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#421
The Podcast / Podcast for 02-06-2012
February 05, 2012, 04:31:48 PM
[mp3]https://bogosity.podbean.com/mf/web/p3u3za/BogosityPodcast-2012-02-06.mp3[/mp3]


News of the Bogus:
Biggest Bogon Emitter: Javier Martinez (nominated by Jonas Betzendahl) http://www.eurotopics.net/en/home/presseschau/archiv/aehnliche/archiv_article/ARTICLE98503-Spanish-bishop-legitimates-rape

Idiot Extraordinaire: Tony Perkins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-dX2Q4kdOU

This Week's Quote: “No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society.  If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.” —P.J. O’Rourke
#422
General Discussion / First 30-second spot for the Lee Wrights campaign
February 02, 2012, 11:52:55 AM
[yt]agu1mGhaJB0[/yt]
#423
General Discussion / Yes! The One Subject at a Time Act has been introduced!
January 31, 2012, 10:55:01 AM
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/prnewswire/press_releases/Pennsylvania/2012/01/31/DC44741

QuoteAKRON, Ohio, Jan. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "It's been a long time since Congress needed a majority to pass a law," says Jim Babka, President of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. "But that could change, thanks to Congressman Tom Marino of Pennsylvania (R-10), who has introduced our 'One Subject at a Time Act' (OSTA) in Congress."

"OSTA would require each bill Congress passes to be about one subject only," Babka explains. "This would end the practice of clustering unrelated measures into one package. Congressional leaders have long used this trick to pass unpopular laws on the strength of the popular proposals with which they're unnaturally joined. OSTA would end this fraud forever."

"Every bill would have to stand or fall on its own merits," declares Babka.

Congressman Marino told his constituents that Obamacare was a big motivation for introducing OSTA. "In order to garner enough votes to pass the law, a host of unrelated measures were tacked onto Obamacare," says Marino.

"But multi-subject bills are an old bipartisan problem. DownsizeDC.org created OSTA in response to numerous omnibus bills passed when the Republicans controlled Congress. For instance, the massively unpopular Real ID Act was only passed because the Republican leadership included it in an Emergency Troop Appropriation bill. That bill also included tsunami relief! Another example is the ban on Internet poker. It was included in a Port Security bill," says Babka.

Babka commends Representative Marino for his leadership and applauds the Williamsport Tea Party for their crucial support. "Now we can begin to collect co-sponsors for this vital reform," Babka concluded.

SOURCE DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

You can read the bill here: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.3806:
#424
The Podcast / Podcast for 1-30-2012
January 29, 2012, 03:34:28 PM
[mp3]https://bogosity.podbean.com/mf/web/bpwi23/BogosityPodcast-2012-01-30.mp3[/mp3]


News of the Bogus:
Biggest Bogon Emitter: OK Sen. Ralph Shortey (nominated by Dave Turcotte) http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/01/oklahoma_goper_proposes_bill_to_outlaw_aborted_hum.php?ref=fpb

Idiot Extraordinaire: East Haven, CT Mayor Joseph Maturo (nominated by Dave Turcotte) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfeyg9G5Ov4
This Week’s Quote: “The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.” —Lord Acton
#425
The Podcast / Podcast for 1-23-2012
January 22, 2012, 03:52:53 PM
[mp3]https://bogosity.podbean.com/mf/web/cyrvx9/BogosityPodcast-2012-01-23.mp3[/mp3]


State of the Union Commentary

News of the Bogus:
Biggest Bogon Emitter: The MPAA (nominated by Dave Turcotte)
Idiot Extraordinaire: Matthew Yglesias http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/01/what_is_austrian_economics_and_why_is_ron_paul_keep_obsessed_with_it_.html

This Week's Quote: "Many of the greatest things man has achieved are not the result of consciously directed thought, and still less the product of a deliberately coordinated effort of many individuals, but of a process in which the individual plays a part which he can never fully understand." —F. A. Hayek
#426
General Discussion / Libertarian Party 2012 Presidential Poll
January 19, 2012, 08:47:12 AM
Who's your guy? Poll closes May 1: http://www.lpct.org/2012/01/18/the-lpct-2012-presidential-poll/
#427
The Podcast / Podcast for 1-16-2012
January 15, 2012, 05:37:17 PM
[mp3]https://bogosity.podbean.com/mf/web/wejtp3/BogosityPodcast-2012-01-16.mp3[/mp3]


News of the Bogus:
Biggest Bogon Emitter: Lamar Smith http://www.digitaltrends.com/opinion/sopa-sponsor-rep-lamar-smith-to-sopa-opponents-you-dont-matter/

Idiot Extraordinaire: Pope Benedict XVI http://atheistuniverse.net/forum/topics/pope-same-sex-marriage-threatens-humanity-itself

This Week's Quote: "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." —Galileo Galilei
#428
The Podcast / Podcast for 1-9-2012
January 08, 2012, 03:58:43 PM
[mp3]https://bogosity.podbean.com/mf/web/v9jeum/BogosityPodcast-2012-01-09.mp3[/mp3]


News of the Bogus:
Biggest Bogon Emitter: The News Media (Iowa Caucus coverage)
Idiot Extraordinaire: Pierre Dukan http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-rt-us-slim-kids-markstre8051n1-20120106,0,3915996.story
This Week's Quote: "Yes, there are incompetents in this world—just as there are evil-doers and frauds. That's why we must reduce government to a fraction of its current size—to take away the power that enables incompetents, evil-doers, and frauds to run our lives." —Harry Browne
#429
General Discussion / Feds Rule State Dental Board Illegally Stifled Competition
January 04, 2012, 08:28:16 AM
Feds Rule State Dental Board Illegally Stifled Competition

You don't need to be a dentist to whiten teeth, FTC says

Highlights:

QuoteIn early December, the Federal Trade Commission voted that the North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners had stifled competition illegally by excluding non-dentists from providing teeth-whitening services or products to consumers.

The commission's Final Order upholds (with minor changes) a July 2011 decision by Chief Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell that requires the dental board to "cease ordering non-dentists to stop providing teeth whitening products or services." The order also requires the board "to stop informing non-dentist teeth whitening providers and certain other persons that it is illegal for non-dentists to perform teeth whitening products or services."

Over the past decade, cosmetic teeth whitening has become increasingly popular and more widely available at day spas, mall kiosks, salons, and other non-dental office settings. State regulators have stepped up enforcement actions against non-dentists for what regulators consider practicing dentistry without a license.

QuoteJoyce Osborn, president and founder of the Alabama-based Council for Cosmetic Teeth Whitening, a trade association, told Carolina Journal that the issue is not about public health or safety, or even a concern that non-dentists are motivated only by financial self-interest, as the N.C. dental board asserts. Osborn says dentists want to maintain a lucrative monopoly and protect their own revenues from lower-cost competitors. Dentists charge as much as $300 to $700 per treatment, whereas some non-dentists offer the service for less than $100.

Osborn, who invented and markets an FDA-cleared teeth-whitening system, says she's battled the N.C. dental board and other state boards for several years. "That's why I founded the council," Osborn said, "to inform and help members on issues of safety, training, best practices, and appropriate marketing."

QuoteThe FTC's complaint against the N.C. dental board is the first of its kind in the nation. It contends that the practice of allowing professions and occupations to be regulated solely by state occupational licensing boards comprised of a majority of the licensees of the profession is anti-competitive and exclusionary because those members have a financial conflict of interest. When members of such a licensing board enforce the state's Dental Practice Act, they are engaging in a conspiracy that violates federal antitrust laws.

QuoteOther interesting questions hinge on the scope of court decisions and whether the ultimate decision in the teeth-whitening case is broad enough to affect other state monopolies.

It's about time someone started challenging these corporate monopolists masquerading as protectors of the public. Optimistically, this could spell the end for state licensing, but pessimistically this could mean an even bigger grab of Federal power over states and extending the Federal government's reach into the economy.
#430
General Discussion / Bogosity Facebook page
January 02, 2012, 05:03:02 PM
Due to lots of requests, I finally made a Facebook page for Bogosity: https://www.facebook.com/MrBogosity

As with all such pages, you can Like it, and I also have the podcast feed automatically posting to the wall.
#431
The Podcast / 2011 Wrap-up
January 01, 2012, 11:03:53 AM
[mp3]https://bogosity.podbean.com/mf/web/mwsnmm/BogosityPodcast-2011-wrapup.mp3[/mp3]


News of the Bogus:
2011 Year in Review

Idiot of the Year: Bill O'Reilly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb3AFMe2OQY
#432
General Discussion / You too can be a bogus doctor!
December 28, 2011, 12:17:30 PM
You can now get not one but TWO bogus doctorate certificates from the Institute for Completely Bogus Studies! Impress your friends with your very own bogus doctorate degree! The prestigious Doctor of Applied Bogosity and Doctorate of Quantum Bogodynamics from the Institute for Completely Bogus Studies can adorn the wall of your office or practice and impress everyone who doesn't bother to actually read it. In the great tradition of creationists, Law of Attraction nuts, and other fraudsters, you too can speak with the same (lack of) authority. Available at the Bogosity.TV store (click images to go to product page).



#433
The Podcast / Podcast for 12-12-2011
December 11, 2011, 04:37:52 PM
[mp3]https://bogosity.podbean.com/mf/web/4m382/BogosityPodcast-12-12-2011.mp3[/mp3]


News of the Bogus:
Biggest Bogon Emitter: Barack Obama (again!) http://news.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/12/obamas-teddy-roosevelt-speech---full-transcript.php
Idiot Extraordinaire: Rick Perry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PAJNntoRgA

This Week's Quote: “The fact that religions can be so shamelessly dishonest, so contemptuous of the intelligence of their adherents, and still flourish does not speak very well for the tough-mindedness of the believers. But it does indicate, if a demonstration was needed, that near the core of the religious experience is something remarkably resistant to rational inquiry.” —Carl Sagan
#434
General Discussion / The Greed Fallacy
December 06, 2011, 05:06:52 PM
http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/greed-fallacy

QuoteThe Greed Fallacy
by James Wilson

Too many people use the word greed in a greedy way -- especially left-statists. Consider . . .

    No one accused corporations of greed when rising earnings caused 401(k)s to grow. But when our accounts lost value many of us were quick to blame the losses on greed.

    Likewise, no one accuses themselves of greed when they line up at the pumps to take advantage of falling gasoline prices. But we're quick to accuse the oil companies of greed when prices rise.

Can you see how childish this is? We're never greedy. Only others are greedy. This unrecognized hypocrisy allows us to use the word greed in a greedy way, to manipulate others to get what we want.

But most of what people call greed is simply other people trying to honor their responsibilities. For instance, you have an obligation to get the best income and pay the lowest prices in order to support yourself or your family. All businesses have a similar responsibility. They owe a profit maximizing obligation to their stockholders, many of whom are charities, and others of whom depend on investment income to fund their retirements, or to support their families. None of this has anything to do with greed.

This is one of the evils of Statism: It tries to turn the virtue of responsibility into the sin of greed.

As long as no theft or fraud is involved then profit-maximizing behavior is responsible behavior, NOT greedy behavior.

But it IS greedy when we ask politicians to initiate violence against others to get what we want.

And look at the ironic results. If Person A pressures politicians to steal on his behalf, then he shouldn't be surprised that corporations will ask politicians to steal on THEIR behalf. For instance . . .

Imagine that the State "condemns" your home so a corporation can build a parking lot. There will tend to be two reactions . . .

1. Some will be angry at the State for using coercion to steal property, regardless of the supposed justification.
2. But others WON'T care as much that you lost your house, but will instead be more enraged because a "greedy" corporation benefited.

Statists (especially left-statists) will typically adopt the second position. They ignore the fact that THEY created this outcome when they asserted that the State can steal from some to give to others. When Statists argue that politicians can initiate force against Person B for the benefit of Person A, they're promoting a system that corporations (and others) will use for their own ends. Cronyism, corruption, and the abuse of power are the inevitable results of such a greedy, theft-based system.

Statists need to recognize that they are greedy in their manipulative use of the word greed. They project onto others their own selfish, greedy desires, which manifest themselves in constant calls to use State coercion to steal from and control others. It is hypocritical for them to express outrage at the natural outcome of their own self-contradicting beliefs.   

NOTE: Some may object to the word "steal" to describe the taking of a home under eminent domain, for the reason that the home owner is paid for his or her property. Here's why the word steal is justified. If the homeowner likes the price, then the transaction is roughly the same as a voluntary peaceful transaction (though the threat of coercion still hovers in the background). But if the homeowner DOESN'T like the price, and the property is seized at that price anyway, then violence is involved, and the crime of theft has been committed. No mere words on paper can change this truth, even if those words are inscribed in the Constitution.
#435
The Podcast / Podcast for 12-5-2011
December 04, 2011, 03:59:36 PM
[mp3]https://bogosity.podbean.com/mf/web/n8z7vm/BogosityPodcast-12-5-2011.mp3[/mp3]


News of the Bogus:
Biggest Bogon Emitter: Barack Obama http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/11/obama-us-has-gotten-lazy-about-foreign-investment/1

Idiot Extraordinaire: The European Union http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8897662/EU-bans-claim-that-water-can-prevent-dehydration.html
This Week's Quote: "[T]oday we live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups...unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo-realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives; I distrust their power." —Philip K. Dick
#436
General Discussion / That is Priceless
December 02, 2011, 01:38:30 PM
I can't believe I didn't know about this until now! That is Priceless is a comic where Steve Melcher gives new titles to classic works of art:












#437
The Podcast / Podcast for 11-21-20111
November 20, 2011, 04:07:16 PM
[mp3]https://bogosity.podbean.com/mf/web/nj55pg/BogosityPodcast-11-21-2011.mp3[/mp3]


News of the Bogus:

Biggest Bogon Emitter: Anti-Vaccers (yet again) http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/08/new-study-suggests-autism-starts-in-the-womb/?hpt=hp_bn10

Idiot Extraordinaire: Christopher McGrath (nominated by Dave Turcotte) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/man-faces-libel-allegations-over-amazon-book-review-6259431.html

This Week's Quote: "The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within." —Mohandas Gandhi
#438
General Discussion / Lee Wrights: President Obama Calls Over-Regulated American Business Lazy
November 20, 2011, 08:40:09 AM
http://wrights2012.com/2011/11/president-obama-calls-over-regulated-american-business-lazy/

QuotePresident Obama has found something else to blame for the recession, adding to a list that includes his Republican predecessors, the weather, and fortune. He thinks that American business people are "lazy" because they haven't focused more on attracting foreign investment. The president told a group of CEOs at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hawaii recently that they've "been a little bit lazy ... over the last couple of decades" because they had "taken for granted" that "people will want to come here" and were not "out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new business into America."

I don't know if it is more appalling that President Obama once again used a foreign trip to criticize America or that he is so very, very out of touch with reality. He obviously has not read, probably has not even seen, the Code of Federal Regulations, which clutters more than 25 feet and ten shelves in the Library of Congress. The CFR is a compilation of all the rules and regulations written by all federal executive departments and agencies, under the statutory authority Congress gives them. It's considered administrative law, written by lawyers for lawyers (and judges), and interpreted by bureaucrats.

In 2000, reporter John Stossel showed just how America's licensing laws, government regulation and taxation stifle business. He did a report for ABC news on his attempt to open a Frisbee store that met all legal and regulatory requirements in Hong Kong, New York City and India. ("Is America Number One?" ABC News Special, Sept. 1, 2000) In Hong Kong the entire process took hours. In NYC it took weeks. In India it would have taken years! In another ABC program, Stossel took one title of the CFR, dealing with federal election laws, removed the pages from the binding, taped them together and rolled them out over the length of a football field, and halfway back again.

The CFR is so big that if you read 100 pages a day, every day, it would take you more than two years to complete it ... but you probably never could finish reading because bureaucrats add more pages with every new piece of federal legislation. In a recent video posted on the website EconomicFreedom.org, the Charles Koch Institute noted that regulatory compliance costs U.S. businesses $1.75 trillion. That would be enough to hire 43 million workers, a quarter of the nation's work force.

After chastising the business leaders for being "lazy," the president said the solution to their indolence was to create — you guessed it — another federal bureaucracy to help foreigners cut the Gordian Knot of local, state and federal regulations. This is the classic technique used by politicians to increase their power. It's the one thing government is good at. As Harry Browne said, "Government is good at one thing. It knows how to break your legs, hand you a crutch and say, 'See, if it weren't for the government you couldn't walk.'"

The average federal regulator destroys 150 private sector jobs per year. State regulators do even more damage. Several states have attempted to drive African-Americans out of the hair-braiding business by requiring them to get a $5,000 cosmetology license — taking a year-long course from schools that don't even teach braiding. Texas regulators force computer repair technicians to get a costly private investigator license that requires a three-year apprenticeship. Louisiana even force florists to pass a rigorous licensing exam, even though experts can't tell which floral arrangements were created by "licensed" professionals.

Why then should any foreign investor want to spend money in the United States when our own local and federal governments treat productive and prosperous entrepreneurs as mere "sources of revenue," to be regulated, controlled, and taxed to support the "less fortunate" or to serve the "common good." Why should foreign businesses, banks and governments invest in America when they can simply lend money to an American government run by politicians who cannot control their spending addiction?

The problem is not that American business is lazy, it is that our ruling elites have bankrupted our country and continue to drive us deeper into debt. The problem is that our political leaders lack the moral and intellectual courage to make the hard choices needed to turn the economy around. Only by stopping the spending, and lifting the regulatory loads that burden-down entrepreneurs and stifles the creative and productive spirit of America, will we see our nation's economy improve.
#439
General Discussion / Libertarian Presidential candidates debate
November 15, 2011, 02:40:44 PM
Debate between Lee Rights, Carl Person, and Roger Gary:

[yt]Exep0tHbQ18[/yt]

(Note: THAT is how you do the sound for these things! I made sure to make this the first libertarian debate so far online where the candidates can be clearly understood.)
#440
General Discussion / I know what mental disease Libertarians are suffering from!
November 07, 2011, 06:23:58 PM
It makes perfect sense, the diagnosis fits me perfectly: [wiki]Drapetomania[/wiki]

QuoteDrapetomania was a supposed mental illness described by American physician Samuel A. Cartwright in 1851 that caused black slaves to flee captivity.

QuoteCartwright described the disorder — which, he said, was "unknown to our medical authorities, although its diagnostic symptom, the absconding from service, is well known to our planters and overseers"[4] — in a paper delivered before the Medical Association of Louisiana[5] that was widely reprinted.

He stated that the malady was a consequence of masters who "made themselves too familiar with [slaves], treating them as equals".[6]

    "If any one or more of them, at any time, are inclined to raise their heads to a level with their master or overseer, humanity and their own good requires that they should be punished until they fall into that submissive state which was intended for them to occupy. They have only to be kept in that state, and treated like children to prevent and cure them from running away." [7]

QuoteIn addition to identifying drapetomania, Cartwright prescribed a remedy. His feeling was that with "proper medical advice, strictly followed, this troublesome practice that many Negroes have of running away can be almost entirely prevented."[4] In the case of slaves "sulky and dissatisfied without cause" — a warning sign of imminent flight — Cartwright prescribed "whipping the devil out of them" as a "preventative measure".

Yeah, I think I might be a chronic case. No treating me!
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