Some Simple Numbers

I’m a mathematical simpleton: I like numbers, but not too many and only when I can understand them and how they all fit together.
For instance, let’s consider the federal budget since 1996:
2010 United States federal budget – $3.6 trillion (submitted 2009 by President Obama)
2009 United States federal budget – $3.10 trillion (submitted 2008 by President [...]

In the News

This shows a little of what the media is talking about: these are the hits from a simple search on Google News.
Inflation  59,315
Drug War  13,620
Mexican Cartel   5,039
Drug Cartel  15,222
President Obama 358,539
Ron Paul   7,869
Ben Bernanke  48.539
Timothy Geitner  90,383
Recession 248,246
Depression  51,058
Stimulus 181,847
Fiat Currency   1,519
Dollar  239,267
Euro  472,390
Yen   43,565
Yuan   21,119
Pound   64,662
Money     113,171,655
Gold  190,262
Silver   69,013 
Democracy  47,078
War  591,255
Iraq   69,109
Afghanistan 129,434
Iran   85,760
Israel  120,954
Russia   97,320
China  524,282
India  266,180
Brazil   49,832

Mt. Redoubt and Government Eruptions

Mt. Redoubt, a volcano near Anchorage, Alaska, has erupted.
Conservatives like Bobby Jindal criticized spending in President Obama’s stimulus package for “volcano monitoring” as wasteful.  Now, of course, with a relatively large eruption relatively close to a good-sized metropolitan area, such reasoning sounds suspect, especially to those in the mainstream.
Of course, the state sees this as justification [...]

Movie Recommendations

Let me recommend two movies about life and relationships.  (These are private human relationships and have no relevance to the relationship between man and state.)
First, I recommend Bella.  It’s a film that tackles important themes related to tragedy, relationships, the grind of day-to-day living, joy, and family.  Some would and have seen this as overly sentimental.  [...]

Ron Paul on Foreign Policy

I admit I may not agree 100% with Ron Paul on everything.  I may find him to be too harsh at times.  For instance, I have a hard time equating taxation with theft.  To do so is to negate the efficacy of any taxation, or any state, for that matter, funded by coercion of any [...]