Uncommon Knowledge: Richard Epstein On Inequality, Taxes, Politics & Health Care

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Ederik Schneider

.

I actually agree with Richard Epstein on one thing. Which is definitely a rarity, but when Epstein says that its not that inequality is a problem. But the lack of mobility and opportunity for people at the bottom, or are struggling in the middle class, to move up. And I only think a Socialist, or a true Collectivist could disagree with that. That if Joe makes a million dollars a year as a lawyer and Tom makes fifty-thousand-dollars a year as a plumber, it’s not a problem that Joe makes twenty times more than Tom. The problem is very few people are doing extremely well in America economically. While so many others aren’t. So what you have to do is close the opportunity gap. Which would benefit everyone.

So instead of having a society where who you are born to and where you’re born and how you grow up, deciding how well you do as an adult, you create a society where everyone has a quality opportunity to do well in life. Regardless of where they grow up and the income level of their parents, or single-parent. That you have a quality education system for everyone. That you give people on Welfare and low-skilled low-income workers the opportunity to finish and further their education and get good jobs and even start their own business’s. You do that by making sure everyone can get a good education in life. And granting job training opportunities to low-skilled workers. Having a modern infrastructure system that stretches to low-income communities. And real economic development in those communities.

Sweden, perhaps the most developed social democracy in the world, at least among countries with small populations, has poverty. And people doing real well and people who live in poverty. You’ll never completely eliminate poverty and any income gap in any country. But what you can do especially in America, is have an economy where everyone can do well. And what they do with those opportunities is up to them. And you do that and you’ll have an economy where you’ll still have a top 1-10%, but that population will be much larger. But you’ll also have a lot more people in the upper middle class and a lot more people in the middle class. And a lot more resources as a result, to help people who are struggling in the middle class and help people in poverty. Which a much smaller percentage of Americans in poverty.

Richard Epstein

Richard Epstein

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VOA News: Henry Ridgewell- ‘Greece Defiantly Rejects Europe’s Bailout Terms’

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Erik Schneider

Greece

Source:VOA News– democracy in Greece.

“Voice of America (VOA) is the America’s largest[1][2][3] and oldest international broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress.[4][5] VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content in 47 languages which it distributes to affiliate stations around the globe. It is primarily viewed by foreign audiences, so VOA programming has an influence on public opinion abroad regarding the United States and its people.

VOA was established in 1942,[6] and the VOA charter (Public Laws 94-350 and 103-415)[7] was signed into law in 1976 by President Gerald Ford.

VOA is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media, an independent agency of the U.S. government.[8] Funds are appropriated annually under the budget for embassies and consulates. In 2016, VOA broadcast an estimated 1,800 hours of radio and TV programming each week to approximately 236.6 million people worldwide with about 1,050 employees and a taxpayer-funded annual budget of US$218.5 million.”

From Wikipedia 

“Greeks have voted against accepting a bailout from the European Union in return for more spending cuts. Early results suggest the ‘No’ camp won with around 61 percent of the vote. As Henry Ridgwell reports from Athens, all eyes are now on Europe’s response…

From VOA News

I don’t quote Margaret Thatcher very often, because I don’t agree with her on much, but one good line that she has that is very true and cuts through all the, lets say bull, is that: “The problem with socialism, is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” That is the problem with Greece right now.

Greeks live in a society where they expect their government to do things for them that their government can’t afford to do for them. Socialism, has its place at least in every democratic developed society. But the only way socialism can work and benefit people, is to have a strong functioning economy. Where most of the workforce is employed and making a good living.

And to quote Milton Friedman, who I probably agree with more than Maggie Thatcher: “There’s so such thing as a free lunch.” Socialism is not free. Everything that government does for, or to its people, comes with a price. And depending on how much government does for society, that price can be fairly steep.

When your government spends half of the revenue that the economy brings in and you have a twenty-five percent unemployment rate that Greece has, you’re going to have high deficits every year and as a result, you’re going to pile up high debt. Which is what is going on in Greece right now.

Greece, reminds on New York City in the mid 1970s and Detroit now and in the last ten years. They’re over-promised their people. And when your economy goes down, you can no longer afford the generous benefits that you’ve promised your people.

What the European Union is telling the Hellenic Republic of Greece (and especially Germany, perhaps) is that they’re no longer going to subsidize an economy and economic system that is failing.

If Greece wants the EU to continue to help them and bail them out, the Hellenic Government in Greece is going to have to get their costs and debt down. And that means moving people off of Welfare and putting them to work. And expecting more Greeks to be able to take care of themselves. And not be able to live off of taxpayers and other European taxpayers indefinitely. That Greece, needs to go back to work and get their economy going.

What Greece is saying, at least a majority of their voters, is that they are not ready to give up their socialism. Even if it means they’ll be able to go back to work and take care of themselves. That why should they have to work when they can be taken care of their government indefinitely. And as a result, they’re probably going to be on their own and without the help of Europe. Because European taxpayers are no longer going to be forced to subsidize a failing economy and failing economic system that Greece has. And as a result the tough times that Greece is going through right now, are just getting started.


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Dark Lord ABC: Bill Maher With Charlie Rose

Posted on July 5, 2015 by Derik Schneider
Bill Maher

Source:Dark Lord ABC– Real Time With Bill Maher, on Charlie Rose in 2014.

“Bill Maher, host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
Air Date 9/9/2014.”

Source:Dark Lord ABC

I disagree with Bill Maher on a couple of things here. The thing about Islam, I’m not a Muslim and that has to do with the fact that I’m not a fan of Islam. Its way too conservative for me as a religion, especially as it relates to women’s issues and social issues in general. But if Islam and Muslims were as prone to violence, America would be a lot more dangerous place. We have what, five-million Muslims in America and not all of them live in Detroit and the state of Michigan. If Muslims were as violent as Maher seems to think, America would be a hell of a lot more violent than it is right now. Without Muslims committing so many violent acts in America.

I agree with Maher on one thing about Liberals and disagree with him on another. He said that he gets booed by Liberals in his audience. Well unless he’s saying something to the effect that public education should be outlawed, homosexuality should be outlawed and it should be illegal for women to work and vote, which is what Ann Coulter seems to believe, it’s not Liberals that are booing him. Maher gets booed by his so-called supporters when he says something that is not politically correct with his illiberal politically correct audience. Who believe that language that offends them and people they care about, should be censored. Free speech, liberal. Political correctness, illiberal fascism.

And where I agree with Maher as it relates to Liberals. The polling about who is Liberal and who is Conservative and who is Socialist and who is Libertarian, is simply wrong. If you look at all the cultural war issues right now, especially social issues, America is a very liberal country. We believe in free speech, right to privacy, personal freedom in general. And also believe in public education, infrastructure investment, comprehensive immigration reform, a safety net for people who need it. We are also a lot more Socialist than we get credit for, because a lot of people who call themselves Liberals, are actually Socialists. Like a lot of Bill Maher’s audience.

Posted in Originals, Real Time | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Liberty Pen: John Stossel- Cool Commies & Other Myths

Posted on July 5, 2015 by Ederik Schneider
Che Guevara

Source: Liberty Pen- Che Guevara

Source:Liberty Pen

I believe this so-called movement towards Communists and communism from Hollywood and their fans, has to do with pop culture and faddism. Che Guevara, is considered cool with this community, especially with the Far-Left in Hollywood and outside of Hollywood. He was a revolutionary and every time you’re a revolutionary from the Left or Far-Left in this community, you’re automatically considered cool, or awesome. And people want to be seen as supporters of people like Che Guevara or Fidel Castro, because they want to be considered cool, or awesome as well.

And as far as Hollywood, if something is considered cool, or awesome and it doesn’t come from Hollywood and especially if it comes from the Far-Left, like lets say Communists, to use as examples, you’ll see actors and other entertainers jump on the bandwagon so fast, that the bandwagon will collapse. And people will have to walk to the latest rally supporting this cause, or that figure, or whatever it might be. The whole so-called political correctness movement, that today’s so-called Progressives support, is a perfect example of that. Where you’ll have a Ben Afflect, or someone else, jump to the defense and try to censor anything that is critical about who this community supports.

The so-called cool commies rave, or whatever, is exactly that. Che, is considered cool, because he was against individualism and private enterprise, was a revolutionary, he wore a thick hipster beard and perhaps went years without shaving, or even trimming his beard. Which is a common theme with Americans under 30 right now, especially on the Left. But there’s no real hard-core political support for communism and a lot of other New-Left movements in America. At least not coming from Hollywood. Which is as about as individualistic and capitalistic a community that we have in America. That is always looking for the next profit and would probably fight to the death to prevent America from becoming a Communist State.

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Michael B. Druxman: ‘Lana & Johnny Were Lovers’

Posted on July 5, 2015 by Rik Schneider
2198

Source:Michael B. Druxman– Italian Mobster Johnny Stompanato & Hollywood Baby Doll Lana Turner.

“LANA & JOHNNY WERE LOVERS, a play in two acts by Michael B. Druxman, dramatizes the story of screen superstar Lana Turner and her relationship with mobster Johnny Stompanato.”

From Michael B. Druxman

There really needs to be a bio pic of the life of Lana Turner. Lifetime, would be the perfect network for this movie, if the broadcast networks don’t want to show it, because different, but fairly like Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, Lana lived the life of many parts that she played in her movies.

Lana’s real-life, was about as wild as the roles she played. The movie The Bad and The Beautiful, is an excellent example of that. Where she plays a tiny and baby-faced adorable new Hollywood Babydoll, who in many ways comes off like a little girl in that movie. Who is supposed to be the next Hollywood starlet and that is how her movie company portrays her. But who drinks way too much, doesn’t like herself that much and dates the wrong men.

I mean, you’re this hot sexy Hollywood starlet, who is actually a great actress, perhaps one of the best ever, who has been in some of the best and most memorable movies ever and you date gangster Johnny Stompanato. When you already have a young daughter to take care of and your personal life isn’t that great to begin with as far as you manage it.

That sounds like the role in a Hollywood movie and yet Lana played that role in real-life. Very well to the point if it was just a movie, she would’ve won an Oscar for her role in it. But that is the life that Lana lived and just one example of why people are so interested in her. Including myself.

Someone who is more mature and responsible with their life, who also has a great Hollywood career going for her as an actress, doesn’t get involved with the men that she did. Gangsters, or some of the men she married and was involved with outside, of lets say organized crime.

A responsible mature actress, perhaps never even meets Johnny Stompanato, or any other gangster. And especially doesn’t even allow for their daughter to have any contact with people like that. Because they are not only managing their own professional and personal lives well. But raising their kids and taking care of them. But Lana Turner, as great as she was in many ways, lived a different life.

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Hollywood Legend Jayne Mansfield

Posted on July 5, 2015 by Erik Schneider

Jayne Mansfield

Source:Marcello– Hollywood Babydoll Jayne Mansfield.

“Lots of sexy,candid or family footages of the iconic glamour movie star Jayne Mansfield.I hope Jayne’s fans will appreciate my tribute.Ma vie en rose,the title of the french song means my life in pink ( color of happiness ).
Jayne Mansfield semble sortir tout droit d’un cartoon,c’est Marilyn revue et corrigée par le génial Tex Avery,encore plus blonde, plus girly ,plus sexy que sa consoeur.Comme beaucoup de légendes d’Hollywood, c’était faux, la blonde n’était pas idiote.Sa vie de glamour movie star, elle l’a rêvé en rose bonbon, sa piscine en forme de coeur, son palais rose du sol au plafond.Tout devait être rose pour la presse et les photographes et faire réver les fans.Sur une route, le rêve s’est terminé,la vie de Jayne n’était pas rose.”

From Marcello

“Jayne Mansfield
American actress and former Playboy playmate Jayne Mansfield (1933 – 1967) in a swimming pool, circa 1960. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)”

Jayne Mansfield

Source:Getty Images– Hollywood Babydoll Jayne Mansfield revealed.

From Getty Images

I just learned something new about Jayne Mansfield: Jayne, was a natural brunette. She changed to blonde, as part of her goal of becoming a Hollywood starlet. Which she essentially became and this night sound very hard to believe, but a lot of what she saw of her in public, was an act.

Jayne played the blonde bimbo to perfection to further her career. But in private, she knew exactly what she wanted and how to get it. And knew that she had real talent as an actress, comedian and even singer. But even if she was actually fairly bright and knew what she wanted and what she was doing, like Marilyn Monroe, she never had the maturity level and was never responsible enough to take care of herself.

Jayne Mansfield’s Hollywood career, was basically over by the early and mid 1960s. She was hot, great body, baby-faced adorable, but inside she was just as cute and immature as her face look on the outside. She had the face and personality of a very big little girl and a high school girl. Who didn’t take rejection and disappointment very well. And as a result, she didn’t take care of herself and drank way too much.

Jayne died in 1967 in a car accident where was driving wild and gets hit by a car. Similar to Marilyn again, Jayne was physically a goddess and had a lot of professional talent and intelligence as an entertainer. But was immature inside and didn’t take care of herself.

Jayne, would be 82 years old today and depending on what kind of shape she was in physically, could still be working today. She would be about the same age of Ellen Burstyn, who is still active as an actress. But Jayne died 48 years ago at the age of 34. She was two years young then even Marilyn Monroe, when Marilyn died in 1962.

Jayne might even still look great and be as cute as a button even at 82, similar to Barbara Eden today. But she never grew up inside and didn’t take care of herself. Which is how you get in a car accident and die from speeding and getting hit. Jayne, was someone whose career could’ve gone a lot better and could’ve been a lot longer.

You can also see this post at The Daily Press, on WordPress.

You can also see this post at FRS FreeState, on WordPress.

Posted in Baby Jayne, Hollywood Goddess, Originals | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Libertarianism.Org: Opinion- George H. Smith- The Philosophy of Independence

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Ederik Schneider

Our Founding Liberals

Our Founding Liberals


Libertarianism.Org: Opinion- George H. Smith- The Philosophy of The Declaration of Independence

“We hold these truths to self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed but their Creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Al men are created equal and I know today’s so-called Progressives, who are really Social Democrats, or just pure Socialists, are going to say that our Founding Fathers, our Founding Liberals didn’t mean for that to apply to all Americans and everyone. But all men, they’re not talking about Englishmen, who were probably the dominant population in America back then, at least ethnically. They said all men, which has been interpreted and correctly so to apply to all women as well.

The United States, is the oldest liberal democracy in the world. We have the most liberal and the oldest liberal Constitution in the world. Even if our Founding Liberals, only meant our basic human rights to apply to Englishmen, European men and Caucasian men, the fact that they said all men means it applies to everyone. They wanted to escape from a big centralized dictatorial big government rule, that was coming from Britain and create their own liberal democracy. That was built around individual freedom and equality. A limited responsible government to do for the people what we can’t and the states can’t do for us.

That is why we have the Constitution and Bill of Rights. That is why we have Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Assemble, Freedom of Religion, to practice, or not practice the religion of our choice, the Right to Self Defense, Right to Privacy, our property rights, the Right to Life and the Pursuit of Happiness, Equal Protection Under Law for all Americans. We wouldn’t have gotten these things had we stayed part of the United Kingdom. The fact that we broke away from them and created this Federal Republic called America and this great liberal democracy with all the freedom that we have, is how we have all the individual freedom that we have.

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Slate: William Saletan: Is Polygamy Next After Gay Marriage? Chief Justice John Roberts Says Yes

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Erik Schneider

Chief Justice John Roberts
Slate

Just to be clear, I don’t think there’s a good case against polygamy. At least one that I’ve seen that would say, “you know what, polygamy is a bad thing. To the point that it should be illegal.” And what I would say against polygamy, is that if you want to redefine marriage in America, even in a consenting polygamist relationship, legalize polygamy and call it marriage. Gay marriage, doesn’t redefine marriage. Up until the last ten years, or so marriage has always been between a man and a women, but there wasn’t any official definition of marriage. Other than it always involved two consenting adults who agreed to marry each other. Legalize polygamy, would certainly change that.

As a Liberal myself, if three people lets say want to be involved in a polygamist relationship and they all know about that, that’s their business. And why should big government be able to interfere with that. But just don’t call it marriage, because we’re not talking about two parties involved, but at least three. To give you a hypothetical, if Joe Jones, wants to marry Mary Smith and Sally Wilson at the same time, or he’s already married to Mary and wants to stay married to Mary, but wants to marry Sally and Sally wants to marry Joe and Sally knows that Joe is already married to Mary and doesn’t have a problem with that and Mary doesn’t mind Joe being married to Sally, as well and perhaps is even attracted to Sally, then that’s their business. Not big government’s. It’s not the job of government to run people’s lives for them.

I would never be involved in a polygamist relationship, at least one that I know about. But there a lot of things that I don’t personally approve of, including homosexuality as a straight man. But just because I don’t personally approve of something that doesn’t affect me and has nothing to do with my life and how I live, why should I or government be able to tell others that you can’t live differently, because we don’t approve. Gay marriage, doesn’t redefine marriage, at least not officially, but polygamy would. So legalize polygamy, sure, as long as all parties involved approve and are aware of the extra relationship, or relationships involved. But just don’t call it marriage, because its polygamy. Which is different.

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Thom Hartmann: Caller- ‘We Need to Repeal The 2nd Amendment!’

Posted on July 2, 2015 by Derik Schneider

We The People

Source:Thom Hartmann– We the people. Not we the welfare state. Or we the big government.

“If you liked this clip of The Thom Hartmann Program, please do us a big favor and share it with your friends… and hit that “like” button!”

Source: Thom Hartmann

Thom Hartmann and even the caller to a certain extent, even though he called for repealing the 2nd Amendment, actually sounded reasonable here.

Look, I’m for what I and probably most Democrats call sensible gun control, or commonsense gun control. And what is that? We know who buys and has guns in America and if you’re not a criminal and not mentally handicapped in anyway and are let’s say 18 or over, you could own as many guns as you want from gifts and purchases.

But if you had history of violence, especially towards innocent people, whether its criminal violence, or you’re mentally handicapped and you don’t know what you’re doing, you don’t have that right. Thats all I’m talking about.

And you did a national, independent, non-partisan poll, lets say from Gallup, or some place like that, you would get probably 3-5 of the vote in favor of a system like that. Before you buy a gun, or receive one as a gift, you go through a 24 hour background check. You pass that and you get, or keep your gun. You don’t pass that and you don’t.

We don’t need to repeal the 2nd Amendment to accomplish that. We need a solid majority in Congress, both House and Senate that believes in commonsense and doing things like this. That also believe mental health care is as important as physical health care. That we fully fund mental health care in America. And we could do that simply through the insurance system. And stop releasing mentally handicapped people, because we can’t afford to take care of them.

And we also don’t need big government coming in and saying that firearms are only for, well, big government. Other developed democratic free countries, may not have the Right to Self-Defense. But those countries also allow for their citizens to own firearms.

But they also have commonsense gun control policies, to keep guns away from violent criminals. And allow for their responsible law-biding people to own and use firearms. Just as long as they aren’t shooting innocent people.

We could do that in America, while keeping our 2nd Amendment in place and electing a responsible commonsense Congress and replacing just one of the Supreme Court Justices, that see the 2nd Amendment as absolute. While they compromise on the rest of our constitutional rights.

Posted in Originals, Thom Hartmann | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Eagle Forum: Phyllis Schlafly: Getting Straight Talk On Immigration

Posted on July 2, 2015 by Rik Schneider

Ann Coulter
Source:Eagle Forum

No, this is not the Ann Coulter Report, or the Ann Coulter Blog. If it was, I would be a workaholic, dedicated to the life and career of Ann Coulter and probably be a Red Bull and Starbucks addict, in order to have the energy to do that. But intentionally I believe, she has the ability to get the attention of everyone who disagrees with her on most of the issues. Which is probably 80-90% of the country. Her latest book on immigration reform, where similar to Pat Buchanan and Ann, is just as Far-Right and perhaps even further Right than Pat, on foreign policy, where they both argue that Latino immigration is destroying America, is a perfect example of that.

Neoconservatives in America, are in love with the 1950s. Actually go back to the 1920s, or even further back than that before women could vote in America. And they believe America has become like Europe economically and culturally. Even though America takes in a lot more immigrants than Europe every year. Which is why our population is growing and they are shrinking. As well as our economy being much stronger than Europe’s since the Great Recession. Neoconservatives in America, who tend not just to be Caucasian, but Anglo-Saxon as well and whose family came from Britain, tend to see Americans who don’t look, talk, think and live their lives as they do, as Un-American.

The Far-Right, being against immigration is nothing new. They were against the Poles and other Slavs, immigrating to America, as well as the Italians, Jews and Irish, in the early 1900s, because these ethnic groups look different from Anglos and practice a different religion. So why would Latinos, who in most cases ancestors originally came from Europe, in Spain, be any different. Ann Coulter, will probably make a lot of money on her book, even from people who want to see how far out and off based she is. As well as from people who are dumb enough to take her seriously and agree with her. But her book won’t change the political situation. Most Americans, including the conservative Chamber of Commerce, are comfortable with people of other races and ethnicities now.

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