Illustrated - The Law of Unintended Consequences

Funnies

Carlos Mencia - "Not For The Easily Offended"

I get it. Carlos gets it: You have a right to say what you want to say, and, guess what? - I DO TOO. Fuck you, you oh-so-easily-offended, politically correct types who would silence all speech that may hurt your wittle feeeewings.

Get a life, and get over yourselves. The rest of you, please enjoy the entire set of "Not For The Easily Offended" in 7 parts.

Economics Made Easy

It is amazing to me how some comedians can cut through all the bullshit and explain things in a few minutes, as opposed to the talking heads on your favorite infotainment/news channel(s) blathering and bloviating on and on ad nauseum.

Here we have the trans-Tasman comedy duo of New Zealander John Clarke (the bald guy, aka "Fred Dagg") and Australian Bryan Dawe explaining a couple of our current economic issues, breaking it all down with some dry humor and wit from down under.

First up - the banking mess...



Second - the PIGS woes...

For A Laugh

Listen and Enjoy

Since my heart attack nearly two months ago, I've taken stock in what is important and what isn't. I think I've mellowed a lot since then, and I certainly feel a bit more fragile and aware of my own mortality.

I have been a big James Taylor fan since I was a kid in the 1970s listening to my Mom's records. This is a beautiful song, a live rendition of "The Secret O' Life" from his double live CD from 1993.

The song says a lot to me, and I share it with you hoping that you will find some wisdom in it, as well.

Life is too short for bullshit.

Marxism, New Zealand Style

As you may or may not be aware, New Zealand is to host the Rugby World Cup next year, and the food and service workers' union, Unite, is going to use the event as a political football, pun intended. I have heard their president, Matt McCarten, on the radio quite often, and he is an unabashed, dyed-in-the-wool leftist, obviously.

Union threatens action during Rugby World Cup

Unite union is threatening industrial action to coincide with next year's Rugby World Cup.

The union's general secretary. Matt McCarten, said the union is planning "a big push" on behalf of its members in hotels, SkyCity Casino and other entertainment venues.

Interviewed for TV3's The Nation, he said current employment agreements had been "lined up" so they were due for renegotiation at about the time of the World Cup.

"We don't want to wreck the World Cup, of course not. But we certainly are going to be lining up the employers at that time and saying: 'Well, you're going to make a lot of money, what's going to be the workers' share?'."

Mr McCarten said he expected employers to be "more focused" ahead of the World Cup.

Unite hoped to be able to convince the public that it would be unfair for foreign-owned hotel chains to charge between $1000 and $2000 per night while continuing to pay workers the minimum or minimal wages.

The union said it would be unacceptable for people to work for less than $15 per hour, and in addition it wanted 10 percent of higher room rates to go into a special fund to be shared amongst workers.
Mr McCarten said millions of dollars of taxpayers' money would contribute to the World Cup's success, and it would be wrong for all profits to go offshore.

Now, those of you in the US need to know that the minimum wage in NZ is already $12.75 per hour, and that is still not enough to get a good number of people off their ass to get a job because in many cases one can get more money by being on a welfare benefit.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need, indeed.

A War on Terror? Really?

I see the "war on terrorism" as a nebulous concept, much like the "war on drugs" or the "war on poverty." It really accomplishes nothing, but it makes us feel better if we declare "war" on something. I am not saying that there is not a real threat, but think about it. The way in which we are conducting this "war" is pretty lame.

What is the end-game? Does anybody think that - like drugs or poverty - terrorism will ever completely go away? There are muslims - over 1 billion of them - in just about every country in the world. Assuming that we killed each and every one of them, do you really think that will be the end of it? There will always be somebody to take their place; nature abhors a vacuum.

So, if we want to minimize the threat and impact of terrorist activities, there are much better and more efficient ways to do it. Iraq was and is a joke. Give it another ten to twenty years and it will return to being another tribal shithole in need of another strong-arm dictator like Saddam to keep them all in check, and we will have wasted over a trillion dollars and a few thousand lives of our military brothers and sisters for, well, nothing. Yeah, sure, Iraq was a minor logistical player in the overall scheme of things, but if we want to nullify the financial support for terrorist activities - cut off the head of the snake, so to speak - given by various nations we would be much better off going after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and maybe a few others. But we don't and won't - and I think we all know why - so we're not really that serious.

And Afghanistan, please. OK, we went there originally to try to get Osama. Personally, I think he may be long since dead, but announcing that to the world would would not give us much of a leg to stand on in remaining there. As long as the illusion of him still being the grand mastermind is perpetuated, we grant ourselves license to stay as long as we feel is necessary. But why are we still there? Afghanistan is barely out of the stone age. They cannot directly, as a nation, export much of anything. So, what is the real threat from that country?

OPIUM.

The Taliban are nothing more than medieval overlords, draconian drug peddlers of poppy production. The money generated from opium poppy production is used to fund training and deployment of terrorist activity around the world, so why are we not targeting poppy fields and spraying them with napalm on a daily basis?

Caption This

Who Wrote This?

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

Any ideas? Need more?

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.

If you think it was Rush, or Neal, or Beck, or Savage - you would be wrong. Here - maybe this will help.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another.

Last chance.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

OK - give up?
These are quotes from an op-ed in...are you ready?

Pravda.

The entire piece is worth a read if for no other reason than to illustrate how people outside the US can see what is happening, while many at home remain without a clue.

There are a few contentious, debatable points in the article with which one could take issue; see if you can spot them.

Perspective is Everything

Read this.

Then read this.

Do you see what I mean now?

Hat-tip: Steel