Yes, abolish the FCC

The last big monopoly is the government itself.  It needs to be divested.  The FCC does not have to be a government entity.  It could be privatized and government chartered to carry out the electromagnetic spectrum allocation.  Such a body would have no power as nanny/censor/government propagandist information.

Dealing with Late Great States

My comment posted at Transterrestrial Musings on a California bankruptcy which I have commented on before.

The most important revelation of a state bankruptcy is the demonstration that the people of that state are unfit for self government.  Hence revocation of statehood is not just punitive but recognition of the danger to the Nation of allowing a state of incompetents have a say in the management of the country.  If they are unfit for self-government they are surely unfit to govern me.  It becomes a check against the “A democracy will last until the people discover they can vote themselves money.”  Revoking statehood also becomes a huge win for federalism by allowing some states to fail and be reformed while the management of the country is handled by the responsible states.

If a state goes bankrupt it should loose its statehood.  But it should not become a territory.  That’s an insult to territories that have managed their own affairs successfully for a century.  It should rightly and correctly be called a “failed state”.  The state constitution is revoked because you’ll probably find that it is rive with corrupting clauses that were inserted that promoted the collapse.  Their congressional delegation should be ejected from the Congress.  The governor should be replaced by a governor-general appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate to manage the executive functions of the state and essentially serve as the receiver, the finances fall under a team of federal bankruptcy courts to do what federal bankruptcy courts are supposed to do in place of the state legislature that failed in its responsibilities.  Congress would take over non-fiscal legislative activities.  This federal supervision would last until the failed state government is on a sound fiscal footing.  During this time, the failed people will not be voting on any federal or state elections.  Think of it as a time out.

Once the failed state is stabilized, state level elections can be organized to begin reassembling a failed state government, which will prepare a new state constitution, gradually take over state functions again and then reapply for full statehood so they can have federal representation again.

The 112th Congress should take up this issue.  If necessary, a constitution amendment may be required to authorize the federal takeover of failed states.  There are only three or four states in real threat of failing and more than 3/4ths of the states that have no desire to pay for them, so such an amendment could very well pass.

PS:  I believe US territories are exempt from federal taxation.  Something about no taxation without representation.  I don’t believe failed states should get that exemption.  They should not be reward for their incompetence.  And they had representation.  They just chose to throw it away because of their incompetence.

PPS:  Oh, yeah.  And one of the indicators of insolvency is the state paying in IOUs as California has done recently.  An IOU amounts to printing currency, since US dollars are nothing more than federal IOUs.

PPPS:  Oh, yeah.  And having the insufferable snobs in California declared unfit for self government and unqualified to vote in federal elections would be s-o-o-o-o-o-o-o sweet.

STOP IT! – Update

JUST STOP SPENDING MONEY!

Kill the tax pork bill.  Kill the OmniPorkulus LVII bill.  JUST STOP SPENDING MONEY!

Update:  One out of two is far better than I expected.  The silver lining of extending Bush’s tax cuts is the Democrats just handed the Republicans the first campaign issue of 2012…extending them again.

Kill Lame Duck Session of Congress.  I’ve already said there is no reason the new Congress can’t be seated on November 15.  Once the election is held, the Congress no longer has the consent of the governed.  No laws should come out of a lame duck session.  They shouldn’t be allowed to spend our children’s money.  There shouldn’t be a lame duck session.  Like unlimited tenure, the existence of the lame duck feeds the corruption and abuses of Congress.  It gives the cowards and corruptocrats in Congress a way to avoid accountability by waiting until after the election to screw things up.

The Other McCain says there’s hope. Yeah.  That’s what they said before Obamacrap passed.

Are We Lumberjacks is disgusted.

PHHHlllleeeehhhh.

Think they got the message?

Right To Work, part Deux

Is it time to take on the labor mafias and put a Right To Work referendum before the public again?

I read a post once upon a time that pointed out that the Arsenal of Democracy during World War II consisted essentially of eight states located around the Great Lakes.  The amount of material that flowed out of the factories in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, New York, et al, literally blackened the skies with airplanes, bridged the oceans with steel and supplied not only the best equipped, best supplied army ever; but supplied much of the Allied forces as well.

Today, we call this area the rust belt.  The Heart of American industrialization in Michigan around Detroit is barely recognizable as part of the 1 st world.  Detroit may be the first major city since Carthage to return to barren ground.  What happened?

The Labor Mafias happened.  Now these areas were heavily unionized prior to WW II.  But the unions have over time been able to convert their organizations into political power out of proportion to their numbers.  The willingness to break a few knees (or at least the reputation to do so) didn’t hurt either.  The collusion of non-producing unions (the only thing union produce is political power for their own benefit) and their Democratic hangers on in political office has almost sucked the life out of the taxpaying class and brought the United States to its economic knees.

But even just looking at the short term economic impact, the reason that you hear that sucking sound in the Rust Belt of jobs going south is that south is where all the Right To Work states are.  The reason companies move isn’t just to go where there are incentives somewhere else.  They generally have huge investments in real estate and employees where they are and it costs a massive amount to move.  The incentives may give them reasons to go somewhere, but they’re only looking because of the union wolves driving them away from where they are.

Let’s make Missouri a business destination instead of an business desert.

Hyperbole alert

“Baghdad Bob” Gibbs dismissed the court finding that Obamacare is unconstitutional.

Duh.

But Gateway Pundit calls it a “Stunner”.  I try to choke my way though Gateway Pundit.  Daily even.  But I sure do wish he would get over the over the top adjectives. On everything.  It’s only a stunner for people who aren’t paying attention.

Like the ones who think Clinton is still president.

Oh, wait…

It was scripted

That infamous Obama/Clinton presser?  It was scripted.  Watch it again.  Why? (That’s why was is scripted, not why should I watch it again)  What did Obama think he was going to gain?  To show how cool and casual he was in the face of adversity?  To show he had good family priorities?  To show who was in charge? (Answer: anyone but him.)  If he really thought he was going to gain points by that stunt, he gets yet another unforced error.

Remember the “the police acted stupidly” comment about the Cambridge police and Henry Louis Gates?  That wasn’t a surprise question from the press.  That question was planted because Obama specifically wanted to bring the subject up.  He wanted to insult the police.  It was probably the first step down the path from Mount Olympus in Denver to the political purgatory he is entering now.

Talk about somebody who is tone deaf and politically blind.

So… put your bets on the table:

• Gets a second term (a la Clinton)
• Looses election to Reagan Palin (a la Carter)
• Looses primary to “None of the Above”
• Chooses not to run (a la Johnson)
• Resigns because he’s just not having any fun anymore (a la Nixon)
• Thrown out of office by impeachment (third times a charm)
• Thrown out of office by cabinet declaring him unfit for office (a la the movie Air Force One)

All this AND I’M OUT OF POPCORN!

Joyeux Noël

Looking through my WordPress dashboard, I noticed that somebody hit my old post about the 2009 Veterans Day Parade.  That got me thinking about a movie I saw about the same time, Joyeux Noël, which not only addresses the issue I discussed about respect between enemies but very much portrays the spirit of the season we’re in.  And it has BAGPIPES!

And not just playing in the background at some fireman’s funeral.  I mean right out front as a main character.  Braveheart didn’t have as much bagpipe as this movie.

Joyeux Noël is a historical fiction about the 1914 Christmas Truce in the trenches of France during WW I.  A spontaneous break out of hope, faith and charity in the middle of one of the worst hells ever created on Earth.  A victory of humanity in the face of inhumanity.

And it all came about because of BAGPIPES!

We

Charles Lindberg’s title for his book about his flight over the Atlantic was “We“, describing his partnership between himself and his airplane, the Spirit of St. Louis.

I have an idea for Obama’s memiors of his presidency, which hopefully he will be working on before next week is out.  It’s

“ME“

Dear Scorekeeper,

Don Surber complains about the proposal to to reduce the personal Social Security tax.  My comment below.

Social Security is a crime. Draining it dry is like lancing a boil. You have to get rid of the puss before it will start to heal. The end of Western Civilization will not be caused by famine, flood, plague of locusts, earthquake or Glowball Warning. Western civilization will end because of Social Security. It is in the process of bankrupting every country stupid enough to implement it.

It’s really profoundly simple. No one has a right to retire to a life of leisure at other unwilling victims’ expense. Taking care of the infirm for the end of their life is compassion. Letting people retire at a given age to polish their golf game and having them collect welfare stolen from workers for longer than they themselves worked is criminally stupid.

I have known for years that I will work until they carry me out feet first. There will be no Social Security for me. I’m just hoping there will be a country for my children.

 

 

Stop with the earmarks already

The pressures of standing on principle have begun to weigh heavily on the Republicans in Congress even before the new session starts.

Let me explain what an earmark is.  An earmark is a budget line specifying a very specific expenditure dropped into a bill outside and often after the bill has been written.  No debate.  No justification.  No accountability and often outside the allotted budget for the bill it is attached to.

What is not an earmark is a budget line specifying a very specific expenditure that gets debated through committee and on the floor.  If a congresscritter wants a Bridge to Nowhere, they have to justify why it is more important than somebody else’s bridge to somewhere and why the residents of 49 other states should pay for it.

The problem with earmarks is not the money.  It’s the corruption.  It’s the climate of graft it generates.  Pay me and I will drop taxpayer money on you…no questions asked.

I want questions asked.  I want a budget that means this is how much money there is to spend and all of Congress has to figure out how to allocate it.  “Budgeting” does not mean just writing checks.  It means the allocation of limited resources.  And when they’re out of resources.  STOP SPENDING MONEY!