RichardCYoung.com » Politics

Bruins Goalie Tim Thomas Blocks Obama

E.J. Smith — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:00:54 +0000

You had a front-row seat to a sensational block by Boston Bruins MVP goalie Tim Thomas. He chose not to meet the president, reasoning:

I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People. This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government. Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL. This is the only public statement I will be making on this topic. TT

Good for Tim Thomas for making the number one political statement of the year on the eve of President Obama’s State of the Union. Talk about putting a wet blanket on the SOTU. Sorry, Obama, but your performance has been so bad that a pro athlete felt it was his duty to boycott a meeting with you. The Stanley Cup MVP sucked the air out of the room. The liberal media are having a fit. The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont was livid. He wrote:

Not a lot has changed in the US over the last two years, although it appears the economic picture is brightening at least a little bit, despite those in charge of our various governmental nuthouses. Unemployment has eased some and the Dow Jones industrial average has improved considerably. Politically, our nation is a mess, but the material Property of the People at least seems to be getting better. Not every house in the Lower 48 is up for short sale.

“Not a lot has changed in the US over the last two years.” What planet is Dupont living on? Yet you could hear crickets when Red Sox owner John Henry and General Manager Theo Epstein chose not to meet President Bush. Where was Dupont then?

Thomas said at the start of the NHL all-star weekend: “I followed my conscience. Everything I said in my statement I believed to be the absolute truth … I don’t think I need to revisit something that I stated so clearly.”

I hope he does someday. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts attended the Bruins’ visit to the White House. He didn’t want to miss the photo op. Thomas has hit a nerve that he can use to connect with the middle class: the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the rights, liberties, and property of the people. Why not run for Senate and unseat Kerry?

Indiana Right to Work

All eyes are on Indiana, but not just for the Super Bowl. Indiana is about to become the 23^rd right-to-work state. It will become an island of freedom among the forced-union states of the Midwest. Expect manufacturers to turn their attention to the open-for-business Hoosier State.

A national right-to-work law should be next. Do you really think professional athletes, for example, with their entourage of handlers, need union leaders to negotiate for them? With a national right-to-work law, there probably wouldn’t be a shortened NBA season or an almost-missed NFL season, not to mention past strikes and missed seasons by major-league baseball and the NHL.

Union Pensions in Private Equity

The Wall Street Journal’s Michael Corkery wrote an excellent article titled “Public Pensions Increase Private-Equity Investments” pointing out that public pensions have increased their percentage ownership of the Bain Capitals of the world to fund their retirement. And yet they vilify Mitt Romney. Union leaders are only about reelecting Obama. For leadership, bashing private equity is for the greater good, as long as they are protecting their dues-collecting fiefdom.

Ron Paul and Sound Money

David Malpass points out in his Wall Street Journal op-ed “Ron Paul, the Fed and the Need for a Stable Dollar” that the Fed has destroyed the dollar with gold at $1,700 per ounce. He writes:

Dollar weakness doesn’t work at all for economic well-being. The corollary to the Fed’s policy of manipulating interest rates downward at the expense of savers is declining median incomes. It’s no coincidence that inflation-adjusted median incomes rose in the sound-money booms of the Reagan and Clinton administrations and fell in the weak-dollar busts during the Carter, Bush and Obama years. When the currency weakens, the prices of staples rise faster than wages, hurting all but the rich who buy protection.

The Fed’s weak dollar policy is destroying middle-class savers and those who have been responsible with their money. Malpass continues:

Americans know this is a big problem but can’t stop it. Texas Congressman Ron Paul has created an intensely popular presidential campaign around the need for stable money and limitations on the size (the Fed employs 22,000 people) and power of the Fed.

To arm yourself with more facts, pick up a copy of Paul’s End the Fed.

Warren Buffett’s Gravy Train

Steve Schneider — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:55:09 +0000

“These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us… It’s nice to have friends in high places.” Warren Buffett

Your Right to Work

E.J. Smith — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:37:25 +0000

Sandia’s self-guided bullet prototype can hit target a mile away

The Editors — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:00:43 +0000

Take two Sandia National Laboratories engineers who are hunters, get them talking about the sport and it shouldn’t be surprising when the conversation leads to a patented design for a self-guided bullet that could help war fighters. (Click here for a video showing the prototype’s flight.)

Sandia researchers Red Jones and Brian Kast and their colleagues have invented a dart-like, self-guided bullet for small-caliber, smooth-bore firearms that could hit laser-designated targets at distances of more than a mile (about 2,000 meters).

“We have a very promising technology to guide small projectiles that could be fully developed inexpensively and rapidly,” Jones said.

Sandia is seeking a private company partner to complete testing of the prototype and bring a guided bullet to the marketplace.

Researchers have had initial success testing the design in computer simulations and in field tests of prototypes, built from commercially available parts, Jones said.

While engineering issues remain, “we’re confident in our science base and we’re confident the engineering-technology base is there to solve the problems,” he said.

Sandia’s design for the four-inch-long bullet includes an optical sensor in the nose to detect a laser beam on a target. The sensor sends information to guidance and control electronics that use an algorithm in an eight-bit central processing unit to command electromagnetic actuators. These actuators steer tiny fins that guide the bullet to the target.

Most bullets shot from rifles, which have grooves, or rifling, that cause them to spin so they fly straight, like a long football pass. To enable a bullet to turn in flight toward a target and to simplify the design, the spin had to go, Jones said.

The bullet flies straight due to its aerodynamically stable design, which consists of a center of gravity that sits forward in the projectile and tiny fins that enable it to fly without spin, just as a dart does, he said.

Computer aerodynamic modeling shows the design would result in dramatic improvements in accuracy, Jones said. Computer simulations showed an unguided bullet under real-world conditions could miss a target more than a half mile away (1,000 meters away) by 9.8 yards (9 meters), but a guided bullet would get within 8 inches (0.2 meters), according to the patent.

Plastic sabots provide a gas seal in the cartridge and protect the delicate fins until they drop off after the bullet emerges from the firearm’s barrel.

The prototype does not require a device found in guided missiles called an inertial measuring unit, which would have added substantially to its cost. Instead, the researchers found that the bullet’s relatively small size when compared to guided missiles “is helping us all around. It’s kind of a fortuitous thing that none of us saw when we started,” Jones said.

As the bullet flies through the air, it pitches and yaws at a set rate based on its mass and size. In larger guided missiles, the rate of flight-path corrections is relatively slow, so each correction needs to be very precise because fewer corrections are possible during flight. But “the natural body frequency of this bullet is about 30 hertz, so we can make corrections 30 times per second. That means we can overcorrect, so we don’t have to be as precise each time,” Jones said.

Testing has shown the electromagnetic actuator performs well and the bullet can reach speeds of 2,400 feet per second, or Mach 2.1, using commercially available gunpowder. The researchers are confident it could reach standard military speeds using customized gunpowder.

And a nighttime field test, in which a tiny light-emitting diode, or LED, was attached to the bullet showed the battery and electronics can survive flight, Jones said.

Researchers also filmed high-speed video of the bullet radically pitching as it exited the barrel. The bullet pitches less as it flies down range, a phenomenon known to long-range firearms experts as “going to sleep.” Because the bullet’s motions settle the longer it is in flight, accuracy improves at longer ranges, Jones said.

“Nobody had ever seen that, but we’ve got high-speed video photography that shows that it’s true,” he said.

Potential customers for the bullet include the military, law enforcement and recreational shooters.

In addition to Jones and Kast, Sandia researchers who helped develop the technology are: engineer Brandon R. Rohrer, aerodynamics expert Marc W. Kniskern, mechanical designer Scott E. Rose, firearms expert James W. Woods and Ronald W. Greene, a guidance, control and simulation engineer.

Source: Sandia National Laboratories

U.S. Survival AR-7

Romney Wins Florida, Gingrich Vows to Fight, Paul Wows in Nevada

The Editors — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:27:18 +0000

Mitt Romney won Florida, but he has not collected a majority of the votes in any state yet. Romney needs to explain to voters why he is a better alternative than Newt Gingrich if he wants to put this nomination away. Listen to Ron Paul’s speech from Nevada below. As the race enters the caucus states, we will see if Paul’s strategy of focusing on these states will generate success. In his speech, Newt Gingrich vowed to press on to the convention. Santorum seems to be looking to play advocate for his favorite issues going forward. That could severly reduce Gingrich’s chances of putting together enough votes to beat Romney. Read the full results below.

Results via CNN

Race	Candidate	Votes	Vote %	Del*	Est. % In
Florida	Romney	771,842	46%	50	98% reporting
	Gingrich	531,294	32%	0
	Santorum	222,248	13%	0
	Paul	116,776	7%	0

Who Wants War with Iran?

Richard C. Young — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:00:06 +0000

Asks Pat Buchanan in his editorial.

If we have learned anything over the last 100 years, the correct answer, of course, is not America. I do not believe Israel or the U.S. government (CIA) when it comes to foreign intervention, nor should you. With the exception of Ron Paul, no major 2012 presidential contender can be counted upon to stand against the neocon war drum influence. One hope for Americans is that the 2012 elections will include enough sensible voices in Congress to veto any such effort or at the least refuse to fund it. I, along with Ron Paul and the small group of on-the-ground CIA forces in Afghanistan, was for taking out bin Laden a decade ago. After the powers to be back home refused to send in the Rangers, the CIA forces requested to seal off the Pakistan border. Soon after that, it was Vaya con Dios for bL. Game over, right? Well not exactly, as American ground forces remain in Afghanistan today with no announced end game and with a green president who does not appear to know if he is on foot or on horseback. Give Pat’s essay a good read. As usual Mr. Buchanan is one of a handful of commentators who is not a pawn of the neocon, new world order, or income redistribution cabals.

VIDEO: Romney Slams Gingrich, Gingrich Hits Back

The Editors — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:04:43 +0000

Ayn Rand’s Producers and Our Food Stamp Boom

E.J. Smith — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:00:02 +0000

Producers, you deserve to keep every penny you earn. But as more and more of your profits go to the government, you can’t help feeling sapped out. Much of that feeling comes from knowing the money is misspent and could do more good in your hands. You respect money. That respect impels you to make sure it’s used wisely. Bureaucrats have no respect for money. It comes too easily to them.

“Money’s easy.” That’s the feeling the Obama White House conveys when it burns your money on green pet projects like Solyndra, or when it rejects job-creating projects like the Keystone XL pipeline. It feels thoughtless when the reason for rejecting XL was that they didn’t have enough time to evaluate it. And the White House is offended for being called out on the food stamp boom that’s taking place on its watch.

We’re past the point of the government being too big. The government counts every dollar it spends as if each one brings the same result. That’s wrong. Compare spending on core services such as the maintenance of roads and bridges to the cost of keeping people on the government dole with no incentive to seek or find work for fear of losing their benefits.

The marginal benefit for every dollar spent by government has long been in decline. Yet government GDP stats account for every dollar equally. In reality, the return on government spending is pennies. In The Great Stagnation, Tyler Cowen of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University writes:

A dollar spent on welfare for the poorest is more valuable than a dollar spent extending the program to better-off but still poor cases. And so on. Yet when it comes to national income accounting, and measuring GDP, we are valuing every one of these different expenditures at $1. In our measurements, we are assuming that the quality, importance, and efficacy of government stays constant as the size of government grows.

Over time, an increasing percentage of what we spend on government is spent on optional rather than core services because the core services tend to have been around longer. Another way of putting it is to say that the marginal value of added government, even if positive, falls as government grows larger.

In Rhode Island, roads and bridges can no longer be maintained without higher tolls and taxes. “I’ll tell you, it’s not good,” Governor Chafee said regarding potential cuts and tax increases. Cuts “are going to be very unpopular. You can’t do it all on cuts.” George Nee, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, recently suggested raising the income tax on the state’s wealthy to deal with the crippling local pension plans. Are there any wealthy people left?

Hello? Let’s end the cozy relationship between government and union leadership. They’ve misspent your money and have overpromised on other people’s benefits. Keeping more of your money should be your right. Not theirs.

Earning money is virtuous—someone willingly pays you for your services. Yet that’s too much for some to swallow. It reminds me of big brother bully Jim Taggart in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, complaining that his sister, the heroine, Dagny Taggart, is more interested in their business better serving its customer, Ellis Wyatt and that she’s coldhearted because she thinks it’s wrong to take part in developing an underprivileged country that never had a chance.

Dagny responds, “Ellis Wyatt is not asking anybody to give him a chance. And I’m not in business to give chances. I’m running a railroad.” Jim responds later, saying, “That’s an impractical attitude. Selfish greed for profit is a thing of the past. It has been generally conceded that the interests of society as a whole must always be placed first in any business undertaking.” Which is exactly what the government and union leadership continue to do.

Rhode Island’s December unemployment rose to 10.8%, marking the fifth consecutive month of job losses, for a total of 8,500 jobs lost over that time span. In a letter shared with the Governor’s Workforce Board Thursday, Chafee wrote, “I urge you to redouble your efforts to create training and employment strategies and opportunities for unemployed Rhode Islanders.” There goes another $350,000 of the producers’ money.

Sen. Jim DeMint on Ron Paul’s foreign policy views.

The Editors — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:30:22 +0000

Freedoms Lost

The Editors — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:00:05 +0000

John W. Whitehead lays out a terrifying list of freedoms that Americans lost in 2011. It’s a New Year’s countdown of constitutional infringement by the American government. This trend was begun by the Bush administration, but has been extended and expanded under Obama. Here are a few of the intrusions Whitehead points out in his article.

NSA Headquarters

The increase in U.S. security agencies surveillance:

Several years ago, government officials acknowledged that the nefarious intelligence gathering entity known as the National Security Agency (NSA) had exceeded its legal authority by eavesdropping on Americans’ private email messages and phone calls. However, these reports barely scratch the surface of what we are coming to recognize as a “security/industrial complex”—a marriage of government, military and corporate interests aimed at keeping Americans under constant surveillance.

Internet surveillance:

In late July 2011, the House Judiciary Committee passed the cleverly titled “Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011,” which laid the groundwork for all internet traffic to be easily monitored by government officials.

So-called Fusion Centers, which are:

data collecting agencies spread throughout the country, aided by the National Security Agency—which constantly monitor our communications, everything from our internet activity and web searches to text messages, phone calls and emails.

Pat-downs and strip searches:

Under the direction of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), American travelers have been subjected to all manner of searches ranging from whole-body scanners and enhanced pat-downs at airports to bag searches in train stations.

The list goes on and on. Read Whitehead’s article for the scary details.

RichardCYoung.com » Politics

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