Category Archives: U.S. Constitution

Solyndra: Perpetual Motion Machine Wrapped in a Ponzi Scheme

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Now I know why the goofy name for this company.  Their one-trick pony is a cylindrical solar panel.   Solyndrical, plus a suitable Kumbayah web 2.0 ending, I get it.

The problem with these panels is the same problem with water injection to boost the expansion of an internal combustion engine.  Sounds dumb right?  Water kills fire.  Oh, but wait, if the heat of the fire is used to power the unbelievably explosive power of steam expansion, then you actually get MORE power from each ignition, right?  Amazing!  Oh, but… water kills fire.

Even if you can get the system to work consistently, the steam expansion would remove so much energy from the cylinder that a tremendous amount of fuel would be required just to keep the engine … Continue reading →

Thought Experiment: Grant-Milking Business Plan

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One of the ways that the Federal government could be defrauded is by applications for grants or loan guarantees in support of companies or projects which are designed to fail, but which extract large quantities of money from the government in the process.

What would such a business plan look like?  Features of such a business plan would probably include a mechanism for allowing those who would receive the greatest benefit to avoid personal (or corporate) liability in the event of a failure.  Other features might be a lack of meaningful oversight or accountability.  This sort of thing would be easier to pull off in an environment where there are indicators of regulatory agency capture.

It would be helpful to have a few examples to discuss.  At first … Continue reading →

Force Protection

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Something that has always bothered me is “force protection” measures which have active duty military hiding among US civilians. “You don’t want to stand out in a hijacking–keep your military ID in a hidden pocket. No uniforms allowed. You may be targeted just for being in the military.” That sort of thing.
How dare the military hide among civilians?

I understand the desire to not have another Robert Stethem situation, but when the rubber hits the road, isn’t that why we’re here? At the last resort, to take the hit so that our civilians don’t have to?

We have lost a lot in the desire to understand and control situations which are better met with simple brutal action. The guiding principle I trust the most is “They … Continue reading →

Sympathy for the Devil

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[Published on: Aug 27, 2011 @ 21:32]

Blaming Obama is a popular pastime around here. Around my keyboard, that is. Yes, he’s a Marxist, no he’s never accomplished anything, and maybe his anti-Americanism is manifest, but perhaps it’s merely latent. His economics are disastrous and unyielding, his foreign policy is disastrous and always yielding, and he either does not understand how to protect America or does not care to do so. His obsequious bowing and kowtowing will be remembered long after his “historic” status is forgotten.  Someday a black President who doesn’t hate blacks will be elected by Americans who don’t hate America. He is nothing.

[pullquote]America deserves Obama.[/pullquote]The real problem is America itself, and we fool ourselves by thinking that electing a majority here, taking the executive chair … Continue reading →

Fatwa Against Ron Paul

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[dc]I[/dc] direct your attention to the excellent and overlooked article  The Case Against Ron Paul by Gregory Hilton.  He goes to some length puncturing the inflated claims and exposing the outright falsehoods made by the Ron Paul crowd.

Make no mistake, among other complaints, Ron paul is:

  • a third-party spoiler
  • an isolationist
  • a protectionist
  • an open borders advocate
  • anti-Israel

Don’t take my word for it.  Read the backing facts on Hilton’s blog.

Ron Paul subscribes to a number of conspiracy theories, and has a snake-handling literalist’s view of the Constitution.  I’m a staunch originalist, but that does not mean I view the only valid means of defending our country to be the issuance of “letters of marque and reprisal”.  To Ron Paul, that’s exactly what it means.

… Continue reading →

Gibson Guitar Stamp Act

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[dc]T[/dc]his is tyranny, folks. 

Federal agents swooped in on Gibson Guitar Wednesday, raiding factories and offices in Memphis and Nashville, seizing several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. The Feds are keeping mum, but in a statement yesterday Gibson’s chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, defended his company’s manufacturing policies, accusing the Justice Department of bullying the company. “The wood the government seized Wednesday is from a Forest Stewardship Council certified supplier,” he said, suggesting the Feds are using the aggressive enforcement of overly broad laws to make the company cry uncle.

…

It’s not enough to know that the body of your old guitar is made of spruce and maple: What’s the bridge made of? If it’s ebony, do you have the paperwork to show when and … Continue reading →

On Refusing Orders

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[dc]Y[/dc]ou need a lot more justification than this:

A service member who refused to report to duty earlier this month because he doubted President Barack Obama’s citizenship is to be discharged from the Air Force, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Staff Sgt. Daryn Moran, 41, of Omaha, Neb., an ophthalmology technician with the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany also had called for Obama’s arrest in statements on websites. He said he didn’t consider his orders valid because he doesn’t consider Obama’s presidency valid.
–Politico

Frankly he should have been jailed. A simple discharge is too good for him. We cannot run a military if administrative matters are eligible for review at every level of the chain of command. If an … Continue reading →

What, No Zoroastrians?

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[dc]G[/dc]et this:   The descendants of slave-holding Native American plantation owners (yes, that’s right) have ejected the descendants of the African-American slaves from the tribe.

The Cherokee nation voted after the Civil War to admit the slave descendants to the tribe.
But on Monday, the Cherokee nation Supreme Court ruled that a 2007 tribal decision to kick the so-called “Freedmen” out of the tribe was proper.

So there’s that. The problem comes in when people start calling this “21st century apartheid”, when the whole point of a federal tribal system is to protect Native Americans and not other sorts of Americans.
On the other hand, there’s a good argument that the “Freedmen” have earned a place in the tribe:

Some 4,000 Indians died during the forced march, which … Continue reading →

Tea Party the Real Enemy

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[dc]O[/dc]h, it’s on.

“Let us all remember who the real enemy is. The real enemy is the Tea Party — the Tea Party holds the Congress hostage. They have one goal in mind, and that’s to make President Obama a one-term president,” Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) said at a Miami town hall with constituents.

Rep. Frederica Wilson blamed “racism” for the high black unemployment rate on MSNBC yesterday.

Yes, the Tea Party is the real enemy.  Not because you’re black, and not because you’re a Democrat.  Because you are a Marxist, race-baiting, hazard to the freedom of all Americans, black or white, Republican or Democrat.

Search the rubble left by every “austerity” program in the developed world, from Greece to London, and you’ll find burning cars and riot … Continue reading →