The Pimp, Prostitute, Scab, Slumlord, Libeler, Moneylender, and Other Scapegoats in the Rogue’s Gallery of American Society
Fearlessly, and with logic and trenchant wit, Professor Block rehabilitates and demonstrates the considerable economic merits of such scapegoat occupations as the pimp, the blackmailer, and the slumlord.
In this way, in addition to redeeming the stature of these much reviled occupations, Defending the Undefendable performs the service of highlighting, in the fullest and starkest terms, the essential nature of the productive services performed by all people in the free market. By taking the most extreme examples and showing how the Smithian principles work even in these cases, the book does far more to demonstrate the workability and morality of the free market than a dozen sober tomes on more respectable industries and activities. By testing and proving the extreme cases, he all the more illustrates and vindicates the theory.- From the forward by Murray Rothbard.
Former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castaneda urges drug legalization.
Jorge Castaneda, in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, said marijuana "should be legalized in both countries," and said it is ridiculous for Mexico to try to stop marijuana from entering the United States when it's legally sold for medical purposes in California.
"The Drug Enforcement Administration says that 60 percent of the Mexican (drug) cartels' profits come from marijuana. If we start with that, it's a big chunk," he added.
Naturally, violence and deaths escalated in Mexico after President Calderon declared his own war on drugs and the drug cartels, with at least 17,000 killed since 2006.
In fact, the so-called war-on–drugs declared by President Felipe Calderon was brought upon the country as a way to legitimize his power after a fiercely contested presidential election. Lacking clear goals or an exit strategy the war has completely failed.
These are the controversial arguments put forth in a book called “Narco: The failed war,” coauthored by two close collaborators of former president Vicente Fox; his former spokesperson Rubén Aguilar and political analyst and former foreign minister Jorge Castañeda.
The book is only 140 pages long and its divided into six chapters, using a lot of statistics, both from governmental sources and international organizations; the authors paint a picture where the frontal war against drug cartels and the resulting militarization of the country has been an absolute disaster.
The authors analyze the statistics and find the number of murders per capita show a sharp increase only after Calderon declared war on drug trafficking on December 11th in 2006, not before.-The So-Called War on Drugs a Complete Failure
Did you know that it's really hard to find good cupcake jokes? I tried, I really tried. And what did I come up with?
Q: Why did the cupcake buy Rogaine? A: He thought he was losing his sprinkles.
Since I failed with cupcake jokes, it should come as no surprise that I'm a miserable failure in other ways with cupcakes. For instance, the other day at work I was confronted with the question When is your birthday? Innocuous enough, you might think. But not when it means free super moist cupcakes with super chocolate taste and extra super chocolate frosting! That frosting alone was almost as big as the rest of the cupcake, like a cupcake beehive do, you might say. Though it wasn't my birthday, it was someone else's, and the party consisted of dozens of cupcakes. Chocolate and white cake cupcakes took over the back table, but my willpower held. Until I saw everyone around me biting into them, with comments about how they'd never tasted any cupcakes that were so moist before.
I was feeling a little low, and though I'd built up my resistance to donuts over the last few weeks, cupcakes were still, as I soon discovered, a temptation I could not resist. A few chocolate cupcakes later (I avoided the white ones) and I was feeling much better. For a few hours anyway.
Hopefully I'll be able to wean myself off cupcakes (as I did with donuts), and if successful, I know I'll have a good chance of sticking with my cupcake-free pledge. At least until my birthday rolls around.
Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams is scheduled for heart surgery in the United States, a move that throws into question his province's and his nation's health-care system.
A number of years ago during my research into Islam and Islamic belief (a part of my then general investigation of religion, a result of which is my large collection of Islamic literature) I discovered the Muslim view on modesty; even men when they are together have to keep certain parts of their bodies covered so that other men can't see them, unlike in our "Christian" culture, where even children are forced to traipse around nude in front of members of the same sex (remember gym class?).
In fact the issue of school PE comes up in Islamic online forums. One individual stated "Getting exempted from PE is not an option. They wouldn't even let me do that temporarily for my first Ramadan". Which brings up the question of why anyone puts up with public school tyranny in the first place. Are we slaves or free?
In Islam Awrah is the term for parts of the body that must remain covered except when in private. Well, now a group of Islamic scholars have ruled that those intrusive (and possibly dangerous to your health-though I found one pro-state troll's typical sheeple response amusing: The scanners could not possibly be as hazardous as having your plane blow up) airport scanners violate Islamic law:
The Fiqh Council of North America – a body of Islamic scholars that includes some from Michigan – issued a fatwa this week that says going through the airport scanners would violate Islamic rules on modesty.
“It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women,” reads the fatwa issued Tuesday. “Islam highly emphasizes haya (modesty) and considers it part of faith. The Quran has commanded the believers, both men and women, to cover their private parts.”
Now, in my opinion you don't have to be a Muslim to object to having the drooling TSA idiots in their Nazi uniforms invading your privacy and glaring at your body. Have the Security State-worshiping "conservatives" no shame, at long last, have they no shame at all?
So, it is finally learned, a group of "small business owners and individuals who just felt like Washington was against them" are responsible for forcing us to look once again at the face of the Decider, a criminal bankster puppet and mass murderer. Which is maybe why they've chosen to remain anonymous. Alltheusualsuspects naturally think it's jim-dandy.
Which is curious, or maybe not so curious. If those business owners are only now feeling like Washington is against them, did they feel that Washington was for them before? Or maybe they only feel that Washington is more against them now that one of those no-good Democrats occupies the White House. But that certainly isn't what their statement or their sign implies. Perhaps I'm being too literal in some way, but if they're the honest individuals I'm sure they want us to suppose they are, they must have had similar feelings about the Federal Government before Obama took office.
But if they did, where was their Bill Clinton billboard during Bush's two terms? I'm sure a lot of people were missing Slick Willie many times over during W's reign of fascism rising. I even had a few reluctant but nevertheless fond memories of him myself at times between 2001 and 2008. And I was no Bill Clinton fan.
Perhaps the part of the puzzle I'm missing now is that Bush's fascism was Red State Fascism which is Christian and military-worshiping and therefore "good", while Obama and the Democrats Blue State Fascism is "socialistic" and therefore "bad".
The other strange thing is that Obama is only giving us more of what Bush gave us; more bailouts, more spending, more war. If it was good before, why is it suddenly bad now? Strange, very strange.
What we really have are two big government parties that want to continue with the welfare/warfare state until the end of time (or in the case of the ironically colored "red" party, at least until Jesus returns). They have a symbiotic relationship, and are two parts of a greater ruling class whole. Real change never arrives, and all we get is more of the same.
I've said for some time now that all the right-wing talk show hosts and bloggers and other "conservatives" that are howling about "socialism" and big government now, don't want a revolution, they want a restoration, a return to power of the same people that were holding the reigns just a little over a year ago. They'd rather see Dick Cheney as President than Ron Paul, and that gives their phony game away.
Don't believe it? Here's one of the billboard's supporters in his own words:
At this time we still don’t know the names of the people who put up the money for the sign to be posted in that little town of Wyoming, Minnesota, but whoever they are, they should come forward and proudly admit they support President Bush – as should the rest of us. It’s time to stop being afraid to come right out and say how we really feel.
We do miss President Bush, and we will never forget what he did for America and the world; not now, not ever.
Meanwhile, the rest of us that really do still dream of liberty should make sure we don't get fooled again.
I have thoughts and observations, and not just when I'm forced to have them. For example, I have them when I'm pushing a shopping cart around the supermarket.
People bring their children to the market, and that's perfectly acceptable, but I'm really sick of seeing kids past the age of 5 or 6 sitting not in the cart seat at the front, but in the main basket itself with their filthy shoes all over the surface where others place the items they're purchasing. I mean, I know the inside of a shopper cart isn't sanitary to begin with, but why make it worse?
So there I am, rolling down the aisles gathering my consumables, when what happens? Some kid, a little girl, is pushing an extra (and very empty) cart behind her mother. Carts are not playthings, but I've seen parents more than once let their darlings treat them as such. In this instance the mother said something in Spanish and the girl left the cart right where it stood, blocking my path. I was irritated, even slightly angry for a moment. But then I heard more Spanish from Mom, a gentle but admonishing tone in her voice, and the child retrieved the cart and moved it out of my way. Good parents are all around us, but there are still too many of the irresponsible and incompetent ones.
Well, that's it. Those are my thoughts and observations for this trip. Shall I make At the Store a regular feature?
I like it that Sarah Palin talks about smaller government, and that her very existence makes the lying incumbents in Washington nervous. I like that she cultivates a persona of simple straight talk – even innocence.
But the problem with Sarah is that, like so many Americans, she’s never really thought too deeply about the State. In actual fact, her life, rogue or not, is the story of state subsidy, state employment, state redistribution of wealth, state corruption and state centralizing power.
