Ground State

I've been depressed by the election for some weeks now. As I watch the wild poll gyrations - I realize it is not the prospect of McCain losing that's depressing me. It's the realization that half the country, more or less, is equally at home with a candidate who despises America as one who has served it, however imperfectly, in unimaginably horrible circumstances.

If half the country believes the US is not special, that we should become just like the Europeans as quickly as possible, then I'm not sure it matters who wins the election. That's what depresses me. American is an idea. If that idea is not held by 50% of the population - what of the greatest nation on Earth?

We need more LEGAL immigration. We need the self-selected Americans.

From the St. Petersburg Times via Drudge Report.

From Reuters:

"The Secretary of Sate has rescinded the designation of the DPRK as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, effective immediately" McCormack told a news conference.

North Korea would also resume disablement of its nuclear facilities as part of the deal, he said.

President Bush assured us there would not be a nuclear North Korea on his watch. On his watch, the North Koreans have:

1) launched a 3-stage ballistic missile, which, with a working guidance system, could reach any point on the globe

2) tested a low-yield nuclear device which did detonate and generate fission products. It's clearly not a missile payload today - we can call it the 'cargo container' warhead - that's the most likely method for a North Korean customer to deliver it.

3) helped the Syrians build a nuclear facility in a remote region - which the Israeli's took out with nary a dissenting cry of Zionist war crimes.

4) likely delivered weapons-grade enriched uranium to Iran, see this report.

Now they're off the terrorism watch list. What good is the watch list? We're negotiating better now?

'If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.'
- Mark Twain

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress.... But then I repeat myself.
-Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
- George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-G Gordon Liddy

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
-James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
-Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
-Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
- Ronald Reagan (1986)

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
-Will Rogers

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free!
-P.J. O'Rourke

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
-Voltaire (1764)

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!
-Pericles (430 B.C.)

No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.
-Mark Twain (1866 )

Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it.
-Unknown

The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
- Ronald Reagan

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
-Winston Churchill

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is
that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
-Mark Twain

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly
is to fill the world with fools.
-Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress.
-Mark Twain

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
-Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)

A government big enough to give you everything you want,
is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Thomas Jefferson

If you find it incredible that the financial system is shattered when so much of the economy - which we all see every day - is working just fine; take a look at this video.

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

Thomas Jefferson 1802

Are you going to work in the morning? Are you spending less than your making? If you can answer yes to those two questions, you can ignore the global financial meltdown and get on with your day.