The Savage Republican

A boat, a dock and a foot on each

I like Ann Coulter. A lot. She has a great way of pointing out the gross hypocrisy of the left. And no more so than in her recent column.
The left has been screaming at us about global warming. Their 2000 hero, Al Gore, equated the internal combustion engine as satan incarnate and a greater threat than nuclear weapons (strange though. I never remember seeing him ride a bike cross country or take the train. Oh that's right, he's a lefty. He knows best for me. Therefore he needn't take his own advice or lead from the front.) And so with John Kerry wanting to tack on a $.50 a gallon tax, Harry Reid saying we aren't taxed enough on gasoline, a number of proposals that would add $.25 or more a gallon, now the lefties are screaming that the price of gasoline has risen. Haven't they finally gotten their wish? And they're upset that they finally got what they've wanted!
Go read Ann Coulter's column. She makes mincemeat of these hypocritical pukes.
And Dr. Thomas Sowell weighs in on the economics vs. politics in the oil and gasoline markets. And another great read.

The mainstream media....missing in action

"I'm sitting in the dark on the edge of a camp for displaced people in Darfur. I can hear the loud, persistent crying of one child rising above the murmur of the camp as the people settle down for the night. "

Thus begins a BBC News article on a subject that you probably have not heard anything about here in the US media.

"A UN force for Darfur is still in the planning stages, an attempt to punish Sudanese leaders with sanctions has been blocked, and relief agencies have been denied access to 300,000 people desperately in need of emergency supplies."

Says this article from the Independent (UK - payment required).

This sad, sad story has been brewing for years. Twenty one years to be exact and it is yet another example shining example of the actions of the "religion of peace" - for you see the aggressors in this are Muslim militias!

When are we going to see something about this story in the American media?

Whose windfall profits shall we tax?

The US Senate, in it's ultimate wisdom, has decided that it needs to consider imposing a "windfall profits" tax on the profits of big oil companies. That is a ludicrous proposition on a number of levels.

Level #1 - the Federal goverment makes an 18.4 cent per gallon profit on every gallon of gas that you and I buy.

Level #2 - the State government makes an average 18.7 cent per gallon profit on every gallon of gas that you and I buy. The state of Minnesota takes 22 cents per gallon out of our pocket.

Level #3 - the oil companies make a paltry 7.4 cents per gallon profit on every gallon of gas that you or I buy.

Level #4 - read Amendment X's most excellent post on the circumstances that led us to be in this predicament. It is Economics 101 and is a must read for any and all of our representatives in Washington DC.

Hopefully now we can put to rest the meme that it is "big oil" that is profiting from these near record high gasoline prices. Then we can get around to doing something that will make it less painfull to the consumer. And no Amy, adding more regulations to the already burdensome regulations already in place is not going to do that. A good start would be for the states and federal governments to repeal (even temporarily) the sales taxes that they impose on customers and thus take care of their own "windfall profits".

Nick is wrong, but right

Nick Coleman...nah, I'm not gonna beat him up..too badly.
Today he screams that "democracy is getting nuked" by the stadium deal.
Well, no it's not. This is democracy on parade and display. This is exactly what democracy looks like and how it works. The residents of Hennepin County are in the minority compared to the rest of the state. Nicky asks what we have here in Minnesota: a representative democracy, corporate government or just plain tyranny? Yes to two and possibly the third. We have a representative democracy in function. What we are supposed to have is a representative republic that is constitutionally mandated and therefore constitutionally limited. In a democracy might and the majority make right. Period. Not so in what should be our constitutional republic. In a democracy the minority have no protection. In a constitutional republic each citizen is protected.No groups can have either rights or privledges as it's the citizen that is protected. In a democracy the rule of people is supreme. In a constitutional republic, the law is supreme. A democracy can be called the tyranny of the masses. What the majority want, the majority gets. Or without the constraints of a constitution,what the majority of the representatives want, they get. I once heard that a gang rape and a lynching are democratic events.
So, Hennepin County...too bad for you. We have a democracy, not a republic. And really, too bad for all the non-Minneapolis residents as the stadium is not a travelling stadium. After all, look at the great deal Sharon Sayles Belton and the Minneapolis City Council did with the Target Center. Wonder why they didn't want to repeat that great inner city victory and triumph of left wing thinking ?
The Founding Fathers did not trust democracy. Nowhere in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution does the term "democracy" exist.And the reason it doesn't is evidenced by the Stadium deal.
So, Nicky, how does it feel to be hoisted on your own petard? Adios constitutional republic, hello, hail and welcome to democracy.
It sure do hurt,don't it Nicky?
Now, go read Bastiat's "The Law".

Pariahs of the Republican Party (Unclean! Unclean!)

This morning I received an email from a good friend of mine who seems to share a common thought with other liberty loving, Constitution respecting, smaller government desiring soon to be former voters for Republicans. The thought we share is in the last seven words of the previous sentence. His suggestion was to sit out the November elections. Or even vote for a Democrat. His, and our frustration boileth over. And all our elected representatives, from locals to state to federal, are oblivious or nearly so. I sense that the "I'll hold my nose and vote for him/her" feeling of the past is rapidly evaporating as many of us see only one political party: The Party of Big, Intrusive Government with it's two wings-The Left Wing where no tax is high enough, no amount of money is ever enough for any program, any slow down of the rate of increase in spending is termed "draconian cuts" any and all taxes are on the backs of the poor. And we have the Right Wing where they believe the same thing, but just a little less. And the politicos will leap to their own defense-and fail miserably. When we see all these increases in spending and intrusiveness.
A decade ago I received this Imprimis in the mail. I read it and was very heartened. We Reagan conservatives were off the beach and into the interior. We were on our way. We had opened up a front in the 1994 elections. We kept Bill Clinton in check. And I kept thinking about Imprimis over the next ten years as I watched Republicans become more and more like the lefties I thought we had finally defeated. And over the last five years I've watched "us" morph into "them". I wrote to Mr. Norquist about his article. And he wrote back that, in essence, it was taking more time than he thought it would. I wrote that I was rapidly losing hope. He replied that I should hang in there. That people of my political bent were needed. I doubt it. I'm only pandered to with statements. Words are cheap. And this from Arlen Specter:"the Republican party of the 21st Century is "now principally moderate, if not liberal.""And we had a real conservative to run against Arlen. But GWB campaigned against him in the run up to the primary to support Arlen.

And the Hugh Hewitts of the world keep exhorting us to keep voting for these same people with the warning "It could be worse!!!"
I find no comfort with a broken arm with a Hugh Hewitt telling me "The Democrats would have broken BOTH arms!" These Republicans will be breaking my other arm soon enough.

Our historic President

I am an amatuer historian. Have been for a long time. WWII is my specific area of high interest, but, when a historic moment occurs, I like to take note of it. And GWB has a place in history. Seems he is only the second U.S. President to go through an entire term without ever using a veto. The first? President John Quincy Adams. Been a long, long time.
Read here in the WSJ some of the bills that escaped the now dusty veto pen. Wonder even if the ink is good anymore ?

The goods on government and gasoline

The hailstorm of lefty (and RINO's) rhetoric on gas prices continues showing why we desperatly need people who understand real world (versus Marxian or Keynesian) economics. There are reasons for gas and oil prices spiking:

ANWR- Here's a shocker-anyone know why and how ANWR came into existence? Oil. Not as a dating service for caribou. In 1923 ANWR was designated as a strategic oil reservation. It was originally called the Naval Petroleum Reserve Number 4. When oil was found on the North Slope (Prudhoe Bay) attempts were made to develop the oil reserves in Naval Petroleum Reserve Number 4. All that changed in 1980 because of the watermelons (green on the outside, red on the inside) with the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act . And you know nothing good is coming from an act with a name like that. There is absolutely NO good reason that the field in ANWR is not online right now. ANWR has been debated for decades. And again, no good reason. Radical enviromentalism and laws and regulations (passed and enforced by government) has stopped oil production there and elsewhere. Reason 1-government interference.
Lack of refinery capacity versus demand. One of my clients has an oil well service company. I asked him over a year ago when was the last oil refinery built in America. He said over 30 years ago. I asked him why? Way too many enviromental regulations, way too much ongoing compliance and lawsuits. And he mentioned there have been many refineries that have closed because of the onerous compliance hurdles. There is a view that it's more profitable to import gas and diesel. Could be because it costs too much to build and run a refienry here because of regulations and compliance, all that add to costs and cut profit. So you have a Reason 2-government interference.
Katrina and Rita. Taking #2 above with the 2005 hurricane season, we have this comment from a year before Katrina and Rita :Despite this (minimal) expansion (at existing refineries), however, domestic refining capacity is still stretched to the limit, as utilization at U.S. refineries is now averaging nearly 90% -- leaving no cushion room if something unforeseen happens." And now we've been hit. and with no cushion to begin with, supply is behind demand. Reason 3-natural forces coupled with government interference.
Regional blends. The gas here in Minnesota is different than the gas in California that is different than New York that is different than Louisiana. Mostly due to environmental "concerns". And all the laws demanding different blends. Reason 4- government interference.
Ethanol. With the new ethanol blending regulations the refineries are trying to keep up...and can't. Just a little something that those "smarter than EVERYONE else" politicos overlooked when they passed ethanol blend laws. Oh, and the fact that ethanol doesn't work, pollutes more, gives less mileage, costs more and drives up the cost of the food you eat...well, the politicos don't care. They're busy "doing something". Reason 5-government interference.
Onerous taxes and Windfall profits taxes versus profits. Remember a low hanging fruit maxim of economics- if you want less of something, tax it. If you want more of something, subsidize it. Now, combine that with the term "the profit incentive" and see that the average oil company gross profit margin is 9%, which is normal American corporate profit. The Feds and states get between 300%-600% more than that in taxes. And that tax is paid by you. And you heard once, even once anyone in government even remotely suggesting that taxes be lowered ? That government take even a penny a gallon less? I haven't. And all they spew is that executives are paid too much. And with the threat of Windfall Taxes the incentive to go out and find more oil is gone. Why work more when your efforts result in less? Reason 6-government interference.
Summer driving. Summer is car trip season. The refineries need to switch over to summer blends (see above). And they can't do that in a week. Higher driving demand, higher imported crude costs versus a seasonal changeover = higher cost.Reason 7- real world economics.
Increased world demand. With decreased national exploration and an increase world demand (particularly in China and India) America competes for oil in a global market. Oil is a commodity. Reason 8- real world economics.
"Alternative energy resources". This delusion has been around, and heavily subsidized, now into four decades. And with billions and billions of dollars spent and wasted, what do we have? Same thing we did at then outbreak of the first oil crisis in 1973. So, your money has been spent, again, on what "the smartest people in the world", politicians and regulators, know is best. Reason 9-government waste...and interference.

And with all the abundantly evident government interference and threats, so many of you still believe that the government can deliver low gas prices.
As Gerald Ford once said "Government couldn't brew beer for less than $50 a six pack."
Oh, and to date, I don't hear anyone, anyplace, anytime screaming for Congressional investigations into the bottled water industry where we spend $5-$10 a gallon...for water-that from the tap costs a quarter of a penny per gallon.

When you can't admit you're wrong...

Christopher Hitchens has been a one man wrecking crew when it comes to destroying Ambassador Joe Wilson's credibility on the whole Iraq/Niger uranium story. He has had two articles in as many weeks that take about Ambassador Wilson's report, point by point.

For those who don't know, Mr. Hitchens is a former Socialist and self described "contrarian". He has the typical biting British wit that those of us who grew up watching Monty Python have grown to love. He was a very vocal critic of Presidents Reagan and George HW Bush and he criticized the first Gulf War, claiming that Saddam Hussein was "lured" into the war - so one could hardly mistake him for a long time Republican apologist! He has, however been a vocal critic of radical Islam and "theocratic facism".

Now in addition to this, the revelations from the "Saddam tapes" have been flowing out fast and furious. All of which leads a thinking person to ask "why has the media insisted on maintaining the claim that Saddam had no a)WMDs and b) connections to al Qaeda?". I don't know if we will ever know the answer to that for sure, but some believe that it is simply that the press loathes to admit that maybe, just maybe the "cowboy" knew more about what was going on than they did. Maybe it's because the press can not admit that they were wrong!

Coming soon to a state near you

Sharia law????? It is a possibility if you believe some people. The Australian government has already told its Muslim population that Sharia law would not be a possibility there (link not available anymore).

"SYDNEY (AFP) - Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law should get out of Australia, a senior government minister has said, hinting that some radical clerics might be asked to leave. Australia was a secular state and its laws were made by parliament, Treasurer Peter Costello told national television late Tuesday. "If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you," said Costello, who is seen as heir-apparent to Prime Minister John Howard. "I'd be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are two laws governing people in Australia, one the Australian law and another the Islamic law, that that is false. "

That led to this Front Page Magazine symposium. Why the concern about Sharia law, you may ask. Well this story tells the tale.

"Lawyer Osman Karahan said Bigley's death sentence was based on Islamic law.
"According to Shariah, according to Islamic law, they sentenced him to death," Karahan said.
"He was guilty of helping non-believers in invading Muslim lands and providing all kinds of support, technical logistical support. Isn't that true?" he said"

So according to this, anyone over there helping the Iraqi people are guilty of a crime - just for being there! Lovely...

But then again what crime did these teachers commit to deserve beheading?

"Separate groups of gunmen entered two primary schools in Baghdad and beheaded two teachers in front of their students, the Ministry of State for National Security said.
"Two terrorist groups beheaded two teachers in front of their students in the Amna and Shaheed Hamdi primary schools in Shaab district in Baghdad," a ministry statement said.
A ministry official said he believed the attacks were aimed at: "intimidating pupils and disrupting learning".

That would definatly disrupt learning...What about this poor child? What did he do to deserve death?

That can't happen here you say. Don't be so sure.

"The Times has obtained extracts from medieval texts taught to the students in which unbelievers are likened to pigs and dogs."

It is way past time for the so-called "moderate Muslims" to speak out against the hate that is being taught in the "name of Allah". Until such time as they do, the outrage against Islam will continue to grow. Don't wait too long, or it will be too late for us all.

Religious Freedom redux

Just a quick follow up to my post here about the tolerance that is shown to Christians in this country. Read this article and weep - a man is being made to choose between his job and his desire to evangelize (via a Christian radio program)! We are not talking about a situation where the radio job would interfere with his primary job. What is this country becomming?

Here is the million dollar line in the story?

"Kelly McBride, who teaches journalism ethics at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., said Turner's behavior, on and off the air, casts doubts on his journalistic objectivity... "There is this standard in the industry that you forgo much of your personal First Amendment rights so that the (news) corporation can exercise its First Amendment rights," she said..." (emphasis mine)

Katie Couric....Meridith Viera...please call you agents....your contract could be in jeopardy!

Prune an oak, get a...bigger oak

I rarely disagree with Captain Ed, but we depart on point.
In a recent post he referred to the disaster in New Orleans. No, I don't mean Katrina. I mean the man made disaster called "government help". Near the end of his post, he says "Bureaucracies don't work for emergency response efforts, and FEMA isn't unique among government agencies either. Solving the problem requires a different model, one that puts more of the decision-making power into local hands while assisting them financially." I would add the word "local" or "state" before financially. There is no such a thing as "small" or "minute" or in government. Nothing shrinks. FEMA started as a very small independent agency. Little Jimmy "I Want a Nobel Prize So Badly, I'll Sell Myself Out" Carter decided that bigger is more efficient (which seems to be a virus that seems to infect all people whose principal office is either oval or under a marble dome).
FEMA was once non-existent. San Francisco came back from a $300,000,000,000 disaster a century ago without FEMA. Same for Chicago in 1871. Same for Gavelston, TX in 1900.
So, Ed, never ever think anything in government will stay small.
Ever heard of Medicare?

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Friday, April 28, 2006