RedBear is my motorcycle bear, who rides to adventure in the physical world. RedBear is also me, who rides on thoughts about motorcycling, sport shooting, sailing, and politics.
I suggest you Google "Milton Friedman" and then just start
watching as many of the short videos you find. There are many topics, all still relevant today.
Best Quote:“What do
you mean Give Back?” when talking about reducing taxes.
Too bad Milton misses it on the prediction for government size in 2009.
Okay, so maybe it is not a crime. But certainly a gross failure to perform her duty.
Hillary went 5 years are the Secretary of State...and she failed to appoint a permanent Inspector General of the State Department.
And why should we care? Because it is likely that having an IG would have prevented her email scandal, and she would not be in the "state" she is in now.
So maybe her failure to appoint was a premeditated choice? Hmmmm?
And why didn't President Obama exercise his duty and make her appoint an IG? Now do we have a conspiracy?
Andy Johnson is a small farmer/rancher who works as a welder to raise his family of six. He built a stock pond a few years ago, after obtainingall needed local and state permits. These permits were signed off by the correct agencies when the pond was completed.
Two years later EPA charged him with an illegal construction in a wetland. They have been fining him at least $37,500 per day ever since. The total is now over $16 million.
Watch this video to see the injustice and to see the beautiful little pond that has enhanced the local environment on Andy's property and neighborhood.
Thankfully, Pacific Legal Foundation and many legislators have come to Andy's assistance. However, EPA still maintains that Andy has violated teh Clean Water Act, especially now that they have declared jurisdiction of all of the "Waters of the U.S."
The scary part is that if the EPA prevails on its "Waters of the U.S." declaration, they will have destroyed private property rights for all Americans who have any type of water on their property. Significantly, the White House supports and encourages this bureaucratic tyranny.
RedBear encourages donations to PLF for the good work they do for freedom.
Similar story: Mike and Chantall Sackett fought the EPA and after about 6 years finally won in the Supreme Court. The court said things like "egregious overreach" about the EPA. The decision was 9-0. See here: Sackett Case against EPA
Who would have thought? After all this time, that 30,000 of Lois Lerner's emails would suddenly be "discovered" on disaster recovery backup disk driver?
In a standard Friday Night Document Dump (FNDD), the IRS has released a new batch of Lerner emails, subsequent to a lawsuit by Judicial Watch.
"Judicial Watch announced today that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
admitted to the court that it failed to search any of the IRS standard
computer systems for the “missing” emails of Lois Lerner and other IRS
officials. The admission appears in an IRS legal brief opposing the
Judicial Watch request that a federal court judge allow discovery into
how “lost and/or destroyed” IRS records may be retrieved."
This admission by IRS begs the reaction: Are you kidding me, this is computer operations 101?: "IRS attorneys conceded that they had failed to search the agency’s
servers for missing emails because they decided that “the servers would
not result in the recovery of any information.” They admitted they had
failed to search the agency’s disaster recovery tapes because they had
“no reason to believe that the tapes are a potential source of
recovering” the missing emails. And they conceded that they had not
searched the government-wide back-up system because they had “no reason
to believe such a system … even exists.”"
And too many of them have armed agents: http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/bite-the-bullet-weve-got-too-many-agencies-with-armed-agents/ "There are now 73 federal agencies that have armed officers, often called
“special agents.” And all of these agencies now cordon off and enforce a
federal fiefdom of the more than 4,500 criminal laws at the federal
level and thousands of additional regulations that have sprung up in
recent decades." At least 25,000 officers.
And too many employees? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2466363/posts
For 2008: "Number of Full-Time Federal Employees - 2,518,101 Part-Time - 250,785
Full-Time State - 3,818,577 Part-Time - 1,451,002 Full-Time Local -
11,039,250 Part-Time - 3,383,976
TOTAL - 22,461,69"
Disparate impact is a dismal theory of political racial policy used by the Obama Administration to accomplish political ends and punish businesses.
It makes the bad assumption that statistics can explain the results of, principally, lending practices and housing and business practices "without showing evidence of actual discriminatory intent."
This is like being declared guilty before being proven innocent, the opposite of the foundational American legal principle of innocence until proven guilty.
Judicial Watch last week finally received the thousands of document they have been fighting for in Court for two years.
Oops, sorry, not the documents themselves! But they have received the Vaughn Index. This is the index of all the documents that the Government did not release because President Obama claimed Executive Privilege.
From this index it is obvious that many of the documents and emails are actually not covered by executive privilege. Such as, emails between Eric Holder and his wife where they discuss how they are working on keeping the documents from becoming public.
This process began when Eric Holder was about to be held in Contempt of Congress and Obama declared executive privilege in an attempt to protect the Attorney General for stonewalling Congress. Holder resigned in August, two days after a judge agreed that the Vaughn Index (1307 pages) and the documents (15662) must be released.
Listen to the interviews with Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch on the NRA News Cam & Company on October 24. Also listen to the Cam & Company interview with John Hinderaker on Oct 27. See www.nranews.com
"Based on a preliminary review of the massive document, Judicial Watch can disclose that the Vaughn index reveals:
Numerous emails that detail Attorney General Holder’s direct
involvement in crafting talking points, the timing of public
disclosures, and handling Congressional inquiries in the Fast and
Furious matter.
President Obama has asserted executive privilege over nearly 20
email communications between Holder and his spouse Sharon Malone. The
administration also claims that the records are also subject to
withholding under the “deliberative process” exemption. This exemption
ordinarily exempts from public disclosure records that could chill
internal government deliberations.
Numerous entries detail DOJ’s communications (including those of Eric Holder) concerning the White House about Fast and Furious.
The scandal required the attention of virtually every top official
of the DOJ and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).
Communications to and from the United States Ambassador to Mexico about
the Fast and Furious matter are also described.
Many of the records are already publicly available such as letters
from Congress, press clips, and typical agency communications.
Ordinarily, these records would, in whole or part, be subject to
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. Few of the records
seem to even implicate presidential decision-making and advice that
might be subject to President Obama’s broad and unprecedented executive
privilege claim.
UPDATE Nov 5: On this day after the mid-term elections, where the referendum on President Obama's policies disclosed the depth of America's dislike for them, we learn of a Fast & Furious document dump on the eve of the election.
Yes, AG Eric Holder has finally released 64,280 pages of documents to the House Oversight Committee. These are the ones mentioned in the Vaughn Index above. Now we will really learn the truth of Holder's malfeasance, of DOJ's obstructionism, and of the White House's part in this scandal.
I've had dealings with California CARB about registration of foriegn vehicles. I got it resolved and the people I dealt with were simple bureaucratics doing their jobs. But that was 20 years ago.
It seems things are changing. These folks had their Land Rover Defender seized because of a VIN number mix-up. Maybe they got swindled by the previous owner, maybe it was never correct, maybe parts got replaced at some point.
For this huge crime, six vehicles and many agents swooped down on their property and grabbed the car. They were from Homeland Security. Now the folks can't find out where the car is located, or even get people to talk to them. It looks like summary justify the bureaucratic way is about to happen.
This is plain stupid. You don't need gun-toting federal law-enforcement agents to execute a car seizure. This another case of the EPA and it sub-agencies turning into tyrannical law-unto-themselves.
The American People are being disrespected and mistreated too often these days.
He's been doing it for years. Yet the people of Las Vegas keep electing him because the casino union workers think he brings them bacon. In reality, he brings bacon to his rich friends and government cronies. In reality he has been impeding the work of the Senate and is the real reason very little is getting done in Washington.
More evidence of the lies and cover-ups coming from President Obama and Harry Reid. Check out the stats coming from Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) office… At the weekly press conference with Republican leaders
Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (KS-02) highlighted the 352 bills – 98% which
passed with bipartisan support in the House – that Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid refuses to bring up for a vote. The numbers never lie… The numbers never lie. Currently, 352 bills that passed the House are awaiting action on Harry Reid’s desk. Of these bills:
- 98% passed with bipartisan support
- Nearly 70% passed with 2/3rds support or more
- Over 50% passed with no opposition at all
- And 55 were introduced by Democrats
And still, Harry Reid refuses to bring them up for a vote.
Why does the media continue to allow the unpatriotic laziness from
Harry Reid to continue? Perhaps if the media spent a little more time
being a government watchdog and a little less time being cheerleaders
for the Democrat Party… our Congress would be getting more done?
(Specifically, maybe Harry Reid would be getting more done?)
Unions have been used to having their own way for a long time. Finally, in cases across teh country, some balance is being re-instated. In Wisconsin, the right of speech once again trumps the desire of unions to force members to support their political campaigns by providing union dues.
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin had quite a good day on July 31
when the state supreme court upheld not only Wisconsin’s voter ID law,
but also the 2011 budget legislation that severely curtailed the power
of public unions to control the lives and salaries of state and
municipal government employees.
In Madison Teachers, Inc. v. Walker,
a majority of the court overturned a lower court decision that had
enjoined various parts of the law and upheld it in its entirety. The
2011 law (Act 10)
prohibited public unions from bargaining on issues other than base
wages; prohibited municipalities from deducting union dues from the
paychecks of public employees; imposed annual recertification
requirements for unions; and prohibited any union agreement that would
require employees who are not members of a union from having to pay
union dues.
Various unions, including the AFL-CIO, challenged these provisions,
claiming they violated their associational rights under the First
Amendment and their equal protection rights under the 14th Amendment.
This ruling represents a huge victory for both Wisconsin taxpayers and the recipients of government services.
In tossing out these claims, the Wisconsin Supreme Court pointed out
that, as the U.S. Supreme Court itself has said, public employees have
no “constitutional right to negotiate with their municipal employer on
the lone issue of base wages, let alone on any other subject.”
Collective bargaining is “a creation of legislative grace and not
constitutional obligation.” According to the court, “the plaintiffs’
associational rights are in no way implicated” by the law’s change to the state’s collective bargaining framework.
Union member are not restricted in any way from exercising their
First Amendment right to associate together: they “remain free to
advance any position, on any topic, either
individually or in concert, through any channels that are open to the
public.” But the union has no constitutional right to force the
government to listen to what it has to say – or to require the
government to negotiate only with the union.
Furthermore, unions can’t force the government to subsidize them
through paycheck deductions for union dues from public employees who are
members of the union – “no constitutional right exists for the
deduction of dues from a paycheck to support membership in a voluntary
organization.”
Unions also have no constitutional right to force employees who do
not want to be members of a union to pay union dues. Because none of the
challenged provisions involves constitutional rights and public
employees are not a protected class, the unions’ equal protection
challenge also failed under the court’s rational basis review.
The court also threw out an additional challenge to another Wisconsin
law that prohibited the City of Milwaukee from paying the employee
share of contributions to the city’s retirement plan.
This ruling, which removes the last legal challenge to Act 10,
represents a huge victory for both Wisconsin taxpayers and the
recipients of government services. Before Act 10, the Wisconsin state
and local governments could not manage their workforces without union
consent. Collective bargaining meant government unions had to agree with
any changes to how the government operates. Government unions often use
this power to hijack the government and make it serve their interests
ahead of the public good.
Unions in the private sector cannot ask for too much without their
companies prohibitively raising prices and losing customers to competing
firms. But the government has no competition—it has a monopoly.
Government unions do not have to worry
about holding costs down or operating efficiently because the public
has nowhere else to go. Without Act 10, Walker would have to either
raise taxes or cut programs to balance Wisconsin’s budget.
Unions
can’t force the government to subsidize them through paycheck
deductions for union dues from public employees who are members of the
union.
Government unions could live with either option, of course. What they
did not want was what actually happened – eliminating the deficit by
trimming their members’ benefits. Wisconsin government employees must
now contribute toward their pension benefits and pay a larger portion of
their healthcare premiums. They still make more than
comparable private sector workers, but that gap has narrowed. These
reforms allowed Walker to close a $3.6 billion budget hole and cut taxes by $2 billion.
Eliminating collective bargaining also allows governments to operate more efficiently. Local school districts saved tens of millions
of dollars by shopping for more competitive health plans. The Wisconsin
Education Association used to force districts to buy health benefits
from WEA Trust. This plan charged inflated premiums. School districts
can now spend those savings to better educate children.
Similarly union seniority systems meant Wisconsin schools had to lay
off the newest teachers first—no matter how well they taught. In 2010
Megan Sampson won statewide recognition for excellence as a first-year
English teacher. A week later Milwaukee Public Schools laid her off
because the union contract required her to be let go first. That system
benefited senior union members at the expense of new hires and children
who need the best education possible. Act 10 eliminated this
restriction. Wisconsin school districts can now hire and fire on the
basis of what works best for the children, not the union members. Act 10
means the government can serve the public instead of unions.
I think these videos tell the sad story for themselves. The Forest Service, BLM and Parks are all trying to shut down the People's lands all over the country.
This is one of the most important articlesI have read in years. Matt Ridley is a UK Parliamentarian with an outspoken attitude and often right-on ideas.
Context: Since 1990, the number of the world's extreme poor has decreased by 50% because of globalization, free markets and the spread of easy to access energy and technology.
To continue this trend, Ridley asks what are the five most important things people can do to continue the improvement. He suggests the United Nations needs new goals that are discrete, quantitative and achievable. He suggests using a method from Bjorn Lomborg, who has brought together 60 economists and asked that very question.
Ridley picks his own list of five, which I can agree with. However, I would add number zero: A massive improvement in sanitation, especially in countries like India, where malnutrition caused by chronic diseases is endemic and cultural.
The entire article is at the WSJ for July 26-27, 2014. Smart Aid for the World's Poor, How can rich countries best help poor ones? See article here at WSJ: smart-aid-for-the-worlds-poor
Ridley proposes these five ideas:
"What would my own list of five 2030 goals look like, based on the work of the Copenhagen Consensus group?
1.
Reduce malnutrition. When children get better food, they develop their
brains, stay in school longer and end up becoming far more productive
members of society. Every dollar spent to alleviate malnutrition brings
$59 of benefits.
2.
Tackle malaria and tuberculosis. These two diseases debilitate huge
populations in poor countries, but they are largely preventable and
curable. In the most harshly affected countries, two people often do one
person's work because one of them is sick. Benefit to cost ratio: 35 to
1.
3. Boost preprimary education, which costs little and has lifelong benefits by getting children started on learning. 30 to 1.
4.
Provide universal access to sexual and reproductive health, which would
save the lives of mothers and infants while enabling women to be more
economically productive. It would also lower birthrates (when fewer
children die, people have fewer children). Benefits could be as high as
150.
5.
Expand free trade. This isn't considered sexy in the development
industry, and it may seem remote from humanitarian issues, but free
trade often delivers phenomenal improvements to the welfare of the poor
in surprisingly quick time, as the example of China has demonstrated in
recent years. One of the discoveries of the Copenhagen Consensus process
is that incremental goals such as expanding free trade are often better
than supposedly "transformational" goals. A successful Doha Round of
the World Trade Organization could deliver annual benefits of $3
trillion for the developing world by 2020, rising to $100 trillion by
the end of the century."
This is the second best explanation I have ever heard for why marriage is between one man and one woman. I can no longer find the first, unfortunately, although the arguments are similar.
See Ryan T. Anderson speaking at Standford University: What is Marriage?
In one of two a major wins for the People this week, The Supreme Court has ruled that President Obama's appointments to the National Labor Relations Labor Board last year were illegal. Like many actions Obama has taken lately, he claimed executive privilege to make these appointments during what he call a "recess" by Congress. The Court said, "Sorry, you are not king."
This new Obama Adiminstration scandal has teh potential to bring down the President, just like teh loss of 18 minutes of Oval Office tapes did in Richard Nixon.
How can John Koskinen state to House Oversight that 7 hard disks crashed, conveniently 10 days after the House asked for more emails about the coverup of the persecution of conservative prospective 501c groups? Emails exist on originating organization servers, on hard disks (if they are setup to store messages locally), on intermediate email servers, on recipient organization servers, on recipients' computers, and probably in the maw of NSA's Utah data farm. So it is likely that Koskinen was lying or severely misinformed.
Now comes the revelation that the contract with the IRS' backup storage company, Sonasoft, was ended soon after the emails were "lost."
The question is: What is so damaging hat is hiding in Lois Lerner's emails? A direct link to the White House? Direct instructions to persecute conservative groups? Or worse?
In 2012, President Obama used an executive order (once again illegal) to grant effective amnesty to hundreds of thousands of "Dreamers," that is kids of illegal immigrants who have been raised in the US.
Subsequent to this, administrative actions have extended this to many who are not accompanied by parents or guardians. Since October 2013 to May 2014, about 47,000 have crossed the border. The scandal is that this fact was being kept quiet, all the while military barracks in Texas, Arizona and other locations have been converted into what are essentially refuge camps. Recently , the Administration has banned visitor to these camps. They have also forbidden Border Patrol officers from carrying personal electronic devices so that they cannot take pictures inside these centers. It is estimated that in the Nogales area almost 50% of CBP officers are working on the paperwork for these "kids." They are being promised lawyers and advocates so that they can be processed into green card holders.
Worse, word has been going around in South and Central America that this order effectively means the US will not turn away any children who end up crossing the southern border. So parents are making efforts to get them to the border. Incredibly, newspapers and US consulates in Central America are spreading the word that this opportunity exists, thereby encouraging the inrush.
As predicted by local law enforcement in Arizona, the "kids" are now showing signs of serious diseases like tuberculosis, whooping cough, flu, malaria, etc.
Why do I put "kids" in parentheses? because most of them are not really kids but teens and young adults. Many have criminal backgrounds or are gang members. This is why cameras have been taken away and access to the camps curtailed, so the truth of who they are can't be shown.
Soon after they arrive, many of the "kids" inquire about when they can get their Obama-phone.
Estimates are that in the next year, another 140,000 or more will show up and be accepted.
When the real (B6 BLS report) shows over 16% of working age people in the US are still unemployed, how can the government justify this invasion? I say it is not justifiable. The prognosis for more wasted money, disease propagation and social disruption is unparalleled. And all the far left-wingers can see is future voters.
UPDATE: Homeland Security announced yesterday that none of these "kids" will be going back! DOJ announced they will provide lawyers, which is patently illegal.
Lately Harry Reid has been vilifying The Koch Brothers for simply being successful. And for speaking about their beliefs and backing that speech with support for political groups. Harry Reid has been using the Alinski principles to make the Koch into the "great satans." As usual Harry is wrong.
The opinion piece below brings some balance and truth to the war.
This article was published in the Wall Street Journal on 2 April 2014.
I’m Fighting to Restore a Free Society by Charles G. Koch I
have devoted most of my life to understanding the principles that
enable people to improve their lives. It is those principles—the
principles of a free society—that have shaped my life, my family, our
company and America itself. Unfortunately,
the fundamental concepts of dignity, respect, equality before the law
and personal freedom are under attack by the nation’s own government.
That’s why, if we want to restore a free society and create greater
well-being and opportunity for all Americans, we have no choice but to
fight for those principles. I have been doing so for more than 50 years,
primarily through educational efforts. It was only in the past decade
that I realized the need to also engage in the political process. A
truly free society is based on a vision of respect for people and what
they value. In a truly free society, any business that disrespects its
customers will fail, and deserves to do so. The same should be true of
any government that disrespects its citizens. The central belief and
fatal conceit of the current administration is that you are incapable of
running your own life, but those in power are capable of running it for
you. This is the essence of big government and collectivism.
More
than 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson warned that this could happen.
“The natural progress of things,” Jefferson wrote, “is for liberty to
yield and government to gain ground.” He knew that no government could
possibly run citizens’ lives for the better. The more government tries
to control, the greater the disaster, as shown by the current
health-care debacle. Collectivists (those who stand for government
control of the means of production and how people live their lives)
promise heaven but deliver hell. For them, the promised end justifies
the means. Instead
of encouraging free and open debate, collectivists strive to discredit
and intimidate opponents. They engage in character assassination. (I
should know, as the almost daily target of their attacks.) This is the
approach that Arthur Schopenhauer described in the 19th century, that Saul Alinsky
famously advocated in the 20th, and that so many despots have
infamously practiced. Such tactics are the antithesis of what is
required for a free society—and a telltale sign that the collectivists
do not have good answers.
Rather
than try to understand my vision for a free society or accurately
report the facts about Koch Industries, our critics would have you
believe we’re “un-American” and trying to “rig the system,” that we’re
against “environmental protection” or eager to “end workplace safety
standards.” These falsehoods remind me of the late Sen. Daniel Patrick
Moynihan’s observation, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but
not to his own facts.” Here are some facts about my philosophy and our
company:Koch
companies employ 60,000 Americans, who make many thousands of products
that Americans want and need. According to government figures, our
employees and the 143,000 additional American jobs they support generate
nearly $11.7 billion in compensation and benefits. About one-third of
our U.S.-based employees are union members. Koch
employees have earned well over 700 awards for environmental, health
and safety excellence since 2009, many of them from the Environmental
Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. EPA
officials have commended us for our “commitment to a cleaner
environment” and called us “a model for other companies.” Our
refineries have consistently ranked among the best in the nation for
low per-barrel emissions. In 2012, our Total Case Incident Rate (an
important safety measure) was 67% better than a Bureau of Labor
Statistics average for peer industries. Even so, we have never rested on
our laurels. We believe there is always room for innovation and
improvement. Far
from trying to rig the system, I have spent decades opposing cronyism
and all political favors, including mandates, subsidies and protective
tariffs—even when we benefit from them. I believe that cronyism is
nothing more than welfare for the rich and powerful, and should be
abolished. Koch
Industries was the only major producer in the ethanol industry to argue
for the demise of the ethanol tax credit in 2011. That government
handout (which cost taxpayers billions) needlessly drove up food and
fuel prices as well as other costs for consumers—many of whom were poor
or otherwise disadvantaged. Now the mandate needs to go, so that
consumers and the marketplace are the ones who decide the future of
ethanol. Instead
of fostering a system that enables people to help themselves, America
is now saddled with a system that destroys value, raises costs, hinders
innovation and relegates millions of citizens to a life of poverty,
dependency and hopelessness. This is what happens when elected officials
believe that people’s lives are better run by politicians and
regulators than by the people themselves. Those in power fail to see
that more government means less liberty, and liberty is the essence of
what it means to be American. Love of liberty is the American ideal. If
more businesses (and elected officials) were to embrace a vision of
creating real value for people in a principled way, our nation would be
far better off—not just today, but for generations to come. I’m
dedicated to fighting for that vision. I’m convinced most Americans
believe it’s worth fighting for, too. [Mr. Koch is chairman and CEO of Koch Industries.]
Attorney General Eric Holder consistently avoids and prevaricates when asked question sin Congressional committee meetings. He almost never really answers a question. When he does he often admits that he "doesn't know," or "is not aware," or "can't recall" seeing the reports or information asked about.
