Buccaneer Theory of Economics

Share

As I listen to critiques of Senator Clinton's (D-NY) economic plan to fund all of her programs, I realize it all boils down to them stealing money from some and giving it to others. In a quote back in a February 19th running of the Mark Levin Show, she said she would "take back" money from certain companies as a means to alleviate program costs. How can she take back what was never hers? I used to think that Liberal economic policy followed the Robin Hood Theory of Economics, but now I realize they want us to think that's how it is: robbing from an evil rich prince to give to the noble poor. When they dress it up like Robin Hood, it gives a wicked idea a pallatable and amenable facelift.

Weighing the subject further this morning, I determined that Liberal economic policy follows more the persuasion of the buccaneer. As with Robin Hood, the buccaneer takes treasure that does not belong to him, either under veiled threats of vandalism or at the point of a sword backed up with the smoke of powder and shot. As opposed to Robin Hood, the buccaneer does not live in squalor and target only the ignoble rich; he treats his victims with complete equity, killing men, women and children alike, unlike Robin Hood who in many retellings permitted men of the cloth and some nobles to retain their wares. Nobles feared Robin Hood for how his actions threatened their station; everyone feared buccaneers for their savage barbarism. The buccaneer theory practized by Liberals relies on certain principles that I will now enumerate using illustrations from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

1: They intend to leave everyone bereft
When they break into the prison and find Jack behind bars, two pirates comment on how when last they saw him, he was "all alone on a God-forsaken island shrinkin' into the distance. His fortunes aren't improved much". Liberal promises to help elevate your station mean very little. Like the pirates aboard ship, they're only interested in the accumulation of swag as quickly as possible that they can divvy among themselves. They don't, like Robin Hood, travel throughout the Caribbean slums spreading their spoils to those who need it. "Ten years of hoarding swag, and we finally get to spend it!" resounds in their holds. They intend to spend and frit away all that glitter to satisfy their own lusts. They may gain a letter of marque from the powers that be to prey upon ships ostensibly in the name of king and country, but in the end, during the 1600s everyone who came to America in the name of God, Glory and Gold, cared exclusively for Gold. Liberals may invoke the other two concepts, but in the end, they have always been behind efforts to extort goods from some for their personal benefit. If successful with her plans, the millions Senator Clinton mentions will primarily prop up large bureaucracies- with swarms of new officers tenured with retirement in their stations and unremovable by our wish, and very little residual if any will go toward the public good.

2. Their appetite for our money is insatiable
When telling Elizabeth about the cursed gold, Barbossa says that all the food, drink, and pleasureable company they could buy remained insufficient to "slake our lust". No matter how much they obtain, it's never enough. The federal budget currently stands at $1.4 Trillion- higher than any other nation and higher than ever before. Every portion of the budget includes increases over the previous budget (except perhaps Defense spending), but they complain when President Bush reduces the amount of increase from 11% to 5% and call it a cut. If your bank gave you a 5% return on your deposit, would YOU consider that a cut in your funds? They already control the mail, education, most of the public lands...they take up to 33% of your income as an individual and 45% if you're a corporation. When is enough enough?

3. Everything belongs to you if you can steal it
When meeting Gibbs on Tortuga, Jack toasts him before the venture with the phrases: "Take all you can. Give nothing back" tossed between the two. Furthermore, the pirates repeatedly steal each other's ships, like when Gibbs and company take back the Pearl while the other pirates attack the Dauntless. Liberals talk about windfall profits and greedy pharmaceutical companies taking your money. However, they're not interested in divvying it out to YOU if they manage to steal it. They don't aliquot back to those who buy gas the money taken by Evil Chevron. They are sending tax "rebates" to people who DIDN'T PAY A DIME IN TAXES! Many taxpayers get squat. No, in the end, if they get Chevron's profits, it will go into the paychecks of their friends at the new bureaucracies aforementioned or into some other project designed to buy votes for themselves in future elections.

4. Rules mean nothing
Complaining to the pirates after they retake the Pearl, Elizabeth tells them to "Hang the code, and hang the rules. They're more like guidelines anyway." We still wait for the Clinton tax returns to be made available despite promises from Senator Clinton to do so. Senator Obama by contrast (D-IL) released his. In that release, we find a grand sum of $3000 donated to charity of the $300,000 earned last year by his household. I give more than that to charity, and I hardly earn comparable wages. Moreover, he gave money to a racist and anti-American pastor. If I gave money to the Klu Klux Klan and then ran for office, would that be a big deal? You bet. Liberals can also make as much money as they wish, yet Michelle Obama tells black people they ought shun middle-classdom and remain poor. When a conservative makes money, he's evil.

5. When you lose utility, they abandon you
Asking Jack about orders he gave to Gibbs to "stick to the code", Jack tells Will, "He who falls behind gets left behind." Once Liberals suck dry an industry or individual of whatever capital they can accumulate, the move on like locusts to suck dry the next sector of the economy. If they can manage to initiate "universal healthcare", they will hang out to dry all the doctors and nurses whose jobs will become nationalized by reducing the amount of money they can make, thereby stringing out the time it takes to pay back medical school debt. Liberal economic policies remove the incentive to innovate and make money. They attack Big Pharma by advocating importation of Canadian drugs when Canadian companies invest zilch in research and development. Even more dastardly, I know from personal experience that Canadians engage in intellectual property theft. If they put caps on mortgage rates, banks will issue fewer loans and fewer people will get homes. If they put caps on agricultural commodities, fewer farmers will grow them, leading to food shortages. If they establish Grand Escalante National Monument-type programs over every natural resource or stricter environmental standards, our companies won't develop our own resources. Most of the companies mining gold in Nevada are owned by Canada.

Liberals prey upon everyone. They don't care how much swag you hold amidships; they only care that it's not currently in the hold of THEIR ship, and they, like the pirates of the Black Pearl will stop at nothing to get whatever they can. Remember the opening scene with the burning merchantmen left desolate and bereft of life as Barbossa and his crew of miscreants searched for that final coin to free them from their bondage. What of the bondage and misery their actions occassioned on others? Their single pursuit of their own aggrandizement left a wake of dead and dying. So too will any economic strategy put forth by a liberal, no matter how much they romanticize it in the garb of a Robin Hood.

Savvy?



Codicle: The author of this article owns stock in many funds both singly as well as through a series of mutual funds, as do more likely than not every one of you.

"Tramp Stamp"

Share

My mom's best friend came home last week to a horiffic surprise- her daughter had a tatoo. I've known many people with tatoos in my life thus far, and they all offer reasons that make sense and bear some reason. This girl I mention today did not.

Whether you like tatoos or not, chances are your perception and attitude changes with time. It's one of those things that people hem and haw over for a period before taking the plunge as it were. So many of the people I know with tatoos have them on places obfuscated by clothing, but my favorite is the Tramp Stamp.

If you're getting a tatoo that you intend to hide, chances are your subconscious admits what your attitude and friends deny- you are embarassed. However, the tramp stamp defiantly and blatantly draws attention to a part of the body that invites lewdness and for persons as myself a turnoff. Don't get me wrong- if you have a tatoo, fine by me. However, I find them neither cool nor sexy nor an apt way to memorialize anything in your life, particularly given the fleeting nature of those things most of my friends and associates chose to inscribe upon their dermis.

While for some with the Tramp Stamp, they may desire what comes, I view it as more of a scarlet letter and I don't like it. Furthermore, if you lacked courage sufficient to emplazon your face with a tatoo, I doubt your resolve. If you really believe in expression after that fashion, why try to hide it? You know that it's not a badge of honor, worthy of scorn against you rightly by societal pressures that say such rebellion is unbecomming a lady or gentleman.

The time will come when only ex-Navy personnel, ex-convicts, and prostitutes will sport tatoos. Hardly a company among which I wish to count myself.

When Everyone's Super, Noone Will Be

Share

Over the last few months since seeing "The Incredibles", I've mulled over a line from that movie several times. The antagonist, Syndrome, in his solliloquoy to Mr. Incredible tells of how his inventions will empower everyone to be superheroes in their own right, including persons such as himself with lackluster appertaining thereunto and who have no call on the types of activities in which superheroes engage. As he leaves, he tells Mr. Incredible that "when everyone's super, noone will be."

This villainy currently plays out in our national scene. In the name of equality and "for the children", self-described "compassionate" Americans sing the praises of a communistic/marxist regime as a way to make life fair. They forget that life isn't fair, and in many instances, the voices that scream the loudest for fairness and equality stand out among us for their affluence and notoriety.

Marxists in America know nothing of communism's dastardly effects, never having lived under it. I remember Austrians criticizing me for the US Army's cessation of invasion and asking why the Americans didn't liberate their towns. When the Russian communists rolled into Austria, they left a wake of carnage and anguish that resonates still in that nation.

I find the sounding cry of marxists highly ironic. Many of them are entrepreneurs, which communistic regimes don't tolerate. Even more depend on free speech for their livelihood and rhetoric, another instance communism cannot abide. Communists hate Hollywood even as Hollywood fauns over them. Even more atrocious, so many people in Hollywood clandestinely opine for a communist world. Their willful blindness and the ignorance of the masses constitute a volatile mixture.

Many of them are rich or even ueberrich. Yet, they think it's not fair for CEOs to earn big salaries. If they were so idealistic, why don't they give up what they have and take a vow of poverty? Moreover, leaders of terrorist groups, dictators, and revolutionaries typically own much more money than the common Joe. None of them care about us.

Much of the world is poor, including most notably our neighbors to the south. If American Capitalism is so evil, why do so many Mexicans clamour for entrance to our shores, against the throws of legality and in defiance of propriety and law? Among the poor in America we find few professed communists, yet each of the poor clamors for his "fair share" when windfall assets are to be divvied out forcibly from those who obtain by their industry. Out of this greed and envy, the poor take relish socking it to the rich, even when those initiatives leave them bereft of even crumbs from the table of industry.

The ability of communists to prey on the rich and rally the poor depends upon a continuation of the system as presently constituted. Their continued intrusions on capital indomitably remove incentives to become rich, and eventually reduce those who currently classify as rich to an equal state of misery and woe as their neighbors. From whom then can they steal capital and make good on their promises?

One of the communist's largest attacks is on religion, all the while preaching compassion and brotherly love espoused thereby. They know that in religion we find both reason for those values and the actuary opportunities to do so in a manner that truly elevates the individual. Communists cannot abide a God under which they might have to bow, even when he promises them everything they could ever want. They sing the songs from Culture Beat "I know what I want and I want it now." Their vanity and greed are insatiable.

God's first commandments in the Garden of Eden bear further scrutiny. He first commanded Adam and Eve to dress the garden and take good care of it, so long as they refrained from eating from one particular tree. They ate fruit from trees they did not plant, and although appointed as stewards, the obsequious commandment set no benchmarks and expected no quotas. The garden was for them, not they for it. It existed and would exist even in their absence. God then commanded them to multiply, not just in seed as assumed, but also in all things they had.

What of Job, the rich man who walked peaceably before God? In the case of Job, God took no issue whatsoever with Job's affluence on account of Job's peaceable and obedient walk. Job obtained his prosperity by the sweat of his own brow. God had no problem with Job's wealth compared to his neighbors because Job obtained his wealth by the sweat of his brow, and Job was a great benefactor, voluntarily, to his neighbors and friends. The best cure for poverty and inequality comes in the form of a slieu of rich men who of their own volition impart of their substance to those in need, without compulsory means, forever and ever.

Ironically, recent elections resulted in a sweep of conservative victories in Iran despite their dictatorial regime. People clamour to be free. People want to find their own way. That's why they flock to America through all time, a place where every man may prosper by his own industry.

You cannot force equality without cutting down those who rise above. Equality is a noble ideal, but it is not possible while some people prey upon others. Stop trying to make earth, which is fallen, the utopia that heaven alone can sustain.

Qualifying the Qualified

Share

Yesterday for the first time I sat at a table and interviewed candidates for a job. One of the biggest surprises to me came when I found myself choosing against the candidates most qualified for the job and used the phrase on one that he was overqualified. Until now, I always thought overqualification was an excuse not to hire.

We only interviewed people possessed of the basic qualifications to do the job. As such, all of them were capable, but we considered other factors. I decided to ask each one what made them apply for the job and what they saw themselves doing if they came to work with us, and that directed much of my decision making. In the end, I chose a candidate less for her ability to barf up the correct answers and bedazzle us interviewers and more for the fact that I believed she would appreciate the job and be online with the mission of our organization.

Most people use jobs to advance their careers. I myself sought opportunities to expand my resume through activities at work that give me width and breadth.

One other final thought. The last interviewee said something interesting, that when not awarded a job he asks if it was really a good fit. We considered the same thing: how well do the candidates fit our mission and with the job. Some of the candidates were highly qualified, but they were unlikely to find satisfaction or enjoy the job. Since a lot of people depend on what we do, we don't want someone who only views it as a stepping stone to something bigger and better. While we all want to advance our careers, I doubt that many, including that fellow, would appreciate the job and act conscientiously toward it. Not that I expect them to stay there forever, but for many I wonder why they even applied for the job.

Being on the asking end of an interview was a VERY illuminating experience.

Online Stalkers

Share

In talking to an old friend of mine, I found myself explaining why I don't use my real name online. A few years ago, while competing for a job with Homeland Security, I came across a warning from DHS against excessive openness on websites like Myspace and Facebook. Since I have a few stalkers myself, I wanted to make it difficult for people to easily find out information about me by using pseudonames coupled with real information.

One of the people with whom I communicate online actually had enough of her real information on her instant messenging profile that I was able to mapquest her home. At my suggestion, she first removed sufficient details from her profile to prevent that from happening, then changed her display name to simply her real first name and a fake surname. All she had was a picture of the church she attended and the state in which she lived, and I was able to find out her home address.

Many parents worry, and perhaps rightly so, about the prevelance of sexual predators online. The anonymity of the internet makes people say and do things behind the largely pretend mask even though if pressed internet providers can divulge your identity and activity to the authorities. I started this blog so that things from my own mouth would be online in case someone levied untrue accusations against me, but I have no true desire to enter the body public at this time.

Some people joke about online stalking, but there are people who log on and check out people's information without them knowing. We hear about identity theft, scams on craigslist, the ever-repetitive Nigerian inheritance scam, ad infinitum. Now, we invite thieves, murderers, rapists, etc., into our homes via email and PHP where blinds and dogs used to keep some at bay. Thinking themselves garbed in secrecy, many people who never would steal in public and other things take courage from the obscurity of zeros and ones.

The internet is a good thing. You just have to be discerning about those with whom you choose to associate.

Discover Both Sides of Nevada

Share

At the request of an old friend, I am previewing some of my favorite pictures on this blog. These will all be available in my forthcoming book on Nevada (as yet untitled), and they are all mine. Yes, I took them. Most of the stock photography or other pictures I saw online from other ventures pale in quality by comparison. I hope you enjoy them, but I don't care if you don't. All images are my exclusive copyright and those who use them without permission will be prosecuted to the fullest extend of the law.

Stamp Mill, Berlin NV

Fort Churchill

American Flats

Tonopah Staging Area for "Operation: Overlord"

Ward Charcoal Ovens

Reno Balloon Race

Lake Tahoe Scenic Overlook

Pyramid Lake view from Popcorn Rock

Lamoille Canyon

Valley of Fire

Headframe and Stamp, Seven Troughs

These images are proprietary. One of them has already been stolen and published without express prior written consent. Further use of these images without permission will be subject to any and all penalties of the law. A higher law states "Thou shalt not steal".

Preemptive Defeat

Share

I was thinking tonight a friend of mine who's running for President as an Average American. For my own part, I'm tired of voting against candidates, and given the current crop of candidates, I see it as simply a repeat of previous elections where I am settling for a candidate, unless I pick Thom. When Thom first announced his candidacy, he ran into a slew of nay-sayers trying to dissuade him from making the attempt, using in particular the phrase "a snowball's chance". For some reason, my thoughts turned to Grant's Tomb, which some day I'd like to see.

For many people, the tomb disappoints their expectations, but that's because they see little beyond the granite edifice of one of the most important figures of American history, not for his administration but as a metaphor for America.



At that sight lie the remains of an Iowa farm boy, who, despite his humble beginnings, rose to the command of thousands on the battlefield and eventually took the Oath of Office. Only in this nation can one hope to have that as one's epitaph.

Grant is not the first "Average American" to ascend to the position of leader of the free world. Jefferson the Agrarian, Teddy Roosevelt the Boxer, Lincoln the Log-cabin Lawyer, and others overcame the odds. Although the candidacy of H. Ross Perot demonstrated the necessity of extra effort for a third-party ticket to hope for success, it demonstrated an openness on the part of the people to accept that premise as before and AWARDED ELECTORAL VOTES to the first 3rd Party candidate in 130 years.

If you choose not to try, you will fail. Don't let others dissuade you from your dreams. Godspeed, Sir.

Sweat Equity

Share

Some people, presumably those who aren't good at math, believe that it's worth it to pay someone to do something you could do if it costs you less to pay them. The problem is that they usually have plenty of time to do those things but prefer to sit around and watch TV while someone else mows their lawn or changes their oil. In essence in that instance, it costs you a lot MORE to pay someone else because you shell out not only the retail amount but also lose the opportunity to make money in the meantime.

Many examples from my own life illustrate the point. I arise at 5AM to exercise before it's too hot in Vegas and therefore save the gas required to travel to a gym and any membership fees. When I finish with work and after the commute, dinner and feeding my dogs, four hours remain in which to do whatever I wish. If I cannot use that time to make money, I use it to save money by doing things like changing my own oil, cleaning the carpets, or landscaping the yard. Although I could get my oil changed at WalMart for around $20, if I buy the oil and filters myself it costs me $9 in supplies (4 quarts at $1.50 each and $3 for the filter), and I save $11 doing it myself (Jiffy Lube and similar chains I save MORE), which is about how much money I'd earn if I were at work for the 30 minutes it takes to change my own oil.

Sometimes it pays, but only if the cost benefit ratio is worth it. My grandfather used to pay us grandsons $20 to mow his lawn. He owned two adjacent lots at a corner, one of which was landscaped in grass with a large garden. Mowing the lawn was therefore an arduous task, but $20 was an awesome wage for us back then. When we grew up and were no longer around, he paid a service $50 to do the same job. My grandfather was a pharmacist who specialized in geriatric and post-operation service, and he had contracts for clients who might come at any hour of the day. Nobody knows how much money he's worth, but as a pharmacist he was always on call to make money, and he probably earned more than $50/hour. Eventually, he subdivided his land, built a home on the park, and sold it for $500,000 profit. Now he pays a service $20 to do the smaller lot, which is worth it since he's now 84 years old and cannot manage it himself.

I have tried to learn how to do everything I can do myself because if I paid someone else to do it, I would probably not do something productive in the meantime. The opportunity cost of this example assumes that your free time is used productively in another more beneficial manner or that you are having it done during times when you are making money. Even on work days, in my after hours, I have five hours per day discretionary time. Again, if I cannot use it to make money or to better care for my money, I use it to save myself money.

For example, Saturday I changed out the AC system on my 1999 Suburban (AC Compressor and lines). I found the parts for $200 less than the dealership by buying online and used online discussion boards for tips and tricks when I hit a snag. Although it took me eight hours, I saved about $800 in labor, which is far above my hourly wage, even though they would have finished it potentially faster than I. There is no guarantee that they’ll do a better job than I will.

As in the continued example of an oil change, my ex wife used to make me take cars in for service, and at the suggestion of someone I’ve long forgotten I started marking the oil filter with a sharpie to make sure it was changed. Three out of the five places to which I took my vehicle didn’t change the oil filter although they charged me full price, and none of the five places put the 4.5Qts oil in that my engine uses- they just put in 4Qts. My Saturn burns 1Qt/1250 miles, meaning that they put my engine at risk by shorting me that half quart oil.

Sometimes, if you want it done right as in honestly, you should do it yourself.

As a caveat, I will NOT be doing a custom shower in my next home. After having to redo it this winter when the membrane leaked, I decided that standard sizes have a better cost-benefit ratio since the custom work exerts little if any upward pressure on the home’s value when it comes time to sell.

Get Involved

Share

Active participation is the most important thing one can do in a campaign and the most effective way to change the direction of politics. Remember that by one vote a difference can be made and that Paul Laxalt defeated Harry Reid decades ago by a margin of a few hundred votes. Make a difference. Thank you for your support.

Join the Campaign!

(click the link to send us a message- link will open a new window, so you will need to disable popups)

Briefs

Share

Last Updated 24 June, 2008

2008 Presidential Candidates: Quite frankly, I see very little difference between them. They all show at this juncture equivalent disregard for the principles of the Declaration and seem hell-bent on the recreation of the tyranny from which my ancestors first severed themselves. That being said, I could never, in good conscience, vote FOR a Marxist. Communism is the enemy of the Constitution.

Party: Like Thomas Jefferson, I oppose the very concept of political parties as a rule. That particular topic requires more attention, which I will not give here. I have however been a registered Democrat since 2000.

Abortion: Although I find this practice personally morally irreprehensible, until the citizenry defines life, I am inclined to by virtue of Constitutional restraints, allow where by force of state law such practice is not banned by common consent to allow it. However, I oppose any effort to use public monies towards the payment of any costs associated therewith.

Affirmative Action: If justice must be blind, why then can Congress by statute require that Corporations do the exact opposite? Let the best person be chosen, regardless of race, gender or creed. These types of government interpolations are tyrannies in embryo.

Capital Punishment: As the Constitution allows for this in extreme cases for the most heinous of national crimes, I see no reason to forbid it for any other offense found of moral equivalency by the people. We know that in the case of execution the chances of recidivism are zero, and I would rather punish a few innocent men for capital crimes than allow confessed criminals the opportunity to prey upon more unsuspecting victims without restraints or fear of reciprocity.

Censorship: I find the Alien and Sedition acts most disturbing. However, if you like other nations so much better, I invite you to go there and leave my country alone. It is, said Bill Manders of 780AM KKOH Reno, one of the greatest freedoms we have in America- the freedom to move.

Cuba: It was a mistake to ever set up Castro in power. Until he and his family relinquish hegemony of that land, I do not see any point in discussing the matter further.

Current Administration (Bush/Cheney): No administration will do everything you want it to do. However, the administration is not responsible for everything that happens. Congress, to very large degree, bears responsibility for many of the ills we face. The President simply makes a convenient scapegoat for their own ineptitude.

Current Congress: See above.

Education: I believe that while education is important, it is best left up to the States and Municipalities to determine the course thereof and bear the responsibility therefore. I endorse any movement to dissolve the Department of Education and return the stewardship therefore back to that body that deserves power there over- the people who pay for it.

Energy: I believe in a policy of self-reliance. I also believe that in order for a successful long-term strategy to be possible, we must deal with the present reality and create an immediate alleviation to the current distress. While we offer incentives, not punishments, to businesses to develop alternative energies, it best behoove us to remember that the oil companies are OIL COMPANIES, not solar, wind, hydrogen, etc. companies. It would be silly to call in the CEO of Pepperidge Farm and ask him why he isn't doing more to develop more powerful microprocessors. As for those who advocate silly things like compact fluorescent bulbs, carpooling and the like, I believe that such a policy is only one way to ease strain on families, and not the penultimate or ultimate solution. We cannot conserve our way to greatness.

Flag Burning: Never have. Never will. If you choose to do so, that is your right; until of course by Constitutional Amendment it is not.

Global Warming: I believe that this, like so many other theorems and principles, constitutes a most egregious hysteria of conjecture and projection, reflective of bad science and fear-mongering.
Gun Control: The second Amendment expressly forbids any restrictions of this principle in any form. Why should not the loyal denizens of this land be able to protect themselves with equal competency to those dastardly villains at home and abroad who mean us harm?

Healthcare: Simply put, the government should stay out of this.

Illegal Immigration: Simply put, the government should put a stop to this.

Marijuana Legalization: Let the states decide, but I warn you that the legalization of further narcotics and aphrodisiacs will bring on the calamities akin to those seen now in the wake of repeal of Prohibition.

Minimum Wage: Let the market demand what a man is worth based on his value to the company. Personally, I endorse capitalistic endeavors that reward a man for exceeding his daily allotment and offer incentive to do more things faster. As such, I think the minimum wage does more harm than good.

School Prayer: If Congress, the Courts, and the Inauguration contain a prayer, why are schoolchildren not allowed to pray? Let them worship if they wish. For crying out loud, we facilitate Muslim religious observation in Guantanamo bay while forbidding it to our own citizenry.

Separation of Church and State: ...is different from separation of Religion and State. Like it or not, a man's ideals are influenced by his beliefs. Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. Remove from them their right to act religious, and you plant the seeds of despotism at our doors.

Stem Cell Research: has never proven itself more than a federally funded fishing expedition. Dr. Zanjani at the University of Nevada, Reno told me himself that embryonic stem cells were not likely to bear fruit in our lifetime. Our money is best spent elsewhere.

Supreme Court: Since the time of Justice Marshall, the Court has by degrees become the tool for tyranny Jefferson feared it might be. As long as they legislate from the bench, and thereby steal power from Congress, you run the risk of a return to the "suffrage" of Great Britain, against which we fought so many years ago.

Taxes: can never be too low.

The Constitution: is a divinely inspired document. Any attempt to defeat it or ignore it constitutes in my opinion an act of treason against the Majesty of Heaven which I revere above all earthly hegemony.

Unions: Do very little of good for the workers. They mostly serve Union officials and the politicians that serve Union officials' interests. Just look at the Nevada Democrat 2008 Caucus...the Unions made a big stink about having polling places near to union jobs, yet the union workers did not show up to caucus. If Unions cared about their members, they would have done a better job helping them get to the polls.

United Nations: The UN is nothing more than a forum for every nation that has ever or does or will ever hate the USA to beat up on us and exercise power over us. It serves us very little benefit in total.

War in Iraq: was deemed necessary by the current administration for the safety of the citizenry. We are there. Deal with it. Now that we're there, I'd personally like to win.

Welfare: should never have been established as a crutch upon which people came to depend. It should be directed towards returning men to the state in which they lived prior to applying for welfare.

Sponsoring

Share

If you like what I do, or you'd like to be a part of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit, we welcome sponsors. For now, since there is no campaign per se, no donations are tax deductable, but that will change if I make the campaign official.

I now accepting advertising in addition to it’s current “Google” ads. The goal is still to maintain the readability of the site for all the visitors, while attracting them to outside sites which may be of interest to them. I don’t have set prices, it all depends on what you want.

Image and Text Ads
Please contact me with a proposal for either text or image advertising (125×125, 120×600 blocks). Note that text ads will have the rel=”nofollow” tag attached. Depending on your needs and duration, we can negotiate a price. Please note too that sponsored ads will not be rotated like "Google" ads with screen reloads or new posts.

Commentary and Reviews
My basic philosophy is that I don’t want to present things to my readers that I don’t think they will find useful or which I do not find interesting. So if you have a book, article, or product you want to promote, you are free to send me a sample or copy. If I think it’s applicable or useful, I will review it or blog about it. I won’t accept money for the actual review itself, and I reserve the right to control what I write.

All advertisements are accepted at my personal discretion. I do not allow adult and gambling-related sites, but you can ask about anything else. Worse case scenario I say no thanks.

If you simply want to donate to me personally, you can do so securely via Paypal by clicking the button below:

Contact

Share

Option 1: My email address







(the email is not cut and paste to discourage spam)

Option 2: Click on the link below to send a message (link will open in a new window- disable popups to continue)


Contact Webmaster

About Me

Share

I was born on a small farm in the country of Florin. My favorite pasttimes include riding my horse and tormenting the farm boys who worked there...

Wait. Actually, I grew up military and spent four years living in Europe. I have lived in California, Idaho, Florida, Nevada, Utah, England, and Austria. I speak German fluently and dabble in Italian and Tongan. Some day I will finally learn Spanish.

I started this blog because I wanted a way to get out my opinions and beliefs on a myriad of topics before someone else started saying I believe one way or another. I believe like John Adams that men ought avow their opinions and defend them with boldness. For some time, I pondered how best to put myself to use in making the world a better place, and having opted out of health care/research, I turned elsewhere.

In 2006, I wrote my first book, and since then I’ve started and finished several more, and I wondered if I should enter politics. Watching Senators McCain and Obama toss things out as a matter of record when the record clearly showed otherwise, and knowing that there’s a great degree of skepticism and mysticism where Mormons are concerned after Governor Romney’s run for office, I knew that I needed to start somewhere.

As you may have guessed, this site is about my thoughts on government- what I believe it’s role is, what I believe our role is in respect to government, and how best to work around government in our lives. Some of the articles are about Government, and others deal with self-government, or the conduct of the individual.

I am now 29 years old, divorced, and familiar with the ugly truth about law and order. I would have gladly spent my entire life happily ignorant of the cunning ways of lawyers and the artifice of law, and while not a lawyer, having been subjected to the wiles thereof, I feel it expedient like Thomas Jefferson that our minds must be improved to a certain degree. Toward that end, I offer this attempt to educate those who will in a well-researched and thoughtful manner. I make no pretense at expertise or all-inclusive discussion of the topics, but it is my goal to help people think because ignorance threatens the republic.

Agree with me? Disagree? Leave a comment! Comments are an integral part of this site. My ideas have been affected by many people, I believe significantly for the better. Together we can provide something useful to people truly interested in making something of their lives.

Less is More

Share

When I came to my current job, one of the first things I did in order to justify the expenditure of an additional employee was look at ways to cut costs. Not everything I did worked as well as I planned, but it freed up money for the most part to spend on other budgetary concerns where fundage shortfalls existed and taught me how much I could save without adverse effects. Factor in that I am a government employee who cares about SAVING money, and it should impress you more.

Typical government budgets expand without limits. People will buy things they don't need in order to secure similar levels of future funding. Recent shortfalls in the Nevada state budget led to a request for millions in spending cuts from the governor's office. Even though my efforts did nothing to lower our budget, my plan enabled us to do more with the same amount of money without requesting an increase.

My last job came to depend on my giving 130% performance as "normal". One day when I suffered from huge problems with diarhhea, I informed my manager that I could only give 95% of average. Other people saw me "slacking" and followed suit, forcing me to pick up the slack towards afternoon as the work piled up without any sign of alleviation for our situation. Since I set a precedence, the company knew they didn't need to hire any more people as long as they could count on my giving 130% of average.

The liberal solution by contrast in most cases involves throwing more and more resources at things. They claim we need more money for schools, more teachers, more roads, more social programs, more government control of healthcare, ad infinitum, and requisitely exact more money from our wallets to pay for things we "need". Throwing more resources at fighting poverty, illiteracy, and disease has done little to reduce in any degree any of those problems. In the interest of of protecting the nation, however, they ought to cut back.

At my last job, nobody expected me on day one to give 130%, and I received zilch in addendum compensation in gratitude for my sacrifice. I decided a long time ago to take the scouting principles seriously and always do my best. My employer by contrast made concession after concession for the weakest of our crewmembers who eventually earned pinkslips not for performance but for other issues such as excessive tardiness, profanity, and equipment/product damage.

If you want to boost productivity and quality of life whether in the home, the workplace or in social endeavors, you must foster the prosperity of those who get the job done. I left my last employer because they refused to offer me incentives to remain. If you want to help the economy, let people keep more of their money which they will spend, save or invest. Regardless, those three options put their money out into the general coffers to enable expansion of industry, availability of goods/services and capital, or encourages businesses to operate. If you want to boost education, stop giving tenure to professors/teachers and reward teachers for superior performance. Those who train up students that earn good scores ought be paid commensurate with the degree to which they prepare the students. If you want healthcare or gas to be affordable, remove restrictions on the business activities of those industries. When you unfetter their hands, they will compete to provide goods and services at competitive prices; if you keep them restricted, costs will continue to mount.

The only thing I can think of that grows if you throw money at it is a pile of money.

*Gasp* He's a User

Share

One of the lines from this movie that sticks in my mind comes when the "programs" learn that Jeff Bridges originated outside the computer. They refer to him as a "user", and everyone fears him.

I cannot tell you how many conversations I hold with girls about guys who like them only because of what they can use them for. Regardless of the evidence, it seems like they rarely care, preferring the attention at the risk of inevitable consequence to the loneliness of having nothing. Girls make excuses and say "he's really sweet" or "he's trying", but in so many cases this proves nothing more than a ruse.

So, women are probably right to fear to a degree when men try to woo them. The problem for good men such as myself is that most women like the folks of Tron start to think all men are "users" before too long and resist even when we're trying to do right by them. Then they lend credence to idiots who are "trying" after they haven't been before whereas I made it a rule to follow a particular code of ethics which I have striven by and not recently.

Eventually they set things right and get out of the program where the rules with which they are familiar apply. Hmm...predates the matrix...but I digress. Perhaps it boils down to the possibility that I was made for a different world and when I make it back everything will make sense. **cue 80's music and fade to black**

Shortcuts to Work

Share

I started telling my sister today how I shaved a mile off the commute to work each way when I was rudely interrupted by someone else. When we returned to the conversation as the third party asked, "So how did you shave off a mile?" my sister interjected, "He drives through the 7-11's on the corner instead of waiting for the light." We all got a good laugh, and that's not such a bad idea. Maybe I can shave off two...

Catharthis

Share

From time to time, I go through the following exercise. I find it somewhat cathartic given my history with this man. Feel free to try it on anyone who bothers you.

Create a new folder on your desktop.
Rename it after the person/thing that's bothering you.
Drag the folder to the trash.
When it asks "Are you sure you want to delete [whatever is bothering you]?" say yes.
Viola, it's in the trash.

That's why everyone thinks I'm a zarkin' frood.

Campaign Button

Share

The Official Campaign Artist has finished the campaign button. It will be available for purchase at Cafepress soon.

Enjoy!

This image is proprietary.

Waiting For Change

Share

Today Senator Obama took credit for the phrase spoken by Alice Walker, "We are the ones we've been waiting for," which is one of the most nonsensical things I've ever heard. If you're waiting, you're not doing. In the case of Liberals and Socialists, however, that's precisely what I want them to do.

Every time I hear that asinine song from John Mayer "Waiting on the World to Change", my blood boils. The people among which he counts himself really don't understand the world. They think the world revolves around them. Although he sings about wanting the troops to come home, I doubt very much he would ever join them in their fight, even when the fight comes to our own shore (it already has). He thinks that the agents of counter-change own information, but it is precisely the same people who agree with him who own the media: the blame America first, bring the troops home now, and "Obama is for Change" crowd of liberals that own and run all the media outlets, all the while claiming that conservatives want to hold people back.

As a scientist, I know that nothing changes for the better without a catalyst. Entropy always increases, and the activation energy to put things right is very high without some type of addition to lower the threshold and make things possible. If you wait for something to change things, it will inevitably result that negative changes occur.

This is partly why the Founding Fathers made it so difficult and so long a process to change anything in our government. They knew that if it took time to make bad changes, it would buy time for agents of positive change to organize and prevent entropic forces of destruction. If agents of negative change could revert the nation in the blink of an eye to a stone age state, it would destroy all that they built. Learn from Lando Calrissian; you cannot make a deal with the devil and keep him out. You cannot compromise on things that matter and find that you get your way.

I fear the day when that generation rises to rule the population. For now, I thank my lucky stars that they're just waiting for the world to change. While you wait, I'm going to change it.

The Emperor's New Blog

Share

I was stalking Laurel, which I've been doing for months, when I read her first post. For a long time I resisted the whole concept of putting things out there until my father told me the following story.

My father works as "Director of Programs" for the Nellis AFB range. At a conference on security, some NSA agent I think got up and showed the audience how vulnerable we really are by presenting things about several attendees of the conference whom he had never met, all of which he found on open source links. He talked about where they attended high school, a man with excessive parking tickets, and even about one attendee's pending divorce (which surprised his coworkers including my father). It made me wonder what you could find about me.

I googled myself. I found three things: the address of my first home, in which I have not lived since, the time I appeared on page A1 of the newspaper above the fold, and one thing I prefer not to mention. Google Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and you come up with a veritable slew of information primarily on blogs bantering various opinions back and forth. No matter what you think of the man, you can't find much original source data on the man unless you know what search strings to use, which I happen to know.

So, this blog became my opportunity to put original source material online for everyone to see. Yes, I use a fake name; all 12 of my active email addresses that end with something other than edu involve fake nome de plumes to protect my identity, but this blog shows who I am. So, when someone tells you that I said something, you can come find out exactly what I think and say.

I used to think you shouldn't write things down. Now I want to write them down before someone else starts putting words in my mouth. To the vast unknown crowd, here I stand naked before you but fully clothed in resplendent glory...or at least Wrangler jeans and a Craft and Barrow shirt...

Swanky Neighborhood

Share

Last night I ran an errand to the Seven Hills subdivision in Henderson, NV. I have never been to that section of town before, although there are several areas in town just like that, full of swanky homes and swell sweatered squares all out jogging or walking their dogs or hand-watering their lawns while they scowl at everyone who drives in as if part of a neighborhood watch.

I by contrast arrived in a dirty pair of jeans (I'd just played with my dogs) and a t-shirt driving my ugly Saturn which is losing paint. The scrutiny I felt as I drove in drove me crazy, but they're right in thinking I don't belong there. I could never afford such a swank abode. Trouble is, they don't know that just from the way I dress or what I drive.

Years ago I remember seeing my dad read about the millionaire next door. The basic premise for the book is that you can get to be a millionaire by being frugal. So many people however live in visible excess, buying the latest fashion and a new car every other year and surrounding themselves with the latest gadgets. I am a holdout from a bygone era.

I resisted getting a cell-phone when I came home, I bought a new laptop last year but opted out of Windows Vista for XP, and I don't have all the iPODs and Sketchers and Old Navy clothes that festoon those around me. Even my speech sounds archaic. Instead of playing Halo and watching Alias, I retire home in the evening and read James McCullough's biography on John Adams and memorize historic speeches and busy myself in the study of the scriptures.



No wonder then that I'm not popular. There is no apparent reason that men should desire me. I don't have to drive into a swank neighborhood to get funny looks, I just have to open up my mouth and people think I'm stuck in the past. All progress is however not forward.

OK, BYU is Not That Bad...

Share

I never thought I would ever say that. I've spent my entire life fighting the supposition that since I'm LDS I should attend BYU and taken every opportunity to disparage it. Last night, I finally visited the campus to attend a sketch comedy performance to which my sister and I were honored guests, and I have to say my opinion changed.

First off, the campus is spectacular. The vistas, the snow, the wide-open spaces; I was in heaven. I thought my alma-mater was cool with the brick and mortar look of a bygone era, but everything about BYU appeals visually. I saw immaculate landscaping, regal architecture, and no litter, all of which make one proud to bring guests.

Less evident but of no less impact, the culture of BYU, while droll, does the students a great service. The students are brought together into groups that encourage wholesome interactive activities. Given the lack of diversionary entertainment in town besides hiking the Y and the dollar theater, the on-campus groups and the organizations that support campus activities provide a myriad of options in which students may participate, all orchestrated toward helping them form the kind of close associations I hoped I'd find at college but didn't.

Finally, and most ominously, BYU has the Honor Code. I have no idea what exactly it says, but it basically encourages the types of behaviors, practices and attitudes that build youth into the type of people worth venerating.

Of course, anyone who attends may still elect not to avail themselves of these options, but BYU gives students perhaps the best opportunities to "suck the marrow out of life" and really live.

As for my Alma Mater, don't bother sending me requests for donations as an alumnus. I got my degree, but that was the only thing they ever wanted to give me or offered me. Punks.


To Laurel, Nick, Jeff, Sarahs, Amy, Matt, and everyone else who welcomed us so warmly, I send my very best regards.

Sincerely- Your #1 (chronologically) Las Vegas Groupie

Say Again?

Share

My brother just now received a text message asking him "Hey, when is your funeral?"

First off, what an odd question. The very concept that I, being alive, might know the date and time of my own funeral seems rather silly.

Secondly, why would you ask a dead man questions? If you truly believed I were dead, would not talking to me constitute the delusions of a deranged mind?

O.o

It brings back to mind the words of a somewhat familiar plea: If I have done something of good report or praiseworthy, don't wait until I shuffle off this mortal coil and declare it before the gathered mourners at my coffin. Tell me now so that I may know my life mattered.

I Can Be Your Friend...

Share

My sister and I spoke for over an hour the other night because a "friend" of hers told her she was a bad friend. I think the real problem comes from the overuse of the word "friend". For those who know me, I classify people based on a much more classified rubric. Most people I know fall into one of various classes of "acquaintances", and I've had few friends reach the upper echelons of "friend" categories.

The other major problem I see comes from differences in classification. There are people who consider me a friend, but I do not consider them to be a friend of mine. I am friendly towards them, true, but they are not people to whom I would turn. If a person however claims you as a friend, there comes with that often a degree of expectation, which if unfulfilled leads to disappointment. These unreasonable expectations are not your fault; they are the fault of he who assumed, but that doesn't stop people from vilifying you.

When we were children, at some point our parents denied us something, to which we might have responded, "I hate you." Now, we don't really hate our parents even if we say that. We just hate not getting our way. So many of the people who don't like me or "hate" me do so because I didn't let them have their way. Truth is that a good friend does what is best for you which isn't necessarily what you want them to do in the moment.

Years ago an old friend of mine accused me of a heinous betrayal. In truth, I stood on principle and she disagreed with me. She expected me to validate anything she said because we were friends or because of shared confidences, but I have never been that kind of man. Thus began a campaign of protracted and pointed hatred to vilify me which in the end resulted in nothing. My sister's "friend" is doing the same to her, blaming her for the ills in her life and calling her a bad friend. I have never told a bad friend that they were that. I have commented on behaviors that make our continued association problematic, but such an accusation never crossed my lips.

Calling someone to the carpet for an aberration in thought or behavior is not easy. Just last night, my father chastised me for some small observance which he finds irrespectable. While I agree with him having thought about it, I know there was a better way to do it. You don't always do it in the best way, which is why I find the following muster so valuable:

• Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death. D&C 121:34-36

After the chastisement, one's behavior shows how one feels about the person. I know a few people with whom I no longer interact that I esteem and consider friends despite our distances because of how they treated me in the aftermath of my human weaknesses. They were faithful to me, but not everyone I've ever known is.

In this matter, I follow the admonition of Lincoln who said he would follow any man as long as he was right and part with him when he was wrong. What a wise man.

Two-Face or Janus?

Share

Over the last few weeks, I find more and more reason to disagree with Senator Barrack He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Obama. He touts himself akin to the Roman mythological figure of Janus as he tries to persuade Americans to accept him as a binding agent in wounds ages old. However, it seems the more he opens his mouth that he resembles Two-Face from Marvel comic fame and arch enemy of Batman and therefore freedom and order.

Senator Obama makes an intersting case study in contradiction. His ancestry puts him in a unique place to make history and do precisely what he claims his mantle entails. However in rhetoric he tells another story. He asserts the role of bridgelayer between the old ways (of which both Senators Clinton and McCain are a part) and the future, which accounts by and large for his popularity among young voters. If he were elected, he would possess not only the power of the presidency and American politics but also power over the future of American culture

On Janus:

Janus was usually depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions. Janus was frequently used to symbolize change and transitions such as the progression of past to future, of one condition to another, of one vision to another, the growing up of young people, and of one universe to another. He was also known as the figure representing time because he could see into the past with one face and into the future with the other. Hence, Janus was worshipped at the beginnings of the harvest and planting times, as well as marriages, births and other beginnings. He was representative of the middle ground between barbarity and civilization, rural country and urban cities, and youth and adulthood.

On Two-Face:

Two-Face was once Harvey Dent, District Attorney of Gotham City and close ally of Batman. After a criminal disfigured half of his face with acid, Dent became the insane crime boss Two-Face who would choose to do either good or evil depending upon the results of flipping a coin — a device which was taken from the 1932 version of Scarface.

Why Obama is no Janus

Senator Obama touts himself as the candidate of change and vision, appealing to the young and supposedly able to bridge the gap between darkness of the past and a bright future. However, everything about Obama is old. He speaks the same things as his opponents and subscribes to inflammatory rhetoric from his racist pastor. Truth is that he is himself a racist. Despite not coming from slaves himself, he resents the way whites treat him. Despite being successful himself, he resents anyone else who is wealthy. His own wife tells other blacks to regress into the past and avoid middle-classdom. He is not a mediator who occupies the middle ground. He is clearly an accolyte of the Black Values System taught by the church he attends, the philosophies of which would divide the nation and tend towards its regression.

How do we know Obama is just deja vu? Consider the way he condescendingly refers to his own grandmother. In an interview following his famous speech, Obama said this:

• "The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity, but that she is a typical white person. If she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know (pause) there's a reaction in her that doesn't go away and it comes out in the wrong way."

How can a man who is part white be so blatantly critical? He is a liberal. How do we know Obama is full of hate? Listen to the sermons taught by Rev. Wright. He sells them on the church website. Concerning his pastor, Obama said, "He Strengthens my faith". That man could not strengthen any man's faith with a liteny of hate and accusation. Anyone who comes closer to God after hearing Jeremiah Wright will do so in spite of him and on account of the Spirit which lighteth upon the earnest seeker of truth even when he is surrounded by agents of the Deceiver.

What has he done to change America? Nothing. We don't know anything about what Senator Obama has done with his life, with his money, or with power to influence policy, and the Democrats are about to nominate a non-entity, a Know-Nothing, to be President of the Free World.

As for two-face, I believe that like Harvey Dent Obama had tons of potential. He might be very good at what he does, but what he does is not good for the majority of the people. Much of his policy, what little we can nail him down on with definitive answers, is like Dent insane. From day to day you can flip a coin as to whether Obama will stay true to yesterday's statements or make up new ones. The reason for this is simply that he's told so many lies he can't keep the truth straight anymore.

PS: As of today, despite reports to the contrary, Reverend Wright is STILL listed as pastor on the church's official website. Since I know it will eventually change, I have posted a screenshot as well.

McCain: Make Use of the High Ground

Share

Senator John McCain touts his military prowess but seems to suffer from the same leadership malady that plagues many armchair generals in this nation. As a segue from another article I wrote that will appear in my book "Faith of Our Fathers", I recommend a modus opporendi for Senator McCain from the battle of Gettysburg.

Thanks in part to the squabbling between Stalinists in the Democrat primary, Senator McCain maintains the moral high ground among the residual putative candidates. He tells us that he intends to run an honorable campaign and not involve himself in risky negative attacks. In essense, he tells us he wants to lose.

When General Buford arrived in Gettysburg PA and found the advance guard of Heath's Division of AP Hill's Corps moving blind in enemy territory, he quickly determined a plan of action to secure for his fellows still eight miles away a reasonable chance at the high ground. He put his brigade into array (2500 men) against Ewell, Heath, and Pettigrew (almost 10000 men) and held the main pike into Gettysburg until Reynolds arrived with advance elements of the US I Corps. Sacrificing their divisions, and ultimately their lives, these two Union Generals gave Meade a chance to take the heights to the southeast of the theological seminary and gave their army the advantage.

Meade however decided to sit pretty in his position of relative strength, and if not for the unwise decision of Lee to fight anyway against Longstreet's advice, thus began the bloodiest day in American military history. In successive military blunders, Lee ordered John Bell Hood into Devil's Den (pictured) and George Edward Pickett up Cemetary Ridge (man those names sound ominously doldrom) against the entrenched Union forces. Both of these positions were strategic for both sides. For the Union, they were positions of great strength. For the Confederacy they offered the only chances to flank the Union and gain the advantage denied them by Buford/Reynolds the previous day.

In the end, the hero of the day, and the man from whom it behooves Senator McCain to take stock is Colonel Joshua William Chamberlain of the 20th Maine who held the extreme Southwest flank atop Little Round Top. Having been placed their by acting Corps commander Colonel Alexander (after Meade's promotion that week), just an hour or so before the Confederates breached Devil's Den, he quickly ran out of ammo and options after refusing his line to prevent a Confederate flanking maneuver by the 3rd Alabama.

Seeing no other choice, he ordered a bayonet charge noting that "this is good ground, good sloping ground...the Reb's have gotta be tired...we'll have the advantage sweeping downhill." He took hundreds of surprised and exhausted prisoners and stopped Hood's advance then and there, later becoming the first recipient of the Medal of Honor.

The previous day, Colonel Chamberlain had given his men, and some deserters from the 2nd Maine, a stirring speech about the reasons for which they fought. His sentiments are the American ideal, that America exists to set men free. His words, and the steadfastness of his officers, in particular Captain Ellis Spear, inspired his men to stand their ground despite being at half regimental strength against an unrelenting attack on their position. Despite heavy casualties, his men held their ground and found by his rousing vigorous cantor strength that drove them in the words of a lieutenant to pursue the Confederates "all the way to Richmond".

Senator McCain, when you occupy the High Ground, a position of strength, you must use it. The stalinists are going to throw everything at you, and eventually you'll run out of ammo with which to pelt them from a position of relative safety. I adjure you to listen to Mark Levin, who on his radio show on 17 January 2008 gave the following advice: every campaign needs two messages. First, you need a positive message that inspires and uplifts. Then, you need a pointed "negative" message that clearly delineates the deficits of your enemies and allows you to gain the advantage.

If Senator McCain wants to go "all the way to Richmond" and win the victory, he must inspire his men and dissuade his opponents. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone, it is to the vigilant, the active the brave.

This election is McCain's to lose. If he keeps in the way he is in, he will go down to disastrous defeat despite having started the day in a position of strength. Will Senators Clinton or Obama succeed where General Robert Lee failed? Time will tell.

Best Cars For a Recession? Yikes

Share

OK, I saw this article today giving advice about what cars to buy, and I couldn't help but think this article is agenda driven. First off, this graphic says absolutely nothing about a Hyundai, which not only has the benefit of decent fuel economy but also costs under $8000 here in Vegas. Note that at least three of these vehicles use alternative forms of power and that only one of them is from a domestic automaker. Whenever you buy a car from overseas, you automatically have to pay the offset import fees put in place to protect domestic industry, meaning that you pay thou$and$ for the privilege of driving a foreign car that IMMEDIATELY depreciates.

Eight Cars to Drive in a Recession

Ford Escape Hybrid

Honda Civic Hybrid

Honda Pilot

Infiniti M35

Lexus ES 350

Nissan Versa Hatchback

Scion xB

Toyota Pri

When considering the concept of fuel, remember that how fuel is used matters. Smaller cars constitute a better bargain than alternative fuels, because it takes less fuel to power them. As for the Ford SUV, it's going to be very heavy and take more energy from the battery to move it. Also, if you're towing or demanding performance you're going to come off battery immediately. Oil remains the only combustion fuel capable of generating enough torque to run performance or handle loads. Plus, the benefit from hybrid technology mostly depends on driving habits and conditions than on the fuel useage matrix. Most of the people with whom I commute (23 miles one way) spend very little of the commute driving less than 25mph.

Some people will try to sell you on "saving the environment" or tax breaks for buying cars that are fuel efficient. First off, if you are not itemizing, there is no tax benefit to flex-fuel/alternative fuels, and I think the IRS has put a moratorium on that deduction anyway. On the other hand, as soon as fuel tax revenues fall off thanks to all of you who buy into that hype and buy hybrids to save money on fuel, our elected officials will raise fuel taxes and obliterate that savings. Meanwhile, you're thou$and$ in debt on a car you maybe didn't need or want but bought to "do your part". Be true to yourself.

Many of the cars listed are high end vehicles. If you intend on trading in your car (which I don't recommend) and want them to retain value, that might appeal to you, but when times are tough and you want to pinch pennies, you don't spend money for future potential. You would benefit more in a recession if you skimp on options. Do you need inboard navigation? A sunroof? Special rims? Rear spoiler? etc. In a recession, I'm inclined to keep as much money as I can.

Another overlooked issue is comfort in the ride. This is the primary reason why people I meet who know my car think I ought buy a different one. My 1995 Saturn SL1 is not very comfortable. At 6'0" I have a little trouble climbing in and out, and since it's manual transmission without cruise control on long drives my legs get tired. If you look at the Saturn Aura and Chevrolet Malibu (2007 model) which are incidentally clones you will note the molding around the doors differs slightly, making the Aura look sleeker at the cost of headroom upon entry. I doubt the comfort in hybrids and hatchbacks as well. None of the cars on this list that I have ever sat in were particularly comfortable. IN fact, the most comfortable car I ever sat in of late was the Chevy Trailblazer, which I saw on a Yahoo Autos article was rated one of the 10 worst cars to drive only because of it's fuel economy rating. At least it comes with towing and 4WD standard.

This brings us to the big picture. When you look at overall cost many of these cars on that basis are poor values. I've already addressed my own car shopping and how the Trailblazer comes with things standard that are upgrades on the higher rated Jeep Liberty. Does it really make sense to pay extra for things an off-road vehicle ought have or for things you don't really want? Factor in taxes, insurance, registration, and special costs (fancy tires, specific oil, repairs for complicated systems), and it may be cheaper in a recession to keep the car you already own. I know for myself, a periodic repair (even though I do most myself) costs me less than a monthly accounts payable obligation. Plus, my car is fully depreciated so my insurance and registration are the lowest they can be. It's a bare-bones, no frills means of transportation.

My father always said that cars are tools. After a while, your tools get beat up from use. Anyone who throws away a good tool on the auspices that it looks used is a fool. As soon as you use it, you're back where you started.

Beware of agendas. None of these are in an honest estimation a good vehicle in a recession.