Haven't posted in a few days, thought I'd throw something up here before my laziness gathered too much inertia.

In recent news, a man in Wisconsin shot eight and killed six men, after being told to stop hunting on private hunting grounds. A basketball player did much the same thing...only without guns or anything. President Bush's Secret Service leader got in a tussle with Chilean security, resulting in a really cool picture of Bush pulling his Secret Service officer into the room by the shirt collar.

I'd also like to talk about price controls. If you watch the news or listen to the radio, likely you'll hear a tale of rising drug prices, and the need to combat them. You'll likely also hear one of two solutions: price controls or outright socialization (maybe not in those words, but those ideas).

Sorry for not posting for so damn long. Whenever I've been on the computer I've been playing Neverwinter Nights...man what a cool game. I'd also like to thank Mile's, whos MMHA ad on his blog
inspired me to post once more.

Today is one of the saddest days America has ever endured. On this day, the greatest American president of the past 100 years has passed away at the age of 93: Ronald Reagan.

I didn't think I'd ever do any posts about bands on this blog, but man does this ever make the cut. Iced Earth has always been one of my favorite bands: all of the musicians are incredible talents, but more then that the lyrics of particular songs simply strike me as excellent. Not so much the fantasy/horror stuff (though I enjoy those songs), but songs like 1776, Ghost of Freedom, and a number of songs on Glorious Burden speak to the patriotic side of me, and I always thought that if I could meet one metal lyricist, it would be Jon Schaffer, because of his more right-wing bent.

And boy was I right! In this interview with Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, Schaffer tells us how he worked his ass off on the streets when he grew up, and does not want a Big Brother, socialist government taxing away his or anybody's hard work. He tells us how he stands by President Bush and the US, and in particular the invasion of Iraq and refutes the liberal Canadian interviewer's idea that 9/11 was somehow justified. I encourage you all to read this wonderful interview, especially if you like Iced Earth (I was truly amazed).

Here are some exerpts:

BW: You mentioned that you're a proud American and you're proud of what the founding fathers achieved and the values they embraced. Do you think America still stands up for what the founding fathers proposed?

JS: Yeah, I do. Does that mean we have not made mistakes? No, we have made mistakes. We're human beings and we will make mistakes. But to this do I will stand rock solid by the fact that I know this country has done a hundred times more good for other countries around the world than anybody else ever has. And that's just a fact.

BW: Do you think 9/11 will be viewed as the first event in the US empire's decline and fall?

JS: No. This is not an empire, first of all. If the United States was an empire, your country [Canada]would be our 51st state.

BW: So you don't see the Bush regime as being cultural imperialists? You don't see them as trying to force the American way of life on to a nation that maybe doesn't want it?

JS: No. If you think that's true, then why are 70 or 80 percent of the people are thrilled to have us there. Have you not seen that? And it's not a regime, by the way. You keep up that kind of language I'm going to end the interview right now.

BW: Well, sometimes Americans believe they're very free, when they're sometimes not. There are a lot of authors, especially a guy like Noam Chomsky, who believes a lot of consent in the US is manufactured by politicians and corporations --

JS: Talk about one of the fuckin' ultra leftist spin doctors of the world, Noam Chomsky. You buy into that crap?

BW: Do you think the Democrats or a leftist government would do some good in the US? Because, like I said, I'm from Canada and we've always had a left-of-centre government. And we don't seem to have a lot of the problems the US has -- crime and poverty aren't as rampant here. Do you think a leftist government could do something positive for the States?

JS: No. There have been times throughout the history of the country where it's happened. But the whole idea of this country is not to have a government tit. We don't stand for that. There are people who would probably like that, and they should probably move to Canada. I don't want a Big Brother dictating my life.

I return! My internet finally works again, which is good because I was about to go hara-kiri (a blogger cannot stand the shame of defeat). In any case, expect a more regular posting shedule. For now, some miscellaneous thoughts, including a note (a day late, unfortunately) about Memorial Day.

Reporting from Miles' house, as yes, my computer remains in its coma state. As he has so many times before, Thomas Sowell has brought another excellent point to my attention. Sowell is a brilliant author, and if anyone reading this hasn't read any Sowell, you should stop reading this blog and go pick up The Visions of the Anointed, or perhaps Basic Economics. Pretty much anything he's written is good reading. Anyway, the idea Sowell brings to the table this time is the fabulous (sp?) social worker. Now, I'm sure there are times when a therapist or school social worker has changed a man's life for the better, but all of these cases require a client who is willing to make changes in his life, someone who wants to help himself. Usually the therapist is private, in which he is contacted and rewarded by the client, or a high school therapist, whose main plan in serious situations is to redirect the client to a private psychiatrist or the like. No, these aren't the social workers I'm talking about. I'm talking about the dangerous and, in my opinion, criminal ones. Consider Sowell's report in Capitalism Magazine, "Justice for Little Angelo." A newborn child, Angelo Marinda, winds up in the hospital not two weeks after his birth because his bones have been broken. By his own father. The social workers, in a stroke of brilliance, decide to attempt "family reunification", in which these godly experts somehow think they can teach this violent man- who has already had a daughter taken away from him for abuse- to love his children again. I know it's a surprise, but Little Angelo died but a few months into his life, when his father shook him to death. The point I'm trying to make is that, though the father was rightfully convicted of murder, nothing at all happened to the social worker who allowed it to happen. The fact of the matter is no one bothers to check a social workers records, or even consider if such a record could mean anything. A social worker could send a child like Little Angelo to his death 100 times in a row and still keep his job and send more children back to abusive parents. The problem is one of theory divorced from reality. If these 100 children die because of 100 "family reunification" failures, no one says "gee, maybe teaching an abusive parent to be normal is impossible and we certainly shouldn't try it when the kids life is on the line." No, they say "well if failed 100 times, but according to my theory it should work again." A theory that does not work in reality is a worthless theory. Bottom line? Social workers should, to at least a certain degree, be held responsible for the results of their gambling with children's lives.

I'm afraid my computer is still down, which makes posting on my blog a wee bit inconveniant. As it stands, I'm sitting here in math class not doing work in order to give you people information in the true samizdat tradition. The things I do for you people.

Sorry it's been a while, but my computer is one of 100,000 or so across America which has been shut down by ravenous viruses.

In my much-mentioned AIC class, I'm to write a paper concerning socialized or national healthcare. It's supposed to present both sides, so I will, but on my website where I'm free I do believe I'll post the truth instead.

All centrally planned business or economies have failed miserably. Even Communist China is slowly becoming a free market. One wonders why, with such a bad track record, centrally planned medicine would even be considered by our lawmakers. Let us take a peek at this track record.

In Canada, the waiting list for major surgery extends up to 5 years or more, and is rarely shorter than 5 months. During this time a patient is placed into a gurney and expected to simply wait. In Britain, there are 1.5 million people on the waiting list for their National Health Service. Over half of British cancer patients never see a specialist, which leads to disasterously low cancer survival rates. The only thing saving the British National system is the expensive (because of mandatory taxation to support the public system) private care without which, according to Free-Market.net, the waiting lists would double.

This is often ignored by the socialism advocates. Some counter by saying that Americans pay too much for medical care- often twice as much as in nationalized countries. Thomas Sowell, however, points out the fallacy of this argument in his Capitalism Magazine article. Essentially, reducing the price of healthcare by government mandate does nothing to reduce the cost- so the healthcare providers must do something to alleviate this pressure, and the result is always cutting quality.

More on this if possible, I have to leave the computer room now.

Perusing my school newspaper, I came across an article declaring legalized prostitution to be a slap in the face to womenkind, and therefore the practice should remain illegal. The article was a pretty typical anti-legalization treatise, and I shall answer its claims line for line.

Trolling my compatriots for ideas as to what to post this eve, Amy suggested talking about my future Presidency (I'll have it! One day! Just you watch!!). Expanding on this idea, I decided to talk about a few policies I would implement if I were Supreme Dictator of the World (or at least America).