Global Warming Needed in California

The San Francisco Bay Area has experienced record cold temperatures during the past week.

How cold? one might ask.

Well, according to one report -- albeit a still unconfirmed one -- a local liberal politician has been spotted with his hands in his own pockets ! ! ! !

Let's See If We Can Spot a Place To Start Cutting

No Longer the Leader We Used to Be

Portrait of Hollowed Out America

A clear description of the dismally degraded state of the nation is provided by an insightful rabbi in this essay.

An excellent analysis of the factors behind the onset and continuation of the deconstruction of the U.S. is set forth in a recent book --  The Fortunes of Permanence - Culture and Anarchy in an Age of Amnesia.  The book is well worth reading as it does an excellent job of diagnosing our self-inflicted wounds and putting them in historical perspective.  However, its author, Roger Kimball, is far more optimistic than I am about  the possibility of a national and societal revival.
  

Cutting Through the Assault Weapon Fog

Are We There Yet?

. . . when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such Government and to provide new Guards for their future security.

. . . The Declaration of Independence.

Check out how far we have come here. 

Then think about this:

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, — go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!

. . . Samuel Adams

Time To Think About What Once Was Unthinkable

Being in the codger category, I used to think -- even while recognizing the decay and degradation that have gained dominance over our institutions -- that I would be dead and gone before the American republic collapsed.

However, things are moving far faster than I ever anticipated previously.

Accordingly, it is appropriate and necessary to think about and prepare contingency plans for what now may well, and probably does lie ahead.

One such possible and well reasoned plan is spelled out in this coherent essay.

Still hope that none of the suggested courses of action, let alone the specified escalations will become necessary . . . at least in my lifetime.  But proposals currently being made by our political 'leaders' indicate that clinging to that hope is an exercise in wishful thinking.

Three Good Arguments

 WILLING TO BE YOUR LIFE ON IT?

  REASON ENOUGH TO VISIT ISRAEL:

         OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES:

Comic's Question Isn't Funny

Today Democrats said they want another trillion dollars in taxes. Didn't we just give them $620 billion last Wednesday? Is that gone already? Who is running this, "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills"?

. . . Jay Leno

Real Disarmament Required

 The FBI reports that 8.5  people are murdered with knives, blunt objects and bare hands for every one fatally shot with any type of rifle.  

So to be safe we obviously need to require not the elimination of assault rifles (which are but one undefined and undefinable rifle category) but real disarmament -- amputations . . . not necessarily of all arms as called for by extremists but just the more moderate mandatory removal of all those lethal hands, at least to start with.  We can always move higher up and lop off more of those dangerous limbs later if necessary.  

Why, Oh Why ? ? ?

How come the cost of living formula used to annually adjust upward the compensation of members of congress as well as of other government officials always results in a much larger percentage increase than results from the cost of living formula that the very same politicians have specified for use in adjusting Social Security retirement benefits?

Me First ! ! !

That's the rule by which our 'public servants' live . . . and thrive . . . very sumptuously.

And why, oh why, do we tolerate it?

Crime Stats the Media Won't Report

In addition, except for some local --  and mostly small town -- outlets, the media adamantly refuse to report any of the multitude of instances in which an armed private citizen uses his or her firearm to successfully defend himself or another person against an attack or to prevent the commission of some other crime.

Fiscal Cliff Deal Saved Special Tax Break for Favored One Percenters

Read about the ongoing special tax breaks that have been preserved for one of Obama supporting one percent favorites by clicking here.

For a more comprehensive list of the pork and fat pork recipients protected in the legislative fiasco enacted under the guise of avoiding a national plunge over the imaginary fiscal cliff, see this report.

For those old fashioned souls who retain any interest in the shredding of the nation's vestiges of virtue and moral integrity,  the utter depravity that underlies the foisting onto future generations the burdens of our government's current reckless spending is spelled out by George Will in this essay.

Cliff Just a Fictional Caper in Ongoing Fiscal Fraud

We went over the bogus cliff and of course nobody noticed a thing -- but everyone will as our taxes increase.

Turns out the fiscal cliff wasn't even a speed bump.

It provided a month of horrific crisis stories and provided an diversionary excuse and cover for the political class to spend and tax even more . . . and, because it didn't even slow them down, it failed even as a speed bump.

How Government Can Stop Excessive Spending

Overspending by government can be stopped.

Providing the pandering pimps and parasites who comprise our political establishment with an incentive to cut the budget sufficiently to do the job would do it.

To start with, enact a constitutional amendment that would prohibit and severely punish (i) any compensation being paid to, or received by any elected or appointed executive or legislative branch official in any year in which a balanced budget is not in place and being followed (with the exception of years in which the nation is engaged in a war declared by Congress in accordance with the Constitution), and (ii) any campaign  contributions being made to, or received by, for, or on behalf of any of the aforesaid officials.

How could they make the desired cuts.

Easily.

First, bring all of our troops home from overseas and keep them here.

Second, eliminate all foreign aid.

Third, stop paying anything to support the UN or, at a minimum, stop paying a disproportionate share of its costs.

Fourth, stop paying any and all subsidies of every nature and kind.

Fifth, eliminate all of the executive branch agencies and departments other than the Departments of State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, and Commerce, and concentrate and organize within them all truly essential functions of the eliminated bodies.  Also eliminate all of the unaccountable and supposedly independent regulatory agencies, again consolidating their few truly essential functions within the remaining executive branch departments. 

Finally, instead of making the budget cuts described below, as previously recommended by  Republican members of Congress to save $10.5 Trillion over ten years (without touching Social Security or the military), totally eliminate each and every one of the listed agencies and programs. 

* Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy -- $445 million annual savings. 



* Save America 's Treasures Program -- $25 million annual savings. 



* International Fund for Ireland -- $17 million annual savings. 



* Legal Services Corporation -- $420 million annual savings. 



* National Endowment for the Arts -- $167.5 million annual savings. 



* National Endowment for the Humanities -- $167.5 million annual savings. 



* Hope VI Program -- $250 million annual savings. 



* Amtrak Subsidies -- $1.565 billion annual savings. 

* Eliminate duplicative education programs -- H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually. 



* U.S. Trade Development Agency -- $55 million annual savings. 

* Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy -- $20 million annual savings. 



* Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding -- $47 million annual savings. 



* John C. Stennis Center Subsidy -- $430,000 annual savings. 



* Community Development Fund -- $4.5 billion annual savings. 

* Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid -- $24 million annual savings. 



* Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half -- $7.5 billion annual savings 



* Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20% -- $600 million annual savings. 



* Essential Air Service -- $150 million annual savings. 

* Technology Innovation Program -- $70 million annual savings. 



* Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program -- $125 million annual savings. 



* Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization -- $530 million annual savings. 



* Beach Replenishment -- $95 million annual savings.

 



* New Starts Transit -- $2 billion annual savings. 


  

* Exchange Programs for Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts -- $9 million annual savings.

* Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants -- $2.5 billion annual savings. 



* Title X Family Planning -- $318 million annual savings. 



*  Appalachian Regional Commission -- $76 million annual savings. 


* Economic Development Administration -- $293 million annual savings. 



* Programs under the National and Community Services Act -- $1.15 billion annual savings. 



* Applied Research at Department of Energy -- $1.27 billion annual savings. 



* FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership -- $200 million annual savings. 



*  Energy Star Program -- $52 million annual savings.

*  Economic Assistance to Egypt -- $250 million annually. 



* U.S. Agency for International Development -- $1.39 billion annual savings. 



* General Assistance to District of Columbia -- $210 million annual savings. 



* Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority -- $150 million annual savings. 



* Presidential Campaign Fund -- $775 million savings over ten years. 



* No funding for federal office space acquisition -- $864 million annual savings. 



* End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services. 



* Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act -- More than $1 billion annually. 



* IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget -- $1.8 billion savings over ten years. 



* Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees -- $1 billion total savings. [WHAT THE HELL IS THIS ABOUT?] 



* Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees -- $1.2 billion savings over ten years. 



* Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of -- $15 billion total savings. 



* Eliminate death gratuities for Members of Congress. [WHAT???] 



* Eliminate Mohair Subsidies -- $1 million annual savings. 



*  Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- $12.5 million annual savings [WELL, ISN'T THAT SPECIAL]

* Eliminate Market Access Program -- $200 million annual savings. 



* USDA Sugar Program -- $14 million annual savings. 



* Subsidy to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) -- $93 million annual savings. 



* Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program -- $56.2 million annual savings. 



* Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs -- $900 million savings. 



* Ready to Learn TV Program -- $27 million savings.

* HUD Ph.D. Program. 



 *  Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act. 

  



Quiz for Gun Control Advocates

Before considering any of their proposals, gun control advocates should be required to publicly address these tough questions.

Fiscal Cliff Follies

The third-rate reenactment of the Perils of Pauline follies being staged in Washington, D.C. , by the nation's clownish political parasites is understandable only if viewed in context.

First, the nation already has gone over the fiscal cliff.  The national debt is unimaginable and unrepayable.  We're like the Road Runner in the cartoon who, after running over the edge of the precipice, frantically churns his legs and remains suspended in space for a brief time before plummeting into the abyss. 

What the Congress is trying to do is to jury rig some gimmickry to delay a noticeable foretaste by their voters of the inevitable pain everyone will experience when we hit the bottom of the economic chasm the lawmakers have created. They probably will agree on some slight-of-hand illusion of success and then engage in a great display of congratulating themselves and one another . . . and they and their media sycophants will expect the rest of us to join in applauding their supposed last-minute achievement.

Never mind that the so-called "fiscal cliff" that is portrayed as having snuck up on us was created by the same lawmaker in November 2011 and then ignored in the ensuing 13 months. Also, never mind that they had to rush back to their clown house atop Capitol Hill (at the expense of hundred of thousand of taxpayer dollars) at the last minute to offer up their crisis avoiding baloney . . . after having worked a grand total of 30 days over the five months from July 1 through November 30 --the House majority leader's website, shows that our honorable representatives worked twelve (12) days in July, two (2) days in August, eight (8) days in September, not at all (zero - zip 0) in October, and eight (8) days in November.

Focusing on Top Health Care Priorities

Link the Bump Ups

One of the budgetary cost cutting/deficit reducing measures that supposedly is being considered in the political fiscal cliff avoiding charade being staged by the mental midgets who make up our Congress is how to limit future Social Security cost-of-living-based retirement benefit increases.

The solution is simple, obvious and would result in savings beyond anything that could be achieved by applying it only to Social Security retirement benefit recipients.

Step One: Every December determine the percentage increase in living costs during the 12 months that ended on the immediately preceding September 30.

Step Two:  Apply that percentage to increase the benefits to be paid to Social Security retirement benefits in the ensuing calendar year.

Step Three:  Apply the same percentage limit to pay increases to all government employees -- members of Congress, all Legislative, Executive and Judicial branch employees, and all of those who 'work' for the multitude of administrative agencies that the government has spawned.

On second thought, pay increases for members of Congress should be limited to half of what would be called for by application of the above-described formula.

To be truly fair, this solution should be applied retroactively . . . going back to the last year that the nation had a balanced budget.  Compel the Capitol Hill clowns to cough up the unearned largesse -- the aggregate amount of all pay increases in excess of the percentages by which Social Security retirement benefits rose -- that they have heaped upon themselves while failing to discharge their responsibilities.

Appropriate Government -- A Dream vs. the Reality

A proper national government would focus entirely on safeguarding the liberties, lives, and properties of the nation's individual citizens.

It would not seek to ensure the economic well being of any of the nation's citizens, and it never would extort from any of them property to bestow upon others.

In the coming days, efforts will be made on this site to explore why and how the U.S. government has divided its focus, largely abandoning its proper goals, to pursue inappropriate and ruinous economic fantasies.

Big Brother Is Real

Not only is Big Brother real, but he's going to be in your living room, lurking and watching you from behind the TV screen.  Get the details here.

Subsidized Slaughter of a Species

Wind farms -- set up and operated with and only because of taxpayer-funded government subsidies -- are not much good at producing energy as they are neither efficient nor reliable.  But they apparently are doing s superb job in decimating birdlife, according to this report, which provides another example of our tax dollars at work.

Why Israel No Longer Suffers School Shootings

Throwing in the Towel to Insurmountable Rot and Decay

The horrendous massacre of innocent children in Connecticut reflects not a firearms problem but the widespread degradation of our society, as is spelled out in two incisive essays.  Both are well worth reading and considering.  See them here and here.

The founders of our nation clearly understood that the viability of the republic they established would depend on a virtuous citizenry . . . and that -- sadly and shamefully -- is something we no longer have.

Below is a letter that your not-even-slightly-humble blogger sent to the head of one of the best of our country's many excellent libertarian think tanks:

         Although I appreciate your recent letter and the work done by and because of X X X, I will no longer support X X X or the many other libertarian organizations to which I have contributed over the past six decades.

         As is indicated by the length of time that I have provided financial and other help to organizations promoting individual rights and liberties (along with the commensurate responsibilities), I am an aging codger.  As such, I continue enjoying my life, which has been and continues to be blessed with good health, many compatible friends, and satisfying family relationships.

         However, it is clear to me that the good work that has been and is being done by X X X to and similar organizations has failed to stem the expansion of the size and scope of government and the corresponding erosion of our liberties.  Promoting good ideas is a fine and worthy endeavor but our country today has a far more intrusive government and is far less free than in my earlier days.

         All the good works by intellectual adherents to Constitutional principles apparently only provide intellectual resources for rear guard actions that at best slow the rate of the retreat from, and abandonment and defeat of those principles.  Those resources go largely unused in any coherent way.  We desperately need but completely lack an effective organized active effort to advance -- or even merely to defend what remains of -- the values that the nation’s founders sought to enshrine in the Constitution.

         We fought a good and worthwhile fight.  But we have lost.  Like a fish that has been kept too long, we rotted out from the head, with the corruption first having taking hold in, and then spreading from our leading institutions in government, academia, business and finance, the press, and even our churches.  The virtuous citizenry required for maintenance of the republic no longer exists.
 

         In light of the foregoing, I have concluded that every society, nation, and civilization has a life cycle akin to that of all living organisms . . . and that ours (including all of what has been thought of as Western Civilization) is in a downward spiral.  I used to believe that I would be gone before the final collapse.  But that may not be the case as the decline, having  already reached an inescapable point, is accelerating with breathtaking rapidity. 

Tragedies Trump Reason

Facts are irrelevant to those who want to take away Americans' right to keep and bear arms, but fortunately there still are some voices and writers to whom reason count, and the estimable Thomas Sowell is in the latter group.  Read his take on what is taking place in the aftermath of the Connecticut shooting tragedy here.