RNS Quote of the Day: 12/3/12

From Arnold Kling, who is blogging again.

What I am suggesting is that libertarians, rather than defining ourselves in terms of what we believe is right, could instead define ourselves in terms of how one should arrive at beliefs about what is right. Our goal should be to rely as much as possible on logic and as little as possible on heuristic biases. If using these methods leads to the conclusions that are traditionally libertarian, fine. If not, then we should change our conclusions, not our methods.

Libertarian as Logician: The True Essence of Libertarianism

Posted in Quote of the Day | 1 Comment

It is true

That a picture can be worth a thousand words.

While that is not exactly a picture, I can definitely think up a thousand words to describe it. However, very few of them are fit to say in front on my mother.

Found here

Posted in Freaks, Mutants, and Morons | Leave a comment

And to think

They were once called “Great”.

The British press should be regulated by an independent group supported by law and with the power to fine, a judge recommended Thursday in a long-awaited report sparked by a phone-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid.

Judge Brian Leveson said he was not recommending that Parliament set up a press regulator, but that the industry should create its own, which would be backed by legislation to make sure it meets certain standards of independence and effectiveness.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who asked the judge to prepare the report, told Parliament after its release that he agrees with Leveson’s recommendations for a new, strong, independent press regulator.

He said the onus is now on the press to implement the report’s recommendations, “and implement them radically.”

And Cameron is the “conservative” candidate.

I don’t care how many times they put the word “independent” in front of the new commission’s name. It won’t be.

Posted in Useful Idiots | 1 Comment

If one standard is good

Two must be better, right!?!

Seumas Milne, an Associate Editors of The Guardian newspaper (aka: Al Guardian) says that it is OK for the palestinians to kill Israeli civilians with random rocket fire because they are not “intentionally” attacking civilian targets.

Anyone want to hazard a guess on how many times The Guardian has criticized the US, the UK, and/or Israel for collateral damage while they were deliberately targeting military targets that the jihadis were surrounding with human shields?

Found via The Gateway Pundit

Posted in Too Stupid to Live | Leave a comment

Guess What, You’re Stupid

A group of social scientists said so

Studies Reveal that Conservatism is Promoted When People Rely on ‘Low-Effort’ Thinking

Expect to have this bandied about for the next couple weeks. Hit the link to see how flimsy the data set looks.

Posted in Dare To Be Stupid, The Left is Never Right | 1 Comment

Doesn’t everybody know this?

Ruben Navarette, of the AP, wrote an Op-Ed stating what any sane person knows to be the truth:

The Democrat Party is the roadblock to true immigration reform.

They know that if immigration reform is passed, then they will have one less item with which to bash the Republican over the head with.

The usual game plan works like this: If the Republicans move one inch to the center, they move two inches away from the center towards the extremist position and then they and their media cohorts start calling that the center. This way, real reform will never be achieved and they can go into the next election with a carrot to dangle in front of Hispanic voters.

After the publication of this Op-Ed, the idea that this is how immigration politics actually works was roundly poo-pooed by the leftosphere. And just for good measure, they repeated the “Republicans are Racist” mantra.

Posted in The Left is Never Right | 1 Comment

Sad, Yet Interesting

From the AP

A group of lawmakers has urged the Justice Department to respect recent votes in Colorado and Washington state allowing the recreational use of marijuana, and some introduced a bill to ensure that happens.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado said Friday that her bill would bar the federal government from blocking state marijuana laws. Several other lawmakers have signed on, including Republican Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado.

“I voted against Amendment 64 and I strongly oppose the legalization of marijuana, but I also have an obligation to respect the will of the voters,” Coffman said in a statement. “I feel obligated to support this legislation.”

Voters this month made Washington and Colorado the first states to allow adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and to set up state licensing schemes for pot growers, processors and retail stores. Taxes could bring the states tens or hundreds of millions of dollars a year, financial analysts say.

It is sad that they have to ask permission of the feds to set up their drug stores. And yet interesting that they have even gone so far as to do so.

I was hoping that with our state elections Washington State would get an AG that would have the balls to arrest and try federal agents who attempted to make federal arrests on activities legal within the state laws. Sadly, no. Instead, we got a wet paper towel.

Also interesting is the newest addition to the Seattle PD’s website:

Marijwhatnow? A Guide to Legal Marijuana use in Seattle

One of the Q&A’s

Q: December 6th seems like a really long ways away. What happens if I get caught with marijuana before then?

A: Hold your breath.

 

Posted in Life in the Atomic Age | 1 Comment

Oh, Hell No!

Our elections are a mess.

Some states are still counting ballots they’ve “found” and recounts abound every election season.

However, the idea that we need an expansion of the Federal Elections Commission in order to have federal oversight of elections is still only an idea of the historically-ignorant left.

It is time for the federal government to create an independent, non-partisan body charged with administering elections.

Unlike the Federal Elections Commission, whose authority is limited to the financing of campaigns, this body would be granted the following responsibilities to ensure that our elections are free and fair regardless of who you are, where you live or for whom you intend to vote.

Here are some of their ideas:

Universalize Voter Registration

The author wants to make it so that “everyone is registered somewhere”, and essentially forcing everyone to register to vote. Some people just don’t give enough of a shit to want to vote and don’t register. He would take that choice away from them.

Standardize the Ballot

I don’t care how complicated your state’s ballot is. If you can’t figure it out or get it explained to you, maybe you should have stayed home watching the game shows. I’ve heard Florida is the worst, with enough pages that they have to number them. Then work with your State Reps to get it fixed. Don’t come begging the feds to take my tax dollars so they can “fix” it.

You probably won’t like it then either.

Standardize the Polling Place

Again, how would a federal bureaucrat know what is better for your precinct than someone from your state, county or precinct? If you don’t like what they’re doing, vote them out or get your State Reps to do their jobs and fix the problem.

Establish “Voting Week”

There are too many people to get voting done on one day. I shouldn’t have to wait more than an hour to vote. Remember gunnies, just like with the NICS, a right delayed is a right denied.

Washington State has tried to fix this problem by moving to a Mail-Only system that still can’t get results on election night. Not to mention that I don’t trust them to actually count my vote.

My solution would be to similar to voting week, but before a system like that could be put into place, a range of new punishments would have to be set up making any messing with voter registration or voting itself punishable by no less than 10 years. Since the left knows they could take some casualties under this idea, they’ll never go for it, and hence it will never happen.

But even beyond all of this, I’m pretty sure the author is entirely ignorant of the reason the feds don’t control the voting processes of the states. Which is sad, seeing as how many folks agree with him.

I am also pretty damn sure that his post would have never gone up had Romney won.

Posted in Count ANY Vote | 1 Comment

Proof they’re just being vindictive

The standard Republican idea for “balancing the federal budget” is to not increase tax rates but instead cut out deductions and loopholes in the tax system, thereby simplifying it.

The Democrats whine, cry and moan that “The Rich” still wouldn’t be “paying their fair share” and dismiss this idea.

So you can color me surprised when the very hardcore left-wing Professor Paul Buchheit goes on to publish an article over at AlterNet that basically states that the entire federal deficit could be erased by simply cutting deductions and closing loopholes, and the leftosphere blogs extensively link to it.

They know the Republicans are telling the truth and yet that still isn’t enough. After all, they need to increase federal spending to get their utopia.

Posted in Useful Idiots | 2 Comments

RNS Quote of the Day: 11/20/12

The last line of this is what got me. And apparently, Lyle at UltiMAK as well.

Note that those on the far Left have the delusion that they are besieged, when in fact they control the state, they control the vast civil service bureaucracies, they control the news and entertainment media that force the rest of us to swim in a sea of agitprop all our lives.

They tell themselves that they want to “speak truth to power,” but in fact they speak power to truth, all day, every day.

Anonymous

From the comments, here.

I’ll be keeping that one in the front of my mind for future use. You might want to do so as well.

Posted in Quote of the Day | 2 Comments