Month: May 2010

  • Thoughts on the Debate from the Peanut Gallery

    Current mood: amused

    On Thursday, 20 May 2010, I attended the debate between Republican gubernatorial candidates at UNM’s Rodey Hall in the Popejoy Arts Center. The debate was hosted by Channel 4 (KOB-TV), the local NBC affiliate, and sponsored by the Rio Grande Foundation. The hour-long forum was moderated by Nicole Brady and Tom Joles.

    Don’t take my word for any of what I’ve typed below. Here’s the video of the debate — click here to see for yourself.

    First, a disclaimer I’m a Libertarian and a libertarian, so my presence was mostly for entertainment purposes. I haven’t considered myself a conservative for 14 years now, and I’m not in any hurry to revert to doing so. For the most part, this debate simply confirmed what I was already thinking about the candidates.

    After the candidates took their spots and gave their opening statements, the fun began.

    All of the candidates hit on some common themes throughout the hour

    • They all cited corruption (pay-to-play, backroom / insider deals, etc.) as one of the State’s main problems. Can’t disagree there.
    • It sounded (at least to me) that all of them wanted to drastically cut, if not shut down, the elephante blanco known as the RailRunner, citing fiscal irresponsibility as another big problem in State government. Again, can’t disagree there.
    • Each of them said they wanted the State to adopt a more pro-business attitude — “be friendlier towards the private sector,” in other words.
    • Secure the borders, with the National Guard if Obama won’t reinforce the Border Patrol.

    Pete Domenici Jr. stayed on track for what he wanted to say and didn’t get involved in sniping at the others. Still, he pointed out his family connection to New Mexico, which is something I expect to see from Democrats. Not saying that’s bad per se, but given the former Senator’s fiscal wimpiness and apparent closeness to the Busheviks . . . .

    Janice Arnold-Jones disappointed me a bit. Bob Cornelius told me that Arnold-Jones came across strongly, and I would disagree a bit — she seemed a bit frazzled at times, especially during the Weh-Martinez sniping, as Weh took a potshot at her, too. That, and as a legislator, she has done her share of citing “emergency circumstances” as the reason that public project funding is necessary. Sorry, but the word “emergency” to me means someone got hurt or could get hurt, lots of police cars, fire trucks and ambulances with their lights and sirens going full blast. Whether some community center gets built in the next decade does NOT to me constitute any sort of emergency.

    Allen Weh provided some comic relief for the libertarian-minded in the audience, with his pissy complaints insider deals within the GOP, and the attack adverts ran against him by the Martinez campaign. Poor boy Allen! I still remember reading how in 2008, when he was the GOPNM’s State Chairman, he ruled the Ron Paul delegates to their State Convention in Las Cruces as being “out of order,” saying that “We don’t operate by Robert’s Rules but by pleasure of the chair.” Aside from that, just a typical Republican, promising tax cuts and spending cuts.

    Also from Weh

    • “Everybody hungers for leadership — leadership with integrity”
    • On the issue of using military force to secure the border — “No one understands the operational issues like I do . . . .”

    Susana Martinez is the front-runner in this race, and according to some sources, the Anointed one by the GOPNM insiders. Still, she doesn’t seem to be taking this race for granted, considering that the same person I got the link in the last sentence from also said that the reason that Susana is running as a Republican is that she lost the primary as a Democrat the last time and switched affiliations to avoid losing power. Bad, BAD sign there, if true. Of all of the candidates, Martinez harped on the border “issue” the most[1], taking a potshot at Weh for his previous support of a guest-worker program[2].

    Doug Turner came across as the clear winner, at least to me, and also to a (non-scientific) online poll of viewers by KOB staff. He deviates from the libertarian party-line with his support for an expanded Drug Prohibition and closing the border. Still, he stayed above the Weh-Martinez pissing contest during the debate, and throughout the campaign. Still, he did say to me, “I’m a libertarian,” when all of the other candidates would have blown off the very idea of libertarianism, even if I had explained how the Non-Aggression Principle doesn’t disallow the defensive use of force.

    After the debate, I met Lance and Patrick from the local Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty group. Patrick was verbally arguing with some of the Weh supporters, who allegedly had gotten belligerent with him over his “NO WEH” sign. Leaving UNM property, we met again at the Nob Hill Bar and Grill, where Doug Turner was partying with his supporters.

    Finally, a good note — the guy directly in front of me was wearing a M1911-style pistol on his belt in open-carry mode. Good for him! Though I am surprised that no one in the audience called UNMPD out to have him “proned out” facedown and cuffed for “violating UNM policy” and such.

    NOTES
    1. Susana seems to be operating under the assumption that EVERY person crossing the border sans approval from the Imperial Washington DC imbecilocracy is intent upon robbery, assault, kidnapping, rape and murder, when the exact opposite seems to be true.
    2. As I was exiting Rodey Hall, one of Martinez’s supporters handed me a text-only reprint of an Albuquerque Journal op-ed piece dated 3 October 2007, allegedly by Allen Weh, citing support for some sort of guest-worker program.
    3. Original posting

    bomb gun firearm steak knife Allah Aryan airline hijack

  • Clarke and Dawes on the 2010 EuroCollapse

    Current mood: amused


    H/T to Allen Cogbill for posting a link to this clip.

    bomb gun firearm steak knife Allah Aryan airline hijack

  • Skipping on Horowitz

    Current mood: cynical

    I’ve been getting repeated emails from the Albuquerque Tea Party reminding me about the upcoming speech, dinner and book-signing by anti-libertarian neo-con David Horowitz:


    Click the picture for the full-size version

    Some examples of his potshots at Ron Paul in particular and libertarians generally in the past few years

    David Horowitz: “Ron Paul…is a Disgrace”
    David Horowitz and a Guided Tour of the “Ron Paul Revolutionary” Mind

    Check out this video clip from the Glenn Beck Show from 2007


    The gems from that video clip —
    “. . . strain of isolation and anarchy in the American tradition which Ron Paul is tapping into . . . “

    Washington and Jefferson weren’t isolationists, they were non-interventionists, and there IS a difference, despite comments to the contrary from the neo-cons:

    Friendship and commerce with all, entangling alliances with none.

    Here’s the part that really sets me off I see NO evidence from Horowitz that he’s changed from this tune in the past three years:

    “. . . plenty of unfortunately libertarian websites indistinguishable from the anti-American left — lewrockwell.com and others like that . . . totally in bed with the Islamofascists and turned against this country”

    In addition, Horowitz seems to me to be the neo-con version of Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

    What Dees (allegedly) does is pick out some Aryan Airhead, then portray that idiot as being ready to take over Washington DC — “but YOU can stop this with your donation! And buy my book, too!” Dees also has a habit of smearing anyone in the militia movement, tax honesty movement, etc., etc., who’s ever come into contact with the Airhead. It doesn’t seem to matter that said Aryan was kicked out of the militia meeting immediately after showing his “SS” runes tattoo to the membership. It also doesn’t matter that the Aryan has no actual hope of gaining any sort of political power over anyone than other Aryan Airheads in their little (infiltrated with federal agents through and through) group.

    Horowitz appears to do the same sort of thing where the Islamists are concerned portray them as just a few steps away from carrying out their dreams of making sharia (Islamic religious law) the core of the American legal system — “but YOU can stop this with your donation! And buy my book, too!” Never mind that, like the Aryan Airheads, the sharia pushers have little to no chance of gaining any sort of actual power in America.

    As with the Aryan Airheads, the best answer to the Islamists is to respond with better speech. I prefer to tell them that there’s nothing stopping them as individuals from setting the example for the rest of us, and adhering to the tenets of sharia personally. If they want to make it into American law, there’s an amendment process all spelled out for them in the Constitution. Until they get 2/3 of the House, 2/3 of the Senate and 3/4 of the State legislatures, it’s a no-go[1]. If they choose the Hamas / al-Qaeda route (suicide bombers, etc.), I look forward to taking corrective action via the Second Amendment.

    So what is Horowitz’s answer to the prospect of Islamic terrorism here in America? Does he invoke the right of private citizens to own and carry weapons? Nope — for him, it’s a reason to expand the reach of Imperial Washington DC, with police-state agencies (DHS, for example) on the domestic side and long-term occupations of other countries for the foreign-policy side.

    So Horowitz might have left Marxism back in the 1970′s, but I suspect that Marxism never truly left him.

    So I’m going to skip seeing Horowitz when he shows up here in Albuquerque tonight — why pay Ø60 to hear this sort of thing when I can get it for free over the net?[2]

    NOTES
    1. Not that this seems to be stopping the Congress lately on anything else.
    2. My attending this event would be a double-hit on me financially — not only would I be out the Ø60, but I’d have to take a day off to attend, and thus come up short on next week’s paycheck.

    bomb gun firearm steak knife Allah Aryan airline hijack

  • Zbigniew Brzezinski — People are Politically Awake Now


    Aww, poor Ziggy — now he and his ilk actually have to be up front with us about their plans for us. The horror of it all!
    NOTES
    1. Reposted —
      1. Personal blogs — Blogspot / LiveJournal / Myspace / New Mexico Liberty / Tumblr

    bomb gun firearm steak knife Allah Aryan airline hijack

  • Armed Citizens in New Mexico, 1959-1979

    Current mood: pleased
    1. The Tribune, Albuquerque, NM, 7/10/79 / American Rifleman Issue: 10/1/1979

      When two men entered an Albuquerque, N. Mex., convenience store demanding money, night clerk Reno Petrucci thought they were joking. One of the thugs, however, punched Petrucci and two companions. At that, Petrucci pulled a .38 and held the assailant until police arrived; the second man fled the scene.

    2. The Journal, Albuquerque, NM / American Rifleman Issue: 9/1/1979

      The man who held up an Albuquerque, N.M., food store, got a rude surprise. As he approached the fourth checkstand, he found himself face to face with a lady shopper holding a .25 cal. automatic. To enforce her demand that he put down his gun and surrender, the woman told him that she was an undercover policewoman. With that, the thief gave in, dropped his revolver and waited patiently at gunpoint until the real police arrived to make the arrest. Albuquerque police have since offered the housewife a position on the city force.

    3. The Tribune, Albuquerque, NM / American Rifleman Issue: 3/1/1978

      Albuquerque, N. Mex., pharmacist Ron Bunt was in his drugstore when two armed robbers entered and demanded narcotics. Bunt filled a small bag with the drugs and handed it to one of the pair, then pulled a cal. .25 pistol and shot one of the thugs to death. The other fled and is being sought by police.

    4. The News-Journal, Clovis, NM / American Rifleman Issue: 11/1/1977

      Mrs. Cleo Ainsworth saw two young thugs attack her husband outside their farmhouse near rural Dora, N.M. After calling for help, she got her husband’s pistol and fired a warning shot. The men fled.

    5. The Tribune, Albuquerque, NM / American Rifleman Issue: 10/1/1977

      When a young robber entered his Albuquerque, N. Mex., pharmacy and demanded narcotics, Delbert Swindle drew a pistol instead and held the man for police.

    6. The Albuquerque Journal, Albuquerque, NM / American Rifleman Issue: 7/1/1976

      Two men, one armed with a knife, entered Sidney McQueen’s Albuquerque, N.M., gun shop, grabbed up some firearms and then bolted for the front door. But one of the thugs turned and pointed a gun at McQueen. The shop owner fired first, killing one robber and wounding the second.

    7. The Alamogordo Daily News, Alamogordo, NM / American Rifleman Issue: 9/1/1974

      Awakened by the sounds of a prowler in her Alamogordo, N. Mex., home, Mrs. Teresa Middlestead got her husband’s shotgun from the bedroom closet and shouted down the hallway, “I’ve got a gun.” Although Mrs. Middlestead didn’t see the intruder, she heard him dash through the kitchen and out the front door. Nothing was stolen.

    8. The Albuquerque Journal, Albuquerque, NM / American Rifleman Issue: 9/1/1974

      Three youths, one armed with a knife, walked into Mike Seargent’s Albuquerque, N. Mex., store intent on robbery. Seargent noticed that the knife was apparently their only weapon, so he took his gun from beside the cash register and held the thieves at bay until police arrived.

    9. The Albuquerque Journal, Albuquerque, NM / American Rifleman Issue: 5/1/1974

      As he walked his dog near an Albuquerque, N. Mex., apartment development late one night, E.K. Van Aernam and his sister were stopped by two robbers, one armed with a pistol. Van Aernam clutched a handgun in his coat pocket and asked the armed man to “put his gun away.” When the attacker refused, Van Aernam slapped the assailant’s gun downward and fired six shots at the thugs through his pocket. The men fled, one of them possibly wounded.

    10. Hobbs Daily News-Sun, Hobbs, NM / American Rifleman Issue: 6/1/1973

      A man began pounding on the front door of Evelyn Burkey’s Hobbs, N. Mex., home and refused to identify himself or say what he wanted. When he started pounding on the back door, Mrs. Burkey got a small revolver and threatened to “blow his head off.” At this the prowler dove over a back fence and disappeared.

    11. The Albuquerque Journal, Albuquerque, NM / American Rifleman Issue: 2/1/1973

      Spotting two suspicious men wandering around his Albuquerque, N. Mex., drugstore, owner Carl De Alderete kept a close watch on the pair. When one man reached for a gun, De Alderete drew his own first. One suspect escaped, but the storeowner held the second for police who took the would-be robber’s gun in evidence.

    12. Aztec Independent Review, Aztec, NM / American Rifleman Issue: 1/1/1973

      Brian Blacklock, an Aztec, N. Mex., pharmacist, was working late in his store when a rock smashed through the skylight above him. Blacklock ran outside, got a rifle from his car, and ordered the man on the roof to come down. Police arrived and arrested the rock thrower, along with his less-than-successful lookout man.

    13. Tribune, Albuquerque, NM / American Rifleman Issue: 7/1/1967

      When 3 men pounded on his back door, laundry owner James Self, Albuquerque, N. Mex., answered and found himself confronted by a robber holding a .410-bore shotgun. Dropping to the floor, he fired a shot from his .22 revolver. The trio fled. Police later got a hospital call — “man with a gunshot wound” — and arrested the wounded man and 2 accomplices on charges of attempted robbery.

    14. Tribune, Albuquerque, NM / American Rifleman Issue: 11/1/1961

      Armed with a cal. .22 revolver, a thief three months out of prison after serving a 10-year term for armed robbery, entered John Waldrick’s Albuquerque, N. Mex., store, forced Waldrick to hand over his wallet and empty the cash register. As the robber reached the door, Waldrick drew his own weapon and felled him.

    15. Journal, Albuquerque, NM / American Rifleman Issue: 12/1/1959

      Thomas H. Myrick was in the back room of his Albuquerque, N. Mex., liquor store when he heard his wife pleading with a holdup man rifling the register. Myrick rushed out with shotgun in hand. As the bandit fled, Myrick fired 4 blasts over his head. When police arrived, they found Myrick standing over the bandit who cowered on the ground, his pistol and robbery loot beside him.

    16. The New Mexican, Santa Fe, NM / American Rifleman Issue: 7/1/1959

      In Tierra Amarilla, N. Mex., shopkeeper Albert Wheeler called on neighbor Jack Taylor to cover the front when the intercom alarm rang in the store owner’s bedroom. Wheeler went to the rear office where he surprised an armed burglar who attempted to escape. Neighbor Taylor’s 12-ga. shotgun dropped him near the door.

    NOTES
    1. Reposted —
      1. Personal blogs — Blogspot / LiveJournal / Myspace / Tumblr / WordPress

    bomb gun firearm steak knife Allah Aryan airline hijack

  • Random Commentary for 19 May 2010

    1. Re: America Is Not So Christian
      American classifies us as democrat, republican, libertarian, or independent; Christ says respect authority, because there is no authority except that which God established. Pray for your leaders and obey them.

      America was founded upon the idea that political authority is derived from the consent of the governed individuals — it says so right there in the Declaration of Independence:

      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, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

      “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.”
      — Thomas Jefferson

    bomb gun firearm steak knife Allah Aryan airline hijack

  • Ronnie James Dio, RIP (1942-2010)

    At about 7:45 AM on Sunday, 16 May 2010, we lost one of the good guys:
    “Today my heart is broken, Ronnie passed away at 7:45am 16th May. Many, many friends and family were able to say their private good-byes before he peacefully passed away. Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all. We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us. Please give us a few days of privacy to deal with this terrible loss. Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever.”


    NOTES
    1. Reposted —
      1. Personal blogs — Blogspot / LiveJournal / Myspace / Tumblr / WordPress

    bomb gun firearm steak knife Allah Aryan airline hijack

  • Random Comments for 17 May 2010

    1. Current mood: amused
      Re: Tie Assessed Property Values to Market Values

      “Starve the beast” methodology only seems to work when the agency on behalf of which the tax is levied can’t borrow cash, to be repaid from future taxes, i.e. Treasury bills, municipal bonds, etc.

      What local, state and federal government need is some sort of balanced-budget rule that —

      • Explicitly disallows borrowing to make up for shortfalls
      • Does NOT exempt “emergencies” from its scope. Let the “emergency” measure be funded by taking from the hug-a-thug arts-and-crafts programs and no-work-expected handout agencies.

      The “total required revenue” needs to take a nosedive — the sooner the better. If it’s done by the “legitimate authorities,” that nosedive can be somewhat controlled.

      If the nosedive is uncontrolled, that’s OK, too — let ‘em burn down their own homes with riots.

      But that nosedive WILL happen, regardless — either in the controlled manner I’ve called for above, done by the “legitimate authorities,” or in the UNcontrolled manner, where the productive class gets fed up and either heads for greener pastures or rises in open revolt, followed by the parasitic tax-feeders burning down their own homes.

      Granted, most of the homes burned down will be owned in some capacity by the Productive Class, but that’s what insurance policies are for, right? At least maybe the Producers will have the good sense to learn from the experience.

    2. Re: How Government Programs Expand Beyond Intent

      One of the guys in my classes worked at Eclipse for a while. He told me that most of the employees there would show up, do an hour’s worth of work and then goof off for the rest of their shifts. This went on for about a year while he worked there.

    bomb gun firearm steak knife Allah Aryan airline hijack

  • “Fear the Boom and Bust” a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem

    Current mood: amused

    Econstories.tv is a place to learn about the economic way of thinking through the eyes of creative director John Papola and creative economist Russ Roberts.

    In Fear the Boom and Bust, John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek, two of the great economists of the 20th century, come back to life to attend an economics conference on the economic crisis. Before the conference begins, and at the insistence of Lord Keynes, they go out for a night on the town and sing about why there’s a “boom and bust” cycle in modern economies and good reason to fear it.

    Get the full lyrics, story and free download of the song in high quality MP3 and AAC files at econstories.tv.

    Plus, to see and hear more from the stars of Fear the Boom and Bust, Billy Scafuri and Adam Lustick, visit their site: billyandadam.com

    Music was produced by Jack Bradley at Blackboard3 Music and Sound Design. It was composed and performed by Richard Royston Jacobs.


    bomb gun firearm steak knife Allah Aryan airline hijack

  • My Political Compass Quiz Score

    My Political Views
    I am a far-right social libertarian
    Right: 8.62, Libertarian: 7.22

    Political Spectrum Quiz

    NOTES
    1. Reposted —
      1. Personal blogs — Blogspot / LiveJournal / Myspace / Tumblr / WordPress

    bomb gun firearm steak knife Allah Aryan airline hijack

mikewb1971

Pages

Recent Posts

May 2010
M T W T F S S
« Apr   Jun »
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31  

Categories