Free Republic

To borrow more money to spend on the least productive elements of the economy like state and local government public employee pension funds and transfer payments is such a stupid idea only Krugman could be for it.

it is not so much the deficits that are straggling the economy as what we chose to spend that borrowed money on. Quantitative easing, aka running the printing presses could be justified in the face of the obvious deflation affecting the economy if at the same time taxes were lowered and government spending were reduced. But the very bureaucracy Krugman wants to borrow money to keep on the job is what is strangling job creation and private enterprise.

ultimately for every liberal it always boils down to one thing. bigger government must be better especially if it means that people like me run it. Unless America can find a way to strangle this beast that is government it will eat it's own.

To borrow more money to spend on the least productive elements of the economy like state and local government public employee pension funds and transfer payments is such a stupid idea only Krugman could be for it.

it is not so much the deficits that are straggling the economy as what we chose to spend that borrowed money on. Quantitative easing, aka running the printing presses could be justified in the face of the obvious deflation affecting the economy if at the same time taxes were lowered and government spending were reduced. But the very bureaucracy Krugman wants to borrow money to keep on the job is what is strangling job creation and private enterprise.

ultimately for every liberal it always boils down to one thing. bigger government must be better especially if it means that people like me run it. Unless America can find a way to strangle this beast that is government it will eat it's own.

I actually think a constitutional convention would be a good idea. The constitution does not spell out how delegates would be chosen but presumably it would be up to each state which means delegates could be appointed by the legislature or selected by a state convention or even elected. My guess is that most state legislatures are most concerned about both the erosion of the 10th amendment and the incredibly broad latitude the courts have allowed the Feds under the commerce clause and I believe at the state level these concerns cross party lines. If I am correct about that then the states could appoint delegates and send them with specific language in hand.

As the Feds would never limit their own power the only salvation for the rest of us is if the states will assert their own rights and if they don’t this cold be the beginning of the end of the Republic. The congress will not listen to the people. The federal courts will not restrain the executive or the legislature and the states seem powerless to assert their prerogatives.

Well for starters you need to read Saul Alinski’s Rules for Radicals. If they want to do violence to the constitution then you show up witht a large vociferous and angry crowd at the congressman’s district office and you hang around there until he is forced to close it. Then you find out where his house is, where his kids go to school, grandmas house etc etc and you show up there with a large and vociferous crowd.

If your congressman wants to start down an illegal and unconstitutional path then follow him down that path and chances are he will soon see why we have laws and why we expect even congressmen to obey them. See if your congressman really wants to let the genie out of the bottle because I think he is living under the delusion that civil society is maintainable by a handful of police officers and the publics unwillingness to go as far as he would to get what he wants.

The full faith and credit clause cuts both ways. Just because person is licensed to cut hair or practice medicine in one state doesn't mean he can practice in any state. If he or she should cross state lines and take out an appendix he has broken the law and even should he flee to the state where he is licensed to practice medicine that state would have to eztradite him if the offended state requested extradition.

BTW I believe there is a huge body of case law on this some stemming from the days of slavery. If a slave flees to a free state is he automatically emancipated etc etc. In fact was one of the issues responsible for the founging of the Republican Party. Read up on the Booth War in Ripon County Wisconsin if you want to see exactly how fired up people could get over an activist judiciary.

Below is a copy of the fraudulent email. I received it Wednesday afternoon and was one of many who contacted BestBuy. The link did not lead to a BestBuy site but rathjer to a domain name that was registered at the beginning of the month through enom.com. The site was apparently not hosted by enom.com but by a seemingly shadier hosting service by the name of HyperMarket. They don't list any phone contacts or addressing info on their site. The email itself came from yet another domain address. The links were down by the time I got to them but would have brought up a page that looked like official BestBuy site. Culprits collected their credit card numbers SSNs and addresses and hit the road. Note to the wary always check links so you know where you are going and if you have a hankering for the domain name www.digitalgamma.com it will probably be available again soon but you would be advised to check its paternity:-)

Actually getting a human to speak to at BestBuy was no easy task. I tracked a number down at their investor relations department and wasn't the only one. There 800 number like most of them is merely a waste of time and effort that will lead you to some minimum wage crackhead in a welfare to work program.



Dear customer,
Recently we have received an order made by using your personal credit card information.
This order was made online at our official BestBuy website on 06/17/2003.
Our Fraud Department has some suspicions regarding this order and we need you to visit a special Fraud Department page at our web store where you can confirm or decline this transaction by providing us with the correct information.
This e-mail address has been taken from National Credit Bureau.
Click the link below to visit a special Fraud Department page to resolve the cause of the problem.
http://www.BestBuy.com/fraud_department.html

---

ORDER# 1095619 - STATUS: SUSPENDED
ITEMS PURCHASED

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Item No: 73890
CDA-9815 In-Dash CD Player/Ai-Changer Controller
Price: $387.65 Qty: 2 Total: $775.3

---

The order listed above has not yet been processed.
The reason for the delay in processing your order is:
- UNVERIFIED SHIPPING ADDRESS
- Information provided:
Shipping
41 WINHAM ST
Staten Island, NY 10306
United States
phone# 206-337-9843
In our effort to deter fraudulent transactions, we need your help in providing us with the correct information. Your prompt response is needed to avoid any unauthorized charges to your credit card.

---

Click the link below to visit a special Fraud Department page to resolve the cause of the problem.
http://www.BestBuy.com/fraud_department.html
 

The French have their poor reputation for courage primarily because the Vichy government collaborated. Remember before the US troops got their first whoopin' from the Germans in North Africa they had to fight their way ashore in Algeria and Morrocco against French military resistence. Does the name Admiral Darlan mean anything to you?

I might also add that the French army could have fallen back into Paris and forced the Germans to take it a block at a time. That tactic can prove very effective. It certainly did in Stalingrad and in the Warsaw Ghetto. However the French weren't really prepared to pay that kind of price for freedom or honour and opted to collaborate instead and round up their own Jews. Vichy's anti_jewish laws were even more severe than Germany's and it was French military and gendarmes and bureaucrats who enforced those laws. Many those officers the heroes you mentioned from the battle of the Marne. Poland which actually withstood attack longer than France despite being attacked on two fronts had its surviving officer corps massacred at Katin Forest by the Soviets.

In short France's conduct during WWII was not its most shining moment and nothing since that war, especially all the double dealing and massacres and human rights abuses during the Algerian war has done anthing to improve that reputation. And if you are going to mention the resistence during WWII, well they were all communists who were being hunted down anyway. As for the Free French under De Gaul they were nothing but a bunch of American armed auxilliaries and annoying ones at that. They couldn't even take Paris after the Germans evacuated and we had to send American troops to help all so a Frenchman could be the first one in. In the process a lot of Germans were able to slip the noose and weeks if not months were added to the war.

Actually it was the Americans who stopped the Germans just outside Paris in the Battle of the Marne. In their first major engagement American troops stopped the German advance in fierce hand to hand fighting at a place called Chateau Thierry on the main road to paris 37 miles outside of town. That was as close as the Germans ever got and after six more months of ass whooping from the like of Fighting Sargeant York they had enough and threw in the towel.

French generals, Dutch troops - the heroes of Srbrenica, and Italian tanks. Now there is a frightening frappe de force. At least the French generals come equiped with white scarves that double nicely as flags of surrender. The Swedes will probably stay out of it. As my Norwegian relatives explain when asked what the difference is between Swedes and Norwegians - "There ain't no yellow in our flag!"

Nadler flatulence would be a violation of the Geneva accords bigtime. That stuff is probably worse than chlorine, mustard, and VX combined. Besides despite that fact that such a rancid load of BS probably couldn't be manufactured outside the bowels of an American liberal why take the chance? The Iraqis might be able to synthesize it if they got a sample. Don't we get enough of that gaseous reflux already?

I just went out to vote and on the way there I saw an African-American police officer in a donut shop and was so intimidated that I turned back. Word out on the street is that there are hundreds of them all across America munching donuts, getting coffee, and occassionally pulling over speeders. Statistics show that most people pulled over for traffic violations by African-American state troopers are caucasian. Conspiracy or paranoid delusion - you decide.

I am going to try again later to vote at another percinct across town but fear they won't let me vote there either. I think I will file a lawsuit.

Other reports indicated the French soldier while a French citizen was born in Yugoslavia.

In all of this a name I have not seen come up is Mir Aimal Kasir. For those of you with long memories he is the Pakistani who murdered two CIA employees and shot and wounded several others outside the gates of CIA headquarters during morning rush hour and then made a clean getaway. I believe the year was 1993 or 1994. He was finally tracked down and captured by the FBI four or five years later, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in a Virginia state court. On October 9 or 10 of this year there was a hearing and his execution date scheduled for Nov. 7, 2002 was moved back a week to Nov 14, 2002. Reason given for moving the date back was that the Governor was not going to be available on Nov 7 in case there was a last minute appeal. Sounded a little screwy given that we have pretty good phone service in the country but whatever.

In any event these sniper attacks began on Oct 2, 2002 which is before the hearing in question. Like the current sniper Kasir was able to make a clean getaway despite a massive dragnet and to even get out of the country. He did not shoot from cover but rayher got out of his vehicle and calmly approached the parked cars of his two victims and shot them. He then sprayed some rounds around if I recall and wounded some other people. Witness descriptions of the getaway car were very inaccurate as it turns out and his escape was apparently well planed and executed.

I am going to go way out on a limb here and predict Mr. Kasir's name is going to come up again before this is all over,