Blue Dogs! Look over your shoulders toward the 2010 elections! Voters! Send emails to you rep using my easy to use tool, NOW!

Blue Dogs!!!

You will lose your jobs! You saw what happened last TUES!

No to the Health Care Bill. If you think you saw TEA parties this year, WAIT! Wait, until you pass Socialist Care! Your party has socialized most of the auto industry. Now they want to control another 1/6 of the American economy. Do not be party to it.

Voters! Contact you congress member asap, by clicking on this link:

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

At the above site, just click on your state on the pull down menu, and then enter your zip code. Then send a quick email to your rep that simply says "NO to the health care bill"

individ

Ft. Hood - the second 9/11

The shooter at Ft. Hood shouted Allah Akbar (Allah is great) in Arabic. He then mowed down American soldiers and a civilian. This was the second 9/11. Terrorism has struck again.

Health Care Reflux: Virginia, New York and New Jersey

...and unto dust shalt thou return. health care, people of the heath care. From the heath we have come, and to the heath we shall return. In the UK, overburdened by their everything care nanny state, national debt has grown to over 55% of GDP by 2009. Other European countries are also drowning in their welfare states. In the US, we are in even deeper, as we attempt to build a European-style welfare and everything care state on top of our "policeman of the world"-type military industrial complex state. In my opinion, we are looking at a probability on the order of a few percent that the US government could default at some time in the not too distant future.

We are now on the brink of lumping what we don't want to pay for health care onto the mountain of debt that already comprises what we don't want to pay for social security, for our military, for medicare, for welfare (sensu lato) and for everything else. As JR Hummel has pointed out, "...20 percent is some kind of structural-political limit for federal taxes in the United States." Obamaidiot and his minions in the White House think that raising the flag of debt will soon be a reason for increased taxes; however, the backlash already started this summer with the TEA (taxed enough already) PARTY movement. So, Obamaidiot's and Pelosiidiot's plan to raise taxes in the future won't fly.

For the US, Health Care could contribute to a mountain of debt that could bring down the country. From the Heath we have come, and to the health we shall return. Ashes to ashed.

If you live in NJ, VA, or in the 23rd congressional district in NY, go vote against the Democratic Party Leviathan.

individ

Obama's White House Communications Director: one of her "favorite political philosophers" is Mao Tse Tung

You can't make this stuff up. Google: Anita Dunn Mao . You will find the video. Here is a portion of what you will here in her address to a bunch of students at Washington's National Cathedral in June, 2009:

"...A lot of you have a great deal of ability. A lot of you work hard. Put them together and that answers the "why not" question. There is usually not a good reason. And then the third lesson and tip actually comes from two of my favorite political philosophers: Mao Tse Tung and Mother Teresa, not often coupled together, but the two people that I turn to most to basically deliver a simple point, which is, you're going to make choices. You're going to challenge. You're going to say "why not." You're going to figure out how to do things that have never been done before."

I am challenged to think of another human being who killed more people than the tens of of millions who died at the hands of one of the White House communications director's "favorite"philosophers.

How can the left get upset when we call them Marxists? Well, now I won't. They are Maoists from now on.

We are in very very deep trouble in this country. Did YOU vote for Obama?

Our country has been injured. Let's all hope and pray that it may survive.

individ

I cry tears of blood.

Obama and the Peace Prize

As we head into the autumn of America, we sense colder winds blowing, and feel the leaves falling from the trees, exposing a bare world, naked against the sky. Chains we can believe in.

Our deliverance has been rendered by the hands of voters, they, duped by the sideshowman. "Oh, but He's the main act!", they say. Maybe so, but the real theatre lurks within, behind the curtain, under the shadows...in the sideshows. In the main act, to placate the ignorant stooges, adulators, and votaries who support him, He feigns disgust at Guantanamo Bay, while he builds Bagram Air Base. His sycophants smile as he illegally nationalizes General (now Guvvamint) Motors, attempts to illegally nationalize health care, Cloward-Pivens us into a whirlpool of debt, schemes to cripple us with Cap and Trade, tosses us into a darkness unfueled by Nuclear Energy, grinds the Dollar into dust, and weakens the carriage of the world against the truncheons of Iranian fundamentalism, Islamic Terrorism, North Korean Hooliganism, and Russian Hegemony.

The Washington Post, The NY Times, CtheBS, et al., scream "Pay no attention to the show behind the curtain".

But when the Left does something so unbelievably stupid, so embarrassingly transparent, as the doctrinaire elitists of the Norwegian Nobel Committee did this week in awarding Obama the Nobel Peace prize, they are not only pulling back the curtain to expose the utter failure of Obama, but they are also exposing the world Left for the mere cartoon that it really is.

Paraphrasing an earlier president, addressing a different totalitarian in June, 1987:

Mr. Obama, turn down this award!

individ

Speaker Pelosi

From a Pelosi press conference today:

"Well, I think we all have to take responsibility for our actions and our words. We are a free country and this balance between freedom and safety is one that we have to carefully balance. I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw--I saw this myself in the late 70s in San Francisco. This kind of rhetoric was--is very frightening and it gave, it created a climate in which violence took place. So I wish again that we would all curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements that are made understanding that the ears that it is falling on isn't as balanced as the person making the statement might assume. But again our country is great because people can say what they think and they believe. But I also think they have to take responsibility for any incitement they may cause."e

Balance? You mean your side gets to say whatever they want, but we have to "balance"? We had a peaceful demonstration. What Violence? YOU want ME to curb my enthusiasm? YOU HAVE SOME NERVE. We will not be silenced. We will not be intimidated.

We need to have another protest at the Capitol to let Mrs. Pelosi know that WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED.

individ

Racism

So, if you protest against big government, against the head statist in residence, President Obama, you're a racist. No less than a former President of the United States says so.

Will Collier (via Instapundit) said it best: this is "just another sign of the unbecoming moral vanity at the heart of the modern Left, to say nothing of its overweening intolerance for any hint of dissent."

(Gotta love a quote that uses the word "overweening". An apt phonology for the root morpheme, no? It's got it all over "arrogant").
My purpose here is not to defend the DC 9-12-09 Tea Party Protestors, even though I, Individ, and Cyberwife, were taking turns waving our 3 foot by 5 foot Gadsden Flag at the DC protest and march. To defend us against charges of racism is beneath my dignity, and gives the charge veracity it does not deserve.


Rather, I would rather hammer on the left for their evil racism.

Their own permanent underclass voting block: I volunteer my time in the inner city. There, I see, first hand, the culture of dependency that has been carefully crafted by the Left. The welfare programs of the past 40 years have crushed the spirit of many Black Americans in the inner cities, thereby creating an permanent voting block overwhich the Racist Left can lord their power.

And even if a few try to get jobs, they beat them down, and call it "help": The union bosses still figuratively smoke cigars in the back halls of power - there, they tell the politicians to up the minimum wage, so businesses will have less advantage from hiring low-skilled non-union workers rather than higher paid union members. The Kennedy types never pass up a double dip: make the unions happy, and tell the poor that they are "doing it for them". Here is what the Racist Left, the Democrats, really say to the poor: Wanna rise up from the ghetto? Forget it. We just took off the lowest rungs off the ladder - but it's OK, because now the lower rungs are "higher up".

Guns for white folks, but not for black folks? Sound like the KKK? Sound like the 1870's? You got it, but this is the viewpoint of many "moderates" on the Left. As someone who has volunteered to give firearms instruction to inner city African-Americans, this is an issue that really gets my dander up. No leftwing nutcase has expressed their blatently racist viewpoints regarding guns better, more forcefully, and more often, than no less than Dr. Howard Brush Dean III (of "the scream", fame, and fromthat moment on, the former candidate for POTUS), Chairman Emeritus of the Democratic National Committee, and former Governor of Vermont. Quoting Dr Dean from Meat the Press, July 21, 2002:

"...we essentially have no gun control in Vermont. All we have is you can't bring guns to school. Now, I don't believe for a moment that that's appropriate for New York or Los Angeles or Washington, D.C."

BTW, Dr. Dean, NYC is 25% Black, and 27% Latino; LA is 11% Black, 47% Latino, and DC is 56% Black and 9% Latino. Oh, and Dr. Dean, Vermont is 0.9% Black and 1% Latino. Yeah, Dr. Dean, "I see your point."

At this point, I usually just say "quod erat demonstrandum".

individ

Incentives, and the Poverty of "Our new ideas"

Incentives, and the Poverty of "Our new ideas"

Here is an old post of mine from 2004 that I republish about once a year. It is possibly my favorite: the topic is the essential evil of the Left. Please read it and enjoy. The specific topic was Medicare, but it applies to any entitlement or redistribution of wealth, aka the sweat and blood of life. Particularly important as we move into the Brave New World of the Amerikan Left.

[Updated, August, 2005]
Loonie Left: Well, I can't believe that Alan Greenspan is again calling for cuts in Medicare. How can he be so heartless?
Individ: C'mon, he's not heartless; we hear a lot about sustainability, Loon, but the most unsustainable thing I see coming down the pike is Medicare and Social Security. The part of the population that'll be earning money when the baby boomers retire can't possibly support the boomers AND have a healthy, that is, NON-SOCIALIST economy at the same time.

Loonie Left: Individ, who cares about your tinfoil hat, jingoistic, prejudice against socialism. Just like the Earth Charter says: we must "Promote the equitable distribution of wealth". That is what we should do....and part of that is Medicare, and MORE MEDICARE benefits.
Individ: Loon, Your heart is good, as is mine. But equating Leftism and charity is dead wrong; your Leftism is a failed system. It kills the goose that lays the golden egg. A better life for all comes from wealth creation. It is not ideal, but it is the best we have.

Loonie Left: But I want a better world than that, Individ.
Individ: Sorry, Loon, but it doesn't exist. Look around Loon - would you rather be poor in the U.S., or in Central or South America? In Russia? In India? In China? The poor in the U.S. have it BETTER (many with larger homes, AC, DVD players) than the average worker in many European countries. That is what wealth creation does, Loon. Look at the record. Look at what is, not at what you dream can be only in a world that violates the basic principles of economics.

Loonie Left: But how can you deny medical care to, say, some poor elderly gentleman?
Individ: There are many problems here Loon. let me address them:

1. Our emerging socialist culture discourages individual giving. Many people now think: "The government will take care of the poor, why should I?" I support individual giving and private help for the poor and the elderly. I just don't see how or why the American Government, in any way shape or manner, is supposed to help the poor; it does not follow. This was a power usurped from the people by socialists like FDR. People help people. I want to promote love and care. Don't listen to the leftist liberals, Loon. Love the elderly. Love the poor. Help them. Everyone. But instead, we let the government steal the virtue of charity from us, and twist it into a scheme of theft and power. The Left wants us to give our money to the Government so the Government and the Left can help the poor; in that way, the Left and the Government will get the credit...and the POWER.

2. The Left takes responsibilities away from families. But the full responsibility for the elderly belongs to the family. For the elderly poor who are family-less, we have the church groups and other "bleeding hearts" (like Individ) who choose to give their time in service of society. In Individ's view point, everyone should volunteer some of their time to their society. But that is my moral opinion - it should not be law.

Giving money to charity is humane; but is it humane to vote to take money away from someone else, to give it to your favorite charity? That's an empty "feel-good" sham. What has become the new morality? ? Telling the government to find rich people, steal their money, and give it to the poor - this actually makes some people feel good? What has become of us? Go out and WORK AMONG THE POOR. That is care. That is respect for worth; for respect and dignity. I go out and volunteer hours every week, in a poor district nearby; I mention that here to show that the opinions of the anti-Leftist and anti-socialist are NOT the opinions of a hard heart, but of care for the poor and other disaffected peoples. But that runs in the face of the brainwashing we have received from the world's Leftists: sometimes, battling the Left, who rule the MSM and the Universities, is like emptying the ocean one handful of water at a time.

Loonie Left: Individ, the poor can't help it...
Individ: This is a difficult philosphical issue, Loon, and some people have mental illnesses, that is true. But we MUST NOT make laws that relieve people of personal responsibility. If we do, then everyone's life is worse off. Some people spend money on travel, on stereos, on fancy cars, etc., tacitly assuming that the government will provide for them in their later years, or are not thinking at all. It is evil, Loon, for us to ask Government to steal money from people who have worked hard, in order to pay for the needs of people who have not. That denies the wealth and dignity of both.

Imagine Loon, two guys who were boyhood friends: Industri.us worked hard in school, while his old friend, Languor.us did the minimum, and just squeeked by. Dusty, as I will call the hard worker, did science projects after school, worked hard to get A's, and went to college, where he put his nose to the grindstone, and went on to graduate school. Meanwhile, Lang, as I will call the lazy guy, played video games after school, and hung out with other friends when Dusty was doing school work. After high school, where he did the minimum, spending most of his time having fun and being "cool", Lang got a job as a stock boy, and made no effort to move up the ladder. Instead of moving out of his minimum wage job, he wallowed there, doing as little as possible and making just enough bucks to get by. Both got married, and predictably, Dusty moved up the ladder quickly, working hard at his chosen profession, and eventually earning for himself a nice house, a nice car, and providing well for his family. Despite the fact that the government stole, not only more money from him than it stole from Lang, but stole a higher percentage from him than it stole from Lang, he managed to put away money for his retirement, and to take care of himself in his old age. To do that, he had to forgo many of the latest gadgets, and while his cars were nice, he kept them for a long time. He and his family traveled and enjoyed life, but they regulated their spending so they could always take care of themselves later. Lang, on the other hand, was always buying cars that were too expensive, and always had the latest electronic gizmos, even thought his salary was rather modest. He never put away money, figuring that social security and medicare would take care of him.

In the end, should Lang get away with his profligate lifestyle? If he does, why should people be fiscally and personally responsible? Why should Dusty work harder, to pay MORE money which will only go to Lang, when Lang did not try to better himself, or did not try to save more money himself?

The truly poor and unfortunate can be cared for by charities. That's for the good. But let's not mix in millions of people who would, in this land of opportunity, best be encouraged to study hard in school, work everyday to better themselves, and to serve humanity. People should be encouraged to save money, not spend beyond their means. By creating a culture of dependency and redistribution of wealth, we remove the incentive for both the industrious and those who are not so ambitious.We then reduce overall wealth generation, and no one gets what they want or deserve.

Loonie Left: But still, Individ, Dusty lives a better life!
Individ: Loon! Loon! Listen to yourself! Dusty worked hard his whole life! How can you deny him the basic human right of the fruits of his own labor? Don't you see, Loon, that this is at the very heart of the problems with modern society? What is at the root of Dusty's money, Loon? Think about it, Loon: his very existence is at the root of his wealth. It is the VERY WORTH of his life, minute by minute, second by second, the hours he sacrificed away from the bosom of his family, away from the comfort of his abode, that's what's now represented by his money. To say he must pay taxes to benefit others is to support a triple crime against humanity, Loon. First, it is plunder, it is theft, to rob him of the sweat of his very own brow. Second, his time, his life, his very existence, his time spent working, is robbed from him, as if the time he worked to pay taxes was simply lopped off the end of his life; as if he were executed before his life's natural end. Third, choice is denied. He may choose to do good with his money, or he may not. But that choice is his, and that choice is a basic human right. To deny Dusty that choice is to deny his worth and dignity. Can't you see that, Loon? We say it is money, and people say "it is only money", or "money is evil", but this is nonsensical, Loon! I earn my money with my own sweat and blood, and my sweat and blood are not evil. When I am taxed to give my money to someone else's charity, those weeks and months that I worked for that tax money represent time stolen from me; as if they have stolen not my money, but the very weeks and months of my life. Do you not see the vile degradation of humanity here? Of the uplifting of tyrrany and of Government power? Of how the collective destroys and demeans people, trampling them beneath the feet of the village and robbing them of their worth and dignity?

Individ, again: Sorry Loon. Sometimes we must disturb the paradigm, disturb the comfortable, and fight against the tide. We must fight for the few remaining scraps of dignity that remain after the Left's 100 year rape of humanity. And I was one, I was of the Left for many decades. How can I atone?

Obama Disapproval

This is a quick summary of the Rasmussen Presidental Tracking Poll of Sept. 16, 2009.

1. 32% of voters Strongly Approve of Obama's performance as Prez. 38% Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -6. It has been less negative than -8 for about a week, with his "approval index" up from the -8 to -14 range it was at for the prior 20 days. He is now back to his approval numbers from early August.

2. His "somewhat" approve/disapprove numbers are now 49%/51%.

3. As of the 15th, disapproval for "his" healthcare reform (remember, despite who writes the bill(s), he "owns" this issue), has risen to a record 55% (44% strongly oppose), up from 53% the week prior. Among voters not affiliated with a party, 2/3, or 67%, oppose the plan.

3. Just 12% (1/8) of voters believe that most opponents of the healthcare plan are racist. However, among Democrats, this number is 22%.

individ

Discipline

From my own experience, the route to success involves being responsible, working hard and lots of discipline, some self-imposed, and some externally imposed. There are no short cuts. But in my work these days, I observe lots of irresponsibility, people driven by 'what they think they deserve', instead of what their responsibilities are, lots of slacking off, and more than anything, a lack of discipline, "on both sides of the ball", so to speak. And speaking of sports, one of my favorite discipline stories involves a fourth round NFL draft pick for the legendary 1967 Green Bay Packers named Travis Williams. His coach, the great Vince Lombardi, observed him fumble the ball one too many times in pre-season training camp. Lombardi therefore required the young and talented Mr. Williams to carry a football with him to all team meals and meetings for a week. That season, the young Mr. Williams set a single season record,that still stands to this day, 42 years later: an average of 41.06 yards gained over 18 kick-off returns.

Can you imagine that type of discipline today? I guess it is easier to just ask the government for help. We see before us the fruits of the collective, borne at the expense of the individual.

individ

Take full scale action against the Left

Last week, I canceled my subscription to the Washington .comPost Heap newspaper: after decades. I pride myself in reading and listening to a full spectrum of news sources, so I can see the full range of angles on any story. But that does not mean I need to feed their propaganda machine.

Did you see the article in last week's Washington .comPost Heap that called Town Hall "Heckler's" CRAZY? In the title? And the editors published R. Perlstein's article that way? Let it go through? Here is a link to the "printer" version of story (This version has no ads when I checked , so I hypothesize [I may be wrong] that they get no ad revenue "clicks" if you view it).

This is not an isolated incident.

I URGE ANYONE AND EVERYONE, IF YOU HAVE A SUBSCRIPTION TO THE Washington .comPost Heap, CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION. WE HAVE GOT TO PUT THEM OUT OF BUSINESS.

We will do it not the way the Left wants to silence its critics, by government control, but by good old fashioned customer dissatisfaction. Don't wait. You know you have been insulted repeatedly by the .comPost Heap. Don't fund the arm of the Leftist media any more.

And,

If you just thought about going to a Town Hall meeting, or just thought about going to a Tea Party, or if you just thought you agreed with those who do, NOW is the time to act. Google Town Hall and the name of your house or senate representative: there may still be some legislative supporters of the hope-to-be-doomed authoritarian HR 3200(this is a .pdf to all 1017 pages) who are stupid enough to yet to hold Town Hall meetings. Cyberwife and I got into the packed Town Hall meeting held by Sen. Cardin of Maryland, hosted by Towson University (whose President acted like a cheerleader for Cardin all night). Also, google: tea party 9-12 . Or just google "tea party" and your state. Go. I plan to be at the September 12 Tea Party in DC.

We need to flood the country and demonstrate that the Left is a distinct minority, as this recent article demonstrates. We now have the momentum back, and you saw what we get by sitting on our hands: Obama in the Whitehouse, Franken in the Senate, and a Nancy Pelosi-run House of representatives, not to mention the the left-leaning authoritarian McCain as the GOP candidate.

Go to the box { My Elected Officials} on the Left of this page, enter your zip, and send your reps in the House and Senate an email, and/or call them, saying you do NOT want them to vote on the Health care bill, or any variation of it. Tell them you want de-regulation, not more regulation. Tell them we need a "health care system" like we need a "food distribution system": i.e., we DON'T. Tell them we need health care to be free of tax incentives for employers that disincentivize portable, personal health care accounts, tell them we need the elimination of mandates that make health care expensive, and tell them "cooperatives" are unnecessary if laws preventing people from buying health insurance across state lines are eliminated.

FLY!

Individ

As I have said right here on Individ: Government Health Care will be like the Post Office! And Obama Agrees!

Unbelievable. I will quote from the the article posted by the Heritage Foundation:

"On the one hand, the President remarks how great his public health care plan will be. On the other hand, he notes it won’t be good enough to crowd out your private insurance, i.e. the Post Office comparison. So which is it Mr. President? Will it be so great that private insurance disappears or so awful that it isn’t worth creating in the first place?"

read the whole thing here.

Cloward, Piven, Obama, Rand et al.

Government takes over banks. Government takes over GM. Government violates our once proud country with a "stimulus", comprising thousands of tenticles that reward failure, and penalize success. The old saying among republicans was 'what's good for GM is good for the country'. What a perverse plowshare we have wrought from that old saw.

Our president, wittingly or unwittingly, goosesteps to the tune of Richard Cloward and Frances Piven, two leftist, socialist, Columbia University professors who first proposed a strategy in 1966 to bring about the collapse of the capitalist state by bankrupting it. They reasoned that the number of Americans on the welfare rolls probably represented only a small fraction of those eligible for welfare. If enough people could be persuaded to demand what was "owed" them, the system would simply be overwhelmed, precipitating a "profound financial and political crisis." This would, in the words of one reviewer: "...force the evolution to something better, including the possibility of a guarranteed income."

The aim was to overwhelm government agencies with a flood of demands beyond the capacity of those agencies to meet them- as with the Community Redevelopment Act, and enforced upon banks by lawyers, including a particular young lawyer from Chicago (hint, hint). That's the far left agenda that precipitated the current economic crisis.

Any rational person knows that making loans to low income people, setting up national guaranteed health care, and taking money away from entrepreneurs and giving it to those less accomplished, will bankrupt the system.

Note also: 1. The Chief Architect of the National Welfare Rights Organization, adopted the Cloward-Piven strategy.

2. ACORN was a direct outgrowth of the National Welfare Rights Organization in 1970. See their own history on their own web site!

3. ACORN has been front and center in pressuring banks to make the loans to low income borrowers, and other similar, economically and politically disruptive activies on the far Left. And now, we come back to Obama. Like I said, wittingly, or unwittingly, he is following their plan.

Will the American populace wake up before it is too late? We MUST get leftists out of congress NOW. If you must elect BlueDog democrats, then do so, as long as they oppose the Cloward-Pivenist Strategy.

But maybe those who voted for the Obamanation are finally coming to their senses. Obama's approval rating is 55 percent six months into his presidency, a USA Today/Gallup poll found, whereas 56 percent of those polled approved of the job done by George W. Bush after six months."

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday July 27th shows that 30% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President, whereas 40% Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -10, the first time that Obama's Approval Index ratings have fallen to double digits in negative territory.The country is waking up, I hope.

As a follow on, I had an email discussion with my good friend and Individ reader, The Edge, over the past two weeks. He told me today that he just downloaded Ayn Rand's Anthem to his Kindle. Funny how great minds think alike: I had just downloaded the audioversion of the book to my i-pod (doesn't anyone read paper anymore?).

For those of you new to Individ, here are some quotes to ponder:

America's abundance was created not by public sacrifices to the common good, but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes. They did not starve the people to pay for America's industrialization. They gave the people better jobs, higher wages, and cheaper goods with every new machine they invented, with every scientific discovery or technological advance -- and thus the whole country was moving forward and profiting, not suffering, every step of the way. -Ayn Rand

What kind of society isn't structured on greed? The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm; capitalism is that kind of a system.
-Milton Friedman

We aren't Randians or Objectivists or whatever they call themselves. Rand is simply one of the many philosophers we read and critique. Finally, here is the first installment of an Ayn Rand three part tv interview from 1959. Don't be put off by her full philosophy - listen to her economics. Also, one must remember that she speaks as a logician, a philosopher; her views are not really as extreme as they first appear to be. She merely adjusts the foundation of why she lived a "normal" life, which she did. You can get the other two parts of the interview from the side bar on the right of that you tube page. The interview with Phil Donahue can be instructive along those lines.

Remember: the "CO" in Acorn stands for "Community Organization". Know any famous "community Organizers??? Hmm? To bring down the Capitalist state, you need to plant an....

Individ

This post was slightly modified on July 28, 2009.

Some people, facts, and numbers

1. World population estimate as of 1 July 2009: ~6.77 billion (US Census Bureau). World population grew at about 1/2 to 1 percent a year in the early 20th century; the growth rate rose to an all-time peak of 2.2 percent in the early sixties (1963-1964). Since then, the growth rate has slowed considerably. Now, positive population growth is running at about 1.1 percent, and the rate (second derivative) is decreasing. The estimated absolute number of people added to the planet per year peaked in 1990 at about 88 million.

2. In 1798 Thomas Malthus incorrectly predicted that population growth would outrun food supply by the mid 19th century. Paul R. Ehrlich regurgitated this argument in his boock, The Population Bomb, which was vomited upon us in 1968. In it, he "predicted" famine in the 1970s and 1980s. Just a nother Neo-Marxist, Cloward-Piven type. The dire predictions of Ehrlich and other neo-Malthusians were shown to be utter crap by a number of economists, notably Julian Lincoln Simon. (after Wikipedia).

3. In 1990, for his having promoted "greater public understanding of environmental problems," Ehrlich received a MacArthur Foundation Genius Award." Simon received criticism by the academic mainstream.

individ

Boycott GM : General Motors becomes Government Motors

“Hey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Comrade Obama! Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his right.”

- Hugo Chavez, Socialist Dictator of Venezuela, said on television, June 2, 2009.

We are now marching, nay, goose-stepping, blindly toward government control of the means of production. Capitalism demands innovation and customer satisfaction; the penalty for failure is business death. The "penalty" for failure in Guvvamint-run enterprises is more funding. Think the IRS, the Postal Service, and your local DMV are well run? Dealerships were placed, in the past, with the aim to maximize profit and competition. When they failed to do so, they folded. How long before car dealerships are placed to satisfy the whim and power of members of congress?

The phrase ‘command economy’ comes from the German ‘Befehlswirtschaft’; contrary to leftist propaganda in the West, which tries to foist Hitler and the Nazi's off on the right, the Nazi economy shared many similarities with that of Soviet Russia. That is, Hitler, Like Obama and Stalin, was a socialist.

Maybe we should just change the name of GM to TPAKTOP CTALINHA*.

This corruption of the States of America, this gross violation of the highest law of the land, MUST be stopped. Please, therefore, BOYCOTT all General Motors products. This company should have gone into bankruptcy. The forced, dictatorial existence of this company represents a monumental waste of human, financial and material resources. The guvvamint and the people need to learn that nationalization of industry is the path to soviet-style ruination and collapse. The boycott is the only way, unfortunately,to get this message across.

Individ

*For those of you who do not read cyrillic, that reads "Tractor Stalin".

Invasion of the USA by the UN

"Single-use plastic bags, a staple of American life, have got to go, the United Nations' top environmental official said Monday."

Just one of many infringements of our sovereignty by the outlaw United Nations.

USA out of UN. UN out of USA.

Individ

PS tell your reps in the Senate and the House, and any other of our politicians that we need to get out of the UN. Go to this site, and enter your zip code in the box under the label:My Elected Officials.

You got the Guvvamint You Deserve: The Obama-nation

Some Facts.

1. Young people, (18-29), preferred Obama by a 2:1 margin in the 2008 election.
2. They therefore earned their future, one way or another.
3. Obama will transform America.
4. Government will become a major force in the lives of Americans:
a. government funded health care
b. government funded banks
c. government funded businesses and products ( e.g., automobiles)
d. government funded green energy
e. more government funded science
f. more government jobs
g. government funded college tuition.

5. Government does not compete.
6. Therefore, when government-run enterprises fail, they get rewarded with MORE money, unlike free market entities, which, under analogous conditions, receive LESS.

7. Government enterprises such as the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Post Office, and soon, American Health Care, don't feel pressure to do well. Long lines, poor service - no problem: there will be more "customers" tomorrow! In fact, they will LINE UP to be scowled at, treated poorly, and receive poor service. AND! When the customers complain, MORE money will be taken FROM the customers in taxes and fees, and PAID to the poorly run bureaucracies.

8. Therefore, one can accurately conclude: IF YOU THINK e.g., HEALTH CARE, IS EXPENSIVE NOW, WAIT TILL IT'S FREE*.

9. Money can be sucked out FROM the people, the economy TO the Government by way of:
i. taxes (the "take water out of one end of the pool, and pour it into the other end, while spilling some into the gutter" effect);
ii. borrowing, by offering bonds for sale (the "drain capital away from other, i.e., job employing, investments" effect); or by,
iii. printing it (the inflating away the value of the future sweat of your brow" effect.

All of which kills the goose of the free market that lays the golden egg of world prosperity.

10. This is the Europeanization of America.
10a. I wonder if these same people who seem to think Obama is great, are all willing to live the European life Style.

11. Let me lay some major quantification on the supporters (Obamunists?) of the Obamanama Phenomena. You are going to be slowly obomabarded, bitchslapped, Hematoma-ed and Obamatoma-ed. I will sit on the sidelines, Galting in rhyme, Bidening my time. But the economic snake has eaten the last of the golden eggs. It is now devouring the last of the Goose. It is now digesting its own tail. Got cars? Dreamin' of a big screen HDTV? gonna replace that throw away i-pod? Gonna keep gettin' a new computer? Cell phone? How much is that cable per month? How much is that cell phone bill? Per Month? How much is that wireless connection? And the beat of the bills goes on...Prosperity. Where does that prosperity come from? Who pays the entity that pays the entity that pays you? NOT guvvamint - government CONSUMES, not produce.

Hated corporations produce prosperity. Profit produces prosperity. Let's measure Europe against America, and use a metric that pits the foundation of the American Spirit against the the emerging Obamadigm, SHALL WE, HMMMM? Let get more like Europe! YEAH, they're cool and we're da fool! ?Right? In 2004, the median US home was about 2330 square feet (approximately a two story home, that's say, 44 feet wide, 26 feet deep, 8-10 rooms plus two bathrooms; in many parts of the country, that could include a few hundred square foot or larger basement). The average home in U.K. was just 817 square feet; most of Europe averages around 950 or so. Yeech. Did the 18-29'ers figure on this?

12. There ain't no free lunch. Or Free College Education, Joe Biden. Of Free Health Care, Obama.

Lucky 13: I am shocked at how much money people think they can squeeze out of "the richest 5%". I guess math education is MUCH worse than I thought. Thanks NEA, and AFT.

Individ Galt

*PJ O'Rourke

More Swine

No, I am not talking about the guvvamint; this is more on the Swine Flu.

For background, you will probably want to read my earlier post on influenza, here.

Flu is a contagious respiratory illness that is caused by a group of continuously changing viruses. Influenza afflicts 5 – 20% of Americans each year. Type A (for avian, i.e., bird) influenza viruses infect birds, but also humans, pigs, horses, and other mammals.

There are 16 different types of hemagglutinin (H) molecular spikes and 9 different types of neuraminidase (N) around a given virus particle. So, for example, a virus with type 3 of the H protein and type 2 of the N protein would be called influenza A subtype H3N2 (A/H3N2). The H2N2 subtype, which ravaged the world between 1957 and 1968 as the Asian and Hong Kong flu, respectively, no longer infects humans.

Influenza viruses change more than just about any other type of virus. From time to time, mutations occur. Mutations are the raw material of evolution, and some mutations are beneficial (to the virus!). The altered RNA codes for different amino acid chains in proteins like H and N. The proteins are therefore different after evolution (drift), and our bodies (or a bird's or a pig's) do not recognize the newly evolved flu virus as an intruder that needs to be defended against.

Virus can also undergo a nonstandard type of evolution cause "shift" rather than drift, where two viruses that are co-infecting a given host (unlucky host, eh??) , swap genetic information. This occurs in a host cell that harbors RNA from both viruses. The RNA gets mixed, and when new viruses emerge fro the infected cell, they have scrambled RNA. If this happens to two viruses that ARE already "reassorted" in this way, then I assume you can get a four way hybrid.

According to a recent study by Holmes et al., (2005), the background mode of flu virus evolution in nonpandemic periods is a series of minor mutational changes in the dominant strain, mostly involving H. This "drift" necessitates the development of new vaccines each year. However, the authors point out that, in addition to these regular mutational events, "...at least four reassortment events occurred among human viruses during 1999-2004 and that two of these involved a major change in H...". That is, the normal mode and tempo of virus evolution changed at the turn of the millennium.

Of course, now that we live in a world where information is transmitted nearly instantaneously around the world, all our problems are magnified. That is why the idiots who run the world's guvvamints have proposed all these idiotic 'stimuli', 'bailouts', and 'regulations' (oh yeah, THEY know what to do) in response to our "horrible" economy. It's the same with the current flu situation. We get 20 confirmed cases, and we have a national emergency. So we get headlines like "Swine Flu Sweeps Globe" (click here) because WORLDWIDE we have about 1000 cases (not deaths, just cases). I am not saying this is NOT the start of a pandemic, but we ain't there yet folks.

International officials are on alert and airports have begun to screen arriving passengers. How is swine flu transmitted? Coughing, Sneezing, Kissing, Touching infected objects, Touching nose, mouth and/or eyes with infected hands.

What are the symptoms? Pretty standard: cough, sudden fever, fatigue, sore throat, headache, chills, muscle pains; may be GI upset in some cases. In severe cases, it may lead to pneumonia, multi-organ failure, and death. The incubation period for ordinary human flu is two to five days; may be same here. 10 doses of Tamiflu or Relenza, is reportedly an effective treatment (shortens course, and lessens symptoms). Other advice? like the above article said...the 'News Of the World' reported on 3 November 1918: "Wash inside nose with soap and water night and morning; force yourself to sneeze night and morning, then breathe deeply. ". I would add - USE HAND SANITIZER ALL DAY. If it dries out your hands, use moisturizer in between. (Nobody said this would be easy) . Avoid public transportation. use your car, do not carpool. Keep windows open in offices and at home. Keep your body hydrated, get plenty of rest, exercise moderately, and eat low calorie, high fiber meals for general health. Do not smoke, and drink alcohol in moderation (if you get tipsy, you had too much - if you drink every day, and get tipsy much of the time,you drink too much). Don't like my advice? leave.

Go Nukes

Gee, that last post on the flu was a bit long. Let me be clear and to the point on this one.

If you think Global Warming is a problem, AND you are NOT beating the drum of Nuclear Power as loudly, and as annoyingly and as incessantly as you can, THEN you are nothing but a damn liar, nothing but a damn neoMarxist: any rational person MUST conclude, by the force of logic, that YOU want humanity to go back to the stone age, shivering, naked in lean-to's, hoping that we can survive the night without our young being eaten.

Swine Flu: Close The Border

Updated, Sunday AM, 26April2009

From www.seattlepi.com/ :

The worrisome new virus - which combines genetic material from pigs, birds and humans in a way researchers have not seen before - also sickened at least eight people in Texas and California, though there have been no deaths in the U.S.

"We are very, very concerned," World Health Organization spokesman Thomas Abraham said. "We have what appears to be a novel virus and it has spread from human to human ... It's all hands on deck at the moment."

For background on Influenza, from Individ, I will reproduce part of my old post from 2006 below the "fold". Over 60 people have died and over 1000 are infected with this swine flu strain in Mexico, and it's spread to California and Texas. NOW, students from NYC are also suspected as having it. Most of the dead in Mexico were aged between 25 and 45.Sounds "viral" to me. Obama appears to be a global governance type, so with him in charge, don't expect the Southern border with Mexico to be closed, especially when we see headlines like this:

WHO rejects closure of Mexican border despite swine flu outbreak

Good to know WHO runs the country now? Who's on first?

Here is the latest from the CDC via wikipedia: "The current vaccine against the seasonal influenza strain H1N1 is thought to be unlikely to provide protection. Anne Schuchat, director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said that the United States cases were found to be made up of genetic elements from four different flu viruses—North American swine influenza, North American avian influenza, human influenza A virus subtype H1N1, and swine influenza virus typically found in Asia and Europe. For two cases a complete genome sequence had been obtained. She said that the virus was resistant to amantadine and rimantadine, but susceptible to oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza)."

The dunce who runs Homeland Security will probably close the Canadian Border. If we get into a swine flu SHTF situation, then a good N95 mask is recommended. You might want to bone up on a good survival podcast, just in case. Here is a pretty balanced one.

Weird virus, I say. It's an A/H1N1 virus, but with a strange four part genetic code, with strands from four different viruses? Hmmm. This plot is going to thicken. Mark my words.

Hey Janet and Barack: close the freakin' border.

Individ

-----------The Fold------------------------------

Individ's Textbook on The Flu, Bird Flu, Influenza, The Grippe...

I had a little bird,
Its name was Enza.
I opened the window,
And in-flu-enza

(A Children’s rhyme from 1918).

The Germ Theory and Pandemics

According to the Germ Theory of Disease, specific microorganisms (germs) are responsible for causing specific diseases (See “Koch’s Postulates” for a systematization of the Germ Theory). The Spanish Flu, also known as La Grippe Espagnole, or simply, The Grippe, was an unusually severe and deadly strain of influenza, or “the Flu”, which we now know to be a viral infectious disease. The “Spanish Flu” killed some 50 million to 100 million people worldwide, from 1918 and 1919. A disease that attacks a large fraction of the population in every region of the world is called a pandemic. Until the advent of AIDS, influenza was the last uncontrolled pandemic killer of humans (Small and Bender, 2001).

What is the Flu?

Influenza is a prostrating, often severe, viral infection of the lungs characterized by fever, cough, and severe muscle aches. In the elderly and infirm, it is a major cause of disability and death, often as a result of secondary bacterial infections. Gastrointestinal disturbances may also occur. Further, there is no such thing as “stomach flu”, and a low fever with sniffles that keeps you in bed for a day may be a “cold”, but is decidedly not the flu.

OK, let's back up, and investigate a little of the history, microbiology, and biochemistry of "influenza". The term influenza is of Italian origin, and dates from a 1743 outbreak of the disease in Europe that began in Italy. In Italian, influenza, means "epidemic," and originally referred to a "visitation or influence of the stars",(with an etymology from the Middle Latin influentia).

Research during the time of the Spanish Flu first identified viruses as disease causing agents, and it was at that time that both Virology and the study of the flu began in earnest.

The Virus

Virus particles are smaller than bacteria (bacteria are singled celled, living organisms) , and can be considered as small groups of large molecules. The influenza-causing viruses constitute the Orthomyxoviridae family of RNA viruses designated as types A, B, and C. Most scientists consider viruses to be non-living, because they require a host cell (as in our bodies, or in the body of a bird) to reproduce. Types B and C generally cause only minor illness, but Small and Bender, Ibid, point out that influenza A, (or Avian Flu viruses), are the causative agent for pandemics. Cold preserves the viruses, whereas heat destroys them.

Recurring influenza outbreaks occur because the viruses undergo periodic "reassortment". The virus has two outer membrane glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N) (see below). Their variations are numbered, so H1 is slightly different from H2. These surface glycoproteins can evolve, for example, from H1N1 to H2N2 as it did in 1957 (Asian Flu, 1 to 1.5 million deaths attributed) and from H2N2 to H3N2 as it did in 1968 (Hong Kong Flu, 3/4 to 1 million deaths attributed) , thus introducing a new virus into a population that has no protective serum antibody. The Spanish Flu was caused by the H1N1 type of influenza virus, which is similar to the bird flu of today, which is mainly mainly H5N1 and H5N2. I will discuss the H and N biochemistry below. No different subtypes of H and N have been identified for influenza B and C.

Virus biochemistry

The outer surface of the virus (an individual virus particle is called a virion, but I will avoid that usage here) contains the two glycoproteins, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, embedded in the virus's lipid (i.e., fat) membrane, or envelope. These are the "studs" shown in both the cartoon and the photo; in the photo, the black bar, shown for scale, is 1/10,000 of a millimeter long.

Influenza A viruses are either spherical (0.08 -0.120 micrometers in diameter), or filament-like (and up to 0.3 micrometers in length). A typical influenza virus particle contains about400 molecules of hemagglutinin glycoprotein (H) and 100 molecules of neuraminidase glycoprotein (N) , studded over the surface. The are embedded in a host-derived lipid, two-layer membrane. The core of the virus contains a single stranded piece of RNA. The influenza virus genome comprises eight segments; a feature that enables “gene swapping” reassortment.

Proteins are biological macromolecules made up of different amino acids [click here to see a figure that shows their molecular structure], in the same way that a freight train is composed of different types of freight cars. Proteins perform a very wide range of biological functions. Glycoproteins are even more complex, in that they are unions of a protein and a sugar molecule. We are all aware of how well sugar dissolves in water - the marrying of the protein with a sugar molecule in the hemagglutinin coat of the flu virus is what makes the viruses sooo happy in the watery environment around your cells and in your mucus, saliva, and blood.

Neuraminidase is the common name for acetyl-neuraminyl hydrolase. This glycoprotein is an enzyme (you can tell that from the -ase ending in the name) that allows the virus particle to both enter the cells in your body to initiate viral reproduction, and then to allow the newly birthed virus to pass out of your cells. The activity of neuraminidase also disrupts the mucous that is present in the respiratory tract, and further, it keeps the viruses from clumping with other virus particles. The result of these activities is to ease the spread of the virus through the respiratory tract. Two different variations of neuraminidase, designated N1 and N2, are important in human infections, and hence, most flu-causing virus end with the designation N1 or N2. Influenza A viruses have 16 H subtypes and 9 N subtypes. The surface glycoproteins are also what trigger our immune system to attack the virus particles: particularly hemagglutinin, the main target of flu-fighting antibodies.

Within the viral membrane are eight strands of RNA, which carry a total of just eight genes. Two of the genes produce the sugar-rich proteins hemagglutinin and neuraminidase.

Influenza is for the Birds

Most people don't realize that all flu outbreaks originate from birds. Fifteen subtypes of influenza A virus are known to infect birds, providing an extensive reservoir of influenza viruses that constantly circulate in bird populations. First identified in Italy more than 100 years ago, avian influenza, or “bird flu”, is a contagious disease caused by viruses that normally infect only birds and, less commonly, pigs.

Avian viruses are highly species-specific, but have, on rare occasions, crossed the species barrier to infect humans. All birds seem to be susceptible to infection, though some species are more resistant. Infection s in birds can range from mild illness to “highly pathogenic avian influenza” (HPAI), a highly contagious and rapidly fatal disease resulting in severe epidemics with fatality rates that near 100%.

Migratory waterfowl, especially wild ducks , geese and swan, are the natural carriers of avian viruses; however, these birds are also the most resistant to infection. Domestic poultry are particularly susceptible to epidemics of the rapidly fatal influenzas. So far, outbreaks of the nastiest forms have been caused by influenza A viruses of subtypes H5 and H7.

Avian flu is spread to humans through domestic poultry, both through infected birds and poultry products, and though the use of infected manure (used as fertiliser) or feed. Infected birds shed influenza virus in their saliva, nasal secretions, and fecal droppings. Humans with H5N1 have typically caught it from chickens, which were in turn infected by other poultry or waterfowl. People in Asia can live or work very closely with fowl in crowded conditions, and they apparently inhale aerosolized particles of chicken manure, etc.; this apparently is a major factor in the spread of flu to people, and why so many strains of flu come from Asia.

Antibodies and Vaccines

When we catch the flu, we are usually being infected by H1 or H3 flu strains, and our bodies may be able to mount a partial defense, as our bodies can recognize them from previous infections. Occasionally, genetically unique strains emerge. But in 1997, H5 strains, which had been restricted to birds, created a new glycoprotein coat that was new to our antibody defense systems. We therefore now see the modern H5N1 strain that has killed a good portion of the few people who have been infected by contact with birds: The Bird Flu.

Regular winter flu shots are made with killed influenza viruses. The government is stockpiling experimental bird-flu vaccine made the same way, but must be manufactured to combat flu-causing viruses that exist NOW. The current Bird Flu is able to infect people, but is difficult, if not impossible, to transmit from person to person.

DC Tax Day Tea Party Protest

Yup. Individ was there. What a strange feeling it was to be standing in downtown DC surrounded by RATIONAL people: I thought the ensuing warp in the fabric of the space-time continuum's quantum foam was going to cause all eleven dimensions to collapse into a snow storm of trillions of dollar-sized copies of the constitution.

The sight of all those Gadsden flags was breathtaking. I actually had meaningful conversations with strangers about the Tenth Amendment! In Washington!!! Go figure.

Now, "Pravda on the Potomac", better known as the Washeengtun Poopst, wrote that the crowd was in the hundreds. OK, I guess, as usual, I have to school the amateurs at that faltering rag. Here is how I employed my algorithm for crowd estimation. At about 1130 hrs at Lafayette park, the group occupied a region that was about 200 feet by 200 feet, or 4 x 100 x100 = 40,000 sq feet. My own observation was that the people were about 3 feet away from their nearest neighbors, a little closer in the interior, a little farther in the outer reaches of the crowd. that means that, order of magnitude, there was one person every 10 sq feet. Dividing 40,000/10 gives 4000 "ten sq foot parcels" to be occupied, or 4000 people. this estimate cannot be off by more than 2000. Over the next hour, about 5 people per minute streamed into the park along each of the four main walkways. The counterflow leaving was about 1/4 of that, meaning that the net flux into the park was on the order of 30 people every two minutes, for one hour. This is a lower bound, so over the next hour (1130-1230 hrs) the number of people added was on the order of 1000, growing the crowd to 5000 (error, +/- 2000). If that uncertainty seems large, then YES, you get the prize: you have figured out that crowd estimation is subject to large errors. Note, however, that the .comPost's estimate of hundreds, would require a crowd of about 60 feet by 60 feet, which would be laughed at by anyone who was there.

Clearly, hundreds of thousands protested nationwide ON A WORK DAY, and in many places is REALLY LOUSY WEATHER. Did I mention that it was cold and rainy and muddy? Gee, I guess I did not, up until now. Know why? It did not matter.

If the Main Stream Media, the World Left, Obama, and congress want to ignore this phenomena, they do so at their own political peril.

Individ

Collapsitarianism

I have to admit to being a Collapsitarian. Well, maybe I'm a "small c" collapsitarian: I see the collapse of our "system" as a distinct possibility, but not an inevitability. What is "the system"? Basically, the totality of conditions that support the wide-spread civil order that'a s characterized American Society up til now.

Given that I don't see collapse as inevitable, maybe I'm a "probabilitistic collapsitarian": my first gut reaction was that there's a 95% chance that the "system" would NOT collapse; i.e., a 5% chance of an Obamapocalypse. I then read that Greg Ip of the The Economist puts the probability of fiscal default of the US Government "...at 6 percent over the next 10 years, compared with just 1 percent a year ago. " I am no fan of Ip; I disagree with him more than I agree with him: in fact, in the linked article, he refers to the Great Bail Outs as necessary, an idea I find rediculous from an economic point of view. You could argue with his methods, but when an editor of The Economist is talking about a 6% chance of failure of the US, you gotta take notice. (OK, I was off by 1 %, but not really: I see the uncertainties on the probability of collapse as spanning a window of at least an order of magnitude, but no need to get into that level of detail here).

Further, this type of analysis, especially when applied to such rare events, has GOT to be flawed. In modern science, we don't usually admit that our numerical probabilities and models and calculations can be wrong - modern science is full of itself - full of pride and hubris in its quantitative methodology: cf. Global Warming, its anthroprogenicity, and its inevitiability. This gets us into Black Swan Theory, but that will have to wait for a future post.

How would a collapse occur? Most likely, the government (through the quasi-govva-mental "Fed", would simply accelerate its own purchase of US treasury bonds, which is the same as "printing money"), would inflate the money supply. This is inflation: the progressive, extended, and across the board increase in the prices of everything (supply and demand aside).

Given the enormous increase in guvvamint spending being imposed on us by The Anointed One (Tao), The Great BObama, this inflation would present as hyperinflation, and high interest rates, which would cause extreme economic instability. Investors and entrepreneurs would effectively "Go Galt", by stuffing money in their mattresses: that is, by not investing, and not sticking their financial necks out. Unemployment would go from its ca. 10% (what I think the natural unemployment would have been in this recession, without the poisonous effects of the the Mussolini-style Corporatism that BarackObamaism is becoming) to something much higher. At some unemployment level that I cannot determine at this time, a tipping point will be reached, and civil unrest would nucleate in one or a few cities, then grow. If the government decides that it cannot print all the money it needs, federal workers would not be paid, increasing the economic shock, and shuttering parts of the federal government. There would then be a critical loss in confidence in the dollar, current movements to relieve the dollar of its role as the world's reserve currency would boil over, and the fiat dollar would tumble. To encourage buyers of the then tattered US Treasury bond, the US would have to promise high rates of return, and would then be locked into borrowing even more money in the near future, to service that debt. This is what I meant when, a few months ago, I looked at Cyberwife and said "the snake is now eating its own tail".

Negative feedback would ensue. At that point, "pass the ammo" would take on whole new meanings, to include "$#!++!ng bullets".

Individ

Got my eye on an Ar-15 I saw in the local gun shop last week. Think I'm gonna trade in some of those soon-to-be-worthless??? green slips of rag for something of value.

Note added in Proof: Of course, there are other scenarios for Collapse, financial and otherwise. I just do not have time this AM to pursue them here. Hopefully, soon...

D.C. According to the law of the land, is run by congess, period.

The United States Constitution explicitly grants exclusive jurisdiction of Washington, D.C. to the United States Congress, in "all cases whatsoever" (as long as they do not violate the constitution).

In 1973, Congress has ALLOWED local governance of DC by locally elected officials. However, Congress is still charged with exclusive oversight over the local DC government. The local government of the District of Columbia exists at the pleasure of Congress, and CAN BE revoked at any time.

Individ

Can you say "gun laws"?

AIG bonuses, illegal taxation, idiots, and The Constitution

Honestly, I do not know where to start. By now, you know that some workers at AIG, by contract, earned bonuses worth a total of 0.000165 Trillion dollars. That is 0.000165 of the amount by which Obama will increase federal spending over the next decade due solely to his Omnibus spending bill. This does not include the $0.8 Trillion of his version of the bailout (BO's big BO). Nor the additional $0.25 Trillion he has set aside for additional bailout.

But Obama, Pelosi and Reid and all their minions (with the exception of the incompetent tax cheat Tim Geithner) are happy deflecting attention from their felonious robbery of the American people of trillions, by pointing to the exercise of free enterprise in the paying of bonuses.

I am on record opposing the bailouts since they were proposed in the fall by the newly socialistic Bush regime. This distorted the market. AIG and others should have taken advantage of our many layered, totally constitutional bankruptcy laws. The idiots in congress couldn't possibly know how to control the companies they effectively took over.

And now we see their incompetence. This was as inevitable as water running down hill.

What is truly amazing, what is so truly insulting, what is so truly idiotic and stupid is illustrated so well, by the greenwich village idiot REP. CAROLYN MCCARTHY (D), NEW YORK: "A hundred percent, as far as I‘m concerned, is not even enough. If I could tax them 1,000 percent, I would tax them 1,000 percent. "

MCCarthy is one of the idiots who wage the leftist War on Science against firearms. So we know she does not have even an elementary school understanding of the constitution. And she proves it again.

But, mental midgets, you, Congress, will have a tough time defending yourselves when you are dragged, like rented mules, into court if you decide to BE as stupid as you SOUND.

Not only will you be screwing around with contracts (oops this would have been allowed if the company was left alone, and went bankrupt, but that would be following the constitution, something the Democrap led congress is loathe to do). BUTT, you will target a specific group of employees. Gee, I wish I was a lawyer! I would clean up. too bad it will be at the expense of the American people's pockets (which are already empty).

Imposing punitive damages upon selective individuals? That violates Article I of the U.S. Constitution -- a section stating Congress cannot pass "Writ of Attainder" or "ex post facto" law.

A Bill of Attainder is an act of congress that singles out and punishes a group or individual without trial. An ex post facto law retroactively changes the legal consequences of an act.

Oops.

What. Idiots.

Individ

Graphic on Obama Approval versus other presidents

From the excellent Pollster.com comes this highly illuminating, but unflattering (if you are Obama) graph... Click on it to make it larger.

Guest editorial: Cyberwife on Obama and the return of Churchill's Bust to the U.K.

Cyberwife desperately needed to vent this AM, so here goes. This editorial was invited, but I accept it sight unseen, and publish it here, with out editing, or comment.

"As the proud daughter and daughter-in-law of World War II veterans, I feel compelled to speak out on their behalf. My "fathers" and many of their peers are now gone from this life; some of these great men and women would not have let the recent "bust incident" go without remark.
Americans and Britons united in the cause of liberty and freedom during World War II and helped defeat the common enemies of their shared ideals. Winston Churchill was a great leader during that time who led Britons and inspired Americans through the horror and deprivations of war. Now an American president has dishonored the memory of a revered leader, and we are all the poorer for it. Where is the integrity of a man who would return to its giver a gracious gift that was a life image of a determined foe of tyranny? This child of my fathers is profoundly sorry."

Cyberwife

Obama going down in the polls - "may not have what it takes"

A recent article in the WSJ by a former Clinton Pollster, as well as Rasmussen from the eponymous Reports, states it's wrong to link Obama's high levels of popularity to high levels of public confidence in his administration. The hard data support just the opposite.

In fact, Obama's approval rating is dropping and is below Dubya's at the same time in 2001. The Rasmussen data show that BarryO's approval rating: strongly approve minus strongly disapprove, equals six, and is trending DOWN.

The Rasmussen data shows an overall 56%-43% split on "approval", and 1/3 strongly disapprove of his performance. The article states that "This is a substantial degree of polarization so early in the administration. Mr. Obama has lost virtually all of his Republican support and a good part of his Independent support, and the trend is decidedly negative."

People are only NOW???? realizing that their taxes will go up? And that guvvamint spending will go up? HAHAHHAHAHAHAHA. Actually I should cry. Got a guvvamint tissue?

Victory gin?

Where were these people six months ago? In the basement hittin' the freakin' bong?

Gallup shows that 83% are worried that the steps Mr. Obama is taking to fix the economy may not work.... 82% are worried about the amount of money being added to the deficit....69% say they are worried about the increasing role of the government in the U.S. economy.

Are these people SURPRISED????? wtf.

Rasmussen data show that people now actually oppose Mr. Obama's budget, 46% to 41%.

I am shocked, I tell you, shocked.

These people are makin' normal ole' me feel like a freakin' genius.

And how about Obama's more informed "supporters"? An article in the UK's telegraph reports that:

Billionaire Warren Buffett and (former) Obama cheerleader, criticized the president's determination to press ahead with expensive liberal pet projects like healthcare reform when he should be devoting everything to the economy.

"Job one is to win the war, the economic war. Job two is to win the economic war - and job three," he said. "You can't expect people to unite behind you if you're trying to jam a whole bunch of things down their throat."

How about the far Left: Camille Paglia, the feminist writer and also a former Obamafanatic, said: "Heads should be rolling at the White House for the embarrassing series of flubs that have overshadowed President Obama's first seven weeks in office." She described his staff as "rubes", and can't believe how the Obama whitehouse has so far dealt with Britain.

How about this gem from the article: "The veteran Newsweek political columnist Howard Fineman, previously an enthusiastic cheerleader, delivered a withering verdict under the headline "The Turning Tide", which concluded: "Obama still has the approval of the people, but the establishment is beginning to mumble that the president may not have what it takes."

Yikes.

Now, I am no fan of the Repellicans. They had their chance to reign in guvvamint, and they screwed it up. Of course, with the Orwellian Ministry of Truth operating, the American people do not realize that the entire economic disaster was triggered by Leftist policies like the Community (you know, like in community organizer??) Reinvestment Act (See one of my earlier posts from last September here). So, greater than 80% blame Republicans for the current economic woes.

idiots.

Individ

Classic Individ: God

The left, led by Obamapocalype, is waging war on you. On you, the individual. Here is a take you may find interesting.

There are a number of ways of interpreting the etymology of the word religion, but the one I like recognizes the similarity of the second syllable to the word ligament. Hence, religion is about connection, binding, or re-connection, if you like. Connected to what? For me, religion is about binding people to each other, and to the universe.

What is a God? A definition that encompasses many religious traditions is that of the theologian Paul Tillich: God is the Ground of Being, our Ultimate Concern. Faith, according to Tillich, is the state of being ultimately concerned. If you are a materialist, money or possessions may be your God; your ultimate concern. Alternatively, your God may be a Personal God, or God may be nature, or even mathematical physics. You may have a set of Gods rather than a single God. Your God (or maybe your G-d) may be unspeakable; your G-d may be so deeply and infinitely removed from our common world, what I call the plane of the mundane, that it is impossible to even think about it. It depends upon what's the Ground of your Being, your Ultimate Concern. The theologian Rudolf Otto referred to religion as the quest for the awe-full - the mysterium tremendum. In the end, some religious people may or may not use the word "god"; some may or may not use the word "religion".

But let me take this post down to a more practical level, because, in the end, Individ does not like theory without application. First, I will address one of the key requirements for a system of religion or even for a system of right or wrong: Individualism. If you think that is not right, read the history of Europe and Asia from the 20th century, then get back to me. Second, I will address one of the great religious concepts: charity, and its rape and murder by the Left.

Here at Individ deCentral, we are concerned with combating the evil tendencies in the modern world, the evil tendencies that act to destroy the individual. Common sense dictates that I cannot have a relationship with another or with the universe, if I cease to exist in any real way. We must start with the worth and dignity of the individual. It's the individual who can have relationships with others and with the universe, and who can experience faith, hope, charity, and their mother: wisdom.

To deny individualism is one of the most inhumane and barbaric acts that can be imagined. Once the individual is subverted, then ANY action against any individual can be justified for the good of the collective, for the good of the village. Any hint of humanism is destroyed. This leads to Marxism, Fascism, Maoism, HillaryClintonism, and Stalinism; and to the destruction of religion.

On a final note, let's turn to the Apostle Paul: “Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”[1] that is why modern Leftism ('Liberalism' (sic) in modern, incorrect, American vernacular) is so evil - charity is robbed from the individual, and given, as a power, to the state. There can be no higher corruption than to profit, all the while making people think you are NOT profiting: Think Government; Think Greenpeace. Think, the Left. Charity by state is an illusion - most of the funds go to bureaucracy, and it can only be funded by theft. Private charities compete - and must lower their costs, otherwise the savvy giver will choose another; just another of the multitude of reasons that people benefit when economics is allowed to operate. We must take charity back from the state, back from corrupt guvviment, and the Leftism that controls it.

"...and the greatest of these is charity."

Individ