicians who have been talking about a need for "affordable housing" for years are now suddenly alarmed that home prices are falling. How can housing become more affordable unless prices fall?

The political meaning of "affordable housing" is housing that is made more affordable by politicians intervening to create government subsidies, rent control or other gimmicks for which politicians can take credit.

Affordable housing produced by market forces provides no benefit to politicians and has no attraction for them."

St. Louis Tea Party Protests Stimulus Plan...

I want mine!!!

Obama Taps Biden to Oversee Stimulus Package Implementation

Oh, good Lord.....here we go.

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Sanity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You gotta watch this....the silent majority.

Adam Smith's economic fix.....

Timeless.....

How then would Adam Smith fix the present mess? Sorry, but it is fixed already. The answer to a decline in the value of speculative assets is to pay less for them. Job done.

We could pump the banks full of our national treasure. But Smith said: “To attempt to increase the wealth of any country, either by introducing or by detaining in it an unnecessary quantity of gold and silver, is as absurd as it would be to attempt to increase the good cheer of private families, by obliging them to keep an unnecessary number of kitchen utensils.” [440]

We could send in the experts to manage our bail-out. But Smith said: “I have never known much good done by those who affect to trade for the public good.” [456]

And we could nationalise our economies. But Smith said: “The state cannot be very great of which the sovereign has leisure to carry on the trade of a wine merchant or apothecary”. [818] Or chairman of General Motors.

Future GOP leader?

I live in WI and and have been following Paul Ryan for some time. He is one of the young, conservative GOP leaders to watch.

Too bad he decided not to run for House Minority Leader, the house could use more of his guidance.

Very good NYT OP-ED here. He makes a good point about our assumption that the world will be able to finance our massive debt increase by buying our US treasury bonds.

"From a global perspective, the picture only looks worse. As we have debated how much money to borrow and spend in hopes of jump-starting our economy, we’ve ignored the worldwide stimulus binge. China, Europe and Japan are all spending hundreds of billions of dollars they don’t have in hopes of speeding up their economies, too. That means the very countries we have relied on to buy our bonds, notably China and Japan, are now putting their own bonds on the global credit markets."

Uh, Oh....keep your eye on Europe!

"European banks may need massive bail-out"

"European banks sitting on £16.3 trillion of toxic assets may suffer massive losses, according to a confidential Brussels document. "

"In line with the risk, and the weak performance of some EU economies compared to others, investors are demanding increasingly higher interest to lend to countries such as Italy instead of Germany. Ministers and officials fear that the process could lead to vicious spiral that threatens to tear both the euro and the EU apart."

Only article I've come across that proposes we do nothing to "Fix" the economy

Well, at least I found one person out there who agrees that the economy, if left alone, will fix itself.....John Tamny.....

"So President Obama says we face catastrophe absent help from Washington? Far from it. Economies once again never fall into recession; instead they are pushed into slowdowns by governments that create wedges between work and reward. In short, the single best tonic for our economy is not tax cuts or tax increases, not housing or unemployment subsidies, not heavy spending or China jawboning, but a far humbler Washington that simply does nothing. Left alone, there’s nothing individuals working free of government oversight can’t achieve. The answer to our economic ills is for Washington to simply leave us alone."

Obama: 'Only Government' Can Break Cycle of Job Loss, Economic Downturn

Good news! Our supreme leadership will soon be guiding us all to a new era of prosperity and fairness, as only our supreme leadership can.

The Fierce Urgency of Pork

Another brilliant Krauthammer column.

"After Obama's miraculous 2008 presidential campaign, it was clear that at some point the magical mystery tour would have to end. The nation would rub its eyes and begin to emerge from its reverie. The hallucinatory Obama would give way to the mere mortal. The great ethical transformations promised would be seen as a fairy tale that all presidents tell -- and that this president told better than anyone.

I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half weeks."

How about this for a remedy to our financial crisis....

NOTHING!

"Iraq vote turnout fails to meet expectations" - LA Times

That's the worst they can come up with? Well, at least they reported it.  

Didn't get much TV time over the weekend, did it?

"Fifty-one percent is high turnout indeed for provincial elections," said Qasim Hasan Abodi, a judge and the chief officer of the commission. "Very rarely in other parts of the world do you get such a high percentage in provincial elections."

Look for Labor Unions to make a strong world-wide comeback in 2009/2010

FACTBOX-Global financial crisis sparks unrest

02 Feb 2009 12:17:59 GMT

Source: Reuters

Feb 2 (Reuters) - Here are some details of protests and developments as a result of the global financial crisis:
* FRANCE -- Hundreds of thousands of strikers marched in French cities on Thursday to demand pay rises and job protection. Some protesters clashed with police, but no major violence was reported. -- The one-day strike failed to paralyse the country and support from private sector workers appeared limited. Labour leaders hailed the action, which marked the first time France's eight union federations had joined forces against the government since President Nicolas Sarkozy took office in 2007.
* RUSSIA -- Thousands of opposition supporters rallied in Moscow and the far east port of Vladivostok on Saturday in a national day of protests over hardships caused by the financial crisis. On Sunday hundreds of demonstrators in Moscow called for Russia's leaders to resign. -- Street rallies were held in almost every major city over the weekend. The pro-Kremlin United Russia party also drew thousands to rallies in support of government anti-crisis measures. -- About 100 protesters were arrested in Vladivostok last month during protests against hikes in second hand car import duties aimed at protecting jobs in the domestic car industry.
* MADAGASCAR -- More than 100 people were killed in civil unrest in Madagascar last week, according to the U.S. ambassador. Police previously confirmed 44 deaths, with most of those in a store burned during looting when an anti-government protest degenerated into violence. -- The mayor of Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina, galvanised popular frustrations to spearhead demonstrations and strikes against President Marc Ravalomanana's government. The violence came amid an oil and minerals exploration boom in Madagascar.
* ICELAND -- Parties forming a new coalition for the crisis-hit island decided on Sunday its new prime minister will be former Social Affairs Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir. -- Prime Minister Geir Haarde resigned last week after a series of protests, some of which had turned violent. He was the first leader to fall as a direct result of the credit crunch. -- The collapse of the country's fast-expanding banks under a weight of debt forced the country to take a $10 billion IMF-led rescue package and sparked widespread anger.
* DAVOS -- Hundreds of people rallied in Geneva and Davos on Saturday to protest against the World Economic Forum, saying the elite gathered for its annual meeting are not qualified to fix the world's problems. -- In Geneva, where the WEF has its headquarters, police in riot gear fired teargas and water canon to disperse a crowd.
* BRITAIN -- Up to 900 contractors at the Sellafield nuclear plant walked off the job on Monday, joining hundreds of other contract workers who have gone on strike in recent days over the use of foreign labourers as recession bites. -- Thousands of energy workers staged walkouts on Friday, two days after contractors at a refinery owned by France's Total began protests at the award of a construction contract to Italian firm IREM. Unions say it has brought in workers from Italy and Portugal and deprived Britons of work.
* GREECE -- Greek farmers removed roadblocks last week which caused 11 days of travel chaos across the country as they protested against low prices. They kept their blockade on Bulgaria's border and central Greece. -- High youth unemployment was a main driver for rioting in Greece in December, initially sparked by the police shooting of a youth in an Athens neighbourhood. The protests forced a government reshuffle. * GUADELOUPE -- France sent a minister to the Caribbean island on Sunday for talks aimed at ending a 13-day general strike over pay and prices that has paralysed the French territory. -- An alliance of 47 unions and local bodies launched their protest on Jan. 20 over the cost of living. They have drawn up a list of 146 demands including a 200 euro ($257) increase in the minimum salary, a freeze on rents and a cut in taxes and food prices. Island authorities have rejected the demands.
* BULGARIA -- Hundreds of Bulgarians demanded economic and social reforms in the face of a global slowdown in anti-government rallies last month, calling on the Socialist-led government to act or step down. -- Earlier in January, hundreds of protesters clashed with police, smashed windows and damaged cars in Sofia when a rally against corruption and slow reforms in the face of the economic crisis turned into a riot.
* LATVIA -- A 10,000-strong protest in Latvia on Jan. 16 descended into a riot, with protesters trying to storm parliament before going on the rampage. Government steps to cut wages, as part of an austerity plan to win international aid, have angered people.
* LITHUANIA -- Also on Jan. 16, police fired teargas to disperse demonstrators who pelted parliament with stones in protest at government cuts in social spending to offset an economic slowdown. Police said 80 people were detained and 20 injured. -- Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said the violence would not stop an austerity plan launched after a slide in output and revenues.

"Frugal Americans Hurt Economic Recovery"....

....says "economists".

Really? That is our big problem. Over the last couple generations we have saved too much and not spend enough? We aren't in this mess because we are waaaaay overextended?

"People are not saving; they are building financial bomb shelters," said Mark Stevens, who runs a management consulting firm.... That sounds about right.

"It's really a liberating feeling," she said. "If you want something, you have to have the money for it."

Everything works much better when wrong decisions are punished and good decisions make you rich

--Anna Schwartz just makes sense. Always has, always will.

Read it!

 Merely freedom does not in the least solve all the problems of human life and it even adds a number of new ones.

---Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Conservative economists support stimulus proposal

Really???  Most conservative economists support the Keynesian myth that meant spending can get a country out of a recession/depression?  Most conservative economists think tax cuts do less to help an economy than government spending?  Really?????

Either conservative economists really do believe in this nonsense, or don't believe in free-market lassie fare economics enough to defend their position.  Maybe they deep done think all the lefty professors they had, and all their lefty colleagues just might be right.  

So they have taken the position seeming to agree with the stimulus package(the ultimate worthless pork plan ever), or they are not speaking up.

Either all these articles about conservative support for HUGE government spending are flat out wrong, or conservative economists are so spineless that they have just kept their mouth shut.  

Shouldn't they be screaming on the top of tall buildings?  Shouldn't they be ridiculing their lefty colleagues for supporting an idea that has never worked anywhere on planet earth?

Why doesn't every third world country just spend their way out?  It's working quite well for Zimbabwe!  

I guess socialism always works.  Has always worked. I guess free market capitalism never works.  Has never worked.  

I guess we got out of the Great Depression because of Roosevelt’s huge government spending and planning.

It's time conservatives stick up or shut up regarding their core beliefs.  Either we truly do believe in our principles, or we don't.  If we do, more needs to be done.   More needs to be said. 

If we don't, why exactly are we Conservatives???????

Big Government Is Not Stimulus: Why Keynes Was Wrong

We need a Recession!!!!!!!!!

Good article from the man who predicted in all....Peter Schiff.

"The good news is that economics is not all that complicated. The bad news is that our economy is broken and there is nothing the government can do to fix it. However, the free market does have a cure: it's called a recession, and it's not fun, easy or quick. But if we put our faith in the power of government to make the pain go away, we will live with the consequences for generations."

The Big 3 As a Microcosm of the United States

We are in for a long and hard, but necessary downturn not only in the United States, but also worldwide as well.  We have lived beyond our means.  Money has been too easy to get.  Too many bad ideas, bad business plans, bad behaviour have been not only rewarded, but have been flourishing.  

For far too long the baby boom generation, the WORST generation, the most narcissistic, pampered, no values, not allowed to fail, not allowed to feel bad about themselves and spoiled generation in the history of mankind has stolen from their kinds, their grand kids, and their grand kids grand kids.  Worse, they have changed the values of America, changed what it means to be an American.  They have chosen the "proctologist's view" of the history of America, to the point that the country that is more tolerant and has give more opportunities to religious and racial minorities is now seen as a racist country.  The country that has done more for female rights is seen as a sexist society.  It's like looking showing video footage of Michael Jordon and showing mostly his missed shots and turnovers.  "Well, he missed 50% of the shots he took." Compared to whom?!?!?!  He is  arguably the greatest basketball player ever and greatest winner in the history of sports!

But I digress.  

There are two sides in the U.S. auto industry that have chosen over and over again to pass the buck, pass the debts, pass the unprofitable business plans on too the next generation of owners and workers.  Who is more to blame? Workers? Management?  My thesis is that a large portion of the baby boom generation on both sides made terrible concessions and deals that have sold my generation down the river.  Deals that they should not have either made, deals that should not have been strong-armed, and deals that should not have morally been accepted.

People must be allowed to fail.  Companies must be allowed to fail.  Industries must be allowed to fail.  Economies must be allowed to go into recession.  

I, Pencil

Heard this before?  I Hope!  Never gets old.

---------------------------------

I, Pencil

By Leonard E. Read

I am a lead pencil—the ordinary wooden pencil familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and write.

Writing is both my vocation and my avocation; that’s all I do.

You may wonder why I should write a genealogy. Well, to begin with, my story is interesting. And, next, I am a mystery —more so than a tree or a sunset or even a flash of lightning. But, sadly, I am taken for granted by those who use me, as if I were a mere incident and without background. This supercilious attitude relegates me to the level of the commonplace. This is a species of the grievous error in which mankind cannot too long persist without peril. For, the wise G. K. Chesterton observed, “We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders.”

I, Pencil, simple though I appear to be, merit your wonder and awe, a claim I shall attempt to prove. In fact, if you can understand me—no, that’s too much to ask of anyone—if you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing. I have a profound lesson to teach. And I can teach this lesson better than can an automobile or an airplane or a mechanical dishwasher because—well, because I am seemingly so simple.

Simple? Yet, not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me. This sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? Especially when it is realized that there are about one and one-half billion of my kind produced in the U.S.A. each year.

Pick me up and look me over. What do you see? Not much meets the eye—there’s some wood, lacquer, the printed labeling, graphite lead, a bit of metal, and an eraser.

Innumerable Antecedents

Just as you cannot trace your family tree back very far, so is it impossible for me to name and explain all my antecedents. But I would like to suggest enough of them to impress upon you the richness and complexity of my background.

My family tree begins with what in fact is a tree, a cedar of straight grain that grows in Northern California and Oregon. Now contemplate all the saws and trucks and rope and the countless other gear used in harvesting and carting the cedar logs to the railroad siding. Think of all the persons and the numberless skills that went into their fabrication: the mining of ore, the making of steel and its refinement into saws, axes, motors; the growing of hemp and bringing it through all the stages to heavy and strong rope; the logging camps with their beds and mess halls, the cookery and the raising of all the foods. Why, untold thousands of persons had a hand in every cup of coffee the loggers drink!

The logs are shipped to a mill in San Leandro, California. Can you imagine the individuals who make flat cars and rails and railroad engines and who construct and install the communication systems incidental thereto? These legions are among my antecedents.

Consider the millwork in San Leandro. The cedar logs are cut into small, pencil-length slats less than one-fourth of an inch in thickness. These are kiln dried and then tinted for the same reason women put rouge on their faces. People prefer that I look pretty, not a pallid white. The slats are waxed and kiln dried again. How many skills went into the making of the tint and the kilns, into supplying the heat, the light and power, the belts, motors, and all the other things a mill requires? Sweepers in the mill among my ancestors? Yes, and included are the men who poured the concrete for the dam of a Pacific Gas & Electric Company hydroplant which supplies the mill’s power!

Don’t overlook the ancestors present and distant who have a hand in transporting sixty carloads of slats across the nation.

Once in the pencil factory—$4,000,000 in machinery and building, all capital accumulated by thrifty and saving parents of mine—each slat is given eight grooves by a complex machine, after which another machine lays leads in every other slat, applies glue, and places another slat atop—a lead sandwich, so to speak. Seven brothers and I are mechanically carved from this “wood-clinched” sandwich.

My “lead” itself—it contains no lead at all—is complex. The graphite is mined in Ceylon [Sri Lanka]. Consider these miners and those who make their many tools and the makers of the paper sacks in which the graphite is shipped and those who make the string that ties the sacks and those who put them aboard ships and those who make the ships. Even the lighthouse keepers along the way assisted in my birth—and the harbor pilots.

The graphite is mixed with clay from Mississippi in which ammonium hydroxide is used in the refining process. Then wetting agents are added such as sulfonated tallow—animal fats chemically reacted with sulfuric acid. After passing through numerous machines, the mixture finally appears as endless extrusions—as from a sausage grinder—cut to size, dried, and baked for several hours at 1,850 degrees Fahrenheit. To increase their strength and smoothness the leads are then treated with a hot mixture which includes candelilla wax from Mexico, paraffin wax, and hydrogenated natural fats.

My cedar receives six coats of lacquer. Do you know all the ingredients of lacquer? Who would think that the growers of castor beans and the refiners of castor oil are a part of it? They are. Why, even the processes by which the lacquer is made a beautiful yellow involve the skills of more persons than one can enumerate!

Observe the labeling. That’s a film formed by applying heat to carbon black mixed with resins. How do you make resins and what, pray, is carbon black?

My bit of metal—the ferrule—is brass. Think of all the persons who mine zinc and copper and those who have the skills to make shiny sheet brass from these products of nature. Those black rings on my ferrule are black nickel. What is black nickel and how is it applied? The complete story of why the center of my ferrule has no black nickel on it would take pages to explain.

Then there’s my crowning glory, inelegantly referred to in the trade as “the plug,” the part man uses to erase the errors he makes with me. An ingredient called “factice” is what does the erasing. It is a rubber-like product made by reacting rapeseed oil from the Dutch East Indies [Indonesia] with sulfur chloride. Rubber, contrary to the common notion, is only for binding purposes. Then, too, there are numerous vulcanizing and accelerating agents. The pumice comes from Italy; and the pigment which gives “the plug” its color is cadmium sulfide.

No One Knows

Does anyone wish to challenge my earlier assertion that no single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me?

Actually, millions of human beings have had a hand in my creation, no one of whom even knows more than a very few of the others. Now, you may say that I go too far in relating the picker of a coffee berry in far-off Brazil and food growers elsewhere to my creation; that this is an extreme position. I shall stand by my claim. There isn’t a single person in all these millions, including the president of the pencil company, who contributes more than a tiny, infinitesimal bit of know-how. From the standpoint of know-how the only difference between the miner of graphite in Ceylon and the logger in Oregon is in the type of know-how. Neither the miner nor the logger can be dispensed with, any more than can the chemist at the factory or the worker in the oil field—paraffin being a by-product of petroleum.

Here is an astounding fact: Neither the worker in the oil field nor the chemist nor the digger of graphite or clay nor any who mans or makes the ships or trains or trucks nor the one who runs the machine that does the knurling on my bit of metal nor the president of the company performs his singular task because he wants me. Each one wants me less, perhaps, than does a child in the first grade. Indeed, there are some among this vast multitude who never saw a pencil nor would they know how to use one. Their motivation is other than me. Perhaps it is something like this: Each of these millions sees that he can thus exchange his tiny know-how for the goods and services he needs or wants. I may or may not be among these items.

No Master Mind

 There is a fact still more astounding: The absence of a master mind, of anyone dictating or forcibly directing these countless actions which bring me into being. No trace of such a person can be found. Instead, we find the Invisible Hand at work. This is the mystery to which I earlier referred.

It has been said that “only God can make a tree.” Why do we agree with this? Isn’t it because we realize that we ourselves could not make one? Indeed, can we even describe a tree? We cannot, except in superficial terms. We can say, for instance, that a certain molecular configuration manifests itself as a tree. But what mind is there among men that could even record, let alone direct, the constant changes in molecules that transpire in the life span of a tree? Such a feat is utterly unthinkable!

I, Pencil, am a complex combination of miracles: a tree, zinc, copper, graphite, and so on. But to these miracles which manifest themselves in Nature an even more extraordinary miracle has been added: the configuration of creative human energies—millions of tiny know-hows configurating naturally and spontaneously in response to human necessity and desire and in the absence of any human masterminding! Since only God can make a tree, I insist that only God could make me. Man can no more direct these millions of know-hows to bring me into being than he can put molecules together to create a tree.

The above is what I meant when writing, “If you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing.” For, if one is aware that these know-hows will naturally, yes, automatically, arrange themselves into creative and productive patterns in response to human necessity and demand— that is, in the absence of governmental or any other coercive master-minding—then one will possess an absolutely essential ingredient for freedom: a faith in free people. Freedom is impossible without this faith.

Once government has had a monopoly of a creative activity such, for instance, as the delivery of the mails, most individuals will believe that the mails could not be efficiently delivered by men acting freely. And here is the reason: Each one acknowledges that he himself doesn’t know how to do all the things incident to mail delivery. He also recognizes that no other individual could do it. These assumptions are correct. No individual possesses enough know-how to perform a nation’s mail delivery any more than any individual possesses enough know-how to make a pencil. Now, in the absence of faith in free people—in the unawareness that millions of tiny know-hows would naturally and miraculously form and cooperate to satisfy this necessity—the individual cannot help but reach the erroneous conclusion that mail can be delivered only by governmental “masterminding.”

Testimony Galore

If I, Pencil, were the only item that could offer testimony on what men and women can accomplish when free to try, then those with little faith would have a fair case. However, there is testimony galore; it’s all about us and on every hand. Mail delivery is exceedingly simple when compared, for instance, to the making of an automobile or a calculating machine or a grain combine or a milling machine or to tens of thousands of other things. Delivery? Why, in this area where men have been left free to try, they deliver the human voice around the world in less than one second; they deliver an event visually and in motion to any person’s home when it is happening; they deliver 150 passengers from Seattle to Baltimore in less than four hours; they deliver gas from Texas to one’s range or furnace in New York at unbelievably low rates and without subsidy; they deliver each four pounds of oil from the Persian Gulf to our Eastern Seaboard—halfway around the world—for less money than the government charges for delivering a one-ounce letter across the street!

The lesson I have to teach is this: Leave all creative energies uninhibited. Merely organize society to act in harmony with this lesson. Let society’s legal apparatus remove all obstacles the best it can. Permit these creative know-hows freely to flow. Have faith that free men and women will respond to the Invisible Hand. This faith will be confirmed. I, Pencil, seemingly simple though I am, offer the miracle of my creation as testimony that this is a practical faith, as practical as the sun, the rain, a cedar tree, the good earth.

Selling Cars Isn't The Problem, Making A Profit Is

GM sales in 2007: 9,370,000 vehicles 
Toyota sales in 2007: 9,366,418 vehicles

GM profit/loss in 2007: -$38,730,000,000 (-$4,055 per car) 
Toyota profit in 2007: +$17,146,000,000 (+$1,874 per car)

The obvious questions is ... How does the bailout solve this problem?

HT: Carpe Diem Blog & Larry Kudlow and Sen. Tom Coburn on CNBC's "Kudlow & Company"

Very good news in Louisiana for Conservatives

Anh "Joseph" Quang Cao.  Remember that name.  Just the kind of conservative Republicans will need if they want to gain credibility once again.  Cao won in a district that in which Democrats have been getting 70%-80% of the vote for the last 40 years.  

"In this race, Cao was able to break the pattern as a candidate in the mold of his state's Republican governor, Indian-American Bobby Jindal — staunchly conservative on moral issues and embracing a can-do approach on economic issues. He focused on job creation, opposed government spending initiatives, favored the redevelopment of the Port of New Orleans and sought education reform."

A conservative, running as a conservative, and winning....in a heavily Democratic district?   

For the men....very funny.

"Dual bag"...

http://bewareofthedoghouse.com/video.aspx

“It is not known if the Jewish center was strategically chosen, or if it was an accidental hostage scene.”

Ah.....right.

Good vs. Evil

Why is this such a hard concept for Liberals to face?  

Again Mark Steyn gives clarity to the situation in Bombay

This guy is a Republican!?!?!?!

So why is it that people like me think we need a Conservative Party?  Click on the video to see.

we agree to suspend the invisible hand of Adam Smith??

"If you think we have economic troubles today, consider the effects of nationalizing an industry of this size, but now run by bureaucrats issuing production quotas to fit five-year plans to meet politically mandated fuel-efficiency standards -- to lift us to the sunny uplands of the coming green utopia."

-Charles Krauthammer

If you don't get taxed, but do get a tax rebate, what is that called?

"...and I'll add another improbable idea for Democrats: It is time to begin taxing –- if only by a few dollars -- the millions of lower earners who pay no tax or get money back. This largely symbolic step would allow citizens to reestablish their connection with the federal government ... Today, America looks more like the 1930s: a small huddle of the wealthy shoulder an ever-greater share of the tax bill. In 2005, the top 1 percent of earners paid about 40 percent of the taxes. Those earners are so few that there is little political downside to targeting them. But the economic downside is huge."

-Amity Shlaes

"...a thousand beguiling caresses of Nanny State sirens."

"...America might as well apply for honorary membership in the European Union. It will be a nation at odds with the spirit of its founding, and embarking on decline from which there are few escape routes. In 2012, the least we deserve is a choice between the collectivist assumptions of the Democrats, and a candidate who stands for individual liberty – for economic dynamism not the sclerotic "managed capitalism" of Germany..."

-Mark Steyn (Right on the mark as always)

Total Federal Spending, in Billions,1965–2008

(Click on the graph to see the whole, sad truth)
....We keep thinking it's important to elect Republicans hoping they will reduce the size and influence of the federal government. Does it really make a difference which party we elect? How can you look at this graph from The Heritage Foundation and make an argument that Republicans have represented and currently represent Conservatives? It seems to me the choice is between the "Tax & Spend" Party vs. the "Spend" party. Not much of a choice, is it?

Equality of Opportunity vs. Equality of Outcome

Equality of rights does not mean equality of results. I can have all the equal treatment in the world on a golf course and I will not finish within shouting distance of Tiger Woods.

When arbitrary numerical "goals" or "quotas" under affirmative action are not met, the burden of proof is put on the employer to prove that he did not discriminate against minorities or women. No burden of proof whatever is put on the advocates of "goals" or "quotas" to show that people would be equally represented in jobs, colleges or anywhere else in the absence of discrimination.

While people may be treated the same, all their behaviors are not.

Thomas Sowell

Perfecto!!

"The field is wide open for a new generation on the right to start all over again--in the tradition of Ronald Reagan, free men and free markets--speaking to the voters who might still prize a vision of America that was not clearly offered in this campaign."

Welcome to "Republican Rock Bottom."

"Possessed of no vision, no principle, no purpose, and no appeal, we deserved our fate." Well said. Maybe its time for a new Conservative Party, however.

Barack Obama seduced whites with a vision of their racial innocence precisely to coerce them into acting out of a racial motivation.

A good place and person to help start the rebuilding.

October 30, 2008
A case for a Conservative Party
As conservatives prepare to get shellacked in the House & Senate, and lose in a presidential electoral landslide in 2008 (I hope I’m wrong), it is right to reflect on how we got here, and how we get back on track. Conservatives need to start rebuilding now on the ashes of this election failure.
To that end, I believe in “clarity over agreement”. (Thank you Dennis Prager!) It is time to reflect on what a conservative is and how our values are different from Liberals. The thoughts and list below will not be novel. These are mainstream traditional American values. However, in putting together these thoughts and this list, I am also making the case that we are not being well served by the Republican Party, and now might be the time to consider forming a Conservative Party in the United States.
Today’s Republican Party only represent themselves. Republican elite are out of touch and they can’t, or don’t know how to, make a case for Conservative principles. Because of their actions, Republicans can no longer be trusted to reduce the size and influence of government. Reduce taxes, yes. Reduce government size and influence, no. They have forgotten that there are two sides to the ledger. It’s the tax and spend party vs. the spend party. Not much of a choice.
Ronald Reagan had his flaws, but at least he represented ideas, values, and principles. When you think of Ronald Reagan, the first thing that pops into most of our heads is Conservative. He talked about what made America great-- our Conservative heritage. Rarely did he opine about being a Republican. We need a leader today who thinks about being a Conservative first.
This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of Conservative values, and I am not claiming to be omniscient. This is a list of core Conservative values that have made America great for over 200 years. The real tragedy of the last two generations is that kids have been raised not knowing what American distinctiveness is. I am making the case that you must teach Conservative values to each generation as if the agreement was never won. This is a continuous battle. You can never assume you “won." A nation is in trouble if a whole generation cannot articulate what it stands for.
So what is a Conservative, and what do Conservatives believe in???
First, a Conservative believes in “Liberty over Equality”. Unlike in France (and much of Western Europe), where the motto is “Freedom, Equality, Fraternity”, the United States is the only nation founded on the idea: the proposition that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Equality is not a traditional American value. Americans believe in equal opportunity only, not equal outcomes.
American values can also be tidily summed up by the change in your pocket. “IN GOD WE TRUST”, “LIBERTY”, and “E PLURIBUS UNUM”.
IN GOD WE TRUST. American was built on Judeo-Christian values. But we also believe that no matter what religion you practice, you are welcome. Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, if you are a strong believer, you will not find a more tolerant country in the world. It just doesn’t ring true when you hear about American intolerance to other religions. No country in the history of the world has been more welcome to more people of different religious backgrounds than the United States.
LIBERTY. It is no accident that in American you can find both the most religious people in the Western Hemisphere and also the strongest yearning for individual freedom. And with that yearning comes the value of personal responsibility. You work hard, you follow the rules, and you have a greater chance of becoming successful here than any other country in the history of planet earth. No matter your religion, race, or gender.
E PLURIBUS UNUM. It’s hard to have this if you don’t first secede that there is such a thing as “American values”.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Again, a comprehensive list this is not. Do all conservatives agree with me, obviously not. These are my thoughts, only. But it is at least a good start. I hope to be able to expand on these issues in the coming months and also add to the list. ***
A conservative believes in lower taxes AND cutting spending. Again, there are two sides of the ledger.
A conservative believes the United States has done vastly more good than bad. No other country in the history of planet earth has done more and offered more opportunity to more people, especially to religious, racial, and gender minorities.
A conservative believes in giving to private charity. Private charities are generally more efficient with their donations.
A conservative believes weakness is a provocation. The US must keep a strong, well funded military.
A conservative believes free market capitalism is the best way to prosperity.
A conservative believes high taxes is the worst way to prosperity and also makes government more powerful.
A conservative believes a tax on a corporation is a tax on the consumer.
A conservative believes it is not right for one generation to ask another generation to pay for their needs, like their retirement, when they have spent their own retirement dollars already.
A conservative believes does not expect to rely on Social Security to fund their retirement.
A conservative believes compassion should be the basis for decision on the micro-level, not the macro-level.
A conservative does not see themselves as victims. Thinking of yourself as a victim gives you a reason and permission to do evil.
A conservative believes the baby boomer generation was the worst generation.
A conservative believes in lots of legal immigration of skilled workers that companies need, and no illegal immigration. That makes us pro-immigration.
A conservative believes in free trade. A tax on imports is a tax on the consumer.
A conservative does not believe in bailouts. This goes for individuals as well as corporations. A conservative believes that individuals and markets need to be able to fail. Delaying the inevitable only makes the pain worse in the end.
A conservative believes in gay rights and keeping marriage between one man and one woman. Yes, these are not mutually exclusive ideas.
A conservative does not believe in universal health care, universal prescription drug plans, or penalizing people or companies for a lack of insurance coverage.
A conservative believes there is good AND evil. Good must be encouraged… Evil must be confronted and beaten.
A conservative believes liberals are naive and wrong. Liberals believe conservatives are bad or evil.
A conservative believes schools should raise standards, not lower them.
A conservative believes in voting for anyone who promotes and believes in our values. Any race, any gender, any religion.
A conservative believes there is a cultural war being waged in American today. It must be fought, and it must be won.
A conservative believes in safety nets and private charity, not long-term government welfare.
A conservative believes their party should be the party of ideas.
A conservative believes one of the many things that make the United States great is our foundation of Judeo/ Christian values.
A conservative believes in the freedom of religion, not the freedom from religion.
A conservative believes that the private sector invents new products, allocates resources efficiently, and grows economies, not government.
A conservative believes a generation of conservatives being called racists, sexists, homophobes, Islamophobes, etc. has had its consequences. Conservatives are all too often afraid to speak their mind and fight for their values.
It is time for conservatives to articulate what we believe in, and then fight for it.

Here is my priority list for life:
Catholic first...Conservative second...American third...Republican fourth...
Why:
Obviously my religion takes precedent over everything else.

I am a conservative second because I love American VALUES. If America ceases to hold traditional Judeo/Christian values, I no longer love America. I may mourn terribly for its loss, but if the majority of the country votes my values out, I am out. Just as the immigrants came (and still come) to this country for a better life, they not only come for the economic opportunities, but for the values and principles inherent in "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" .

I am an American third and a Republican fourth because I love my country (what it stands for) more than my political affiliation. If Republicans stop being conservative and stop believing in liberty over equality (seems to be getting close), then I would change my party affiliation in a heartbeat. If America stops believing in liberty over equality, I would leave this country in a heartbeat. (of course I will continue to fight the good fight before that point) I am not an American no matter what its values are. I am not a Republican no matter what its values are. Immigrants came to this country because their home countries values changed, or they discovered that America shared more closely their values.

There really are two Americas. Two irreconcilable Americas. A Left America and a Right America. Those who can't admit it are just burying their heads in the sand. This article by Dennis Prager calls it like it is. Calls for unity are disingenuous. Find out why here.....
http://townhall.com/columnists/DennisPrager/2008/10/14/there_are_two_irreconcilable_americas