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POPSCrisis, is a friend of the "State" Crisis is the friend of the State. The politicians are desperate to be seen as "showing leadership," so we're surely in for a new round of government interventions. Watch for the equivalent of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. There'll be much posturing about how the new regulations "will keep this from ever happening again," but that's more nonsense because the root problem is not lack of regulation. It's government social engineering of the housing market, which will be unchanged. This is the path to stagnation and poverty. As Nobel Laureate F.A. Hayek taught, markets are too complicated for planners to know enough to plan them. The relevant information, scattered unspoken among billions of market participants, is beyond the bureaucrats' reach. We do need protection from reckless businessmen. But there is only one way to provide that: market discipline. That means: no privileges, and no bailouts.
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POPSThe Party's Over - Pat Buchanan A true conservative cherishes prudence and believes in fiscal responsibility, balanced budgets and a self-reliant republic. He believes in saving for retirement and a rainy day, in deferred gratification, in not buying on credit what you cannot afford, in living within your means. Is that really what got Wall Street and us into this mess -- that we followed too religiously the gospel of Robert Taft and Russell Kirk? "Government must save us!" cries the left, as ever. Yet, who got us into this mess if not the government -- the Fed with its easy money, Bush with his profligate spending, and Congress and the SEC by liberating Wall Street and failing to step in and stop the drunken orgy? For years, we Americans have spent more than we earned. We save nothing. Credit card debt, consumer debt, auto debt, mortgage debt, corporate debt -- all are at record levels. And with pensions and savings being wiped out, much of that debt will never be repaid.
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POPSWill Digital Distribution Kill Game Stores? There are plenty of gamers in the world who would delight at the failure of stores like GameStop -- they're frequently criticized and disliked. But it's important to keep in mind that digital distribution also indicates that the game may well come loaded down with DRM -- and that it's harder, if not impossible, to resell it or install it on another computer.
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POPSPastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Civil Forum
McCain added the two appointments Alito and Roberts are his recent favorites. When asked does evil exist and if so how would handle it? Ignore it, negotiate with it, confront it or defeat it Obama: verbose, wordy ..... he would confront it but also equivocated on what evil is. "We have to have some humility on the issue on the of confronting". Evil has been been committed in the pursuit of good. *sigh* McCain: "DEFEAT IT" huge applause. McCain went on to describe Radical Islam as the greatest threat of the 21at century. He said he would pursue bin Laden “to the gates of Hell,” Gotta love that. Obama's most important advisers: Michelle (the "proud" wife, the grandmother "a typical white person", and then a bumch of politicians - Ted Kennedy, Nunn, Biden et al McCain's most important advisers: Gen. David Petreaus, head of US troops in Iraq; US Rep. and veteran civil rights leader John Lewis, D-Ga.; and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, a top adviser to his campaign.
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POPSAmerica Finally Getting Sick and Tired of Hearing About Barack Obama They aren’t talking about the fact that it was Obama who first trotted out the race card by suggesting we’d all be scared into submission by Republican assertions that Obama didn’t “look like all those other guys on the dollar bills.” As even more complete picture of the candidate begins to emerge, the number of Americans expressing doubt about Obama increases. In the Illinois State Senate Obama sponsored bills to provide universal health care coverage, drastically increase welfare, handcuff the police and burden them with administrative overhead, make it more difficult and time consuming for law-abiding citizens to purchase lawfully-regulated firearms for self-defense and generally expand government, welfare, affirmative action and other entitlement programs. By all accounts, Ms. Hilton’s energy policy, is in fact, more comprehensive than Obama’s, which focuses almost exclusively on the development of petroleum alternatives, tune-ups and tire pressure checks.
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POPS Arrogance Watch Elevating the issue of Obama's arrogance two or three notches higher, Dana Milbank writes in Wednesday's Washington Post: Fresh from his presidential-style world tour, during which foreign Obama settled down to some presidential-style business in Washington Then, he went up to Capitol Hill to be adored by House Democrats in a presidential-style pep rally. Along the way, he traveled in a bubble more insulating than the actual president's. Traffic was shut down for him as he zoomed about town in a long, presidential-style motorcade, while the public and most of the press were kept in the dark about his activities, which included a fundraiser at the Mayflower where donors paid $10,000 or more to have photos taken with him.
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POPSAs Pelosi Tries to 'Save the Planet,' GOP Criticizes Drilling Ban She could do a lot to 'save the planet' if she would help the US become energy independent. And furthermore, I think the "planet" issue is huge hubris on her part. Boehner is correct; they are trying to run out the clock" and wait to see which way the election goes. Purely a political play and an insult to the Americans they *claim* so sanctimoniously to represent.
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POPSWar Zero Nothing Honorable About the Vietnam War
Between one and two million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans were sent to their deaths by a succession of presidents and Congresses–fed to the flames of greed, hubris, and stupidity. The event used to justify starting the war–the Tonkin Gulf “incident”–never happened. The Vietnam War’s ideological foundation, the mantra cited to keep it going, was disproved after we lost. No Southeast Asian “dominos” fell to communism. To the contrary, the effect of the U.S. withdrawal was increased stability. When genocide broke out in neighboring Cambodia in the late 1970s, it was not the U.S., but a unified Vietnamese army–the evil communists–who stopped it. Not even General Wesley Clark, shot four times in Vietnam, is allowed to question the McCain-as-war-hero narrative. “Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president,” he argued. The Obama campaign, which sells its surrogates down the river with alarming regularity, promptly hung the former
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POPSReid rejects Bush call to lift drilling moratorium No surprise here; same ol' , same ol'. What surprises me is Markey's comments. What hubris! "Drill, drill, drill...." hasn't happened!!!!! Of course, Reid, Markey, and such will not have problems filling their gas tanks, fueling their homes, feeding their families....
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POPSAesop: DE RANA ET VULPE The frog said goodbye to her swamp and adopted a new mode of life, and quite puffed up with pride she went into the forest. Girded round with the beasts' wreaths of honor, she professed publicly the art of medicine, declaring which herbs which are useful in curing the body's diseases, shouting that she was more worthy of honor than Galen or Hippocrates. The gullible animal kingdom easily put their trust in the frog - except only for the fox, who laughed at the boasting frog. "You witless and giddy creature! Why do you babble such foolish things? Why do you assume this worthy art which you know absolutely nothing about? Sickly green and pale - look at your own lips: why don't you just go home and cure yourself, doctor! And then you might come back to us, when we may perhaps expect something more useful from you." The frog said nothing in response, but groaned with quiet sighs, and all the woods resounded with the laughter of the beasts.
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POPSSeneca: Papulas observatis alienas, obsiti plurimis ulceribus There are people who are critical of some small fault in others (a pimple) while seeming to be oblivious to enormous faults of their own (innumerable ulcers). Probably the most famous example of this type of saying is the famous passage in the Gospels, as here in Matthew: Quid autem vides festucam in oculo fratris tui et trabem in oculo tuo non vides? Aut quomodo dicis fratri tuo "sine; eiciam festucam de oculo tuo" et ecce trabis est in oculo tuo? Hypocrita! eice primum trabem de oculo tuo et tunc videbis eicere festucam de oculo fratris tui. And why seest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye; and seest not the beam that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: Let me cast the mote out of thy eye; and behold a beam is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
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POPSShock & Awe: The Barbarians are at the Gate! In the grand scheme of REAL civilization what will be remembered? The looting of the oil or the the destruction of the remains of a glorious civilization? Who gave the order to protect the Oil Ministry while encouraging/allowing the destruction of priceless antiquities by mindless looters as US troops looked on with tacit approval and all live on TV. Barbarians and Vandals gave the orders. Real crimes against our humanity and all civilization. Well not in my name.
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POPSBush and Neoconservatives, Jacobins to the Core Powerful and revealing article, though dated, is a must read to understand the dangerous and psycopathic philosophy of the Bush administration, tracing its roots to the Jacobins of the French revolution who turned to overthrow the world next. Paul Craig Roberts is so good on this, and was in the Reagan administration too, so cannot be called a partisan attack.
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POPSAre men smarter than women? So women have a self-esteem problem? I'm not advocating for self-esteem training and therapy. I think that many of the self-help gurus argue incorrectly that improved self-esteem increases performance. Helping people to perform better increases their self esteem. Giving a kind of carte blanche to self-esteem isn't a good idea in my mind. Rather, I think it should be that increased performance and feedback on the causes of that performance, ability or effort raises self-esteem. As I said, in primary and secondary schools, girls are outperforming boys. And where appropriate, their self-beliefs, hopefully, are increasing.
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POPSThe Bush Tragedy Jacob Weisberg uncovers the twisted, storied (and thoroughly American) histories behind the pedigreed, genteel Bush and the brash, opulent Walker clans, whose 1921 marriage-merger generated unparalleled political fame and fortune, producing an "exploding blob" of successful, well-heeled, multi-named white men—culminating, of course, in the 41st and 43rd presidents of the United States. A product of his Ivy League upbringing, academic and corporate shortcomings, and unseemly familial wranglings, Weisberg traces the root cause of W.'s presidential failings to his life-long jealousy of his father's successes and petulant opposition to everything the reserved, prudent, self-deprecating patriarch represented. It's a fascinating character study as well as a sad tale of hubris, backstabbing, and inescapable downfall, magnified by his position as leader of the free world.
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POPSPrivate Happiness, Public Gloom See Hannah Arendt's 'Human Condition' for a brilliant analysis of the decline of the public. Ultimately, the celebration and wallowing in personal fulfilment represent the depoliticisation of society, the abnegation of personal power and a fearful atomised defence mechanism in a world perceived to be hostile and all-powerful.
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POPSImpending Destruction of US Economy Economist and former assistant treasury secretary in the Reagan administration does not mince words. Recall that some Wall Street firms this week finally issued a warning of coming recession. Roberts points out just who Washington and the Fed will support--and it will not be you, the American citizen or taxpayer.
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