Why the West is Slowly Sinking

Why is the Western world slowing losing influence globally? The short asnwer is an over-reliance on large regulations to "fix" everything. In this article from the Wall Street Journal, Mark Steyn discusses the trend in more detail. The book he references, Soft Despotism, Democracy's Drift, is now on my reading list.

It's interesting to me the idea of men giving up their freedom of choice is not a new idea. The books author Paul Rahe references thinkers almost two hundred of years old, yet still relevant. What we see in the West is a soft slide to more state intervention and control. No major event or revolution, just an apathetic slouching towards control by the few.

Seems Devo was right, "Freedom from choice... It's what you want."

Friday Stimulus Funny

This wouldn't be so funny, except it's true.

The BS Package has produced no new jobs, it's intended goal. In fact, the job numbers are worse than those projected for the country by Obama's administration if we had 'done nothing.'

Hat Tip - Hot Air

More Reasons to Hate Cap and Trade

The Cap and Trade bill keeps looking worse and worse. Not only will it put the brakes on our economy and become a hidden tax, it will limit personal choice and freedom when it comes to our homes. 'How?' you ask. By including regulations in Section 304 of the bill that allow more governmental intrusion, based on requiring more energy effiencies for your house. For a better look at Section 304, review this article from the American Issues Project web site. The tone is a bit alarmist but, based on how laws can be twisted to have unintended consequences, not too much of a stretch.

Tie the problems with Cap and Trade legislation in with the fact that anthropogenic global warming doesn't seem real, and it just looks like the "Environment Police" are going too far. The more I read about Cap and Trade (something already tried in Europe, with no real positive effects), the more I think it's a bad bill. But you already knew that.

Relevant Healthcare Numbers

This article from Hot Air lists some pretty good numbers to keep in mind as we discuss and debate the possibility of "Universal Healthcare."

Some highlights that caught my attention involved the "Health Care Ranking" for the U.S. by the World Health Organization. What was relevant was his statement that "no U.S. citizens travel" to higher ranked countries when they have a life-threatening illness. Especially check out the link on how the ranking system works.

Also of importance is the information on how our current government-run health systems are working out right now. Massive fraud, extremely high costs and no real funding. And they want to expand this? Incredible.

Check out all of the links to see the source for the numbers. A well researched, well put together article.

Why Slow is Better Than Fast

I wish our Congress worked slower. Seriously. It would be much better for the country if Congress went slow instead of fast. Slow is deliberate. Slow is contemplative. Slow is unhurried and just-in-time. Slow allows us to consider the ramifications of the bills (if passed) and determine whether we want to live with the outcome or leave well enough alone.

This article at Reason dares to ask, "What would happen if we do nothing, instead of rushing in?" The author gives some good examples of bills with unintended consequences.

One he only mentions in passing, though, is the BS bill. Remember, this is a bill needed to save America. How are we doing? Not so good, acutally. The unemployment rate is almost 2 percentage points higher than projected with the stimulus package. And, get this, the current unemployment is about 1 percentage point higher than if the stimulus bill had not passed.

Seems like we've discussed before how the BS package has enormous waste and little actual stimulus. Of course, if Congress had actually read the bill before they passed it, they might have noticed this.

Cap and Trade Explained

Funy stuff, if it weren't so bad for the economy.

I love the part where he mentions that the effects are not measurable! Of course, this assumes there is an anthropogenic cause to global warming, which there isn't.

The Press Might Finally Be Waking Up

When is an open forum not an open forum? When all of the questions are known ahead of time and the audience is there by invitation only. That is the issue with the Town Hall Meeting planned for today. Luckily, the press is waking up to this tight control on dissenting views.

According to Helen Thomas, a reporter with the Associated Press, "not even Richard Nixon tried to control the press the way President Obama is trying to control the press."

I just wonder when the rest of the press corp will wake up and smell the coffee.