Gestapo Fails to Get Walker

George Will: Wisconsin prosecutors abuse the law for partisan ends - The Washington Post:

TP (formerly Democrats) were using their enforcement arm, the Gestapo (formerly US "justice" system) in a naked ruse to harass, and if they got lucky, destroy Scott Walker. Walker, governor of WI is one of the last Americans to SUCCESSFULLY (for the moment) take on TP and it's Government Workers wing relative to the issue of the State Government being used as bag man to collect Party funds from TP members working for the government in unions.

So Walker has faced a recall effort plus all forms of legal and illegal harassment from the propaganda wing in the MSM as well as efforts like the one covered here for TP to hopefully destroy him, but at least send a STRONG cautionary message to others about what happens if you dare to take on TP!

Here is a nice summary from the article of a significant mission of major parts of the TP apparatus in all branches of government including "justice", as well as MSM and the "education" system:

The purpose of all this was to suppress conservative political advocacy by consuming the time and other resources of conservative leaders, and by making people wary of collaborating with those targeted by a secretive criminal investigation.

"Suppression of conservative political advocacy" as well as conservatives in general and conservative thought in all forms is pretty much the MAIN mission of TP. Naturally they claim it is "helping people", but "people" are TP members and voters (legal, illegal, dead, or imaginary) in their lexicon, and conservatives are "targets" for the NSA, IRS, "justice" system, regulatory systems, or just harassment and hopefully  destruction.

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Charles, Benghazi, TP

Charles Krauthammer: How to do the Benghazi hearings right - The Washington Post:



Politically, Benghazi is yet another case where the Rs (Republican) have already lost, and TP (The Party - Democrat) and it's propaganda wing (the MSM) are deciding how to best damage the Rs on the issue.



Two strategies present themselves, both of which will be used:

1. The current and standard one which will continue to be used is "boycott". If you only watch MSM, you don't even know the content of the new revelations that Charles covers in the article. All you MAYBE know is that the Rs are trying to create some sort of "investigation". Since Benghazi is a word so seldom used in the MSM other to say it is some "R fantasy" or something equivalently derogatory, it is hard for the standard American to even explain what it is all about. Independently of wether TP decides to actually boycott the hearings, the MSM will continue to boycott the story! 
2. Use the issue of the investigation to attack the Rs. Since TP and their minions in the MSM have no concern for "whatever" happened at Benghazi, since a few lives lost is a small price to pay for BO being re-elected, no matter what the circumstance, it is perfectly reasonable to morph any investigation as the R's "failing to focus on the economy and jobs". Someone astute might say, "Isn't that inconsistent when TP and BO have flitted from BOcare to, Climate Change, to Crimea, to kidnapped girls, to whatever -- including some hand wringing over Sterling's racial comments. To which I would remind you -- what part of Consistency IS NOT an issue!! are you failing to understand! 

As I've said many times, if you put this shoe on the other foot with an R in the WH in 2012, they would have CERTAINLY failed to be re-elected, because the "Sargent Schultz" defense used by BO along with the little "it was all the film, no Al Qaeda involved" would have yielded the litany of:

• If he doesn't know, he is incompetent 
• Since he didn't come clean right away about Al Quaeda, then he is LYING ... 
• and since he is LYING, then it is a COVER UP!!! ... and if you are an R, then you are "Nixon or worse than Nixon" ... and he would have been gone. 

But in this case, we see the TP version ... see one and 2, no problem!



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Cotton Explains Truth, Honor, Benghazi, BO

Tom Cotton Savages Democrats on Benghazi | Power Line:



If America ever stages a comeback, it's roots will be in the same kind of character that it has aways been. The kind of character that was once called "American".  THIS is the kind of character we once admired!!



The video is under 2 min, WELL worth your time!



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BO Tells Big Donors "Too Much Money in Politics"

Obama says political cynicism could hurt Democratic turnout in November | Fox News:



How could people ever get cynical? The first thing to go when you are liberal is a total loss of your sense of irony. It would be impossible to make this up!

"Obama said the political system faces challenges from legislative procedures, a partisan media and too much money in politics. But he said the main cause for gridlock was fundamental differences between what Democrats believe and "what this particular brand of Republicans in Congress believes.""

Those that don't understand surrealism don't listen to BO enough. You are telling a bunch of rich folks at a 10-30K a place fundraiser that "there is too much money in politics"? Golly, I wonder if anyone could figure out how to remedy THAT???

Obama spoke before about 90 contributors who paid from $10,000 to $32,400 to attend. Among those attending were Hollywood luminaries Barbra Streisand, James Brolin and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Clearly "The Party" (TP, formerly "Democratic") means that since there is ANY non-TP money and ANY "partisan media" (media not just 100% TP propaganda), well it "makes it tough! Not to mention, there are "challenges from legislative procedures", you know, like the filibuster, oh, damn -- got rid of that excuse already!  Well there is still that tired old Constitution and supposedly "checks and balances", although BO seems to pay no attention to that as he simply edicts changes in BOcare with no thought of consulting congress.



BO and his big donors see the finish line for them as not being very far away. There are a few pesky elected officials in Washington that have "beliefs" that BO doesn't like -- things like God, family, a work ethic, private property, freedom from being attacked by the IRS, NSA or other government agencies ... maybe even the privacy to hold a conversation and believe that if anyone is taping it, they are a criminal because they are taping it!



You know, that kind of stupid thinking -- BO is lamenting it isn't fully stamped out!

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Obsession, Easy to Reid

Harry Reid Sinks Deeper Into the Abyss | Power Line:



The video is 30sec ... Koch brothers are the two richest men on the planet! THEY are a major CAUSE of Climate Change???



Harry is clearly off his meds.



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IBM Hursley, Places I've Been "In the News"

IBM Hursley Park: Where Big Blue buries the past, polishes family jewels • The Register:



Well, the slow day tech news at least. Somehow IBM Hursley was a place on my travel itinerary from the late '80s right up to the end of my career  for at least 5 trips I loved the big fat pheasants from the area, the little pubs, the "minces" at Christmas, and the myriad of accents.



The early April trip in the late '80s with a week of superb weather and a couple short excursions including Portsmouth where the "Ark Royal" British carrier was in port and London to see Parliament, Westminster, Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square in like "an hour"  ... the life of a business traveller --  "I was there". Well, sorta.



We almost always stayed right next to Winchester Cathedral at the "Wessex" ... I remember walking over there early in the AM before we headed into work and just being in awe of the age, the scale, the more than 100 year building schedule. The breakfasts were pretty good --  great sausage and bacon. Never got fully used to the baked beans or cooked tomatoes for breakfast. Oh, and on one trip the bartender (Chinese) at the Wessex had idea how to make a Martini! So much for "shaken, not stirred".



The little Dolphin Inn Pub right in Hursley Park is a classic, and it was there that I got to have "Doom Bar" beer on tap!



Oh, and the memory of being in all day business meetings, jet lagged to the max having just the devil of a time staying awake!



I do recall that we wandered through the museum the last time I was there in 2011 -- so at least "The Register" part of the MSM occasionally tells the truth!











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7% Of Journalists are Very Courageous.

The PJ Tatler » Just 7% of Journalists Identify as Republicans:



It takes a lot of balls to be a reporter and admit that you vote Republican (even "secretly" ... how many examples do you need of "it got out"). WTH, are you directly paid by somebody? Shouldn't you just be a lobbyist"?



I also find the 28% who self-identify to be at least more brave and honest than most!



Let's face it, "independent" is pretty much "I always vote Democrat, but I like to claim I'm above political stuff!" which means that the number are about the same as always ... the MSM is 70%+ Democrat and in a good year around 10% Republican.



That is as level as the media playing field gets in this country!



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Snowpack Shrinks 86% in ONE YEAR!!

‘Houston, we have a dumbass problem’ | Watts Up With That?:

In case someone quotes this completely foolish item to you, at least now you know.

Now we are down toe ONE YEAR effects of "Climate Change"? Can we get better than that? I'm, HOPING that the variation between the warmest day of summer this year and the coldest day last winter is LARGE ... although I must say I'm getting a bit concerned it won't even come close to my hopes!

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TP (The Party) as Medieval Indulgence

Liberals: Exempt from Scrutiny | National Review Online:

 "We are told that the Kennedys, the Pelosis, the Kerrys, and others like them are noble because they vote against their class interests. But they really do not; they vote for them. Liberalism is now the domain of the elite, and antithetical to the aspirations of the upper middle class that lacks the capital and tastes of the 0.1 percent. The higher the taxes, the more numerous the regulations, the greater the redistribution, so all the more the elite liberal distances himself from those less cool who breathe down his neck, and the less guilty he feels about the growing divide between him and the poor he worries about, but never worries about enough to associate with.

Liberalism professes a leftwing ideology, but these days it has absolutely no effect on the lives of those who most vehemently embrace it. In other words, being liberal is professionally useful and psychologically better than Xanax, but we need not assume any more that it is a serious belief."

Good column that covers some of the specifics of Kerry, Elizabeth Warren, Paul Krugman and others -- as I've often said, you CAN'T really be a hypocrite when you don't truly claim to believe in anything!

Little long for the benefit, but generally worth it.

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It's Been Hot on BO's Home World

White House Report Says Climate Change Has Moved 'Into the Present' - NBC News.com:



I'm often mystified as to what the planet that BO comes from is like, but apparently it has been hot there recently!



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5-4, Heartland, Working for God Through Human Excellence

Supreme Court ruling allows prayer at New York town council meeting - NY Daily News:



The saddest part of slavery in the US was that if ended up forcing a trial over secession for the wrong reasons and unsurprisingly the trial ended with the wrong answer -- on secession, though not on slavery.



I'm not a believer in the maxim that "war (or violence) never solves anything" -- it solved Nazi Germany, the US break from England, and Saddam Hussein to name a few. But that DEFINITELY doesn't mean it typically or even frequently solves things. Perhaps fighting primarily over people (Hitler, Saddam, King George) may be more productive than fighting over ideas? A later discussion.



Anytime a court is deciding anything on prayer, the court believes itself to be WAY more "supreme" than it actually is. If it is getting correct answers unanimously, then there might be cause for optimism, but 5-4 says "Gird your loins", there is a court that is WAY beyond it's pay grade!



Prayer, political speech -- the right to be a "Denier" (freedom of thought),  2nd amendment ... these are non-negotiable. If another civil war is required to get some set of US states that still believe in "Under God", actual diversity of thought, and the right of free people to be armed, then so be it. Blood is a high cost, but it is cheap next to tyranny. There will be a point where HOPEFULLY the secession standard can be reset and done peacefully. Ideally with some connected "coterminous" column of states -- Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, TX and no doubt a few others.



Founding a Christian, pro-business, pro-economic freedom,  pro-competition, minimal social safety net, balanced budget, flat tax, gold standard ...  FREE republic with ACTUAL liberty and justice for those that agree with the principles. Those that do not can easily move to the "Socialist States".  Let's call it "Heartland" -- a heart with a cross on it and the north star maybe? (I may be getting ahead of myself)

Essentially, the original US Constitution with the nation being explicitly Christian this time, but STILL not establishing a state church. Definitely however making it absolutely clear that the God of the Bible is where the unalienable parts of freedom flow and are NOT subject to review by some court. If the people want to change the Constitution, fine ... 2/3 majority of both houses and then 2/3 of the states!



MUCH more power in the states and LOCALLY. MUCH reduced Federal government -- having a non-paid federal congress meet every two years is about right.



Economically, such a nation would  have the advantage of energy; fossil, wind, bio and solar as well as PEOPLE looking to compete and succeed in the world via hard work rather than handouts.  It would be one of the largest food sources to the world, Ideally this ought to be bloodless with an "American Union" and "NATOish" defense agreement linking the old failed socialist nation with the new capitalist reality / liberty based  future.

The decline of America in the world is tragic. Canada is now ahead of it on the business climate front, perhaps a strong relationship between Canada, "Heartland"  and even Mexico based on a real Ricardian comparative advantage rather than faulty political posturing could ignite a resurgence of North America to counterpoise the rise of China, India and Russia.



It actually looks like a nice day out! Perhaps the country we once loved isn't fixable, but maybe that is a good thing?  I didn't even get into a new education system, thorium reactors, everyone in the militia (the Oldster US is going to be HUNGRY -- perhaps their army will have walkers with weapons?) ... thinking of a bright future is so much more uplifting than decline and death under the crushing stench of BO!



A freedom based, excellence focused, heavily technological and hands-on system of education with no unions, purposefully competitive and vocationally focused is enough to get someone believing in very bright future all on it's own!

Europe and "The Socialist States of America" may well appreciate the foreign aid in the near future as their aging masses fall into the dustbin of history trying to tell people if they can pray or not!



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Never Enough: Americas Limitless Welfare State

Link to Book

A well written and fairly easy to follow discussion of how "liberals" have hi-jacked the American experiment, but it is far from ONLY a criticism of liberals. The author honestly set out to try to discover a limiting principle for "liberalism" and of course found none. Liberalism is like an invasive species with no predators -- it consumes all that is available until it's "niche" (the country or countries) that are it's host environment are destroyed.

Why? Because as Ayn Rand said, means are finite, but human desires are infinite.

or as Steven Hayward said in the foreword:

Ultimately what is at stake is not money or prosperity as much as self-government itself. Voegeli explains: “The danger liberalism poses to the American experiment comes from its disposition to deplete rather than replenish the capital required for self-government.” 

This book touches on the aspect that "liberalism" is an organism that abhors any kind of limits, so "limited government is anathema to it's existence:

When [FDR] took office in 1933 the separation of powers effectively ceased to function for the first time in a major domestic crisis other than civil war.

As I've stated in the blog many times, and one would assume would be obvious to the most casual of observers of Europe and the US:

“there is now a broad understanding that the social democratic project itself is unsustainable: that it has grown wildly beyond the principles of its inception and that the consequences of this are not only unaffordable, but positively damaging to national life and character.”16

I could go on endlessly quoting and there are close to 100 decent quotes along with a lot of excellent and very specific charts / analysis of US since FDR, the "Reagan attempt" that was the ONLY significant, yet still unsuccessful attempt to slow the Welfare State.

He then covers our current sad state --

• "limited government" Constitutionally destroyed as of the '30s and being trampled more each day. 
• A people addicted to benefits for the "most needy 100%" with all but the top 10% believing that they will be net importers of government largesse from others pockets. 
• The ever tightening screws on the smaller and smaller percentage of people still working, and detailed analysis of the futility of ever being able to transfer anything approaching enough money from that smaller and smaller group in order to "reduce inequality" -- in fact, why government transfers directly contribute to income inequality by rewarding behaviors that keep you poor (single parent family) and continually punish attempts to get off the bottom (marginal effects of moving up a level in income and losing government benefits)
• Lots of solid analysis of why libertarianism has no chance, and conservatism must be VERY careful if it seeks to have any power left at all ... 

In summary, while he doesn't state it as directly as I do, we are effectively screwed -- and likely were once we allowed FDR to sell us the false idea that "happiness" rather than the PURSUIT of happiness was a right -- it isn't, and of course it can't be!

MAYBE conservatives can slow the reckoning. MAYBE some other pair can come to where he says that Clinton and Gingrich were before the Lewinsky scandal broke --- supposedly in secret meetings trying to means test FICA / Medicare and allow private accounts. But he doubts it, as do I.

Essentially it is a book that does a better job of covering a lot of the stuff that I have covered over the years from a better writer, with a little more hope than I have been ground down to. I heartily recommend it.

"The Party" (TP) -- Sargent Schultz Defense (SSD)

Sargent Schultz - I know nothing, I am not here - I did not even get up this morning! - YouTube:

I can't go too nuts with the acronyms, but the latest Benghazi revelations with TP slipping into what I think of as the "Sargent Schultz Defense" --- "I know NOTHING, I hear NOTHING!!".

This is a defense not available to Non-TP, because the IMMEDIATE response from TP (especially their MSM propaganda arm) is "There are two choices, 1). They are lying or 2). They are "incompetent" ... because a Non-TP executive is NOT allowed to "not know".

Such a defense by a Non-TP ALWAYS means that they are either grossly incompetent, or lying ..., and most likely BOTH!

Ah the old TV shows.  Hogan's Heroes was a lot of fun -- but as the US starts to look more and more like Stalag 13 with leadership only a little less competent than Schultz, Klink, Burkhalter, and Hochstetter, but far more nasty, one begins to wonder who really won that war!
We could use some guys like Colonel Hogan and his wily men!

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TP Administration Immunity

Why There Is No Cure for the GOP's Benghazi Fever | Mother Jones:

But as we know now, the CIA and the State Department took the lead in fashioning the talking points. A year ago, the release of internal White House emails about the drafting of the talking points clearly showed there had been no White House effort to shape the narrative in a devious manner

The linked article is rather long look at the TP (The Party) view that being TP means never having to be investigated. Why would you investigate the good guys? Our founders firmly believed the dictum that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely", so they were intent to limit ALL power before it had any hopes of even closing on absolute. So "investigations" were ALWAYS in order!

TP believes that they are virtuous -- by nature. No need to investigate virtue, let alone try to claim that the executive of the nation, BO is responsible in any way for bad things that might be done at State, CIA, or Defense for that matter. "The Sargent Schultz Defense" is all they need!

Naturally, as in all cases, TP is completely consistent on this -- I remember has the NYT ran something like 40 days straight coverage  on Abu Ghraib, they were constantly pointing out how "this was a Defense Department issue".  I can't recall, was W even mentioned? Likewise, the entire "extraordinary rendition" program with waterboarding was a CIA activity, so W was completely out of the picture. Remember that?

Now during Reagan, we had a HUGE investigation called "Iran Contra" that actually continued on under HWB, where the WHOLE purpose was "pin the tail on the WH" -- the operation was Defense and CIA and they kept saying that -- in fact, I can swear I heard the old "Fish rots from the head" a couple times -- but I guess that only applies if the "head" is not TP! (virtue and all that).  

Oh, we won't talk about how "critical" it was so have an investigation of W because some CIA "secret agent" that commuted to Langley every day might have been "outed". Driving into Langley every day is what the modern CIA calls "Deep Cover".

 In the unlikely event that a Non-TP president ever sneaks into office again, I think TP will name a Special Prosecutor on day 1 -- I mean there has to be SOMETHING that was done wrong if a Non-TP gets into the WH!

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Coddington, The Gettysburg Campaign

http://www.amazon.com/The-Gettysburg-Campaign-Study-Command/dp/0684845695

I've long heard of this book as THE book to read on Gettysburg. I went cheap for the $20 paperback since it is not offered in Kindle, out of print in hardcover, and many of the hardcovers go for over $100 and even over $200 ... large with lots of maps, leather bound, etc. After 2 years of retirement, I have a hard time peering into the future as to where I can really savor a that sort of a book, but if I run into that point, this will be high on my list! 

This one has a LOT of detail, although having read a few on Gettysburg now, it gives just a little idea of how much detail there is when the story of  Colville and the First MN at Plum Run, covered in book length in "Pale Horse at Plum Run" and the subject of many of MN "Civil War History" exhibit is covered in less than a page on 423! The key line being "Now his force of a little over 300 men tore into Wilcox right regiment and stopped it cold". This attack was directly ordered by Hancock saying "My God! Are these all the men that we have here!" The 1st MN took huge losses to buy time -- had they not, again,  the outcome of Gettysburg may have shifted. 

I loved the tidbit that I had never heard about the Federals trying to burn a bridge at Wrightsville PA, the Rebels being unable to stop the fire, but when the blaze tried to consume Wrightsville, ... on page 170 -- "When the blaze got out of control and spread to Wrightsville, to their everlasting credit. Gordon's (the Rebels) men worked feverishly and succeeded in saving the town from total ruin". 

This is in pretty stark contrast to Sherman's march to the sea which introduced the completely non-chivalrous idea of "total war" on the world -- punish the civilians as well as the military! 

On the opposing page, "On Sunday, June 28,  Ewell sent word to the clergy to hold services as usual, for no one would disturb them. Some of the churches opened, and the preachers, though nervous, prayed for their country in peril and their friends in danger;  they also prayed for the strangers that were among them". 

Yes, the South had slavery, but will the future look on abortion in much the same way as we look on slavery now? We WERE once a Christian Nation -- clearly with a huge difference relative to the point of States Rights and slavery, but at that time we DID understand that there was more to life than this vale of tears! We all knew that being a slave in this life and gaining heaven is INFINITELY better than being the most highly educated, richest, most famous and most respected human to ever walk the earth and failing to reach heaven!

That faith and soul based knowledge is of greater merit than all else in this world, and the shared understanding of the truth of that by a people is of utmost value to a nation. It is the nation that we once were -- great beyond what only a very small set of modern minds can even comprehend! 

The other big lesson of the book is to humanize / equalize Lincoln, Lee, Meade and Hooker -- as well as many others. Stuart, Ewell and Sickles stand out. Yes, the North's generals were far short of Lee, but some of that was due to constant micro-management from Washington, ridiculous short sightedness on recruitment and retention, and the rather stupid idea of using The Army of the Potomac as BOTH the defensive force for Washington/Baltimore,  AND the instrument to destroy Lee. (BOTH a floor wax and a desert topping)

The book whetted my appetite to study Lee more. It seems that as brilliant as he was, his "strength and weakness" was his dependence and willingness to grant latitude to his generals. Stonewall Jackson (killed at Chancellorsville) was a critical piece of his ability to operate because of his council and ability to correctly interpret Lee's loose orders. Lee gave orders that could be misinterpreted -- but with the faith and understanding that the flexibility would usually have positive effects. His orders to Stuart were radically misinterpreted at Gettysburg,  resulting in Lee not having the intelligence, communication and speed that his superb cavalry forces had always provided him.

It is EASY to oversimplify what happened at Gettysburg, but it is VERY complex ... the replacement of Hooker by Meade at 3AM on June 28, with the of course unknown at that point battle to commence on July 1!!  The first battle without Stonewall for Lee. Lee being on the offensive, Stuart missing, the forces essentially "blundering into each other" at Gettysburg, etc, etc. 

It is a single battle to which a person could devote their life to understanding, and still not have a clue. Perhaps after a great breakfast of fresh fish with the Savior in heaven, I can sit down with some of those guys and actually understand what happened there!