On Sat, 5 Jul 2008 10:19:48 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, "Ed
Huntress" quickly quoth:

HDI is another arbitrary UN project that consists of weightings pulled out
of a hat. 'You want to boost the US HDI? Try universal healthcare.
Whoops...that isn't part of the libertarian program, is it?

Damned straight, it ain't.


You can give it another boost by shooting all the cows.

Hmm, is it milk or beef which is killing everyone, Ed? Or just the
hormone and antibiotic overdoses?


But, if you *really
* want to get us on top, the long-term solution is obvious: Bulldoze the
inner cities flat.

And house the unwashed masses where?


--snip of more HDI stuff because I'm not up on it--


So what does that have to do with libertarians or Libertarians? Don't they
have sex?

Evidently, most are hetero and have sex only with consenting partners
only. Pretty wild, huh?


They found that out 200 years ago, but there are still plenty of rich people
around -- more than ever, in fact. I guess the "guy" was full of it, eh?

Again since we are not governed by principles, then the rule is grab what
you can for yourself. Isn't this what you complain about in the big
corporations??

No. It's what I *expect* of greedy and overly ambitious people who are given
the opportunity. My complaint is that we give them too many opportunities,
thanks to our semi-libertarian approach to (de)regulation of business, and
financial business in particular.

The libertarian ethos says "do as you like as long as it doesn't screw
with others." Lax Rep and Dem laws allowed the cluster**** that is our
current economy, not libertarians. They're practically non-existent in
the government so far. You can't blame this one on us, Ed.

Yet, anyway.



This is a PARTICIPATORY democracy, not a stage show for critics. And it
isn't a parliamentary system. It's a two-party system with a strong
president. That keeps it a two-party system.

Theoretically, anyway.


Fraud, waste, and abuse are endemic to large institutions, especially
governments. Oversight helps. Turning your back on it, as Reagan and Bush
have done, and as libertarians would do to an even greater degree, just
makes it worse.

That's your theory, right, seeing as no libertarians have been in
enough power to test it?


Larry even thinks that libertarians would be more honest. Talk about blind
faith; I know of no reason to believe they would be any more honest. In my
estimation, exactly the opposite would be true. By eliminating regulation
and oversight, you'd may as well be offering the crooks and pirates an
engraved invitation.



Well your light bulb just dimmed. Ron Paul is a Representative from Texas
not Arizona.

One stinkindesert is as good as the next. d8-)

Two points!


I'm talking about the Morass of restrictive laws and rules such as the
FEMA telling me that I might have to raise my entire 40X72 steel building
because of some bureacratic derived flood plain that there exists no
evidence, historically or otherwise to support.

That sounds like your primary gripe.

Faulty gov't agencies get your attention pretty quickly when they
enter your own life, Ed. Unfortunately, it usually comes in a negative
way.


I'm talking about the 3 star general in charge of the Strategic Defense
Command responsible for the Star Wars stuff getting his hand caught in the
cooky jar setting himself up with BDC for a post retirement job.

How would libertarianism fix that, or any of the other things you've listed?

It all looks like some kind of blind faith. What kind, I have no idea.

Well, how many libertarians have been caught in frauds, sex scandals,
or kickbacks? Gee, it all seems to be Reps and Dems, doesn't it? Or
do excellent track records not figure into your theories against
libertarians? You're awfully hot over this, Ed. Have you looked at
what's affecting your perspective yet? Please do.



I have no idea what you are talking about here. I do not own or think that
an SUV is the car to own but based on statistics it seems that the
majority of the people who are supporting the political parties running
the US do. Another example of thinking things thru.

Talk to Larry. He has a 6,000-pound truck to haul 500 pounds of tools. g

....daily, and frequently hauling sheets of plywood, 8-20' lengths of
tuba fore/six/eight/ten/twelve and 4xX posts, sacks of concrete, rolls
of fencing, ladders, digging bars, table saws, miter saws, trailers,
cement mixers, etc. Check your biases, bubba.

P.S: My Tundra weighs only 4,850 lbs. and can tote an extra 1,750 lbs
in the bed. The beefyness of the truck ensures that it can also haul
more weight safely, 8,500 pounds worth.

--
Jewish Zen:
Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated, already?
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