Climate Change to Set World Back 400 Years!

The United States Government and the experts concur -- climate change will be catastrophic, causing "economic and political upheavals 'almost beyond comprehension.'"

Consider these impacts:

• Millions in India "face starvation."
• China will face "a major famine every five years."
• Russia will lose a "major wheat growing area."

Here are specifics.

India will have a major drought every four years and can only support three fourths of her present population.The world reserve would have to supply 30 to 50 million metric tons of grain each year to prevent the death of 150 million Indians. 

China, with a major famine every five years would require a supply of 50 million metric tons of grain. The [Russian Republics] would lose Kazakhstan for grain production, thereby showing a yearly loss of 48 million metric tons of grain. 

Canada, a major exporter, would lose over 50 percent of its production capability and 75 percent of its exporting capabilities. Northern Europe will lose 25 to 30 percent of its present production capability while the Common Market countries would zero their exports.

**** 

The new climate era brings a promise of famine and starvation to many areas of the world.  The economic and political impact of major climate shifts is almost beyond comprehension.

Read it here, in full below.

We are on our way back to the year 1600 baby. The Ottoman Empire, Savoy and Saxony are back. Baroque is in, Ming is out and Louis the XIV reigns.

The Independent Record (Helena, Mont.), May 2, 1976

New Common Core Lesson.

From the blog Real Science.

Learning To Identify Global Warming

Posted on April 7, 2014by stevengoddard

During March, 2012 the Eastern US was warm and Alaska was cold. Experts told us that was just what they expected from global warming.

This March, the Eastern US was cold and Alaska was less cold than usual, and experts tell us that is just what they expected from global warming.

About these ads

Eight Feet Thick Ice

The shipping season is not happening on the Great Lakes.

Aside from ice already floating on the lakes, several factors are hampering crews' efforts to clear the way for commercial ships, including some chunks up to 8-feet thick and stiff winds. Once crews are able to create an open-water path, Read said the wind closes it by pushing the ice together. 

"The commercial shipping season is definitely slowed down, almost to a halt," he said.  

"There is warmer weather coming, so we hope that helps." 

Depending on the ice's thickness, icebreaking ships only can travel at speeds ranging from 3 to 10 knots, which make for long days for its crews, Read said. One ship, the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, now is working to get two commercial ships through the locks toward the end of the week at the earliest.

A view of frozen Lake Michigan from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Katmai Bay on Friday.

Here in Bozeman, for the third time this week, Cottonwood Hills golf course has had a morning snow delay. The other seven 18 hole courses in Gallitan County remain snow covered and closed.

Honor? Please!

We are creatures of our experience.

You know, from time to time I hear about honor punishments and killings of women in the Middle East or claims about sharia law. Those references bring back memories of a friend I once had from Pakistan. We worked together at the Postal Service. Let's call my friend Mahmud, because, well, that was his name.   

Mahmud's father was filthy rich. His dad was involved in some sort of export, import business and had multiple homes throughout the world. Mahmud was brilliant. He wanted to prove to his dad that he could make it on his own. Mahmud was urbane, stylish, sophisticated and world traveled. He had a Ph.D in economics from an Ivy League school. Due to family influence, Mahmud's career aspirations were more in business than academics. Mahmud had a gorgeous, intelligent, friendly and sparkling wife, and two of the cutest kids you would ever see.

We worked together in a part of the Postal Service that produced product cost and revenue data, and used, among other things, econometric analysis to analyze the data and produce forecasts. Mahmud and I were reformed minded. We both wanted the Postal Service to scotch its simplistic (and in our view, misleading) unweighted labor productivity metric in favor of an advanced weighted measure. We were determined to produce an alternative productivity model on our own, in our spare time. To help, we wrangled authority to hire a temporary employee -- she was a Vietnamese refugee right off the boat -- to transcribe, organize and, at our direction, crunch reams of data that we had accumulated in hard copy over the years, so we could analyze it and establish baseline multi-factor productivity trends.  

Our refugee hire worked her tail off, so when a suitable vacancy opened we hired her on to a full-time permanent job with benefits. I remember, years later, how proud she was when she tracked me down to brag that her daughter had been admitted to Duke Medical School and thank us for taking her on when she despaired for her future. I said, no need to thank anyone, you earned it.

Anyhow, the partnership with Mahmud was one I enjoyed, where I could offer him insights and understanding of the data we were using, and counsel on how to wind his way through the bureaucracy, the regulatory system and the political climate (in those days, where merit still counted for something, one could actually do all that). And Mahmud could offer me on-the-job, one-on-one graduate school level training in matters statistical and econometric.  While our planned approach proved to be too unwieldy to implement, we were part of a movement that was ultimately successful, and led to the Postal Service adopting a measuring called Total Factor Productivity (which was subject matter of a post last February).

After a few years with the Postal Service, Mahmud was restless and impatient.  He wanted a bigger stage and a more important position, so he moved on first to a consulting firm, and then to a very large corporation headquartered in New Jersey that we all know of, and most of us have been customers of at one time or another. Mahmud was a chief of one sort or another in that company's strategic planning department, came to wear thousand dollar suits, and was known take us out to lunch on his expense account when business beckoned him to Washington, DC.

One peaceful Sunday morning I was at home. The phone rang. "Hi," the caller said "This is Mahmud, how are you doing?"  "Fine," I said and we talked back and forth about work for a few minutes.  Then Mahmud said, "Grady, I wanted to ask you a question because of your legal background." "Ok," I said. Mahmud asked "Is it against the law in the United States to assault your wife?" "It sure is!" I responded.

That was the last time I talked to Mahmud. I heard through the grapevine he resigned his job and left the country. We are all creatures of our experience and this was one of mine.

The Herd Instinct at Work

That would be an elk herd.  This video was shot last week down the road and around the corner, just under a mile from our house. Watch to the end. By the way, for those looking forward to the volcanic explosion, the herd is moving towards Yellowstone.

On the Road to Bathgate Act 4g: George S. Foster, Chicago Politician, Lawyer, Banker and More

Chicago Eagle, January 20, 1900

What can I say about George S. Foster? 

He led an incredible life. As a teenager he lived in a sod shanty where a snake slithered from the roof down into his cup of tea. As an elderly man he was a gentleman farmer who lived comfortably on the shores of Lake Michigan. Along the way he was a successful lawyer and a zealous advocate for unpopular clients. 

George S. Foster represented a notorious bond thief. He defended ghouls who stole money from the pockets of Iroquois theater fire victims. He helped to save the House of David religious commune from extinction. 

George Foster was a politician. He was intensively involved in Chicago and Cook County Democratic organizations. He served the City of Chicago as alderman, and later lost races for municipal court judge, the Illinois state assembly and the United States Congress. 

George S. Foster helped to find three community banks -- each of which, like most of their peers, failed during the Great Depression. 

There is much to say, so let's get moving. 

Free Bus Stops (Or What a Difference a Million Dollars Makes)

Here in Bozeman we are getting new bus shelters with ultra sleek, modern solar panels and LED billboards -- no cost to the tax payer, zero, nada. Fully enclosed on three sides (when they finish installing the panels) and roofed, the bus stops are actually designed to protect riders from frigid winter winds and driving snow. KBZK TV reports:

Waiting for the bus in Bozeman could be getting safer and more comfortable. MTN's Keele Smith shows us what will make that happen.

First bus stop under construction out Huffine Lane. See the
link above to view the video.

Carrie Fabiano knows the routine of waiting for the bus as a regular rider.  

"Well the bus was running a little late and that 10 minutes felt like a lot. I mean I started getting frostbite," she said. 

Fabiano says, "I just think it's a matter of life and death sometimes. I've seen elderly people waiting out in the freezing temperatures and you just worry." 

That is part of the reason why Chandler Communication, out of Kalispell, is building bus shelters. They will be taking care of all the construction and maintenance at no cost to taxpayers.The shelters in Bozeman are unique - they are the first to have solar panels and LED billboards. Only two of these shelters have been built so far. Six more are in the works, including two more on Huffine, three in Bozeman and one in Belgrade.  

Transportation Director with the HRDC, Lee Hazelbaker said, "This is a huge step forward. This has been in the works for years and to finally see it come to fruition is just a great feeling." 

Riders agree.

"Being able to sit down is what's going to be good for me," Fabiano said. "I think it'll help because you can't even tell where some of the bus stops are. It's just a little sign hanging up on the side of the road it's not really a bus stop." 

Another regular bus rider, Amelia Denagy said, "It's going to be a lot more comfortable to ride the bus. It's not going to be such a hassle. It's just going to be a one stop deal, you can take a break, you don't have to freeze or get wet, just much better."

Bozeman weekday bus map.

Contrast this to the bus stops inside the Washington, DC Beltway serving the fiscally spoiled and coddled, profligate citizens of Arlington Virginia who, in the federal spending bubble, have the highest median family incomes nationwide. They are served by million dollar bus stops that don't even protect people from the elements. Their bus stops are financed primarily by the federal government, meaning you the taxpayer, and our children and grandchildren, who are being forced to assume the massive federal debt bomb. The spoiled brats pay not for their own waste. There are few clearer arguments for massive down sizing of federal government.

On the Road to Bathgate, Act 4e: More on Ike Foster's Tenure as Sheriff

Sheriff I. J. Foster
Official Photo

My grandfather, Isaac J. Foster, served two, two-year terms as sheriff of Pembina County, North Dakota, from 1911 to 1915.  Since February, when we wrote at length about Ike's law enforcement career and his other devotions to public service, we've come across additional material on Sheriff Foster's tenure, which we offer here.

Here is a photo portrait of Ike from a Pembina County history book that lists and pictures of Pembina county sheriffs through the its date of publication. I don't know what you think, but the dude looks sheriff tough to me.

Bismarck Tribune, June 28, 1911

The first additional news item is on legal machinations prior the Ernest Stewart murder trial. As may be recalled, the state's attorney ran into serious evidentiary problems during the presentation of the prosecution's case. The defense was not required to proceed. The charges were dropped for the lack of sufficient evidence. The prosecution's inadequate preparation, failure to substantiate a charge of murder, and its late change of heart, is particularly perplexing, now we can see that from the beginning the defense had fully disclosed its theory of the case and litigation strategy.  

BATHGATE, N. D., June 28. -- The line of defense that will be employed by Ernest A. Stewart, former immigration officer at Neche, N. D. and who was arrested yesterday in Winnipeg charged with the murder of Phillip Worrall, was indicated by him in a statement to Sheriff Foster of Pembina county today.  

Stewart declares that the skeleton [of the alleged murder victim] that has been found and identified as that of Worrall is not, as a matter of fact, that of Worrall. Active preparation for this defense was made by Stewart this morning when he employed James Burke, a Bathgate attorney, to represent him. Stewart will make a hard fight for freedom and denies absolutely that he is guilty. In discussing the identity of the skeleton supposed to be that of Worrall, Stewart says the clothes found are not those worn by Worrall when he disappeared.

Whomever planted this news story made sure to mention Stewart had a wife and 16 year old daughter. Stewart's assistant is painted in a sympathetic light as well, another good litigation tactic, for potential jurors read papers. It may be recalled, that "family man" Ernest A. Stewart disclosed, the day after the prosecution dropped the case, he had months previous secretly divorced his faithful and fawning (during the trial) wife.

In North Dakota, wheat is the currency of the realm. That is the medium a conniving farm hand used to rob his employer of what he was due. Albert Gordon (later corrected to Gardiner and then Gardner) gave new meaning to the term "walking around money."

March Top Posts

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. That's not only a chorus line. It's a description of what happened in March. 

March number 4

On the last day that Cottonwood Hills golf club was open last fall, the pro, Bill Larson, corrected me when I said see you in March. He said no, not March, the snow will clear and we'll be open for a spell come February. Well, here it is April 1. Bill Larson was half right -- not March. Though the course allegedly was open an afternoon when I had a medical appointment, and a few hours another morning before the snow thickened, I still haven't been on the links. Bridger Creek is still snowed under.

March was, however, our best month on Along the Gradyent. The page views piled up and we got some incredible interest on some of our best posts ever. Thanks for the awesome interest readers! Here is March's top ten.

1. Last March's paen to Growing Up in Morton Grove caught on fire, courtesy of a alumni reunion Facebook group that picked it up, and whose members propagated the link on to family and friends. People love reminiscing about idyllic memories from their youth.  We are happy to help.

2. To Invest in a Bank is becoming a perennial top ten. If you buy individual stocks, then for diversification, your portfolio should include one or more firms in the banking or financial services sector. This post describes the decision making process I used to click the buy button on Glacier Bancorp in 2009, when there were still plenty of doubts on which banks would and would not make it. I doubled down in 2010 when the stock price was slow to take off. It's gratifying that readers are finding this case study of use.

3. King Day Post links to last year's King Day story on us caddies going on strike, taking over the driving range and singing "We Shall Overcome."  It's a classic.  If you haven't read it before, you won't be disappointed if you click through to it now.

Glen View Club driving range (center). Us caddies occupied the three target practice greens during our wildcat strike.

4. This a long title but a fantastic life story, On the Road to Bathgate Act 4f: Lyndon R. Foster -- Veteran, Publisher and Politician. Though I never met uncle Lyn, I wish that I had. He was a colorful and combative character. His career was explosive -- literally as you soon shall see when you click through to read.

The "Goal"

5. Forty One Years Ago Today starts out as an uplifting hockey story about attending the best game I ever saw -- at an NCAA Frozen Four. It ends up as a planes, trains, buses and automobile saga when we are marooned by a car wreck on the return trip in a Pennsylvania blizzard.

6. The Golf Channel: Spouse's Guide to Sanity (Special Post), our all time leader, is making a comeback now that the new golf season is gearing up for the Master's. This wife written ready reference schools the uninitiated just enough to be tolerant, and appreciative of the wackier aspects of golf.

Manhattan, Montana -- 86 years ago.

7. Eight Six Years Later, Doctored Photo? The global warmist ghouls blame every bad event these days on recent hundredths of a percent carbon dioxide influxes. So this eighty-six year old photo must have been doctored. What do you think?

8. Please stay off steep slopes! More Avalanche recounted the latest tragic story of a kid visiting from Minnesota, during an avalanche season that took far too many souls, far too young.

Aerial view of January 1 avalanche site.

9. Beware The Avalanche collects expert advice on avalanche avoidance and preparation and tells the gut wrenching story of the father of one of my kid's classmates, who was buried and killed in an avalanche up by Big Sky on New Year's day. May God rest Kenneth Gibson's soul.

10. On the Road to Bathgate Act 1: "Fargo" the Movie opened our Road to Bathgate series last year with a pop -- a pop culture twist that is. For want of snow cover in Minnesota, or Fargo, North Dakota for that matter, the winter the movie was shot, the Coen brothers trekked up to my dad's hometown of Bathgate, North Dakota to shoot the iconic, Paul Bunyan statue scene. Fargo, the series, is coming to FX later this month.

Paul Bunyan woodcut statue, Bathgate, North Dakota.

Chi Chi Is Right

Chi Chi Rodriquez celebrates
making a putt.

Juan ("Chi Chi") Rodriquez, 78 years old and 30-time winner on the PGA and Champions tours, grew up dirt poor in Puerto Rico. He began working as an apprentice forecaddie at 7 making ten cents a day, and moved up to full caddie at age 9. That gives Chi Chi a big leg up on me. By the time I started finding and hawking golf balls, for a nickel, a dime or a quarter, through the chain link fence at the local muni, I was all of 8 years old, and I began caddying across the street at the country club when I was the advanced age of ten. The $3.50 fee for an 18 hole loop seemed a fortune by comparison.  

Most of the important things Chi Chi and I learned in life we didn't learn in school. In Chi Chi's case, that was guaranteed, because he was a high school dropout. I my case, I leveraged my caddie years to go on and get a couple of fancy degrees at fancy universities, and later completed business programs at three prestigious schools, but those experiences were nothing compared to working nine years as a caddie, laboring as a janitor and a dishwasher, toiling in cardboard box and plastic factories, and manufacturing culverts -- all before I finished college.

Here is what Chi Chi says:

Negativism is the sister of failure. I you're negative, you fail. America has become a negative country. It's because our leaders our lawyers. The leaders should be business people. Lawyers are necessary for different things, of course, but they go to school to learn how to win arguments. America is divided now, probably more than it has been since I first came on tour. GolfWorld, March 31, 2014.

Rodriquez is right and kinder than Shakespeare.

It starts right at the top with the SOB Washington lawyer ensconced in the White House. I would know for I spent more than three decades in the vicinity, wrapped in knots at one time or another to the hilt in substantive, regulatory and political battles with DOL, DOE, OSHA, CBO, OMB, GAO, OPM, FCC, PRC, among others, and continuously beckoned to heed the arbitrary call of the Hill and the White House. 

The fellow at the top is not unique. There are literally tens of thousands of Washington lawyers like the manipulative, lying jerk in the White House. If you are at all wise, you wouldn't want any one of them leading you to an outhouse, much less to our country's destiny. We have become a failing country. Good luck to all.

Opening Day

In a little less than three hours the Chicago Cubs open their season against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Which gives me about two and one-half hours where I can be optimistic and be a Cub fan.

Saturday Pictures on Sunday

Saturday Pictures on Sunday

March 28, 2014

(click to enlarge)

We traveled along Madison Rd. from
Norris Rd., MT 84, up to I-90 accessing
Madison River at multiple points.

Actually, I shot these photos on Friday.  

We were tired of the snow, so I went down the valley where the temperatures are (relatively) warmer and the precipitation (relatively) less, where the snow cover is almost entirely gone.  I decided to explore a section of the Madison River, beyond the sign on Madison Road ("Pavement Ends") that would turn most urban dwellers back.

The Madison is reputed as perhaps the best fly fishing stream in an area that is renown for its fly fishing. Just above the stretch I explored, the Madison joins with the Jefferson and Gallitan Rivers, at the aptly named Three Forks, to form the headwaters of the Missouri River. The Madison begins in Yellowstone National Park where the Gibbon and Firehole Rivers join at the aptly named Madison junction. About a hundred miles upstream, the Madison forms Quake Lake, where the river was impounded by the debris of a massive earthquake induced 80 million ton rock slide on August 17, 1959.

The white cliffs reflect the under burden's heavy limestone and gypsum content which, at various times, has supported large cement mining and manufacturing operations in the area. 

Here are Friday's photos! Don't forget to click to enlarge.

Hence the state motto.

Saturday Pictures

Saturday Pictures

March 29, 2014

(Click to enlarge)

It's been springing here, off and on, all week.  I mean, wait, that other "s" word, snow. Enjoy spring views -- Montana style.

Frozen -- Not the Movie, the Great Lakes

April is four days away, but the Great Lakes are still more than 70 percent frozen.

The Great Lakes coverage is the highest for this time of year in the satellite tracking era, by a long shot -- more than half again as much as the second most. It's 400 percent of normal.

In Washington DC, the latest honest (i.e., not produced by the government) forecast is the peak cherry blossom bloom will be April 13, which is three days after the two-week long Cherry Blossom Festival ends.

We are also checking in, from time to time, on the status of Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin.  The lake froze over December 15 this winter, 5 days earlier than the long term (160 year) median freeze date, and was reported in February to be double (20 inches) the normal (10 inch) thickness. Most of March was frigid. 

Lake Mendota ice depth chart.  The ice appears to have peaked around three feet in late February and was still close to  two feet in late March.  Ice fishing continued through 3/28 at least . It should be well into April before the lake is clear.

Unless the ice is taken out by heavy rains, I expect Lake Mendota will experience the longest period of ice cover in decades, and possibly in more than a century.  Time will tell.

The Ukraine

Russia masses 100,000 troops at the Ukranian border.  U.S. government channels the panhandler at the 19th Street I-90 exit. Precious.

Be Careful of What You Wish For

Northwestern University football players got a little too smart for themselves yesterday when they won their bid to unionize under the terms of the National Labor Relations Act.

Northwestern University football players on scholarship are employees of the school and therefore entitled to hold an election to decide whether to unionize, an official of the National Labor Relations Board ruled Wednesday.

The stunning decision, coming after a push by former quarterback Kain Colter backed by organized labor, has the potential to shake up the world of big-time sports.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association and universities set the rules and cut the lucrative deals with TV and sponsors, exerting near total control over the activities of players known as "student athletes." But now those football players, at least at Northwestern, are employees too and may seek collective bargaining status, according to the 24-page ruling by Peter Sung Ohr, the regional director of the NLRB.

I can't wait for the students who are behind this, now that they have received their wish to be declared employees, to pay back taxes on their scholarship, in-kind income. Over four years, that would be something like $50K for a student at a private, mid-five figure tuition university like Northwestern. Good luck varsity athletes, figuring out how to finance that without going into debt while you are in college.

If there are issues or problems the athletes wanted the university to address there is nothing, other than an absence of courage and conviction, that would stop the students from acting collectively without the backing of federal government bureaucrats. Good faith, self help is a proven method.

In the us versus them institution of federalized unionism, you can pretty much expect the beneficence of Northwestern athletic department donors will fade away. 

If the NLRB decision is upheld, and student athletes at Northwestern and other scholarship granting sports programs decide to unionize, they will find their interactions with coaches and the university will be governed by union bosses not of their own choosing. 

This will not end well. Be careful of what you wish for. 

A Blog I Would Like to Write

Sometimes I think about writing a blog that focuses more on policy issues, such as putting tight and responsible reins on fiscal and monetary policy, limiting government to its essential purposes, promoting fair and growth oriented tax policies, managing and demanding efficient provision of government services, freeing the economy from the crippling weight of unpredictable, confusing, overlapping, burdensome and excessively intrusive regulatory regimes, constraining the police state and ending the militirization of police, putting an end to crony capitalism and the pernicious partnerships that have arise in recent years among the government and the nonprofit and union sectors, reforming entitlements, aligning defense planning and expenditures strategically, stopping centralized government control and management of the economy, and taking on and breaking down virtually all concentrations of power, whether in government, finance, business or elsewhere. All the problems in these areas are getting bigger with each passing day.

But others do much of this writing incredibly well. I pipe up from time to time when I believe I have an unique experience or can offer a fresh perspective. Or sometimes I opine a bit ahead of the game. One of my best such experience-based posts is one I wrote about lobbyists (It's That Fella Across the Street) which highlighted my personal experience living inside the Beltway, where it seems there is a lobbyist at every corner, or at least across the street. I once lived across the street from the chief lobbyist for Fannie Mae (a Republican who freely acknowledged that is what he did), and, another time, lived across the street from the chief lobbyist for the Obamacare website contractor (a Democrat who denied he was a lobbyist -- ethics have careened downhill in the era of Obama). Washington, DC is run by lobbyists and the special interests they represent, much much more than most of you will allow yourselves to understand.  

Listed at the bottom of my blog is one of my favorite blogs, the "Growls" -- authored by a gentleman by the name of Tim Wise, who is pretty much a one man show, challenging fiscal excess, insider dealing and regulatory overreach in my former residence of Arlington, Virginia. He operates under the aegis of the Arlington County Taxpayers' Association (ACTA).

Arlington is across the Potomac River from DC. It is top five among counties nationwide in household incomes, and is awash in the federal government spending bubble. Seldom has so much self importance, and such an incredibly high sense of entitlement, been concentrated in a single place.

Arlington's residents include federal contractors and consultants, high level federal employees (grade inflation is rampant in the DC metro area), lobbyists and lawyers who all feed, in one way or another, at the federal trough. Commercial real estate is huge in Arlington, with the primary tenants being various federal government agencies and bureaus, and contract operations serving the same. Rather than build to own, the federal tenants primarily lease properties that are built to suit their needs. Arlington has become a monument to rampant corporate cronyism. 

The crony capitalist landlords (primarily large REITs, like Vornado, Simon and Federal Realty Trust) and the local property tax man love these arrangements.  Federal tenants pay top rents; they are not low cost solution seekers. Commercial buildings use little in the way of municipal services, and attract jobs that relieve social service 
burdens.

Vornado/Charles E. Smith realty is the largest
commercial real estate operation in the DC
metropolitan area.  By market cap Vornado
is the third largest publicly traded US REIT. It
has $3.7 billion invested in Arlington, alone.

Federally occupied real estate is a cash cow that feeds rental income to the crony capitalists and property tax revenues and fees into the pockets of the liberal elites in Arlington County government. The elites praise themselves for their economic development prowess, when they are doing nothing more than feasting on federal largess -- largess that is being financed by sending our children and grandchildren into debilitating debt.

At the same time, there is not a federal funded grant program or project that escapes Arlington's notice -- its federally employed citizens make sure of that. There is no more aggressive, knowledgeable and successful seeker of federal funds than Arlington County, Virginia. Last year we blogged on the million dollar bus stops. DC metropolitan area governments are sucking the federal treasury dry in more ways than you can count.

Many of the the Growls posts capture the local flavor of spending without limit.  Other are more oriented to the national picture.

One of the Growls most recent posts links to a local newspaper editorial that concludes as follows:

We live with the delusion that the government serves the public, not the other way around. But taxpayers just never seem to be the top priority when there’s extra money on hand.

Earlier this week, The Growls quoted from "A Thought on the Morality of Progressive Economics" published in The American Spectator.

"Far too many Americans behave as if government spending is “free money,” as if there is a free lunch if it’s paid for by Uncle Sam. But few things are more effective arguments with younger and slightly liberal voters than “You and your kids are going to pay for all this. They are bankrupting your future, and your children’s future. Isn’t that wrong no matter how they try to justify it?” 

"Again, this isn’t a technical point; it’s a moral one: It is simply wrong to burden our children and their children with opportunity-destroying debt incurred in pursuit of buying votes, or even of buying “equality” or “free” birth control. 

"If your parents created debt that was somehow passed down to you, even if it originated with a good intention of theirs (but not one to benefit your family), how would you feel about it, especially when paying off the debt meant you couldn’t buy a house or couldn’t put your own children through college? 

"It’s not just unfair or rude; it’s wrong. And it is exactly what every “liberal” economic policy is doing to YOUR future and your children’s future. 

"THIS is the argument that Republicans and conservatives fail to make in a convincing and repeated way. (Repetition is as important as the argument itself because people almost never take to heart a message they hear only a few times.)" (Emphases in the original)

~ Ross Kaminsky

A few days earlier the Growls wrote on the erosion of the United States Constitution, this time quoting from The National Review.

"The administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt dealt our Constitution a grave blow. When the Supreme Court rubber-stamped the New Deal, the framework of limited and enumerated federal powers — which shaped the very structure of our Constitution — was swept away. Federal power over every aspect of our lives has been expanding ever since, with no end in sight.  

"Conservatives understand that much. What they don’t yet understand iswhy this happened. That’s a problem. After all, how much good can a doctor do if he doesn’t understand what’s making the patient sick? In recent years, luminaries of constitutional history such as Richard A. Epstein and Michael Greve have made important strides in helping us understand how the progressive movement of the last hundred years has ravaged our Constitution. Some of their insights are startling.  

"The great internal danger to the democratic form of government is its vulnerability to capture by political elites. James Madison called them “factions”; today we call them “special interests.” The Constitution was designed to protect against them, chiefly by limiting the federal government’s power and guaranteeing strong property rights and freedom of exchange.  

"The Bill of Rights contains important protections. But the greatest protections the Constitution provides are the structural limitations it places on federal power. In key areas, those limitations have eroded, leading to the very expansion of federal power that opponents of the original Constitution warned about during the ratification debates."

~ Mario Loyola, Senior Fellow, Texas Public Policy Foundation

Growls finds and shares the trenchant quotes and passages from throughout the literature. Tim Wise says what needs to be said and present the messages better than I ever can or will. Check in with the Growls and you will be informed and enlightened.  Ignore the Growls and like-minded sources and you will never rise above being one of the sheeple. Check it out. The man actually researches and uses data from  time to time.

Arlington County Virginia, 2013 Annual Financial Report (note the doubling of assessed values during a time period when other markets have been relatively flat)