Political Class and Crony Capitalism

I was elated but very suspicious when communism failed suddenly in Eastern Europe in 1989. I suspected that the communist elites had decided to go underground to recoup and gain the trust of the west while attempting to rebuild their ranks.

The communists’ economic system of surplus was such a dismal failure that it was necessary to hide for a while. People were starving literally and figuratively for capitalism, economic freedom, personal freedom, religious freedom, and a better life for their families. They had reached the breaking point where suffering would change into revolt.
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Global Warming, EPA, and Exploding Toilets

ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson posed an interesting question in support of the idea that we should not worry about cutting carbon emissions, “What good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers?”

The upcoming state of the union will address global warming in the coldest day of SOU address in history. (Steven Goddard/Real Science)
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The Polar Vortex Was Called Winter in My Childhood

104It was bitter cold last night. Tiny snowflakes started to fall in the afternoon, turning lawns into a fantastic winter wonderland. Snow began to accumulate like a soft immaculate blanket. Then the hawk came and started blowing the soft dry snow into swirls of wind, howling past the windows, biting and stinging cheeks with the pricking sensation of needles. The wind chill was below 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Conservation Easements for Unsuspecting Farmers

072Orchard in northern Virginia
After Delegate Bobby Orrock introduced on January 8, 2014, HB 268 and Senator Richard Stuart filed a companion bill, SB51, Delegate Bob Marshall introduced on January 17, 2014, HB 1219.

The first two bills reintroduced the Right to Farm Act HB 1430 (Boneta Bill) which passed in the House but was defeated in the Virginia Senate last year. I have discussed the battle in my recent article, “Boneta Bill Part Deux.” http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/60539
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Boneta Bill Part Deux

Martha Boneta and LambFarming comprises less than three percent of American labor force that feeds 307 million Americans and many other millions around the world yet government regulations are making it harder and harder for small farms to operate and bring wholesome foods to the market.

Why should farmers be subjected to “annual property monitoring visits and inspections” by environmental groups, environmental councils, and local supervisors beholden to international agencies, groups that have no idea how their food gets to the table nor do they care?
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Voodoo Economics and Unemployment

Ninety-two million Americans are unemployed yet the spin masters are telling voters with a straight face that the economy is recovering nicely. The much touted 6.7 percent (U-3) unemployment rate has dropped again miraculously in December thanks to voodoo economics and statistics that totally discount millions of discouraged workers who have dropped out the labor force and stopped looking for work.

If Americans out of the labor force are counted, the unemployed rate is the U-6 reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 13 percent. The civilian labor force participation also dropped to 62.8 percent.
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The Skinny on Bitcoin

Precious metals, gold, silver, copper, have been used as payment for goods and services as early as 2500 B.C. Such money made of precious metals was called commodity currency because it had intrinsic value, the precious metal which could be melted or shorn on the edges to make gold dust.

Currency circulating today, not backed by gold or silver since August 1971, is fiat currency, created and authorized by governments as their official currency. It has value only because the government says it does and there is faith in that particular government that prints the currency.
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The Government 200 Square Feet Stack and Pack A-Podments

An American diplomat who flew over communist Romania during Ceausescu’s reign of terror asked the innocent question, where are the farmers and their homes, I see nothing but fields of green everywhere?

The accompanying hosts looked at each other embarrassed and nobody answered the question. It was too undiplomatic and dangerous to explain to this westerner coming from the land of freedom and private property that the farmers’ land had been confiscated, collectivized, and the former owners moved by force to government assigned concrete block apartments ranging in size from 200-400 square feet.
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The Ship of Global Warming Folly

Das Narrenschiff Das Narrenschiff – Albrecht Durer
I ponder the 1549 German woodcut, “Ship of Fools,” Albrecht Durer’s illustrations, and even Hieronymus Bosch’s artistic allegory of humanity’s folly sailing aboard a ship without a pilot, a stark reflection of what humans do, sometimes ignorant of their own direction, pursuing untrue and unattainable objectives.

The January 2, 2014 article in The Australian, “Stuck on a ship of (cold) fools,” talks about the Australasian Antarctic Expedition from the University of New South Wales, led by Professor Chris Turney, on a mission to trace the Antarctic expedition of 1911 when Douglas Mawson’s ship was not icebound. Since then, the sea ice has been increasing despite United Nation’s International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) faulty forecasts based on its global warming modeling. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/editorials/stuck-on-a-ship-of-cold-fools/story-e6frg71x-1226793309195
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Tiger Paws

Tiger and AprilPrincess, the cat we babysat for a military family assigned overseas, was pregnant. What a joy! We had no idea because she was a plump kitty. She gave birth on January 18 to three smoke-grey kittens and a yellow one. She dropped him on the garage floor far from warmth and his mother’s care. We found him meowing weakly on the cold cement and we decided to adopt him. Who can resist the determined and lucky runt of the litter with such a will to live? We gave the other three to good homes and returned mom, Princess, to its rightful owners when they returned.
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