On the Fact that a Fair Chunk of Warren Jeff's 80-Something Wives Were in the 12 to 14 Age Range When He Married Them

Could we get rid of that "cruel and unusual" clause just this once, please?

On the McCain and Graham Plan to Annihilate Assad and ISIS Simultaneously

There aren't enough spools on the planet to thread that needle, folks......And say what you want about Vladimir Putin. At least the fellow has a coherent plan when it comes to Syria; the fact that he's picked a devil (Assad) and stuck with him. No, it isn't what I would have advocated (namely, nothing/letting them fight it out amongst themselves - when your enemies are slaughtering each other, I say let them) but it's far better than the neocon policy of endless intervention and the Obama policy of endless intervention lite.

On Environmental Nut-Job, Bill McKibben, Uttering this in 1989 -

"The choice of doing nothing - of continuing to burn ever more coal and oil - is not a choice.......It will lead us, if not straight to hell, then straight to a place with a similar temperature.......A few more decades of ungoverned fossil fuel use (and, again, this is 1989) and we burn up, to put it bluntly."............In any other field of endeavor, an individual who is this wrong would have been drummed out of the profession. But because this is environmentalism, a field that has gotten so infused with big money politics and in which the bureaucracy literally feeds off itself (entire government agencies and university departments having since been established), people like McKibben, Hanson, Ehrlich, etc. are not only allowed to spout their bullshit but encouraged to. How fucked is that?

On the Fact that Clinton's "Operation Desert Fox" Happened on the Eve of His Impeachment Proceedings

Well it did buy him some time and so mission accomplished I guess.

On the Fact that Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, and Richard Perle Allegedly Settled on the WMD Rationale for Invading Iraq for "Bureaucratic Reasons"

There aren't enough Tums in the Milky Way Galaxy to quay my indigestion on this one, sorry to say.

On Sean Hannity Quoting Machiavelli Tonight

What's next, Sarah Palin quoting Rousseau? Nancy Pelosi quoting Cicero? Elmer Fudd quoting Bastiat? A fruit-fly quoting Hobbes? I mean, it's gotta be something good, no?

On the Brain-Diseased Concept of Substituting One Pugnacious Philosophy (Incestuous and Crony Capitalism) for Another (Socialism)

I disagree with Albert Camus in that nostalgia is NOT the mark of human. Gullibility, surface-thinking, and fear are (this constant need of man to systematize his way to what he thinks is security but what is little more than cowardice, self-deception, parochialism, and bald idiocy).

On the City of Baltimore Awarding the Family of Freddie Gray a $6.4 Million Settlement (One of the Largest on Record), Prior to a Civil Case Being Brought and Prior Even to a Jury Being Selected in the Criminal Case

This is horrible on so many grounds. a) Gray had zero earning potential and so even a tenth of this amount would have been ludicrous. b) The city is essentially destitute and doesn't have the cash. c) By doling the money out prior to the trial, you're contaminating the jury pool (the settlement being seen as an admission of guilt) and making a fair trial much more unlikely. d) It sets a terrible precedent (the fact that aggrieved people will be far more likely to think that they can fleece the taxpayers). And e) the poor bastard, being that he was a pusher, probably would have ended up being murdered in several years anyway.......You want to know why these cities are in such miserable shape? Here's at least a section to that jigsaw puzzle.

On the Fact that Gaddafi Accurately Predicted the Massive Refugee Crisis that a Deposing of Him Would Create

So, in other words, he was light years smarter than McCain, Graham, Obama, Hillary, etc.. THAT'S COMFORTING.

On Sean Hannity Asking Ann Romney if She Thought that Her Husband Would Have Been a Better President than Obama

Yeah, that was a hard-hitting question.......NOT..................................................................................................P.S. He probably should have simply asked her what her favorite color/gem stone/Beatles album was. At least THAT would have been interesting.

On the Fact that (According to a Recent Baltimore Sun Article) Baltimore Spends Approximately $16,500 Per Pupil Per Annum (Amongst the Highest in the State) and STILL Has a 25% Dropout Rate

At what point will the left concede that spending isn't the entire issue and that fundamental structural changes will have to be made that the teacher unions may not ultimately embrace? I mean, does the whole system have to implode first?

On the Fact that (According to Michael Tanner's Disturbing Book, "Going for Broke") You Could Literally Confiscate Every Penny of Wealth from the People Making $1,000,000 a Year and it Still Wouldn't Eliminate the National Debt and it Wouldn't Even Make a Tiny Dent in the $70,000,000,000,000 in Unfunded Liabilities

Choke on that, Michael Moore (the fact that idiots like this are always suggesting that we can "tax-the-rich" our way out of debt and into prosperity)...................................................................................................P.S. And of course this would be a one shot deal in that nobody in his or her right mind would ever want to accumulate wealth in that the government would simply steal it from you.

On the Fact that (According to a Recent Poll from Rasmussen - http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/251667-poll-most-black-people-prefer-all-lives-matter) Black Folks Prefer the Phrase, "All Lives Matter", to the Phrase, "Black Lives Matter" by a More than Two to One Margin

I wonder where Obama, Sharpton, Jackson, Holder, etc. stand on this question.

On the Fact that in Texas and Numerous Other States, the Only Person Who Is Legally Permitted to File a Horse's Teeth Is a Licensed Veterinarian - this, Despite the Fact that They Have Never Been Trained to Do the Job, Have No Desire to Do the Job, and There Exists a Plethora of Other People Who've Been Doing the Job for Decades and Doing it Competently

This is a pitch perfect example of how the government literally destroys people's lives and if anybody out there has a full-throated defense of this one, heaven help 'em.

On President Nixon's Endangered Species Act (1973)

Guess what? According to the the historian, Jim Powell, it probably accelerated the destruction of endangered species in that it, because it put the cost of maintaining the species on the landholder, motivated/incentivized people to cut down trees and other vegetation in areas where the species had been seen. Less trees equals less habitat. HELLO!!.......................................................................................................P.S. And, yes, the fact that Nixon and those idiots in Congress couldn't even think this one step ahead speaks volumes, DOES IT NOT, folks?

On the Jethro Tull Classic, "Minstrel in the Gallery"

Tull knew about Sharpton? That is so cool.

On Racial Demagogues and How They Operate

They're usually quite blatant, but not always. Take, for example, the post that I did on South Africa in which I pointed out - by citing the South African Genome Project - that the various African tribes from that region aren't any more indigenous to it than the Dutch Afrikaners are and that in some instances it was the Dutch who came first. Just for pointing this relevant fact out, I was obliquely accused by some pompous and marginally literate boob (with multiple handles, no less) of "coming out early tonight." It was an almost passive aggressive comment and, while it clearly wasn't as nasty as some of the other bullshit that's flied of late, I just don't tolerate it anymore and so I've banned his sorry ass. Arrivederci schmuck.

On the Fact that I Got Gas in New Hampshire (a Few Miles South of Picturesque Portsmouth) Last Week for a Shade Over $2 a Gallon

The radical and anti-progress environmentalists/crony capitalists must be ready to slit their wrists at this point.

On the Fact that by 1870, Scranton Associate, James Blair, Had a Net Worth of $910,000, Making Him One of the Richest Men in America

That couldn't get him a seat at the children's table nowadays (the reason of course being that the federal government has so ridiculously debased the currency, engaged in crony capitalism, etc.).

On the Fact that Louisville and UCF Are a Combined 0-6 this Year

Well, being that they were a combined 24-2 (with one of those losses coming as the result of playing each other) as recently as 2013, it is rather shocking, I'd say.......Bad karma against Petrino perhaps?

On the Fact that that Belgian Chocolate Shop in Upscale Kent Connecticut Recently Went Under

I guess that there isn't a huge market for $70 a pound candy (which is undoubtedly bangin') these days, even amongst the rich.

The Most Disappointing Candidate?

Oh, it's gotta be Rand. The man has gone from a principled noninterventionist who was seemingly willing to tackle the Defense budget to just another damned neocon panderer (McCain and Graham lite, essentially) who walks the walk and talks the talk.......And it isn't as if it's even helped the guy in that he's still in the 1-3% range. The way that I see it, the dude's just gotta be himself and let the chips fall where they may, 'cause I'm telling you here, even those Republican primary voters can spot a zebra and a phony when they see one.

On the Fact that (According to Ernest A. Wiltsee's Book, "Gold Rush Steamers") the U.S. Mail Steamship Company and the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, Despite the Fact that They Were Given a Combined $500,000 (a Large Amount Back Then) a Year from the Government, Charged Their Passengers $600 a Piece to Get from New York to California, While Cornelius Vanderbilt, Who Didn't Take a Penny from the Taxpayers, Only Charged His Patrons $150

Like I've said before, folks, you're better off NOT taking government money...............................................................................................P.S. Vanderbilt also delivered the mail on his New York to California route.......FOR FREE. 

On the Fact that Megyn Kelly Is Reportedly Now Getting Death Threats from Lunatic Trump Supporters - http://www.businessinsider.com/megyn-kelly-death-threats-trump-supporters-2015-8

                                                                       This thing reached critical mass multiple eons ago and this is just another extension of it. Sadly.

On Dana Delany Pushing 60 (She's 59)

Phenomenal, and the fact that she's such a natural beauty makes it even more amazing.

On Hillary's Latest Attempts at "Comedy"

Steven Wright is shaking in this boots, tossing and turning, etc., I'm sure.

On if that Kim Davis Chick from Kentucky Had Been a Muslim and Had Denied Gay Couples a Marriage License Based on THAT Religion

My suspicion is that the vitriol from the left would have been far, Far, FAR, less.

On the Anti-Imperialist League (Started in 1898 and Which Included Such Luminaries as George Boutwell, Grover Cleveland, Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain, and William Graham Sumner)

I'll take, "Rare Instances of Sanity in U.S. History", for a thousand, Alex.

On the Fact that (According to Famed Historian, Gustavus Weber) the 1848 Drug Importation Act Failed to Authorize the Department of Agriculture to Protect the People From Domestic Food Adulteration While it DID Require a Fair Amount of Said Protection in the Case of Imported Food Products

This law obviously had nothing to do with food and drug safety and everything to do with crony capitalism and protectionism.......A lot like today's laws, in other words.

On the Fact that Hillary Supports Zero Restrictions on Abortion (Even in the Third Trimester When the Baby is Viable)

And the extremist on this issue is who exactly?

On the Fact that Governor Jindal Apparently Still Thinks that HE'S Going to be the Republican Nominee (this, Despite that the Fact that He Continues to Trail My Neighbor's Pet Chorkie in the National Polls)

I'll take, "Political Schmoes Thinking Off-the-Charts Delusionally", for a thousand, Alex.

On Hillary Clinton Once Having Been Given the Margaret Sanger Award and Professing Her Great Admiration for the Woman

I had thought that race (the fact that Sanger was one of the most virulent racists and eugenicists of the 20th century) trumped everything. I guess that abortion does now.

On the Fact that Joy Behar Is So Moronic that She Actually Found in Peculiar that a Nurse, A NURSE, Would Utilize a Stethoscope

The only thing worse than an elitist is a stupid elitist. I mean, has she simply never gone into a hospital or a  convalescent home before? She certainly doesn't have any friends who are nurses. THAT I can assure you.......The stupid bitch.

On the Fact that the Original Price-Tag of Obamacare Didn't Include the Cost of Implementation ($115 Billion) or the "Doc-Fix" ($350 Billion)

I wish that I could do my books that way. How 'bout you folks?

On the Steven Spielberg Film, "Schindler's List"

Didn't make the Germans look sinister and bloodthirsty enough.............That, and he completely ignores the grizzly handiwork of Churchill, FDR, Stalin, etc..

Note to Chucky

I hate to burst your bubble my neocon broheim but I have to be honest with you. The only way that we can assuredly prevent the Iranians from getting a nuclear weapon is to either a) occupy the country and brutalize it a la Stalin or b) bomb it back into the stone-age by dusting off our own WMD. The fact of the matter is that if they truly want a nuclear weapon, THEY WILL GET ONE, and the dumbest thing that we could ever do would be to bomb them in that that would convince them that they really and truly need one. Please, think about it, bra.

On the Fact that the Union Pacific, Central Pacific, and Northern Pacific Railroads Were Subsidized by the Federal Government with the Compensation Being by the Mile

  It was a disaster in that the concept of paying by the mile led to shoddy workmanship (which included the usage of cheap wrought iron rails, wooden culverts, etc.) and inefficiency, circuitous and nonsensical routes, abject stupidity (the laying of tracks on ice during the winter, for example), corruption on a massive scale (can you say, Credit Mobilier?), the building of lines that couldn't be sustained due to a lack of population, unnecessary conflict with Native-Americans, and finally to bankruptcy....................................................................................................And, yes, when you compare these boondoggles to James J. Hill's Great Northern line (a railroad that didn't consume government subsidies, that didn't fuck with the Native-Americans, that only used the best materials available, that didn't build until an area could sustain it, that avoided steep gradients, that built straight lines, that didn't kowtow to politicians and which avoided graft, and which ultimately avoided bankruptcy), the distinction is even more pronounced. If you're asking me here, a business (not to mention, the taxpayers), any business, is probably better off NOT taking subsidies.

On the Fact that (According to James J. Hill's Business Records) American Exports to Japan and China Dropped by 40% Between 1905 and 1907 (the Years After the Hepburn Act Which Made it Illegal for Railroads to Offer Discounts)

How many more examples of the unintended consequences of government regulation do you need? Please, let me know in that I do have more, quite a few more.

On the World-View of People Like Radical Redneck, Octopus, Tao, Kid, etc.

Well I hang on every word, of course.

On the Fact that Gadhafi Was Totally Cowed, His Opposition Objectively Worse, but Because Our Government Considered the Dude "Low-Hanging Fruit", We Had to Take Him Out (the End-Result of Course Being Total Chaos)

We cannot help ourselves, apparently (thinking that we can turn places like Libya into Arizona).

On the Donald Trump, Michael Savage Axis of Evil

Sexist. Real, real sexist (Savage actually going as far as to ridicule Megyn Kelly's nostrils - HER NOSTRILS!!), inflammatory, and stupid.

On the Fact that in 1866 the Union Pacific Railroad Sold a Large Swath of Land Near Omaha to General William Tecumseh Sherman for $2.50 an Acre When the Going Rate Was $8.00 an Acre

 It was one of the most egregious examples of crony capitalism in U.S. history and the fact that it involved a serial war-criminal (southern civilians and Native-Americans) makes it even more despicable to the point where I can actually taste the vomit in the back of my throat. Fuck him.

On the Shale Oil and Gas Revolution

  It is one of the greatest, most life-enhancing technological advances of the past hundred years. And, while, yes, it has probably contributed somewhat to the increases in CO2 (though I would argue that most of it is thermally induced and not from factories, SUVs, etc.) and temperature, the changes have been modest and the positives (the powering of our autos, reductions in the cost of electricity, improvements in the overall economy, etc.) have far, FAR, outweighed the negatives....Of course, if the greens want to start their own little society in which everything (including hospitals) is run by wind turbines, algae, and french fry grease, who am I to get in their way?

The Worst of the 20-Something Candidates Currently Running for President (Worse than Even Trump, Sanders, Hillary, and Cruz)?

I gotta go with Huckabee. I mean, this guy is the total frigging package; a Bible-thumping lunatic and homophobe, a neoconservative me-too schmuckmeister, a big and irresponsible spender (during his tenure as Arkansas Governor), etc........And the fact that he says such stupid things, this ass; that Adam and Eve were real folks, that a wife must "submit graciously to the servant leadership of her husband", that a woman who needs birth control "can't control her libido", that homosexuality is in the same category as pedophilia and bestiality, that Obama's world view was shaped by hanging around madrases, etc. That alone (i.e., his mouth) makes him totally unfit, in my estimation.

On the Claim that 750,000 Jews (a Population that Is Greater than the Cities of Tampa and New Orleans COMBINED) Were Cremated Outside at Treblinka Using Wood as the Primary Fuel

It is absurd. a) Human bodies aren't readily combustible (especially outside, piled one on top of each other, etc.) in that they are largely water (up to 75%) and b) for the Germans to have accomplished this dastardly deed, they would have needed more lumber than any singular event in human history and there is no record of wood being shipped to Treblinka and no evidence of massive deforestation near the facility............................................................................................Look, I'm not saying that Treblinka was a walk in the daisies or that there weren't atrocities there but this whole narrative of Germans gassing three quarters of a million Jews with diesel exhaust (seriously - the supposedly "efficient" and ruthless Germans using the least efficient asphyxiation possible?), burying them in pits that were way, WAY, too small to accommodate the bodies, digging the corpses back up in an effort to destroy the evidence, and then burning them in the least efficient manner possible is a bridge that stretches credulity too much for me (an erstwhile Zionist).

Note to Radical Muslims Who Think that God Has Instructed Them to Slaughter All Nonbelievers

Hey dude, if this god of yours is so all damned powerful, then why doesn't he just kill the nonbelievers himself? Why does he have to get your hands/conscience dirty?......I don't know, man, it sounds to me as if he's using you (not to mention, making you look like a moron).

On Trump and Nabisco

  What this moron fails to understand is that one of the main reasons why Nabisco packed up that plant in Illinois and moved it to Mexico is because of the high cost of sugar in the U.S., and that one of the main reasons for this high cost of sugar is the fact that we still have tariffs on this commodity. Hello!!......I still can't believe that this guy graduated from Penn (the Wharton School).........................................................................................................P.S. And, yes, even by protectionism's paltry standards, this tariff just might be one of the most idiotic ever; the fact that (according to the new book by Wayne Leighton and Edward Lopez, "Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers") the federal government fritters away through tariffs and subsidies $2 billion a year to support 61,000 full-time equivalent sugar growers while creating a $4 billion a year LOSS to approximately 1,000,000 full-time equivalent employees in the sugar USING industry (not to mention the higher cost to consumers) and so, yeah, the overall dead-weight loss to the American economy is $2 billion (at least) a year.

On the Fact that the Palestinian Authority Controls Every Scintilla of Information from Every Single Media Outlet Under Its Auspices

And because of this fact, every single "Palestinian" on the West Bank thinks that the Jewish people have nothing to do with Palestine (never minding the fact that Jewish inscriptions are all over the Temple Mount, that they've found ancient Jewish coins while digging there, and that quite literally every ancient history text speaks of the Jewish-Roman Wars and not of the Palestinian-Roman Wars) and that their ancestors (the overwhelming majority of whom came from Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, etc.) have resided in that region from time immemorial.......So much for Democratic institutions (a free press, in this case), huh?

On the Fact that the Palestinian Arabs Teach 3 Year-Olds How to Commando-Crawl, Hold a Rifle, Say "Death to Israel", and that It Is a Noble Cause to Blow Yourself to Smithereens

How do the sane people of the region overcome that? I surely don't have the answer.

On Carl's Jr. and Hardees CEO, Andrew Pudzer, Proclaiming that it Takes Him Longer to Start a Franchise in California than it Does to Start One in Siberia

You want to know what's wrong with the U.S. economy? How 'bout we start with this (the fact that it takes so long to start a new business due to licensing, regulations, etc.)?

Most Underrated Sex-Symbol Ever?

I'm thinking Lee Remick. What about you?

On the Fact that (According to Genocide Watch and the Institute for Security Studies) the Murder Rate for White South African Farmers is 99 Per 100,000

Just for some perspective, that rate is more than 3 times higher than the overall rate in South Africa and more than 20 times higher than the murder rate in America. Holy shit, huh? And the fact of the matter is that it's probably worse than that in that the government no longer includes the race of the victim in its death records. I mean, I know that the lives of white folks aren't all that big of an attention grabber these days (especially if the perpetrator is black) and all, but when you stumble upon this level of carnage and brutality (Genocide Watch has officially moved South Africa from level 5; polarization to level 6; preparation on its genocide watch list), maybe a mention or two, no?

On the Fact that the Roosevelts (Teddy and FDR) Actually Thought that a Small Cadre of Economically Illiterate (FDR Actually Going as Far as to Utilize Social Workers on His Policy Team - Social Workers!!!) and Buffoonish Bureaucrats Could Manage the Largest Economy in the World Better than the Businesses and Consumers Themselves

I'm gonna go with, borderline insanity, on this one, folks (the fact that you would have to be seriously off kilter to think that a small group of individuals would possibly have the requisite knowledge to interpret massive amounts of economic data involving multiple sectors, thousands and thousands of businesses, millions of potential interactions, make predictions based upon this data, etc., and to do all of this without the necessary profit and loss mechanisms and pricing feed-backs).

On the Conclusion of the Rickover Commission that the U.S.S. Maine Sunk Not Because of Spanish Malfeasance but Because of a Spontaneous Combustion of Explosive Coal Gasses in the Ship's Bins

If there's anybody out there who claims to be surprised by this, I would seriously question their intelligence, sanity, etc.. I would. I really would (the fact that our politicians have consistently either lied us into war or goaded the other side into firing first).

On Intelligent Design Proponent, Stephen Meyer

He is intelligent, polite, interesting, and thought provoking and, while he ultimately may be proven incorrect in the long run, the abuse that he and other advocates of intelligent design have received is disgusting and an embarrassment to the scientific community...................................................................................................P.S. I also find it ironic in that that a lot of these same detractors constantly go around proclaiming that THEY are the "rational" ones while at the same time aiming personal attacks at Meyer, calling him a bald-faced liar/a quack, undermining his credentials, misrepresenting him/his work (straw-manning him, on other words), ridiculing his religious beliefs, etc.. I mean, why not they just say that they disagree with the Intelligent Design hypothesis that Meyer espouses and list the reasons why? Boom, done.......I swear, folks, some of these scientists aren't any better than angry religious fundamentalists.

On the Fact that Most Mutations Tend to Be of a Deleterious Nature

This is probably the largest obstacle for the neo-Darwinians to avoid; the fact that random mutations are the central mechanism (far more important than natural selection, from my viewpoint) for evolution to be viable and that there would literally have to be tens of thousands of them operating in a beneficial manner for a cross-species event to materialize, etc..

On the Fact that the Government Subsidized Railroads in the 19th Century to the Point of Decimating Waterway Transportation/Shipping and Then Started Subsidizing the Latter to Rescue it from the Railroad Competition

Kind of reminds me (this level of stupidity) of the fact that our government has simultaneously spent billions of dollars on tobacco subsidies AND anti-smoking programs (the cross-purposes aspect of it, I'm saying).

On the Fact that Robespierre Changed the Name of the Strasbourg Cathedral to the "Temple of Reason"

After which he "reasonably" proceeded to slaughter thousands and thousands of people. Go figure, huh?

On the Nature of a Belief System Which Acknowledges that Aristotle Was Wrong but Which Also Stresses that Darwin Never in a Million Years Could Be Anything but Infallible

Yeah, I tend to believe in evolution, too. But after reading and listening to folks like David Berlinski, Murray Eden, and Marcel Schutzenberger, I'm not as certain as I used to be and would very much appreciate a little more skepticism, critical thinking, humility, etc. from the scientific community on this (and other things) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S89IskZI740 (an awesome interview with Berlinski - listen and be amazed).

The Republican Message (Amongst the Candidates) So Far

"Wait 'til ISIS gets a hold of me, folks. Blah, blah, blah, blah."

On the Fact that the Polio Vaccine Put a Lot of Iron-Lung Manufacturing Workers Out of a Job

Jonas Salk was anti-worker, I guess (you know, in the same way that the sun is anti-candle-maker - yes, an obvious reference to Bastiat).

On the Virginia Mayo, Laura Linney Resemblance

I find it borderline eerie, but nice.

A National Sales Tax, a Second Look

  I have always been opposed to a national sales tax as a replacement for the income tax (the fact that it tends to be regressive, mainly). But, honestly, the more that I consider it, the more that I like it. a) It totally gets rid of the I.R.S. (possibly the most virulent of the government agencies). b) It taxes consumption as opposed to savings, work, and investment (the latter three being the real keys to prosperity). And c) it provides people with at least a modicum of privacy..............................................................................................And it isn't as if the fairness component can't be addressed. I, for instance, wouldn't be opposed to a national property tax of about 5% on all property over $500,000 (so a rich person holding property of $5,500,000 would have to cut a $250,000 check to the Feds every year), or even a higher tax rate on big ticket items (though, yes, you do have to be careful here; the unintended consequences of the Bill Clinton luxury tax, for example)....Anything to get the conversation going essentially.

On the Fact that William Jennings Bryan (a Man Who I Admire in Many Ways but Who Disappointed Me Here) Actually Tried to Convince the American Citizens that Adam Smith Was a Supporter of the Income Tax

This, straight from Smith's "Wealth of Nations"; "Capitation taxes, if it is attempted to proportion them to the fortune or revenue of each contributor, become altogether arbitrary. The state of a man's fortune varies from day to day, and without an inquisition more intolerable than any tax, and renewed at least once every year, can only be guessed at. His assessment , therefore, must in most cases depend upon the good or bad humour of his assessors, and must, therefore, be altogether arbitrary and uncertain.............An inquisition into every man's private circumstances, and an inquisition which, in order to accommodate the tax to them, watched over all the fluctuations of his fortune, would be a source of such continual and endless vexation as no people could support."......Well said, Adam. Well said (and, yes, he was clearly wrong about that last part in that the average Joe of today has no problem whatsoever in taxation as long as it doesn't pertain to him).

On Tonight's Coriander, Dry Mustard, Cayenne Pepper, Black Pepper, Ginger, Cloves, Star Anise Spice Combo

If you're a dentist and ever run out of Novocaine, you just might want to try mix this an an alternative. Youza!!

On Virginia Mayo's Performance as the Sexy Blonde Bitch in "The Best Years of Our Lives"

She did to that part what every young, red-blooded American boy (in 1946) wanted to do to Virginia Mayo. She nailed it.

On the Fact that the U.S. Attorney General Under President Cleveland (and a Supporter of the Income Tax - He Differed with His Boss), Richard Olney, Once Tried to Tell the Country that "an Income Tax is Preeminently a Tax Upon the Rich"

The man was either a bald-faced liar or a moron (the fact that no rational person could ever conceive of a revenue system that only included a minuscule fraction of the population and expect it to be reliable, fair, etc.).

On the Enthusiasm in Some Quarters for Higher Taxes

I think that the economist, E.R.A. Seligman (in a rare moment of candor/intellectual honesty) probably said it best (circa, 1880-something) when he admitted that "it is undoubtedly a fact that the enthusiasm for the (income) tax comes chiefly from those who were thus assured freedom from its burdens."......Boy, does that ever ring familiar, huh?

On the Fact that Madonna Has Recently Came Out with a New Album

Yeah, I'm probably gonna go with, "Desperately Seeking Relevance", on this one, folks.

On the Fact that the 1894 Income Tax Bill (Which Was Passed by Both Houses of Congress with a Veto-Proof Majority but Which Was Not Signed by President Cleveland and Which Was Ultimately Struck Down by the Supreme Court) Only Applied to 85,000 Americans (About .1% of the Population)

Those who opposed the law (though unquestionably amused by its quaintness) knew that the government would never in a million years be satisfied with such a minuscule tax base and recognized a monster when they witnessed one. Visionaries (see above; Joseph Hodges Choate), they were.

On What it Takes to Get a Job on Cable News in the Present

Well stability obviously isn't a prerequisite.

On the MTV Video Music Awards

Or as I prefer to call them, the country's annual descent into abject shallowness, stupidity, and embarrassment. 

On Harvey Washington Wiley (Chief Chemist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Chemistry Under Teddy Roosevelt)

People wonder why I'm so opposed to government and science mixing. To those folks I say take a look at this guy in that he actually thought that a) people should eat more sugar, b) the average diet should contain 3,500 calories and 125 grams of fat a day, c) physicians should be prescribing straight whiskey as a medication, d) the caffeine found in Coca Cola is as addictive as opium and morphine (he apparently had no problem with the caffeine found in coffee probably because of his close relationship to John Arbuckle, the country's largest coffee importer), and e) it was acceptable to use healthy young men as guinea pigs as a part of his "poison squad" experiments (which really weren't experiments in that there wasn't a control group). I mean, the guy was an absolute quack and the fact that he was able to not just sponge off the taxpayers but engage in cronyism for as long as he did is a real blot on our history.................................................................................................P.S. And as for the argument that that was such a long time ago and that they surely don't think things like this today, need I remind you that there are government-sponsored scientists today who actually believe that a) we can predict what the climate will be doing hundreds of years into the future, b) human-induced CO2 is the primary driver of climate change and so humans control the earth's thermostat, in other words, c) wind energy (which has the lowest power density and the highest resource intensity) is going to ultimately be a major player, and d) CO2, one of the fundamental building-blocks of life, is a pollutant.  

On Chris Christie Asserting that a Larger Military Will Make Us Less Vulnerable to Terrorism

What is this guy smoking (the fact that we already have one of the most powerful militaries in world history, spend more that the next 14 nation-states combined, etc.)? And does he really think that some crazy-assed loner is going to be deterred by a couple of extra divisions, battleships, etc.? "Cause if he does, then he's insane.

On Chuck Schumer Voting, Ixnay, On the Iran-Nukes Deal

He knows where is bread is buttered.

On the Fact that (in the Minds of the Leftist Media at Least) When a Racially Motivated White Person Kills a Black Person it's Racist but When a Racially Motivated Black Person Kills a White Person it's an Excuse to Bring Up Gun-Control

Nah, no agenda here.

On the Fact that (According to Climatologist, Murry Salby, and Geophysicist, Thomas Segalstad) Human-Induced CO2 Increased By About 300% After 1995 While the Overall Growth Rate of CO2 Remained Unaltered

Salby also goes on to point out that a) the correlation coefficient between thermally-induced CO2 and net CO2 is .93 and b) the relationship between human-induced CO2 and net CO2 is borderline incoherent. This is overwhelming evidence that not only are humans not responsible for the bulk of the .7 degree Celsius warming over the past 150 years, we're not even responsible for the bulk of the CO2 increase. Man, is this ever falling apart and what say you, Gore and Obama?

On People Who a) Continuously Go to Blogs that They Do Not Like and b) Manufacture a Multiplicity of Strange Handles Just So that They Can Have Somebody to Debate

They need help and a lot of it.

On Conversations (Tutotials, Is More Like it) in Which Only One Party Is Allowed to Voice Grievances

It's a decent gig if you can get it. It's just not how life works, that's all.

On the Fact that Two Young Journalists Were Gunned Down Like Dogs (By a Black Dude) in Virginia a Couple Days Ago

Their live didn't "matter" apparently.