Free Republic

Random thoughts on the passing scene: I can't get excited by the question of whether Senator Robert Menendez had sex with a prostitute in Central America. It is her word against his — and when it comes to a prostitute's word against a politician's word, that is too close to call. If an American citizen went off to join Hitler's army during World War II, would there have been any question that this alone would make it legal to kill him? Why then is there an uproar about killing an American citizen who has joined terrorist organizations that are at...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: When I was growing up, an older member of the family used to say, "What you don't know would make a big book." Now that I am an older member of the family, I would say to anyone, "What you don't know would fill more books than the Encyclopedia Britannica." At least half of our society's troubles come from know-it-alls, in a world where nobody knows even 10 percent of all. Some people seem to think that, if life is not fair, then the answer is to turn more of the nation's resources over...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: Even squirrels know enough to store nuts, so that they will have something to eat when food gets scarce. But the welfare state has spawned a whole class of people who spend everything they get when times are good, and look to others to provide for their food and other basic needs when times turn bad. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution prescribes "equal protection of the laws" to all Americans. But what does that mean, if the President of the United States can arbitrarily grant waivers, so that A, B and C have...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: Many people may have voted for Barack Obama in 2008 because of his charisma. But anyone familiar with the disastrous track record of charismatic political leaders around the world in the 20th century should have run for the hills when they encountered a politician with charisma. What is scarier than any particular political policy or issue is the widespread tendency to treat political issues as personal contests in talking points — competitive skill in fencing with words — rather than as serious attempts to find out what the facts are and what the...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: How long do politicians have to keep on promising heaven and delivering hell before people catch on, and stop getting swept away by rhetoric? Why should being in a professional sport exempt anyone from prosecution for advocating deliberate violence? Recent revelations of such advocacy of violence by an NFL coach should lead to his banishment for life by the NFL, and criminal prosecution by the authorities. If you are serious about reducing violence, you have to be serious about punishing those who advocate it. Have you noticed that what modest economic improvements we...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: Talk show host Dennis Miller said, "I don't dig polo. It's like miniature golf meets the Kentucky Derby." Nothing illustrates the superficiality of our times better than the enthusiasm for electric cars, because they are supposed to greatly reduce air pollution. But the electricity that ultimately powers these cars has to be generated somewhere — and nearly half the electricity generated in this country is generated by burning coal. The 2012 Republican primaries may be a rerun of the 2008 primaries, where the various conservative candidates split the conservative vote so many ways...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: Like so many people, in so many countries, who started out to "spread the wealth," Barack Obama has ended up spreading poverty. Have you ever heard anyone as incoherent as the people staging protests across the country? Taxpayers ought to be protesting against having their money spent to educate people who end up unable to say anything beyond repeating political catch phrases. It is hard to understand politics if you are hung up on reality. Politicians leave reality to others. What matters in politics is what you can get the voters to believe,...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: They say that records are made to be broken. President George W. Bush set a record by adding $3.2 trillion to the national debt over the course of his eight years in office. But Barack Obama has already beaten that record with $4.4 trillion in just his first three years in office. People who thoughtlessly give money to panhandlers on the street seem not to realize that this is making installment payments on the degeneration of America. Don't mention "municipal golf courses" to me. It sends my blood pressure up through the roof. What...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: Let's face it, most of us are not half as smart as we may sometimes think we are-- and for intellectuals, not one-tenth as smart. One of the biggest obstacles to economic recovery is that politicians and the media are both focused on how government can MAKE the economy recover, rather than on how it can LET the economy recover. One of the biggest deterrents to investments, and the jobs they could create, is uncertainty as to what new bright idea will come out of Washington to change the rules in midstream. Is there...

I swear, if I went to prison and everyone was making shivs and voting Democrat, I would tell them my name is Mr. Fortherich. First name, Taxes. Liberals are really pooping themselves over this compromise. It's ok used to poop myself too when I was a baby... He wants to cut payroll taxes too? It's about time Obama turned his buzz saw to something other than the constitution. What do we have to do to make the GOP insist they be permanent, give Boehner a private jet? Wait a sec...A 2% cut in payroll taxes means what for social...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: Before becoming a perfectionist, you might think about the fact that the human race has survived for thousands of years without being anywhere close to perfection. I would vote against anyone who plays the race card. Race and politics have been an explosive mixture in countries around the world. If you were to make a lineup of the all-time best New York Yankees at each position, three of the four infield positions would be filled by those currently playing— Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Robinson Cano. Mark Teixeira would be in the running at...

Heres a bunch of random thoughts in my head that, at the moment, I don't know how to convert into posts in and of themselves...so I'm laying them all out here... Here are some budget neutral ways we can reduce the deficit.... 1. Sell all of the unsold Obama memorabilia back to China 2. After forcing people to air the tires on their car everyday we can make the savings on gas taxable income 3. eBay the real birth certificate(s) 4. Take out an insurance policy against whats left of Obama's approval rating 5. If I had dime for...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: All sorts of "global warming" advocates have all sorts of ideas for cooling the planet. I would be happy if they would just cool the rhetoric. A newspaper headline said: "U.S. Growing Impatient with Iran." Boy, won't that scare them to death? If they keep going, and make enough nuclear bombs to blast us to smithereens, we will go to the United Nations and get a resolution passed, condemning their actions-- or, if the U.N. won't go that far, deploring their lack of cooperation. Contrary to what has been widely believed, scholars say that...

I think that when a Liberal news reporter asks a black man if he feels uncomfortable, she and her news director are racist no matter how they spin it. I think that when people can’t tell that the questions asked are never answered, but spun to give the appearance of answering, we will still be in trouble come 2012. I think I am glad that Israel is not in bed with the United States like people assume they are. I think that baseball has not grabbed my attention yet. I think that anytime a government official uses the term fiscal...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: Sometimes we seem like people on a pleasure boat drifting down the Niagara river, unaware that there are waterfalls up ahead. I don't know what people think is going to happen when a nation that already sponsors international terrorism has nuclear bombs to give to terrorists around the world. Since this is an era when many people are concerned about "fairness" and "social justice," what is your "fair share" of what someone else has worked for? Here is a math problem for you: Assume that the legislation establishing government control of medical care is...

If politicians stopped meddling with things they don't understand, there would be a more drastic reduction in the size of government than anyone in either party advocates. It was fascinating to see Barack Obama warning us not to leap to conclusions about the killings at Fort Hood, Texas-- after the way he leaped to conclusions over the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, when he knew less about the facts than we already know about the massacre at Fort Hood. My first column, more than 30 years ago, was titled "The Profits of Doom." Recent news stories about the millions of...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: Upon learning that the Constitution requires a president to be a natural born citizen, a college student said: "What makes a natural born citizen any more qualified than one born by C-section?" Airlines that keep passengers trapped for hours in planes sitting on the runway should be prosecuted for unlawful imprisonment. When politicians propose some hugely expensive new program and are asked how the government is going to pay for it, a standard ploy over the years has been to claim that they will pay for it by eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse." At...

They say that people mellow with age. However, the older I get, the less patience I have with cleverness. If increased government spending with borrowed or newly created money is a "stimulus," then the Weimar Republic should have been stimulated to unprecedented prosperity, instead of runaway inflation and widespread economic desperation that ultimately brought Adolf Hitler to power. Just days after Colin Campbell informed us that the American people were willing to pay higher taxes in order to get government services— and that Republicans therefore needed to stop their opposition to taxes— California voters resoundingly defeated a bill to raise...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: I am so old that I can remember when music was musical. Now that the federal government says that it will stand behind the warranties on General Motors' automobiles, does that make you more likely or less likely to buy a car from GM? If you were a rising young executive with a promising future, would you be more likely or less likely to go to work for a company where politicians can fire you? We have become such suckers for words that politicians can spend our tax money like a drunken sailor, provided...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: One of the most important skills for political success is the ability to make confident assertions of absurdities or lies. The adage "follow the money" will be hard to apply in the current administration, when there is so much money going in all directions that it is doubtful whether anybody can follow it. I hate to hear about "partnerships" between government and business, or between government and other organizations. When there is a partnership between an ant and an elephant, who do you suppose makes the decisions? There are too many people, especially among...