Demian L. Neidetcher | On Everything

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2012-01-03T21:12:00.000-07:00

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Bubble or Foreclosures

2010-04-07T14:13:00.000-06:00

We should raise rates for borrowing.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/36228883

But we can't...
http://dailyreckoning.com/the-second-wave-of-mortgage-defaults/

The choices are to keep blowing up the bubble (when it pops again it'll be a big one) or watch another wave of foreclosures as ARMs reset to a higher rate.

Book Review: The Ultimate Mixed Martial Arts Training Guide

2009-12-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

In the interest of keeping my brain pliable I decided to take up a new thing to learn this past year. After thinking of a few options I asked my wife if she thought I should learn the guitar or martial arts. She suggested martial arts. That's a good choice, my work is sedentary enough.

I have been training in Tracy Kenpo, CQC and Shootfighting. I have focused on Shootfighting because frankly it's fun and more intense. Shootfighting is an early type of mixed martial arts created by Bart Vale. He came up with this style in the MMA-like events that were popular in Japan much before they were big in America. Basically what we do is a mix of stand up striking and ground work. It borrows heavily from Muay Thai and Braizlian Jiu-Jitsu.

I've been doing this for a few months and I just now got the book 'The Ultimate Mixed Martial Arts Training Guide'. I wish I would've got the book sooner. It covers everything, history of MMA, nutrition, workouts and the basics of the different disciplines required for MMA. I highly recommend this book for anyone considering MMA training.

When Does Complacency Turn into Complicity?

2009-12-23T00:39:00.000-07:00

At first I was like... Namoi Wolf: Why Barack Obama Got My Vote
But then I was all... Naomi Wolf On Obama’s Slide Into Fascism

At what point do the useful idiots on the left and right switch from being considered complacent and ignorant to complicit in our march towards totalitarian government?

Follow the links above and read how liberal Naomi Wolf was all surprised at how Obama carries on the same tradition as Bush.

After hearing passionate arguments from the Obama Administration, the Supreme Court acquiesced to the president’s fervent request and, in a one-line ruling, let stand a lower court decision that declared torture an ordinary, expected consequence of military detention, while introducing a shocking new precedent for all future courts to follow: anyone who is arbitrarily declared a “suspected enemy combatant” by the president or his designated minions is no longer a “person.” They will simply cease to exist as a legal entity. They will have no inherent rights, no human rights, no legal standing whatsoever — save whatever modicum of process the government arbitrarily deigns to grant them from time to time, with its ever-shifting tribunals and show trials.

Crystal Ball

2009-10-10T20:17:00.001-06:00

If you follow me on twitter you probably understand where I think things are going. I thought I'd outline it in one place though in a format besides a URL and a snarky comment.

Where we are
America is broke, even if we had the leadership to give it the focus of the Manhattan project, the Moon landing and the Cold War this is a problem we can't solve. Don't believe me, listen to the former head of the CBO (click here for video).

Here's great coverage on 3 reports from 2 government agencies and the Federal Reserve.

How we got here
This isn't a moral gray area this is taxation (of the youth and unborn) without representation. We got here by glorifying a large central government, by apathy of the citizens and a lack of leadership in government.

Because of the Bretton Woods system and the oil peg the US dollar is the reserve currency of the world. Because of this we have enjoyed amazing economic leverage on the rest of the world. We make pieces of paper and trade that for labor and materials sent from all over the world. It has been a good deal but the terms are about to change.

What we're going to do
We could raise taxes but Americans can be a feisty bunch. We could shrink government, still that wouldn't come close to covering our debt.

We do have an advantage though. Our debt is denominated in a currency we control. We don't have to go bankrupt we just destroy our currency. The plan is to do it in an orderly fashion over the next 9-14 years. I'm skeptical; an expiration date isn't a sought after feature if you're looking for a store of wealth. Expect a massive dumping of US dollars in the future.

What this means
If your wealth is in US dollars or dollar denominated assets you might see your real wealth cut in half. Expect to buy a lot less with the same bills.

A weaker dollar means that domestic production starts to make more sense. We'll see increased manufacturing and industry in America and the jobs that come with it.

Our standing in the world will be diminished. We won't be able to exert economic pressure on other countries like we have. We won't be able to borrow or print money to feed vast military expeditions. The BRIC nations will assume control of the world if not China alone. From a perspective of defending American soil, we have 2 oceans and a friendly neighbor to the North and a well armed population. We're relatively safe.

As for domestic life, hopefully we'll just experience a shift in perspective where we are happy with fewer things. Hopefully it's that simple, hopefully it's gradual and we demonstrate we are good people with good character.

In Soviet Russia Kettlebell Swings You!

2009-06-15T22:56:00.003-06:00

I mentioned to a buddy that I was considering a big purchase of some adjustable dumbells. He said I should give the kettlebell a try. I hit YouTube found myself intrigued, bought a book and a 35 lb kettlebell.

Here are some reasons I'm digging it...

It builds functional strength
It builds explosive strength
It encourages flexibility
You can get good intensity quickly
You don't need much to get a good workout (a kettlebell, some space and maybe suitable ground to lay down such as carpet or grass)
The movements are natural
It doesn't take up much room. If you have space in your home the size of a paint can you have room for a kettlebell
You can't destroy it

Imagine standing in your spandex in front of a mirror concentrating on the supination of your hairless wrist so that you can get that double-peak on your bicep. Leaving you with vanity muscles useful for contrived movements and serving as great plumage. The body won't necessarily come in handy if you should have to move yourself or something heavy. Well, the kettlebell is the opposite of all that.

After a full day of work, driving 20 minutes to a gym to spend 45 minutes to an hour exercising doesn't appeal to me. I want to spend time with family and writing more code. To that end the kettlebell is a time saver.

In the Denver area, Play it Again Sports has Apollo brand kettlebells. They seem good, I've seen positive reviews, when I go up a size I'll probably go there.

Overall it's hard to describe. It's very kinetic, there's momentum, rhythm. Almost like calisthenics with weights. To get the kettlebell to do what you want it to do you are forced to move with a good amount of velocity and use leverage.

It's probably something of a fad. The main evangelist, Pavel, plays up on the Russian bravado in books and video. But the schtick is actually entertaining. Anyways, it's cheap, it's old school, it's something different, I recommend it even if you only have one nut.

Beck on The Dollar

2009-05-15T13:12:00.002-06:00

Glenn Beck can be a tool on some issues but he's spot on here. This video is important. He knows the issue and expresses it reasonably well. This stuff is important, we live in interesting times and he explains why.

Freedom Watch

2009-04-22T23:30:00.002-06:00

Freedom watch is a Fox show that is only broadcasted on the Internet. It's very big on civil liberties. I highly recommend it.

I dig watching Shep Smith (of Fox News) get pissed off about torture and coming to the conclusion that Bush and Cheney are criminals if they authorized torture. He even drops an F-bomb, you go girl.

Twitter Killed the Blogging Star

2009-04-12T00:07:00.002-06:00

Most of my blog posts are a couple links and a few paragraphs. Usually not much independent thought. Usually connecting a couple points to make another conclusion.

Twitter is a great medium for blasting a link out to the world and sharing a pithy comment. In the current political climate it's usually an observation of a current creeping socialist policy and me saying "what could go wrong?".

So yeah, I'm posting on Twitter these days. I'm demian0311.

Thomas Woods Lecture at Boulder YAL

2009-04-04T10:50:00.004-06:00

Last Friday night I joined other party animals in the Boulder area at an event put on by the Boulder Young Americans for Liberty. I estimate 300 people showed up to see Dr. Thomas Woods, historian, author and senior fellow at the Mises Institute.

Prior to the event there was some minor controversy when CU Boulder decided to censor the BoulderYAL promotion of the event. In the following text, the university demanded they remove the bolded words. In the market place of ideas that is the university apparently there is no room to criticize the state. Depressing on so many levels.

In an exclusive lecture for CU students and the community, bestselling author Thomas E. Woods will explain how the current economic collapse was predicted and ignored, why Washington and the Federal Reserve are to blame, why the bailouts will ultimately make things worse and how we can put our economy on a path to recovery. Friday April 3rd in HUMN 1B50 at 7 pm, no charge. Organized by Young Americans for Liberty.

Dr. Woods was also promoting his new book, Meltdown. In the book he explains how the consequences of government meddling has caused our current crisis. At the end of the talk I bought the book and he was kind enough to sign copies.

I've read a lot of his material, listen to podcasts that he has been on and of course he makes the rounds on some 24-hour news shows like Glenn Beck. He follows the austrian school of economics. If you're like 90% of Americans and you agree that the bailouts are bad you might be interested in austrian economics. If you hear politicians say all economists agree the bailouts are necessary and you feel like throwing a brick through your television then you should look into austrian economics.

On to his talk. He's a great speaker, I didn't hear much that I haven't already heard him say or write. It's so refreshing to hear someone sound logical when talking about our current situation. I don't want to repeat anything you could already find on videos or articles.

At the end of the talk he took questions. One of the questions I found the most interesting was from someone that already read the book. He talked about how at the end of the book Dr. Woods explains what should be done. The questioner acknowledged that no one realistically will listen, no one in attendance disagreed.

He went on to ask what should we do individually. It was interesting to hear an author and academic go on to suggest putting some of your cash into precious medals. This isn't a surprise from an austrian who thinks that the Federal Reserve is at the core of our problems and their leadership is incompetent and misguided. He sees a good chance that bad things will happen to the dollar.

He also suggested cultivating skills that will have relevance in more adverse times. In talking to students he said that degrees in art history, English literature and the like might not be the best route. Basically if you don't already have a fundamental, useful skill you might want to get one.

Gun Show Zeitgeist

2009-03-22T11:44:00.002-06:00

I went to a Denver gun show this weekend. It's a great chance to grab breakfast with former co-workers and peruse weapons for a few hours. We have gone a couple times a year for the past few years.

Consistent with all other reports of gun sales being up and ammunition flying off the shelves the gun show was well attended. Frankly it was shocking. The line was long, about five times as long as I've ever seen it. After we got all the accessories we needed we left because the crowds were insane. When we left we figured out they wouldn't let anyone in unless people were leaving because of the fire safety codes. I've never seen that before either.

You're a gazelle on the African plains drinking at a pond. You're lapping it up when you realize everyone else stopped. That's the zeitgeist of this crowd. They know something is happening and they are preparing. Maybe it's as simple as fear of an Obama administration and gun laws, bad economy or maybe it's something else. I don't know if their impression is valid or founded but something is happening at least in the collective psychology. Their reasoning may be mistaken, the manifestation cannot be ignored.

Smart Business

2009-03-16T11:38:00.002-06:00

Give millions...
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000085

Get billions...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aPzu3EtQ99Jk&refer=home

Can you even blame them if we continually put up with it?

Get Yourself Some Hate

2009-03-10T23:09:00.002-06:00

Feel left out of all the hate that the WBC sends out? Maybe you're not gay enough? Maybe you're not a veteran from Iraq? Maybe you're not American?

Fret no more. You can generate your own WBC hate sign. Holy crap the Internet is flippin awesome.

Finally, I can be part of the action.

Give up Your Rights to Help Mexico

2009-02-26T09:04:00.003-07:00

The assault weapons ban expired in 2004. It was a silly law. For law-abiding people it meant that you couldn't purchase a new gun that had a few cosmetic features. It turned into a silly game where manufacturers would tweak rifles until they came within the letter of the law. For example, a rifle couldn't have a bayonet lug if it had X other features that made it look like an assault rifle, a pistol grip being another example.

The Obama administration wants to permanently bring back the assault weapons ban. Here's the kicker, part of their argument is that it will help prevent assault weapons from getting into Mexico. That's right, the US government is going to restrict your rights to protect the good people of Mexico. I feel safer already.

Here's the money blurb from an article by ABC News:

Holder said that putting the ban back in place would not only be a positive move by the United States, it would help cut down on the flow of guns going across the border into Mexico, which is struggling with heavy violence among drug cartels along the border.

The US Military and the state of Texas are preparing for a political collapse in Mexico. They both predict an influx of people escaping violence if the scenario plays out. So people from places like New York, Chicago and Washington DC (shining examples of violence and organized crime) are going to tell Texans they can't protect themselves?

Sophie Scholl

2009-02-24T11:05:00.002-07:00

Here's a cool quote:

The real damage is done by those millions who want to "survive." The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don't want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves.

Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won't take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don't like to make waves — or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honor, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small.

It's the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you'll keep it under control. If you don't make any noise, the bogeyman won't find you. But it's all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what?

Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.

She kept it real under Nazi fascism. Not a healthy activity in those days, she ended up with the guillotine.

We hate you guys...

2009-02-12T10:35:00.002-07:00

In the exact same vein as yesterdays post, over at the Financial Times:

China will continue to buy US Treasury bonds even though it knows the dollar will depreciate because such investments remain its “only option” in a perilous world, a senior Chinese banking regulator said on Wednesday.

...
“Except for US Treasuries, what can you hold?” he asked. “Gold? You don’t hold Japanese government bonds or UK bonds. US Treasuries are the safe haven. For everyone, including China, it is the only option.”
Mr Luo, whose English tends toward the colloquial, added: “We hate you guys. Once you start issuing $1 trillion-$2 trillion [$1,000bn-$2,000bn] . . .we know the dollar is going to depreciate, so we hate you guys but there is nothing much we can do.”

This is amazing stuff, amazing times.

Mutually Assured Economic Destruction

2009-02-11T15:51:00.003-07:00

Bloomberg interview with former Advisor to Chinese central bank:

China should seek guarantees that its $682 billion holdings of U.S. government debt won’t be eroded by “reckless policies,”

Translation: Quit printing dollar bills to get yourself out of your mess.

Another quote in the article (my emphasis added):

“The biggest concern for China to continue buying U.S. Treasuries is that if Obama’s stimulus doesn’t work out as expected, the Fed may have to print money to cover the deficit,” said Shen Jianguang, a Hong Kong-based economist at China International Capital Corp.

China and America are in a precarious relationship here. It's mutually assured economic destruction. We need them, they need us. If they dump the dollar they screw themselves if they keep buying more they add more risk. But we need to keep printing to prop up our fictional economy. The dollar hegemony has the world by the throat. How much longer will we get away with it?

Phelps, obvious screw up

2009-02-06T08:40:00.002-07:00

Michael Phelps, obvious screw up, got high. Now America gets to rake him over the coals. The last 3 presidents admitted to doing drugs. Heck the last 2 have used cocaine. When are we going to be honest with ourselves about drugs.

What almost pisses me off more than the public response America has had is the response Michael Phelps has come up with. You would think after what he has done with his life, the kind of discipline he has demonstrated that he would have a little authority to say, "no kids, pot doesn't automatically make you a screw up despite what Nancy Reagan says."

Maybe after seeing known drug users have about the same success in life as known alcohol consumers we would change our mental model. Just because this stuff was demonized at the turn of the century doesn't mean we need to accept the current law.

Posting at The Smoking Argus

2009-02-05T23:01:00.002-07:00

The good folks over at The Smoking Argus have been kind enough to let me guest-post over there a few times. I just recently did a little write-up of the John Adams miniseries that was on HBO.

Of course I recommend the site. They post very well thought out content and have the fortitude to speak the truth.

Economic and Political Collapse...

2009-02-05T22:44:00.002-07:00

That's what our legislators were threatened with if they didn't support the stimulus. Fear is an awesome motivator.

Is the Herd Correct?

2009-02-03T11:34:00.002-07:00

Nice data and graph from the FBI showing the spike in gun background checks after the presidential election.
http://www.nssf.org/share/PDF/NICS_checks.pdf

Is the herd correct in thinking that they need to get guns before the Obama administration turns their attention to the 2nd Amendment? With Rahm Emanuel and Eric Holder at the top of the administration I think we all know where this is going.

Crash Course

2009-01-31T15:42:00.003-07:00

Over the past few years I have been wonking out on a lot of things. I've read websites, Wikipedia entries, followed blogs listened to podcasts watched videos and devoured RSS feeds to shape how I think our near future is going to be.

Some of this is from Peak Oil ideas that a friend introduced me to. I got into Austrian economics and monetary policy by way of Ron Paul and Peter Schiff. Of course everyone knows about the environmnet issues and the effect baby-boomers will have on society and the economy.

At any rate, I just stumbled onto a presentation by someone who has done more research than I have and has come to the same conclusion he has also articulated it well. I wish I would have found this sooner because I had to a lot of work to assemble these thoughts.

Chris Martenson has created a presentation as a set of YouTube videos that are an excellent crash course on where we're at and where he thinks we're going. In a nut-shell he explains the exponential function and how it 'hockey-sticks', he shows how we are in a perfect storm of hockey-sticks and not in a good way. Basically we will all have a good, prolonged opportunity to demonstrate our character to our fellow man.

The refrain is that the next 20 years will be far different than the last 20 years. The entire video set is 3 1/2 hours, frankly the visual portion of the video doesn't add much so it's something you can watch while cooking or whatever. Fair warning, in the last 20 seconds he says it'd be cool if you sent him money to help him get the word out.

I highly encourage you to go watch the Crash Course.

Neo-con Timeline

2009-01-27T13:37:00.002-07:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2008/02/01/GR2008020102389.html?n=unitedliberty.org

The Washington Post has a good timeline of neo-conservativism. Showing Ayn Rand and George Orwell in there is insane. Unless they define influence as neo-cons reading 1984 and thinking that's a swell way to run an operation. I'd be interested to hear that rationale. Showing Trotsky at the root is accurate.

It's important to understand that neo-cons are big government, imperialist perpetual war adherents. In some circles they'd even be called socialists.

Not Giving It Up

2009-01-24T08:07:00.000-07:00

Nice little montage of Ron Paul and Peter Schiff.

They were right then, they're right now. We'll just keep printing dollars, we're screwed.

Gay Soldier Abortion Marriage Stem Cells

2009-01-20T08:05:00.003-07:00

The Federal Reserve isn't as eye-catching as 'Gay Soldier Abortion Marriage Stem Cells', it doesn't evoke a visceral reaction, it's not sexy or abhorrent. What it is, is the biggest scam in any place and time. Every dollar bill in your pocket represents the yoke around your neck. Understanding it also explains how we are not a free market system in the most fundamental way because a cartel private institutions fix the price of money and credit.

Here are 8 Important Facts About the Federal Reserve from Seeking Alpha. I only include the bullet points, follow the link to see more.

The Federal Reserve is a private institution
The Federal Reserve holds a monopoly on the issuance of currency in the USA
If all money created is debt and counts as principal, where does the money come from to pay interest on this debt?
Prior the the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act/TARP Act of September 2008, commercial banks were required to hold 10% of deposits as reserves
The reason for the credit spread blowups of October/November 2008 was because in the same TARP Act the Fed was allowed to pay interest on deposits without publicly stating the interest rate
As a result of various acts of Congress in 2008, the Federal Reserve now has the authority to buy all sorts of assets (commercial paper, corporate bonds, mortgage loans, etc.)
Much of the Fed's activity is not made public
There is debate over the constitutionality

Unapolagetic about McCain

2009-01-19T13:18:00.002-07:00

This little blurb makes me still un-apologetic about not voting for McCain.

McCain, meanwhile, has told colleagues "that many of these appointments he would have made himself," said Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and a close McCain friend.

So we had 2 big-government, bail-out the rich politicians. One was happy with 100 years in Iraq, the other promised change. Is it any wonder who won?

Ron Paul on our Planned Economy

2009-01-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

Death by Google Search

2009-01-13T12:19:00.003-07:00

A physicist says that doing 2 Google searches uses as much energy as heating a cup of tea.

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5489134.ece

I'm personally skeptical of the science. One thing they're not considering is how much energy you save by being connected. Taking a simple example of shopping. I don't need to drive to a store to find out if it's open or not. I can find the store closest to me. I can see a picture of the front of it to make sure I find it easily without driving around too much. Some stores even allow you to check inventory before getting in the car.

This access to data doesn't come for free but I think it's a net positive when it comes to impact on the planet.

Run on Bullets

2009-01-12T11:00:00.002-07:00

This Thanksgiving we went to Bass Pro to get bullets. We couldn't get everything we wanted. The staff told us that since the election a lot of people have been stocking up.

This weekend I went to 2 Wal-Mart stores and couldn't find the bullets I needed (.308, .45, .380). Wal-Mart is known for their logistics. If people are trying to buy it and Wal-Mart doesn't have it then there is a supply problem.

A guy at Wal-Mart said that manufacturers are having trouble keeping up with demand.

First Year Gardening Post-Mortem

2009-01-03T12:51:00.005-07:00

Growing up in Illinois my mom gardened and I remember helping my grandma and grandpa out in their garden. When I got to an age where I might be able to absorb some of their wisdom it just seemed like a chore.

I had a few reasons to start a garden. The biggest reason was to get more connected to where food comes from. I watched a German documentary on food production. It shows how detached we are from our food, how it is an industrial process. To so many people food is something grown on another continent that comes out of a plastic wrapper. I want Ryder to understand the food comes from the Earth, that we have a connection to the Earth and that it sustains us.

I also think gardening is a good thing to know just in the food supply is disrupted. History is punctuated with people who thought it (whatever it is) could never happen here and now. Not that a few cucumbers will get you off the grid but I'm sure it'd help.

Gardening is a good workout. There are so many new hobbies I'd like to pick up but as a computer person I don't want to do even more sedentary activities.

So last year I thought I'd try out gardening. I had one goal for the garden; to make salsa just from plants in the garden. I read a few books (Gardening When it Counts and Vegetable Gardeners Bible) , got some tools and seeds and I was ready. I'll go through the chronology and then cover some lessons learned.

Earth
On April 16th this is what the garden looked like. There was grass growing on the dirt. Lots of work to be done.

I think I should have started sooner. I could have prepped the soil and planted some things sooner.

Preparation
After a few days work this is what the garden looked like. Of all the gardening I did this was the most work. I had to turn over the soil and amend it.

Colorado doesn't have great soil. Going back to Illinois it's amazing how rich and dark all the soil is. It'd be nice to fill up a truck and take some back. But in Colorado, yeah, you have to add to your soil if you want to grow anything. At some later point I'd like to get into composting.

Planting
I planned on growing tomatoes, cucumber, kale, onions, radishes, carrots, peppers and a bunch of herbs.

I built up berms and planted things far apart so I could get by with less artificial fertilizers and weeding would be easier. There are also suggestions for things that are good to plant close to each other. Sometimes this is because the plants have complimentary nutrient requirements, sometimes it's because the plants help discourage pests from each other.

Neglect
This year we took a long vacation and this is how the garden looked when we got back. Weeds pretty much took over. I didn't use any weed killer while gardening.

Weeds are very manageable when you chip away at them once a week. Any more neglect than that and they become hard work to remove. It took a few sessions of weeding for me to get the garden back to where it needed to be. Besides initially turning over the soil this was the most difficult work I did on the garden.

Harvest
This isn't a great representation of how fruitful the garden got. The cucumbers came in a lot more and the kale got very bushy.

First Frost
This is how the garden looked after the first frost. The peppers never came in, either did the tomatoes fully. The tomatoes that were turning red got what appeared to be circular stretch-marks and that pretty much ruined them. The others didn't turn from green to red unfortunately.

Post-Mortem
Allow me a meta-moment here, what's interesting to me is that I took a very similar approach to when I'm learning something about computers. I tend to jump right in without knowing everything I need to know to see how far I can get. In the computer field this avoids the analysis-paralysis syndrome where you keep diving into things you don't know and never really get anything done. On the down-side you sometimes make mistakes. But in the computer field things are easy to change especially if you've kept things simple.

In the same respect with gardening, I deliberately disregarded things I should do and didn't investigate things I should have. I don't feel very bad about this. I managed to stay motivated, charge ahead and I learned some good lessons. Ultimately I know some of those lessons better because of my failures.

Lessons Learned
Listen to old people, they know what they're talking about. My father-in-law and my mother both said that I'd need to buy small tomato plants instead of just planting tomato seeds in the ground. I took this advice but I did it too late. I should have put tomato plants in the ground first thing because at the end of the year I was probably weeks away from a big tomato harvest when the first frost came to ruin all the plants. I might try to grow tomato seeds indoors before planting one of these years.

Tomatoes can get too much water. The circular stretch-marks on my tomatoes were because they got too much water. You would think tomatoes are full of so much water that they'd take all they can get. In my garden I have a sprinkler and it just hit the tomatoes too much, that's a problem.

Trellis tomatoes before they need it. If you're behind the game on trellising your tomatoes it becomes harder work than it should be.

Peppers want warm soil to germinate. The peppers were a total failure. I think they didn't come up because I planted them too soon.

Pay attention to how long it takes for things to grow. Cilantro comes up very fast. Next time I grow it I'll stagger rows of it so it doesn't all come in at once.

Grow what you'll eat. From what I read, all first time gardeners make this mistake. They don't anticipate what they'll eat and end up wasting a lot. I don't know why I grew radishes, I hate them. Times would have to be tough for me to eat a radish. I also grew a lot of kale. Kale is the hardiest and most nutritious thing you can grow. In a tight-spot kale might be good to have. Otherwise it's a gamy tasting leaf thing. All the recipes you find that include kale also have some other kale-taste-killing ingredient like bacon.

Cucumbers rock. My son and I ate lots of cucumbers straight from the garden. My wife turned me on to eating raw cucumbers with some Tony Chacheries spice, it's a good thing. The boy just ate them raw. We'd go to the garden, he'd pick out a cucumber, we'd cut it off, wash it and he'd eat it right there. We'd do the same thing with carrots.

Failure
If my one goal was to make a salsa from the garden I did fail. The tomatoes didn't come in, ugh they looked so close when the frost came. The peppers didn't come in either. I did have onions and cilantro; not enough for a respectable salsa.

Overall I learned a lot, it was very rewarding and I'm sure I'll do more gardening in the future.

Some Ryder Anecdotes

2008-12-29T18:19:00.001-07:00

Ryder Keeping Warm
Originally uploaded by neidetcher

Ryder started crapping in the porta-potty. He's only done it 1 and a half times though. The first time we left him alone with some books. He came running to show his momma the present.

The other day he was naked trying to put a jacket on. While reaching around for his sleeve he came across his butt. He then spent the next 5-10 seconds groping his butt before moving along to his initial goal. Courtney and I looked at each other, we're not sure what we witnessed.

He's become fond of 'no'. February will bring us to the terrible twos. This afternoon he was easing into his nap. He was quiet for a bit and then let out a soft 'no'. I looked over and he was asleep. Defiant until the end.

Miracle in Denver

2008-12-23T11:27:00.003-07:00

A few days ago the all powerful, all knowing creator of the entire universe caused mechanical problems for an airplane in Denver. The plane had difficulty taking off and ultimately crashed. Eventually it would be entirely engulfed in flames.

Fortunately the all powerful, all knowing creator of the entire universe allowed all the passengers to escape unharmed. He did this by training the flight crew years earlier. It's a good thing everything worked according to his plan.

After passengers made their way to shelter they were all quoted talking to god. One said, "dude, seriously, what was the point of that?". After no response the man said he would run someone off the road on Pena Boulevard and then pull them out so he can get some of that worshiping action.

Okay, the last paragraph I made up.

Humans look for patterns. We look for causes. When we don't have immediate answers it's shocking how low the burden of proof is to satisfy our sense that there is order in the world.

Mo Money Mo Problems

2008-12-22T10:20:00.002-07:00

When the bailout was becoming a reality and pretty much everyone I know was sending emails to congress to stop it the press was cheer-leading intervention. All the models turned talking-heads on the idiot box exclaimed that something had to be done.

The bailout money has gone to banks that were mis-managed. Those banks are using that government money to buy banks that are solvent. These are banks that were run well. So your tax money has been used to reward poorly run banks so that they can destroy well run banks. Awesome.

This is the evolutionary equivalent to going in the mountains and feeding the most diseased, small and weak elk you can find while shooting the most healthy. In 10 years or so it's not hard to figure out what intervention like this would accomplish.

What's more frustrating than anything is that we now see the talking heads exclaiming about how we don't know where the money has gone. Like it didn't occur to them that maybe it would be mis-managed. When will people stop hoping for good government when the best hope we have is less government.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081221/ap_on_bi_ge/executive_bailouts
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081222/D957QL7O0.html

Change You Can't Detect

2008-12-17T09:41:00.002-07:00

http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/open_for_questions_response/

Q: "Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?" S. Man, Denton

A: President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.

This is different from what we heard on the campaign trail. As the NORML folks say, they can't even scrounge up enough respect to give a justification. The naive part of me thinks that he just doesn't want to pick a hairy issue right off the bat like Bill Clinton did.

I hope as we dive into a tax orgy that we are evaluating the size of government. I hope we all aren't paying increased taxes so we can watch ATF agents drag people out of wheel chairs for smoking medical marijuana.

Non-Fiction TV

2008-12-14T21:10:00.002-07:00

Being the go-getter that I am, I'm going through my DVR to see what TV shows are coming up on television that I might want to record. The only sitcom-like show that I watch is The Office. I'm also a fan of Dexter on Showtime.

That leaves me with non-fiction type programming. So you're going through TLC, History Channel, National Geographic, Biography Channel, Military Channel and all those.

On the off chance that you might not want to learn more about Hitler, sharks, UFOs or the bible you are pretty much out of luck. I bet 70% of the programming is devoted to those four topics. Like really, you're sending a camera crew out to follow a dig to look for Cain and Abel? If there were only footage of Hitler riding a shark, reading the bible while being probed by aliens. That'd be some television.

Common Sense on the Auto Bailout

2008-12-10T23:14:00.003-07:00

How come everyone said this man is crazy? Every time I hear Ron Paul speak I think he is the most rational, intelligent voice out there.

In the primaries he couldn't show his face on TV without someone chuckling about how quaint and delusional the good doctor is.

The Audacity of Central Planning

2008-12-05T17:25:00.006-07:00

Castro would drive out to the sugar cane fields. He would direct the harvesting of sugar cane himself. He worked hard for Cuba, he wanted to make sure the country reached the potential it was capable of. Sometimes he would even roll up his sleeves and help with farming. He didn't just do this for sugar cane production. He would apply his zeal and intelligence to all areas of Cuban life and production. By any measure Castro has failed miserably.

Central planning is doing something when others sit by, it's solving the problem, it's righting the wrong, it's taking from the rich and giving to the poor. In the past it has been sold as the only justice for working people.

You have to appreciate the optimism and audacity of central planning. Managing all aspects of a society is hard work. Top down planning of all the moving pieces of a nation is impossible. Millions have starved in North Korea and China because of ill-conceived central planning by far removed governments.

Now, to save America we will compound our government meddling and begin central planning. Congress is considering a government Auto-Czar. If you think a government appointed Auto-Czar will save the American auto industry then you deserve the government you get.

Gao Xiqing

2008-12-03T17:00:00.003-07:00

Great interview in the Atlantic with Gao Xiqing, the guy that manages all the debt China is holding for the United States. Here are some choice quotes with my emphasis added.

We are not quite at the bottom yet. Because we don’t really know what’s going to happen next. Everyone is saying, “Oh, look, the dollar is getting stronger!” [As it was when we spoke.] I say, that’s really temporary. It’s simply because a lot of people need to cash in, they need U.S. dollars in order to pay back their creditors. But after a short while, the dollar may be going down again. I’d like to bet on that!

He acknowledges that if China started dumping dollars they'd be hurting themselves just as much.

If Chinese officials started pulling assets out of the U.S. and touched off a run on the dollar, their vast remaining dollar holdings would plummet in value.] So we’re trying to help, at least by not aggravating the problem.

Some sage advice about the US lifestyle.

The simple truth today is that your economy is built on the global economy. And it’s built on the support, the gratuitous support, of a lot of countries. So why don’t you come over and … I won’t say kowtow [with a laugh], but at least, be nice to the countries that lend you money.

Predictions for 2009

2008-12-03T13:39:00.004-07:00

Happy fun-time predictions for 2009

We'll officially be in a depression
Constitutional crisis (update: sooner than I thought?)
The bottom falls out of the US dollar
Increased unemployment
Cubs don't win the world series

Overall life becomes less about HDTV and Hummers and more about fertile soil and clean water.

The question is will we rise to the occasion.

2008-12-01T16:53:00.003-07:00

Imagine you're China or some sovereign wealth fund. You're sitting on a big stack of US dollars. You are attempting to preserve your wealth.

Then you see this official chart from the Federal Reserve. It's the money supply. It's an indicator of how many dollars are being printed by the Federal Reserve. How long are you going to hold on to your dollars? Every time we print a dollar we inject it into our ailing economy. Every time we print a dollar we de-value every other existing dollar.

The other shoe is going to drop. The world is going to dump our dollars, dollars won't be the reserve currency of choice. If we let it happen it will be a bitter pill, we might even go to war over it. Either way, tough times are coming.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/fredgraph?chart_type=line&s[1][id]=BOGAMBNS&s[1][range]=5yrs

Government as the Big Stick of Corporate America

2008-12-01T11:00:00.002-07:00

There are some, particularly on the left, that think government protects us from the evil goals of corporations. They present a false dichotomy that either you are for governments or for corporations. By their logic if you are for smaller government then you are for the unrestrained power of the soul-less corporation. What they don't understand is that corporations are empowered to do the most evil when they work in collusion with government.

The government has allowed eminent domain to allow tax revenue-hungry municipalities to confiscate land from one private citizen to a corporation.
The government suppresses competition in business by over-regulating smaller businesses.
The government has made relatively benign drugs illegal because corporations want to sell you alternatives.
The government diminishes your property rights so that corporations can pollute.

So what's the answer? Do we give the government more power and more regulation? Do you really think that keeps corporations in line? With billions of dollars at stake corporations wisely give millions to candidates to protect their interests.

Diminishing government removes the most sinister tool of corporations.

The Expert Criminal/ Terrorist Rationale

2008-11-29T18:30:00.002-07:00

With the current events in Mumbai Indian officials and pundits are saying how the perpetrators must have nation-state training, resources and preparation. They certainly may have but it's important to understand this isn't necessary.

In the DC sniper situation I remember talking-heads saying that the sniper must have been special forces. They even speculated Russian or American special forces because not many nations have such an advanced sniper program.

I believe the DC sniper case didn't involve any shots that were over 200 yards (2 football fields). All of these shots were done in the prone position (laying on your stomach) which affords you the most accuracy.

Of course the real criminals were a mediocre soldier who wasn't even an infantryman and a teenager. I don't have any inside knowledge of the Mumbai terrorists but they aren't necessarily sponsored by a national intelligence service or sanctioned by the state of Pakistan. I think it's highly likely that they came out of the fertile terrorist swamp-land that is Pakistan. They needed motivation, a dozen guns, transportation and a little bit of intelligence to accomplish what they did. Let's say less than $100,000.

It's sort of like when you come to with missing teeth and a sore gut. Your first conclusion is probably something like 'that guy must be a kung-fu ninja master'. It's comforting to think that it's unlikely that these events can occur. The reality is that most anyone who is properly motivated can unleash violence on anyone they would like in any city in the world.

Will an iPod Stop a .45 ACP?

2008-11-26T14:08:00.001-07:00

iPod after Shooting
Originally uploaded by neidetcher

The in-laws were in town this week so I took them up to the range. We have an old iPod around that is fried so I thought it'd be a fun thing to shoot at.

Sure there's good training value to be had by shooting at paper targets but once in a while it's fun to take the boom stick to something else. Electronics are always a good choice.

Besides the damage pictured the battery was particularly hot. I assume some magic contents were touching that weren't meant to touch and the battery was discharging or something.

Indeed a .45 ACP round fired from my Kimber Custom 1911A1 clone goes right through an iPod. Good times.

What Could Go Wrong?

2008-11-24T11:23:00.004-07:00

The U.S. government is prepared to lend more than $7.4 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers, or half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, to rescue the financial system since the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.
http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=arEE1iClqDrk&refer=home

Faced with the unprecedented growth of the US budget deficit and the prospect of an increasingly weaker dollar compared with the yen reducing the value of Treasury debt held by Japan, economists in Tokyo are calling for the administration of president-elect Barack Obama to issue US Treasuries denominated in yen and other currencies. The issuance of foreign currency-denominated US Treasures would reduce the perceived risk of holding the debt.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/JK19Dh01.html

Vote or Die

2008-11-18T00:41:00.003-07:00

This video is admittedly unfair. You can make anyone look stupid with proper editing and selecting of subjects. But it's entertaining. If you don't know the issues it's pretty much your civic duty not to vote. Stay home, watch TV.

The website has more details and results on the poll.

International Reserve Currency

2008-11-16T22:53:00.003-07:00

It's fascinating to read up on how nations store their wealth. Around the time of WW2 a lot of Western nations got together and came up with the Bretton Woods System. It went through some machinations until Nixon took us off the gold standard. This had the effect of making the US Dollar the reserve currency for most of the world.

This has been great for the United States. We run the printing press. We can buy goods overseas with the paper we just pulled out of the copy machine. But what if we ran the presses too much? Would all those nations keep the dollar as their reserve currency? What happens to our spending power in the world when nobody wants the pieces of paper we produce?

If the flight from the dollar reaches a critical mass then the floodgates would open. Oil producing nations would drop the dollar peg and the Ponzi scheme that is the US Dollar would collapse. At least we could use green-backs to heat up our Spam.

Greenspan Tells Gulf to Drop the Dollar
Saudi Arabia buys gold (dumps dollars?)
Gold Demand Rises in Saudi Arabia
Iran said they switched reserves from dollars to gold

Stimuli

2008-11-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

Stimulus - Spring 2008

Most people weren't as frivolous I suggest. Many people put their money into savings. What we do know is that the first stimulus didn't seem to have much of an effect on the economy or our confidence.

This is all at the cost of passing more burden on future generations. We borrow from the Chinese so Americans can buy cheap plastic shit from China. They have no shame.

Stimulus check - Winter 2008
Some gun shops are seeing their business increase by a factor of 7. Rightfully so, many are concerned that we'll see more assault weapon bans. Although it's feel-good legislation it really comes down to a game of aesthetics.

More than the gun control issue I think people are losing confidence in our institutions. So if they get their way and a stimulus package ships will people be stocking up for hard times?

Capitalism Flanked in America

2008-11-11T18:03:00.004-07:00

Anyone ever tell you that you're crazy for saying the current decisions being made in Congress are socialist? Like it's some ill-defined hypberbole that you're using to smear a decision you don't like.

Well, no, this actually is a slow motion bloodless (for now) socialist coup behind a well thought out facade. The term socialist is well defined, go look it up before denouncing it as slander.

A Socialist site in the UK is dancing in the endzone at the sight of Americans turning their back on everything they've won and fought for. And now for some Trotsky (from the article).

We republish a section from Trotsky's basic programmatic document of 1938, the 'Transitional Programme,' on nationalisation of the banks. It speaks for itself but the key points to note are that:
Nationalisation of the banks is an essential prerequisite for socialist planning

It is necessary to expropriate the wealth of the capitalist class, not preserve it.

Bank deposits are not to be expropriated. They are safer than under collapsing private banks.

Taking over the banks must be part of a programme for the working class to take power.

From ‘The Transitional Programme’ By Leon Trotsky, 1938

Veterans Day

2008-11-11T12:58:00.004-07:00

I'm hardly impartial but however the military is used I think you have to respect the people that are putting it on the line for something they believe in.

I'm not talking specifics but it's unfortunate to think about the possibility that someone sends them to battle without understanding the sacrifices they make or an appreciation for what a precious resource they are.

The Secretary of Defense and the President should go to military funerals once a week.

Happy Birthday Marine Corps

2008-11-10T20:19:00.001-07:00

demian_guarding_ngos_while_smoking.jpg
Originally uploaded by neidetcher

I enlisted in the Marines straight out of high-school. Before I went to boot-camp my primary concern in life was the next 20 minutes of mindless gratification. The Marines gave me discipline, focus and self-confidence.

I also got my sense of humor in the Marines. Sitting in an arms market in Somalia, getting shot at, in full combat gear in the Africa-heat, trying to eat a tuna-casserole MRE 10 feet from a dead and bloated donkey. You have no choice but to laugh. The random annoyances of life don't seem to measure up to the stress of imminent death.

Training as an infantryman didn't particularly prepare me for a career as a software engineer but after the Corps everything else seemed a little easier. At least things had perspective.

If you're getting out of high-school, a stint in the Marines is as good as any to start your adventure. I've provided security for the President, guarded nukes in San Francisco, fed the hungry in Somalia, did colors for an NFL game and shot more bullets than I'll ever shoot the rest of my days. I wouldn't change a thing.

Semper Fidelis

Situations that Feed Tyranny

2008-11-09T15:59:00.002-07:00

I'm not cynical enough to go there, my foil helmet is still on order. But this is interesting to think about. Okay, 2 part hypothetical question:

If you wanted to feed a conservative government a situation to further a tyrannical agenda what would that situation look like?
If you wanted to feed a liberal government a situation to further a tyrannical agenda what would that situation look like?

Maybe the first situation would be something like 9/11. Maybe the second would look something like our current economic troubles.

I attribute these events more to long-term incompetence. But I think we should be able to consider possibilities.

The Morning After

2008-11-05T08:05:00.004-07:00

Randomly walking by the television this morning I saw a crowd of enthusiastic Obama supporters flying the hammer & sickle. It doesn't mean they're bad people. I'm sure they're all well intentioned. It just means they're wrong. They don't know their history, don't know economics, don't know human nature. They know how to think with their heart. I hope the lesson is quick.

I'm sure anyone from the Democrat establishment within arms reach would've torn the flag down. But the association is there. The Democrats have the helm and they will push their agenda which includes many concepts from communism.

There's a good Cato Institute write-up on how the GOP lost it. I agree with their summation of the election. There were two big government candidates and one of them represented change.

Realistically McCain is for smaller government than Obama. But I'm happy with an Obama win because I think it will be a bitter pill that the Republicans have to take. Maybe they'll understand that they need to offer an alternative to big government.

This is a good time for the GOP to look over at what Libertarians have been saying. I think a lot of fiscal conservatives and people that believe in personal liberty sat this one out. Too often we think just in terms of left and right. We need to add another dimension when we describe candidates and ourselves.

The Republican party has become gradually more authoritarian and statist. I think our roots are higher up, towards freedom and liberty. Got to get back to the roots.

Beer and Wisdom

2008-11-04T12:50:00.003-07:00

Those founding fathers... What did they know? So irrelevant? Isn't their wisdom only fitting for their time? Heavy shit, we've so lost our way.

If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
~ Samuel Adams

via Xavier

Sucker Nation

2008-11-03T08:47:00.002-07:00

Bailout going to Goldman Sachs: $10 Billion
Bonuses going to Goldman Sachs officers and employees: $11 Billion

That's good right? Here's a pretty picture:
http://econompicdata.blogspot.com/2008/11/tax-payer-fueled-bonus-binge.html

It pays to give.

The Next 4 Years Will Be Entertaining

2008-11-02T23:50:00.002-07:00

The next 4 years will be entertaining. Who knows, maybe socialism is an okay way to run an economy? Just elect some smart people, put them at the top, manage the economy and how we live our lives. What could go wrong?

I've posted this before but recall the Karl Marx 10 step program for capitalist countries to become communist. This shit isn't hyperbole it's fact, it's black & white, it's reality and it's happening. John McCain would be almost the same but with more war so I could care less.

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state.

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc.

A Mandate or a Lack of an Alternative

2008-10-31T12:07:00.004-06:00

If the Republicans lose the election will they see this as a mandate? Will they conclude that they need to become more socialist? I don't have much faith in the current Republican leadership so yeah, I think they'll reach that conclusion.

What I think we're really seeing this election is a lack of alternatives. I watched John McCain railing against Obama for re-distribution of wealth. The interviewer asked McCain about the progressive income tax and if that is re-distribution of wealth. John McCain could not get himself to say that a progressive income tax is a re-distribution of wealth! This is amazing as this tax structure is clearly taking money from rich people and giving it to the poor. You can argue the merits of that but call it what it is. You see the same thing when he talks about the bailout. He can't get himself to call it government intervention.

The Republican party of today is flailing about with no core, grasping for shallow populist issues to get a few votes. McCain is a self-serving opportunist that once even considered becoming a Democrat late in his senate career. The GOP hasn't offered an alternative to the Democrats, they've offered a watered down version.

Will the GOP figure out what they stand for?

2008-10-29T15:12:00.002-06:00

If Obama wins will the GOP figure out what they stand for?

I already voted for Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution party. If the GOP resembled anything like the Republican party of Ronald Reagan or Barry Goldwater I would have gladly voted for their candidate. I would've donated money and stood on street-corners holding signs.

The GOP of today is sad. The neo-conservatives and hard-line social conservatives have turned the GOP into a warring, big-government interventionist party that could as easily drift towards socialism as it could become all out fascist.

Even though my 3rd-party vote will probably contribute to Barack Obama winning Colorado I'm content in knowing that I didn't vote for either of the 2 socialists running for president.

We need to figure out what America stands for, it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Hot Juicy Stupid on a Stick

2008-10-20T21:24:00.002-06:00

If you like your stupid 100% un-cut then you're going to want to watch this video. Don't drink anything while you're watching this or your keyboard might get sprayed.

Poverty Pimps Hold Back Barack

2008-10-14T22:22:00.002-06:00

What's going on when reverend Jeremiah Wright mugs for the press corps. He knows how to act like a jackass, he knows how to make Barack Obama look bad. But he did it anyways. Why?

Then there's a recent Jesse Jackson quote.

He [Barack Obama] promised "fundamental changes" in US foreign policy - saying America must "heal wounds" it has caused to other nations, revive its alliances and apologize for the "arrogance of the Bush administration."

The most important change would occur in the Middle East, where "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would end.
~Jesse Jackson - October 14th, 2008

If anyone wanted to help Obama lose Florida, this is how you'd do it. I happen to agree that Israel has way too much influence in American politics.

Again, why do this, what's going on here?

I think these men are politically savvy. I think they know what they're doing. You have to wonder what happens to their influence if a black man becomes president? I think they would prefer Obama does not get elected.

NSA Domestic Spying Gone Bad

2008-10-09T10:03:00.002-06:00

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5987804&page=1

That is so shocking that the NSA is abusing their domestic spying capabilities. No one could have imagined this would happen.

This is a great opportunity to remember that Barack Obama supported the FISA legislation that lets telecom companies off the hook that illegally allowed the government to spy on Americans. Of course, McCain supported it as well.

Chuck Baldwin 08

2008-10-08T11:14:00.002-06:00

If you're a Republican and you vote for McCain, ugh, I don't know what to say. I'm not sure what you think the Republican party should stand for or what conservatism means at this point. We don't have a 2 party system. The illusion of choice is barely an illusion anymore.

Commie

[of healthcare] I think it should be a right for every American.
~ Barack Obama October 7th, 2008

Commie-er

As president of the United States, Alan, I would order the secretary of the treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes -- at the diminished value of those homes and let people be able to make those -- be able to make those payments and stay in their homes
~ John McCain October 7th, 2008

Nevermind that there was just a 100 year experiment to see if communism is a viable economic theory. We're gladly marching off a cliff into the very system we've fought for the past 60 years. We will get the leadership we deserve.

This election I'll be voting for Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party.

No Knocks Have to Stop

2008-10-07T20:07:00.001-06:00

No More Gravity Lessons

2008-10-04T10:59:00.002-06:00

When the little man is jumping on the couch or bed I let him know that he might fall and hit his head. If I see him about to fall I don't catch him (especially when his mom isn't around). I call this a gravity lesson. It's good to learn about gravity before you get yourself in too much trouble.

All the eat the weak, Ayn Rand reading, rugged individualist financial CEOs in America have said that they don't want gravity lessons. They want to hop on the couch and not worry about hitting their head. We all signed up to continually catch them.

The course is set, the free market will die in America. Maybe it's 1 year, maybe it's 50 but our way of life and what we stand for will not last. History will mark last Friday.

Dark Clouds

2008-10-02T23:45:00.003-06:00

This is an older video, I know I watched it months ago.

Gold rush as investors pile into bars

WWAJD?

2008-10-02T08:39:00.004-06:00

What would Andrew Jackson do? If we're asking how to treat native Americans then we probably don't want to know. If we're talking about centralized banks (the fore-runners of the Federal Reserve) then he's got some prescient points. This is a quote of him while he was jumping up and down on the grave of the 2nd centralized bank he killed.

Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves . . . I intend to rout you out, and by the Eternal God I will rout you out!
~ President Andrew Jackson, 1836

Shamelessly lifted from Nation Builder.

Fox Business Poll: Who do you think will come out of this economic crisis looking smartest?

2008-09-26T08:14:00.003-06:00

The lone Ron Paul hacker is at it again, messing up the online polls.

Who do you think will come out of this economic crisis looking smartest?

Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman 2%

Henry Paulson, the Secretary of the Treasury 3%

Warren Buffett, head of Berkshire Hathaway 12%
Ron Paul, Texas Congressman and presidential candidate 80%

Bill Gross, PIMCO chief investment officer 3%

Take the poll yourself before it goes away.

122 Economists

2008-09-25T20:51:00.002-06:00

If you're questioning the bail-out and you think you're alone you're not. 122 economists including 2 Nobel Prize winners think this is a bad idea.

http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/john.cochrane/research/Papers/mortgage_protest.htm

Here's the text...

To the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate:

As economists, we want to express to Congress our great concern for the plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson to deal with the financial crisis. We are well aware of the difficulty of the current financial situation and we agree with the need for bold action to ensure that the financial system continues to function. We see three fatal pitfalls in the currently proposed plan:

1) Its fairness. The plan is a subsidy to investors at taxpayers’ expense. Investors who took risks to earn profits must also bear the losses. Not every business failure carries systemic risk. The government can ensure a well-functioning financial industry, able to make new loans to creditworthy borrowers, without bailing out particular investors and institutions whose choices proved unwise.

2) Its ambiguity. Neither the mission of the new agency nor its oversight are clear. If taxpayers are to buy illiquid and opaque assets from troubled sellers, the terms, occasions, and methods of such purchases must be crystal clear ahead of time and carefully monitored afterwards.

3) Its long-term effects. If the plan is enacted, its effects will be with us for a generation. For all their recent troubles, America's dynamic and innovative private capital markets have brought the nation unparalleled prosperity. Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted.

For these reasons we ask Congress not to rush, to hold appropriate hearings, and to carefully consider the right course of action, and to wisely determine the future of the financial industry and the U.S. economy for years to come.

America: Making Marx Proud

2008-09-25T16:00:00.005-06:00

You think opponents of the bail-out are using hyperbole? Our current system is not a free market, this bail-out goes even further. Carl Marx describes how a capitalist country might become communist in his Communist Manifesto. A Republican president will bring socialism to America.

The kicker is that a Democrat couldn't have gotten away with it. All those Republicans towing the party line as we leave our border open, socialize corporate losses and give up civil liberties. It makes you wonder if the rank and file ever stood for anything beside blind allegiance.

1.  Abolition of property in land and application of all rents
   of land to public purposes.

2.  A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

3.  Abolition of all right of inheritance.

4.  Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

5.  Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means
    of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive
    monopoly.

6.  Centralisation of the means of communication and transport
   in the hands of the State.

7.  Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by
   the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and
   the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a
   common plan.

8.  Equal liability of all to labour.  Establishment of
   industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

9.  Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries;
   gradual abolition of the distinction between town and
   country, by a more equable distribution of the population
   over the country.

10. Free education for all children in public schools.
   Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form.
   Combination of education with industrial production, etc., etc.

~ Carl Marx, Communist Manifesto


Hat tip: http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/023081.html

A $50K Nap

2008-09-22T12:46:00.004-06:00

One of the Denver GOP party members that helped push back the Ron Paul insurrection in the primaries got into some trouble at the RNC. Guy meets girl, guy invites her to room, girl makes drinks, guy wakes up with a lighter wallet than when he passed out.

I think this is amusing because one of the things you would hear GOP leadership say in the margins at the city and congressional district level is that they were afraid of the Ron Paul contingent embarrassing the Denver or Colorado delegation.

This video is of him being interviewed at the convention. Look for the "less taxes more war *giggle*" quote. This is one of the best Republicans Denver could send to the national convention?

http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2008/09/undressed_at_the_republican_na.php
http://www.twincities.com/ci_10472581?source=most_viewed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqQYHBUlfg0

It's all endemic of the sick party that has forgotten what it stood for. These people have no core.

Economic Patriot Act

2008-09-22T11:03:00.002-06:00

The Economic Patriot Act they're shoving through congress consolidates power in the executive even more. Why do we even have a legislature anymore. The founding fathers could not have imagined a congress that would yield so much to the executive, it's disgraceful.

Here's a snippet from the legislation.

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

Via Lew Rockwell and the NYT.

Is Regulation the Answer?

2008-09-21T12:06:00.003-06:00

The financial situation has been distilled down to regulation.

What does regulation mean though? What do you regulate? You regulate that which you own, you regulate that which you manage. That begs the question is this a managed economy. No one recognizes that this is not a free-market economy.

We have removed the feedback mechanisms.

Private companies have privatized gains and socialized losses.
Government Sponsored Enterprises, backed by the government, artificially stoke the economy.
The Federal Reserve creates irrational exuberance in the market.

Of course greed in the private sector is a factor but I contend that the situation is exacerbated by government meddling.

Again, if you wonder who's going to make out alright after this is all over just look at who owns your favorite candidate.
Top contributors for Barack Obama.
Top contributors for John McCain.

New Blog

2008-09-21T11:53:00.004-06:00

I haven't blogged a lot recently. Mostly because I've been concerned with splitting the content up. I'll continue to rant about anything besides software here. Obviously lots going on in the economy to talk about.

For content specific to software head on over to http://neidetcher.blogspot.com.

Thomas Friedman on 9/11

2008-09-11T00:17:00.002-06:00

I'm not about 9/11, I'm about the Fourth of July
~Thomas Friedman

Well said.

Liberties are easier to surrender than they are to gain. Honor the men that fought for those liberties by retaining them. I guarantee they would prefer that over an unimpeded march to tyranny.

Monolithic Conspiracy

2008-08-31T12:38:00.003-06:00

In an open society secrecy is bad. We should not put up with secret societies that have secret oaths and proceedings. The dangers of excessive concealment outweighs the dangers of free access to information.

The survival of America is pointless if it means we forget our traditions, what makes us Americans.

There's a real danger that the powers that be announce the need for more security so that they can expand sexurity and censorship.

Globally, we are opposed by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy. It relies on greed to expand influence. It inserts itself into institutions, it uses subversion instead of democracy, it intimidates.

This conspiracy has wealth and people that work in concert. Their influence reaches into military, diplomatic, economic, scientific and political operations. The plans are private and the dissenters are silenced.

I ask your help in alerting Americans.

Sound crazy? To give credit, that was just me paraphrasing a JFK speech given in April 27, 1961. Interesting stuff, there's a good chance he's just talking about the commies. Maybe I'm paraphrasing bad. Judge for yourself, the link has the full text to the speech and audio.

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03NewspaperPublishers04271961.htm

No Knock Warrants Have to Go

2008-08-07T17:49:00.002-06:00

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/07/mayor.warrant/index.html

The raid last week was led by the Prince George's County Police Department, with the sheriff's special operations team assisting, after a package of marijuana was sent to Calvo's home.
Authorities say the package was part of a scheme in which drugs are mailed to unknowing recipients and then intercepted.
Calvo said he had just returned home from walking his two Labrador retrievers, Chase and Payton, when his mother-in-law told him a package had arrived for his wife, Trinity Tomsic.
Moments later, Calvo was in his room changing for a meeting when he heard commotion downstairs.
"The door flew open," he said. "I heard gunfire shoot off. There was a brief pause and more gunfire."
Calvo said he was brought downstairs at gunpoint in his boxer shorts, handcuffed and forced onto the floor with his mother-in-law near the carcass of one of dead dogs.

Hopefully violent crime is not an issue in this jurisdiction.
Hopefully every foster kid gets a visit once a week by the police to make sure they're not being abused.
Hopefully no crimes are committed that involve a victim.

...otherwise it'd be a shame for the police to use that kind of force, kill 2 dogs, break into a house guns blazing just to stop adults from using a drug that is less harmful than alcohol.

Jowling

2008-07-21T21:48:00.002-06:00

Demian Jowling
Originally uploaded by neidetcher

I does it. All the kids are doing it.

Psyched by Baby

2008-07-20T19:06:00.003-06:00

You know the deal, baby wants a bottle, baby is tired, daddy has a bottle. It'd be too simple to just give the bottle to the baby. Daddy has to psyche the baby. So I hold out the bottle and pull it back when the baby reaches for it. The rule is you have to do it 3 times and then laugh. Sometimes the baby thinks this is funny.

This evening, after a bath we were putting bath toys in the bath toy bag. The baby hands me a toy and pulls it away, I reach for it again and he pulls it away again. Then he starts laughing. Besides my stunning physique perhaps I've also managed to transfer a sense of humor to the baby.

Sociatalism

2008-07-10T09:50:00.002-06:00

Could a bailout of mis-managed financial operations actually happen?

http://blogs.barrons.com/stockstowatchtoday/2008/07/10/fannie-freddie-solvency-begs-govt-bailout-bac-needs-dough-wachovias-new-king/

Where do you think your candidate stands on this? Take a look at who their top contributors are:

McCain
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00006424

Obama
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638

If those are your candidates, you better know who owns them. You're owned, you will pay.

Our brand of capitalism; privatize the profit, socialize the losses.

...this is the year for the Libertarian Party.

Eating Crawfish - Bad first experience

2008-06-29T21:49:00.001-06:00

Eating Crawfish - Bad first experience
Originally uploaded by neidetcher

We hoped crawfish appreciation would be in Ryders genes but it looks that it's something you have to get used to. Ryder seemed more concerned that the crawfish would scurry across the table and hatch eggs in his brain or something.

I'm sure we'll keep working on it.

George Lilly - Truth to Power

2008-06-05T14:47:00.003-06:00

This is George Lilly, he's a local Republican that supports Ron Paul. He's a great guy, running for Congress, I'll be helping him out.

In passing he mentions some of the shenanigans that happened at the Colorado State GOP Convention and the 1st Congressional District Convention. I totally gotta blog about how that stuff went, I've been very busy at work. It's coming.

Guns Don't Kill People

2008-05-14T16:57:00.000-06:00

This reminds me of someone.

Stupid ^n

2008-04-28T09:55:00.002-06:00

I've blogged about the rebate before but I can't resist.

Get a look at this picture. If you notice a warm feeling comfort you as you realize that the government will take care of you then at a minimum please don't vote. You are too stupid to vote.

The other morning on CNN a talking head said, "...and now for some good economic news; your stimulus checks will be delivered soon."

It's the kind of stupid that makes you feel more stupid just thinking about it. Whenever I'm reminded of this I look around for an ice pick so I can stab my eye to take my mind off of how collectively stupid we are.

And check this out. The government is releasing a new type of Treasury just to cover our deficit and the stimulus package. This is like America walking into the payday loan store.

A big part of the increased borrowing reflects the need to pay for economic-stimulus rebates to 130 million households. The government began disbursing the payments on Monday in an effort to give the economy a jump start.

We've lost the ability to govern ourselves. But we have the tools, we can become our own content editor. We have to do our own research.

If Amazon Chose Presidents

2008-04-23T15:27:00.004-06:00

Ron Paul got 16% of the vote in Pennsylvania. I think it's amazing that the media has paid no attention to him, has declared him crazy and dead. The man still gets a respectable chunk of the vote.

Here are the sales ranks for books at Amazon of the remaining candidates and their most recent books (according to my brief research). Higher is lower.

26,694 - Hillary Clinton - Living History
16,796 - John McCain - Hard Call
114 - Barack Obama - The Audacity of Hope
19 - Ron Paul - The Revolution: A Manifesto

Ron Paul's book even beats out Barack Obama. Something is going on here. The revolution will not be televised. It'll also be slow, boring and take years. I'm in it for the long haul. Apathy has no chance, it bounces off me.

What I'm Listening to

2008-04-21T23:38:00.002-06:00

Justice - DVNO
No idea what the song is about, no idea why I like it.

MGMT - Time to Pretend
Another great, hard to classify band, great innovation.

Atmosphere - Shoulda Known

Don Felder - Takin a Ride
Nothing like South Park to remind you of your youth. I remember seeing the movie Heavy Metal when I was young, too young to see the movie.

Old Crow Medicine Show - Wagon Wheel
They were on Austin City Limits a while back. Good bluegrass / country.

Gardening

2008-04-13T18:54:00.004-06:00

The signs slowly appear. You find yourself listening to NPR. Or you go an entire year without snowboarding. Or regularity becomes a topic of conversation in your social group (okay, not quite there yet). Whatever the symptoms it's all a function of growing old. In my case one of the symptoms seem to be an interest in gardening.

In true geek fashion I've done my homework; I've read about 3 books so far. An especially useful book that I got covers a system that the author calls WORD:

Wide rows give the roots room to get nutrients and water
Organic methods for fertilizer, compost, pest control
Raised beds to encourage soil warmth and contribute to the soft, tilled soil
Deep soil (as in deeply tilled and softened) so the roots can do their thing

The thought is that you're giving the plants good soil and plenty of room to do their thing. You're not packing them tight and pumping them with water, chemicals and fertilizer.

Last weekend I turned the soil over. Everyone older and smarter that had input suggested that I rent a rotor-tiller. I opted to do it by hand. I'm sure I wasn't as thorough as a tiller but the soil is soft and I got a good workout. I also started forming the beds I want.

Here's what I plan to grow.

tomatoes & cucumber
carrot & pepper
kale & onion
assorted herbs (basil, cilantro so far)

The mission is to be able to whip up a nice salsa from what's in the garden. Cucumber is great, might be fun to try pickling them. Kale is supposed to be an idiot-proof, resilient and nutrient-rich plant that'll go in the area that gets the least sun. Supposedly kale improves in taste even after going through some frosts.

My mom and father-in-law suggested that I just get tomato plants instead of sowing my own seeds. That wasn't my plan but upon further reading, yes, indeed they know what they're talking about. Maybe another year I'll have the setup for starting the tomatoes in a more friendly environment.

The Colorado soil is much different than the rich stuff we had in Illinois. I've amended with compost. I might do more, I haven't added the 1-2" yet. I also haven't tested the soil for nitrogen or anything. I'll keep it simple, get through this year and see how it goes.

I remember helping with the garden as a child. When I got to an age where I could have actually learned something about gardening it became a chore. I do have good memories of gardening with my grandma and grandpa. This was almost exclusively limited to picking the strawberries that we'd later sprinkle with sugar or the corn we'd later butter up for dinner. Midwestern diet, good stuff.

Fortunately Ryder has signed on to be my helper in the garden. I look forward to showing him how you can actually pull stuff out of the Earth and eat it, that everything doesn't just appear magically in single serving shrink-wrap.

Flickr supports video

2008-04-09T09:14:00.001-06:00

I'll probably put up lots of video and move all the youtube videos over to flickr.

The video looks like better quality than what youtube does also.

Google Has Been Busy Driving

2008-04-06T11:28:00.002-06:00

Google has covered pretty much every street in the Denver-Boulder area. Wonder what the drivers do to pass the time. I confess that I'm good at keeping my brain occupied and I don't have trouble with long drives.

I wonder what their algorithm is? Do they drive all North-South streets at once and then East-West after that?

Click here to see the coverage.

With rising gas prices this might seem wasteful but I think it's a good thing for overall efficiency. You'll be able to find where you want to go more easily and maybe even decide you don't want to go there.

I don't see why people get bent out of shape over it. There's more privacy issues you should be concerned with. If you think an image of the front of your house is an invasion of privacy then you have no idea how much information is available on you.

Ron Paul Warning About Business getting in Bed with Government

2008-04-02T20:42:00.002-06:00

Congressman Ron Paul speaking the truth. Ben Bernake saying blah, blah, use up your time, blah, blah.

Life in a Text File

2008-03-29T03:00:00.003-06:00

I did a write-up on how I try to stay organized in a text file. This isn't an original concept of course, but I wrote a Vim syntax hilighter script that recognizes the way I format tasks.

It's helpful, makes it super obvious what isn't done, what needs to get done and all that. As a Java developer, my jUnit lizard brain takes joy in turning red stuff green. This translates into getting things done.

http://neidetcher.com/text_file.html

How to Go From Jerk to Victim in 60 Seconds

2008-03-21T08:36:00.002-06:00

Check yourself into therapy, that's all you have to do to go from jerk to victim. Eliot Spitzer checked himself into sex addiction therapy recently after sneaking around on his wife and paying an estimated $80,000 for prostitutes.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03212008/news/regionalnews/eliot_s_sexual_healing_102869.htm

Hopefully we'll get enough of this recurring formula and see it as the shallow attempt to placate your spouse and the media.

Bliss

2008-03-16T18:22:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago my wife was holding my youngest son. He just got out of the tub and had his footie pajamas on. She was holding him up such that he was standing on her hands as his back leaned against her.

He saw me smiling at him and he saw himself in the mirror being held by his smiling mom. At that moment he knew he was loved. He sprouted the most sincere smile I've ever seen, I swear that a bell chimed as his face lit up.

At that moment everything was worth it and everything had meaning. I hope that when I die I have the presence of mind to remember a moment as satisfying as that.

"I Think" vs "Everyone Should"

2008-03-10T14:35:00.002-06:00

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/10/spitzer/index.html

The recent news about Eliot Spitzer has me thinking. As a country we seem to be unable to think something without forcing that opinion on everyone else. I don't think Eliot Spitzer should be prosecuted for using prostitutes. I don't think it should be against the law. But as someone that uses prostitutes has he supported legalization? Indeed as attorney general of New York state he has gone after prostitution rings.

Are we a nation of people that think this stuff shouldn't be illegal but we're all just saying it should so that we placate some imaginary conservative old people?

I think wearing seatbelts is the right thing to do therefore everyone should wear seatbelts.
I think prostitution is wrong therefore everyone should not use prostitutes.
I think gambling is wrong therefore everyone should refrain from gambling.
I think smoking pot is wrong therefore everyone should be prohibited from smoking pot.

Why does the everyone should always have to follow the I think? I wish it were a virtue to not impose our will on others. I'm not sure how we can go back to that direction peacefully. The tendency in organizations is to hoard power. Law-makers create laws, it's what they do. How do we wipe the slate clean again?
~~~

I believe that every individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruits of his labor, so far as it in no way interferes with any other men's rights.
Abraham Lincoln

Denver Republican County Assembly

2008-03-01T23:24:00.005-07:00

Update: I just found out I'm a state delegate. I'll be going to the Republican State convention May 31st.

Here's my blog post on Super Tuesday night.

Before the assembly

I attended the Denver County Republican Assembly today. This event is for delegates and alternate delegates to elect people from Denver county that will go on to the Colorado state assembly.

I was an alternate delegate. However the 2 primary delegates in my precinct were both Romney supporters. They were less than motivated to attend given that Romney has put his campaign on hold.

The Ron Paul folks planned a breakfast at 8:00 that morning but I decided to make breakfast for myself and Ryder instead. We had eggs and sausage.

I got nervous when I finally did show up to the assembly. There were people with the same colored stickers and some of them had Romney stickers on as well. I wouldn't have imagined that the Romney people had their act together.

Finally some Ron Paul people showed up that I knew and they had the same colored stickers. They passed them out at breakfast. So that was the deal, the good guys were prepared. I got my sticker now everyone would know I'm a Ron Paul supporter as well. I also got a list of all the Ron Paul people by district. I wasn't sure how this would come in handy.

Alternate Cafeteria
On super Tuesday night Romney people outnumbered anyone else in my precinct. The 2 delegate positions were filled with Romney supporters. I was made an alternate delegate.

After registering with your district, the cool delegates go directly into the theater. The alternate delegates go off to a cafeteria. When the districts figured out what delegates didn't show up they went in to the cafeteria to grab us alternaties.

I was lucky enough to be a full delegate since both of the delegates from my precinct didn't show up. Romney people, what's the point.

Candidate Speeches
When I first got into the theater it was packed. I showed up just in time for the chair to call down a representative for the McCain campaign. After speaking she got a polite response and not much more.

Then someone in the audience asked if representatives from other candidates could speak. To that someone chimed in "end tyranny." Oh yes, this was a rowdy crowd.

Before things kicked off an official started reading a statement. He read it like they read legal verbiage at the end of commercials. The crowd worked itself into a rumbling boil. The official quickly complied.

Delegate Selection
They informed us that they didn't have our information broken down by districts. So we would all receive 2 collections of stapled pages. They were approximately 10 pages each, double-sided. The entire room had 15 minutes to select 168 names to go to the state convention.

168 / 15 = 11.2

If we were to find the maximum of 168 names we would have to find 11.2 of them per minute. It was an impossible task and the leadership didn't seem very concerned.

Luckily the Ron Paul people were all known to each other by our stickers and by the list of other Ron Paul supporters we received. A third of those in the theater were not lobbying to go to the state convention. Maybe another third were haphazardly trading votes.

Besides being on the Ron Paul list I also did some lobbying around the theater. I'm not sure how my odds are though. For some reason my name was not in alphabetical order, so if someone was trying to find my name they would've had trouble.

Imagine doing that if you weren't prepared. You're a supporter of some candidate, you showed up to super Tuesday. Now you're at the county convention and maybe you know another person in your precinct but that's about it. You have 15 minutes to figure out what 168 people that might represent your opinion to go onto the state convention.

At some point a fight almost happened. 2 guys were squaring off with each other like they were going to go at it right there. I'll attribute it to the frustration and intensity of the situation.

I can barely express how horrible this process is. In the worst case scenario I wouldn't come up with a process this unfair, lacking in confidence and haphazard.

Resolutions
We voted on 13 resolutions. These aren't binding or law, they just sorta say that this is how we, the Republicans of Denver, feel about some issues that we think are important.

Looking at the resolutions it really makes me think the Ron Paul people had some serious input. I didn't keep the sheet so I forget exactly what the issues were. Here's a loose summary.

To support the US Congress in recognizing Christmas and our Christian roots.

This was really interesting. Some in the audience called for discussion before a vote. The chair asked that those for the resolution line up on one side of the podium and those against on the other. I was surprised to see that those speaking against way outnumbered those speaking for, this is at a Republican assembly.

No atheists got up to speak against the resolution. I was tempted but the line was too long and they weren't going to get to everyone. Those who did speak against it reasonably said that there might be more important things for the government to concern themselves with. The few that spoke for it mentioned how Christianity is under attack. Where do I begin.

Immediately behind me a woman snarled to her husband, "this is a whole new party."

The resolution failed.

Oppose the North American Union.
The resolution wasn't worded as such but that's what it basically got at. It also mentioned opposition to NAFTA.

The resolution passed.

Oppose the patriot act, loss of habeas corpus and domestic wiretapping.

The vote was too close so the matter went to discussion. Again, I was surprised there were so many people against the patriot act. There were some passionate speakers for the resolution.

Those against the resolution talked about how the patriot act makes us secure. One guy even got up and said that if you're concerned about the government listening to your calls then what are you hiding. Wow, you can't give a pass to that kind of stupidity, what a fuckin idiot.

The resolution passed.

There were more, I wish I could remember. Again, all in all I
was amazed at how this is becoming a Republican party I can
get into.

Chain of Custody, There is None

The ballot counting didn't happen today. The boxes get packed up and counted somewhere within the next few weeks. Even while we were there we saw the boxes opened and other ballots being placed into the boxes. I'm not saying I don't trust the party leadership, I'm saying that they should endeavor to make the process as sacred and transparent as possible.

One of the Ron Paul guys was very concerned about this. It was pointless though, the decisions already in place provide for the process to happen as it did. Even though there was no pretense of a chain of custody.

Where from Here?
Assisting the chair during the entire assembly was an old lawyer who served some function as well as being the official parliamentarian. This is the designated guy that knows his stuff about parliamentary procedure.

I feel the need to get up to speed on parliamentary procedures. I just bought a copy of Roberts Rules of Order. Several times people wanted to get stuff done and they were less effective because they didn't know the correct terminology. This is all the "I make a motion", "I second", "I move that" type stuff.

I have hope in the future of the Republican party. I don't have confidence in the process. I still want to be involved.

I hope I go to the state convention, I bet my chances are slim. Of all the factions there I really think the Ron Paul people had their stuff together more than anyone. I may be completely wrong. Ron Paul still has no hope but we may be able to change the core of the party.

The money quote of the night was "this is a whole new party."

The Decision We Face II

2008-02-28T23:58:00.002-07:00

I was reading this:
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/060105_soviet_lessons.shtml

The first part of the article is similar to my previous post. The thought is that there will be war over resources, ironically that war would largely squander those resources. That's true with a conventional war. Where we move our military to capture and retain real estate.

This brings up the issue as to what kind of warfare would not squander oil? Nuclear war of course. We have Nukes sitting in silos, in flight and on submarines just waiting to be used. What better way to eliminate a fossil fuel competitor than to unload your nuclear weapons on them.

We've painted ourselves into a corner, it'll be interesting to see how we get out.

Everyone Gets a New TV, Bitches!

2008-02-26T10:05:00.003-07:00

The United States is in the red.

Look at this list, look at the top, scroll down (keep going).
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2187rank.html

The General Accounting Office says that if you break down the debt per household it comes to almost half a million dollars.
http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d08501cg.pdf

So, given that context?
- Why are we re-building Iraq?
- Why do we have an Army division protecting South Korea from North Korea?
- Why do we still maintain bases in Germany?
- Why are we haggling over who's new entitlement plan covers the most people?
- Why do we give more foreign aid than any other nation?
- Why are we getting stimulus checks?

With our check, we'll be getting a shweet plasma big-screen TV, made in China. Gonna be awesome.

The Decision we Face

2008-02-25T19:48:00.000-07:00

If Peak Oil is on your radar you've probably heard of Matthew Simmons. He's an investment banker for the oil industry and it's his job to know his stuff. He is telling anyone who will listen that we are looking at a Peak Oil situation.
http://www.simmonsco-intl.com/

He's not some nut in a shack in Montana wearing a foil hat. He was part of Dick Cheneys energy task force. I assume that Matthew Simmons told Dick Cheney that the oil age is coming to a decline.
http://www.cfr.org/publication/3971/cheney_energy_task_force.html

Call me crazy but I think that some of our foreign policy may have been influenced by our interest in securing energy resources.

In the near future we face a decision that will set the course of history for the next 100 years. I think we have two distinct choices as it relates to our position in the world. These choices effect my opinion on who should be our next president.

1) We get more aggressive. We fight China to secure remaining energy resources. We pay nations to side with us and we sanction nations that don't. Maybe this turns into Nuclear war, maybe it doesn't. We kill tens of millions for a fleeting resource that won't prepare us for a world after oil.

2) We wean the world off of our foreign aid. We stop thinking of ourselves as having dominion over the Earth. We downsize the role of our government. As a people we re-think what it means to be fulfilled, we adopt a simpler life.

Enter Strawman

2008-02-25T15:51:00.003-07:00

This is a neat clip from YouTube. After not getting very far with reason and logic the caller core-dumps and starts to say how he's going to come down and punch the atheists fat head.

Sure, all theists aren't like that. Most are great people. I think it does illustrate the frustration that theists feel when they can't make much headway when the discussion is kept to the observable world.

You Can't Boil a Frog in Toledo

2008-02-11T17:26:00.001-07:00

The mayor of Toledo kicked out the Marines. The military had planned exercises in the city but the mayor decided it wouldn't exactly have a soothing effect on his citizens. The mayor is correct. When you see Marines operating in your town you should assume that the shit either has gone down or will go down. The media didn't paint the situation very favorably for the mayor.

The military is a blunt instrument. As a Marine I was trained to execute orders like "destroy everything in that direction", "kill anyone that tries to take this" or "take that hill". The US military has no need to train in a North American urban area. They can train in any of their mock-up urban areas (they have many and I've trained in a few) or even on base complexes.

The point is Americans should be alarmed at the sight of American military operating on American soil. It's nothing that we want to be come accustomed to. If we ever did come to accept it, we would be inviting dark days. The mayor of Toledo did the right thing.

Caucusing in Denver

2008-02-05T20:57:00.000-07:00

Tonight was my first caucus experience. Leading up to the caucus I failed miserably at doing what I should have done to prepare. I didn't make enough calls, I wasn't able to find other Ron Paul supporters in my precinct.

We met at a middle school. There were a lot of people wandering halls, brute force trying to find where they were supposed to be. All the Republicans for a district (1/6 of Denver) were herded into a theater. We sat in the rows according to our precinct. I showed up first so I got the paperwork for our precinct.

We couldn't open the paperwork until 7pm. By that time 5 people from my precinct showed up. There were 120 registered Republicans in my precinct, the 5 of us that showed up represented all of them. I think this is the first year Colorado has used the caucus system, there was lots of confusion. Since I had the packet first, I became the person to run the meeting for our precinct.

You have people there that just want to get home but the GOP gives you a 24 page script and another 18 page document that you're supposed to go through. I don't know who was delusional enough to think you're going to sit there and study this paperwork in the moment.

Luckily they give you a high-level list of what you're supposed to accomplish. We did the presidential preference poll, 3 Romney, 1 McCain, 1 Paul (that's me). This is purely for the media and it has no bearing on the actual process.

In a dis-organized, in no particular order fashion they allowed people to get up and speak about their favorite candidate. Although I enjoyed hearing the Ron Paul supporters it was a pointless exercise. Who is going to slog through the snow after a day of work and bad road conditions that is still undecided? Unfortunately an old Marine got up there and screamed for Romney. After receiving some hoots and from opposing viewpoints the old guy informed everyone that he'd be outside after the caucus if anyone wanted to go at it. God bless the Marine Corps.

They ask if anyone in the precinct wants to be a precinct chair. I volunteered, so now I'm a Republican precinct co-chair. I also volunteered to be an election judge for November. I promise to rule with an iron fist.

Eventually we elected delegates. The delegates continue on in the process to the next level and vote for more delegates among themselves. This process trickles up to the Republican National Convention. Since the Romney crowd was in the majority they chose 2 Romney people to be delegates. I was a nice guy and was volunteering for everything so the rest of the people in my precinct said I could be an alternate delegate. So this means that I go to the next level as an alternate. If any of the 2 delegates get sick I'll be a delegate for Ron Paul.

I'm glad I went, it wasn't a finely tuned machine but we'll see where it goes from here.

Ron Paul Rally Denver, CO

2008-02-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

Ron Paul was in town for a big rally. It was downtown at the convention center. They said there were 3,000 people there. I'm not so sure about that but there were many more people than chairs.

The festivities began by playing Yankee Doodle, odd. Then there was a marathon prayer session to start things out. Like, really long, like dude you're just giving a speech and the believers have to keep their heads bowed for 10 minutes. It was injecting a bit too much religion into the politics but what're you going to do. I met up with an atheist friend at the rally, I will say that he did not bow his head during prayer.

Ron Paul came out after some quick speeches by the guy that runs the state campaign and then the lady that runs the Douglas county organization. Of course the crowd was excited to see Dr. Paul speak.

Notable applause lines:

Anything to do with freedom
End the war in Iraq
End the war on drugs
Abolish the Federal Reserve

I was really surprised about the last two. I've done drugs on 3 occasions. I don't see wanting to do drugs but I think the war on drugs is a waste and an imposition on our freedoms. All non-violent drug offenders need to be pardoned immediately.

The Federal Reserve issue still surprises me. It's just hard to imagine that many people understand the issue and can get motivated about it. I've watched Ron Paul give other speeches in other cities and you get the same response, the crowd stands up and roars when he talks about getting rid of the Federal Reserve.

I encourage you to research the Federal Reserve, it's not part of the federal government and it doesn't have a reserve. It's a collection of private banks that operate for profit. They have been robbing an ignorant America since 1913 and it has to end.

Some things I didn't think I'd see at the Ron Paul rally:

A man in a kilt
A woman in a hijab
Guys from Cop Watch filming the event

Ron Paul made an especially salient point towards the end. He drew a comparison with Germany in the 20s and 30s. They faced very hard times, they saw their way out of this by becoming militarily aggressive and curtailing rights. Could we slip into that? 10 years ago could you imagine us becoming what we are? Not everyone can swallow this point but it resonates with me.