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Entries by C.J. Maloney

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Despite the back and the forth and all the public fireworks, every member of Congress can barely keep themselves from openly drooling on national TV at the thought of all the money and power they are going to vote themselves once they nationalize the health care industry.

Despite the entire manufactured furor , socialized medicine is a done deal.

Posted on Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 6:48 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Hillary Clinton Go Pakistan

She went, she saw, she insulted. Hillary takes the grrrrrrrrr in her grrl too far.

Posted on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 12:22 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

That Giant Sucking Sound...

Far be it from me to begrudge the political class their hard earned keep, but it speaks volumes when, in the midst of a depression, Washington DC is partying like it’s 1999.

Posted on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 11:16 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Ron Paul Goes Ivy League

As The Who sang, the kids are alright.

Posted on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 5:50 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

It Takes One To Know One

I will freely admit that I am no fan of Rush Limbaugh. While I cannot look into another man’s heart, judging by his past public utterances on racial subjects he does not seem to be extending a welcome hand across the great racial divide. He strikes me as the type that as soon as he found out I was in an interracial marriage, he’d feel compelled, to my embarrassment, to begin the famous lecture “some of my best friends are….”

Yet, to allow the Rev. Al Sharpton to comment on the matter of Mr. Limbaugh’s removal from a group bidding on a sports team (due to concern over his past comments on race) is a perfect example of how the question of race causes Americans to immediately slide a few standard deviations down the Bell Curve. I suppose it does make sense though, as who better to tell us all about a racist than one of our country’s supreme race baiters, Mr. Tawana Brawley himself?

Posted on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 9:47 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Riding High On A Wave Of Misery

It should speak volumes about exactly what type of institution the US military has turned into when it can hardly contain its glee over the recruiting bonanza provided to it by America’s current economic depression.

With the Iraq and Afghani “cakewalks” turning into meat grinders, it is understandable (from a heartless, practical level) that the US military will take whatever it can get, however it can get it. But when Bill Carr, the “deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy” appears positively giddy over how the desperate plight of America’s unemployed "allowed us to be, for much of the year, in a very favorable position", it just gives yet another reason to pray for a quick end to our economic malaise.

Posted on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 10:03 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Monday, October 5, 2009

Specifically, What Should Be Done For Jobs?

Specifically, we should stop listening to ex-government employees and economics professors. Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich falls into the camp of those who confuse the federal government with Microsoft. So in a blog post today , he urges the federal politicians to take money from one group of people and hand it out to small businesses in the form of loans. This, apparently, will “create jobs”.

Mr. Reich fails to notice the other side of the coin – all the jobs destroyed and people thrown into poverty by the removal from their lives of the funds he wishes to dispense so freely to his favored groups. Mr. Reich should spend less time blogging and more time reading Bastiat, where he can learn exactly what the phrase “the seen and the unseen” is all about.

Posted on Monday, October 5, 2009 at 6:26 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Monday, September 28, 2009

Mission Creep

Since the day it was birthed in 1979, the Department of Education has funneled uncounted wealth into the hands of the type of people who believe that the No Child Left Behind Act will prod the schoolchildren to learn gooder. Yet, no bureaucracy has ever allowed complete and utter failure to deter it in its mission – whatever that mission may be.

In that vein, President Obama, invoking the powers granted to him under the Living Breathing Constitution that he keeps a copy of in his head, has suggested that the little ones stay in school even longer.

The federal politicians: they can even ruin a good summer.

Posted on Monday, September 28, 2009 at 9:10 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Almost to Normal

This weekend is the eighth anniversary of George W Bush's " Twin Towers" speech.

Posted on Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 12:24 AM | Comments (0) | Top

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Coyotes Need To Eat, Too

With the world (as always) awash in tragedy, taxes, and war, it’s important to sometimes take a step back from the big picture and take a look at the smaller conflicts that comprise our world.

Poor Daisy, from fashion accessory to dinner in the blink of an eye.

Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 9:36 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Hubris and the Hooker

A brief rundown of the very brief, action packed governorship of New York’s Eliot Spitzer

Posted on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 12:04 AM | Comments (3) | Top

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Amity Shlaes – The Forgotten Man

If one reads a book on the Great Depression and pays attention, it is unavoidable to come to any conclusion other than the sad fact that FDR was, to be blunt, a lawless gangster.

Posted on Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 9:41 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Monday, August 31, 2009

Counting Billion of Chickens Before They Hatch

Despite the New York Times long history of promoting non-existent WMD and denying the existence of millions of starving Ukrainians, as a New Yorker I have a deep loyalty to the “paper of record”. In particular, reading any article in the Times that touches on economics is always the high point of my day, each attempt to read to the end without laughing is always happily futile.

Just today, we are treated to the spectacle of the Times waving it’s pom-poms , assuring the reader that yes, TARP is a bonanza for the much beloved taxpayer. “About $4 Billion So Far” the article assures us all heavy breathed, but I couldn’t long control my laughter as the third paragraph tells us “there early returns are by no means a full accounting”, effectively shooting to hell the rest of the article.

I’d stop buying the Times, but laughter is the best medicine…

Posted on Monday, August 31, 2009 at 8:37 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Monday, August 24, 2009

Transcending the Genre

I am not much for comic books or, to use the nicer sounding term, “graphic novels”. While my wife has always been a fan, the thought of idling away my free time reading of masked avengers and people who shoot laser beams from their eye sockets never appealed to the snob that lay within.

Then, after repeated urgings from my wife, I picked up and read Watchmen , the cream of the graphic novel crop. Much to my utter surprise, I cannot recommend it more. It is, hands down, one of the greatest novels (yes, novels) I have ever read.

Even if it does have masked avengers in it.

Posted on Monday, August 24, 2009 at 10:06 PM | Comments (4) | Top

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Standing In The Shower Thinking

When did “global warming” morph into “climate change”? Once global warming conferences began to be held in the middle of April blizzards and the coolest New York City July on record, it was time not to drop the entire infantile idea of improving on what God has created, but instead to change the way we described the entire affair. So “global warming”, specific and measurable (to the embarrassment of its claimants), has morphed into the liquid mush of “climate change”. Climates change all the time, don’t they?

With the average American displaying the attention span of a two year old (a recent poll discovered that 87% of Americans could not name the second American Idol winner) it will be a few weeks, at most, before opinion polls, under relentless 20/20 specials entitled “Climate Change: America’s Peril…And Opportunity”, will show the needle has swung back to credulous, and climate change legislation will come oozing out of the Potomac.

It’s an age-old tactic, to change people perceptions about something they find odious or preposterous, just change the words you use to describe it. But it doesn’t always work, as Bill Clinton’s “revenue enhancements” kept morphing right back into “taxes”. So there’s some hope, I suppose.

Posted on Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 10:23 PM | Comments (2) | Top

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

And Now: A Moment of Unintended Clarity

In one of his more bizarre moments, which will doubtless cause his handlers to weld a teleprompter to his body, President Obama, while making a case for the politicians to run the entire health care industry of the United States, inadvertently argued against himself with a fine example as to why Washington DC shouldn’t be running a lemonade stand.

At the risk of sounding cruel, the politicians took over a brothel in Nevada and…you guessed it…ran it into the ground. The same organization is suddenly going to “save money” running hospitals. America, you deserve this.

Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 8:11 PM | Comments (1) | Top

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Making Democracy Safe For the World

Democracy, especially the virulent, vampire-like variety practiced in modern America, may very well be condemned to collapse, but that’s no reason to give up on it. Despite history telling us that all democracies inevitably devour themselves, history also tells us that every system of governance mankind can dream up have all come to an end, as for example the much lamented American Republic, snuffed out after barely a century or so.

Click To Read The Rest

Posted on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 at 5:52 AM | Comments (2) | Top

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

How Firms Wooed a U.S. Bureaucrat With Billions to Invest

America long ago had the wisdom to seperate church and state - it is high time we did the same with business and the state or else we will forever be reading articles like this

Posted on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 11:18 PM | Comments (1) | Top

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The New Deal - Live and In Person!!!!

The West Virginia town of Arthurdale sits on a plateau 1,800 or so feet above sea level, nestled comfortably high and isolated among the Appalachian Plateau of Preston County. Like almost every small American town it is virtually unknown to all but the few who either live or have lived within her borders. There is nothing unusual in that – except in this case there is.

For a time from the initial birth of the town in 1934, Arthurdale was the epicenter of the New Deal, the Roosevelt Administration’s showpiece for what could be done for the common man. It was the first and most lavishly appointed of all the Subsistence Homesteads, a rather small New Deal program with the big goal of redistributing "excess" population from one area to another, the hoped for end result would be a "new American," living a communal life that would be a vast improvement on our country’s traditional individualism.

Click To Read The Rest

Posted on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 10:02 PM | Comments (1) | Top

Monday, July 13, 2009

OK, We Get It, She’s Hot

You are much hotter in real life.
-Alec Baldwin to Sarah Palin (2008)

If there’s any solace in the W Administration’s shredding of Our Country Tis of Thee, it’s that he has dragged down his Republican Party along with everything else. As proof to support my claim, I give you Sarah Palin.

I’ve written about her before but she keeps popping back into my life through the magazines and newspapers that I frequent. This last instance was the August 2009 Vanity Fair, which greeted our dame with a scathing attack on her and everything she stands for. Yet, even a magazine that prides itself on decorum and good taste couldn’t help but post a picture of Mrs. Palin, under label #1, in a very tight skirt, rear view. Why not just put her in a bikini for the next photo op and be done with it?

The RNC is so desperate for a path to follow, so devoid of any principles or ideas to guide them and their friends back to power, that they will cross any line and in Mrs. Palin they have the Republican Party’s pin-up girl, thereby gaining themselves that crucial voting block of males who like to watch women in bikinis fire automatic weapons, yet thankfully (from the point of view of a libertarian) sinking themselves to the level of the New York Libertarian Party’s 1994 nomination of Howard Stern for governor.

Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 1:32 PM | Comments (1) | Top

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Survival, the First Refuge of the Scoundrel

Recently, US President Obama issued an edict ordering a gaggle of experts to "review" America's manned space flight program. In bureauspeak, what this means is that former President W's wish to send US space craft to infinity and beyond has a price tag that makes even so drunk a sailor as Obama take pause to count what's in his wallet. These days, not much.

Naturally, this vague hint at fiscal prudence has NASA bureaucrats scrambling to come up with a reason, any reason, plausible enough to get their hands on the loot that W's promise had dazzled them with.

Former NASA chief Michael Griffin pulled the first rabbit out of NASA's hat, claiming, "In the long run, human populations must diversify if it wishes to survive."

Well, if that's the case, here's my paycheck...

Posted on Sunday, July 5, 2009 at 9:29 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Ain't His Money

In a perfect world, Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass) would not be able to throw his weight around the financial markets, but an imperfect world is the only one we know. So, therefore, I have to listen to Barney Frank’s ignorant blubbering almost every day on CNBC, which insists on interviewing him despite his complete lack of any knowledge concerning markets or economics.

After insisting that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – two government run entities – were excellent investments less than three weeks before they both collapsed into insolvency, Mr. Frank, a long time recipient of huge “donations” from both agencies, lately has been browbeating them to lower, yes LOWER, their credit standards.

Just yesterday, Fannie Mae reported a steep increase in the percentage of home mortgages 90+ days overdue. Doubtless, Mr. Frank, who has always displayed a bone deep imperviousness to reality, will keep insisting that credit standards be lowered further still. After all, it ain’t his money on the line.

Posted on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 10:35 AM | Comments (4) | Top

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Lying In Bed With Larry Flynt

Like taking too much ecstasy when hanging out with strange people, involving yourself in politics can land you in bed with some odd fellow travelers. As a libertarian, how many mornings have you woken to find yourself cheering on Hustler creator and general all around sleazebag Mr. Larry Flynt, a man seemingly always involved in one or another legal battle with America’s equally sleazy political class?

It appears that Mr. Flynt has been rushed to a Los Angeles hospital for reasons unknown, and while I would never want to spend any of my free time in his company, I say a prayer for his quick recovery. America needs more people like Larry Flynt -- brash, insane patriots, quick to rally around the liberty pole on behalf of the rest of us.

Posted on Sunday, June 21, 2009 at 8:18 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

WHY THERE IS NO HOPE

This quote is by none other than recent Nobel Prize winner and economic uber-genius Paul Krugman, giving his views of “how to fix an economy” circa 2002.

"To fight this recession the Fed needs more than a snapback; it needs soaring household spending to offset moribund business investment. And to do that, as Paul McCulley of Pimco put it, Alan Greenspan needs to create a housing bubble to replace the Nasdaq bubble."

(Paul Krugman, NY Times, August 2, 2002)

Paul Bremer (our first viceroy in Baghdad) gets a “Medal of Freedom” for his disaster, FEMA gets a huge budget raise after letting New Orleans drown, and now this arrogant, poorly educated fool is given a Nobel Prize after cheerleading the very policy that led us to our current disaster?

A fish rots from the head, and America’s appears all rotted out.

Posted on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 1:31 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Justice May Be Blind, But She’s Got A Taser

A recent post on William Grigg’s blog, Pro-Libertate, outlines a story that I would not have been able to believe, except for two things. One, I had read about it a few days previous in my local paper, second, in America today anything goes when it comes to the actions of the police.

Apparently, the police in upstate New York had a suspect – a suspect, nothing more – that they wished to obtain a DNA sample from. The suspect – a suspect, nothing more – refused. So the police used a taser gun on him until he complied. Read that last sentence again.

Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza ruled that what the police did was perfectly acceptable, because it wasn’t done “maliciously, or to an excessive extent, or with resulting injury”.

Is there a way to use a taser gun in a non-malicious manner?

Posted on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 3:55 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Today In History, June 2, 455 A.D.

Starting with the Visigoths in 410, the fifth century A.D. ushered in a new favorite way among barbarian tribes to pass a long summer -- to saunter down or sail up to the former imperial powerhouse and sack its capital. “Oh, you’re going to Italy this summer?” one barbarian would say to another, “Do make sure you sack Rome while you’re there, it’s a delightful city”.

By this time in her history, the formerly warlike Romans could do little more than cringe and beg for mercy against any invader. The once proud Roman Republic had degenerated over the centuries to little more than a totalitarian shadow of her glory.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

WRITING HISTORY, HOW TO

Is there a “correct” way to write about history? Ludwig Von Mises, in his largely forgotten stepchild of a masterpiece "Theory and History" declares, “The history of human affairs has to deal with the judgments of value that impelled men to act and directed their conduct.” True enough.

Furthermore, sticking to the philosophical root of all his work he adds, “What happened in history cannot be discovered and narrated without referring to the valuations of the acting individuals.” Again, no argument here.

At base all history, to make any sense, must be a history of ideas. The task of the historian is not only to get the facts straight, in addition it is to try his best to deduce from the collection what the motives of the actors were. Yet according to some, including Von Mises, that is where the duty of the historian begins and ends. “It is not the business of the historian to pass judgments of value”, he insists, and whenever a historian should do so he “speaks as an individual judging from the point of view of his personal valuations, not as a historian”. And here Von Mises and I part ways.