While perusing my referrer logs, I found one from Blogshares. It’s a fun website where you can buy and sell shares of blogs. Think fantasy stock market. If you’ve got some time to waste, wanted to dabble in the stock market or whatever, try this.

Here’s the link to my stock.

Have fun!

PS, I woke up late, so no news analysis this morning, maybe something when I get back tonight.

Well, the family had a emergency at 2:00 am this morning, necessitating me walking up and taking care of it temporarily until the landlord can fix it. Between last night and this morning, several conversations ensued between my wife and I, and I found out her condition has taken a turn for the worse in several regards.

I am totally useless to her, considering that I have no transportation to help and I cannot handle my own life, let alone support her in her hour of need. That’s what tears me up inside, not being able to be there. If I were there, I would quickly build up from the pressure and explode, becoming violent and out of control.

It might suck to be me, but it sucks a lot more to be my wife. Not only is her medical condition serious, her husband is more of a liability than an asset. The only person she can lean on is our son, and he has his own set of problems.

If anybody can help, it would be greatly appreciated. A miracle would really come in handy about now.

Hat tip to American Realpolitik.

“A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father’s shop. He has no formal education. He owns no property of any kind. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father’s shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside. Walking from place to place preaching all the while even though he is in no way an ordained minister he never gets farther than an area perhaps 100 miles wide at the most. He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing — the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place so he is interred in a borrowed tomb. End of story?

No. This uneducated, propertyless young man who preached on street corners for only three years who left no written word has for 2000 years had a greater effect on the entire world than all the rulers, kings and emperors, all the conquerors, the generals and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who ever lived — all put together. How do we explain that?

…Unless he really was what he said he was.” –Ronald Reagan

Take a time out from opening your presents, and remember those less fortunate than you, especially those men and women who are serving overseas away from their families.

Remember the reason for the season, the birth of Christ.

Give your family members an extra hug for me, please.

President Bush is at it again. Immigration Reform on Bush Agenda

The Administration is again systematically stealing issues and votes from the Democrats. President Bush and his team are performing accomplishments in areas that Democrats have promised movement on for 40 years. In the process of actually addressing these problems, he is converting these single issue voters from Democrat to Republican. And he doesn’t have to convert that many. A simple five to ten percent swing in multiple issues translates to an overall big swing that steals states. Barring a major catastrophe in the next year, Bush is looking at a landslide of Reagan-sized proportions.

The Democrat Party is in serious trouble. They are at significant risk of being declared a minor party because they are so fractured and there is no one on the stage that stands as a unifier. Instead, they are engaging in large-scale cannibalism. All 9 dwarves are all busy attacking the leader, each other and President Bush that they have no time left to say what they will actually do if they win. The few plans that have been talked about are easily picked apart and seem to be made off-the-cuff than by think tanks.

The Democrat ship never made it away from pierside. They have so many candidates that no one will be happy (except the winners camp) by the time a winner is chosen. The spectrum of these candidates are so wide that some supporters might actually support Bush over the Democrat candidate. There needed to be a guiding hand at the helm of the Democrat party that would have culled the herd before things got too far along. Too many choices confuse the voters. In all of the elections I have paid attention to, Republicans have put forward two candidates, while the Democrat side looks like the Boston Marathon.

I’m glad there’s no one on that side of the aisle to hold things together and make the incoherent understandable. The Democrats are self-destructing and the 2004 election cycle will put a stake in the heart of this monster.

Hopefully then the Democrats will regroup, be reborn and come back a stronger party, interested in the things that appeal to the majority of American citizens. I’d hate for this country to become a one party state.

I’ve been peaking at about 8 on my depression scale all day today. I have not been interested in anything at all today. Right now I’m pigging out on chili dogs and M&M’s.

It’s bad not being able to be with your family, especially when they are within walking distance. Not being able to see them hurts deeply, even when there are severe problems that exist between you and them.

So today has sucked, and tomorrow will be a complete waste for me. Except for feeding the birds, I may not get out of bed. Some Christmas.

Do me a favor, when you and your family is opening presents tonight or tomorrow, give them an extra hug for me.

Closet time now, comments later.

Remember Mrs. Kravitz, the nosy neighbor across the street in Bewitched ? Now, it seems, she’s running things in South Florida.

Abuse of power? Homeowners group tells woman to remove Virgin Mary. It details the case against an old lady who wants to display her faith, as she has for the last 19 years.

The Mote Ranch covenant doesn’t mention statues. But it does make two association committees “the ultimate deciding” bodies in what a person can do to his home and property.

I could never live in such a place. I would not sign such a covenant. That would be a deal breaker for me. I am the one paying the mortgage, I should be the one in control of the property. These “homeowners associations” go so far as to decree what colors to use on the interior of your house. I understand the want to keep property values up, but this kind of stuff goes way too far.

Thankfully case law in Florida is on this woman’s side. There is an elderly man who put up a flag pole to display the Stars and Stripes and got put through the wringer for it. Governor Jeb Bush came to this mans rescue by pushing a bill through the Legislature making things like this legal. The homeowners association then went so far as to put a lien on this mans house for legal expenses the association ran up bringing the case against him. Thankfully there was a drive by Sean Hannity and others to raise the cash to let this man keep his home.

Hopefully this lady won’t have to go through the same hell.

I found something that the Liberal media won’t say anything about, because a) it’s a followup, b) it makes fools of those who yell the original claims. Halliburton’s “Gouging”: What Really Happened

The obvious question raised by the discrepancy was: Why would Halliburton deliver high-priced fuel from Kuwait when it could be obtained at a much lower price from Turkey?

The company says it did so because the Army demanded that it deliver fuel from Kuwait…

It turns out that Halliburton did exactly what the Army wanted. Unless stupidity on the Army’s part is a crime, there is nothing here to yell about.

But you’ll never see Brokaw, Jennings or Rather talk about this.

I found this article, AFSCME Official Endorses Socialism After Union Backed Dean and it reminded me that I owe Spike Magazine’s blog Splinters and article on Socialism.

Let’s start off with the comments:

“The first thing we have to do is remind ourselves that we are fighting for socialism,” said District Council 1707 President Brenda Stokeley of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

Stokeley’s remarks were made during the Workers World Party’s national conference in New York on Dec. 6 and 7. The conference was entitled, “Reviving the Worldwide Struggle for Socialism.”

First of all, there are three types of social structure for this discussion: Capitalist, Socialist and Communist.

Capitalist is the one most free. You are allowed to start whatever business you want (within some very wide parameters) and go for it until you succeed or go broke. You are allowed to go where and when you want, and it is the government that is limited in their powers rather than you.

Communist is best described as governmentless. After all of the people have been properly and completely indoctrinated, the government would just “fade away” and be no more. Everybody would be equal and everybody would work for the common good.

Now let’s talk about exactly who is/was Socialist.

Socialist can be best described as either “hard” or “soft.” Countries such as the UK, France, Germany, et.al. are best described as soft socialists.

Soft Socialist societies still have a large contingent of capitalistic entrepreneurship, while the government is heavily invested in social programs and controls major industries. Freedoms exist, but at the pleasure of the government. In the UK, the press is nominally free, but can be gagged at the governments leisure if “official secrets” comes out.

Now the hard socialists, they are another ball of wax. The former Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Cuba. No freedoms, the State controls everything, constant indoctrination, “re-education” camps for those who don’t conform, the list goes on and on. Imagine having to get permission from the State to leave the county where you live. Imagine the only freedom of speech you have is what the government tells you what to say. If you were accused of a crime, you had to prove your innocence. It’s very hard to prove a negative under those conditions.

Everything is controlled by the State. Where you work, how much you get paid, where you live, etc. And we all know how well this system works. In the Soviet Union, the small privatized plots for the farmers outperformed the collective farms. You had to stand in three lines to buy anything. Stand in line to see what is for sale, stand in another line to get a ticket for it, and hopefully you get what it is you were looking for in the third line. Military units had a Zamploit or political officer to make sure the troops were properly indoctrinated and they had the power to overturn a commanders decisions if they went against the party interests.

Socialism works somewhat in China because of their culture. The Chinese have pigeonholed everybody for thousands of years. You stayed where you were, you do what you’re told and you don’t complain. Even so, China is beginning to see Capitalistic overtones. It will be a long time, however, before those who control China give up the reins of power. Constant indoctrination of the people still goes on, and dissent is still ruthlessly crushed as Tienanmen Square plainly showed.

People no matter where they are have pretty good BS detectors. When they live in squalor and under a ruthless government, there comes a point where people realize that they are being told a crock of shit, however they also see the point of the gun being pointed at them if they aren’t sufficiently enthusiastic enough about being in a workers paradise. Why do you think people from these countries defect every chance they get? Why do you think dozens died trying to cross the Berlin Wall? Why do you think it was put up in the first place? It certainly wasn’t to keep us out.

Cuba and South Korea are hard Socialist dictatorships. You can tell that it’s a dictatorship because there is one guy in power and that is all that matters. Unless the succession is to a son, there is no “line of succession.” Nobody is given enough power to threaten the dictator, there is no orderly transfer or power upon his death.

The situation in North Korea can be summed up in one word: Cannibalism. Some workers paradise that is.

Cuba depends on trade with Europe, because it can’t survive on its own. It was being heavily subsidized by the Soviet Union, but that came to a halt when the SU collapsed. They still have thousands of people a year fleeing from this ‘paradise,’ only to die on the way or be executed upon their return. Dissidents are routinely jailed for years or executed if they get too loud.

And this is the kind of world Ms. Brenda Stokeley wants us to live in. Never forget that. There is no such thing as a benign government, even our own. It takes the power of the people to keep the government in check, not the other way around.

I am working on an article about socialism, but it is overloading me. I have already been in the closet twice today and I am looking at a 3-peat very soon. I have been unable to search the news sites beyond what I got for the article.

Sorry.

I found two related stories on The Drudge Report. Lost? Hiding? Your Cellphone Is Keeping Tabs obviously talks about how GPS technology in your cell phone that can instantly locate you. The other story is from the UK, Police call for remote button to stop cars talks about remotely stopping cars who are evading police.

These two related technologies show the best and worst side effects of technology. Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park asked, “Just because we can do something, does that mean we must do it?” Movies such as Enemy of the State and Changing Lanes show just exactly what can happen to a person if they become the target of anybody with such resources, and the capabilities of these people grow every day.

Identity theft is a prime example of a nefarious use of our interlinked society, where a couple of words and numbers in the right order spell disaster for thousands of people every day.

I don’t like the technologies described in these stories, especially the “mandatory in the future” part of it. Every good reason you can come up with I can come up with two bad reasons, things that bad people can do to you.

I’ve asked this before, and it bears repeating: If I know everywhere you go, and you know I know, are you truly free? Can you honestly say your decisions on where and when you go are untainted by the knowledge that someone could be watching you? I spend great amounts of time online, and I do so with the knowledge that I am watched. Every website I visit, every email I send and receive is logged somewhere, ready at a moments notice for someone to look at. This knowledge does affect where I go and what I say. And I don’t like it. It isn’t for my protection, it isn’t in my best interests at all, but it happens nonetheless.

These are the last days that we are truly free, if they are already not passed. Remember them well. They will not come again.

I just got back from a MechWarrior tournament and saw the terror alert level raised.

Hat tip to Mike Hollihan for having this on his blog for me to see. Click on the Sesame Street icon to the right to see the entire spectrum. Hope it never gets to Elmo.

President Bush’s long range plans are bearing fruit. Despite the lack of positive press coverage, things are getting better every day in Iraq. The capture of Saddam has put a large stake into the heart of despotism. Countries in the region are seeing that is far better to have us as a friend rather than an enemy.

Iran is screaming for nuclear inspectors to prove that they are not developing a nuclear weapons program. Time will tell. The mullahs have had to put down several pro-democracy movements, and the internal pressure is still building. External pressure via Iraq is also beginning to show in the fact that they are willing to have international inspections concerning their nuclear program.

Libya is begging us to take away their WMD and promising that they won’t do it again. The history of Libya took a hard right turn back in the 80′s thanks to Ronald Reagan. Qaddafi was making a lot of big noises, especially about his “line of death.” A carrier group brushed his defenses aside and an F-111 dropped a bomb into the tent next to his. He was down right quiet after that.

I don’t know if Qaddafi was directly responsible (ordered) the bombing of Pan-Am Flight 103, but he certainly is paying for it and a similar French aircraft bombing. He has been moving toward civility for some time, this WMD step is just the latest step. While the timeline is not exact, it indicates that the negotiations to get rid of Qaddafi’s WMD started about the time we rolled into Iraq. I’m sure Qaddafi saw his own future in that attack.

The United States has played softball far too long. The world is a dangerous place, and we as a people need to realize that. Thank God that there is a man in the White House who is willing to play hardball with those who wish to do us harm. 9/11 came about because we were seen as soft. We must be seen as swift, unequivocal and fatal in our responses to keep us safe. Trying to be nice and being ambivalent with our military strength caused two towers to fall.

The most dangerous time of the world is yet to come. Terrorists must have nations as sponsors. That is how they get most of their money, their training bases and a pool of potential recruits. We need to convince (and I am sure we are doing so) these states that an NBC (nuclear, biological or chemical) attack on the US will result in at least a limited nuclear strike against those countries deemed responsible.

Retribution would likely come in the form of a Trident D-5 SLBM. Unclassified capacity is 12 warheads per missile, but I have heard that we only have 8 warheads each. Each of the 8 is a W-88 thermonuclear warhead, with a 475 KT yield, equal to 31 Hiroshimas for a total of 248 times the devastation. I hope the terrorist sponsoring countries do the math and realize it is not in their best interest to be on the wrong side of the US.