Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Kenya to fight hate speech

For any group of people that put a value on free speech, a powerful tool for progress, it will always be the things we don't want to hear and things that make us upset that need the most protection. Discouraging people from talking about how they feel, and going so far as to ensure what they have to say does nothing to eliminate the ideas and feelings that people have.

It is not a bad thing to imagine a world where everyone loves each other and can get along in peace, but hate speech is a symptom than a cause of a real problem. In medicine, a sick person can be running a fever, but putting them in cold water does not heal the sickness.

Some people will always find excuses to be violent, no matter how quickly the excuse of the day can be censored. If what you want is to discourage violence, property damage, and fear, educate people on the principle and value of the free expression of ideas. Free people from the fear of expressing their opinion, and free people from fear of the opinions of others that they may disagree with, albeit strongly.

This mutual respect for will be a necessary tool for peace. Let people know what is really intolerable and come down hard. Creating a gray area for non-violent hate mongers is corrosive to law and the civil society, and too often what can be considered 'hate speech' yesterday, today, or tomorrow changes with the political atmosphere.

I am not denying that there are real problems in Kenya, just saying that a cautious (not to imply slow), structured, pragmatic approach will be necessary to make real change.

Again,
1. Educate for speech tolerance and against violence.
2. As much as necessary, swat / riot teams PROTECT protesters / non-violent expressions of all people equally.
3. Quickly and aggressively (zip ties are good for this) break up physical confrontations and acts of violence.

Targeting the problem as directly and narrowly as possible prevents resources from being spread thin, and builds public confidence of governmental objectivity.

Please, do not make 'hate' the gray area of violence any more than you desire violence be the gray area of free expression.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Re: Sex Workers Rights Reform Challenges

(in response to the linked article)

Another thing I would add is that while prostitution itself is a misdemeanor, efforts made by prostitutes to protect each other for safety falls within the scope of pimping, a felony. Lower personal risk means higher legal risk.

Not as a reason not to legalize, but a challenge in legalization that I see is in the area of contrast and parental rights / obligations. To my understanding only in recent years at the Bunny Ranch in Nevada girls may turn down offers by clients without penalty. Previously if a girl did not want to serve a client she would be held liable to the house for their share of lost profit. Not wanting to put girls into uncomfortable situations, girls are free to accept or decline offers as they please.

But what if this came down to a legal battle? In the exchange of most goods contract law can provide equitable relief on unique goods and services. How would the law remedy such a situation as in my experience every woman is unique in both beauty and talents.

Also, the US has unique anti-discrimination laws from other countries. If a girl does not want to be with men but only women, has issues with people of certain cultures, only want to be with older or younger clients, married or single clients? How do we address and remedy these civil rights issues when the law needs to be blind? Should sex workers get a special pass?

Also, would a sex worker that gets pregnant, despite all precautions, be entitled to the same child support as in other circumstances? Is it an assumption of the risk? Could abortion as an individual policy of a sex worker be advertised? Could it be legally enforceable? I would think that if it wasn't a legally enforceable provision of a contract (with advertisements being 'offers') then it could not legally be advertised, but it still makes the matter complicated. What risks would be assumed by the client and by employees?

I am not a fan of anti-bigamy laws for many of the same reasons listed above, and while I reject the common "ethical reasons" for a ban on bigamy, I see the greatest challenge being a legal one. As if family law is not complicated enough.

Finally, a major challenge I see is from liberal progressives that still hold egalitarianism as a social ideology and goal. I agree that many people get into prostitution because there are low financial and educational barriers to market. The most well educated and subsequently skilled sex works are always going to make the most money as in any business, but I am certain on the job training is always allowed. Not to mention that since sex work is typically commission based, brothels would need to be having exceptional difficulty with someone to turn them away. Most sex workers not bringing in good money get out of the business first. I believe all people pick goals based on their circumstances, but to an egalitarian opportunities that exist in nature for poor people are immoral and "unlovely". Thus, while people have sex for free, this punishment where appropriate to apply is seen as morally equitable.

Defeating socially conservative opposition to prostitution might very well be easier.

Recognizing that, sex workers rights is an issue that is exclusive to libertarians. "centrists" will go along with anything, but the further you get from the center either left or right I expect one to find a more difficult time getting actual support for any real reform. Even in this age of budget crisis, solutions, imo, have become even more aggressively partisan. This leads me to believe that an issue such as sex works rights that do not split on the political line, despite having very different reasons for supporting their position, I see it even less likely in this current environment that anything will change in the near future.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

When would Slavery have ended without Lincoln?

As to the call at the end of the [Mike Church Show] today, I appreciated the humility of the answer you gave. Slavery was on its way out in the western world, but as you said, it is all speculation as to how something might have turned out under circumstances that never took place.

Right now I am in the middle of reading "The Lincoln War Crimes Trial: A History Lesson" [1] on Lew Rockwell's web site. I look forward to pointing people to that article, but that is aside from the point.

As far as "what would have happened" I sometimes wonder how history would have been written had Adolf Hitler been more successful. Hopefully not in my opinion and understanding alone, many people were very concerned about the violence against many groups of people, but with the piles of propaganda produced by the state, the passive supporters of the Nazi regime accepted the belief that the parties ambitions had a moral imperative.

Similar to global warming, there was a belief that (rather than carbon dioxide) bad genetics was going to wipe out the human race if drastic measures were not taken to stop this downward spiral. If you believed this argument, what could possibly be more important than working together to combat this problem eventually by any means possible.

If people revered today the legacy of Adolf Hitler with the degree of revisionist history taught in our public schools and espoused by neo-cons about "Honest Abe", I expect that instead of the question "How would slavery have ended?", you would get callers asking how else the human race would have been saved.

And sadly [Mike Church] would have to give exactly the same answer: "I can't speculate about a history based on circumstances that never took place".

If I could speculate, slavery was on its way out as it was losing economic viability on its own as in the rest of the Western world. A spontaneous order would have been an economically strong south without slavery, and without the slaughter of a Civil War. The institution of slavery would have faded into the past and regarded with a disdain between the treatment of American Indians and Chinese railroad workers.

[1] http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/wilson2.html

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Democrats vs. Republicans

(Click above link above link for context)

And this isn't simply filled with hate?

What I make of this is that if I tell you I am a "Republican", then this is what you are going to assume about me and my beliefs and the only philosophical grounds I stand upon is racism, homophobia, and equally support any and all proposals by any person that has ever identified themselves as "Republican" or "Conservative".

And if I told you I have never listened to Rush Limbaugh, never watched Fox News, and was never a political fan of George Bush, I don't live in a Trailer Park, and I have never hit a woman could I guess that you would say that I am not really a Republican?

You want a real list of conservative values, why not ignore the BS on BOTH sides and get a better understanding of the argument, then try to look for people that stand on the principled ground from which good policy is going to come from.

Some sites that have attempted to delineate conservative values for conservatives to focus on and debate:
• http://www.thecontract.org/the-contract-from-america/
• http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2009/03/03/declaration-of-orders-we-will-not-obey/
• http://theamericanconservatives.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=62
• http://www.campaignforliberty.com/about.php
• http://www.gop.com/index.php/learn/what_we_believe/

And of course you have rating scales that measure how certain candidates stand up. By some measures I have seen, Jim DeMint has a good prospect among Republican members of Congress for being elected President in 2010
• http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/jim_demint.htm

On The Nolan Scale, I know where I agree and disagree with Jim DeMint. I believe his proposals for Health Care reform are among the very best that are comprehensive, but I do not agree with his positions on everything.

The Nolan Scale is very interesting in my opinion and is a good measure of political ideology, and I think a discussion over why one might be in a particular position pn the Nolan Scale (beyond, of course, just the issues at question in The World's Smallest Quiz) that could actually give people some insight into why two moral people that disagree with each other can still respect each other.

Of course there are other political spectrum theories. I was impressed with the Wikipedia article on the issue and was impressed by how similar and yet not so similar arguments over political spectrums were, and the quality with which they support their arguments, particularly in how some compare and contrast socialism and communism. More and more I have felt like each "side" has a very different perspective on the political spectrum itself and where other people lie :
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_spectrum

But if you would prefer baiting by which we take anecdotal evidence of wrongs or downright hypocrisy on one side and stereotype individuals that put themselves out as members of that party, don't be too shocked when those not intimidated by your remarks don't come running to vote democrat.

To be a Democrat you need to believe...

1. The Civil War was over the right to keep slaves.

2. People that support States Rights want to bring back slavery.

3. American Jurisprudence begins with Holmes and ends with Warren.

4. Economic Theory began with Adam Smith and ended with Keynes.

5. There are ten articles to the Constitution, beginning with Free Speech and the Separation of Church and State.

6. Democracy is the process by which we make our laws.

7. It is the job of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution.

8. Free Markets are great, but Congress needs to make sure everything is fair first.

9. The president is the leader of the nation.

10. Murder should not disqualify you from being a member of Congress as long as you are really sorry, or just too drunk to remember.

11. "This is a White Man's Government!" is the slogan of the Republican party.

12. If you went to college you are an authority on every subject, unless you are a Republican then you are an authority on no subject.

13. If you worship a big white man on a little black cloud you are crazy, but if you worship a little black man in a big white house you are enlightened.

14. #13 is proof that I am a racist.

15. #14 is proof that I am a racist.

16. People other than you or anyone you know that have a lot of money got that way because they are greedy and therefore can not be trusted to spend their money in personally or socially responsible ways.

17. People other than you or anyone you know that don't have a lot of money got that way because they are stupid and therefore can not be trusted to spend their money in personally or socially responsible ways.

18. In Brown vs. Board of Education the defense shared findings that Black students in segregated schools more greatly preferred playing with white dolls than those students in integrated schools.

19. Ernesto Miranda was set free because his constitutionally protected right against self incrimination had been violated.

20. The purpose of a corporation is to give people jobs.

21. People are elected to office because the average person is too ignorant and stupid to understand complicated issues like buying health insurance or healthy food, but also explains why republicans sometimes get elected.

22. People that believe in personal responsibility and getting things when earned have been brain washed by right wing extremists.

23. The Tea Party is the militant branch of the GOP, and every non-white is a token. All the white ones wish they were Timothy McVey, but gun control stops them from fulfilling the dream.

24. Eugenics isn't politically correct, but probably necessary because the world is over populated.

25. Al Gore

26. Immigration Laws are fine so long as they are not actually enforced.

27. The Lost Decade was due to a lack of government regulation, with bailouts and stimulus money that didn't come as big, as fast, or as often as they needed to be to combat the problem.

28. Any time Barack Obama makes a wish and it doesn't come true, a Republican did it.

Yay, now we both have lists. Want to discuss conservative principles, or what democrats believe?

Monday, April 05, 2010

In re Constitution

The biggest different between VAT and Fair Tax is that a VAT would just be another turd on the pile of crap that is our tax code. The Fair Tax, AT LEAST, makes the number of people that would be potential criminals for trying to work and earn a living WAY down; Fair Tax repeals the income tax.

And as long as we are talking about sobering reality, I heard some unfortunate news that I can not dispute. The Constitution is dead... and as much as it is not dead it is simply meaningless. Thomas Woods and Kevin Gutzman make a strong argument that the Constitution was on its way out the door with the Wilson administration and the philosophy of Oliver Holmes. The Constitution today is like British nobility: It is an interesting piece of history and a symbol of our cultural heritage, but other than that it has absolutely no force of law. The Constitution was a contract between the states for mutual self interest for which the federal government is an agent, and anyone that believes that is utterly delusional. Today we have much more a democratic republic, not constitutional federalism.

Many people today, to me, seem to think that kings and dictators are bad because they are evil, greedy, and selfish rather than finding the philosophical superiority in self governance.

Today the freedom many people desire is the freedom from responsibility. It only further breaks my heart that these people get away with calling themselves "liberals", for which they are anything but.

Today we have a compassionate, but none the less absolute, tyranny. The fact that government does not exceed anything greater than its own desire for control is no limit at all. It just means they are nice... except when they are not. We also find it acceptable because remember the other problem with kings is that we didn't vote for them. If we could just vote for our king, then everything would be fine, right?

btw, this isn't blaming anyone in particular, just pointing out the end result.

So basically, there is no question of constitutionality because there is no Constitution.

I am curious what is going to be the result of the April 9th Article V summit in Washington DC. The hosts have some great suggestions, not to mention some good ideas from state legislatures on how states can protect themselves (for which naming would go beyond the scope of this comment).

But remember, any amendment will still only be a symbol on an already dead symbol. An amendment would only be a formality for the real process of fortification (protect citizens from being individually attacked by the fed; take a look at what Montana and Arizona are doing) and nullification (reject federal authority).

Anything less and all the amendments you pass are just make a bigger constitution to wipe your tears with.

Sunday, April 04, 2010

On Capitalism & the Free Market

I am no scholar on the issue, but a friend was telling me about the history of Sudan with the rise and fall of their socialist system through the 70's until the oil embargo. As a strong proponent of the free market and capitalism, but I think one of the ironic about human beings and what makes a free market system and capitalism is that people will work their ass off to be lazy. The thing is that once people get what they want, they stop wanting.

Leave people to their own dreams with delusions of great inventions and great societies free of responsibility. They are going to believe it in their hards and it will become a religion, and people will work till their hands bleed and keep going.

But as soon as you convince a person we already live in a perfect world, or be already got it figured out, or don't worry just HOPE because there is someone else assigned to the job; the lazy inside of us doesn't cheer (but maybe a little) but instead just says "ok, nevermind."

We don't need to encourage hardship to "watch the human spirit overcome great adversity" as I think many liberals believe what the free market is about, but leaving people alone, free to have wild delusions and make it a reality for them and anyone else that choose it for himself, or moves on to make his own dream.

I love my dreams, dreaming is one of the greatest experiences of life. There are so few things we can really have much power in this world. Why in the world would anyone want to pay (or vote) someone else to do that for me.

I can't imagine a more important purpose for our being here.

Monday, March 29, 2010

In response to "Universal Health Care is not Socialism"

As with everything including socialism, it isn't an argument about whether or not it should be regulated or rationed or whatever but about WHO gets to regulate and ration. When things are not regulated they can get out of control when it is important. That does not provide any basis or argument for any particular person or group to step in and do the regulating.

Every moment of your life and all things around you are regulated in one manner or another. For example rainfall is heavily regulated by temperature, and how often I see my doctor is regulated by how well I am feeling and how much money I have. Whether or not a person opens a business is regulated by ... err.. you get the point.

Before trying to fix something and reaching for the biggest tool you can find, ask yourself this question: What is a government? Where does it come from? What can governments do? What can government NOT do? A really fun question is what are some good things governments can and can not do vs bad things governments can and can not do contrasted with should not and list why.

Sometimes I wish I could punch Thomas Hobbes in the face for not explaining his work to people that would wish to take his observations out of context and try to reason that they were laws of nature and society. His observation was that the mass majority will comply with ever increasing government because any single step towards greater control always seems less harmful than the idea of "returning to a state of nature", or no government. Further, people tend to look at government control as freedom from responsibility, which is generally true, and for the consumer relief from responsibility by government means it may or may not only be easier for them such that it is a win win situation. Health Care for example: the class of individuals needing medical care mutually exclusive of medical providers believes that either 1)they are going to get something for free, 2) nothing is going to change for them. This class so greatly out numbers health care providers that their opinion is irrelevant. Therefore, logically, median voter says government takeover of health care can be good thing. It would also baffle the mind of most people to understand why anyone could possibly oppose a perpetually more powerful government. Also, if you agree with Hobbes (which is so deeply rooted in modern western thought anyway) we "know" that government only gets larger because the only way for it to get smaller would be for a significant number of people so opposed to whatever the government is doing that they would be willing to do without it completely. Such a situation is SO rare, who cares, right? Next, once we have accepted that government is going to only get bigger, and just take the leap forward that since progress is directly correlated to the size of government therefore government tends towards improving society.

Yeah, so all your arguments about how if it is important then we need to create a government bureaucracy, or more so, you are going to keep sitting on your ass while someone else both creates and another becomes the victim of a government bureaucracy is no argument at all, just a shibboleth of your political ideology.

And can you please explain your signature? Is your argument: Socialism = bad, Universal Health Care = good, therefore Universal Health Care != Socialism? It is almost like you make an argument against socialism, but then don't ... therefore you are right. What?!? Back to the earlier check your reality and try again questions. What is a government? What is the general structure or philosophy behind a socialist ideology? Where when and how does it work and for what purpose? Where may or may not this ideology be incompatible with the theory of what a government can and can not be, and under what circumstances or steps might be taken to mitigate possible shortfalls of socialism?

So how about this:
Health Care is a good thing and universal elements of it are tried and true rules of the industry. We love, value and honor people that enter the profession when it is what they choose to do so freely with the time, intellect, and resources that they are given on earth, and despite however they may choose to organize, or whatever mistakes they may make, we will not inflict the will of the people upon them because universality of any particular system is no measure by which others may make judgments of them. Also, indirectly related, we believe that life is both not so important and yet too precious at the same time that our lives or anyone else's life would be better managed by another than the principle individual without their consent as aspects of socialist philosophy might have us believe.

So get over it.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Citizens United v. FEC

(Note: Old article I had planned on posting 3/25, but I do not know why I did not get any further than saving it as a draft. Anyway, whatever I was planning on adding I may get around to at some later time.)

I greatly enjoyed reading your post to Alan Grayson's page on Citizen's United v. FEC. Having heard so much from different writers I am finally getting to reading the transcript. Your arguments had significantly greater depth than others that I have read. In particular, I was very disappointed by the reaction of Lawrence Lessig whom I expect you are familiar with.

So it seems that the general argument is that we don't want quid pro quo elections, and law has many restrictions. It seems to stand out from your post that you believe that corporations are inherently evil, but even aside from that the McCain Feingold Act was not only much more sweeping, but make special partisan exceptions.

The legal question to me seemed to be whether the government had been prudent in narrowly addressing a systemic problem, or just banged at it with a hammer until they felt better about the issue without really considering the possible adverse side affects.

Whether or not you may have been in the minority of people that may have been interested in this film this isn't even a question of what they said but at the heart of whether or not they had a right to say it. And as if Theador Oleson's request for an open mind to adverse side effects, such as his mention that 97% of corporations are "mom and pop stores", the argument that "well what we really mean are the big money corporations" is exactly the point he tries to make. Follow that up with Elena Kagan affirmation of the censorship of little American business people, but that the big foreign owned media corporations effectively do whatever they want. Kagan demonstrated that the law, if upheld, would give the government the power to censor any and all political speech not done on a soap box.

This case didn't come down to a proper application of a good rule but an attack against specific speech someone didn't like, never mind it was big money opposition. And as you point out, there is nothing the court can do not. Clinton still lost, but that does not address that a group of people (like them or not) intended to purposefully express themselves as a meaningful time and place and were not allowed to. The manner in which the individuals to that assembly carried far too much weight in a way that really wasn't appropriate.

Personally, I love this case because to me it is a reminder of the wisdom that a bad law is NOT better than the absence of a good law. I think it is the law that was so overreaching in an attempt to address a great fear that it missed completely. Blame Congress for that, not the supreme court.

Don't worry, I know I stand alone in this belief, but since you seem to be very well read on the issue, I would be interested in your opinion of those aspects.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to respond if you do. If you don't have time or what not, thanks again anyway for your article.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

A longer rant

@Esoteric0714 Sigh, I only have time to slap one libtard a day, so feel lucky. You say something, and someone else says "STFU", you are BOTH exercising freedom of speech. Also, I really recommend you not spending so much time getting your critical thinking skills from listening to Nancy Pelosi, one day stupid might hurt and you will be in trouble. The Constitutional Convention that created the Constitution NULLIFIED the Articles of Confederacy, and the reason for it was to throw out (nullify) the British national system the founders admired but recognized the need to be decentralize if once this republic was put into place were to not become what we had finally thrown off. The problem with the Articles of Confederation was its FAILURE to properly nullify British rule as seem when the British attacked New York.

Also, you talk about the founders of the confederacy vs. constitution as if they were different people from a different time. So for your own sake, please pick up a history book and read it.

Btw, I still don't understand how a person without education or any feeling for how the government is run with respect to their personal responsibility even bothers opening their mouth on the discussion of how that system might be transformed. Is it a principle of "the loudest hobo catches the most dole", or "The greater the kiss ass, the greater the mouth full"? Guess that is just one of life's mysteries. I guess Machiavelli's failure was just a fluke.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The Contract

I am not sure if this is going to be expanded into a short story, but I would like to think that it will. This started as a Slashdot reply, and turned into something a bit more. I might like to keep this a secret, but it seems posts to this blog are pretty much a secret anyway, so who cares. Btw, this was a response to a statement made about the preamble to the constitution and the statement about "general welfare."

---

Even the most basic understanding of contracts modern or historical gives simple clarity. If I make an agreement with my neighbors for the purpose of landscaping in order to create a more perfect neighborhood and the general welfare of the street, to reduce cost, time, and effort to that need, we would need to specify what that means. For example, within the contract we specify that ABC Landscaping will be the agent to the contract, and they have the right to determine how many times a month on which days our lawns will be mowed, so long as they are specified in advance; the amount of water and fertilizer necessary to promote healthy growth. If ABC Landscaping informs us that the best lawn is one mowed every other day, that was left to their discretion because it is specified in the contract. If we think this is excessive, it is not a contract violation per se, but a fault of the parties. In such a case you would probably want to notify that even if it is in the best interest of the lawn that you really didn't want the lawns mowed 15 times a month. On the other hand, if ABC Landscaping installed fences and lawn gnomes in every yard and converted one persons lawn to be a community pool, they have clearly violated the contract no matter how much they may argue that it contributes to the general welfare of the neighborhood as specified in the preamble.

The situation we have is to imagine a neighborhood of renters where the contract is made between the landlords, ABC Landscaping is still the agent but the cost of the landscaping is not included in the rent. Further, ABC Landscaping can sue you if you do not pay them. The problem we have is that ABC Landscaping has decided to convert all our yards into a giant admission free amusement park. And as if the Landlord we almost never see not caring wasn't enough, any complaints about this possibly having gone a bit too far are met with the kids throwing a fit over loosing their free amusement park and redouble that with the Union of Amusement Park Ride Operators crying that you are trying to kill jobs and put people out on the street.

This really isn't what you bargained for, but you are providing jobs, and the teenagers are reasonably well behaved. It is a bit on the expensive side, but hell, you even enjoy the rides every so often.

Now ABC Landscaping puts on their thinking caps. There really isn't any room for any more rides, but still they would like to make the amusement park better. So they get the brilliant idea of adding concession stands with free food for anyone visiting the amusement park! Everyone is thrilled, right? And anyone that complains must want people to starve to death or at very least just be miserable, right? "Buy your own damn food!" How cold is that? What possible reason could people really have for not wanting free food when everyone can get some?

To be continued...

Monday, March 22, 2010

The democracy of open source

My criticisms of democracy only go as far as to agree with what James Madison and H.L. Menkin said about democracy. To say that if you reject pure democracy then you must prefer an dictator and that all dictators are evil is just absurd. Some things just should not be a majority vote of anyone that has an opinion just as science does not become truth with consensus.

Open Source is a meritocracy where your voice is heard relative to your contribution and against the weight of the merit of your opposition. The best part is that nobody's basic necessities are dependent upon the success of the open source project but in very limited circumstances, and money is not the primary driving force behind decision making.

Open source community in general is good at keeping communication lines open and the pool of ideas is greatly valued. If democracy to you is where a lot of people are free to give input, fine, but I don't want to hear you complain when the idea board is flooded with "make it work better", and "this sucks, you should do it different."

In my humble opinion, "democracy" is a very poor word choices to describe the nature of the open source community, or even an individual project.

Microsoft listens and then does whatever people ask for. The Linux community listens to people, but then does it right. Maybe democracy is the best form of government / organization for many reasons, but that doesn't mean the shortcomings simply don't exist. What frequently impresses me the most about the open source community is the ability to gather such diverse input without blinding people from doing what they know is most practical in principle to the best of their knowledge. I see it as fundamentally more beautiful than democracy without loss of generality for its merits.

Freedom, to be discussed politely over coffee.

The US Supreme Court has never been one much for challenging congress. I am sure the supreme court will find some argument why this this is not unconstitutional rather than face the wrath of both branches of government. What needs to happen for the first time in history (and is well on its way) is an Article V Section 2 convention that 1) Does what Arizona did, bar government control over health care, collect taxes or spend money on health care, and imprison any individual entering the state for such purpose as treason. 2) Repeal the 17th amendment; the constitution is a contract BETWEEN the states, and the Federal government is an agent to that contract. The federal government has no sovereignty than what the states choose to give. The parties to that contract need to be responsible for maintaining it. 3) Clarify the due process clause of the 14th amendment; The bill of rights are a clarification of what the states wanted to make clear that the Federal government had no right to touch with the limited power it was given. Any and all "rights" of the bill of rights desired of the citizens of a state should demand that they be incorporated into their own constitution as that is the only place in which individual protections from all government or other private individuals is meant to be. Again, Bill of Rights as Obama puts it is a list of negative liberties for the Fed as they rightfully should be, as they were intended. 4) Clarify the interstate commerce clause. The interstate commerce clause does not mean that the federal government has as it pleases the power to regulate any and all things that might possibly have an impact on the economy but instead, as it was intended, to ensure that conflicting state laws do not hinder business across state lines, in other words, minimalistically remove barriers to interstate commerce.

Thank goodness for the wisdom of George Mason that insisted on the last minute addition of Article V Section II that allows states to reign in the Fed with NO "approval" of Congress, the Supreme Court, and certainly not the president.

This is the last resort to save this country. The people that still think freedom is worth fighting for must be the ones that take the power back. The idea that the Federal government is going to reign itself because of some morally guiding light suddenly sparking in the minds of the supreme court justices that freedom be necessarily inflicted upon the American people like Health Care "Reform" is laughable. Such action could only be scorned because those apathetic individuals that believe fighting for freedom is someone else's job only see freedom as responsibility someone else may free them from.

Today is a dark day, but there is hope today will be a call for apathetic people to wake up and ask what America once was and do what is necessary to take it back.

Friday, March 19, 2010

48 hours of freedom

Other than government regulations (Mostly state regulations) that have sold non competition agreements, individuals have (for another 48 hours) the right to pick a difference health provider and different ways of ensuring their health including but not limited to a comprehensive HMO or limiting themselves to catastrophic illness insurance and paying cash for everything else.

This is "the right of the people", aka the mob, again bringing the right change for everybody by finally voting in the right person to lead, versus ensuring individuals the freedom to make informed decisions that meet their needs.

The counter argument is that people are too stupid, and those not too stupid are too greedy to be trusted with such responsibility. Personally, I find such notion offensive and that while that philosophy may have dominated for a long time I believe we over came such "negativity" with the enlightenment, and for those that were paying attention, what was once the Great American Experiment proved otherwise.

I see the temptation, and I entertained it myself when I was younger, that government and most of peoples lives could be better managed by panels of experts, helping us with difficult decisions and help mitigate some of the greatest risks that too many people unnecessarily loose their lives over, simply because they did not understand the risks of their endeavors (Not purchasing insurance, saving for retirement, heating healthy, exercising regularly, etc.) Common sense drives us to this conclusion with so many examples of pain that might have been avoided with a little intervention. It is likely why it is not a new idea. Particularly in the last 100 years we have seen example after example of great leaders making promises that in the near future life would be fair and that all we need is to cooperate and give a little bit more. Dissenters are always marked as heartless and uncaring, that they do not know as much as the experts, or just too stupid to understand the bigger picture.

Community is a great thing, but that does not mean that it can be forced upon someone then used as an example of its own greatness.

We'll miss you America.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

McCain v. Feingold

I can't help but agree with the majority opinion, not to mention in the case the Attorney General made a good case for why by the letter of the law made virtually all public political speech illegal. McCain Feingold Act is a great example of crony Republican big government control that Democrats vehemently opposed until the Union exemption was put in place. The law was BAD and so was the sell out.

A corporation is only a group of people, and as people should have the right to peacefully assemble. Numbers have power which is why the right to peacefully assemble is opposed by oppressive government, and why it is a protected right in our constitution.

The only time corporations become corrupt institutions is when they are empowered by government to do so. Big corporations have the money and resources to find legal ways around such laws, not to mention it gives congress power to play favorites which is exactly how this case played out. Of all the groups that would be charged with violating McCain Feingold, is it a coincidence that speech that put a powerful political parties front runner in a negative light would conveniently tie the speech up in court just long enough?

Getting government out of business is the best way to keep business interests out of government any further than to respect the interests of any individual regardless of who they associate with and how.

Transparency in this case, as mentioned in the majority opinion, is going to be the key to fair elections. Let people know when information is put out with a political interest, at least in the case of public elections, that people know where that money comes from, and for the sake of privacy, allow <$100 monthly contributions be anonymous, and any amount greater to be in the best interest of the people to be disclosed.

Don't punish people for working together. This case can be no better example without loss of generality that McCain Feingold, while possibly well intended, failed to serve and in this case corrosive to its own purpose.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Pareto Optimum

The following in this division were notes I wanted to keep but are not part of the posting. Just thoughts in no particular order being dumped out.

"Pareto efficiency does not necessarily result in a socially desirable distribution of resources, as it makes no statement about equality or the overall well-being of a society."

I would argue that would entirely depend on your definition of Optimum. From the start of the article it argued that the goal was "individuals better off". There is a lot of room there to define "better off". For example, I would not necessarily say that a person in a 100 room mansion is "better off" than a person in only a 50 room mansion. I would say ...

Was listening to the radio and reading some stuff they were making reference to and got me to thinking about random stuff. this is mostly stream of consciousness and has not been edited yet and being posted for whatever type of review it gets and will be changed in the future. Initially got off to a bad start imo. Rather than deleting those parts to omit them they are just not displayed using CSS. See source if for some bizarre reason you want to look at it. Anyway...

On a scale for issues to be from black and white to complex, and for a society to scale from homogeneous to diverse, what is the probability field for Strong Pareto Optimality to be met an ideal centrally planned republic following ideal policy of the Median Voter (as according to Median Voter Theory)?

If issue complexity and societal diversity can not be measured objectively then a range for central planning to determine the ideal application of Median Voter policy must be defined. Assuming ideal individuals, just as we are assuming ideal government (each being rational and all knowing), people should be left as freely as possible to make decisions for themselves being the most appropriate candidate to meet their needs.

Considering the set of needs of each individual as a point in the same field of issue complexity and person diversity with the point at which each individual is with regard to how well those needs are being met, necessary changes should be made in parallel. Considering the set of point pairs as necessary changes to maintain a Strong Pareto Optimum, it is efficient to apply similar transitions to any similar subset as to reduce the work in total necessary change. However, Republics given leaders that are members of the society in which they apply these transitions for, leaving the job to be done in parallel by the individuals is the shortest path to needs being met.

In the end this leaves a narrow scope for the most ideal national government to improve the lives of its citizenry through central economic planning. The scope for central economic planning should be limited inversely proportional to the diversity of the population as demonstrated. However, we can look further than the individual and a national policy. If a diverse citizenry chooses to seek like minded individuals, or diversity is a result of diverse regional environments then in the range of differences a tier of sets of sub regions of communities could be defined, and knowing that the individual is best left to make decisions concerning their needs as based on that level of diversity, so should the power be divided between those tiers.

This becomes more parent as one of the most important elements is introduced; people and governments are not all knowing or perfectly rational. In what ways do specific imperfections influence the necessity for a centrally planned economy or individual liberty in order to maintain a Strong Pareto Optimum?

Morgage means NOT owning your house

Equity is just a very expensive savings account. You could rent wherever you like, even a house, and put the different between a mortgage and the rent into a savings account and the only difference is liability. You can walk away from a rental and keep a savings. The house could crash in value and you keep your savings and possibly lower your rent increasing the contribution to your savings. The reverse is true if the home increases in value. Homes and land do have real value and can be used to create wealth, but for the most part they are a greater liability, and when home / land values fluctuate so much based on prospective (what people think they are going to be valued at, and what people think other people think they are going to be valued at) makes a mortgage a special type of gamble, and of what we have seen recently in the US, an investment "gamble" similar to junk bonds. Personally, there are much safer investments with higher return and liquidity without the liability. Buy LAND with cash when it constitutes a CAPITAL INVESTMENT :)