You can depend on Conservatives Part 1

The conflict between dueling schools of Economics among dissenters has cost us dearly, I blame the influence of Peter Schiff on Ron Paul!

My recent trip to the Money Show in Las Vegas brought me in spitting distance of the granddaddy of modern conservative economics, Mr. Austrian School himself, Peter Schiff…and I almost wish I had tested that measure of distance.

I was there, in Vegas at Ceasers’s Palace, in the convention space, walking around the various vendors. One caught my eye, it was the booth of Al Yegenah, promoting the Original Soup Man Line that is his way of marketing his nationally famous soup and proving that there is no such thing as bad publicity (How would you like to be famous as a Seinfield character called a Nazi?). They served the soup in a line all the while observing the same rules Mr. Yeganeh had at his restaurant in New York. Major difference, in New York, the company was not being pitched as an investment to you by a leggy chick when you had to have your money ready, state which soup you want and then step aside like in the Sienfeld episode
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So I got my Broccoli Cheese Soup, stepped aside, and continued to make my way down the various aisles of software vendors, gold coin dealers, and people who wished an investor would take notice of what they were pitching. As a bit of delicious soup made its way down my mouth, I noticed this sign.

In wandering the aisles of the Money Show, I had come to both ends of certain spectrum of entrepreneurs. On one end we had an intelligent talented man who had worked hard for his achievements, who had emerged victorious from a brutal national spotlight, who had mastered the concepts of Free Market competition and I was drinking his soup! On the other end we had Peter Schiff!
The same Peter Schiff who described himself as a sympathetic 1%er to the Occupy crowd when he tried to turn the anger at the crony capitalism that screwed us all over into anger at the government.
The same Peter Schiff who arrogantly demanded that Congress eliminate the minimum wage as a cure to unemployment. (Brilliant, Peter, brilliant, everyone will have a job but the paychecks won’t be worth anything)
The same Peter Schiff who has been appearing as an expert in front of one our worst Congresses ever and giving them the ammunition they need for austerity at a time of high unemployment.
Approximately 15% of the workforce of the United States is unemployed according to the U6, the measure of real unemployment. It is a single statistic that measures a lot of misery. It’s serious. Callously using the term "job creator" of "job killer" to advance your agenda is insulting in it’s manipulative avarice. People who do this should be shunned not having their ass kissed.
In fairness to Mr. Schiff, at least he talked to the Occupy protesters. The morons at the Chicago Board of Trade who dropped McDonalds job applications on those outraged at the ill effects of Crony Capitalism either ignored or didn’t care about the fact that although McDonalds had 50K job openings they had over a million job applicants.
There he was sitting in the "bookstore" section of the Money Show…and me with some Soup Man soup left in my cup! I thought about tossing it over the top of the line of adoring sycophants lined up to get his signature. But really, I didn’t want to exit the Money Show in that manner nor did I want to give up my soup.
History will be far unkinder to him than anything I can do anyway. For those who don’t know, Mr Schiff is the economic advisor to Ron Paul. I’ve felt that there is enough common ground between the Libertarian Party and the Green Party, between elements of the "far left" and "far right" that conceivably some common ground might be found and some good may have been accomplished. Both are aware of the negative effect the Military Industrial Complex has on our nation and our world. Both want an end to the "War on Drugs". Both were outraged at the Crony Capitalism that has devastated this economy.
Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich had reached across the aisle on more than one occasion to do some good.
The real disagreement between the two sides has always been the difference in the warring Schools of Economics being advocated. A New New Deal under a new president could have put people back to work immediately, repaired our infrastructure so it will be able to handle the commerce of the near future (something we still desperately need to do), and not decreased the police, fire, education on the State level. All that was needed was for Libertarians to stand down, agree to disagree, and save the debate for another day when unemployment wasn’t as bad.
Unfortunately, you can always depend on conservatives to rationalize selfishness!
Peter Schiff as an influence on Ron Paul in 2008 would have none of that. In fact he actively encouraged economic action in the opposite direction, i.e. Austerity at a time of high unemployment. That is the main reason I dislike the man.
Peter Schiff, it is claimed, accurately, foresaw the collapse of the HousingBubble in 2008. And we have the big sign at Euro Pacific Capital at the Money Show to remind everyone of that. Of course he also predicted Hyperinflation, that the rest of the world would be immune to the US implosion and that there would be decoupling, and that foreign equities and commodities would be worth more than the dollar. I didn’t expect to see that on the big trade show sign nor was I surprised when it wasn’t there.
Of course, Peter Schiff is always predicting things of this nature. If you count your hits and forget your misses, you have zero credibility. But not Peter Schiff, as the principal of Euro Pacific Capital, he gets easy access to the media to promote doom and gloom.
But how is his credibility as an expert in international markets?

Anti-Intellectualism is Stupid and Dangerous

 

"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States and there always has been.The strain of Anti-Intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means 'my ignorance is as good as your knowledge'" Isaac Asimov

Recently the state of Tennessee succeeded in passing a bill which allows for the challenging of scientific facts and evidence with nonsense in any taxpayer funded science classroom. Established scientific doctrine can now be attacked by those with an anti-science and anti-intellectual agenda in front of the next generation of citizens while at a very impressionable age. The world in which these kids are adults is going to be more dependent on science and technology that we currently are. Shortchanging them is stupid and dangerous. But more than that, the whole wave of cultural ignorance which this is a part of is stupid and dangerous for us as a species and as a nation.

In a time where technology (applied science) has become a vital prerequisite to our current standard of living, the socially conservative legislatures of Tennessee and Louisiana have launched an assault on their own science classrooms. This country will soon be facing serious challenges rising ocean levels, scarcity of resources, and a population explosion. The genius of the future generation that must face these challenges may be in a Louisiana or Tennessee classroom right now having his first exposure to science tainted by a teacher with a creationist agenda who insists that the world is only 6000 years old.

This was a present from ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), the malevolent Right wing group that is responsible for the "Stand Your Ground" laws among other pieces of legislative excrement. This group functions as close to Mussolini's Chamber of the Fascist Corporations as we can get in present day America. Under the Orwellian misdirective name of "Academic Freedom", you can now as a Science Teacher in those states, decide on your own to attack evolution, promote global warming denial, and spread panic when it comes to genetic research by railing against human cloning. Likewise if you are a History Teacher, you can decide that you want to teach that Ceaser was never assassinated, that there never was a 2nd World War, and Marie Antionette was elevated to Goddess Empress in 1794 and rules to this day. It is your Academic Freedom to do exactly that. And if you a Math Teacher, you can teach 2 + 2 = 5, that's your Academic Freedom.

Speaking of History, today Baghdad, Iraq is the scene of a lot of pointless and savage destruction and the site of the most embarrassing and expensive quagmire in military history. It was not always the case. From 800 to 1100 A.D., Baghdad was the intellectual center of the world. The period saw many advances in engineering, biology, astronomy and mathematics all in the city that has been raped by imperialist and fundamentalist forces over the past 10 years or so.They created algebra (an ARABIC word), invented Arabic numerals, and fully exploited the discovery of the Zero. All of that changed after the influence of one Imam Hamid Al-Ghazah. Under the influence of Al-Ghazah, the study of mathematics became the work of the devil. Under him, the foundation of what Islam would become-the medieval stupid fanatics who kill apostates, stone to death unpopular women, riot over cartoons they don't like and fetish offensive suicide- was laid.

The Islamic world never recovered and is stuck in a medieval mindset to this day.

Modern social conservatives in the USA are proudly following in the footsteps of Imam Hamis Al-Ghazah. And they have given no thought to the consequence of attacking science in this manner.

"Those who do not learn from History are destined to repeat it" Santa Yanna

On the agenda of the "Academic Freedom" bill is an attack on Evolution and an embracement of Climate Change Denial (as opposed to Climate Skepticism). We don't know in advance where the next Einstein is going to be going to his first science class. Tennessee and Louisiana students deserve better. That next genius may be among the number of students affected by this Anti-intellectual monstrosity.

Targeted specifically in the bill is the Theory of Evolution. The volumes of evidence in support of Darwinian Evolution are considered a threat by a minority of people who insist on a selectively literal interpretation of the Bible, specifically the book of Genesis. Deliberate logical fallacies are put forward to misdirect debates on the subject. "The Way of the Master" series by Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort openly says that one of their goals is to use techniques during a debate that circumvent the reason of who ever they are talking to. Circumventing reason has no place in a science classroom. Science, the study of nature, embraces reason.

Proof of Evolution is everywhere. From the carbon-dated fossils that show a clear progression from single celled organisms to primitive invertebrates to fish to reptiles to mammals to primates, from the discovery of genetics and the fused 23rd chromosome we find when looking at the difference between our DNA and that of a chimp,from medical advances that take evolution into account when developing new treatments for diseases that adapt through natural selection and become resistant to antibiotics and much more, evolution is the foundation of modern biology. And to opt out of it in order to teach creationist propaganda in a science classroom is a betrayal of the trust children place in their teacher.

If any person disagrees with me on this point they are more than welcome to take the following challenge if they insist on the literal truth of the Bible (which is really the reason for the hard sell that insists we deny scientific evidence). The Book of Leviticus gives us a cure for leprosy. Leviticus 14 2-7 says that if you want to be cleansed from leprosy, all you need to do is obtain 2 birds, kill one, dip the living bird in the dead bird's blood and sprinkle it on the leper and he shall be pronounced clean! If you insist on teaching that the Earth is only 6,000 years old and Evolution is just a Theory, I challenge you to contract leprosy and use the Biblical cure instead of the 6 month treatment of pills that medical science has provided! Please do this before you teach one child in Tennessee or Louisiana that the Earth might be 6,000 years old in a science classroom!

The Science of Climate Change is under a similar well financed and coordinated attack by forces like the Koch-funded Heartland Institute. This organization has spent several million dollars in order to undermine climate science. They are willing to spend $200K on "creating a curriculum" to cast doubt on mainstream science. And now, thanks to legislators with an Anti Intellectual agenda in Tennessee and Louisiana, they are free to do just that.

Science is the study of the natural world. It relies on the brutal crucible of peer review journals, as it should. What does it say about your thesis if you can't go that route, but instead spend money to engage in sleazy opportunistic debate tactics rather than put your evidence forward where all with expertise in the area can evaluate it. The Truth does not need to be sponsored by industries that benefit from suppressing the Truth! No amount of money one spends or logical fallacies deliberately indulged in can change the fact that although IR light goes through most gases in our atmosphere, a minority of gasses including methane, water vapor, and carbon dioxide absorb IR light and transmit it in all directions. If you have any evidence that disproves that, please present it to a peer reviewed journal and endure the rigors of that before ignoring it in a science classroom that we are all paying for!

And not to pick on the Right exclusively, rest assured the Left has also indulged in Anti-Intellectualism. The campaign against genetically modified foods in the face of mass starvation is an embarrassment to the humanity of the Left. Sorry, but anytime you rationalize massive suffering and death you compromise your humanity. If it is wrong for a cowardly Right Wing chickenhawk to rationalize the suffering inflicted on the Iraqi people by those he put in office, it is wrong for someone on the Left to rationalize famine because he's afraid of "Frankenfoods"! Both the Right and Left have spoken out for the junk science behind anti-vaccination and the preventable deaths it causes. When Robert Kennedy Jr., Jenny McCarthy and Michelle Bachmann can unite on an issue, they prove how worthless bipartisanship can be!

"...if you examine the record, it's not the psychics but the hard nosed scientists who have actually delivered the things that improve human life."James Randi, one of the greatest magician's ever and the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation and it's $1 Million dollar paranormal prize.

In a world as dependent on technology as we are and will continue to be, the "Academic Freedom" bills in Tennessee and Louisiana are hurting the children of those states and this is an outrage. Those who back these measures are people who would gladly bring about another Dark Age or Human Extinction and they deserve every ounce of shame, contempt and disrespect that can be thrown in their way. Those responsible should never be allowed to make policy ever again.

Some Shakespeare for Mr. Brietbart

Some modest insights on the passing of this modern day Iago

“…The Evil that men do lives after them; the Good is oft interred with their bones…” Julius Caesar Act III sc 2. The problem when it comes to Andrew Breitbart is that there is nothing good about him or his life’s work to inter with his bones!  This Los Angeles media elitist passed away on March 1^st, 2012. And as of this writing, what was Andrew Breitbart is sitting at room temperature in the meat locker of an LA funeral home becoming “lump of foul deformity” Richard III Act II sc 2, which mirrors the lump of foul deformity displayed to the public as the mind and spirit of Andrew Breitbart. As of this writing, the “liberal” media, which Mr. Breitbart so derided during the course of his career, is busy with retrospectives, which respect the deceased even when the deceased deserved no respect.

And the very good reason that this “idol of idiot worshipers” Triolus and Cressida Act V sc 1 deserves no respect in death is because he gave so little respect in life. To quote the man directly, “You’re the most despicable life form I’ve ever seen!” and “Get out of my face, get out of my face, get out of my face!” and “Fuck. You…”

In an age where we desperately need intelligent discussion of important matters (for the problems of Climate Change, Population, Unemployment, etc, are very serious) we have allowed ourselves to have the national agenda set by this man.
 

His record is one of:

-Out and out demagoguery when a group of political opportunists who were monitoring Representative Anthony Weiner’s twitter communications for months, stumbled upon a picture of his penis intended for Gennette Cordova and gave it to Brietbart. As a result of Breitbart appearing on the Opie and Anthony show, the photo was leaked nationwide. He was party to a violation of privacy and the ensuing scandal that wrecked the career of Anthony Weiner. Oh, and by the way, no actual sex was involved between the two. Truly, Andrew Brietbart “Thou art relish’d of a base descent.” Pericles. Act V, sc 2

-Selectively edited testimony from Georgia USDA official Shirley Sherrod in order to make her seem like a racist. She was in fact describing her journey away from racism by describing an episode in the past to illustrate how far she had come. Mr. Breitbart accompanied his selective editing with a blog post noting approval of NAACP members in the clip. And he knew damned well the reaction of white conservatives to something like this. He deliberately and dishonestly fanned the flames of racism in order to advance his agenda. The ensuing fallout from the Right Wing Noise machine led to the resignation of Ms. Sherrod. With such Racism and Machivellian dishonesty it is no exaggeration to compare the late Mr. Breitbart to Iago from Shakespeare’s Othello.

-Having the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or ACORN owe its demise to the slanderous selective editing of Mr. Breitbart. It was a collection of community-based organizations in the United States that advocated for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues. Conservative activists Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe entered the offices of ACORN and lied to ACORN employees about being a prostitute and a pimp. Brietbart’s website BigGovernment.com selectively edited the interview to look as if the ACORN employees were giving advice on how to avoid taxes and detection by authorities. On one case the ACORN employee alerted the authorities immediately after the dishonest interview was over. A former investigation by the Massachusetts Attorney General found that the videos had been edited substantially. But the damage had already been done by the smear campaign. There was massive loss of private donors, a Defund ACORN act (only 10% of the ACORN funding was Federal) and the organization disbanded in March 2010.  This was the result of a man who, now deceased, was born into wealth, had a stellar career in the media and used it to actively work against neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues affecting working families. Now he has “neither heat, nor affection, nor limb, nor beauty to make thy riches pleasant” Measure for Measure Act III sc 1

What does it say about one’s political perspective when it must rely on such slander and dishonest editing?

What does it say about a man who can afford the very best medical care in Hollywood when he drops dead at 43 from “Natural Causes” in a wealthy section of Los Angeles? He appeared VERY hyped up on pretty much every television appearance I can remember him making. I have no direct proof that Mr. Breitbart had a problem with the “White Line Highway” modern slang. But I have grown very used to hypocrisy and double standards coming from the Right Wing noise machine.

Jeff Gannon-Talon News reporter and self identified Born Again Christian. Also a homosexual male prostitute

Ted Haggard-Another Born Again Christian (and advocate of Intelligent Design) who used Crystal Meth and frequented homosexual male prostitutes.

John Ensign-my former Senator (whom I never voted for), who had a sex scandal where he actually had sex with the woman in question (unlike Anthony Wiener) and laundered money through her family.

Rick Santorum-got into Congress by running against someone who lived in Virginia while representing Pennsylvania, then wound up doing the same thing himself. (And that’s just one instance of Santorum’s hypocrisy.

So I’m very interested in the Breitbart autopsy and just how transparent the toxicity report is.

Because this comes at a time when The War On Drugs has caused civilization to collapse on the Mexican border. It comes at a time when Corrections Corporation of America is putting pressure on legislators to keep prisons at least 90% capacity so they can show a profit.  It comes at a time when we could use the money that could be reaped by legalization and taxation.

I have no doubt that if that turns out to be the case his death will be exploited like Len Bias’s was in order to further these horrendous and anti-democratic policies. But honestly, while he is sitting at room temperature let’s be very honest about what kind of man he was.

He was a shrill dishonest but powerful elitist media hack of whom Josef Goebbels would be proud and the world is a better place with him feeding worms.

Good riddance to bad rubbish

“Thou art unfit for any place but hell.” Richard III Act I sc 2