More Memorable Mencken

**First published Baltimore Evening Sun, August 19, 1935**

All government , in its essense, is organized exploitation, and in virtually all its existing forms it is the implacable enemy of every industrious and well-disposed man. In theory, it invades his liberty and collars his money only in order to protect him, but in actuality it always makes a stiff profit on the exchange. That profit represents the income of the professional politicians, nine tenths of whom are professional rogues, They employ a great many technicians to carry on the ostensible functions of government, and some of those technicians are honorable and competent men, but the politicians themselves are seldom either. Their only object in life is to do as little honest work as they can for the most profit, whether in money or in mere glory. The typical politician is not only a rascal but also a jackass, so he greatly values the puerile notoriety and adulation that sensible men try to avoid.

**End of Quote**

That thought of Mencken still fits today, and it's actually even more appropriate and correct and governmental actaivity has expanded a hundredfold since 1935.

Markets

Miners, ag and some natural gas stocks got smashed yesterday. In simple terms, all beefers remaining in that speakeasy still drinking bathtub gin panicked at once and left though every exit. As usual my patience has been inadequate so I added to FCX, DVN and CCJ too early. I wonder if "Early" should have been my middle name ? I'll wait and add more down here. Over the past few years I have done rather well buying these stocks on big dips. Maybe it's different this time. While some of those related commodities are / were overpriced, these stocks never participated much in those commodity spikes, so in my opinion are quite cheap at these levels.

But I could be wrong again.

Word of the Day

"Factitious" - adjective [$10]
Factitious means 1. specifically contrived, not genuine; 2. artifical, not natural.
Sentence: The modern Presidential nomination conventions are factitious pep rallies designed as a TV infomercial to sell you their man.