Veterans Day, Nov 11 2008

This picture shows two veteran fighter pilots of the Vietnam War, Dan Cherry and Hong My. They tried to kill each other during the war and now as veterans they embrace.

A military veteran or active duty service person is likely to be someone that at one time in their life signed a blank check with their country to invade and occupy another country and kill innocent people who had not attacked their own country. They sign this blank check in order to receive a monthly check, a reenlistment bonus, and other prizes.

A military veteran could be Chinese, Russian, German, Iranian, North Korean, North Vietnamese, Cambodian, Indian, Italian, Brazilian, Mexican, Roman, Viking, Japanese, English, Greek, Trojan, Persian, Apache, and many others. The veteran could have fought for the Spanish fascists or the Spanish communist, neither worth spilling blood for. They all served in a thousand unnecessary wars started by old men. All war is about plunder, pride, irrational fears, patriotism, and other human emotions.

The veteran was often shamed or forced (drafted) into fighting in unnecessary wars. The White Feather Brigade was a group of women who handed out a white feather to young men in England trying to get them to enlist for World War I.

The veteran was often a young man who was desperate to find a place to belong, or a place to learn a skill.

A veteran will be someone who reenlisted in the military just for a steady paycheck in a weak economy. "Sgt. Ryan Nyhus spent 14 months patrolling the deadly streets of Baghdad, where five members of his platoon were shot and one died. As bad as that was, he would rather go back there than take his chances in this brutal job market. Nyhus re-enlisted last Wednesday, and in so doing joined the growing ranks of those choosing to stay in the U.S. military because of the bleak economy.
"In the Army, you're always guaranteed a steady paycheck and a job," said the 21-year-old Nyhus. "Deploying's something that's going to happen. That's a fact of life in the Army — a fact of life in the infantry."The veteran was often a desperate young man who was lied to by a recruiter.

A veteran may be someone whose witness to horrors turns him into a reticent recluse. Other veterans will want parades, adulation, and the nation to forever be in debt to them.

43,000 people who enlisted in the U.S. Military after 2001 have been made citizens. They were not citizens when they enlisted. Many men would fight for many countries other than their own country if the pay was good enough. The French Foreign Legion consisted of 74% foreigners and was known for its strong esprit de corps.

The best way to help a veteran is to stop producing belligerent and bellicose politicians and state leaders who act like bullies that creates wars that creates veterans.

War is the ultimate fighting sport.

If there were no nation wars there would be gang wars, and men who served in the gang wars would soon call themselves veterans.

Charles Tolleson

"War is the health of the State". Randolph Bourne

Government Invests in Private Companies

"The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments". William H. Borah

I keep reading news stories that the government loans to big companies will be owed to the taxpayers. The government on Monday provided a new $150 billion financial package to troubled insurance giant American International Group, including $40 billion for partial ownership. "All told, the moves boost aid to the company to more than $150 billion. Fed officials, however, expressed confidence that the money would be repaid to 'taxpayers'."

"The government is buying preferred shares of AIG stock, giving 'taxpayers' an ownership stake in the company."

If the money will be repaid to the taxpayers, which I am one, when will I get my money? As a taxpayer the government says I will own a stake in the AIG company. If that is so, can I sell my shares? No! Because the government is prevaricating. The government mob will own those preferred shares. They will collect the dividends to use for sustaining their perks and lifestyles.

The government is about to loan money to the auto manufactures. I say the auto manufactures should go bankrupt and follow the cost reductions necessary to make their business model work. Reduce labor cost and executive compensation. That's why the United Auto Workers do not want bankruptcy. Neither does the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, PBGC, who would have to take over the pensions of the auto workers, active and retired. There are over 700,000 retired auto workers. This would bankrupt another government program. Government doesn't work.

The over 700,000 retired auto workers might also lose their health coverage in bankruptcy. These reasons are why government people say the auto makers are too important to fail. The burden for pension and medical care would fall on the government. The companies and their workers always knew they could keep wages high and always hide behind the "too big to fail mantra". A million votes have a lot of power for extortion.

If the government is going to buy $40 billion of shares of preferred stock from AIG, shares that pays a dividend. At $20 per share, that equals to two billion shares. That would be 100 shares for 200 million people. They should give 100 shares of those preferred shares to 200 million citizens, starting with the oldest citizen. Most of the millions of new owners would sell their shares, after a freeze or for special circumstances, and spend the money, $2000, which would help the economy.

Charles Tolleson

"Why Government Doesn't Work" 1995, by Harry Browne. Book text in pdf format here. http://www.jrbooksonline.com/PDF_Books/why_govt_doesnt_work.pdf

Charles Tolleson

Voting Our Pride

Pride is one of the deadly sins. In an earlier post I referenced how voters vote their vices instead of voting for liberty.

Millions of African Americans voted with their pride and voted for Barack Obama. If I was black I would have voted for Obama.

But this vote of pride is not a vote for liberty. It is a vote that will make the government more intrusive and powerful. Power corrupts. Don't expect President Obama to eliminate the Patriot Act or reduce the size of the Federal Government.

African Americans fail to realize that tyrants have never let skin color interfere with their narcissist and Machiavellian personality. White, black, and brown tyrants, with their flowering oratories and metaphoric platitudes, have ensnared worshippers throughout history, only to turn on the tyrant's worshippers when the tyrant's power is challenged.

Barack Obama has my admiration and respect for using his natural resources to achieve such a lofty goal. Barack Obama will not only be the President of the US, some in other countries want him to be their president. ("What an inspiration. He is the first truly global U.S. president the world has ever had," said Pracha Kanjananont, a 29-year-old Thai sitting at a Starbuck's in Bangkok. "He had an Asian childhood, African parentage and has a Middle Eastern name. He is a truly global president.") This power will corrupt President Obama. Worse, it will corrupt his staff and hanger-ons, who will bathe in the power and the glory.

The worst rise to the top. http://jim.com/hayek.htm Hayek said when the ends justify the means, or the goal is for the greater good, the welfare of the group eliminates individual goodness, or evil, as long as the greater good for the group is the goal. This is why I say in my profile that people will operate with good or evil. It just depends on their environment. Watch for Obama to justify any encroachment of your liberty as, "It is for the greater good".

Charles Tolleson

Voters Character

I regret that I have been unable in my lifetime to preserve liberty for my issue.

On this Election Day, like any other election day in a democracy, people will vote for the candidate that has the most flowering rhetoric, "We have a righteous wind at our back" or "We will change the world." When someone says they want to change the world, hold on to your wallet and freedoms because they will likely use force and aggression to affect the change they want.

People will vote for the candidate that has promised the most advantages to the most people. People will vote for the candidate that promises to improve the voter's status. They will vote for the candidate that promises to improve the lives of the voters. The voter will vote for a future filled with hope and promise, much like newlyweds. Like all other elections, and like most newlyweds, their illusions of the future will be exposed as just that, illusions. Then the disappointed voter, like the disappointed newlywed, will look for bliss in another suitor.

The voters will not vote for a candidate that demands liberty. Campaigning on a platform of liberty will mean the voter must assume responsibility for their own welfare, housing, food, and health care. Any Libertarian candidate that campaigns on such a platform never receives more than 2% of the votes! Libertarian candidates that propose a real free market with real competition do not get large campaign contributions from big business, Wall Street, bar associations, unions, doctors, teachers, and other groups. Barack Obama raised $640 million from people and organizations that want, something, but, not liberty!

Why do voters not vote for liberty? The voters' basic instincts are displayed at the ballot box. Their fears, greed, envy, wrath, and vanity are exercised when they cast their ballots.

Some voters claim they vote their virtues; hope, charity, justice, etc. But, they want to use force and aggression on others to enforce their desires on others. Forcing someone to surrender a portion of their production to the State is not charity. How can using force and aggression on others be virtuous? Many voters pay very little tax, yet they want to use force and aggression to confiscate even more money from 1% of the voters who already pay most of the tax.

If you want to know the character of your friends and neighbors, ask them, "Did you vote Libertarian"? Ask them why they voted? It will be a rare voter who tells you they voted for freedom.

This is an indication that humans are to be feared. When I hear someone say people are basically good, I want to ask them what would happen if only one race could vote. Do they think that race would be fair to the other races? What if only one gender was allowed to vote? Would that gender oppress the other? What if only one religion could vote? Would that religion be tolerant and kind to the other religions? What if only psychologists could vote? I think they would use force and require each one of us to get counseling each year and force us to pay for their services.

People will do what is in their best interest. If they think torture is in their best interest, they will torture.

Charles Tolleson, the Happy Misanthrope