The Philosophy of a True Conservative, Today

[Adak]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

So anyone inventing a new widget, and starting a company to make them, will be immediately bigfooted by a corporation with paid for manufacturing capability and advertising network.

Give me an example of this.

I'm not familiar with the term "bigfooted" and "paid for manufacturing capability and advertising network", leaves me with more questions than explanation.

Who's paying for the manufacturing and advertising? By bigfooted you mean stomped on?

[Adak]

Originally Posted by BigV

As for freedom, let me ask you, what about when two parties are in conflict, when their freedoms come at the expense of the other's. Imagine a situation where a manufacturing plant wants the freedom to discharge waste into a river (your introduction of the EPA made me think of this). They wish to be able to be free to do so. Imagine an individual downstream that wants to drink from or bathe in the water of the river. Without government inhibiting the freedoms of either, what happens?

No business (or individual) has the right to pollute the environment, except when it is necessary during an extreme crisis - generally, during a war. An example would be the atom bomb project during WWII. Sufficient care wasn't taken, and a land was subsequently polluted in several states (Washington St. New Mexico, Tennessee, etc.).

There is no argument for polluting our environment, from a True Conservative - or anyone with a bit of common sense. Where do we live? In this environment, of course.

The EPA has gone FAR beyond it's mandate, however. Now, it's a bureaucracy that can ban any product, or material, from being used, anywhere it pleases. It doesn't need the recommendation of any scientists or doctors - oh no! It's whatever the lunatic in charge decides.

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Adak

Let me re-read your example.

Yes, liberals ARE naive and simple.. See it all the time. Liberals get mugged, battered, robbed - any kind of violent crime.

And right away, you have a new born conservative, who favors gun laws, and knows that gun control should mean a good sight picture as you bring up your firearm.

Yours is a sweet world, where priests never molest altar boys, and their Bishops never keep their mouths shut about it, and move the offending priests around to a new diocese, with no warning given about his past. And violent crime never happens, and all the nations of the world come together for harmonious relations, at the U.N.

I get it, really. It's a wonderful utopia - it's just not real.

Wow. I mean, just fucking wow. Wtf are you talking about?

That last line is the only one in the whole post that makes sense.

I get it, really. It's a wonderful utopia - it's just not real

No, you are absolutely correct, it is not real. It is a product of your imagination.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Adak

Give me an example of this.

I'm not familiar with the term "bigfooted" and "paid for manufacturing capability and advertising network", leaves me with more questions than explanation.

Who's paying for the manufacturing and advertising? By bigfooted you mean stomped on?

Yes stomped on. While you try to get up and running with the widget you invented, some large corporation with manufacturing capability in place, distribution networks established and advertising agencies under contract, flood the market before you can get your new company off the ground. That's why we have the patents you protest.

In a free market, if the widget was not protected by patent, trademark, copyright, etc., a company would be free to compete for the widget market.

[regular.joe]

Originally Posted by Adak

@regular joe:
Every phone you make overseas, is recorded and analyzed in an AT&T building in SF. There is no warrant from a judge on any kind of case be case basis here. Mobile phone traffic is all monitored, as well.

@BigV: I'm looking for it.

Wow, I ask specific freedoms you have personally experienced in your life here in the US, and you cite some obscure thing that AT&T records and analyzes the traffic that goes through their system in SF for all overseas calls? That AT&T records and analyzes something that we pay for voluntarily? Don't like it that AT&T does this? Don't pay AT&T for their service.

Problem solved, problem staying solved...Rangers Lead the Way!

Next non freedom issue you care to talk about??

[Adak]

Originally Posted by regular.joe

Wow, I ask specific freedoms you have personally experienced in your life here in the US, and you cite some obscure thing that AT&T records and analyzes the traffic that goes through their system in SF for all overseas calls? That AT&T records and analyzes something that we pay for voluntarily? Don't like it that AT&T does this? Don't pay AT&T for their service.

Problem solved, problem staying solved...Rangers Lead the Way!

Next non freedom issue you care to talk about??

It's not AT&T - that would be illegal. It's the NSA, using part of the "patriot act".

The new facility in Salt Lake City, will allow they to listen in to ALL domestic phone calls, as well.

No warrant, no reasonable suspicion of ANYTHING.

[Adak]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Yes stomped on. While you try to get up and running with the widget you invented, some large corporation with manufacturing capability in place, distribution networks established and advertising agencies under contract, flood the market before you can get your new company off the ground. That's why we have the patents you protest.

I don't protest patents. Patents are the physical manifestation of a society that is creating, inventing, thinking.

Wrong again, Bruce.

[xoxoxoBruce]

No, it's the Adak/Romney team that is wrong... still.

[Adak]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

No, it's the Adak/Romney team that is wrong... still.

That's a really strong argument you have there, Bruce -- don't strain your brain with it, OK?

[Adak]

Sandy gave us a BIG problem with super storm surge, and very wide spread damage, from Tennessee up to Canada. Some of the worst was in New York, where sea water flooded into subway tunnels and into electrical sub-stations, shortening them out.

Fortunately, the New Yorkers - and etc., are getting help from all across the country. San Diego Gas and Electric is sending a 46 man team in to help. Orange county CA, and Riverside Co. are also sending in teams of pro's to help out. Other CA counties are donating teams for the effort, as well. Also, teams from lots of other states are arriving to help, as well.

A lot of these electrical equipment will have to be replaced, not repaired, since they were burned to a crisp by the shorts from the sea water.

This is a Conservative's answer to an emergency. (Therefore an efficient one.) You don't need a whole lot from Washington (some of course). You need the pro's, with a self-help agreement in place, to help out in times of emergency. Not the gov't.

You look at the teams on the streets, working hard to get the power back on across the East coast - you won't see a Washington Bureaucrat anywhere!

[Adak]

The Liberals make a nightmare.

True story, from a few years back. (Before Katrina).

An enterprising guy from the deep South, knew from the weather report, that a Hurricane was headed for his community so:

1) He needed to evacuate

and

2) He saw an opportunity to help out his community and make a few dollars.

So he evacuated, in his van, and while he was up North, he bought several generators, suitable for a limited home power load. Something that could keep your food, and med's refrigerated, and run some lights, etc.

Nothing huge.

So he returns home, and sure enough, the power is all out. So he puts up a sign and starts selling his generators. Of course, he can't sell them at the price that Walmart or Home Depot might - he doesn't have that kind of buying power to get those discounts.

Plus, he's incurred extra costs and risks, hauling these generators around, and putting up the cash, up front. If he doesn't sell them, he's just out of luck.

And immediately, he's arrested! Why? Because the liberals have made a law that you can't sell something in the aftermath of a storm, for more than it sold for before the storm.

So the generators are impounded for evidence, so he can't sell them someplace else, and he's having to hire a lawyer and pay bail, etc.

Now his community can't buy a generator, because all the stores are either sold out of them, or they are closed because they have no power.

But he can't sell his and recover his investment - oh no! Better to have the liberal community sit in the cold and dark, with everyone's food going rotten, by gawd!!

Another example of a law, that "feels right", and isn't. In fact, it works against the community.

This is NOT the report I have posted about, but it is a similar one:
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/s...1#.UJDcgYZJWuI

[DanaC]

Because only 'liberals' make unsound laws, right?

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Adak

You look at the teams on the streets, working hard to get the power back on across the East coast - you won't see a Washington Bureaucrat anywhere!

"Washington Bureaucrats" may not be trained to work on live power lines, but I assure you that they were out there working after the storm to fix things up. I live in the suburbs of DC, and several of my neighbors are these scarey "Washington Bureaucrats." The neighborhood has been awesome in their response to the storm. We're out there clearing leaves from the storm drains, checking on one another, and offering refuge to those who have lost power.

You're so used to using "Washington Bureaucrats" as your foil that you have no idea what they are really like, and how hard they work.

[Adak]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Because only 'liberals' make unsound laws, right?

Liberals make too make laws - period. Look at the more conservative Texas - their state legislature only meets part time.

Compare that with California - they meet all year and pass WAY more bills. Unnecessary and expensive bills, that hurt businesses and people.

That's why so many businesses have left California, and relocated to Texas. Lots of individuals, also.

So yes, by philosophy and by the quantity of their laws, most of them are supported by liberals, and signed into law by liberals.

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by Adak

The Liberals make a nightmare.

True story, from a few years back. (Before Katrina).

Bubba, an enterprising guy from the deep South, blah, blah, blah



This is NOT the report I have posted about, but it is a similar one:
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/s...1#.UJDcgYZJWuI

Stossel is well known for his bias toward the right and his overly facile reporting on right wing issues. I'd respect a link to an impartial source more than a link to Stossel's chewing gum for the conservative brain.

Stossel ends his report with the following quote:

Today's fat oil company profits have led many to scream that they're gouging, but the higher prices are a signal to oil companies to drill for more oil.

"The high price is a big flag that's planted in the ground that says, 'Hey, come over here and make money,'" Roberts said.

Then people rush supplies in, and soon, prices come back down.

Look at any current analyses regarding the cost of oil. It's not a simple black and white equation. However, if you want to blame the cost of oil on a single factor, let’s use OPEC for the sake of argument. OPEC is a common culprit that sets oil prices for any number of reasons. They may limit the amount they export to get a higher price. In such a situation people cannot "come over here and make money." Someone can go to an OPEC country (or where ever) and drill a zillion barrels of oil. But if OPEC is manipulating its exports to keep oil at a certain price range, too bad for you. Or take the problem with high oil prices in Cali a while back. That was a problem at some of the refineries, not a drilling problem. Or the outbreak of a war can effect oil prices. And I could give many more reasons why Stossel’s quote is naive at best, disingenuous at worst. So, please don’t insult our intelligence with pronouncements like the ones you provided the link to.

You and your pal Stossel seem to feel that gouging is actually a virtuous activity. Please spare me from tiresome opinions derived from the fallacious thought of Ayn Rand. What if there was a famine? What if you were a fat cat sitting on the food supply for every single state in the US? You decide to sell your stock for $100/single grain of wheat. Massive starvation results. In fact, so many die that there are no farmers left to till the fields next spring. There’s no one left to "come over here and make money.” Well, I suppose, that’s business as usual in Rand’s Libertarian utopia., Atlas just shrugs and walks off; everyone who dies deserved to, and John Galt rapes Dagny Taggart. I guess it’s cool for libertarian guys to use their women like some commodity. Happy ever after for the Libertarian crowd.