Capitalism, Liberty, and Ingenuity
I'm not going to leave, for any reason, ever. Let others leave -- that is their right, and their choice. As far as I'm concerned, I have no choice. This is my country, and I will defend it, and its Constitution, to the death if necessary.
The Onion - Bush Asks Congress for $30 Billion to Help Fight War on Criticism - the Onion does it again. Hehe. Satire. [smith2004]
WASHINGTON, DC--Citing the need to safeguard "America's most vital institutions and politicians" against potentially devastating attacks, President Bush asked Congress to sign off Monday on a $30 billion funding package to help fight the ongoing War On Criticism.
"Sadly, the threat of criticism is still with us," Bush told members of Congress during a 2 p.m. televised address. "We thought we had defeated criticism with our successes in Afghanistan and Iraq. We thought we had struck at its very heart with the broad discretionary powers of the USA Patriot Act. And we thought that the ratings victory of Fox News, America's News Channel, might signal the beginning of a lasting peace with the media. Yet, despite all this, criticism abounds."
John Ross - Thrill Sports, JFK Jr., and Real Danger vs. the Illusion of Danger, or Why I like High Dives and Aerobatics but I Refuse to Fly in Bad Weather - Mr. Ross has engaged in a lot of seemingly dangerous activities over the course of his life, but none of them were really dangerous. Flying a small plane in a low visibility situtation when you're not used to flying by instruments is one thing he won't do. That's real danger. Deadly danger.
Bill Whittle - Trinity Part 1 and Part 2 - the three pillars of America's success: capitalism, liberty (he calls it "freedom"), and ingenuity. Unfortunately, Mr. Whittle hasn't realized that the second pillar, liberty, is in mortal peril these days. And he believes in the war on Iraq. Still, a good essay for its description of what has made America great. [whittle]
Where you stand on the political spectrum, what you think of rich and poor people, and what you think about rich and poor nations and how they should act in the world, comes down, in my mind, to one single issue, and one only: Can wealth be created, or can it only be redistributed?
If you believe, as I do, that wealth can be manufactured out of thin air, then there is no limit to the amount of wealth you can amass. And since you are creating it out of thin air, there is no moral onus on making money -- you work hard to create it and have stolen from no one. There is an expression for this: you earned it.
Indeed, since charity depends on excess wealth, excess capacity, the more you make for yourself the better off everyone else is. You can even throw charity out the window if you are so hard-hearted; the fact remains that you will spend that money to get the things you want, and the more you have the more you can spend. That money goes to other people. This interchange is called "the economy," and rich societies are rich because they understand in their bones the centerpiece of Capitalist thinking: Wealth can be created from thin air by human ingenuity and hard work.
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There's a scene in Bowling For Columbine where Michael Moore interviews a typically decent and friendly Canadian as he emerges from a health clinic. The poor fellow had, as I recall, some serious injury, and Mssr. Moore wanted to know what it had cost him for treatment.
The man couldn't reply. They hadn't charged him. This took Michael Moore's carefully rehearsed breath away! No charge? You mean, you got that medical attention for free?
That's right, eh.
Cut to beatific look on directors face, as if he had just been handed a clean plate at a Shoney's Breakfast Bar.
Folks, Canadians are great people. They are not a stupid people. So can we not, please, not ever again, call this Free Health Care? It is Pre-paid Health Care. That Canadian fellow paid for that treatment every week, for the past twenty years. It was taken out of every paycheck he made. He paid for that medical care, and much, much more. He paid for it whether he needed it or not. And he not only paid for the doctor, he paid for the bureaucrats and administrators in the National Health Service or whatever it is called. It was not free. It was paid for. Whether he needed it or not. When he has fully recovered, years from now, he will still be paying for it. Every week, from every check. That car or vacation he couldn't afford, got eaten up by health care he paid for but did not need.
So the question is, who better decides what kind of health care you and your family need: you, or Hillary Clinton? I understand that not all poor people can afford health insurance. Again, being a decent sort of fellow beneath my strikingly handsome exterior, I don't mind paying a little extra for Medicare for people who need help. What I most assuredly DO NOT need is for someone taking my money to give me a health care system I do not need or want. As my all-time idol P.J. O'Rourke once said, if you think health care is expensive now, just wait till you see what it costs when it's free.
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(Capitalism + Freedom) x Ingenuity = Voyager.
Trinity.
Scott Gulbranson - The Silent Invasion - claims that Chinese troops are massing in Mexico, preparing for an attack on the United States. J.R. Nyquist has two stories about this. Get out your grain of salt. [stanleyscoop]
Michael J. Sniffen of Associated Press at The Kansas City Star - U.S. Develops Urban Surveillance System - can you say "Big Brother"? Thought you could. [stanleyscoop]
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is developing an urban surveillance system that would use computers and thousands of cameras to track, record and analyze the movement of every vehicle in a foreign city.
Dubbed "Combat Zones That See," the project is designed to help the U.S. military protect troops and fight in cities overseas.
Police, scientists and privacy experts say the unclassified technology could easily be adapted to spy on Americans.
United Nations - First Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects at the National, Regional and Global levels takes place in New York next week, July 7 to 11. This page contains an overview. The PDF files linked in the left-hand column contain details. As usual with U.N. publications, it's mind-numbingly boring. The National Reports on theImplementation of the PoA (Program of Action) page contains links to reports from a number of countries, including this 2002 report from the United States of America.
Carrie Lee and Rico Ngai of Reuters at Yahoo News - Hong Kong Gripped by Massive Anti-Govt. Street Protest - China is cracking down on civil liberties. Hong Kong residents are not happy. They held a massive protest last Tuesday, July 1.
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to Hong Kong's streets on Tuesday to denounce the government and its planned anti-subversion law in the city's biggest demonstration since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
"Return rule to the people," they chanted as the rally began to denounce the bill which critics say will impose Beijing-style control over free speech and the media.
Charley Reese - Trust Is Important - The Bushiveks have lied too much for Mr. Reese. He no longer trusts anything they say. Time for a regime change, eh? [lew]
Harry Browne - Uncelebrating the Fourth - Mr. Browne no longer celebrates Independence Day. The independence we used to celebrate no longer exists. [lew]
Whereas America was once an inspiration to the entire world -- its very existence was proof that peace and liberty really were possible -- Americans now live in fear of the rest of the world and the rest of the world lives in fear of America.
