Obola?

If Ebola becomes rampant in the United States  will it be called Obola?

THE RECURRING BELIEF THAT GOVERNMENT, POLITITIANS AND BUREAUCRATS ARE SAINTS AND ALTUISTIC

THE RECURRING BELIEF THAT GOVERNMENT, POLITITIANS AND BUREAUCRATS ARE SAINTS AND ALTUISTIC

Auberon Herbert’s remarkable essays, The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State; specifically, it’s from Herbert’s 1906 lecture “Mr. Spencer and the Great Machine”:

Does it mend matters to say that under our system we choose the best man available, and leave the hundred questions for him to deal with?  That is only our old friend, the autocrat, come back once more, with a democratic polish rubbed over his face to disguise and, as far as may be, to beautify his appearance.  Our sin consists in the suppression of our own selves and our own opinions; and in one sense we fall lower than the slaves of the autocrat, for they are simply sinned against, but we take an active part in the sin against ourselves.

It seems to be implicitly assumed that the imperfections that exist in markets do not exist among those who might seek to  intervene in markets.  Yet it is clear from the crash that regulators suffered from the same herding tendencies as market participants, suffered from lack of perfect knowledge and that there were lags before regulators acted, and so on.  Any rounded theory must make realistic assumptions about market participants and those operating outside the market who seek to regulate it.

Yes.  Turning matters over to government does not render reality optional or transform humans into super-humans.  Turning matters over to government does not make miracles occur.

GUESS WHO

He has contempt for the electorate. And, considering that it elected him, he has reason.

IMMORTALITY GETS CLOSER

• “There Are 850 164-Year-Old Voters in New York City. Yes, You Read That Right.”—headline, Washington Post website, Oct. 23

Okay, no more Mr. Nice Blogger. Anyone who doesn’t realize our country is being governed by incompetents somewhere between Caligula and Nero (with golf replacing the violin) hasn’t been paying the slightest attention.

‘PUBLIC SERVANTS’ OR ‘OVERLORDS’

‘PUBLIC SERVANTS’ OR ‘OVERLORDS’

Currently  538 members of Congress are worth  $2.1 billion (according to Roll Call).

“Our analysis also found at least 188 millionaires — about a third of Congress — up from 185 the previous year.  …. The median lawmaker on our ranking has a minimum net worth of $456,522 — not too shabby.”

While net worth of U.S. households the, median net worth — the folks in the middle — has generally lagged.  The latest figures from the Census Bureau — from 2011 — show a median net worth of $68,828 per household.  Compare that to ‘your servant’ in government worth $456,522.

PROGRESSIVES CURE EBOLA

GOVERNMENT KNOWS BEST

GOVERNMENT KNOWS BEST

Storefare 
New York City “has shelled out more than $200,000 to store a homeless woman’s belongings,” the New York Post reports:

Andrea Logan’s possessions have been locked up—at taxpayer expense—since she lost her Upper East Side apartment in 2006 after a debilitating stroke, court records reveal.

And the city has picked up the tab, following a state law that requires it to cover storage expenses for homeless people.

Logan, 54, had jammed 11 storage units full of belongings in the years after her stroke, and officials didn’t notice the huge tab until it reached $3,585 a month last year. . . .

Even Logan’s storage units—some as large as 10 by 16 feet—cover well over 1,000 square feet of space, way more than offered by most Manhattan homes.

It was unclear exactly how the city learned of Logan’s sprawling storage empire. But officials finally refused to pay for all of her units last year, prompting her to sue in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Under a deal this year with the city Human Resources Administration and the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Logan agreed to whittle down her belongings to fit into only three units at a Storage Post facility in The Bronx, at a total monthly rate of $1,297.

EBOLA RESPONSE TEAM

WHAT DID NERO DO WHILE ROME BURNED?

SATURDAY SCHEDULE:  WITH ISIS ON THE MARCH AND EBOLA ON THE LOOSE, Obama spent today golfing with an ESPN host.

SUNDAY SCHEDULE:  FUNDREAISER IN CHICAGO.

WHAT DID NERO DO WHILE ROME BURNED?

Barack's End of Days

ERMONS SUBPOENAED – DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ CONSTITUTION

TRUST GOVERNMENT!

SERMONS SUBPOENAED – DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ CONSTITUTION

Houston's embattled equal rights ordinance took another legal turn this week when it surfaced that city attorneys, in an unusual step, subpoenaed sermons given by local pastors who oppose the law and are tied to the conservative Christian activists that have sued the city.

Opponents of the equal rights ordinance are hoping to force a repeal referendum when they get their day in court in January, claiming City Attorney David Feldman wrongly determined they had not gathered enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. City attorneys issued subpoenas last month during the case's discovery phase, seeking, among other communications, "all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to HERO, the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession."

The subpoenas were issued to several high-profile pastors and religious leaders who have been vocal in opposing the ordinance. The Alliance Defending Freedom has filed a motion on behalf of the pastors seeking to quash the subpoenas.

Plaintiff Jared Woodfill said the subpoena impinges on protected religious freedoms.

"This is the city trampling on the First Amendment rights of pastors in their churches," Woodfill said.

The city attorney's office has not responded to requests for comment.

“encouraged by the unanimity of viewpoints,”

To paraphrase famous literary lines: We are now engaged in a time of the “best of hands and the worst of hands.”  The worst of hands is represented by doublespeak from our Democrat, liberal establishment in Washington.  Obama is “encouraged by the unanimity of viewpoints,” regarding ISIS.  A spokesperson discusses “confirmatory tests” for Ebola. The best of hands is represented by the doctors, nurses and caregivers (not just from the U.S. but from around the world) who are contracting and dying from the Ebola virus.   

National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations

National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations

DO YOU BELIEVE THE Census Bureau HAS:

National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations

The Director has just recommended that because American citizens  “distrust of government is pervasive.” Census forms should have at the top:

“ in bold, capital letters, ‘YOUR RESPONSE IS REQUIRED BY LAW.’”

The American people need the lash applied to them if they become to independent.

Can you define “ Other Populations”?

Corrupting the military to spout Obama party line

Corrupting the military to spout Obama party line.  Do you really believe the military believes the ‘national debt’ trumps ISIS. Iraq, Afghanistan or Russia as the greatest ‘threat to national security?  

Transcript of Chairman of the JCS Adm. Mike Mullen’s Speech at the Wilson Center

Posted by Alyssa Warren on June 3, 2011

At home, the U.S. and our military continue to come to grips with a new austerity due to the current economic environment and growing demands for debt servicing and repayment.  I’ve been very honest about my concerns over the national debt.  And I really do believe it is the greatest threat to our national security.  My bet is that the defense budget will at best be flat over the next few years.  That’s a marked change from the previous decade where our defense budget nearly doubled.  That will drive – or should drive – some very tough decisions about what kind of military we will build.  Unfortunately, our platforms are much older than the last time we faced a difficult budget environment, so we will have to build down from a much more strained base.

Also corrupted to spout the Obama party line:

FBI

CDC

IRS

Facts - What Facts?

POWER CORRUPTS; POWER PLUS WELFARE CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY

POWER CORRUPTS; POWER PLUS WELFARE CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY;  Socialists 'buying votes' in Brazil:

EDUCATION - PAY FOR PERFORMANCE?

Unlike fiction, reality doesn’t have to be plausible

Unlike fiction, reality doesn’t have to be plausible

TRUMAN Doctrine:  The Buck Stop Here.

OBAMA Doctrine:     The Buck Stops With You.

Obama has a bad habit

Victor Davis Hanson

" Obama has a bad habit of claiming credit for good things that he opposed, and for blaming others for the bad things for which he was responsible."

In Praise Of Benjamin Netanyahu.

ROGER SIMON: In Praise Of Benjamin Netanyahu.

This man, whatever his failings, is better able to articulate the global situation than any political leader currently in a position of power in any country by yards. In fact, virtually no one else is even attempting to do it. (Tony Blair did for a while before he turned, but he’s not in Bibi’s league.) Netanyahu may not be Churchill when it comes to courage, but he is Churchill, or close, when it comes to a precise mastery of the English language, ironic since he is the prime minister of a Hebrew-speaking nation. He is able to tell the truth about the important issues, when all others, including, notably, our president and secretary of State, are prevaricating or spinning, trying desperately not to offend the reprehensible, and he did it again the other day at the United Nations. (Full text here.) He told the truth about radical Islam to a half empty house whose Moslem delegates had left and whose remaining attendees sat there terrified of agreeing publicly with the Israeli prime minister lest some imam or dopey liberal NGO accuse of them of Islamophobia. He made that speech at an institution that has institutionalized anti-Semitism, not world peace or even basic common sense, as its modus operandi, as its very raison d’être.

What would the UN do if it were unable to bash Israel? How would it spend its time?

Who cares? Would the world be worse if the UN ceased to exist? I’m not sure it would even be much better. The UN is a fundamentally trivial body, staffed, and admired, by fundamentally trivial people.

In Praise Of Benjamin Netanyahu.

ROGER SIMON: In Praise Of Benjamin Netanyahu.

This man, whatever his failings, is better able to articulate the global situation than any political leader currently in a position of power in any country by yards. In fact, virtually no one else is even attempting to do it. (Tony Blair did for a while before he turned, but he’s not in Bibi’s league.) Netanyahu may not be Churchill when it comes to courage, but he is Churchill, or close, when it comes to a precise mastery of the English language, ironic since he is the prime minister of a Hebrew-speaking nation. He is able to tell the truth about the important issues, when all others, including, notably, our president and secretary of State, are prevaricating or spinning, trying desperately not to offend the reprehensible, and he did it again the other day at the United Nations. (Full text here.) He told the truth about radical Islam to a half empty house whose Moslem delegates had left and whose remaining attendees sat there terrified of agreeing publicly with the Israeli prime minister lest some imam or dopey liberal NGO accuse of them of Islamophobia. He made that speech at an institution that has institutionalized anti-Semitism, not world peace or even basic common sense, as its modus operandi, as its very raison d’être.

What would the UN do if it were unable to bash Israel? How would it spend its time?

Who cares? Would the world be worse if the UN ceased to exist? I’m not sure it would even be much better. The UN is a fundamentally trivial body, staffed, and admired, by fundamentally trivial people.