Let’s hope the Boston Marathon bomber is a white American - Salon.com:
The left tends to be quite racist on things like the Marathon Bombing -- sort of like the old boxing public, they have the "Great White Hope". Some of the less thoughtful will say "it's different, RACISTS want whites to do GOOD things, and blacks to do BAD / LOSE / etc." Yes, please just think a tiny bit about all those "equals" signs out on the web over "gay marriage" meant and apply it here.
I just watched the "White Supremacist" narrative run and die on CNN as I worked out at the local club the last couple weeks, wow, those White Supremacists are some BAD dudes, oops, small problem, they have nothing to do with the crime that CNN already had them convicted for http://twitchy.com/2013/04/15/white-supremacist-narrative-collapses-in-texas-da-murder-case/
I'm expecting this to change anytime soon about as much as I'm looking for a ban on pressure cookers; "Pressure Cookers Kill!!".
This article is worth reading painfully. "Salon" is not far in thought process from HuffPo and is a good example of the kind of "journalism" on the rise with the ascension of the left since '06.
At the core of this thinking is a total hatred of anything "right", which of course means a hatred of liberty, since the right is libertarian and the left is statist. "Thou shalt not question the state" (except to the extent that Republicans are in control) ... to question the state means that you are, or are very close to being a "hate group", and only shills like Laura Ingraham would think that you ought not be investigated by the Feds. Who knows, you may actually own a scary gun -- or a pressure cooker!
The other is extremely selective relativism. The 9-11 attacks, Bin Ladin, the clearly heavily organized and over 20 year old Al Qaeda become "equivalent" to Timothy McVeigh, who might have been to a "militia meeting" a time or two ... or maybe just had friends who had. The American MSM is ALWAYS waiting with baited breath to jump to a charge of "Right Wing Terrorists" ... every shooting we have is initially at least floated as "due to the hateful rhetoric of the right wing", or did you know Sara Palin had used the term "targeted" (along with every political group in the US, but no matter).
Quite commonly the operative problem, uni-bomber, Aurora movie shooter, certainly Gabby Giffords shooter is that they are "mentally unstable" (at best). In the mentioned cases, they also happened to have very left leaning writings, thoughts, etc, BUT, I'm perfectly OK with what I see as the real problem being that they were "unstable". Had Timothy McVeigh had similar political thoughts, call me a wacko, but I'm betting that his political leanings would have been a complete non-issue.
I'm going out a real limb here I know, but I here predict that if Boston or any other future killer turns out to have ANY connection that can even be STRETCHED to be "Right Wing", that will be a big big story. If George Zimmer voted Republican vs Democrat (which he did), then I'd guess THAT angle would be getting A LOT more play in the Trayvon Martin saga.
Oh yes, and hitting a government building in OK with a rented truck is "equivalent" to flying commercial airliners complete with passengers into the WTC, Pentagon, and crashing in a field in PA. It's all relative -- and the relative lefty brains get to massage that relativity as they see fit.
This counts for "thought" on the left. These people can get seriously worked up believing that their world view is an accurate reflection of reality. Think about that the next time you watch BO talk!
'via Blog this'
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
IT IS NOT 40% !!!!!!
Obama’s continued use of the claim that 40 percent of gun sales lack background checks - The Washington Post:
MPR is using the 40% number regularly today and Al Franken used it on the Senate floor last night. It is NOT correct!! I sent e-mail to both MPR and Franken's office today. I suspect they don't care -- if the number was "as many as 5% of gun purchases" (as close to the correct number as we can get today unless an unbiased study is done), the vote in the Senate against further legislation would have ben 70-80 against!
'via Blog this'
MPR is using the 40% number regularly today and Al Franken used it on the Senate floor last night. It is NOT correct!! I sent e-mail to both MPR and Franken's office today. I suspect they don't care -- if the number was "as many as 5% of gun purchases" (as close to the correct number as we can get today unless an unbiased study is done), the vote in the Senate against further legislation would have ben 70-80 against!
'via Blog this'
Thatcher Spared Scent of BO
The lady’s not for mourning | Power Line:
I'm actually pleased that the BO admin chose to sit out the Iron Lady's funeral. After electing him twice, we are a nation that no longer has enough standing to be present at her funeral. I'm voting we make the Reagan Library (which I've been to and MUCH enjoyed) it's own nation kind of like the Vatican.
He gave us a 2nd chance, we chose to squander it.
Maybe we can call it "Waserica" ... the America that once was great!
'via Blog this'
I'm actually pleased that the BO admin chose to sit out the Iron Lady's funeral. After electing him twice, we are a nation that no longer has enough standing to be present at her funeral. I'm voting we make the Reagan Library (which I've been to and MUCH enjoyed) it's own nation kind of like the Vatican.
He gave us a 2nd chance, we chose to squander it.
Maybe we can call it "Waserica" ... the America that once was great!
'via Blog this'
Right Wing Mind Control
Opinion: Why terrorist bombings have been rare in U.S. in past decade - CNN.com:
From time to time we get treated to an indictment of Fox News, Talk Radio and "The Right Wing Echo Chamber" ... the absolute horror that some in the MSM feel "compelled" to carry some "fabrication" that got started in the "not-real news", oh I forgot, the "Blogsphere" is another part of that irresponsible media.
Here we have an article that has been out on CNN for a few days now explaining to us why there are relatively few bombings in the US. CNN is a "trusted news source" ... no bias there.
Wow, 51 of them were "Right Wing Extremists", wonder how THAT classification is reached?
The critical thinker ... of which the US has few remaining, would go look at "The New America" foundation, which Peter Bergen is a leader of, and which it is clear is properly named -- they don't like the "old America" much, the democratic republic one, with freedom, liberty, rule of law, and ESPECIALLY things like individual property rights.
One element that is NOT mentioned is that GUNS are more commonly used in the US by attackers, and BOMBS are more commonly used in European countries. The IMPRESSION is given that "since 9-11", explosives have been "too hard to get". Indeed. Very serviceable bombs can be made from LOTS of common household items, propane, and other chemicals easily manufactured. Has METH been controlled in the US??
Or there is black powder How to make Black Powder and how to get the parts ...
I know that "Right Wingers" are too stupid to figure out how to make a bomb, so the "better government control" MUST be the reason. Terrorists are just smarter in Europe ... so they build bombs.
I'm also not going to go into the selective nature of this article very much. Environmental Terrorists seem to like sabotage and especially arson. The animal rights types like to wreck labs and turn loose animals.
Can you list the 51 "right wing extremists" apprehended for plotting bombs in the US since 9-11? Whenever there is a SINGLE case that can somehow be labeled as "right wing", even though the important part of the perpetrator is that they are NUTS, we hear LOTS about it! Whereas when you have someone like the Unibomber -- who was totally lefty / anarchist, there is VERY little covered about him other than the NUTS part! (he was also a certifiable math genius, which is obviously why he would lean left!)
If you only read the MSM, it is pretty easy to see how one thinks as the majority of our population does. You have been carefully taught!
From time to time we get treated to an indictment of Fox News, Talk Radio and "The Right Wing Echo Chamber" ... the absolute horror that some in the MSM feel "compelled" to carry some "fabrication" that got started in the "not-real news", oh I forgot, the "Blogsphere" is another part of that irresponsible media.
Here we have an article that has been out on CNN for a few days now explaining to us why there are relatively few bombings in the US. CNN is a "trusted news source" ... no bias there.
Of the 380 extremists indicted for acts of political violence or for conspiring to carry out such attacks in the U.S. since 9/11, 81 were able to obtain explosives or the components necessary to build a bomb, according to a study by the New America Foundation. Of those, 51 were right-wing extremists, 23 were militants inspired by al Qaeda's ideology, five have been described as anarchists and one was an environmentalist terrorist.
Wow, 51 of them were "Right Wing Extremists", wonder how THAT classification is reached?
The critical thinker ... of which the US has few remaining, would go look at "The New America" foundation, which Peter Bergen is a leader of, and which it is clear is properly named -- they don't like the "old America" much, the democratic republic one, with freedom, liberty, rule of law, and ESPECIALLY things like individual property rights.
One element that is NOT mentioned is that GUNS are more commonly used in the US by attackers, and BOMBS are more commonly used in European countries. The IMPRESSION is given that "since 9-11", explosives have been "too hard to get". Indeed. Very serviceable bombs can be made from LOTS of common household items, propane, and other chemicals easily manufactured. Has METH been controlled in the US??
Or there is black powder How to make Black Powder and how to get the parts ...
I know that "Right Wingers" are too stupid to figure out how to make a bomb, so the "better government control" MUST be the reason. Terrorists are just smarter in Europe ... so they build bombs.
I'm also not going to go into the selective nature of this article very much. Environmental Terrorists seem to like sabotage and especially arson. The animal rights types like to wreck labs and turn loose animals.
Can you list the 51 "right wing extremists" apprehended for plotting bombs in the US since 9-11? Whenever there is a SINGLE case that can somehow be labeled as "right wing", even though the important part of the perpetrator is that they are NUTS, we hear LOTS about it! Whereas when you have someone like the Unibomber -- who was totally lefty / anarchist, there is VERY little covered about him other than the NUTS part! (he was also a certifiable math genius, which is obviously why he would lean left!)
If you only read the MSM, it is pretty easy to see how one thinks as the majority of our population does. You have been carefully taught!
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
North Korea, Life Without God
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offers many faces, many threats - The Washington Post:
When Nietzsche exclaimed that "God is dead", it was a cry of despair. Without a believable ultimate moral power that included the potential of eternal joy or punishment, man was "free" in this life.
Nietzsche thought that science had "killed god", because it had "proven" that creation had no use for him -- it all happened randomly with no divine "watchmaker", running in "simple", understandable by humans and repeatable laws. Or at least the last few hundred or thousand years had.
I'm not going to go into the fairly obvious problem with inductive reasoning, other than to mention the Thanksgiving Turkey Problem -- confirmation bias of repeatability rises to a plateau and then there is an "oops", often quite painful or terminal to the inductive reasoner.
I'm completely happy with God creating the universe any way he desires. I tend to allow the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent the freedom to act in the manner they see fit, I feel it is the least I can do! From what I can see, it certainly DOES have "the appearance of age", although God capabilities allow creation to proceed in a number of ways that would be beyond even our imagination. I have no problem with "going with what we see", so it LOOKS like things have taken a very long time. (I'm also fine with going with 100% fundamentalist, it's 6k years old.
Let's assume that I'm wrong. My faith is foolish, there is no God, all is random. In that case, it would seem that the "very long time" forces that have acted on our selves, morality, society, etc would be even MORE important -- since there is no potential for intervention by an eternal god, being very conservative with cultural, social and even religious (major part of "culture") rules, practices, heuristics, etc would be vital. Screw it up and everyone -- or at least 100's of millions are likely to die (as they did in the "moving toward godless" 20th century).
This is the point at which I wonder if I must be especially evil. Take God and the potential for eternal joy or punishment away, and I'm not very sure of what **MY** actions might be. WORSE, I'm not very sanguine about the potential for action by other godless people -- Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, etc come to mind right away.
So why is it that Kim Jong Un ought NOT nuke Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, or whatever it is that he thinks would make him the most eternally remembered???Let's face it, barring something of that nature, we are not going to remember any of the "Kim Jong's" at all. While Hitler is going to be hard to beat, even a relative fizzle nuke ought to get him remembered over Osama, Oswald and guys like that in the historical pantheon.
Doing something GOOD to be immortal is a hell of a bar --- Einstein, Gandhi, Newton, Lincoln, DaVinci ... I'm not going to go look up top ten good and bad recognized names world wide, or maybe recognized after having been dead 100 years ... a criteria that a number of mine don't even make. Without any hope of real eternal life, the only sort of "immortal" available is in future generations, and I'd argue they have more of a bias for remembering the BAD then the good. (Quick, which character do you remember from Star Wars?).
Let's face it, "Un" has ZERO chance of making that list for good, but kill 5-10 million people? Pretty much a shoo in, and if there is no God, then what is it that makes us all calm that there won't be more people that think that way? True, "all gods are not equal" --- Allah is apparently OK with exterminating infidels to bring about "peace" (rubble tends to be very "peaceful"). But to be truly certain there is no "eternal collateral damage", it is hard to beat no god at all passing judgement before you fry a few million of your fellow man.
"Choosing poorly" on an eternal question isn't the kind of mistake the less than fully faithful in the "big nada" after death are likely to feel good about. We humans have a tendency to practice what we actually believe in order to help assure ourselves we really believe it. For the believer in God, the religions all provide regular actions -- prayer, worship, study of sacred works, sacrifice, communion, acts of contrition, love, etc.
What about the atheist? Well, after you are done abusing Christians (usually they don't particularly worry about abusing other faiths), maybe posting lots of nasty things on the web, what are the godless to do? They are "completely free", but just how do you really really let people know that you are so very and completely not held hostage by any "old tired many thousands of years old religious moral kinds of thinking"?
Perhaps that is the reason that atheists are less trusted than believers. It is completely up to them -- especially since becoming an atheist usually already means some level of leaving family and other "roots" behind. You have netted yourself a lot of "freedom", but it could be that a lot of humanity isn't all that trusting that the "soul-less free" are all that likely to be "good" ... and certainly completely unconfident that "soul-less good" is likely to have much overlap with the few thousand year old versions of good.
An environmentalist looks at anything that man does -- carbon, fracking, habitat changes, diet, etc and says "we have to be really really careful because the earth is very fragile". This is an earth that they believe has had completely random life continuously for over 3 billion years.
In contrast, human culture has been recorded for less than 10K (with exception of a few cave paintings that look to be 30K years old). The Roman Empire that lasted for 500 years 1500 years ago is still the champion for longevity. Right now, the US has a decent claim to being the longest continuous Democratic Republic on the planet. One can have long discussions on this ... Greece, first but not continuous, New Zealand if you aren't really democratic unless you have "universal suffrage". So I assume that "Undocumented Democrats" (formerly "Illegal Aliens") might have to be allowed to vote before maybe the US even COUNTS as "democratic"?? ... and on it goes.
The POINT is that the systems of government that we now consider to be the most "advanced" are not all that old -- and all of them are in MAJOR trouble for having promised more in benefits than they can provide. One of the reasons that democracies have historically failed, so our founders tried very hard to avoid the government having enough power to bankrupt itself. Nice try!!
So man is GOING to have something that is effectively a "religion" -- "a practice", a "highest good". Communism is one of the atheist attempts, and China is the current likely replacement to the old "advanced" world leadership. Can a democratic republic survive without a transcendent religion, or will be the result be what the founders of the US and guys like Toqueville thought?? That the representative democracy could not exist without the majority of the people being practicing Christians.
Or worse -- will some Kim Jong "whatever", like figure be the "final immortal" for mankind by mass killing, maybe via germ warfare or eventually nano-tech? One might have thought that the "experiment" with god being dead in the 20th century and man being "free" to slaughter 100's of millions on the alter of the state would have been enough to give more people pause, but apparently not.
I've never been clear on God intervention. I have a strong thought that the Jewish people will survive, although they always have been, and will remain the leading targets for extermination by others. They have a direct promise for their survival from God.
The gift of free will is a very dangerous gift. We currently seem especially bent on testing the limits of mankind hanging around, at least with any actual freedom, except maybe "freedom from god".
'via Blog this'
When Nietzsche exclaimed that "God is dead", it was a cry of despair. Without a believable ultimate moral power that included the potential of eternal joy or punishment, man was "free" in this life.
Nietzsche thought that science had "killed god", because it had "proven" that creation had no use for him -- it all happened randomly with no divine "watchmaker", running in "simple", understandable by humans and repeatable laws. Or at least the last few hundred or thousand years had.
I'm not going to go into the fairly obvious problem with inductive reasoning, other than to mention the Thanksgiving Turkey Problem -- confirmation bias of repeatability rises to a plateau and then there is an "oops", often quite painful or terminal to the inductive reasoner.
I'm completely happy with God creating the universe any way he desires. I tend to allow the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent the freedom to act in the manner they see fit, I feel it is the least I can do! From what I can see, it certainly DOES have "the appearance of age", although God capabilities allow creation to proceed in a number of ways that would be beyond even our imagination. I have no problem with "going with what we see", so it LOOKS like things have taken a very long time. (I'm also fine with going with 100% fundamentalist, it's 6k years old.
Let's assume that I'm wrong. My faith is foolish, there is no God, all is random. In that case, it would seem that the "very long time" forces that have acted on our selves, morality, society, etc would be even MORE important -- since there is no potential for intervention by an eternal god, being very conservative with cultural, social and even religious (major part of "culture") rules, practices, heuristics, etc would be vital. Screw it up and everyone -- or at least 100's of millions are likely to die (as they did in the "moving toward godless" 20th century).
This is the point at which I wonder if I must be especially evil. Take God and the potential for eternal joy or punishment away, and I'm not very sure of what **MY** actions might be. WORSE, I'm not very sanguine about the potential for action by other godless people -- Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, etc come to mind right away.
So why is it that Kim Jong Un ought NOT nuke Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, or whatever it is that he thinks would make him the most eternally remembered???Let's face it, barring something of that nature, we are not going to remember any of the "Kim Jong's" at all. While Hitler is going to be hard to beat, even a relative fizzle nuke ought to get him remembered over Osama, Oswald and guys like that in the historical pantheon.
Doing something GOOD to be immortal is a hell of a bar --- Einstein, Gandhi, Newton, Lincoln, DaVinci ... I'm not going to go look up top ten good and bad recognized names world wide, or maybe recognized after having been dead 100 years ... a criteria that a number of mine don't even make. Without any hope of real eternal life, the only sort of "immortal" available is in future generations, and I'd argue they have more of a bias for remembering the BAD then the good. (Quick, which character do you remember from Star Wars?).
Let's face it, "Un" has ZERO chance of making that list for good, but kill 5-10 million people? Pretty much a shoo in, and if there is no God, then what is it that makes us all calm that there won't be more people that think that way? True, "all gods are not equal" --- Allah is apparently OK with exterminating infidels to bring about "peace" (rubble tends to be very "peaceful"). But to be truly certain there is no "eternal collateral damage", it is hard to beat no god at all passing judgement before you fry a few million of your fellow man.
"Choosing poorly" on an eternal question isn't the kind of mistake the less than fully faithful in the "big nada" after death are likely to feel good about. We humans have a tendency to practice what we actually believe in order to help assure ourselves we really believe it. For the believer in God, the religions all provide regular actions -- prayer, worship, study of sacred works, sacrifice, communion, acts of contrition, love, etc.
What about the atheist? Well, after you are done abusing Christians (usually they don't particularly worry about abusing other faiths), maybe posting lots of nasty things on the web, what are the godless to do? They are "completely free", but just how do you really really let people know that you are so very and completely not held hostage by any "old tired many thousands of years old religious moral kinds of thinking"?
Perhaps that is the reason that atheists are less trusted than believers. It is completely up to them -- especially since becoming an atheist usually already means some level of leaving family and other "roots" behind. You have netted yourself a lot of "freedom", but it could be that a lot of humanity isn't all that trusting that the "soul-less free" are all that likely to be "good" ... and certainly completely unconfident that "soul-less good" is likely to have much overlap with the few thousand year old versions of good.
An environmentalist looks at anything that man does -- carbon, fracking, habitat changes, diet, etc and says "we have to be really really careful because the earth is very fragile". This is an earth that they believe has had completely random life continuously for over 3 billion years.
In contrast, human culture has been recorded for less than 10K (with exception of a few cave paintings that look to be 30K years old). The Roman Empire that lasted for 500 years 1500 years ago is still the champion for longevity. Right now, the US has a decent claim to being the longest continuous Democratic Republic on the planet. One can have long discussions on this ... Greece, first but not continuous, New Zealand if you aren't really democratic unless you have "universal suffrage". So I assume that "Undocumented Democrats" (formerly "Illegal Aliens") might have to be allowed to vote before maybe the US even COUNTS as "democratic"?? ... and on it goes.
The POINT is that the systems of government that we now consider to be the most "advanced" are not all that old -- and all of them are in MAJOR trouble for having promised more in benefits than they can provide. One of the reasons that democracies have historically failed, so our founders tried very hard to avoid the government having enough power to bankrupt itself. Nice try!!
So man is GOING to have something that is effectively a "religion" -- "a practice", a "highest good". Communism is one of the atheist attempts, and China is the current likely replacement to the old "advanced" world leadership. Can a democratic republic survive without a transcendent religion, or will be the result be what the founders of the US and guys like Toqueville thought?? That the representative democracy could not exist without the majority of the people being practicing Christians.
Or worse -- will some Kim Jong "whatever", like figure be the "final immortal" for mankind by mass killing, maybe via germ warfare or eventually nano-tech? One might have thought that the "experiment" with god being dead in the 20th century and man being "free" to slaughter 100's of millions on the alter of the state would have been enough to give more people pause, but apparently not.
I've never been clear on God intervention. I have a strong thought that the Jewish people will survive, although they always have been, and will remain the leading targets for extermination by others. They have a direct promise for their survival from God.
The gift of free will is a very dangerous gift. We currently seem especially bent on testing the limits of mankind hanging around, at least with any actual freedom, except maybe "freedom from god".
'via Blog this'
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Benghazi Scooter Libby
700 Retired Military Special Ops Tell Congress to Form Select Committee on Benghazi:
We certainly celebrated Seal Team 6 when Osama was killed. Nearly as much as BO was celebrated.
Remember Scooter Libby and Valerie Plame?? The media was OBSESSED with the question of wether a CIA "secret agent" that lived in Virginia and drove into Langley every day was "outed". As part of her "deep cover", her husband had written an article for the New Yorker that was critical of the administration. (were there any articles in the New Yorker that were not critical of the W administration?).
We got a Special Prosecutor, reams of ink, tons of time on shout shows devoted to "investigating" this supposed "crime". Turns out that Richard Armitage, a state department functionary that was anti-Iraq invasion, was the sort of the source. Well, that and the fact that her name was listed next to her husbands, Joe Wilson, in "Who's Who in America", no doubt further evidence of just how "covert" she was. Scooter Libby? Oh, he was prosecuted for PERJURY for LYING, because he got a date wrong for when he had talked to Tim Russert. Another case where the standard for "lying" is much stricter when one is a conservative.
Does anyone see any difference in the media treatment of these two incidents?
Does anyone actually believe that if W had lost an embassy under similar circumstances, the timeline, who was involved, who was making the decisions and at least all the questions included in this letter would be known by every American because they would be on the news every single day with suitably ominous overtones of the only two reasons that something like this could happen in a Republican administration? Gross and prosecutable incompetence, or deep political intrigue, manipulation and coverup. Most likely lots of both!
Now?
SEVEN HUNDRED retired Special Ops folks sign a very well done letter asking some very obvious questions that need to be answered. Are they ALL some sort of cranky right wingers?? Maybe they are a just a bit concerned of damage to the Esprit Decor of Special Forces when 2 of their own are left to die with no support in Benghazi.
The US military, and ESPECIALLY the Special Forces have a very strong commitment to their own to do all in their power to assist and extract even against very long odds. Damage that, and the effect on our ability to do raids like getting Osama may be damaged irreparably.
The Jimmuh Carter Desert Classic (Operation Eagle Claw, the failed Iran hostage rescue) can EASILY come again. We worked 30 years to return the American military to the capability that we were at prior to BO taking power -- we are already "back to the '70s" in number of people working and income, must we also go there with our military?
'via Blog this'
We certainly celebrated Seal Team 6 when Osama was killed. Nearly as much as BO was celebrated.
Remember Scooter Libby and Valerie Plame?? The media was OBSESSED with the question of wether a CIA "secret agent" that lived in Virginia and drove into Langley every day was "outed". As part of her "deep cover", her husband had written an article for the New Yorker that was critical of the administration. (were there any articles in the New Yorker that were not critical of the W administration?).
We got a Special Prosecutor, reams of ink, tons of time on shout shows devoted to "investigating" this supposed "crime". Turns out that Richard Armitage, a state department functionary that was anti-Iraq invasion, was the sort of the source. Well, that and the fact that her name was listed next to her husbands, Joe Wilson, in "Who's Who in America", no doubt further evidence of just how "covert" she was. Scooter Libby? Oh, he was prosecuted for PERJURY for LYING, because he got a date wrong for when he had talked to Tim Russert. Another case where the standard for "lying" is much stricter when one is a conservative.
Does anyone see any difference in the media treatment of these two incidents?
Does anyone actually believe that if W had lost an embassy under similar circumstances, the timeline, who was involved, who was making the decisions and at least all the questions included in this letter would be known by every American because they would be on the news every single day with suitably ominous overtones of the only two reasons that something like this could happen in a Republican administration? Gross and prosecutable incompetence, or deep political intrigue, manipulation and coverup. Most likely lots of both!
Now?
SEVEN HUNDRED retired Special Ops folks sign a very well done letter asking some very obvious questions that need to be answered. Are they ALL some sort of cranky right wingers?? Maybe they are a just a bit concerned of damage to the Esprit Decor of Special Forces when 2 of their own are left to die with no support in Benghazi.
The US military, and ESPECIALLY the Special Forces have a very strong commitment to their own to do all in their power to assist and extract even against very long odds. Damage that, and the effect on our ability to do raids like getting Osama may be damaged irreparably.
The Jimmuh Carter Desert Classic (Operation Eagle Claw, the failed Iran hostage rescue) can EASILY come again. We worked 30 years to return the American military to the capability that we were at prior to BO taking power -- we are already "back to the '70s" in number of people working and income, must we also go there with our military?
'via Blog this'
15 Infants Killed with Assault Rifle
Rep. Chris Smith: 'If Gosnell Had Shot Seven Infants with an AR-15, It Would Be National News':
Oh, wait, it was scissors and knives and it was done in the protected confines of an abortion clinic. They were alive, and viable outside the womb, so there may still be a conviction in this rare case, but it doesn't follow a popular lefty narrative, so we will see very very little of it.
Killings with Assault Rifles, ALL forms of rifles account for < 3% of gun deaths, fit the popular narrative of a "preventable national tragedy, a shame on the US". When such a rare killing happens we are hammered by the MSM 24x7 on how it is "preventable", even though, as in the case of Sandy Hook, none of the laws being offered would have prevented it. We just have to BELIEVE!
Narrative! Follow the narrative!!!
Reality is entirely narrative free, at least from a human perspective. I'm perfectly willing to assume that God has a divine plan at some level of detail -- the Bible says that "not a sparrow falls" without his knowledge, I'm completely willing to believe that he has both knowledge and control at every Quantum Event, infinite powers is, well, infinite.
Man? We are masters at imagining narratives are real from every angle -- just like we easily "see" human and others forms in rocks, clouds, etc. Our FAVORITE activity is creating narratives that give a semblance of order to the vast and (from our perspective) quite chaotic universe around us.
What used to be "critical thought" is being aware of this bias and be slow to buy in to nearly all narratives -- especially those less than a few hundred years old that have stood some testing of effectiveness at the mapping of reality.
'via Blog this'
Oh, wait, it was scissors and knives and it was done in the protected confines of an abortion clinic. They were alive, and viable outside the womb, so there may still be a conviction in this rare case, but it doesn't follow a popular lefty narrative, so we will see very very little of it.
Killings with Assault Rifles, ALL forms of rifles account for < 3% of gun deaths, fit the popular narrative of a "preventable national tragedy, a shame on the US". When such a rare killing happens we are hammered by the MSM 24x7 on how it is "preventable", even though, as in the case of Sandy Hook, none of the laws being offered would have prevented it. We just have to BELIEVE!
Narrative! Follow the narrative!!!
Reality is entirely narrative free, at least from a human perspective. I'm perfectly willing to assume that God has a divine plan at some level of detail -- the Bible says that "not a sparrow falls" without his knowledge, I'm completely willing to believe that he has both knowledge and control at every Quantum Event, infinite powers is, well, infinite.
Man? We are masters at imagining narratives are real from every angle -- just like we easily "see" human and others forms in rocks, clouds, etc. Our FAVORITE activity is creating narratives that give a semblance of order to the vast and (from our perspective) quite chaotic universe around us.
What used to be "critical thought" is being aware of this bias and be slow to buy in to nearly all narratives -- especially those less than a few hundred years old that have stood some testing of effectiveness at the mapping of reality.
'via Blog this'
Understanding "Liberal" Popularity
Why Aren’t More People Repelled by the Left? | Power Line:
So there are raucous celebrations of Thatcher's death in England? The simplest answer to the question posed by this column is that although I'm completely unsurprised, who knew? The coverage of bad behavior on the left is minimal at best.
The big reason though tis that worship of the state is the modern pagan religion. It is "moral" because it declares itself to be, and it has it's own set of "sacraments" -- abortion, gay marriage, environmental fetishism and legal pot. Someday I need to do a whole "Stations of the Statist Cross.
Certainly Popularity would be one, liberals love that above all else. "Democracy" makes them feel so moral compared to "Mob Rule" -- but they like Mobs as well. Their mobs are just "just mobs", and since the chattering classes are always going to lean left, both the entertainment and "news" media are always going to worship the Statist totem.
The line from the column that I completely disagree with is "liberals are often reviled as vile, vulgar, hate-mongers." They are? On what planet is that? It is CONSERVATIVES that are "often", in fact, nearly universally cast in that light. In fact, based on media reporting I'd say there are only two reasons for one to be a conservative -- they are stupid, they are evil, most commonly both!
The station of "intelligence" definitely is one ... to be a "liberal" is proof of at least "not being stupid". An intelligent liberal is above all an excellent parrot. Whatever the hot item of the day that needs to be praised or derided, they are locked to the party line. Why would they not be? They are daily presented in every form from entertainment to news with exactly what is to be applauded and what is to be smirked at. John Stewart and his "Daily Show" are currently an excellent flavor of this -- just the right smirk, just the right condescension, even an occasional jibe at the lefty home team just to give the snide impression of being "even handed". We are cooking in a left wing information pot -- and all one needs to do to be "moral and smart" is to be a parrot!
I'm not going to keep going for today, but it is completely unsurprising to me that people can get out and be joyful over the death of Maggie Thatcher and not be considered "bad" in any form -- don't "smart and just people" have a right to their "fun"???
'via Blog this'
So there are raucous celebrations of Thatcher's death in England? The simplest answer to the question posed by this column is that although I'm completely unsurprised, who knew? The coverage of bad behavior on the left is minimal at best.
The big reason though tis that worship of the state is the modern pagan religion. It is "moral" because it declares itself to be, and it has it's own set of "sacraments" -- abortion, gay marriage, environmental fetishism and legal pot. Someday I need to do a whole "Stations of the Statist Cross.
Certainly Popularity would be one, liberals love that above all else. "Democracy" makes them feel so moral compared to "Mob Rule" -- but they like Mobs as well. Their mobs are just "just mobs", and since the chattering classes are always going to lean left, both the entertainment and "news" media are always going to worship the Statist totem.
The line from the column that I completely disagree with is "liberals are often reviled as vile, vulgar, hate-mongers." They are? On what planet is that? It is CONSERVATIVES that are "often", in fact, nearly universally cast in that light. In fact, based on media reporting I'd say there are only two reasons for one to be a conservative -- they are stupid, they are evil, most commonly both!
The station of "intelligence" definitely is one ... to be a "liberal" is proof of at least "not being stupid". An intelligent liberal is above all an excellent parrot. Whatever the hot item of the day that needs to be praised or derided, they are locked to the party line. Why would they not be? They are daily presented in every form from entertainment to news with exactly what is to be applauded and what is to be smirked at. John Stewart and his "Daily Show" are currently an excellent flavor of this -- just the right smirk, just the right condescension, even an occasional jibe at the lefty home team just to give the snide impression of being "even handed". We are cooking in a left wing information pot -- and all one needs to do to be "moral and smart" is to be a parrot!
I'm not going to keep going for today, but it is completely unsurprising to me that people can get out and be joyful over the death of Maggie Thatcher and not be considered "bad" in any form -- don't "smart and just people" have a right to their "fun"???
'via Blog this'
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Outrunning Jackasses
Rebuttal to the attack on Dr. Don Easterbrook | Watts Up With That?:
I had never heard the Galileo quote at the end that I alluded to in the title -- it is priceless.
I also love his comment on theories that explain everything: "The theory that explains everything explains nothing." Exactly!
The column is EXCELLENT in that it deals primarily with the combination of fake hubris, fear and the desire to be "one of the in crowd" that permeates the warmist movement. Humans love to be liked -- it is in our makeup, but part of the maturity of reason is to realize that the "liking" is often completely fatuous. Being fact based and having faith in something larger than ones self (and certainly the popularity thereof) is MUCH preferable for both the self and the society one lives in.
'via Blog this'
I had never heard the Galileo quote at the end that I alluded to in the title -- it is priceless.
I also love his comment on theories that explain everything: "The theory that explains everything explains nothing." Exactly!
The column is EXCELLENT in that it deals primarily with the combination of fake hubris, fear and the desire to be "one of the in crowd" that permeates the warmist movement. Humans love to be liked -- it is in our makeup, but part of the maturity of reason is to realize that the "liking" is often completely fatuous. Being fact based and having faith in something larger than ones self (and certainly the popularity thereof) is MUCH preferable for both the self and the society one lives in.
'via Blog this'
Friday, April 12, 2013
7800 Words of "Common Sense"
Posted: Full Text of 'The Public Safety And Second Amendment Rights Protection Act' | The Weekly Standard:
Remember when BO was going to post potential bills to the internet weeks in advance of their being voted on as part of "the most transparent administration in history"??
I tried to read it a bit. There is some motherhood up front about "supporting the 2nd amendment and making everyone safe", but within it there is stuff about forming a commission, 15 years in prison for gun violations and very odd stuff about potentially limiting my right to carry on federal highways -- but I would NOT say that I'm sure at all.
Unless you are a plain Statist that COMPLETELY "trusts the government", personally have no firearms or at MOST "take them hunting once a year", it is unimaginable that you could be "for" this. It is impossible to say what "this" even is!
Why would there be ANY penalties for ANY non-violent first time gun "violation"? I have a permit, I carry a pistol, if there is "a problem", I leave whatever premises or unload my pistol and put it in a locked case and go on my way.
This bill reeks of "selective enforcement" -- maybe I speak out on a subject that someone in government or someone with connections in government doesn't like. Maybe it is even guns. I have a permit, I've purchased guns under the existing NICs system which means there is already a record of my purchase. Is it in a database??? Well, they seem to be able to find out VERY fast in these shootings where and when the gun or guns used came from. In fact, they can find that right away unless the ATF is running them to Mexican gun cartels ... but I digress.
Criminals don't follow laws, even onces that they can't read. There are only two "common sense" purposes that this law could possibly achieve:
'via Blog this'
Remember when BO was going to post potential bills to the internet weeks in advance of their being voted on as part of "the most transparent administration in history"??
I tried to read it a bit. There is some motherhood up front about "supporting the 2nd amendment and making everyone safe", but within it there is stuff about forming a commission, 15 years in prison for gun violations and very odd stuff about potentially limiting my right to carry on federal highways -- but I would NOT say that I'm sure at all.
Unless you are a plain Statist that COMPLETELY "trusts the government", personally have no firearms or at MOST "take them hunting once a year", it is unimaginable that you could be "for" this. It is impossible to say what "this" even is!
Why would there be ANY penalties for ANY non-violent first time gun "violation"? I have a permit, I carry a pistol, if there is "a problem", I leave whatever premises or unload my pistol and put it in a locked case and go on my way.
This bill reeks of "selective enforcement" -- maybe I speak out on a subject that someone in government or someone with connections in government doesn't like. Maybe it is even guns. I have a permit, I've purchased guns under the existing NICs system which means there is already a record of my purchase. Is it in a database??? Well, they seem to be able to find out VERY fast in these shootings where and when the gun or guns used came from. In fact, they can find that right away unless the ATF is running them to Mexican gun cartels ... but I digress.
Criminals don't follow laws, even onces that they can't read. There are only two "common sense" purposes that this law could possibly achieve:
- It furthers the registration of guns for future confiscation
- It provides more excessive penalties for dimly or unnamed "violations" that can be selectively enforced on people when desired by government beauracrats, politicians, or people that have connections with them.
'via Blog this'
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Blow Blows
Rand Paul Goes to Howard - NYTimes.com:
Maybe Rand has Blow a little scared. His entire list is a re-tread of Democrat and media fabrications to keep Blacks on the Democrat MSM plantation of welfare, broken homes, affirmative action and comfy bromides about "equal opportunity" while Black unemployment for males approaches 50% in larger cities.
Were Black unemployment that high with a Republican in the WH, Blow would be adding THAT to his list of Republican woes. He would be screaming at the top of his lungs and creating a new shibboleth about Republicans like NO. But he can't ... he no doubt hates Herman Cain and any other Black who dares leave the "thought plantation", but that doesn't make his residency there any less of a fact.
"Willie Horton", dear god, can you be any more of a tool? What good does parroting an old manufactured "controversy" when 50% of your people have no jobs? Certainly your shackles can't be tight enough for you to not feel SOME of the plight of your brothers? Are you that worried they will wake up and realize that they have been had?
Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of politics knows that 95% is WAY too high for a voting block. They are guaranteed to be taken for granted -- and the fact that their current masters and the TRUE "Uncle Tom's" like Blow are willing to let his people suffer 50% unemployment while carrying water for the policies that have brought that about is absolute proof for that.
'via Blog this'
Maybe Rand has Blow a little scared. His entire list is a re-tread of Democrat and media fabrications to keep Blacks on the Democrat MSM plantation of welfare, broken homes, affirmative action and comfy bromides about "equal opportunity" while Black unemployment for males approaches 50% in larger cities.
Were Black unemployment that high with a Republican in the WH, Blow would be adding THAT to his list of Republican woes. He would be screaming at the top of his lungs and creating a new shibboleth about Republicans like NO. But he can't ... he no doubt hates Herman Cain and any other Black who dares leave the "thought plantation", but that doesn't make his residency there any less of a fact.
"Willie Horton", dear god, can you be any more of a tool? What good does parroting an old manufactured "controversy" when 50% of your people have no jobs? Certainly your shackles can't be tight enough for you to not feel SOME of the plight of your brothers? Are you that worried they will wake up and realize that they have been had?
Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of politics knows that 95% is WAY too high for a voting block. They are guaranteed to be taken for granted -- and the fact that their current masters and the TRUE "Uncle Tom's" like Blow are willing to let his people suffer 50% unemployment while carrying water for the policies that have brought that about is absolute proof for that.
'via Blog this'
"Gay Marriage" and Natural Law
FAITH MATTERS: On ‘gay marriage’ think natural law | World Tribune:
An excellent article. I wish I had written it!!
I found this quote to be especially good ... the last time this came up was in the time of Nero, history doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme.
As I've said many times ... no Gods Law, no Natural Law, means NO LAW ... or rather "survey says whim of the day "law"" ... which is none, since the survey can't be predicted by reason in any way.!
'via Blog this'
An excellent article. I wish I had written it!!
I found this quote to be especially good ... the last time this came up was in the time of Nero, history doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme.
By the same token, no belief system other than the tyrannical confusion governing the minds of declining empires would consider the physical union of two people whose parts don’t fit and who therefore cannot procreate a “human right.”
As I've said many times ... no Gods Law, no Natural Law, means NO LAW ... or rather "survey says whim of the day "law"" ... which is none, since the survey can't be predicted by reason in any way.!
'via Blog this'
5 Current BO Lies
5 Reasons Obama's White House is Administration That Cried Wolf | Independent Journal Review | Page 9:
Nice little sequence of 5 actual lies of that last month or so directly from the mouth of BO. Must be hard work to pare it down to just 5, his lips move quite a bit.
For W, we either had (1) "British Intelligence / yellowcake" in the the SOTU address, or (2) "No WMD". But we heard A LOT about them!!
1 was in fact true as stated by Tony Blair and re-stated by British Intelligence, 2 was a complete surprise to nearly everyone including every intelligence agency in the world, and likely Saddam himself. I choose to believe that Saddam was able to hide a couple semi sized containers of WMD in a country with 65K sq miles of desert. Wait for a sand storm, drive them out there and bury them. Take the GPS coord and shoot the guys that did it. But whatever, "Making predications is hard, especially about the future" (Yogi Berra)
When you can lie directly and convincingly to the camera and the MSM is NEVER going to bother to check anything, it really helps being a "masterful politician". It gets MUCH harder when even when you are telling the truth, or don't have 100% foreknowledge of the future, they call you "liar, liar" 24x7.
'via Blog this'
Nice little sequence of 5 actual lies of that last month or so directly from the mouth of BO. Must be hard work to pare it down to just 5, his lips move quite a bit.
For W, we either had (1) "British Intelligence / yellowcake" in the the SOTU address, or (2) "No WMD". But we heard A LOT about them!!
1 was in fact true as stated by Tony Blair and re-stated by British Intelligence, 2 was a complete surprise to nearly everyone including every intelligence agency in the world, and likely Saddam himself. I choose to believe that Saddam was able to hide a couple semi sized containers of WMD in a country with 65K sq miles of desert. Wait for a sand storm, drive them out there and bury them. Take the GPS coord and shoot the guys that did it. But whatever, "Making predications is hard, especially about the future" (Yogi Berra)
When you can lie directly and convincingly to the camera and the MSM is NEVER going to bother to check anything, it really helps being a "masterful politician". It gets MUCH harder when even when you are telling the truth, or don't have 100% foreknowledge of the future, they call you "liar, liar" 24x7.
'via Blog this'
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
CNN Headline: Why is Gun Grabbing Hard
Why is this so hard? The disconnect on background checks and guns - CNN.com:
It is nice when the MSM is up front that they are telling you what to think rather than reporting.
One reason it may be hard is that gun ownership is clearly stated as an UNALIENABLE right in the 2nd amendment of the constitution. Sure CNN, BO and Democrats feel the constitution is nothing to be counted on except for the sacrement of abortion, freedom from religion and not having to have an ID to vote. None of which are of course in the constitution at all -- but THEY are "unalienable" to Democrats, therefore "sacred".
Partially because they have no clue what they are talking about:
ALL commercial sales -- which are 90% of sales have background checks -- over the internet, at gun shows, etc. There IS NO "Gun Show / Internet "!!!
The "private sales" that I described above are 5%, 5% are inheritance, transfers to kids, spouses and relatives.
The REASON that BO and Democrats want this law is that it will allow them to DOCUMENT ALL SALES AND TRANSFERS by law abiding citizens! The current background check is de-facto registration. The gun dealer has your information and the serial number of the gun. However, TODAY, one could always say "I sold it" if the feds come knocking at your door for confiscation. To date, registration has ALWAYS led to confiscation in all other cases where it has happened.
The REAL "loophole" is the legal private sale or transfer of a firearm. If they want to confiscate, they will be stuck if you refuse to give them the gun they have listed as being owned by you and can't find it on your premises. Pass this, and you have the THIN veneer of "it was stolen" (and you didn't report it), or "I lost it" -- very easily made into crimes in themselves, thus solving the problem of confiscation from law abiding citizens.
Criminals of course don't follow laws -- that goes for the ones on the street and the ones in Washington as well.
Oh, and BTW, we are STILL not a DEMOCRACY, we are a REPUBLIC!! If 100% of the people really want gun control, then doing a Constitutional Amendment to remove the 2nd ought to be EASY!! So just do it. Listen to the Pledge next time and consider what you are pledging allegiance to -- it makes things like removing rights based on the will of the mob HARD! It was intended to!!
'via Blog this'
It is nice when the MSM is up front that they are telling you what to think rather than reporting.
One reason it may be hard is that gun ownership is clearly stated as an UNALIENABLE right in the 2nd amendment of the constitution. Sure CNN, BO and Democrats feel the constitution is nothing to be counted on except for the sacrement of abortion, freedom from religion and not having to have an ID to vote. None of which are of course in the constitution at all -- but THEY are "unalienable" to Democrats, therefore "sacred".
Partially because they have no clue what they are talking about:
Though FBI background checks are required for commercial sales, the proposal being considered would expand them to gun shows and internet sales, but they would not require checks for other private transactions, according to multiple sources familiar with the talks.The "loophole" is relative to PRIVATE sales of guns, at most one or two sales a year, the VAST preponderance of them done by serious gun sportsmen where the person getting the gun is explicitly known, and EVEN THEN, the standard is to keep a copy of their drivers license and either carry permit or permit to purchase on file.
ALL commercial sales -- which are 90% of sales have background checks -- over the internet, at gun shows, etc. There IS NO "Gun Show / Internet "!!!
The "private sales" that I described above are 5%, 5% are inheritance, transfers to kids, spouses and relatives.
The REASON that BO and Democrats want this law is that it will allow them to DOCUMENT ALL SALES AND TRANSFERS by law abiding citizens! The current background check is de-facto registration. The gun dealer has your information and the serial number of the gun. However, TODAY, one could always say "I sold it" if the feds come knocking at your door for confiscation. To date, registration has ALWAYS led to confiscation in all other cases where it has happened.
The REAL "loophole" is the legal private sale or transfer of a firearm. If they want to confiscate, they will be stuck if you refuse to give them the gun they have listed as being owned by you and can't find it on your premises. Pass this, and you have the THIN veneer of "it was stolen" (and you didn't report it), or "I lost it" -- very easily made into crimes in themselves, thus solving the problem of confiscation from law abiding citizens.
Criminals of course don't follow laws -- that goes for the ones on the street and the ones in Washington as well.
Oh, and BTW, we are STILL not a DEMOCRACY, we are a REPUBLIC!! If 100% of the people really want gun control, then doing a Constitutional Amendment to remove the 2nd ought to be EASY!! So just do it. Listen to the Pledge next time and consider what you are pledging allegiance to -- it makes things like removing rights based on the will of the mob HARD! It was intended to!!
'via Blog this'
BO Pushes Grandma off Cliff
Seniors would see smaller Social Security checks under Obama budget due to chained CPI - Apr. 10, 2013: "inflation"
... or that is how it was treated when Paul Ryan had a much more realistic and fair proposal. One in which benefits for YOUNGER FICA beneficiaries WHO HAD A HIGHER INCOME were "cut" (meaning the rate of growth was slowed).
How different it is when BO proposes hitting the OLDEST and likely POOREST of beneficiaries? Naturally, after directly promising that HE would "protect FICA". We get the liars we so richly deserve.
Why does he do it? Because he will be out of office in the future and there are less voters over 80 than under 80. The entire Democrat created Ponzi scheme called FICA is about buying votes today with the money of future generations and then leaving those generations holding the bag -- and from the Democrat view, so impoverished they will be unable to vote for anything but whatever remaining crumbs future Democrats can scrape from the dried husk of a once great nation.
As the fecal material has begun to hit the fan and it becomes obvious, as it does in all Ponzi schemes, that the vast majority of folks that put the money in will not be getting it out, it is important to hold the reckoning off as long as possible ... thus, fake a little longer that you are going to give the hit ONLY to the oldest of the recipients.
Actually giving a damn about people as opposed to merely political power would require taking action so the most vulnerable were LEAST hit, and the young people quickly realized that there would be no FICA for them unless they were POOR when they retire -- so they ought to SAVE!
People that work hard, save, invest and pay attention to things like "actual need" rather than just "where the votes are" are typically not Democrats ... which makes it imperative for BO and the MSM to demagogue any real proposal that might save the truly needy under FICA in order to preserve the vote getting fantasy that everyone is going to get way more out than they put in!!
'via Blog this'
... or that is how it was treated when Paul Ryan had a much more realistic and fair proposal. One in which benefits for YOUNGER FICA beneficiaries WHO HAD A HIGHER INCOME were "cut" (meaning the rate of growth was slowed).
How different it is when BO proposes hitting the OLDEST and likely POOREST of beneficiaries? Naturally, after directly promising that HE would "protect FICA". We get the liars we so richly deserve.
Why does he do it? Because he will be out of office in the future and there are less voters over 80 than under 80. The entire Democrat created Ponzi scheme called FICA is about buying votes today with the money of future generations and then leaving those generations holding the bag -- and from the Democrat view, so impoverished they will be unable to vote for anything but whatever remaining crumbs future Democrats can scrape from the dried husk of a once great nation.
As the fecal material has begun to hit the fan and it becomes obvious, as it does in all Ponzi schemes, that the vast majority of folks that put the money in will not be getting it out, it is important to hold the reckoning off as long as possible ... thus, fake a little longer that you are going to give the hit ONLY to the oldest of the recipients.
Actually giving a damn about people as opposed to merely political power would require taking action so the most vulnerable were LEAST hit, and the young people quickly realized that there would be no FICA for them unless they were POOR when they retire -- so they ought to SAVE!
People that work hard, save, invest and pay attention to things like "actual need" rather than just "where the votes are" are typically not Democrats ... which makes it imperative for BO and the MSM to demagogue any real proposal that might save the truly needy under FICA in order to preserve the vote getting fantasy that everyone is going to get way more out than they put in!!
'via Blog this'
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