On November 30th, Friedman wrote another column praising the superior Chinese Way of Government. .

Do go read the whole thing, I’ll wait.

Now, go read Pejman Yousefzadeh’s excellent Fisking of that column.

Pejman gives me hope that good blogging is not yet dead.

There are all kinds of ‘safety’ features dictated by the EPA and who knows what alphabet agency that make it nearly impossible for me to get the gasoline out of the container and into the gasoline tank.

As a matter of fact, these new and improved gas cans have spilled more gasoline on me than the old style, less offensive to the environment, gas cans which, of course, can no longer be purchased.

Grrrrrrr.

…That’s why Couric has spent recent weeks in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is touring what she calls “this great unwashed middle of the country” in an effort to divine the mood of the midterms.

How much does this woman get paid for insulting everyone who lives between New York City and LA?

If she ever shows up at our farm, I’ll make sure she is one of the ‘great unwashed’, too.

What a cupid stunt!

I believe it’s time to stand up and say something about Arizona, Mexico and the entire illegal immigrant issue.
We are reading in the news, watching on television, entering into debates about a governor and state that are simply trying to do what the federal government refuses to do - seal our borders. GOV Brewer has been personally attacked, the Arizona’s economy has been attacked, and this by an administration whose top officials have not even read the law. This past week Arizona struck back, and it has cost San Diego in excess of $10 million dollars. My proposal is this: please forward this e-mail to as many people as you see fit and suggest that we begin to boycott EVERY CITY and EVERY STATE that attempts to boycott Arizona. I haven’t forgotten anything in California, or any of the northeastern states, for which I need to return to retrieve.

I firmly believe we have ONE CHANCE to save our nation. If we don’t begin to stand up, America as we know her, is doomed.

And now, Big Sis, > DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said ICE is not obligated to process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities.

“ICE has the legal discretion to accept or not to accept persons delivered to it by non-federal personnel,” Napolitano said. “It also has the discretion to deport or not to deport persons delivered to it by any government agents, even its own.” (Source)

So, we now have an Executive Branch Department deciding when and if it will support US Law. It’s freaking nuts.

Everyone I know is for legal immigration. Everyone I know thinks that the current immigration laws should be streamlined so people who are willing to go the legal route can come here and become citizens faster than the current program.

But, my gosh, the way this crazy government - on both sides - is acting, illegal aliens will be able to become citizens by ignoring our laws. How is this going to encourage any citizen to obey laws? Gosh, obey the law in the US just proves you are an idiot, because if you wait long enough, everyone gets amnesty.

Washington is absolutely telling the rest of us to f*ck off. I’m sick of it.

Get involved. Even I decided to get involved. I am now the Republican Precinct Committeewoman for the township of Easton, Kansas. If this gives me even a little say as to who gets support in the Republican Party, it is worth it to me. Too many Republicans have become blinded to what conservatism is. Personal Liberty is at stake.

If you don’t want to get involved politically, at least get involved personally - don’t go to Los Angeles or San Fransisco. Boycott them until they lay off Arizona - whose law only reflects the Federal Law and is there only because for years and years, both Republican and Democratic Administrations have failed to protect our borders.

I thought it the best and most logical argument for drawing Mohammed or any other religious character anytime an American wishes to. Bookworm’s reasoning makes sense:

But if I accede to Muslim demands that I refrain from drawing Mohamed or pigs or boars or ice cream logos or buddhas, I have tacitly conceded that I am Muslim. After all, I am conforming my behavior to Muslim doctrine. Muslims understand this. Their rage over these images isn’t about the images themselves. It is, instead, about incrementally drawing all of us into the Muslim faith. After all, once you’ve stopped creating images offensive to Muslims, and stopped making movies offensive to Muslims, and stopped writing books offensive to Muslims, and stopped saying things offensive to Muslims, and stopped your stores from selling the pork and alcohol offensive to Muslims, and attired your women in burqas to protect them from rampaging Muslims, well — you’re pretty much a practicing Muslim. You’ve been converted, and you didn’t even realize it was happening. And once you’ve crossed that invisible line, a line known only to your new Muslim overlords, woe unto you if you try to reverse that conversion process. Apostates, after all, by turning their back on Mohamed, deserve death. So really, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If you don’t comply with all the Muslim restrictions, they threaten to kill you — and if you do comply with all the Muslim restrictions, they still threaten to kill you.

Go read the whole thing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. The Government doesn’t have credit cards - it has something better… the ability to print money when they want to spend it.

Now, if you and I set up printing presses to make money when we want to spend it, we would go to jail. No, not just jail, we’d be in the Federal Penitentiary. But the Government doesn’t have to do that. Oh, no, the government can just pretend that the money we have paid into Social Security is really there and “borrow” against that money or against future promises.

Meanwhile, the good citizens of the USA have to live within our means - eventually. Yeah, sometimes we get ourselves in too deep, and when that happens, you take the scissors, cut up the credit cards and make deep cuts in our lifestyles so we can pay off those bills and avoid having creditors calling us at our homes and places of work.

We can sell the pricey car and downsize to a used one. We can cook at home instead of splurging on expensive restaurants. We can wear a dress to many occasions instead of just a couple.

But not this government. And I blame everyone, Democrats and Republicans. Instead of looking at how much money is coming in, and then making a budget, they make a budget and then want to extract more money from those of us who they are supposed to be serving.

And why is this occurring? Well, there is a certain amount of elitism in the Federal (and the State, Kansas - you ain’t getting off easy here!) Government. (and if you don’t like parentheticals, you’re reading the wrong blog!). These elite people, you know, the ones who attended Harvard, Yale, Princeton, the big Eastern snob schools who will pass anyone who is admitted, these elite people want to tell the rest of us slobs, rubes, idiots or Fly-over Staters how we should live. And they will spare no expense. No expense whatsoever, in ordering us around. What we will be allowed to eat, how hot or cold our homes must be, what kind of health care we will be allowed to have, how much money we will be allowed to earn..

Congress can stop this race towards Socialism. But not this current Congress. In November, we have got to dump those who support the Obama Administration’s “Spend All The Money On Earth Ten Times Over” craziness and elect people who will put a stop to it.

These Progressives will take and take and take from all of us, and believe me, the only ones in the USA who will be able to live well, will be the Progressives, because they are going to steal everything from the rest of us.

We can all do something. I am now the Republican Committeewoman for my precinct. I don’t want to get involved with politics, but in order to be able to live my life the way I want to and not the way Obama wants me to live, I have got to get involved. And so does everyone who cares.

Many of the attendees were very involved in their local Tea Party movements and came to learn how to be conservative community organizers. Ned Ryan has a great idea here, the Left has been organizing for years, and it is time for those of us who believe in individual rights, the smallest government possible, personal responsibility and our Constitution to fight back by opening the eyes of our fellow Americans.

I am not actively involved with the Tea Party movement. I attended the large Tax Day Tea Party in Kansas City, and it was fun, but I’m not seeing myself in that kind of a role.

I think, for myself, that I’m better off doing what I can within the Republican Party to take back our government. So, I joined the Leavenworth County Republican Women’s Club and I’m becoming active in the Leavenworth County Republican Party. It is going to take a lot of work to get Republicans to STOP SPENDING OUR MONEY! The Party of Reagan should not be trying to be like the Democrats!

I look at the Kansas Government, and the politicians in office of both stripes are spending money like crazy. They are voting to increase our Sales Tax by a full percentage point - and they don’t even pretend that it is a temporary solution.

As I look at the reasons why they are increasing taxes, I see that much of the money is to replace the awful ARRA (American Reinvestment and Recovery Act - the Stimulus Bill) money that was “given” to various State Governmental Entities last year by the Federal Government. Now, rather than make cuts i personnel and spending, the State of Kansas is insisting that they now need to replace that damn stimulus money.

I want to work to get fiscal conservatives into office. And I mean real fiscal conservatives. Kansas is about the highest taxed state in our region, and here our lame-duck governor and his minions and way too many Republicans want to make taxes even higher.

Hopefully, many more Kansans will see the foolishness of the government forever increasing their budgets on our backs.

It’s not just the money, it is what they are spending that money on and why. I strongly urge any Kansan to go to the Americans for Prosperity website and learn about spending in the State of Kansas.

They are all about the insurance and costs, to the detriment of actual health care.

I suggest they look into outlawing HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations)and PPOs (Preferred Provider Organizaions) and all other policies that offer unlimited doctor visits for a tiny copay, or no copay at all.

One of the reasons that our healthcare has become so expensive is that many (not all) people who have that kind of insurance go to see the doctor for a lot of extremely minor problems. Have a headache? Oh, go to the doctor! Did your child scrape his knee? Better go to the doctor! So doctors get tied up with minor issues and people end up waiting much longer than necessary to see a doctor when there is a real issue that needs to be addressed.

The original idea behind the HMO model is that doctors would be practicing preventative medicine. That did NOT lower health costs, and Obamcare’s ideal of doing the exact same thing as as HMO will also NOT lower health costs. HMOs were created to ration specialized healthcare - your own physician is paid more if he or she does not refer you to a specialist. Obamacare will be much, much more of the same.

Here’s the thing. Back when health insurance was basically just catastrophic coverage, no one had a copay to see the doctor. We went to the doctor when we needed to go. We rationed our own healthcare by making our own decision because it was our money going to pay for that visit. All the copay stuff has done is raise the cost per visit for the doctor because he/she has to now pay staff to file for the insurance coverage for the costs of that visit that was not covered by the copay.

Now, Obamacare is simply adding to the costs of a visit by creating several humongous bureaucracies to determine if and when you get to visit the doctor at all.

I believe simpler is better. Lower doctors’ costs, lower the country’s health care costs by eliminating copays for doctor visits. Go back to Catastrophic Health Care insurance and get rid of all the prepaid stuff.

And there is not one politician that I can find who can see how that would work. Why? Because, I think, even the Republican Pols think Americans are too stupid to understand basic economics.

Ugh.

Too many politicians in Kansas love being big spenders and want to increase the Kansas State Sales Tax by a FULL percentage point. That would make the State Sales Tax 6.3 % - add on local sales tax, and we will be charging people in Leavenworth 8.3% Sales Tax.

A 6.3% sales tax will put Kansas in the top 7 Sales Tax Rate States - higher than even New York State’s Sales Tax. Check out this listing of State Sales Taxes across the country.

It’s ridiculous. And remember how high our State Income Tax is here, too. Especially in comparison to surrounding States.

Our legislature and our Governor are all spendthrifts. I say throw them all out and lets start with some frugal Kansans who understand that government should be limited. This is the time to get out there, join the political party of your choice and get involved. The Federal Government is bad enough - we have all kinds of tax increases coming from ObamaCare and possible Cap and Trade legislation.

We need to stamp our feet and say NO!! No more spending like crazy people!

They need to cut the budgets. Yes, that means cutting school budgets, raising tuition, etc. When it comes to colleges and universities, I would suggest that the first thing they do is eliminate the law that allows illegal aliens (undocumented immigrants, or whatever you want to call people in our country illegally) to attend State Colleges and Universities by paying the same in-state tuition that legal residents pay.

That’s a start. I’m going to be looking at the State Budget in the next week and make my own suggestions as to what these spendthrifts can cut before raising our taxes again.

Brian Kiteley,a smarmy, novelist/University of Denver Professor, objects to Jeff’s “About” page, and does not wish to be associated with Jeff because Jeff is just too much into the whole free speech thing.

Which makes me wonder. Would you send your child to the University of Denver to be taught writing by a prof who doesn’t really believe in free speech?

I found this hatchery, Larry’s Poultry, and thought, oh, maybe I’ll buy from them. I started checking out his website.

Then I noticed a link on his front page that said: IMPORTANT NEWS.

So, I clicked on the link and lo and behold, it was a notice from the Democrat Party warning people of those of us who don’t like the Obama Agenda.

Yes, we are “Anti-Reform” Mobs. We are evil. We must be stopped. Oh, an we are afraid! Because we are too stupid out here to understand the nuances of Obama’s Socialized Medicine push, I suppose.

It goes on and on and sounds like a Nancy Pelosi sound bite.

The whole screed was signed by

Jen O’Malley Dillon Executive Director Democratic National Committee

Apparently, Jen is unaware of the many Democrats who have joined Independents and Republicans in protesting the “transformation of America” that far-left Democrats and the President and the Left Democrats in Congress are trying to force upon us.

I wrote the company, Larry’s Poultry, and I told them why I would never purchase anything from them. Ever.

Never. Never. Never.

And because we are stuck with stinking satellite internet access, chances are that we will lose connection as the thick clouds overhead interfere with the satellite signals.

We will most likely lose our satellite TV, too.

Apparently, we are the lucky ones, North of the Kansas City Metro area - we are getting the snow.

A fierce ice storm seems to be occurring South of us. I sure hope the forecasters are wrong, and that no one gets an ice storm. I’d take two feet of snow any day over 1/2 inch of ice!