1. Posted to Elisheva Levin’s Facebook Wall –

   And it thought it was bad when the bosque along the Rio Grande in the middle of Albuquerque caught fire in July (?) 2003. I live about three miles from where it was happening, on the other side of Coors Blvd.

1. Metropolitan, by Walter Jon Williams

2. Fox Business News: America’s Nightly Scoreboard, Follow the Money, Freedom Watch, Cavuto

3. Adult Swim: Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Squidbillies

1. Re: Dear “Good Guys,” –

   Am I the only one to see the irony in the picture chosen for this article?

   The doll in the box pictured is famous (or infamous, if you prefer) as the title character of the Chucky flicks, which ended up possessed by the spirit and soul of a psychotic serial killer.

   Is there a hidden meaning in that – something along the lines of “nice guys have a wacko deep down inside” ?

Notes from Life, Etc.

1. It’s hot as hell here in Albuquerque. I HATE summer.

2. Those shots of vitamin B₆ and B₁₂ (brand name “Stacker 2″) that I get at the Family Dollar store near CNM are a good bit of what’s keeping me going this semester. They’re only Ø1 a bottle, too – Wal-Mart is the next cheapest at Ø2.50.

3. The 2-inch hole in the sole of my left boot is getting to me.

4. Had my first test in Digital Circuits today. I might have screwed up the parts about simplifying Boolean equations, but aced the rest. I wrote out the code for the practical part by hand on the test before typing it in, and not only did it work, but I discovered an error in the truth table supplied by the instructor.

5. Love the breakfast burritos at the Time Square Deli Mart!

Listening / Reading / Watching

1. The Obviousness of Anarchy

2. Top Gear (U.K. series)

3. Adult Swim: Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Squidbillies

Wish List

1. A foot of snow on the ground.

2. A portable fan.

3. Ø2000 to get my car fixed fully. Fucking insurance companies . . .

4. New boots, more minutes for my Tracfone

1. Tuesday afternoon, I saw a five-ship flight of tandem-rotor helicopters (looked vaguely like CH-47x “Chinook” models) heading west over the West Mesa at about 1:20 PM, flying in single-file formation. Maybe this was part of the effort to fight the fires in eastern Arizona?

2. Read about using transcription software to make notes in Wired magazine, so I found Transcriber. Here’s the official site for Transcriber.

   I haven’t paid for software except for Windows since December, 2003.

1. Re: ABANDON O’SHIP . . . . Another Group Leaves Team Obama –

   I suspect that quite a few of those mentioned in the above article are trying to figure out if they can game The System better with Obama or Romney in the White House, and which candidate will be more willing to back them up (handouts, bailouts and such) above all other “clients” when things go wrong.

2. Re: When are we going to get the government out of medical “care”? –

   NEVER, if you leave it up to the GOP.

   I dare anyone here to prove me wrong.

3. Re: YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK – ILLEGALS GET FREE FOOD FROM WIC, WHILE STARVING AMERICANS DON’T !! –

   First, if all of those who profess to “care” about the poor, elderly and disabled would simply help those people directly, there wouldn’t be any kind of economic underclass in America, or anywhere else, today.

   Second, there is NO Constitutional authorization under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution for the Congress to create and maintain any part of the current welfare state using government resources, if you read the Constitution as the Founders intended it to be read. Only those who seem to favor the Imperial District having unlimited power over Americans favor this welfare system.

   If that’s not true and they do not favor the Imperials having unlimited power over the Productive Class, then how far is too far in terms of government expansion? What intrusion is too over-reaching?

   Third, the welfare system eats up about ninety percent of what it takes in with keeping the system running – facilities, utilities, internet support, salaries, employee pensions, office supplies, and the like. I suspect that less than ten percent of the system’s intake actually ends up with the alleged “beneficiaries.”

   Paraphrasing fellow Libertarian Tom Knapp,
   

   Poverty in the Third World is when flies are crawling all over your kids. Poverty in America is when the cable company shuts off service for nonpayment.

Listening / Reading / Watching

1. Top Gear (U.K. series)

2. James May’s Road Trip

3. Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano

4. Cavuto

5. Adult Swim: Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Squidbillies

1. Re: Are you smarter than a 10th grader from Jersey?…Evidently Bradley Hemp Grower Isn’t !! –

   I know a few people that grow pot under the aegis of the State’s medical marijuana program. Growing the stuff indoors isn’t like throwing some seeds on the ground and coming back a few weeks later to find a fully-grown plant. You have to set up your lighting, irrigation and other equipment properly, or any product you do get won’t be much good. It’s like anything else – electronics, shooting, HTML coding, what have you – if you don’t do it right, there’s no sense in doing it.

   From what he’s posted, Bradley doesn’t strike me as having these kinds of smarts.

2. Re: Libertarians are the conscience of the tea party movement! –

   Except that “The Donald” wasn’t and isn’t serious about much of anything with this “campaign,” like his previous “efforts” – if anything, all he’s really doing is generating publicity for The Apprentice or whatever else he’s cooking up.

1. Re: A Little Quiz For The TAX THE RICH / INCREASE FUNDING / IT’S BUSH’S FAULT Crowd –

   yet liberal politicians say they can’t find much to cut from the federal budget.

   First, they aren’t true liberals – they just call themselves that in an attempt to divert attention from their desires to run everyone elses’ lives.

   Second, to find those things to cut, they have to actually look for things to cut. To start looking for those things to cut, you have to want to cut aspects of the federal budget.

   The fact that they’re always complaining about others wanting to enact budget cuts should tell you that all they want to do is expand their vote-buying schemes (food stamps, unemployment, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security).

2. Re: A Little Quiz For The TAX THE RICH / INCREASE FUNDING / IT’S BUSH’S FAULT Crowd –

   Anyone who desires the label of “fiscal conservative” or “fiscally responsible” needs to lay at least some of the blame at the feet of George W. Bush –

   • Bush resurrected the farm subsidies that were phased out under Clinton.
   • Medicare Part D was signed into law by Bush.
   • Bush helped create the first round of bailouts in 2008 – remember TARP?

   The fact that Bush had an “R” after his name doesn’t mean that he was deserves the label of “fiscal conservative” or “fiscally responsible.”

   So YES, it WAS in part Bush’s fault.

3. Re: RUSSIAN TELEVISION HOST CLOSES DOWN JEFFERSON MEMORIAL – Follow up report –

   Would Kincaid have written this smear screed if Kokesh was working for the BBC or Agent Francais Presse?

   On the other hand, maybe Al Jazeera or Xinhua will pay me to pick up The Weekly Sedition from Channel 27? I could use the free publicity that Kincaid et al calling me a “tratior” and such would generate.

   I’ve seen this sort of thing employed against Ron Paul and Adam Kokesh before – this is the same sort of crass mudslinging that “liberal” Democrat Marty Chavez tried against Gary Johnson in the 1998 election. I remember that Johnson wiped the ballot with Chavez, 53% to 46%.

   This is right up there with the “liberals” complaining about Paul Gessing being either a dupe of or on the payroll of the Koch brothers.

4. Re: A Little Quiz For The TAX THE RICH / INCREASE FUNDING / IT’S BUSH’S FAULT Crowd –

   And this is another reason why the best chances Republicans have of getting my support is to run candidates from the Ron Paul / Gary Johnson / Adam Kokesh mold.

   CyberWiz Beezer said:
   

   True, Michael, but every single responsible economist, and even Obama himself said Bush had NO choice on TARP. The crash was coming within hours. . We were all screaming at Bush on TV on that issue, but later as cooler heads prevailed we learned there was no other way. LOTS of books have been written on the subject with the same conclusion.

   Now we’re reaping the crop of crap that Bush sowed in the economy back in 2008 – Obama simply picked up where Bush left off, and ramped it up. If Bush had left things alone, as his first Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill had wanted to do when Enron went belly-up, we would be well on our way to recovery.

   I cite as evidence the Depression of 1920–1921 – Imperial Washington kept its collective hands off the economy, and it was over in 18 months.

   Yet the Bush / Obama Depression is what now, three years and counting? How “necessary” was this, exactly?
   

   Medicare D I’m not really up on, except I know like most gubmint programs it’ll probably cost more than projected, be around longer than projected, and help anyone? Dunno. I’m an advocate for letting the VA buy every kind of medicine. They have been doing it a Long time, they are masters at it, and the system works smoothly. Would keep the USPO in business too.

   Let’s see – the Veterans Administration was created as a Cabinet department because bureaucrats in the Defense Department were dropping the ball. So rather than replace those people with others who could get the job done, Carter created a whole ‘nother Cabinet Department. And Reagan, that great cutter of federal spending, KEPT IT AROUND instead of making the DoD paper-pushers take care of veterans’ duty-related injuries and such.
   

   Farm subsidies…Again not my field (pun), but I know small farmers are being killed by the big ones (those evil corporate giants like ADM) and if they do get to market, foreign companies can export to here cheaper than our guys can even plant. Whaddayado? I’m against subsidies of many kinds, but do you just let mom and pop and the family-generational farm go under?? Does that make them too little to fail?

   The “evil corporate giants” like ADM get loads of those federal subsidies, too. That’s a big part of what’s enabled them to run the small family farmers out of business.
   

   Next go to http://RioGrandeFoundation.org and download their NM Piglet book. Verrrrrrrry interesting too.

   Run your comments above supporting farm subsidies, TARP and Medicare Part D by Paul Gessing and copy the response to me?

1. Re: Right to Life N.M. pulls its endorsement of Alamogordo anti-abortion billboard –

   CyberWiz Beezer said:
   

   So an interesting twist. Our NMP sleuths have answered question 1) but not of the original assumption. Sounds to me like the line he crossed has become the TRUTH line. If I’m reading you guys correctly he’s perpetrating a fraud, which MAY be the real reason RTLNM exited the scene and not that they wimped out. I know some RTLNM folks, maybe I’ll get a chance to ask.

   That’s what it looks like from here. I’ll defer to Bill E. as to what actually happened there.
   

   what say ye about the first half of #4.

   I think that in fifty years, the question will become irrelevant, in that doctors will be able to transplant the fetus from someone who isn’t able or willing to provide a decent home and upbringing to a compatible person who is capable and willing to do so, as easy as transplanting a kidney today. Call it a “pre-natal adoption,” if that makes it easier. They’re already doing this with “test tube babies” – have been since the 1980s – this just extends the idea a bit further.

   Abortion as it is today will go the way of trepanning and phrenology.
   

   Consider this without comparing the severity of one crime vs another: With regard to culpability, who’s at fault, who’s a victim, a big question in the courts has been “What’s the roll of a drunk driver’s passenger?”. I’m trying to ask I guess, is there really such a thing as a victimless crime?

   There’s really only two types of crimes: malum in se offenses – they’re illegal because they’re inherently bad things to do, in that one person is coercively harming another, as opposed to malum prohibitum – things that are illegal because a majority of those amongst the Legislature think that they’re “bad for you.”
   

   Offshore poker is another example that comes to mind.

   In light of what I’ve posted above, I don’t see any real problems with onshore poker (or blackjack or baccarat or roulette or craps). But if you have some buddies over to play cards and there’s money involved, it’s a fourth-degree felony in New Mexico, simply because the Legislature says so.
   

   Prostitution always carried that tag.

   Seems to work OK in Nevada. Is there something special about that State, or is it just that 49 other Legislatures “know best” for their constituents better than those constituents know for themselves?
   

   Probably a dozen more. I contend if you dig deep enough there’s always a victim, and sometimes it’s the taxpayer. Gambling away the welfare check? Receiving unemployment for 99 weeks without really trying?

   Here the government acts as a legalized thief, taking your cash to pay for these. The people getting these “benefits” are receiving stolen FRNs.

1. Re: Adam Kokesh body slammed, choked, police brutality at Jefferson Memorial –

   chiknthief said:
   

   I like libertarians too BUT, I hate their anti-Israel BS, and their pro-gay and lax borders philosophy. In those areas they sound just like far leftwing democrats. And Ron Paul supports the mosque at ground zero. P iss on that crap.

   What’s this about libertarians being “anti-Israel” ? The current Vice-Chair of the LPNM is a rather outspoken pro-Israel Jewish lady.

   As for libertarians being “pro-gay,” we’re not pro-anything per se, just that we (libertarians) don’t see how gay people who are minding their own business are harming others. Thus they should be left alone where the law is concerned.

   If you really want to keep the Mexicans out of the United States, all you have to do is help Obama get re-elected, then let him have his way with the economy. A few years of that, and quite a few Americans will be headed south for greener pastures. But not if the border is locked down – Joe Miller, the GOP’s 2010 candidate for U.S. Senate in Alaska, expressed admiration for East Germany’s border policing system, which was mostly designed to keep the East Germans in.

   About the “mosque at ground zero” – it’s a bit more complex of an issue than its detractors like to discuss. There are “9-11″ families who support it, and Muslims who are against it. Feisal Abdul Rauf was advised by several long-time Jewish residents of New York City on how to go about building the Park51 facility.
   

   It depends on what folks call constitutional. Since when do gays have a right to indoctrinate our kids in our schools on the gay rights grounds?

   Since I don’t have any kids in the government-owned and operated daycare / indoctrination camps, I don’t see this point.

   Since when does anyone have a “right” to a taxpayer-funded education, or anything else?
   

   Aint they already free to be gay if they wanna be? Why do they overstep their boundaries to recruit innocent kids in our taxpayer funded schools? Folks used to hang people by the neck for this kinda crap. Freedom only goes so far. If busybody folks cross my fence I’ll shoot their azzes on the spot. Thats my constitutional right. In America you are supposed to be free to do any damn thing you want U-N-L-E-S-S you cross your neighbors fence. Too many folks have forgotten the crossing your neighbors fence part. Gays getting married AINT the same as natural/normal true marriage between a man and a woman. Never has been and never will be.

   How do gays who have never heard of you and you’ve never heard of them “cross your fence” by simply getting together?

   If it’s really such a threat, then sue them for damages.
   

   I don’t give a damn about the propaganda turning everything into different shades of grey.(justification) It just ‘flat out’ aint natural and thats crossing the fence when folks try to force their deviancy on the unwilling masses. Maybe we should give murderers special rights too so they can polish off all the deviant morons in our midst who recruit poor innocent children. Wonder how well that’ll fly??? lol

   How do they “force their deviancy on the unwilling masses” by simply existing?

   Remember that the libertarian stance on this, on the border, and everything else comes from the same place that libertarians’ stance on gun rights, taxes, spending and regulations comes from &8211 the Non-Aggression Principle.

   If you want the gays, Mexicans and Muslims to respect your rights to own and carry weapons, to keep, save and spend your cash as you see fit, to run your business as you see fit, then maybe you should respect their rights to live their lives as long as they’re not physically harming you.

2. Re: Adam Kokesh body slammed, choked, police brutality at Jefferson Memorial –

   CyberWiz Beezer said:
   
   

   Mike, the Chicken Man and I had lunch today and we discussed some of this. I don’t want to speak for him, but I would say the term I would use is “protected class”.
   
   Why is white on black crime a hate crime, when not vice-versa ?

   It’s still a crime, regardless of who injures whom. When the cops and district attorneys pick and choose the cases they prosecute based on race, that’s selective enforcement, which is supposed to be a prosecutable crime in and of itself.
   

   Ditto straight/gay ? And gay ” marriage”.

   If the gays aren’t inflicting physical force or committing fraud, I don’t see the problem that needs to be addressed by government.
   

   And the schools giving out condoms and abortion advice and even assisting in arranging abortions while an aspirin requires parental notification.

   That’s more reasons to promote private schools and homeschooling, in my opinion. Not to mention “public school” nurses giving kids psychoactive drugs like Ritalin, Prozac, and Zoloft and calling CYFD if the parents object. When was the last time you heard of these sort of things happening with private schools or amongst homeschoolers? And don’t forget school shootings . . . .
   

   There’s dozens more of these WTF’s including protection of criminal rights over victims, etc that just make no sense at all.

   I’ve never heard this one except here. Got any documentation of this? Links to an LP-affiliated site where libertarians advocate this kind of thing?
   

   The Libertarian Party seems to have a few concepts that not only veer from Conservative (and yes even Republican) thinking but logic, and they seem more liberal than Conservative. Not sure I summarized it very well.

   Not sure what you’re talking about here.

3. Re: Adam Kokesh body slammed, choked, police brutality at Jefferson Memorial –

   CyberWiz Beezer said:
   

   No, no.. I wasn’t ascribing all that or really much of it to the LP, I just said we were talking about practices that make no sense. Criminal rights/victims rights was not part of the LP discussion.

   OK, that makes sense. Had me wondering there. There we agree – too often the crooks get away with way too much, and the victims get squat.

Listening / Reading / Watching

1. Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano

2. Cavuto
3. Adult Swim: Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Robot Chicken, Squidbillies