Brushfire of Freedom 

Ram Rants

If you’ve spent any time reading newspapers or watching any of the state-run media, you’ve most likely heard that Congress is paralyzed because of “partisan gridlock”.  They try to convince us that the reason Obamacare is not yet law is because the evil GOP has blocked the “noble” liberals at every turn.  If only the GOP would just get on board with the program, we could save the planet, pass health care, give everyone a job, and bring peace to the universe.

I need to raise the “Bullshit” flag here.

The GOP does not have enough votes to block anything, in either side of Congress.  Republicans can not be held accountable for the failures of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid because they lack the power.  They lack the power to stop Democrats, they lack the power to enact new legislation, they lack the power to even amend the bills presented.  Please take a look back through the past year’s debates and discussions on Obamacare.  Each and every amendment presented by Republicans for either of the bills that have already passed were summarily rejected by the votes of Democrats.  

Liberals demonstrated that they had the power to make these bills whatever they wanted.  They passed both bills. They passed them the way the wanted to, with back-room discussions and vote buy-outs.  You did not see pay-offs to GOP Senators for their vote to pass the health care bills.  The “Louisiana Purchase” is a deal for a Democrat to buy a Democrat vote in the Senate.  The “Cornhusker Kickback” is another deal for a Democrat to break the democrat-led filibuster.  Chris Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat, got what he wanted so he would vote for the bill.  Everything that has happened around this health care debate has been defined and driven by the Democrats in both houses of Congress.

Ok, maybe not just Democrats.

There is another factor that seems to be having some impact on the health care debate, and on other topics and debates flowing through our government.  If you recall just a few years ago there was an attempt by the Bush administration to push through an amnesty bill to give illegal immigrants in this country a “free pass” to citizenship.  In effect, we would be rewarding criminal behavior.  This caught fire in the US, and people began calling, writing, visiting, and basically demanding that their representatives, well, represent them.  The end result was a “gridlock” and the amnesty bill eventually died.  It was a slow and painful death but it became clear to the politicians of both parties that passing amnesty would mean the loss of their jobs.  Since all politicians really love the sweet retirement packages, killer perks, and pseudo fame they get with their office, they were inclined to act in a self-preserving manner and stand against amnesty.  In other words, the will of The People was enacted.

The same can be said for the health care bill.  You most likely recall the town halls from this past summer, where Congressional representatives were assaulted with questions about cost, impact to the economy, impact to health care, and other specific questions regarding the legislation.  The House bill (HR 3200), which had already passed in the House, was quoted and commented on and representatives were asked to account for the things they had voted for in the House.  Several Democrats began canceling town halls, or restricting access, to prevent embarrassment in these open, and often televised, public events.

The Tea Party sprang up, and millions of people filled the streets around state capitals and federal offices to make it clear to their representatives that they were not interested in socialized medicine. Despite the clearly biased negative media coverage, the American People were speaking as one voice and they were saying “HELL NO!”  The result was the passage of the Senate bill.  The Senators made a bet that The People would forget their betrayal and they could cheat the people and still keep their jobs.

They were very wrong.

January came and The People spoke again in Massachusetts.  A Republican was elected to the seat previously held by “The Liberal Lion” of the Senate, the late Teddy Kennedy (Philanderer, Chappaquiddick).  The specific reasons given by the voters for this dramatic shift was the vote buy-outs, back-room deals, and underhanded methods used to pass the Senate health care bill.  Senators realized they made a mistake and their reaction was telling.  Many Democrat Senators have announced that they will not seek another term in the coming elections.  They are convinced that they will lose their seats in an open election as the result of their stance on health care.  They could not be more right.

Now, nearly two months after Senator Brown was elected in Massachusetts, we’ve seen the Congress come to a screeching halt on health care.  Many Democrats blame the GOP, but it is their own party that holds up progress.  The Republicans have little power to stop anything.  But The People have flexed their muscle and are beginning to fight back.  It is The People that are voicing their opinions and holding their representatives accountable.  It is The People that are pushing for some basic common sense on this issue.  It is The People that are trying to drive this nation away from socialism.  And it is The People that will hold every single representative who fails them accountable in the November 2010 elections.  Politicians really love the sweet retirement packages, killer perks, and pseudo fame they get with their office.  They are often inclined to act in a self-preserving manner.  Some of them are standing against Obamacare.  But this gridlock, this freezing of the legislative process is not their doing.  This is The People’s Gridlock.  And that is as it should be.

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Copyright 2010.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

 Brushfire of Freedom 

Ram Rants

In stunning evidence that our public education systems are failing our children, a recent Rasmussen survey indicated that just 53% of Americans believe capitalism is better than socialism.  In fact, 33% of adults under 30 believe socialism is better than capitalism.  That’s one-third for those of you who attended Berkley.

Let’s ignore for a moment the fact that most socialist governments become totalitarian regimes that repress and destroy the population.  Let’s ignore the fact that socialism has failed in virtually every incarnation, in every country where it’s been tried.  That includes the United States, where initial efforts at socialism during our colonization nearly destroyed the colonies before they got off the ground.  If you’d like a more recent example, check out Detroit.  About the only good thing about their drift into socialism is the fact that you can buy a Detroit home right now for about $1.00.  

Let’s ignore the fact that America, as a capitalist society, has been a world leader for many decades, and that our rise to that position was nearly instantaneous when compared to other nations who have led the world.  

Socialism sux for two main reasons.                            

First, in order for socialism to work, we would have to see the evolution of the Socialist Man (or Woman).  This would be a person that is just as willing, or even more so, to work as hard to support their neighbor as they are to support themselves.  We’re not talking about family here, we’re talking about the guy in the next county or in a different state.  The Socialist Man (or Woman) enjoys supporting the faceless “them” without any compensation for themselves.  

For those of you who think you are the Socialist Man (or Woman), please feel free to send an email to Brushfire.  We will be happy to make arrangements to collect some or all of your paychecks.  Yes, that’s exactly what it means.  You just keep working, we’ll relieve you of the burden of that nasty old money.  And thanks for being the Socialist Man (or Woman).

Reality check.  People in general are not wired that way.  We all, at some point, no matter how much we like to serve others, do expect, and are motivated by, some form of personal compensation for our efforts.  Translation for those who went to Berkley, people like to get paid.

Barring the evolution of the Socialist Man (or Woman), there is a second reason why socialism sux.  Enter Ludwig von Mises, a guy you should have studied in school but were probably too busy trying to finish that paper on Marx.  Ludwig was a philosopher and economist from Austria.  At 12 he spoke three languages and could read Latin as well. He received his doctorate from the University of Vienna School of Law in 1906 at age 25.  For those of you into Objectivism, his New York seminars in the 1940’s were attended by Ayn Rand.  

As you might imagine, Ludwig was not a big fan of socialism.  It was his work that demonstrated the second reason socialism sux.  According to Ludwig, socialism, “...would be disastrous for a modern economy because the absence of private ownership of land and capital goods prevents any sort of rational pricing, or estimate of costs...”. Again to help my friends educated at Berkley, under socialism you would lack an understanding of the fair-market value of products or services because there would be no fair market.  Socialism by definition erodes and eventually replaces the market structure and the valuation of production defined by the market.  As the market is eroded, cost and price structures begin to shift in random directions.  You get $600 toilet seats and free health care, as an example.

This is not a minor consequence of socialism.  One historic example of its impact can be seen in the fall of the Soviet Union.  With the elimination of the free market, the central planners had no idea how to value specific investments of the “people’s resources”.  A basic cost-value calculation was not possible because the pricing and costing structures, normally present in free markets, were absent from their government-controlled society.  The result was a distribution of effort and resources based on the views of the central planners, which became more focused on the maintenance of their comfortable life styles and less focused on the people they deemed to govern.  The government collapsed under the weight of its on self-serving practices in part because the leadership lacked the information needed to make rational, market-based decisions. 

So to pretend that socialism is as good as or better than capitalism is to ignore the facts regarding human nature and market mechanics.  There are few people who have crossed the face of this earth who could be said to be the Socialist Man (or Woman).  Without this type of personality as a dominate aspect of our culture, the chances for a successful implementation of socialism are dramatically reduced.  Those who think the evolution of the Socialist Man (or Woman) is a potential are simply ignoring human nature.  Even if such an evolution occurred, the onset of socialism would destroy the free market, crippling any governing body by reducing, and eventually eliminating, key data points needed to manage the government, national defense, and the companies that would be a part of their socialist society.  In other words, for those of you who attended Berkley, socialism sux.   

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Copyright 2010.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

 Brushfire of Freedom 

Ram Rants

Well, here we are about a year into the health care debate and we’ve made no real progress in resolving any of the issues raised by the American people.  Health care costs have not gone down, we’ve done little to address the shady tactics used by Nancy and Harry, and though the GOP managed to get two whole hours of discussion in at the “health care summit”, there’s been no real effort to listen to the minority input.  

Now Nancy is claiming she can have a “bipartisan” bill without having a bipartisan vote, Barry is calling for a simple majority vote (read “reconciliation”) on the health care bill, and Harry denies that he’s mentioned reconciliation, even though you can find his comments all over the internet.  

So the scramble is on again.  Fire up the nickelodeon my friends, it’s time for the latest episode of “The Keystone Kongress”.

For those of you who may not be familiar with this reference, the Keystone Kops were a comedy troupe in the early days of silent film.  They were most noted for their chaotic actions on screen, burning endless energy to no end, and blundering their way through various capers, jumping in the air, clutching their hats and falling over almost every aspect of the scenery.  

Since it’s inception in 2007, this Congress has been one consecutive hilarious blunder after another.  Who can forget the “Liargate” episode where Nancy insisted she knew nothing about the waterboarding that she had been briefed on just a few months earlier?  And what about the comical actions of Charlie “What Taxes?” Rangel, head of the Ways and Means committee?  Now that Chuck has been found guilty of violating ethics policies, Nancy says he should stay in his committee seat.  That’s just part of her “ethical” Congress.  I nearly split a gut on that one.

But the “Health Care” episodes have been some of the best.  We’ve had a multitude of artificial deadlines, each one more frantic than the previous, and each one blown past like a green flag at a NASCAR track (for you, Mrs. Palin).  This is true “Keystone” fashion.  You can almost see Harry and Nancy running along side the health care limo with Mary Landrieu franticly scrambling behind them, waving her check for $300M.  

Then there’s the health care “summit” from this past week.  While the GOP attempted to discuss the bills currently under consideration, Obama actually said they should put aside “props” and focus on health care.  What?!? (Insert surprised double-take here).  Then the hilarity ensued.  The Democrat President, who is pushing this policy item as a key to his political agenda, said his time did not count in the debate because he was the President.  A note to those of you not familiar with some basic political practices.  The President is considered the de facto head of his party while he serves.  Bush was the head of the Republican party for both terms.  Barry is the head of the Democrat party.  But he’s not a Democrat?  

Now we are in another rush to “get health care done” for the American people.  That same health care that the majority of Americans now say they don’t want.  If you had visited any town halls last year, you would know that many Americans are more than a little concerned about not only the proposals, but the approach.  The vote for Scott Brown in Massachusetts was an indication of the dissatisfaction of the American people.  Many who voted for Brown gave their reasons as the shady deals, back room discussions, and payoffs for votes that were part of the current health care process.  They did not want another Democrat in the Senate to perpetuate those practices.

Nancy’s response?  More back room deals, more payoffs for votes, more double-speak and deception.  Just what the people did not want.  Harry denies saying things he said just a few days earlier.  There are plans to “ram through” the current proposals, using methods that some consider unconstitutional, and most, including Nancy and Barry, consider an abuse of power.  Well, at least they did when they were in the minority.  

And so the scramble continues.  They rush about, trying to “find votes”, while explaining that this is what we, the American people, want despite our protests to the contrary.  When Nancy falls, Harry runs past to keep things moving.  When Harry falls, Barry steps in and picks up the hat.  Then Barry hands the hat to Nancy and they start all over.  For over a year they have tried to force the American people to accept socialized medicine as the solution for the health care “crisis”.  They scramble about as if we will all die in the next few weeks if they do not pass some type of legislation.

We can almost hear the laugh tracks now each time Nancy steps up to the microphone.  A bipartisan measure does not require a bipartisan vote.  An ethical Congress does not require leaders to behave in an ethical manner.  Referring to a person’s race as a defining factor of their character is not racism.  Not to be left out of the scene, Barry tells the GOP that the budget issues regarding health care are just “talking points”.    

Yes, it’a all part of the show my friends.  The Democrats are scrambling because they know time is running out.  We are less than 250 days from the next election.  Many Democrats have already decided not to run again in 2010.  Others can sense their pending ouster at the hands of an increasingly dissatisfied American electorate.  But no matter.  The show must go on!  This is it!  Without this bill, gazillions of Americans will die in days!  The earth will stop spinning!  The country will collapse!  We can not, in good conscience, allow this opportunity to pass!  It is clearly time for action.  Some action is better than none, even if it is in the wrong direction, opposed by everyone, and causes all of them to fall flat on their faces.  But, that is the way of the Keystone Kongress.                      

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Copyright 2010.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

 Brushfire of Freedom 

Ram Rants

Just about a month ago, many Americans were celebrating the incredible election victory by Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts.  Senator Brown managed to win the US Senate seat perviously held by Ted Kennedy, so you would have to recognize at least a marginal shift from extreme left to somewhat right in Massachusetts.  The celebration was warranted for many reasons, not the least of which was the slight change in the power structure in the US Senate.  Without the 60-vote super majority, Liberals, led by Harry Reid, might have a more difficult time passing Obama’s agenda.

Brown’s election was also a bell-weather indicator of a shift in political winds in the US overall.  If Massachusetts, a state not exactly considered moderate, could swing so far right in such a short time, there might be some troubles for Democrats in the coming 2010 elections.  Seats that were thought to be a certain Democrat victory this year were re-evaluated in light of Brown’s election.  Several Democrats had already decided not to run, and others have stepped aside since Brown took his oath.  Things in America appear to be shifting to the right, at least politically.  

Then there was the declaration of death for health care reform.  Everyone from Barnie Frank to the Democrat press corps was declaring that health care reform would never pass the Senate now that Brown had been elected.  After all, he had run on the position that he would vote against the government take over of health care.  There was no way that either the House or Senate bill could be passed through the Senate without 60 votes.

That was January.  Now, in February, it appears that the idea of Socialized Medicine has gained new life.  You have the feint from Obama to bring the GOP to the table, then Liberals have continued to negotiate behind closed doors and in smoke filled rooms to resurrect some or all of the health care nightmare.  There’s talk of the infamous reconciliation to avoid the need for 60 votes in the Senate.  Now we have Harry Reid claiming he’ll have Socialized Medicine passed in the next 60 days.  You’d think he would have learned about time lines by now.  Do these Liberals ever give up? 

In a word, No.

This is not the first time Liberals, leveraging the Democrat party, have tried to socialize America’s health care system.  You’re most likely aware of “Hillarycare” from the ’90’s, the Clinton administration’s attempt to put the government in charge of your health care plan.  It had some similarities with Obamacare, including single payer (government paid), required purchases and policies, and of course the back room development process.  

The fact that the infamous “back room” is where most of these nightmares are created should be a clue.  They convene Liberal party members in secret locations, pay off opponents, negotiate compromises, and create a 2,000+ page bill that most people, including the authors, can not understand.  Hillary did it.  Harry is doing it.  If the “secret panel” is necessary, can they be doing anything good? 

Then of course you have the efforts made during the “great society” days.  The Liberals stopped short of socialized medicine at that point, but we got Medicare and Medicaid, both government health care plans.  Both are, according to Obama, in danger of bankruptcy and fraught with corruption.  They are, by any real measure, failures.  

Hey, give the Liberals credit for persistence, they’ve not given up their desire to turn this great nation into a Socialist “paradise”.  Even after the election of Scott Brown.  Even after Obama’s position in the polls has dropped to new lows.  Even after Democrats have plummeted to record lows in the polls.  Even after the protests, the Tea Parties, the phone calls, the emails, the faxes, the Town Halls.  Even after the voice of the People remains a persistent roar in Washington D.C.  Even after all of this, the Liberals are bent on passing their plan for Socialized Medicine.

But Why?

Well, once they get you on the government dole, it’s very hard to kill the program.  That’s why we still have Social Security, which was supposedly a temporary plan.  It’s why we still have Welfare programs, food stamps, and other government hand outs.  Once they begin to gather their constituency to the government trough, it takes a near miracle to close it off.  It is often necessary to take drastic steps, like the spending freezes that Gov. Christy is implementing in New Jersey, and you can see the outcry from Liberals within hours of his announcement.  

They create these programs to create dependency.  That is the purpose behind the health care “reform”.  Don’t believe me?  If they were really planning to reform health care, why not address the issues one at a time?  If cost is the problem, let’s craft a plan that will truly reduce costs, i.e. real competition across state lines.  If you want to prevent denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions, pass a law that requires health insurers to define a policy that addresses this part of the population.  Reform does not mean replacement.  But because Liberals want to replace health care, it’s clear that reform is not their goal.  

With all that, there is only one key fact you should keep in mind this week and for the next two months.  Because Harry will not let the Senate bill die.  Because Nancy will not let the House bill die.  Because they have invested a great deal of political sweat, and because they believe that once they cement control they can not, and will not, lose their power, they will force this monstrosity on us no matter our protests.  When it comes to Obamacare, it’s back.   

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Copyright 2010.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.

 Brushfire of Freedom 

Ram Rants

This is a story of a world-wide hoax that began nearly 30 years ago.  A hoax that has cost billions, if not trillions, of dollars.  A hoax that has been used to keep third-world countries in the third world.  It has cost lives, crushed economies, and crippled industries.

The hoax is “Global Warming”.  

First you should know that a hoax is a humorous or malicious deception.  This one certainly falls in the “malicious” category.  It is a purposeful act, not a series of errors.  In legal terms, it is “malfeasance” meaning an act is committed that is considered improper or illegal.  It denotes action taken, not events that occur.  So the idea that the entire global warming hoax was actually just a big mistake on the part of hundreds of scientists, journalist, and politicians is simply inaccurate.  The actions taken to perpetuate this hoax required that individuals and corporations actively and knowingly participated in the process.  This is why it is a hoax and not just a mistake.

So is this some type of conspiracy to bring about the destruction of the world?  Not really.  It’s more about the money.  There’s a lot of money in the “green energy” industry.  You’ve got the money in the various alternate power sources, including wind (hot air), solar (hot air), and ethanol (hot gas) to name a few.  Billions of dollars have gone into these various energy industries.  Most have little if any potential to make a significant contribution to the overall energy supply.  So the government has, and continues to, subsidize these industries because, without the government money, they probably would fail.  To keep the money coming they have to continuously raise the alarm of “global warming” so that they can justify their existence, get the grants, and stay in business.  

There’s also the actual “climate science” industry.  These are the guys who have been “researching” the effect of greenhouse gasses on our climate.  Well, researching is a bit of a stretch.  It’s more like they’ve been manufacturing the effect of the gasses on our climate.  Professor Phil Jones, the main man on climate in the UK and one of the key to the UN’s role, has admitted that his data has, well, gone missing.  There are of course the emails that detail his efforts to hide his data, his refusal to provide the data to other researchers, and his continued efforts to stifle all dissenting views of his “theories”.  

A brief pause here.  I’m using a lot of quote sin this little article and for good reason.  Words like “theory” and “research” have actual meanings.  They are defined by specific parameters and, when placed in the context of academics or science, denote specific processes and precautions.  Mr. Jone’s statement that his records have “gone missing” is an indication that he never really applied any of the rigor required to identify his work as “research”.  Thus calling his work, or its results, “research” is like saying Obama is “post-racial”. 

Mr. Jones has stated that there has been no global warming since 1995.  If you do that math, that’s 15 years.  When this little hoax first fired off, we had just 20 years to save the planet from the destruction that we were creating.  Man was the enemy of the planet.  Our cars, our power plants, our very existence and its advances were the reason that we would become extinct, taking precious “mother earth” with us as we went. Now, nearly 30 years into the game, and we find out that really the earth has not been warming at all, much less warming due to man’s evil existence.  In fact, Mr. Jones is now saying that there have been warming events earlier than 1984, even back in the middle ages, but not caused by SUV’s because, well, they didn’t HAVE SUV’s in the middle ages.

So what?  One scientist that was a supporter of “global warming theory” has changed his tune.  No big deal, right?

Wrongo.

Our boy Phil was (before his recent resignation) THE MAN at the East Anglia University Climate Research Unit.  It was his charts, graphs and reports that became the basis of the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) at the UN.  You see, the IPCC does not carry out its own research, but relies on the work of other “scientists” like Phil, or the random advocacy group like the World Wildlife Fund.  The IPCC is headed by Mr R.K. Pachauri  who, in 2007, shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore for their work on “climate change” awareness.  So, it could be said that Phil’s work won a Nobel Prize for Al Gore, and even bagged an Academy Award for “Father Al”.  

Still could be an accident, right?  Well, if you go through some of the “climategate” emails, you will see the efforts put forth by Phil and his cohorts to hide what was rapidly becoming an evident truth.  They stifled articles by other scientists who questioned their conclusions.  They used stalling tactics to prevent the release of their “data” for independent study.  They attacked those who questioned their position, calling them “deniers” and saying the science was “settled”.  Much like the “flat earthers” of earlier times, these “warm earthers” have created results that fit their theories, and refuse to allow any challenges.  Unlike real scientists, they choose to avoid the pursuit of the truth because, well, there’s no real money in it.  They would lose millions in grants, lose a lot of prestige, and all those invites to really cool parties would just dry up.

So they perpetuate the hoax, sticking to their manufactured facts even as they resign their posts.  The recent record levels of snow around the globe are solid evidence of “global warming”.  Their position regarding the melting and eventual disappearance of the Himalayan glaciers may have been wrong, but they were right overall.  The polar bears are dying off, even as all evidence indicates their populations are expanding.  They’ve been wrong over, and over, and over, yet they continue to stick to their story and try to find ways to perpetuate the lies.

Record global snows (check).  Record low temperatures (check).  Missing (or lost) “data” (check).  Evidence of tampering (check).  Evidence of obfuscation (check).  Evidence of obstruction (check).  Continuing to lie in the face of the truth (check).  Houston, we have a hoax.         

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Copyright 2010.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.