Archive for December, 2007

      The government works diligently to develop and grow a class of second class citizens. A recent 60 Minutes article discussed the profusion of jails and prisons throughout the country. As the moderator stated, at the rate of this current expansion, within a few decades every one of our country’s citizens will either be working for the prison system or be a guest in one of it’s facilities. The cost of supporting the penal system, together with related agencies like the probation department, has surpassed the cost of our health and welfare departments in most states. In California it has been the largest state budgetary item for decades.
     A look at the make up of our prison population discloses a very high percentage of drug offenders across the land. A large percentage of these offenders’ crimes are not violent in nature, nor are these inmates distributors of drugs. They are the users of these products, and a high percentage of these users are in jail for pot related offences. Another class of “criminals” are those found guilty of alcohol related offences. Of course anyone convicted of driving a lethal weapon (read auto) while under the influence of drugs or alcohol deserves a stiff penalty. However, incarceration doesn’t seem to be much of a deterrent.
     I don’t think the citizens of this country are inherently any worse or of  a diminished moral character when compared to the citizens in other countries around the globe. If a look at prison statistics were a true reflection of the moral fiber of our people we definitely stand out as the bad boys and girls of the planet. Perhaps we need to redefine what it means to be a criminal in this country. As a result of taking a look at the makeup of our inmate population maybe we could put those resources necessary to support this outmoded model of criminality to much better use. We could put the 50K to 75K per year for jailers into productive endeavors like alternative energy solutions or solving global warming. After all, as the world’s largest contributor to green house gases, we owe it to the world’s future generations to solve real problems with our planet’s  resources, not waste them on fruitless pursuits like jailing non violent citizens.
  Bob Parmelee,  Parmsplace.com

  ”If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed; if you do read the
newspaper you are misinformed.”
  -Mark Twain
Suppose you were an idiot.
And suppose you were a member of Congress….
But then I repeat myself.
   -Mark Twain
I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a
man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
   -Winston Churchill
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support
of Paul.
   – George Bernard Shaw
A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he
proposes to pay off with your money.
   -G Gordon Liddy
Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what
to have for dinner.
   -James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich
countries to rich people in poor countries.
   -Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to
teenage boys.
   -P.J. O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian
Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live
at the expense of everybody else.
   -Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)
Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases:
If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it, and if it stops moving, subsidize it.
   -Ronald Reagan (1986)
I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
                -Will Rogers
If you think health care is expensive now; wait until you see what it costs
when it’s free!
   -P.J. O’Rourke
Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics
won’t take an interest in you!
   -Pericles (430 B.C.)
No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in
session.
   -Mark Twain (1866)
Talk is cheap…except when Congress does it.
   -Unknown
The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at
one end and no responsibility at the other.
   -Ronald Reagan
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The
inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
   -Winston Churchill
The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the
taxidermist leaves the skin.
   -Mark Twain
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill
the world with fools.
  -Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)
There is no distinctly Native American criminal class…save Congress.
   -Mark Twain
What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
   -Edward Langley, Artist (1928 – 1995)
A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to
take everything you have.
   -Thomas Jefferson

Reproduced from parmsplace.com
 
  
 

     When Shirley Temple Black, child actress, was appointed Ambassador to Ghana I figured, strange, but why not. After all, supporters of political parties had been rewarded with special appointments since time began. Besides, she was loved both here and abroad. She did such a great job she was given a much more sensitive appointment many years later as Ambassador to Czechoslovakia.    

   My jaw hit the floor when Ronald Reagan was elected governor of California, and then, of course, president. It didn’t seem to me that a movie idol turned Screen Actors Guild president had the background to lead a state government, let alone the country. But as history is my witness, he is credited with doing a great job and is considered one of the nation’s best and most popular leaders.    

   Others like Sonny Bono and Jesse Ventura and Clint Eastwood have further proven that show business is as good a background as political science to be a spokesperson for the people. And, obviously, being a household name before running for public office doesn’t hurt one’s chances at getting elected. In fact, a previous career in front of a camera may be one of the better foundations for public speaking. It sure wouldn’t have hurt the king of gaffs, George Bush, to have gotten some practice before stepping in front of an audience.    

    It is unfortunate, in my opinion, that our constitution prevents another great actor from becoming president. I am speaking of Arnold Schwarzenegger, of course. He is proving to be a very capable governor, following in Ronald Reagan’s footsteps somewhat. The fact that he was not born in this country would seem to have little to do with his leadership ability. As we can certainly see, being born in this country has little to do with a person’s ability to lead this nation either. 

Bob Parmelee

Imagine a black hole, if you can. There is one or more in every galaxy. These cosmic sized vacuum cleaners suck everything in their neighborhood down a funnel much like water going down the drain. As matter enters the vortex it’s structure becomes more and more compressed.
This is possible because matter primarily consists of empty space. Space between molecules, space between atoms in molecules, space between electrons and nuclei, etc. As the space between these particles of matter decreases the process generates heat. Tremendous amounts of heat. In fact, the trillions of degrees of heat are so intense the particles actually revert to their primal form, energy. Einstein’s theory tells us that the amount of energy created equals the material mass times the speed of light squared.Now lets assume the process occurred on a universe sized scale billions of years before the birth of our universe. Every single gram of matter became a part of a soccer sized ball of pure energy and there is no physical matter left. All knowledge, time, and matter are encompassed in this ball of energy….God, if you will. Then, for reasons not even guessed at yet, the ball blows up. We have the big bang. Energy is spewed out in all directions in a trillion degree heat wave. Our universe is born. As the energy becomes dissipated things begin to cool off. Millions of years later matter begins to form in a process similar to water vapor condensing to steam, and then water droplets. Clouds of the simplest from of matter, one electron circulating one proton, hydrogen, begin to form in galaxy sized clusters.