The Scott Wickham Experience

Adventures in Green Electronics

2012-01-07T14:26:00.002-05:00

I have just purchased this solar powered cover/book light/charger for my kindle 4.

It will probably arrive in 2 to 3 weeks so I will stop recharging my kindle now so it can be totally drained by the time the cover arrives.

At that time I will place the cover by my window to let it charge its internal battery from which it will charge my kindle.

The goal will be to have my kindle totally off the power grid with the minimum of effort.

I just think it would be amazingly cool if charging my kindle required nothing more than sitting it in my window sill.

Anyway I can't wait to see how well it works.

Competition Destroys the Kindle - or Why the Kindle Touch is Pocketful of Fail

2011-11-19T18:38:00.020-05:00

My first experience with the Amazon Kindle was with Model #2. Since then a Kindle has the following features: keyboard, e-ink screen, free internet connection, mp3 player, audible audiobook player, web browser, wireless delivery of books, wireless delivery of personal documents, text to speech and custom apps/active content.

With the Kindle Model 3 we see Amazon reacting to the market. They removed 3g from the basic model - if nook doesn't need it they don't, they removed the number keys from they keyboard -if the ipad doesn't need number keys then we don't, they did add a webkit browser but they stopped allowing the browser to access file urls.

Needless to say their sales responded, 3g model sold less than wi-fi model. The Nook became popular with the press because it didn't have a keyboard and was shorter, consumer reports says that even though Nook didn't have web browser, apps, mp3, text to speech, e-mail delivery of documents, audiobook it was a better product.

So Amazon responded, they removed 3g, keyboard, text to speech, mp3, 3rd party apps and audio support. While smashing through the mystical $99 price point. So they produced the best e-reader which I reviewed here.

The e-reader was excellent but it was no longer a "Kindle". My son could no longer pick it up anywhere and search google for images of characters from his favorite tv show. He couldn't click a button and have the book read it him, he couldn't listen to his "The Incredible Adventures of Jack Flanders" radio drama, he couldn't play Chess.

At this point you can now understand why Amazon is selling 5 different e-ink models instead of the 1 they had just 30 months ago because they are trying to respond to the press and market pressures. They are trying to sell their UNIQUE device the Kindle. While every review has them competing with the Kobo Touch, Kobo Wifi and the Nook Simple Touch.

Amazons' response was two parts, the first was their $79 reader that took a classic Kindle and ripped out everything that had a marginal cost of greater than zero cents that was required for it to be an e-reader. Even the power adapter and and 1/2 the memory was removed. The second part was the Kindle Touch.

The Kindle Touch is Amazon's attempt to put the UNIQUE features of the Kindle into a $99 package that has a touch screen like its "competitors". Unfortunately its for us its a "Pocketful of Fail". The reviews are positive because reviewers aren't Kindle users, they aren't readers. They don't understand that earlier Kindles had many features that they never noticed or reviewed. See this awesome positive review from Wired and the assumptions it contains. Such as "Gone as well are the page-turning buttons as users, even infants, assume and insist the screen be the sole interface"

First I must state that what I mean by a "Pocketful of Fail" I simply mean that it is worse not better than the previous Kindle. The reason this upsets me is that I fear that Amazon will eliminate the previous models leaving us only with a reduced device.

Since I have K2, K3 -3g, and k4 I am able to compare the Kindle Touch to all of them.

The Kindle Touch does 1 significant thing better than previous kindles. The touch screen allows you better control when reading PDF files. So if want to view lots of PDF's such as the ones provided by google books the Kindle Touch is your e-reader.

In ever other significant point the Kindle Touch is reduction in functionality from the Kindle 3, now called the Kindle Keyboard. The reason the Kindle Touch is not a upgrade from the Kindle 3 is that its a total software rewrite and not an upgrade as Amazon implies by calling it firmware version 5. I haven't read any reviews or news or insider information to support this belief but I will lay down the supporting evidence. (Update: New software now verified by

outside source).

Lets talk about the significant reductions in functionality

You can't rotate the screen - ie. no landscape mode
no volume/page turn/menu/ or 5 way controller buttons
The maximum volume for audio books is reduced significantly along with speaker quality
You can no longer browse the internet on 3g
3rd Party Apps don't Run

I think these changes speak to a total rewrite of the software. There is no reason to remove landscape viewing mode especially when the smaller form factor makes it so much more appealing as I pointed out in my $79 Kindle hands on review. In an ideal world the software of the old kindle would all be there but you could now touch as well as use the 5 way controller, they could then just add the pinch and zoom functionality to make it better.

As a experienced project manager I can see in my minds eye what happened. Jeff said just add these touch zones and pinch and zoom to our touch screen version and we release Nov 2011. They started and realized that they couldn't be sure that they could deliver on the extra required functionality but they could take a tablet web browser and customize it to the kindle. They just used their current interface as their specs.

If you look closely this is what they did. For example it makes no sense that the "Menu" button is at the top of the Kindle Touch instead of near the bottom by the physical "Home" button. It stops you from being able to manage it one handed. With the K4 -($79) you can stop reading a book and then browse through the kindle store one handed, you can't do this with the touch.

Notice that the excellent and useful "back" button functionality that exists in all previous Kindle Models is gone. Also notice that the UI is not optimized for Touch. I.E. no intelligent utilization of fitts's law (unless you think they used it so you are always accidentally touching the special offer) which shows that the designers were told keep it just like the old Kindle's so we don't get crap from users and reviewers for changing everything. (The fact that most reviews don't even notice that landscape mode is gone tell us how much the quality of tech reporting has dropped since the days of Byte).

Lets look at some more changes for the worse. In all previous models of the kindle you could go through your list of books and your long web pages using the same physical actions you used when reading books. You could scroll through using the next page and previous page button which would move it up or down by one screen. With the Touch you can't use previous and next touches you have to swipe up or down, on the book list it moves by one page but in the web browser it doesn't move up by a full screen sometimes its hard to get it to move up or down even 1/3 of a screen this makes the web browser significantly worse than the previous model.

When you are in the web browser you lose the ability to scale the page by the menu, you can only do it using pinch and zoom. Also in the web browser if your focus changes to a textbox the on screen keyboard come up but for some reason the browser decides to automatically zoom in the web page about 300%. It doesn't go back once you lose focus so as far as I am concerned the browser is broken.

My final evidence that this is a total software rewrite is that the screen refreshes look different and much less sharp even when you put it in refresh every page. It starts to melt away then it forces the full refresh. This indicates to me significant low level changes.

This review might seem like I am harping on small things but details matter. The Kindle Touch is using 1.0 software and it shows. My recommendation don't purchase it yet. If you want full functionality get a Kindle Keyboard, if you just want to read books get the Kindle you will be very happy with either of those models.

If you don't believe me note the Amazon reviews of the Kindle and Kindle Keyboard are higher than the Kindle Touch.

Final note: After using the $79 Kindle for a month the extra weight of the Kindle Touch feels like carrying around a brick.

$79 Kindle Hands On

2011-11-15T22:09:00.003-05:00

Last week Amazon announced their long awaited video ipod.
(P.S. I previously only published this to a listserve).

What wasn't expected at the announcement was that we would finally
have a top quality e-reader available for under $100.

Needless to say the day after the announcement I checked my Amazon
Gift card balance and was able to order the $79 kindle with $7.01 tax
and free super saver shipping . Leaving a paltry $2.79 gift card
balance. It was all worth it because on Monday evening I came home to
my new 4th generation Kindle.

Since I did my research before I wasn't surprised that like Apple with
its ipod it no longer came with a wall charger, just an usb cable.

Feature wise the kindle has finally become an electronic device just
for wirelessly reading text.

When the kindle was $259 plus dollars each they needed to give you
"extra" features that you rarely used. For $79 they can provide a
greater value per dollar for their customer. I also suspect without
any evidence that their $79 reader has the highest profit margin of
all of their new hardware releases since they removed the keyboard,
mp3 player, 1/2 the memory, 1/2 the battery and the power supply.

Content wise amazon just started providing an excellent system for
borrowing books from public libraries. You can also e-mail books and
documents to your kindle and they will be stored for free on Amazon
Servers. On the downside some of their current Kindle games and apps
are not currently compatible with the new Kindle.

Anyway lets get to the meat, a hands on review.

First off the new device is amazingly light. It is significantly
lighter than a paperback or a magazine.

I remember when I read my first novel on my k2 and it was easy to hold
it for 6 hours of reading. At a certain point with the k4 you don't
even realize that you are carrying it.

I really like the push button to turn it on. Its now like a smartphone.

The whole device feels much more solid. More like the metal K2 than
the plastic K3. Although it is also made out of plastic. The buttons
especially the 5 way controller feel sturdy and give excellent
feedback.

Below are the approximate dimensions of the K2, K3, K4
(yes k3 and k4 have a larger screen than the K2)

Device Screen
K2 8x5.25 4.75x3.5 40% of the area of the device is the screen

K3 7.5x4.75 4.875x3.5 48% of the area of the device is the screen

K4 6.5x4.5 4.875x3.5 59% of the area of the device is the screen

these new dimensions give the device a totally difference feel. The K4 feels
and looks like a small picture frame.

On the new Kindle the boarders are only 6/16 of an inch on the long sides
and 10/16" on the top and 16/16" or 1 inch on the bottom compared to 2 inches
on the bottom of the K3 and 2.5 inches on the bottom of the K2.

This change of dimension accomplishes something very very important. It makes
the Kindle comfortable to hold sideways in one hand. Since your
fingers are closer to
to the center of mass of the device the torque of holding it steady
is reduced thus
putting less strain on your thumb that balances the divice. You can
also handle it
with your thumbs at the side (new bottom) where the page forward and
back buttons
are (they work very nicely this way excellent feel) while the device
is held on both
sides with your index fingers.

As I read through Pride and Prejudice ( I am currently at 58% / page
203 of 333).
I was able to hold it comfortably in any position. I think my favorite
is sideways since
the sideways menus require fewer clicks to reach and item then in the
standard position.
(Yes I know its not a big deal but .. details matter.. the seconds add
up over time).
Also when I am surfing the web more pages can be displayed without having to
scale them which saves a lot of time redrawing screens and scrolling
left and right.

Along with the keyboad being removed the font/size/screen rotation
button has been
removed and it function have been moved to a more convenient space
which is in the main
main accessible through the menu button. This is most useful when
using the web browser.

Most reviews I have read said that the screen resolution and quality
is the same as the K3.
I suspect it is a little better because I can now comfortably read for
a long period of time at
at a smaller font size. ( I doubt my vision has gotten better.)

Since the press gave the latest nook high points for having a screen
that only flashed black every 6th page turn Amazon implemented that feature in the K4. I had
suspected that
irregularly timed screen flashes would be more distracting that the
kindle method of
flashing every page. In fact it MUCH worse than that. The black
screen blanking is
necessary for the Kindle to work as a "book" instead of a computer
screen. During that
"flash" your eyes stop staring at the screen for a second while the
pages changes.
Without the flash you eyes remain on the page and the words very
disturbingly melt away
then reform.

This was a almost a deal breaker for me. I was trying to train myself
to look away when
I clicked a page advance when I found that if your kindle has the
latest software you can change the screen refresh back to have it
happen on every page. I had to download and upgrade the software to
have this feature
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=200774090
) but I suspect it will the default software for anyone who purchase
it in the near future.

Living without sound. I have so many mp3 players that I don't miss it.
Now if the kindle played my amazon mp3s on my kindle over wi-fi I
would have been so amazingly happy but that has not happened yet. My
8 year old does like to use text to speech on his K2 so if you are
purchasing for young children the $79 version might not be for you.

Living without 3g. No biggie anywhere I read has wi-fi. Also I have
become so spoiled with the free doc transfer by wifi its my primary
means of downloading content now. I use the "klip.me" service to
e-mail long web articles to my kindle for later reading.

Living with Advertising, wish they actually had more deals to chose
from. But if you don't like it you can pay $30 to have them removed
later. So don't have to make the call to live with or without the ads
without actually trying it out.

Living without a keyboard. To be honest I have been unhappy with the
keyboard ever since they removed the number row from the K2. The lack
of keyboard will mean that I wont be using it to send messages from
gmail. Using the soft keyboard is like using a remote control on you
dvr to write out the name of the show your recorded or searching for
netflix movies using my roku box remote.

Overall I really like it. I will keep my K3 since its the last model
that will have free unfettered internet access and that is useful
when I am traveling, but for day to day use the K4 is my go to
machine.

It easily fits into my jacket pocket, the wi-fi and web browser seem
to be bit faster and have a longer range. The menu options actually
improve web browsing (mostly gmail and google reader to read my
favorite sites).

Oh and one final note now for $79 dollars you never need to purchase
another book again if you don't want to. You can borrow books directly
from the public library, feedbooks, and project gutenberg and they
wirelessly download to your machine over wi-fi. Very very nice.

I will probably be posting this review to the web later, so if you
have any question or thought that you think people would like to know
about this product please drop me a line.

Why the Kindle Fire Matters

2011-11-15T18:15:00.002-05:00

After writing this post I realized that I am way too long winded so I
will start with the conclusion.

The Conclusion:

The Kindle Fire will bring more and better software to the Android Platform.

Introduction:

The Kindle Fire is a cheap Chinese Android Tablet

Note the specs:

Kindle Fire: 8 gb storage, 512k Ram, 7 inch display, Capacitive
Screen, $199

Chinese Andriod Tablet : Pearl - HD Android 2.3 Tablet with 7 Inch
Capacitive Touch Screen (1.2GHz, 8GB, DDR3 512MB, 1080P)
http://tinyurl.com/dymtyq4 $199.

The tech press has been knocking cheap Android Tablets for years
saying they are a waste of money. Even though many people are happy
with their Pandigital Tablets even with their resistive screens.

Amazon has the clout to say that these cheap tablets are good enough
for us and good enough for our customers to do what they need and they
are correct.

The Argument:

My $351 Vista Laptop is not in the same class as my $1200 MacBook Pro
but both of them allow me to get my work done. In fact the #1 reason
why I used my MacBook over the Vista/Unbuntu Machine is 1 piece of
free software (TextWrangler) that allows me to save files over ftp as
easily as saving to my hard drive.

What differentiates the Kindle Fire from the Chinese Tablets is
software. What differentiates the IPAD from top of the line Android
Tablets is software. By working on the software Amazon had taken
underpowered hardware and made it competitive with the IPAD
(Hardware/Software Combo). Can the Kindle Fire beat an IPAD of course
not. Its less than 1/2 the price. Can a Kindle Fire beat an IPOD TOUCH
which is the same price ? (That is for you to decide).

The Kindle Fire will be a commercial success because it will be on
Amazons home page and Amazon wont abandon it. Since it will be a
commercial success SOFTWARE makers will write APPS for it. APPS for
the Fire mean APPS for ANDROID. There is finally a compelling reason
for the best software developers to write Android tablet apps.

To return to the theme of this note: Software makes all of the
difference in the end.

To Quote Netflix:
"New Experience Now Available for All Android Tablets (iPad Coming Soon)"

The Conclusion: (Reprise)

The Kindle Fire will bring more and better software to the Android Platform.

Tiger & Bunny

2011-05-06T19:10:00.002-05:00

Robert Anton Wilson explains Quantum Physics

2011-02-02T23:57:00.001-05:00

Lets Go to Mars

2011-01-10T17:23:00.000-05:00

Revisionist History:

2010-12-15T20:16:00.003-05:00

If you go a Hulu or dvd and watch The Season 2 Opener of The Greatest American Hero Your will be treated with this mid episode clip.

The above clip is not what was originally shown.

This a a link to the original clip

This is just one of the many unforgettable moments of great tv that will only live in the memories of those who saw it since they refuse to republish the original. :(

How Illegal Immigration Hurts Black America

2010-09-05T17:10:00.002-05:00

With national unemployment hovering around 10 percent and black male unemployment at a staggering 17.6 percent, it's just not true that undocumented workers are doing the jobs that we won't do.

.....

Following a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid that nabbed 300 undocumented workers at a Columbia Farms processing plant in Columbia, S.C., a spooked House of Raeford quietly began replacing immigrants with native-born labor at all of its plants. Less than a year later, House of Raeford’s flagship production line in Raeford, N.C., had been transformed, going from more than 80 percent Latino to 70 percent African-American, according to a report by the Charlotte Observer.

.....

For their efforts, African Americans were paid a median household income of $32,000 in 2007. In the same year, the median household income for illegal immigrants was $37,000.

Extra Note:
The unemployment rate for illegal immigrants in March 2009 was 10.4 percent

Politicians say more taxes will Solve everything

2010-08-03T12:35:00.000-05:00

Ball Of Confusion Lyrics
Artist(Band):The Temptations

People movin' out
People movin' in
Why, because of the color of their skin
Run, run, run, but you sho' can't hide
An eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
Vote for me, and I'll set you free
Rap on brother, rap on
Well, the only person talkin'
'Bout love thy brother is the preacher
And it seems,
Nobody is interested in learnin'
But the teacher
Segregation, determination, demonstration,
Integration, aggravation,
Humiliation, obligation to our nation
Ball of Confusion
That's what the world is today

The sale of pills are at an all time high
Young folks walk around with
Their heads in the sky
Cities aflame in the summer time
And, the beat goes on

Air pollution, revolution, gun control,
Sound of soul
Shootin' rockets to the moon
Kids growin' up too soon
Politicians say more taxes will
Solve everything
And the band played on
So round 'n' round 'n' round we go
Where the world's headed, nobody knows
Just a Ball of Confusion
Oh yea, that's what the wold is today

Fear in the air, tension everywhere
Unemployment rising fast,
The Beatles' new record's a gas
And the only safe place to live is
On an indian reservation
And the band played on
Eve of destruction, tax deduction
City inspectors, bill collectors
Mod clothes in demand,
Population out of hand
Suicide, too many bills, hippies movin'
To the hills
People all over the world, are shoutin'
End the war
And the band played on.

Copyright 1970 Jobete Music Company, Inc.

2010-06-13T23:29:00.001-05:00

Implicit marginal tax Rates over 100%

2010-03-29T14:43:00.004-05:00

"For many of the working poor, the implicit marginal tax rate is greater than 100 percent. The long-run consequence of undermining the positive incentive to work is, of course, the creation of an underclass acclimated to not working;"

Also it is not an accident.

Why do the government's implicit marginal tax rates go so far out of their way to affect people and households with low annual incomes? ... we see that aggregate household income first rises, then falls as income increases, with households at lower incomes collectively earning as much as the households at higher incomes. For example, we can directly observe that households with annual earnings of $20,000 amass the same amount of aggregate income as those with annual earnings of $80,000. ..... We find that the level of implicit marginal tax rates with respect to earned income look the way they do because of how most of the money earned each year is distributed among U.S. households. With a progressive income tax structure, implicit taxation through the phase-out of welfare and other income-based tax benefits and credits at lower income levels is the method by which the government would appear to shift the implicit tax burden to more closely center on the mass of money aggregated in households with annual earnings between $19,000 and $46,000.

Every New Rule Will Increase your Premiums - That is how it works

2010-03-22T18:28:00.001-05:00

Building a Better Teacher

2010-03-07T16:14:00.001-05:00

When researchers ran the numbers in dozens of different studies, every factor under a school’s control produced just a tiny impact, except for one: which teacher the student had been assigned to. Some teachers could regularly lift their students’ test scores above the average for children of the same race, class and ability level. Others’ students left with below-average results year after year. William Sanders, a statistician studying Tennessee teachers with a colleague, found that a student with a weak teacher for three straight years would score, on average, 50 percentile points behind a similar student with a strong teacher for those years. Teachers working in the same building, teaching the same grade, produced very different outcomes. And the gaps were huge. Eric Hanushek, a Stanford economist, found that while the top 5 percent of teachers were able to impart a year and a half’s worth of learning

Consider a bar graph presented at a recent talk on teaching, displaying the number of Americans in different professions. The shortest bar, all the way on the right, represented architects: 180,000. Farther over, slightly higher, came psychologists (185,000) and then lawyers (952,000), followed by engineers (1.3 million) and waiters (1.8 million). On the left side of the graph, the top three: janitors, maids and household cleaners (3.3 million); secretaries (3.6 million); and, finally, teachers (3.7 million). Moreover, a coming swell of baby-boomer retirements is expected to force school systems to hire up to a million new teachers between now and 2014.o students in one school year, as judged by standardized tests, the weakest 5 percent advanced their students only half a year of material each year.

Only two things are infinite

2010-02-25T15:50:00.002-05:00

....and Democrats' hostility to the District of Columbia's school choice program. Killing this small program, which currently benefits 1,300 mostly poor and minority children, is odious and indicative. It is a small piece of something large -- the Democrats' dependency agenda, which aims to multiply the ways Americans are dependent on government.

Democrats, in their canine devotion to teachers unions, oppose empowering poor children to escape dependency on even terrible government schools. Unions and their poodles say school choice siphons money from public schools. But federal money funds D.C.'s program, so killing it denies education money to D.C. while increasing the number of pupils D.C. must support.

Why you should be a team of one

2010-02-20T01:10:00.002-05:00

the reason why things are bad is not a lack of expertise, but a lack of willingness among ‘experts’ to step out of their safe expert box and fight to effect change, or a failure to succeed at it. Someone with fewer pedigrees tends to see fewer boundaries, and that’s often what a team or culture or company needs for change to happen. Many projects need basic first aid, not brain surgery, and I suspect medics, who are generalists, do better first-aid than neurosurgeons, who are specialists. Of course if I have a brain tumor, I’ll wait for Mr. Neurosurgery, but otherwise he’s not my best bet.

Lost Your Roku Remote ?

2010-02-13T14:45:00.007-05:00

Go to StellarTech Blog and download his roku remote script.

Then go download the network scanner from SoftPerfect Network Scanner

Basically the roku box is a mini-web-server, you use the Network Scanner to scan your network for ip address used your network. I just went through them one at a time until i found the ip of the Roku. You can then use the script which has a simple ui to control your Roku.

Now I can watch movies while I search for my remote control. If I don't find it I will be stuck in my Windows partition. I did find a python script but I haven't tried it yet. Both scripts are just interfaces for telneting to your Roku.

There is also an ipod touch app that does the same thing.

Thanks internet :)

Google Buzz not your thing?

2010-02-12T19:27:00.001-05:00

"Google Buzz not your thing? You can switch it off altogether, if you would like. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of your inbox and look for the link underneath your quota usage informational message. Click "turn off buzz" to be bothered no more."

2010-02-09T23:33:00.001-05:00

"Melting" Drywall That Cools Your Home

2010-02-06T00:30:00.000-05:00

A new type of dry-wall could shave 20% off of cooling costs.

Your typical dry wall is just a sheet of plaster, coated in paper-pulp; it's used in almost every building that goes up today because it's cheap and easy to install. But it's a terrible insulator--meaning that we have to heat and cool our buildings even more to make up. By contrast, according to Tech Review, the plaster in ThermalCORE is embedded with microscopic beads of wax that are encased in plastic shells. (Pictured at left.) During the day, the wax melts and absorbs heat--thus helping cool a room. By night, the wax hardens and releases that heat, warming the room back up.

The Book of Five Rings: THE EARTH BOOK

2010-01-17T12:33:00.003-05:00

Even if he has no natural ability, a samurai must train assiduously in both skills to a degree appropriate to his status..... The samurai pursues martial strategy, however, in order to excel in everything, be it winning a duel or winning a combat with several men, be it for the benefit of your master or to establish your own reputation and distinguish yourself. The samurai does these things through the virtue of strategy. Some people may think that even if you learn martial arts, they will be useless in actual battles. That may be so, but the true spirit of martial strategy requires that you train to be useful at any moment and teach men so that they may become useful in everything.

Those who sincerely desire to learn my way of strategy will follow these rules for learning the art:

1. Do not harbor sinister designs. Think honestly and truthfully.
2. The Way is in training. One must continue to train.
3. Cultivate a wide range of interests in the ten skills and ten arts. Then one can definitely find the benefits of hyoho and develop oneself.
4. Be knowledgeable in a variety of occupations, and learn the thinking of people who work in them.
5. Know the difference between loss and gain in worldly matters.
6. Nurture the ability to perceive the truth in all matters. It is important to build up an intuitive judgment and understand true values.
7. Be aware of those things which cannot be easily seen with the eye. Develop intuitive judgment and a mind that freely controls one's body.
8. Do not be negligent, but pay attention even to the smallest details. Keep them in mind all the time, so as to avoid unexpected failure.
9. Do not engage in useless activity. Do not argue about useless things. Concentrate on your duties.

GodMode

2010-01-04T20:47:00.001-05:00

To enter "GodMode," one need only create a new folder and then rename the folder to the following:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

More Strings

For example, the first one could be a folder named "thankscnet.{00C6D95F-329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33}" (use everything inside quotes--but not the quotes themselves).

Here's the list of strings:

{00C6D95F-329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33}
{0142e4d0-fb7a-11dc-ba4a-000ffe7ab428}
{025A5937-A6BE-4686-A844-36FE4BEC8B6D}
{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}
{1206F5F1-0569-412C-8FEC-3204630DFB70}
{15eae92e-f17a-4431-9f28-805e482dafd4}
{17cd9488-1228-4b2f-88ce-4298e93e0966}
{1D2680C9-0E2A-469d-B787-065558BC7D43}
{1FA9085F-25A2-489B-85D4-86326EEDCD87}
{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
{241D7C96-F8BF-4F85-B01F-E2B043341A4B}
{4026492F-2F69-46B8-B9BF-5654FC07E423}
{62D8ED13-C9D0-4CE8-A914-47DD628FB1B0}
{78F3955E-3B90-4184-BD14-5397C15F1EFC}

25% equals Fail : Understanding The health Care Bill

2009-12-26T10:35:00.005-05:00

Please talk to you congress critters and tell them that the plan they are voting on is critically flawed.

#1 It more tightly ties health insurance to employment. Since the average time any American spends on a job is only 4 years there is no benefit for health insurance to keep the person healthy for a lifetime, which is the only hope to reduce cost in the long term and improve service (like in the VA)

#2 In a world where the median healthcare spending is about $700 per person (that means 50% of the people in the country use less than $700 of medical services a year). Its unconscionable that everyone will be required by law to spend 8 to 12% of their income on health insurance before they get government help to purchase health insurance.

#3 It unconscionable that the federal government will pass an unfunded mandate by increasing the number of people on Medicaid without having long term federal funding solution to this huge increase for state's budgets.

#4 But the biggest fail of this monstrosity is that after all of this spending. 18 million American still wont have health insurance. Since they say 40 million don't have insurance now. Only 22 million will get insurance (mainly because of mandate details below)

http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/Reports/05/uninsured-cps/index.htm#income
As you can see 17% of the uninsured are 400% of more of the poverty level who wont get any government aid to purchase insurance. So the mandate alone adds 10 million more insured. So everything else only insures 12 million more people. At a cost of about 200 billion a year. Which is $16,666. per extra insured person per year.

(Just to clarify it doesn't cost $16,666 a year to purchase health insurance of a person in the individual market).

10 million extra insured out of 40 million uninsured today is 25% more insured. 25% by any measure is failure.

Tell congress to try again.

How Insurance Companies Will Rake in Profit's thanks to the Health Insurance "Reform"

2009-12-23T13:38:00.011-05:00

The key to profits for health insurance companies are to collect premiums and not pay out benefits.

The reform bills that are currently in the Senate and the House will send billions and billions of dollars into the hands of private insurers without them having to pay out those premiums in benefits.

How can this possibly happen ? Doesn't the bill control every behavior of the health insurance companies ? No it doesn't. It controls some past behaviors but it doesn't for even the most likely future behaviors.

It is a well known that that unless your insurance premiums are paid in full you are NOT eligible for benefits.

Thanks to the new law everyone will be required to get health insurance. So most people especially poor people will go out and get an policy. Why will they do this ? Because the Federal Government may pay 50% or more of the bill. As cash for clunkers shows, people like "free" money.

In order to improve efficiency the government will make direct on time online payments directly to the insurance companies. Any time the policy holder doesn't send in his/her portion of monthly payment that person will be uninsured and the money the insurance company received from the government will be pure profit since they will NEVER have to pay out benefits in those cases.

Over 4000 pages between the two bills, billions being paid from the federal treasury directly to insurance companies. And nothing to prevent this 1 of many ways that these bills will fail to accomplish their goal of making sure all Americans have health insurance.

Keynes vs. Hayek

2009-12-18T00:26:00.000-05:00

Thorium Remix 2009 - LFTR in 16 Minutes

2009-11-29T00:08:00.001-05:00

HAIR

2009-11-01T20:36:00.006-05:00

2009-10-20T19:15:00.000-05:00

"Enough is as good as a feast" - Mary Poppins

2009-10-12T17:54:00.000-05:00

Hard Work

2009-09-12T21:05:00.001-05:00

My Computer Totally Hates Me!

2009-09-10T23:12:00.001-05:00

Classic Onion from 2000.

Syfy -- grrr......

2009-07-06T21:41:00.002-05:00

When you see a landing page like the screenshot any pro web developer would say amateur hour, which it is. Think over a decade of links now broken. But that is no matter. The name change is silly but it exists for a reason. They can't trademark Sci-fi by they can trademark Syfy. Do they really think they can sell Syfy buttons? Grr....

I know I should post my grand unified theory on the economy or where the world is going. But this Syfy stuff bothers me NOW, and I hope within a few months I will get over it.

I just know I will enjoy Eureka less (can't link because site is not up). Because its on Syfy.

I should have taped the last Sci-fi 4th of July Twilight Zone marathon. :(

Just a little sad.

2009-04-21T15:36:00.001-05:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Obama, Dems wrong to kill school vouchers - CNN.com

2009-03-12T10:21:00.000-05:00

When President Obama signs the $410 billion omnibus spending bill, there will be shouts of joy from both sides as Republicans and Democrats get their cherished earmarks.

Yet tucked into that bill is an amendment pushed by the president's former colleague in the Senate, Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin, who used his influence to essentially kill the District of Columbia school vouchers program.

There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

2009-02-16T22:10:00.000-05:00

Also Second law of thermodynamics.

Thank You: Soon to Be President Obama

2009-01-19T12:18:00.002-05:00

For moving America further towards turning Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream into a reality.

Nuff Said

Thank You: Soon to Be former President Bush

2009-01-19T11:38:00.003-05:00

For Preventing the Nuclear War between India and Pakistan.

For Saving Million of Lives in Africa

Nuff Said

"'I will be hopin' and dreamin.' Not thinking too much.'"

2008-11-03T13:47:00.000-05:00

November 3, 2008

BY LAURA WASHINGTON

'This is a time that even folks of my generation have never seen before," says Timuel Black.

Black has seen many a lifetime from his lifelong perch on Chicago's South Side. The revered scholar, historian, political activist and grass-roots intellectual turns 90 on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day. He was born and raised in Bronzeville, the historic and iconic heart of black Chicago.

He is my most reliable barometer of what thoughtful African Americans are saying. I caught up with by phone last week. He had just returned home after voting early for You Know Who.

So what will black folks be thinking as Sen. Barack Obama seals the deal -- to become America's first black president?

Black -- and every African American he knows -- desperately wants Obama to win. "Barack is the best that America has to offer," he says.

He notes that the senator's saga -- born and bred in Hawaii and Indonesia, schooled in the Ivy League, a life of relative privilege -- is not shared by the preponderance of American blacks. "He has a different experience."

Indeed. Blacks must tamp down their sky-high expectations. Obama is running to become president of the world. We must learn to share.

By necessity, he has run a post-racial campaign. "To be a good president, you first have to be president," said Black, professor emeritus of social sciences at the City Colleges of Chicago. "I am not being derogatory, but explanatory."

The reality is that on Tuesday, we will elect a black president. Period.

Obama's virtually flawless campaign reaped big love from millions around the world.

It is fitting that, a few days ago, as the campaign thundered toward its grand crescendo, he finally got the love from America's mythical first black president, Bill Clinton. It is also ironic. While Clinton has trotted himself around as the black man's best friend, Obama will win tomorrow -- and win big -- by vigilantly avoiding talking about people of color and the maladies they face.

Obama will indeed be the real first black president. To be a successful American president, he will have to devise a way to pull us out of a historic quagmire.

African Americans -- and a lot of other people -- better hunker down for some disappointment. Their hero is already getting fitted for the economic and political straitjacket he'll wear for the next four years. The Middle East wars will rage on and that shiny piggy bank known as the U.S. Treasury will be busted. As black folks always say, when they let us take over, you know things are pretty dire.

One thing Obama has going for him: He will look stupendous compared with the current occupant of the White House. Incompetent predecessors present propitious opportunities.

So how will he govern? Turn on the tube and watch the conservative pundits sniff: It goes something like "America is a center-right nation, but Obama will surely govern from the left." He will inevitably overreach and fail, they cackle. They are gleefully awaiting the fall.

I'm betting they'll be waiting a long time. Obama is the consummate pragmatist. If he governs the way he campaigned, he will put lipstick on the pig. (You heard it here first -- watch for an Obama/Palin matchup in 2012.)

I asked Tim Black what he will be thinking about on Election Day. "I will be hopin' and dreamin.' Not thinking too much."

The American dream - on hold

2008-10-29T09:24:00.000-05:00

Oil prices dip below $70 a barrel on demand concern - Oct. 21, 2008

2008-10-21T11:48:00.000-05:00

Sweet.

Edge: THE FOURTH QUADRANT: A MAP OF THE LIMITS OF STATISTICS By Nassim Nicholas Taleb

2008-09-17T21:19:00.000-05:00

Edge: THE FOURTH QUADRANT: A MAP OF THE LIMITS OF STATISTICS By Nassim Nicholas Taleb: "THE FOURTH QUADRANT: A MAP OF THE LIMITS OF STATISTICS [9.15.08]
By Nassim Nicholas Taleb"

Ramp Fail

2008-09-05T22:12:00.000-05:00

The passionates vs. the non passionates

2008-07-30T02:16:00.000-05:00

So, what’s this talk about passionates vs. non-passionates?

Well, one thing I’ve learned over and over is that you can build an interesting business if you have 100,000 people passionate about something. Anything. I used to be an associate editor at a magazine about Visual Basic back in the 1990s. We had millions of dollars in revenue and our distribution was 110,000 copies. That launched conferences and all sorts of things that made money and brought in revenue. Life was good for a while.

On the other hand, if you pick a business model that requires huge numbers of people, like Facebook advertising that might only pay $.25 per 1,000 views, then you gotta go big or go home. How do you do that, though? I wish I knew, cause most companies who try doing that go under before they can acquire enough customers. Passionate users are easier to get than non-passionate ones. It’s why Amazon and Google don’t do much advertising. Reaching the non-passionates is very hard and they’ve decided to just invest in making a better product, reaching through the passionates to the larger audience. Other companies, though, feel they can convince the non-passionates and advertise heavily. Lifelock is a good example of that. Lifelock isn’t something I ever see bloggers or Twitterers talking about, but the company is constantly advertising that product and, from what I hear, raking in big revenues.

Same happens on the Web. People who can build audiences of the 100,000 size can build decent businesses on the Web. Just talk to Gary Vaynerchuk, who does WineLibrary.tv. He has audiences of 60,000 to 100,000 watching each show.

Getting to 100,000 engaged users is reasonably easy to do pretty quickly. But the VCs are needing companies that have 10s of millions. iLike, in Seattle, for instance, is touted by Facebook as one of their favorite applications, which got to 30 million users in a very short time. I remember meeting founder Hadi Partovi shortly after they started right around the time I left Microsoft and they didn’t have a single user. How did they get so big so fast? They had a great app that was out on the first day of Facebook’s new app platform launch (took many sleepless nights to develop that app and then keep it up as it got to six million users in the first few weeks after launch).

The Cold Equations

2008-07-26T12:36:00.000-05:00

If you don't already know they story. Click on the link and read it. Its a classic that should be part of everyone's core knowledge.

Credit where it's due - Let's hear it for America.

2008-05-14T10:16:00.000-05:00

Janet Albrechtsen | May 14, 2008

THERE is a certain familiarity to the concomitant series of actions and reactions when disaster strikes in the world. The US stands ready, willing and able to offer assistance. It is often the first country to send in millions of dollars, navy strike groups loaded with food and medical supplies, and transport planes, helicopters and floating hospitals to help those devastated by natural disaster.

Then, just as swift and with equal predictability, those wedded to the Great Satan view of the US begin to carp, drawing on a potent mixture of cynicism and conspiracy theories to criticise the last remaining superpower. When the US keeps doing so much of the heavy lifting to alleviate suffering, you'd figure that the anti-Americans might eventually revise their view of the US. But they never do. And coming under constant attack even when helping others, you'd figure that Americans would eventually draw the curtains on world crises. But they haven't. At least not yet.

So it was last week. The US stood ready to help the cyclone-ravaged Burmese people. It did not matter that Burma's ruling junta was no friend of the Americans. With more than 100,000 people feared dead and many more hundreds of thousands left destitute, US Air Force cargo planes loaded with supplies and personnel started arriving in nearby Thailand to begin humanitarian operations in Burma.

A US Navy strike group in the Gulf of Thailand sent helicopters ashore, ready to arrive in Burma within hours. Alas, Burma's military leaders left their people to die for 10 days before finally accepting help from the evil empire. Even if the Yanks are allowed to boost their assistance to Burma, they can expect a groundswell of criticism.

Back in 2004, the Americans - along with the Australians - arrived within hours to help the hundreds of thousands of people left devastated by the Boxing Day tsunami in Asia. A US carrier group steamed towards Indonesia's Aceh province. A second US Marine Corps strike force made its way to Sri Lanka with water, food and medical supplies.

The Pentagon spent millions of dollars sending C-130 transport planes from Dubai to Indonesia with tents, blankets, food and water. A navy chief in charge of co-ordination efforts said the US would deliver "as much help as soon as we can, as long as we're needed".

The resentment that comes from needing the military and economic might of the US translated into the most absurd criticism. Jan Egeland, the former UN boss of humanitarian affairs, cavilled about the stinginess of certain Western nations. His eye was on the US. Former British minister Claire Short was equally miffed, describing the initiative by the US and other countries as "yet another attempt to undermine the UN", which was, according to her, the "only body that has the moral authority" to help.

I love moral authority as much as the next guy, but the UN's moral authority is a mighty hard sell given that the UN club includes the most odious regimes in the world, such as Burma. And notice how the UN's moral authority did not quickly translate into helicopters laden with food and water?

When the UN finally does anything of use, it's propelled in large part by US dollars, with the US contributing more than any other country. Those other giants, China and Russia, are not filling the coffers of the UN's moral authority.

Then came the even more toxic comparisons between Iraq and US humanitarian assistance in Asia. In the anti-American mind, opposition to one US policy means blasting everything the Americans do. Of course, Egypt's Al Akhbar newspaper said the US was helping tsunami victims to "consolidate its hegemony" and had nothing to do with humanitarian and moral principles. But similarly rank reasoning was common. London's The Guardian newspaper columnist George Monbiot was not alone in sneering at US marines who, just a few weeks before saving lives in Sri Lanka, were "murdering civilians, smashing the homes and evicting the entire population of the Iraqi city of Fallujah".

The need to paint Americans as a greedy, selfish, war-mongering superpower cannot be disturbed by facts. It matters not that, in the year before the tsunami, the US provided $2.4 billion in humanitarian relief: 40per cent of all the relief aid given to the world in 2003. Never mind that development and emergency relief rose from $10 billion during the last year of Bill Clinton's administration to $24 billion under George W. Bush in 2003. Or that, according to a German study, Americans contribute to charities nearly seven times as much a head as Germans do. Or that, adjusted for population, American philanthropy is more than two-thirds more than British giving.

There is a teenaged immaturity about the rest of the world's relationship with the US. Whenever a serious crisis erupts somewhere, our dependence on the US becomes obvious, and many hate the US because of it. That the hatred is irrational is beside the point.

We can denounce the Yanks for being Muslim-hating flouters of international law while demanding the US rescue Bosnian Muslims from Serbia without UN authority. We can be disgusted by crass American materialism and ridiculous stockpiling of worldly goods yet also be the first to demand material help from the US when disaster strikes.

The really unfortunate part about this adolescent love-hate relationship with the US is that, unlike most teenagers, many never seem to grow out of it. Within each new generation is a vicious strain of irrational anti-Americanism. But unlike a parent, the US could just get sick of it all and walk away.

The US has had isolationist periods in the past and it must be enormously tempted sometimes to have another one soon. The consequences of that possibility deserve some serious thought. If the neighbours worry about Russian bullying over oil and gas, just imagine a Russia unfettered by a US military presence in Europe. How long would South Korea, Israel or Taiwan last if the US decided it wanted to spend on itself the money it presently devotes to military spending in the Middle East and Asia?

None of this is to say the US does not deserve loud and frequent criticism. No country has as many or as strident critics - internally and externally - as the US. The US actually promotes such debate. But just occasionally we should moderate that criticism when circumstances demand a dose of fairness.

Indeed, why not break into a standing ovation every now and again? As more US C-130s and helicopters stand waiting on Burma's doorstep, desperate to help a shattered populace and stymied only by an appalling anti-US regime, this is one of those times.

Let's hear it for America.

Count Down To Tax Freedom Day - May 5th NYS

2008-05-01T09:10:00.001-05:00

The study is Tax Foundation Special Report No. 160, “America Celebrates Tax Freedom Day®,” by Tax Foundation senior economist Gerald Prante and Tax Foundation president Scott Hodge.

In addition to announcing the nation’s Tax Freedom Day®, the new study compares tax payments to other major consumer expenditures, traces the course of America’s tax burden since 1900, examines the composition of today’s tax burden by type of tax, and calculates a Tax Freedom Day® for each state.

Taxes vs. Other Expenses

“Government continues to dominate the American taxpayer’s budget,” said Tax Foundation president Scott Hodge. “Americans will still spend more on taxes in 2008 than they will spend on food, clothing and housing combined.”

In 2008, Americans will work 74 days to afford their federal taxes and 39 more days to pay state and local taxes. Meanwhile, buying food requires 35 days of work, clothing 13 days, and housing 60 days. Other major categories are health and medical care (50 days), transportation (29 days), and recreation (21 days).

Which Taxes Are Biggest?

Five major categories of tax dominate the tax burden. Individual income taxes, both federal and state, require 42 days’ work. Payroll taxes take another 28 days’ work. Sales and excise taxes, mostly state and local, take 16 days to pay off. Corporate income taxes take 13 days, and property taxes take 12.

Tax Freedom Day® by State

Alaskans kick off the celebration of Tax Freedom Day® on March 29, more than a week before any other state’s taxpayers. Mississippi (April 7), Montana and West Virginia (April 8), and Alabama (April 9) round out the first five. The next five are Kentucky (April 10), Tennessee and Oklahoma (April 11), and New Mexico and South Dakota (April 12).

Tax Freedom Day® is early in low-income states because the federal income tax hits most of their federal income taxes at the lower rates, 10% and 15%. Alaska stands out as an exception: income and federal tax payments are above average there, but state-local taxes are extraordinarily low.

Three states will have to wait until May to celebrate their state-specific Tax Freedom Days: Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. Although they have high state-local taxes too, the main culprit is the progressive federal income tax. States with large metropolitan areas offer higher-paying jobs, and as a result, many of the citizens earn enough to pay income tax at the highest rates—currently 25%, 28%, 33% and 35%. If those rates rise, as they are scheduled to do in 2011, these states will bear the brunt.

Other states where citizens wait unusually long for Tax Freedom Day® are California (April 30), Washington (April 29), Massachusetts (April 28), Maryland (April 28), Minnesota (April 27), and Florida and Hawaii on April 26.

The Wealth Trajectory: Rewards for the Few

2008-04-21T15:31:00.000-05:00

While education is the key to understanding broad inequality trends, it is less obvious whether it can explain the incomes of the superrich. Simply going to college and graduate school is hardly enough to join the top echelons with Lloyd Blankfein and Bill and Hillary Clinton.

But neither is education irrelevant. If Mr. Blankfein had left the New York public school system and gone directly to work, instead of attending Harvard College and Law School, most likely he would not be the head of a major investment bank today.

If the Clintons had been content with high school diplomas and not attended Georgetown, Wellesley, Oxford and Yale, they most likely would not have reached the White House and Senate, and it is a good bet that they would not now be getting multimillion-dollar book deals and $100,000 speaking dates. A top education is no guarantee of great riches, but it often helps.

Maybe educational levels are like Willie Wonka's chocolate bars. A few of them come with golden tickets that give you opportunities almost beyond imagination. But even if you aren't lucky enough to get a golden ticket, you can still enjoy the chocolate, which by itself is well worth the price.

For Some Black Parents, the New Home Room is Home by Chloe A. Hilliard

2008-04-17T15:36:00.000-05:00

"Public schools are failing black boys, say a growing number of parents who are homeschooling"

You were healthly - Now You Are FAT

2008-04-17T10:18:00.000-05:00

In 1998, the National Institutes of Health lowered the overweight threshold for BMI 27.8 to 25 to match international guidelines. The move added 30 million Americans who were previously in the 'healthy weight' category to the 'overweight' category.

Compact Fluorescent Lamp - Breakage Danger

2008-04-16T10:53:00.000-05:00

Maine Compact Fluorescent Lamp Breakage Study Report

February 2008

Executive Summary

Forty five (45) experimental trials where compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) were broken in a small/ moderate sized room were conducted in May through September of 2007. Eighteen (18) trials, three trials each of six differing scenarios, were originally planned for this study; however, additional trials were added to attempt to more fully address potential cleanup concerns. Broken lamps were either not cleaned up, cleaned up using Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) pre-study cleanup guidance, vacuumed, or cleaned up using variations of the pre-study cleanup guidance. The mercury concentrations at the five foot height (adult breathing zone) and one foot height (infant/toddler breathing zone)1 above the study room floor were continuously monitored. The most notable finding of the study was how variable the results can be depending on the type of lamp, level of ventilation and cleanup method.

The pre-study cleanup guidance was generally found to be sound, including the advice to not vacuum as part of the cleanup. However as a result of this study, the cleanup guidance was modified. The new cleanup guidance can be seen in Appendix E.

Tax Day - The Revolution was not televised and so it failed

2008-04-15T08:25:00.001-05:00

Blacks Living Longer

2008-04-01T18:01:00.001-05:00

But still screwed by social security.

Life expectancy for whites was 78.3 in 2005, unchanged from the record high of 2004. Life expectancy for blacks increased slightly from 73.1 years in 2004 to 73.2 years in 2005.

So that 11.3 Year on SSI and Medicare for whites vs 6.2 for blacks but we pay the exact same taxes rate from 14 to 67. If the government was a private provider of annuities it would be sued for fraud. Where is Johnny Cochran when you need him. Oh yea dead at 67.

'Suspended Animation' Induced In Mice With Sewer Gas: Effects Are Reversible

2008-03-26T13:51:00.000-05:00

International Education Indicators - Education Across Levels - Funding for Education

2008-03-25T15:46:00.000-05:00

In 2003, expenditure per student for the United States was about $8,900 at the combined primary and secondary education levels and about $24,100 at the higher education level (figure 1a). Both of these figures were higher than the corresponding figures for the five other G-8 countries reporting data.

Cheap Labor is Very Expensive, Expensive Labor Very Cheap

2008-03-14T10:14:00.001-05:00

Google presently has 17,000 employees, but its profits per employee are $247,000. Goldman Sachs has roughly 30,000 highly paid workers, but with profits of $16 billion last year, profits per employee worked out to $530,000. Judging by the high level of productivity on the coasts, companies there pay high nominal salaries that prove to be excellent bargains.

Watchmen

2008-03-06T18:54:00.001-05:00

DARPA pushes limits of unmanned aircraft capability to extremes

2008-03-04T23:40:00.000-05:00

Exploring the outer limits of technology is DARPA's charter, and the agency has its successes and failures, but the stated goals of its latest UAV programmes are raising eyebrows.

"We want to completely change the paradigm of how we think of aircraft," says Daniel Newman, manager of the Vulture programme to demonstrate an unmanned aircraft capable of staying aloft for five years. "Aviation has a perfect record - we've never left one up there. We will attempt to break that record."

Why We Banned Legos

2008-02-20T10:45:00.001-05:00

Marriage may tame genius

2008-02-07T16:54:00.000-05:00

Family Free-Riders

2008-02-05T14:50:00.000-05:00

Collectively we all need children and benefit when they grow into productive adults, but the cost of raising children is increasingly being borne by fewer and fewer in the general population.

Childless adults are rapidly becoming economic free riders on the backs of parents.

Remembering Rosa Parks

2008-02-05T01:25:00.000-05:00

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA—On the day of what would be freedom fighter Rosa Parks’s 95th birthday, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul released the following statement:

“On February 4, Americans nationwide will reflect on the legacy of Rosa Parks and wonder if they too would be so brave as to take a stand for freedom. Teachers will tell their students of the power of a woman who refused to bend to an unjust law, and parents will tell their children to never give into evil—but what more can we learn from this remarkable woman, who is one of my greatest heroes? “By challenging the injustice of segregation and refusing to give up her seat, Rosa Parks became an icon for a generation—but we must remember that the love of liberty is no passing fad, as we continue the struggle for freedom today. Rosa Parks’s heroism is a testament to the power of freedom, and we must carry her spirit to the present day.
“Will we too refuse to comply with injustice? Will we take a stand against unconstitutional and heinous government actions that threaten our rights today, such as the Patriot Act and Real ID?

“The future of free society depends upon the strength of the people to rise against injustice. We should remember that when Rosa Parks refused to stand on that bus, she stood for principle—and let us all have the courage to stand with her today.”

Big Lunch

2008-02-01T19:46:00.000-05:00

Weekly Standard Off Target When Blaming Libertarianism for GOP Failures - Opinion

2008-01-28T17:02:00.000-05:00

Thunderbolt's jetpack: Coolness

2008-01-24T13:54:00.000-05:00

"Thunderbolt's jetpack: Just $100,000 for 75 seconds of flight"

Cal Thomas - January 17th 2008 Commentary

2008-01-19T13:47:00.000-05:00

Cal Thomas Official Web Site - January 17th 2008 Commentary: "TOO MANY REPUBLICANS ARE INTO HANDOUTS AND REDISTRIBUTION, JUST LIKE DEMOCRATS."

Did Ron Paul Break Fox News?

2008-01-18T01:42:00.000-05:00

The news that Fox News would be excluding Ron Paul from its N.H. debate came on Dec. 27. From that day on, the stock price of News Corp., its parent company, fell every day, losing a cumulative 10 percent, or about $6 billion, over the next seven days.

To be sure, other media companies fell as well. Time Warner and Viacom each fell about 6 percent over that period. The Paul supporters who spread the message of selling News Corp. stock, boycotting Fox News advertisers, and otherwise imposing their economic will cost the media giant billions.

The bleeding stopped Jan. 8, when Fox News relented to the economic pressure and invited Paul to the South Carolina debates. The stock price gained nearly 4 percent in just two days, right back in line with the other media companies.

Those debates were held last week. They were very similar to all the earlier debates, to which Paul had been invited. Other candidates get asked about policy issues while Paul gets asked about his electability. Other candidates snipe at each other and in particular Paul, while Paul ignores them and talks solely about the issues, the only candidate to answer every question that is asked.

But there was one major difference: Whereas in past debates, Paul received a vanishingly small portion of air time, in this one he received approximately equal time. I counted the number of words each candidate uttered. Paul surpassed the word output of John McCain, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, and Rudy Giuliani. Only Mike Huckabee said more words.

Maybe it's because Paul talks faster than the others, or because he needed to respond to accusations against him by the other candidates. Or maybe Fox News has realized that the people buttering its proverbial bread are conservatives like Paul and they are trying to recapture that key demographic.

Agflation

2008-01-16T14:43:00.000-05:00

An increase in the price of food that occurs as a result of increased demand from human consumption and use as an alternative energy resource. While the competitive nature of retail supermarkets allows some of the effects of agflation to be absorbed, the price increases that agflation causes are largely passed on to the end consumer. The term is derived from a combination of the words "agriculture" and "inflation".

Investopedia Says... Interest in alternative energies contributes to agflation. In order to produce biofuel (such as biodiesel and ethanol), manufacturers need to use food products such soybeans and corn. This creates more demand for these products, which causes their prices to increase.

Unfortunately, these price increases spread to other non-fuel related grains (such as rice and wheat) as consumers switch to less expensive substitutes for consumption. Furthermore, agflation will also affect non-vegetative foods (eggs, meat and dairy) as the price increases for grain will make livestock feed more expensive as well.

Today's Ron Paul Links

2008-01-16T10:36:00.000-05:00

84,554 Votes Already for Ron Paul

2008-01-16T10:17:00.000-05:00

Romney - 443,139 Total Votes – 36.89%
McCain - 361,546 Total Votes – 30.10%
Huckabee - 207,308 Total Votes – 17.26%
Paul - 84,554 Total Votes – 7.04%
Giuliani - 50,925 Total Votes – 4.24%
Thompson - 49,198 Total Votes - 4.10%
Hunter - 4,567 Total Votes - 0.38%

libertarians will get to determine whom are next president is. Just in 1992 when Perot elected Clinton and in 2000 where Nader elected Bush. The country not ready for liberty but we need to choose in November who is least statist of the choices so we don't continue to move closer to fascism.

Failure Now An Option

2008-01-16T02:25:00.000-05:00

Other data seem to confirm the Interior Department's findings. A recent CBS News/New York Times poll revealed that 64 percent of Americans are "perfectly comfortable" with coming up just short, 43 percent are content to try only once rather than try, try again, and an overwhelming 95 percent admitted that after falling down, they now prefer to stay down.

Only 4 percent indicated having "some interest" in applying their balls to the wall.

Let a thousand Mules bloom

2008-01-16T00:12:00.000-05:00

UltimateRonPaul.com | Homepage

2008-01-15T17:10:00.000-05:00

Study: $90 wine tastes better than the same wine at $10

2008-01-15T14:13:00.000-05:00

Yes people are stupid. That is why they buy that awful swill Grey Goose vodka instead of Svedka.

On side note, everyone I have given a bottle of Svedka to loves it an it becomes their brand of choice.

30,000 Votes Already Cast for Ron Paul

2008-01-14T14:53:00.000-05:00

Ron Paul is in the thick of this race. Almost 30,000 proud Americans already have cast their ballots for Ron Paul in both Iowa and New Hampshire:

1. Romney 103,755 30%
2. McCain 102,361 29%
3. Huckabee 66,876 19%
4. Paul 29,648 9%
5. Giuliani 24,151 7%
6. Thompson 18,712 5%

YouTube - Director of AUSTIN NAACP on Ron Paul

2008-01-14T13:43:00.000-05:00

A Second You Tube Video with Nelson Linder - the Austin Naacp Director

Allison Hunt: How I got my new hip (video)

2008-01-10T14:27:00.000-05:00

A story in free medicine.

"In cyberspace, no one can hear a disembowled libertarian scream"

2008-01-09T13:55:00.000-05:00

"The End of an Era"

2008-01-09T13:35:00.000-05:00

TheSpoof.com : Ron Paul rebels to GOP rivals and media: "Bring out your dead" funny satire story

2008-01-09T11:56:00.000-05:00

"Ron Paul rebels to GOP rivals and media: 'Bring out your dead'"

The Paul rebels assembled early yesterday morning in New Hampshire at the Society for the Preservation of Tuesdays, a group which supports Ron Paul. After getting into medieval costumes, the rebels fanned out across the state and descended upon the campaign offices of the other GOP candidates. Chanting "Bring out your dead" as they clanged musical triangles, they implored the Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee campaign office workers to bring forth their moribund candidates and throw them into a cart the Paul rebels were pulling behind them.

Thompson campaign workers at first seemed friendly to the Paul rebels, but hopes of a Thompson political corpse were dashed when a campaign manager came out and herded the workers back inside the office building.

At the Giuliani campaign office, the Paul rebels insisted that the feud between Paul and Giuliani had ended at Iowa with Paul's 10% to 4% victory over the former New York mayor, and demanded that the political body of Rudy Giuliani be placed on their cart. A spokesman for Giuliani denied that he had been mortally wounded in Iowa, and said that the damage sustained there was merely a "flesh wound." The Ron Paul Wookie howled in anger.

The Motive behind the News Blackout on Ron Paul

2008-01-08T16:08:00.000-05:00

The Motive behind the News Blackout on Ron Paul:

As of today 1/8/2008 We know the Fox News on tv and Online
are embargoing news about Ron Paul. As I have already
posted on my blog at.

http://tswe.blogspot.com/2008/01/omg-fox-is-ministry-of-truth.html

But as Ron said to Jay Leno, of course the 9/11 terrorist were
responsible for attacking America. But you have to look at what
their motive was. So what is Fox and other news agencies beef
with Ron Paul.

Note to the conspiracy theorist. There is no cabal of evil corp
getting together and deciding to destroy Ron Paul.

There are a few people whom have acted against him to tip coverage
in a different direction and everyone else is natural a follower
and they all end up reporting the same story, thus the stupid voters
want "change meme". Or the Rudy is a good leader meme.

But not voter was Mike Huckabee meme. You will see why Mike Huckabee
is also a casualty from Ron Paul's words.

So what was the tipping point when corporate news decided to do there
very best interest to stop saying "Ron Paul".

I will give you a hint it was between the tea party and the hit job
on Meet the Press. The biggest piece of evidence is that in a 1/2 hour
interview on Meet the Press Iraq was not mentioned once by Tim Russert.

Check the transcript

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22342301/

Iraq is Ron Paul's claim to fame how is this possible that he was not questioned on this.
Hint: Its not because of the surge.

Now what did Tim try to get him to recant in the interview. And what new
out of left field things came up. The most left field of course was to
try to paint him as a racist with the questions on civil rights act
and civil war.

But what did he want Paul to recant and smack him down with that backfired.
From the transcript:

Before you go, Mike Huckabee, Republican candidate for president, ran this commercial for Christmas and many thought that the shelf in the back looked like a cross. You were asked about it on CNN and this is what you said.

REP. PAUL: It reminds me of what Sinclair Lewis once says. He said when fascism comes to this country, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross.

MR. RUSSERT: What does that mean?

REP. PAUL: What? Fascism or the definition of fascism?

MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe that Mike Huckabee is...

REP. PAUL: Oh, I didn't say that. I said it reminded me--as a matter of fact they caught me completely cold on that. I had not seen the ad, and they just said there was a cross there. And, you know, it was an instantaneous reflex because I knew of Sinclair Lewis about being cautious, because, you know, I--what prompts this is things like the Patriot Act. You know...

..................

MR. RUSSERT: But let me go back to this ad. You do not believe that Mike Huckabee, that ad commercial represents the potential of fascism in the form of a cross.

REP. PAUL: No. But I think this country, a movement in the last 100 years, is moving toward fascism. Fascism today, the softer term, because people have different definition of fascism, is corporatism when the military industrial complex runs the show, when the--in the name of security pay--pass the Patriot Act. You don't vote for it, you know, you're not patriotic America. If you don't support the troops and you don't support--if you don't support the war you don't support the troops. It's that kind of antagonism. But we have more corporatism and more abuse of our civil liberties, more loss of our privacy, national ID cards, all this stuff coming has a fascist tone to it. And the country's moving in that direction. That's what I'm thinking about. This was not personalized. I never even used my opponents names if you, if you notice.

MR. RUSSERT: So you think we're close to fascism?

REP. PAUL: I think we're approaching it very close. One--there's one, there's one documentary that's been put out recently that has generated a lot of interest called "Freedom to Fascism." And we're moving in that direction. Were not moving toward Hitler-type fascism, but we're moving toward a softer fascism. Loss of civil liberties, corporations running the show, big government in bed with big business. So you have the military industrial complex, you have the medical industrial complex, you have the financial industry, you have the communications industry. They go to Washington and spend hundreds of millions of dollars. That's where the control is. I call that a soft form of fascism, something that is very dangerous.

MR. RUSSERT: For the record, the Sinclair Lewis Society said that Mr. Lewis never uttered that quote.

REP. PAUL: But others refuted that and put them down and said that--and they found the exact quote where it came from.

MR. RUSSERT: To be continued. Dr. Ron Paul, be safe on the campaign trail.

When Ron Paul first mentioned fascism with Mike Huckabee some people in corporate power structure took notice.
When Ron Paul defined fascism and didn't immediately recant the little red dot appeared on his forehead. Tim
Russert isn't stupid. He know how things work thus his final words to the totally oblivious Ron Paul "be safe on the campaign trail".

Obviously the powers that be don't want to kill him, so first they ignore and slam him. Another hit piece about him being a racist is coming out later this week from the new republic, it was featured on MS-NBC before the NH primary of course. http://thirdpartywatch.com/2008/01/07/ron-paul-just-trashed-on-msnbc/ And as long as this plan works to silence him (he was already marginalized, they need silence) he should be physically safe.

And their plan is working. Look at Ron Paul's polling over time.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/charts/2008_election_primaries/republican_primaries_chart.html

Paul's mention of Huckabee and Facism 12/18/07
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2007/12/when-fascism-co.html

Fascism is the key word that will get you destroyed in the Media:

WOW this was unexpected when you put just "fascism" into Google news the #1 link is
about Liberal fascism.

It was coincidence that this book was released on Jan 8th.
http://www.amazon.com/Liberal-Fascism-American-Mussolini-Politics/dp/0385511841

But the fact that you have "Islamofascism" now "liberal fascism" as scare words
Ron stepped on the wrong toes associating the word fascism with God and the Republican party.

And since it was in the form of Mike Huckabee the republicans would like to get rid of him so he will be tarred alone.

Anyway now you know why "Paul is Dead".

OMG Fox is the Ministry of Truth

2008-01-08T01:23:00.000-05:00

Two towns have early voting. But Fox "chooses" to only report on the one where Dr. Paul didn't get any vote.

McCain with 4 votes, Mitt Romney with 2 votes, Rudy Giuliani with 1 vote. Those were the only Republican votes cast.

The full story from AP is here

On the Republican side, McCain received six, Mike Huckabee received five, Ron Paul received four and Mitt Romney one.

In Dixville Notch, on the Republican side, McCain received four votes, Mitt Romney two and Rudy Giuliani one.

Fox is dead to me.

2008 Presidential Primary Calendar

2008-01-07T14:50:00.000-05:00

* January 3: Iowa (caucuses) - Done 10%
* January 5: Wyoming (GOP caucuses) - Only Party Insiders Could Vote
* January 8: New Hampshire (primary) --
* January 15: Michigan
* January 19: Nevada (precinct caucuses), South Carolina (R primary)
* January 26: South Carolina (D primary)
* January 29: Florida

Today's Ron Paul Links

2008-01-07T11:26:00.000-05:00

Fox Blow Back on the Ground

New Republic foolishly wants Paul to go Negative

How Dare Charlie Gibson Allow Ron Paul To Speak

Spin Room Paul Says Talk of Inflation Is a "Bold Step" for Other Candidates

Ron Paul Promises Nothing

2008-01-07T11:15:00.000-05:00

The Republicans also promise to keep taxing you. They make promises about cutting taxes and saving programs like Medicare and Social Security, but they make it clear that they want to keep taxing you. They call for tax reform and implementation of programs such as the FairTax, but that is still taxation. They have made promises as to how they will help the people of this country economically, most of the promises have no real substance. Ron Paul promises he will do all he can to eliminate the IRS and the income tax and replace it with, nothing. He promises to do his best to shrink federal bureaucracies down to, nothing. He promises that he will do his best to make sure the federal government provides nothing for you, but it will also take nothing from you. In this way you will be better able to determine for yourself how you wish to spend, or save your money. He even promises that he will do his best to see to it that our current form of fiat money is replaced with nothing except gold and silver backed currencies, which is something of value unlike the promises backing the Federal Reserve Notes. In that way the value of your money will be maintained and may even increase as time goes by, rather than decreasing. Think about how much money you need to retire today as opposed to how much one may have needed even two decades ago. No other candidate running for president even touches upon that issue.

What If They Held an Election Without the Media? | NewsBusters.org

2008-01-04T17:10:00.000-05:00

Ron Paul wins in freedom-loving Transdniestria

2008-01-04T15:23:00.000-05:00

Nuff Said...

Why The Middle Class Needs Ron Paul

2008-01-04T15:09:00.000-05:00

Lets say you have $100,000 today in your tax tax deferred retirement account. And lets say you are risk adverse like me and put it into a bond fund figuring it would at least keep its value over the next 20 years to my retirement.

Lets say the bond fund get 6% return rather good you would think. So 100k getting 6% interest for 20 years you end up with $331,020.45 pretty good return for being responsible and saving for your future.

But now you are taking it out of your 401k so its time for taxes. Lets just assume federal taxes. And a nice average rate of 28% of your earnings. We "earned" $231,020 so $64,685 will have to go to taxes leaving you with $266,335 left in your bank. But lets not forget your inflation tax. Lets assume a modest 4% per year inflation. That means each year your dollars buy 4% less stuff than the year before.
So the $266,335 you have after 20 years of saving and tax free compounded savings is equivalent to $117,720.72 today. For saving and reinvesting your money for 20 years you earn $886 a year.

Our current system makes savings a suckers game. Ron Paul is the only candidate who address these two taxes that destroy our hard earned wealth.

Just for what what happens if you are in the 35% tax bracket because of other income or state taxes. Well you make $528 a year. And if inflation was instead 4.5% a year you would have LOST -$19.64 each year.

This is unacceptable.

And lets not even talk about what would have happened if it wasn't in a tax deferred account.

Today's Ron Paul Links

2008-01-04T14:03:00.000-05:00

An Anti Ron Paul Editorial - from a gay point of view

The Mainstream Media isn't even telling him to pack up and go home, because that would require them to say his name.

Republicans hold Wyoming caucuses Saturday

Conservative Media on the Defensive

Fox News challenged over Paul debate snub

What's At Stake in Wyoming Tomorrow

Ron Paul beats Giuliani but loses to Fox News

He has us right where he wants us - OR GREAT JOB Brownie I mean Giuliani

The Paul Campaign: Beating Expectations in Iowa--and Down the Line?

Ron Paul: an absolute faith in free markets and less government

Don't argue with libertarians when they are right. - CounterPunch

Ron Paul - Candidates@Google

2008-01-03T15:15:00.000-05:00

An excellent video that allows Ron to explain his stands in a non confrontational interview.

"Ron Paul, the Future President of Azeroth"

2008-01-03T14:37:00.000-05:00

A reporters story with covering the Ron Paul WOW rally.

Below is a Music Video Made of the Rally.

The Difference between Liberals and Libertarians

2008-01-03T14:08:00.000-05:00

Is very simple.

Liberals want other people to love them.

Libertarians want other people to leave them alone.

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

How does this play out on the playground.
The Liberal child wants to be friends with the bully.
The Libertarian child wants the bully to leave them alone.

Have a Plan to Kill Everyone You Meet

2008-01-03T01:06:00.000-05:00

A report from Iraq. Sound much like growing up in Harlem to me. Anyway good read, about why we win when we decide to fight.

Coal Ash Is More Radioactive than Nuclear Waste: Scientific American

2008-01-03T00:23:00.000-05:00

I will speak on this more. BUT this is a very very old scientific fact, much like Evolution. Liberal have decided to dis believe the facts about Nuclear power. Because they don't believe in science if I doesn't agree with their belief system.

Anyway I touched on nuclear power
on my other blog http://thenextatomicage.blogspot.com/2006/02/atomic-age.html

I don't blog much about nuclear power. People don't believe in science. Its painful and discouraging. To have a solution close at hand and watch society throw it away.

"this week's message for the Left: Economics is a science"

2008-01-02T19:39:00.000-05:00

Here is this week's message for the Left: Economics is a science. Willful ignorance or emotional rejection of the well-known precepts of this science is at least as bad as a fundamentalist Christian's willful ignorance of evolution science (for which the Left so often criticizes their opposition). In fact, economic ignorance is much worse, since most people can come to perfectly valid conclusions about most public policy issues with a flawed knowledge of the origin of the species but no one can with a flawed understanding of economics....

In fact, the more I think about it, the more economics and evolution are very similar. Both are sciences that are trying to describe the operation of very complex, bottom-up, self-organizing systems. And, in both cases, there exist many people who refuse to believe such complex and beautiful systems can really operate without top-down control.

For example, certain people refuse to accept that homo sapiens could have been created through unguided evolutionary systems, and insist that some controlling authority must guide the process; we call these folks advocates of Intelligent Design. Similarly, there are folks who refuse to believe that unguided bottom-up processes can create something so complex as our industrial economy or even a clearing price for gasoline, and insist that a top-down authority is needed to run the process; we call these folks socialists.

It is interesting, then, given their similarity, that socialists and intelligent design advocates tend to be on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Their rejection of bottom-up order in favor of top-down control is nearly identical.

Today's Ron Paul Links

2008-01-02T14:12:00.000-05:00

Ron Paul's Glorious Drive for Freedom

Ron Paul Money Bomb: Proof that Freedom Works

Protest Fox News Exclusion of Ron Paul From New Hampshire Forum

The Left and Ron Paul: CounterPunch

David Shuster's Mindless Debate with Ron Paul: About Abe Lincoln

The congressman from Texas has the race's best batch of student volunteers

2008-01-02T11:46:00.000-05:00

It's not about personality worship for the volunteers, the fetishization of a person's capacity to shine in public or persuade. It's about questions like the purpose of our Federal Reserve, which really piques these volunteers' interest, and which just so happens to get a Texas congressman named Ron Paul going, too. When Nickel muses, "I think centrists are the most extremist, because they don't believe in anything but people," it suddenly seems to make a lot of sense.

Excellent article about why the Ron Paul rEVOLution matter for out future.

Ron Paul vs. Gun Rights

2008-01-01T13:38:00.000-05:00

Following up on my post Ron Paul vs. Blacks.

Being for freedom Ron Paul has specifically said that the founder were wrong in allowing slavery in the first place.

http://www.ronpaullibrary.org/document.php?id=566
http://www.ronpaullibrary.org/document.php?id=661

Ron Paul stood up and said Civil Right Act was federal overreach into individuals property right. Because of this statement against the actual civil rights act. Not a theoretical civil rights act that just ended state unconstitutional Jim Crow laws many people are saying that Ron Paul is a racist and that is enough for them to dismiss him.

I have yet to see a single person say that Ron Paul is against gun rights. Even though he has voted against Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (HR 1036) because even though he supports gun rights because thought that bill was an overreach of federal power.

Is Ron Paul a racist? I don't know what is in his heart. But don't pretend that you do know because he took a stand on an issue you don't agree with. Don't simplify his stands on the issues. I don't see anyone saying he was pro rape rooms because he didn't support the removal of Saddam Hussein. Or that he is pro starvation because he is against foreign aid.

Many people support the collectivist viewpoint Ron Paul stands against. If you do you shouldn't vote for him. But don't dismiss him because you don't understand his stand on the issues. He is pro the gold standard which I think is inadequate for our modern economy. But his actually policy prescription isn't going on to the gold standard. It to allow gold backed and other legal tenders which I am for. He is against the war in Iraq which I am for. But at the core of his opposition is that congress DID NOT declare war. That I can agree with.

Ron Paul though his actions and statements has earned my vote and my support.

Saying you can't support Ron Paul because he took $500 from a racist is just being a lazy citizen. Guess what racist vote they all support someone.

Look at the issues, look at your alternatives and make an informed choice.

Ron Paul vs Blacks ?

2007-12-31T11:02:00.000-05:00

Celebrating Juneteenth:

I hope all Americans will take the time to commemorate Juneteenth. Friends of human liberty should celebrate the end of slavery in any country. The end of American slavery is particularly worthy of recognition since there are few more blatant violations of America’s founding principles, as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, than slavery. I am particularly pleased to join the recognition of Juneteenth because I have the privilege of representing Galveston.

I thank the gentleman from Illinois for introducing this resolution, which I am proud to cosponsor. I thank the House leadership for bringing this resolution to the floor, and I urge all of my colleagues to honor the end of slavery by voting for H.Con.Res 160.

On Civil Rights Act

"This expansion of federal power was based on an erroneous interpretation of the congressional power to regulate interstate commerce. The framers of the Constitution intended the interstate commerce clause to create a free trade zone among the states, not to give the federal government regulatory power over every business that has any connection with interstate commerce."

Above I quote Paul's comment about the Civil Rights Act. Just like in the war in Iraq he is wrong but for the right reason. The commerces clause was not designed to allow this amount of intrusion.

And he is not totally wrong that every black person has received blow back from affirmative action etc.

Given the fact that studies have shown that the Americans with disabilities act has reduced employment of the disabled the same affect might have happened with black people.

Now I don't know what in his heart, it is doubtful that any white Texan who was 22 in 1957 doesn't have some racist tendencies. But that I can't know. I do know his voting record and what he stands for.

The fact is pre 1964 the major harm from racism came from our government not individuals. Even today black wealth and success is lagging because of the government redlining for black neighborhoods.

The Davis Bacon act (still enforced today) made it a crime to hire black people at a lower wage than white unionized workers thus driving up unemployment.
http://www.fee.org/Publications/the-Freeman/article.asp?aid=2465

And look how gun control has made the inner city gun free zones of safety.

More Freedom, Less government is a good thing.

I support Ron Paul. He's not the perfect libertarian but he is all we got.
Government intervention in the free market lifted white people at the
expenses of black people. Read "When affirmative action as white".

Meeting Ricardo in the Stables - Mises Institute

2007-12-28T14:59:00.000-05:00

"Economics examples crop up in the most interesting places. Over the Thanksgiving holiday I ran smack into an application of the Law of Comparative Advantage that was so pure and simple."

Understanding the NIE - Why did Bush Lie ?

2007-12-27T16:31:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago. Bush published the NIE that said Iran is no longer actively building nuclear weapons. Everyone knows this is a lie. But not surprisingly no one is saying Bush lied people died. Because those people are in the future, and like GM negotiations to give workers great retirement benefits the people who made the agreement don't have to pay for it.

So the question is why did Bush lie ?

Bush lied for one reason, like Reagan's infamous guns for hostages, he made a deal with the Iranians. You can Google to decide when the deal was made. It was a great deal for Iran stop causing problems in Iraq we will stop the pressure on your nuclear program.

Will there ever be direct evidence to support this. I doubt it. But notice the NIE didn't come out until the military part of the surge succeed. And negotiating with Iran is exactly what the Iraq study group demanded.

Anyway just like the fact that he betrayed his supporters when NCLB didn't contain school vouchers, betrays us again by making deals with one of the key supporters of terrorism.