Framing the Dialogue

Archive for August, 2010

News Briefs – Volume XIV – Upside Down World

News briefs are a collection of interesting news stories and this volume is chock full of stories from an upside down political world…

Brief 1:  The Keystone State (Pennsylvania) has recently announced that they are making changes to their appliance rebate program.  Pennsylvania budget deficit projects are not good so you would expect that a rebate program might be on the chopping block.  Not in Pennsylvania’s upside down world.  It was announced that the rebates are actually INCREASING, some by more than 100%.  In all fairness this is “stimulus” money (federal tax dollars versus state tax dollars). 

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True American Hero – Sheriff Joe Arpaio

 What do you call a man who;

  • Has over four decades serving the public in law enforcement,
  • Is responsible for over 10,000 inmates in his prison system,
  • Doesn’t coddle prisoners and has over 2,ooo housed in an outdoor tent city to keep costs down,
  • Doesn’t coddle prisoners and has forbid pornography, smoking, and coffee and restricts TV watching,
  • Offers the cheapest meals in the jails costing an average of 15 cents a meal and are only served twice daily to cut costs,
  • Requires inmates to work and provide labor to the community,
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GZM – A Few Thoughts

At the risk of having my head removed from my body I have a few thoughts on the GSM (Ground Zero Mosque) controversy:

  • I don’t see how Americans can look for legal means to stop the construction of the GZM.  If we are a nation of laws and the mosque meets the standards and rules then it should not be prevented.
  • I don’t see how Muslims who claim to be tolerant would in their wildest dreams would consider putting a mosque anywhere near the site of America’s greatest terrorist attack and carried out by Muslims. 
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Marketing (mahr – ki – ting)

Marketing is defined as:

  1. the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing, and selling.

Synonyms:  vend, merchandise, peddle

Notable Quotable:

“Never… ever suggest they don’t have to pay you. What they pay for, they’ll value. What they get for free, they’ll take for granted, and then demand as a right. Hold them up for all the market will bear..”

Lois McMaster Bujold

Can you give an example?

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General Motor$

I was somewhat surprised to read that General Motors is planning to sell stock sometime in the near future a little over a year from its “bankruptcy.”  I used the parenthesis around bankruptcy because what the Obama Administration did for General Motors was not a typical bankruptcy.  Investors were not protected or given preference as was their right;

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On Classical Economics

You may have heard of Adam Smith and most certainly Karl Marx, but what about John Stuart Mill or Jean-Baptiste Say or John Manard Keynes?  These men and many others are the forefathers of classical economic thought and On Classical Economics is an in depth look at their theories and writings.  Author Thomas Sowell is a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and one of my favorite writers and a prolific one at that.  You can read his regular columns at TownHall.com.

On Classical Economics is not a book for light reading and probably is more for folks who really want to probe the depths of classic economic theory. 

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Kitchen Kommunism

A lot of attention is being paid to socialism, Marxism, progressivism, and communism.  Quite a few Americans believe that the unholy trinity (Pelosi, Reid, and Obama) and their minions are dragging the United States closer to the European model of socialism or communism as evidenced by Obamacare, Obamacars, Obamabanks, and a vastly expanding federal government payroll.

Communism sounds like a great idea.  Everyone pitches in to get the work done and everyone shares in the wealth.  What could be better than that?

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True American Hero – Steve Wynn

A repeated tome in this blog is the desire for business leaders who are not coddling up to politicians to gain favor and subsequent breaks from government toadies.  It seems like General Motors, Chrysler, BP, AIG, Goldman Sachs executive accept the pound of flesh that they have give to political expediency.  The dutifully appear before Congress to be berated and belittled, slink off to their boardroom to lick their wounds only to emerge like the Phoenix with even more power and favor from government.

I am seeking Wyatt.

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The Politically Incorrect Guide to The Sixties

Since I was born in the early sixties, much of my knowledge of that decade came from media sources.  Over the past few years as I have awakened to how the media/liberal complex works I have torn down the walls of deceit to gain a more complete perspective of that decade.  Even with that knowledge, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties  provided many surprises and back up for what I already knew to be true.  Author Jonathan Leaf provides a detailed accounting of what really happened and that contrary to media/Hollywood myth the sixties were not all that radical;

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News Briefs Volume XIII

News briefs are a collection of interesting news stories…

Brief 1:  This one should be under the title of “how cool is this.”  Kellogg Company has opened a store dedicated to their ever popular Pop-Tart (my favorite is iced brown sugar with cinnamon).  Pop-Tart World opened today in Times Square in New York City where you can design your own tart or have Pop-Tart sushi.  One can only imagine what they must have to charge per Pop-Tart to afford the rent in Times Square.  I wonder how long it will take Mayor Bloomberg to impose a sugar tax on the popular breakfast treat?

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