A blog on politics, economics, culture, philosophy, the media, real estate, pets, love, food and wine. From a Tea Party perspective!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
The latest Leftover drivel from the web on the Kochs and Wisconsin-- a little fact checking
On Sun, Feb 27, 2011 at 12:08 PM, wrote:

| Reactions: |
Down with Fat 'Crats!

| Reactions: |
Saturday, February 26, 2011
NEA and SEIU threw an astroturf protest -- and nobody came
Most of the protesters seemed to be over 45, like this aging munchkin, and too tired to hold their signs up. (A few late 20s Socialist Workers Party members ran a literature table.) See how much empty lawn there is behind the munchkin. The SEIUers and NEAsters barely filled the inner circle around the fountain.
A very small crowd; SEIU national HQ is building on the left.
Well one of the seasoned citizens managed to hold her sign up. I wonder if they use that much energy when "teaching."

Sally 4 hours ago |
| Reactions: |
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Rebellion spreads from middle East to Washington, D.C.
| Reactions: |
Federal Marshals Threaten, Censor _Libertarian Enterprise_, by L. Neil Smith
Federal Marshals Threaten, Censor Libertarian Enterprise
by L. Neil Smith
Publisher and Senior Columnist
lneil@netzero.com
Distribute Widely
Attribute to The Libertarian Enterprise
For the first time, in its sixteenth year of publication, this journal of libertarian views and opinion—bound by an absolute moral resolve never to initiate force against anyone for any reason, nor to advocate or delegate its initiation—has been threatened by agents of the federal government and ordered to remove content from its website.
We have done so. When you learn, in a general way, what that content consisted of, you will be perplexed, at first, then angrier and angrier as you see what has been done to what was once a free country, and realize precisely who is most responsible for having done it.
Last August, TLE ran a piece by our frequent contributor Jim Davidson about the hypocrisy of the federal judiciary. Three federal judges had just authorized a practice in which armed government agents could feel free to trespass on a citizen's property without a warrant or probable cause, in order to affix a GPS tracker to that citizen's car.
Our columnist's natural and logical response was to deprive these judges of privacy the same way they were allowing the privacy of the individuals who pay their salaries (however involuntarily) to be violated. Using only publicly available sources, he published their names, addresses, and other information. Let me state that again, so there can be no mistake: he published their names, addresses, and other such information which he had obtained from purely public sources.
This week—six months later—we have been notified, first by our domain registrar GoDaddy.com, then in an e-mail from the U.S. Marshals' "service" that we must remove the offending article fromTLE's website, in order to assure the safety of the judges and their families. (This, of course, begs the question, why in the hell their information is publicly available if it constitutes a threat to their safety.) GoDaddy.com has refused to answer reasonable questions about this affair—such as precisely what Terms of Service we were in violation of—instead simply repeating the order to remove the material.
We have complied.
I used to have a little respect for the U.S. Marshals' "service". They had a long, distinguished history, and for some reason, they seemed cleaner to me, nobler, better than the bottom of the barrel scrapings infesting other federal "law enforcement" agencies, like the ones, for example, that disgraced themselves at Ruby Ridge and Mount Carmel.
I wonder if any of them ever thought, when they were growing up, dreaming little kid dreams of being the "goodguys" and saving folks from the "badguys", that they'd end up merely doing the bidding of corrupt and irrational federal judges, thuggishly intimidating the very folks they once dreamed of saving, helping a new and unAmerican aristocracy to establish themselves as an elite with rights—like simple privacy—that ordinary individuals are no longer allowed to enjoy.
But we have complied.
And yet, our compliance is not without its cost. Everyone who reads this will now understand a little better what those who wish to rule their lives are made of. And they will know—as if they didn't know already—that these distinguished, cleaner, nobler keepers of the peace are nothing more than a cruel myth. And that knowledge—enough of it—will be all that it takes to change the course of history.
Meanwhile, whom do we hold responsible for this unjustifiable violation of the First Amendment? The Republican administration of Abraham Lincoln was probably not the first, but was by far the worst of its time. Presidents like Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt began to see the people as their property and treated them accordingly.
The RICO Act was specifically designed to deprive the accused of representation in court. The authorities and their stooges in media work overtime to convince us that anyone who "lawyers up" is guilty. Agencies like the FBI and CIA are not authorized in the Constitution. Neither Republicans nor Democrats have ever said a word to stop these practices.
Now we have the Department of Homeland Security which officially regards the average American wage earner, homemaker, student, hunter, sportsman, scholar of the Bible or the Constitution as an uncaught criminal. The so-called Transportation Safety Administration shakes down just as many inmates of this nation-sized prison as it can every day.
So who is to blame? Those who do the shaking. Those who abuse their fellow citizens for no other reason than that they can. Or because the sociopaths in power have paid them to do so. And we, the abused, are forced at gunpoint to give them half of everything we earn.
And we have complied.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Veronique de Rugy Debunks Housing Market Myths on Bloomberg
Editor’s Note: Reason columnist Veronique de Rugy appears weekly on Bloomberg TV to separate economic fact from economic myth.
Myth 1: In order for the economy to recover, housing prices have to reach pre-recession levels. They cannot decline further. Therefore the government must continue to prop up housing prices or provide incentives to encourage people to buy homes.
Fact 1: Pre-recession housing prices were a historic anomaly based on easy credit caused in part by misguided government policy. Lower housing prices are not bad for everyone. They are also the only way to get rid of our bloated housing inventory.
The idea that economic recovery can’t happen unless our housing prices return to pre-recession levels makes no sense.
First, as the chart below shows, for most of American history housing prices grew at a relatively slow rate. It was only in the last 15 years that prices exploded. The factors behind this sudden change are a mixed bag of government policies that encouraged homeownership and cheap interest rates and a willingness by banks to lend to people who could only realistically afford to pay if housing prices doubled every two years. George Mason University economist Russ Roberts has a very good blog postexplaining why housing prices went up so fast.

Second, low prices are not bad for everyone. Yes, low prices are bad for homeowners who are trying to sell and for banks that have lots of bad loans on their books. But low prices are very good for people who want to buy houses. They are also very good for low-income buyers who were priced out of the market in recent years. Finally, low prices are good for people who build homes.
But most importantly, only lower prices can address one of the major problems of the real estate market: a bloated inventory of unsold homes.
The inventory of existing homes stood at 3.71 million in November 2010, about where it was four years ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. Add to that the 197,000 new homes for sale and you can see just how bloated the inventory of unsold homes has become.
As Bloomberg’s Caroline Baum wrote in January: “The demand curve is downward sloping. What that means is demand for any good or service isn’t fixed. It depends on the price. A $1,000 cashmere sweater will find a lot more takers when it’s marked down to $500 in a post-Christmas sale. In general, the lower the price, the greater the quantity demanded. Hence, a reduction in prices could address this glut.”
We need a reduction, not an increase in prices. A return to the historical norm, not to the recent anomaly. This means that state and federal policies which prop up housing prices are discouraging the market from taking the steps necessary to get back on track.
Myth 2: We need a foreclosure moratorium to help those people drowning in debt who have had to default on their mortgages.
Fact 2: Defaulting on a mortgage does not necessarily reflect an inability to pay. The current crisis has produced a new phenomenon: homeowners who default by choice. A moratorium would eliminate the current penalty and thereby encourage more people who are still able to pay to walk away from their obligations.
While some foreclosures are driven by homeowners’ economic hardship, there is much evidence to suggest that many other foreclosures are driven by the homeowners’ rational economic calculus.
4 words for educrats: Off with your heads!
SNOPES EXPOSED – Heavily financed by George Soros | Republic Broadcasting Network
In our Search for the truth department, we find what I have suspected on many occasions. I went to Snopes to check this out and they said it was false and there were no such dockets so I ‘Googled’ the Supreme Court, typed in ‘Obama-Kagan,’ and guess what? Yep you got it. Snopes lied. Every one of those dockets is there. So here is what I wrote Snopes:
Referencing the article about Elena Kagan and Barack Obama dockets: The information you have posted stating that there were no such cases as claimed and the examples you gave are blatantly false. I went directly to the Supreme Court’s website, typed in Obama Kagan and immediately came up with all of the dockets that the article made reference to. I have long suspected that you really slant things but this was really shocking.
That being said, I’ll bet you didn’t know this.
Kagan was representing Obama in all the petitions to prove his citizenship. Now she may help rule on them. Folks, this is really ugly. Chicago Politics; and the beat goes on and on and on.
Once again the US Senate sold us out! Well, someone figured out why Obama nominated Elana Kagan for the Supreme Court. Pull up the Supreme Courts website, go to the docket and search for Obama. She was the Solicitor General for all the suits against him filed with the Supreme Court to show proof of natural born citizenship. He owed her big time. All of the requests were denied of course.
They were never heard. It just keeps getting deeper and deeper, doesn’t it? The American people mean nothing any longer. It’s all about payback time for those who compromised themselves to elect someone who really has no true right to even be there.
Here are some websites of the Supreme Court Docket:
You can look up some of these hearings and guess what?? Elana Kagan is the attorney representing Obama!!!
Check out these examples:
http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=/docketfiles/09-8857.htm
http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=/docketfiles/09-8857.htm
http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=/docketfiles/09-6790.htm
http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=/docketfiles/09-6790.htm
http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=/docketfiles/09-724.htm
http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=/docketfiles/09-724.htm
If you are not interested in justice or in truth delete this.
However, if you hold sacred the freedoms granted to you by the U.S. Constitution…
By all means, please… PASS it ON!
“…There truly is tyranny afoot.”
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
DailyTech - U.S. Government Accidentally Abuses Internet "Kill Switch", Shuts off 84,000 Sites
Jason Mick (Blog) - February 17, 2011 10:53 AM
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | 41 comment(s) - last by RedemptionAD.. on Feb 19 at11:01 PM |


In evidence of the dangers of the U.S. government's increasing "kill switch" powers regarding web servers inside the U.S., the Department of Justice and Homeland Security’s ICE last week essentially shut down 84,000 sites in a case of mistaken identity.
The shutdowns targeted mooo.com, the most popular shared domain at free web service provider FreeDNS. FreeDNS is a free domain service that is immensely popular among file sharers, blogs, small businesses, and other independent operators. Its homepage is afraid.org.
With the mooo.com shutdown last Friday, the ICE accidentally shut down 84,000 subdomain pages. The pages were all redirected to a banner that stated "Advertisement, distribution, transportation, receipt, and possession of child pornography constitute federal crimes that carry penalties for first time offenders of up to 30 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, forfeiture and restitution."
The court order to shut down and redirect the sites was granted via a seizure warrant from a District Court. The warrant was executed as part of the DHS ICE team's "Operation Save Our Children".
The key problem is that none of the sites thus identified under the mooo.com superdomain had child porn on them. They appear to have been the victim of an overzealous government police force with a bit too much power on its hands.
FreeDNS has expressed outrage. In a statement, they comment, "Freedns.afraid.org has never allowed this type of abuse of its DNS service. We are working to get the issue sorted as quickly as possible."
Over the weekend they managed to begin restoring some of the pages. Meanwhile small business owners were left to try to reassure customers that they were note engaging in illegal activity [source example].
The DHS is actually bragging about the takedowns citing 10 child porn sites that were taken offline, but conveniently forgetting to mention the 84,000 legitimate sites it also killed. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano states [press release]:
Each year, far too many children fall prey to sexual predators and all too often, these heinous acts are recorded in photos and on video and released on the Internet...DHS is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to shut down websites that promote child pornography to protect these children from further victimization.
The DHS has not yet released an official statement on the abuse of power. It also has yet to comment on whether it plans to compensate webpage owners for lost business or damage to their websites.
Website owners can still replicate the redirect by adding "74.81.170.110 mooo.com" to their hosts file.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Wisconsin Rally Against Tax Predator Union Parasitism
I STAND WITH SCOTT WALKER RALLY |
| Time | Saturday, February 19 · 12:00pm - 3:00pm |
|---|---|
| Location | Wisconsin State Capitol, South Steps |
| Created By | |
| More Info | NOW Featuring Andrew Breitbart of Breitbart.com and Jim Hoff of Gateway Pundit. More Speakers TBA. As the week has progressed, Wisconsin and the Nation have watched schools across Wisconsin close due to teachers participating in a “sick out”, the unions bussing people in from other states to inflate their rally numbers in Madison and legislators fleeing the state to avoid the vote on the budget repair bill. It’s time the voices of the Wisconsin people are heard. We've had thousands of people show up for tea party events to rally to take our state back - but our work isn't done. Let's have our voices heard once again and show our state legislators that we support this bill. We need concerned Wisconsin citizens to show up at noon on Saturday, February 19th to voice our support for Gov. Walker and our conservative legislators! Tell your friends--let's set a turn out record! |
Wall
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Coulter on Paul
“Dr. Paul is a very smart man and whenever he says anything I listen, unless it is about foreign policy, because I am afraid he might convince me.”
(Still love ya!)

| Reactions: |
Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged Trailer Released - GalleyCat
| Reactions: |


