tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78724413962576197432024-03-14T05:57:39.182-04:00Cowford CommentaryPeople, politics and businessLloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.comBlogger294125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-35887656887399779892020-06-13T08:25:00.002-04:002020-06-13T08:25:29.050-04:00Anger over his arrest blurred perception<br />
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: maroon;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/america-begins-to-see-more-clearly-now-what-its-black-citizens-always-knew/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=featured-content-trending&utm_term=first">This
long, thoughtful piece</a></u></span></span> by a former military
officer with a good education, published in National Review, could
have been helpful. Instead, it merely adds to the problem.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
For all his
education, Johnson forgot one simple rule: put yourself in the other
fellow’s shoes.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
His
conclusion that there is widespread racism in the police ranks is
based on his own arrest.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
He has
black skin. He was pulled over. He was questioned, handcuffed and
jailed.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
No one
likes being jailed. But let’s look at the details.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
One
important detail he left out was the location. Was it in a high crime
area where many crimes had been committed by black people?</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
As one
officer noted, their suspicions were increased by the fact he was
smoking a cigar. Smoking “blunts” – cigars containing marijuana
– is common, and illegal.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
So officers
were doing pro-active policing. When they see someone black, in an
area frequented by black criminals, doing what black criminals often
do, they use a legal means to stop him and check him out. There is no
reason for the police to stop and question an 80-year-old Asian woman
driving to the grocery in broad daylight in a suburban neighborhood
with a low crime rate.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
Unfair?
Perhaps. Except that he would have been sent on his way if he had a
valid driver’s license.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
The
alternative then was this: police could ignore all suspicious
activity, or possibly just suspicious activity by black citizens, and
not arrest people for violating the law, if they are black.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
Does that
seem reasonable?</div>
<div align="left" class="western">
For all its length, most of which
dwells on slavery without ever making a connection with today’s
events, Johnson’s article is remarkably short on solutions.</div>
<div align="left" class="western">
Stop and question no one? Stop and
question only white people? Arrest no one for failing to have a
driver’s license. Do not arrest them if they “forgot”?</div>
<div align="left" class="western">
If the cops making the stop have the
same color skin is that racist?</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
Johnson was
placed in handcuffs because that is standard policy, for the
protection of officers.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
All you
have to do is watch the Cops reality TV show, before it was banned,
or countless YouTube videos showing citizens, black and white,
attacking police officers while being arrested, and sometimes killing
them.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
Another
thing you will see on those videos is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbBFaWzMHAQ&t=381s">black
drivers refusing to comply</a> with legal orders to provide a
driver’s license, proof of insurance or other information. They
have been told, overtly or covertly, since birth that they are
oppressed and the police are their enemy.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
So they
choose to argue or fight rather than help the officers do their duty.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
There is a
lot of data about deaths during interactions with the police. But one
important data point does not seem to be readily available: How many
citizens have been injured or killed while NOT resisting arrest?</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
Statistics
list “unarmed” deaths, but that term isn’t really relevant when
the unarmed person is large, powerful, fighting violently and trying
to take the officer’s weapon, as in the Ferguson case, which still
is shrouded in myth.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
In a study
published last year, the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 89
percent of 211 people killed by the police were armed, and 83 percent
were physically assaulting the officers or someone else.</div>
<div align="left" class="western">
In rare instances a police mistake
results in a death, as in the George Floyd case. In that case, there
was almost instant justice. Cops were fired and arrested.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
Johnson has
the background and education to understand, if he could put aside his
own bias and look at the crime problem through the viewpoint of those
trying to protect him and others.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
Many police
agencies invite citizens to ride with officers. It can be eye-opening
for those willing to open their eyes.</div>
<div align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%;">
<br />
<br />
</div>
<br />Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-65263246376163467782020-05-31T16:54:00.000-04:002020-05-31T17:35:12.454-04:00Liberals lie, often in what they think are clever waysThe intellectual dishonesty of liberals is well known, but still can be stunning.<div>
Take, for example, a 2016 study of police violence.It was done by the Center for Policing Equity, a far left organization.</div>
<div>
Both the summary and conclusion hemmed and hawed about irrelevant points, trying to suggest that police engage in wholesale violence against black Americans, an important Democrat voting bloc.</div>
<div>
In neither the summary nor conclusion did it mention the most salient fact in the study, which was buried on the 19th page of the 29-page report.</div>
<div>
Police are 42 percent less likely to use lethal force when arresting black people than when arresting whites.</div>
<div>
(Hat tip to the Web site JustFacts for noticing the discrepancy.)</div>
<div>
But there's more.</div>
<div>
The dishonest liberal "study" also buried this: "...significant attention should be paid to additional situational factors in attempting to quantify and explain racial disparities in use of force. For instance, might racial disparities in the tendency to resist, flee, or disrespect officers be implicated in the observed differences?"</div>
<div>
"Might"?</div>
<div>
This is a sneaky, backhanded way of ducking the essential point:If you don't resist arrest, the chances of surviving an encounter with the police are virtually 100 percent!</div>
<div>
Almost every cause celebre of the left has been a case where a black suspect resisted arrest by the police. Cases involving white suspects generally are ignored.What is the harm in complying with a lawful police order?</div>
<div>
If you watch the popular reality show Cops you will see any number of people who want to try the case on the streets, rather than in the courts, by arguing rather than complying.</div>
<div>
If is far easier, and safer, to follow orders, seek legal assistance and fight the charge in court, and also seek redress for the manner in which the case was handled if necessary.</div>
<div>
But liberal schools and the media have hammered the notion into the minds of black Americans that they are oppressed and exploited and therefore have no responsibility to obey police commands.</div>
<div>
What I'd like to see in the meantime, is an honest study that looks at cases where suspects are injured or killed and determines how many of them failed to comply or resisted.</div>
Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-54075058273362064222020-04-29T07:29:00.000-04:002020-04-29T07:32:56.876-04:00Wikipedia is not a good source for political information<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
There may be no better example of Wikipedia’s leftward tilt
than its entries on two of America’s First Ladies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The entry on Michelle Obama is so glowing it might be likened
to the nomination of Mother Theresa for sainthood.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But the entry on Melanie Trump is more aptly compared to a story
from Confidential magazine -- a product of the 1950s that is considered the
prototype for scandal, gossip and expose’ journalism.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Michelle Obama never produced or accomplished anything of
note, but she wed a community organizer who went into politics, got rich and
rode the PC movement into the White House.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Despite her lack of accomplishment, Obama was not known for
her humility. "I have been at every powerful table you can think of...They
are not that smart," Obama once told Newsweek.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, author Dinesh D’Souza has described Michelle
Obama’s college thesis at Princeton University as “illiterate and incoherent.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The late author Christopher Hitchens said of Mrs. Obama’s
thesis:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
“The only thing you can definitely tell from the attempt to read it,
because I maintain it cannot actually be read, it’s a degradation of the act of
reading, is that she favors, or views with favor, black separatism, or as she
calls it, separationism.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You should be able to be fluent, witty, self-deprecating,
insightful, amusing, personal,” Hitchens <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">said</span>. “Not a bit of it. It’s a trudge. It’s a
hateful, lugubrious, boring, resentment-filled screed written in some very bad
form of sociologies.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But Michelle Obama, who is of African descent, got a degree then
parlayed that into lucrative, high-paying positions before meeting the very
ambitious Barack Obama.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The two entries are done with some subtlety but you can’t
miss the differences.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The article on Obama is more than twice as long as the one
on Melania Trump. It reads like a month by month account of her life, with a
wealth of trivia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In passing, the article mentions the comment by Obama that
infuriated millions of Americans. She said she was “proud of her country for
the first time” when it elected her husband, but Wikipedia brushes it off by
saying it was “seen as a gaffe.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At times it borders on the grotesque: “Obama has been
compared to <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Jacqueline
Kennedy</span>,” it says, as if the Obama reign was Camelot 2.0.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The gushing, fawning Wikipedia article on Obama stands in
stark contrast to its treatment of the lovely, effeminate Melania.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trump is not described as a beautiful, accomplished woman who
speaks five languages, but more as an opportunistic harlot, which is how she
often is described by Trump haters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like many supermodels, she posed nude on occasion. Wikipedia
dwells on this, essentially depicting the common practice as pornography.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It takes care to mention that her father belonged to the
League of Communists in Slovenia, where she was born. Also, that she dropped
out of college.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It quotes a snarky piece from the Trump-hating Washington
Post questioning her citizenship, which she obtained in 2006, a year after she
married Donald Trump.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It goes on to accuse her of plagiarism, but grudgingly notes
that she was a defamation suit against the tabloid Daily Mail, (offering a chance
to rehash the defamation). It also regurgitates the liberal media complaint
that she spends too much on travel, comparing it to the cost of Michelle Obama’s
travel. (But in doing so it compare’s Obama’s “solo travel,” apparently
ignoring her frequent lavish junkets with a huge entourage of friends and
family).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One curious passage: “During the 2020 State of the Union
Address, President Trump awarded the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Medal_of_Freedom" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" title="Presidential Medal of Freedom"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Presidential Medal of Freedom</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> to </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Limbaugh" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" title=""><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Rush Limbaugh</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">, who was sitting right beside Melania in the gallery and she
presented the medal to him</span>.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What has all that to do with an article about Melania Trump?
One with a suspicious mind might think the only point of the paragraph was to
get the name “Rush Limbaugh” into the article, because it is a trigger for
liberals.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wikipedia might be useful for detail on the migratory habits
of Canadian geese but when it ventures into politics it should be read, not with a grain,
but a hefty helping of salt.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-71837917373685561182020-04-04T07:01:00.003-04:002020-04-04T07:01:53.954-04:00Silver linings, and such"Sweet are the uses of adversity...."<br />
Shakespeare's words are a good reminder that terrible events can have beneficial consequences.<br />
The worst plague to befall humanity was the Black Death of the 14th century.<br />
No one really knows but it probably wiped out one-fourth to one-half the population of Europe.<br />
Then what happened?<br />
Wealth -- especially land -- fell into the hands of fewer people. Wages and productivity rose. (At different rates in different places, but overall and fairly swiftly.)<br />
The old feudal system began to collapse. The Renaissance got under way. Science, especially medical science, began to make great strides.<br />
Everyone hopes the current pandemic will not prove to be as catastrophic and the economic prospects look terrible at the moment with businesses failing and rising unemployment.<br />
But perhaps, when it is over, there will be benefits for the survivors that we cannot yet calculate.Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-26265265693410482082019-10-14T08:34:00.000-04:002019-10-14T08:34:01.056-04:00<br />
<h2>
Another day of hate for liberals</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today is the day liberals devote to their annual distortion
of world history by trashing the great explorer Christopher Columbus.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Columbus was long venerated for finding a viable route to
this continent that led to sustained visitations and then colonization.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So it was inevitable that when liberals turned against
America they extended their hate to all of Western Civilization, which had
given birth to capitalism – the greatest economic system ever devised and an
enemy of the socialism that liberals prefer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Liberal historians spent decades revising history and
teaching American students the fiction that rather than opening a New World,
Columbus destroyed an ancient civilization that was a utopian dream.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is all bunk, but there are those who take it seriously.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although the life of Columbus is not well documented, he was
an Italian who had acquired great skills in navigation and believed he could
find a route sailing east from Europe to China. He did not prove the world was
not flat because most educated people of the time knew it is a sphere but they
had not been able to calculate its circumference.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trade and gold were among his goals, along with spreading
Christianity. These all indicated he was evil, according to liberals.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They also deplored his treatment of the people already
living in the areas he visited, although he used standard tactics of people in
the 15<sup>th</sup> century.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But all the twisting of fact cannot change what Columbus
accomplished and the impact it had on history.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Happy Columbus Day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-19622119108393731912019-02-10T15:46:00.000-05:002019-02-10T15:46:00.751-05:00Brave New WorldThe Green New Deal is the logical successor to the New Deal and the Great Society.<br />
Those two epic failures promoted even grander visions of the Utopian world liberal always promise but never deliver.<br />
Here it is in its entirety:<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>This resolution calls for the creation of a Green New Deal with the goals of</i></span></div>
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions;</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>establishing millions of high-wage jobs and ensuring economic security for all;</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>investing in infrastructure and industry;</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>securing clean air and water, climate and community resiliency, healthy food, access to nature, and a sustainable environment for all; and</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>promoting justice and equality.</i></span></li>
</ul>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The resolution calls for accomplishment of these goals through a 10-year national mobilization effort. The resolution also enumerates the goals and projects of the mobilization effort, including</i></span></div>
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem;">
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>building smart power grids (i.e., power grids that enable customers to reduce their power use during peak demand periods);</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>upgrading all existing buildings and constructing new buildings to achieve maximum energy and water efficiency;</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>removing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation and agricultural sectors;</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>cleaning up existing hazardous waste and abandoned sites;</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>ensuring businesspersons are free from unfair competition; and</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>providing higher education, high-quality health care, and affordable, safe, and adequate housing to all</i></span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">Here's what it promises:</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">Everyone will have everything he needs and wants.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">There will be no crime because there will be no need for crime. We will have justice and equality instead.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">Millions of high wage jobs will be created magically by the government, for those who want to work.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">Blight, pollution and ugliness will be eliminated (as it has in Detroit).</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">Taxes to pay for all this will be astronomical, probably even unachievable. Yet, somehow only "the rich" will pay taxes. How anyone would become rich or why they would want to is not detailed.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">It is all mind-boggling, but perhaps none more than the assertion that "businesspersons are free from unfair competition." What on Earth could that possibly mean? The government will choose winners and shoot their competitors?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">The New Deal prolonged the depression, which in itself was created by government. The Great Society consigned generations of people to perpetual poverty and set the stage for today's immigration crisis.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">Any more help from the government and we are doomed.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-47743578746172374982018-07-11T10:39:00.003-04:002018-07-11T10:40:35.239-04:00The "trickle-down" putdown is bogusIn 1921, when the tax rate on people making over $100,000 a year was 73 percent, the federal government collected a little over $700 million in income taxes, of which 30 percent was paid by those making over $100,000.<br />
By 1929, after a series of tax rate reductions had cut the tax rate to 24 percent on those making over $100,000, the federal government collected more than a billion dollars in income taxes, of which 65 percent was collected from those making over $100,000.<br />
This disturbed big-government liberals who loved raising taxes. They began mocking the idea of cutting taxes as "trickle-down economics," meaning that tax relief for the wealthy who pay taxes was supposed to trickle down to the less wealthy.<br />
It made no sense, and no one proposing tax relief ever made such a claim, but liberals adopted it and have repeated it ever since, in the mindless way they repeat nonsense that appeals to unthinking people.<br />
<div>
They tried it when Ronald Reagan got Congress to reduce tax levels in the 1980s. It had the same effect then, just as it had when the Democrats cut taxes under Johnson, fulfilling a proposal by the late President Kennedy.</div>
<div>
When people are allowed to keep more of their own money they don't stuff it under the mattress. They invest it, which creates jobs and wealth. Everyone benefits.</div>
<div>
Liberals would spend every dime you earn if you let them, because they fancy that they know better than you how best to use the money.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-60952004260814703592018-05-09T14:18:00.005-04:002018-05-09T14:21:08.918-04:00Now for something differentEveryone is tired of politics, a mean, nasty sport based on destroying the other person's good name.<br />
How about something uplifting for a change?<br />
Abba!<br />
This greatest of all pop groups is going to sing again, in December on NBC.<br />
While it will be their voices, in a new tune not previously recorded, they won't actually sing it in person. They will be "digitally represented" in avatars, holograms or some such techie thing.<br />
But it is the music that matters.<br />
It is extremely difficult for a small group in a small country to become an international sensation. But that is what Abba did in the 1970s. With masterful productions they took Europe by storm, beginning with "Dancing Queen."<br />
That was their only song to reach the top in America and they made only one limited appearance here, for various reasons. Had they focused more on the American market I have no doubt they would be even more renowned today.<br />
What sealed their place in music history was the Australian tour. That country Down Under went completely over the top for the group, with sold out appearances at every stop.<br />
Also, in this century a stage production and movie called "Momma Mia" rekindled the admiration for Abba. I saw Momma Mia onstage in London and it was tremendous.<br />
The music comes from the minds of Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus and is delivered, mostly, by the incredible singers Frida Lingstad and Agnetha Foltskog. Music experts say the music is complex and the singers are exceptional.<br />
All I know is I could listen to it every day. And I do.Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-89652743650120591212018-04-26T07:40:00.000-04:002018-04-26T07:40:43.076-04:00Bashing old foesIf you are a good reporter or opinion writer, you can write a perfectly accurate story or column and yet not quite tell the truth.<br />
Bill Cotterell is a veteran reporter of 50 years and may know more about Florida government than anyone.<br />
In <a href="https://www.tallahassee.com/story/opinion/columnists/cotterell/2018/04/25/cotterell-gosh-mean-campaign-money-influence-lawmaking/34241687/">this piece</a> he writes about money, lobbyists and influence. It is well written and I would not take issue with anything he writes.<br />
Yet.<br />
He is deploring two of the liberal media's favorite targets, money and lobbyists.<br />
Liberals don't like people who support (conservative) politicians financially so they constantly decry such support. Hillary Clinton outspent Donald Trump 2-to-1 and still lost, but it didn't damage the narrative that those with the most money win.<br />
They also hammer lobbyists. In his column Cotterell's main point is that some politician claimed he listened only to lobbyists who contributed to him.<br />
That could be defended by noting that politicians are always pressed for time, and hearing first from those who support you would make sense.<br />
But, aside from that, it doesn't make sense. To prevail in debate on an issue, you have to know both sides. Not to mention that you should know both sides before choosing one to support. Maybe politicians choose a side and then listen to lobbyists who can supply good talking points.<br />
As a reporter, I always wanted to know both sides so I relied on lobbyists as well as legislative staff members. A good lobbyist won't lie, but he will leave out points his counterpart will supply.<br />
Readers must always remember that the media considers lobbyists to be rivals. The media wants to be the sole source of information to politicians and voters. It doesn't like competition.<br />
If a politician from one party listens only to lobbyists who support him, guess what? Politicians from the other party listen only to the lobbyists who support them! Then they argue it out in debate. It's called democracy.<br />
<br />Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-22123121838597615792018-02-07T07:51:00.002-05:002018-02-07T07:52:46.809-05:00Criticize reality, not myths<style type="text/css">
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<br />
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It
is amazing how many people have bought into the silly notion that
politicians are “stealing” Social Security funds.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It
is all over social media how the money has been looted from the
so-called trust fund.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
As
the lady on the TV commercial said, “That’s not how any of this
works!”</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It
is a testament to how the government misrepresented the program from
the start.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Today,
you can go to <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.ssa.gov/history/index.html">a
government site</a></u></span></span> and find an accurate history of
the program.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
However,
millions of people still believe the money taken from their paycheck
is put into a special account in their names in Washington, where it
gains interest and is repaid to them upon retirement.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
In
fact, workers pay a payroll tax. It is immediately doled out to
retired people. When those workers retire, people still working will
share their paychecks with them based on the retiree’s work
history. (We’re setting aside the disability, Medicare and SSI
portions for now. Those are other sad stories.)</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
system began running a cash deficit eight years ago. In about 12
years, the IOUs in the trust fund will be repaid from the general
fund and something will have to change. Either benefits will have to
be reduced or the payroll tax will have to soar. The children and
grandchildren of today’s workers will be soaked.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It
sounded wonderful when proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in
the 1930s, as one of his New Deal policies.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Indeed,
as with Ponzi schemes, it was great – for those in first. The first
retiree had paid $24.75. She got $22,888.92 back (by living to 100).</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But
there were a couple of catches.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
One
is that even FDR admitted it was never intended to be anyone’s sole
source of post-retirement income. In other words, people who counted
on it would be foolish not to invest their own money.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
(This
after FDR had poisoned the idea of banking, saving and investing in
“evil” corporations.)</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In
addition, the official government retirement age was set at
approximately the median age of life expectancy. The government fully
expected half the population to pay into the system but never receive
anything.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But
a funny thing happened on the way to Utopia. People began living much
longer, and politicians found out you could hand out benefits, get
votes in return and it wouldn’t cost them a dime.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Over
the years, the system was played with, taking it “off-budget” and
“on-budget,” neither of which has much meaning. The trust fund is
an accounting mechanism.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Then
because of demographics, the system created surpluses – more money
than was needed to pay retirees.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
So,
the politicians spent it.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
A
lot of people moan and groan about this, but what else should they
have done? Invest it? Do anyone really want politicians playing the
stock market with trillions of dollars?</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
alternative, since they were going to spend money anyway, would have
been to borrow it or raise taxes. There is no free lunch.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
money was replaced with IOUs, totaling some $2.6 trillion.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
It
is being repaid with interest. But it is only taking money out of one
pocket and putting it in the other.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Watch
their hands, not their mouths.</div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-family: "liberation" serif , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In
their most recent report, trustees of the fund warn: “Lawmakers
should address these financial challenges as soon as possible.”</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Neither
party is doing anything about a looming crisis, following the first
rule of Washington: When a crisis looms, kick the can down the road
and let someone else take the heat.</div>
<br />Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-6002853816427505792018-02-03T09:26:00.004-05:002018-02-03T09:32:33.467-05:00Kill the goose?Once again, as it has periodically for the past 50 years, the idea of selling the JEA is up for discussion.<br />
I have no dog in the fight. If it is worth $2 billion and some private utility wanted to pay $5 billion for it, we should listen. (The city calculated the value of the JEA to a private utility at around $1.2 billion as of late 2011.)<br />
But the idea that any amount would be a great windfall we could use to hire policemen or pay schoolteachers more money is fanciful.<br />
The electric utility is an asset. It produces income -- a lot of it. That money is used "in lieu of taxes," which means property taxes would have to soar if it were not there.<br />
It is controlled by an independent authority and run, in theory, like a business. Politicians appoint the authority members.<br />
But when you sell a revenue-producing asset, you forfeit the future revenue it produces.<br />
If a private company owned the utility it would pay property taxes and franchise fees, and federal income taxes.<br />
For years, the City Council had an annual argument over how much money it would squeeze from the electric utility -- commonly called the "goose with the golden eggs."<br />
The amount generally was set to represent what a private utility would pay, plus.<br />
That was ended some years ago by an agreement to take a fixed percentage of the gross.<br />
If a private company ran the utility, it would set rates approved by the state Public Utilities Commission, one level removed from local control. JEA has for years had some of the lowest rates in Florida.<br />
The JEA has considerable debt. Any revenue from the sale would have to pay that, either up front or over the future years.<br />
Jacksonville would lose a revenue stream of some amount, forever, and lose local control of rates and regulation.<br />
The JEA has lower debt costs because it issues tax-exempt bonds. A private utility's customers would pay more to borrow. They also would pay more in property taxes because they would pay school taxes.<br />
In short, there are a lot of factors. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-80835736000635236412018-01-15T06:58:00.001-05:002018-01-15T07:01:54.282-05:00Truth is elusiveIt is time for a review of media history.<br />
Sharyl Attkinson, University of Florida grad and former CBS reporter, has written two best-selling books on liberal bias in the media.<br />
She is right but it is not a new phenomenon.<br />
In colonial America, when newspapers began to be printed, they usually were unabashedly partisan.<br />
However, that was not necessarily bad because the remedy was easy.<br />
Another partisan could easily begin publishing his own paper even in a small town and they could fight it out in the marketplace of ideas.<br />
By the mid-20th century, however, publishing had become expensive. It wasn't always easy and large newspaper chains often drove out competition in smaller venues.<br />
After the war, the government set up a special blue-ribbon commission to look at the media.<br />
It found bias but did not recommend government controls.<br />
What it did recommend was a clear line between opinion and news reporting and all the media pledged to follow that way of operating.<br />
As usual, it was almost moot by the time the government examined the problem. Television was on the rise and news reporting with it, although at first TV shied away from opinion. Still, the competition helped keep newspapers more honest.<br />
Inevitably, opinion began to creep in, and then cross the line into reporting.<br />
By this century, as Attkinson and many others have noted, it was difficult to tell the difference between and editorial and a news story. Even readers often lost the ability to distinguish fact from opinion.<br />
At the paper where I worked I often likened my job to the guy with the shovel who followed the elephants in a circus parade.<br />
We wrote editorials to correct news stories that were little more than editorials. One reporter was fired as the result of one clearly biased story. (I would have fired the editor, not the reporter.)<br />
But this century also brought in amateur journalism, via social media. Sloppy, undisciplined, where an error or an outright lie can be posted as easily as the truth. It isn't pretty, but it has turned out to be one way of keeping the liberal media accountable.<br />
I don't know what the next innovation will be but it almost certainly will be better than government control as a means of getting to the truth.<br />
<br />Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-16864318299163234272017-10-03T06:46:00.002-04:002017-10-03T06:49:13.199-04:00Libs are poised to vent<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Prepare
for the annual outpouring of hatred against a man who was behind one
of the most important events in world history. </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Since
the 500th anniversary of his epic achievement, it has become an
annual event to vent upon Christopher Columbus. </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This
is strictly a liberal thing. Liberals hate America and, by extension,
Western Civilization. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
voyages of Columbus brought Western civilization to the Western
Hemisphere, along with religion and capitalism, which libs also hate.
</span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">They
mock his achievement with the irrelevant information that other
people had occasionally visited the North American continent. But,
worse, they accuse him of crimes, rather than celebrating what his
vision produced. </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
manufactured charge is that he conducted genocide against people
already living in what are now North and South America. </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">People
making the charge are illiterates who know little about history or,
indeed, the English language. </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Merriam-Webster
defines genocide as the deliberate and systematic destruction of a
racial, political, or cultural group. </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After
1492, the Siberian-Americans encountered by Europeans caught diseases
they were not accustomed to, and many died. (Probably not nearly as
many as claimed.) </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It
was not a deliberate act. This is common when cultures clash and
intermingle for the first time. </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Furthermore,
it works both ways. The Europeans contracted yellow fever and other
diseases and also died. </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Both
sides also benefited by obtaining new customs, plants and animals.
Europeans introduced the horse to the Americas, meaning the Stone Age
inhabitants no longer had to walk everywhere they went. </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
idea that they despoiled a civilization of peace-loving, gentle
people who were at one with nature is just plain silly. </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Indians
fought constantly with each other, owned slaves and ravaged the land
by destructive agriculture. </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
noble Aztecs regularly offered human sacrifices, ripping out the
hearts of still living children and adults, cutting the bodies into
parts and throwing them down the steps of their temples for the
crowds to collect and eat. </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This
is not to condemn them. They acted like people in their culture acted
in the 15th century, just as Europeans did. </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Only
liberal fools would expect people of that time to conduct themselves
the way civilized people of the 21st century do. </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
voyages of Columbus opened half the world to exploration and
development. Subsequent events brought about a nation that has done
more good for more people than any other in history. </span></span></span>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">But
because that nation has resisted efforts to turn it into the Utopia
socialists claim they can produce, the nation and its founder are
hated viscerally by those anti-Americans. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%;">
<br /></div>
Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-65744261333197682192017-06-13T08:52:00.003-04:002017-06-13T08:52:56.278-04:00Stop the nonsense!I've had it with the lame liberal argument that vouchers are bad because they take money away from the government schools.<br />
Not true and it would be irrelevant if it were.<br />
All vouchers do in Florida and most other states is afford low-income minority families the same educational opportunities that more affluent families have. Period.<br />
Most families can take their children out of failing government schools where they are not getting an education and send them to private schools.<br />
In fact, one out of every five government schoolteachers choose this option for their own children.<br />
Vouchers go to low-income students in failing schools who are being cheated out of an education.<br />
In most cases, struggling parents have to pay extra because the voucher does not pay the full cost, but they are willing to do so.<br />
Is this money "taken away" from the school the child leaves?<br />
No.<br />
Schools are paid a certain amount per child. So every child remaining in the school still would be funded.<br />
Here's another crucial point the greedy union bosses want you to overlook.<br />
Everyone pays for government schools, whether they have a child in them or not. This includes people who also are paying for their child to attend a private school.<br />
Because vouchers are for less than the cost of the child attending a government schools, this is a benefit to taxpayers.<br />
In short, vouchers are a winning proposition for everyone. Liberals should stop lying about them and start helping poor children get an education.Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-77716552092400722042017-05-19T08:43:00.001-04:002017-05-19T08:43:43.195-04:00The Russian connectionAlthough it is a threat to the republic, the "Russian collusion" fantasy that libs currently are embracing has its humorous aspects.<br />
Early in the New Deal, a delegation of President Roosevelt's vaunted Brain Trust went to Europe. They wanted to visit with Mussolini, whom they admired. He was busy and they went on to their main destination -- Russia.<br />
They were mightily impressed with the work of Josef Stalin, the Russian Communist dictator who had murdered millions of Russia's citizens.<br />
In their eyes, he had made the economy of his nation thrive.<br />
When they returned, they urged Roosevelt to emulate the methods of Stalin and Mussolini. At first, Hitler impressed them, too, but eventually they decided his methods might be a bit excessive.<br />
Roosevelt, a novice who had never earned a profit in the business his wealthy family left him, went on to try one heavy-handed scheme after another to combat the depression. Often the methods were at odds with one another: food was destroyed while people were queuing up in breadlines. Wages were kept high while millions were unemployed.<br />
But the effects of the trade protectionism and poor monetary policy could not be overcome with the Russian-style command and control methods. In 1937, a second Depression occurred and the economy remained in the doldrums until the war brought employment and the victory brought about recovery. In the meantime, Roosevelt had abandoned many of his wacky schemes and the courts had eliminated others.<br />
It is all set out in The Forgotten Man by Amity Schlaes. I've read a number of books about the New Deal. This is the best, being the most well researched and even handed.<br />
There is no Russian collusion today. There was in the 1930s and it was brought about by a politician that liberals have elevated to sainthood.Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-55019792449849648242017-02-01T10:06:00.003-05:002017-02-01T18:35:48.600-05:00More for the askingIn refusing to attend the inauguration of Donald Trump, Democrats were merely following the tradition of their patron saint, Sir Thomas More.<br />
More invented "Utopia," the mythical, and unattainable, state that they strive to bring about in America.<br />
More was in good with the king until he refused to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn as queen.<br />
Sadly to say, Henry VIII had More beheaded for the snub. (He later had Anne's head removed, too. Henry had a thing.)<br />
Not saying American Democrats should undergo the same remedy, but it would be worth examining the utopian idea.<br />
The Soviet Union, by the way, honored More for his novel since it essentially was communism -- although communism turned out to be the very antithesis of the ideal life of the citizens of More's Utopia.<br />
(Utopia is a word derived from the Greek term for "no place.")<br />
Everyone in Utopia is a farmer. The food they grow is stored and anyone can help himself from the supply. They had free hospitals, making it apparent why liberals are drawn to this fancy.<br />
But they also had slavery, which might be a bit awkward for Democrats.<br />
On the other hand it is ideal in one respect: there are no lawyers.<br />
Wives are required to confess their sins to their husbands monthly and euthanasia is practiced, again a mixed blessing for liberals.<br />
Private property did not exist and everyone got a free basic income, which leads us back to liberal Democrats.<br />
Once again they are pushing a "universal basic income." Mental midget Robert Reich is for it, as are politicians in France.<br />
Enjoy your trip on the Road to Utopia.Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-4774624145362038892017-01-25T08:38:00.001-05:002017-01-25T08:42:36.038-05:00Why not America First?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Libs like to manipulate the language. Currently, they are trying to do so as part of their never-ending effort to smear and misrepresent the president.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">President Trump has declared he would put America first.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Immediately, libs linked that to the isolationist movement in America before World War II began.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But that movement began at Yale University -- hardly a hotbed of conservatism.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, other allies in the isolationist or “non-interventionist” cause included American Socialist party leader Norman Thomas, liberal journalist Oswald Garrison Villard, and such progressive icons Charles Beard, John Dewey, Joseph Kennedy, Bernard Baruch, and Progressive party hero Robert La Follette, according to Jonah Goldberg.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trump made it clear that he is not advocating non-involvement in world affairs although, strangely enough, he would be on the same page as the libs, who don't want the American military used anywhere for any reason.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He is saying that when it comes to immigration policy, economic policy, or anything else, he is going to consider what is best for the American people first, and only then how it might affect other nations, such as Mexico.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He is going to ban, at least temporarily, immigration from terrorist nations such as Syria and Iran.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Makes sense to me.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At one time a company called Sandia had a program that involved inviting people from all over the world, including those nations, to come to America, tour our nuclear facilities and learn how the security systems worked there. This always seemed insane to me and I pointed it out to one U.S. senator, who promised to look into it but did nothing.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Putting Americans first does not seem to me to be the wrong thing for the president of America to do.</span>Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-29232286578708120452016-11-21T11:47:00.001-05:002016-11-21T11:49:07.924-05:00What he leaves behind<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Barack
Obama became president because of the color of his skin. From the
start, observant people were unconcerned about his race but suspect
of his intentions, because of his background.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
tipoff was when he announced that he intended to “fundamentally
transform” the United States. Why, people asked immediately, would
anyone seek to fundamentally transform the greatest nation in
history, one that has done more good for more people than any other,
ever?</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dinesh
D’Souza provided in the answer in his best selling book The Roots
of Obama’s Rage, which was made into a movie. As in the Soviet
Union, D’Souza’s actions put him in prison.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Obama,
D'Souza explained, was the product of Obama’s communist parents,
stepfather and mentors.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">They
believed, as did Obama, that the United States was too powerful and
too prosperous.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In
his two books, Obama made his intentions clear. (What kind of a
narcissistic egomaniac writes two autobiographies before he reaches
middle age and before he has accomplished anything in his life beyond
being a “community organizer” (professional agitator)?</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Other
clues were that he sat in his church nodding while his pastor
thundered “God damn America!” Another was when his wife revealed
that she never had any regard for this nation until it elected her
husband.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Although
he spoke of lofty goals like world peace and stopping the alleged
rise of the oceans, Obama clearly set out to make the United States
less prosperous and less powerful.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">While
he did nothing toward his stated goals, he did make progress during
his eight years toward his true goals.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">By
putting back from the world stage he allowed other interests to
assume the power he relinquished. He kowtowed to those interests and
made deals that were not in the best interests of this nation.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He
constantly belittled the Christian and Jewish religions and praised
the barbaric religion of islam, which is continuing a 1,400 year
quest for domination of the world.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">On
the economic front, he seized control of a large segment of the
economy – health care, vastly increasing its cost and the
government’s control of it. He pursued policies, such as minimum
wage increases and tremendous increases in regulations, that destroy
jobs.
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">At
the end of his stay in office, growth was at a record low pace and
the national debt had doubled since the time he criticized his
predecessor for the size of the debt. Although he pledged to right
the economy during his first term, and stated that he should not be
re-elected if he failed, he failed and ran again.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In
short, he was a complete failure. Yet, he endorsed someone who
pledged to continue his course and said the election would be a
referendum on his policies.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">They
were repudiated.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As a
practicing narcissist, Obama constantly obsesses over his legacy.
Here it is: he will be what Charles Krauthammer called a “historical
parenthesis” – the first person ever elected president who hated
the country he governed and sought to lower its status in the world.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-29173000287892306162016-11-06T06:54:00.000-05:002016-11-06T06:54:08.700-05:00Liberals panic as local paper chooses TrumpJacksonville's small but vocal left-wing community is having a communal meltdown today with the newspaper's endorsement of Donald Trump for president.<br />
Liberals, who know everything, see it as evidence the paper is slipping into the slough of conservatism.<br />
I know a bit about this. After 12 years as editorial page editor, the last editorial I ever wrote was the paper's endorsement of George W. Bush for re-election.<br />
Here's what happened this time around: the owner of the paper made the decision. He is a conservative. It is his prerogative.<br />
When Barack Obama ran against John McCain, the local publisher, a liberal, decided to endorse Obama without consulting the owner -- over the warnings of experienced people who understood that the owner preferred to call the shots in presidential elections.<br />
So they wrote a syrupy editorial endorsing Obama because of his superior blackness. The next week, after a phone call from corporate headquarters, they wrote one explaining that they had reconsidered and had decided McCain was the better candidate -- making complete fools of themselves.<br />
Today the left-wing newsroom editor is making a complete fool of himself by disavowing the paper's endorsement. If I were the owner, he would be fired.<br />
Communist/socialist/liberal/progressives in Jacksonville are venting on social media that the paper has become conservative.<br />
Despite today's endorsement, the paper is not conservative and hasn't been for about 10 years. Before that, it was conservative for about 150 years.<br />
Like most newspapers, it suffers from a newsroom nearly full of nutty kids and aging libs, but the opinion section was solidly conservative -- like the majority of Jacksonville residents -- until the shift.<br />
That shift happened because the owner of the chain that includes the local paper is losing interest in his business and has turned it over to his kids, who somehow turned out liberal. They have been hiring liberal editors and publishers.<br />
The corporate ethos has been to allow local publishers to decide editorial policy -- except in presidential elections. I expect that will change after the owner dies.<br />
In the meantime, fear not liberals. The paper will be as loony as you are except for one day every four years. Is that too much for your sensitive, tolerant psyches to endure?<br />
And think about this: if you think it was a terrible day for the left wing in Jacksonville today, imagine what it will be like if Trump wins Tuesday and the nation is given a chance to recover from the eight years of misery and decline it has endured.<br />
<br />Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-82757617492110165292016-06-04T10:13:00.001-04:002016-06-04T10:13:12.764-04:00Choosing evil<div class="MsoNormal">
I must be really stupid because I just can’t grasp the
arguments some pretty smart conservatives are making to justify either voting
for Hillary Clinton or not voting at all.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let’s stipulate that these probably are the two worst
candidates for president in history, and also that neither is officially a
nominee, yet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But if it happens, why would a conservative not do whatever
is necessary to stop Hillary from winning?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One argument is that “the lesser of two evils is still evil.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, yes. But that also means that the alternative is more
evil.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since one is going to win, wouldn’t the prudent move be to
vote for the lesser evil and thus try to prevent the more evil from winning?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Aside from Clinton's meanness, total lack of honesty and far, far
left philosophy, there is one argument that seals the deal for me, as far as
choosing one of these two.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is 100 percent chance that Clinton would nominate an
ultra-liberal justice or justices for the Supreme Court.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trump is a wild man but it appears that there is less than a
100 percent chance that he would do so.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another unconvincing argument is that Trump’s candidacy will
somehow cause the GOP to lose a majority In the Senate. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If that is going to happen it is already a done deal. His
winning won’t change a vote that already has taken place. But he could still
nominate a conservative justice and get it through a Democratic Senate.
Democrats constantly make the argument that a president is entitled to have his
nominee approved, and I don’t think they would dare leave a seat open for four
years if Trump stuck to his guns.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The process is deeply flawed as shown by the fact that we
have these two presumptive nominees. But that is no reason to drop out of
voting.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Every vote cast for Trump negates one cast for Clinton.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The old saying is true: If you don’t vote, they will.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-24962942155788862642016-03-31T09:37:00.000-04:002016-03-31T09:37:20.392-04:00This is THE electionEvery four years, someone pronounces the upcoming presidential election "the most important election in recent years."<br />
The one this year actually fits that bill, and then some.<br />
What's at stake:<br />
Tilting by appointment the direction of the U.S. Supreme Court for many years ahead, at a time when it is facing critical issues.<br />
Action on illegal immigration. This is an issue simmering among the silent majority and is a major explanation for the ascension of Donald Trump, the only one vowing to take corrective action.<br />
Getting a grip on government spending and debt.<br />
Leadership. This is a critical issue in foreign policy. With the United States in retreat, tyrants around the world are encouraged toward aggression.<br />
There are other issues, but these are the ones that will make or break this nation.<br />
Elections have consequences. Never more than in 2016.Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-88677019979855083332016-01-20T13:13:00.003-05:002016-04-04T09:17:11.766-04:00Social Security is misunderstoodThere are any number of Facebook posts from people complaining about Social Security. But they are complaining about the wrong things.<br />
Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and will go bankrupt unless something is done.<br />
But the whining about calling it an "entitlement" is pointless. It is an entitlement, just like your paycheck is an entitlement. If you are in the program you are entitled to collect a pension after you retire.<br />
Entitlement is not a synonym for welfare, which apparently is what some of these people think.<br />
The problem with the program is the same as with any Ponzi scheme. At first many people were contributing and only a few were drawing money.<br />
Today it is just the opposite. Where there were once 15 people paying in for every retiree, today there are two people contributing for every retiree. Making it even worse is the fact that people live much longer.<br />
The other complaint is that the government "borrowed" the money.<br />
When SS ran a surplus, what were they supposed to do? Invest it? Do you really want politicians playing the market with your money?<br />
They could have let the cash pile up in a vault, I suppose, but I'm not sure what that would have accomplished. They were still spending more than they were taking in overall, and the deficit would have to come from somewhere or the debt would have gone up even more.<br />
The problem can be fixed. What is lacking is the political will.<br />
But people need to understand how the system works in order to fix it.<br />
The easiest and most obvious fix is to raise the retirement age. It is unrealistic, given the rise in life expectancy.<br />
If you want to retire earlier, save your own money and retire when you want.<br />
Liberals deserve the blame, not necessarily for beginning the program but for greatly expanding it without bothering to make it sound, and for refusing to act now.Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-38554403743084323902015-10-12T17:42:00.002-04:002015-10-12T17:42:39.907-04:00Don't believe anythingWith a presidential election coming, you should max out your skepticism.<br />
No matter how good a politician's promises sound, he -- or she -- probably is lying.<br />
The classic example of this is St. Franklin of Roosevelt, the liberal icon.<br />
When he ran for president in 1932, he lambasted Herbert Hoover, saying that he was making the Depression worse by heavy-handed government intervention.<br />
He was right!<br />
Hoover and Congress, primarily through the disastrous Smoot-Hawley tariffs, turned a recession into a depression.<br />
It was not the fall of the stock market because of speculation that caused the Depression, as most liberal history books teach.<br />
There was not much speculation, and stupid Fed policy was the main cause of the market crash of 1929.<br />
But, back to FDR. Not only did he correctly characterize Hoover's actions, he promised the correct remedies, vowing to slash taxes and spending.<br />
Immediately after being elected on this sound platform, he began increasing government intervention, raising taxes and increasing spending.<br />
The Depression worsened and continued until World War II began, Even though FDR had abandoned most of his first-term programs, during his second term he replaced them with equally bad policy.<br />
In short, vote for someone you can believe and hope for the best.<br />
<br />Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-55459945634845879572015-08-28T12:27:00.002-04:002015-08-28T12:27:58.092-04:00Sears and robotSears once was a great American company.<br />
I don't know what happened. Competition has beat them down although they still sell some good merchandise.<br />
But, as I learned the hard way this week, you should not rely on them for repairs.<br />
I have an old Kenmore vacuum. It still works well, but it needed a filer, light bulb and new wheels. So I ordered them online from Sears.<br />
Those few small parts cost $100. I should have known right then I was in trouble.<br />
Light bulb and filter were no problem.<br />
But when I looked at the two plastic wheels I discovered they didn't have any recognizable way to remove them.<br />
The vacuum manual, which I had, was no help.<br />
Calls to Sears for repair instructions were fruitless. A series of emails resulted in them telling me to take a hammer and smash the old wheels then "snap the new ones on." Ridiculous. They don't snap on. They slide onto an axle, but something has to hold them on the axle.<br />
They didn't tell me that, nor had they sent me the two little nuts or washers to hold the wheels.<br />
Every time I asked, they kept hinting that I should take it to a Sears repair shop.<br />
So I called the local Sears repair.<br />
I got a phone robot, which switched me to some guy in New Jersey. He gave me the phone number for the local shop that I had just called.<br />
I called back, the bot switched me again. This time to Texas.<br />
She got someone at the local store on the line and connected me. It was the wrong place. After being switched twice, I got a repair guy.<br />
He told me that if I brought in the vacuum, they should ship it to Orlando. Two weeks later, at a cost of $125, I would have it back.<br />
So replacing two little wheels, a bulb and a filter would wind up costing me about $250 -- more than the entire damn machine did when I bought it new.<br />
All because they couldn't send me 25 cents worth of nuts and washers with the parts and simple instructions to replace the wheels.<br />
When I bitched, the guy says if I would bring the vacuum and wheels in, he would "try" to help me.<br />
I finally went to Lowe's, found two little lock nuts for $1.86 and got them on by myself, saving two weeks and $123.14.<br />
No wonder we now live in a throwaway society.<br />
<br />Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872441396257619743.post-30185654551545664412015-03-02T11:31:00.002-05:002015-03-06T17:34:40.301-05:00The harm they doI don't buy or read the morning paper but someone sent me a clipping of a piece by someone named Frank Denton. It was so purely, hopelessly, mindlessly, liberal that it provokes response.<br />
Because the paper is now behind a paywall, I won't link to it, and no one should take the time too look it up. Trust me when I say it is the same drivel you read every day in the liberal media and see on network news.<br />
The idea is that black Americans are the victims of racist white America -- including Jacksonville residents, of course. One neat refinement is that white Americans don't even realize they are being racist.<br />
The only proof of the alleged racism is disparity in outcomes. This is so preposterous that I'm amazed anyone would try to perpetrate it.<br />
Liberalism demands victims because the whole philosophy is that America is unfair and only bigger, more expensive, more intrusive government can level the playing field.<br />
(Note that the only solution Denton offers to the "problem" is more "public investment.") <br />
I will link to <a href="http://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/">this</a> because it refutes the idea better than I can. Having recently read the author's book, which is referenced in the article, I can attest it is spot on point, and demolishes Denton's fantasy.<br />
But it does reflect the thinking of the majority of those in the newsroom at the paper, believe me. All of the "news" stories reflect the Denton-led editorial opinions as well. That is one reason the paper's circulation has plummeted.<br />
As Riley explained, liberals may be well intended, but that does not excuse the harm they do, or the resentment they cause among Americans whose skin is black and who are fed up with the condescending treatment by liberals. <br />
<br />Lloyd Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06000709262658063906noreply@blogger.com0