Baseball and Steroids

First, sorry about the delay (Mom and Dad). Things have been busy.

Recently, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), recently threatened baseball to clean up their steroid problem, or the government will attack them.

What?

When does government care one iota if baseball players use steroids? Does anyone else find this distressing?

Fallujah

The Christian Science Monitor published an article this morning about "new tactics" being used in the insurgent haven of Fallujah.

These probably aren't new tactics, it is just that our troops have finally run into the literal bomb making factory in Iraq. Perhaps many insurgents escaped into Mosul or other cities in Iraq, but we've found their toys, and it is not easy to recreate this base.

It was not widely being reported, but insurgents, who flocked to Iraq from points abroad prior to the war, have been gearing up for this battle for nearly two years. And guess what: they are losing. I would not be surprised to see US troops fight several very difficult battles very similar to this over the coming months.

And by the way, according the the above refereced article, troops found a suitcase full of sarin nerve agent. You may recall sarin as the nerve agent released into the Japanese subway system about ten years ago. About a teaspoon full killed many Japanese citizens.

Finally, if you are looking for some of the best reporting out there, the Christian Science monitor is it. I believe it reports some very interesting stories without much of the slant we have become accustomed to. You can follow these stories for free at www.csmonitor.com.

60 Mintues

This weekend, Mike Scheuer, the author of Imperial Hubris, is making his first non-anonymous interview since quitting the CIA yesterday. If you get the opportunity, I highly suggest you watch this.

It will certainly be biased toward his particular point of view (not necessarily right or wrong), but this is a man who knows quite a bit about Osama bin Laden. Certainly worth the price of admission.

Just Finished Reading Imperial Hubris, by Anonymous

I would consider this a "must read" for anyone interested on how we will eliminate the vagaries of international Islamic insurgencies.

The main points:

Al Qaeda and their bretheren are attacking us for reasons other than democracy, but mostly for:

1) Installing troops in the middle east
2) Supporting despot regimes, such as Saudi Arabia
3) Unyielding support for Israel
4) Support of regimes attacking other Muslims, including the Indians in Kashmir, the Russians in Chechnya, & the Chinese in Xinjiang
5) The invasion of Iraq & Afghanistan

To learn more, read the book.

The New DNC Chair

Word is that the next chairperson will be either Donna Brazille (Gore's 2000 campaign manager and the woman who, knowing President Reagan was on his deathbed, blasted his policies toward the poor), Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa (my favorite because his name is quite interchangeable with other sacks), and Howard Dean, the man of the scream.

God help them. Are they trying to lose the next Presidential election already?

David Brooks and Nicholas Kristof

Both NY Times columnists wrote great pieces regarding the Presidential election. I suggest you take a look at them.

In short, they argued that the election was not one of reliousity versus atheism. It is about communicating your message and the extremist shifts of the parties.

As a conservative (self-proclaimed) libertarian, the Liberal elite problems I see are:

- Liberals view conservatives as ignorant (major issue)
- Liberals are looking to make people less religious (because religious people are ignorant)
- The judicial branch of government must usurp the democratic authority of the people when they are being too ignorant
- People only vote with their pocket books or their values (conservatives only vote with their pocket books and liberals only vote with higher principles in mind)
- Liberals are progressive; the correlary, of course, is that conservatives are regressive.

Europe is even worse the the Liberal elite. This is becuase they have graduated from Liberalism to Socialism. Conservative Americans view this as very dangerous. The further left Europe moves, the more totalitarian it becomes. We conservatives don't want totalitarianism. We fought it for 40 years against the Bolsheviks in Russia. Communism is evil. Those who disagree are most likely the "enlightened liberals," who secretly pine for complete totalitarianism here at home.

"Most of the country is socially liberal"

The above quote came from one of my colleagues recently. I told him that I disagreed and that most of the country is pretty conservative. It was mostly the West Coast and New England that are liberal.

He didn't believe me. Until today. After 11 states around the country voted that gay marriage should not be permitted (including Oregon), he now believes differently. Not that I agree with social conversatism (i actually voted against an ammendment prohibiting gay marriage), it is just not accurate.

Everything I needed to know......

I learned on Tradesports.com. This was a great website, which allowed me to project President George W Bush the winner in yesterday's election. In fact, I even projected that Bush would win 286 electoral votes (282 if Colorado's election was split).

Now, enough gloating. The candidate for whom I voted received just over 400,000 votes nationwide. Not bad. More than the 2000 election, but significantly less than what it could be.

Maybe next time. In the meantime, I had no better feeling than watching France cry (yes cry) as it became apparent that Senator Kerry was losing the election. All I can say is that if France thinks we as Americans care what they think about our country, they are far more guilty of hubris than anthing we could possibly display.

The Battle for Your Rights, Or Why I am Voting Libertarian

I have heard in some of my propagandist papers that to vote for the lesser of two evils is still evil.

The reason I voted for Michael Badnarik has something to do with this. Let me start by saying that I don't believe that either President Bush, nor Senator Kerry are evil men. I believe they are both highly principled, but their principles directly involve taking away my rights from each side.

So I chose to vote for the only person who is claiming to change this. The Libertarian Party does not believe that the government is the answer...to any question. If you ask about the price of gas, healthcare, or milk, the availability of the flu shot, honest politicians, etc., government is not the answer. This was famous rhetoric from President Ronald Reagan that has been utterly lost on today's Republican Party.

The Democrats are fighting "rights" battles with more laws, more regulation, and more judges. Neither response is the correct one in my opinion. So I can vote for neither man. I don't feel compelled to vote for the most likely winner. I voted for the person whose values I hope rub off on future policians.

Play Ball

With the World Series only two days away, good luck to both teams. I will probably being rooting for the Cardinals (being from the National League and all). This has to be one of the best League Championship Series in recent memory. 6 walk off home runs. Multiple extra innings games, and finally, for the first time ever, the Sox came back from down 3-0.

What a season!

Reflection on the Debates

After 3 90 minute debates, I believe it is important to reflect on a couple of questions that were never asked.

First, what's next? Let's assume for a moment that Iraq is no longer a problem. They have had elections, we are pulling out troops, and let's be even very optimistic and assume that France pulls their heads out of their asses on their anti-Americanism. Do we continue to fight a "war on terror?" Is the war on terror kind of like the "war on drugs?" What are the goals of a war on terrorism? Are we to eliminate all terror organizations or are we to just go after Al Qaeda?

Instead, we were treated to literally dozens of nitpicking attacks about partisan policy interpretations and to whom these policies will benefit.

As I told someone yesterday, the debates were essentially:

"My opponent clearly has gray hair."

"Once again, the President is misleading the American people. It is patently obvious that my hair is black, the same color as it was when I honorably served my country as a young man. Did I mention that I fought in Vietnam? Also, did you know that I am a Catholic?"

"There's alot of hard work that goes into fighting against the graying of the hair. Even my opponent's hair can't make up its mind. It is black? Is it gray. America needs a President with consistent hair colors."

Enough already!

Private Military Corporations

The History channel ran a repeat of a really fantastic program on private military coroporations (mercenaries).

Despite the bad connotation, these PMC's are being used again: in Iraq and elsewhere. Is this the model of future warfare?

What do they do? Well they can and do provide anything from military training, to actual military combat. This would also include peacekeeping activites, including passing out ballots, security, etc.

If you have the opportunity, it is a very interesting special called, "Soldiers for Hire."

Some Wealthy Individuals Want to Pay Higher Taxes

This evening on the unbiased CBS evening news, a very interesting report ran. A school teacher in some socialist, I mean New England school indicated that as a wealthy heiress, she doesn't believe she pays enough in taxes.

In fact, I heard hack, I mean actor Ben Affleck utter the same phrases.

How do I say this nicely? That is simply the most egotistical, idiotic, elitist statement I may ever have heard. I do, however have a solution. There is a great invention that I suggest for those people who have too much money and not enough sense. That word is charity. In fact, in the technologically advanced society in which we live, a donor can determine how efficient a charity is. Just go to www.charitynavigator.com.

I am still looking for the website that tells me how efficient government programs are.

There is no such thing as a moderate!

I am sick of hearing (in this election season), about the moderate or undecided voter. Voters pretty much have their minds made up. I believe the real question is whether these "undecideds" will actually decide to vote.

The truth is, there is no such thing as a "moderate" position. People who cross traditional "party lines" such as social liberals and economic conservatives actually have a name: it is libertarian. Social conservatives and Economic Liberals are called "neo-conservatives." The rest is pretty elementary.

The problem is, America (and maybe the world), has an infatuation in being with the majority. People believe that if you believe like everyone else does, you must be a moderate. Given a choice between 1, 2, and 3, and people will choose 2.

The problem is that the majority of citizens in Germany during WWII didn't want to rock the boat either.

Mt St Helens

Man, is this exciting. I was actually able to watch the "burp" of Mt St Helens from my office.

For those of you who don't know, Mt St Helens is about 55 miles from Portland. Therefore, on a clear day, it is one of the 5 beautiful mountains I can see from some angle at my office.

I hope this upgraded erruption waits until Monday. I think I will bring my camera.

Presidential Debates

Could the debates have been more antiseptic? The problem with the whole process is that nobody was asked a hard question.

For example, "Senator Kerry, you have declared wrong war, wrong yadda yadda. For a moment, let us assume that Iraq and Afghanistan are moderately settled. What is next in the "war on terrorism?"

"President Bush, what is the sign of victory in Iraq? Does that mean that our mission was not accomplished 18 months ago?"

These will not be answered because nobody in the process wants to ask them.

Politicians are not altruistic!

For years, ever since we forgot our founding fathers, our politicians have slowly been taking away our rights. Leftists take away our economic rights; rightists take away our social rights. It is pretty simple.

For decades, we have been taught Franklin Roosevelt was one of our greatest Presidents. That may be, but the qualities he taught future generations of politicians is that it is OK to take away the citizens' rights so long as you are a good protector.

Maybe we should learn more about John Locke, James Madison, & Thomas Jefferson, and less about John Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt and George Bush.

No Child Left Behind

I have not been a big fan of this piece of federal legislation. Firstly, I believe that the Department of Education should be eliminated and its budget removed to offset other overspending.

However, Rep David Wu has recently come on attack against the act, indicating that essentially, the standards are too tough. Also, not enough emphasis is placed on improvement.

My reaction is this: CRAP! If you believe in standards, make them tough and achievable. If your schools aren't passing the standardized tests, then get better. Find different ways to pass the exams.

Finally, if these standardized tests examinate students based upon reading, writing and arithmetic, then why would we worry if teachers "teach to the test?"

Having said all of that, I don't believe the federal government should have a role in the education of local students. It just wastes tons of money. But Rep Wu, get real! School is undoubetedly less challenging than when you or I went to school. And you want to make it less challenging? Give me a break.

This is a call.......

To all those who might be intentionally or randomly reading this blog. If you were born in 1972 or after, the board of trustees of the Social Security system states that there will be no system for you to draw from. The social security trust fund is expected to be totally bankrupt.

Of course, this assumes that the American citenzry can even believe they can afford to collect on the trust fund, with $49 trillion in IOU's. In reality, the social security system will begin running deficits in about 12-13 years. This is significant for a couple of reasons:

1) our Federal budget has only been able to balance because of a surplus in the amount of payments versus withdrawals into the trust fund. If it weren't for this "new math," the marvelous balanced budgets of the late 90's, early 2000's would have been deficits to the tune of $250+ million each year.

2) we must have one of three things beginning in in 12-13 years just to be able to meet the amount of withdrawals that will occur: raise taxes, reduce benefits, or reduce the burden of the withdrawals.

It is expected that if we were to take action today, payroll transfer payments (your social security and medicare "so-called" taxes), need to increase by about 15%. If we wait 10 years, I shudder to imagine the amount of needed increase.

If you are expecting to receive the social security payments you already paid, the system must be changed and soon. Do you want to dramatically change the system, or increase the Ponzi scheme. If this is of concern to you, please vote.

The Electoral College

Recently, two states have come out looking to change our electoral college system of elections: Colorado and Washington.

This concern me very much. Already, our country has stripped the states dramatically of their power in the ferderal government system. Our founders thought states rights to be paramount in our union; much more so than federal power. As proof, our country is named, "The United States of America."

Attempting to change our electoral system to a popular vote system will nearly guarantee that which our founders feared most: tyranny by the majority.

Consider this when thinking out the debate.

Another Bailout

The federal government has, in its infinite wisdom, decided to bail out US Airways, who just filed for bankruptcy for the second time in the past year. I am glad that we have $800 million to waste on a company that can't run without government handouts.

What happened to the fiscal conservatives in Congress?

Antitrust Run Amok

According to one of my favorite weblogs, "www.poorandstupid.com", the Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans football game that was played on Saturday instead of Sunday, was prohibited from being played on national television. Why you might ask? Because an amateur game was played within 75 miles.

Are you kidding me? This is actually a law to prevent monopolies? Hey John Stossel, give me a break!

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC)

A new law has stipulated that all alcohol fermented a certain way must be sold in liquor stores, rather than the grocery store. Incedentally, this will force many makers of malted beverages (most specifically Mike's Hard Lemonade) to forego selling much of their product.

Why does this commission still exist? Can't "We the People" make up our own minds?

Isn't it ironic?

Immediately following the Democratic Convention, the Kerry campaign read the polls which indicated a virtual dead heat between President Bush and Senator Kerry. At the time, Kerry strategists indicated that this was evidence of the extreme polarization of the country.

However, after the Republican convention, President Bush gained approximately 11 net points. What about the extreme polarization?

Good Paying Manufacturing Jobs

The above referenced jobs are being lost at an alarming rate during this Bush presidency, some might have you believe. Is this a new phenomenon?

Let us try to uderstand why these are politically explosive in today's political environment.

First, manufacturing jobs do not require much education. Essentially, you must learn a particular skill and be able to replicate this constantly. It was good paying because the unions tried to prop this job up for its constituency. Ironically enough, this is one of the main reasons why these jobs have declined over the years.

The truth is, manufacturing employment's year-end peak was in 1978 at 19.334 million manufacturing jobs. This total has been declining ever since. As of August 2004, manufacturing employment is approximately 14.421 million jobs. In other words, this is not a new trend. In fact, most of these jobs losses occurred because of technology and improvements in productivity. However, it is much more politically volatile to blame this loss on foreigners: the big bogeyman of politics.

Do Americans Want to Live in a Communist Nation?

Recently, I came across the 10 planks of the "Communist Manifesto," by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in 1848. Despite the fact that we seemed to have fought communism and most Americans would not want to live under communism, this list shocked me. In fact, America has adopted most of the platform of the Communist Manifesto, and is certainly working on the remaining planks. These ideals are:

1) "Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes." Think of all the public land in this country, the expansion thereof and the movements that support it (the environmental movement).

2) "A heavy progressive or graduated income tax."

3) "Abolition of all rights of inheritance."

4) "Confiscation of the property of emigrants and rebels."

5) "Centralization of credit in the hands of the state . . . ." Think the Federal Reserve, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

6) "Centralization of the means of communications and transport in the hands of the state."

7) "Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state . . . ." Think regulation.

8) "Equal obligation to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture."

9) "Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of distinction between town and country."

10) "Free education of all children in public schools. Abolition of child factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production."

Growing up, I was taught in Catholic and public school that the roots of Communism were righteous. Only the application of the principles were flawed. This is too bad. In subsequent years, I have begun to appreciate the evils of communism: Namely, rights and liberties are confiscated from one group of people (the bourgeoisie) and given to the public (namely the proletariat). Communism that played out in the USSR, China, and other parts of the world were in fact the extension of the principle of communism, not the exception to the rule.

Communism is evil, at its core and in its application. It is that simple. It has led to the systematic murder of millions who were seeking freedom. Remember that and these principles next time you vote.

Why Congressman Never Become Presidents

Something interesting occurred to me this evening. I believe the reason Congressmen are rarely ever elected to the office of President is because they can and do hide behind a group and nuance themselves into obscurity.

Let me give you an example:

If you are governor of a state and someone asks a question, you must respond.

If you are a Congressman, it is much less difficult. You don't take positions. You propose and vote on bills. And if you don't propose bills, all you do all day long is respond to bills.

This is the problem. If you ask a Senator what shape something is, he may respond, "It is a rectangle." The governor may respond, "this shape is a square." If someone measures the shape and determines it is a square, the Senator can say, "you see, I was right. A square is a rectangle." If the determination comes back and says it is a rectangle, the Senator can say, see I was right. You were wrong. It is a rectangle, not a square."

Average people can see right through this. And these people generally don't get elected to an office like governor or President.

The RNC part 2

If you didn't get a chance to see Lt Gov Mark Steele from Maryland speak this evening, you missed out. So far, I found his speech to be one of the best at the convention, and very clearly laid out why undecideds should vote for President Bush.

Samuel Adams: The Patriot, Not the Beer

I recently saw this quote from Sam Adams regarding freedom, and thought it was some of the best political rhetoric ever spoken:

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude
greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace.
We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand
that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity
forget that ye were our countrymen."
—Samuel Adams

What ever happened to this kind of politicking?

The RNC

As a super nerd that enjoys watchingt C-Span, I was noticing some of the coverage prior to the convention, including protestors being spoken to by the esteemed Reverend, Jesse Jackson, on the streets of New York. Additionally, there was coverage from the NY chapter of the ACLU which discussed protest techniques, what the cops can and cannot do, and what protestors can or cannot do.

This just leads me to believe that there will be riots this week in New York. Of course, this is largely the Republicans' faults for choosing their convention site of New York.

On a differnt note, below is a link to a great anti-protestor site, called Protest Warrior. I hope you enjoy it.

www.protestwarrior.com

Voting Patterns of Liberals and Conservatives

I have a hypothesis. I believe that liberals attempt to vote for those whom they aspire to be. For example, John Kerry is wealthy, good looking, yale educated, and otherwise knowledgable. President John Kennedy was the same way. Further, I believe they like candidates who don't believe in black and white, only shades of gray.

I believe that Conservatives vote in an opposite fashion. Conservatives like to elect someone like themselves: down to earth, talks like the people, etc. They like people like President GW Bush, because despite many of the same qualities of a man like John Kerry, he is more like what they could be. In other words, assuming that he drank, you could have a regular beer with the guy.

Just a thought.

What Do Iraqi's Really Think?

If you haven't seen it already, please visit, www.iraqthemodel.blogspot.com.

This is a blog that is written by 3 Iraqi's who live in Baghdad. Very enlightening.

Bryan

The Junior Senator from Massachussetts

Today, Senator John Kerry visited Portland, Oregon. He held a rally at the waterfront with some of my least favorite celebrities.

However, aside from this, something has occurred recently that makes me sick. I have watched so much discussed about Senator Kerry's Vietnam record. Now whether he was in Cambodia or not on Christmas in 1968 may be a big story (particularly since the memory was "seared" on his mind), but the glee with which conservative pundits are attempting to discredit the story makes me ill.

Like the man, or don't like him. I don't care. However, the man did volunteer for the service (when he certainly didn't need to) and did serve our country. If he lied, this will be revealed, but don't enjoy discrediting the record of a veteran who quite literally, put his life on the line for our country.

It's The Economy, Stupid

I have a running theory. It goes like this. In 1999, the entire country, not to mention the whole world, was worried the change from 2 digits to 4 digits was going to be detrimental to our way of life. Because of this, companies spent and spent and spent. Unemployment went to 3 1/2% (artificially) and everything was thought to be a new paradigm.

When computers didn't crash worldwide, businesses were set. They had just bought all of the technology they needed for at least a couple of years. This filtered down and created quite a recession. More importantly, this put many companies on the exact same amortization schedule for their capital equipment. This means that businesses again will be light on demand of computer equipment, and won't need any for a couple of years.

It amazes me that people don't seem to have enough interest to determine what was the cause of the recession. To this day, people don't understand why the Great Depression (1930's) or the Raw Deal (1970's) ocurred.

What's Wrong with What's Wrong with Kansas

I don't pretend to understand why those in the Midwest may choose to vote Repbulican over Democrat, but I disagree with the assertion that people vote for a particular candidate or group of candidates because of what goodies they will get for voting for them.

It is true that both parties have their own cheerleaders: biz leaders for the Republicans, and organized labor and the legal profession for the Democrats. However, I believe the answer is much more simple. The country believes that Democrats take from the wealthy and give to the poor, while the Republicans leave people to their own devices.

While these assumptions may or may not be true, I believe that these are the perceptions of these parties. Further, I believe that the Midwest ethic believes in working hard for yourself, and not receiving a distribution from the paycheck of the wealthy.

Just one man's opinion.

The week in news

This week, the big news was the proposed ammendment to the constitution. I know why the President supported it, but I think his timing was bad. And it just reinforced one of the reasons I am no longer voting Republican. As I have been clarifying my political opinions, it has come down to a simple statement: I will not vote for people who have a fundamental difference in their belief of the role of government.

In my humble opinion (and that of the founders of our country), government was intended to serve a couple of simple purposes: "Government should keep the peace, coin money, establish a post office, postal roads, and the courts, and secure time-limited copywrights and patents." For those of you whom I sent a "pocket Constitution," that comes from Article 1, Section 8.

However, things began to dramatically change, mostly as we began to get more involved in war. Around the beginning of World War I, the Federal Reserve was created. It near sole purpose was to prevent the reduction in currency purchasing power. It became known to protect the financial markets, but it didn't stop the Depression of 1920-21, or the Great Depression of 1929-1941. In fact, the more government intervenes, the more damage it tends to do. President Franklin Roosevelt hired an economic advisor named John Manynard Keynes. Keynes became lauded for his "central planning," government-controlled economic policy. It supposedly worked until the 1970s when stagflation occurred. In this environment, any "push" in demand, created more inflation, causing higher interest rates and further decline in the purchasing power of our currency. I would argue that Keynes policy didn't work when is supposedly did. England came out of their own depression in 1934, many years before the United States, simply by implementing free-market, supply side policies. Pres. Roosevelt may have kept us in the Depression longer because of his economic policies. This certainly didn't mean that he wasn't a good President. It just means that history's glowing review of his performance may be flawed.

I will close this post with the quote from Thomas Jefferson I found in John Stossel's new book, "Give Me a Break:"

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain."

Men of the People

I have heard much lately of our Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates (and current occupants) declaring they know what the middle class needs. Oh really? How many of you are in the middle class. I find it a bit condecending when someone like Preisdent Bush or Sen Kerry pretends they have ever had to worry how they were going to pay for groceries this month. In fact, I would doubt very much if either had ever created a personal budgets.

So next time you hear this drivel, remember where it is coming from. Each of these men are worth many, many millions of dollars.

Celebrity and Politics

It may have started with Jane Fonda, but it has now expanded. What makes celbrities think that we want to know where they stand on any political issue. This seems to be a much larger problem for liberal celebrities. And for the record, I don't care who a celebrity supports. If he/she likes Republicans, Democrats, or Socialists. This will not impact my financial support of their projects. Where I do get upset is when celebrities denegrate certain candidates with insults. It is at this point that I create my own celebrity embargo list. These are people who I will not pay any money to buy their videos or music, buy tickets to their movies or watch them on TV. If I hear them on the radio, I turn the station.

Celebrity Embargo List:

Barbara Streisand (some people aren't bright enough to attempt to speak without a script, but do anyway).
George Clooney (there is only one exception: Ocean's 11; I love that movie, but maybe I should watch the original)
Jeneanne Garafolo (I would try to verify the spelling, but I don't really care)
Al Franken
Whoopi Goldberg
Tim Robbins (I liked Bull Durham, but that was about it)
Susan Sarandon (I can't think of a single thing she has ever done that I have the slightest interest in)
Meryl Streep (ditto)
Chevy Chase (this is too bad, but he has tied my hands)
Jessica Lange (I am sure she has done something, but I couldn't name one project if you'd give me a million bucks)

Most of these people were in New York for Sen. Kerry's fundraiser. There were others, but I didn't hear any other offending statements. I encourage you to join me in my boycott.

9/11 Commission

In case you wanted to read the most recent working papers by the 9/11 commission (I highly suggest it), the link is http://www.9-11commission.gov/hearings/hearing12/staff_statement_15.pdf .

The most interesting things I found in the statement are the fact that Al Qaeda is thought to have significantly collaberated with Hezbollah and Iran. This is signficant because Hezbollah, of course, is a target on the "War on Terror." Additionally, Hezbollah is supported by Syria, a secular regime. The residents of Syria are largely Sunni Muslim (74%), whereas the Hezbollah organization is largely a Shi'a sect.

Just food for thought.

How to recruit terrorists, and other such quests.

I have had a working theory for some time: Successful terrorist operations, more than anything else, recruit terrorists.

As of late, I have heard much conjecture about whether our presense in Iraq is creating more terrorists. This is certainly possible, but I would say that terrorists pulling off terror operations is much more successful.

Finally, evidence confirms it. In the 9/11 review, working papers quote Osama Bin Laden as saying that he wanted to pull off a major operation to create a "funding and recruiting bonanza."

Just as I thought. So in order to prevent the recruitment of terrorists, I suggest we continue to attempt to prevent all terrorism everywhere.

Inflation? What inflation?

Today, initial CPI, or Consumer Price Index, data came out for the month of May. In short, this is supposed to measure the amount of general increase in the price level of consumer items.

Mathematically, there are some 40,000 items which are factored into the calculation of the index. Today's data came out at an annualized rate of 7.25%. Historically, inflation has averaged 3%, so 7.25% is a pretty big number. However, certain economists like to "net" out certain items which can regularly scew data. These items are food and energy. Of course, most every American needs to buy items which fall into the food and/or energy category. However, these items tend to be quite volatile and bounce around quite a bit from month to month. In short, it is not politically popular for Americans to see prices increase at 7.5% per year, so it may make sense to remove these items from the commonly quoted data. When you do this, the "core" inflation number comes in at 2.5%; much more palatable.

So as the stock market rejoiced the "core" inflation number, the commodities market was looking at the net number of 7.25%. Take a cursory glance at your expenses. Have they risen? Which number do you think is more accurate?

Hope that clears things up.

B

My 2nd Favorite Holiday

Well, I have still not figured out how to post pictures, but I am working on it.

Now is the time of year where we are fast approaching my second favorite holiday: the 4th of July. Now you ask, "What is your favorite holiday?" Well the answer to that is simple: Thanksgiving. No, not because of anything to do with the founding of this country, but becuase it is the one day of the year that I am sure to be able to see a Dallas Cowboys game, and have pumpkin pie! In fact, as I am still a meat and potatoes kind of guy (despite the fact that I am attempting to broaden my food plan), there is no better food than turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and pumpkin pie.

OK, now that I have gotten that out of my system, the 4th of July is my second favorite holiday, strictly for patriotic reasons. I am not big on fireworks, but I am big on reflecting on the meaning of July 4th, so in that light, I have some trivia. Recently, we have heard much about our country being a democracy, but did you know, that is not true? Our country is a constitutional republic. This means that we have certain rights that cannot be democratically (or tyrannically) removed. These would be the rights found (but not given to us) in the Constitution.

Did you know that?

That is right. The consitution of these United States does not give us any rights! We have unalienable rights which are secured by the Constitution. This is as opposed to the new European Constitution, in which rights are granted to its citizens. Well, as Americans, we all know that if we are given rights, they can be taken away. If they are inalienable, they cannot.

This is the first in I am sure many installments of historical trivia about our great country. And by the way, if Europe thinks I am arrogant or a cowboy for saying that our country is great, then I will think of my favorite cowboy and thank them. Some day soon, we will save them again!

Great Speech

I just finished reading President Reagan's speech for Barry Goldwater in 1964. The transcript is:

http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/speeches/rendezvous.asp

This is probably one of the greatest speeches ever presented. It is called, "A Time for Choosing." If you have an interest, more of his famous speeches are located at:

http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/speeches/

Enjoy.

And you thought I was done....

I took the day off. I actually took it off prior to any news about President Reagan.

After watching the news coverage, a couple of things come to mind:

Firstly, there is no such thing as a former president. President Reagan will always be President Reagan. There is no such thing as former President Reagan.
Secondly, Moorpark is one word. It is not Moore Park Community College, nor is it Moor Park Community College.
Thirdly, President Reagan was the patriarch of this country. As I mentioned in my previous post, he was like a Grandfather, and I believe he was this for all.
And finally, 100 years from now, President Reagan will be known for a couple of things:
Taking this country out of 18 years of economic malaise
Defeating the Soviet Union and imperialistic communism
And finally, by bringing pride back to our country.

We live in the greatest country in the world and he reminded us of this.

When he came to office, the Soviet Union was not collapsing. In fact, it was far from it.
When he came to office, it was thought that tax-cuts would bring about inflation; in fact, two of his economic advisors who espoused this opinion were Paul Krugman and Lawrence Sumners: two very respected academics in the field of eonomics.
When he came to office, America could not have had more destructive leaders, reminding us of our failures. What we needed was someone to remind us of our successes.

Finally, in my last post, I hoped that we would have a leader like President Reagan. I find this terribly unlikely. President Reagan came from a generation that is unlikely to be repeated. People believed in their leaders. They were optimistic. And they didn't find it necessary to take credit for themselves. We are unlikely to see a man like President Reagan in politics for some time.

In Memorium

Ronald Wilson Reagan passed away today. It was quite a sobering day for me, as in my opinion, President Reagan was the greatest leader of our country since Abraham Lincoln.

President Reagan was our leader between my ages of 5 and 12. I didn't know much about his policy during this time, but I do recall during the 2nd grade thinking that if Walter Mondale were elected (in 1984), we would need to build nuclear bunkers in our backyard. Somehow, I felt safe with President Reagan.

Throughout his life, President Reagan was an optimist; something I pride myself on. He looked to the good in people. He believed, like I do as well, that people would take responsibility for themselves, if given responsiblity. Also, President Reagan had a tremendous amount of respect for the office of the Presidency. In fact, he never took off his coat while in the Oval Office (something I learned from my grandfather, who was a docent at the Reagan library in Simi Valley, California).

My grandfather once said that he didn't care for Rush Limbaugh. I found this kind of odd, because at the time, Mr. Limbaugh was criticizing President Bill Clinton; a man I am sure he didn't care for. My grandfather said something to the effect that the Presidency was nearly a sacred institution. It wasn't right to criticize the President while he was in office.

I believe that something about their generation gave them this perspective, and it is unfortunate that subsequent generations did not inherit this.

Undoubtedly, many television programs will discuss him now that he has passed on, but I would like to remember President Reagan and the values that we learned from him: personal responsibility, hope, and the American Way.

God bless Ronald Reagan and his family. I just hope that our country will be blessed enough to have more leaders like him.

Look of this website

By the way, I chose this view from the available backgrounds because I thought it looked like parchment. What do you think? I have kind of been on a "Constitution" kick for a couple of years now.

Summer in the City

I have decided this is going to be the website where people who want to know what we are up to, will come to see, rather than my manifesto. So, in that spirit, despite all rumors to the contrary, today was an incredible, Summer-like day. The thermometer pushed 80 degrees, and there weren't any clouds until about now. This has allowed me to open the house and get some circulation.

Shortly, I am going to upload some pictures, instead of using O-Photo, so that some people, who can not access O-Photo, can come to see what we are up to.

Today also was the day that Kari gave her notice at work. I am very excited about this, because we are that much closer to continuing our family.

I hope you are able to enjoy this web log. As I am very excited about it, I welcome any feedback about what you might want to see. Please, don't hesitate to let me know.

I hope all who are reading this are doing well.

Ayn Rand and "Atlas Shrugged"

This was my most recent reading. And finally, I finished this Libertarian epic. Only 1100 pages (and some of the smalles print known to man). I think my next book will be, "The Prince," by Nicolo Machiavelli. It is a classic I have had for some time, but have never had the opportunity to read.