Regarding the (ahem) "Affordable Care Act"

You can write all the laws you want, including one that says everyone must have a unicorn and a permanent solar-powered rainbow in their living room, but you can't repeal the laws of economics. Economic reality and human psychology dictate, and history has made it abundantly clear, that there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Show me one, ONE, example where any government, not just ours, got involved in the distribution of goods and/or services and made them cheaper and more abundant. Human history is littered with myriad failures of societies that went down this path, and we are watching more crumble before our eyes. Now we face the undoing and the recovery, a long and painful but inevitable process. Yet, so-called "progressives," in their naively ignorant idealism, always know better. And so it goes ...
Become educated.

Welcome to Denmark

The depth of my anger today is incalculable.
Yesterday, I lived in a nation that, while flawed, offered the individual citizen the most freedom from interference by the central government of any on Earth. Today ‒ thanks to hundreds of fools in the Capitol and five more fools in black robes across the street ‒ I may as well be living in Denmark.
Health insurance is a commodity, no different in kind from a grain futures contract or an airline ticket. The notion that the U.S. Constitution grants the federal government the power to compel me to buy any commodity, whether under the guise of a tax or some other scheme, is idiotic and infuriating.
There is now nothing beyond the scope of the central government, and anyone who thinks otherwise, just wait. The last gate across the road to serfdom has been knocked down.
John Roberts, with one incomprehensible and inexcusable lapse of reason, you have joined yourself inextricably with Roger B. Taney in the timeless halls of infamy.

According to the NRA, Indiana has more than 250,000 right-to-carry gun permit holders, many of whom carry firearms during their commutes to and from work. Furthermore, in March 2009, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed NRA-backed legislation allowing employees to store legally owned firearms in locked, private motor vehicles while parked in employer parking lots. (Florida has a similar law.) Yet somehow Indiana, with all those gun-toting folks, has not become a killing zone, as the chart below indicates.



From FBI's 2009 State Uniform Crime Reports

President Concedes His Message Has Fallen Short

Obama says he's accomplished much of what he promised, but admits he's done a poor job communicating that to voters. ...

Yup, that's the problem all right. If only the stupid voters could understand what he's been trying to tell them. The "accomplishments" are wonderful, after all. This guy is so much like Jimmy Carter, the other miserably failed Democrat president of the past 50 years, it's incredible. Carter still insists he was a terrific prez.

Barry, believe me, the voters understand all too well what you and your moronic cohorts in Congress have "accomplished," and they'll let you know what they think about it this November, loud and clear.

Barry, please, please ... GET A CLUE!

More words of wisdom

Claude Frederic Bastiat, a prominent 19th-century political economist, wrote: "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. ... Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Thus the beneficiaries are spared the shame and danger that their acts would otherwise involve. But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to the other persons to whom it doesn't belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another. ... then abolish that law without delay. No legal plunder; this is the principle of justice, peace, order, stability, harmony and logic."
(quotation courtesy The Patriot Post)

Running hot and cold

This is from 2006, but the point stands. The greatest errors occur when people refuse to acknowledge how much they don't know.

What it is

Let's just be clear about something: The ridiculous deficits in the federal budget and in California's state budget, as well as in other state budgets (including Florida's), are caused by OVERSPENDING, not by a lack of revenue. Amazingly (to so many ignorant fools), there is still no such thing as a free lunch. D'oh!

If you have any interest in the facts about federal spending, click on this post title.

Timeless wisdom

"Government 'help' to business is just as disastrous as government persecution. ... The only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off."

Ayn Rand
(we need you now more than ever)

What do we want? STOP TORTURING THE ECONOMY

Dear Rep. Buchanan

While we cannot attend the Town Hall meeting, my wife and I both believe that the best way to help the economy is for the government, particularly the federal government, to get the heck out of the way. Do not support measures that try to direct or manipulate private enterprise. Cut taxes whenever and wherever possible. Only dismantling the ridiculous schemes of the Roosevelt Depression years, which still largely exist today, will fully revitalize the U.S. free enterprise system. Instead, the Obama administration is busy trying to expand them. Please fight this effort with all your energy. If you do, you will be rewarded with our support and our votes.

Thank you

Murray Miles

Sarasota

Policy

I want to invite you to a Town Hall meeting this Thursday in Arcadia to hear your thoughts on how to revitalize our struggling economy and create more jobs.
DATE: February 19, 2009
TIME: 3:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M.
WHERE: Workforce/Education Family Service Center, 310 West Whidden Street in Arcadia.
RSVP: If you plan on attending please REPLY to this invite. Hope to see you there!

Sincerely,Vern Buchanan

Member of Congress

Back in the Saddle

After a hiatus and proper period of mourning the election results, the Truthacher has returned. The ache remains.

The National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action has a great article exposing one of the great lie-tellers in America, that being the anti-gun rights lobby (reproduced in part here):

It is a simple matter of fact, beyond dispute, that for years prior to passage of the Brady Act, the organization now known as the Brady Campaign called for a waiting period on handgun sales and vigorously opposed the establishment of the National Instant Check System (NICS). The anti-gun group, when known as Handgun Control Inc., ranted and raved against instant check legislation ...

While NRA strongly opposed the Brady Act because of its five-day waiting period, when Congress passed the Brady Act in 1993, it contained a provision authorizing its waiting period on dealer handgun sales only until a NICS could be established. ... The final bill required that the NICS become operational within five years. As it turned out, Brady’s prized waiting period, which Brady claimed could reduce so-called “crimes of passion” (though by the group’s own admission no data existed to support such a theory) was abolished after only four years and nine months ... having been replaced by the NICS in November 1998.

President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Act in November 1993, however, so in November 2008 the Brady Campaign released a 15-year anniversary propaganda paper praising itself and – you guessed it – calling for a federal law prohibiting private sales of firearms, not just those at gun shows, but all private sales. ...

The title of Brady’s anniversary propaganda? Get this: “Brady Background Checks: 15 Years of Saving Lives.” Brady checks? These are the same instant checks that Brady has opposed for 20 years, and which have been conducted for the last 10 years, instead of the waiting period that was in place for less than five years before! ...

Adding to (the) lie, Brady claims “the National Rifle Association (NRA) fought long and hard to block Brady background checks.” While NRA opposes waiting periods, it supported NICS, and Brady worked hard to block it. ...

Adding further to the lie, is Brady’s pretense that the Brady Act is the reason that violent crime has declined in recent years. The Act “has been a resounding success by stopping more than 1.6 million potentially dangerous people from purchasing a gun from a licensed gun dealer,” the group claims.

The reality is something much different. First of all, as the FBI states in its annual national crime report , a variety of factors determine the type and volume of crime, and none of these factors is guns, gun ownership, or gun laws. And the Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, National Academy of Sciences, National Institutes of Justice, and others have studied gun control and found no evidence that it reduces crime at home or abroad. (emphasis added)

Secondly, the nation’s violent crime rate began declining in 1991, three years before the Brady Act took effect. And violent crime committed with weapons other than guns has declined, as well as violent crime with guns – the only weapons requiring a background check. This is largely due to tougher criminal justice policies imposed in the states during the 1990s, such as mandatory sentencing and reduction of probation and parole of violent criminals – precisely what NRA has advocated for years.

Thirdly, Brady incorrectly assumes that denying gun sales must necessarily decrease crime. ... However, since 1991, the number of new guns sold to private citizens has increased by 70 million, and total violent crime has decreased 38 percent, including a 43 percent decrease in murder. Let’s not forget also the deterrent factor posed against criminals by the Right-to-Carry laws now in effect in 40 states. (emphasis added)

Brady also claims that before the Brady Act, “gun traffickers had it easy” with “new handguns bought easily over-the-counter in states with weak gun laws.” The fact is, however, that prior to the Brady Act, the 18 states and the District of Columbia that already had Brady-like laws delaying the acquisition of firearms – including waiting periods, purchase permit requirements, and license requirements – accounted for 63 percent of the nation’s violent crimes. Therefore, the Brady Act – particularly during the waiting period phase favored by the Brady Campaign –never had an effect on jurisdictions where most violent crimes occur.

Naturally, the media have reported Brady’s claims as gospel. But otherwise, the anniversary propaganda is little more than a pathetic attempt by a decreasingly significant group whose agenda has been rejected time and again.

Leftists of a Feather

This is the real deal, straight from the Obama-Biden Web site:

Now, does it mean Barack Obama is a Marxist? Of course not. But the fact that his campaign hosts this blog says much about the man and the campaign.Too many of Obama's associations have been blown off by the mainstream media and left-wing commentators as meaningless, or as attempts by Republicans to accuse Obama himself of being guilty of whatever these various characters (William Ayers, Tony Rezko, etc.)are. That's patently disingenuous and misses the point entirely. even Colin Powell tried to play this game in his lukewarm endorsement of Obama, essentially saying that the McCain campaign had called Obama a terrorist by bringing up the long Ayers-Obama friendship and working relationship. Then on "Softballs," former Tip O'Neill aide Chris Matthews sanctimoniously parroted Powell's comment.
Of course, the actual POINT is that Obama has terrible judgment, which is reflected in his choice of associates, and that he consistently lies when confronted about them ("he's a guy who lives in my neighborhood"; "I never heard anything like that while I was in the pews"; etc.).

Don't Just Do Something, Stand There!

So, the wise heads of Washington, the great and powerful wizards, have put 8 or 9 hundred billion dollars of U.S. taxpayer money on the line, ostensibly to prevent a financial meltdown, not just in the United States but around the globe. We are, after all, as Barack Obama likes to say, citizens of the world. So why shouldn't our income be used to prop up the credit markets in France, Britain, China, etc. It's only "fair."

The original
Meddler-in-Chief

It was said in the halls of our glorious Capitol, as the unprecedented bailout measure finally passed (once enough handouts to various special interests had been tacked on), that the Dow Jones Industrial Average's precipitous plunge during the first attempt at passage of a slightly cleaner bill had helped change many solons' minds toward action. They had watched the Dow plummet during last Monday's (Sept. 29) House vote as it became clear that the first bill would fail, and its further drop after the bill did fail, and had the proper fear instilled in them. And so, the story goes, properly motivated -- by fear and the added goodies -- these paragons of the public trust "did the right thing" the second time around, on Friday. They passed the bill, it was said, not just to bail out Wall Street, but to bail out Main Street.

And how did Wall Street react? Hmmm ... well, the Dow on Friday closed at 10,325, after the great good deed was done. That was 40 points lower than it closed on Sept, 29, the day of the great "failure" in the House of Representatives. OK, it could be said that the stock market had stabilized. Then today, Oct. 6, it closed at 9,955, down 370 points from Friday's close. Furthermore, the London stock exchange's main index suffered its biggest one-day loss since 1987. And George W. Bush was kind enough to tell us that the "fix" was going to take time.

Here's the thing: Defenders of the bailout are arguing that things would be much worse if not for this action. Perhaps. But that argument puts opponents in the position of trying to prove a negative: since something has been done, we will never know. What we do know is that things, right now, are worse than they were before the bailout passed, and that taxpayers are on the hook for the money. Will things eventually get better? Probably, but the same could be said if nothing, or something substantially different, had been done. It was the politicians' need to "do something," not thoughtful deliberation, that drove the policy, and that seldom has worked out well in the past. The needs of politicians are always short-term, sadly, while the economy needs a long-term view. The precedent now set very likely involves costs far beyond the hundreds of billions of dollars now at stake.

The Audacity of Fiction

I was going to give you some facts about the truth behind the credit mess, which has now led to the second-worst federal government action of my lifetime, but this column by Thomas Sowell, left, on Townhall.com does the job quite well.

(Oh, the worst? Nixon's imposition of wage and price controls. People who believe in the power of government to reverse the laws of economics should read this 1994 article from the Independent Institute.)

Lemmingville

The Chicken Little clamor in relation to the credit crunch is beyond annoying. So many commentators, including many of those who proclaim themselves free-market supporters, have joined the Greek chorus of doomsayers. Where is their skepticism? The usual suspects have said that if the financial markets are not bailed out by federal taxpayers (which, btw, only comprise about 60% of the adult population), the nation's economy will come crashing down around our ears, 21st-century Hoovervilles will spring up across the landscape and there will be no end to our woes. But about 200 economists from universities all across the United States, and from various schools of thought, signed a letter opposing the bailout. I guess they know less than the talking heads on radio and television. One of the economists' reasons for opposing the so-called "rescue" is particularly insightful: "If the plan is enacted, its effects will be with us for a generation. For all their recent troubles, America's dynamic and innovative private capital markets have brought the nation unparalleled prosperity. Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted."

The idea that "something must be done" is the kind of thinking that "informed" FDR's administrations, and while the leftist educational theocracy makes FDR a saint, the simple fact is that his interventionist policies only lengthened the Great Depression.

Lonely voices of reason

The mainstream media has been much worse, even, than usual in this so-called economic crisis. Supposed journalists have mindlessly parroted their government sources as they repeat the mantra that "something had to be done," meaning the federal government had to intervene in a way not seen since the Great Depression. Of course, the Depression was only lengthened and deepened by government intervention, which every thinking person knows.
Some voices in the opinion pages, at least, have had more sense than the self-anointed "journalists." Among those has been, remarkably, the Chicago Tribune's editorial page.
My friends, simply ask yourself this: Do you really trust the federal government to successfully handle your life savings? And if, incredibly, you answer "yes," please tell me: based on its previous successful handling of what, exactly?

Cold, Dead Fingers

It is almost comical to hear Joe Biden talk to rural Virginians about his running mate not being able to take away his shotguns. Biden has been scored a consistent F by the NRA on pro-gun-rights policies during his 36 years in the Senate. As for Barack Obama: "I’m consistently on record and will continue to be on record as opposing concealed carry." (Chicago Tribune, 4/27/04); "I think it’s a scandal that this president (Bush) did not authorize a renewal of the 'assault weapons' ban." (Illinois Senate Debate #3: Barack Obama vs. Alan Keyes, 10/21/04); "I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manufacturers lobby." ("The Audacity of Hope," by Barack Obama, 2006); "I think that local jurisdictions have the capability to institute their own gun laws." (BaltimoreSun.com, 2/15/08)
Again, words matter.

Economic ignorance

While John McCain is not exactly Friedrich Von Hayek, Barack Obama displays a kindergartner's grasp of economics. Which may explain his appeal to so many young people. He actually seems to believe that taxes on corporations and high earners are not simply passed along to the great majority of consumers in the form of higher prices and lower employment. His Carterian call for a so-called windfall profits tax on "Big Oil" is a prime example of such muddle-headed foolishness. Yes, Barack, that's right, the evil corporations will meekly hand over cash that would have been part of their after-tax net profits to Uncle Sam. They would never consider building the extra tax into their price structure, or cutting costs (read, jobs) to make up the difference if their industry should suffer from price inelasticity. And you claim that your administration would "create" good jobs in America for Americans. I can only imagine what classes you took at Occidental College or Columbia University, but I would bet none of them included "The Road to Serfdom" or "Capitalism and Freedom" as required reading. What, after all, could two dead white guys have to offer?

The Obama (One) Worldview

Barack Obama says, during the recent 9/11 forum put on by Time magazine at his alma mater, Columbia U.:
"But, you know, what has built this country is people sense through voluntary associations but also through public service and government that we have commitments that extend beyond our immediate self-interest, that aren’t always motivated by profit, that aren’t simply short-term, that we’re thinking long term to the next generation.
"And every bit of progress that we’ve made historically is because of that kind of active citizenship (emphasis added). And as president, what I want to do is restore that sense of common, mutual responsibility — and I think the American people are ready for it."

I may be naive, but I believe Obama when he says this. Not, of course, that what he says is correct or true, but that he believes it to be true. Think about that. Use your knowledge of American history and analyze it logically.

In reality, his negative view of the profit motive and supreme belief in communitarianism, which he expresses at every turn, is fundamentally at odds with what really built this nation and made it great.

When he talks about "building a better life for the next generation," that has not been something done primarily by the government or community organizations. It has been individuals, working under a capitalistic system and motivated by profit, that have made things better for succeeding generations. That is the story of our immigrants. They didn't, by and large, go to work for the government or some community organization, they went to work for money. They started a business, they bought or built a home, they paid for their children to go to college (back when that was considered an individual obligation, since the individual would gain the most from the education, as opposed to an entitlement).
It wasn't a federal program or church group or Sol Alinsky that built this nation's steel industry, oil industry, shipbuilding, automobile, aircraft, computer, biomedical, etc.
But perhaps Obama believes private industry does not represent progress. That is the implication of what he says, and he also says "words matter."

Not letting facts get in the way

CNN "analyst" Jeffrey Toobin, left, a fellow Harvard Law alum along with Barack Obama and a staff member in the prosecution of Ollie North, blithely pronounces on CNN Monday night that "the vast majority" of voters are pro-choice as he questions the alleged desire of the Republican ticket to "reignite the culture wars," which, he adds, revolve around just one issue: abortion rights.

But according to Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs survey, updated May 8-11 of this year, Americans as a whole are only slightly more likely to call themselves "pro-choice" on abortion than "pro-life," 50% to 44% (3-point margin of sampling error). This is nearly identical to where Americans stood on the issue a year ago, and is similar to the close division seen since 1998. That's a "vast majority"?

That same poll, btw, shows 55-year-old-plus voters (the age cohort in which turnout is always highest) describing themselves as 48% "pro-life" vs. 44% "pro-choice." That's OK, Jeff, I realize you're a busy guy and hardly have the time to keep up with news that's not on CNN. What's more bothersome is that you get to say such silly things without being challenged by the so-called newsman, Anderson Cooper, who's running the show.

Beyond that, the real politics of the situation almost certainly don't align with the Toobin view.