“My definition of social justice: those who refuse to work deserve to go hungry.”

Manly

This just goes to show you that looking at one year (or two, or 10) of warming/cooling doesn’t amount to fundamental climate change.

As I have stated before, much of the data suggests that at the very least the jury is still out on the cause.

The article linked below doesn’t prove or disprove that there is warming but I found it amusing.

http://newsmax.com/newsfront/global_warming_or_cooling/2008/02/19/73798.html

Manly

This article pretty much sums up my feelings on the topic. Now I don’t necessarily agree that we are headed for a complete meltdown but I do agree about the volume of misinformation being fed to the American public.

I also think that it is VERY dangerous to have the federal government arbitrarily impose changes and restrictions on existing mortgage contracts. This undermines confidence that you can carry out lawful business in this country without interference.

I have no sympathy for people who knew damn well they were buying too much house for their income. Same goes for all of the speculators that picked up houses and lots trying to make a quick easy buck. These people are going to get burned in the end. RIGHTLY SO.

I remember my parents telling me over and over again that if it sounds too good to be true, it generally is.

The thing that disgusts me most is that I will inevitably end up bailing all of these people out with my tax dollars.

Guess what. This situation will just repeat itself in 10-20 more years (just like the last time).

If people do not take their lumps then they are doomed to make the same mistake over and over.

The best quote from the article (quoting Ludwig Von Mises):

There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit (debt) expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit (debt) expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.
~ Ludwig Von Mises

And finally:

Executive summary:

A series of government bailouts attack the symptoms, utterly fail to address the root cause

The bailouts were for the big banks, not you

House prices need to decline in price by 30% to 50%, and they will.

Trillions of dollars of losses lurk…in ultra-safe pension bond funds, small Norwegian towns, as well as in some unlikely places.

Current crisis is one of solvency not liquidity

Manly

http://www.schneier.com/blog/

This guy, Bruce Schneier, has some interesting takes on the TSA and Homeland Security in gerneral. Some pretty good reads. He does an interview with Kip Hawley, Head of the TSA.

I am not saying that I am about to move to Australia but I really admire some of the Australian officials and the fact that they had the courage to come out and publicly comment on what most Australians are thinking.
As far as I am concerned if you are going to immigrate to this or any other country you had damn well better learn the language and be ready to accept the culture, laws and traditions (in the U.S. these would be a representative government that makes the laws, an independant court system, a secular state and the language we speak is ENGLISH).

If you are a Muslim and think you are going to live under Islamic Sharia law, you can get get the hell out.

The australian goverment hasn’t officially enacted any laws or policies regarding the above but at least they are speaking about it and voicing the opinions of the majority of Australians.

Below are some quotes from Australian government officials (they are relatively old but I think the sentiment is still valid).

This is a transcript of a conversation between a member of the media and Australian treasurer Peter Costello.

Here’s a LINK.

TONY JONES:

Now, over the past 24 hours you’ve been repeating the notion that migrants, evidently Islamic migrants, who don’t like Australia, or Australian values, should think of packing up and moving to another country. Is that a fair assessment?

TREASURER:

What I’ve said is that this is a country, which is founded on a democracy. According to our Constitution, we have a secular state. Our laws are made by the Australian Parliament. If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you. This is not the kind of country where you would feel comfortable if you were opposed to democracy, parliamentary law, independent courts and so I would say to people who don’t feel comfortable with those values there might be other countries where they’d feel more comfortable with their own values or beliefs.

TONY JONES:

It sounds like you’re inviting Muslims who don’t want to integrate to go to another country. Is it as simple as that?

TREASURER:

No. I’m saying if you are thinking of coming to Australia, you ought to know what Australian values are.

TONY JONES:

But what about if you’re already here and you don’t want to integrate?

TREASURER:

Well, I’ll come to that in a moment. But there are some clerics who have been quoted as saying they recognise two laws. They recognise Australian law and Sharia law. There’s only one law in Australia, it’s the Australian law. For those coming to Australia, I think we ought to be very clear about that. We expect them to recognise only one law and to observe it.

Now, for those who are born in Australia, I’d make the same point. This is a country which has a Constitution. Under its Constitution, the state is secular. Under its constitution, the law is made by the parliament. Under its Constitution, it’s enforced by the judiciary. These are Australian values and they’re not going to change and we would expect people, when they come to Australia or if they are born in Australia, to respect those values.

TONY JONES:

I take it that if you’re a dual citizen and you have the opportunity to leave and you don’t like Australian values, you’re encouraging them to go away; is that right?

TREASURER:

Well, if you can’t agree with parliamentary law, independent courts, democracy and would prefer Sharia law and have the opportunity to go to another country which practises it, perhaps then that’s a better option.

TONY JONES:

But isn’t this the sort of thing you hear in pubs, the meaningless populism you hear on talkback radio? Essentially, the argument is if you don’t like it here, you should go back home.

TREASURER:

No. Essentially, the argument is Australia expects its citizens to abide by core beliefs – democracy, the rule of law, the independent judiciary, independent liberty. You see, Tony, when you come to Australia and you go to take out Australian citizenship you either swear on oath or make an affirmation that you respect Australia’s democracy and its values. That’s what we ask of people that come to Australia and if they don’t, then it’s very clear that this is not the country – if they can’t live with them – whose values they can’t share. Well, there might be another country where their values can be shared.

TONY JONES:

Who exactly are you aiming this at? Are you aiming it at young Muslims who don’t want to integrate or are you aiming it at clerics like Sheikh Omran or Abu Bakr both from Melbourne?

TREASURER:

I’d be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are two laws governing people in Australia, one the Australian law and another the Islamic law, that that is false. It’s not the situation in Australia. It’s not the situation under our Constitution. There’s only one law in Australia. It’s the law that’s made by the Parliament of Australia and enforced by our courts. There’s no second law. There’s only one law that applies in Australia and Australia expects its citizens to observe it.

TONY JONES:

But you’re not moving to the next stage, as they have in Britain, of actively seeking out clerics who teach what they regard as dangerous philosophy to young Muslims and forcing them to leave the country?

TREASURER:

The only thing I would say – and let me say it again – is we can’t be ambivalent about this point. Australia has one law, Australia has a secular state and anybody who teaches to the contrary doesn’t know Australia and anybody who can’t accept that, can’t accept something that is fundamental to the nature of our society.

TONY JONES:

All right. But the situation now, as far as you’re concerned, if they are to leave, it should be completely voluntary.

TREASURER:

Well, I’m just saying if they object to a secular state with parliamentary law, there might be other countries where the system of law is more acceptable to them.

TONY JONES:

Alright. Could that situation change? I mean, the voluntary nature of it at least, could you compel people to leave, including radical preachers, if there were a terrorist attack in Australia, as there was in London not so long ago?

TREASURER:

Well, where a person has dual citizenship, Tony, it might be possible to ask them to exercise that other citizenship where they could just as easily exercise a citizenship of another country. That might be a live possibility.

TONY JONES:

You mean to force them to leave?

TREASURER:

Well, you could ask them to exercise another citizenship.

TONY JONES:

But you would only do that if there were a terrorist attack in the aftermath of it. You wouldn’t do it, for example, if there were a thwarted terrorist attack as ASIO has told us there has been in this country?

TREASURER:

Well, I am not going into individual circumstances. I just make the point that where people have dual citizenship and they’re not comfortable with the way Australia is structured, it may be possible to ask them to exercise their other citizenship.

TONY JONES:

Forcibly?

TREASURER:

Well, as I said, it may be possible to ask them to exercise their other citizenship.

And another from the Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson:

Here is a LINK.

“If you want to be an Australian, if you want to raise your children in Australia, we fully expect those children to be taught and to accept Australian values and beliefs,” he said.

“We want them to understand our history and our culture, the extent to which we believe in mateship and giving another person a fair go, and basically if people don’t want to support and accept and adopt and teach Australian values then, they should clear off.”

Another quote from Peter Costello:

Here’s a LINK.

“We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society … Learn the language!”

“We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.”

“This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom,

‘THE RIGHT TO LEAVE’.”

Manly

Although I am certainly no advocate of the war in Iraq I do think that now that we are there we should finish the job.

The thing that bugs me the most is that the far left press refuses to print any positive news about the situation in Iraq. The soldiers are doing an outstanding job, are working hard and are actually accomplishing many outstanding things.

See Chuck’s post below for a few examples of what I am talking about.

Click HERE

Do you ever turn on the tube and wonder what the heck the world is coming to? It amazes me that out of every 10 stories published in the media, 8 of them are negative. Just about every night we hear about some mother who has burned her children in her car, some maniac is on a killing spree and 10 more Americans have met their maker in Iraq. Heck, half of this is local Dallas news even (other than the war coverage).

I am beginning to think that the information age has turned into the “DAMN, the world is a scary place” age.

Is the U.S. really worse than it used to be? People comment on this all the time. They can’t believe how their environment has changed since they were kids. Would you consider letting your kids “run the town” like my friends and I used to back in Iowa? I don’t think many parents would seriously consider this nowadays.

The funny thing is that crime rates in the US have declined steadily since 1994 and in 2002 they reached the lowest level EVER recorded. See the graph below (from the US Dept of Justice):

Here’s my theory… I think that all the media hype over every single violent crime incident has caused the average American to become paranoid and fearful. In truth this country is at LEAST as safe as it used to be. Unfortunately the common perception is that it’s much worse.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating letting your kids run wild in my neighborhood in Frisco, TX. That would be dangerous simply because there is enough traffic to warrant concern. People drive a tad faster (and with less care) in Dallas than they do in Grundy Center, IA. I just think that we should remember that most people ARE decent, (mostly) law abiding individuals that care about each other (at least a little). I see parents in the mall in Frisco just FREAK OUT if they lose track of their child for more than 5 seconds. Do they think that everyone they don’t know is a kidnapper or something? Most people adore children and would really go out of their way to make sure that child was safe if he/she couldn’t find Mom. Enough said on that one.

So exactly how much trust should you put in the media? We all know that the media is extremely liberal so if you are conservative you are pretty much obligated to view the television with skepticism.
Let me first say that I consider myself to be a middle of the road Republican. I don’t agree with everything the party or the president does (you would be surprised at what I disagree with but that’s a can of worms I will open later). I do however still believe that the Republican party stands up for values and causes that I support. In the absence of complete information on a candidate I would always vote for a Republican over a Democrat for that reason.

Let me get to the point here. People’s reaction to films and stories like Fahrenheit 9/11 drives me nuts. It amazes me that people will run out and go see a film like this (and Bowling for Columbine for that matter) and take the story as complete fact. In reality there are tons of inaccuracies in Michael Moore’s documentaries. They are basically bits and pieces of time that are questionably accurate. These pieces are assembled to make the viewer sympathize with Moore’s cause. How nice.

Check out this link if you want to hear the “other side of the story” re: Moore’s latest work. I’m not pretending to have gone out and verified Kopel’s facts but I just think it’s interesting to hear from both sides of the story.

The problem with all this is that the average Joe will not seek out the facts (or even know that he should). Who is educating the masses when it comes to this kind of thing? The media is. It’s pretty obvious to most people nowadays that the media is blatantly anti Bush and FAR left leaning. Just go watch CNN or other and ask yourself what slant they place on each story. You will find that it’s decidedly liberal.

It’s sad to think that today you really can’t trust the news any more. I never doubted the local or national news stations until a few years ago when I noticed this trend. Now I just watch and shake my head. I don’t watch Fox news either because it leans too far to the right for me. I guess I will rely on word of mouth to get my news from now on. Maybe someone will develop some filtering software so that I can filter out liberal/conservative slants and bias from news I could download or something…

This brings me to my next thought. Were there any “good old days” when this problem wasn’t around? If they exist, should I even yearn for the good old days at all? Is it possible that I was too immersed in other things to notice that this has been going on forever?

It seems to me that every adult I have known has at one time said “back when” and “good old days” or something like this. Is this just a function of getting older?

I think that everyone has a “sweet spot” in their life that they consider to be the good times. Some people consider this high school. Others talk about college. Others consider this to be the time around their first born child. There is one constant with this though. As you age you become less relevant to popular culture. You move outside the target demographic for “cool” things. Thus, when you get to your 30’s you are no longer really in the mainstream of what’s hip. As you feel less relevant (and feel like you are getting older) you yearn for the times years ago when you WERE the target demographic.

I’m not sure I want to be involved in all of the stuff going on today with people 10 years younger than me but there is definitely a line dividing us…

Well, that’s it for this one. It feels incomplete but I didn’t have a lot of time to write this so take it for what it is. If you have comments, please leave them and I will respond.

Peace.

Manly

P.S. My bud Richard and I did the “Muenster” ride today (7/19) north of Denton, TX. Pretty cool with some good high speed spots and a few twisties. I will attach a couple of the pics. We stopped in Tioga, TX for some famous babecue (it was good). Not a bad ride really although it took us much longer than we thought it would even though I had the bike wide open many times. It’s my second time on this ride.

Pics: