Category Archives: Libertarian/Political Stuff

January 1, 2012

Serious Reservations

By Paul Stagg

When our Dear Leader signed the latest defense bill in to law, he expressed serious reservations about the power of the executive branch.  His reservations?  That the bill tried to limit the Executive’s power to detain people without due process.

President Obama ended 2011 by signing a major defense bill, despite what he called “serious reservations” about provisions regarding interrogations of terrorist suspects, sanctions against Iran, and relations with Russia.

“Some in Congress continue to insist upon restricting the options available to our counter-terrorism professionals and interfering with the very operations that have kept us safe,” Obama said in a statement issued from Hawaii, where he is spending his end-of-the-year vacation.

All this Change ™.  He’s continued the ‘failed policies’ of the previous administration.. and in some cases went further (for all his faults, George W. Bush didn’t assassinate a US citizen, The One did.)

People who continue to support this administration for any reason related to civil rights are fools.

 

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December 30, 2011

This Can Happen To You

By Paul Stagg

This story highlights a couple of things:

  • The war on drugs leads to horrific violations of individual rights.
  • Allowing the government to confiscate property from people suspected of drug law violations is a crime
  • A dog ‘alert’ is not probable cause.

When Pompton Lakes police seized Darren Richardson’s car on a rainy September afternoon, they told him it was headed for an impound lot. When they returned it three weeks later, he says, the 2004 BMW belonged in a junk yard.

The instrument cluster and leather dashboard were gone. The caramel-colored seats were torn up. The gear shift was ripped out and stray wires hung limp everywhere. Geico, Richardson’s insurance company estimated the damage at $12,636.42 — more than he paid for the car — and declared the vehicle a “total loss.”

According to police reports, the damage to the black BMW 325i came in the aftermath of a traffic stop during which officers detected a “strong odor of raw marijuana” inside the vehicle. Searching for a cache of drugs, members of three different police agencies and a detective from a federal drug task force spent two days tearing the car apart, the reports said.

So what did police find after their $12,000 search?

Absolutely nothing.

Now to me, it doesn’t matter what they found, but it’s important to lots of other people, who think it’s just fine to ignore individual rights if we get bad guys.  (See also:  TSA).  Those people are ignorant sheep.

Before you get indignant, mouthing off to a cop isn’t a crime, and in some cases is our duty.

If anyone thinks any officer will be held responsible or that the state will reimburse the insurance company after the investigation, I’ve got some nice waterfront property for you.  They will find the officers acted appropriately, maybe even congratulate them.

 

 

 

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November 24, 2011

Take a Stand

By Paul Stagg

Once known as a holiday to give thanks for family, friends, and the opportunities we share, Thanksgiving is the beginning of our six week long celebration of the end of one year and beginning of the next.

The beginning of the holiday shopping season.

Tomorrow is “Black Friday”, the busiest brick and mortar shopping day of the year.  Not that long ago, it was simply just a very busy shopping day, not fraught with sales and incentives.  (I always thought it would make more sense for retailers to intentionally spread out the holiday spending over a longer period, but what do I know?)

What it’s become bothers me, and I think it’s time to take a stand.  Those who know me know I’m all for people spending money on whatever they want, whenever they want.  While I may not share the populations desire for constant consumption, I am a big fan of getting the things I want and that make my life easier for a good price.

But the day after Thanksgiving blitz has gotten out of control.

I remember a time (and I’m not that old) when you had to make sure you got gas on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, because all the gas stations were closed.  20 years ago, I worked in one of the first McDonalds to open for breakfast on Thanksgiving – we opened from 6 to 11 and served breakfast.  We weren’t all that busy.

Today, McDonalds are open 24 hours.  Convenience stores and grocery stores have normal hours (which I think is more a demand issue, which is fine).  Beltway Fine Wine?  Open.  Wal-Mart is open 24 hours.

And tonight?  At midnight, Target, Toys R Us, HH Gregg, Macy’s, Ace Hardware, Kohls, and many, many more retailers will open their doors.

Old Navy is open today!  120 Best Buy locations will open at 9PM tonight.

What happened?  Do we really need to start shopping 10-12 hours earlier?  How many families jump up from Thanksgiving dinner and rush out to go shopping?

You know who can stop this?  We can.  Start a movement.  Don’t go shopping until tomorrow.  Better yet, don’t go shopping this weekend at all!  Make this weekend about something other than the sale, other than the price drop.  Retailers will listen and adjust.

Maybe I’m getting old, but my Thanksgiving remains about family and friends, about a large meal and lots of wine.  This year, it’s about Ravens football, too.  All with my wife, parents, siblings, aunt, cousins, nieces, and nephews.  Not with some crowd trying to save $40 on a big TV.  Time with my family is worth more to me.

You?

Leave a comment   |  tags: | posted in Food and Wine, Libertarian/Political Stuff, Life Stories

November 24, 2011

Alliances

By Paul Stagg

Check out some of the “unlikely” supporters of the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Think about the tight relationships between unions and the current administration.

Remember that when it’s time to vote next year.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , | posted in Libertarian/Political Stuff

November 18, 2011

Here’s more awesome

By Paul Stagg

I love this.  We’re rich, we want higher taxes, but we won’t voluntarily give more of our money to the government.  It says so much about these folks.

 

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November 18, 2011

“I’m against private property, but I want to protect my personal property”

By Paul Stagg

This is awesome.

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October 21, 2011

WTF?

By Paul Stagg

Man choosing to live like a baby remains eligible for Social Security Disability payments.  He runs a website and builds furniture, but is not capable of working.  Maybe being really weird is a disability?

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October 20, 2011

An Illustration

By Paul Stagg

The difference between me, a Director level leader in a global corporation, and a Leftist government worker.

Me:  Someone who works for me does something really, really stupid, perhaps even illegal.  I take responsibility and am rightly held accountable.  I’m responsible even if I didn’t know about it, but if it’s a big project involving lots of people and money, I probably did.

Leftist Government Worker, represented in this example by our Dear Leader, the Greatest President of All Time:

Well I heard about it from the news reports. This is not something we were aware of in the White House and the Attorney General it turns out wasn’t aware of either. Obviously Eric Holder has launched a full investigation of this, it is not acceptable for us to allow guns to go into Mexico. Our whole goal has been to interdict aggressively in the flow of weapons and cash flowing south into Mexico because the Mexican president, President Calderon, has done a heroic job of trying to take on these transnational drug cartels. So this investigation will be complete, people who have screwed up will be held accountable but our overarching goal consistently has been to say we’ve got a responsibility not only to stop drugs from flowing north, we’ve also got a responsibility to make sure we are not helping to either arm or finance these drug cartels in Mexico. So it’s very upsetting to me to think that somebody showed such bad judgment that they would allow something like that to happen and we will find out who and what happened in this situation and make sure it gets corrected.

He heard about it from the news?  I would (rightly, by the way) lose my job on the spot if I said something that stupid, true or not.

Oh, and I’m pretty sure if my global corporation was involved in something this big/illegal/immoral they wouldn’t cut it from the televised interview with the CEO.

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October 20, 2011

An easy 9 out of 10 on the Stupid Meter

By Paul Stagg

I’m sure I’m not the only person who was looking forward to Joe Biden as Vice President, given the spectacular stupidity, bigotry, and anger with which he speaks.

Selling the jobs bill to fourth graders is just regular old not much worth noticing Joe.  What he said recently about crime sure is, though.  It’s full on Joe:  facts are wrong (violent crime is down nationwide) and angry (“don’t screw around with me”).  He also includes some of that new civility, blaming Republicans for rape, and wishing Republicans could experience a rape.  He’s such a down home nice guy, isn’t he?

At least this administration gives us a little more entertainment value than the previous one while continuing the same policies.

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October 17, 2011

Think of all the jobs you could save

By Paul Stagg

Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek writes a letter to an idiot in Congress.

Fred Barnes reports in the Weekly Standard that you refuse to use computerized checkout lanes at supermarkets (“Boneheaded Economics,” Oct. 24).  As you – who are described on your website as “progressive” – explain, “I refuse to do that.  I know that’s a job or two or three that’s gone.”

Overlooking the fact that you overlook the lower prices on groceries made possible by this labor-saving technology, I’ve some questions for you:

Do you also avoid using computerized (“automatic”) elevators, riding only in those few that still use manual elevator operators?

Do you steer clear of newer automobiles equipped with technologies that enable them to go for 100,000 miles before needing a tune-up?  I’m sure I can find for you, say, a 1972 Chevy Vega that will oblige you to employ countless mechanics.

Do you shun tubeless steel-belted radial tires on your car – you know, the kind that go flat far less often than do old-fashioned tires?  No telling how many tire-repairing jobs have been destroyed by modern technology-infused tires.

Do you and your family refuse flu shots in order to increase your chances of requiring the services of nurses and M.D.s – and, if the economy gets lucky and you and yours get seriously ill, also of hospital orderlies and administrators?  Someone as aware as you are of the full ramifications of your consumption choices surely takes account of the ill effects that flu shots have on the jobs of health-care providers.

You must, indeed, be distressed as you observe the appalling amount of labor-saving technologies in use throughout our economy.  It is, alas, a disturbing trend that has been around for quite some time – since, really, the invention of the spear which destroyed the jobs of some hunters.

Ms. Lee is easy pickins… she’s a moron.

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