Lesson Learned: Facts + Perspective = Truth

Huge snow storm in the Midwest.

In Seattle, snow = driving to one of the passes to have some fun on the ski slops.

To me growing up in Michigan, snow = my dad hollering at me because I'm not shoveling fast enough to clear to sidewalk and driveway...

It's funny how one's perspective can be so different even on something so simple as snow.

Yet another point on how the "public" (government monopoly) schools fail our kids

There are 3 million jobs going begging in American today, even though 20 million people are unemployed or under-employed. Unfortunately, Americans don't have the skills to fill these jobs.

This is entirely the fault of the government.

The public (government monopoly) school system has failed our kids in two different ways:

First, it doesn't provide the math and science background needed for the best and brightest to enter science, math, engineering, or computer science programs in college.

Second, it completely fails everyone else by allowing people to slack off for three or four years in high school, taking worthless classes when they should be learning a vocational skill that could provide them a living.

The government is spending tons of money promoting kids to run up huge debts pursuing college degrees in worthless majors, when we should be pointing these kids to vocations in manufacturing technology, auto mechanics, carpentry, and other well paying trades.

Anyone who calls themselves a "conservative" or "libertarian" needs to understand that our rotten education system is the root of our problems as society.

How Government Programs HURT the Poor

You are a factory worker  in New Jersey who was laid off.  Or maybe you are an immigrant from the Dominican Republic.

You have a car. You get it inspected.  You get your Chauffeur's License.

Can you open a business in New York City?

NO.

New York City places severe restrictions on who can own a taxi company,

Today, it cost about $1 million to enter the taxi business in New York,

Who can afford this?

How does this help the poor?:

Government restrictions like this are why the poor and middle class are no longer upwardly mobile.

The Democrats Doesn't Have a Mandate to Spend, the GOP Has a Mandate to Reform

While driving today, I heard a great interview with Rand Paul.

He has it exactly right.

This was not a blow out election.  It wasn't even close to a blow out.

It was 51% versus 48%.  1% went to an ex-GOP governor (Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate) who wanted even less government than Romney.

The far left are trying to claim some kind of mandate for more government, when they have none.

Over the last couple of election cycles, the Republican party has elected some great people, like Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Marco Rubio.  They have also nominated some complete morons, like the Witch of Delaware and the Rape kooks in Illinois and Missouri.

Obama's reelection team did a great job using the very few GOP losers to paint the entire GOP in a negative light.

Hat's off to the Obama team for being able to elevate someone who sat is Reverend Wright's church for 20 years listening to Wright "damn America" as the "moderate" in this election. It is truly the largest triumph of propaganda  versus reality in several decades.  From a skills perspective, they are the best.   With regards to the future of America...  not so good...

Yes, the GOP establishment are dumber than dirt in understanding how to talk to Asians and Latinos.  The GOP's lack of basic outreach to many people who are natural allies has enabled the left to claim that the GOP are full of racists.

I am married to an Asian woman.  My mom was also an immigrant, from Germany.

I understand that most immigrants come here to fulfill their dreams.  Unfortunately, the ranks of GOP voters are filled with people who just don't understand this.

Even though close to a majority of American's now collect government checks, the American values of individual liberty and responsibility still ring true to our hearts.  Yes, some people are content to let the government take of them, but most people hate being in this situation.

Romney just didn't get this, and that was a big part of the problem.

In spite of the GOP's idiocy, it was still basically a 51% / 49%.  That is not a mandate to destroy America.

The Stupid Party Ready to Strike Again

News outlets are reporting that GOP Senator Saxby Chambliss is ready to cave into Democrats and go along with their tax increases.

As predicted, the Republicans will agree to immediate specific tax increases in exchange for some unspecific promises for some unspecified spending cuts at some undetermined future date.   Of course, the spending cuts will never materialize.

The GOP has done it before.  They will do it again.

This is why the GOP is known as the Stupid Party.

A new Generation and Gun Control

Daddy / daughter lunch with my 16 yo today.

Marissa told me that she has to write an essay on gun control from a pro or con position for her "history" class.

She, on her own, has already picked the Second Amendment position.

She has a very left-wing "progressive" (regressive / illiberal) history teacher. But, Marissa told me that she is not afraid to state her opinion.

I was surprised to learn how much research she has already done and how solid her arguments already are. I was impressed.

I am so proud of all of my girls.

There is hope in America...

More Thanksgiving Memories

I once spent Thanksgiving weekend in Quebec City working on a proposal with a partner (DMR) when I was with IBM.

What a beautiful city, but bad, greasy Chinese Buffet is not my idea of a good Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving Memories

When I was I kid, my dad owned a gas station.

I started pumping gas (before self-serve) during the 1973 Arab oil embargo.

From 13 to 18 I worked every Thanksgiving, every Christmas Eve, every Christmas Day, every New Years Eve, every New Years Day, etc.

I loved working all of the holidays, because I got to meet the some of the most interesting people -- all of whom were scrambling to get

 to somewhere...

My mom used to bring me a paper plate, covered in aluminum foil with 

whatever they had for dinner, so I could eat.

I wouldn't change this experience for anything in the world.

It made me who I am today.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Yes, It's All About the Math

Over the last few weeks, people from the guests on "Morning Joe" (and Joe himself) to the "Center for American Progress" have been claiming that the mounting budget deficits are all about the "math".

Of course, they are right.  Unfortunately, many of these folks don't seem to understand the real math.

Here is the real budget math, from the White House Office of Management and Budget. (All numbers are expressed in terms of percentage of GDP):

Truman through Bush I:
- Federal Spending: 19.5%
- Tax Receipts: 17.7%

Clinton:
- Federal Spending: 19.8%
- Tax Receipts: 19.0% (20.5% in 2000 -- this was the .com bubble that the balanced budget)

Bush II
- Federal Spending: 19.6%
- Tax Receipts: 17.6%

Obama
- Federal Spending: 24.4%
- Tax Receipts: 15.4%

As much as I dislike George W Bush, the numbers show that his spending and taxes were right at the post WWII average.  (I wanted lower spending and taxes.)

But, who is the real outlier here?  It's Barack Obama.  His average annual spending is 25% above the post WWII average (because of growing government transfer programs) and 13% below the historic average for revenue (because of the sluggish economy).

I am a total numbers guy. The numbers from the White House Office of Management and Budget paint a very clear picture.  Government spending is the problem.

This is called real math.

Washington State Ballot Measure Endorsements

The 2012 election is a month away.  So, it's time to give my endorsements on the Washington State ballot measures.

Over the last couple of decades, Washington voters have demonstrated that they are among the most libertarian voters in the country by passing a variety of citizen's initiatives and rejecting a number of government sponsored ballot measures.  Over the last 20 years, Washington voters have: cut and limited taxes; severely restricted the growth in government spending; hardened laws against violent and repeat criminals; legalized medical marijuana; outlawed affirmative action; privatized the sale of liquor; and more.  Most of these measures have passed by overwhelming majorities.  We have also overwhelmingly rejected government initiatives to impose a state income tax.

Unfortunately, in the past Washington voters have been fooled  by enormous big labor spending and have thus rejected real reform of our hidebound public school system.  This year, we have an opportunity to make that right.

Endorse Initiative 1240

This initiative would basically create an experiment by authorizing up to 40 "Government Charter Schools".

America spends more money per student than every country in the world, except Australia and Switzerland, yet American kids score among the lowest in math and science out of all developed countries.

America's economic prowess has always been dependent on our ability to innovate.    Today, many of America's innovators are imported from overseas.  We are very lucky that people want to come to America to build their futures.  While this is wonderful, it cannot be a substitute for educating our own kids.  Unfortunately. most "graduates" of the public school system cannot compete in a global market.

41 states have implemented charter schools.

Charter schools are not the ultimate answer, because they still have to follow many of the same "standards" (a joke) that the other public schools have to follow.  Even though they may be an improvement over the current government monopoly schools, they are still a far away from real education reform.

But, initiative 1240 is a foot in the door. Any foot in the door is better than kowtowing to the existing failed system.

That's why I support 1240.


Endorse Initiative 74

Historically, America had common law marriages -- if two people said that they were married, then they were married in the eyes of the law.

Unfortunately, state governments started requiring marriage licenses and started outlawing common law marriages during the Progressive Era, when 38 governments created requirements to get a license to marry, in most cases to prevent whites from marrying non-whites.

Initiative 74 would allow same-sex couples to marry, but also preserve the right of clergy and religious organizations to REFUSE to perform, recognize, or accommodate any marriage.

This is called freedom.

I would much prefer the government get their sticky fingers out of marriage altogether and return to America's historic tradition of common law marriage.  Unfortunately, that is not on the ballot this year.

So, I support Initiative 74 as a first step.


Endorse Initiative 502

The so-called "War on Drugs" has been a complete failure.  It has only resulted in violence -- violence in our inner cities; violence on our border, and violence within our friends in Mexico and Columbia -- as criminals have monopolized the market.

Conservatives like William Buckley, Milton Friedman, Barry Goldwater, and George Schultz have long ago endorsed ending the drug war.

Pat Robertson himself has now endorsed the legalization of marijuana.

Initiative 502 would legalize the production, possession, delivery and distribution of marijuana to people 21 years of age and older.

It would also pose severe penalties for who those who drive while drunk or high.

It's time to end the madness.  It's time to end the violence.  It's time to end the criminal's control of this market.

It's also yet another in a growing list of state's rights versus federal power wedge issues that are so important to the future of our federalist system.

That is why I support Initiative 502.

Endorse Initiative 1185

The voters of Washington State have done a great job handcuffing the profligate spending ways of our state politicians and also limit their ability to raise taxes.

Unfortunately, the politicians never give up.  They have managed to subvert prior initiatives across the board.

Initiative 1185 re-affirms what we have already passed -- to require a 2/3rds vote of the legislature or people to raise taxes.

I support Initiative 1185... 100%

Obama's Tragic Foreign Policy Failure in the Middle East

Over the last couple of weeks, the Muslim world has exploded in anti-America violence that have left more than a dozen people dead, including the American Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.

The violence started on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America that killed 3,000 Americans.

Initially, the Obama administration insisted that the violence was a random response to some obscure film, made by an Egyptian Coptic Christian who had immigrated to America.  The film had depicted the Muslim "Prophet" Muhammad in a less than flattering light.

As we later learned, the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya was part of a planned, coordinated terror attack.

President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, and other Obama administration officials spent nine days denying this, in spite of the Libyan government and other sources surfacing evidence to the contrary.

Now we are learning that the Obama administration may have been warned three days in advance of attacks, yet they did nothing to protect the Ambassador and the other three Americans who were brutally murdered.

Thank god for the internet, which enabled Americans to get the real truth about this from a British publication (The Daily Mail) which broke the story several days before it surfaced in the American media.

With the unprecedented American media bias towards Obama during this election cycle and the last, can you image what would have happened if the American news was still monopolized by ABC, CBS, and NBC?

We may have never found out the truth.

What was Obama's response to the murder of four Americans?  Waste American tax money running commercials in the Middle East that essentially apologize for America's fundamental belief in freedom of speech.

I am no neo-con crusader who thinks we should be wasting American tax money and the lives of our kids trying to force western democracies on the tribal peoples in the Middle East.  I was against the Iraq War from the very beginning.  While I supported military action to bring the 9/11 terrorists to justice, I was against the 10 year long, futile nation-building exercise in Afghanistan from the beginning.

However, I ABSOLUTELY agree with President Reagan that America should be dealing with the world in a position of strength.

Unfortunately, Obama is proving himself to be more and more like Jimmy Carter every day -- running around apologizing for fundamental American values like freedom of speech, while refusing to call terrorists terrorists due to some twisted sense of global political correctness.

Reagan was right -- Peace through Strength.

The wimpy appeasement of Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama is dead wrong.

Yes, dead wrong, as the families of Ambassador Chris Stevens and the other three Americans who were murdered in the Libya know all too well.

Speaking of Abortion...

Todd Akin's misguided and incorrect statements about "legitimate rape" have stirred up yet another hornet's nest about America's currently longest lasting polarizing issue -- abortion.

We are fortunate today to have much more medical evidence about what really happens in the womb than we had when the Supreme Court overreached and set abortion policy in stone in 1973.

Our current medical understanding demonstrates that both sides are incorrect of their view of how a pregnancy starts and how life develops.

A pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg attaches itself to the uterine wall.  This happens about the 6th day after fertilization.

However, half of fertilized eggs never attach to the uterine wall. Those 50% of fertilized eggs get flushed out during the next menstruation.  So, it's very difficult from a scientific perspective to argue that "conception" should be the criteria for abortion policy, when half of all "conceptions" are naturally terminated.

We now also know that at 21 days the fetus's heart starts beating. There are also a bunch of other pregnancy milestones that science has uncovered that we didn't know about in 1973.  Brain waves start about 40 days.  Hearing starts about 50 days.  Ability to feel pain... Viability outside the womb...  more... So, it's very difficult from a scientific perspective to argue that a human fetus with a beating heart, yet alone brain waves, hearing, ability to feel pain, and viability outside the womb is somehow not a human life until it passes through the birth canal (and even after that according to some extremists).

There are reasonable and rational positions on abortion that could be constructed based on actual current scientific evidence.

Unfortunately, one side only cares about their 1960's selfish, hedonistic view of the world, while the other side bases their entire position upon a narrowly defined interpretation of 2,000 plus year old Biblical passages.

Both sides are incorrect according to current medical evidence.

Current medical evidence can and does change based on our increasing knowledge. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court overstepped their authority in 1973 and as a result they locked Americans into an endless conflict based on a now obsolete view of scientific evidence.

Almost all of us can agree that if at any point during the pregnancy the mother's life becomes at risk, then it is absolutely the mother's choice on what to do.

Most of us can also agree that if a woman reports a rape, it is also her choice on what to do, at least in the early stages of pregnancy.

But, we as a society also need to get to a point where almost all of us can agree on a reasonable and rational view of abortion in general based on scientific evidence.

Unfortunately, thanks to the overreaching 1973 Supreme Court, we are a long way away from that.

Until we do, we will continue to suffer from the extremists on both sides.

CO2 Emisions Lowest Since 1992

In a surprising turn of events, over the last few years America has dramatically lowered the amount of CO2 being released into the atmosphere.  In fact, current CO2 emissions are back to where they were in 1992.

A triumphant success of government regulations, right???

Wrong.

The reason we've been able to do this is that a market innovation -- hydraulic fracking technology -- has lowered the price of natural gas from over $10 per thousand cubic feet in 2005 to around $3 per thousand cubic feet today.  This had made natural gas cheaper than coal.

As a result, the amount of our electricity that we get from coal has dropped from 50% of the total to 35% of the total today, as operators have switched to natural gas.

Most of the world's politicians, regulators, and climate "scientists" had no idea that this was coming because it happened as a result of market innovations, not heavy-handed government regulations.

What is hydraulic fracking?  It's a method for extracting natural gas (or oil) from rock deep below the earth's surface.  A mixture of pressurize water and sand to used to force fissures in the rock, making it easier for the gas to escape.

Fracking was first invented in 1947, but it wasn't heavily used until 1997 in Texas.

The U.S. has the second largest shale deposits in the world.  Fracking technology has unlocked an estimated additional 100 year reserve of natural gas in the U.S.

Here's the fun part:   The U.S. should be able to meet it's proposed obligations under the Kyoto protocols (which we never signed) by 2020, without the heavy hand of government forcing the issue.

This is a true triumph of the free market that should teach the busy body politicians to keep their desires to micromanage the economy to themselves and let people be free to innovate to solve our problems.

Government''s War on Business

One of the big questions about the on-going lousy economy is why aren't people starting more businesses on their own, rather than relying on government?

The short answer is that governments at all levels in the U.S., have systematically created rules that make it increasingly difficult to start a business in America.

We've all heard about the police shutting down children's lemonade stands in several states because the kids don't have a license to conduct business on their front lawn.

The problem is much deeper than that.

My wife owns a home daycare business. Over the last three years, she has been very successful, by providing great service to her customers.

Washington State has a program that subsidizes the day care payments of low income kids.

Given where we live, my wife had long ago decided not to take government subsidized daycare students.

Good thing that she didn't.

Washington State recently passed a law stating that if your home daycare accepts low income kids, who get a government subsidy, then you are actually an employee of the state, and therefore need to join the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

WOW!!!

This may be the first case ever where a small business owner is compelled by the government to join a union.

What happens to the poor kids when small day care owners don't want to join the union? They are left out in the cold.

It's yet another awful unintended consequence of crazy government laws.

This isn't the only case where politicians have enacted rules that prevent small businesses from starting and serving their community.

There are a ton of immigrants who would love to start a taxi company in New York.

They get a driver's license. They buy a car. They get their car inspected. These are all reasonable requirements, but no dice -- government requires them to bid on a Taxi Medallion, which is used to restrict entry into the market.  A Taxi Medallion  now costs $1 million.

Many poor people who want to start their own business and rely on themselves can't do so because governments across the United States have restricted the market to prevent competition.

Most of these ambitious people wind up becoming someone else's employee, usually at minimum wage... it's hardly the American dream.

The really smart and ambitious ones wind up in the black market, selling drugs or engaging in other questionable activities.

Wouldn't society be better served with them starting and running a legitimate business?

America became a GREAT country because we enabled people to follow their own dreams, open a business, and become their own boss.

Now, governments at all levels systematically destroy people's dreams by restricting entry into markets to create monopolies or oligopolies for themselves or for the special interests.

It's wrong.

Limited liability -- the bogyman of leftists

Leftists love to bellyache about the horrors of "limited liability", which they perceive as some corrupt conspiracy to put corporations in charge of the world, "over people".

What is "limited liability"?

It's the system where your personal financial liability for an organization is limited to the extent of your involvement in that organization.

Let's imagine a world without limited liability...

You buy one share of stock in IBM for $209.

You don't own the company. You don't control the company. You certainly don't manage the company. You don't even work at the company.

Something happens where the company is sued.

The people suing can now claim your house, car, everything else you own, and potentially garnish your wages until you die.

A world without liability that is limited to your involvement in an organization results in a primitive world, devoid of cars, airplanes, computers, and everything else that requires huge investments in time, money, and people.

Unlimited liability results in no one ever being able to assemble the resources needed to create these things.

Making people liable for things that they don't control is undoubtedly the dumbest of all the leftist fantasies.

Yet we keep hearing about this nonsense from leftist no-nothings over and over and over again.

This should tell us all something important about the leftist mindset and why we should completely dismiss everything that they say.

How Consumerism can fix our Healthcare System

Americans are the greatest shoppers on the earth.

Yet, government prohibits us from shopping for some of the most important needs in our lives like heath care as well as education services for our children.

In the early 1960s, America spent 6% of GDP in health care. So did Singapore.

America and Singapore both reformed their health care systems in very different ways.

America created two single payer systems -- one for old people (Medicare) and one for poor people (Medicaid).

Singapore created a nation of health care shoppers who have health savings accounts and who must make their own healthcare decisions.

Today, America spends 18% of GDP on healthcare and Singapore spends less than 4%.

Singapore has better outcomes as measured by life expectancy and infant morality.

The 20th century model of big government making decisions for average people has failed in healthcare, education, and just about everything else.

It's long past time that America stops listening to the self-serving 20th century reactionaries and undertake true government reform that will put the country on the right path to a successful future.

Obama's New Scheme to Control the Internet and Spy on Americans

The Obama administration has been quietly plotting new controls on the Internet, including an ill-advised scheme to issue everyone a single Internet ID.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced that the government is drafting a plan called the "National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace" to centralize efforts to create a "trusted" identity eco-system.

Locke said that one of the goals of the program is to reduce or eliminate the need for people to memorize multiple passwords.

The plan will rely on private identity providers, rather than government to issue ids and run the system.

There are several problems with the Obama's Administration plan:

First, having one id is not a good idea. Why is identity theft becoming such a big problem? Because all of your financial information is tied to one government issued id called a Social Security number. Once a criminal gets a hold of that, they can unlock you entire financial life. Having multiple ids enables you to segment your life and reduce the overall damage that can be done if one of the ids is compromised.

Second, there are already multiple identity providers on the internet whose ids can be used across web sites. They include Microsoft Live, Google, Yahoo, and Facebook.

Third, There are already open standards for authentication (OpenID) and authorization (OAuth) that are widely used by these identity providers and various web sites.

Forth, since the government is sponsoring the system, they will undoubtedly mandate that the companies running the system provide access so that the government can spy on our activities.

As usual, the government is claiming that there is a problem when no real problem exists, for the sole purpose of gaining power and control over yet another aspect of our lives. As always, the end result will be the exact opposite of the government's stated goal -- internet privacy will be completely destroyed.

Rick Santorum is no Conservative Savior

Rick Santorum's virtual tie in Iowa has propelled him into the national spotlight overnight.

Just three weeks ago, Santorum was polling in the low to middle single digits in Iowa. Many people questioned why he was even in the race. I thought that he was probably running for Vice President -- someone who could give Mitt Romney credibility with social conservatives.

Now that Santorum has emerged as the latest front-runner among the GOP Presidential contenders, it's time to take a close look at who Rick Santorum really is.

Santorum was born in 1958 in West Virginia. His parents were government employees who worked at a VA Hospital in neighboring Pennsylvania. After graduating from college with a Law Degree, Santorum went to work for the government as a legislative aide to a Pennsylvania State Senator. He later served on a Pennsylvania government transportation committee.

Santorum was elected to the House of Representatives in 1990. In 1994 he was elected to the Senate as part of the Gingrich revolution. In 1996, Santorum served as Chairman of the Republican Party Task Force on Welfare Reform and he helped steer that important piece of legislation through the Senate.

However, during the Bush the administration, Santorum helped lead the GOP away from their principles, by concocting all kinds of government spending programs designed to create new government dependent constituencies that would be loyal to the GOP.

Rick Santorum voted for the first new federal entitlement program since LBJ (Medicare Part D), the largest federal intrusion into the classroom in history (the failed No Child Left Behind), the largest pork barrel infrastructure bill in history (including the infamous "bridge to nowhere"), thousands of earmarks, Bush's two ill-conceived wars in the Middle East, and much more. Santorum and his buddies turned a balance budget into huge deficits and set the stage for the Democrats to regain control of the Congress and White House.

Rick Santorum is the poster boy for everything that was wrong with the GOP during the Bush administration. As a result, he got booted out of office in 2006 along with the rest of the GOP Congress. He lost to a conservative Democrat by a whopping 59% to 41%.

During the 1980s, Ronald Reagan vetoed a transportation bill from a Democrat Congress because it contained 150 earmarks. During the Bush Administration, Santorum helped to Sheppard a transportation bill through a GOP Congress that contained over 1,000 earmarks (including the "bridge to nowhere"). Bush signed it. This alone should tell us all how much so-called "conservatives" like Santorum have veered off of the course set for us by Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.

Santorum also endorsed liberal GOP Senator Arlen Specter over his conservative challenger Pat Toomey in 2004. Specter won the primary and the election. Thanks to Rick Santorum, Arlen Specter was around to cast the 60th and deciding vote for Obamacare in the Senate.

I've watched every GOP debate during this election cycle. One thing that really strikes me is that of all of the current GOP Presidential candidates, Rick Santorum seems to have learned the least from Bush's misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan. Like Bush, Santorum seems to believe that the U.S. government can force a western civilization on a country like Afghanistan, where no reasonable civilization has ever existed before.

Earlier this week Rush Limbaugh was bellyaching about people questioning Santorum's conservative credentials. Limbaugh stated that "conservatives" actually do believe in big government -- just not the same kind of big government that liberals believe in. Oh really???

So sure, if our new definition of a "conservative" is someone who wants to conserve the growth of government over the last 80 years and the corrupt cronyism that it spawned, then Santorum is indeed a "conservative".

However, if our definition of a "conservative" is someone who wants to conserve the Constitution, limited government, the free market, and our individual liberty, then Santorum isn't even close to fitting the bill.

I hope and pray that the good people of New Hampshire take a hard look at Rick Santorum in the context of their state motto -- "Live Free or Die" -- and render their verdict accordingly.