What Would Ludwig von Mises Do?

Detroit Fress Press: Families fight for their homes

The “free market” is alive and well in Michigan. As global competition and corporate mismanagement worsen the impacts of a state-wide economic downturn in Michigan, people of all income levels are getting a taste of that "free-market" freedom.

As of Sept. 1, 40,110 Michigan families were seriously delinquent on their mortgages or in foreclosure. In metro Detroit alone, nearly 26,000 homes were in foreclosure. The state's 2005 mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates are 50% higher than the national average, a startling statistic that reveals a large number of metro Detroiters are being forced out of their homes and into financial ruin.

Part 1 of 2 part story

Blog-Troopers Plan Invasion

In a tawdry effort to deceive blog visitors from New Richmond, the ontheborderline.nut crack propaganda
team rapidly deployed it's communications campaign to convince new visitors that their mission is to establish a
utopian capitalist nirvana by blocking any and all efforts
to build a single public school in Western Wisconsin.
Posing as warriors for truth, justice and the American way,
Blog-troopers masquaraded as Star Wars Clones fighting to establish the future state of perpetual prosperity through such tried and true methods as Union busting, worker wage reduction and the ever popular raid on employees pensions. Ever wonder what was behind those bright white suits of shining armour? See Fig. 2 Blog Trooper (Post Labotomy).

The Blog Troopers first excursion into foreign territory was met a response reserved for snakes in the grass,
skunks and other such beloved vermin. Hssssssssssssssssssssssssss. The sound of the all to familiar garden hose with a pinhole leak. The same garden hose used to fill the now infamous blogger hot tubs. Undeterred by the warm welcome and pleas from moderate borderliners to employ diplomacy,the Blog troopers continue to surreptitiously plot their next attack.

Intelligent Design Questioned On The Border Line

Wis. Tax Myth #1: Wisconsin is a “tax-and-spend hell.”

Fact: State and local spending and total revenue from taxes and fees are only slightly above average in Wisconsin — and these support a much higher quality of government services than in other states.

• Wisconsin taxpayers pay for services not only through taxes but also through fees and charges — university tuition, car registration, hunting and fishing licenses, etc. When state and local taxes and fees are combined, Wisconsin ranks 14th among all states. When state, local, and federal taxes and fees are combined, Wisconsin ranks 20th.

• Even looking simply at state and local taxes (excluding fees), on a per capita basis Wisconsin’s rank fell from 6th to 11th between 1999 and 2002. Furthermore, Wisconsin chose to address budget shortfalls in 2003 and 2004 by cutting spending rather than raising taxes. Thus, the state and local tax rate ranking has likely dropped below 11th since 2002.

• In 2002, Wisconsin ranked 18th in state and local government spending relative to personal income. If measured on a per capita basis, Wisconsin ranked 16th for spending.

• In terms of spending on government employees, Wisconsin ranked 29th among the states in 2001 for percentage of the workforce in government, and 33rd in public sector employment growth from 1979 to 2001.

More Wisconsin tax myths.

Quotes of Note: Howard Zinn

"We don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinte succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

Howard Zinn
Historian
from the book "You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train"

Hey Karl, Maybe James Dobson Will Pray Your Way Out Of Jail!

Today In Labor History: October 13

1974: Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union activist Karen Silkwood killed in suspicious car crash on her way to deliver documents to a newspaper reporter during safety investigation of plutonium processing plant, Okla.

2000: Hundreds of San Jose “Mercury News” newspaper carriers end 4-day walkout with victory.

Embracing Group Think: The Guidelines @ www.ontheborderline.nut

This was turned over to us by Barney the OTBL CSI private investigator. He said he found it on the ground outside of an undentified hot tub at an unidentified bloggers house. He said the reason he was anywhere near the hot tub was because he was guarding the outhouse at the OTBL's private compound, Kamp Nudenick.
------

Yesterday I promised to do a post on How to Encourage "Group Think". (See: Illusion of Intellectuality) Though it may be much too late for this group (See: New Richmond Community School Input Meeting Evacuated After Skunks From Hudson Arrive With Tails Up!). Maybe they can use these the next we demonstrated that nuts like us don't fall far from the fruit cake. Anyway, I got delayed yesterday, because I was having my scent glands recharged. So here they are:

The group should be hidden from the causes and consequences of group think. This allows the idiocy of the head string-pullers to reverberate down to the brainless puppets doing the OTBL clown dance.

The leader is all powerful, makes all the decisions and tells the group what Ayn Rand and Ludwig von Mises quotes will be allowed in OTBL posts. This practice will be especially effective in encouraging members to wear duct tape over their mouth at school board meetings.

The leader should give high priority to calling anyone who disagrees with him a socialist, collectivist, Marxist punk and should make it known that criticism ain't allowed.

The Admin on the OTBL blog site will regularly make posts welcoming new visitors and telling them what a swell bunch of open-minded intellectuals we are...with appropriately confusing footnotes as to just what the hell he means by "open-minded" and "lewd and vulgar."
Groups should only consider alternatives offered up by the leader who plays the definitive role of the devil's hemorrhoid and directs the trashing of anybody disagreeing with the leader's line of thought. If in doubt, check the John Birch Society web site for further instructions.

It is never useful to divide the group into two separate deliberative bodies. That's why we kicked Dratsum of the blog site.

Ignore all warning signals from rival groups and organizations and continue to expand you clownish image of being an anti-community, anti-education, anti-tax, anti-union, Founding-Father boot licker.

Consensus on a decision is demanded. Any residual doubts should be kept to yourself -- if you know what's good for you.

Outside objective experts should be barred from vital decision making.

Tentative decisions are the stuff of liberals and RINOs like Kitty and Sheila and should be ignored in the decision-making group and never discussed at our blogger hot tub parties.

The organization should routinely follow the administrative practice of doing whatever Dr. Bill says and learn to master the copy-n-paste computer function so they can post the neo-con talking points from other mindless right-wing nut bloggers who also like to call themselves intellectuals.

There you have it. Most of these items here I know the Hudson School Board is too smart to follow. I would bet that New Richmond is the same -- otherwise they would have served Kool-Aid at the Input meeting.

Always remember, when your friends, neighbors and community members tell you that you are up to your ankles in bullshit, quickly blurt out this phrase: "At least I'm in it head first!"

Click here for a satirical version of this post.

Conspiracies Have To Start Somewhere -- Maybe Delay Started His Own?

It's interesting to hear how the AM talk radio shows spin matters of potential corruption, as in what Republican Representative Tom DeLay is facing. Of course the right-wingers linke Tony Snow, Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh are surfing on the vast Democratic/liberal/left-wing conspiracy wave. The lefties on the Air American talk shows are pointing numerous sandburrs stuck to Delay's political tails as evidence of his problems. I think the right-wing talkers figure that all they have to do is keep hammering away with their message of conspiracy and their loyal listeners will swallow their verbal Kool-Aid and parrott their conspiracy spin.

Maybe right-wingers should checkout what serious conservative voices have to say about Delay. The conservative Manchester Union-Leader/New Hampshire Sunday News editorialized today that former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is bad for the Republican party and must leave office. If you are not familiar with the Union-Leader, it has the reputation of being one of the most conservative daily newspaper voices in the nation.

They argue that whether or not the indictment has merit, DeLay's argument that Earle is playing politics simply doesn't pass muster. "If DeLay is right that the indictment was politically motivated, then he has finally received a taste of his own medicine," the editors write. "DeLay has used his position to crush Democrats at every conceivable opportunity, and he has overstepped ethical bounds to do so. DeLay wields power for one purpose: to enrich and empower himself and his allies."

The paper describes DeLay as "an embarassment as Majority Leader," and say that, since House rules have forced the indicted DeLay from leadership, the GOP has a rare opportunity to replace him with someone "more concerned with passing good laws than humiliating his political opponents."

Wis. Republican Gov Candidate Mark Green's Dirty DeLay Money

When will Wisconsin's Congressman Mark Green stop the excuses and clean his campaign of dirty DeLay money? Green, who has accepted more than $30,000 from DeLay-controlled committees, has come up with excuse after excuse in his refusal to wash his hands of this dirty money. He's even contributed to DeLay's legal defense fund!

Mark Green's behavior raises serious questions about his ethics. Several Republicans around the country have said they will divest their campaigns of the DeLay money, but it appears that Mark Green is too deep in DeLay's pocket to get out.

Wisconsin deserves better. Write your local newspapers. For more information, see www.DirtyGreen.com

Today In Labor History: October 12

1898: Company guards kill eight miners who are attempting to stop scabs, Virden, Ill.

1902: 14 miners killed, 22 wounded by scabherders at Pana, Ill. - 1902

1933: 2,000 workers demanding union recognition close down dress manufacturing, Los Angeles

Click here for more on labor.

As of 10/11/2005: National Debt = $7.9 trillion and counting upward

Check out the national debt clock!

Progressive Heroes: Javier Morillo-Alicea

All progressive heroes are not preserved in black-n-white -- some are fighting today in living color. One such hero is Javier Morillo-Alicea. Born "dirt poor," educated at Yale, former college professor. He decided to do more than just talk about it.

Dave Beal did a nice piece on Morillo-Alicea in the 10/9/05 Sunday edition of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Check comments for full article.

Labor quote for the week of October 10, 2005

Only a fool would try to deprive working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice.

--Dwight D. Eisenhower, American general, 34th President of the United States, 1956

Click here for more on labor.

Where Can You Find So Much American Pi?

My Dear SpiritOfBSocus:

I'm so glad that you are not willing to compromise for, as you say that can only dilute
the truth.
In your corner of the truth (which can be found at)
http://www.ontheborderline.net/?p=1840
One has wonder, why you use an approximation to prove your absolute belief (i.e. article of
faith),in absolutes. I guess that your definition of pi is good enough eh? 3.14159... I guess
being off by a couple million digits just doesn't matter when you're searching for truth.
Your agruement doesn't hold water. BS maybe, but not water.

Here are the first 1000 digits of pi.

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749
445923078164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066
470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055
596446229489549303819644288109756659334461284756482337867831
652712019091456485669234603486104543266482133936072602491412
737245870066063155881748815209209628292540917153643678925903
600113305305488204665213841469519415116094330572703657595919
530921861173819326117931051185480744623799627495673518857527
248912279381830119491298336733624406566430860213949463952247
719070217986094370277053921717629317675238467481846766940513
200056812714526356082778577134275778960917363717872146844090
122495343014654958537105079227968925892354201995611212902196
086403441815981362977477130996051870721134999999837297804995
105973173281609631859502445945534690830264252230825334468503
526193118817101000313783875288658753320838142061717766914730
359825349042875546873115956286388235378759375195778185778053
217122680661300192787661119590921642019893809525720106548586
327886593615338182796823030195203530185296899577362259941389
124972177528347913151557485724245415069595082953311686172785
588907509838175463746493931925506040092770167113900984882401
285836160356370766010471018194295559619894676783744944825537
977472684710404753464620804668425906949129331367702898915210
475216205696602405803815019351125338243003558764024749647326
391419927260426992279678235478163600934172164121992458631503
028618297455570674983850549458858692699569092721079750930295
532116534498720275596023648066549911988183479775356636980742
654252786255181841757467289097777279380008164706001614524919
217321721477235014144197356854816136115735255213347574184946
843852332390739414333454776241686251898356948556209921922218
427255025425688767179049460165346680498862723279178608578438
382796797668145410095388378636095068006422512520511739298489
608412848862694560424196528502221066118630674427862203919494
504712371378696095636437191728746776465757396241389086583264
599581339047802759009946576407895126946839835259570982582262
052248940772671947826848260147699090264013639443745530506820
349625245174939965143142980919065925093722169646151570985838
741059788595977297549893016175392846813826868386894277415599
185592524595395943104997252468084598727364469584865383673622
262609912460805124388439045124413654976278079771569143599770
012961608944169486855584840635342207222582848864815845602850
601684273945226746767889525213852254995466672782398645659611
635488623057745649803559363456817432411251507606947945109659
609402522887971089314566913686722874894056010150330861792868
092087476091782493858900971490967598526136554978189312978482
168299894872265880485756401427047755513237964145152374623436
454285844479526586782105114135473573952311342716610213596953
623144295248493718711014576540359027993440374200731057853906
219838744780847848968332144571386875194350643021845319104848
100537061468067491927819119793995206141966342875444064374512
371819217999839101591956181467514269123974894090718649423196
156794520809514655022523160388193014209376213785595663893778
708303906979207734672218256259966150142150306803844773454920
260541466592520149744285073251866600213243408819071048633173
464965145390579626856100550810665879699816357473638405257145
910289706414011097120628043903975951567715770042033786993600
723055876317635942187312514712053292819182618612586732157919
841484882916447060957527069572209175671167229109816909152801
735067127485832228718352093539657251210835791513698820914442
100675103346711031412671113699086585163983150197016515116851
714376576183515565088490998985998238734552833163550764791853
589322618548963213293308985706420467525907091548141654985946
163718027098199430992448895757128289059232332609729971208443
357326548938239119325974636673058360414281388303203824903758
985243744170291327656180937734440307074692112019130203303801
976211011004492932151608424448596376698389522868478312355265
821314495768572624334418930396864262434107732269780280731891
544110104468232527162010526522721116603966655730925471105578
537634668206531098965269186205647693125705863566201855810072
936065987648611791045334885034611365768675324944166803962657
978771855608455296541266540853061434443185867697514566140680
070023787765913440171274947042056223053899456131407112700040
785473326993908145466464588079727082668306343285878569830523
580893306575740679545716377525420211495576158140025012622859
413021647155097925923099079654737612551765675135751782966645
477917450112996148903046399471329621073404375189573596145890
193897131117904297828564750320319869151402870808599048010941
214722131794764777262241425485454033215718530614228813758504
306332175182979866223717215916077166925474873898665494945011
465406284336639379003976926567214638530673609657120918076383
716641627488880078692560290228472104031721186082041900042296
617119637792133757511495950156604963186294726547364252308177
036751590673502350728354056704038674351362222477158915049530
984448933309634087807693259939780541934144737744184263129860
809988868741326047215695162396586457302163159819319516735381
297416772947867242292465436680098067692823828068996400482435
403701416314965897940924323789690706977942236250822168895738
379862300159377647165122893578601588161755782973523344604281
512627203734314653197777416031990665541876397929334419521541
341899485444734567383162499341913181480927777103863877343177
207545654532207770921201905166096280490926360197598828161332
316663652861932668633606273567630354477628035045077723554710
585954870279081435624014517180624643626794561275318134078330
336254232783944975382437205835311477119926063813346776879695
970309833913077109870408591337464144282277263465947047458784
778720192771528073176790770715721344473060570073349243693113
835049316312840425121925651798069411352801314701304781643788
518529092854520116583934196562134914341595625865865570552690
496520985803385072242648293972858478316305777756068887644624
824685792603953527734803048029005876075825104747091643961362
676044925627420420832085661190625454337213153595845068772460
290161876679524061634252257719542916299193064553779914037340
432875262888963995879475729174642635745525407909145135711136
941091193932519107602082520261879853188770584297259167781314
969900901921169717372784768472686084900337702424291651300500
869075485160263275052983491874078668088183385102283345085048
608250393021332197155184306354550076682829493041377655279397
517546139539846833936383047461199665385815384205685338621867
252334028308711232827892125077126294632295639898989358211674
562701021835646220134967151881909730381198004973407239610368
540664319395097901906996395524530054505806855019567302292191
393391856803449039820595510022635353619204199474553859381023
439554495977837790237421617271117236434354394782218185286240
851400666044332588856986705431547069657474585503323233421073
015459405165537906866273337995851156257843229882737231989875
714159578111963583300594087306812160287649628674460477464915
995054973742562690104903778198683593814657412680492564879855
614537234786733039046883834363465537949864192705638729317487
233208376011230299113679386270894387993620162951541337142489
283072201269014754668476535761647737946752004907571555278196
536213239264061601363581559074220202031872776052772190055614
842555187925303435139844253223415762336106425063904975008656
271095359194658975141310348227693062474353632569160781547818
115284366795706110861533150445212747392454494542368288606134
084148637767009612071512491404302725386076482363414334623518
975766452164137679690314950191085759844239198629164219399490
723623464684411739403265918404437805133389452574239950829659
122850855582157250310712570126683024029295252201187267675622
041542051618416348475651699981161410100299607838690929160302
884002691041407928862150784245167090870006992821206604183718
065355672525325675328612910424877618258297651579598470356222
629348600341587229805349896502262917487882027342092222453398
562647669149055628425039127577102840279980663658254889264880
254566101729670266407655904290994568150652653053718294127033
693137851786090407086671149655834343476933857817113864558736
781230145876871266034891390956200993936103102916161528813843
790990423174733639480457593149314052976347574811935670911013
775172100803155902485309066920376719220332290943346768514221
447737939375170344366199104033751117354719185504644902636551
281622882446257591633303910722538374218214088350865739177150
968288747826569959957449066175834413752239709683408005355984
917541738188399944697486762655165827658483588453142775687900
290951702835297163445621296404352311760066510124120065975585
127617858382920419748442360800719304576189323492292796501987
518721272675079812554709589045563579212210333466974992356302
549478024901141952123828153091140790738602515227429958180724
716259166854513331239480494707911915326734302824418604142636
395480004480026704962482017928964766975831832713142517029692
348896276684403232609275249603579964692565049368183609003238
092934595889706953653494060340216654437558900456328822505452
556405644824651518754711962184439658253375438856909411303150
952617937800297412076651479394259029896959469955657612186561
967337862362561252163208628692221032748892186543648022967807
057656151446320469279068212073883778142335628236089632080682
224680122482611771858963814091839036736722208883215137556003
727983940041529700287830766709444745601345564172543709069793
961225714298946715435784687886144458123145935719849225284716
050492212424701412147805734551050080190869960330276347870810
817545011930714122339086639383395294257869050764310063835198
343893415961318543475464955697810382930971646514384070070736
041123735998434522516105070270562352660127648483084076118301
305279320542746286540360367453286510570658748822569815793678
976697422057505968344086973502014102067235850200724522563265
134105592401902742162484391403599895353945909440704691209140
938700126456001623742880210927645793106579229552498872758461
012648369998922569596881592056001016552563756

As of March 14th, 2005 researchers have found the first 200 million digits of pi.

Since you posess the absolute meaning of truth because it is self evident, please notify the rest of the civilized world when you find that last digit of pi. I'm sure it'll come in handy even if it is a little unweildy.I think that absolute fact will come in handy next time you're going to try to land failing jet aircraft in an emergency.

As they say on the Pi-Search page.
"Where can I get so much Pi? http://www.angio.net/pi/piquery#findn
I'm frequently asked where people can get such a ridiculously large amount of pi. Be warned that 50 million digits of pi takes up 50 megabytes. This can take up to 4 hours to download with a 28.8k modem!"

As we say at Abovetheborderline "Where can you get so much BS? http://www.ontheborderline.net/?p=1840

To paraphrase your mentor..Von Mises "you can never have too much of a BS theory; compromise does not enhance but merely dilutes."
Blog on my psuedo- intellectual "friend". Blog on.

"He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know."
Lao Tzu

P.S. I'm not a real Doctor either, I just pretend to be one on this blog.