Daily Archives: 16 April 2010

Iowa City Tea Party draws diverse crowd

The movement doesn’t have a uniform platform, a national committee, or many names on ballots.
In general, Tea Party members oppose large government spending and congressional Democrats like Loebsack.

But beyond that, there are few commonalties among Iowa City’s self-described Tea Partiers.

While a number of attendees donned GOP gear, one Tea Party speaker, University of Iowa student Jeff Shipley, voiced his distrust of Republicans and Democrats alike.

“You have the stupid party on the right and the evil party on the left. Sometimes they do something that’s both stupid and evil; they call that bipartisanship,” he said. “I see no difference between Obama and Bush.” (Read more from dailyiowan.com)

Criminalize everything, because guilty men are easier to rule

This morning’s web browsing took me to a recent post by The Devil’s Kitchen, on a slightly different topic. Mr. Kitchen quotes this passage from Atlas Shrugged, on the topic of manufacturing criminals.

“Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?” said Dr. Ferris. “We want them broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against—then you’ll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We’re after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you’d better get wise to it. There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be enforced nor objectively interpreted—and you create a nation of law-breakers—and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system, Mr Rearden, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.

Whether you know it or not, you are probably commiting an average of three felonies a day. Do these crimes harm anyone? No. But they’re a good source of funding when Uncle Sam needs some more food for the machine.

(Read more from thewhitedsepulchre.blogspot.com)

Obama sets Mars goal for America

“By 2025, we expect new spacecraft designed for long journeys to allow us to begin the first ever crew missions beyond the Moon into deep space,” he told his audience. “So, we’ll start by sending astronauts to an asteroid for the first time in history.”

And then he added: “By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth, and a landing on Mars will follow.” (Read more from news.bbc.co.uk)

Sounds like an excellent use of other people’s money to me!