Yearly Archives: 2008

Jim Babka will be speaking in Connecticut this weekend. Details below the signature.

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Quote of the Day:
:::”The government broke it. I don’t trust them to fix it.”
:::– Senator Jim DeMint, Republican, South Carolina

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Subject: Downsize DC commits suicide

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We’ve heard the Treasury Secretary and the Federal Reserve Chairman make their case for a $700 billion bailout of the financial markets. We’re not persuaded. Quite the contrary. We reject their predictions of dire consequences if their plan doesn’t pass. We’re so convinced of this that we’re willing to stake our continued existence on it.

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If the economy goes into a deep slump because they didn’t pass their bailout plan then charitable contributions will be among the first things cut from family budgets. If we’re wrong then we’ll be among the many institutions to fail. But we don’t believe we’re wrong. And we don’t believe we’ll fail.

Quote of the Day:
:::”It’s a rather brief bill, with lots of money.”
:::– Senator Chris Dodd

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Subject: Can we downsize the Big Bailout?

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Today’s message is a complex one. It’s pretty clear to us that few politicians understand the financial crisis before us — particularly their role in creating it. But I have confidence in the ability of DC Downsizers to understand what we write here.

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So what about Treasury Secretary Paulson’s Big Bailout Plan . . .

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Here’s some “good” news: The legislation authorizing the Big Bailout of U.S. financial institutions in only 3 pages long. This means that every member of Congress is likely to read it, even though the “Read the Bills Act” isn’t yet the law of the land.

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Here’s some really bad news:

Solar cells made from germanium are far more efficient than cells made from silicon. But germanium costs a lot more — about $90 for every four inch wafer. Now, scientists at the University of Utah have devised a new method that could cut this cost by 10%. So far germanium cells are primarily used for high-tech purposes such as satellites, but this new method, perhaps combined with other efficiencies, such as concentrators, could make germanium viable for other purposes while also cutting the cost of satellite construction.

Human clones already walk among us. You may even have a pair in your family. We may not think of identical twins as clones, but that’s exactly what they are. Here’s how Wikipedia describes it, “Monozygotic twins, frequently referred to as identical twins, occur when a single egg is fertilized to form one zygote (monozygotic) which then divides into two separate embryos.” The resulting twins are essentially clones of each other.
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:::Natural clones/twins have virtually identical DNA, just as artificially created clones/twins would. It happens all the time, and the world doesn’t come to an end as a result. In addition, the resulting twins/clones end up leading different lives as natural mutations and environmental factors send the clones/twins on different life paths over-time. The same would happen with artificial clones. Clones/twins, are completely different persons who just happen to share nearly identical DNA.
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:::Do the writers of the Republican platform, the general public, and the opponents of cloning in Congress, understand this? It seems not. And yet, there is widespread support to ban cloning. The problem is that such a ban seems certain to also prohibit the cloning of tissues (as opposed to full human beings) that could be used for perfect organ transplants. Remember this if you happen to need such a transplant.
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:::This is the kind of problem we create when we allow the democratic process to decide issues that are beyond the competence of the general public and the politicians they elect. DOWNSIZE DC!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

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“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.”- Pericles

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SUBJECT: Educate the Powerful, Educate the Public

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With just a few extra mouse-clicks you can become more powerful. These few extra mouse-clicks will empower you to Educate the Public, and recruit more Downsizers, in much the same way that you now Educate the Powerful using our online system. I’ll tell you how to perform these few extra mouse-clicks below. This is important because . . .

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Americans are concerned about the direction of the country, but they’re also busy. Many people don’t think they have time to “get involved.” And they don’t believe they can make a difference anyway.

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That may have been true in the past,

Quote of the Day:

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If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there would be a shortage of sand.
:::– attributed to Milton Friedman

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Subject: What can we say?

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The biggest story of the week is the meltdown in the stock market and among certain kinds of financial institutions. And yet, except for our action items on the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout we’ve been largely silent on this issue. Why?

Quote of the Day:

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“Americans just want us to… not be concerned if they can be constitutionally justified… Why, if we had to do that we could not pass most of the laws we enact around here.”
:::– Sen. John Glenn

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Subject: The Unknown Holiday

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Today is Constitution Day. Few Americans know this. Neither banks nor government offices will be closed. And most of us will go to work today, spending nearly half our time laboring to pay taxes to the various levels of government. In this sense today is no holiday at all. It’s merely a designated spot on the calendar during which Americans are to . . .

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Do what?

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The politicians won’t take notice of the day, though we’ve joined with the Liberty Coalition to encourage McCain and Obama to discuss Constitutional issues on the campaign trail. We won’t be holding our breath in expectation that they will do so.

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It remains to us, as individuals, to do something meaningful with the day.

QUOTES OF THE DAY:

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 “The real problem for me is that my farm’s focus is in producing food locally, but the laws are designed for giant, impersonal businesses that deliver food across the globe.” – Paul-Martin Griepentrog

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“The USDA claims that ‘animal identification helps document the information necessary for age, source, and processed-verified animals’ but fails to explain why the federal government should intervene in a free market system that already provides age, source, and processed-verified animals as determined by competitive market forces. – R-CALF

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SUBJECT:  What NAIS Is Really About

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The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is hitting a few snags: lawsuits, anti-NAIS bills in state legislatures, low registration rates, backlash from small farmers. This is not surprising, because NAIS would invade the privacy of small farmers and overwhelm them with fees and paperwork.

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On the surface, however, NAIS sounds reasonable. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says NAIS is necessary to “protect the health of U.S. livestock and poultry and the economic well-being of those industries.”

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But consider:

Quote of the Day:
:::“Solar cells generate at least ten times more power when attached to the concentrator.”
:::– MIT researcher, Marc Baldo, inventor of a new technique to make solar power cheaper

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Subject: Should we trade increased drilling for increased taxes?

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Congress may vote this week to allow expanded offshore drilling. But if they do so the bill is likely to include increased taxes for oil exploration companies.

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The Democrats don’t want increased drilling. The issue is killing them in the polls. It could cost them both the White House and, amazingly, the House of Representatives. Recent polls show the public leaning back in the direction of the Republicans for Congressional races. Democratic opposition to drilling seems to be one of the main reasons. Congressional Democrats are trying to remove this issue from the elections by allowing for expanded offshore drilling, but at a price . . .

After a great tragedy a brief period of mourning is always needed and always appropriate. But what would we think of a person who continued to be emotionally obsessed with a tragic event years later, and who, year after year, sent out emails to people reminding them of the anniversary of their loss? We would probably say that it was long past time for that person to move on. What then should we think of the continued wallowing in grief of our politicians, the media, and many of our citizens, over the events of 9-11?
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:::I think we’ve overdone it, too much, for too long. I also think that the terrorists are winning yet another victory when every anniversary of 9-11 finds us still in public mourning. It’s time to grow up and move on. It’s time to stop advertising a terrorist act. It’s time to recognize and remember that our emotional over-reaction to 9-11 led to the death of 100,000 innocent Iraqis whom we do not pause to mourn for even a second. It’s time to get our emotions under control so that we can no longer be manipulated into doing stupid things.
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:::There’s nothing wrong with America that a little maturity wouldn’t go a long way toward fixing.