So my question today is, how long before the global busy-bodies decide to impose sanctions or fines against Iceland for their “excessive emissions”?

Yes, I understand that when compared against the aggregate of human emissions that the Icelandic eruption is only contributing a fraction of a percent of emissions to the atmosphere, but the volcano is pumping out millions of tons of water vapor (also a greenhouse gas), carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide.  When compared to any single emission source, this eruption is in the orders of magnitude of greater emissions.    Even if it were associated with a catastrophic accident, no corporation could get away with creating an ash plume that shuts down international air travel for several days or weeks without the politicos demanding someones head on a shiny silver platter.

So with Iceland flaunting any emissions restrictions discussed by the big-heads at Copenhagen, and common sense nowhere to be seen in our current global warming witch hunt, how long can it be before action must be taken against this egregious act of pollution?

The insurance companies should start lobbying for this NOW!  Think of the profits to be made when entire countries have to take up insurance policies for protection against their own geology?  With the government getting to choose who wins and who loses, this kind of racket starts to sound less far fetched.

I certainly don’t want any of this to come true, but like I said, common sense isn’t an option anymore.  What may sound like ranting today may become reality tomorrow.  I’m just supplying today’s food for thought.

My point is, if you truly believe that Joe Stark was a coward and you cannot understand what he did then you are entitled to your opinion.  However, if you are engaging in damage control by denouncing a man that fought back against a government that no longer fears its citizens; you are doing no one a favor.  I say this because you are not going to soften up the statists attitude toward liberty activists by being tough on someone they broke.  The people that count are the people who are mad as hell about our current state of government and while they will not condone Joe Stark’s actions, they also understand them.  Take times like this to direct their anger in the constructive direction you want them to instead of blaming a victim of statist violence for breaking and fighting back with violence.

In Liberty, John West

That qualification is important from the point of knowing what I am talking about only because I have actually been through the training.  Army training, and to an equal or lesser extent all military training, teaches soldiers to react and not think about what they need to do.  This insures the soldier does what they need to do when they are in combat.  More importantly, the Army trains soldiers to de-humanize their enemies.  This is intended to allow soldiers to kill enemy troops without remorse.  I just had a chance to see parts of the “Band of Brothers” mini-series.  I think it was a remarkable piece of work.  It also drove home the point about war that I have taken to heart over the years since I was a gung-ho, hard-driving Airborne Infantryman.  Soldiers kill other soldiers.  That is too clean, too aseptic.  More accurately, men kill other men.  US soldiers came home from WWII and most didn’t want to talk about what they did over there.  This is because they had to find some way to deal with the fact that they had to kill other human beings and had to see many of their buddies die at the hands of other human beings.  On the ground and in the trenches, the inevitable situation soldiers find themselves in during a war is doing whatever it takes to make sure that they and their buddies get home safely.  There is no glory in war, there is only pain. 

So you may be asking, what is the answer to war?  My answer is to hold the leaders accountable for their actions.  Why would it have been so evil to assassinate Hitler (or insert the out-of-control government leader here) but its OK or even a great patriotic good to send millions of men onto battlefields to kill millions of other men?  Really, why does that make sense?  America always wants to point to how morally superior we are because we do not endorse assassination, yet we are always ready to send our soldiers into harms way. 

If you want something to remember this Memorial Day, I would ask that you remember the amount of pain that our war veterans have had to endure because of the actions of the leaders of governments (foreign and our own). 

Why Union? Take a look.

I was in a government building today and saw a sign posted that raised my ire.  It was a recruiting poster for a government employees union.  The first thing on the poster was the main reason they state for government employees to join their union.  The reason, “The THREAT:  Under way is a powerful and rapidly moving effort aimed at the total dismantling of government as we know it.”  OK, not even the libertarians want to disassemble the government completely.  Now, disassembling government employees unions?  You bet I want to do that!  Unions in the real world (aka, in a free market) have to dance a fine line between getting everything they can for their membership and running the company they negotiate with straight into the ground.  A dead company employs no one and the union employees might have a union but no job.  Government employees don’t have that problem.  Governments cannot be put out of business and while some government employees do lose there jobs from time to time a union of government employees doesn’t have to worry about putting the government out of business with their theft from the taxpayers.  They just raise taxes.  They put it in sugary-sweet terms like for the common good and it’s for the children but the unions couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the common good and your children aren’t paying union dues so they’re out too.  When you have the teachers union putting their hand picked candidates on school boards it would be like a union getting seats on a company’s board of directors.  Oh, but there’s one big difference.  In a regular company the stockholders vote for Board members and pick board members that represent their best interests as stockholders.  A union would have to own a majority of the companies stock to get their pick of Board members.  What does a teachers union have to buy?  The candidate.  That’s it.  Just get them elected and you’re in.  It’s sooooo much cheaper than buying a majority stake in a corporation.  Even Employee Stock Ownership Programs (ESOPs) doesn’t give employees that much power that cheaply.  The real nitty gritty?  Government employees can go to the voters with their grievances.  They don’t need unions and voters shouldn’t allow unions for government employees. 

I am disgusted by the TV ads that I have seen where the union bosses have the unmitigated gall to state that Amendment 49 takes away workers right to choose.  It’s more accurate to state that Amendment 49 takes away the union bosses right to do whatever they damned well please with workers money.  One thing you really need to remember when you are ready to vote is that the only sector where union membership has increased is with GOVERNMENT workers.  The reason is pretty simple.  Workers have seen the damage that unions do to businesses.  A belligerent union can cripple a company and that company will fail when it attempts to compete in a market while it is handicapped by union action.  Instead of getting better working conditions and better pay that the unions promise, workers get laid off.  This is happening to Detroit autoworkers as we speak.  Many of the companies that have moved overseas have done so to escape aggressive unions that want high school grads to make as much or more than college grads, all in the name of “fairness”.  All of that risk goes away when unions talk to government workers.  You can’t run the government out of business.  Run out of taxpayer money?  Just raise taxes!!!  Wow, problem solved right?  WRONG!!  If I am correct almost every major school district in the metro area has a 3A and 3B measure on their ballots.  With those spending measure and Amendment 59 the teachers unions are trying to mainline tax dollars to feed their habit.  This has to stop!!!

Do not believe the unions.  They are not on your side.  Take away their last bastion of safety and vote yes for Amendment 49!!

No matter what the politicians tell you companies do not pay taxes.  Yes, the government can force companies to give them money and call it corporate taxation but the companies do not have money that does not first have to come from YOU!!!  So when the politicians tells you “Don’t worry we’ll just get the money from these EVIL corporations”, you now know the truth.  The truth is that the companies are going to increase the price of the products that they sell you to make up for what the “taxes” are and YOU are going to pay the taxes just like you pay all of the other taxes. 

Please do not fall for the bear trap that Bill Ritter put out there all filled with yummy goodies that you are told you won’t have to pay for.  If you do you will find that just like a real bear trap, this Amendment is going to cost you an arm and a leg.  Please vote NO on Amendment 58.