Obituary
The Friedman Foundation
Milton Friedman on Limited Government (video)
Charlie Rose interview (video)
Reason interview

Tags: capitalism, economics, news, people
Current Mood: sad

Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) to Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI):

Tags: humor, news, politics
Current Mood: amused

Thanks for all the laughs.

Tags: entertainment, news, people
Current Mood: melancholy

I've never said I didn't like President Bush as a person - even his really vitriolic opponents don't tend to attack his personality, just his politics.  He seems like a genuinely nice guy, and has a good sense of humor.  So I find this story hilarious - especially the last paragraph.

Yeah, I know it's a silly tradition that every president does every year - but I found this year's story much more humorous than normal.

Tags: humor, news
Current Mood: amused

So, all the crap is finally over.  I know I'm the bajillionth LJer to note it, and I'm even a couple of days late.  But bear with me here.

How do I feel about the outcome?  Well, I'm not happy, of course.  But then, I wouldn't have been happy either way.  I voted for Badnarik, contributing to his 39,793 (about 0.72%) California vote tally and his 377,940 nation-wide tally (about 0.33% of the popular vote).  I don't feel the least bit bad about it, and I'm glad I did it.

How do I really feel about Bush getting re-elected?  I don't know.  The Republican in me is somewhat happier than it would have been with a Kerry win.  I'm hoping (irrationally) that something will change and that Bush will actually persue conservative small-government policies now that he doesn't have to worry about re-election.  But I'm not holding my breath.  And all-in-all, I'm still just angry that we didn't have any decent choices between the two major parties.  Not that I like many candidates the Democrats ever field, but I seem to like Republican candidates almost a third of the time...this just wasn't one of those times.

I don't know.  I'm babbling.  The fact of the matter is that we've got Bush for another four years, and this time with an actual majority vote - the first since his dad was elected the first time.  So now he's got a "mandate", as the newsmedia says.  I do not, however, know what that means - what kind of mandate was it?  Was it a pro-Iraq mandate?  An anti-gay-marriage mandate?  What were the major issues for the people who elected him?  Well, CNN has their exit polls, but there are reasons to doubt their validity.  All in all, it seems like the religious right really mobilized all over the red states, so they may be a big reason for the Bush win.  Combined with the 11 propositions that passed all over the US banning gay marriage, there are startling implications.  But I'm not willing to jump to conclusions yet.

All the people jumping on "the draft" being instituted are irritating me, though.  It's as if I'm living in a parallel dimension, where people are gullible enough to believe obvious political propaganda.  Oh wait - I do live in that dimension.  See, I don't like Bush, but he's repeatedly stated that he's not going to institute a draft.  So either he's blatantly lying, or he's telling the truth.  Despite what Bush's opponents like to say about him, he's not a pathological liar (like Algore and Clinton provably are).  So if he is lying, it is strategic.  It seems to me that it would be unstrategic to insistently promise "no draft" and then institute one (recollections of his father's "read my lips" debacle), so I can only assume he is telling the truth until proven otherwise.

Now, if he does decide to institute a draft, I'll be the first to line up with you and burn my draft card, march on DC, the whole bit.  But I just really don't believe that's going to happen.  It seems too remote and unlikely - and it is far more likely (in fact - it is true) that the whole "draft" fear was stirred up by Democratic propagandists.  Which is fine, they can feel free to stir up all the propaganda they want - it's just when people start believing the propaganda that I have a real problem.  And that goes for both sides of the aisle.

As for the "supreme court" packing fears: The justice that will most likely be leaving first is Rehnquist.  He is a conservative justice.  Bush will probably appoint another conservative justice.  So...we'll be trading one conservative justice for another.  That doesn't really change the "balance of power" in the supreme court in the slightest - so I don't think anybody has to get their panties in a bunch over Roe v. Wade getting overturned and the like just yet.  Maybe if it was one of the moderates that was leaving - but that's unlikely to happen in the next four years.  Besides, while the Republicans did gain seats in the Senate, they still don't have enough to reliably block a Democratic fillibuster (they have 55, they'd need 60).  So the Democrats still have a tactic to block certain appointments.

Anyway.  That's my electoral-year rant.  Back to your regularly-scheduled...um...other ranting.

Tags: news, politics
Current Mood: sick

Heh.  Great interview in Jive Magazine with Michael Badnarik (the Libertarian Party's candidate for President, for those of you who don't know who that is).  I particularly love this question:

JIVE: So there is a model [for privatizization of social security] out there that could be followed to some degree?

Badnarik: Oh, there is absolutely a model out there; we’re not inventing anything new. I spoke at a college where a young woman was concerned about her grandmother, and she goes, “Where’s Grandma going to get money for her medication?” And I asked, “Well do you love your grandmother? Would you help her pay for that medication?” And she said, “Well, yes. But what about that rich guy up on the hill? The guy with the SUV in the driveway, the guy who has more money than he knows what to do with?” I am always fascinated by people who know when other people have more money than they know what to do with. I said, “Well how are you going to get that money? Are you going to take a gun and go up there and take that money by force?” And she goes, “Well, no, of course not! That would be theft!” And so I said, “So you’re expecting me to go up there and take that money by force so you can have the money without the danger and without the guilt?” I said, “How are you going to acquire that person’s money if they don’t want to give it to you and you’re not going to use force?” She said, “Well, gosh, I really don’t know.” I responded with, "Well, when you figure that one out, you come and talk to me. But until then, my job is to protect the property of Americans and I will protect your property from everybody else, but I’m going to protect everybody else’s property from you.”

Badnarik is a great guy, and I agree with about 90% of what he says..  He hasn't got a snowball's chance in hell of making much of a difference this election, but I still think I'm voting for the right person.  I couldn't possibly choose between Kush and Berry any more.  If the person I voted for won, I'd have to shoot myself. As Michael closes with, "If you vote for the lesser of two evils and your candidate wins, you still get evil. The only wasted vote is when you vote for a candidate that you don’t respect."

I Like Mike.

Tags: news, politics
Current Mood: calm