From Spencer's 1884 to Orwell's 1984

by Henry Hazlitt on June 20, 2013

[This essay is taken from Chapter 23 of Man vs. the Welfare State.]

In 1884, Herbert Spencer wrote what quickly became a celebrated book, The Man Versus The State. The book is seldom referred to now, and gathers dust on library shelves  if, in fact, it is still stocked by many libraries. Spencer's political views are regarded by most present-day writers, who bother to mention him at all, as "extreme laissez faire," and hence "discredited."

But any open-minded person who takes the trouble today to read or reread The Man Versus The State will probably be startled by two things. The first is the uncanny clairvoyance with which Spencer foresaw what the future encroachments of the State were likely to be on individual liberty, above all in the economic realm. The second is the extent to which these encroachments had already occurred in 1884, the year in which he was writing.

The present generation has been brought up to believe that government concern for "social justice" and for the plight of the needy was something that did not even exist until the New Deal came along in 1933. The ages prior to that have been pictured as periods when no one "cared….. if the present generation thinks this is true even of the 1920s, it is absolutely convinced that this was so in the 1880’s….Yet the new reader's initial astonishment when…..ToRead More…..

The Right Way to Fight Obesity

Nanny-state activism will not be as effective as market-based reforms.

by Henry I. Miller and Jeff Stier

Among the contentious food issues to be addressed by public policy this year is obesity, which affects Americans of all ages. It occurs in 12.4 percent of children ages 2 to 5, 17 percent of those ages 6 to 11 and 17.6 percent of those ages 12 to 19. It takes a toll on the joints, is associated with several risk factors for cardiovascular disease (including high blood pressure, abnormal lipid patterns, and Type 2 diabetes), and is linked to cancers of the esophagus, breast, uterus, colon, rectum, kidney, pancreas, thyroid, and gallbladder.

Is curbing obesity primarily the responsibility of the government? The self-appointed food police think so, and they are not shy about making their views known. Along the way, their extreme rhetoric demonizes big food producers and characterizes food marketers as little better than child molesters. They've even made the counterintuitive claim that First Lady Michelle Obama is a corporate shill and her "Let's Move" campaign is a publicity stunt, intended to distract the public from what they think are better, more aggressive solutions……Yet "moderation," "personal responsibility," "parenting," and even "exercise" are inconvenient concepts to uncompromising activists like Simon, whose website, “appetiteforprofit.com” deems corporate profits the underlying cause of obesity.…..To Read More…..

My Take – Once again we find central planners completely unable to grasp the problem they claim they’re trying to solve.  It’s calories in, calories out.  When we start to see the nation's ball diamonds in public parks filling up every day with ball players during the summer we will see the ‘plague’ of obesity end.  Once again…..Its calories in, calories out, calories in, calories out, calories in, calories out….please repeat that ten more times and you can claim it’s your own and then send it to the obesity activists and central planning  regulation mongers.  They won’t get it, but it may drive them crazy if it keeps being repeated over and over again, like a song you can’t get out of your head, and drive them out of public life.  However….they already seem insane to me and they haven’t left yet.   

Another shocking disclosure about the illegal EPA human testing experiments

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Steve Milloy | 4 Comments

JunkScience.com readers have previously learned that EPA has been subjecting human study subjects (without obtaining informed consent) to exceedingly high short-term exposures to diesel exhaust (2-hours at roughly 30x typical ambient PM_2.5 exposures). You’ve also learned that these experiments have been conducted with exceedingly high short-term ozone exposures (i.e., 400 ppb, when the EPA 8-hour standard is 75 ppb). But we haven’t so far seen…
… both acute diesel exhaust and ozone exposures combined!
Here’s the risk disclosure EPA provided to its human guinea pigs:



That’s right… basically:

We don’t know what’s going to happen to you. But it could be really bad.

Once again, this experiment violates virtually EVERY provision of the letter and spirit of federal regulations promulgated to protect human research subjects — not to mention the venerable Nuremberg Code....This Appeared Here.....

Federal government has new group in its sights

06/17/2013

This week the US House of Representatives considers the 2013 Farm Bill — the agriculture policy tool for the federal government. Of all of the amendments that will be debated, there is one in particular that has conservatives fuming. If passed, the “Egg Bill” amendment will result in an unfunded government mandate on thousands of American family farmers. The amendment calls for federal requirements on the size and structure of egg producing facilities. This mandate could have significant consequences for farmers — especially the smaller, family run businesses. It would likely force farmers to shut down their operations or significantly increase their production costs, which will inevitably be passed on to consumers at the grocery stores and at restaurants. This complete overhaul of our nation’s egg producing facilities is expected to increase the price of eggs and any food containing eggs, such as baked goods.

The Egg Bill amendment is being pushed on Capitol Hill by liberal animal activist organizations, such as the Humane Society of the United States, who have made it their mission to end animal agriculture as we know it….ToRead More…..
 

We’re From the Government and We’re Here to Screw You

Jack Kelly, Wednesday, 19 June 2013

Hello. We're from the government. You think we're here to help you? Ha-ha, very funny.  We're here to take lots of your money -- about twice as much as we took in 1985 -- and to boss you around. We say you can't build on your own property without our permission. You must buy health insurance if we tell you to.  Federal spending has risen 23 percent since the recession began, median household income has fallen. We're richer. You're poorer. But to pamper ourselves at lavish conferences, give bonuses to IRS executives who harass conservatives, and pay for the president's vacations, we must have more. More - always more.

Government programs rarely deliver what we promised, cost more than we said, you whine?   So what? You better think carefully before you complain about how we do things. Each day we collect 1.7 billion electronic records on you and other Americans. We could be reading your emails, monitoring your telephone calls and tracking your credit card purchases.  We didn't want you to find out about this. But since that little jerk Snowden has let the cat out of the bag, we want you to know we do it only for your protection. Read more for free...

A Note on Bridging the Gap Between Conservative Theory and Practice

By: Jake (Diary) May 31st, 2013

This post arose out of some thoughts I had after seeing Erick’s “Go Big or Go Home” post. If you haven’t read it yet, please do

Barry Goldwater’s The Conscience of a Conservative holds the distinction of being one of the few books I keep within easy reach of me in my apartment (the Bible being another one). Reading over Erick’s post reminded me of another part of his book, this time from the Foreword. I think it’s almost as prescient as what Erick said:

I blame conservatives–ourselves–myself. Our failure, as one Conservative writer has put it, is the failure of the Conservative demonstration. Though we Conservatives are deeply persuaded that our society is ailing, and know that Conservatism holds the key to national salvation–and feel sure the country agrees with us–we seem unable to demonstrate the practical relevance of Conservative principles to the needs of the day. We sit by impotently while Congress seeks to improvise solutions to problems that are not the real problems facing the country, while the government attempts to assuage imagined concerns and ignores the real concerns and real needs of the people.

Perhaps we suffer from an over-sensitivity to the judgments of those who rule the mass communications media. We are daily consigned by “enlightened” commentators to political oblivion: Conservatism, we are told, is out-of-date....To Read More....

My Take - The answer is simple.  In order to be a real leader it requires being willing to be unpopular for long periods of time.  In short....it takes guts.  There is another component to this also.  The left hates....everything.  They even hate each other.  The right just wants to be left alone and is willing to let others alone.  The left demands everyone adopt their views or else.  The right is willing to adopt any views on an individual basis and is willing to allow others to do the same provided they don't impact others negatively.  So it is easy for the left to be unpopular since they are constantly and unendingly spiteful and angry, therefore they don't expect to be loved.  The right is shocked at not being loved, so that makes them fearful.  Heterodoxy isn't for the faint of heart and leadership isn't about popularity.  Politics is, but politics and leadership don't necessarily go hand in hand. 

Unshackling the Fed by David Stockman

by David A. Stockman, June 19, 2013

The stage was thus set for the final “run” on the dollar and for a spectacular default by the designated “reserve currency” provider under the gold exchange standard’s second outing. And as it happened, the American people saw fit to install in the White House in January 1969 just the man to crush what remained of gold-based money and the financial discipline that it enabled.

Richard M. Nixon, as we know, possessed numerous and notable flaws. Foremost was his capacity to carry a grudge against anyone whom he believed had caused him to lose an election, especially any economist, policy maker, or bystander who could be pinned with accountability for the mild 1960 recession that he believed responsible for his loss to John F. Kennedy. ......Eight years later, Nixon informed the White House staff that job one was to determine if Goldstein was still at the BLS, and to get him fired if he was.…To Read More….

Why Doesn't The Precautionary Principle Apply Here?

By Rich Kozlovich

On June 18th Jessica Marszelek posted an article titled, “Australia:Wind power 'terrorising' rural communities, rally hear” She reports about 150 people who “turned up to a three-hour rally at Canberra's Parliament House”because of health concerns over windmills. They complain that windmills cause“a constant rumbling and pulsing in their heads and a feeling of oppressive anxiety they attribute to wind power.” She notes in the article that “everyday farmers upset with turbines in their communities.” Why?

She cites comments by a man named David Mortimer, “retired Naval electronics engineering officer and beef farmer” who receives $12,000-a-year to allow these avian cuisinarts on their land, and 17 more are planned. Mr. Mortimer now claims that he “suffers night-time panic attacks, acute anxiety, heart palpitations, tinnitus, earaches, headaches and angina-like pains and his wife has dizzy spells”.

Doctors can’t find anything wrong, but the problems continue, and he claims that he gets “this sensation of absolute acute anxiety and it feels like someone is pushing an x-ray blanket over me and weighting me down into the chair and I can't get out.” He claims to feel as if he is on narcotics. He goes on to say; “We've got this constant turmoil, constant pulsing in our head, constant rumbling ... deep, drumming rumbling”, and is afraid the added windmills will kill them.

According to the article the “Clean Energy Council Policy Director Russell Marsh dismissed the claims, saying no international research had attributed health impacts to wind power”, but one lady felt “there was not enough research into the effects of wind energy.”

Okay, so now why I’m I publishing this? I have no idea if more research needs to be done. I have no idea if these monsters of the skyline are causing any or all of the health problems of these people, but does anyone besides me see the huge lack of consistency in all of this?

Aren’t these the same kind of complaints, comments and anecdotal evidence put forward by the green movement regarding just about every chemical on the market? Aren’t these the same kinds of speculative, anecdotal arguments that prompted governments all over the world to pass anti-chemical regulations such as REACH in the European Union, which has been described as "a costly, burdensome, and complex regulatory system".

Now we have the REACH inspired Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 (SCA),which is intended to replace Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), both promoted by former Senator Lautenberg. He stated that the“Congress will once again discuss modernizing the country's 35-year-old chemicals laws”. He also went on to say;"Our current law forces EPA to search for dangerous chemicals”"This bill puts a mandate on companies to confirm safety before chemicals reach the market." In short, he wished to once again impose the Precautionary Principle (PP), which promotes two concepts.

First, by PP standards all products must be proven safe before they can be used, which is physically and scientifically impossible and the greenies know it. It’s called proving a negative. Can’t be done! You can only prove what things do, not what they don’t do. It’s like demanding that a spouse prove they aren’t cheating on their mate. Secondly, the PP outlines the idea that even if there is no scientific evidence of harm, everyone should assume there is harm and forbid the sale and use of…..well…… just about everything.

As one writer noted:

“In precautionary principle, no evidence is needed that something is harmful or even could be harmful. No plausible reason to believe it could be harmful is needed either. In many cases no amount of scientific evidence against the thesis that something is harmful ever seems to be reasonable to counter the argument that something is “not proven safe.” Good scientists are often reluctant to state something is “impossible” - for example, the designer of a nuclear reactor may be highly confident that the reactor will never melt down and that even if it did the containment vessel would hold the material. But despite this, the designer would understandably be reluctant to say it *cannot* happen. After all, it’s not impossible that the containment structure won’t be breached by a hit by a massive meteor, even if it is astronomically unlikely.”

This brings me to the thrust of my concern. Why aren’t these speculative and anecdotal adverse health claims by these citizens as important and the speculative and anecdotal health claims by green activists regarding chemicals? Why isn’t the PP being applied in this case?

We absolutely know these monsters are chewing up avian life to the tune of “573,000birds….each year, including 83,000 hunting birds such as hawks, falcons andeagles”, and that doesn’t include the massive destruction of bat life, which are also protected species. Why? The reality of the green movement is they have no love of facts, and consistency of logic is totally alien to them because environmentalism is the secular religion of the urban atheist. They aren’t interested in facts or consistency of logic because they "know" what is needed for all of humanity. The PP is merely a tool used to promote every form of junk science they can think of in order to destroy every advancement mankind has made over the last 100 years.  Advancements that have given us better, longer and healthier lives than any other time in history.  We need to understand that and stop pandering to these people. Why is that so difficult to grasp?

 

Obama Scandals: Investigations Everywhere — No Results To See

By Rick David / 17 June 2013 / 10 Comments

It appears that investigations are the latest technique used to cloak everything in secrecy. They don’t have to answer any questions, but we never hear of any results. My wife thinks it’s like they’re treating us like kids. “I told you, we’re investigating this, now don’t ask me again!” It’s insulting!

What were the results of the Benghazi investigation? The day after the attack President Obama promised that we would find the perpetrators and that they would be brought to justice. It’s been nine months and we have yet to see any results.

What were the results of the Fast and Furious investigation? Holder refused to turn over documents to Congress and was found in contempt, but no one was ever held to account for Brian Terry’s death.

We are promised by this administration that they are investigating the targeting of conservatives by the IRS, but when questioned this week, the Director of the FBI did not even know who was heading up the investigation. Do you really believe that there is an investigation? …To Read More….

Young Muslims: More Than Just Terrorists

By Andrew Linn, 17 June 2013

Since 9/11, people have been concerned (and should still be concerned) about Al Qaeda and other Muslim terrorist groups. Of course, politically correctness crept in. People were concerned about racial profiling (even though Islam is not a race — But terrorism isn’t the only method of jihad when it comes to young Muslims. In fact, they prefer to cause havoc. Whether it be rioting, rape (including gang-rape), or mugging, these young jihadists have caused many problems in Europe and Australia. Could America be next (we already have witnessed the phenomenon of “flash mobs”)?

Gang rapes have been occurring in Europe for quite some time, but in 2000, one of the most horrific gang rapes occurred in Sydney, Australia. A group of Lebanese immigrants and second generation Lebanese thugs committed a series of gang rapes, using their cell phones to plan and coordinate their crimes (something which Muslim thugs often do when they carry out their gangland jihad) …..Needless to say, these young jihadists are nothing more than a bunch of thugs. But …..they are doing what the Koran tells them to do: engage in jihad against the infidels…..these young Muslim thugs are a menace that Australia and the nations of Europe need to crack down on, even if it means mass deportations. …To Read More…..

EPA Finalizes List of 109 Chemicals To Undergo Endocrine Disruptor Screening

Monday, June 17, 2013 from Chemical Regulation Reporter ® By Patrick Ambrosio

The Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a list of 109 chemicals and pesticide active ingredients for inclusion in the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, according to a notice published June 14 in the Federal Register (78 Fed. Reg. 35,922).

The listed chemicals, the second group of substances selected for inclusion in the EDSP, will undergo Tier 1 screening, a battery of tests designed to identify substances that have the potential to interact with the estrogen, androgen, or thyroid hormone systems.

EPA said it focused on priority drinking water contaminants and pesticides, including substances included on the third Contaminant Candidate List, a set of contaminants that are not currently subject to any national primary drinking water regulations but may require regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The finalized List 2 includes the chemicals perchlorate, benzene, and methanol, as well as 41 substances that are listed as pesticide active ingredients.

The notice specifies that List 2 should not be interpreted as a list of known or likely endocrine disruptors.

The agency developed the EDSP after Congress passed authorizing legislation in 1996. The first test orders for the program were issued in October 2009….To Read More….

Unasked and Unanswered Questions

June 18, 2013 By Walter E. Williams

Grutter v. Bollinger was the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the University of Michigan Law School's racial admissions policy. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing for the majority, said the U.S. Constitution "does not prohibit the Law School's narrowly tailored use of race in admissions decisions to further a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body." But what are the educational benefits of a diverse student body?

 Intellectuals argue that diversity is necessary for academic excellence, but what's the evidence? For example, Japan is a nation bereft of diversity in any activity. Close to 99 percent of its population is of one race. Whose students do you think have higher academic achievement — theirs or ours?

Should companies be treated equally? According to a Wall Street Journal op-ed (9/7/2009) by Manhattan Institute's energy expert Robert Bryce, Exxon Mobil pleaded guilty in federal court to killing 85 birds that had come into contact with its pollutants. The company paid $600,000 in fines and fees......"more than 573,000 birds are killed by the country's wind farms each year, including 83,000 hunting birds such as hawks, falcons and eagles.....The Obama administration has never fined or prosecuted windmill farms, sometimes called bird Cuisinarts, for killing eagles and other protected bird species. In fact, AP reports that the Obama administration has shielded the industry from liability and has helped keep the scope of the deaths secret.....To Read More....

Bill Authorizing Warrantless Searches of Ohioans' Cell Phone Activity Derailed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 18, 2013

MEDIA CONTACT

Maurice A . Thompson

(614) 340-9817

MThompson@OhioConstitution.org

Stalled in Committee after 1851 Testimony, Bill would permit sharing of
"any information" to law enforcement, if not amended

Columbus, OH - The 1851 Center for Constitutional Law today took action that stalled passage of Senate Bill 5, legislation that, if enacted, would permit warrantless acquisition, by state and local law enforcement, of Ohioans' travels and cell phone communications.

The fast-tracked Bill, which passed 32-1 in the Ohio Senate and was poised to be voted out of its House committee today, voted on by the entire House on June 19, and enacted into law within a matter of days, received almost no public or media scrutiny until the 1851 Center's involvement today.

In his testimony before the House Committee on Transportation Public Safety and Homeland Security, 1851 Center Director Maurice Thompson explained the following:

·         The Bill authorizes wireless service providers to break their voluntarily-agreed-to contracts with Ohio customers, to whom they've promised privacy, and strips Ohioans of their right to enforce these contracts, or sue for damages (Cell phone carriers are granted absolute immunity for sharing information with law enforcement).

·         The Bill is broader than the controversial federal NSA program, in that it authorizes searches not related to foreign communications or terrorism, including activity related to petty crime such as driving infractions, or no crime at all.

·         While the Bill's initial requirements of an "emergency" are well-defined, later division of the Bill place no limits on local law enforcement's authority to acquire cell phone records of any Ohioan for any reason.

·         Cell phone companies have considerable incentive to share this information with Ohio police, to whom they can sell this information without liability (under the Bill) at up to $2,200 per search.          

"We were shocked to learn that this Bill had overwhelmingly passed the Senate with such speed, and that there was previously no opposition," said Maurice Thompson, Executive Director of the 1851 Center. "Ohioans should be free from warrantless searches of their phone records except in the gravest of emergencies, if at all, and they should be free to contract with carriers that will not sell their information. This Bill would violate those constitutional principles, accomplishing the very thing the Fourth Amendment was written to guard against. That is why we have taken this action." 

After an hour of testimony by Thompson today, which sometimes included tense exchanges with state representatives, the House Committee agreed to table the Bill and field the 1851 Center's proposed amendment - - which require a search warrants before any non-emergency acquisition of cell phone information may occur - - before taking further action on the Bill. The next Committee meeting on the matter is not yet scheduled.

Upon review of 1851 testimony, several Senators who voted for the Bill have indicated that the Bill was misleading, and that their support, at the behest of Senate leadership, was too hasty.

Read The 1851 Center's testimony on proposed Senate Bill 5 HERE.

Secret Service Invades Home Of Obama Critic Over Twitter Followers

Tara Dodrill  June 17, 2013

I am sick and tired of looking out the window to see if Old Glory is still flying to reaffirm my shaky belief that I still reside in America. Francois never threatened the president; he simply lambasts and lampoons his actions, facial expressions, and unconstitutional policies. The most thin-skinned president in the history of the Republic has proven once again that he has nothing but disdain for the First Amendment.

The Secret Service agents arrived at the home of Tom Francois and asked if they could come inside and take a look around. Noting that he had nothing to hide and not wanting to see his things tossed about if the agents were forced to wait for a warrant, the avid political cartoon creator let the men inside. Francois maintains that while he loathes Barack Obama’s policies, he has never threatened his being in any way, shape, or form. I scanned hundreds of Francois’ tweets (which were the cited reasons for the Secret Service agents arriving on the blogger’s porch), and saw nothing violent……. Francois also maintains that one Secret Service agent told him to be mindful of his actions, that “stepping over the line” means they will be back for his guns……. The Secret Service agents also paid a visit to his 22-year-old daughter’s house……. agents told her that all the information would be turned over to Eric Holder, because he has the final word on what to do—if anything. …… To Read More....

German Left Ramps Up Attacks on Islam Critics

June 18, 2013 By Andrew Harrod

National parliamentarians from Die Linke, Germany’s post-communist Left Party, recently presented the federal German government with a Minor Inquiry (Kleine Anfrage or KA) concerning the government’s policy towards the conservative German website Politically Incorrect (PI). This is only the latest effort by left-wing multiculturalists to quash open discussion, and criticism on Islam by designating the discourse “anti-democratic”and “right-wing extremist.”

As the online rules of order for the German parliament or Bundestag explain, the KA in Section 104 allows the Bundestag’s president to receive questions for the federal government about “certain delineated areas.” Normally the president calls upon the government to answer the questions in writing within 14 days, although agreement with the KA authors can extend this time limit. As the German-language KA Wikipedia entry explains, this procedure serves as a means of parliamentary control over the government by calling upon it to give account of a given state of affairs……The future of a free and open discussion of Islam in Germany seems perilous with the likes of Die Linke, a totalitarian-legacy group, continually demonstrating its propensity to use the German federal government as a tool of intimidation against Islam’s critiques…..To Read More….

My Take - Communists hate religion. Okay...we already knew that! But why do the communists think Islam is okay and Christianity is not okay? Does anyone besides me see this as case of cognitive dissonance?  Or is this merely a case of convenience.  The left has no moral foundation so the positions they take have no moral foundation.  They can bounce back and forth like a rubber ball because the only imperative they understand is the emotional and intellectual desire to rule and dominate everyone else’s lives.  Make no mistake about this.  They would just a happily turn on the Islamists, and eventually will, when it suits their purposes.  

 

Why Some Scientists Embrace the 'Multiverse'

Dennis Prager | Jun 18, 2013

Last week, in Nice, France, I was privileged to participate, along with 30 scholars, mostly scientists and mathematicians, in a conference on the question of whether the universe was designed, or at least fine-tuned, to make life, especially intelligent life. Participants -- from Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Berkeley and Columbia among other American and European universities -- included believers in God, agonistics and atheists.

But it was clear that the scientific consensus was that, at the very least, the universe is exquisitely fine-tuned to allow for the possibility of life. It appears that we live in a "Goldilocks Universe," in which both the arrangement of matter at the cosmic beginning and the values of various physical parameters -- such as the speed of light, the strength of gravitational attraction and the expansion rate of the universe - are just right. And unless one is frightened of the term, it also appears the universe is designed for biogenesis and human life....To Read More....

 

Sharyl Attkisson Shares Update On Computer Hacking Investigation

June 17, 2013 2:22 PM

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Just days after CBS News confirmed that reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s computer had indeed been hacked, Attkisson spoke to Dom Giordano about the investigation.

“This suspicious activity has been going on for quite some time – both on my CBS computer and my personal computer,” Attkisson said. “CBS then hired its own independent cyber security firm, which has been conducting a thorough forensic exam … they were able to rule out malware, phishing programs, that sort of thing.”

Attkisson described some of the bizarre things that were happening with her computer.

“There were just signs of unusual happenings for many months, odd behavior like the computers just turning themselves on at night and then turning themselves back off again. I was basically able to verify and obtain information from my sources on the suspicious activity and I reported it to CBS News in January because of course it included CBS equipment and systems.”…To Read More…..

When New England Wanted to Secede

By Robert McNamara, June 17, 2013

Movements to oppose the federal government have a long history in America. And one of the first was building momentum 200 years ago in the New England states, where opposition to the War of 1812 was strong.   As the war dragged on, costing money and cramping trade, New Englanders became increasingly outraged. Massachusetts refused to put its militia under federal control, and the federal government retaliated by refusing to reimburse the state for war costs.

The simmering crisis became more dramatic when legislatures from New England states sent representatives to the Hartford Convention at the end of 1814. What the conventioneers did not know was that the Treaty of Ghent was being signed in Europe and the war was ending anyway.

Fearing insurrection, the federal government sent a regiment of troops to Hartford. And with the proceedings of the meeting being kept secret, rumors spread.
The New England states, of course, did not secede from the Union. The meeting was widely mocked, and scathing political cartoons depicted New Englanders wanting to leap back into the arms of the British king.

And while the Hartford Convention is not widely remembered today, it was in some ways an inspiration for the Nullification Crisis and the Secession Crisis that led to the Civil War…..ThisAppeared Here…..

Greenbacks Beat the Greens in Uber-Green California

Marita Noon | Jun 16, 2013

If there is anyplace the gang green can expect to get its way, it would surely be California. The state has the highest renewable energy standards in the country, the legislature is currently dominated by a liberal supermajority, and Governor Jerry Brown’s environmental record runs deep.

When the Energy Information Agency reported that California’s Monterey Shale potentially contains more than 15 billion barrels of oil—a supply three times greater than North Dakota’s Bakken and the Texas Eagle Ford formations, environmental groups ratcheted up their efforts to keep the resource in the ground. The weapon of choice? Demonize the technology that allows the oil and gas to be released from the sedimentary rock: hydraulic fracturing—commonly called “fracking.”

California’s legislature had nearly a dozen different bills designed to impede, restrict, or ban fracking. With lawmakers on their side, environmentalists grew cocky. When the bills made it out of committee, Patrick Sullivan, of the anti-fracking group Center for Biological Diversity claimed: “There’s huge momentum in the legislature to halt this dangerous practice.”…..To Read More….

My Take - I have said for some time that the price of energy is the beginning of wisdom. It was inevitable that at some point in time real life economics would force the citizenry to turn on the green movement, and once that happens, as it did now, we will see an avalanche of articles pointing out all the logical fallacies and outright lies told by the green movement. Their forte is to make emotional appeals and outrageously inaccurate claims that have no basis in fact, and then expect to get away with it because the media and the bureaucrats are complicit and the politicians are cowards.  Those days are coming to an end.  The next step is to end their funding, and that can't happen soon enough. 

Palin on Syria: 'Let Allah Sort It Out'

by Breitbart News 15 Jun 2013 2347 post a comment

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said until the United States has a Commander-in-Chief who knows what he is doing, America should stay out of the mess in the Middle East.  "Until we have someone who knows what they’re doing, I say let Allah sort it out,” Palin said, in reference to the Obama administration's decision last week to arm Syrian rebels. She made her comments while headlining the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington, D.C on Saturday.

Palin asked, "militarily, where is our Commander-in-Chief?"

She noted America is "talking" about "more new interventions" in "radical Islamic countries" where both sides are slaughtering each other" by crossing "arbitrary red lines" while screaming "Allah Akbar."

Palin noted that these countries do not even respect "basic human rights."

Here is Palin's quote in full:

“Militarily, where is our commander-in-chief? We’re talking now more new interventions. I say until we know what we’re doing, until we have a commander-in-chief who knows what he’s doing, well, let these radical Islamic countries who aren’t even respecting basic human rights, where both sides are slaughtering each other as they scream over an arbitrary red line, ‘Allah Akbar,’ I say until we have someone who knows what they’re doing, I say let Allah sort it out."

This Appeared Here…..

My Take – One of the things that is missing from this debate is highlighted in this comment from someone with the handle - greatnesslostislegend – after someone called FuzzysDaddy called Palin an idiot talking to a wingnut audience claiming “she's a loser and always will be.”  In response greatnesslostislegend says: “Since the Syrian conflict began the "rebels" have killed nearly 45,000 Christians, injuring double that, and nearly 200,000 have fled the country. It is cleansing Islam style, and guess which side Obama his supporting?.....Look at Obama's background. What in his stated education prepares him for something like Syria? With math and science marks considerably poorer than Sarah Palin's (Obama's own words) just who is an idiot here?”   

The question I keep asking myself is: Why isn’t this clear an act of genocide – or at the very least a form of ethnic cleansing - a highlighted feature on the news each and every night? 

Radical Environmentalists Should Mind Their Own Business

Julie Gunlock | Jun 15, 2013

Typically environmental organizations target consumers with overwrought warnings of how some everyday product or activity is destroying the world and threatening their health. Yet now, activists are turning their targets toward major retailers. These companies should reject these scare tactics, which will harm not only their businesses, but consumers too.

The “Mind the Store” campaign, the latest initiative of a radical environmental organization, pressures the nation’s top ten largest retailers to remove products from store shelves that contain, in any amount, a list of one hundred chemicals the organization deems hazardous. Following the alarmism playbook, the organization claims these chemicals are linked to a variety of frightening health problems like hormone disruption, cancer, and birth defects despite the overwhelming body of scientific evidence to the contrary........ Consumers may not be the direct targets of the “Mind the Store” campaign, but they have a lot at stake. They should encourage stores to reject the radical environmentalists’ strong arm tactics and tell those groups to mind their own business...... To Read More....

My Emotions Are More Important than Your Ideas

By Mike S. Adams 16 June 2013 / 34 Comments

People are confused about the meaning of the phrase “I’m offended.” Many believe that it is merely an admission of emotional inferiority. To be sure, the phrase “I’m offended” does say something about a person’s lack of emotional strength. But when someone plays the “I’m offended” card it says more about his lack of humility than his lack of emotional stability. I have heard the phrase“I’m offended” countless times in my twenty years as a college professor. Each incident is unique but reflects a common way of thinking. Consider the common thread in each of the following incidents:

In 1993, I was teaching course in criminology. During the middle of a lecture on Social Disorganization theory, I made an observation about immigration patterns in large cities. Specifically, I said that a rapid influx of immigrants speaking different languages would not translate into solid social cohesion. The lack of cohesion, I explained, would impair community efforts to monitor juvenile delinquency. It was common sense, of course. But a young black female student raised her hand during the next class meeting and complained. She simply announced that she was offended because my lecture implied that there was a downside to living in ethnically diverse neighborhoods. I replied by saying “It’s true, and that’s all that matters.” In other words, I brushed her off. She never played the “I’m offended” card again.....To Read More.....

17 Reasons To Fear 17 Trillion in Debt

Kelsey Harris June 17, 2013

Remember the debt? That $17 trillion problem? Some in Washington seem to think it’s gone away. The Washington Post reported that “the national debt is no longer growing out of control.”Lawmakers and liberal inside-the-Beltway organizations are floating the notion that it’s not a high priority any more. We beg to differ, so we came up with 17 reasons that $17 trillion in debt is still a big, bad deal....To Read the Whole Article.....

1. $53,769 – Your share of the national debt.

2. Personal income will be lower.

 3. Fewer jobs and lower salaries.

4. Higher interest rates.

5. High debt and high spending won’t help the economy.

6. What economic growth?

7. Eventually, someone has to pay the nation’s $17 trillion credit card bill, and Washington has nominated your family.

8. Jeopardizes the stability of Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid.

9. Washington collects a lot, and then spends a ton. Where are your tax dollars going?

10. Young people face a diminished future.

11. Without cutting spending and reducing the debt, big-government corruption and special interests only get bigger.

12. Harmful effects are permanent.

13. The biggest threat to U.S. security.

14. Makes us more vulnerable to the next economic crisis.

15. Washington racked up $300 billion in more debt in less than four months.

16. High debt makes America weaker.

17. High debt crowds out the valuable functions of government.

Joe Biden slaps GOP for letting Ted Cruz, Rand Paul 'control' the party

BY: PAUL BEDARD JUNE 15, 2013

Just six months after he cut a fiscal cliff deal with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Vice President Joe Biden declared Friday night that the GOP has no adult leadership and he said it is being pushed around by two "bright new guys," Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky.  "This is not your father's Republican Party, it's fundamentally different," he said at a San Francisco Democratic Party fundraiser. "There's no one with whom to deal with and there's no one in charge anymore."......Biden worked closely with senior GOP leaders like McConnell to work out a budget deal that halted the nation's fall over the so-called fiscal cliff.  But in his 10 minute address at the home of Dawn Ross and Doug Hickey, the CEO of BinWise, a beverage distribution company in San Francisco, Biden forgot all that to slam the emergence of Tea Party-backed Cruz and Paul, part of the group GOP Sen. John McCain dubbed "wing nuts.".....Biden blasted the conservative duo. "They are the ones that control the Republican Party right now, literally," he said. "I've never seen a time in all the years I was in the Senate that two freshmen have so much impact on the entirety of the Republican party."...To Read More... 

My Take - Wow!  That Biden is really a great guy.  Here he is a Democrat and he's worried about what's good for the Republican party.  Right?  Oh....wait....perhaps he's worried that the Republican party is going to be filled with people who are smart, dedicated, courageous and won't be so easy to minipulate.  Nah...that can be true.....Can it?

Somebody owes the Heritage Foundation an apology

BY: CONN CARROLL JUNE 16, 2013 | 6:15 PM

Disagreements happen all the time in Congress. It is a natural part of any democracy. But what doesn't happen all the time is a sitting senator essentially calling a witness a liar.

And that is exactly what Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., did to Heritage Foundation scholar Dr. Salim Furth during a Senate Budget Committee hearing on June 4th titled, "The Fiscal and Economic Effects of Austerity."

During that hearing, Furth testified that "austerity" is an overly broad term often used to obfuscate the true mix of spending cuts and tax hikes governments use to lower their debt burdens. He said that while spending cuts can often improve economic growth, tax hikes only harm the economy and often make debt worse......

[Senator Whitehouse] "I am contesting whether you have given us fair and accurate information," Whitehouse continued. "When you look at the actual balance between spending cuts and tax increases, that the OECD uses it self, to describe what took place in Europe, I cannot connect that to where you come out."
Clearly, Whitehouse believed he had caught Furth and The Heritage Foundation in a bald face lie........There is just one problem with Whitehouse's big gotcha moment:....the numbers Whitehouse used to attack Furth for misreporting "what took place in Europe" were actually mostly projections of what governments said they were planning to do in the future...... To Read More....

Islam: Protecting Women From Freedom Since 610 AD

By Audrey Russo / 16 June 2013

It’s been lauded since 9-11-01. On any given day in the West, via the agitprops of the mainstream media, or by politicos betraying their constituents. One can hear the lies about an ideology founded in blood and hate. A loathing emanating from a self-proclaimed prophet, his holy books and traditions (Quran and Hadiths).

And one of his main targets was (and still is via his minions): The gentler sex…The most egregious of propaganda campaigns is that Islam protects women. But a cursory glance at the Quran and the Hadiths proves this to be the antithesis of the truth.  For your perusal, a few areas where the evidence refutes the rhetoric:…To Read More….

“Islamic Science” or Islamic Propaganda?

June 14, 2013 By Bruce Bawer 60 Comments

For years now, as we all know, newspapers, magazines, and book publishers around the Western world have shrunk from publishing texts that touch on some of the more uncomfortable truths about Islam, preferring instead to give us all but idyllic accounts of Muslim history and belief and hagiographies of its prophet. Similarly, film, TV, and theater producers have gotten into the habit of scrubbing scripts free of anything that might be considered critical of Islam, even as they’ve given the green light to one project after another that has done a thoroughgoing job of whitewashing the Religion of Peace.

On its website, the museum invites adults and children alike to come see “Sultans of Science” and thus “get acquainted with an important scientific legacy from Islamic culture.” ….. Meanwhile, museumgoers have been treated to shows that are sheer Islamic propaganda…… Needless to say, there are two main points to be made whenever the words “Islam” and “science” come up. The first is that Islamic culture, like none other on earth, has proven to be a remarkably powerful impediment to the development of anything remotely deserving of the name of science….. To put it bluntly, you could count all the Muslim winners of Nobel Prizes in science on one hand and have enough fingers left to crochet….. Who’s behind this boatload of B.S.?......To Read More....

The Academic-Media Complex: A Threat to America

by Nick Adams June 15, 2013

With a campaign of infiltration conducted in stealth, the left have successfully managed to take over the college system worldwide.
They have fanned the flame of Western European principles, at the expense of American values. They have carried more water for socialism than a flea to a camel.
Of course, socialism has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore it. 

But while technically defined as “intellectuals”, they lack intellectual integrity.

Make no mistake about it: moral equivalence is a university-bred doctrine. And it is a doctrine that stunts decision and opinion-making- to the detriment of America. Embracing this doctrine means wantonly abandoning the principles of Jefferson and Lincoln. Which in turn means floating aimlessly, without an anchor of conviction or rope of purpose…… As a result of their education, the young left are more intolerant than ever. Their diet of false narrative provided by the ageing hippies and committed leftists doubling as academics has molded them into something entirely different to those of their parents. The propaganda path has deposited kings of progressive pander, elevated “victimhood” to elite status, and made all afraid of their own shadow.....To Read More.....

My Take -The line that these intellectuals lack intellectual integrity is something I find constantly from some who respond to my posts. I used the term intellectual dishonesty, but the principle is the same. Those on the left have no interest in facts or the truth.

Paradigms and Demographics is devoted to one thing and one thing only: The truth. To find it, confirm it, analyze it, understand it, publish it, promote it and defend it. My personal motto: De Omnibus Dubitandum. Question everything!

Heterodoxy isn’t for the faint of heart, but in order to defend the truth one must be willing to challenge those who are not only merely wrong, but those who have sold their integrity for the 12 pieces of silver, which can be in the form of money, power, privilege, position, prestige or popularity. I don’t want money, I don’t want position, I don’t seek prestige, I have no wish for power, I don’t need or desire privilege and I am not interested in being popular. I’m only interested in the truth and I am prepared to follow it wherever it may lead.

The universities were infected with people like Herbert Marcuse and his fellow Frankfurt School socialists since they fled Adolph Hitler's Germany in the 30's. They became ensconced in America's major universities and did irreparable harm to any concept of truth or foundational values. Unfortunately, the universities were already being infected with this thinking; they were the spear point for implementation of socialist folly. Their goal? To contaminate the thinking and emotions of America’s young. They have been successful!

 

Revealed: Yahoo FOUGHT against NSA's warrantless spying program but lost and was forced by secret court to join PRISM

By Daily Mail Reporter 15 June 2013

Yahoo's top lawyers had a courtroom showdown with the National Security Agency after it had demanded information on certain foreign users without a warrant, but the tech giant lost and was forced to hand over the data, it was revealed today.

Court documents obtained by the New York Times show that the Internet company had initially refused to join the PRISM spying program, insisting that the broad national security requests seeking users' personal information were unconstitutional.

However, the secret court operating under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) sided with the NSA and forced Yahoo's hand…..To Read More….

Out of Bounds: Another Court Smack’s Obama NLRB’s Overreach On Union Rights Posters

By: LaborUnionReport (Diary) | June 16th, 2013

If one were keeping score, one might conclude that the Empire is beginning to crumble…In 2010, when Barack Obama’s constitutionally-challenged National Labor Relations Board began proposing an edict to force private-sector, union-free employers to post so-called Union Rights posters. the Board’s lone Republican at the time, Brian Hayes, argued that “the posting requirement is beyond the scope of the Board’s NLRA Sec. 6 power to issue ‘such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions’ of the NLRA.”

In other words, argued Hayes, Congress didn’t give the NLRB the power to require such postings.

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed with former NLRB member Hayes, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in ruling [in PDF]) that the NLRB had indeed overstepped its Congressional mandate:

Because the Board is nowhere charged with informing employees of their rights under the NLRA, we find no indication in the plain language of the Act that Congress intended to grant the Board the authority to promulgate such a requirement.

The NLRB serves expressly reactive roles: conducting representation elections and resolving ULP charges. As an examination of the Act as a whole makes evident, none of its sections imply that Congress intended to grant the Board authority to issue the notice-posting rule sua sponte.

Had Congress intended to grant the NLRB the power to require the posting of employee rights notices, it could have amended the NLRA to do so…..To Read More….