The most personally frustrating aspect of the Abu Ghraib folies is that over a year ago I submitted an interrogation method to the Pentagon that was foolproof, immediate, effective, and humane.
It’s called TFM Interrogation, utilizing a nutritionally-engineered diet of Tryptophan-Free Meals. A TTP article discussing the method is now posted in the Classics section.
I've known Peggy Noonan for 27 years (when she came on board the Reagan White House in 1985), and for my money this is the funniest thing she's ever written:
"It is good that Joe Biden is going to the Republican National Convention next week to hold high the flag of his party. People make fun of his gaffes, of his embarrassing verbal forays, but he's no fool and he knows how to take it to the other guy. The speech he is working on, to be given in the heart of downtown, just across from the convention site, will be stirring and stentorian: ‘All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Tampa, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, ‘Ich bin ein Tampon'."That's for openers, folks. This HFR won't be a total laugh-fest, for there are serious things to discuss, but we going to be spending some fun time in Guffaw City.
Americans, now 236 years removed from the Declaration of Independence, have acquiesced to far more tax tyranny -- and I do not use that word lightly -- than the British tax tyranny that ignited our revolt.
Modern-day apologists for the progressive income tax argue that it is just - because it is imposed by the "consent of the governed" -- and that is merely their first lie.
America was established as a constitutional republic to protect despised minorities from the tyranny of the democratically elected majority. Democracy and consent of the governed are distinctly different concepts. Once it becomes acceptable to divide a population into classes, majorities can easily take the right of consent from a minority.
A progressive income tax only meets the test of "consent of the governed" when a majority of each class of taxpayers consents to its tax rate. Otherwise, it is tax tyranny of a low-tax-rate majority against a vote-poor, high-tax-rate minority.
The apologists for the progressive income tax claim it is only "fair," ignoring the fact there is nothing at all "fair" about taxing at a higher tax rate those who work longer and harder and/or spend more time acquiring an education and work skills. It is destructive and tyrannical for a society to tax the most productive, innovative and job-creating people at a higher rate than others.
Monday's (7/04) unveiling of Ronald Reagan's statue, described in A Reagan Fourth of July, was followed that evening by a black tie Ronald Reagan Centennial Banquet in London's magnificent 14th century Guildhall. Some 800 Reagan admirers attended and I was fortunate to be one of them.
I was seated next to a nice lady who was the dean of a prestigious US law school. When she asked who I was supporting for 2012, without hesitation I answered, "Sarah Palin." She blanched. "Palin can't win - so there's no way I could be for her."
"So who are you for?" I responded. "Mitt Romney," came her reply. When I made a face, she explained, "For me, it's all about who has the best chance to beat Obama. We simply cannot afford four more years of this guy. I think Romney has the best chance of anyone out there, so I'm for him."
"I disagree with your conclusion, but I certainly agree with your premise," was my response.
A fellow across the table joined in, an investment banker from Connecticut who now lives in London. "Palin could win, although I'm far from convinced of it. I am convinced, however, that there is someone else in a much better position than Romney to defeat Obama."
Our eyes turned to him.
"Rick Perry. I think he would slice Obama up like shredded pork and have him for a Texas barbeque."
If the Obama administration continues to betray Israel, will any ally ever trust us again?
We've been viewed as a fickle (if mighty) partner at least since the 1970s, when we abruptly dumped allies from Saigon to Tehran. Now the White House not only delights in insulting our closest traditional ally, Britain, but has intensified its diplomatic pogrom against Israel -- our only respectable ally in the Middle East.
President George W. Bush was mocked for shooting from the hip, but this administration fires with its eyes closed.
Obama's unbalanced actions shrivel confidence among allies around the globe -- partners we need. Policy differences are one thing, but gratuitous attacks by the White House are quite another. Consistently, it seems, he is on the side our enemies and not our allies.
One problem our troops in Iraq have is the guerrillas using mosques as weapons store rooms and armed sanctuaries from which they can attack us with impunity. This is a favorite tactic of Muqtada al-Sadr and his “Mahdi” rebels, who have shamed and insulted the world’s Shia community by turning its most sacred shrine, the golden-domed Imam Ali Mosque into an armory.
The fat little bearded thug thinks he is safe in the mosque, for were we to storm the mosque risking its destruction, it could cause the Shia uprising he dreams of. What he doesn’t know is that we could quickly cleanse the mosque of him and his murderous riffraff without firing a shot.
Remember the place: Chillicothe (chill-a-koth-ee), Ohio, a small town of some 22,000 about 50 miles south of Columbus. Remember the date: Tuesday, August 14, 2012. For this is where and when the landslide defeat of Zero by Romney truly began.
I encourage you to read the entire text of Romney in Chillicothe - but when Team Zero heard Romney tell their boss:
"Mr. President, take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to Chicago and let us get about rebuilding and reuniting America"
They spazzed in fright and faux outrage - for like their boss, they can dish it out but they can't take it. You know what freaks a fanatic out the most? Doubt. A fanatic is so because he's built a wall around his brain to keep out any hint of evidence he could be wrong. Once the drip of doubt starts creating cracks in that wall, his brain can dissolve into a puddle of goo.
Team Zero was so sure they could wipe the floor with Romney as they did with McCain. They were overjoyed when he picked Paul Ryan to run with him, so sure they could gut him like they did with Sarah Palin. That was so yesterday.
The Supreme Court last week ruled against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a unanimous decision. The EPA had charged a couple with violating the Clean Water Act. It claimed their property was a "wetland" and said it would fine them up to $75,000 per day - but there was no water on the property and there had been no judicial review of the charge.
Where are the members of Congress whose funding enables the EPA to engage in this tyranny?
Republicans whine that they cannot control spending because they only control one half of Congress. But the plain fact is that the Constitution is very specific. Any spending bill must be passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by the president.
Thus, there is nothing - nothing - to prevent the House Republicans from refusing to fund the EPA's desired budget until the agency puts procedures in place to guarantee the basic constitutional rights of all Americans. Yet they are all whine and no guts.
Saranda, Albania. What a spectacular place to enjoy a pint of cold Birra Tirana while contemplating the serene beauty of the Ionian Sea and the turmoil of Greek tragedies.
Saranda is at the southern end of a breathtaking coastline known as the Albanian Riviera. Just two miles offshore of Saranda's beaches looms the northern tip of the Greek island of Corfu. Where I am is heavenly. But right over there in Greece, hell is unfolding.
It's such a teachable moment regarding the world's most dangerous and addictive drug: OPM. Far more than heroin, cocaine, and meth, once people are mainlining Other People's Money via government subsidies and welfare into their veins, any attempt to get them off the drug drives them criminally insane.
It's a lesson we are going to learn the hard way, for what you are seeing in Athens and other Greek cities - which is going to get increasingly worse - is going to become horrifically commonplace in American cities. Truth is, we are seeing it already.
There's an odd thing that happens when politicians get scared: They grudgingly call in the smart guys and let them loose.
Most of us learn about this in elementary school: The smartest kid in the class is more or less abused until the class gets into real trouble; then they run straight to him and promise to do whatever he says.
That was how the Internet was created. It was a "smartest kid" project.
The event that scared the politicians into gathering the smart kids and setting them loose was Sputnik, launched in October 1957. The USSR surging ahead of the USA in space meant that they had to pull out all the stops. The resulting Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was where the Internet was born.
The Internet is structured different than anything a controlling type would make. (People in government are mostly controlling types; the smartest kid in class is most always not a control type.) The Internet's fundamental design characteristic is decentralization. Let's see how we can use that to defeat the The Electronic Police State.
The argument for taking out the government of Syria is growing by the day. The only things holding back the Marines from seizing downtown Damascus and imprisoning Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad as a war criminal are (a) the lack of manpower to prevent the place from collapsing into anarchic chaos before a transition government can be set up, and (b) the literally hysterical objections of the State Department.
"Spec-Ops." A very elite term, applied to the best of the best in our military, the various Special Operations commands such as the Army Rangers, Green Berets, MARSOC, Delta Force, and of course, the Navy SEALs.
TTPer USN Capt. (ret) Larry Bailey was not only a SEAL, he was the guy in charge of training them, the Commandant of the Naval Special Warfare Center at Coronado, California. He's as disgusted at what Zero is doing to our country as we all are - and Larry has decided to take action.
Larry is uniting veterans of all US military Spec-Op commands to oppose Zero's anti-American/anti-military policies in an organization called Special Operations Speaks - or "SOS" - a joint task force dedicated to Zero's defeat in November. All Spec-Ops folks are welcome - and their supporters.......
Edd Forke is bugging me to disclose who Romney's VP pick is. But as my friend John Fund says, those who know aren't talking and those who are talking don't know. So here's the truth: there is no VP pick. There will be, sometime within the next two weeks, but Mitt hasn't made up his mind yet......
We're going to take a break here before getting into all the Washington craziness of the week, and get out into the world to discuss a term that's a real eye-opener: Peak China.
Batumi, Georgia. This city is one of the oldest on earth, as humans lived here at least as early as the 12th century B.C. Now, it is rapidly becoming one of the most modern cities on the planet. Its setting at the eastern end of the Black Sea coast is spectacular, with orange groves and snow-covered mountains rising literally within walking distance of the beaches.
While most of the high-income countries are in the process of squandering the wealth they once created, there are places on the globe that are making great progress merely by doing the right things. One of these places is the small, relatively poor country of Georgia.
Ironically, Georgia, through its success, is a reminder to the United States that reversing regulatory excess and state intervention pays dividends.
Varna, Bulgaria. This stunning city on the Black Sea is 6,000 years old, starting with a settlement dated at 4100 BC from which archaeologists have unearthed a huge array of gold artifacts. Today it is one of Europe's most popular sea resorts, thus this is being written from a balcony overlooking a shimmering blue expanse of a sea called black. I'm with a wonderful group of TTPers exploring opportunities here.
Varna is in northeastern Bulgaria. Late last month (5/28), Chevron announced it has received a license to explore a shale gas deposit in this region that it estimates contains a trillion cubic meters (35 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas.
This is good news for Bulgaria, and very bad news for the world's greatest thief, crook, thug, and gangster. This is just one example of how fracking is the most politically revolutionary technology of modern times.
Perhaps you saw the story headlined on Drudge (2/11) about the Obama Administration asserting that Americans have "no reasonable expectation of privacy" regarding their cell phone conversations.
It's yet another sign of the emerging Electronic Police State.
When we think of a "police state," most of us summon images of Nazi storm troopers or Stalin's henchmen dragging people out of their houses in the middle of the night. These images are accurate enough, but they reflect the conditions of the world over a half-century ago, and they really do not very well reflect what is happening in the world today.
In other words, these images are mostly out of date. The modern police state is generally silent and transparent. It is electronic.
I want you to think very hard and long on this: any email you have ever sent can be grounds for felony federal wire fraud prosecution threatening you with 20 years in prison. The email, or "electronic transmission," does not itself have to be fraudulent. It can still be "wire fraud" if it is only somehow "involved" in what the government deems to be a "fraudulent scheme." Nervous now?
