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Freedom Of Religion Must Be Limited


When it comes to the health of a child, the parents religious beliefs should not have priority.

Gore Vidal: History of the national security state


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The Constitution for Dummies (i.e. Ron Paul Supporters)

I will freely admit that I did a bad, bad thing last week. Well, it wasn’t a really “bad” thing unless you were one of those that fell for it I guess. What did I do that was so bad? I set up the Paulbots. Yes, evil rotten me, I know.

When I wrote “Earmarking Our Way to Oblivion” I purposefully left out any mention of Ron Paul even though I knew he was just as dirty as all the rest. See, Mr. Paul’s own earmark fetish was certainly no real secret to anyone paying attention and with enough desire to dig a little. But the Paulbots were quick to comment about how because of the corruption that earmarks bring and how that they many times violate the Constitutional powers of Congress that this is exactly the reason why we needed Ron Paul.

Not a day goes by that supporters of Ron Paul aren’t out in droves proclaiming any conservative that does not support their candidate is an evil neo-con, trumpeting how Mr. Paul is a true “constitutionalist” and is the only man qualified to be President. Well, I guess we now see how accurate their description of their own golden boy really is considering news that has really taken off in the last couple days about his own requests for earmarks.

It is no secret to those of us that are out there everyday taking fire from the Paulbots that when Ron Paul commands them to jump they not only ask how high, but also at what angle, what flavor of Kool Aid Mr. Paul would desire they bring him after they land, how many ice cubes he would like in said drink, what color he would like his house painted, how many gallons of gas he needs them to put in his car, what time he would like his wakeup call for the following morning, how he desires his eggs cooked and whether or not he wants them to polish his fine silver clockwise or counterclockwise. The answer to that last one is that Ron Paul demands they first polish it six times clockwise followed by a single counterclockwise finishing polish. Their loyalty to the illusion of their candidate as a savior of us all and as someone that actually holds the Constitution dear is admirable if not highly misguided and naive.

Now the Wall Street Journal and other sources have what Paulbots are robotically and predictably calling a “hit pieces” on their candidate. Of course I still question whether or not Ron Paul really can be considered a “candidate” when he barely cracks one percent in the polls. But that is another topic for another day. Anyway these “hit pieces” detail how Mr. Paul, supposedly a libertarian, has requested millions of taxpayer dollars for roles not delegated to the federal government by we the people. Hardly a “libertarian” stance. Hardly “hit pieces”. Simply the truth.

Oh … well … uh … Ron Paul 2008! He’s still the man! Right Paulbots?

Last week the Paulbots were flooding me with comments about how we needed Ron Paul and about how I was right about the earmark problem. But this week I have particularly loved the responses by these same hacks to these new revelations and that have again flooded into my mailbox on cue since I blogged about Paul’s own earmarks on Tuesday. They say things like, “Well the money was going to be spent anyway!” and, “It’s ok because he is just serving his constituents like he is supposed to,” or boldly proclaim, “there is nothing unconstitutional about Paul’s earmarks!” or my personal favorite, “Well, yeah he requested the earmarks but he voted against them!”

That last one makes me chuckle. It’s a pathetic having your cake and eating it too argument that no true libertarian would embrace. Anyone with half a brain sees through this tactic as nothing but style over substance worthy of the staunchest liberals. Mr. Paul certainly understands that in the current corrupt Washington culture his earmark requests would pass even as he votes against them. He knows all he has to do is attach them to the spending bill in order to reap the benefits. A true libertarian would not even request them in the first place.

But rather than calling for his impeachment for violating the constitution, something I have done time and again for all politicians, regardless of party, that violate the Constitution, the Paulbots rush out to defend the man they have deemed as “the one.” Truth be damned! He really is a TRUE libertarian! Full ludicrous speed ahead!

It doesn’t matter that they were out there in mass decrying earmarks just a week before. It doesn’t matter that the Constitution is clear in Article I, Section 8 when it limits the powers of Congress to tax and spend on a concise list of things defined as the “general Welfare.” It doesn’t mater if Ron Paul has requested federal money to deal with issues found nowhere in these federal powers from funding for shrimp to building hospitals to maintaining trolleys. None of that matters because … well … Ron Paul is da man! Praise the Savior of our Republic! Hallelujah! And how dare I and others take his name in vain!

Blind loyalty is never attractive. And it is often deadly.

The Constitution is simple. It allows for laws and spending on the only a short list of topics which are clearly stated and any libertarian worth their salt knows of James Madison’s discussion of this in Federalist 41. The list that is there is the list. That’s it Mr. Paul. That’s it Paulbots. Nothing about shrimp. Nothing about trolleys. Nothing about most of what Paul’s earmarks are spending money on. No amount of whining about Ron Paul getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar will change the facts. No amount of hurling slurs like “neo-con” or “fascist” or “globalist” at those that exposed Mr. Paul will make a difference in the truth. Such tactics don’t work for liberals and they will not work for you.

I’m sorry I entrapped you last week. But it is something you are going to learn from as you progress on in life. Principles are only principles if you are willing to put your money where your mouth is and always watch your own glass house before you cast the first stone.

It’s so simple even a Paulbot can understand it. And I call on Ron Paul to be a true libertarian and draw up articles of impeachment against himself, convince his fellow Congressmen to approve the action and finally vote in favor of the action when the time comes to pay the piper.

But he won’t. He won’t because the fact is there are few true libertarians out here in the real world. We are a lonely bunch for sure. Even though lots of people envision themselves as such, when push comes to show they are at best nothing more than a bastard cousin; the liberaltarian. And that is why we are in trouble.

J.J. Jackson is the owner of American Conservative Daily Blog. He is also the lead designer for The Right Things – Conservative Political T-shirts. His weekly articles and exclusive content can be found at Liberty Reborn.

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Working on your business vs working in your business

In Australia over 97% businesses are small to medium businesses. Roughly half go out of business in the first five years!

There is little reason to expect the world wide trends to be any different.

Its easy to start a business. All it takes is an idea, something to annoy you in your existing job, a market downturn, a moment of entrepreneurial valour, a touch of envy when you see someone making a killing at something.

Why dont most businesses make it?

One reason is that business owners lose sight of the importance of working ON your business and not in it.

Working on your business, means just that, spending time working on developing your staff, systems, business plan, budget, products, doing your own accounts, sorting out legal issues, vision casting, developing a marketing plan, and so on. It is strengthening the foundation upon which your business will sit.

Working in your business means doing work for your clients that generates income. It means attending to short term and urgent matters.

Its easy to talk about working on your business rather than in it. A lot easier than actually doing it!

Imagine you start a business as a lawyer, and you have experience. Since you know what you are doing, you can service clients and provide excellent services without much thought. Now imagine you are so busy you need to hire your first employee – a junior since that’s all you can afford. How do you ensure that the work they provide to your clients is up to your standard? What systems and procedures for work have you implemented? What about review procedures? It is at this point that many business owners, have an entrepreneurial seizure. They decide that every employee is an idiot, that they are the only person who knows how to do anything, and many decide to get small again, to have no more staff than required, and to do it all themselves.

That my friends, is what you call a job, and is very different from what I would call a business. After all, the risk of starting your own business is that you might find yourself working for an even bigger idiot than the one you thought you were working for before! and this time your stuck together!

When starting a business you should be honest with yourself about whether you are starting a business or simply starting a job where you are self employed but have no intention of building an organisation that will service customers and generate income primarily through employees and a system of doing business that you oversee.

The fact is that the fruits of business for people who have a self employed job are small. You will most likely find someone out there who also wants to buy a job if you want to sell, but the second you stop working you stop earning, and rather than increasing your freedom, you will probably end up increasing your working hours.

The fruits for people who build a successful business are abundant.

1) Selling the business

If you can build a business that profitably employs a number of people, you will most likely be able to fetch a very attractive sale price for the business.

At the moment in Australia, if you meet certain criteria, you can potentially sell your business and receive 75% of the sale amount tax free.

2) Freedom from the business

If you can implement systems and procedures for your employees to follow you will move towards a position where the business can run with out you and you will be able to enjoy moments of freedom from the business – such as taking a holiday and not having to sort out problems while you are away.

3) Income

Its better to make 15% of the income of 10 staff, than 100% of the income of yourself. Further, once the business is setup, you should earn income even if you decide not to do any client work yourself.

4) Influence and a chance to do good

There is a fantastic opportunity for business owners to improve the world. They can create workplaces which have sustainable work/life balance and allow people to raise their families and have a life outside of work. They can share their profits with their employees. They can be generous with charities and causes they are passionate about. They can wield influence and apply their skills to governments, schools, churches, media outlets etc. They can improve the lives of their customers and shareholders.

What you need to do to work on your business

1) Time

Ensure that you take time out specifically to work on your business. If you paid yourself $300 per hour for working on your business, and only $10 per hour for working in your business, how would that work out for you compared to your current drawings?

2) Systems

You need to understand clearly how your business makes money. Once you know this, you need to systemise your processes. Your business will only be as good as your systems. Do you go back and eat again at a cafe that continually produces inconsistent food? I don’t.

3) Money

This is where most people make a fundamental mistake. Most business owners are completely ripping their company off when you compare what they actually do in their business to their salary. You are going to need to keep your hands out of the till and invest in your business, and this will require a sacrifice.

4) People

People can be difficult. There are some keys you must understand for working on people in your business. Firstly, some people will not be right for your business no matter what you do. Secondly, when you hire someone, it is going to cost you money before they make you money. Third, people make mistakes. The better the systems and procedures you surround them with the higher quality the outcome you should expect.

You need to spend time developing, managing and motivating your people, as part of working on your business.

There is an important distinction between delegating work to employees and abdicating. The difference is selective supervision. In the early stages of employment employees should be carefully supervised, with their freedom being extended over time as you are confident that they know what they are doing and can follow your procedures.

5) Advisers

Even advisers need advisers. I am not aware of successful entrepreneurs who have built huge successful businesses without a good team of advisers behind them. In my own experience, I get some of my best ideas for the business when paying an advisor to sit opposite to me. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that at that point of time, by having them there, I am being forced to work on my business, and not in it.

Its time to start working on your business, not working in your business.

Adrian Pinkewich is CEO of Now Accounting and Tax Express www.nowaccounting.com.au www.taxexpress.com.au

USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides” #1 (bow)

The Constitution
Image taken on 2009-03-18 00:02:38 by Chris Devers.

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Liberty Vs License

Where do our rights stop? A popular saying holds that they stop at the end of the next person’s nose. But, judging from the never ending stream of demands that assault us every day, it appears that everything on our personal and collective wish lists have now become rights, without limit.

Do we have a right to say and do anything we want, to unlimited health care, prescription drugs, subsidized housing, “to do drugs,” to prevent others from using drugs, to have health care plans pay for a sex change operation or prescriptions for Viagra, to a free college education, to receive “equal pay” for “equal work” (however that may be defined), to send your children to the school of your choice, to smoke or prevent others from smoking, to force our opinions or beliefs on others (as in Christian, Muslim or atheist, hedonist, or environmentalist)?

If our rights stop at the end of the next person’s nose, does that include their pocketbook? Stealing may be illegal and immoral, but whether or not it is acceptable seems to depend on who does it and why, and sometimes how. For example, is it acceptable for someone to steal food to feed their family but unacceptable if they steal money to keep from losing their home in foreclosure?

Taking money from others by force or at gunpoint or by embezzling it from an employer or some company is a crime, but how many people condone appropriating someone else’s dollars through taxation? Probably everyone, to some degree. But, isn’t that the problem? That is, the degree? Too often, in matters of taxation, right and wrong depend on who has the power to tax or whose ox is being gored.

When did we move from the freedom of speech guaranteed by our Constitution to freedom of speech only if it is politically correct according to some particular group, as in African Americans, Hispanics, women, gays, liberals, conservatives, Christians, Muslims, Jews…..you name it? Our treasured freedom of speech seems to be acceptable only so long as it conforms to some special interest group’s definition of expression they consider “correct.”

There always seem to be good and sufficient reasons to impose our individual or collective will on others. Both sides of the political spectrum find plenty of justification for pressing their values on everyone else. Abortion is about a woman’s right to do what she wants with her body or it is murder, depending on one’s personal beliefs. Those on the left say that the Boy Scouts are wrong to prevent gays from being scout leaders, notwithstanding the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the Constitution guarantees their right to make such a determination. But, that hasn’t stopped the ACLU and others who oppose the Boy Scouts’ policies from attempting to force communities around the nation to punish them in various ways, such as pressuring donors, including local governments, to stop giving them money or to cancel long standing privileges to use certain community facilities, such as parks or school grounds.

Schools have always been able to define the types of organizations that are permitted to hold meetings in their facilities or on their grounds or, for that matter, to even organize. But now, under the guise of keeping church and state separated, they go to such extremes as permitting clubs to organize celebrations like Kwanzaa or Voodoo rituals while preventing Christian students from holding club meetings on school grounds.

Or, how about the right of students to swear at others, including teachers, on school grounds? In some places vile language is considered acceptable, while prayer is not.

Do I have the right to demand that I be compensated for some perceived injustice, such as reparations for slavery? After failing to gain any traction with Congress, those who hold this view are now attempting to pursue claims against certain American corporations that were in business at the time their ancestors were enslaved and that profited from slavery. They may have the right to try, but should they? Apparently, stopping at the other person’s nose does not include corporate pockets.

Generally, we have the right to decide what and how much we eat, but there are some people who feel we should not be permitted to eat meat or a diet that’s high in carbohydrates or fat. Should they be allowed to determine what a proper diet should be for everyone else? Is obesity a disease or just lack of control? I suppose it can be either or, depending on the circumstances, but who’s to say? So, for some people it appears that it is just too bad if my “nose,” as in my dietary choices, happens to get in the way of someone else’s notion of what’s good for me.

Rights can be measured on a continuum, ranging from not having any rights to absolute, unrestricted and uncontrolled rights to do or say anything, that is, anything to anyone, anytime, anywhere. But, unlimited rights eventually reach the point where they become license. By license, I mean the unrestricted freedom to say or do anything we please, regardless of whose “nose’ gets in the way. Is that what we want?

In the final analysis, rights are really more about self-control than they are about laws or regulation or the constitution. You may have, or think you have, the right to say or do whatever you please, but that doesn’t always mean you should, law or no law.

Harris Sherline is a retired Certified Public Accountant and executive. His diverse business background includes experience as a partner in a public accounting firm, as a principal in a number of business ventures and as CEO of a hospital. His conservative commentaries appear weekly in two Santa Barbara newspapers. In addition, his op-ed articles currently appear regularly on three widely read web sites and his own weblog, Opinionfest.com.

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