Give Us Gay Marriage!

The reducio ad absurdum of American constitutional jurisprudence | Power Line:

The irony of Gay "marriage" being argued before the SCOTUS during Holy Week struck me a number of times this past week, but it really dawned on me during the tenebrae service last night. "Give Us Barabas"!! The cry has changed slightly, but the spirit is identical.  All the FB pages turning color might just as well as been the crowd as Pilate passed judgment.

What shall be done with the Christians??  Crucify Them! Crucify Them! Not quite yet, but they will get around to it, they always do.

God's law must be thrown down for the desires of man. What then? Well, as Strauss said, "Once everything is relative, then cannibalism is only a matter of taste".

The left and the atheists often trot out the "God is Dead!" cry of Nietzsche as if it was a cry of triumph on the order of "The wicked witch is dead!".  No, it was a LAMENT, like the women wailing as Christ was on the cross. If God is dead, then there is no moral order. Morals are relative, which means they are controlled by the STRONG! (the pure Aryan Superman for Nietzsche)  Gay "marriage" is as strong a cry as possible for NO LIMITS to our desires! The re-election of "Yes We Can!" BO was another recent example.

As this all unravels, nobody ought to be surprised when no limits turns out to mean no limits!

Naturally, the left assumes that will either be "the people", or "the benevolent elite" ... as in SCOTUS, Federal Government and Bureaucracy. Game over, match, set, point -- the "progressive" project has won and utopia has arrived. Long live utopia!  

Nietzsche knew, and all of us should have figured it out after Stalin, Hitler, Mao, etc and 100's of millions dead, that "the strong" are really not at all guaranteed to be "benevolent". Our founders knew it well ... they had just escaped from oppression by government.

The US Constitution says NOTHING about Marriage for ANYONE. Nor should it. It doesn't say anything about parenting, gardening or nutrition either. The basic idea of the US was LIMITED government. It freed people from oppressive government to give them equal opportunity  to do all sorts of things. It once worked extremely well!

Gay "marriage" for the bankrupt lotus eaters in CA? Sure, it's their funeral. An idea so good it has to be mandatory for all 50 states?? It ought not even be a topic of serious discussion by anyone that would pledge allegiance to something called America.

The FIRST modern Gay "marriage" recognized as "marriage" was in Netherlands in 2001. The institution of Marriage as being between a man and one or more women is thousands of years old! As nearly as we understand culture, it is based off memes  / epigenetic rules that take at least many hundreds of years to develop. The planet has handled all manner of shocks for the past few Billion  years, yet the left feigns terror over the "fragile" climate -- compared to culture, the climate is robust, emergent even -- actually getting BETTER when challenged. Just like our bodies do (try laying in bed for a month).

We are operating in 100% the opposite way we need to operate on multiple fronts -- commonly called a Death Spiral!  It has been seen before -- the last time someone in a culture flaunted Gay "marriage", it was Nero, and the Roman Empire was due to fall. Why??

People and economies are emergent. They get better with stress, in fact they only live within bounded stress!! If you remove their stress, they die. Stop moving, stop facing emotional tests, stop learning, and you will shortly die. Attempt to take  away risk in an economy, attempt to make it more "predictable", and it will die! So, we as a nation are hell bent to make our lives and our economy SAFE and PREDICTABLE. We will, that answer is called DEATH!

Society and culture are fragile. They they are products of lots of trial and error and full of "unintended consequences" when meddled with.

People and economies are like liquor sales during prohibition. Culture is like your wife's favorite china plate. We have figuratively legalized liquor and are in fact supplying free booze to all -- so the virtual "rum runners" of working people and businesses aren't doing very well. Meanwhile, gay "marriage" is the cultural equivalent of playing frisbee with the favorite china plate!

Our prospects suck.


'via Blog this'

Cold Dead Civility

Jim Carrey's 'Cold Dead Hand' Music Video Spoofs Gun Enthusiasts Like Charlton Heston (VIDEO):

I don't recommend watching this, it completely lacks in comedic or redeeming value.

It won't be long now before someone on the right "insensitively" mentions "targeted something", or "binders of women", or questions the "patriotism"of burning the flag, or some new "hate laced and uncivil statement" and we will all be treated to a discussion of the how "coarse the debate has become in this country", and "why can't we come together".

The Jim Carrey wing of the "lefty popular" culture has always had plenty to say -- usually  in as raucous,  nasty, irreverent and sophomoric an approach as they can possibly muster. They feel great as they bravely poke one in the eye of the dead! Oh, and for the living, Carrey has an armed bodyguard -- no need to prove your proud manhood with the living!

What is new, and disturbing to the left is that on occasion there are folks like Beck, or Limbaugh, or maybe even "once or somewhat current" stars like Heston, Eastwood, etc that leave the reservation and stand for something that they believe in that isn't in lock step with the Statist Establishment.

When they speak, HuffPo lectures them and us. When Carrey spews,  we get the snide "The NRA won't like this".

'via Blog this'

Stomp on Jesus

'Stomp On Jesus' Controversy At Florida Atlantic University Draws Gov. Rick Scott's Involvement (VIDEO):

This didn't get a lot of coverage, although I suspect if it had been "Stomp on Mohammad" or "Stomp on N-wordS" at a Christian affiliated school, we would ALL know about it in EXTREME detail!!

Uh, "the point" ... apparently, words and symbols have power! News at 11!

Perhaps a discussion of how many millions of dollars a commercial costs at the Superbowl and some other SLIGHTLY less offensive exercise could have sufficed? Like maybe write YOUR NAME ... or your favorite team's name? ... or maybe just "Obama"? No wait, THAT would be BOTH racist and HORRIBLY offensive!!

I imagine the MSM is convinced that the name "Jesus" was just a random choice?

'via Blog this'

Cyprus American Style

Can It Happen Here? | RealClearPolitics:

You can do it fast and loud, or you can do it slow and quiet. The US Government is doing Cyprus slow and quiet, but if you pay attention, you can  realize that the man behind the curtain is punishing thrift as well as success while rewarding failure and sloth.

There are more sophisticated ways for governments to take what you have put aside for yourself and use it for whatever the politicians feel like using it for. If they do it slowly but steadily, they can take a big chunk of what you have sacrificed for years to save, before you are even aware, much less alarmed. 

That is in fact already happening. When officials of the Federal Reserve System speak in vague and lofty terms about "quantitative easing," what they are talking about is creating more money out of thin air, as the Federal Reserve is authorized to do -- and has been doing in recent years, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars a month. 

When the federal government spends far beyond the tax revenues it has, it gets the extra money by selling bonds. The Federal Reserve has become the biggest buyer of these bonds, since it costs them nothing to create more money. 

This new money buys just as much as the money you sacrificed to save for years. More money in circulation, without a corresponding increase in output, means rising prices. Although the numbers in your bank book may remain the same, part of the purchasing power of your money is transferred to the government. Is that really different from what Cyprus has done?

'via Blog this'

Opinion: Why do TV critics hate Jay Leno? - CNN.com

Opinion: Why do TV critics hate Jay Leno? - CNN.com:

Gee, why does the elite hate Leno?

Well, middle America, the "masses" love him, so the elites hate him! They want the bourgeoisie to love THEM!! The fact that a guy like Jay that is still way left, but not "PURE left enough"  (he has the gall to make fun of BO) is loved shows the elite that "more education" (maybe at gunpoint) is needed before the unwashed masses quit clinging to their religion, guns and cars (Jay likes cars too, another mark against him) .

But here's the thing: Leno doesn't appeal to anyone but the viewers. At least those who live west of the Hudson River and east of the Santa Monica Mountains. He does broad comedy and hardly wields the kind of cutting-edge style favored by the bicoastal elites. But much of America likes him.

Does the 62-year-old comic skew old? Well, he's been beating Kimmel and David Letterman even in the coveted 18-to-49 demo.

Consider the above the next time you want to believe "there is no liberal bias, it is all just about money".

'via Blog this'

Cyprus "Deal" Not So Fine Print

Cyprus Salvaged After EU Deal Shuts Bank to Get $13B - Bloomberg:

You worked hard, you saved money, you invested, you have a 401K that has 100's of thousands or maybe even a couple of million in assets after 30 or 40 years of working.

You think that is yours? You think that is your private property? You think that the BO statement "You didn't build that" to small business owners is just something blown out of proportion by the right wing?

Maybe. Try these apples buried in this news story.

The revised accord spares bank accounts below the insured limit of 100,000 euros. It imposes losses that two EU officials said would be no more than 40 percent on uninsured depositors at Bank of Cyprus Plc, the largest bank, which will take over the viable assets of Cyprus Popular Bank Pcl (CPB), the second biggest.

Got that? The news initially reports stories about unrest over the "haircut", then reports "crisis averted" letting everyone that doesn't read in detail believe that the haircut was avoided! No story here folks, move along.

What the Statists are establishing are the precedents for the seizing of greater percentages of private property. The "principle" was initiated with the "progressive" income tax, but they have run out that cash cow. They are getting 80-90% of taxes from the top 10-20% of the income earners and falling short by more than $1T every year. They have borrowed over $16T and are behind something in the neighborhood of $100T when FICA, Medicare and now BOcare is factored in. 

The Ponzi scheme is at it's end and these folks are DESPERATE. They will not admit their scheme at anything else than gunpoint -- Bernie Madoff was a very nice and reasonable man compared to the folks running our government. We are in grave danger. Desperate men will do ANYTHING to cover their tracks. 

First they come "for the 1%", then for "the top 10%", then "the wealthy", then "those that have more to share" ... eventually, if you have any assets, they come for YOU!

Our Founders realized that EQUAL PROTECTION, PROPERTY RIGHTS and RULE OF LAW were NOT NEGOTIABLE!! The "progressive" income tax breaks them all, and based of the success of that attack, the relentless attack of the state to enslave all runs on.





'via Blog this'

If Only it was Branding

Most Americans Agree with GOP on the Issues... Until They Find Out the Republicans Support Them | Independent Journal Review:

Some look at this and say "We need a fig leaf", I look at this and say "They ate the apple".

As many of us realized in the last election, the Democrats/MSM have succeeded in labeling Republicans as evil, but unsurprisingly, the common sense of a large majority of people is still intact.

So far!

90% of our news media, education, all of the music industry save maybe a bit of Country and even huge swaths of many of our churches are and have been pounding the Statist Progrom into the brains of especially the young since at least the 60's. If you broke these numbers down, I'd bet dollars to donuts that a lot of the no common sense folks would be < 40.

"Ideas have Consequences" (great book BTW). Most likely at this late stage this situation is going to get WORSE before it gets better. The people that didn't see the malaise of the '70s move to "Morning in America" in the '80s with at least 20+ year life experience at the time completely don't get it!! We ALL are going to have to SUFFER in order to turn the tide AT BEST.

The unfortunate likelihood is that the final few remaining embers of  freedom ... the tattered Constitution, mostly the 2nd Amendment, the mostly all ready gone states rights will be sniffed out and liberty will die. It was always an experiment and a long shot. It was NOT a Democracy but a Republic -- but the propensity of "the certain" to buy the votes of the masses with the treasure of the successful has been stronger than our founders fully envisioned. Regressivism (mis-named "progressivism") has pretty much won. It isn't new ... Liberty was new. Tyranny is as old as mankind.

BUT, if God sees fit to be merciful beyond imagination ... and this is indeed the season for it, we must be absolutely certain to not let the forces of chaos educate the children next time!!  Once the state controls education, they are just waiting for the harvest!

'via Blog this'

Entertainment: God Made a Democrat

Video: God Made a Democrat | Independent Journal Review:

If you are a confirmed lefty, just avoid it. If you still have an actual sense of humor -- which ALWAYS means you can laugh at yourself ESPECIALLY, you will still enjoy it.

'via Blog this'

Beyond Gay Marriage

Opinion: Gay marriage, then group marriage? - CNN.com:

This article reinforces a couple of my  base views on "liberal/progressive" thought:

1. The "progressive / liberal" agenda never ends, one must ALWAYS ask "whats next?" They will continue to push toward an unstated "utopia" that is some foggy amalgam of zero personal responsibility but total "freedom" that lies in an undefined society somewhere between a primitive state of nature and a completely totalitarian state existence (maybe at the same time!). They are totally unsure ... but they are absolutely certain it isn't where they are now and it CAN be reached!
   
   
2. "Progressives / liberals" think like a psychotic shotgun "Doctor" that never went to med school, cracked an anatomy book, and is 100% arrogant in the face of the complexity of the human body with no concept of "First, do no harm".  Doing a removal of the brain to "cure" a hangnail would be taken on with relish and utter confidence. If the results were less than optimal, they would unabashedly say "well, we HAD to try SOMETHING"!!! while rushing off to proudly dissect the next patients heart on a complaint of bunions.
   
   The only problem with this analogy is that it is far too kind.  There are about the same number of neural connections in one of our brains as there are atoms in the universe. Human thought, consciousness, interaction and culture are so much more complex and less understood than our physical bodies and universe. Thus,  the "Doctor" analogy is WAY too simplistic by many orders of magnitude.
   
   This means that the odds of "good outcomes" as liberals randomly hack at whatever cultural artifacts currently fail to suit their wishful fantasies make my "Doctor" seem intelligent and prudent in comparison. 

The obvious is stated near the end of the article:

Redefining marriage would, by further eroding its central norms, weaken an institution that has already been battered by widespread divorce, out-of-wedlock child bearing and the like.

Well, duh! One of the favorite liberal taunts about "Gay Marriage" is "Why are you so afraid of it? It isn't going to have any effect on YOUR marriage"!! 

Indeed. Letting the "Doctor" in my analogy above work on masses of people ... say "the Jews", isn't going to "hurt me" either. Well, not physically at least -- but one would hope that adults might think just a bit deeper than the philosophical equivalent of a playground taunt. "Liberals" are really Statists, and Fascism is a form of Statism as is Communism, so we have already lost 100's of millions of people to "liberal social Doctors"  in the last century. Liberals seem appalled at losing 20 kids in Connecticut, yet the loss of 100s of millions through their random cultural experimentation gives them not a moments pause, let alone the loss of 60 million to abortion. 

As I watch the liberal agenda careen around the landscape, I struggle to maintain the maxim "never postulate malicious motives when mere stupidity can possibly suffice".  It is the randomness of their positions that forces me to wonder if they don't HAVE to actually be trying to commit the cultural / political equivalent of mass serial killing, as if my "Doctor" above took an axe to millions to "heal them". 

To wit: 

• On the environment we must be absolutely conservative on the basis of theorized warming on the smallest of even theorized warming degree potential (eg. < 1 degree in next 100 years)  -- the planet is FRAGILE!
• On things like gay marriage, economic motivations for work, the destruction of religion, etc we can be agressive and BOLD ... culture and human behavior is uncomplicated and infinitely malleable. Even though the planet with life on it has been here for billions of years, we humans with multiple cultures, at best a few thousand years old are FAR more resilient !!
• On abortion, there is no such thing as "killing", and we can abort for any reason whenever  "the woman chooses" ... and they always choose wisely! For killing animals, changing habitat, etc though we must be VERY conservative -- and increasingly it ought to be flat out prohibited!. Animal life deserves total foreknowledge and the most restrained policies imaginable. 
• "Tolerance" is critical! Especially when applied to the most INtolerant of current religions, Islam. However, in the case of Christianity, it is OK to be 100% INtolerant as a culture -- it isn't really "freedom from religion" that is sought, it is "Freedom from CHRISTIANITY"!! ... but that is just fine and gives no liberal any pause at all. 

One could go on forever, but all this basically just confirms my bedrock understanding of the liberal mind; CONSISTENCY IS NOT AN ISSUE!! 

Again, except when making the application of the hypocrisy charge against a conservative and especially a Christian! But that just proves my point!  The concept of consistency just doesn't exist in a liberal brain -- mentally, they simply lack a mirror when it comes to consistency.

Thus they choose policies and positions as a puppy chooses what to chew on, but  once selected, they hold each with the reverence of the most holy writ! 

'via Blog this'

What the Left Has Planned for You

The Great Society's Next Frontier:

This is a good read if you want to understand what the left has in store.

 Their base (false) assumption is that "the country will get richer" ... with massive debt, an aging population, jobs fleeing offshore, and their constant work to punish work and reward sloth, the US will STILL get richer. Gotta have faith, those upper 20% folks are stupid workhorses just like Boxer in Animal Farm!!

No doubt it will work SUPER, just like Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Japan, France, etc.

Oh, and the 401K that you worked so hard to put money into??

The government currently gives large tax breaks to private retirement savings accounts like 401(k)s, breaks that overwhelmingly go to the top 20 percent of workers. It could instead use its resources to provide a universal IRA with an automatic enrollment to all Americans, as well shifting 401(k)s over to a public-private, defined-benefit plan. This would boost the savings of those with less income while also providing greater retirement security. 

Damn, those evil "top 20%" ... they keep working hard, they keep saving, they keep investing wisely, they keep building businesses, they keep raising kids that do better, DAMN THEM!!! 

Well, taking their 401K and making it a "public-private defined-benefit plan" ought to fix their wagon!!

Will it work? All depends on how fast the current policies cause it to be obvious that there are limits to debt and theft of income that result in national financial ruin and the inability to keep paying for "guaranteed" income, retirement, healthcare, education, childcare, etc, etc. 

Socialism lasts until you run out of other peoples money INCLUDING the money of future generations. Maybe in the modern version the last person has to quit working and be standing in line with their hand out as well before the country figures out "hey, there is nobody left making the soup, we are screwed!". 

The folks writing this article will be SHOCKED on that fine day. 

'via Blog this'

LBJ Orders Haggar Pants

LBJ Orders Haggar Pants—Presidential Recordings Program—Miller Center:

Gives one a little insight into this sophisticated man of the people. He pretty much only considered the common man and had a great deal of respect for the people he "served". I wonder who the "boy" was that was going to take the order??

Want to make any bets on how payment for this fine custom slacks was arranged??

'via Blog this'

Making the Case for the Moral Superiority of Freedom | Power Line

Making the Case for the Moral Superiority of Freedom | Power Line:

A good write-up on the true moral nature of people accepting responsibility for their own life rather than relying on the Federal Government to to the "Great Provider". I especially liked the following, but it is all good:

 " ... One worker was given an award for overcoming “mountain pride” and getting more people to sign up. Where I grew up in Alabama, all honest work, even the hardest, was honored. And pride, self-respect, and a desire to be independent was valued, not a thing to be overcome. 

Isn’t it a better goal to help more Americans find good-paying jobs, to have the pride and self-respect that comes from that? Isn’t this a superior form of compassion that has a more solid moral foundation?"

'via Blog this'

Tea Party Extremists Killing Federal Workers

Media Bias, Tea Party Extremists Killing Federal Workers Edition | Washington Free Beacon

I have a vague remembrance of this and I post it only so in case it ever comes up again in some context (as these apocryphal incidents often do), I have increased my chances of being able to reference the truth vs the myth.

I also found this paragraph to be pretty much a direct quote of my view ... with this correction "you ask to see a DEMOCRAT cabinet nominee's ..."

When it comes to media bias, I try not to get too worked up. It’s bound to happen in an industry so monolithically dominated by Democrats and liberals. But I couldn’t help but feel the rage boil up as I read Schapiro’s (excellent*) piece this morning. Just remember: If you ask to see a cabinet nominee’s speeches or financial records, you’re a McCarthyite. But if you accuse a political movement of inspiring murder based on no evidence whatsoever, well, no big deal.

Appointees "serve at the pleasure of the president" for Ds ... for R's, the confirmation process needs to be very thorough, and even "the appearance of impropriety" ought to be disqualifying!

BO Ready to Legally Murder Americans

A 'thought war' over drones – CNN Radio News - CNN.com Blogs:

Rand Paul and a number of other Republican Senators are trying to draw attention to this by a Filibuster on the Senate floor, but mostly it seems that the MSM is just trying to make that into "a bunch of flakey right wingers trying to cause trouble", or just "rank partisanship".

There’s a weird reality to it now. Today, the government needs court approval to wiretap a U.S. citizen suspected of terrorism overseas – but it doesn’t need one to kill him.

Have we become so distracted that we have lost the capacity to recall how incensed the MSM was with the idea of W listening in on cell calls to terrorists within the US even with FISA court approval?

Now BO has a "finding" that is is OK to KILL suspected terrorists that are US citizens on US soil and the level of media concern is a yawn?

So we know that BO is "their guy", and "they trust him", but isn't there SOME limit? These people wanted to extend the US Bill of Rights to FOREIGN combatants on FOREIGN soil, and they were ADAMANT about that!

How can this be? Apparently for a very large number of Americans, partisanship extends even to life and death. They may be against "the other side" wiretapping a phone, water-boarding a prisoner, or having a prison in Guantanamo, but for "their side",  even killing a US citizen on US soil with no charges being filed, no judge being involved, or no "surrender or we will shoot", is just peachy keen and not worth any level of concern at all!

Oh, and these are the folks that think that "nobody needs an Assault Weapon"?? I suppose if you trust the ideological purity and competence of your government enough that you are willing to let them terminate whomever they like via remote control under SUSPICION of guilt,  it might be just fine to terminate folks that disagree with you on the 2nd amendment as well.

The part I don't understand is how you can think that and actually say the Pledge of Allegiance with a straight face at all.





'via Blog this'

Free Ported "LandLine" Phone Project

I promised a number of folks that I would do a blog on this as soon as the port of my home phone # using OBi Phone  http://www.obihai.com/ and Google Voice http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html

When completed, the result is a FREE (no monthly charge) phone system in your home with your existing home phone number.

Here are the steps:

1. Since Google Voice will only  port from a cell number, you FIRST have to port your landline to a cell number. A cheap TracPhone is one way. I had an old Verizon Phone that I use in areas where AT&T reception is bad, and used that.
   
   THIS WAS THE HARDEST PART OF THE PROCESS!
   
   A  form has to be filled out and MAILED in for Verizon to do it. From what I understand, "your mileage will vary". In my case I mailed it in on Feb 8th, and on March 5th our charter provided land line just quit working in the AM. By the PM I had a message from Verizon indicating that the phone # had been ported. I believe they charged me $20 for this, but again, your mileage may vary ... check it out before you buy the "TracFone".
2. I then went out to my Google Voice account and requested that my home # (now on my Verizon cell phone) be ported to replace my Google Voice number. This was all online, easy and is a one time $20 charge.  They do the port in TWENTT FOUR (24) HOURS!!!
3. I had already purchased my OBi100 from Amazon for $40 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LO098O/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
   
   I proceeded to hook it up to my network as per instructions, and link it to my already existing Google Voice account and within like "15 min" had OUTGOING phone working just fine.
   
   I could have done this step as soon as the phone quit working and immediately had outgoing call capability.
4. Today 15min short of 24 hours later, I got the notice of "Port Complete" and was able to dial my home phone number and get Google Voice message service. It took me awhile to mess with some parameters to get the home phone to actually ring. In my case I had to add a forwarding option to a Google Chat rather than my Cell ... which seems wrong, but it worked. Based on the forums, it appears there may be some rough edges in getting the ring to work, but  then again, for many it just works. Nothing too deep and dark, just a bit "tweaky",  but no more so than many computer / cell / home cable - Satellite TV things. 

So there you have it. For a ONE TIME $60-$100 charge including hardware, you have a completely free home phone with your original home number + a whole bunch of fancy forwarding, messaging, international, etc free or very low cost options!

For $12 a year you can even have 911 support on the phone! https://www.anveo.com/e911obi.asp?sid=7a4cb8cccb15dd687c7e016bd01d995e

I  found the following article very helpful to get me started:

Google Voice: a step-by-step primer on ditching your land line while keeping your number | Page 4 | ZDNet:

Happy Porting!!

Rule of Partisanship

Poll: 41% of Dems think president should have power to kill suspected American terrorist on American soil « Hot Air:


We pledge allegiance " ... and to the REPUBLIC for which it stands". Why?? Because by having a written and very hard to change Constitution, we were able to be governed by the Rule of Law rather than the rule of the mob.

This meant that some things, maybe the most important things,  were BEYOND POLITICS, therefore BEYOND PARTISANSHIP -- being an AMERICAN meant that you believed in them, "party", "politics", "ideology", etc did not take part in the equation. 100% of Americans ought to be 100% against ANY President killing a "suspected terrorist" inside the US.

41% of Democrats now think that the President ALONE should have the power to KILL a "suspected terrorist" that is an AMERICAN CITIZEN with no due process, no trial by their peers, etc !!!  Remember, these are the same Democrats that claimed under W that FOREIGN terrorists  acting in foreign countries were  fully entitled to the protection Bill of Rights!! These are the same people that didn't want the President + the FISA court to be able to decide to LISTEN to an American citizen calling a suspected terrorist on the phone!!! They found that "chilling"!!! Now they are fine with "The One" just killing anyone he wants to declare "suspect"!!!

The Republican numbers in these polls are nothing to be proud of either, but is anyone seriously going to argue with me that were there a Republican in the WH the Democrat numbers in support of killing ANYONE on American soil by drone would be TINY???

We USED to "hold these truths to be self-evident". The list if those truths certainly included LIFE and LIBERTY!!! We codified a number of them in the Bill of Rights:

1. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
2. A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed
3. No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
4. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
5. No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
6. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
7. In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
8. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
9. The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
10. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

What happened?? 

• For starters, the Civil War. We radically broke our own Constitution to force the South to bend to the will of the North. Perhaps that could have been survived had we been VERY clear that it was the moral equivalent of "surgery" to heal a grave illness called Slavery.  We didn't do that however, and the seeds were cast. 
• Then we started to inflict grave injury to the Rule of Law with "Progressivism" ... the idea that "experts", were certainly smarter than some dowdy old "Founding Fathers" should be able to run roughshod over a tired old document like the Constitution. 

I could go on and do a bunch of Googling and call out specific cases -- Wilson, FDR, LBJ, specific SCOTUS cases like Roe v Wade, etc, but is it not clear to everyone that we have decided to abandon the rule of law, so now there is NO LAW AT ALL except the "power of the mob". When people see that "their side" is in power, they want it to have TOTAL POWER -- clearly up to and including the power to unilaterally remove both Life and Liberty with no due process whatsoever. 

Apparently I and a few others are voices crying in the wilderness on this. How sad to be alive at the time when a great nation falls. 

'via Blog this'

Ice Age '70s

The 1970′s Global Cooling Compilation – looks much like today | Watts Up With That?:

Every once in awhile I mention that in the '70's, scientists and academics where CERTAIN that we were moving into a new Ice Age. Of course they were equally certain that the USSR would be around forever, we were running out of oil and the price would NEVER go down again, huge portions of the world would be starving by '90, and a few other equally incorrect items. (well, apparently incorrect.  It may well be cooling in the big picture, and of course EVENTUALLY, every prediction of "running out" is probably true).

Humans are often certain, it is just that we are VERY frequently wrong. The biggest element one might think we would learn from that is humility, but of course we can never learn that, since it isn't our nature! .The leaders, the youth, the recent PHDs, the media folks, the technologists of the day, etc are nearly all certain that "the latest data shows",  "new technology / information points out", etc.

It is true that we do "advance" ... we figured out we live on a ball in space, we can build a lot of really cool vehicles and gadgets, and yes, we have the internet, but mostly, all of this is merely chasing our tails. We live about the same length lives with some version of the same problems that mankind has always dealt with. Is it better too be too fat than to be hungry? Dunno, never really been hungry, but one would have to talk pretty hard to a hungry person to make the case that they are better off than the fat person.

Our very gadgets consume our lives while we believe that we are enjoying them. But then our forebears spent more time trying to survive, where we spend more time watching the History Channel and posting on Facebook.

We all like to believe that we live "at the most pivotal point in history" ... well, maybe we just need to be happy with the "latest point in history". However, if you dig into the Theory of Relativity a bit, that isn't true either. Everything that has ever happend or will happen is ALWAYS and forever happening -- it is just in the perspective of our consciousness that  it is happening "now".

Somehow, remembering that science was just as certain in the '70s as they are now makes Relativity seem even more correct!


'via Blog this'

Biggest Income Drop in 20 Years

Americans see biggest one-month decline in income in 20 years - Mar. 1, 2013:

The BO "recovery" rolls on.

So 20 years ago, Slick Willie had not yet been kneecapped by the '94 selection and was in the midst of trying to do SlickCare (a kinder, gentler BOcare), raising taxes, regulating business and causing uncertainty. Just like BO and the Dems in '09.

The world is actually pretty boring -- the same simple stuff just keeps on operating and always has, technology just makes the same stuff work a little easier and faster, which is great if you do the right stuff, but really sucks if you do the wrong stuff. A drunk in a Vette is way more dangerous than a drunk walking.

Tax it if you want less of it, subsidize it if you want more of it.

So we keep taxing genius, productivity and wealth creation and get less of them. We subsidize stupidity, sloth, and wasting money, and indeed, we get lots more of them. But hey, hard working successful people are kind of boring dorks, and the dumber ones know how to relax and throw a heck of a party. Maybe if we just ignore all the bad news the party can roll on??

Twenty years ago, we got smart and elected the first Republicam Congress in 50 years after Slick fouled the pool. Slick "triangulated" indicating "The era of big government wss over", did NAFTA, did Welfare Reform, let business make money. So, after just a brief lefty induced pause, America grew on and Slick even got re-elected and got a bunch of credit for being drug kicking and screaming to a balanced budget. It was a beautiful thing, and made the '95-'08 nearly as good as the '80s.

This time we failed the stupid test. We did the rebound election fine in '10, but BO is a tougher case than the Slickster. Slick was fine with big hair ladies and "special  personal services", with no big ideas about the destruction of the old fashioned America that burned a lot of fuel, made a lot of money, and had a lot of wealthy folks. That was all OK with Slick as long has he "got some" too ... in more ways than one. He is worth like $300M now, and back then he was penniless and had been living in government housing his whole life.

BO is operating on "Dreams from his Father" -- the "Colonialists / Imperialists" (UK and US) have to be destroyed. They have to lie buried next to Daddy and Grandaddy in the yellow earth of Kenya -- well figuratively at least. I'm sure it is OK as long as the "Yellow Power" of China consigns that white mans "Western Civilization" to the "Dustbin of History".  BO let Daddy and Grandaddy get all the ladies and booze -- he is one focused SOB, and in the very best ever position to "Git er Dun"!

So we bought the false promise of "Give us our STUFF!!", and the 4Q of '12 was negative growth, now January is the biggest income drop since Slick Willie was in power. Only this is a drop from "sucketh already", that was a drop from "Happy Days".  Old Ben is still right, "Those that trade liberty for security get neither"!!

Well America, stupid is STILL as stupid does ...

'via Blog this'

The Results of Gun Control in the US

The nation’s toughest gun-control law made Massachusetts less safe - Opinion - The Boston Globe

Perhaps you are a believer in Gun Control, and you dismiss Chicago, DC and NYC because "the guns must come in from outside".

Relative to the rest of the country, or to just the states on its borders, Massachusetts since 1998 has become a more dangerous state. Economist John Lott, using FBI crime data since 1980, shows how dramatic the contrast has been. In 1998, Massachusetts’s murder rate equaled about 70 percent of the rate for Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York. Now it equals 125 percent of that rate.

How can you "blame the neighbors", when they have less gun control but are doing BETTER than you are??

Much like Doctors and Engineers, it would be wise to "first do no harm". Had crime dropped after the last AR / magazine ban in '94, then rocketed up upon it expiring  in '04, or upon the passage of Concealed Carry in 40+ states, is there any doubt whatsoever that those damning statistics would be streaming from every news outlet and politicians mouth in the land? I think not -- since those statistics show clearly that the ban going on and off had no effect, nor did Concealed Carry (unless it reduced violence, but I prefer to believe in both cases that the trend was down and neither action had significant effect).

How many have to die in Chicago, DC, Boston, NYC, etc before we look at the facts and leave behind the wishful thinking that criminals are going to respect gun laws?? If you are willing to murder, why would you be bothered by illegally obtaining a gun?

The American Spectator : Sequester Hysterics

The American Spectator : Sequester Hysterics:

Just read it, it is all good. Essentially, if BO says something, the best plan is to assume the opposite is at least more in the same galaxy as something marginally truthful.

'via Blog this'

Sequester Insanity

Obama, Republicans clash on forced spending cuts - CNN.com:


Nearly every day now there is another news story so unbelievable that any sane person has to wonder how this nation can be operating at all and how little time we must have left. The "sequester" madness is just the flavor of the day.

If you read WAY down in the article, a small piece of truth slips in.

However, such a deal has proved impossible, leading to the imminent application of $85 billion in spending cuts for 2013 and almost $1 trillion over 10 years.

It is STILL a Henny Youngman world/ (when asked "How is your wife?", he responded "Compared to what?) 

Compared to what indeed. Well, to understand $85B in "cuts", one has to look at total spending which is $3.8 TRILLION!!!!

So, if the spending was $850B, then $85B would be a 10% cut. 

If the spending was $1.7T, then it would be a 5% cut

If it was $3.4T, it would be a 2.5% cut 

So we are discussing a LESS THAN 2.5% "cut" ... which REALLY isn't a "cut" at all, since when you count all the "Quantitative Easing", off budget, + other gimmicks, we ALWAYS spend significantly more than the year before no matter what the supposed budget says! 

On top of that, BO has the gall to say that we need a "balanced approach" after he snookered the Republicans at the end of 2012 for a "millionaire tax increase" with ZERO SPENDING CUTS!!  (oh well, $250K income, but what is a $750K "rounding error" when you are "the one") 

As his actions have pointed out over and over, his "balanced approach" is raising taxes on everyone that works (BOcare for example) and continuing to transfer more money from them and future earners  to the nonworking!

Oh well, the Takers voted him in, so he really is just paying off his supporters like all politicians do!

'via Blog this'

Narrative vs Fact

A CIA veteran on what ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ gets wrong about the bin Laden manhunt - Washington Post

Solid and concise  little explanation of what "enhanced interrogation" really was, how it was used, and how the story foisted on the American people is wrong by someone that knows the details.

First, as I've said many times in this Blog, if water boarding is torture, then we have tortured every one of our Navy Seals. They are water boarded as part of their training.

It is part of the human condition that life involves pain. In some cases, lots of it -- childbirth, accidents, surgeries, back injuries, burns, dental procedures, etc. Medicine is a case where pain is often inflicted with a higher purpose -- in that case, some improvement of the condition of the patient. In the case of water boarding, the pain is inflicted in hopes of saving other lives.

The main focus of the narrative of water boarding was the vast media effort to demonize W and his administration. We know there was absolutely no bounds to their efforts on that front; Abu Grab was pined directly on W, ("the fish rots from the head")  where anything under BO from  Benghazi to soldiers massacring civilians in Afghanistan is simply "something that happened". The stated and bragged about policy of "Terror Tuesday" where BO decides who lives and who dies at the hands of remote controlled drones is either applauded or not discussed. Gitmo has moved from being a horrible stain on the nation and western civilization to being a US base in Cuba.

As is common in the human condition, the narrative has won. We are fact based creatures only with significant effort and a good deal of luck.Facts may be stubborn, but humans tend to be even more stubborn.

Atheists, Autism, Empathy

Epiphenom: Atheists lack empathy and understanding

I had the opportunity to have a rather long discussion with an atheist heading up to St Paul to support 2nd amendment rights this week. Although wide ranging, that discussion focused on the potential for having a written constitution that is held sacred as the basis for a republican vs mob based government when much of the population is non-religious, agnostic or atheist. My view is no, it hasn't been done and it can't be done with human beings at the level of development we will be at for 100's of K of years. The atheist would of course love it to be possible, but understood that it hasn't been done in history, so we are on completely new ground in attempting it -- and as evidenced by the attack on the 2nd amendment in MN, we are losing at present.

Having a history in technology, I am very familiar from a personal POV of both the systemizing strength and the interpersonal / empathy weakness of computer geeks. It is a stereotype, but like all stereotypes, it is not without a good deal of truth. "People die, get over it" is very close to the actual felt sentiment of many high tech computer people when faced with the reality of death -- death is real, but they can't see any "logical way" that it can be dealt with other than just "getting through it". They are generally smart enough to intellectually know that they need to "hide out" and try to at least act like they understand the feelings when in the presence of the recently deceased and loved ones, but generally, it is even harder for them than for most folks to find any words to relate to the other living and grieving -- they often "feel fake". Not that everyone doesn't, it is just on that range of feeling they are on the "very fake" side of the curve.

So atheism makes sense to them. Maybe THAT is why they are different -- they are just smarter than other people, have a better intellectual grasp of the REAL world, so being an atheist allows them a framework in which to explain their difference in what they see as a positive way. It does at least sound more intellectually appealing than "unfeeling lost geek".

My background is that the "road to Damascus" experience for a tech geek is likely to be a slowly dawning realization that all human understanding, especially the arid tech science geek "if I can't measure it, it doesn't exist" brand, is very and extremely sadly limited. Having gone through that conversion, I can also say that it is painful -- it is so much easier for a technically oriented brain to reduce all discussions to "just the facts ma'am" and seem to often "win" on materialist points, while sadly losing big on the interpersonal and I believe eternal tally. Hell is probably loaded with really super smart technicians.

So I'm a passable technician, a lousy human, and an extremely needy likely to be bare last on St Peter's list at heaven's gate at best. But a tiny ray of hope is WAY better than being without hope!

Justifiable Homicide?

Liberal Shooter Planned Mass Murder | Power Line

The MSM is actually covering this a bit, but I'll bet that PL is right, it will be VERY quiet!!

The wisdom of publishing a "hate map"?? Ho hum, as long as it is "hate" for folks that don't happen to agree with gay marriage, no biggie.

Man, those right wing crazies are SCARY!!!! Lefty crazies? Not so much.

Welcome to the Fascist Sate of MN

I wasted the better part of yesterday and today up in St Paul trying to show support for maintaining the rule of law over the rule of man in this teetering republic. 

We have a 2nd amendment to a written constitution. We pledge allegiance TO THE REPUBLIC, which means that the written law trumps mob rule.  If the mob wants to change the written law, they have a process -- 2/3 in both federal houses, 3/4 of the states ratify. That is that ... we have WAY to many folks up there saying "I don't care what gun owners think".  If you talked to a good many of them, they would care no more for what is in the constitution.

That is exactly why there is a 2nd amendment!  It is the only part of our rights  that has teeth, and it appears that the last tiny ember of freedom on the planet is yet again in danger of being snuffed out.  Freedom never was free, but it seems that every generation or so it ends up coming to blood. 

Having rule of law vs rule of mob is explicitly to prevent just what is going on up in St Paul. Endless discussion back and forth that ought to have no place in a country where people understood how their government was built to work and why. When there is no rule of law, then the only recourse is violence, and that is now the precipice we teeter on. If it comes to confiscation -- which is where they want to go with this, then the only answer a free man can make is "fight or flight". 

One of the ways that you know you are living in a totalitarian police state is if you are subject to the knock on the door, the stop on the street, and find that you have violated some item that the rules decided to foist on you. In America, formerly not a police state, you were  able to live your life without having to pay much attention to politics. You could focus on being productive. Being happy. Being free. 

Two guns are shown below. They are IDENTICAL in mechanism and function. They are both Ruger 10/22 firearms, one of the most popular of guns on the market. They are semi-auto guns that fire one bullet per trigger pull, and have detachable magazines that carry 10, 25, and other popular numbers of rounds. 

The top gun is legal under the proposed MN statute HF021 which states" (1) semi-automatic rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and 

2.31has one or more of the following:
2.32(i) a pistol grip or thumbhole stock;"

If you violate this law you are:

"guilty of a felony and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more 

9.11than 20 years or to payment of a fine of not more than $100,000, or both."

Got that?? You currently own, or are just visting the state of MN and you get caught with a standard Ruger 10/22 that happens of have a thumbhole stock and you can end up with 20 years in the slammer!! 

For a .22!!! The kids squirrel hunting gun. The first gun I ever had. Put a stock on it with a hole in it and it is an "Assault Weapon"!!!! 

Welcome to the Fascist state of MN Comrade!!! 

Science, Politics, Climate Change

Occam’s Razor, the Null Hypothesis, and Anthropogenic Global Warming | Power Line:

Fairly short and very much on the mark to those few still willing to look at science as opposed to politically popular views of "Global Warming" or "Climate Change".

Indeed, "Climate Change" IS true, always has been true and always will be true, it is just that to date, there is no evidence that humans play a part in it.

I love this quote from Feynman. It also doesn't matter how many people support the guess, or even how willing they are to call the people that don't support the guess "anti-science, stupid, etc".

“In general we look for a new law by the following process. First we guess it. Then we compute the consequences of the guess to see what would be implied if this law that we guessed is right. Then we compare the result of the computation to nature, with experiment or experience; compare it directly with observation, to see if it works.

It’s that simple statement that is the key to science. It does not make any difference how beautiful your guess is. It does not make any difference how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is. If it disagrees with experiment it is wrong.”

'via Blog this'

The End of the Worst Recovery in History??

Is the Worst Recovery In History Coming to an End? | Power Line:

To the extent that the MSM covers the negative economic growth in the 4Q of 2012 at all, it is "stunning", "surprising", etc.

Huh?? Do they really believe their own BS that much??? There is no way that this would have EVER have been called ANYTHING but at least a recession if a Republican was in the WH I guarantee you this would be a DEPRESSION, and I have irrefutable evidence  (see http://bilber99.blogspot.com/2008/10/part-of-history-that-won-get-told.html)

'via Blog this'

Can We All "Progress" to be Chicago??

Teen who performed at Obama inaugural events shot dead in Chicago - CNN.com:

Detroit was once the shining bright star of the leftist "progressive" policies in this country. California, Illinois and cities like Chicago, DC, and NYC are at today's vanguard.

All are violent, all are broke, all are corrupt.

Chutzpah. It is either that or rank malice and/or stupidity that makes CNN, the American elite and the Democrat party blather on about how we all need to be "more like them". Chicago and the state of Illinois ALREADY HAVE one of the most draconian gun control policies in the nation. It also vies for the murder capitol of the nation along with DC, NYC and any of the other heavily gun controlled cities. When they get the just desserts of their policies and their people are indiscriminately dying like flies, what is there "solution"? Misery loves company!

Illinois turns out brilliant politicians like Barak Obama and Rahm Emanuel. Jessie Jackson Jr, and a string of governors that know what it is to eat from a tin tray. Look at the results!!!

Violent, Bankrupt and Corrupt. The actual results and appropriate motto for the "progressive" movement in this nation.

Oh, and is there a good word for the "blame everything and everyone else" mentality in leadership and the media?? The best I can come up with is "feckless". Insanity is good as well. Their policies produce the exact opposite of their stated objectives, and yet it is NEVER the fault of their policies!!!

Definition of insanity: Doing the same things and expecting different results.

'via Blog this'

Is Fox a Hedgehog?

Is Fox Actually a Hedgehog? | Power Line:

Excellent little critique of Fox that I wholeheartedly agree with. I find a lot of Fox News very hard to watch for exactly the reasons that they point out.

I also very much miss Firing Line, and am utterly amazed at how quickly the censorship views of "liberals"  come out when they are faced with diversity of thought!

'via Blog this'

Krauthammer, GOP Strategy

Charles Krauthammer: A new strategy for the GOP - The Washington Post

I think Charles calls this pretty well. My view is that the country is toast at this point for a good long while, if no permanently.  '14 is a likely Dem pickup in the House because the R's will still be "in blame range" for sure.

Likely odds, things are going to still suck in '14 -- Try to block, R fault, don't try to block, STILL R fault ... could have done MORE!!

Outside chance things get better, certainly "all BO, in spite of R's".

Bottom line is that you can't govern with just the House as Charles says.

The VERY best that can be done is to make it clear that D's haven't done so much as pass a budget out of the Senate since '09 which they are LEGALLY MANDATED TO DO. Ho hum, our MSM could care less about a D breaking the law.

Little tiny symbolic message things are about the best that can be accomplished. It is a sad state of affairs, but things have to get MUCH worse now before there is even a tiny prospect of them getting better!

Naturally the far right will see this as a betrayal and it will increase their desire to push candidates that won't win and fail to vote for what they see as the WAY too "RINIOish" R establishment.

In many ways I agree with their sentiments, I just don't see that strategy as doing anything helpful either short or long term except possibly making a few far righties "feel better". However I strongly doubt if even that is true. No matter what is done, they will see it as "not enough". They are like the "stimulus, spend / regulate" folks except from the opposite side!

A Lost Civilization

An Image of a Lost Civilization: Why? | Power Line:

When I was in school in the 60's, we also took our guns to school. To work on them in shop class, or as we got to driving age, because we were headed out hunting after school. School shooting? We had never even imagined such a thing.

My view of "why" is that in the interest of supposed "liberty", we destroyed that civilization and it is indeed lost. The book "The Closing of the American Mind" details it very well, but the simple version is that on every front -- from religion, to manners, to civility, to fidelity, decency, responsibility, propriety, decency, etc, we simply trashed our civilization.

We have continued our decline with a slight pause in the '8os, and now we are clearly the bankrupt and corrupt, dying husk of what was once a great civilization.


'via Blog this'

AR Ban EXPIRATION 10x Better Than Australian Gun Ban!!

Should the U.S. adopt Australia's strict gun laws? | Intellectual Takeout (ITO)

Really? Well no, not factually, but only in the same sense that the MSM commonly uses to mislead Americans on gun crime.

Short, sweet, and the graph pretty much ends the gun debate for people that are thinkers vs feelers.

The murder rate in the US is higher than the Australian murder rate! Sure, banning guns cut down on GUN MURDERS, but do you REALLY find it preferable to just be murdered by another means?? (and not have the option to use a gun to protect yourself?)

And to the REPUBLIC!!

NRA's paranoid fantasy flouts democracy - CNN.com:

Why do we have a 2nd Amendment? Well, one reason is because some people live in a "paranoid fantasy".

These people talk a lot about liberty and freedom and love to call themselves patriots, but they seem to have a real problem with democracy. In a democracy, if people are proposing a law you don't like, you criticize it, you argue against it, you campaign against it, you vote against the politicians who support it. But if you believe in democracy, you don't threaten to start killing people if it passes. You don't say that if you don't like a new law, you'll start an insurrection to overthrow the government.

Uh, the US is a REPUBLIC, explicitly NOT a Democracy!! In a REPUBLIC, where there is rule of law rather than rule of mob. Things like the 2nd Amendment are ONLY to be changed via the CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROCESS!! "Voting on it" is NOT an option!!

This is on CNN. Don't these people have editors?? Before you start calling people "paranoid, extremist  etc", wouldn't it be wise to at least know the system of government of the country you live in??!!  If not, then how "paranoid" is it for someone to believe that they are going to need to use force to protect the rights that the REPUBLIC that they pledge allegiance to guarantees IN SPITE OF MAJORITY THINKING when a significant numer of our "elite" don't even have enough of a clue to know what our system of government actually is??


'via Blog this'

Pumping In IA 2012

Being retired means not having any good excuses for being "late", so I won't offer any. I'm not late! I got to it when I got to it and that is just the way it is!

Here is a slideshow of the pictures I took during my 5 weeks of learning a lot more respect for the guys that make sure we can keep having bacon, ham, ribs and sausage for our pizza!




Here are a few movies of pumping and application operations shot during the fall.

Proudly Gun Free!

Not quite that proud… | Power Line:

Hmmm, OK, maybe not. Is it REALLY surprising that although the left wants to tell everyone else that THEY ought to be "gun free", they aren't so keen on the idea themselves??

I'm CERTAIN that criminals will obey the laws. Look how good a job they do on drugs, drunk driving, tax evasion, etc.

If Democrats demanded that their cabinet folks paid their taxes, a Democrat president could never field a cabinet at all!

'via Blog this'

Why "Fake Founders Gun Quotes Matter"

Did Jefferson really say that? Why bogus quotations matter in gun debate - CNN.com

Why does the MSM do this type of a column? I can think of no other reason that to have the headline give the impression that many quotes from the Founders on guns are fake and DO matter.

However, if you actually read it, it only really tries to debunk a single quote, and even for that one it points out that there is conflicting information and that he quote is in fact in line with Jefferson's clear position on guns. It also points out:

Stephen Halbrook, an attorney and author of the book "The Founders' Second Amendment," said he doesn't understand why someone would want to use a fake quotation.
"For years I've seen bogus quotes on gun issues in the Internet," he said. "Since the Founding Fathers were so positive on Second Amendment rights, I couldn't understand why anyone would feel compelled to invent quotes."
Halbrook said Jefferson was a big supporter of the right to own firearms.

OK, so most of the "fake quotes" are in line with the Founders thinking, and for the supposed "many" fakes (one possible "fake" is listed), there are many more available than are real. 

So is the conclusion of the article that fake quotes don't really matter because they in  fact convey what the founders said, only in a shorter version? Maybe, that would be a logical conclusions of just reading the whole thing. They just don't say. 

So my view is that the purpose is to make it seem that there are a lot of REALLY fake quotes out there that mislead people on what the intent of the Founders actually was, when in fact by their own admission the supposed fakes are NOT misleading, and the ONE they point out is very accurate in actual meaning. 

So the article is simply a head fake. 

'via Blog this'

"Assault Rifle" NOT used in Newtown Shooting!!!

TODAY: Investigation is very complex

OK, this has been known since the middle of December???!!!  Wouldn't one think that it might get just a BIT more coverage if there was ANY interest in FACTS vs PROPAGANDA???

Day by day I become more and more amazed at just how mislead we are as a people. Without some tiny shred of objective reporting, it is completely impossible for us to govern ourselves, and it becomes more and more clear that that is the agenda of the BO government and the MSM.

The Truth Is Eternal

We are raising a generation of deluded narcissists | Fox News

Good column, unfortunately it is RAISED, not "raising" -- we are neck and neck with Europe on kids living at home,  depression, suicide and general meaninglessness in life. There is plenty of research that shows that Western Culture had it right for at least 500 years, but we decided to blow it and "start over" in the 20th Century and especially post WWII.

The train to oblivion runs on -- but after the crash, as in after the Dark Ages, there will be a decent chance that the requirement for Religion, Philosophy, Dialectic, Rhetoric ... manners, culture, responsibility and actual vs imagined personal growth. Probably only a few hundred or at worst few thousand years of despair to get back on our feet. The next Ice Age will pretty much guarantee a "reset" on a lot of "modern wisdom".

Distractions, however, are temporary, and the truth is eternal. Watch for an epidemic of depression and suicidality, not to mention homicidality, as the real self-loathing and hatred of others that lies beneath all this narcissism rises to the surface. I see it happening and, no doubt, many of you do, too.

Frog of Freedom Boils On

We Are the 98 Percent — The American Magazine

Good article on the continuing slide to greater bankruptcy and socialism. The election is over, some folks from the left are starting to make noises that it is time to move to a wee bit more reality based approach. We are broke, taxing the rich won't do anything to fix it, and if you are a "Progressive", you don't believe that government can spend less -- thus, sharpen up those tax knives and start going after the rest of the folks!

Surprisingly, many progressive pundits are moving away from their traditional complaint that America’s tax code is too regressive, favoring the rich. They are starting to tell us, albeit only after an election mainly contested on these issues, the truth: to fund the European-style social welfare state which they advocate, we must tax everyone more.

I'd argue that we are already at the point discussed in the next paragraph -- people have been suitably brainwashed to believe that there is really no potential for anything but a european style socialist system in the "modern world". "Give us our STUFF!!". 

What happens historically when benefits are bestowed without a bill also coming due is that we get hooked on them. Then, even when they become disasters not worth their cost, people are terrified to change them, as giving something up is indeed quite frightening

Political Storms

Mona Charen: Democrat Hurricanes versus Republican Hurricanes | WashingtonExaminer.com

Why is everything so political? Mostly because the MSM makes it so -- each "event" is a chance to create the mood in the public that the MSM feels is "right".

It turns out that big storms are ALWAYS bad if you are in the path of the storm -- Katrina, Sandy, etc.  BUT, for those that don't experience the storm, how it is viewed is more a function of how it is reported that the reality that "storms always suck".

So, for Katrina .... in a city below sea level, hit with an ACTUAL Cat 5 hurricane, with terrible local and state preparedness, ANY level of problem was INSTANTLY "Bush's fault".  Fighting 2 wars after 9-11 didn't really take Bush down, it was actually the reporting of Katrina that did him in.

Sandy wasn't even a hurricane technically, it dropped below Cat 1 before it came ashore, and the Feds were no better than they were in Katrina -- staging foul ups, red tape, looting, etc. Same stuff as Katrina, **BUT** the reporting was all positive -- INSTANTLY. Bloomberg apparently believed the press and thought he would just run the NY Marathon anyway, until his folks let him know that bodies still needed to be recovered and millions were still without power, heat, water etc. Who knew??? Wasn't a story worthy to be reported.

So the vast majority of the people just listen to the MSM story and the country continues to sail to destruction while whistling happily.

Des Moines Register Threatens NRA, Republicans, Gun Owners

Kaul: Nation needs a new agenda on guns | The Des Moines Register | desmoinesregister.com

Let's call this what it is, a direct threat of violence. The Register decides who to publish and who not to publish. If these statements were made relative to Blacks, Gays, Muslims or Democrats, they would be PROSECUTABLE HATE SPEECH! Gun owners, white men, Republicans, "the rich", and Christians are groups in the US that can be attacked like this without legal action.

Here is one of his "proposals":

Declare the NRA a terrorist organization and make membership illegal. Hey! We did it to the Communist Party, and the NRA has led to the deaths of more of us than American Commies ever did. (I would also raze the organization’s headquarters, clear the rubble and salt the earth, but that’s optional.) Make ownership of unlicensed assault rifles a felony. If some people refused to give up their guns, that “prying the guns from their cold, dead hands” thing works for me.

Here is another:

Then I would tie Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, our esteemed Republican leaders, to the back of a Chevy pickup truck and drag them around a parking lot until they saw the light on gun control.

Oh yes, I'm sure it is "all in good fun". Right?  If Rush Limbaugh said this? If this was on Fox News? and the targets were any of those mentioned above?? Come on, we know the truth. 

If you are a member of any of the targeted groups ... white male, Christian, gun owner, NRA, Republican, etc. ARM YOURSELF!!! You are being warned sternly and directly by the Statists that they want to take you down and they are VERY willing to use violent means. Your ONLY small defense is to be armed, prepared, trained and hopefully organized. The time that this can be written and communicated openly in this country is fading VERY fast. The guy that did a video that was less critical of Islam then this column is of it's target groups IS IN JAIL! 

If you are an "undesirable" as I list above, how direct must threats and selective treatment of groups be before you ACT! 

Selective Justice

MILLER: Two systems of justice - Washington Times

This is how Totalarian Statist systems work. First countless laws are passed, then they are SELECTIVELY ENFORCED. If you "support the right people", "say the right things", then the laws won't be enforced on you. Get on the other side of "the ruling powers" though and you must be punished.

This is why it is nearly impossible to find a Democrat that has a clean record with the IRS. Today, that still counts before they are going to take a high ranking position in an administration (witness Daschle and Geitner), but it won't be long until the payment of tax and many other things will be optional for the  ruling Statists.

Hating the Constitution

A Liberal Comes Clean: We Hate the Constitution | Power Line

The PL summary is good. Lots of folks are ready to just throw Rule of Law away and go the way of the French Revolution or worse -- GIVE US OUR STUFF!!!

Once you try to take all the "rich" have via semi-legal means, why not just kill them and take ALL that have!!

When the golden goose is dead, it is dead -- and we are very intent on killing it COMPLETELY dead -- and eviscerating the body in search of "the secret".