Author: VD

From the Mogambo Guru: “I think that I am getting the hang of using a calculator and would like to, you know, show off a little bit, so I had an interesting session with a calculator. But for some strange reason, whenever I multiplied $38 billion a week times 52 weeks in a year, I got a wrong answer. Guess what I got? I know you are going to laugh when you see it, and remember that the calculator was obviously broken, as I kept getting the answer $1.976 trillion! Seeing a number that huge is like getting hit with a sledgehammer to the skull, as you realize that no sane person would voluntarily plunge his own country farther into debt at that rate – and I am talking about amassing debt to the tune of 20% of GDP here!”

$38 billion in new Treasury debt this week. Which is basically $2 trillion a year. Keep in mind that the annual US economy is only $10.4 trillion. That’s where the 8.2 percent growth is coming from – growth by debt. This can only be paid off by inflation, so you would be wise to buckle your seatbelts.

Mogambo, you’ve got one vote for President. Mine.

Anti-Islamic hate speech? No, actually it is yet another example of the open-minded toleration practiced on campus these days. After writing an editorial on the dearth of conservative speakers being brought in by the university-funded Issues Committee at the University of Tennessee, a conservative activist who happens to be a Sikh was slagged rather viciously by the Committtee members who thought their email was secure.

“like most of you, i spent much of my day drafting a letter to the editor in response to the piece. however, i probably spent more time thinking about what a little brat this guy is and what i would do to him given the chance–torture that would put the spanish inquisition to shame” said one devotee of tolerance.

Another tireless activist for world peace concurred, suggesting “”…if you see one of those ragheads, shoot him in the fucking face.”

Being somewhat technologically illiterate, these left-wing advocates of civil discourse were unaware that they were sending their emails to conservatives who did not share their desire to commit violence and torture on those whose opinions differed from their own. Now, how many times do I need to tell everyone – download GPG or PGP and encrypt your bloody email!

I actually had a brief chat with the head of the Issues Committee. She sounds like a very nice young woman, but she’s obviously just beginning to learn the rules of the game. After telling me that some statements had been “misconstrued”, she mentioned that she’d need to talk to her advisor first. Fair enough. I’m looking forward to hearing how they should have been construed. The Left does so love to twist the language; for a polyglot like myself, it’s always a pleasure to view the contortions.

UT Deans Brown and Thompson are a little more experienced. Neither one is in the office today. I’m so shocked! At least they can give thanks for a timely Thanksgiving holiday.

Does this sham of a court case sound anything like a government that is confident of its position before the law and Constitution? No way. The man was jailed for six months pre-trial for the “crime” of not withholding income tax from his employees, and the judge is not only shamelessly manipulating witnesses, but refusing to allow the jury to even look at the income tax code! No wonder the jury smelled a rat. I just wonder if the one hold-out from acquittal was a plant or had an IQ below 60.

Meanwhile, the corrupt IRS-federal court cabal has moved its “hearing” of former IRS agent Joe Banister to a military installation, to which all public access is forbidden in direct contradiction of Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft, 303 F.3d 681 (Sixth Circuit 2002). I imagine that the IRS-FC cabal would argue that the hearing isn’t “quasi-judicial”. And they’re correct. It isn’t judicial at all. I’m only surprised they’re not holding it at Guantanamo Bay.

We are quickly moving towards the point where the income tax fraud is unmasked for all to clearly see. The IRS-FC cabal is getting increasingly desperate. The fact that they find it hard to win even when the decks are stacked will make them even more vicious until the light of truth sweeps them away altogether. By the way, someone with more time than me needs to create a repository of all these court transcripts for future use and reference. When someone does so, please let me know the link.

Evan Thomas – he of third generational Communist fame thanks to Miss Coulter and professional coward Al Franken – is quoted by Brent Bozell as saying: “I really don’t get this whole debate … anything that promotes commitment between couples, and helps the institution of the family, is a positive thing.”

Meanwhile, “A Wirthlin poll from last spring for the Alliance for Marriage found 63 percent of Hispanics and 62 percent of blacks favored a constitutional amendment defending marriage.” As I mentioned on Monday, this is why Hillary is sitting this one out. Forget the war, forget the economy. All Bush has to do is wave a little flag called Defense of Marriage Amendment – which no Democratic presidential candidate can support – and the ethnic minorities will desert in droves.

Sometimes the secular media reminds me of my dog. He sees what is going on around him, but has absolutely no idea why. You see, Evan, Christians are generally not huge fans of what the Bible calls abomination. If you’re suprised by the overwhelmingly negative reaction to gay marriage, I’m sure you’ll be shocked beyond words at their attitude towards the UN overseeing a Nobel prize-winning peace treaty signed in Jerusalem.

Oh, and there’s a better way to promote commitment and preserve families. It’s called abolishing no-fault divorce. Better yet, pass a law forcing the courts to automatically assign custody of the children to the non-filing spouse if they request it.

Cal Thomas writes: The time when the Republican Party stood for something worth standing for is over. The “G” in GOP might as well stand for government. Smaller, less intrusive government with less spending and lower taxes is the stuff of history books and fond memories for a party that once had a purpose. But Republicans, having tasted power, are now drunk with it. Like the Democrats before them who became inebriated with the wine of success, Republicans now seem interested only in preserving their elective offices.

Truly there is less than a dime’s worth of difference between the two parties…. Is it time for another revolution yet? Who’s got the tea?

The Libertarians have it, Mr. Thomas. In shiploads. You are either for the use of government to control individuals or you are against it. If you are against the use of government to control individuals, instead of simply guarding their unalienable rights, you should not support the Republican party. Yes, Republicans are better than Democrats. So what? Democrats are better than Communists, but that’s no reason to support them.

Of course the Euroelite permitted France and Germany to break the stability pact. The EU is not about economics, for all that it descended from the Common Market. A free trade zone was just the rationale for getting the ball rolling. The whole point is to restore the empire, and allow the heirs of Charlemagne to rule over Europe. This was Napoleon’s dream, Hitler’s dream, and is now being quietly, but methodically implemented by the faceless grey men of Europa Uber alles.

As in, I love him – though not in a Goodridge way.

I don’t buy this number either. Not in the least. It’s called inflation, people. Get used to it.

Fred Hickey, editor of The High Tech Strategist says, “Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve listened to scores of tech company conference calls. In nearly every case, from Cisco to Foundry to Motorola to CDW, the story was the same – their best customer was the U.S. government.”

Gee, I’m shocked. Apparently, compassionate conservatism is the kinder, gentler way to nationalize an economy.

As the US government claims to be building democracy in Iraq, they appear to be engaging in a little Constitutionally suspicious behavior at home as well. Deux Ego had an interesting experience yesterday.

Yes, I support the war on those who have declared war on us, or at least I will should we ever get around to declaring war as the Constitution demands. No, I do not support many of the questionable actions of the US government performed under the cover of war-making.

When did we change the name of the country to the Union of Sauron’s Affiliates?

To translate it into UNIX system administration terms, the post-modern, politically correct atheists were like people who had suddenly found themselves in charge of a big and unfathomably complex computer system (viz. society) with no documentation or instructions of any kind, and so whose only way to keep the thing running was to invent and enforce certain rules with a kind of neo-Puritanical rigor, because they were at a loss to deal with any deviations from what they saw as the norm. Whereas people who were wired into a church were like UNIX system administrators who, while they might not understand anything, at least had some documentation, some FAQs and How-tos and README files, providing some guidance on what to do when things got out of whack.

– Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon

This signifies nothing about Mr. Stephenson, of course, as it is usually a mistake to identify a character, even the protagonist, with the author. But it is an interesting notion, and at least tangentially related to some of the points I have made with regards to belief systems, or the lack of them.