Underway On Raspberry Pi

http://www.raspberrypi.org/ Welcome to the world of a $35 computer!! This post is being done on the Midori browser on the machine seen here. Not blazing speed, but for those of us that lived with machine with K of memory and speeds in K instructions per second, it is pretty amazing!!

My Raspberry Pi

Tax Fairness

Soak the Rich? | Power Line

The chart shows it well. We have no fairness when the top 1% of the people pay in much in taxes as "the bottom" 95%!!!

There needs to be SOME more connection between voting and amount of taxes paid!

The World Is A Beautiful Place

The great divide: Little common ground with pro- and anti-gun forces - CNN.com

This article in CNN was less biased than some, but I was struck when I hit this paragraph:

"I think that people are hard wired differently. If you look at the world as a beautiful place and I'm in the arts, I'm a composer, I write music, I write poetry, if you believe the world's a beautiful place, your viewpoint is different than if you feel 'I have to have my guns to protect myself,' " said Hollis Thoms, 64, from Annapolis, Maryland, as he protested outside of the Willard InterContinental Hotel just after the NRA's press conference.

Huh? Don't ALL sane people agree the world is BOTH beautiful and ugly? I love music, poetry, natural beauty, etc as much as the next guy, but doesn't this guy shit? Was he on another planet for 9-11? Hasn't he ever seen Michael Moore? 

So unlike the supposed "divide" in this article created by the "progressive mindset" that believes that all need, want, violence, waste, ugliness, sweat and fallen arches can be removed from the world with just a little more regulation, taxing the wealthy, borrowed money, or some other elixer, there are people that believe that the world has a bit of "Ying and Yang". Evil exists and has to be controlled by force, life ends in death, party nights lead to hangovers, producing things requires that SOMEONE works ... sometimes at something that isn't even "pristine". That IS life for some folks -- I guess the Troglodytes in this guys universe, but Earthlings in mine!!

BUT, we DO have a HUGE divide in this country because CNN and the vast bulk of people going berserk over the NRA suggestion (also made by Billy C in 2k) believe in a world where beauty can be legislated, rather than created by God and the sweat of man's brow, and evil can be "cured" by drugs, education, laws, or some other human mechanism. 

We have a gulf because we ALL used to accept that man was flawed and needed written and unchanging legal and moral codes in order to survive, but that the "Leviathan" (government) was also managed by man, so therefore had to be LIMITED, thus the Constitution, Checks and Balances, and the final check, the 2nd Amendment. 

Yes, Hollis, there ARE people "wired differently" from you, and for that you ought be grateful, lest you die. While music and poetry are great, they are ONLY great when we are a few notches up the needs hierarchy from food, clothing, shelter and safety. 

Cornball Brothers Racism, RGIII

RGIII, ‘Cornball Brothers,’ and the Blackness Code - National Review Online

When these two articles showed up on the web within a couple of days of each other it was nearly more than my old brain could handle. Seems that RGIII turns out "not to be black"!!! Thanks to the Web ESPN and Urban Dictionaries, we can learn that "Cornball Brothers" are guys that look black, but "act white" ,.. as in date or marry white women, live with no "street cred", dress and act "white", and in the lowest of the low situations, dare I say it?? Vote Republican!!

Does that sound at all racist ?

Try this http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/opinion/the-puzzle-of-black-republicans.html?_r=0

He doesn't say "Uncle Tom", but it is pretty clear. Tim Scott just isn't allowed to think the way he does --- that is leaving the "Democrat Thought Plantation"!! The Democrats used to keep the blacks on a real plantation, then they moved them to the more virtual "Segregation Plantation", but now they are locked up solidly in the "Thought Plantation".

Guys like Thomas Sowell, one of my intellectual heroes? Well, they just don't exist -- or they doing nothing but "serving as sop to a white man's racist guilt". Sowell has more intelligence in his little toe than this columnist could muster in a year of good days.

A little quote from the end, but it needs to be read to be truly sickened. If you don't sign up for "advancing black interests", then you simply aren't black. Got it?? Get out there and commit a couple crimes for "street cred", wear your pants around your ankles, join a gang and for Gods sake, get on welfare! THOSE are "black interests"! Enough of this stupid white man's education, talking like a white person, staying out of prison, etc -- that isn't being "authentically black"!

The trope of the black conservative has retained a man-bites-dog newsworthiness that is long past its shelf life. Clichés about fallen barriers are increasingly meaningless; symbols don’t make for coherent policies. Republicans will not gain significant black support unless they take policy positions that advance black interests. No number of Tim Scotts — or other cynical tokens — will change that.

Facts About Mass Shootings

The Facts about Mass Shootings - John Fund - National Review Online

Just read it. If we ever return to being a rational nation where people are capable of governing themselves, this is the kind of analysis that will be demanded of our media.

Selective Shooting Science

The Media is an Accomplice in Public Shootings: A Call for a "Stephen King" Law - Forbes

This article makes a claim that sounds familiar:

There’s really no useful debate on the point. The consensus of social scientists since David Phillips’ groundbreaking work in 1974 is that highly publicized stories of deviant and dangerous behavior influences copycat incidents. 

I don't buy the "no useful debate" here, in global warming or anywhere, but this is "fact" of a far older age and detailed correlation than Global Warming. In '74, the climate consensus was that we were slipping into the next ice age.

So why is the left "ignoring science"?

Because we ALL have a VERY limited aperture for what we can consider, and we are ALL highly biased in our world view. The best we can do is to pick our biases very carefully -- or if you are a believer like myself,  allow Christ to drive.

My bias says that we live in a very imperfect world that is completely imperfect-able outside of Christ. Even the most OBVIOUSLY important corrections like "ending slavery"  come with costs like 600K dead (including a lot of children), 100 years of Jim Crow,  the destruction of the black family through political graft payments to welfare and the creation of what appears to be a permanent underclass.  That doesn't mean that we ought not try to improve our world, it just means that as with medicine, FIRST do no harm, and then seek to be minimally invasive.

"Freedom" in the human sense has downsides -- as we see here with speech, will be reminded a million times about guns and see constantly with cars and alcohol. Right now from our media view, there are no downsides to legalization of pot, and it is considered horrible in the extreme by our ruling elites to even mention that there may be large and significant downsides to the slaughter of innocents through abortion. We are heavily schooled in selective horror when it comes to the slaughter of innocents.

Our founding fathers found government to be just one more human created mechanism that was flawed at best, and if not controlled was dangerous beyond imagination. The 20th century gave us more than a few demonstrations of just how dangerous; Communism, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, the "one baby rule" in China, Tienamen Square ... But for a greater and greater number of Americans, "this time it is different" ... they rush headlong to replace the God in the manger with government, the god of the gulag.

Freedom is costly. Tyranny is costly. Balancing them is costly. That is what "imperfect" means.  We trade off 10's of thousands of deaths every year on the highway for freedom of transport. We trade off  many of those deaths and millions of ruined lives to alcohol ... a case where we do seem to have come to the valid consensus that prohibition does not work.

Regulation? Sure ... we have LOTS of regulation on Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, a juxtaposition that I always find odd and very wrong since Firearms are a Constitutional right and the other two are just drugs, but no matter.

Nobody that I heard called for stiffer drunk driving laws after  the Josh Brent (Cowboys player) accident as they had for stricter gun control after the Chiefs Jovan Belcher murder suicide the week before. Right now the left elite is in a power mode after the election, and they hate guns and gun people, but see no risk in uncontrolled government.

If we all just worked to widen our aperture just a bit, perhaps we could at least get along in this imperfect word just a bit better.

Deadliest School Massacre

http://qz.com/37069/the-deadliest-school-massacre-in-us-history-was-in-1927-why-its-aftermath-matters-now/

The deadliest school massacre was in 1927, 38 children and some adults. In 1927, the guy could have used an automatic weapon, they were legal then. He chose a bomb. Evil tends to find a way ... bombs, knives, guns, planes, gas, poison (remember Tylenol poisons? they never caught that one) ...

Human life has always been about family, culture and perspective. Family is biology. Culture is religion, recognized and understood, or not. We used to be a Christian Nation, now we are "mixed" ... for many, the government is god, for many others it is themselves, or money, or sports, or some addiction.

Perspective is our "model/story" -- it is the narrative that we believe to be true independent of day to day vagaries of life. Like "The American Dream" used to be -- work hard, be thrifty, be honest, etc and some day you will have built a good life and a world where your children's life will be better. We murdered our children's future though, so they are now the greatest debtor generation in history. We want our perspective to be "today", because the future looks pretty dark, and it is considered bad to think about the past. Those people were much less "enlightened" than we are told we are today.

Morality used to be something divine, and was about eternity. Now we murder unborn children by the millions and expect that the carnage will have no effects on our valuation of life. Many more are confused if human life is any different from animal life -- we are just "other animals". Man deserves only as much respect as animals -- and so inevitably, human life is devalued yet again.

Death is as much a part of life as birth. Killing any children is senseless, the born, the unborn, the "defective", etc,  but if life is cheap and morals are relative, it really can't be all that unexpected that "going out in a blaze of insane glory" appeals to some deranged soul after the joys of being "Gothic", video game killing or who knows what other pleasure dejour no longer thrills.

Who are we to judge?? Certainly we are unable -- as Niche lamented, since "God is Dead", or at least it is the fervent hope of many in our nation that he is. Somehow death seems both more meaningless and more tragic in the face of the currently popular imagined abyss of annihilation rather than the strong arms of a loving saviour.

We have a huge problem with evil. Human's can't really be evil can they? If they could, then maybe there would be a reason for God to come to earth in a manager to save them from evil. We used to have a religious holiday called Christmas around this time that celebrated just such a birth many believed in and did their best to live their lives in relation to. Now though we have "Holiday's" -- generic, consumption oriented dates on a calendar.

Why does it seem that there is evil? Certainly just a few better drugs, or treatment, or maybe regulations on guns, or magazines, or ammunition -- or? what? would "solve it".

We need to go back to that babe in the manger. "The problem" isn't "out there" ... with the guns or the media or the shrinks or the video games or the movies. Those are just mechanisms and symptoms. The problem is the human soul needing a saviour, and the more we deny that, the more Satan shows us the face of evil with glaring clarity that is impossible to ignore.





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Klobuchar&Franken, Tax Fighting Dynamic Duo!!

It appears that the MN Senators finally read the BOcare bill! Congratulations!!

Suddenly, for at least a couple of companies with deep campaign contributions in their state, they are able to see that "taxes kill jobs". Wow, what a concept!!

Other subtle little message in here are good to see in the open as well:

The industry has been skeptical of the argument behind the tax -- that devicemakers will benefit from the health care law through increased demand for their products.

Klobuchar and Franken fight planned tax on medical devices | StarTribune.com


Hmm,  The authors of BOcare ASSUME that it is going to INCREASE the amount of money going into the medical industry. I could SWEAR that we were told that BOcare would DEcrease the cost of medical care AND increase the people covered. 

Bush Tax Cuts Now Good??

The Left’s Flip-Flop on the Bush Tax Cuts — The American Magazine

Wow, who knew?? Every Democrat and MSM person has said for over a decade that "The Bush cuts were tax cuts for the RICH!!". Now, suddenly BO wants MIDDLE CLASS people to call their congressmen and tell them they must agree with BO and raise JUST the taxes on the "rich" or THEY will have to pay up to $2K more a year??

Apparently Americans actually are gullible enough to go for this.  They hear the tax cuts called one thing for over a decade, suddenly, the story changes and "presto chango", the $3T over 10 years of tax relief for the middle class is really good (at least now) ... but the $800B over 10 years, 8 DAYS of spending each year, of tax relief for the top 10% that pays 70% of the taxes already (by these calculations, many have that number even higher for the top 10%), THOSE taxes have to be raised, or BO is going to force the taxes to be raised on everyone.

Let's see. The Bush tax cuts only benefitted the wealthy, and now going over the Fiscal Cliff and raising taxes on everyone  is all the Republicans fault!!

Yup, information you can believe in!

Why We Fight on Budgets

Bargaining and Its Limits - By Yuval Levin - The Corner - National Review Online

We fight because there is no shared view of America. The Democrats have built a fully formed "United States of Europe" with cradle to grave welfare assistance, protective laws, regulation, now medical care, and a massive old age medical and income security.

Wonderful. Except for the small fact that as in Europe, it necessitates UNlimited government, which was what made the US "exceptional", highly successful, and a world leader.  Sadly, as well, as in Europe, even UNlimited government is insufficient to supply all the "needs", since as been known forever, "needs" are infinite, but means are not.

However, my view is that the last election says that we have crossed this rubicon. We are no longer the America of the Constitution, Rule of Law and the therefore LIMITED Government with the rest of the liberty reserved to the PEOPLE.

We now need to wait for messy reality to take both the US and Europe back to some much sadder plane where MAYBE the wisdom of the US founders can be re-understood and the prospect of a brighter future to work for can once again be seen through the ashes of what we once had.

Advent, Atheists, Accountability

The Real Root of Atheists' Anti-Christmas Rage - Doug Giles - Page 1

Most atheists don't really care so much about God, it is HELL that trips them up. They DO NOT want accountability, no way, no how. The idea that there is an eternal consequence to their arrogant faithlessness is where they break with the faithful, since it is obvious that an ultimate God would have ultimate rights to judge them, God must go!

But there is nothing new or courageous about rejecting God. It is part of the base human package and Satan is ever willing to assist us in that rejection.  We ALL reject God by our very nature. -- we want to be in charge, right, and have everyone acknowledge that!

Christ comes for each of us personally with the whole package. The faith to believe,  love for even those that hate us, and the joy of knowing that his ways are just beyond our imagining. Giles seems too strong on the judgement (law) and too weak on the Grace (gospel).

Atheist is just another word for human. Except through Grace, there is no faith, no love, no hope, no joy. So in this Advent season, we pray for  ourselves to remain in Grace, that all would allow the Good Shepard to find them,  and especially for those we love to allow the love and joy of Christ to bring them home to the fold.

Insane BO Clown Bully

White House Plan on Fiscal Crisis Draws G.O.P. Ire - NYTimes.com

 Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner presented the House speaker, John A. Boehner, a detailed proposal on Thursday to avert the year-end fiscal crisis with $1.6 trillion in tax increases over 10 years, $50 billion in immediate stimulus spending, home mortgage refinancing and a permanent end to Congressional control over statutory borrowing limits

 Give me more taxes, more spending, AND permanently let me just run up the credit card.

BO ran on "the top 1% need to pay more tax" ... $800B over 10 years, $80B a year, 8 days of spending. He wants to double that to 16 days of spending, but it won't last that long since he wants to continue to increase spending.

Plus just throw away the debt limits!!!

We as a nation voted this bozo in AND kept the GOP congress. We clearly deserve what we get.

The Facts About Presidents, Spending and Deficits Since Reagan

The Facts About Budget Deficits: How The Presidents Truly Rank - Forbes

When looking at the facts, the following things  need to be remembered:

• CONGRESS sets the budget of the US. Reagan was hurt badly by a Democrat congress, Clinton helped mightily by Republican one. 
• REAL GROWTH is the ONLY hope!! Not inflation, not borrowing, not even consuming. Turning the nation back to making things of value, selling them at a profit, spending less than that profit and investing the rest in something that goes up in value!
• Reagan did a lot of great things, but he spent a lot of money and a lot of the "growth" was just borrowed money --- public and private. 
• The late '90s Internet Bubble  and '03-'07 Housing Bubble are very hard to factor in this ... Not much to be done about it, just a fact. 

The $29K Better than $69K America

When Work Is Punished: The Tragedy Of America's Welfare State | ZeroHedge

It is better for a single mom to have a $29K job and get the benefits then it is to have a $69K job and get off welfare!!!

Talk about DISincentive!!

The other really frightening statistic in this article:

The punchline: 110 million privately employed workers; 88 million welfare recipients and government workers and rising rapidly.

When something can't go on forever, it won't!!  ... even if people vote as if it will.

Lose Arm or Leg??

My faith in the CBO is about the same as my faith in other government agencies, but one has to use SOMETHING for sources. It is pretty clear that the switch to Democrats in '07 was devastating, and the big reason for that is that the difference between the two parties is pretty much R - we drink a handle of vodka a day, D - we add a mixture of crack and heroin to the vodka.

Would you rather be a rose colored 58% of GDP in the hole or 90% in 2022?? I say "rose colored" because this doesn't count FICA, Medicare and a bunch of other stuff. We are ALREADY over 100% of GDP in the hole if you take the rosy glasses off just like our ACTUAL unemployment is well over 10% and well over 20% for folks in their 20s and 50s.

So now we have a decrepit economy and our choices really really suck. Left side, do the "responsible thing". Damned if you do. Right side, continue down the road to perdition. Damned if you don't. Like kicking smokes, booze, drugs, starting to exercise, taking up exercise, etc, on the "next day basis" (think "next 5 years" for country), doing the "right thing" sucks worse ... especially right away.

 The "Fiscal Cliff" is really just "a reasonable start". A "deal" ... like the completely stupid and useless 8 days of revenue from "taxing the rich" is just dropping a few more shots on your supposed way to quitting drinking. BUT ... as I've said before. Republicans, the current party of "being a drunk isn't as bad as being a drug addict" needs to clean up and start talking very straight.

 My advice is to give the Democrats what they want and start COMMUNICATING things like this chart about how really senseless their policies are, but in the interest of "compromise", here you go -- there is a congressional election in 2 years. If the D policies have worked, vote us out. If not, we would really like your consideration then and in 2016, providing there is anything recognizable as a nation left.

 Romney was right about the stuff, just wrong about the percentage. It isn't 47% takers, it is 50.x%". He clearly stated that he was NOT the candidate of stuff, and the American people said "give us our stuff". They want the binge to go on. Yes, the death of America is maybe already a reality and certainly likely with that approach, but the Republicans have become AT BEST enablers by marginally slowing the decline.

It is time for the nation to reach bottom, and either then seek a different course, or just cease.

Demography, Destiny, Racism

Demography Is Destiny - Ann Coulter - Page 1:

How can it be that your race defines how you will vote? Is there ANY way that can be true other than assumptions about demography that are just as racist as Slavery and the subsequent Jim Crow South that the Democrats presided over for 100 years post slavery??

Hispanics especially, but certainly Orientals and even a significant percentage of Blacks believe in strong families, hard work, individual responsibility, religious faith, sanctity of life, etc ... "Republican" values, formerly known as American values.

BUT, they have been convinced to vote "tribally" ... they have been sold a bill of goods that it is REPUBLICANS that are "racist", while it is assumed that a group of people will continue in perpetuity to vote counter to their own beliefs because:

1. They would be ashamed to vote "against their race". 
2. Their race is ALWAYS going to be some sort of an underclass that is going to require a lot of government largesse. 

Unless one believes some races are actually inferior, is either we keep allowing in a large number of minorities that need massive government services. OR, if Democrats are able to perform the magic they have on Blacks on Hispanics by breaking up families through welfare and making them a permanently dependent subculture that is guaranteed to vote Democrat. Since Democrats are so certain of "Demography/Destiny", I have to assume they expect to keep open borders / massive welfare state forever??

Yes, Democrats clearly believe that non-whites are "racially incapable" of voting other than for entitlement. Do Republicans believe that?? I sure don't. It is up to Republicans to point out the racism in the Democrat message and assumptions and to win these segments to voting for the values that they actually agree with!!

What has and is being done to Blacks by the Democrat Party in this country -- from Slavery to Jim Crow, to Welfare Dependency is the greatest single tragedy of America. To allow it to happen to Hispanics is unconscionable!!

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White Crowd Laughs and Applauds at Black Man Defeat!

Overwhelmingly white crowd laughs at and applauds defeat of black politician | The Daily Caller

See, it is RACIST when one doesn't support a Black man !!!

WTF??? E-Mail????

What the heck, FBI? - The Week:

The nations top spy and another 4-star general think e-mail is SECURE??? WTF???

That to me is the strangest part of this story. Old powerful guy cheats with younger woman ... uh, older story than David and Bathsheba.

"Sudden revelation day after election" ... yea, right. I thought BO ran as Santa, doesn't he know who is naughty and nice??

But if our "super smart intellectual elite" is convinced that e-mail is secure, they might think a nation can borrow 40% of what it spends and have 10% of the people pay 90% of the remainder ... oh wait, they DO believe that!! Better go practice shooting. bye.

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Joy In Stalinist Amerika: Reaganomics Dead!

Michael Tomasky on How Mitt Romney Finally Killed Reaganomics - The Daily Beast

Kind of reminds me of "God is dead", "The end of competition", "We are all Keynesians now", "The end of big government", etc.

The principles that kicked off the Reagan revolution, and even the Bush economy (Record stock market, $165B deficit in 2007) are going to go away at about the same time as gravity and women enjoying having their hair done.

Of course liberals want them "repealed" ... along with competition, merit, investment, Christianity and hard work, but while they can stop things for a good long while, growth and life tend to find a way.

Dirty Harry Election

They want a tax increase. What are you going to do?? Give them one ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juwPE7hnymohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juwPE7hnymo

Let Democrats Have Their Way!!

Dear Republican Congress, Give Obama and His Boys Everything They Want - Doug Giles - [page]

I really think that Giles is on to something here. We have had enough divided government to soften the level of disaster since the Democrat congress takeover in '07, but it has allowed muddled thinking.

The Democrats want to tax the rich. The removal of the W tax cuts is $80B added revenue a year assuming the "rich" don't change their behavior to get less income. The government spends $10B a day. We are arguing over 8 days of spending!

What if Republicans went on TV and said "Here is what we believe will happen, but people want compromise, so here it is. Please learn from it.".

It would at least be a different approach!

Voter Fraud

Obama Likely Won Re-Election Through Election Fraud - Rachel Alexander - Page 1

Remember DieBold and all the left wingers screaming bloody murder about vote fraud in '00 up until '06?? In '06, it was suddenly no longer an issue!

'10 showed us that fraud has a limit. One can't have TOO  many districts where the number of registered voters exceeds the population, but as this article shows, you can have SOME and get away with it.

There is a very easy to understand why electronic voting was an issue and now it isn't -- the left figured out how to keep their fraud numbers up using the new form of voting, so they are fine with it now.

There is an easy explanation for why they are so against Voter ID now -- it would affect their fraud vote totals, so they block it any way they can.

Regret

Death - A Nice Opportunity for Regret - NYTimes.com

Death, or last Tuesday. Wait, that is redundant.

Very well done article.  Read it all,  but this really spoke to me.

If you have no sadness or remorse, you are a liar or a denier, or worse still, you haven’t lived. No one makes it through a life without words better left unsaid, poor judgments or thoughtless omissions. I can barely make it through a day without all three.

Use It Or Lose It??

There is going to be no interest in proving anything now by anyone in power in MN, and not at the federal level either since BO controls the judiciary, but there really is only one real reason to fight voter ID. 

You know there is massive fraud and you like it that way. In fact, your job and maybe even your freedom from the slammer depends on it. 

Oh sure,  those in power and the MSM can make up "disenfranchisement",  but with provisional ballots, that is a fantasy. For the sheep though, if their leaders make a noise they bleat it back. 

Apparently BO lost in every state that requires ID. I know, it proves nothing ... those states are likely more conservative and he would have lost there anyway.  Just a "factoid" ... like "the Koch brothers gave money to ...", or Mitt Romney's son had invested in some company that owned some company that made voting machines that were installed in OH. Oh, NPR had a 5min segment on that last one the day before the election because it was a "meme", and they were just saying it probably wasn't true ... repeating a meme is ALWAYS a great way toi quash it. Good thing the investment in Big Bird pays some dividends, 

One more in a long list of things there is just no curiosity about in the MSM ... you know, not like the important stuff like was W a good pilot, did Ronnie sleep in meetings, did HW know the price of a gal of milk when he was president, and could Dan Quayle spell potato. 

Oh, and did you know there is a "Fiscal Cliff" coming up?? I'll be darned -- now there was a story that just suddenly flashed up on the MSM radar Wednesday.  Good thing we spent a couple of billion to put exactly the same folks back at the levers of power that CREATED the fiscal cliff cuz they couldn't agree in the summer of '11, nor in the "double secret committee" later that year. 

Ah yes, the "free and unbiased press" ... making sure the folks in the nation that borrows 40% of it's existing budget and CURRENTLY has 10% of it's people pay 90% of the rest are all up to date on what's trump.

Oh, yes, now I guess there is a "mandate" for that 10% to pay more of the freight. They just aren't doing enough ... the greedy bastards!!

Wallowing In Bitterness

Bitterfest 2012 - Jay Nordlinger - National Review Online

After Tuesday, reality based people deserve a little bitterness!!

This is well done, a few of the points made are right on with where I'm thinking:

• Conservatives tend to be on the positive sided of pragmatism. To steal the title of the excellent Ridley book "Rational Optimists". Tuesday showed us that in the case of the US, this was unwarranted. 
• The 100 year leftward slide goes on. The Statists of course call that "Progressive" ... progress. Ever larger government, ever smaller private liberty. Reagan was an oh so tiny slowing, now the dive for the left continues to accelerate. People were NOT duped as might have been claimed after '08. This time they had a clear choice and over half of the US went for GIMME THE STUFF!!

The Meaning of Yesterday’s Defeat | Power Line, MUST READ

The Meaning of Yesterday’s Defeat | Power Line

I wish I had written this. Very much on target.  The fact that even though the vast majority of Americans thought Romney would be better on the economy, they went for the "free stuff" tells me that it is over ... we have gone over that cliff where the takers solidly outnumber the makers.

We borrow 40% of the cost of our government and 10% of the people pay for the rest. Why are we surprised that the electorate says; "good"?

What really hurts is that our educational system has convinced our youth that socialism works, when the very recent past provides many proofs that it does not. No matter, most young people believe what their teachers tell them and the primary function of our union controlled school system is to turn out more liberals.

Reality Votes

I've often said thought and felt that if it wasn't for reality, everyone would be a Democrat.

If there was no God, but a guarantee of a benevolent government to take care of you no matter how lazy, foolish, irresponsible, unlucky, etc one happend to be. A government that loved you unconditionally -- with the only real caveat being that you never, ever, questioned the divine correctness of that government and the premises of the cornucopia on which it stands. Nor would you have some other God that you considered greater than the wondrous government -- provider of all that is good to all, with no malice to any, except of course those that just will NOT get their minds right no matter how obvious the error of their ways is made.

A government that gave you birth control, abortions, cures for your venereal diseases, raised your illegitimate children and cared for you no matter how many lives you happened to damage as you careened in and out driven by the pleasure of the day.  A government that guaranteed you all the years in the womb of an education system studying anything from basket weaving to women's, minority, or deviant cultures, lifestyles or world views ... and then food, shelter, medical care, recreation and "a respectable income doing something you like" when you decided that academia was boring. Free internet, free drugs, free booze, free love, free self respect ... plus rehabilitation, counseling, analysis and more drugs if one of your "freedoms" turned out less well than you thought.

But, I believe there is a God, and a universe that contains imperfect and imperfect-able humans, incapable of creating a government that is effectively the human vision of a "good god" -- a "government god" that gives what we want with no conditions save acknowledgement of the government giving and gifts.  No rules, no payment, no downsides, no limits. Not my universe.

Strangely, my God is exactly that -- only heavenly. Gifts including his own Son, freely given to those that accept the gift. There is the angst of now having a desire to improve on my human self centered desires toward sin, but once having seen grace, it is hard to imagine wanting to just seek maxing out your wallowing potential.

But America has clearly voted for a "government god" in the belief that reality will not bite in the form of further economic collapse and/or a rudderless world drifting to a new world DISorder that likely includes nuclear exchanges or just destruction with Iran-Israel, Pakistan-India, N Korea - Japan, ???

The Franklin quote; "Those that trade liberty for security get neither" keeps running through my mind.

Krauthammer, Biggest Election Since '80

Charles Krauthammer: The choice - The Washington Post

A good one by Charles. I'd quibble with him on scope and Reagan effect ... "Progressivism" has been on the rise since 1900, and all Reagan did was slow it a bit. Rolling anything major back (FICA, Medicare, now Healthcare, etc) is work that remains to be done.

In 1980 we were not close to a 50/50 nation on government dependency, today, as Romney acknowledged in his 47% comment, we are.

Libertarian Voting Republican

The following is a reprint of a Kurt Bills note on the subject of sticking together in an election. I think it is one of the most well written statements on the issue I've ever seen and the Reagan quote at the end was new to me, and as many Reagan quotes, directly on point on this subject. 

In June 2009 Norm Coleman conceded his Senate race to comedian Al Franken.
He lost the race, after 6 months of recounts and legal battles, by 312 votes.
In December 2010, Tom Emmer conceded his race for Governor after a similar recount, losing by fewer than 9000 votes. 

Both races have something in common much more important than the fact that they ended after recounts: they ended with extremely liberal politicians taking power entirely due to the defection of Republicans to third-party candidates. In a very real way, Democrats didn’t win those elections as much as Republicans chose to lose them.

In my mind, that is shameful. Do any of the Republicans who voted for Dean Barkley or Tom Horner really believe our state and our country are better off with Al Franken and Mark Dayton as Senator and Governor? 

The reasons for some Republicans to defect from Coleman and Emmer are a mirror image of each other. Some Republicans expressed dissatisfaction with Coleman because he was not conservative enough for their taste; in Emmer’s case, others thought he was too conservative. 

They were looking for the “Goldilocks” candidate in the race, and voted for a third party candidate or stayed home. In the Emmer race, former Republican Tom Horner garnered over 250,000 votes, more than 25 times the margin by which Emmer lost. Not all those votes were disaffected Republicans, of course, but too many of them were.
The results are stark: Minnesota didn’t get a centrist, “goldilocks” Senator or Governor. They were saddled, instead, with two of the most liberal politicians in the country representing them in Washington and St Paul.Republicans who didn’t vote for their Republican candidates are responsible for the passage of Obamacare, a bill that would have been stopped had Norm Coleman been in the Senate.

I am not one to believe that we should abandon our principles and simply adopt the Party line. Many of you recall that I am the Republican Senate candidate today because I ran an insurgent campaign from outside the Party structure. 

I firmly believe it is our responsibility to fight within the Party to ensure it represents our principles. Ronald Reagan was an insurgent, and eventually won out against the Rockefeller Republicans after nearly two decades of work in the trenches.
During that time Reagan was both a loyal Republican and a principled warrior for his cause. 

That is what each of us needs to be today. Day in, day out each of us needs to work tirelessly to persuade other Republicans to our side when we disagree; and day in, day out we need to fight to defeat Democrats who are pushing policies which if left unchecked will bankrupt our country and undermine the constitutional foundations of our country. 

Ronald Reagan hit it on the nose when he declared: “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally — not a 20 percent traitor.” 

That is why I am voting for a Republican straight ticket this Election Day…and why you should, 

Obama Celebrity Endorsers

Obama’s Celebrity Endorsers of 2009: Where Are They Now? | Power Line

Ah, remember 2008, Obamamania, Obasms ... oh well, it is looking a bit like BO and Jimmuh can maybe go off on a world apology tour together.

It is short and worth the watch ... makes you wonder about America, but since we DID elect BOTH Carter and Obama, we definitely SHOULD wonder!!

Remember George Zimmerman

One of the extreme dangers of a controlled or crony/paid press (eg. Public Media) is that they masquerade as a source of information, but really become just another political propaganda arm of the government interest, or in the case of the MSM in the US, the ruling elite ... public and private unions, lawyers, the legal system and the university/educational system.

So an open and shut self defense case in FL is trumped up to a racist murder by the racial / left political industry during an election year to provide a few weeks of cover for a failed president trying to be re-elected. George Zimmerman, a private citizen, Democrat himself a minority (hispanic) has his life destroyed so he can be forced to provide the left with a diversion. Then the story stops and we are told to move long.

"Dershowitz also mentions a suspicion I’ve harbored since the weird, circus-like press conference at which Corey announced the charges: they’re a political instrument designed to buy time for everyone to cool down, leading to a long trial that dismantles some of the hysteria built up around the Trayvon Martin case.  If true, the strategy is understandable… but utterly outrageous.  The United States does not do “show trials.”  The justice system is not a safety valve for releasing unhealthy levels of political tension.  Individual citizens are not pawns to be shoved around in media games by gun-control advocates, race hustlers, or opportunistic politicians.  The purpose of law enforcement is to protect the public, not appease certain segments of it."

But we see in the Zimmerman case, the US now IS the kind of nation where people become pawns of the political/legal/media system and are powerless to prevent it.

Unless of course those of us in "undesirable groups" ... white, male, christian, conservative, etc follow the "stay in your car strategy", or maybe better put "sit down and shut up" strategy. When the corruption of the system gets to a certain point, the siren call is to keep your head down and stay quiet and they will leave you alone. Unfortunately, as millions found out in the 20th century, that doesn't work. First they come for a few George Zimmermans ... eventually they come for you.

It’s difficult to see how any of that might convince a jury to hand down a “guilty” verdict to Murder Two charges.  How does that “stay in your car” principle work?  Do you have to stay in your car when you seeanyone acting suspiciously in your neighborhood, or do the age, sex, and racial background of the subject matter?  Does everyone have to stay in their cars, or only members of certain age, sex, and racial groups?

'via Blog this'

Stop Stealing Dreams

Take the 20 min and watch this, it is critical to our future as a nation.

I agree with most of what he says, but it is much worse than he thinks. For all his brilliance, Seth seems to have an anti-industrialist bias. It is true that "industrialists" like compliant workers and consumers, but it is even MORE true that growing and potentially oppressive governments love them even more.

They want compliant and predictable voters so it seems like a "Democracy". What is more, the unions that support them want predictable and non-competitive jobs that they can sleepwalk through to a lucrative retirement, and are willing to provide millions in campaign contributions and vocal support to keep that gravy train running.

YES! We must get out of the 19th century in education, but we are not going to do it with the vested interests of teachers and government UNION employees + the existing university elite calling the shots!

Harvard and Yale will definitely agree that losing their status as "elite" is a VERY bad thing!!

'via Blog this'

It's The World View Stupid

George W. Bush Haunts Mitt Romney - Bloomberg

The media succeeded in making W an unpopular president, ergo whatever principles he governed by are discredited. Being "unpopular" is equivalent to being wrong.

US savings rate is pitifully low (although less pitiful than it used to be), therefore saving money is "wrong/bad".

The doctor used approved medical procedures to treat the patient, but they died, therefore we ought to return to blood letting, it is "obviously" just as good.

Many countries around the globe moved to more market based competitive economic policies in the '80s and saw long term economic booms. Many backslid from those policies ... US, England, Ireland. Some didn't ... China, India, Brazil. The ones that backslid have fallen on hard economic times, the ones that stayed the course are largely still rolling. Therefore a market based competitive approach to economic activity is discredited??

If all the other kids jump over a cliff, are you going to follow them?? I guess in a liberal house, the answer to that question is "Sure, if everyone else thinks it is a good idea, it must be ... we believe in democracy!!"

Can Big Bird Leave the Government Nest??

Mark Steyn: Will Big Bird ever leave the government nest? | big, bird, mitt - Opinion - The Orange County Register

It's a bit wordy but it is great. Steyn may be Canadian, but he is good!

Good Jobs??

Obama’s Jobs Failure, In One Chart | Power Line

As a long time NPR listener, I know that whenever there is a "good jobs number" (lower unemployment, good number of jobs for a month/quarter, etc) ... well, at least during the Reagan years and the W years, the question was always "Are those good jobs ?? or low paying dead end jobs??"

Is the person "underemployed"? Meaning are they in a job that is below their skill level?

How about "disenchanted workers"?? Those folks that have gotten so sick of looking for work that they are just sitting it out??

Those are all good questions, but they are good questions no matter who is in the WH, and the ANSWERS are also important.

Unfortunately, for BO, the answer on especially the disenchanted front is terrible as the linked chart clearly shows.

Chris Matthews Missing Leg Shiver

Chris Matthews Freaks Out At Obama: "What Was He Doing?" | RealClearPolitics:


Wow, Matthews of "Obama sends a shiver up your leg" fame seems to think "the one" didn't do so well!

'via Blog this'

MSM Sampling Reality on Libyan Ambassador?

Editorial: Shifting Libya attack story raises red flags:

Were this W in '04 vs BO in '12, the MSM drumbeat would be deafening --- "gross administration incompetence", "failed intelligence", etc ... the call for a scapegoat would be shrill. Give us a Sec State resignation!, give us a CIA director resignation!, SOMETHING! The admin clearly went with a story they thought would sell, and now it has unraveled ... raw meat for the MSM maw with a Republican in the WH.

I guess it is just a lot quieter when your guy is in the WH.

Three weeks after an attack in Libya killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans, we now know that it did not spring from a spontaneous protest, spurred by an anti-Muslim video, as the Obama administration originally described it. In fact, every aspect of the early account — peddled most prominently by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice — has unraveled.

'via Blog this'

Voter ID Is Expensive? Try Harriers

Chaos at the Pentagon? | Power Line

It is CHEAP if it gets enough fraud out of the system to take BO with it!

$200 million would cover a lot of ID, not to mention the two lives which are priceless.

We have Al Qaeda "on the run"?? Looks a lot like they have been INCREASING in strength the past 4 years!!

"Secret" Videos

Althouse: The secret video of Romney talking to donors.

Sometimes I wonder if even smart (and pretty actually) conservatives like Ann aren't a bit too isolated from the MSM onslaught to "get it".

On NPR and CNN today (and I'm sure MSNBC, NYT, etc), Mitt's comments are THE story. They are unashamedly presented as "he doesn't CARE about the 47%".  This is a feeding frenzy, they believe that coupled with their fantastical interpretation  about Mitt calling the reprehensible APOLOGY from the US Egyptian reprehensible -- which BTW, BO and Hillary did later in the day, they have a Romney campaign in "disarray", the election as good as lost.

Of course they may.  4 US dead including an Ambassador in Libya, which was the 2nd biggest positive of the BO foreign policy. oh, did you know he killed Bin Ladin? Personally I believe ... hand to hand. It was a wonderful thing ... but prior to the ambassador being dragged through the streets, his brilliant Libya strategy was very close.

Anyway, pay no attention to Libya. Pay no attention to the US being unable to do joint ops with Afghans lest they shoot us. Pay no attention to an economy that still sucks and a QEIII politically motivated money printing orgy. The fed used to be about pulling the punchbowl away, now they are pouring 190 proof grain alcohol in it right before an election.

No matter. Mitt criticized the media guy and we caught him telling the truth on camera. He is done!!

Oh, "Bitterly Clinging" in '08?? If you didn't do conservative media, you barely heard about it. NPR and CNN covered "the right wing / racist media trying to make something out of it" ... but it was a non-story.

Why would it be? BO is their guy.

Can Republicans Talk? - Thomas Sowell - Page 1

Can Republicans Talk? - Thomas Sowell - Page 1

Just read it. Republicans need to do A TON more work than they do to debunk the lies of the left. Sure, they will constantly be castigated for "repeating the same lies" ... the the MSM and Democrats which are the EXPERTS at doing just that, but the so what?

As Sowell says so well -- "The facts DON'T speak for themselves" !!!

Famous "Liberal" Pictures

Pictures That Change Elections? | Power Line

One can only hope.

Why is it that when a Republican is in the WH there is no end to the weeping and gnashing of teeth about "fascism",  "chilling constitutional rights abuses" and other sundry overblown concerns.

But when there is a "liberal" in the WH, the Jackbooted Thugs actually start showing up at people's homes.

Blood-let Till It Works!

Fed Pledges Action Until Economy Shows Gains - NYTimes.com:

Wow, this is GREAT news! I'm thinking, why would they ever stop??? I mean, if this works (and so far, it completely hasn't), then why not just keep doing it?

Hell, the economy can always be better, right? Just do it FOREVER!!

I mean, no way they would just do this for an attempted quick spiff prior the elections, right? I mean, that would be "political", and we know that the Fed is NOT a political.

So why is it important to let the opposition know of a data certain when we will be done with a military surge in troops, but it is important to tell the markets that we are "in it till it works"??

I guess I'm just not as brilliant as the BO administration!


'via Blog this'

Criticize BO Foreign Policy Bad?

Update on the Murder of Ambassador Stevens | Power Line

Oh yea, I SURELY remember the MSM becoming enraged when W was criticized! ... and of course HIS policies where the same when initiated as 90% of the Democrats, voted on through both houses with wide margins, and agreed to by 80% of the US population going in!

Not that we ought focus on that, "Bush Lied!!".

BO OTOH went in alone (oh, wait, he had the FRENCH with him), no congress, no big public support -- he was COURAGEOUS! So it would be COMPLETELY WRONG to criticize him or for him to take responsibility!!

FURTHER UPDATE: This is just about beyond belief. We have a failed policy in the Middle East, an American embassy and consulate attacked by Islamic radicals in two countries whose regimes the Obama administration participated in overthrowing, a murdered ambassador–the first in 33 years–and the burning question in the media-formerly-known-as-meanstream is whether Mitt Romney was wrong to criticize the Obama administration’s response to the attacks.

Of course, reporters are entirely consistent. Remember when things weren’t going well in Iraq–weapons of mass destruction weren’t found, al Qaeda stimulated sectarian violence, military casualties were rising–how the media became enraged every time a Democrat criticized George W. Bush’s Iraq policies? Yeah, that’s what dominated the news back in 2005 and 2006–reporters saying to Democrats, how dare you try to politicize foreign policy? Don’t you know that politics stops at the water’s edge? That’s how I remember it!

Is this 1979?

Is this 1979? « Hot Air

If you were of memorable age in '79 (unfortunately I was already working at IBM), this article is truth in the extreme.

The left, and even some of the right seem to pine away for Saddam in Iraq, but have no such sentiment for the Shah in Iran,  Q-Daffy in Libya, or Mubarak in Egypt.

Why??

I can think of only a couple of reasons:

1). They just don't study this kind of thing much, and slip into MSM la la sometimes. (I really hope that is the "standard")

2). In their hearts, they feel the US is wrong. A generalization of "The 1%". If you hate the 1%, then by extension, you must hate America, because pretty much all Americans are "The 1%" on a global basis. If it is evil to be on top, then the OWS folks are showing the world that THEY and their country are in the evil column.

Guess what? There are a whole lot of folks around the world that are very willing to remove us from this position.  By death is just fine in their book!!

Libyan Ambassador Killed : BO Built This!

Obama condemns killing of U.S. ambassador to Libya - CNN.com

OK, BO Went into Libya without the support of congress. I wonder if he is going to take responsibility for this one, ir try to blame W?

Is it possible to get any more like Jimmy Carter??? It is positively spooky.

Are We Already Beyond Repair??

Double-Minded Republicans - Andrew C. McCarthy - National Review Online

Conservatives have failed to stem the tide of "progressive" indoctrination and a full 1/3 of the country is ideologically lost. It will take a shock ... famine, loss of the electrical and internet grid, riots in the streets, attack with WMD or some other such catastrphe  before they arise from their indoctrination and look at reality rather than gauzy "Hopes" or "Caring".

Here is the blunt explanation: We have lost a third of the country and, as if that weren’t bad enough, Republicans act as if it were two-thirds. 

The lost third cannot be recovered overnight. For now, it is gone. You cannot cede the campus and the culture to the progressive, post-American Left for two generations and expect a different outcome. So even if Obama is the second coming of Jimmy Carter — and he has actually been much more effective, and therefore much worse — it is unreasonable to expect a Reagan-style landslide, and would be even if we had Reagan. 

The people coming of age in our country today have been reared very differently from those who were just beginning to take the wheel in the early 1980s. They have marinated in an unapologetically progressive system that prizes group discipline and narrative over free will and critical thought.

McCarthy would argue that Republicans with more backbone could still potentially talk and walk in ways that true Americans would rally around. I hope so. 

The point he doesn't touch on here and I fear invalidates his optimism is that we are at 49.1 of the population significantly dependent on the government already ... AND I suspect while there is some intersection between the lost third and the dependent 49.1, it is way less than enough to keep the combination from going way over 50%. 

A lot of the 1/3 are HS and University graduates and relatively young. Much of the 49.1 are dropouts and elderly. 

Not a hopeful picture, but an excellent article. 

Paul Ryan Marathon "Lie"

Key Part of JFK-Obama Myth Not True - ABC News

Obama claimed that his father was airlifted to Hawaii by the Kennedys, and that the Selma marches were the catalyst.

Couple small problems. The Selma marches were in '65, Barack Sr came to Hawaii in '59, and Obama was born in '61.

"Lie"? Ever hear about it???

Remember Hillary Clinton being named after Sir Edmund Hillary???  http://www.snopes.com/politics/clintons/hillary.asp ... who didn't become famous for 6 years after she was born???

You probably don't remember either of those because the MSM wasn't very excited about reporting them. Suppose they are going to have a different attitude on Paul Ryan's "lie"??

I'll wager they will. For Ryan, it will be a "character issue" ... unlike of course Bill Clinton saying "I never had sex with that woman" ... which was "personal" even though he was under oath and any sexual relations with a subordinate would dismiss anyone from the military or a US corporation, consensual or not.  Never mind, one of their own.

Other than the Bill Clinton case, I'd be inclined to be forgiving of Obama, Hillary and Ryan ... because if all of us would be FORCED to be "honest"  (because someone researched all the "facts") we would find that parts of our "history" are fabrications. We don't REALIZE they are, but we ALL look at our past very selectively and through very rose colored glasses.  These items are factually incorrect, but to call them "lies" is to completely not understand what it is to be human.

The kinds of folks that go into politics are "worse" ... meaning they see themselves in a more "fake positive" light than the rest of us.  But we ALL do it!!

What sucks is that Conservatives are big believers in "the higher standard", AND in  "consistency". Both traits which I wholly agree with, but which can very quickly become totally unrealistic, meaning that no human  can actually be a "conservative politician",  which actually does come perilously close to being an oxymoron.

Couple this with the MSM tendency to pile on anybody on the right with a vengeance, but to wink-wink-nod-nod to to those on the left, and a recipe for having the deck stacked woefully against one side is great. It is almost as if someone would risk their job using possibly fake documents on one hand to ferret out a possible 30 year old poor evaluation, but be completely incurious over sealed records of  a candidate from the other party's entire history at Columbia.

Oh, but I'd be crazy to think that kind of double standard could exist!!

Do I wish that Ryan hadn't said something so obviously stupid??? Certainly. Am I going to hold him to a standard higher than BO or Hillary???  Yes, but not an impossible standard.

God and Jerusalem, 50/50 at DNC

DNC Almighty Nightmare In Charlotte: Now Dems Put God And Jerusalem Language Back Into The Platform

Watch the video and make your own  determination. First we have a BO "oops" on  approval of the platform,  and then we have the "fix",  with the chair having to fudge the 2/3 approval.

Note, BO couldn't do a review of his own platform, and when  it hat to be updated, he couldn't get an honest 2/3 vote from his own delegates!

This guy thinks he deserves ANOTHER term??

Blessings, Blame, American Economy

Why Blame Obama?

The linked article makes the case pretty clear that Obama has a very large share of the blame for the current state of the American economy. The cornerstones that blame rests on:

• Understanding that CONGRESS sets the budget of the US. Slick Willie deserves credit for signing the budgets of the '90s that led to a surplus (under duress), but the Republican congress set them and took the blame for the reduction in the rate of growth of spending that led to the surplus (along with the Internet Bubble). 
• Understanding the difference between TARP and the Stimulus -- W helped engineer and signed off on TARP (which I also didn't like), but BO did the Stimulus with his Democrat congress cronies. 
• Understanding the history of US debt and the truly horrific effect that ONE term by ONE US president ( BO ) has had. 
• Understanding the destruction of the rule of law and it's replacement with crony capitalism and the effect that has on business investment. 

But there is still some mass confusion about "How do we get out of this?".

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/opinion/henry-ford-when-capitalists-cared.html

While liberals scream of the Republicans holding a convention that was supposed to be a huge lie about an America that never was by a bunch of evil folks out to hurt anyone less that super wealthy, the left wants to return to Henry Ford and 1914. Well, that's a start.

In 1914, US spending was 2.76% of GDP ...  21% LESS!! than government spending today. No doubt corporate leaders and wealthy people "cared" (as measured in $$$) much more in 1914 than they do today. They could AFFORD TO!!  The US Government forced them to outsource all that "caring" to Washington at the point of a gun and now complains that "Corporations don't care enough"!

Worse, America was highly competitive then. Today we are over regulated, over taxed, federally mismanaged, and our work ethic has been converted to "gimme" ... out of somebody else's pocket, ASAP.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/opinion/sunday/friedman-its-still-halftime-in-america.html?_r=1&hp&src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

Friedman is pining away for the 60's and like the entire left, he is forced to completely forget the '80s. Yes, JFK set a great goal with going to the moon, and NASA cashed the check. While fondly remembered by Friedman however, we also had a number of assassinations, civil unrest, a losing war in Vietnam, an acceleration in entitlements we couldn't pay for and the beginnings of the end of our economic world dominance.

By the '80s, the left had decided that "America's best years were behind her", and then came Ronald Reagan saying it was "Morning in America" and that the USSR (our competition for Superpower at that point) would be assigned to "The Ash Heap of History". And lo, it came to pass that the USSR was so consigned and the US set off on an economic odyssey that lasted right up through '07.

Perhaps we need to figure out what the game is again until we declare it "Halftime".  America used to be proudly pro-business and business used to be proudly pro-profit. Now what are we?? Pro-entitlement?? But what kind of a game is that?? The winners are the takers rather than the makers?

I'd say we already see how well that works. We have been sliding since 1914 or before and the '07 Democrat congress and BO just kicked in the solid fuel boosters in the wrong direction as we already hung at the edge.

There is STILL no free lunch! Figure that out, realize that competition is like gravity -- it is ALWAYS there, you just get to decide if it is to your benefit or your peril!

Let's get this country up off the mat and get back in the right game ... and then maybe we can talk about "halftime" after a couple decades of defending against the opposition and scoring some solid points!

LBJ, Reagan, BO, "Progress"

Election a stark choice on America's future - CNN.com

The second "choice" election came in 1980, when, after a decade of failed leadership, a man came galloping out of the West who seemed the most improbable of figures to get the country going again. And he was carrying with him many of Goldwater's ideas. But Ronald Regan turned out to be a strong leader with a million-dollar smile; Jimmy Carter, a man better suited to be a saint than a politician, went down decisively. Score one for smaller government.

I might actually do the list as "FDR, LBJ, Carter and BO" --- the merchants of ruin. In reality, each election once the anti-american virus of "Progressivism" entered the politics of the US in roughly 1900 has just been the "choice" between letting the disease run at the same rate or trying to speed it up.

If anything, this year's choice is starker than in 1980: Reagan had a pragmatic streak, so he was willing to compromise to get a deal done and keep moving forward (Tip O'Neill used to say that the Gipper would win more than half a loaf and come back for the rest later). Romney and Ryan, however, reinforced by the tea party, show no inclination to compromise. On the Democratic side, aides to President Obama are spreading the word that, if he wins, he has had enough of trying to accommodate the Republicans and will also be more confrontational

Ah yes, "pragmatism", it was even around in 1980. The left in no way shape or form found Reagan to be "pragmatic". He was a harsh ideologue that was itching to go to war with the USSR, hurt the poor and benefit ONLY the "rich". For the left, the Reagan administration was an unremitting disaster -- both in their minds and in reality. In their minds, because they hated the man to the core and totally believed that the USSR was  "as good as we were, and probably better". In reality, because he proved that America was far from dead while communism was on life support at best, and mostly because he allowed Americans willing to keep their eyes and ears open to see that the basic ideas embodied in the Constitution -- individual freedom, small government, free enterprise, WORK!

What is different is that since Reagan we have had ONLY progressive presidents -- HWB, Slick, W and BO ... and had we elected McCain he would have also been on that list. In my book, so is Romney -- but I suspect that the real danger the left sees is Ryan. Ryan has the potential to be as beneficial to America and as dangerous for the left has Reagan was.

I do agree with their assessment on the gravity of the election, only more so.

But there should be no doubt that the two tickets stand behind radically different visions of the role of government and individuals. Under President Obama, federal spending is now 24% of GDP, far higher than in recent decades. While Obama talks of trimming, his most thoughtful advisers think the government is likely to grow in coming years no matter who wins (see Larry Summers's provocative column in the Financial Times this week).

Of course these guys are pretty far left. The entire US Gov spending -- Federal, State and Local is about 50% of GDP, 9% of which is borrowed. http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/percent_gdp

Like a lot of things in government though, it's worse than that http://ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html

The bottom 50% of US earners pay only 2% of taxes while the top 25% pays 87% and the top 1% pays 37%.

One might say that the class war is over and the productive class LOST! When 50% of the country essentially pays no income tax, and 75% pays very little, it is easy to see why "make the rich pay more" seems like such a great idea to over 50% of the people. We hear a lot about Romney "only" paying 14% and hear very little about that coming to $6.2 M. They also hear very little about the $7 M he gave away.

So we come to an election where although there are many unemployed, the vast vast majority of Americans are really hurting very little, while the top 25% shoulders nearly 90% of the cost of the "progressives" massive government.  Even worse, 49.1% of US citizens receive some level of assistance from the government http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/05/26/number-of-the-week-half-of-u-s-lives-in-household-getting-benefits/.  No wonder our politics are polarized!! 25% of the people are not only paying the freight, 50% of the people are RIDING THE TRAIN!!

The "progressive" progrom is much the same as the communist one. In communism, you "win" when there are no other alternatives available and each tiny ember of hope that arises gets snuffed in the Gulag.

With "progressivism", you "win" when you put over 50% of the population in the non-productive / dependent class to continue to vote you into power so you can extract even more from the productive.

BO managed to bump the dependents by 4% in 4 short years -- putting him right at the cusp of the 50% needed. A quick look at these numbers tells you how vulnerable we are to getting close to 75% of the population firmly on the dependency side of the equation ... "make the top 25% pay!".

It really comes down to Paul Ryan being the last best hope -- by some miracle Romney-Ryan wins, 8 years of at best holding ground, and then MAYBE we start the long slog back to a nation of 80-90% productivity that can compete in the real world.

Republican Women for Obama

Republican Women For Obama? [UPDATED: Another Fake "Republican" Exposed] | Power Line

Yea, right. Good takedown. 95% of the time the "long time Republicans" that call in to shows and rant about the current crop of Republican candidates either never were Republican at all, but rather quite left-wing Democrats,

In a few cases they were  such RINOs that they apparently staggered into the "R" label like a college freshman into the next kegger ... totally unaware what the heck the "R" even meant.

"Hh my God, those people believe making money is good, the government ought to live within it's means,  and that people bear some individual responsibility for their actions! Wow, I never realized people could be so misinformed -- no wonder they are so partisan. When I saw Mitt Romney, I realized how scary the R's really are and came to my senses!"

BO's Silent 2nd Term Agenda

Strassel: The Silent Second-Term Agenda - WSJ.com

"DestrOY America!" ... with the BO O in the Destroy would be my pick for the BO campaign motto, but as this article explains, "FOward" isn't bad.

America will keep getting what it has the last 4, only deeper, harder and faster.

New Issue in 2012: Money In Politics

Will money buy the White House? - CNN.com

I'm sure this fine reporter just forgot about 2008, or didn't have the 2 sec it took to google up a number.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=anLDS9WWPQW8

Conservatively, BO spent $740 M, although many place the number closer to $1B because of many of the loopholes he used (eg. not reporting contributions of <$50).

This is a CNN HEADLINE article, and the previous presidential election bears no mention?

Oh, and:

Since 1976, the presidential public financing system included matching funds for small contributions in primaries and equal grants for the two general election nominees. Beginning with George W. Bush rejecting public matching funds in the 2000 primary campaign (and the spending limits that went with them), that system was diminished incrementally until 2008 when Obama's rejection of general election funding spelled its final demise.

Uh, lets "blame Bush". He didm't accept funds for the PRIMARY??? Does CNN even care which Republican gets selected?? Oh, I suppose they DO want to make sure it is the weakest one, and since fundraising is clearly important, I guess W bypassing the primary rule WAS painful for them. 

BO spening a Billion??? Not a problem in '08 ... at least we had ONE election in which money in politics was just fine!

BO Fails to Spell Ohio

Oiho?? I’m Sure It’s One of the 57 States | Power Line

Never mind, he is a brilliant man. Ohio is much harder to spell than "potato".!

Praise to Thee Oh Newspeak!! BO Has Gotta Go!!

Niall Ferguson on Why Barack Obama Needs to Go - Newsweek and The Daily Beast

Hats off to NewsWeek! I had written this publication off as sunk permanently in the leftmost ditch, but here they come with a great cover and a SUPERB article by one of my most admired historians! Wow!

Just read it. If you can honestly read this an believe that BO deserves another shot, then you can write yourself up as a solid lefty ideologue, and say goodbye to reason and reality.

Gird Your Loins

Articles: Will Obama Keep Power 'by Any Means Necessary'?

The reports of many DOMESTIC government agencies buying 100's of K or millions of rounds of hollow point ammo are very widespread and well sourced enough that I believe there is certainly a major movement of these organizations to prepare to wage war on Americans.

This article doesn't cover the executive orders that allow US government agencies to fly armed drones over domestic airspace. BO has already assassinated US citizens via drone abroad, can doing it domestically be far behind?

This article also doesn't touch on BOs first book. He dedicates the book to Saul Alinsky who openly advocated the overthrow of the US government, and dedicated his book "Rules for Radicals" to Satan. In that book, BO expresses respect for the Black Panthers, lots of distrust of white folks, and finds his mission as a Luo Tribesman to destroy "The Colonial Powers"  ... including the US.

"Forward" is a good slogan -- he may already have fatally wounded us, but the hated (by him) Stars and Stripes still flys, so BO's work is not yet complete.

Solo Wing 2700mi

View Rochester - Austin TX in a larger map

In the years I rode my CX500 back in the early '80s and on occasion during my 24yr hiatus from riding, I tended to think of the "big ride" and what kind of daily distances were doable / enjoyable on a Gold Wing.

I've got my answer. 820 mi Rochester - OK City in coolish temps wasn't too bad, but clearly at my limits for that day. Leg and shoulder stiffness are the items that start to make it unpleasant for me after about that amount of time on the bike ... 12 hours, 7:30AM to 7:30PM.

The next day, to Bertram TX was only 450, but with 102-105 heat most of the way, it took more out of me physically and took from 9am-8pm to accomplish with many hydration stops. Oh, and also an EXCELLENT BBQ stop at "Hard Eight" in Stephenville TX http://www.hardeightbbq.com/

Wed brought zero time on the bike, but good TX Hill Country views, some successful shopping for hot weather motorcycle apparel, and and excellent lunch at Chuys in Austin along with enjoyable time spent seeing some old friends from IBM days.

Thursday AM saw a 6:30 launch with a great 600+ mi ride from Bertram to Beebe AR,  just north of Little Rock. Both East TX and AR are areas that I want to return to. Very much like the upper midwest terrain and greenery look, although I realize with a lot more heat in the summer -- but much less winter to deal with as well. A houseboat on one of the big impoundments?

Friday I spent a little too much time wrestling with the GPS on the bike for my liking ... "Shortest Time vs Distance" became an issue. The Wing seems to like routing through "fun motorcycle roads" which is fine, but when interspersed with a constant penchant to go all the way over to I-35 to make time, it can cause an on-bike tiff. Much like dealing with a wife, we worked it out by doing it the Wings way ... I hit I-35 just N of KC. Excitement of the day was a life flight chopper landing on US 13 right ahead of me and having to turn around and make my own "detour".

The biggest disappointment of the trip was pulling off at Albert Lea, less than 100mi from home as it was solid dark and I decided that the risk of tagging a deer the wrong way on that section of highway was just too great after 14 hours in the saddle. So I stayed the night and chipped it at 9AM Sat.

Lots of time to think of "why am I doing this?" and stuff on especially the interstate.

Some thoughts:

* an over 40  rider is 20x as likely to die riding a bike than in a car
* by not drinking when riding I cut that risk in half ... 10x
* by wearing a helmet, hi viz gear and taking a cycle safety class I cut the risk close to in half again ... 5x
* so since I drive about 20k mi a year and ride < 10k, I'm "only" about 2.5x as likely to die on my bike

Which is called RATIONALIZATION!

There is something irreplaceable about the experience of a trip like that. The danger is part of the thrill. Lots of guys are out there with no helmets, ape hangers, and riding "care free". They have a more fatalistic attitude ... But it is the same principle, just a matter of degree. Same with driving our cars and a lot of life activity. A safe life isn't a life. A risk free economy isn't an economy, it is a gulag.

It is a huge blessing to have made it to 55 with good health. The only way to be alive is some level of risk... One person's "reasonable risk" is completely insane for another, but be sure to embrace SOME risk that makes you less than fully comfortable. Lest you fail to have lived while alive.

I'm An Extremeist

Are You an Extremist? - Bill O'Reilly - Page 1

Worth a read. Wanting your nation  to live within it's means and limiting taxation on people to something less than 50% of their income is now "extreme" ... along with being a Christian (but not a Muslim), honoring marriage between  a man and a woman as it has always been, supporting the right to beat arms as enumerated in the Constitution and a bost of other things.

It has never been easier to be an "extremist" in America, and I have to say I'm proud to count myself in that group!

A $222 Trillion US Vision Gap

Great news: The US fiscal gap just jumped $11 trillion … to $222 trillion « Hot Air:

Something over 50% of Americans get to age 50 and throw up their hands realizing that their net worth is negative and they have no time for investment growth to build enough for their retirement even if they DID finally start saving. They "waited for tomorrow" for 3 decades and now it is too late.

They have a lot of company. Something over 90% of americans have no clue about the net present value of the future obligations of the US government which include caring for that 50% that neglected to care for themselves.

Much like worn out tires, siding, roofing, disease, death, etc, the future is most likely to happen. True, we could have a giant earth shattering disaster of the meteor, plague, super volcano sort that would wipe out 100's of millions and essentially cancel the future, but one doesn't really like to focus on such as a "solution".

So we blithely keep rolling up future obligations at a rate that is 10x our actual yearly deficit with over 90% of the population that is supposed to be self-governing being completely unaware.

90% of people need to have the individual responsibility to cover their own retirement with assets left at the end to pass on. We need a complete re-make / return to what we were founded to be -- a nation of FREE PEOPLE, which includes freedom from individual and public debt.

Right now we are a nation of fools where a bloated government hobbles our productivity while promising us "security" as it saddles us with debt to destroy our future.


'via Blog this'

BO Recovery Worst Since WWII

GDP Data Show Obama's 'Recovery' Has Been Worse Than Any Postwar President's - Investors.com:

Don't expect to see this make the news much ... but it would be helpful to the ability of americans to govern themselves if it did.

'via Blog this'

Democrats and Media Protect Pedophile

Reid puts GOP in a bind over Romney's taxes - CNN.com:

Gee CNN is really worried about the Pedophile Majority Leader "putting Republicans in a bind".

Oh, you didn't hear that Harry Reid is a Pedophile?? Well, I have it FROM A VERY GOOD SOURCE that I'm not able to share at this time that the charge is 100% true!

Oh, you don't think that is "fair"? Hmm, then why is there a story on Reid's unsubstantiated accusations "causing Republicans problems" vs a story on how his fellow democrats, media, liberal organizations are ALL demanding he immediately cease and desist from this calumny and apologize, or be removed from his post???

Unbelievably, Pedo Harry is Senate Majority Leader -- not talk radio, not Fox News, not Huffpo, not even some first term back bencher in the House.

Is ANYONE going to deny that the MSM would be raising holy hell if the source of this was from the right and the target was on the left??

'via Blog this'

Wingvana

Haven't been doing nearly enough posting on my motorcycle. Here it is, pretty much the way I purchased it.

Wing as purchased

Had I not added the Kury pegs, http://wingstuff.com/products/27625-switchblade-highway-peg-w-mini-arms?from_search=1  I would have never been able to make the 1800 miles out to the Black Hills and Gillette WY and back (I'm  6'4" tall).

Here are some pictures from the trip ... a really good ride. http://www.flickr.com/photos/67173429@N00/sets/72157630412159566/

The trip convinced me that I needed to do something more, so I added Kury boards including the wide brake pedal ... BIG improvement! https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/yTBRzM0cQyYAyambcxwpsaEu3piSopWgtluch9Wsgbo?feat=directlink

Why Honda doesn't make floorboards standard on the Wing is beyond me. Lots of tweaking and setting to get them just right, but once I got it done, it is hard to imagine how I rode without them.

On the trip I also was bothered by a lot of wind buffeting. In general it was windy, there were a lot of trucks and since I am tall and wear a helmet, a lot of the time my helmet was up in the turbulent air. I did a lot of web / Gold Wing forum searches and decided that the Laminar Lip was the way to go https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/VNXxOGhqXfsiu6aF7SeIi6Eu3piSopWgtluch9Wsgbo?feat=directlink at least to start. I've put a couple hundred miles on the bike since installation, and so far I'm VERY impressed. It produces a very quiet pocket of air behind the windshield that seems to be exactly what I was looking for.

After reading a number of the forums I decided that a real fork brace was something that I ought to add, so I added the Kury Gen II, WOW ... huge low speed "wander" improvement, but more solid at all speeds. Very hard to understand why Honda doesn't put a solid brace on from the factory.