Economics, Liberating Thoughts, Politics, Preparing for the worst

Whose Economic Policies Work Best?!?

Personally, I consider the National Debt to be the greatest threat to the future well-being of the United States. Followed closely by deficit spending. Given the economic news of the past week, with the Federal Government doing its best to socialize losses, I expect the debt will continue to grow. (Did you know the National Debt is about to hit $10 Trillion? That’s Trillion, with a Tr.)

Avedon compiled a review of past administration economic results that Dwight Meredith studied “Just For the Record” – covering 1962-2001.

The link has some specific numbers and links to other interesting pages.

A bit of Summary:
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Economics, Preparing for the worst

Why Keep Your Landline

I saw this commentary in Telephony Online.

I still have a landline to my house. I sometimes ask myself why am I spending the $25 a month to keep it.

One of the main reasons I keep it is that the phone company provides a separate power source for the telephone from the commercial grid power. If the snow and ice take down all the cables on the poles where power and phone overlap (about 1/4 mile to my place) then I am out of luck. But  if the power line goes down elsewhere, I should still be able to get dial-tone on the phone.  And if the commercial power goes out, the odds are the cell phone tower has also lost power and unless the wireless companies have gone to the much added expense of providing a long-term battery backup to the cell tower, your cell phone is dead.

It seems like once every year or two we get a major power outage in our area and I can look across the valley and see the darkness. Something breaks far away and everything in the area will take a power hit until the electric company can reroute the power. Last year I think we were out for over 24 hours because ice took down some power lines 10 miles away. It took the utility that long to reach the break because of the storm.

And I have several different type telephones including ones that don’t need to be plugged into a wall socket to work.

The redundancy of having cell phone and landline is a bit of added comfort when you are going to be stranded in a blizzard.  (As I write this it is 80′ and sunny)

Politics

McCain still thinks economy is strong

YouTube – McCain still thinks economy is strong.

I would like to hear John McCain’s explanation as to what the fundamentals of our economy are. Will any of the debate interviewers ask that question and work to get an answer to the question?

For that matter, I would like to hear Obama’s answer to that question.

Between McCain and Obama, which one is more likely to “fix Wall Street”? I’m definitely not betting on the Republican. And I haven’t heard anything to make me think the Democrats will either.

General, Liberating Thoughts, Politics

Trying to make history : AFA professor eyes run for Lamborn’s U.S. House seat

Trying to make history : AFA professor eyes run for Lamborn’s U.S. House seat : Local News : Local News : Colorado Springs Independent : Colorado Springs.

I had a chance to meet Hal last night. He is a very engaging speaker – recounting his adventures up at the DNC in Denver. And he has some good ideas on what Congress needs to be working on, check out his web site –

It’s the Alexander Hamilton bit that worries me…I tend to be more Jeffersonian…

Liberating Thoughts, Politics

Reflections on the Fourth:

I have sort of half been paying attention to the buzz going around this year on the pending elections. The Nominees have been determined and now each side is looking for a VP that will make a difference.

I saw a reposting of a Washington Post piece on the allegiance of a patriot an American. It does well to capture what I think of as the base ideals of America, ideals that are run over roughshod in the current political climate.

I see that Clark made a statement that being a war hero, to have made a large personal sacrifice for your country, does not mean that you are qualified to be commander-in-chief. I also heard the follow-up – that reaching the strategic command level begins to reach the level of qualification Clark was referring to. Clark was lambasted for dissing McCain, which he wasn’t doing. And McCain’s people can’t say that just because McCain has made great personal sacrifices for his country that he is qualified to be President. Neither approach is correct; neither being a war hero nor being a strategic genius qualifies you to be the President – or Commander-in-Chief. And it is foolish to pretend it does. But, I suppose the pundits need to prattle on about something. The very thought of MacArthur as President sends shivers down my spine.

The President is a civilian authority. He, or she, has the resources of the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs to call upon to review military options. That’s their job. I am afraid that too many in the current administration see the military as a foreign policy tool and since we paid so much for it, it seems kind of silly not to use it. So they invade sovereign nations that are not an eminent threat to the US or to its allies and squander billions of dollars of the US treasury and thousands of soldier’s lives. And Congress, our representatives, lets them get away with it. Why are WE letting THEM get away with it?

The President is not the King of the United States of America. Yet many seem to think of him as a king and to treat him as a king. His deciding decisions are the final authority on all matters great and small. If the President makes a decree that the pundits agree with, then it is treason to disagree with the President. (Of course, if the pundits disagree with him then he is a buffoon or a criminal.) Presidents shouldn’t make decrees; they should make suggestions, and maybe even suggest how a suggestion can be implemented, but they shouldn’t make decrees. Leave that for the idiots in Congress.

As we have observed this past Fourth, the United States of America was founded on the principle that we do not owe allegiance to one man, to one sovereign. The people are sovereign; the citizens are sovereign.

And there are natural rights that apply to all humans. These are inherent human rights that we hold to be self-evident. We started to define them in our Declaration of Independence and further refined them in our Constitution. These are natural human rights, unalienable; not just American rights. We just happened to be the first to codify these rights for all and our prosperity. It does well to ponder these rights on the Fourth, to remember where we came from and why, and to look upon our current path, and to see if we are still moving, progressing in the desired direction.

The Thoughts and Luminations of Jack Heneghan