John Stossel: 'Who Owns Your Body?'

Source:John Stossel- on prostitution.

"I confront a prostitute, a pimp, and an anti-prostitution crusader." 

Source:John Stossel

I'm going to paraphrase political humorist P.J. O'Rourke on this: I'm very conservative socially in the sense that I live a conservative lifestyle. I don't even smoke tobacco or drink alcohol, not even beer, for crying out loud. I don't gamble or even go to casinos. And no, I'm not even religious at all so its not because of some strong religious beliefs why I don't do these things. But instead I don't enjoy these activities and I don't like what tobacco and alcohol do to people, I don't want to become a gambling junky who either has collectors constantly on my ass (if not up my ass) or can't pay his bills because I'm out of money and looking for my next big score at some card game.

And no, I would never even contemplate selling by body for sex or buying sex. I rather listen to a Donald Trump marathon of speeches with him telling everybody how fabulous he is and perhaps end up in coma because of how boring those speeches are. But that is just me.

Again to paraphrase P.J. O'Rourke: just because someone is socially conservative as far as how they live, doesn't mean they believe they have the wisdom and knowledge to run everyone else's lives for them. And be in charge of a national adult day care center telling people when they should go to bed, wake up, eat their meals, what they can eat, who they can talk to and about what and how they talk to people.

Being a social conservative means someone who lives conservatively. Not someone who is so hardcore fundamentalist with their religious beliefs that they believe they know exactly how everyone else should live as well. Even to the point that they would force their religious and cultural beliefs on everyone else though government force. 

I might be a social conservative when it comes to lifestyle, but I'm a Liberal when it comes to my political beliefs, as someone who bases all his views not just on politics, but everyone else in life based on the best available facts and evidence. My views are based on reason, not faith.

Prostitution like every other activity in life that comes with risk and in prostitution's case a lot of risk as far as the people you work with, go to bed with and the clients you deal with, but like gambling, tobacco, alcohol, pornography, certain plastic surgeries, are things that have been around forever and are never going to disappear. They'll always be with us whether they're legal or not. So the question then becomes what should be done about them.

Do we put people in jail simply because they're personally involved in activities that aren't good for them and as a result create a gigantic nanny state that makes the Communist Republic of North Korea and the Islamic Republic of Iran, look like thriving first world liberal democracies, or do we legalize these activities so we can make them as safe as possible and no longer allow people who work in these activities avoid paying the taxes that everyone else hates to pay (except Socialists) but pays, because these workers are involved in illegal dangerous activities . And are obviously afraid to report their income. That is the question when it comes to prostitution or any other dangerous activity in America. 

You can also see this post at FreeState Now, on Blogger.

John Stossel: Censorship In The Name of Islam

Source:The Daily Review

Just to the correct the record about something that Mark Steyn said. Islam is not the only religion in the world where their members have killed people in the name of their religion. The Ku Klux Klan and other Far-Right Anglo-Saxon Protestant terrorist groups in America, are responsible for a lot of murders as well. And just like with Christians, the overwhelming majority of Muslims are non-violent, even if they have Far-Right views about how women should be treated and everything else.

Again as far critical speech of minorities in America religious, or otherwise and perhaps obese people will be added to this group of the specially protected in America with the Far-Left, as well as gays. Perhaps stupid people will be next, which could by itself destroy the comedy industry. Leaving thousands of comedians with no one to make fun of. Do we have a First Amendment and Freedom of Speech, or not? According to the U.S. Constitution we do and even if some government passes a law that bans critical speech, or even hate speech of minorities in their community, it won't stand up because of this little thing called the U.S. Constitution. Americans, don't have a right to be nice or mean or truthful or the right to lie. We have a guaranteed right to Free Speech, which covers all of those things.

Racial, ethic an religious discrimination, are all wrong and even illegal in most cases. But we all have the right to think and say whatever we want to about anyone else. If you don't believe in that, than I suggest liberal democracy is not the right form of government for you. And perhaps you move to Planet Paradise where its so peaceful that not even football and boxing are allowed. Where everyone loves each other and to paraphrase the great sitcom Cheers, where everyone knows your name and everything else. Liberal democracy, is about freedom for the individual. And sometimes what comes with freedom is people doing and saying things that oversensitive tight asses don't approve of. Doesn't mean the oversensitive tight ass has to agree with the language and activity that others are engage in, but government can't stop people simply because they don't like what they see and hear.

Human Events: John Stossel: The Economy Needs No Conductor

Human Events: Opinion: John Stossel: The Economy Needs no Conductor  

Source:The FreeState 

There’s been this endless debate in America in the last few years about what creates economic and job growth. Is it the private sector or public sector. Does government actually create any jobs, well the answer to that question is yes. In the sense that they create government jobs that can contribute to private sector job growth, by rewarding contract to the private sector that then hire additional workers. To perform the new work that their contract requires, to complete the new work. 

But what really creates jobs, is consumer demand. When people need to buy things or want to buy things and have the money to do so, then they go out and buy those things, which leads to economic and job growth to meet the new consumer demand. The way to create job growth, is through economic growth. And government can help and hurt in several ways.

They can help buy keeping taxes down, so consumers have money to spend.

Only having needed regulations that can be understood and doesn’t make employers jobs even harder. And make their cost of doing business more expensive.

And they can help with things like infrastructure investment that creates work for construction companies and builds and repairs, new roads and bridges around the country. So people can get around in an efficient way.

They can help with Energy Policy, by allowing the American energy industry to capitalize and produce all the natural resources we have in America.

Where government can hurt the economy, is through over taxing. For example passing Tax Hikes on people who can’t afford to pay them. So now they have even less money to spend.

Over regulating to the point that no one understands the regulations and they aren’t even be enforced. Because government doesn’t even understand them.

And they can hurt the economy by overspending. Running up huge debt and deficits, driving up our interest rates. Making everything more expensive for everyone. Which results in everyone spending less money. Which is what happened in the recession of the early 1980s and early 1990s. And they can hurt by not trading enough and over taxing private companies. Making their cost of business more expensive.

Its really consumer demand thats what drives economic growth, that leads to job growth. So as long as people have incentive to spend money and have the money to spend, then they’ll do those things. So what government can do, is try to ensure that consumer spending is always high. That we always have a need to spend money.

John Stossel: You Can't Say That

Private organizations have the right to regulate themselves as long as they are within the law and their contractual obligations. They don't have to be fair or even consistent and I don't have a problem with them being able to do this as long as they are a private organization. Even though I tend to disagree with a lot of the decisions as they make when it comes to kicking people off the air as it relates to what they say may be offensive.

I'm not interested in outlawing fascists thoughts and people being able to express their fascist views whether they come from the Right or Left. As long as they aren't able to pass those views and policies through law. Because that of course would be against the First Amendment even if it does offend some people. Because again we have Freedom of Speech and the First Amendment and I having my right to argue against fascism and the political correctness movement from the Far-Left. Or the moral majority movement or whatever from the Far-Right.

FOX News: John Stossel- Stupid in America

Source:FOX News- TIME Magazine, talking about education reform in America.

""5-6-12 John Stossel - Stupid In America"

From FOX News

I take stupidity seriously and when you have a lot of Americans who are stupid, meaning they don't know important basic things that they should know. Like what state the Kentucky Derby is in, (first word being the giveaway clue there) I get concern simply as an American who wants to see my country do as well as it can. And as much as the Great Recession was caused by Wall Street, the fact that our workers especially the ones that lost their jobs during it do not have the skills they need to get another job, or our college and high school graduates do not have the skills that they need to get a good job, you know we have a serious problem.

And as serious as a problem that stupidity in America is, it is also impossible for me as someone with a quick off the cuff sense of humor to just let slide by without making fun of it. I mean seriously we have Americans who know what the latest smartphone is, or what's the latest rehab clinic or jail that Lindsay Lohan is at. But couldn't tell you to save their life who is on Mount Rushmore, what is the Bill of Rights, who was our first President, what was the Civil War fought over. How many states does America have  and you can go down the line.

We have become as a society where whatever is considered hot, awesome and popular at the time and that generally comes from either Silicon Valley or Hollywood, or it is not important "and like so not worth my time to like totally notice". To paraphrase some valley speak. "What is hot is what is now, and history is in the past" and when it comes to learning it is about what is hot and what is now so you can fit in and be as popular as possible. Where you are judged by how many followers you have on Facebook or whatever the hot social network is at the time and what is the latest technology. Instead of being judged based on how much you know and what are your actual skills.

I know this might sound nerdy or whatever, but people who believe that aren't my target audience and those people are the problem to begin with. If you want to be hot, awesome or cool, (and cool might sound old at this point) you might have to be stupid as well. And sound like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Sarah Palin, or even Johnny Football soon to be Johnny headed for Hollywood after he gives up on football Manziel. But if you want to be intelligent and successful outside of Hollywood or sports in America, then you have to be intelligent. And that only happens from learning about things that are actually important that gives you the skills to be successful in America.

FOX News: John Stossel- Illegal Everything

Source: FOX News-

Source:FOX News 

Gee I got a crazy idea. How about we outlaw the big government nanny state instead? Yeah from now on any legislature that votes for or passes big government nanny laws, they get charged with infringing on free adults freedom to live their own lives. Probably would need more technical language that sounds like Greek or something. But I'm not a lawyer, so I don't speak Greek, so I apologize. (Wait what am I apologizing for) And when legislatures try to pass some brain dead idea like this, they can spend time in the jails that they want free adults who they feel are too stupid to manage their own affairs to do time in.

Outlawing lemonade stands, or making it illegal to drive or sit in a car without a seatbelt, or illegal to ride a bike without a helmet, "who do these laws protect?" Nanny statists would naturally say "the people". But the natural response to that would be, "protecting the people from who?" They would be less inclined to answer that question and if you ask a nanny statist with any kind of honesty, they may say "protecting people from dangerous behavior". Who's dangerous behavior" The nanny statist again if they are honest may say "from the individuals dangerous behavior".

Again I'm not a lawyer, so I don't speak Greek or Chinese. But I do speak English real good. (Ha ha) And the people that nanny statists want to protect free adults from are themselves. People who believe in nanny laws want to protect people from themselves. Hey I got a radical idea here. Instead of nanny laws we allow for free adults to make their own decisions. Require that all of the information to be out there so free adults can make the best decisions possible and then hold them responsible for the decisions that they make. More free people on the street, less people in prison.

Liberty Pen: John Stossel- Naomi Schaffer Riley: War On Women By Feminists

Source: Liberty Pen; Naomi Schaffer Riley-

Source: Liberty Pen: John Stossel- Naomi Schaffer Riley: War On Women By Feminists

As a man who doesn't consider himself a feminist but, perhaps, a masculinist (if there is such a thing) I believe in equal rights and legal protection for all.  People should not be denied things simply because of gender.  As a Liberal, I think that a true feminist should believe that women should be treated as well and fairly under law as men but not better.

The women's movement or feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s wasn't about world domination for women and subjugation of masculinity as the Far-Left seems to think today.  It was about women having the same rights and protections under the law as men and being judged for their personal qualifications and whatever they are seeking in life, without regard to their gender.

I don't want women being treated worse by society than men but I don't believe that they should enjoy a gender-based advantage either.  We each represent about half of America and need to live and work together for the betterment of our country.

John Stossel: Gary Johnson's Future in Politics

Source:FreeState Now

As a political outsider when it comes to the libertarian movement, I would like to see Gary Johnson Left-Libertarians/Social Liberals, take over the Republican Party or bring those people go over to the Libertarian Party. Along with having universal polling so all the third-party candidates get polled and universal ballot access. And at least get the third-party candidates in their own national TV debates. Even if they don't go up against the Democrats and Republicans directly. Which would not only save our two-party system, but expand it and keep up from going to a one-party system. With the Democratic Party having all the power. Because the Christian-Right and Neoconservatives, destroyed the Republican Party.

Maybe we would see the Gary Johnson. Liberal or Left-Libertarians merge with the Ron Paul classical Libertarians and either takeover today's GOP and run the Neoconservatives out of the party. Or at least out of leadership and run that party, even merge with what's ever left of the classical conservative movement. The Goldwater/Reagan coalition in the Republican party and make the GOP a real Conservative Republican party. Which is what they aren't right now. There are millions of Americans who love both economic and personal freedom, but who aren't anti-government. They just don't want government running their lives for them and just do the basics. Including a safety net for people who truly need it, as well as law enforcement, national security and foreign policy. But these voters don't have two major parties right now who speak for them.

The other option for Gary Johnson and Ron Paul, would be to combine their factions and both go over to the Libertarian party to build that party up for the long-term that would allow that party to be a strong enough third-party. And win some elections, some seats in some state legislatures, a governorship here or there, local council seats. And even win a few seats in Congress, and some House seats here, perhaps some Senate seats over here. But that would have to be a long-term strategy. Short-term they would be better off taking over and occupying the GOP. If Gary Johnson was simply polled like President Obama and Governor Romney were during this election, he might have been at 15-20 percent. Because again he speaks for millions of Americans who aren't looking to eliminate government. But get it back to doing only what we need it to do.

John Stossel: Gary Johnson- A Libertarian For President

Source:FreeState Now

If you poll or ask I bet the overwhelming majority of Americans, they'll tell you that they tend to believe in fiscal responsibility, at least with government. Perhaps not so much with their own finances and they believe in at least some level of tolerance when it comes to social issues. That people should be treated as such, not by what groups they are members of, as long as they are not criminals or something, but be treated as individuals not members of groups. And be able to be as successful in life, based on how hard they work and how productive that they are.

Americans tend to believe that people shouldn't be judged by who they know. Who their parents are or what groups they are members of and so-forth, on paper at least. An audience like this should play very well for someone like Gary Johnson. Americans like things like Social Security and Medicare and what you got from Libertarians in the past, was that these programs were unconstitutional and should be abolished. As such but that's not what you get from Gary Johnson, who says these programs have a purpose, but that the Federal Government shouldn't be running them. And that the states should have more authority to govern their own people.

But for whatever reasons and most of it has to do with our two-party system duopoly, Gary Johnson can't seem to do higher than 5% in the polls. And I bet the Johnson/Gray Campaign polls, assuming they have pollsters, are telling Gary Johnson and Jim Gray similar things. But it's not because of the message, but the fact that Democrats and Republicans with all the commissions and so-forth where they are only represented.

The Democrats and Republicans, have set up a system that only benefits them and is why this system should be blown up. So we can have more voices and more philosophies represented in it. And people like Gary Johnson would then do a lot better politically in it, because more Americans would hear the message and decide, this person kinda looks at politics they way I do and I should not only vote for them because we tend to agree, but now they even have a chance to win and not play spoiler.

John Stossel: Politically Incorrect Guide (2008)

Source:Real Life Journal

John Stossel, is someone I respect, not someone who I agree with very often, but someone who’s very honest with what he thinks and who is very provocative. And political correctness is one area where we agree on. To me, political correctness should never be a substitute for telling the truth. That the fear to offend someone or some people, shouldn’t be an excuse for not speaking the ruth. It’s not the truth that’s the enemy of civil society, but the lack of truth, or ignorance that can be.

Once you put all the facts on the table and do it in a timely way, you give yourself an opportunity, whether the truth is good news, or bad news to respond to the truth in an appropriate way. Political correctness, goes against that because it says, “you know what we can’t say that. Because some people, especially people we care about, may be offended by it.” Political correctness, is also a problem with our education system. Students every year get promoted to the next grade, because educators fear that holding that student back, or sending them to summer school, for fear you may hurt the students self-esteem.

It’s all part of the so-called self-esteem movement, making people feel as well as possible. Whether they deserve to feel that well, or not. Self-esteem, is not the answer to having a civil society nor are politicians from any party. We get out of life what we put into it, no one politician can save our country and they especially can’t. Save us from ourselves as much as they’ve tried and over hyping politicians is just an invitation for being disappointed.

President Obama, is a perfect example of that who was built as the savior of America that was going to save our country. As so-called Progressives built him as. Now forty-two months later or so, he’s now seen as a disappointment to so-called Progressives and Independents. Because we are still dealing with the same problems as a country that we were dealing with when he became President. Not recognizing that the challenges that he faced were so huge and complicated and that they weren’t going to be solved in just four years.

And no Barack Obama is not a God and he’s also made some mistakes in his first term as well. Truth is never the enemy of civil society and politicians are never the saviors of society, at least by themselves. Its how we respond to all the facts on the table and how we learn them and when we learn them, that will best determine how we function as a country. Rather than holding back certain information for fear it may hurt the feelings of others. But what we should do is report all the facts and then respond to them as best we can.