Month: May 2012

Brining Hope and Change Again

Obama is running on his hope and change platform again. He hopes that people will just forget about his last four years of stomping the gas pedal to tyranny and accept him as a freedom loving president who supports the rights of individuals. When his campaign is having protesters arrested that message becomes a bit more difficult to swallow:

Though the NATO summit won’t officially begin until later this week, police have already ramped up their presence in downtown Chicago and, on Monday morning, they made a number of arrests at President Obama’s campaign headquarters.

After a group of demonstrators rushed into Prudential Plaza, the building where Obama’s re-election campaign is based, eight protesters were led away in handcuffs when they refused to leave the building’s lobby, the Chicago Tribune reports. Police said the arrested demonstrators would likely be charged with criminal trespass.

The group was organized by the Catholic Worker movement and, according to Fox Chicago, was attempting to open up a dialogue around ending the U.S. occupation in Afghanistan. The action is part of what activists are calling a “week without capitalism.”

While those protesters may never get their wish of ending the occupation of Afghanistan at least they’re getting their goal of a week without capitalism. As I’ve explains the only alternative to capitalism is force. Instead of mutually beneficial relationships built upon voluntary trade those protesters are getting a taste of the alternative, the force of the state, and they don’t seem to be enjoying it.

Capitalism is a beautiful system that achieves mutual benefit by relying on self-interest. People are compelled to help each other because by doing so they are also helping themselves. If you make shoes and you need bread then you and the baker can make a mutually beneficial trade, shoes for bread. Those who perform the job of satisfying fellow individuals are rewarded so they may expand their operations and satisfy even more individuals’ needs. Capitalism stands as a stark opposition to the state’s violence where mutual benefit doesn’t arise because one party, the state, steals from the other party. Instead of mutual cooperation you have threats and acts of violence.

You want a world without capitalism? Good news, we already have it and it’s called the state. There is no need to protest or demonstrate because that goal has already been achieved. Instead of entering voluntary agreements with your fellow people you now have great portions of your wealth stolen from you so that it may be redistributed to those in the state’s favor. No need to trade for the people of Afghanistan exists because the United States government is there forcefully taking the desirable natural resources. Do you know what the best part is? You don’t have to limit yourself to a week without capitalism, you get to suffer your entire life without capitalism. Congratulations, your deepest desires have been fulfilled.

Ron Paul Isn’t Suspending His Campaign

Yesterday the Ron Paul campaign sent out the following e-mail:

Dear Christopher,

As I reflect on our 2012 Presidential campaign, I am humbled by the supporters who have worked so hard and sacrificed so much. And I am so proud of what we have accomplished. We will not stop until we have restored what once made America the greatest country in human history.

This campaign fought hard and won electoral success that the talking heads and pundits never thought possible. But, this campaign is also about more than just the 2012 election. It has been part of a quest I began 40 years ago and that so many have joined. It is about the campaign for Liberty, which has taken a tremendous leap forward in this election and will continue to grow stronger in the future until we finally win.

Our campaign will continue to work in the state convention process. We will continue to take leadership positions, win delegates, and carry a strong message to the Republican National Convention that Liberty is the way of the future.

Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted. Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have. I encourage all supporters of Liberty to make sure you get to the polls and make your voices heard, particularly in the local, state, and Congressional elections, where so many defenders of Freedom are fighting and need your support.

I hope all supporters of Liberty will remain deeply involved – become delegates, win office, and take leadership positions. I will be right there with you. In the coming days, my campaign leadership will lay out to you our delegate strategy and what you can do to help, so please stay tuned.

For Liberty,

Ron Paul

This has lead media sources, like the LA Times, and other individuals to state that Ron Paul has all but suspended his campaign. Fortunately that’s not what’s happening:

Battling on would require millions of dollars that the Ron Paul operation does not have, his campaign said.

But the Texas congressman will continue to try to win delegates awarded at forthcoming state conventions.

Mr Paul has 104 delegates, behind Mitt Romney’s 966, with 1,144 delegates needed to secure the nomination.

Unfortunately what’s really happening and what people think is happening are entirely different. Because of the campaign announcement people now believe the Ron Paul campaign is done and that he’s out of the race. This was one of the dumbest moves the campaign could have made. I do understand that campaigning in Texas and California isn’t likely to gain much advantage but it would prevent media outlets and other individuals from saying the campaign is throwing in the towel. In this case it would have been smarter to run a couple of advertisements for the sake of appearance and left it at that.

Politics is all about appearances. If you falter in any way your competition will swoop in like vultures to pick your corpse clean. The campaign announcement basically opened the door for Ron Paul’s opponents to say the Paul campaign is broke and done. While the e-mail said, “Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted. Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have.” most people are only going to focus on the second line and interpret it as saying the Ron Paul campaign doesn’t have enough money to continue on.

This was a boneheaded move if there ever was one. Ron Paul isn’t “effectively ending” his campaign but focusing resources where they will be better utilized. Any intelligent person would understand that but politics isn’t about the intelligent person, it’s about soundbites, and the Paul campaign just handed out a soundbite that is allowing the media to announce Romney is now running unopposed.

They Hate Us Because of Our Freedom

Remember that the people of the Middle East hate us for our freedom:

America’s top military officer has condemned a course taught at a US military college that advocated a “total war” against Muslims.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Martin Dempsey, said the course was “totally objectionable” and “against our values”.

The voluntary course at the Joint Forces Staff College in Virginia also suggested possible nuclear attacks on holy Muslim cities such as Mecca.

I doubt suggestions of nuclear strikes on holy cities such as Mecca have anything to do with their anger. A rather interesting slide show [PDF] was obtained by Wired regarding this class and it’s worth a skim through. There isn’t anything I found too surprising in the slides but the presenter obviously has few kind thought regarding Muslims.

Canada Doesn’t Want to be Outdone

Not wanting to be outdone, our neighbors to the north are looking to bring more tyranny upon its people:

A proposed private members’ bill would make it a crime for protesters to wear a mask or disguise while participating in a riot or unlawful assembly, and this week the Harper government put its weight behind the legislation.

The Conservative majority on a House of Commons committee that’s examining the bill took matters a step further Thursday by doubling the proposed maximum prison term to 10 years from five.

Government MPs passed the amendment over the objections of the NDP opposition, who argue the bill is a sham because wearing a mask to commit a crime is already an offence under the Criminal Code.

So it’s going to be illegal to wear a mask while participating in a riot or “unlawful assembly?” Isn’t participating in a riot already illegal? What the hell is an “unlawful assembly?”

What is the point of laws like this other than to expand the police state? I can think of none as these laws simple make acts that are already illegal more, uhh, illegaler I guess. Whether somebody is wearing a mask while participating in a riot should be irrelevant, the only things that are relevant are whether or not they hurt anybody or damaged property. Masks aren’t enchanted items that give +2 to melee or +2 to smashing shit and thus are not relevant regarding any crimes.

Oh well, this does demonstrate that the police state is expanding everywhere, not just in the United States of America.

Double the Gun

Apparently adding another barrel to existing firearms is the new rage today. First Arsenal Firearms introduced a double barrel 1911 and now an Israeli firm is introducing a double barrel AR-15:

Israeli firm Silver Shadow are said to be debuting a double barreled AR-15 next month in Paris at the Eurosatory expo.

Interesting. I wonder when the double barrel M82 will be released. Or better yet a double barrel GAU-8.

Monday Metal: Carolus Rex by Sabaton

Since Sabaton is coming to the Twin Cities Tuesday I felt it was only fitting to have this week’s Monday Metal be another Sabaton song. This week it’s Carolus Rex, the title track off of their soon to be released album. Not surprisingly the album is about Charles XII of Sweden, a king of Sweden who ascended to the throne at 15 years-old and ended up being a military mastermind. It’s good to see Sabaton doing another history themed album:

Incoming Bailouts

All the major media outlets are talking about the “surprise” $2 billion loss reported by JPMorgan:

JPMorgan Chase, the biggest US bank, has revealed a surprise trading loss of $2bn (£1.2bn) on complex investments made by its traders.

Of course anybody who pays attention to the game recognize this play. JPMorgan is basically positioning itself to receive some government cash. It’s no secret that the state likes to give bankers tons of cash in the form of bailouts and the headlines are making sure to point out that JPMorgan is the biggest bank in the United States. If smaller banks qualified for bailouts you know the biggest bank in America is “too big to fail.”

Here’s how the game usually works. A private entity wants to get a large chunk of money from the state and the politicians want cushy jobs when they exit politics. This situation is mutually beneficial because the banks can offer cushy jobs to the politicians in exchange for huge chunks for state money. Politicians also want to maintain their power so they package up the handout in a manner they believe the public will support. In the case of large banks the package is one of economics, they will tell the public that the United States economy will suffer greatly if the bank fails. What the politicians neglect to mention is the fact capitalism requires bad businesses to fail because bad businesses have misallocated resources and those recourse must now be property allocated.

I’m predict JPMorgan will receive some kind of large handout from the state in the coming months. Perhaps they won’t be the only receivers either.

Keeping You Safe

No words strike as much fear into many peoples’ hearts as “We’re with the government, we’re hear to help.” For example and innocent man had the state “help” him perform “repairs” to his property:

Two years ago today, Joe Del Rio was awakened to find city officials at the door of his lifelong home in East Austin, demanding entry. Before it was over, the Police Department’s SWAT team and the Fire Department had been deployed, and Del Rio said he was detained and questioned for about 10 hours because of what officials called a multilevel bunker-like space under the house with suspicious and unusual materials.

After the city billed Del Rio in April for about $90,000 in repairs it said were critical to make the home on Canterbury Street safe, Del Rio sued the City of Austin last week for what his lawyers say was a heavy-handed and unconstitutional seizure of his property without compensation.

Let me get this straight, a SWAT team stormed this man’s property, detained and questioned the man, and performed “repairs.” I wonder what kind of repairs were performed:

Del Rio also said officials concreted in the basement, fenced and locked the perimeter of the home and removed utility meters, making the house, in its current state, uninhabitable. The suit says that at the time of the seizure, Travis Central Appraisal District records put the house’s reasonable fair market value at upward of $172,000.

I guess if you have an insanely twisted mind filling a basement with concrete could qualify as a repair.

It’s Not the People Who Vote That Count, It’s the Machines That Count the Votes.

Many districts have been pushing hard for electronic voting machines. People believe that electronic devices are going to be more reliable for elections than any mechanical system could be. Machines that are used in the voting process are mechanically simple and thus it’s fairly easy to predict what kind of failures you’ll run into unlike complex electronic devices:

Tests on an electronic voting machine that recorded shockingly high numbers of extra votes in the 2010 election show that overheating may have caused upwards of 30 percent of the votes in a South Bronx voting precinct to go uncounted.

WNYC first reported on the issue in December 2011, when it was found that tens of thousands of votes in the 2010 elections went uncounted because electronic voting machines counted more than one vote in a race.

A review by the state Board of Election and the electronic voting machines’ manufacturer ES&S found that these “over votes,” as they’re called, were due to a machine error. In the report issued by ES&S, when the machine used in the South Bronx overheated, ballots run during a test began coming back with errors.

“After lunch [when the machine was idle for about an hour] almost every ballot was read incorrectly, in all orientations, even ballots that had read correctly just before lunch,” the ES&S report said.

Electronics are finicky and generally much more prone to unpredictable failures than mechanical devices. Minor variances in temperature, moisture, and electrical conditions can cause electronics to fail in strange and difficult to predict ways. Combine this with the fact computer software is almost impossible to write well and you have a perfect storm for massive electron fraud.