If ever there was a “Washington insider,” surely it’s the president of the United States. So it seems particularly amusing that Obama was recently quoted on video as saying “You can’t change Washington from the inside – you can only change it from the outside.”

I would argue that Obama is absolutely correct. Since I’m a strong believer in the free market, I believe that outside market forces are what changes Washington, not the politicians on the inside. Politicians simply respond to the market forces of the outside – specifically, the act of bribing. It annoys me that most people refuse to use that “B” word, and instead refer to it as “lobbying.”

Take the issue of genetically modified foods (GMOs). This article cites a study of lab rats who were fed GMO corn, and ended up either dead or with a host of health issues. From the article:

“In treated males, liver congestions and necrosis were 2.5-5.5 times higher. This pathology was confirmed by optic and transmission electron microscopy. Marked and severe kidney nephropathies were also generally 1.3-2.3 greater. Males presented 4 times more large palpable tumors than controls which occurred up to 600 days earlier.”

 

So why is GMO approved all to easily by the FDA? Why are foods not even required to be labeled as “GMO?” Why are taxpayers forced to subsidize GMO against their will? It’s because Washington can’t be changed from the inside. Politicians have no money. It’s all stolen. They have no skills. That’s why they’re in politics. Instead, they blow where the wind of cash takes them. 

The company Monsanto, the crazed, psychopathic Johnny Appleseed of the GMO world, who builds pesticide resistance into their crop strains and sues the corn out every farmer unfortunate enough to have their crops accidentally contaminated with Monsanto’s devil seed, spent $8.8 million in 2008 alone on bribing (lobbying).

That’s how you change Washington. You create monetary incentives for politicians to point the guns of government away from you – and preferably point them at the competition.

Though, to be fair, Monsanto does have its shares of insiders, such as these people (from Wikipedia):

• Michael A. Friedman, MD, was Senior Vice President of Research and Development, Medical and Public Policy for Pharmacia, and later served as an FDA deputy commissioner.^[195][196]
• Linda J. Fisher was an assistant administrator at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before she was a vice president at Monsanto from 1995 to 2000. In 2001, Fisher became the deputy administrator of the EPA.^[104]
• Michael R. Taylor was an assistant to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner before he left to work for a law firm on gaining FDA approval of Monsanto’s artificial growth hormone in the 1980s. Taylor then became deputy commissioner of the FDA from 1991 to 1994.^[104] Taylor was later re-appointed to the FDA in August 2009 by President Barack Obama.^[197][198]
• United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas worked as an attorney for Monsanto in the 1970s. Thomas wrote the majority opinion in the 2001 Supreme Court decision J. E. M. Ag Supply, Inc. v. Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.^[199] which found that “newly developed plant breeds are patentable under the general utility patent laws of the United States.”^{[104][199][200]}
• Mickey Kantor served on Monsanto’s board after serving in government as a trade representative.^[104]
• William D. Ruckelshaus served as the first head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970, was subsequently acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and then Deputy Attorney General of the United States. From 1983 to 1985, he returned as EPA administrator. After leaving government he joined the Board of Directors of Monsanto; he is currently retired from that board.^[201]
• Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was chairman and chief executive officer of G. D. Searle & Company, which Monsanto purchased in 1985. Rumsfeld’s stock and options in Searle were $12 million USD at the time of the transaction.^[104]

Of course, these insiders are also just responding to market forces. How much they were paid off the books to seek public office will never be known.

Who’s the Savage?

“In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.”

That’s the ad that a New York City judge recently approved be posted in Subways around the city. In a free market, the owners of the subway would decide what ads they will and won’t run. But in this government-controlled, taxpayer funded tragedy known as the MTA, New York’s transit system, a judge must be brought in to mediate. Socialized transportation at its finest. It’s complicated.

The ad claims that Israel represents the civilized man. Really? Doesn’t Israel forcibly conscript all of its men and women into mandatory 3 year (2 for women) military service? Yes. And it’s the only country in the world that requires all of their servants to join the army, which must be a giant, terrifying propaganda machine.

That is truly savage.

No to point the finger at Israel in particular. Muslim countries have some savage laws and practices. Also, the United States of Amerika, with its village-demolishing drones and armed thugs kidnapping nonviolent drug offenders, is perhaps one of the most savage nations. I’m just trying to point out the hypocrisy.

On a slightly related note, I recently learned of a practice by Hasidim Jewish leaders which shocked me. Not only do they insist on chopping off a portion of every newborn baby boy’s penis (a barbaric and unneeded practice in any religion or culture), but when the procedure is performed, it is ritual that the circumsiser use his mouth – yes, you read that correctly, his mouth, to suck the blood directly out of the freshly mutilated member of the poor little child. And because there is a risk of the baby contracting herpes from this ritual, the NYC board of health has recently voted to regulate this practice. Regulated? Shouldn’t that read: Banned? No, regulated. And knowing the NYC government, that probably just means that Mayor Bloomberg has priority on all the rabbis’ oral skills.

The Smartphone Wars

The suing (Apple recently won a $1 billion lawsuit against rival Samsung) is downright disgusting. It’s nothing more than companies using the guns of the state against their competitors. It’s sick that in this current “justice” system, companies would almost be negligent to their shareholders if they didn’t sue. Meanwhile, the average person can’t afford the legal fees to settle small disputes when they are wronged. The reality is that all the companies who manufacture smartphones are borrowing ideas from every other company.

However, the innovation taking place in portable electronic devices is nothing short of incredible. Companies are fighting to pack more features and function into their products. As Apple tries to one-up Samsung who tries to one-up Nokia who tries to one-up HTC who tries to one-up LG who tries to one-up Apple and all over again, the result is nothing short of an explosion of progress. I believe the battle is just getting started, and if the trend continues as it is, then we can’t even imagine what smartphones will look 10 years from now. Display and battery power technology, in particular, has a long way to go. Flexible screens, wireless charging, and wearable accessories are just a few things we have to look forward to. It will change our lives in ways we can’t predict.

So…let the smartphones wars rage on!

Nick Foley
The Basic Liberty Letter
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