Indoctrination vs Education

Is Thinking Obsolete? - Thomas Sowell - Page 1:

Top notch from Sowell.

I was especially struck by the similarity of the following of my being brought up in hard core fundamentalist Baptist church. "Thought" consisted of their particular dogma and pointing out that all who were not in agreement were obviously bound for hell.

Moreover, the moral perspective that goes with this prevailing ideological view is all too often that of people who see themselves as being on the side of the angels against the forces of evil -- whether the particular issue at hand is gun control, environmentalism, race or whatever.

No matter if the subject is; gun control, income distribution, environmentalism, gay issues, or a host of others today, the MSM / elite perspective is fundamentalist.  To hell with the Constitution, thousands of years of history, the Bible, real science (the falsifiable kind), and a host of other elements of good and common sense-- the elites are "morally right", and to disagree is to risk loss of employment, rights, freedom of speech, and if you persist, loss of your freedom in incarceration.

While I defend the right of that old church to have any beliefs they want, the very core of America was that in the public square, diversity of thought was to be celebrated and stood up for. Even and especially the "wacko sorts".

We may all have hated Skokie Nazis, but the ACLU once defended their right to spew their hate. No more. Today our MSM and elites tow a "party line" that allows no diversity of thought. You WILL celebrate all aspects of homosexuality, you WILL finally give up your 2nd amendment rights, you WILL submit to BOcare and whatever other federally mandated coercion can be dreamed up.

Their power is not yet totally complete, but their objectives absolutely are, and their progress toward them ought to be more than enough for any thinking American to be concerned and vigilant.

Christians Honored for "Coming Out"

Breaking: Pentagon Confirms May Court Martial Soldiers Who Share Christian Faith:

Oh wait, sorry. It is washed up 2nd string centers on horrible NBA teams that are honored for coming out as gay.

Christians in the military? Oh, they can be COURT MARTIALED.

Welcome to "religious freedom" in the US today!

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Van Halen, World Views, Folk Wisdom

How Van Halen Explains the U.S. Government - Bloomberg:

I love the discussion of the "no brown M&Ms" contract requirement and the reason why it was done. That alone is worth reading this.

What the author fails to recognize is that if setting up for a Van Halen show is too complicated for many venues, there is literally ZERO hope for a Federal government to deal with salmon -- LET ALONE HEALTH CARE!!!

To be human is to be limited. We need to get VERY serious about studying Switzerland with it's 26 loosely federated Cantons. One of the richest countries on earth and the safest place to put your money. There ought to be as many management approaches for salmon  as there are little river regions that have salmon in the nation.

Things CAN'T be specified  by law or contract. Not setting up a Van Halen concert, not making drugs or firearms illegal and certainly not how people should think about anything at all. People are limited. Government is limited -- it can INCREASE THE LIMITATIONS to the point where one has North Korea with starving people resorting to cannibalism, but it is NOT an engine for good.

Government is an EXPENSE, and government at the level we have now is a bottomless pit that makes a combination drug and gambling habit look like "good stewardship" by comparison!


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Boo-Hoo BO, Go Home!

Dana Milbank: At Obama’s press conference, a presidential bystander - The Washington Post:

BO showed up for the press conference he had scheduled 45 min late and at one point commented, “Well, if you put it that way, Jonathan, maybe I should just pack up and go home,” Obama replied. “Golly.”

Slick Willie gave much the same sort of a performance at a press conference in '95. Democrats are used having things go their way from birth, and especially when they get to the WH. Bad things are always someone else's fault, and the good things that fall their way are 100% due to their greatness -- not even a god above to thank. 

What a contrast to W. Hated by the MSM from day 1, and mercilessly pounded after re-election in 04 managed to always stay positive, even saddled with one of the largest mythological "failures" in history after the Katrina comedy show of LA and NO government incompetence if not malfeasance. (Nagin is under indictment)  Meanwhile MS right next door with worse damage in many cases did well by comparison. 

Even the election of complete Democrat opposition braying about "Iraq is un-winnable" in '06 could not stop him from carrying the victory home in Iraq with less help from the Congress, Media or Public than any President in my memory.

The Federal Deficit was $161 B in '07, and then the Democrats started driving the ship! Through it all, W soldiered on, honored to be President, looking to his God for strength to deal with the disappointments and never sounding like a whiny, petulant child. 

Poor BO. His mastery is being elected with the help of an admiring media. His weakness is that he has no clue what he is doing.  His "Community Organizer" career was much the same, he just wrecked a lot less than the once greatest nation on earth.  

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Tebow Comes Out!

Tim Tebow Can Be Great, Just Not in the NFL | Bleacher Report:

Oh, wait, he already has come out ... as a Christian. That makes him "controversial".  He had been declared unfit for the NFL immediately upon entry as I talked about in "Christian Hate Speech".

Does ANYONE really think it is "courageous" to come out as Gay today? Could ANYONE write something like this about whatever his name unknown from the equally unknown Wizzards who recently came out as "the first openly gay person in US professional sports"?? (with a glowing banner headline on CNN).

We have pretty much descended to Roman times without the lions (yet) ... Note, real lions, not the Motor City Kitties!

Bring on the debauchery, throw the Christians to the MSM!!!

The lions were more fair minded!

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W Still Right, Saddam Still Dead

Iraq 10 years later: George W. Bush is still right | Washington Times Communities:

Wow, just read it. Very well done.

We all know if Saddam had still been in power in '04, that would have been a Kerry campaign centerpiece. Having the media on your side means you can say anything and get away with it!

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Our Dying Troops Forgotten

iCasualties | Operation Enduring Freedom | Afghanistan:

Remember when showing pictures of grieving military families and the caskets coming back from overseas was an extremely high media priority? Remember when each and every loss of a solider was front page news, and when it was in your state, it was both local and national news?

This completely proves that for the left and the MSM, the "anti-war" posture was COMPLETELY politically motivated. Whatever their protestations, they care not one whit for the actual troops -- BO could slaughter as many as he wanted in any way he saw fit for a good long while and they would be silent or even cheering.

Take a look at the following and then try to recall when the last time you have seen ANYTHING on troops lost on Afghanistan? Can we really be SO BRAINWASHED that we as a people get whipsawed about by an MSM intent on bringing down W, so hammering the pain of each casualty home in searing headline reports, yet INSTANTLY putting on a virtual news blackout of loses as BO takes power.

If electing BO a 2nd time didn't make it obvious, this clearly should. We have COMPLETELY lost our ability to govern ourselves.

499 soliders lost in 2010. A congressional election year. I never knew. Each 1K milestone under W was a "story of the week" for the MSM. Casualties in Afghanistan were especially bad ... because W had "taken his eye off the ball" there, and was busy "fighting the wrong war". Kerry and then BO promised "we can do better"! They were COMMITTED to WIN "the right war".

310 Americans lost last year. Be honest, did you have ANY idea??

1577 lost since BO took office. Remember when Kerry was hammering on "who will be the last man to die for a lost cause in Iraq"?  Well?? He is Sec of State now!! Are we "winning" in Afghanistan? Does anyone even care??

"Better" meaning drastically INCREASE casualties with no evidence of increased success against Al Qaeda or the Taliban? I only thought of this today because I'd seen some postings on FB of units that had been especially hard hit the last couple months in Afghanistan and had lost 5 and 10 guys in very elite tight knit units -- they were asking for help and for people to take notice.

I'm ashamed. How hard it is to pay attention to "absence of evidence" and to realize it complete is NOT "evidence of absence". We are ALL, me very much included, so very easily led by the MSM that it is completely humbling and VERY disturbing!

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French Spring??

A French “Oui” for Gay Marriage? Not So Fast | Power Line:

Wow, civil unrest in France? A backlash against "gay marriage" in that most sophisticated of European nations? Why, this would seem to be a story!

No? Interesting ... Powerline covers it superbly here, I love the assertions on what the media is probably up to and thus missing this important topic!

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Gay Cheerleading

A personal sexual preference is headline news? I thought that Gay was supposed to be "just like everyone else, no big deal"?? 

Why this is almost as big a news event as Tiger Woods "coming out" as "completely not monogamous" ... although that also did a good job dissing "tired old Judaeo Christian ethics", so why wasn't it celebrated as heartily?

Not that there as ever any doubt, but we can certainly see that the MSM has no desire that being Gay be in any way "equal" with being heterosexual. Being Gay is clearly supposed to be celebrated and trumpeted from the rooftops -- where being heterosexual, even getting married like Michael Jordan, (ironically on the same page) is much lower priority news well down the sidebar! 

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Wrong About Ricin Case

Ricin case resembles a Mississippi tall tale:

I discovered a strange case where the MSM in the US has decided to NOT make the indication that the alleged perpetrator is a Republican. I had to do some searching to discover the apparent political leanings of Everett Dutschke which something like 90% means "Democrat" when the topic is "something bad". So my rule failed in this case!

It seems that the ricin caper is a comedy of inept and weird southern vendetta. The British tabloid media seems to be enjoying it far more than the US ... feud between an accused child molester and an Elvis Impersonator in Tupelo MS. Hard to beat that for "weird news of the world"!


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Hoping For the Next Newton

Round Two for Gun Control May Take a ‘Next Newtown’ - NationalJournal.com:

Republicans need only try to get the deficit under $1T these days before we get a huge chorus from the MSM saying  "they want the economy to fail so that Obama will be blamed".

No chance someone could believe that incentives for hard work, fiscal responsibility, less inflationary politics, etc could POSSIBLY produce better economic results! Nope, Republicans are mean spirited political ideologues, and even though they tend to be hard workers, investors, and have kids and grandkids, they completely and ONLY care about "making Obama look bad". How could anyone who has invested in the country and a family POSSIBLY care about the future?

We well know that caring about the future is the sole domain of folks that aborted their kids or wrote two autobiographies before they were 50! Those are the folks that care about the future of America more than temporary expediency or personal political gain!!

Why, I'd have to be the insane right wing looney that I am to think any different!

Can ANYONE look at this and not believe that there are not a TON of folks on the left that WANT to see another Newtown?? Heck, they are willing to essentially say that in a HEADLINE!! No chance at all I suppose that there could be some crazy lefty out there that is right now "girding his loins" to head out and shoot up some grade school ... or maybe nursery this time if the committed gun grabbers are "lucky".

Why is it that the often MSM makes me sick again??

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How Politics Works

Michael Ramirez Cartoon:

We have all seen this happen locally. The classic is the school when short of money starts cutting athletic or music programs that have heavy emotional support, and explains "that's what cuts mean". They don't cut monstrous administration salaries, reduce administrative personnel, increase some of the class sizes at Jr High and HS, etc. They take actions that are guaranteed to get people up in arms ASAP. 

Local government is much the same. Hold some key local need hostage until the pet bonding or tax levy that allows pork and featherbedding as usual to go on or even increase. Just go take a walk through your local courthouse, county government center or other similar facility and think about the thought that "government has been cut to the bone". 

This is why our founders worked so hard to LIMIT the Federal Government. They had studied human  nature and history, and they were dealing with a government ruled by a King. They knew government was necessary, but realized that it was very difficult to control, even at the LOCAL level. 

The BO FAA ploy is classic. Refuse to deal with the elected representatives of the people, suggest the idea of sequestration, get the tax increases on the wealthy that you had indicated were what you were after, and then continue to refuse to deal on spending. When the sequestration that you wanted comes to pass and really doesn't make that much difference after all, push in any way you can to make it as painful as you possibly can, independent of the harm it causes to the economy or to individuals. 

You are just going to successfully blame it on the other party anyway and probably even pick up control of the House in the next election because,  just as in 1776, lawless despotism works!

 For the despot!

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FAA Furlough Fact Free Fury

FAA furlough reprieve: 'No fair!' - Apr. 26, 2013:

First, let's get the salient point out, this quote is in response to the claim that the BO admin is just trying to make things as painful as possible for political purposes:

The FAA’s budget backs that theory. According to FAA budget documents, the agency’s budget request for the 2013 fiscal year was $15.146 billion. The FAA’s actual, post-sequestration budget for FY 2013 was $15.371 billion — $225 million more than requested, as Phil Kerpen at American Commitment noted Thursday.

So, there are two potential reasons for the supposedly sequestration caused furloughs: 

1. Gross incompetence. The FAA requested over $225 million less than they needed to operate, and that ONLY came to light after the sequestration. 
2. This is a political ploy to make people "feel the pain" of sequestration. 

What I find even more interesting is the left screaming "no fair" on even the phony "deal" to get the controllers back to work. They want "all or nothing". Either ALL the funding comes back, or NONE of it!!

With that logic, we can't possibly govern ourselves. The whole idea of budgets is making intelligent choices about where and how much to spend based on priorities and trade-offs. Take that away and one would get a government spending trillions, borrowing trillions and taxing the economy into oblivion on auto-pilot. 

Oh, wait ... 




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I Miss W

CURL: W outclasses Barack and Bill, without even trying - Washington Times:

Had to throw in a little rah rah after the W Presidential Library opening. Reagan was certainly better, but no question that W was the 2nd best President of my lifetime. From 2000-2006, America still had hope for a better tomorrow, but we let ourselves down in '06 and elected Democrats to both houses of congress, and it ias been downhill HARD ever since.

My sense is that we have no hope of pulling out of this decline without domestic violence of a sort not seen since the Civil War, economic collapse to a level we have never seen -- making the Depression seem mild by comparison, and probably a major war with more loss of life than WWII ... it could be worse than that, but I'm somewhat of an optimistic realist.

But we had one final shot, W did his very best, we just blew it as a people.

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MA State Support of Terror

Patrick administration refuses to release Tsarnaev brothers' records | Boston Herald:

Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!  Provide folks room and board, they take a vacation in Russia and come back and bomb you.

Remember, the reason that people hate America is because we are just not "generous and caring enough"!

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