Internet Radio

It really chaps my hide when Michael Savage is cut off mid-rant for a grade school basketball game or some such. And it happens all the time. Now, I firmly believe that it is better light a single candle than to curse the darkness. So after I got done cursing, I looked for a candle.

http://streamingradioguide.com has become my candle. I don't even turn on the radio anymore. This site has everything: religion, progressive talk, conservative talk, financial, comedy, Spanish language, and local programs from all over the country. Check it out!

Drop the Partisan BS and Support our Troops!

I am fed up with Bush Derangement Syndrome sufferers using veterans’ issues to take jabs at the president. Helping our vets is too important an issue to be hijacked by ranters and ravers with ideological or partisan political agendas.

If you want to help our troops, here’s some advice: Find a credible veterans’ advocacy organization and volunteer your time or donate money. What are the hallmarks of a good veterans’ organization?

1. It is non-partisan. It enjoys the friendship of Democratic and Republican politicians alike. It turns away help from no one.

2. It doesn’t engage in name-calling or other inflammatory language. It stays focused on the mission of helping our troops.

3. It is influential and has an effective lobbying effort (yes, there are good lobbyists.)

4. It avoids being co-opted by other people or organizations with political or ideological agendas unrelated to helping vets.

5. It won’t be represented at anti-war rallies or peace protests.

6. Many good veterans organizations can be found at patriotic events such as holidays or memorial dedications for fallen heroes.

7. It doesn’t diminish its message by gratuitously criticizing elected officials.

8. It often criticizes government policies, but does so in a constructive manner, offering solutions along with criticism.

There are many good ways to help our veterans. Joining in with the haters and hidden agenda crowd isn’t one of them. They are exploiting people of good will, (and most despicably, our veterans) to their own ideological ends. Avoid them. Below are links to some of the good guys: Visit them and give.

Links:

http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/

http://www.saluteheroes.org/

http://www.woundedwarriors.org/

http://www.rollingthunder1.com/

http://www.dav.org/

Government-Sponsored Hunger, High Prices

The Grocery bill keeps Going higher. No news there for anyone who eats. Brett Arends over at the Wall Street Journal explains why.

“The main reason for rising prices, of course, is the surge in demand from China and India. Hundreds of millions of people are joining the middle class each year, and that means they want to eat more and better food.
A secondary reason has been the growing demand for ethanol as a fuel additive. That's soaking up some of the corn supply.”

Can’t do much about increased prosperity in the developing world… What we can do is write our congress persons and senators and demand they end the perverse government incentives that are skewing the grain markets and sowing further panicked speculation in other commodities. If ethanol is such a great idea, let it stand on its own. Our government encourages taking from the mouths of hungry humans to feed our hungry vehicles. Another fine example of our tax dollars at work.

Political Joke of the Day: Danes For McCain

The average European male is still manly and chauvinistic despite the best efforts of the ruling class to neuter him. Danes, like all European men, appreciate sports, beer, and women, so they have a unique take on our presidential election. The joke may lose some of its zing since I had to clean it up, but it’s still funny. Here goes:

“We in Denmark cannot figure out why you in the United States are even bothering to hold an election.
On one side, you have an Ivy League lawyer, married to an Ivy League lawyer…
fighting for the nomination against an Ivy League lawyer, married to an Ivy League lawyer.
On the other side, you have a war hero married to a good looking woman with big breasts who owns a beer distributorship…
Is there a contest here?"

--Props to daddy Silverfiddle for sending me this

Protesting Those Who Protect The Right To Protest

I love this picture. It reminds me of that great patriotic poem about how the soldier guarantees our freedoms. Click on the picture for a full-size view. WARNING: Contains a vulgarity.

It Has Always Been The Soldier.
It is the soldier,
not the President who gives us democracy.
It is the soldier,
not the Congress who takes care of us.
It is the soldier,
not the Reporter who has given us Freedom of Press.
It is the soldier,
not the Poet who has given us Freedom of Speech.
It is the soldier,
not the campus Organizer who has given us the
Freedom to Demonstrate.
It is the soldier,
who salutes the flag;
who serves beneath the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
that allows the protester to burn the flag.

(Father Dennis O'Brien, US Marine Corp. Chaplain)

Poem source: http://www.vfwpost1503.org/it's_the_soldier.html

CENTCOM Happenings: Ralph Peters Analysis

I like Ralph Peters. He's a retired Army Intel Officer who as a civilian has spent a lot of time in Iraq looking things over for himself. He is not a blind cheerleader: He really laid the wood to the Bush administration over their pre-surge ineptitude. He is a big fan of the surge, and can expertly explain why. Here he explains the personnel changes going on in CENTCOM and why they bode well for our efforts the Middle East. General Petreaus's star keeps rising. A good read.
Enjoy!

Brazilian Oil Find Could Dwarf Saudi Deposits

Bloomberg reports on new Brazilian oil finds that could be huge. This and other major finds could offset increased demand by the developing world, bringing prices down. Here is the most interesting part of the story:
Brazil may be pumping ``several million'' barrels of crude daily by 2020, vaulting the nation into the ranks of the world's seven biggest producers, Zeihan said in a telephone interview. The U.S. Navy's presence in the Persian Gulf and adjacent waters would be reduced, leaving the region exposed to more conflict, he said.
``We could see that world becoming a very violent one,'' said Zeihan, former chief of Middle East and East Asia analysis for Strategic Forecasting. ``If the United States isn't getting any crude from the Gulf, what benefit does it have in policing the Gulf anymore? All of the geopolitical flux that wracks that region regularly suddenly isn't our problem.''
What a delightful thought: Being able to turn our backs on that hell on earth known as the Middle East, sleeping peacefully knowing we'll no more have to send our sons and daughters over there. Old Europe might actually have to field a credible military...

Free Speech!

A Picture is indeed worth a thousand words. A man protesting the military while soldiers impassively look on. I'd like to see him try that in the Middle East or Venezuela! He'd probably be picking his eyeballs up off of the sidewalk. Nice touch by the guy on the left. Click the picture for a better view. Warning! Contains a vulgarity (that's why I have the picture so small). Props to my buddy Dave for the picture and the idea.
Original Picture

Solar Angst

Great read by Sandra Tsing Loh (I love it when I can feature a progressive writer!). Like me, she's a fan of solar energy. Here she relates to us the travails of getting it done and getting her fellow LA progressives on board. Even if you don't care about solar power, it's still an entertaining piece.

Enjoy!
Go to to the Article

Angry White Man

An opinion piece entitled “In election 2008, don’t forget Angry White Man” has been kicking around the internet for awhile in e-mails and such. I wish I had written it. I don’t know what Gary Hubbell’s politics are, but this is a great article. He shines the spotlight on perhaps the last constituency in America not looking to Uncle Sam to resolve its grievances: The Angry White Man. Interesting that it come from the Aspen Times, newspaper of Colorado’s seat of rich, elite liberalism.

My only nitpick, and it’s a minor one, is that I know Hispanics and African Americans who also fit the “Angry White Man” category.

Presidential candidates and the press report that there is unhappiness and anger out there. They’re probably right. I think many liberals are unhappy because government fails to solve their problems. The Angry White Man is angry because there are so many helpless people waiting on the government to solve their problems instead of shifting for themselves.

Buddhism teaches that wanting is the origin of suffering. So if those who are waiting for government to solve their problems would just stop it and solve their own damn problems, they would be less wanting, decreasing their suffering and increasing their happiness. That would in turn soothe the Angry White Man’s anger. If we all took care of ourselves, it could even shut up those pandering politicians. On second thought, I don’t think even Buddha could pull that one off.

Enjoy!

Finally! A brave Frenchman, er... woman.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. --Ronald Reagan

60's actress Brigitte Bardot speaks her mind and is prosecuted in French courts, for the fifth time. This is repugnant, and I only mention it because the same thing can happen here. This is where the political correctness road eventually leads us.

It really shouldn't be a surprise that this is happening in a country whose greatest and bravest war hero is Joan of Arc, a woman.

Yes, we have brave women who are heroes in the USA, but we also still have brave men. But how long will it be before political correctness has us imitating Old Europe, shivering and piddling ourselves like an inbred dog at the first challenge to free speech?

Obama: Rev Wright for White People

From the Campaign Trail, Obama (Mis)Speaks about the resentful, frustrated working class:

“And it's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Anybody besides me notice how deftly Obama took Reverend Wright’s black oppression template and applied it to the gun totin’ blue collar hicks living in the wilds of middle America?

Now his opponents are accusing him of being elitist, which of course, he is. He’s an Ivy League elitist and his remarks were made in the luxurious company of San Francisco elitists. His audience must have found his comments quite droll as they nodded knowingly. But that shouldn’t disqualify him for president. We’ve had plenty of elitists in the White House. What disturbs me is how he blithely stereotypes Middle America, criticizing them for being anti-trade while dabbling in anti-trade rhetoric himself.

To paraphrase Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz: Obama, I don’t think we’re in Chicago anymore…

Pelosi Slaps Colombia in the Face

Pelosi and the Democrats (sounds like a cheesy music group!) have slapped the face of our strongest Latin American ally by refusing to even vote on the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. This from the same group that mewls incessantly about how America needs more friends in the world…

Here’s why you should care. Colombia is a good country in a bad neighborhood. It is the most pro-US country in South America. It enjoys a stellar democratic record and a robust free-market economy. It is also fighting off communist guerillas who finance themselves by trafficking cocaine. It shares borders with Ecuador and Venezuela, who jealously resent Colombia’s political and economic success and lift not a finger to help combat the narco-terrorists.

In contrast, Ecuador is an economic and political basket case that enjoys serially running its presidents out of office. Ex-president Noboa, I think it was, had to be smuggled past a police cordon in the trunk of a car. Just across the Putumayo River, Ecuador’s remote eastern jungle hosts a favored R&R location for Colombian insurgents. A combat weary Colombian narco-terrorist, after a day of killing and kidnapping, can take off his Che Guevara beret and let his greasy hair down while enjoying hotels, bars and brothels that cater to his every need. Of course, the Ecuadorean government illogically claims both ignorance and lack of resources to deal with the issue.

We’re all familiar with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. He led an unsuccessful coup in 1992, and finally gained the presidency in 1999. He saved his country from the right wing oligarchs and replaced them with left wing oligarchs. Meanwhile, the poor are still poor… He publicly praises the Colombian guerillas and is probably providing material and monetary support to them as well.

Given all of this, the Democrats still have decided to abandon our key ally in that troubled region. Naked partisan political gain is the only apparent motive. Our labor unions are against it, and the Dems need their money and manpower to get out the vote.

Do you really believe there will be a giant sucking sound of jobs leaving the US for Colombia? Those opposed to the Colombia agreement do. This is nonsense, and business and economics people much smarter than me have said so. Colombian imports to this country already enjoy low to no tariffs, while we must still pay tariffs on our exports to the Colombian market. The agreement would remove all tariffs, making our goods cheaper, thus increasing our exports. This has already happened with Central American trade due to a similar agreement signed in 2005. What this agreement does for Colombia is help it attract major investment due to formalized trade ties between our countries. Instability discourages investment in places like Latin America. This agreement provides the stability that investors are looking for.

Colombia’s trade union trouble is the other reason opponents cite to kill the deal. Colombian unions have been the targets of deadly violence. What goes unmentioned is that most unions in that part of the world are hard-core communist organizations funded by people like Chavez. They are not just about good things like workers rights and getting better pay and benefits. They hate capitalism and really do want to bring it all down, man. This puts them at odds with ordinary Colombians, who cherish democracy and free enterprise. Violence against unions has happened, and it is wrong. It has also decreased fourfold under President Uribe, but you won’t be hearing that on the news. Put in proper context, it is still a sad situation, but it is hardly the government slaughter of poor workers that has been sold to us.

Finally, here is how Latin Americans view the situation: Hugo Chavez beat the United States, and Colombia is now all alone. She got in bed with Tio Sam and has nothing but shame to show for it. We just gave every country down there an object lesson in why it is foolish to trust in our friendship. This is how we gain friends in Latin America?

This is a shame bordering on a tragedy. I can remember the good old days when foreign policy and free trade were bipartisan issues. Now, narrow partisan gain trumps all, to our nation’s shame. The tragedy will be shouldered by Colombia, isolated from its neighbors, fighting an insurgency, and looking red-faced and foolish for trusting in the United States of America.

Links to More Information:

Congress hurts Colombia’s economy, strengthens Chavez

National Association of Manufacturers Supports Free Trade

Linda Chavez (A Reaganite) agrees with me

Opposing View

Fred Reed on Immigration (Funny)

Fred Reed, self-described expatriate curmudgeon, gives us his take on immigration. He neither bleeds his heart out for the poor immigrants nor does he rant against them. He points the finger squarely at you and me.

I believe in taking responsibility for one's actions on a personal level and on a collective national level. We Americans are to blame for illegal immigration. Fred breaks it down for us in his typical humorous way. I am Silverfiddle and I wholeheartedly agree with Fred's message. Enjoy!

Finntann's New Blog

Finntann, an old buddy of Silverfiddle, has started his own blog. He is a student of history who really knows how to write. Please check out his blog at http://washingtonsfarewell.blogspot.com/

He has a nice analysis of George Washington's farewell address and its bearing on current events. He also has some criticism for Sir Elton's sticking his snout into American politics and he writes about a Marine who lost a leg in Iraq and recovered enough to go back.

Great stuff, check it out!

Free Speech, Religion, and the Fed Up British Man

Does free speech include the freedom to criticize the religious views and practices of others? By now, I suppose everyone has seen the video of the British man calmly explaining why he is fed up with Muslim demands on Europe and the old continent’s capitulation. He doesn’t really insult Islam, but he sure slams some of its more radical practitioners, especially the Saudis. He is very well-spoken and stays away from wild claims as he presses his case.

If you applaud him, as I do, you must be prepared to accept speech like this as well. Yes, it’s the same guy. He’s an atheist who criticizes Christians with equal gusto. And he is liberty’s best friend. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other. I am free to practice my religion, as long as doing so places no demands on you. You are free to criticize my religious practices, and I am free to criticize your non-practice.

This balance has worked well for us in the US, but Europe is struggling. Scared Europeans are self-censoring in the name of political correctness. Or perhaps out of fear at being stabbed on the street. Our country was founded on religious tolerance and free speech. We need to guard both. If the first video delights you but the second one angers you, you have some soul searching to do, because you are in danger of becoming no better than those you criticize.

Where’s my Flying Car and Ticket to the Moon? Dammit!

Looking through those old Popular Science magazines of the 1960’s brings about a sense of deception, of loss. Where’s those promised aerial cars, those $500K trips to the Moon?

The answer lies not in engineering or physics, but in bureaucracy. Behold the Law of Unintended Consequences.

The Law simply states that when government intrudes outside its core responsibilities, it always has negative effects that are unintended. Consider prohibition, and how this ended up enriching Al Capone and cost thousands of lives.

The aerospace industry is one of the most heavily regulated in our nation. I discovered this as an engineer in the 1990’s working on new space launch vehicles.

The FAA, ITAR-DDTC, OSHA, ATFE, EPA, DHS, NRC are just some of the many alphabet soup bureaucracies that you would have to struggle through to make the above dreams possible. The practical effect of all this unnecessary regulation? Stifled innovation, systems that never see the light of day due to the cost of regulation. Add on top of that a litigation system way out of control.

In a perfect world painted by visionaries like Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, you go to work in a flying car - powered by redundant rotary engines. A computer automatically routes you to work along a virtual highway in the sky while you enjoy the morning paper and cup of coffee. This technology has been around for almost thirty years.

Your once-in-a-lifetime cruise is to the Moon. Affording the $500K ticket for you and your wife was quite possible, since in this perfect America socialist welfare programs and a private Federal Reserve don’t exist. Uncle Sam takes 8% of your income, tops, the same rate as before the Federal Reserve and IRS were created in 1913.

The takeoff point for your voyage is Nevada. A nuclear-powered single stage to orbit booster takes you to a commercial space station, and from there another transport flies you to the Moon. The idea of some un-washed environmental kook stopping these flights could not even be imagined. This booster creates little in terms of radioactive emissions due to the use of helium fuel.

So… where are we at today? Everything I mentioned here is quite possible from an engineering and physics standpoint, and has been for decades. It’s not consumer demand that has doomed these ideas, it simply is the impossibility of getting these ideas rammed through regulatory agencies.

If you want an America where every problem should be solved by big government, then continue to vote for those who will foist more bureaucracy upon the American people. Be prepared to enjoy a lifetime of mediocrity and unfulfilled dreams.

If you believe that these Soviet-style bureaucracies kill off American innovation, then vote for those who believe as Ronald Reagan did: Those who govern least, govern best!


Hugh Farnham is a space systems engineer and inventor. He is a conservative Libertarian.

Dems Insult General Petraeus

Effete San Francisco millionaire Speaker Pelosi, from her luxurious confines, warns American Hero General Petraeus, on his third year in Iraq, not to sugarcoat the Iraq situation.

This is an insult to General Petraeus. Military officers must be apolitical. There are exceptions, but this officer has not been one of them. To suggest he has been anything but straightforward and apolitical is an insult. Speaker Pelosi is using a political non-player (who also happens to be an American hero) to put political spin on a foreign policy issue. I guess it’s all she’s got left… Americans may be unhappy with Iraq, but seeing a hero have his integrity questioned for political gain doesn’t make them happier. Look at you poll number, madam speaker, and then look in the mirror.

Chelsea & Monica

Conservative talk radio and its fans are all atwitter at the latest campaign trail minor drama. Chelsea refuses to talk about what it was like in the Clinton household during the Lewenski scandal. News organizations report on it while conservatives snicker.

I have a question for those of you who think this is funny. How would you like someone asking your daughter about your sex life? It’s time for the Clinton haters to grow up. Everyone on the planet knows what happened. There is no political ore left in that mine. Move on. Hillary is a big enough target in her own right: Travel Gate, FBI files found in the Clinton White House, the health care debacle... Get your mind out of the gutter and I'm sure you could think up some more on your own.

Suckers Bail out the Stupid, Ignorant, Greedy

Once again, our esteemed leaders have conspired to reward the stupid, the venal, and the ignorant, thereby guaranteeing more of the same in the near future (It’s called creating a Moral Hazard). And of course, they do it at the expense of the prudent and the thrifty. Our tax dollars are already bailing out the Wall Street pigs, so why not reward the irresponsible home buyers as well?

Are you sitting in a home you wish was bigger, but it's all your budget will allow? Our government has a word for you: SUCKER!

Medicare is in Trouble

… and you can’t find a politician anywhere who is serious about it. The NYT reports on the entitlement programs woe’s accurately, but then slips easily into the same tired phrases about taxes and controlling costs through government intervention. A responsible voter needs to get educated about health care costs.

I recommend five short, readable articles that break it down for us simple folks. Four were written by John Stossel and approach the issue from a conservative, free-market perspective (You can find socialized medicine articles everywhere). The final one was written by Robert Samuelson, a respected, non-partisan economics reporter. He simply makes the case that politicians and voters need to stop dodging this issue and face it head-on.

Regarding nationalized health care, Stossel reminds us of a simple economic principle: If something of value (health care) is given away, it will become scarce, necessitating government rationing. Cuba, Canada, and Britain are examples.

Stossel maintains that our approach to health insurance contributes to our health care woes. Much like “free” government care, insurance shields the true cost from the consumer, causing market distortions.

In the third article, he offers some remedies that include cheaper policies with higher deductibles, medical savings accounts and paying more costs out of pocket. In the fourth article, he featues real world examples of how these ideas are working right now.

But what about those who simply cannot afford health care? This 5% - 15% of the population should not be used as an excuse for government to take over our entire health care system. You don’t apply a 100% solution to a 10% problem.

OK, what about those who are uninsurable due to preexisting conditions, or those who have hit their catastrophic cap? They are an even smaller percentage, and maybe government should step in to help these people. I am not against all government intervention: I want it on our borders 24/7, or when my house is on fire.

The final article I recommend is from Robert Samuelson. We need to address health care costs, and he tells us why in a nonpartisan way. He also explains the scope of the problem; and it’s not good. Conservative solutions involve lower taxes but more out of pocket expenses. Liberal solutions require little or no personal expense in exchange for higher taxes. Regardless of the path we eventually take, health care costs money and somebody’s gotta pay. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Making health care affordable for all is a complex issue. As with most problems, there is no one magic bullet. I’m not saying Mr. Stossel has all the answers, but he has added free market ideas to a discussion groaning under the weight of government-centric solutions. Campaign 08 is heating up, and so will the health care rhetoric. Arm yourself.

Other Resources:

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2007/08/29/media-wrong-census-uninsured-data-10-million-people

Biofuels Blowback

Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth against biofuels? Yes. Some biofuels may be environmentally unsustainable. The mad rush to biofuels is an excellent example of ready – fire – aim problem solving egged on by perverse government incentives. I say perverse because these incentives encourage clear cutting of forests and grasslands as well as greater production of corn, to the detriment of other crops. It has driven up the price of corn, which is having a ripple effect on the economy. Ask a grocery shopper here or in Mexico about the cost of meat, dairy and poultry products. You won’t get a happy answer.

I am for energy independence; but biofuels won’t get us there. We don’t have near enough land to support the needed biomass. Right now, the best thing government can do is stop incentivizing actions with unknown or unpredictable consequences. If oil prices keep rising, the market will answer with alternatives that work.

… Oh, heck, if our government is just fidgeting to do something, it can build more nuclear power plants. That would be some government intervention I could support.