hugo

In a world of plastic surgery, digitized voices and scripted reality TV it was simply the next logical step.

Aretha actually was not bad lookin' http://24h.com.vn/upload/news/2005-08-18/arethaQIW.jpg

Not sure what my position is on this yet. I'll have to check out the French position and then disagree with it.

Ya gotta admit the other girl is a lot cuter.

It only took 17 years for classically liberal economic policies to turn Chile from a dictatorship into a democracy. China is no longer a communist country, not much more socialistic than Europe. The Chinese people are much better off than they were when Nixon first established friendly relations and opened up trade economically and from a civil liberties point of view. Yep, to believe us human bastards will ever live totally in peace with each other is utopian; there will always be some conflict. The best way to reduce it is to follow liberal (in the classic use of the word) trade policies.

I'm a Goldwater Republican. Probably the last one.

Let me take some excerpts from: Classical Liberalism in the 21st Century: War and Peace by Richard M. Ebeling, September 2001 Liberalized trade leads to peaceful relations among nations. Economic prosperity leads to an increase in civil liberties. We are taking the right road with China, the wrong road with Cuba. There is nothing wrong with occasionally using the bully pulpit to espouse American values (even if we often fall short ourselves) and critique our trade partners but we should always remember to pursue our national interests which is liberalized trade.

Posted on wrong forum.

I agree that politicians in office should be attune to the voters and there are times to lead and times to follow. Following the will of the voters ain't always a bad thing. I am suspicious of candidates running for office who do the same. It could be a genuine change of heart or it could be more pandering for votes. I find it unlikely that a Democratic congress and a Democratic president will make expanding oil drilling a top priority. On some issues that D and R besides the politicians name means something. The D usually means no nuclear energy, no new refineries and no expanding the geographical area where drilling for oil is allowed. I ain't hopeful that in the next ten years energy prices are going anywhere but up regardless of what politicians do. Worldwide demand is increasing rapidly; supply is semi-fixed. Fixing to buy a new, or slightly used, vehicle. Narrowed my choices down to a Honda Fit or Civic, a Toyota Corolla or a Nissan Versa. Al would be proud of me.

Regulations are needed to prevent third parties from being harmed by transactions they are not involved in. Why I prefer calliung myself a classical liberal over libertarian is there are libertarians who fall under the spell of Ayn Rand and/or Murray Rothbard and actually believe that third party costs, such as pollution, can be controlled without coercion. Pollution control requires government involvement. I do believe pollution can be more effectively reduced if you allow companies to buy and sell pollution credits over just setting maximum limits on emissions. This encourages companies to innovate and find systems that reduce pollution below the government required mandates. The buyers of the pollution credits will soon have to utilize the technologies of the sellers to remain competitive. I disagree with most regulations whose intention is to protect the consumer beyond protecting the consumer from fraudulant transactions. These regulations almost always end up protecting those regulated from further competition. Existing corporations in an industry, in the absence of foreign competition, secretly love new regulations. New regulations impose barriers to entry. Those who are on regulatory boards usually come primarily from the industry itself with maybe a token consumer advocate among them. (to be continued) In the meantime a website that shows how horribly wrong well intended regulations can go http://www.fdareview.org/harm.shtml (Sadly, not many of our congressmen agree with reducing regulations for consumer protection; HR 4040 just passed by a 424-1 margin. Lovers of liberty do not have to look up who the one dissenting congressman was.)

I agree. I mean there are times you have to take some personal risk. I am betting it was mainly French-Canadians on that bus.

At some point you are going to have to either cut entitlements or raise taxes or a combination of both. Liberal immigration policies would also help.

Sadly, it does not surprise me. More impoverished people equals more Democratic voters. They need to bring back literacy tests for voting.

I still think Barack Obama was involved.

A lot of issues brought up here. Yes, we should seek liberalized trade agreements with all nations regardless of their human rights records. Free trade and open markets are a force against tyranny. It was Hillary and Barack in the Democratic primaries who showed a tendency to reject liberalized trade in favor of protectionism. I think they were just shooting for the votes of union members. John McCain has better free trade credentials. Kyoto is a flawed treaty and has gotten worse as India and China's economies grow. It gives those nations a free ride and no progress can be made in reducing greenhouse gases without restrictions on those nations also. Kyoto needs to be trashed and a new agreement put in place. It will do no good for the Western world to lower emissions while the Asian economies go full steam ahead. Actually, the damn Supreme Court won't let states execute retards anymore, Which is a damn shame. People with 70 IQs know it ain't right to cut peoples throats. You hear this crap about how they have a mind of an 8 year old. Guess what? Not many 8 year olds kill people. Invading Iraq was stupid but basically based on a Wilsonian human rights philosophy. Hussein was an important force keeping Iran in check. Taking him out may well end up being good for the Iraqis but the US will receive no net benefit from it. Clinton and Bush both met the Dalai Lama and it is pretty certain the next Prez will too.

Have a good one.

Yes, we should ignore China's human rights record just so they will like us.

Let me get back with this one when I have more time. I do believe government should either stop bailing out banks or apply stricter regulations. I'd prefer the former but the latter is the only politically possible solution to stop the privatizing of profits and socializing of losses that is going on. Of course, as RO already referred to, our government was actually forcing banks to increase risky loans to minorities and those living in distressed economic areas.

Most mass shootings are by guys who can't get laid

Of all the strongly influential 20th Century economists his thinking was the least flawed. His basic premise that liberty and economic prosperity go hand in hand was quite sound. Democracy and capitalism are heavily flawed. I mean we elected Jimmy Carter and Paris Hilton makes millions. I still favor both democracy (in a constitutional republican form) and mildly regulated capitalism as the best systems in this imperfect world. The modern conservatives and the modern liberals need to keep their noses out of other peoples' business and their hands out of other peoples' wallets. Good seeing ya around. Another Friedman quote: A lot of liberals totally agree with Friedman on issues such as the above, Friedman was no conservative as we call them today. In fact, he proudly called himself a liberal as he was in the classical liberal tradition. Hayek and Friedman are the two individuals most responsible for giving the Westen world an alternative to Keynesian tyranny. A few more quotes: Columbus did not seek a new route to the Indies in response to a majority directive. Milton Friedman Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it. Milton Friedman Every friend of freedom must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an army of enforcers empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence. Milton Friedman Governments never learn. Only people learn. Milton Friedman Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned. Milton Friedman History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Milton Friedman History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition. Milton Friedman I am favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it's possible. Milton Friedman I'm in favor of legalizing drugs. According to my values system, if people want to kill themselves, they have every right to do so. Most of the harm that comes from drugs is because they are illegal. Milton Friedman If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand. Milton Friedman Inflation is taxation without legislation. Milton Friedman Inflation is the one form of taxation that can be imposed without legislation. Milton Friedman Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government. Milton Friedman Most economic fallacies derive from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can gain only at the expense of another. Milton Friedman Most of the energy of political work is devoted to correcting the effects of mismanagement of government. Milton Friedman Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program. Milton Friedman One man's opportunism is another man's statesmanship. Milton Friedman Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink and make the combination worthless. Milton Friedman The black market was a way of getting around government controls. It was a way of enabling the free market to work. It was a way of opening up, enabling people. Milton Friedman The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem. Milton Friedman The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy. Milton Friedman The greatest advances of civilization, whether in architecture or painting, in science and literature, in industry or agriculture, have never come from centralized government. Milton Friedman The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit. Milton Friedman The most important ways in which I think the Internet will affect the big issue is that it will make it more difficult for government to collect taxes. Milton Friedman The only relevant test of the validity of a hypothesis is comparison of prediction with experience. Milton Friedman The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom. Milton Friedman The power to do good is also the power to do harm. Milton Friedman The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm, capitalism is that kind of a system. Milton Friedman There's no such thing as a free lunch. Milton Friedman Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. Milton Friedman Universities exist to transmit knowledge and understanding of ideas and values to students not to provide entertainment for spectators or employment for athletes. Milton Friedman We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes nonwork. Milton Friedman

Well, that eliminates Barack's first choice for VP.

You make the assumption that political self-interest is somehow more virtuous than economic self-interest. Seemy post entitled "Greed", Who are these people going hungry? You can still get a pot pie for 50 cents. Why do you believe programs initiated to help the truly needy won't be seriously abused by those with political and economic power? I think those who wish to help their fellow humans survive should engage in private charity. I do agree that consumption taxes are preferable to income taxes. That the caviar eater pays higher taxes than the man with the same income who saves and later provides capital for labor to utilize. THERE IS A BASIC RULE IN ECONOMICS; YOU SUBSIDIZE SOMETHING YOU GET MORE OF IT. PAY PEOPLE TO BE POOR YOU GET MORE POOR PEOPLE. What 40+ years of welfare has produced is more poverty and crime and inner cities that are a war zone. I do agree the Republican assertions that tax cuts always pay for themselves is poppy . It is nothing more than the Keynesian multiplier effect turned on its head, The multiplier effect is very negligible. Milton Friedman on the multiplier effect: The only way to balance the budget,and eventually truly lower taxes, is to cut spending. Reagan and Bush have made a joke out of the conservative balanced budget ideology that governed Barry Goldwater and his fellow conservatives. The fact is that we (well, maybe not me and RO) got the government we deserve. A government that tells us we can have our cake and eat it too. Both current major party candidates are running on platforms that will increase the federal deficit just as we have the baby boomers getting older. Guess what folks..If we are running deficits when we have the boomers in the workforce how much higher will the deficit grow when they retire and collect ss and medicaid? Don't worry about the dollar though pretty much the whole world suffers from the same Keynesian disease. Government has been undermining personal savings, capital investment and labor while subsidizing frivolous spending and sloth for 75 years. The bill is coming due

Dec 1835: The Maori decide to celebrate the holiday season by visiting the Moriori on the Chatham Islands. They announce the Moriori are now their slaves and kill a few who object. The Moriori react by having a council meeting where they decide not to fight back but to offer peace, friendship and division of resources. Before they can make this generous offer the Maori attack kill hundreds of Moriori, many of whom they cook and eat, and enslave the rest. Moral: Pacifists are an important source of protein in the warrior diet

What Ronald Reagan did best was espouse the virtues of neoclassical economic theory. Before Reagan both parties were entrenched in socialist Keynesian theory. In the last year Iraq has greatly stabilized. History may remember Bush fairy well. He is too damn liberal for me but much better than Gore, Kerry or Obama. Before bashing Bush voters ya better examine who Bush's major opponent was. Had I lived in a battleground state I would have held my nose and voted for GW.

essays & effluvia: Europeans Overwhelmingly Favor Kerry for President Europe always favors the major party US Presidential candidate who is the strongest socialist (the Democrat). Nothing new here. We did not obtain superpower status by imitating Europe; in fact, we obtained superpower status by partially rejecting the socialist agenda of Europe. Sadly, I had to qualify the previous statement with the adjective partially.