Happy Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving

Our family had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, so here are some pictures and videos.  I hope everyone had a great day.  Enjoy!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

Recursiveism

I really like this comic for some reason, although I know the author is essentially reducing God down to infinite space and time and that is not what I believe.

Source: A Bunch of Rock

I do believe God is infinite but not solely manifest as infinite space and time.  God is more than that.

This comic helps illustrate how it can be hard for some people to believe in God.  The author is saying that if you have a person with above average intelligence, let's call him Randal, who is immortal and has access to infinite space and time, then Randal is indistinguishable from God.

And here, Randal is simulating the visible universe.  He only really needs to simulate what we can see, right?  So only the perceivable chunks.  He also only needs to simulate a chunk of time.  As far as we're concerned, time could have started 10 minutes ago, but we have planted memories from years ago in the simulation.

Randal can even make mistakes.  If he does, he could rewind and try it again, if he wants.  Things can happen in his simulation that he is not fully aware of.  All he's doing is maintaining a simulation that with rules for physics on particles.  He's not necessarily paying attention to everything nor does he have control over everything.  Furthermore, it's just a simulation to him, so he doesn't even have to care if a human or a kangaroo suffers.  It's just simulated deterministic suffering and he's above it all.

But does this idea disprove God?  Not at all.  All it does is push the question back a layer.  Someone created Randal, after all.  You could say the cosmic comic author decided to abstract his creation to a sub-creator, call it an inkling.

If you want to suggest that Randal was created by a super-Randal, ad infinitum, then you've really just decided to replace one unbelievable concept with another.

Which one is easier to believe?  Infinitely abstracted Randals or God?  I'm just saying.

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

God's Judgment on America?

If you think God is judging America by appointing Obama and plunging her into financial ruin, you don't understand a few things.

America has just as many resources as ever.  The natural resources and human resources are abundant, it's the man-made financial turmoil that is making everyone wig out right now.  I know it's a big deal when my pastor tells everyone they're going to see hyperinflation which will ultimately herald the anti-christ.

And, Obama is not the anti-christ.  Or, if he is, I don't care.  I am a Christian and my job is to point to Jesus, not some anti-jesus behind every bush.

Nowhere are believers told to watch for the appearance of the anti-christ. On the contrary, we are told to watch for Jesus Christ.  In Titus 2:13Paul says we are to live "looking for the blessed hope and theappearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus."Likewise, Peter urges us to "fix our hope completely on the grace to bebrought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:13).  Johncompletes the apostolic chorus by similarly urging us to "fix our hopeon Him" at His appearing (1 John 3:2-3).

God has not abandoned us.  He is right here in the midst of this, along side us.  Our Paraclete to the end.

There is a huge transfer of wealth going on, that is true.  But if we pay attention during the reconstruction, we can do some major good.  If we don't give up and we avoid acting like this is some kind of prophesy, we Christians can do a great amount of good for the glory of God.

It reminds me of the Northridge (California) Earthquake in 1994.  Back then, a wise man told me how God could use this earthquake to move people around.  It had the net effect of placing non-believers in the same house as believers where a lot of good could happen.  Hurricane Katrina has a similar effect.

This economic turmoil has been compared to a natural disaster by a great many people.  It has a lot of similarities.  People are being uprooted, resources are needed.  People need to be loved.  The fact that this turmoil has a human cause doesn't change the fact that there are innocents involved.  Very few of us will encounter anyone who caused this, so we should focus on the innocent.

If you think sub-prime caused this mess, you are mistaken.  Sub-prime was the proverbial "canary in the coal mine."  The human heart was the cause of this mess.  We are experiencing the natural consequence of unbridled greed.  That greed lead to unlimited liquidity, which lead to this mess.

Another cause of this mess is lethargy.  In that way, We The People are to blame.  Although there were people who purposefully directed us into these problems, we sat back and expected Superman or Batman or Ron Paul to step in and fix it.  They are not going to do that.  They can't.

Then again, maybe I think I see lethargy because I don't have a $300kretirement account that went to $250k, then $175k.  That would bepretty stressful to watch if it was happening to me, and I most certainly wouldn't be lethargic.

Even Ron Paul knows the only way out is by active participation of the people in their government.  We have to take an active role and educate ourselves.  Instead, we have let the government go unchecked.  We have to fix that.  If we expect one person or a group of people to take care of us, we'll be right back here in no time.

The only exception to what I said about not expecting one man to fix everything is Jesus.  When Jesus comes back to judge the living and the dead, all bets are off.  I have put my faith in that one man and I have no doubt He'll come through.  But until then, we have a role to play in taking back our life, liberty, and private property.  Join me.

By the way, a lot of people are confused by this rapture event.  It's related to Jesus coming back to judge the living and the dead, but probably not what a lot of you've been taught.  Here's a quick explanation of the rapture in less than two minutes:

  
Download now or listen on posterous

2006-07-02 Driscoll Rapture Position.mp3 (1237 KB)

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

Pumpkin Guts

 Karen is going to make pumpkin pie, so we have to gut the pumpkin.  A perfect project for the kids, right?

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

Aquarium of the Pacific

Today, we packed up the family plus Uncle Gilbert and Grandma Sue and spent the day at the Aquarium of the Pacific.  Karen and I had been there once before during a diner party thrown by Borland for BorCon 2001.

This trip was specifically for Benjamin.  He loves fish.  Whenever he comes over to me, if I'm on my laptop, he asks to see the fish screen-saver.  So naturally, we would take him to the "Disneyland of aquariums" down in Long Beach.  In fact, he most certainly enjoyed this trip more than any other trip to any attraction you could think of, including Disneyland.

The minute we walked in, he saw the first aquarium.  So we unbuckled him from his stroller seat (yes, a five-year-old fits nicely into a stroller seat, where "nicely" is defined roughly as "extensively scrunched"):



To peal him away, I put him on my shoulders and stood there a bit.  Then I ran away with him to the next aquarium.  That worked nicely.

We eventually made our way to the seal and sea lion tank.  That's one impressive tank.  They actually had both seals and sea lions, but I didn't know which one was which.  Hey, I'm just a software developer.



At first, Benjamin didn't notice the animals swimming around in the tank above.  He was very interested in the curved "glass" itself.

You really can spend a good chunk of your day at this aquarium.  I won't enumerate the kinds of fish there are.  To someone like me, fish are fish.  But Benjamin clearly liked the tropical fish the most.  He didn't know what to do with himself when we got to that part of the aquarium.  My previous trick, when it was time to leave, wasn't even working.  He was very upset when we had to finally leave.  But he was also tired from literally running back and forth and back and forth.  What's a kid to do?

Was it because they are brightly colored?  Probably.  They use a UV light to ensure proper exposure to what they normally get in nature.  In doing so, they show up very brilliantly.

Hannah really loved all the "Dory" fish and the "Nemo" fish.  She would point them out every chance she got.  She loved the big fake whales suspended from the sealing.  I believe they were intended to be scale, but I'm not sure.  She also had an incident with a tiny crab that came charging toward her.  Her mother assured her that it couldn't get her, but you never know if these things scar kids for life or not.

We got there a little after noon and stayed until four.  When we got into the van, Hannah immediately started snoring.  Benjamin still wanted to see the screen-saver when we got home.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

Head Desk

Our so-called "representative," Senator and Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd:

We want to see more progress from our friends in the financial sector -- more progress in foreclosure mitigation, in affordable lending, and in curbing excessive compensation, and if that progress is not forthcoming, we are prepared to legislate.

Source: CNN

Got that?  What did the banks do to cause the sub-prime mess?  They "made progress" in easy credit.  Easy credit was the whole problem.  What is Dodd's solution?  Easy credit.  Head?  Meet desk.

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

The Good Old Days

Here's a video from Summer 2007 when we only had a budget deficit of approximately $9 trillion and we could still laugh about it. Those were the good-old-days.

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

"... I am not paying for my daughter's baby's circumcision."

Overheard near Aviation and Artesia on my bus-ride home.

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

"... well I'm sorry I offended you. But I have a right to choose."

Overheard near the missile-base on my bus-ride to work.

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

NEWSPAPER BLANKETS U.S. CITIES, PROCLAIMS END TO WAR

I got an interesting e-mail today. Rather elaborate. I've attached the PDF below because the web site is really slow at the moment.

November 12, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPECIAL TIMES EDITION BLANKETS U.S. CITIES, PROCLAIMS END TO WAR

* PDF: http://www.nytimes-se.com/pdf
* For video updates: http://www.nytimes-se.com/video
* Contact: mailto:writers@nytimes-se.com

Early this morning, commuters nationwide were delighted to find out
that while they were sleeping, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had
come to an end.

If, that is, they happened to read a "special edition" of today's New
York Times.

In an elaborate operation six months in the planning, 1.2 million
papers were printed at six different presses and driven to prearranged
pickup locations, where thousands of volunteers stood ready to pass
them out on the street.

Articles in the paper announce dozens of new initiatives including the
establishment of national health care, the abolition of corporate
lobbying, a maximum wage for C.E.O.s, and, of course, the end of the
war.

The paper, an exact replica of The New York Times, includes
International, National, New York, and Business sections, as well as
editorials, corrections, and a number of advertisements, including a
recall notice for all cars that run on gasoline. There is also a
timeline describing the gains brought about by eight months of
progressive support and pressure, culminating in President Obama's "Yes
we REALLY can" speech. (The paper is post-dated July 4, 2009.)

"It's all about how at this point, we need to push harder than ever,"
said Bertha Suttner, one of the newspaper's writers. "We've got to make
sure Obama and all the other Democrats do what we elected them to do.
After eight, or maybe twenty-eight years of hell, we need to start
imagining heaven."

Not all readers reacted favorably. "The thing I disagree with is how
they did it," said Stuart Carlyle, who received a paper in Grand
Central Station while commuting to his Wall Street brokerage. "I'm all
for freedom of speech, but they should have started their own paper."

I think they are going to be very disappointed.

Download now or preview on posterous

NYTimes-SE.pdf (8414 KB)

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

UnFair Tax

If you have trouble with long articles, please at least read the bold parts.

For once, I'll just come right out and tell you what I think about something: I'm against the Fair Tax proposal.  Not that there's any danger of it coming up for a vote any time soon.

Usually I like to be obtuse and not come right out and say what I think, opting to embed my position in the article so you have to read it in full to try to figure out my position on the matter.  I don't like thinking for others, but I find that this angers some people to no end.

Instead, I'll tell you what to think.  I don't know why people like that approach better, but they do.

The Fair Tax

So what is the Fair Tax?  It's a proposed national sales tax that would replace the Income Tax and abolish the IRS.  The tax rate is 23% or 30% depending on how you figure.

Inclusively: $123 = $100.00 * 23% + $100.00
Exclusively: $123 =  $94.62 * 30% +  $94.62

I think it's rather silly to calculate the tax exclusively, but some people do in order to make the percentage look more scary.  Either way in my example, you pay $123.  If you'd like a more complete explanation, see the PDF below.

None of the above is why I'm against the Fair Tax.  In fact, I believe the biggest selling point of the Fair Tax, which is that the "embedded" price of good and services will go down, so this 23% or 30% percentage truly doesn't matter, as long as it doesn't change.

The Fair Tax relies heavily on Trickle Down Economics.  I'm a big supporter of the this theory.  In a nut-shell, trickle-down theory says that if you lower the price of doing business, by reducing or eliminating taxes for example, the lower price is passed along to the consumer.

If the price of labor goes down, the prices of goods and services that rely upon labor go down in lock step.  That's the theory, anyway.  I think there's plenty of evidence for this, but that's a topic for another article.

So after the Fair Tax removes the tax on labor, it places a tax on the final consumer goods and services at the point of sale.  From Apples to Zigzags, if it's new, you pay the tax.

The Fair Tax was explicitly designed not to cut spending.  The proposal was designed not to eliminate funding for entitlements like Social Security and Medicare.  This approach is meant to allow all parties to support the change without objection.  This is considered a feature, not a bug.

I believe the Fair Tax just hides the threat ofviolence entirely in the corporate layer of the monetary base because at least under the IRS, I have the "option" not to file.  It's notevery good option and not one I have personally taken yet.  But it'sthere.  We can opt out.  If the Fair Tax is implemented, there is noway to opt out.

You might say that buying used goods is a form of opting out, sorry, it's not.  I'll go into that below.

Constitutionality

Does the Fair Tax pass constitutionality tests?  I think in some ways it does and in some ways it does not.  I'm not going to analyze that aspect in this article.  There are plenty of reasons to be against the Fair Tax without getting into questions of the Constitution, especially since our so-called "representatives" mostly don't.  I'll go into it another time.

Unintended Consequences

All pro-government solutions have unintended consequences.  Anything that makes the government bigger (or stay the same size) will have unintended consequences.  Since the Fair Tax won't make the government smaller, it will also have unintended consequences.

The main way government causes unintended consequences is through price manipulation.  Any interference in supply and demand will result in unintended consequences.  This is true for rent control, cap and trade, as well as taxes.  Even a tax like Fair Tax, which removed the embedded tax of goods, will cause interference in supply and demand.

For the moment, let's assume the Fair Tax is simply 23% of the base price.  So if $100 is the base, the total comes to $123.

One of the big selling points of the Fair Tax is that the tax is only applied once.  Basically, if you buy used property (be they used shoes or used houses), you don't pay the Fair Tax.  So if you're interested in a new house, you pay an extra 23%, but if you buy a used house, you don't pay an extra 23% tax.

The Fair Tax supporters say that the house will cost less to build because the materials won't be taxed until the house is sold.  The "embedded" tax will be removed, making the 23% not as bad as it sounds.  I believe this part of the proposal, and it's important.  The embedded tax is a real, so removing it will make things cheaper.  The Fair Tax relies upon removing 23% from embedded taxes then adding 23% at the point of sale.

So far so good, right?  Does that mean if you manage to always buy used, you don't pay any tax?  Not so fast, Buba.

What does that do to supply and demand?  Wouldn't the possibility of buying property tax free increase the demand on such property?

The increased demand for used, tax-free goods will drive the price of these items up.  These tax-free, used goods will become more expensive and in short supply, mark my words.

In fact, I think the price increase will be pegged roughly to whatever the tax is.  If the Fair Tax ever changes up or down, tax-free, used goods will follow because their demand would be pegged indirectly to the Fair Tax.

The Prebate Is A Lie!  The Prebate Is A Lie!  The Prebate Is A Lie!

The prebate is probably the most popular part of the Fair Tax.  It is a refund of all taxes paid into the national program up to the poverty line, whether or not you pay the tax.  This part of the proposal is intended to answer the objection of the poor.  It is assumed that the poor cannot afford the tax, so this prebate pays them back all of the money they spend based on a highly reliable government formula (the formula itself is based on the highly reliable Consumer Price Index, which itself doesn't take into account food or energy prices).

The prebate is issued to every man, woman, and child in the US (I assume only citizens), regardless of their income.

So how is this a lie?  Well, let's imagine the Fair Tax is signed into law and everyone starts getting a prebate.  Lawmakers want to issue debit cards instead of cutting checks.  Back when the Fair Tax was being written, there was some question as to whether or not a check could be issued.  Now that we've had a stimulus check under our belts, they know this is a piece of cake (but we all know that cake is a lie).  In order to make it even easier, they'll want to use debit cards.

So everyone will have a debit card.  Likely, they'll allow "head of household" and "joint" cards to simplify things so children won't need cards issued until they are 18, unless they want them.  It's all about flexibility and choice, right?

So how is this a lie?  Well, let's further imagine the initial amount of the prebate is $250 for each person, each month.

$250 x 303,824,640 = $75,956,160,000
$75,284,986,750 x 12 = $911,473,920,000

The US population is 301,139,947 as of the July 2008 estimate.  So let's just imagine the prebate paid out on a yearly basis is a cool trillion.  And where do you think the prebate trillion comes from?  If you guessed the money comes from the proceeds of the national sales tax, I'd agree with you.  It's a solvent system, after all.

So how is this a lie?  Read your history books.  Was Social Security solvent when it was first proposed and implemented?  Was Medicare solvent?  Are they solvent now?

The prebate will start out solvent but then become an entitlement just like Social Security and Medicare.  That's why it's a lie.

How will this happen?  The same way it always happens, Pinky.  Congress will raid the fund.  They always have, they always will.  They're treacherous crooks!  They won't let a cool trillion just sit there.  They'll use it for something else, then pay the prebate out of credit which we'll have to pay interest on.  The prebate will become another entitlement, mark my words.

In fact, it'll be the worst entitlement ever.  If you think Social Security and Medicare are ponzie schemes, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Tweaks and Trojans

I cite the 1913 version of the Federal Reserve Act as originally proposed.  It was proposed in such a way that the teeth of the bill had been removed.  Although it was a bad bill in the first place, there were many good amendments that made it easier for the critics to accept.

The banking industry even pretended to be opposed to the amended bill.  But after it was signed into law, the Federal Reserve Act has been amended to become what it was originally supposed to be: The Creature From Jekyll Island.

The Federal Reserve Act got through Congress as a trojan horse.  The Fair Tax is also a trojan horse that will be tweaked and tweaked until it's true purpose is implemented.

The IRS was created in much the same way.  Originally, it would only apply to the highest income earners.  Do you really think it would have passed as its being implemented now?  Hell no!

So the Fair Tax will go through the same tweaks.  Everything you like about the Fair Tax will be minimized and everything you hate about it will be maximized, mark my words.  For example, the percentage of the sales tax will probably go up, and those qualifying for the rebate will go down.

A quick flick of pen and pork will change it.

Sir Gives-a-lot

I have no doubt the rebate will be used to reward voters.  If you vote a certain way, you'll get money.  As I explained above, the logistics for getting the money to the voter can be very simple.  A few strokes on the prebate computer and the prebate can go up instantly, it's the American way.

Also, as explained above, the government now has experience with stimulus packages.  It makes perfect sense that the two would be combined.  Instead of having two separate systems to distribute stimulus and prebates, just combine them.

I imagine a stimulus czar will be appointed.  I've named him Sir Gives-a-lot.  He'll probably have a white beard and a red hat and be featured prominently during the holidays.  When the population is burdened by the next business cycle, Sir Gives-a-lot will swoop in and adjust the prebate up for some and down for others.  Sir Gives-a-lot will be a very popular man, mark my words.

In fact, he will eventually be as powerful over consumer spending as the Federal Reserve Chairman is perceived to be over the financial sector.  "Will the Fed key interest rate go down while the prebate goes up?"  That's the question the talking heads and pundits will ask.

How To Sell It To Me

Having said all of the above, there's only one way to sell the Fair Tax to me.  Even if I'm right and the Fair Tax is even worse than I've explained in this article, one thing would sell me on the proposal.  If the Fair Tax proposal includes a constitutional amendment to repeal the 16th Amendment (the same mechanism where the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment), I would then shout support for the Fair Tax from the hilltops (for all the good that'll do).

But in order for me to support this amendment, the new amendment would have to be free of any and all strings.  The amendment to repeal the 16th Amendment cannot itself introduce a new tax or anything else.  There's no need.  Just repeal the 16th Amendment and I'll be happy, but not before.

By the way, my full position on the 16th Amendment can be found on my previous blog.  To summarize, regardless of the 16th Amendment's status as to its legitimacy, people think the 16th Amendment authorizes a tax on labor.  We should repeal it no matter what, but especially if we're moving on to a national sales tax.  I cannot and will not support a national sales tax while the 16th Amendment is in the US Constitution.  Letting both on the books means one day we'll have both, mark my words.  A sunset condition on the Fair Tax is not good enough.  You think I was born yesterday?  See Tweaks and Trojans (above).  How do we know the sunset condition won't just be removed if repealing the 16th Amendment fails?

And if you think our so-called "representatives" will listen to anything we have to say, remember theEmergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, commonly referred toas the 'bailout' or 'rescue' bill of the U.S. financial system?  The support for that unpopular bill was split 50/50: 50% said no, 50% said hell no.

If they won't listen to us regarding a matter of $700,000,000,000 (our money), what makes you think they'll listen to us for anything about keeping the Fair Tax from becoming yet another taxing and entitlement monstrosity?

My Solution

What's my solution to this mess?  Here it is: A five year emergency moratorium on all but constitutionally authorized federal activity.  Congress can meet to play backgammon during legislative sessions and that's it (to fulfill US Constitution Article 1, Section 4, Clause 2).  Then, after five years, we'll see how much better off we are and start officially removing the stinking rotting carcass we call the Federal Government.

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inclusive-exclusive.pdf (10 KB)

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Twitter Tweet Chart

Source: xefer

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Added Facebook

My existing Facebook account can now tie into my Posterous account.  Impressive!

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

Fahrenheit Scale

Question Digested: 1425

Previously, on my old blog, I kept track of my The Internet Oracle questions/answers.  Mostly, I only posted the ones that got digested.  My earliest writings on The Internet Oracle go back to 1998 when it was still called The Usenet Oracle.  So I thought I'd restart the practice on my new blog.

The Internet Oracle has pondered your question deeply.  Your question was:

Oh great and powerful Oracle...

We here in America generally use the Fahrenheit scale to measure temperature.  Why is the normal human body temperature 98.6 degrees? Since we humans invented Fahrenheit, why didn't we originally calibrate the scale so that normal human body temperature was 100 degrees?  Might this have something to do with global warming?

And in response, thus spake the Oracle:

Fahrenheit actually is calibrated to the temperature of the human body.  The imperial system was just conceived in a fever dream.

You owe the Oracle two wet towels and a pint of cough syrup.

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How To Nap

Source: Boston Globe

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Our Masters

Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.  As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.

- Benjamin Franklin

In other words, we got what we deserve.

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Book Collection

Source: The New Yourker

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Hannah Sings the ABC Song

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Hannah is under the impression that all pictures on the screen are previews for videos. Silly two-year-old.

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She Said That??

There's a lot coming out about Governor Palin that has been suppressed until after the election. I'm not sure how this is supposed to put me at ease, knowing the press is capable of keeping a lid on this stuff, but there you go.

When discussing the financial crisis, apparently, Governor Palin thought the discussion was about two arch rival comic book characters: General Motors and General Electric.

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

Horse Wranglers In NH

Here's a little background.  The videos below are two parts, perhaps waiting for a third, about a family's encounter with a militant charity.  You may be familiar with the SPCA, an organization not normally associated with militantism.  Usually we think of PETA as the militant animal rights group.

But that's not the most bizarre part.

The reason the SPCA representative was being militant was because he wanted to see if the Travis family was taking good care of their own horses.  Apparently, in New Hampshire the law requires shelter for horses during November through April.

But that's not the most bizarre part.

Some of this may be hard to understand if you aren't aware of a few things: Life, Liberty, and Private Property.  In America, some people observe this tradition referred to as "Liberty."  This tradition may seem quaint to most of us, but if you understand this concept, the video begins to make a little more sense.

The Travis family interpret Liberty differently than the man from the SPCA.  The Travis family want to be left alone to enjoy their Life, Liberty, and Private Property.  The man from the SPCA does not observe Private Property the same way.  He and his police buddy believes the law gives them the right to enter Private Property in order to enforce their statues.

So rather than go through the proper and civilized channels, rather than make an appointment with the Travis family, rather than show them the courtesy that equal human beings should show one another, the man from the SPCA starts off making accusations then calls the police in an attempt to intimidate the family.

But that's not the most bizarre part.



Now for the bizarre part.  If you're into firearms, pay attention:

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OBAMANATION!!!

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Getting Skewz(ed)

One of my favorite sites is called Skewz.com.  It's a place to read conservative and liberal stories selected by users.  The users can submit any type of entry from news articles, editorials, blogs posts, and even YouTube videos.  Then, these users look for liberal or conservative bias and record it by moving a slider left or right.

If you write about politics in your blog like I do occasionally, you should consider adding your articles to Skewz.  I went back and added all of the articles tagged as Political.  The image below is what my bias looked like as of today at 10:30 AM.  I'm sure it'll move around quite a bit.

To see the current bias, check out my blog's profile.

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

At Least We Dodged THAT Bullet ...

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McClintock Wins!

Well, assuming this doesn't change when the results are fully processed, it looks like Tom McClintock won, yay!  But that's a really tight margin of 451 votes at the moment.  Keep an eye on it.

My so-called "representative," Jane Harman, does not represent me.  It's nice to have a representative relatively nearby besides Ron Paul. 

By the way, such a small margin most certainly was influenced by Ron Paul's endorsement.  If it weren't for that endorsement, I don't think McClintock would have won.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Calculation and Socialism

Ludwig von Mises is one of my new heroes, but I realize he is just espousing a theory against socialism based on his own capitalistic presuppositions on the subject.  Yet it's so simple, it must be true.  This lecture will help anyone trying to understand why socialism can't work on the macroeconomic scale.

So often, those of us in favor of the free market just espouse the mantra that socialism doesn't work without an understanding of why.  As one of my father's collage professors would say, "It really isn't enough to know how, one must also know why."  When you know why, your understanding becomes more principled.  It's really simple to understand why sound money is also vital to the free market by listening to this lecture.

Calculation And Socialism by Joseph T. Salerno  
Download now or listen on posterous

12_Salerno.mp3 (13510 KB)

Source: Mises Institute Media , recorded 29 July 2008 at the Ludwig von Mises Institute; Auburn, Alabama.

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

"... don't distract me from the point I'm trying to make!"

Overheard near the elevators where I work.

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

Maverick

I just thought it was funny, that's all. 

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)

Oct 29 - Andrew Napolitano Presidents Ignoring Constitution

Judge Andrew Napolitano argues if the presidents are ignoring the constitution or not on the Verdict on Fox News. Asks if the congress present today is what the founders had in mind. He says people us citizens send to congress don't recognize limits on congress' power to legislate. Comments on senators Obama and McCain, 700 billion dollar bai...

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Andrew Napolitano on Presidents Ignoring the Constitution

Judge Andrew Napolitano did a great five minute editorial on Fox "News" about the role of the president and how most of them ignore the Constitution. Frankly, they always have and they always will. It's the legislator's job to watch-dog the president and when they don't it's the people's job to bring in the tar and feathers for all of them. I highly recommend listening to Napolitano:



If you don't agree, you can move out of the several states, as some have suggested to me for having this view. Now I'm interested in his book, A Nation of Sheep.

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)