Look for it at the end (via The Deacon’s bench)

Read it here.

It is long and fun to read. More importantly, it comes more ground with how a USAv3 would look and makes it quite exciting!

Here are Three excerpts:

Never fear, a satisfying, comprehensive solution is within reach: the Megamerge Dissolution Solution. Simply dissolve the border along with the failed Mexican government, and megamerge the two countries under U.S. law, with mass free 2-way migration eventually equalizing the development and opportunities permanently, with justice and without racism, and without threatening U.S. sovereignty or basic principles.

And forget about English being the only official language except for maybe the proceedings of the U.S. Congress, if even that. Nobody can force you to switch from English to Spanish, we got computers that can translate for us already, and Spanish is easy to learn, since it’s absorbed a zillion American words anyway, and is simpler and more logical, try it, they got gorgeous blonde babes in South America for you white racists to make passes at, and all young Spanish-speaking men and women have something to teach gringos about being laid-back and happy without selling out to the rat race, pass the Corona and lime, you have a date with a Disney dummy. Obviously, even after the megamerge the English speakers will far outnumber the Spanish speakers, and will have the lure of jobs and opportunity to attract them into learning English, so don’t get scared, get glad, our children will all have better computers than we do.

The Extreme South would be like the Great American West used to be, sorry, I’m a historyscoper and love to make historical arguments, a new land of opportunity for white and all the other rainbow of Americans to find a new beginning, and instead of a flood going north, which we already have now, there would more likely be a flood of migration to the south, no passports anymore, it’s all one country, we’re all fellow citizens, just think think thank and grow rich. And after children are born there, as genuine Americans, and think of it as their home, the old border that was holding their parents back will seem like a dead dinosaur of the antiquated dumbass past, I miss you mom, hello? And no, not all gringos like each other, anymore than all Mexicans like each other, that’s why we have 50 states and they have 31, you already picked the one of your choice, including the umpteen million who voted with their feet to crash the U.S.-Mexico border, so after the megamerge there will still be plenty of pockets in all the states for incorrigible village racists of all stripes, right ese, who are the Wachowski brothers? But we will all be under the same federal laws and love our country and flag and want to participate in its democracy and fight for it, try messing with us now Osama and Imadinnajacket, Americans have already figured out that their village racism fades fast when they’re sharing foxholes, who walks around and says I’m a liberal I’m a liberal I had my first orgasm during the Democratic Convention?

Found via Twitter – http://twitter.com/NYkrinDC/status/2327590329

The people will have to get freedom for themselves by themselves. They must wear out the tyrants. They must endure tragedy and atrocity. They can bring over the fence-sitters by morally defeating the fascists, showing grace and persistence with cleverness, shaming-and-embracing the fence sitters This won’t be easy but they can do it. Freedom lovers around the world are with them, but the hard work is on these future free Iranians. They have started to free their minds and a free future can follow.

Good luck to them. I wish them success.

I remember.

On the agenda today: Cold cuts, Ice  Tea, Pie and prepping for Entrepeunerial opportunity with a short window.

Wisdom from an old Monetarist:

The credit crunch, which is the recession’s actual cause, comes only from a lack of trust, argues Schwartz. Lenders aren’t lending because they don’t know who is solvent, and they can’t know who is solvent because portfolios remain full of mortgage-backed securities and other toxic assets.

To rekindle the credit market, the banks must get rid of those toxic assets. That’s why Schwartz supported, in principle, the Bush administration’s first proposal for responding to the crisis—to buy bad assets from banks—though not, she emphasizes, while pricing those assets so generously as to prop up failed institutions.

What about what the administration is doing?

President Obama’s stimulus is similarly irrelevant, she believes, since the crisis also has nothing to do with a lack of demand or investment.

What about “systemic risk”?

Schwartz considers this an excuse for bankers to save their skins after making so many bad decisions. “The worst thing for a government to do, though, is to act without principles, to make ad hoc decisions, to do something one day and another thing tomorrow,” she says. The market will respond positively only after the government begins to follow a steady, predictable course. To prove her point, Schwartz points out that nothing the government has done to date has really thawed credit.

Deflation and Inflaton?

“The risk of deflation is very much exaggerated,” she answers. Inflation seems to her “unavoidable”: the Federal Reserve is creating money with little restraint, while Treasury expenditures remain far in excess of revenue. The inflation spigot is thus wide open. To beat the coming inflation, a “new Paul Volcker will be needed at the head of the Federal Reserve.”

Her and Friedman’s book has long been in my anti-library.

So, Sun Microsystems will be no more.

I used admin lots of Sun servers which were acting as various types of internet application servers or network operations servers. They were good solid Unix Servers. Their apps where pretty good too. The rise of Linux running on Intel platforms took care of their fat profits (yeah capitalism).

I am not sure what Oracle and its shareholders get out of this. Bigger, yes. Better (more profitability), I imagine not.

Cry me a River. Not.

Its a token amount at best.

Anybody serious about cuts should answer these 6 questions.

1) Name one Cabinet Department should be abolished (1/2 credit for abolishing a sub-department or turning a cabinet department into a smaller sub-department.

2) Name one transfer payment that should be ended.

3) Name five cabinet Assistant Secretaries or Undersecretaries to abolish.

4) Name five tax loopholes to close.

5) Name one additional task or program to out-source to the private sector to reduce costs (including a net loss of USGOV jobs).

6) What USGOV owned asset should be sold or leased out?

–

Other Congressional news:

For years, Capitol Hill bonuses have been distributed to employees near the end of the year. LegiStorm, which tracks payroll data, found that congressional bonuses last year were the highest in years.

Jerks.

Catholicgauze has it right.

There is no Texan right to succession.

There is madness in that kind of talk. I want no part of a political movement that seems okay with its “leaders” suggesting that sort of thing.

The matter was settled a long time ago.

The Union Forever.

I finished my taxes at 2am this morning.

I hate the system.

Its not just that different rules seem to apply to elites getting high government office, the system itself wasteful in operation, and has been twisted to support the legal graft done by elites and lawmakers.

The US needs a better system.

I wrote once:

There are two big reasons for Tax Reform:

1. Reduce Compliance costs (leads to less disruption in economic decisions, increased economic growth rate)
2. Reduce Power of Special Interests (which disrupt the economy and political process)

I still roughly think like this:

I don’t like paying taxes on wasteful things and bloated bureaucracies, but I don’t mind paying them for efficient government activities. That being said, the tax system is too complex, costs too much and has too many bad incentives and loopholes. I favor switching to a flat tax system for individuals based on either income or consumption. I favor switching to a flat tax of cash flow system for C-style Corporations (if we are still going to tax C Corps, that is). This can be revenue neutral, but will have the positive effects of costing less in compliance and regulation, and will reduce the distortion of economic activity.

Read more here.

Yes,that is my voice. Ladies, trust me…I sound like Frank Sinatra in the shower.

Here is is an excerpt from an email from a close friend:

Hey .  I have an extra Rep ticket for the show on the 26th.  Would you be interested in joining me?  The show is “The Cherry Orchard”.  Show is at 2p and runs for 2.5 hrs.

My reply (bad email grammar and all):

Hi, I am free that day.

Unfortunately, for a Russian Drama class I had at Madison I had to read Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard

I would rather spend the 2+ hours banging my head against a wall.

Thanks for the offer, but I will never spend one more minute of my life on any thing by Chekhov.

This kind of Cherry Orchard photo’d by Zero-X is still very nice

Found via Slashdot:

During his captivity, US marines forced Saddam, who was executed in 2006, to repeatedly watch the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut, which shows him as gay, as well as the boyfriend of Satan.
[...]
“I have it on pretty good information from the marines on detail in Iraq that they showed Saddam the movie.

“Over and over again – which is a pretty funny thought.
[Source: Telegraph]

The US Army put the cherry on this pile of Awesomness:

Stone, 37, said both he and Parker, 39, were most proud of the signed Saddam photo, given to them by the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division.

He said: “We’re very proud of our signed Saddam picture and what it means. Its one of our biggest highlights.

This is awesome news if it works out.

Now we just need to allow folks or estates to be compensated for Organ Donation to increase the supply/availability.

From Forbes:

Last weekend, a report by researchers at the Munk Center of the University of Toronto revealed “GhostNet,” a computer espionage virus that had infected around 1,300 computers worldwide–including many “high value” targets where diplomatic and national security information was stored. The attack focused on computers in Southern Asia and offices belonging to the Dalai Lama, exiled leader of China-occupied Tibet. GhostNet-infected machines were controlled by computers located in the People’s Republic. Experts disagree on whether the evidence proves China’s guilt or merely suggests it overwhelmingly.
[...]
After the Dalai Lama’s office sent an e-mail invitation to a foreign diplomat, Beijing diplomats happened to phone the same diplomat and discourage the visit. A China-bound traveler who had used the Internet to help put Tibetan exiles in contact with Chinese dissidents was stopped at the Chinese border, shown transcripts of the online exchanges, and warned to cut it out.

The US and China may have have shared interests, but we are not friends, we are not allies. China will use this and all other means at there disposal to further their interests (political and economic).

Question: What did Purpleslog just yell at an ISP vendor this afternoon?

Some things just make me LOL. Kudos to Steyn for the funny turn of phrase.

Also rejected:

Mr. Purpleslog
Purpleslog
Fuck You

…here.

Here is the link: http://anneisaman.blogspot.com/

I thought I would be subscribing to a books-on-DVD service, but I have found plenty of good/great free podcasts so I haven’t bothered.

There is something seriously wrong going on in the USA…the Elites seem to really have another system of justice.

WTF is going on?

How about that!

The Long War /GWOT must have been one because it it no longer exists. The terrorist threat (really the threat to American way from the Global Islamofascist Movement with assistance from the hardcore Leftists enablers and useless idiots such as Transnational Progressives).

While it is true, that the US may face a few man-made disasters and need to undertake some overseas contingency operations, with the War on Terror over , President Obama and Veep Biden have ended the terrorist threats facing the United States.

With our Brave New President, we can own up to our past sins, and make things right.

I confident that the efforts of the Obama Administration will continue to lead to doubleplusgood outcomes for my country!

Update: Maybe I should have waited one more day for this post.

Mike Baker speculates on where VP Biden got his numbers:

Date: 24 February 2009

Call Center Employee: Redacted

Subject: Call #4, Call recipient: Commander Mullah Omar and wife Judy

Audio Transcript

Dialing… ringtone… connection established:

“Yes?”

“Yes, good morning… is this Mr or Mrs Commander Mullah Omar?”

“Who is this?”

“Hi there, I’m calling from the Spenkman Center for Research and Policy. How are you today?”

“How did you get my number?”

“Super, glad to hear that. Would you have a few minutes to answer some survey questions?”

“What do you want?”

“Excellent. Okay, question one… Are you or have you ever been a member of the Taliban?”

“I will track you down like an infidel dog…”

“Okay, well, I just have yes or no as options for the first question.”

“Fine, yes.”

“Right, moving on then. Question two… would you describe yourself as a) incorrigible, b) pensive, c) moody or d) cash strapped.”

“You know, I gotta’ go with a) incorrigible.”

“Are you sure?”

“Uh, yeah, definitely a). Gozzar upstairs in 12B is always telling me to lighten up… chill out he says. What a tool.”

“Fine. Question three… fill in the blank with the most appropriate answer; Most of my Taliban colleagues are in it for the blank. Would the answer be a) excitement, b) money, c) babes or d) excellent benefits package.”

“Well… lemme’ see… that’s a good one… I’m gonna’ say b) money, although we just got dental so the benefits are a close second.”

“Alright then, last question; In your opinion, where is Osama Bin Laden currently located?”

“What?”

“Never mind, just a little call center humor… seriously, last question; What percentage of your colleagues would you describe as unfocused and lacking in jihadi fervor?”

“Huh… I gotta’ say they all seem pretty committed. We had 100 per cent attendance at last night’s build-your-own-bomb-belt seminar, and that’s even with the American Idol results show on the telly. Honestly, I ain’t so crazy with that fourth judge.”

“Any guess for the percentage?”

“That Paula Abdul though… what a looker, I’d sure like to cover her up with a nice burka… you remember the music video with that cartoon cat? Boy could she move…”

“Shall I put you down for 25 percent?”

“What? Sure, whatever… any chance you know Paula Abdul? Now there’s a reason to give up jihad. You think she’s married?”

“Thank you again sir for taking the time to answer our questions. Have a super day.”

End Call.

Heh.

Seriously, Biden is an embarrassment and a joke. Obama signaled amateurism in selecting him as the VP Running mate. We have at least 4 more years of this fool.

That works for me.

I care nothing of the opposition and its nonsense.

Some education related links and thoughts here today:

1. Geolounge points to Carlton College using Google Earth to aid in teaching.

2. Econlog has a post on economics education where Kling asks for suggestions. I think concentrating on basic concepts (with broad applicability is a good idea. Kling also brings in entrepaunerlism by having his students work through the nuts andbolts of starting a company.  Other posters reference two chapters from D. Friedman, or playing Settlers of Catan (I am a big fan of the use of  simulations and games in classes and not just because I kicked ass in those classes in my MBA program), The Henry Hazlitt book (which got me excited about economics), Mankiw’s “Ten Principles of Economics”, “Economics in One Page“, and Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose (big thumbs up from me).

3. Perthaps I was a bit harsh on the MBA. Just a bit though.

4. Shlok suggests a different approach to medical education. I do think more PAs and Nurse Practioners is a good idea.

5. Learn to be a spy