Government Arrogance...

When teaching theories of "Government Failure" (ie, why Government action is almost always less efficient than private action) in my Macroeconomics classes, one of the eye-opening features of these classes to most students is that it doesnt matter which political party is in power. Government doesn't get better based on whether your President or Governor or Senator is Republican, or Democrat, or Liberal, or Conservative. Government failure - and its arrogance - is the Nature of the Beast, regardless of who is in power.

Government arrogance tells a single mom struggling on welfare to sit down and wait her turn in a dehumanizing box of a room to get her check. Government arrogance insists that she be subjected to a surprise drug test, just to reinforce her self-image as sub-human. Liberals call the former 'compassion;' Conservatives call the latter "responsibility." Regular People without a political agenda see both for what it is - arrogance.

A newly unemployed (and newly uninsured) HIV-positive man is directed to the local government-created AIDS Service Agency ("ASO") for approval in order to get his next dose of medications ($3,000/month) through the State Program. But if the ASO determines that he is not 'supportive' of the agency's illegal and unethical financial transactions, he is rejected. And if he applies to the State directly for help, he is told to wait for processing - even though missing a single dose may render that medication ineffective for the rest of his life. Liberals see this as compassionately covering people with public insurance; conservatives just complain about the money being spent. But the Pharamcist - a "regular person," a human being, slips the man some pills without charge to carry him over until the bureaucracy moves on his application.

A family facing Thanksgiving with an oil tank on empty and an outside thermometer reading of 20 degrees pleads with the local "Community Services Agency" for emergency fuel assistance. They are told there is an "intake appointment" available six weesk down the road. Liberals see this as the "social safety net;" conservatives are harshly unmoved by their plight.

Government responds to human crises in New Orleans and Haiti after "assessing damage" and "securing the area," while days pass by and critical hours - and lives - are lost. Liberals and Conservatives both refer to this as "Planning," both actually believing in the Super-smartness of people once they are hired by government, and both skeptical of the inherent strength and ingenuity of 'mere people' to help in their own rescue. Meanwhile, neighbors help neighbors as The Experts "plan" the rescue effort.

Homeless people, previously living in tents on the outskirts of town, set up some plywood walls and get themselves a heater to stay warm in the winter. Government Arrogance requires that they meet building codes, but has no available beds for them if they are shut down. Private individuals raise the money and secure a rental storefront to provide beds...in spite of government sputtering about the need to "license" such facilities.

A police officer, quite impressed with her power to pull over someone with a headlight out, detains a man and his daughter for an hour as she runs reports and harasses both of them. She lies about a supposed "Restraint Order" in her computer records on the man (later proved false by the State Police), which supposedly turned up on a routine drivers license check (later contradicted by the State Police), and pulls the daughter out of the car, questioning and asking her to prove she really *is* the man's daughter. Oh, yes, the man and his daughter are of different races...and a criminal justice expert will later remark, "Oh, they figured you were pimping her..."

Real Stories. Recent stories. Stories with which I have first-hand experience. Stories of government arrogance...arrogance exhibited by both Republicans and Democrats, by both Conservatives and Liberals in their over-bearing partisanship and insistence on their own righteousness in how to impose help on the masses.

Pundits wonder how true-blue Massachusetts could possibly be rejecting Democrat Martha Coakley for conservative Republican Scott Brown. They wonder how a health care bill - a promise that helped catapult Obama to the Presidency - can be so opposed in even the most liberal areas of the country.

How? GOVERNMENT ARROGANCE.

A Governor insisting on appointing Kennedy's replacement rather than follow the existing law requiring an election. A President insisting on Christmas Eve and midnight votes on a 2,000 page bill that most congressmen admit to not having read. Congressional insistence that every American be required to purchase health insurance from a private company, all while prohibiting non-profits from forming to provide insurance. Military insistence that while straight soldiers can sow their oats while on leave and receive free STD treatments afterwards, decorated, monogamous, partnered gay military members must remain closeted or face ejection and loss of pensions. A New Hampshire state legislative committee deciding to ban self-defensive weapons from state property, in spite of the entire legislature saying otherwise.

Government Arrogance. People are tired of it.

Haiti Earthquake Relief

Yele Haiti: Haitian musician Wyclef Jean urges people on his Twitter account to help in the Haiti disaster relief effort by texting "Yele" to 501501. This donates $5to the Yele Haiti Foundation, automatically charged to your cell phone bill. This can be done online also, but his server is being overwhelemd and the text message works best. You will receive a confirmation text.


Doctors Without Borders:
https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=219&&source=AUU090000DE0

Habitat for Humanity [note: After Hurrican Katrina, HFH organized teams from all over the USA to go on short-term trips to New Orleans to rebuild. I would not be surprised if that same opportunity becomes available over the year(s) ahead in Haiti]: http://www.habitat.org/

For links to the US State Dept, The Red Cross, the William J. Clinton Foundation, Mercy Corps, UNICEF, Food for the Hungry, The Salvation Army, Partners in Health, World Food Programme, CARE, Americare, Samaritans Purse, Operation Blessing, Action Against Hunger, Oxfam AMerica, International Medical Corps, International Rescue Committee, World Relief and Hope for Haiti:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/haiti-earthquake-help-victims/story?id=9547030

American Jewish World Service: http://ajws.org/

Employment improvement? I hate to say "I told you so," but...

Todays Washington Post reports:

"...The job market remained in a deep funk in December, according to a government report Friday showing that employers view the economic recovery as too weak and too fragile to begin hiring again on any large scale.

The pace of layoffs has slowed sharply in recent months, but businesses still cut 85,000 net jobs in December, the Labor Department said. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 10 percent, but economists suspect this is only because hundreds of thousands of frustrated workers stopped looking for jobs..."

This, in spite, of the Obama administration and clueless reporters cheering the November figures, which suggested that Unemployment fell from 10.2% to 10%, thus signalling "The Recovery."

We immediately commented, on Dec 5:

"...Of those who found employment, 55% found employment in Temp Hiring Agencies. In other words, these are temporary positions. It does not reflect a new confidence on the part of business calling back workers or expanding; rather it reflects the continued fear that businesses have and their reluctance to hire..." The Christmas season is over, and these Temp jobs are ending.

As far back as August 8th, we warned,

"The Unemployment rate is the percent of Americans who are out of work AND ACTIVELY SEEKING work. After 18 months of recession, many Americans have given up for the time being. They have adjusted to life at home, or life off the books, or a single-income in a formerly two-wage earner home. Accordingly, they are no longer considered in the work force, and no longer counted in the Unemployment figures. So, if there are 100 people in the 'labor force,' and 10 are out of work, that's a 10% Unemployment rate. If 5 of those people out of work give up looking, the Unemployment rate is calculated to be 5 unemployed out of 95 in the labor force, which is only a 5.2% rate. Voila! A lowered rate - even though the same number of people are out of work. Similarly, the homeless - which have grown under the foreclosure spate in the last 18 months - are *NOT* considered "Unemployed" because they are no longer considered in the Labor Force. When they lost their job, they were unemployed. When they lost their home and began life in their cars or on the street, they were magically removed from the Unemployment figures..."

Sigh.......

Thoughts on "Security"

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, the federal government began a series of ever-increasing security changes in the screening of airline passengers to prevent future terrorist attacks. These changes all view passengers (more than 99.9% of whom are law-abiding airline customers) as potential 'problems;' thus, in an effort to increase 'safety,' passengers are searched and substances ranging from nail files to shampoo bottles are prohibited.

Of course, none of that prevented Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber," from attempting to blow up American Airlines Flight 63 on Dec 22, 2001 using plastic explosives hidden in a hollowed out shoe.

True to form, the government's response was to require passengers to remove their shoes and put them through the x-ray machines. Subsequent changes prohibited liquids on board.

And so, on Christmas Day 2010, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded Northwest Flight 253with powdered explosives in his underwear. No liquids, no hollow shoes.

The response? The feds now believe that full-body x-rays machines, that will enable them to look into underwear, will fix this 'loophole.' Of course, the machine is unable to look through skin into body cavities....anyone want to guess how the next terrorist will hide their explosives? (Remember, these are *suicide* bombers).

It is instructive to note the similarities between the incidents surrounding Richard "Shoebomber" Reid, Umar "Christmas Bomber" Abdulmutallab, and even United Airlines Flight 93 on the day of the 9/11 attacks:

Government Security measures were unable to prevent the attacks. 100% safety will never be possible - not in the real world. Each time a new security measure is used, would-be terrorists will simply use a different ploy. Obama's 'tightening' of security on flights originating in a list of 14 nations is doomed to failure, as terrorists simply set up bases, obtain passports, and choose to depart from nations not on that list.

But there is a more important similarity between these events:

Flight 93 missed its Washington target because passengers took action and subdued the terrorists.

Richard Reid's plot failed because passengers subdued him and bound him with seatbelt extensions and headphone cords, and a doctor on the flight plied him with valium.

Umar Abdulmutallab failed because a passenger subdued him.

And in the midst of this, while pilots are asking to be armed, the Obama administration is defunding and downplaying the need and right of airline personnel and passengers to defend themselves. Passengers, Pilots, and Airline staff are not the problem: they are the solution.

In a related hair-brained, half-thought-through action, The Joint Facilities committee of the New Hampshire House just passed by an 8-3 vote (party lines) the following regulation:

"No person, except for law enforcement personnel in active duty, shall carry a firearm or other dangerous or deadly weapon or an explosive, openly or concealed, while inside the State House, the Legislative Office Building, the Upham Walker House, or any of the underground tunnels connected to these buildings. Law enforcement personnel, when requested by State House security staff, must produce sufficient identification establishing their status as law enforcement personnel."

In other words, every would-be terrorist or nut job is now on notice that the 400+ legislators at the State House, as well the staff, is now defenseless. Once again, this turns reality on its head: an armed citizenry is the answer, not the problem! It is a rule that the full legislature should overturn immediately.

Top 10 Obama Disasters

Libertarians release top 10 disasters of 2009 Obama administration (Note similarities to previous administration


Top 10 disasters of the 2009 Obama administration (in no particular order):

1. Cash for Clunkers
2. War escalation in Afghanistan
3. Giant government health care expansion bill
4. Post office loses money hand over fist
5. Stimulus package
6. Expansion of "state secrets" doctrine
7. Big increase in unemployment
8. "Bailout" Geithner as Treasury Secretary
9. Skyrocketing federal spending
10. Huge federal deficits

Top 10 disasters of the 2001-2008 Bush administration:

1. Cash for Car Companies
2. War in Iraq
3. Giant Medicare expansion bill
4. Post office loses money hand over fist
5. Stimulus "rebate" checks
6. PATRIOT Act
7. Big increase in unemployment
8. "Bailout" Paulson as Treasury Secretary
9. Skyrocketing federal spending
10. Huge federal deficits

Wes Benedict, Libertarian Party Executive Director, commented, "Republicans and Democrats keep expanding government and creating more and more problems. We're encouraging as many Libertarians as possible to run for Congress in 2010. In Texas, the state with the earliest filing deadline, Libertarians have already filed for 31 of 32 Congressional seats."
For more information, or to arrange an interview, call LP executive director Wes Benedict at 202-333-0008 ext. 222.

The LP is America's third-largest political party, founded in 1971. The Libertarian Party stands for free markets and civil liberties. You can find more information on the Libertarian Party at our website.

New Hampshire's turn for an Independent?

Looking to both the East and West of the Granite State, there have been a series of successful state-wide Independent candidates. As far back as 1975, Mainers elected their first Independent Governor, James B. Longley. Longley, a center-left Democrat on social issues, left the Democratic Party over fiscal issues. Running as a fiscally-conservative and socially progressive Independent, he struck a chord with more Mainers than either the Republicans or Democrats, and left as his mark a reorganization of the University system. From 1995 to 2003, Mainers again elected an Independent, Angus King, with an eclectic philosophical record but who was perceived as very strong on educational issues, a recurrent issue in Maine politics.

To the West, Vermont sent Jim Jeffords to the U. S. Senate as a Republican three times. But in 2001, Jeffords switched to Independent, and the catalyst was Republican opposition to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Jeffords would strongly represent a civil libertarian position, opposing the ban on gays in the military and the FCC Decency Act (which would eventually be struck down by the Supreme Court), and opposing background checks at gun shows, the flag desecration amendment, and the use of military force in Iraq. On Economic issues, he supported the Balanced Budget Amendment and Free Trade agreements.

To the south of New Hampshire, Independent candidates are polling ahead of Democrats and Republicans in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Ex-Democrat Tim Cahill is running strongly in Massachusetts, with - surprise, surprise - a socially moderate and fiscally conservative approach. In Rhode Island, ex-Senator Lincoln Chaffee, who was targeted by the conservative wing of the GOP, is positioned as a pragmatic independent who is not as 'mean' as the shrill Republican base, but more fiscally responsible than the chaotic Democratic-lead statehouse. And of course in Connecticut, Independent Joe Lieberman felt ostracized by liberal Democrats, and has almost single-handedly prevented a new socialized health program from leaving the Senate.

One must ask: what traits do all of these Independent victories have in common?

First, Fiscal irresponsibility among Democrats.
Second, capture of the Republican Party by an extreme and shrill right wing.
Third, voter rejection of both (1) and (2) above, and falling party identification.
Fourth, Independent candidates who support fiscal responsibility; social tolerance and civil liberties; and who have strong pro-Education platforms.

Which brings us to New Hampshire, and the 2010 Gubernatorial election.

Governor John Lynch's record of fee & tax increases, free-wheeling spending, and fiscal incompetence will go down in history as legendary. Not in recent history has this state seen such deceitful budgeting, nor so many tax and fee increases. Combined with the national Obama juggernaut of staggering deficits and spending, a growing number of Americans from "the middle" - where elections are won - are pushing back against the Democrats irresponsibility.

Unfortunately, the Republican Party will not necessarily benefit from this anger. The Bush years convinced an entire generation of Americans that Republicans, too, stand for big government and big spending. Worse, the histrionics of right-wing media idols like Glenn Beck have painted the GOP as a party of the lunatic fringe.

NH GOP contender Karen Testerman represents the fringe that the public rejects: a co-founder of the Christianist "Cornerstone Policy Research," in 2003 she compared gays and lesbians to "shoplifters and drug addicts," and told the Nashua Telegraph that she would have to "prayerfully assess" her role in the Republican primary. In the second least 'evangelical' state in the union (Vermont being first), Testerman represents everything that most independents and moderate - and many former Republican voters fear most: a religious fringe candidate who will see the Office of Education and the Office of Health and Human Services as a personal crusade to impose theological opinion.

With the Democrats in disarray over the financial meltdown for which they and they alone are responsible, and the Republicans insisting on pandering to a shrill far-right base, New Hampshire and its swelling ranks of Independent voters may well be poised to elect an Independent who represents fiscal sanity, social tolerance, and a strong commitment to both Jobs and Education.

Now...who's stepping up to the plate?

"Good" news on the Unemployment Front? Not even close...

One of the most frustrating aspects of our modern culture is the superficial, misunderstood, and unquestioned reporting of economics statistics by the mainstream media. As an Economics teacher, I am constantly asking my students to 'dig deeper' and uncover the real data under the cliche-ridden news reports, and today was no exception.

This morning the media hailed the apparent reduction in the unemployment rate from 10.2% to 10%. Accepting those figures at face value, headlines all over the web and on the television excitedly asked, "Have we turned the Corner?!"

Much to their chagrin, the answer is a non-negotiable NO.

Here are the facts behind that supposed 'reduction' in Unemployment (all facts easily ascertainable from the report itself, if they would read further than the equivalent of a tweet...)

1) The number of Americans out of work long-term - 27 weeks or more actually ROSE to 5.9 million, the highest number since 1948. Only the very short-term jobless rate (less than 14 weeks) decreased, and that due largely to temporary seasonal retail hires.

2)Of those who found employment, 55% found employment in Temp Hiring Agencies. In other words, these are temporary positions. It does not reflect a new confidence on the part of business calling back workers or expanding; rather it reflects the continued fear that businesses have and their reluctance to hire. Worse, it means that these newly-Temp-hired workers are almost unanimously worse off than they were in their previous jobs, because few (if any) Temp agencies offer benefits such as health insurance or sick days, and they certainly do not offer any long-term job security or comparable wages.

3)The current rate excludes the 9.2 million workers who, threatened with the loss of their home, shut-off of utilities, or lack of basic food and fuel, took jobs at lower paying rates using less-efficient skillsets than they they had before. As soon as someone takes a job - even a part-time, poorly-paying job - they no longer count in the unemployment rate. When these people are added into the rate, however, the total amount of Unemployment plus "Under"employment now exceeds 17% of the American workforce, the highest on record. [note: this statistic was not kept during the Great Depression, which was admittedly worse. That's hardly a consolation, though...]

4)Much has been made by liberals in the past that the poorest families are single-parent headed families headed by women. These same liberals should look at the demographic breakdown of the current unemployment rate, because the numbers border on frightening: In Female Head of Household families - already one of the poorest per-capita groups in America - the unemployment rate has increased to 11.4%.

The only thing to note in this report is the abject failure of both Fiscal Policy and Federal Reserve operations in relieving the current economic meltdown.

"How Many Days to America? - A Thanksgiving Story"

My children range in age from 13 to 24. In their younger years, one of the traditions in which our family faithfully engaged was the evening reading of books together before bedtime. "How Many Days to America? - A Thanksgiving Story" (authored by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Bev Peck) was a traditional read in our home - a home that was rather unique, as our six adopted children had widely varied backgrounds and 'personal stories.' The book does not recount the Pilgrim's tale, but tells the story of a Carribean family's efforts to come to America in modern times via a small boat to be "safe and free." It is a book I was never able to finish (as my children still remind me), because my eyes would well up and my voice would crack and I had to put it down.

The Immigrant Story is one that touches the very essence of my soul. Oddly enough, my own family has been here since the Dutch landed in Nieuw Amsterdam (New York) in the 1600s...but there is something about the human desire for freedom that resonates very deeply within me. Whether it was Dutch traders looking for a new business venture in the New World; religious refugees in 17th Century Europe; victims of the Irish famine, the Scottish Clearances, or the 30 Years War that ripped apart the German lands; Haitians fleeing the most impovershed and corrupt nation in the western hemishphere; Russians looking to taste freedom for the first time in their lives; Jews seeking a new start upon the liberation of Buchenwald; the forced travels of African slaves, Native Americans on the Trail of Tears, or the expulsion of the Acadian French; or Latin Americans seeking a just rule of law and better opportunities...the immigrant experience of leaving everything known and familiar and seeking to carve one's own place in peace, freedom, and prosperity is one of humankinds' most astounding and emotional stories.

And so, on Thanksgiving, I am doing much soul-searching, and offering much thanks for my nation...and also soberly recognizing the threats we are under from both the socialist left and the theocratic right. Having been involved in political battles my entire life, I don't believe I have ever seen this nation so divided and so 'under siege' from within as well as from without. Even the riots and political divisions of the late 1960s, through the Kent State Massacre and the Watergate era seem to pale in comparison to the current regime's power grab throughout the economy and the strident, shrill opposition being commandeered by Neo-Puritans on the far right.

It gives one pause. It strengthens Resolve. And it spurs one on to new adventures in the reclaimation, preservation and expansion of Freedom.

Stay tuned for a coming announcement...

NH Holiday Gift Drives

This year the New Hampshire Bears will sponsor THREE Holiday Gift Drives: Dec 4 in Keene, Dec 5 in Manchester, and Dec 6 in Salisbury Beach (MA). As always, these gifts help families affected by HIV & other chronic illnesses, as well as families separated by military service or incarceration.

The NH Bears is a Registered Charity in the State of New Hampshire. Last year you provided over $1,000 worth of gifts to families in need. This year, the need is greater than ever. Join us in Holiday Spirit at any of these drives, and, if able, bring unwrapped gifts or food items to any of the following three drives:

Friday, December 6, 9:00 pm
'Vendetta '
43 Central Square, Keene, NH
(603) 283-0233
http://www.myspace.com/vendettabar

Saturday , December 5, 9:00 pm
The Breezeway Pub
14 Pearl Street & Elm Street
Manchester, NH
(603) 621-9111
http://www.thebreezeway.net/

Sunday, December 6, from 4pm - 8 pm
Chef Howie's Hobo Cafe
5 Broadway & Route 1A (on the Beach)
Salisbury Beach, MA (just over the border from Seabrook NH)
Reggae Music with D.J. Khandie and Complimentary Buffet!
(978) 465-4626
http://www.chefhowieshobocafe.com/

It will be *wonderful* to see you at any of these events!

Thom

"If They're Democrats, It's Not Homophobia."

(Published today at the Indeoendent Gay Forum)
http://www.indegayforum.org/blog

by Stephen H. Miller

Yet another fawning Washington Post puff piece on an Obama staffer looks at White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina, who was formerly chief of staff to Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.).The post relates this bit of history. In Baucus's 2002 senate race:

Messina masterminded a bruising attack ad against Republican state Sen. Mike Taylor, a former hairdresser. The ad featured video footage of Taylor, then decades younger and bearded, setting the hair and massaging the temples of a mustachioed man in a beauty salon chair -- with a funky bomp-chic-a-bomp-bomp '70s beat in the background. The spot ends with a frozen frame of Taylor reaching down and out of sight toward the other man's lap. Disapprovingly, a voice-over declares, "Mike Taylor: Not the way we do business here in Montana." ...

Stephanie Schriock [Montana's junior senator Jon Tester's chief of staff] cited the ad as one example of how Baucus has long appreciated and been served by Messina's killer instinct. "Jim was willing to make the hard call to put an ad out there," she said.
Nowhere does reporter Jason Horowitz question the use of overt homophobic stereotypes (regardless of the fact that Taylor wasn't, in fact, gay) to aid the Democrat's cause. But then, neither the politically supplicant media nor LGBT Democratic activists seem to mind pandering and promoting the denigration of gay people when it serves the interests of their party. (Which is to say, if it were a Republican administration, the appointment of a White House deputy chief of staff with this history would have triggered loud protests; here, it's just an amusing anecdote.)

H1N1 Vaccines, Breast Cancer, and the Congressional Health Care Bill.

The Anti-Government Health Care Arguement: "Around the world, socialized medicine has resulted in a rationing of care. Governments have found themselves limiting access to services and establishing waiting lists. In Canada, patients wait an average of 27.9 weeks just to see an ophthamologist after referral by their GP ( http://www.fraserinstitute.org/researchandpublications/publications/2548.aspx )

Americans will end up with higher costs and less care as it is rationed."

Real? Or just fear-mongering? Those in favor of government-provided insurance and care say this is nonsense, and point to anecdotal incidences of friends receiving care in Canada and finding it just fine.

So let's stop talking "what ifs...," and look at Current Reality:

The H1N1 vaccine *is* a socialized, government program. The shot is free.
It is also in short supply everywhere, and doses are restricted to only the most at-risk patients. Conversely, the usual vaccinations, provided by the market, are readily available.

The Federal Government recently funded a study released by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which recommended that women of average breast cancer risk start mammograms at age 50, not 40, and have them every two years rather than annually. Breast Cancer is currently the leading form of cancer in women. Many of us know women who are alive today because they caught a vigorous form of breast cancer early (including my own mother).

But now, the feds are recommending that women reduce their preventative mammograms. Meanwhile, page 1,190 of the House health care bill specifically states that Government Insurance shall not pay for preventative care that exceeds the Task Force's guidelines - even though NOT ONE member of the Task Force specialized in cancer or women's health!

There is the reality of Socialized Medicine. Rationing. Less Care. But we can all feel 'good' because Government is Caring for us, right?

Health Care needs reform - but this bill must be defeated.

And if it is passed, it needs to be repealed.