On Negotiating

I retweeted this. Now I'm blogging it.

greenbacker: @miles_smit And by resorting to diplomacy with your mortal foe, you lose moral authority & give sanction to his desire to kill you. #tcot

On the Patriot Act and Violating the Constitution

I enjoyed this exchange yesterday on #tcot. @kaijuisme, feel free to leave your evidence in the comments for this post.

DDoutel: @Servius Bingo! The best of liars are those that can lie to themselves and believe it. #tcot

@DDoutel @DaveNF2G @kaijuisme They've fallen for the big lie. Having chanted Bush Lied, Bush Tore up the Const, they now believe it. #tcot

DDoutel: RT @DaveNF2G: @Servius Right on! Let's see the names of those defendants that @kaijuisme is so sure exist. #tcot

DaveNF2G: @Servius Right on! Let's see the names of those defendants that @kaijuisme is so sure exist. #tcot

Servius: @kaijuisme Prove it. Go find the law, look it up, and read it. Then post it. You can find my blog through my twitter page. #tcot

kaijuisme: @Servius No. I am talking about the Patriot Act, and its intent to combat "terrists". It has only been used against citizens. #

@kaijuisme But you're probably thinking of the laws enacted in the attempt to combat the drug trade. #tcot

Servius: @kaijuisme Find the citation and I'll believe it. Until then you're making it up. #tcot

kaijuisme: @Servius You do realize the Patriot Act allows the Feds to confiscate people's bank accounts, right? #tcot

Servius: @kaijuisme Oh, and you've never heard of FD (Let's confiscate everybody's gold) R #tcot

Servius: @kaijuisme I could say, "Only in your fevered imagination." #tcot

Servius: @kaijuisme Simply not true. #tcot

kaijuisme: @Servius Alien & Sedition Act was just one. Bush did more. Most of the Bill of Rights, except the 2nd Amendment. Trashed. #tcot

@kaijuisme You said "Bush did more to deny Constitutional freedoms than any other POTUS in history. " Now go read history and learn. #tcot

kaijuisme: @Servius "Alien & Sedition Acts?" Really. Can you say Red Herring? #tcot

kaijuisme: @Servius Compromise on freedom? Laughable. Bush did more to deny Constitutional freedoms than any other POTUS in history. #tcot

kaijuisme: @Servius Obama is about as centrist as they come. In your mind there is no road to compromise for the sake of America's success? #tcot

After decades of Keynse leading to our current problems...

The answer appears to be more Keynes.

When do we get to try having a truly free market? You know, stable money supply, less regulation, free trade, etc.

You know, free trade and free markets was essentially the idea that led us to separate from England. Why did we ever abandon it?

I know, the reformer has few allies in the status quo. But at a certain point how much failure of government intervention/mercantilism/socialism will it take before we try freedom again?

Bush Legacy

Commented on an article at Fox Forum.

In reply to: “…‘Bush Legacy”–a country facing its second great depression!”

The only real fault I have with President Bush is his approach to this recession. By “abandoning free market principles to save the free market” he has committed the Hoover/FDR fallacy: Massive interventions to prop up asset prices.

If we stop intervening and get government taxing, spending, and regulation out of the way, the market would recover from this recession within 6 months. To prevent this from happening in the future we need to control our monetary policy better.

Inflation causes booms and booms cause busts. Stop inflating the currency and we have neither booms nor busts. In a truly free market we would have steady growth, steady to rising wages and steady to falling prices.

Sadly, I fear with Obama coming in, we’ll have even more intervention which will cause the recession to drag on for another decade much like Hoover’s and then FDR’s interventions caused the depression to drag on for a decade.

A funny excerpt from a YouTube comment list

hannibalb3 wrote: "Anyone who questions global warming is automatically attacked by the modern hippy equivilance of the Medieval inquisition."

rockinchairmoney: Not true, all you denialist rite-wankers. It's true that the news is twisted to promote an agenda. Just look at all the fake War on Terror crap. Sure, there's a few terrorists, but not nearly as many as all rite-wankers and defence contractors would have us believe.

artmonkey2006: Can you POSSIBLY illustrate hannibalb3's point any more clearly? Or with more hilarious irony?