Bydio

You’ve gotta put some time aside to check this out.  IdeaChannel.tv is offering the 1980 Series, and the 1990 followup, of “Free To Choose.”  Watch the 1980 Series first, then watch the 1990 Series.  Simply put, Milton Friedman shows you the way to economic prosperity on a national and global scale.

Fifteen episodes, each is about an hour long, but every minute is well worth the time.  The DVD is available, too, but it’s expensive (*cough TORRENT cough*).  If you’ve ever wondered why our system is the way it is today, and why it’s so inefficient, then watching Uncle Milty will help you understand.

Go watch “Free To Choose” right now!

From The Housing Bubble Blog:

The Tampa Tribune reports from Florida. “The U.S. Secret Service and local authorities arrested two people Wednesday during a sting at a local title agency, part of a ‘red-hot mortgage fraud scheme’ playing out across the country.”

“Anthony Capsouto, a Nevada mortgage broker, and Muhammed Sekertekin, an illegal immigrant from Turkey, were arrested during a settlement closing in Tampa, the Tampa Police Department said. The men were trying to obtain a fraudulent mortgage in Sekertekin’s name on a home (in) Apollo Beach. The men wanted to inflate the recorded sales price of the house from $690,000 to $910,000. At closing, $210,000 was to be paid back to a company started last month by Sekertekin.”

“At the closing, Capsouto insisted that the information about the $210,000 payoff be omitted from the settlement document, said Tampa police Detective Jim Bartoszak. That is a violation of state and federal law. Also a violation, Bartoszak said, was Capsouto insisting the addendum not be sent to the lender.”

“The men were arrested at the settlement table. ‘We think they were going to default on the loan and run away with the money,’ Bartoszak said. ‘It’s a great scam. How do you ruin the credit rating on a guy who’s here illegally?’”

This is another problem with illegal immigration, but the real problem is deeper than that.  Credit is based entirely on a person who can be monitored as a citizen.  Social Security numbers, drivers license numbers, bank account numbers, etc.  All these are for tracking and monitoring a person by private and government agencies.

I know, another anti-government screed by some bearded woodsman with a rifle who’s holed up in a shack… I know the stereotype that comes to mind.  That’s not me, but it’s what you think.

Just give it a thought; find a logical argument against what I think and show me where I’m wrong.

Gotta love it when the extremists shove their feet in their collective mouths.

From Atlas Shrugs:

[Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Avignor Lieberman] began his remarks by saying that those who are not faithful to Israel cannot expect to have full rights. He would have  Israelis to sign a commitment to loyalty to the Israeli flag and to its national anthem, and of requiring service in the army or other national service. Citizens who wouldn’t  sign the declaration could continue to live in Israel, working, studying, and getting health care benefits, but they could not vote in national elections or be elected to national office.

“It’s not racism. The test is loyalty, not their religion.”

[...]

“Israel has the right to demand full allegiance from all its citizens. He who is not ready to recognize Israel as a Jewish and Zionist state, cannot be a citizen in the country.“

So let me see here… the loyalty test is not about religion, but you have to swear loyalty to Israel and recognize it as a Jewish and Zionist state.  Umm… douchebag.

Yes, Israel has a right to demand loyalty, to discriminate, just as Saudi Arabia does, but please don’t say you aren’t discriminating when you are.  If anyone of another religion who wants to live and participate in Israel’s direction must swear allegiance to the country and recognize it’s a (theocratic) Jewish country, then yes, it’s about religion.  When it comes to a Theocracy, it’s always about religion.

On the plus side, Israel doesn’t bar people of other faiths from going to Jewish holy sites just because they’re not Jewish (as far as I know).

Oh, and here’s your daily hard-on:

Ahmadinejad greeting Neturei Karta rep

hy·poc·ri·sy

1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.

Okay, now to give an example of hypocrisy:

Muslim pilgrims urged to complain Washington Times

American Muslims making a religious pilgrimage to Mecca are being encouraged to file civil rights complaints if they feel discriminated against by airlines.

[...]

A guide issued by CAIR advises Muslims that “as an airline passenger, you are entitled to courteous, respectful and non-stigmatizing treatment by airline and security personnel.”

“You have the right to complain about treatment that you believe is discriminatory,” the guide says.

So what’s the hypocrisy, you ask?  From ReligionFacts.com:

Few non-Muslims have ever seen the rites and rituals of the Hajj, as non-Muslims are strictly prohibited from entering Mecca and Medina. Roadblocks are stationed along roads leading to the city.

So Muslims are encouraged to file anti-discrimination lawsuits against airlines while traveling on a religious journey to a destination that, for centuries, has specifically discriminated against non-Muslims.

Where’s our right to complain about THEIR discrimination against non-Muslims?

What if the Ku Klux Klan made a similar statement, saying “file an anti-discrimination lawsuit against the airline if they don’t treat you like the master race while flying to a Klan rally.”  People would go apeshit over that.  Neither Christians, Jews, Hindus, nor Buddhists do this shit, so Muslims shouldn’t be able to get away with this kind of manipulation.

If they want religiously segregated cities in their own countries, fine, that’s their prerogative (even if it is retarded), but playing this hypocritical politically-correct game is bullshit and they should be called out for it.

Update 20061214: Others have picked up on this.

CAIR Sets Up Grievance Theater Hotline
CAIR urges Muslims making pilgrimage to Mecca to file civil rights complaints against airlines

From ynetnews.com (the source is Palestinian, so I question its veracity, but if true…):

The Palestinian news agency Maan, quoting a senior member of the Palestinian government, reported Wednesday that “ministers of the Hamas-led government recently held talks with European countries and with a delegation of the American Democratic Party.

The Palestinian official said that Hamas representatives held meeting in European countries and even succeeded in convincing the Europeans to accept the movement’s stance (click for their stance).

The Palestinian official expressed his hope that the recent talks would lead to positive developments, especially in light of “Hamas’ flexibility in its diplomatic stances.”

He refused to elaborate on the meeting and where it took place, claiming that Hamas is not interested in harming the Democrats’ chances to win the 2008 elections.

If this is true (and it’s not verified yet), then if you vote Democrat, you get “leaders” who work with Hamas.  Never.

While this wench takes the stance that all divorced dads are being completely shafted — which is bullshit, but I do agree some serious male shafting is going on in the court system — she does raise an interesting point:

The main benefactor is the child support agency who takes a 2% cut out of every child support check for as long as the child is in the system.

Oh, they didn’t tell you about that?

Follow the money.  Always follow the money.

From The Volokh Conspiracy Blog:

As I said, my libertarian sympathies lie with the school, and given relevant Hawaiian history, I don’t have any particular distaste for the Schools spending money left by a Hawaiian princess for Native Hawaiian education on Native Hawaiians. But I think it’s too clever by half for courts to hold that minorities are protected from discrimination by a law that grants them the same rights as “white citizens”, if “white citizens” (among others) do not have these rights to begin with. Put another way, it’s hard to read the language of the 1866 Act as doing anything other than creating legal parity between whites and others. Any interpretation of the Act that disrupts that parity with regard to any right that is perceived to come within the protections of the Act lapses into incoherence.

I agree with Mr. Volokh’s libertarian leanings, the school should be able to do what it wants with the money, but the courts are fucking around, making sure that whitey gets the shaft.  That ain’t cool.

Did you know that oil is traded in U.S. dollars and no other currency?  I didn’t until a few months ago.  I was reminded of it from this article at lindasog.com.

I found that oil was only traded in U.S. dollars kinda odd.  Why is it only traded in dollars, not euros or shekels or rupees?  My brain couldn’t comprehend, so I let it slide.  It became more trivia in my addled brain.

Come to find out Iran is planning to trade oil for euros now.  Okay, so what’s the big deal?

Well, it seems the dollar is propped up by oil.  I don’t think this is some conspiracy thing, but please correct me if I’m wrong.  We went off the gold standard in 1972, but oil backed the dollar, basically keeping our monetary system stable and prosperous.  After all, if you can only buy oil in dollars, then you have to have dollars to buy oil.  Every country on earth would need U.S. dollars to buy their oil.  In 1972 they may’ve been thinking, “It’s highly unlikely people won’t need oil anytime soon, so there’s plenty of time to figure out another way to back the dollar and keep it strong.”

Well, no one was going to fuck with the U.S. in any major way back in the 70s.  Viet Nam, the Cold War, re-election of Tricky Dick… shiiiit, we looked like we were militarily ready and willing to fuck with anyone.

But now, we’re kinda looking like the big dude who cries when we get into a real fight.  Yes, we look like pussies.

What better time to undermine the big pussies, right?  The E.U. can get Iran to trade oil in euros in exchange for allowing Iran to do some heinous shit, but then THEIR currency is backed by oil, making it much stronger and propped up by the most-used energy source in the world.  Iran gets a pass at the U.N. if the U.S. starts to get crabby, and the E.U. becomes more secure with oil backing its fiat currency.  Win-win, right?

We all know the capricious nature of international politics, and I’m betting the E.U. is selling its soul for this deal, but now maybe you can see why the E.U. fucks with us at the U.N.

The full implications range much farther than this, but this was a question I’d asked myself before, and now I think this is the answer.  Either that or I’m on crack.  You decide.

This is all just a guess, mind you, but it seems to fit.  I’m no economist.

Update 20061212: More on how Oil Producing Countries own dollars, and how they’re getting rid of them.

C’mon, when you say something like this:

Increased spending inevitably means increased taxes. Thus, despite
President Bush’s much vaunted tax cuts, Americans actually pay more in
taxes today than they did during Bill Clinton’s last year in office.

you’re just asking for a smackdown.

Of course taxes increase when spending increases.  Everything you buy is taxed, retaxed and taxed again.  From manufacture to sale, raw materials, labor, import/export, transportation, everything that goes into a product has been taxed out the ass.

So saying that increased spending equals increased taxes is like saying water makes you wet.  At merely the 5% sales tax, if I spend $10, I’m taxed 50 cents, but if I spend $20, I’m taxed $1… fuck, I’m being taxed double because I spent double!

However, focusing on the tax cut to make your point is a dickhead move.  “Don’t give a tax cut because you’re just going to spend more in taxes anyway”… what kind of retarded argument is that?

Ol’ Atlas Shrugs points out that the UN is smoking a Bob Marley-sized joint if they believe that Israel should, or will, get out of Jerusalem.

Decisive majority
in UN General Assembly approves six pro-Palestinian resolutions,
including calls for Israel to dismantle settlements, withdraw from
territory captured in ‘67, including E. J’lem [East Jerusalem], Golan Heights despite
heavy opposition by Israel, US
[...]
The Palestinian UN Observer, Riyad Mansour,
said the vote - 157 to 7 with 10 abstentions - showed massive support
in the international community for moving forward on the peace process.
[...]
After the vote in favor of the Golan Heights
resoution - 107-6 with 60 abstentions - [Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar] Ja’afari thanked members for
their support for Syria’s right to retrieve its land occupied by Israel
in 1967. He appealed for a just peace and for the liberation of the
Golan Heights.

My simple opinion on Israel’s conquests of lands is they won the land in war, so it’s theirs to do with as they please, and the UN be damned.  The UN is fine for talking, but it’s useless when it comes to doing anything of use or of consequence.