http://www.wsj.com/articles/maple-syrup-new-way-to-fight-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-1430746010?mod=trending_now_1
This is old news to people that grew up in places like Vermont or northern Wisconsin. Fresh maple syrup is the all-purpose spring tonic! Go out to the sugar bush as it comes fresh and hot off the evaporator, get a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream and cover it liberally with the nectar of the spring, and you are CURED!
Of anything ... even the long dark cold months of a winter that seemed to never go away.
Not hard to believe that it cures a few little bacteria as well!
Tuesday, May 05, 2015
Monday, May 04, 2015
Outing Iron Man
http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2015/05/robert-downey-and-the-problem-of-political-intolerance.html
I had heard that Robert Downy Jr left an interview that became "creepy" relative to his drug use history. I had not heard that he had said:
The point of the article is that Hollywood, increasingly that nation and even the world (the weird interview was in England) continues to become increasingly intolerant of ANY divergence from 100% liberal orthodoxy. The "Thou Shalt Nots" of the politically correct left get more stringent every day.
The article isn't badly written -- although focuses a bit too much on how the author "really doesn't care" about Downy. Worthy of at least a scan.
The blog doesn't look too bad either ... may have to poke around there a bit.
I had heard that Robert Downy Jr left an interview that became "creepy" relative to his drug use history. I had not heard that he had said:
“you can’t go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal.”I HAD heard that Mel Gibson helped him beat his addiction, and that he remains friends with Gibson -- something not particularly allowable in Hollywood.
The point of the article is that Hollywood, increasingly that nation and even the world (the weird interview was in England) continues to become increasingly intolerant of ANY divergence from 100% liberal orthodoxy. The "Thou Shalt Nots" of the politically correct left get more stringent every day.
The article isn't badly written -- although focuses a bit too much on how the author "really doesn't care" about Downy. Worthy of at least a scan.
The blog doesn't look too bad either ... may have to poke around there a bit.
Gallipoli 100, History, Humanity, Churchill
Gallipoli, 100 Years On | Power Line:
First the "basic story" -- The British attacked Turkey at the Gallipoli Peninsula on April 25, 1915. Over 8 futile months 252,000 allied lives were lost before they gave up. Churchill has sacked from his position as First Lord of the Admiralty in May as a new coalition government was formed. The event came to be known as "Churchill's Folly".
I read the section on the Dardanelles Strategy in the "The Last Lion: Visions of Glory" (the first book) last night -- so now, "The Rest of the Story".
First point -- when you are a bigger than life figure that talks a great game like Churchill, you make all sorts of enemies and when there is a chance to blame you for something, you likely get blamed. The flip side is that if the proper moment arises in history, you may also get credit for something huge that will also be the result of many other events than just you -- Lincoln freeing the slaves, TJR building the Panama Canal, FDR ending the depression, Churchill winning WWII, Kennedy getting us to the moon, Reagan defeating the USSR.
The likely story is that on March 19th, had Admiral De Robeck continued the very successful attack of the previous day, the naval force would have succeeded in opening the both straits and taking Constantinople.
The previous day, the French battleship Bouvet hit a mine and sank quickly with the crew of 600 being lost. Three British battleships were also damaged by mines. These losses caused De Robeck to break of the attack and the strategy converted to land attack which was out of Churchill's purview and under the command of Lord Kitchener, in charge of land forces.
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
First the "basic story" -- The British attacked Turkey at the Gallipoli Peninsula on April 25, 1915. Over 8 futile months 252,000 allied lives were lost before they gave up. Churchill has sacked from his position as First Lord of the Admiralty in May as a new coalition government was formed. The event came to be known as "Churchill's Folly".
I read the section on the Dardanelles Strategy in the "The Last Lion: Visions of Glory" (the first book) last night -- so now, "The Rest of the Story".
First point -- when you are a bigger than life figure that talks a great game like Churchill, you make all sorts of enemies and when there is a chance to blame you for something, you likely get blamed. The flip side is that if the proper moment arises in history, you may also get credit for something huge that will also be the result of many other events than just you -- Lincoln freeing the slaves, TJR building the Panama Canal, FDR ending the depression, Churchill winning WWII, Kennedy getting us to the moon, Reagan defeating the USSR.
The likely story is that on March 19th, had Admiral De Robeck continued the very successful attack of the previous day, the naval force would have succeeded in opening the both straits and taking Constantinople.
The previous day, the French battleship Bouvet hit a mine and sank quickly with the crew of 600 being lost. Three British battleships were also damaged by mines. These losses caused De Robeck to break of the attack and the strategy converted to land attack which was out of Churchill's purview and under the command of Lord Kitchener, in charge of land forces.
It turns out that the ships that hit the mines hit the same string of 20 mines that had been placed close to the shore on the eastern side. They could have been easily avoided or swept. The Turkish forces were certain they were defeated -- Constantinople was being evacuated. Instead, the attack was halted and 34 year old Mustafa Kemal was given given credit for defeating the mighty Royal Navy and five weeks to prepare to battle and defeat allied forces, allowing him to become the legendary "Ataturk".
Had De Robeck succeeded, WWI would likely have been over in less than a year, saving more than a million lives, and the shape of Eastern Europe relative to Christian / Muslim and Russian influence would have been MUCH different. It is likely one of those moments in history of great leverage. But part of that seeming leverage is of course the fact that we can postulate on what MIGHT have happened to our hearts content, but there is no way to actually KNOW that. It is maddening -- it is what God surely knows, but we cannot see.
As one reads a detailed account like the Churchill bio, the people involved are fleshed out. Churchill thought he had a good relationship with the Sea Lord, Jackie Fisher, but it was likely a mistake to appoint the old man to the position. He had a love/hate relationship with Winston and was at too advanced an age for the responsibility -- he resigned in May in protest over the Gallipoli campaign which brought down the Government and Winston was sacrificed, losing his position as First Lord of the Admiralty.
Churchill also had history with Lord Kitchener which likely contributed to troops not being part of the March plan. Then there is Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, who had a long running affair with young Venetia Stanley, a woman 35 years his junior to whom he often wrote three times a day and was hugely emotionally attached to. She broke off the affair and suddenly eloped in the midst of the Fisher resignation and political crisis, leaving Asquith a basket case. They tended to keep their love letters in those days -- over 500 from Asquith to Stanley for example.
Looking at history in the manner that our public schools choose to teach it, it appears as a dry collection of somewhat ordered and tidy events. It appears that a "good government", or "experts" could just get their heads together and make things run "smoothly". It sometimes even appears to be a "story" -- to have some sort of a "narrative".
All this is illusion. From our perspective it is at best a Rube Goldberg jumbled mass of conflicting ideas, personalities, foibles, visions, hallucinations and events, splashed on a cosmic palette by a God whose ways nor plan is possible for us to fathom. Some of us believe his plan is one of hope and truth, while others deny that there is any plan at all -- as said best by Shakespeare:
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Sunday, May 03, 2015
Murder, Morals, Popularity
Scalia’s quip about gay-marriage protester stirs bias debate - San Francisco Chronicle:
If we assume there is no God, therefore no Natural Law (the idea of right and wrong written on the hearts of man), and thousands of years of tradition can be invalidated in a period of less than a couple decades, then how do we arrive at any concept of morality?
The current view is "we take a vote" -- what is "moral" is what a majority on at least a national, if not world level says is moral. Smaller sub-units like States have been declared to have no rights to restrict abortion for example, and we are fast headed to say the same for gay "marriage".
As seen recently in Indiana, as well as other states, not only may a State not hold a different moral position than the national body, an individual may increasingly not hold such a position if it impacts their actions, as in, they will not bake a cake for a gay "wedding".
To date, we can't prevent an individual from holding a moral position in the privacy of their own thoughts, but no doubt many would like to find a way!
Under the definition that "morality" is "whatever is popular", does not morality cease to exist as a concept? Formerly, morality was a higher standard -- ultimately going back to God, but assumed by nearly all to be wired into our very nature. As Scalia has said and is quoted in the above article in a couple different ways:
For one thing, it changes the entire definition of marriage -- a lifetime committed relationship between a man and a woman. That is what the word marriage meant. Although we have apparently legalized it, I'm not even certain what the form of a bi-sexual "marriage" is -- I can guess, I just don't want to think about it. So we actually don't know what the word "marriage" now means.
Murder in most forms is currently unpopular, not "immoral", because we have demonstrated that we no longer recognize that word in our society.
Abortion is the killing of a very vulnerable person, and not only is it legal, we are increasingly required to fund it via our tax dollars because that is the popular will. It is not only legal, it is subsidized.
We are a nation that no longer respects standards based on God, the Constitution, History, Tradition, etc. Our standard is only what is popular -- and if it is popular, increasingly you MUST agree!
'via Blog this'
If we assume there is no God, therefore no Natural Law (the idea of right and wrong written on the hearts of man), and thousands of years of tradition can be invalidated in a period of less than a couple decades, then how do we arrive at any concept of morality?
The current view is "we take a vote" -- what is "moral" is what a majority on at least a national, if not world level says is moral. Smaller sub-units like States have been declared to have no rights to restrict abortion for example, and we are fast headed to say the same for gay "marriage".
As seen recently in Indiana, as well as other states, not only may a State not hold a different moral position than the national body, an individual may increasingly not hold such a position if it impacts their actions, as in, they will not bake a cake for a gay "wedding".
To date, we can't prevent an individual from holding a moral position in the privacy of their own thoughts, but no doubt many would like to find a way!
Under the definition that "morality" is "whatever is popular", does not morality cease to exist as a concept? Formerly, morality was a higher standard -- ultimately going back to God, but assumed by nearly all to be wired into our very nature. As Scalia has said and is quoted in the above article in a couple different ways:
Laws, Scalia wrote, can be validly based on “moral disapproval of homosexual conduct,” like other statutes expressing disapproval of “murder, for example, or polygamy, or cruelty to animals.”
Dissenting from a 2003 ruling that struck down criminal laws against gay sex, Scalia said a state should be allowed to criminalize sexual behavior that their citizens consider “immoral and unacceptable,” such as “fornication, bigamy, adultery, adult incest, bestiality and obscenity.”One of the popular things said against anyone opposing gay "marriage" was "How does it hurt you?".
For one thing, it changes the entire definition of marriage -- a lifetime committed relationship between a man and a woman. That is what the word marriage meant. Although we have apparently legalized it, I'm not even certain what the form of a bi-sexual "marriage" is -- I can guess, I just don't want to think about it. So we actually don't know what the word "marriage" now means.
Murder in most forms is currently unpopular, not "immoral", because we have demonstrated that we no longer recognize that word in our society.
Abortion is the killing of a very vulnerable person, and not only is it legal, we are increasingly required to fund it via our tax dollars because that is the popular will. It is not only legal, it is subsidized.
We are a nation that no longer respects standards based on God, the Constitution, History, Tradition, etc. Our standard is only what is popular -- and if it is popular, increasingly you MUST agree!
'via Blog this'
Saturday, May 02, 2015
Space To Destroy
The Baltimore Mayor made her comment "It's a very delicate balancing act because while we try to make sure that they were protected from the cars and the other things that were going on, we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well, and we work very hard to keep that balance and to put ourselves in the best position to de-escalate."
She later said it was a "mis-speak" -- she meant "space to DEMONSTRATE". I'm guessing that may well be unfortunate but correct. It is an interesting choice of wrong word -- it is hard to imagine the media letting an R get away with it.
BO however doesn't seem to have any trouble with words. Both in Baltimore and with Iran he seems to be very willing to give "space for destruction". His position in both places seems to be that both Iran and the rioters are justified in their grievances, so it is legitimate for them to do some destruction until their demands are met.
In both cases, he is 100% for meeting their demands!
Friday, May 01, 2015
Onion, Gravity, Wrong On Many Levels
http://www.theonion.com/video/the-onion-reviews-gravity-34083
I don't condone this movie review, and intellectually find it wrong in a number of ways. Mental illness is a very real and serious problem and it VERY RARELY results in dangerous and violent behavior on the part of those that suffer it.
This review treats a serious subject in a slapstick and incorrect fashion, carrying on a stereotype that is damaging to those facing a real problem.
... So, why would I post it!
Because I am human, and humans carry the unexplained penchant for HUMOR!
Humor is WRONG -- it is "immature", it is "expensive" -- someone has a fall, embarrassment, ... something that is "an their expense" ... or a group's expense, etc.
There are times that I believe humor will save us from liberals, and there are times that I think that liberals will snuff it out and replace it's joy with smugness. It hangs in the balance as "progressives" gain force.
In the ultimate advanced "progressive" world there can be no humor -- because we will all be fully educated, all fully compassionate to any even pantomimed misfortune of others, fully accepting of cultural differences that in today's "less than fully progressed" world can strike a funny bone -- just a small step away from a racist, sexist, ageist, etc bone ... in the realm of not perfectly processed and "progressed" liberalism.
Or you could just forget all that and enjoy the video -- because you might be human too, and to be a not fully "progressed" human is to still have a sense of humor! ... inappropriate though it may be
I don't condone this movie review, and intellectually find it wrong in a number of ways. Mental illness is a very real and serious problem and it VERY RARELY results in dangerous and violent behavior on the part of those that suffer it.
This review treats a serious subject in a slapstick and incorrect fashion, carrying on a stereotype that is damaging to those facing a real problem.
... So, why would I post it!
Because I am human, and humans carry the unexplained penchant for HUMOR!
Humor is WRONG -- it is "immature", it is "expensive" -- someone has a fall, embarrassment, ... something that is "an their expense" ... or a group's expense, etc.
There are times that I believe humor will save us from liberals, and there are times that I think that liberals will snuff it out and replace it's joy with smugness. It hangs in the balance as "progressives" gain force.
In the ultimate advanced "progressive" world there can be no humor -- because we will all be fully educated, all fully compassionate to any even pantomimed misfortune of others, fully accepting of cultural differences that in today's "less than fully progressed" world can strike a funny bone -- just a small step away from a racist, sexist, ageist, etc bone ... in the realm of not perfectly processed and "progressed" liberalism.
Or you could just forget all that and enjoy the video -- because you might be human too, and to be a not fully "progressed" human is to still have a sense of humor! ... inappropriate though it may be
Tom Crean Book, South Pole Pub
Tom Crean: Unsung Hero of the Scott and Shackleton Antarctic Expeditions: Michael Smith: 9780898868708: Amazon.com: Books:
I finished the linked book and enjoyed it very much.
On our trip to the Dingle peninsula in Ireland we visited the South Pole Pub in Annascaul where I had a pint of Crean's Irish Lager and bought the glass.
Crean made three voyages to Antarctica.
'via Blog this'
I finished the linked book and enjoyed it very much.
On our trip to the Dingle peninsula in Ireland we visited the South Pole Pub in Annascaul where I had a pint of Crean's Irish Lager and bought the glass.
Crean made three voyages to Antarctica.
- The Discovery with both Scott and Shackleton.
- The Terra Nova voyage with Scott in which Scott lost the race to the South Pole to the Norwegian, Amundsen and then lost his life on the return from the pole along with his team of four.
- The Endurance with Shackleton, where the ship was crushed in the ice of the Weddell Sea and through many feats of great risk, skill and luck, all hands returned!
The book "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" is in my opinion the greatest true adventure tale ever told. It is in one of the two greatest "successful failures" in history, the other being Apollo 13. Although on the human endurance front, the length of time, the isolation, and the self-reliance to get out on their own, Endurance stands alone. The ship was named with such foresight it defies belief!
If you are only going to read one book about the golden age of arctic exploration, read Endurance, but if you are reading two, this one has a lot to suggest it (especially if you have any plans to go to Ireland!). It gives you an overview of that time when people thought of exploring the poles in the same way as we thought of exploring the Moon in the '60s. It gives you an overview of the British being stuck to the "man hauling" technique while the Norwegians used dogs and skis and accomplished much more with much less loss of life.
The item I enjoyed the most that I think I had heard hinted at somewhere, but I don't recall being covered in "Endurance", relates to the crossing of South Georgia Island by Shackleton, Crean, and Frank Worsley (the greatest navigator in the history of the world). The route that they took was not crossed again until 1955 by a group of explorers with full gear over a week of time. Given the fact that Shackleton, Crean and Worsley had no tents, so were forced to do it before they fell asleep and died of exposure, comparisons are questionable.
The highly interesting aspect of the crossing is that each of the men, interviewed separately in later years with no communication with each other, each said that "there was something odd about the journey ... multiple times I was certain there were four of us". For the believer, an explanation is pretty easy -- it is very hard to imagine everyone surviving the Endurance voyage without divine intervention. But as always, it COULD be explained by "skill, luck, great personal strength and will, ... or possibly space aliens". Those that are certain there is no divine intervention tend to find space aliens more likely.
That was my FAVORITE part -- it is far from the only great part. Crean has a number of exploits including a solo 18 hour 35 mile hike when food had run out and the men could no longer move that saved the lives of Edward Evans and Bill Lashly. Evans went on to become an Admiral in the Royal Navy and never forgot Tom Crean.
The best way to get some perspective on these guys is to think of them as the astronauts of the day. Humans always had heroes for 1000s of years -- real heroes. Soldiers, explorers, musicians, artists, etc. The polar explorers were major heroes of 100 years ago. Those of us alive in the '60s knew what it was to have special heroes in the astronauts.
Given a lot of the response to "American Sniper" perhaps at least in N America and Europe, the astronauts might be the last heroes before we "progress" to a world of "equality of result"?
Tom Crean had very few if any equals in polar exploration. I rather enjoy a world of actual diversity -- of gifts, skill, result, thought and a million more aspects. Perhaps I was born too late.
The highly interesting aspect of the crossing is that each of the men, interviewed separately in later years with no communication with each other, each said that "there was something odd about the journey ... multiple times I was certain there were four of us". For the believer, an explanation is pretty easy -- it is very hard to imagine everyone surviving the Endurance voyage without divine intervention. But as always, it COULD be explained by "skill, luck, great personal strength and will, ... or possibly space aliens". Those that are certain there is no divine intervention tend to find space aliens more likely.
That was my FAVORITE part -- it is far from the only great part. Crean has a number of exploits including a solo 18 hour 35 mile hike when food had run out and the men could no longer move that saved the lives of Edward Evans and Bill Lashly. Evans went on to become an Admiral in the Royal Navy and never forgot Tom Crean.
The best way to get some perspective on these guys is to think of them as the astronauts of the day. Humans always had heroes for 1000s of years -- real heroes. Soldiers, explorers, musicians, artists, etc. The polar explorers were major heroes of 100 years ago. Those of us alive in the '60s knew what it was to have special heroes in the astronauts.
Given a lot of the response to "American Sniper" perhaps at least in N America and Europe, the astronauts might be the last heroes before we "progress" to a world of "equality of result"?
Tom Crean had very few if any equals in polar exploration. I rather enjoy a world of actual diversity -- of gifts, skill, result, thought and a million more aspects. Perhaps I was born too late.
'via Blog this'
Thursday, April 30, 2015
College Encourages Open Exchange of Idea!
http://www.theonion.com/articles/college-encourages-lively-exchange-of-idea,38496/?fb_action_ids=817192691708304&fb_action_types=og.shares&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B976691785682500%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.shares%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D
I'm afraid that one is just a little too close to reality for comfort! Ah yes, "a lively exchange of idea" ... each person can freely show their support for the idea! People need more opportunities to share a single homogenous opinion!
Let's start the list ... Anthropogenic (human caused) Global Warming (AGW), Gay Marriage, Income Inequality, Abortion, THE BEARS SUCK!
Hmm, well that last one DOES seem like something that we OUGHT to all agree on!
I'm afraid that one is just a little too close to reality for comfort! Ah yes, "a lively exchange of idea" ... each person can freely show their support for the idea! People need more opportunities to share a single homogenous opinion!
Let's start the list ... Anthropogenic (human caused) Global Warming (AGW), Gay Marriage, Income Inequality, Abortion, THE BEARS SUCK!
Hmm, well that last one DOES seem like something that we OUGHT to all agree on!
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Republican Senators Seize Ship!
U.S. dispatches destroyer after Iran boards commercial ship - The Washington Post:
Oh wait, it was our close nuclear buddies the Iranians, never mind ... story buried well down in the news. I suppose if the Iranians sent a letter explaining their Constitution, THAT would be big news, right?
The article is an interesting read, for example this:
The news is chock full of how race relations are going swimmingly in Baltimore with a Black Mayor, Black Police Chief and huge majority of Black officers on the force! BO even inspired us all today by calling for a national "soul searching". He failed to say what we were "searching for". Is there a shortage of whites to blame in Baltimore or something?
Meanwhile, things seem to be going about as well in the Persian Gulf with our negotiating partner Iran as they are in Baltimore. At the very least I expect Iran will nearly match the trustworthiness of BO!
'via Blog this'
Oh wait, it was our close nuclear buddies the Iranians, never mind ... story buried well down in the news. I suppose if the Iranians sent a letter explaining their Constitution, THAT would be big news, right?
The article is an interesting read, for example this:
“At first appearance, it does seem to be provocative behavior, but again we don’t have all the facts yet,” Warren said.
It was not immediately clear whether the Farragut, which is now in international waters, would enter Iranian waters.
The incident comes days after U.S. officials sought to de-escalate naval tensions that arose with Iran after the U.S. military sent an aircraft carrier off the coast of Yemen. U.S. officials suspect that Iran has been sending weapons and supplies to Yemen to aid Houthi rebels who are fighting a U.S.-backed coalition of Arab nations.If you follow only the MSM, your could be forgiven for missing this. Ships being seized are less newsworthy than they used to be.
The news is chock full of how race relations are going swimmingly in Baltimore with a Black Mayor, Black Police Chief and huge majority of Black officers on the force! BO even inspired us all today by calling for a national "soul searching". He failed to say what we were "searching for". Is there a shortage of whites to blame in Baltimore or something?
Meanwhile, things seem to be going about as well in the Persian Gulf with our negotiating partner Iran as they are in Baltimore. At the very least I expect Iran will nearly match the trustworthiness of BO!
'via Blog this'
Baltimore, The Un-Ferguson
Rioting intensifies in Baltimore; liberal narratives among the casualties | Power Line:
We were assured by our Black President and his Black Attorney General as well as the media that the problem in Ferguson was to many racist whites in the Ferguson city government and police department. So Blacks naturally rioted.
BO also assured us that the "Russian Reset" was a brilliant diplomatic move, his administration would be "transparent", he would act if a "Red Line" were crossed in Syria, if we liked our health insurance we could keep it and Yemen was an example of how to do "smart foreign policy". Right now he assures us that Iran can be trusted relative to nukes -- believing all that is what it means to be "Ready for Hillary"!
The idea that Blacks "naturally riot" is what conservatives call racism -- along with the ideas that they "naturally" are all Democrats, talk in a certain way, smoke marijuana, and can't operate in a society without a lot of subsidies and affirmative action. Thomas Sowell, Mia Love, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and a host of other Blacks prove that such stereotypes are far from destiny.
The mayor and police chief of Baltimore are black, and whites are a minority in the police force.
Blacks in any major city in the US are a Democrat managed "community" that are stage managed by a set of Democrat government officials including social workers, church leaders, community organizers, NAACP, and usually a number of elected officials since their communities are specifically gerrymandered to be democrat strongholds.
A lot of what passes for "black behavior" in the US is a result of this management -- which creates a "black lifestyle" that has one major positive aspect if you are a Democrat -- a guaranteed large voting bloc, but a series of negatives -- crime, poverty, broken homes, rioting, etc that go with it.
When a "trigger" happens, the black community erupts in riots, it's the "tradition". Note that similar things happen in other "communities" ... eg French car burning, or US college campuses after sports victories.
Humans have well documented tendencies of "mob behavior" built in as a species -- the bedlam of a huge sporting event or political rally brings it out as do "riots". The fact that the Democrat management of the black community is linked to "entitlement" which is an easy step to "taking stuff that I really deserve" promotes the higher crime rate in black communities and creates the fact that black riots involve looting, where college campus riots generally do not.
This is easy to understand, but since understanding it would make more people question the wisdom and morality of purposely managing the black population of this country as a captive voting bloc, the MSM nor the government is going to state the obvious.
Our peril as a nation is greatly magnified by the fact that our public schools and universities increasingly suppress critical thinking as part of their indoctrination -- going so far as to not invite any speakers nor certainly allow any professors that are not 100% aligned with "progressive" dogma on income distribution, climate, race, gender, GLBT, being anti-Christian, and a host of other positions.
The small number of people able to think critically and independently is frightening low.
'via Blog this'
We were assured by our Black President and his Black Attorney General as well as the media that the problem in Ferguson was to many racist whites in the Ferguson city government and police department. So Blacks naturally rioted.
BO also assured us that the "Russian Reset" was a brilliant diplomatic move, his administration would be "transparent", he would act if a "Red Line" were crossed in Syria, if we liked our health insurance we could keep it and Yemen was an example of how to do "smart foreign policy". Right now he assures us that Iran can be trusted relative to nukes -- believing all that is what it means to be "Ready for Hillary"!
The idea that Blacks "naturally riot" is what conservatives call racism -- along with the ideas that they "naturally" are all Democrats, talk in a certain way, smoke marijuana, and can't operate in a society without a lot of subsidies and affirmative action. Thomas Sowell, Mia Love, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and a host of other Blacks prove that such stereotypes are far from destiny.
The mayor and police chief of Baltimore are black, and whites are a minority in the police force.
Blacks in any major city in the US are a Democrat managed "community" that are stage managed by a set of Democrat government officials including social workers, church leaders, community organizers, NAACP, and usually a number of elected officials since their communities are specifically gerrymandered to be democrat strongholds.
A lot of what passes for "black behavior" in the US is a result of this management -- which creates a "black lifestyle" that has one major positive aspect if you are a Democrat -- a guaranteed large voting bloc, but a series of negatives -- crime, poverty, broken homes, rioting, etc that go with it.
When a "trigger" happens, the black community erupts in riots, it's the "tradition". Note that similar things happen in other "communities" ... eg French car burning, or US college campuses after sports victories.
Humans have well documented tendencies of "mob behavior" built in as a species -- the bedlam of a huge sporting event or political rally brings it out as do "riots". The fact that the Democrat management of the black community is linked to "entitlement" which is an easy step to "taking stuff that I really deserve" promotes the higher crime rate in black communities and creates the fact that black riots involve looting, where college campus riots generally do not.
This is easy to understand, but since understanding it would make more people question the wisdom and morality of purposely managing the black population of this country as a captive voting bloc, the MSM nor the government is going to state the obvious.
Our peril as a nation is greatly magnified by the fact that our public schools and universities increasingly suppress critical thinking as part of their indoctrination -- going so far as to not invite any speakers nor certainly allow any professors that are not 100% aligned with "progressive" dogma on income distribution, climate, race, gender, GLBT, being anti-Christian, and a host of other positions.
The small number of people able to think critically and independently is frightening low.
'via Blog this'
Monday, April 27, 2015
Jenner, Last Taboo
Bruce Jenner said he’s a Republican. Only 21 percent of LGBT Americans are. - The Washington Post:
The left of the nation was shocked on the 20/20 interview last week when Bruce Jenner came out as a .... GASP! Republican!
This article mentions that "ONLY" 21% of LGBT (and who knows what other letters we ought add to that soon!) are Republican.
First of all, effeminate men, gay men, cross dressing men, all of the same in reverse for women are old news. Deviancy is nothing new for mankind. That is no surprise, or really of any interest to conservatives. "There nothing new under the sun". It is very hard to be a sexual deviant these days (like what DO you need to do to actually be a "deviant"?) , but it is certainly EASY to be a thought deviant -- just come out as Republican!
The left is ALL about "diversity" or even just deviancy based on race, sex, "gender" (when they admit it exists), acting out, profanity, "art", etc. What they are AGAINST -- and they show their colors here, is diversity of THOUGHT! Animals have sex organs, animals have different coloration, animals have violent or non-violent interactions. What they DON'T have is THOUGHT -- the left is OK with but ONE kind of thought, left wing thought. Any other kind is "shocking, radical, regressive, racist, reactionary, etc" -- BAD. That the left can't stand is any thought that is not in lock step with their dogma!
So they accidentally show their true colors when they get surprised. The right will tell you that they disprove of your actions on occasion, but they are actually FAR less inclined to try to control what you THINK than the left. You may well get AIDs or a host of other sexually transmitted diseases if you engage in gay sex, but you get no disease by being attracted to the same sex. It is action that matters -- it is in the same approach as "guns don't kill, people do" -- it isn't the inanimate object or even the impulse that does harm (or in some cases good) -- it is the ACTION.
The left likes to outlaw objects, suppress speech in the case of Conservative or Christian ideas, or in some cases simply shame you into at least giving lip service to their point of view. For someone like Bruce Jenner to not follow their dogma, or AT LEAST give it lip service on TV just really pisses them off!
"Only 21%"? Of GLBT? What percentage of the population is LGBT? Kinsey tried to make it out to be 10% -- it looks like the real total is more like < 5% and could be quite a bit less than that.
So well under 10% of Blacks identify as Republican -- more like 5%, or maybe about the same as the total GLBT population relative to the general population.
What does this mean? Possibly nothing -- there may well be no causality here at all, only correlation, statistics are like that.
The left has more work to do in order to get the GLBT population where it "should be" relative to political party? One would assume they believe that the WHOLE population ought to be there at the 95%+ D -- no diversity of thought at all.
It is certainly the mark of a civilization WAY past it's prime when something as trivial as an aging male sports star deciding to "go woman" gets any level of interest at all. It looks though that we are FAR down the road to where being a Republican is the last remaining taboo.
'via Blog this'
The left of the nation was shocked on the 20/20 interview last week when Bruce Jenner came out as a .... GASP! Republican!
This article mentions that "ONLY" 21% of LGBT (and who knows what other letters we ought add to that soon!) are Republican.
First of all, effeminate men, gay men, cross dressing men, all of the same in reverse for women are old news. Deviancy is nothing new for mankind. That is no surprise, or really of any interest to conservatives. "There nothing new under the sun". It is very hard to be a sexual deviant these days (like what DO you need to do to actually be a "deviant"?) , but it is certainly EASY to be a thought deviant -- just come out as Republican!
The left is ALL about "diversity" or even just deviancy based on race, sex, "gender" (when they admit it exists), acting out, profanity, "art", etc. What they are AGAINST -- and they show their colors here, is diversity of THOUGHT! Animals have sex organs, animals have different coloration, animals have violent or non-violent interactions. What they DON'T have is THOUGHT -- the left is OK with but ONE kind of thought, left wing thought. Any other kind is "shocking, radical, regressive, racist, reactionary, etc" -- BAD. That the left can't stand is any thought that is not in lock step with their dogma!
So they accidentally show their true colors when they get surprised. The right will tell you that they disprove of your actions on occasion, but they are actually FAR less inclined to try to control what you THINK than the left. You may well get AIDs or a host of other sexually transmitted diseases if you engage in gay sex, but you get no disease by being attracted to the same sex. It is action that matters -- it is in the same approach as "guns don't kill, people do" -- it isn't the inanimate object or even the impulse that does harm (or in some cases good) -- it is the ACTION.
The left likes to outlaw objects, suppress speech in the case of Conservative or Christian ideas, or in some cases simply shame you into at least giving lip service to their point of view. For someone like Bruce Jenner to not follow their dogma, or AT LEAST give it lip service on TV just really pisses them off!
"Only 21%"? Of GLBT? What percentage of the population is LGBT? Kinsey tried to make it out to be 10% -- it looks like the real total is more like < 5% and could be quite a bit less than that.
So well under 10% of Blacks identify as Republican -- more like 5%, or maybe about the same as the total GLBT population relative to the general population.
What does this mean? Possibly nothing -- there may well be no causality here at all, only correlation, statistics are like that.
The left has more work to do in order to get the GLBT population where it "should be" relative to political party? One would assume they believe that the WHOLE population ought to be there at the 95%+ D -- no diversity of thought at all.
It is certainly the mark of a civilization WAY past it's prime when something as trivial as an aging male sports star deciding to "go woman" gets any level of interest at all. It looks though that we are FAR down the road to where being a Republican is the last remaining taboo.
'via Blog this'
Friday, April 24, 2015
The Tudors of the Ozarks
Will the Clinton-Cash Scandal Doom the Hillary’s White House Bid? | National Review Online:
We all need and always have operating mental models, "narratives" about most everything that happens to us. Often we don't even know it. We have our political biases, tastes, liked and not liked people, places and things, sources of information and "feelings" about how things are, aren't, should and shouldn't be.
I liked the designation of Ozarkian royalty for the Clintons in the article as well as the model of the medieval Catholic Church for much of modern liberalism. Liberalism claims to be the TRUE nostrum for the masses, but somehow it is a "big church" -- it finds room for lots of wealth, graft, international bribery and kickbacks and LOTS of indulgences and forgiven sins for at least it's leadership. In fact, the Clintons vaulted from being "broke when they left the White House" (it must be true, Hillary said it) to being worth around $100 million today with just a few scraps from the left wing franchise.
In reading about the Clintons, it helps to try to understand how the leftist mind looks at them. Here you have two people that in the period since 2000 created no product or idea, did not entertain or display some great skill like that in sporting or art, nor invested or accomplished any other act that one would associate with amassing wealth, yet amassed a fortune of over $100 million and spent much more than that.
Do we really need a book such as the one discussed in the article to understand where that money came from? Don't we all know that it was transferred to them for influence, protection, favors and such? What could possibly be more obvious than that?
The interesting part to me is that unless this is really the start of some NY Times coup as the article hints at, nobody on the left really cares. In fact, I think they kind of enjoy it. My view is that this is a standard NY Times inoculation -- "they reported it", so at a minimum it is "old news". We can expect variations and combinations on the following to follow:
1). The author of the book will have done "something wrong" -- the form makes little difference. "Took money from the Koch brothers", "Published something in the past that may be untrue", "treated his ex-wife, girlfriend, dog, parakeet, etc badly" ... something.
2). SOMETHING in the book will be "wrong" -- ergo EVERYTHING in the book is wrong!
3). Since the information in the book is reported and "nothing happened", that means that "there is nothing important here" -- no story, move along.
#3 is the obvious -- we see it in great frequency with people from the left, from Whitewater, cattle futures, Travelgate, Monica, etc in the old Clinton universe to Gun Runner, IRS, Benghazi, NSA, various lost e-mails, etc today. "It was reported, nothing came of it, so move along"
If you listen to NPR, you will still get some rapt reporting on Watergate, Iran-Contra, WMDs, etc -- even W National Guard and Cheney shooting his buddy hunting. Those were all REAL -- the kind of thing that even if they did have some level of effect, OUGHT to have had WAY more! Those were hunts for REAL "bad guys doing bad things", the glory of which needs to be told and re-told around the media campfire again and again and savored!
But to the left, so their own Clintonian Royalty made over $100 million off kickbacks and favors? Whey ever would anyone be so small minded to begrudge such greatness such a small pittance? Can we talk about how W got away with being a less than stellar fighter pilot again?
'via Blog this'
The Clintons are like the Tudors of the Ozarks. They believe they are royalty, but they also understand that even monarchs need friends. The Clinton Foundation is the perfect vehicle for their ambition. Like the medieval Catholic Church, it blurs the lines between ideals and interests. On the one hand, it does yeoman’s work in the Church of Liberal Dogoodery, but it also provides a conduit for business interests, foreign governments, academics, activists, and journalists to gain access to the imperial court-in-waiting.
We all need and always have operating mental models, "narratives" about most everything that happens to us. Often we don't even know it. We have our political biases, tastes, liked and not liked people, places and things, sources of information and "feelings" about how things are, aren't, should and shouldn't be.
I liked the designation of Ozarkian royalty for the Clintons in the article as well as the model of the medieval Catholic Church for much of modern liberalism. Liberalism claims to be the TRUE nostrum for the masses, but somehow it is a "big church" -- it finds room for lots of wealth, graft, international bribery and kickbacks and LOTS of indulgences and forgiven sins for at least it's leadership. In fact, the Clintons vaulted from being "broke when they left the White House" (it must be true, Hillary said it) to being worth around $100 million today with just a few scraps from the left wing franchise.
In reading about the Clintons, it helps to try to understand how the leftist mind looks at them. Here you have two people that in the period since 2000 created no product or idea, did not entertain or display some great skill like that in sporting or art, nor invested or accomplished any other act that one would associate with amassing wealth, yet amassed a fortune of over $100 million and spent much more than that.
Do we really need a book such as the one discussed in the article to understand where that money came from? Don't we all know that it was transferred to them for influence, protection, favors and such? What could possibly be more obvious than that?
The interesting part to me is that unless this is really the start of some NY Times coup as the article hints at, nobody on the left really cares. In fact, I think they kind of enjoy it. My view is that this is a standard NY Times inoculation -- "they reported it", so at a minimum it is "old news". We can expect variations and combinations on the following to follow:
1). The author of the book will have done "something wrong" -- the form makes little difference. "Took money from the Koch brothers", "Published something in the past that may be untrue", "treated his ex-wife, girlfriend, dog, parakeet, etc badly" ... something.
2). SOMETHING in the book will be "wrong" -- ergo EVERYTHING in the book is wrong!
3). Since the information in the book is reported and "nothing happened", that means that "there is nothing important here" -- no story, move along.
#3 is the obvious -- we see it in great frequency with people from the left, from Whitewater, cattle futures, Travelgate, Monica, etc in the old Clinton universe to Gun Runner, IRS, Benghazi, NSA, various lost e-mails, etc today. "It was reported, nothing came of it, so move along"
If you listen to NPR, you will still get some rapt reporting on Watergate, Iran-Contra, WMDs, etc -- even W National Guard and Cheney shooting his buddy hunting. Those were all REAL -- the kind of thing that even if they did have some level of effect, OUGHT to have had WAY more! Those were hunts for REAL "bad guys doing bad things", the glory of which needs to be told and re-told around the media campfire again and again and savored!
But to the left, so their own Clintonian Royalty made over $100 million off kickbacks and favors? Whey ever would anyone be so small minded to begrudge such greatness such a small pittance? Can we talk about how W got away with being a less than stellar fighter pilot again?
'via Blog this'
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Your Raisins Or Your Life
Review & Outlook: Raisins in the Sun - WSJ:
The US has a "raisin reserve" -- also avocados, kiwis, apricots and who knows what else. It goes back to the 30's -- the time before last when we slipped steeply socialist (the last was the '60s). Now is the age of BO socialism -- BOcare being the biggest slide.
The article is well worth a read, the summary is that a couple in CA decided since they sold their raisins direct, they were not subject to seizure of part of their crop by the feds. The Feds disagreed, and now the case is going to the SCOTUS -- but it is obvious the Feds got worried while they were looking at this, so they tried to pull some legal shenanigans to keep their "raisin train" and no doubt avocado, apricot, etc gravy trains with positions, kickbacks, conferences, etc intact.
If it wasn't so damned sad and disgusting, it would be funny.
'via Blog this'
The US has a "raisin reserve" -- also avocados, kiwis, apricots and who knows what else. It goes back to the 30's -- the time before last when we slipped steeply socialist (the last was the '60s). Now is the age of BO socialism -- BOcare being the biggest slide.
The article is well worth a read, the summary is that a couple in CA decided since they sold their raisins direct, they were not subject to seizure of part of their crop by the feds. The Feds disagreed, and now the case is going to the SCOTUS -- but it is obvious the Feds got worried while they were looking at this, so they tried to pull some legal shenanigans to keep their "raisin train" and no doubt avocado, apricot, etc gravy trains with positions, kickbacks, conferences, etc intact.
If it wasn't so damned sad and disgusting, it would be funny.
As Justice Antonin Scalia put it, so it's "your raisins or your life, right? . . . you don't have to pay the penalty if you give us the raisins." No, Mr. Palmore explained. "They have to give the raisins . . . It's not a choice." Which is why the Justices should find these takings to be unconstitutional.Here! Here!
'via Blog this'
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Carriers, Treason, Frameworks, Opportunity
Pentagon: US Warships Preserving ‘Options’ in Yemen Crisis:
The Iranians have a task forced heading toward Yemen and now we have a carrier task force heading to shadow them -- for some reason we don't seem to really think Iran's intentions align that well with our own. Strange.
Let's see, in March our nation was all up in arms because 47 Senators sent a letter to Iran informing them of how our Constitution dealt with "agreements" that were not approved by the Senate. It was BIG NEWS!
Now our "partners" in this "framework" (never mind that they have publicly repudiated the agreement) have decided to move warships toward what was once trumpeted by BO as "a model of successful BO foreign policy"! ...."successful" and BO just don't seem to go together.
My, aren't we all getting along swimmingly! How exactly might we compare the "potential repercussions" of a NOTE vs dueling task forces off Yemen? Where is the media concern? Is anyone talking "treason"? Diplomatic disaster? Does our vaunted lefty media even have a CLUE what to say? My guess is they are just waiting for BO to put some words in their mouths like the sock puppets they are.
In the meantime can't we just talk about a boat capsizing? Some death in police custody in Baltimore? The weather? ANYTHING! My my how different dueling warships are in import from a note signed by some Senators!
We seem to have arrived at a very similar point to where we were in like '79 when I thought that the USSR would have been well served strategically to lob a couple of nukes into the US or Europe and demand surrender. My belief is that Jimmuh would have gone for it -- "Better Red Than Dead" you know!
So we know that Iran would like to sink a carrier. Are they ever going to have a better opportunity than now? It is hard for me to imagine BO even getting as excited about it as he did the 47 Senator note. The "red line" for Syria is about as wee-weed up as his royal suckulence seems to get over anyone but Republicans -- and he had to beg Vlad to bail him out on that.
One hopes we skate again, but if the Iranians want to make a statement, this is the best moment of opportunity they have had to give the "Great Satan" a real sucker punch -- and Vlad would be happy to see it happen!
'via Blog this'
The Iranians have a task forced heading toward Yemen and now we have a carrier task force heading to shadow them -- for some reason we don't seem to really think Iran's intentions align that well with our own. Strange.
Let's see, in March our nation was all up in arms because 47 Senators sent a letter to Iran informing them of how our Constitution dealt with "agreements" that were not approved by the Senate. It was BIG NEWS!
Now our "partners" in this "framework" (never mind that they have publicly repudiated the agreement) have decided to move warships toward what was once trumpeted by BO as "a model of successful BO foreign policy"! ...."successful" and BO just don't seem to go together.
My, aren't we all getting along swimmingly! How exactly might we compare the "potential repercussions" of a NOTE vs dueling task forces off Yemen? Where is the media concern? Is anyone talking "treason"? Diplomatic disaster? Does our vaunted lefty media even have a CLUE what to say? My guess is they are just waiting for BO to put some words in their mouths like the sock puppets they are.
In the meantime can't we just talk about a boat capsizing? Some death in police custody in Baltimore? The weather? ANYTHING! My my how different dueling warships are in import from a note signed by some Senators!
We seem to have arrived at a very similar point to where we were in like '79 when I thought that the USSR would have been well served strategically to lob a couple of nukes into the US or Europe and demand surrender. My belief is that Jimmuh would have gone for it -- "Better Red Than Dead" you know!
So we know that Iran would like to sink a carrier. Are they ever going to have a better opportunity than now? It is hard for me to imagine BO even getting as excited about it as he did the 47 Senator note. The "red line" for Syria is about as wee-weed up as his royal suckulence seems to get over anyone but Republicans -- and he had to beg Vlad to bail him out on that.
One hopes we skate again, but if the Iranians want to make a statement, this is the best moment of opportunity they have had to give the "Great Satan" a real sucker punch -- and Vlad would be happy to see it happen!
'via Blog this'
Of Minions and Servility
The Age of Minions | National Review Online:
I'm developing a little envy of Kevin Williamson's writing -- I know envy is sin, but he is good and I'm human.
I like this particular article mostly for entertainment -- Begala is an easy target for the minion label. He has that shifty weasel look that screams minion. I'm convinced that everyone in the Clinton Crime Family had to commit at least one felony to be accepted -- I'm guessing that Begala stole money from his blind Grandmother.
It is worth reading the whole thing for entertainment value --- by favorite zinger was this:
Minions are neither free or brave, and those that willing accept that sort of drivel that seeps out of their mouths are not free or brave either. They are servile. America is over 50% servile.
Over 50% of our population now draws a "significant part of their living" from government! Sure, we may have paid into FICA, Medicare, etc but the fact is that we paid in knowing that it was a corrupt program. We knew the money was being spent in lieu of what ought to have been higher taxes or debt, but we still voted the people running the program in over and over and made it "the third rail".
W courageously tried to touch that rail by converting part of the program into ACTUAL investment, but was soundly beaten. My belief is that a lot of the the opprobrium he reaped was actually due to that sin against all our corruption -- Iraq and Katrina were just excuses to help keep our national Ponzi Scheme rolling a bit longer.
FICA is the apple by which socialism has corrupted the very core of what was once America. Even people that believe they are "patriotic Americans" will howl "It is MY money, **I** paid it in, how DARE THEY claim that it is broke!!!!".
This is very simple. Freedom requires that enough people are reality based to keep the country free. Freedom requires that Government be LIMITED! It requires a majority of people over at least the long run to be willing to seek the truth of reality rather than allow themselves to be bribed by their own politicians with the blood and treasure of their offspring.
FICA is a bedtime fairy tale founded on the idea that at least half of the people pay into a big kitty and die before they collect -- age 62 was the average age of death for a man when FDR set up his scheme. Everyone likes to believe they are an above average driver, will live longer than the average age, and are certainly a bit smarter than average!
Government being as naturally corrupt as government is, they decided "Why bother to have any trust fund at all? We will just spend the money and future generations will have to pay it! We will buy today's votes on the backs of future generations!"
As long as the population and the economy were growing, this scheme looked like it could just keep going on forever, and in the 60's, the Democrats gave it a "kicker" -- they would sweeten the pie in the sky by and by pot with medical care as well!
We ABSOLUTELY KNOW that FICA and Medicare as well as US debt have crossed the rubicon from crisis to disaster. Why? Because nobody is talking about them -- the US is now like the Titanic after it hit the ice berg, but before it developed a very serious list. Go scan the internet -- articles about the financial state of the US Government are RARE! Perhaps one should look at the report from the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds
Let me explain the yellow a bit. Following the Titanic analogy, NOW is a great time to start getting some of the folks on the lower decks into some lifeboats! This puppy is GOING DOWN!
But let's face it, the percentage of people willing to face this fact is low -- so, for those of you who are, God, Guns, Gold, Gardens ... and maybe a place next to a lake in significantly out of the way fly-over country. It is going to get MUCH worse before there is any hope of improvement.
We have people like BO, Begala, Hillary -- the Williamson article christens her "Herself", very fitting, although I still kind of like "Hildebeast" which came from Michelle Obama's staff, because we richly deserve them. As a nation, we would like to look at ANYTHING rather than the fix we are in -- Global Warming, the tiny number of incidents of white police shooting blacks, imaginary pay gaps for women, the Apple Watch ... ANYTHING!
It remains to be seen if any Republican is going to be willing to run on the TRUTH. I doubt it, and it is almost certainly a losing strategy anyway. HOWEVER, in my book it needs to be out there -- like Churchill crying in the wilderness in the 30's. Because when our situation becomes impossible to ignore, there will be millions of shell shocked people running around yelling "nobody told us"!!
That in itself is proof we are no longer free people -- free people SEEK THE TRUTH! But given that we are where we are, hopefully somebody will tell the servile masses just how bad the situation is, because that is one more way to be ready to pick up the pieces after the disaster.
'via Blog this'
I'm developing a little envy of Kevin Williamson's writing -- I know envy is sin, but he is good and I'm human.
I like this particular article mostly for entertainment -- Begala is an easy target for the minion label. He has that shifty weasel look that screams minion. I'm convinced that everyone in the Clinton Crime Family had to commit at least one felony to be accepted -- I'm guessing that Begala stole money from his blind Grandmother.
It is worth reading the whole thing for entertainment value --- by favorite zinger was this:
Some men are born servile, some achieve servility, and some have servility thrust upon them. There is something rank and defective in some men’s souls that simply needs to abase itself — not before God, or Nietzsche’s Abyss, or the Stoics’ clockwork universe, but before ordinary mortal men and women who might, had things turned out only a little differently, manage a Chipotle rather than use one as a stage for political theater.Sadly, humor always has to rest on truth to have any bite, and I fear the article points to a monstrous truth. The reason that this is "The Age of Minions" here is because this is NOT America -- you remember it don't you? "The land of the FREE and the home of the BRAVE"!
Minions are neither free or brave, and those that willing accept that sort of drivel that seeps out of their mouths are not free or brave either. They are servile. America is over 50% servile.
Over 50% of our population now draws a "significant part of their living" from government! Sure, we may have paid into FICA, Medicare, etc but the fact is that we paid in knowing that it was a corrupt program. We knew the money was being spent in lieu of what ought to have been higher taxes or debt, but we still voted the people running the program in over and over and made it "the third rail".
W courageously tried to touch that rail by converting part of the program into ACTUAL investment, but was soundly beaten. My belief is that a lot of the the opprobrium he reaped was actually due to that sin against all our corruption -- Iraq and Katrina were just excuses to help keep our national Ponzi Scheme rolling a bit longer.
FICA is the apple by which socialism has corrupted the very core of what was once America. Even people that believe they are "patriotic Americans" will howl "It is MY money, **I** paid it in, how DARE THEY claim that it is broke!!!!".
This is very simple. Freedom requires that enough people are reality based to keep the country free. Freedom requires that Government be LIMITED! It requires a majority of people over at least the long run to be willing to seek the truth of reality rather than allow themselves to be bribed by their own politicians with the blood and treasure of their offspring.
FICA is a bedtime fairy tale founded on the idea that at least half of the people pay into a big kitty and die before they collect -- age 62 was the average age of death for a man when FDR set up his scheme. Everyone likes to believe they are an above average driver, will live longer than the average age, and are certainly a bit smarter than average!
Government being as naturally corrupt as government is, they decided "Why bother to have any trust fund at all? We will just spend the money and future generations will have to pay it! We will buy today's votes on the backs of future generations!"
As long as the population and the economy were growing, this scheme looked like it could just keep going on forever, and in the 60's, the Democrats gave it a "kicker" -- they would sweeten the pie in the sky by and by pot with medical care as well!
We ABSOLUTELY KNOW that FICA and Medicare as well as US debt have crossed the rubicon from crisis to disaster. Why? Because nobody is talking about them -- the US is now like the Titanic after it hit the ice berg, but before it developed a very serious list. Go scan the internet -- articles about the financial state of the US Government are RARE! Perhaps one should look at the report from the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds
Neither Medicare nor Social Security can sustain projected long-run program costs in full under currently scheduled financing, and legislative changes are necessary to avoid disruptive consequences for beneficiaries and taxpayers. If lawmakers take action sooner rather than later, more options and more time will be available to phase in changes so that the public has adequate time to prepare. Earlier action will also help elected officials minimize adverse impacts on vulnerable populations, including lower-income workers and people already dependent on program benefits.That is just the summary ... it gets worse when one delves into it a bit. The SHORT TERM situation is really bad too -- like some benefits start not going out in 2016 !!
Let me explain the yellow a bit. Following the Titanic analogy, NOW is a great time to start getting some of the folks on the lower decks into some lifeboats! This puppy is GOING DOWN!
But let's face it, the percentage of people willing to face this fact is low -- so, for those of you who are, God, Guns, Gold, Gardens ... and maybe a place next to a lake in significantly out of the way fly-over country. It is going to get MUCH worse before there is any hope of improvement.
We have people like BO, Begala, Hillary -- the Williamson article christens her "Herself", very fitting, although I still kind of like "Hildebeast" which came from Michelle Obama's staff, because we richly deserve them. As a nation, we would like to look at ANYTHING rather than the fix we are in -- Global Warming, the tiny number of incidents of white police shooting blacks, imaginary pay gaps for women, the Apple Watch ... ANYTHING!
It remains to be seen if any Republican is going to be willing to run on the TRUTH. I doubt it, and it is almost certainly a losing strategy anyway. HOWEVER, in my book it needs to be out there -- like Churchill crying in the wilderness in the 30's. Because when our situation becomes impossible to ignore, there will be millions of shell shocked people running around yelling "nobody told us"!!
That in itself is proof we are no longer free people -- free people SEEK THE TRUTH! But given that we are where we are, hopefully somebody will tell the servile masses just how bad the situation is, because that is one more way to be ready to pick up the pieces after the disaster.
'via Blog this'
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