My 15 Seconds of Fame on The Independent Film Channel
Category: News and Politics
In August I had my My 15 Minutes of Fame on "The Blog Bunker" and now my 15 seconds of fame on The Independent Film Channel. I appear at about 1:35. I am having trouble embedding the video. Here is the link to the video at IFC (high quality):
The Childish Actions of the Republican Party
Current mood: disgusted
Category: News and Politics
I have not wasted my time watching any of the meaningless Republican National Convention this week. But the reports I am reading about what took place during the roll call vote for President are totally disgusting.
According to the reports I am reading, with a few exceptions, any votes that were cast for anyone other than John McCain were not announced. Here is excerpt of an email I received from a very reliable person:
A few observations:
1) With the exception of AK, UT, and I believe ID, each of the states announced their votes for McCain only. AK announced five for Ron Paul. UT announced two for Romney. ID announced six for Ron Paul.
2) If votes went for RP, they were not announced. Perfect example being Pawlenty of MN. He announced that 35 of 41 votes when for McCain. He failed to mention that the other six were for Ron Paul. I am being told that Barb Davis White was not in attendance and therefore did not cast her vote for Ron Paul.
3) The RNC Secretary failed on numerous times to acknowledge the votes from the floor. Examples being PA and WV. PA announced 73 of 74 for McCain. The Secretary then repeated "74 from PA for McCain." The same thing happened when WV announced 28 of 30 for McCain. The Secretary then said "30 for McCain."
My disgust for the GOP is about as high as it could possibly get. Could they be any more childish? Purposely misreporting the vote to have the appearance of unanimity. This is the type of thing they would have done in the Soviet Union.
Here is a an excerpt from an article on The Oklahoman newspaper website:
Ron Paul supporters in Oklahoma's Republican National Convention delegation remain disappointed today because no one heard the U.S. House member from Texas receive two of Oklahoma's votes.
The microphone was cut off Wednesday night before U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, could announce the Oklahoma delegation's vote.
All but two of Oklahoma's 41 delegates voted for Republican Party nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain. Delegates Paul Clayton of McAlester and Robert Demarest of Talihina voted for Paul, who had sought the GOP presidential nomination.
Oklahoma's vote was announced in the Xcel Energy Center as all 41 votes going to McCain. Inhofe tried to get the attention of convention organizers so he could correct the mistake and announce the correct tally.
Convention workers eventually said that couldn't be done, possibly because the convention was running late. It was about 11 p.m. when it was Oklahoma's turn to announce its vote in the second round. Several states including Oklahoma abstained on the first round so that McCain's home state of Arizona could announce the vote that would allow him to receive the nomination. Then the roll call resumed with the states that had abstained going in alphabetical order.
At least Senator Inhofe has some common decency, which is more than can be said for the rest of the GOP "leadership".
Contrary to the impression given in the mainstream media and by the Bush Administration, Georgia does not have clean hands in this conflict.
Russia Today talked to Joe Mestas, an American citizen living in South Ossetia, who witnessed everything that happening in the region. Mestas talks about Georgia starting the war and how Georgia is mistreating the people of South Ossetia.
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Here 12 year old Amanda Kokoeva from California who was in South Ossetia when Georgia started bombing appears on Fox News. When Amanda and her Aunt describe how Georgia stated the war and when they thank Russia for coming to their aid, all of a sudden Fox needs to break for a commercial.
Last October I posted Indian Trusts - The Historical Accounting Project about the lawsuit over the Federal Government's mismanagement of revenue that were supposed to be held in trust for Native Americans who owned land that was leased for oil and other natural resources.
The government cannot account for these revenues. In a horrendous ruling U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson ruled that the government only owes 1% of what the Native American plaintiffs were seeking.
Robertson said the there was no evidence of the "prodigious pilfering of assets from within the trust system" that the Indian plaintiffs had claimed and that they failed to prove the government used any money from the fund for its own benefit.
Instead, the judge accepted the Interior Department's position that it was 99 percent confident that no more than $455.6 million was missing from the trust fund.
So the judge put the burden of proof on the Native Americans. But it is the government that committed negligence by not maintaining the necessary accounting records. Just another case that proves that we should not trust the government.
Here is a video on the case:
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Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit against the government and a member of Montana's Blackfeet tribe said they would appeal the ruling.
My 15 Minutes of Fame on "The Blog Bunker"
Category: News and Politics
This past Wednesday I was a guest on the Sirius Satellite Radio show "The Blog Bunker". The show is hosted by Joe Salzone and is on the Indie Talk channel.
I was initially contacted by a post on my Preserving Freedom blog. Being the cautious type, I did some checking around to assure my self that the offer to appear on the show was legitimate. Once I had, I responded and worked with the show's Alexandra Di Trolio to set up a time for my appearance. Since I am not a subscriber to Sirius, I was not familiar with the show. Alexandra was quite helpful in giving me an idea what to expect. Still as the show time got closer, I started to get a little nervous.
Once on the show I thought things went well, Joe Salzone the host was easy to talk to and asked me questions on things I blog about. Specifically we talked about the effect of third parties in this election, Bob Barr and the proper role of government.
So if you blog and you get offered to be on the show, I say go for it. I'd do it again if asked.
Shoot at Innocent Family, Get Medal for Valor
Category: News and Politics
Gotta love the balls of the Minneapolis Police, they raid the wrong house, exchange gunfire with the innocent homeowner, scare innocent children, blame it on bad information from an informant and then give an award to the SWAT team that raided the place.
This all happened seven months ago and the police apparently still haven't held anyone accountable for this potentially deadly mistake. Unfortunately these "botched raids" are not all that uncommon and many do result in innocents dying (see Kathryn Johnston).
Eight Minneapolis police officers who raided the wrong house last year have been honored for their valor — and that's outraged a family that was shot at multiple times by the officers.
Three officers involved in the Dec. 16 raid received medals of valor from Police Chief Tim Dolan on Monday. Five others got medals of commendation.
Yee Moua said her family is "a mess right now," and her 9-year-old son, who saw the shooting, "still has nightmares and has needed therapy."
Police entered the home last December expecting to find a violent gang member. Instead, they found a 35-year-old homeowner, Vang Khang, who thought he was being robbed. Khang grabbed his shotgun to protect his six children and he shot at the officers through a bedroom door until he realized they were police.
The officers, members of the Minneapolis Police Department's SWAT team, were wearing protective gear and were not injured. But they returned fire.
Members of the family also were not physically injured. But the house was left filled with bullet holes and broken glass. Two days later, Dolan apologized and started an internal investigation to find out how the SWAT team wound up in an innocent family's house.
The investigation found the team had gone there looking for a gang member's guns after an informant gave investigators bad information. The investigation is ongoing, but Dolan said the SWAT officers have been cleared. Authorities are still looking into how the case was handled before the raid.
A Republic Not a Democracy
Current mood: strong
Category: News and Politics
(Thanks to Naomia who posted this video as a bulletin a few days ago)
A great video explaining various forms of government. The Founders feared and loathed democracy. The Founders established a republic. Rarely do you hear that from modern politicians because they either don't understand the difference or they don't want the restriction of a Constitutional Republic. I believe in most cases it is the later.
It baffles me why so many people accept the idea that democracy is a good thing, that some how the majority should decide things. As this video points out, a lynch mob is a democracy. A lynch mob is not a good thing.
This is the fallacy of collectivism or the common good. Once a government is set up for the common good, then no individual is safe, especially minorities or anyone different. If the government is set up for the common good, then an individual has lost their right to choose the life they wish. The individual no longer owns there life, they become a slave to the majority in society.
I am a minarchist, a believer in limited government. In an ideal world there would be no government, because none would be needed. Unfortunately there will always be those who seek to take advantage of others and this why we need some government.
With apologies to my no state friends I agree with this video that anarchy will inevitably lead to a totalitarian state taking over.
Subject: How things get too big to fail, and what to do about it
When the politicians created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac they claimed that these institutions would provide stability to the housing market. But neither the housing market nor Fannie and Freddie are stable. Instead, Fannie and Freddie have brought us fear, risk, and uncertainty to the tune of $5.3 trillion.
Only the monopoly we call the federal government has the power to create a $5.3 TRILLION risk.
In a true free market the business of secondary mortgages would've been handled by hundreds or thousands of competing entities. It would've been very unlikely that all these firms would have made the same mistakes at the same time. But our government created a situation where the secondary mortgage business is dominated by just two institutions, Fannie and Freddie, so that any mistakes these two firms make have the potential to harm everyone.
Combine this with a centralized money supply and centralized interest rates set by the Fed, as well as centralized rule making concentrated in Congress and the bureaucracy, and conditions are ripe for disaster.
Even in what's left of the free market economy government contracts and preferential policies help create businesses that are too big to fail. And so we constantly find ourselves at the mercy of the decisions of a small group of people running huge institutions that concentrate, rather than diversify, risk. Just a few mistakes by a few of these individuals can cause a cascade of disasters.
Things become too big to fail because the federal government makes them that way. Failures follow naturally from the concentration of decision making. Government bailouts immunize these "too big" institutions from the consequences of their decisions, thereby encouraging risky behavior. There's even a name for this phenomenon -- "moral hazard." Big mistakes with big consequences become very likely.
Who pays for all these mistakes? You do. Your savings will be damaged or destroyed, through losses and inflation. As a taxpayer, you'll foot the bill for bailouts that primarily benefit the people who made the mistakes.
What can we do about this? We must decentralize our economy by Downsizing DC. This will take time, but it must be done. What do we do in the short term? We must start by telling Congress what we want.
We may, at some point, have a campaign directed at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In the meantime, the proposed bailout of these monstrosities is going to increase the national debt and make it harder to deal with the future unfunded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare. For now, we can use our campaign on that subject to tell Congress what we think.
Use your personal comments to object to the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Remind Congress that it will increase the national debt. Tell Congress to downsize government involvement in banking, thereby reducing future risk from ventures that are "too big to fail." You can send your message here.
As co-founder and former leader of Greenpeace, I once opposed nuclear energy. But times have changed, and new facts of compelling importance have emerged - and so my views have changed as well, as have those of a growing number of respected, independent environmentalists around the world.
Climate change is now high on the global agenda, and I believe nuclear energy holds the greatest potential to arrest the dangers we face from global warming. It is the only non-greenhouse-gas-emitting power source capable of effectively replacing fossil fuels and satisfying growing demand.
Hydroelectric is largely built to capacity. And while other key renewable energy sources will play a growing role, wind and solar power are unreliable and intermittent.
Worldwide, nuclear energy is one of the safest industrial sectors. Here in North America, no one has been harmed in the entire history of civilian nuclear-power generation. Indeed, it's proven safer to work at a nuclear power plant than in the finance or real-estate sectors.
Another environmental benefit: Nuclear power plants improve air quality by reducing smog.
Nuclear energy also makes economic sense. The cost of producing nuclear energy in the United States is on par with coal and hydroelectric.
What about nuclear waste? The notion is misleading. This used fuel is not waste. After its first cycle, spent fuel still contains 95 percent of its energy. Future generations will be able to put this valuable resource to work, powering the country.
Nuclear energy is not a silver bullet - it alone can't meet all of our energy needs. But the path toward cleaner air lies in the reduction of fossil fuels in favor of a mix of nuclear and renewable energy.
A growing consensus among environmentalists, politicians, industry and labor groups, academics and community leaders strongly supports a move in that direction.
Here are some videos of Moore talking about nuclear energy:
Remember the Real Meaning of Independence Day
Category: News and Politics
Here is a commentary I wrote that was published in the Rochester Post Bulletin on June 29, 2007. I posted it on my blog a year ago, but I think it is worth repeating (I did update the number of years from last year):
This Fourth of July as we go about our activities with family and friends, we all should take some time to reflect upon the true significance of the holiday. Yes, it is a celebration of our country's Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, but it is much more than that. It is a celebration of an idea that was revolutionary then and unfortunately is still considered revolutionary by many today.
The Declaration of Independence boldly states: "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government ..."
This revolutionary declaration is the foundation of American political thought and has inspired millions around the world in the 232 years since Thomas Jefferson wrote it. The common view at the time was that rights were granted by the government to the people. Instead, Jefferson declared there is a higher law, "unalienable Rights," that every human has by their mere existence. Government only has those powers granted to it by the people, to protect these natural rights.
Unfortunately today it seems that many have rejected Jefferson's declaration and have returned to the antiquated idea of government supremacy. They define patriotism as supporting the government. Most disheartening of all are the discussions about the Constitution.
Political commentators, major party politicians and Supreme Court nominees talk about our "constitutional rights," as if the government were granting us our rights through the Constitution.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. In the Constitution, the founders again make it abundantly clear that all power comes from the people. The Constitution is a document where the people have granted the government certain limited powers: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Further, the Ninth Amendment declares: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." Because so many Americans have forgotten the fundamental idea behind the founding of this Country, today we have people willing to abandon our basic liberties, giving the government the power to do anything it wants.
They falsely assume that invasions of liberty and privacy will not affect them, though history has shown otherwise. Too many today are willing to abandon freedom for the illusion of security.
Benjamin Franklin said: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
This Fourth of July please take time out from the celebrations to reflect on the founders' vision for America.
disgusted
strong