Fav quotes

[Travis Retriever]

Ludwig von Mises:

"The issue is always the same: the government or the market. There is no third solution." --Planned Chaos p. 28

"Capitalism and socialism are two distinct patterns of social organization. Private control of the means of production and public control are contradictory notions and not merely contrary notions. There is no such thing as a mixed economy, a system that would stand midway between capitalism and socialism." --The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality pp. 6465

"What transformed the stagnant conditions of the good old days into the activism of capitalism was not changes in the natural sciences and in technology, but the adoption of the free enterprise principle.   " The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science p. 122

"If one rejects laissez faire on account of mans fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action." --Planning for Freedom p. 44

"Every socialist is a disguised dictator." --Human Action p. 689; p. 693

Ludwig von Mises was the man.

[Travis Retriever]

http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4125
("Ten Most Wanted: Celebrities Who Promote Harmful Pseudoscience")

Much obliged Dave!

[Goaticus]

[Travis Retriever]

OK, so here are three cracked articles that, despite being posted here are actually on the fence either way.  I honestly considering not posting them, or even making a thread used to discuss whether something is either a win quote or a fail quote.  So I guess I'll just post them here and give the pros (wins) and cons (fails)  of each article..or at least what I was able to get through in one of them (it's late, damn it!).

http://www.cracked.com/article_17061_reminder-5-things-you-think-will-make-you-happy-but-wont.html
(cons:  has Wong's usual overbearing/a-hole tone.  Also makes it out, in usual David Wong fashion, like "the modern world be it the office, or your own wealth, etc, is making you sad and/or killing you!"  Which makes me think he's watched Fight Club one too many times...  Also, brings up the red herring of happiness research, when, according to another article--the next one, there is huge problem even defining the damn concept in that sort of rigorous fashion.  It also seems to blow off libertarians at the end, as if to imply the empirical decisions of what people do in a free market, and are able to therefore do what they want, over just saying 'we are happy!' is somehow less important than it really is.  I can see why that one Mises Institute podcast referring to happiness research/surveys as a 'red herring'.)
(pros:  at the very least, it brings into the equation of relativity into the mix, esp, for people in this country compared to, say a 3rd world nation.  And the need of children to be loved by their parents, and the lack thereof, turning many younger girls into major attention seekers to a rather severe point.)

http://www.cracked.com/article_19376_5-scientific-reasons-your-idea-happiness-wrong.html
(cons:  To be fair, I haven't read the entire item, but #2 already reeks of fail.  Again, see the above on empiricism of what people do, rather than what they claim to feel.  Until they gave me solid, non-anecdotal evidence of people spazzing out on the floors of supermarkets and shitting themselves and seizuring into an early grave from being overwhelmed by the number of choices they have, I'm going to take that with a grain of salt.  If people aren't happier with more choices, then why does a free market almost, if not always have more?  By virtue of being chosen, people believed it would have made them happier, and while a few choices in that direction don't mean much, when enough to establish a wisdom of crowds happens, it's no longer up for debate absent some other--much better than bullshit surveys--evidence.  That's being nice...hell, at worst, it's tautological.)
(pros:  at least admits that the definitions of happiness aren't very rigorous (certainly not to the degree that economic terms are, much less mathematical definitions.)

http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-ridiculous-things-people-believe-about-god-particle/
(cons:  guys like this are probably what FlowCell had in mind when writing posts of annoyance about people in science being anti-libertarian if not total elitists.  And this article is no exception.  Look, Luke, baby, if people had their money stolen via taxes, you bet your overpriced, overvalued degree they have a right to complain about it and where it is spent, you elitist ass.)
(pros:  it does dispell myths of the Higgs Boson--e.g. Goddamn particle, not "God" particle.  and shits on conspiracy theorists, so there is that.)

Note:  If they are all decided to be fail quotes, no worries, I can always find a good Mises quote or two to put in their place.

[Goaticus]

'Be careful of raising me too high, brother. I have no special strength, unless it is in choosing good men to follow me. The great lie of cities is that we are all too weak to stand against those who oppress us. All I have done is see through that lie. I always fight,Kachiun. Kings and shahs depend on people remaining sheep, too afraid to rise up. All I ever did was realise I can be a wolf to them.

Genghis Khan talking to his brother in Genghis: Bones of the Hills by Conn Iggulden.

[Goaticus]

Kind of goes with my last post.

[Travis Retriever]

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When Ron Paul is wrong, it's sad, but when he's on, he's fucking on!

[AnCap Dave]

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[Goaticus]

[Ibrahim90]

ah yes, good old fashioned hypocrisy. nothing like it.

[Goaticus]

My pick for who Romney picks as VP.

[Travis Retriever]

Thanks D!

[Ibrahim90]

My pick for who Romney picks as VP.

I personally think it will be that Rice lady, who was on monkey-man's staff when he was president...

[Travis Retriever]

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-reasons-internet-access-in-america-disaster/
So true.
Major fail in the article, at the start of number 4:
"Now wait a minute," some of you are saying. "Even in a small town like yours, if DSL providers are dropping the ball, the free market should introduce alternatives to compete for all of that money generated by methamphetamine sales."
Yeah, except that internet access markets--at least in the USA are NOT a free market.  All thanks to local gov't providing your local ISP with monopoly status....THANKS GOVCO! *eyetwitch*

[evensgrey]

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-reasons-internet-access-in-america-disaster/
So true.
Major fail in the article, at the start of number 4:
"Now wait a minute," some of you are saying. "Even in a small town like yours, if DSL providers are dropping the ball, the free market should introduce alternatives to compete for all of that money generated by methamphetamine sales."
Yeah, except that internet access markets--at least in the USA are NOT a free market.  All thanks to local gov't providing your local ISP with monopoly status....THANKS GOVCO! *eyetwitch*

Recently here in Canada we had some idiocy from the CRTC (our telecommunications incumbent protectionist agency) about internet access.  They decided that, toreduce regulatory interference and promote a 'free market' they were going to remove regulations on the monopoly wire line operators (who own the cable and phone lines into homes and businesses) that required selling access to third party service providers at a flat rate, and allow them to charge 85% of what they charge their direct customers for any given usage.  The governing party told them to go think about that again.  (The governing party is the one that's managed to drop a small but noticeable drop in the actual number of dollars spent on the Federal government here, and is currently fighting it's way through cutting a few more percent from the total budget.  That should allow us to keep our cost of government stable for a while.)