Fav quotes

[Goaticus]

And one of Barry Eisler's response to a question about SOPA.

"Sometimes the answer is that the government really is inept. But other times, you have to be careful about assuming you understand the true objective in play. If you assume wrongly, the tactics the government is using to achieve what you assume is the objective will seem stupid. If you correctly understand the objective, though, the tactics can be impressively sound.

On SOPA, for example, if you assume stopping piracy is the true objective, the bill seems stupid. If you understand that the true objective is the expansion of government power over the citizenry, the bill makes sense."

[Travis Retriever]

And speaking of piracy:  http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/5268-Piracy-Episode-One-Copyright

Wow.

[MrBogosity]

On SOPA, for example, if you assume stopping piracy is the true objective, the bill seems stupid. If you understand that the true objective is the expansion of government power over the citizenry, the bill makes sense."

And if you understand that the true objective is to stop independent bands and filmmakers from having an efficient means of distributing their content outside the cartels of the MPAA and RIAA, it makes even more sense!

[Lord T Hawkeye]

Always follow the money.  For example, who lobbied for SOPA?

Or who lobbied for socialized healthcare?  Was it patients who weren't getting the care they needed?  I think not.

[MrBogosity]

Ron Paul Would Ignite the Debate If He Said This: http://www.tomwoods.com/blog/ron-paul-would-ignite-the-debate-if-he-said-this/

[Travis Retriever]

@Shane:  I loved this bit:  "Our campaign has received twice as much money in donations from active-duty military than all other Republican candidates combined, and I've been endorsed by the former head of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit, who says the other candidates are feeding you propaganda instead of the truth.

"Mitt Romney's top donors are Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, and Morgan Stanley. Mine are the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force."

Reminds me of that one conservative former friend of mine who blathered on about how he's for the military, basically acting like they're his gang (seriously).  The kicker?  He's against Ron Paul because he's convinced he's racist.

Well, if Ron Paul is racist (he's not), then the army is super racist for donating the most money to him.
He supports Mitt Romney as if he's different from Obama, yet criticizes the latter as being a socialist that he wouldn't vote for.

[Goaticus]

@Shane:  I loved this bit:  "Our campaign has received twice as much money in donations from active-duty military than all other Republican candidates combined, and I've been endorsed by the former head of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit, who says the other candidates are feeding you propaganda instead of the truth.

"Mitt Romney's top donors are Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, and Morgan Stanley. Mine are the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force."

Reminds me of that one conservative former friend of mine who blathered on about how he's for the military, basically acting like they're his gang (seriously).  The kicker?  He's against Ron Paul because he's convinced he's racist.

Well, if Ron Paul is racist (he's not), then the army is super racist for donating the most money to him.
He supports Mitt Romney as if he's different from Obama, yet criticizes the latter as being a socialist that he wouldn't vote for.

Well if he supports Mitt Romney and the only difference between them is skin color ask him if that means he's racist.

[Travis Retriever]

Well if he supports Mitt Romney and the only difference between them is skin color ask him if that means he's racist.

ZING!

[AnCap Dave]

"Even while acknowledging that Washington is broken and that Americans have lost faith and trust in government, all President Obama could offer was more interference and government mandates as solutions to the problems government itself has created. His latest gem: "smart regulations to prevent irresponsible behavior." Government is not just broken. It is running out of control, destroying our lives, our liberty, our security and our livelihood."- Lee Wrights

[Lord T Hawkeye]

I got on a roll last night

http://lordthawkeye.deviantart.com/art/Justice-for-sale-281738163

http://lordthawkeye.deviantart.com/journal/The-true-cost-of-free-281742738#comments

When my friend showed me the picture in the first one, it just wrote itself.

[MrBogosity]

http://lordthawkeye.deviantart.com/art/Justice-for-sale-281738163

You should definitely make a video on this point.

[Lord T Hawkeye]

I think I will.

[Travis Retriever]

[yt]79ZosnxGKgk[/yt]
Thereby confirming what most (if not all) of us already knew. 

[Goaticus]

More win from Barry Eisler on the subject of using marketing to brand Republicans as the party of small government.

"If a new party entered the fray on a platform of torture, federalization of end-of-life decisions, federalization of marriage, imprisonment of suspects without trial, use of the military for domestic law enforcement, prohibition of drugs and SWAT raids into family homes to catch people smoking pot, empowering the State Department to strip Americans of their citizenship, and a trillion-dollar-a-year, million-and-a-half-man, eight-hundred-overseas-bases military, would you naturally feel, "At last! A party of small government!"? Yet these are all Republican policies."

[Goaticus]

And my favorite response of his to people who claim Republicans are for small government even if their administrations and legislative representatives never vote that way.

"I suppose you could argue the Republican small government brand persists because the theory of the GOP is small government, with the problem being the corrupt way successive Republican administrations have implemented that theory. Maybe. But on that argument, shouldn't Communism continue to enjoy a solid brand, too?"