PROCEEDING BOLDLY

Do not give in to evil, but proceed ever more BOLDLY against it.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Weekend Update, No. 11

A day late and a dollar short.  Apologies for dishonesty in title, but "Monday Update" just doesn't do it.  We begin with obligatory new year prognostication, move on to timely consideration of the pants bomber, airport insecurity, and health tyranny, note how government fails our bowel movements and fat people, shore up our libertarian philosophy, then finish with a contrast of New Hampshire and France.  It would almost seem that the weekend wasn't wasted on gainful employment.

The Year Ahead: 2010, by Glen Allport
STR's best writer weighs in after a lengthy hiatus, and he's not exactly optimistic.  Why would he be?  The facts: real unemployment at 22%, 2000s worst decade in history for stocks, inflation baked into the cake, more real estate pain dead ahead, deficits poised to keep exploding, and food + water + oil shortages.  He concludes with three grim predictions.  You had better get yourselves ready.

After the Collectivist Winter Will Come the Spring, by Vin Suprynowicz
A hopeful title, but the forecast is for 2020.

More Cause and Effect in Our Ever-Expanding "War," by Glenn Greenwald
The evidence just keeps on piling up.  The terrorists are motivated by our foreign policy of intervention and blind support of Israel.  His most keen observation is mere common sense, but sense that eludes the majority in this case.
But it's... irrational to think that you're going to spend a full decade bellowing WE ARE AT WAR! to the world, send bombs and troops and all forms of death to multiple Muslim countries (both directly and through Israel), and not have that directed back at us.  That's what happens when a country is "at war" -- it doesn't just get to blow up things and people in other countries, but its own things and people sometimes get blown up as well.  That's how "war" works.



Are Planned Airport Scanners Just a Scam, by Jane Merrick
All the highest tech X-ray scanners and millimeter-wave scanners (panty scanners) are essentially useless.  Abdulmutallab and his PETN bomb would have strolled right on through anyway.  Yet we all will foot the bill for gadzillions of dollars' worth of this garbage in every airport just so we can be leered at by high school dropouts while our gametes are irradiated and mutated.  As in the photo above, see just what is possible.

What Israel Can Teach Us About Security, by Cathal Kelly
Decidedly low tech, common sense security triumphs.  The secret?  Focus on people, not shoes, toothpaste, or underwear.

Health Care Reform Is a Good Idea -- Let's Prove It! by Per BylundA simple challenge that would work equally well for any government program.  Set up a head-to-head competition between said program and the free market, where each arm is self-financing.  Allow people to choose the arm of the study in which they wish to participate, including changing arms at any time.  In my very own version of this contest, the entire USA is divided in at least two parts -- guess which would prosper?  Obviously, it's not about choice and it's not about quality.  These are lies.  It's about envy, theft, and control, just as it always is.

What Will the Doctors Do? by Robert Anderson
Despite the support of many medical societies, the truth is that we won't be lining up in numbers to see Obamacare patients.  More like running for the hills.  As the author writes, "Whenever any valuable commodity, in this case personal medical care, gets treated as a free good the result has been and always will be economic chaos."  Might I suggest removing the word "economic"?  Not because that is incorrect, but much too narrow.  A brief visit to any ER will be explanatory.

The Relentless Misery of 1.6 Gallons, by Jeffrey Tucker
Government edict reverses thousands of years of sanitation wisdom and progress, with foul results.  I hope you live in a home constructed before 1994.  And if you do, exercise extreme caution if you're in the market for a bathroom remodel.  As for me, I'm currently enjoying 1970s style flushing, though I recently suffered under the 1.6 gallon mandate.  Fortunately I was able to make some unauthorized modifications to those apartment toilets that kept me relatively plunge-free.

Food Stamps for Fat People, by S.E. Seachman
Yes, even if you are morbidly obese, our government is scared that you're going to starve to death and are in dire need of the proceeds of theft.  All while you continue to indulge in the most unhealthy fare.
The USDA doesn’t explain how a bag of Doritos, a 2-liter jug of Mountain Dew and a handful of Snickers bars fit into their health pyramid. But they insist, overweight Americans need those essential items--for free--to obtain optimal nutrition.
If these idiots can't figure this one out, how are they going to do with medicine?

Would You Hurt Me if I Said No to Your Politics, by Marcel Votlucka
If you vote, you would.
Politics isn’t just random slogans or feel-good catchphrases and cool policies that make the world a happy place of rainbows and sugarpops. No, politics is about playing the system and using force against others to get what you want.
Government is violence.

Neither Left Nor Right, by Dough Carkuff
Nonaggression and freedom.  Doesn't everybody want these things?  Unfortunately, no.

Resist DC: NH Legislators Look to Nullify Federal Gun Laws, by Michael Boldin
A bill with teeth.  Federal agents find themselves subject to felony charges for seeking to operate outside of NH law.

Shouting at Your Wife May Get You a Criminal Record in France, by Peter Allen
Ridiculous as it may seem, it's always instructive to look to Europe for what the liberals are likely to advocate here in the near future.

2 comments:

  1. Two things about the body scanners: They're more revealing than we were led to believe. Also, notice who they used to illustrate how these wonderful devices can catch your "typical terrorist" -- an eeeeevil blonde!

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  2. Thanks for checking out and commenting on the blog. You're exactly right about how revealing the scanners are. The photo doesn't even come close to the detail possible, as the original images are much higher resolution. By the way, I don't know if you noticed in my links, but I am a fan of your site. Keep up the good work.

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