BO's unilateral action creates a precedent. In the SCOTUS, conservative judges have tended to be very reticent to undo precedent -- seeing it as only slightly more egregious that that original usurpation of the Constitution that created the precedent. Roe V Wade being the standard example.
The expected conservative opinion on BO's action would be that a conservative president ought not do the same thing -- wrong is wrong, and two wrongs don't make a right. However, I think we can all agree that BO has created a template here that WILL be re-used by left leaning presidents. After a midterm election, with a lame duck congress, decree some major action and have two years for it to become the de-facto law of the land before anyone really has a shot at changing it.
I'd argue, as I think many conservative / libertarians would, that our existing "progressive" tax system is one of the greatest abuses of freedom to date in the US. Private property is the cornerstone of freedom, and while to the founders, that primarily meant land, in the modern world it is investment and income. ANY suspension of equal protection is noxious to freedom, the equal protection attack on private property, has been and continues to be devastating.
So conservatives have a dilemma. The evil genie of monarchical decree, once released, is certain to be used again and again by the freedom destroying forces of collectivism and "progressivism" as a powerful nuclear tool doing maximum damage to the fabric of the nation. Do we unilaterally disarm, or make use of this force to attempt good?
Imagine a Flat Tax, of say "25%" that replaced all other taxes including FICA. Income tax forms would be on a post card. ALL people would pay the same rate on ALL income. If put in place in the same way that BO has just done, there would be a FULL THREE YEARS (providing the president made it retroactive when he decreed it), since even after the next election, the new president / congress would not take office until it was too late to enact anything for the subsequent election year taxes. By that time, the unholy alliance between accountants / lawyers / tax preparers and the IRS would have been broken -- those folks would have been forced to find new work. Their legions of tax code svengalis adding and modifying loopholes like demons in Dante's Hell would have moved on.
Yes, such change is likely to cause havoc in the economy, but make no mistake, since the genie is now released, we all have to expect changes as egregious and worse after every midterm election. In fact, taking the bull by the horns and going big fairly early may allow conservatives a chance to tilt the table in the favor of the nation.
We owe it to the future of America to give this serious thought. It is one of the few remaining ways I can see that we can turn the tide before the last wisps of inadequate restraint on Leviathan are fully released.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Anticipation, Black and White
Ferguson: A city on edge and waiting - CNN.com:
I believe everyone is pretty much in agreement on what is being anticipated:
Is it "prejudice"? Certainly it is -- we have a lot of prejudice. If we see a giant explosion, we expect a "boom", if we drop a glass on a tile floor we expect it to break and if the Packers play the Vikings, we expect the Vikings to lose -- well, those of us that are sane at least.
Prejudice is a deeply wired expectation of events, scenarios, people, etc. It is "what we expect" -- and while it CAN be wrong, it is very often right -- that is why we develop it in general, it is adaptive. Humans are wired to have prejudice -- it allows us to react quickly with limited time for thought and is passed down from an adaptive history of reacting to the lion without taking the time to admire it's natural beauty. Those that lacked prejudice proved to be lunch.
So we are all sitting around with pretty much the same prejudice relative to Ferguson, and for some reason -- apparently because it is so widely shared by both blacks and whites, and because there is near universal belief in it being accurate, it is completely OK and even CNN can be open about it.
Day to day however, we are expected to act as if the dichotomy between actions one and two does not exist. In fact, if a black man like Cosby comments on the fact of it, he needs to be destroyed.
Those that don't believe we live in a crazy world are really not paying attention.
*** NOTE!!! Neither I or Cosby claimed that the current situation relative to 1 and 2 is immutable/innate -only that it is a reality TODAY. In fact, Cosby's "sin" is the declaration that it is NOT immutable, so it could therefore and in fact should be CHANGED ... however, if it WERE changed, then blacks might no longer be largely wards of TP, which is NOT allowed!
'via Blog this'
I believe everyone is pretty much in agreement on what is being anticipated:
- No indictment or "insufficient indictment" -- Massive riots, destruction of property, violence against police and potentially others.
- Indictment -- Some columns written by "right wingers", maybe a couple of strongly worded letters to the editor.
Is it "prejudice"? Certainly it is -- we have a lot of prejudice. If we see a giant explosion, we expect a "boom", if we drop a glass on a tile floor we expect it to break and if the Packers play the Vikings, we expect the Vikings to lose -- well, those of us that are sane at least.
Prejudice is a deeply wired expectation of events, scenarios, people, etc. It is "what we expect" -- and while it CAN be wrong, it is very often right -- that is why we develop it in general, it is adaptive. Humans are wired to have prejudice -- it allows us to react quickly with limited time for thought and is passed down from an adaptive history of reacting to the lion without taking the time to admire it's natural beauty. Those that lacked prejudice proved to be lunch.
So we are all sitting around with pretty much the same prejudice relative to Ferguson, and for some reason -- apparently because it is so widely shared by both blacks and whites, and because there is near universal belief in it being accurate, it is completely OK and even CNN can be open about it.
Day to day however, we are expected to act as if the dichotomy between actions one and two does not exist. In fact, if a black man like Cosby comments on the fact of it, he needs to be destroyed.
Those that don't believe we live in a crazy world are really not paying attention.
*** NOTE!!! Neither I or Cosby claimed that the current situation relative to 1 and 2 is immutable/innate -only that it is a reality TODAY. In fact, Cosby's "sin" is the declaration that it is NOT immutable, so it could therefore and in fact should be CHANGED ... however, if it WERE changed, then blacks might no longer be largely wards of TP, which is NOT allowed!
'via Blog this'
Pulling the Curtain, The Great and Powerful BO
E-mails show White House tried to muzzle Sharyl Attkisson « Hot Air:
Slightly long but worth the read. Normally we only see the RESULT of the MSM being pro-TP (The Party-D) and can only make some basic guesses at how the relationship works (cozy). Here we get a glimpse behind the curtain of what happens when some reporter for an MSM outlet leaves the fold and needs to be reined in. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" Oh for the innocence of Toto to arrive and expose the "Great and powerful BO"!
TP has well demonized Fox, and has been largely successful in isolating them -- for TP folks in good standing, they NEVER listen to Fox, and anyone that does is an idiot, "brainwashed", etc. We all know that "brainwashing" is synonymous with having any thoughts not in direct line with TP! Being smart means only listening to one side on any issue!
The "common wisdom" on things like Fox, Fast and Furious, Benghazi, IRS scandal, etc has been drummed in by TP and while everyone certainly has heard it, the KEY is that you MUST BELIEVE it! If you so much as give a hint of knowing anything of the "other side" of these issues the sheep devoted to the MSM react with some combination of fear, confusion, shock, disdain or anger. (I tend to love the angry reactions -- but they tend not to last through the first calm response before they turn into some mixture of shock, fear and confusion).
The masses are well taught by TP. On all the scandal stories "old news, unimportant, already covered, nothing there, just trumped up ...". Then, out of the the blue on any given day, anyone that listens to NPR will get a "retrospective" on Watergate, Iran Contra, or some other "important lesson giving scandal of the past that we need to remember".
Indeed.
'via Blog this'
Slightly long but worth the read. Normally we only see the RESULT of the MSM being pro-TP (The Party-D) and can only make some basic guesses at how the relationship works (cozy). Here we get a glimpse behind the curtain of what happens when some reporter for an MSM outlet leaves the fold and needs to be reined in. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" Oh for the innocence of Toto to arrive and expose the "Great and powerful BO"!
TP has well demonized Fox, and has been largely successful in isolating them -- for TP folks in good standing, they NEVER listen to Fox, and anyone that does is an idiot, "brainwashed", etc. We all know that "brainwashing" is synonymous with having any thoughts not in direct line with TP! Being smart means only listening to one side on any issue!
The "common wisdom" on things like Fox, Fast and Furious, Benghazi, IRS scandal, etc has been drummed in by TP and while everyone certainly has heard it, the KEY is that you MUST BELIEVE it! If you so much as give a hint of knowing anything of the "other side" of these issues the sheep devoted to the MSM react with some combination of fear, confusion, shock, disdain or anger. (I tend to love the angry reactions -- but they tend not to last through the first calm response before they turn into some mixture of shock, fear and confusion).
The masses are well taught by TP. On all the scandal stories "old news, unimportant, already covered, nothing there, just trumped up ...". Then, out of the the blue on any given day, anyone that listens to NPR will get a "retrospective" on Watergate, Iran Contra, or some other "important lesson giving scandal of the past that we need to remember".
Indeed.
'via Blog this'
Cosby Toast, Clinton Toast of Town
Bill Cosby Gets Warm Welcome At Florida Show:
We don't know if Cosby is guilty of any of the 40+ year old charges.
We DO know that Slick Willie was guilty of at least Paula Jones (he admitted it as part of plea deal) and Lewinsky . Defenders will say "Lewinsky was consensual". Anyone that has been in any supervisory position in a US business knows that there is NO SUCH THING between any sort of supervisor and a lower status female. Such relationships are banned by US sexual harassment law.
We don't "know" about the other relationships ... Kathleen Wiley and Juanita Broderick come to mind, with Broderick being an actual rape charge. Horse apiece with Cosby.
We do have a completely clear example of how the ideal of freedom of speech and thought actually operates in a society that has abandoned transcendence.
It seems highly likely to me that a society is ALWAYS somewhat in this state. We can observe the treatment of things like gay sexual relations, interracial marriage, support of communism, support of blacks (especially in the Democrat Jim Crow south), anti-Christian beliefs (now somewhat similarly, Christian beliefs or anti-Muslim belief), women smoking (pretty similarly now, anyone smoking), etc, over time. It is a long list.
So social strictures are part of society -- nobody really enjoys a stinky fart in public.
The DIFFERENCE is what is the level and how specifically proscribed or protected are various opinions and actions.
It is likely true that at one time a white male, married, "one of the boys" was probably protected from squeezing breasts and butt "at some level" relative to lower status females -- waitresses, secretaries, etc. The protection was without regard to political or religious beliefs beyond "not being some weird religion", but was probably for white males only.
Today we see that we have "evolved", so that for at least very high ranking member of TP ( Slick Willie, Teddy Kennedy, John Edwards (for a good while), Al Gore ("massage gate" barely reported) ...) females may be similarly treated up to and likely including rape and quite possibly murder (chappaquiddick) with impunity.
OTOH, if you are a black male that does not 100% maintain the TOTAL TP party line and is so much as accused of ANY level of "impropriety" ... in the case of Clarence Thomas, the "charges" being allegedly mentioning an X-rated movie in one case and making reference to a possible pubic hair on a can of coke in another ... TP and it's media arm will make every possible attempt to destroy you both personally and professionally without statute of limitations.
Given human nature, any expectation of the absence of social strictures is misplaced and very likely not even mildly to be desired. There WILL be social norms and strictures, and they will have sanction. For those with some level of memory, the rather curious phenomenon of a fickle social pendulum becomes obvious.
"Gay" goes from there being fairly mild sanctions against, to being celebrated in the public square, and those that fail to join the party, bowing down to the new gay order -- actual Christians being the most prominent example with Muslims strangely exempted, now receive more stringent sanction that the Gays originally received ... eg. boycotts, loss of employment (if you say your are not in support of "gay marriage" at IBM you will lose your job), fines (as in wedding chapel operators, cake makers, etc), and public admonishment / shunning.
Apparently the human wiring for sanctity/degradation ("The Righteous Mind" covers all this) is immutable. We are stuck with it, so we will always have rewards and sanctions, and for most of the general public, the specifics of these will be invisible. The vast majority of people will simply "know" that Bill Clinton and Bill Cosby are different cases and find the iconoclast view (mine) to be very uncomfortable to deal with.
"Why can't you know enough to follow what is RIGHT? Do you WANT to be treated like Bill Cosby or something? !!"
To which I respond that the only way to transcend human nature is to believe in the transcendent, which I believe to be ultimately Christ Alone. Human attempts at same will only move the pendulum between which groups are rewarded and sanctioned and can never approach the still far shot of Heaven, earthy potential for universal love and redemption for all.
'via Blog this'
We don't know if Cosby is guilty of any of the 40+ year old charges.
We DO know that Slick Willie was guilty of at least Paula Jones (he admitted it as part of plea deal) and Lewinsky . Defenders will say "Lewinsky was consensual". Anyone that has been in any supervisory position in a US business knows that there is NO SUCH THING between any sort of supervisor and a lower status female. Such relationships are banned by US sexual harassment law.
We don't "know" about the other relationships ... Kathleen Wiley and Juanita Broderick come to mind, with Broderick being an actual rape charge. Horse apiece with Cosby.
We do have a completely clear example of how the ideal of freedom of speech and thought actually operates in a society that has abandoned transcendence.
It seems highly likely to me that a society is ALWAYS somewhat in this state. We can observe the treatment of things like gay sexual relations, interracial marriage, support of communism, support of blacks (especially in the Democrat Jim Crow south), anti-Christian beliefs (now somewhat similarly, Christian beliefs or anti-Muslim belief), women smoking (pretty similarly now, anyone smoking), etc, over time. It is a long list.
So social strictures are part of society -- nobody really enjoys a stinky fart in public.
The DIFFERENCE is what is the level and how specifically proscribed or protected are various opinions and actions.
It is likely true that at one time a white male, married, "one of the boys" was probably protected from squeezing breasts and butt "at some level" relative to lower status females -- waitresses, secretaries, etc. The protection was without regard to political or religious beliefs beyond "not being some weird religion", but was probably for white males only.
Today we see that we have "evolved", so that for at least very high ranking member of TP ( Slick Willie, Teddy Kennedy, John Edwards (for a good while), Al Gore ("massage gate" barely reported) ...) females may be similarly treated up to and likely including rape and quite possibly murder (chappaquiddick) with impunity.
OTOH, if you are a black male that does not 100% maintain the TOTAL TP party line and is so much as accused of ANY level of "impropriety" ... in the case of Clarence Thomas, the "charges" being allegedly mentioning an X-rated movie in one case and making reference to a possible pubic hair on a can of coke in another ... TP and it's media arm will make every possible attempt to destroy you both personally and professionally without statute of limitations.
Given human nature, any expectation of the absence of social strictures is misplaced and very likely not even mildly to be desired. There WILL be social norms and strictures, and they will have sanction. For those with some level of memory, the rather curious phenomenon of a fickle social pendulum becomes obvious.
"Gay" goes from there being fairly mild sanctions against, to being celebrated in the public square, and those that fail to join the party, bowing down to the new gay order -- actual Christians being the most prominent example with Muslims strangely exempted, now receive more stringent sanction that the Gays originally received ... eg. boycotts, loss of employment (if you say your are not in support of "gay marriage" at IBM you will lose your job), fines (as in wedding chapel operators, cake makers, etc), and public admonishment / shunning.
Apparently the human wiring for sanctity/degradation ("The Righteous Mind" covers all this) is immutable. We are stuck with it, so we will always have rewards and sanctions, and for most of the general public, the specifics of these will be invisible. The vast majority of people will simply "know" that Bill Clinton and Bill Cosby are different cases and find the iconoclast view (mine) to be very uncomfortable to deal with.
"Why can't you know enough to follow what is RIGHT? Do you WANT to be treated like Bill Cosby or something? !!"
To which I respond that the only way to transcend human nature is to believe in the transcendent, which I believe to be ultimately Christ Alone. Human attempts at same will only move the pendulum between which groups are rewarded and sanctioned and can never approach the still far shot of Heaven, earthy potential for universal love and redemption for all.
'via Blog this'
Friday, November 21, 2014
The Reagan Did It First Lie
http://thefederalist.com/2014/11/20/no-reagan-did-not-offer-an-amnesty-by-lawless-executive-order/
The media arm of TP decided they ought to make up a cover lie for Emperor of Stench, BO -- so it somewhat standard TP nursery school moral reasoning we have "Reagan did it first!".
The moral argument that "X did it first" has severe shortcomings. Hitler did a number of things first. Even otherwise "good" men have done disastrous things -- FDRs internment of Japanese, Churchill's Gallipoli debacle ... one hesitates to even begin. The list is long and horrid and the infantile moral reasoning of "X did it first" is nothing but an embarrassment as to the depths of TP fatuity.
Given TP media normal treatment of Reagan, you REALLY know they are up to something if they are trying to use him as a GOOD example!
Then we have the stupid factor. If "Reagan had done the same thing", those of us that were alive at the time know we would have witnessed a media firestorm on par with Watergate and likely beyond -- "Constitutional Crisis", IMPEACHMENT! would have been being shouted from every paper day after day! Dan Rostenkowski, in his pre "orange is the new suit of House Ways and Means chairs from IL" guise would have shut down all funding and WON!
It gets to be embarrassing to even think how stupid TP media thinks we are!
But of course, as the linked article explains not nearly as simply as they could, it had NOTHING to do with ANYTHING even REMOTELY like what BO has just done!
In the '80s, CONGRESS passed an amnesty law that failed to take the children of those being granted amnesty into consideration. So the executive branch contacted congress and AGREED that the children of those granted amnesty should not be deported! That is that! HW Bush granted more time in an extension of the same AGREEMENT -- which congress still agreed with.
How can it be that we have slipped so very far that
The media arm of TP decided they ought to make up a cover lie for Emperor of Stench, BO -- so it somewhat standard TP nursery school moral reasoning we have "Reagan did it first!".
The moral argument that "X did it first" has severe shortcomings. Hitler did a number of things first. Even otherwise "good" men have done disastrous things -- FDRs internment of Japanese, Churchill's Gallipoli debacle ... one hesitates to even begin. The list is long and horrid and the infantile moral reasoning of "X did it first" is nothing but an embarrassment as to the depths of TP fatuity.
Given TP media normal treatment of Reagan, you REALLY know they are up to something if they are trying to use him as a GOOD example!
Then we have the stupid factor. If "Reagan had done the same thing", those of us that were alive at the time know we would have witnessed a media firestorm on par with Watergate and likely beyond -- "Constitutional Crisis", IMPEACHMENT! would have been being shouted from every paper day after day! Dan Rostenkowski, in his pre "orange is the new suit of House Ways and Means chairs from IL" guise would have shut down all funding and WON!
It gets to be embarrassing to even think how stupid TP media thinks we are!
But of course, as the linked article explains not nearly as simply as they could, it had NOTHING to do with ANYTHING even REMOTELY like what BO has just done!
In the '80s, CONGRESS passed an amnesty law that failed to take the children of those being granted amnesty into consideration. So the executive branch contacted congress and AGREED that the children of those granted amnesty should not be deported! That is that! HW Bush granted more time in an extension of the same AGREEMENT -- which congress still agreed with.
How can it be that we have slipped so very far that
Cosby Takedown, How About Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, etc
In Re: Bill Cosby | Power Line:
I covered the dichotomy with Slick Willie and Cosby here.
PL does a good job over covering it and adds in the aspect of other Hollywood types that were rapists in one form or another but were not sanctioned in their careers in the way that Cosby now is since he was courageous enough to express his beliefs on the need for black personal responsibility
Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Michael Jackson, Aaron Copeland ... those are just the two from PL and a couple off the top of my head. In general, unless you sin against TP, the media treats even grossly illegal personal behaviour as "personal" and totally separate from "art".
'via Blog this'
I covered the dichotomy with Slick Willie and Cosby here.
PL does a good job over covering it and adds in the aspect of other Hollywood types that were rapists in one form or another but were not sanctioned in their careers in the way that Cosby now is since he was courageous enough to express his beliefs on the need for black personal responsibility
Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Michael Jackson, Aaron Copeland ... those are just the two from PL and a couple off the top of my head. In general, unless you sin against TP, the media treats even grossly illegal personal behaviour as "personal" and totally separate from "art".
'via Blog this'
BO Leaves the Presidency
Go down, Barry | Power Line:
The Presidency is a Constitutional position -- no Constitution, no President. Having a Constitution meant that we had a nation bound by rule of law. We no longer have that.
Last night was a watershed night for the area of land between the countries of Mexico and Canada. The status of the area formerly known as "The United States" had been moving away from rule of law since the Civil War ... destruction of equal protection by the "progressive" income tax, forced participation in socialist schemes like FICA and recently BOcare, plus a host of "administrative law" regulations with de facto force of law not passed by congress to name just a few of the more egregious parts of the slide.
Last night a man occupying the former office of President, one of the three formerly co-equal branches of the government of the old nation, directly usurped the Constitution and took naked dictatorial power. Last night the nation formerly known as the US officially became subjects of BO -- ruled by power, not law. Any opposed to BO now have the natural and moral right to deodorize by any and all means. There is no operative rule of law save might being right.
The content of his utterance is meaningless -- It could have been "I decree ice cream to be good". Free men care not for the decrees of tyrants, especially those already well proved mendacious.
Where we go from here is completely unknown. The other two branches of the old government, Congress -- formerly the law MAKERS, and SCOTUS formerly the law INTERPRETERS hold the responsibility to remove the self-proclaimed "law giver", a position not recognized by free men except from their Creator. The military should also no longer obey the tyrant. If We the People still understood the gift that had formerly been bequeathed by creator, founders and previous generations, the Secret Service would immediately leave their posts. They are bound to protect the occupant of an office that no longer exists.
All free men are now sacredly charged to end this tyranny and form a new nation under the rule of law! Pray for justice!
'via Blog this'
The Presidency is a Constitutional position -- no Constitution, no President. Having a Constitution meant that we had a nation bound by rule of law. We no longer have that.
Last night was a watershed night for the area of land between the countries of Mexico and Canada. The status of the area formerly known as "The United States" had been moving away from rule of law since the Civil War ... destruction of equal protection by the "progressive" income tax, forced participation in socialist schemes like FICA and recently BOcare, plus a host of "administrative law" regulations with de facto force of law not passed by congress to name just a few of the more egregious parts of the slide.
Last night a man occupying the former office of President, one of the three formerly co-equal branches of the government of the old nation, directly usurped the Constitution and took naked dictatorial power. Last night the nation formerly known as the US officially became subjects of BO -- ruled by power, not law. Any opposed to BO now have the natural and moral right to deodorize by any and all means. There is no operative rule of law save might being right.
The content of his utterance is meaningless -- It could have been "I decree ice cream to be good". Free men care not for the decrees of tyrants, especially those already well proved mendacious.
Where we go from here is completely unknown. The other two branches of the old government, Congress -- formerly the law MAKERS, and SCOTUS formerly the law INTERPRETERS hold the responsibility to remove the self-proclaimed "law giver", a position not recognized by free men except from their Creator. The military should also no longer obey the tyrant. If We the People still understood the gift that had formerly been bequeathed by creator, founders and previous generations, the Secret Service would immediately leave their posts. They are bound to protect the occupant of an office that no longer exists.
All free men are now sacredly charged to end this tyranny and form a new nation under the rule of law! Pray for justice!
'via Blog this'
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Six Canons of Conservative Thought
The Conservative Mind by Russell Kirk is one of the books that I'm going over again and this is one that is going to take more than a few blogs to cover.
His six canons of conservative thought from early in the book:
His six canons of conservative thought from early in the book:
- Belief in a transcendent order, or body of natural law, which rules society as well as conscience. Political problems, at bottom, are religious and moral problems.
- Affection for the proliferating variety and mystery of human existence as opposed to the narrowing uniformity, egalitarianism, and utilitarian aims of most radical systems.
- Conviction that civilized society requires orders and classes, as against the notion of a "classless society". Belief in order.
- Persuasion that freedom and property are closely linked: separate property from from private possession and Leviathan becomes master of all. Economic leveling is not economic progress.
- Faith in prescription and distrust of "sophists, calculators and economists" who would reconstruct society on abstract designs. Custom, convention and old prescription checks both upon man's anarchic impulse and on the innovators lust for power.
- Recognition that change may not be salutary reform: hasty innovation may be a devouring conflagration rather than the torch of progress.
- The perfectibility of man and the limitless progress of society: meliorism (belief in the positive direction of "progress" and human ability to make it so) Radicals believe that education, positive legislation and alteration of environment can produce men like gods. They deny that humanity has a natural proclivity for violence and sin.
- Contempt for tradition. Reason, impulse and materialistic determinism are preferred as guides to social welfare, more trusted than the wisdom of the ages. Formal religion is rejected and various ideologies are presented as alternatives.
- Political leveling. Order and privilege are condemned; total democracy, as direct as practicable is the professed radical ideal. An eagerness for centralization and consolidation.
- Economic leveling. The ancient right of property is attacked by nearly all radicals and attempts are made to collectivize it.
It is difficult to pin radicals down because much of what they propose is based on current impulse and tends to look to the future even if current progress on a stated goal is questionable (eg. the 18 year "pause" in AGW, the "glitches" in the BOcare system).
Since the main article of faith is that the present is better than the past and the future will be better still, there is not a lot of reason for deep thought on causes, effects and such. A book that covers this well is "A Conflict of Visions".
The vision of the future tends to be "clear in the abstract" -- it will be "free", "just", "happy", "needs will be met" ... but as to specifics, the vision tends to be extremely weak.
The primary way to recognize the radical is their love of "change" ... the more nonspecific the change desired, the more certain you may be that you are talking to a radical.
Is It The QB or the Receiver?
Greg Jennings Fantasy Stats | RotoWire Fantasy Football:
I'm terrible with names and even worse with keeping track of players after they leave my beloved Packers -- however, when they go to the Vikes ... I know Jennings is not the only example in the last 20 years of excellent QBs at GB, but he is the one that just popped up.
So here we have Jennings stats with the Vikes. Once he was at least as good as Jordy Nelson, suddenly he is CLEARLY not ...
My opinion is that the difference wears number 12.
'via Blog this'
I'm terrible with names and even worse with keeping track of players after they leave my beloved Packers -- however, when they go to the Vikes ... I know Jennings is not the only example in the last 20 years of excellent QBs at GB, but he is the one that just popped up.
So here we have Jennings stats with the Vikes. Once he was at least as good as Jordy Nelson, suddenly he is CLEARLY not ...
My opinion is that the difference wears number 12.
'via Blog this'
Obstructionist on Keystone and Business
Who’s Obstructionist? | Power Line:
We often hear Republicans referred to as "obstructionist" by the media, senators or the president. Typically, it is just a word -- they just say "obstructionist", they don't say what specific program they are trying to put forward and why it is that passing it would be helpful or even popular with the American people. It is just assumed to be good and being obstructed without reason.
Sometimes it was immigration -- but again, we didn't hear what the Democrat or presidents specific proposal actually was -- outside of "reform". Much like "hope and change", Democrats pretty much live off from general terms waved around like talismen -- "reform", "jobs", "the environment", "fairness" ... usually with no detail at as to what the actual ements of the legislation are.
Often, as we have found out relative to BOcare, the content of the legislation is not well defined ("We have to pass it to know what's in it"), or it is purposely written to be obscure as we have learned explicitly from Jonathan Gruber.
This week we yet again saw the Keystone XL Pipeline go down, this time on the basis of a single vote of obstruction. A specific private sector physical asset with significant jobs and energy effects and no negative environmental effects since the oil is being pumped and burned anyway -- the question is just here or China.
Similarly, the issue of "Tax Inversions" -- as we saw with Burger King, Medtronic, and a host of other companies; HQ are moved overseas due to US tax policy and trillions of dollars are spent overseas rather than repatriated to the US to build jobs here, yet the democrats obstruct specific efforts to fix this problem.
As the linked article questions, why? It is very hard to see why this would be so save for gross incompetence or out and out anti-American sentiment -- much the same as we often saw in the Cold War.
That is in fact where I have settled -- many Democrats see the US as having been too successful and carry some sort of "survivors guilt", feeling that it is "someone elses turn". During the years of the Cold War, one could hear giddy NPR reporting from Cuba or the USSR over some supposed triumph of the communist system. When the wall came down, there was shock and dismay -- their favored system had somehow failed, it was unbelievable to them.
So their only answer seems to be suicide for the US and the West. One of our own political parties sees our system as "corrupt, unfair, harmful to the planet, damaging to human dignity, etc", so they are doing their best to get the shotgun in Uncle Sam's mouth and end the US.
They continue to do a hell of a job.
'via Blog this'
We often hear Republicans referred to as "obstructionist" by the media, senators or the president. Typically, it is just a word -- they just say "obstructionist", they don't say what specific program they are trying to put forward and why it is that passing it would be helpful or even popular with the American people. It is just assumed to be good and being obstructed without reason.
Sometimes it was immigration -- but again, we didn't hear what the Democrat or presidents specific proposal actually was -- outside of "reform". Much like "hope and change", Democrats pretty much live off from general terms waved around like talismen -- "reform", "jobs", "the environment", "fairness" ... usually with no detail at as to what the actual ements of the legislation are.
Often, as we have found out relative to BOcare, the content of the legislation is not well defined ("We have to pass it to know what's in it"), or it is purposely written to be obscure as we have learned explicitly from Jonathan Gruber.
This week we yet again saw the Keystone XL Pipeline go down, this time on the basis of a single vote of obstruction. A specific private sector physical asset with significant jobs and energy effects and no negative environmental effects since the oil is being pumped and burned anyway -- the question is just here or China.
Similarly, the issue of "Tax Inversions" -- as we saw with Burger King, Medtronic, and a host of other companies; HQ are moved overseas due to US tax policy and trillions of dollars are spent overseas rather than repatriated to the US to build jobs here, yet the democrats obstruct specific efforts to fix this problem.
As the linked article questions, why? It is very hard to see why this would be so save for gross incompetence or out and out anti-American sentiment -- much the same as we often saw in the Cold War.
That is in fact where I have settled -- many Democrats see the US as having been too successful and carry some sort of "survivors guilt", feeling that it is "someone elses turn". During the years of the Cold War, one could hear giddy NPR reporting from Cuba or the USSR over some supposed triumph of the communist system. When the wall came down, there was shock and dismay -- their favored system had somehow failed, it was unbelievable to them.
So their only answer seems to be suicide for the US and the West. One of our own political parties sees our system as "corrupt, unfair, harmful to the planet, damaging to human dignity, etc", so they are doing their best to get the shotgun in Uncle Sam's mouth and end the US.
They continue to do a hell of a job.
'via Blog this'
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
The Hawaiian Shirt Of Enlightenment, Hillary Nutcracker
How to Turn a Cool Moment Into a #ShirtStorm | TIME:
"The Enlightenment" is a time in the late 1700's when mankind supposedly turned from "absolutes" (like God) to "reason, empiricism, science, liberty, democracy" and was thus "enlightened.
Man became "the measure of all things" -- good and evil could be decided by physical measurement, experience, trial and error, or a simple vote. "Man" forgot that designation would now include "woman" with the feminizing "virtues" being applied at levels beyond sleeping on the couch. Exit the age of "mighty men", knights, poets, sages, wizards and the like -- enter the age of trashy romance novels and "the sensitive guy".
We seem clearly past the pinnacle of what was once a bold new direction. Large signs -- 100's of millions dead from the Godless "isms" of the 20th century, vast hordes of drugged, drunk, distracted masses completely purposeless, drifting to the next hit/high/distraction and horribly suicide / overdose prone. Governments mired in massive debt, corruption and pseudo-science like AGW.
And also small signs -- like the shirt.
Man was once supposedly about great things -- an eternal soul, the image of God, bravery, chivalry, romance, glory, wisdom --- but no longer. An accomplished scientist, scion of the "enlightenment" is brought to tears because he wore a shirt his girl friend made for him. He chose poorly -- in wardrobe.
We know little of the back-story of this but anyone that has went through our education system, corporate system, or pretty much any organization in the modern world knows that "respect for the individual" has become "respect for the resource" -- and let's face it, the net of that is often a solid knee-lift to the balls from some mid-level bureaucrat with the personal honor and competence of a slug, but the full weight and power of the modern "enlightened" system behind them.
No doubt the poor sap in the shirt was faced with the loss of his job/career/mission or his manhood , so he knelt and whimpered. Hail, the "enlightened man"!
I believe that the shirt leads us to potentially the penultimate symbol of the "enlightenment" -- perhaps we might re-think the loss of transcendent truth just a wee bit?
'via Blog this'
"The Enlightenment" is a time in the late 1700's when mankind supposedly turned from "absolutes" (like God) to "reason, empiricism, science, liberty, democracy" and was thus "enlightened.
Man became "the measure of all things" -- good and evil could be decided by physical measurement, experience, trial and error, or a simple vote. "Man" forgot that designation would now include "woman" with the feminizing "virtues" being applied at levels beyond sleeping on the couch. Exit the age of "mighty men", knights, poets, sages, wizards and the like -- enter the age of trashy romance novels and "the sensitive guy".
We seem clearly past the pinnacle of what was once a bold new direction. Large signs -- 100's of millions dead from the Godless "isms" of the 20th century, vast hordes of drugged, drunk, distracted masses completely purposeless, drifting to the next hit/high/distraction and horribly suicide / overdose prone. Governments mired in massive debt, corruption and pseudo-science like AGW.
And also small signs -- like the shirt.
Man was once supposedly about great things -- an eternal soul, the image of God, bravery, chivalry, romance, glory, wisdom --- but no longer. An accomplished scientist, scion of the "enlightenment" is brought to tears because he wore a shirt his girl friend made for him. He chose poorly -- in wardrobe.
We know little of the back-story of this but anyone that has went through our education system, corporate system, or pretty much any organization in the modern world knows that "respect for the individual" has become "respect for the resource" -- and let's face it, the net of that is often a solid knee-lift to the balls from some mid-level bureaucrat with the personal honor and competence of a slug, but the full weight and power of the modern "enlightened" system behind them.
No doubt the poor sap in the shirt was faced with the loss of his job/career/mission or his manhood , so he knelt and whimpered. Hail, the "enlightened man"!
I believe that the shirt leads us to potentially the penultimate symbol of the "enlightenment" -- perhaps we might re-think the loss of transcendent truth just a wee bit?
'via Blog this'
"Fair Share", By Quintile -- Killing Success
http://www.ijreview.com/2014/11/203641-2-chart-new-definition-fair-share-20-americans-pay-almost-100-everything/
As of 2011, the quintiles for US income were:
0 - $20K
$20K - $38K
$38K - $62K
$62K - $102K
$102K and up
"Quintile" means divide the population up into 5 equal sized groups using a variable -- in this case income. The same number of Americans are in each of those 5 groups, roughly 64 million people each.
This chart makes the decline of America extremely easy to understand. Want to place any bets on how "sustainable" this is?
On average, if you make much over $100K, you pay something just below $50K into the FEDERAL government. What the chart doesn't show is that you ALSO pay something close to 10% of your income into the STATE if you live in a blue or purple state. If you don't feel like a tax slave, you need to look at the chart a while longer.
Any one having trouble understanding why our workforce participation rate is the lowest since the '70s? People pull that train for a few years and they figure out that the cars behind are a lot more comfortable than the providing pedal power for engine.
Other small fact -- notice that "The Party" (TP-D) doesn't throw the most money to the bottom -- the votes are in the 2nd and 3rd quintiles! The folks at the very bottom are often too old or too unmotivated to even do the handed to them mail in vote, so the money goes to those that make from $20-$62K ... the fact that more per capita goes to the $38K-$62K group than to the 0-$20K group would be especially galling to anyone that cared about "the poor" more than votes!
I case you are reading this and saying "but I pay income taxes", remember that this is NET -- if you get FICA, housing assistance, BOcare, Earned Income Credit, etc, that is deducted from what you "pay".
The linked article has one more fact worth repeating --- 40% of US households now get more than HALF of their income from transfer payments!
As of 2011, the quintiles for US income were:
0 - $20K
$20K - $38K
$38K - $62K
$62K - $102K
$102K and up
"Quintile" means divide the population up into 5 equal sized groups using a variable -- in this case income. The same number of Americans are in each of those 5 groups, roughly 64 million people each.
This chart makes the decline of America extremely easy to understand. Want to place any bets on how "sustainable" this is?
On average, if you make much over $100K, you pay something just below $50K into the FEDERAL government. What the chart doesn't show is that you ALSO pay something close to 10% of your income into the STATE if you live in a blue or purple state. If you don't feel like a tax slave, you need to look at the chart a while longer.
Any one having trouble understanding why our workforce participation rate is the lowest since the '70s? People pull that train for a few years and they figure out that the cars behind are a lot more comfortable than the providing pedal power for engine.
Other small fact -- notice that "The Party" (TP-D) doesn't throw the most money to the bottom -- the votes are in the 2nd and 3rd quintiles! The folks at the very bottom are often too old or too unmotivated to even do the handed to them mail in vote, so the money goes to those that make from $20-$62K ... the fact that more per capita goes to the $38K-$62K group than to the 0-$20K group would be especially galling to anyone that cared about "the poor" more than votes!
I case you are reading this and saying "but I pay income taxes", remember that this is NET -- if you get FICA, housing assistance, BOcare, Earned Income Credit, etc, that is deducted from what you "pay".
The linked article has one more fact worth repeating --- 40% of US households now get more than HALF of their income from transfer payments!
Chelsea Clinton's Felon In Law
snopes.com: Ed Mezvinsky - Father of the Groom:
The level of bias in the US media still finds a way to shock me!
Chelsea's FiL is an ex congressman, convicted felon -- pretty much the flower of TP so I'd expect that the in-laws ought to get along superbly. Two sets of feckless felons! The sordid linkages and the character of Mezvinsky are worth reading the Snopes link -- we already know the Clinton's character, and that it is officially "not an issue" according to the TP controlled media.
I'm sure they would treat it just the same if one of W's daughters got married to an ex-congressman Felon! (every day needs some humor)
The problem here is that the MSM would cover this if a Republican offspring was being similarly wed -- because Republicans would react with shock and horror and it would be a big smudge on even the girls parents. The DIFFERENCE is that the very business of TP is criminally defrauding the american people! They just typically have enough power to prevent prosecution -- but even when they are found out, it is considered to just be "an occupational hazard".
'via Blog this'
The level of bias in the US media still finds a way to shock me!
Chelsea's FiL is an ex congressman, convicted felon -- pretty much the flower of TP so I'd expect that the in-laws ought to get along superbly. Two sets of feckless felons! The sordid linkages and the character of Mezvinsky are worth reading the Snopes link -- we already know the Clinton's character, and that it is officially "not an issue" according to the TP controlled media.
I'm sure they would treat it just the same if one of W's daughters got married to an ex-congressman Felon! (every day needs some humor)
The problem here is that the MSM would cover this if a Republican offspring was being similarly wed -- because Republicans would react with shock and horror and it would be a big smudge on even the girls parents. The DIFFERENCE is that the very business of TP is criminally defrauding the american people! They just typically have enough power to prevent prosecution -- but even when they are found out, it is considered to just be "an occupational hazard".
'via Blog this'
TP In Action: Keystone Fail Mary
Senate rejects Keystone bill - POLITICO:
Since TP controls the media, the facts are usually to be found only with the difficulty of following the ball on a 3 card monte game. The TP story on congress for 4 years now has been "the Republicans are obstructionist", when the fact was that hundreds of bills were stopped in the TP controlled Senate with no reporting.
But in a shameless case of naked political opportunism, TP wanted to give Mary Landrieu's run-off bid a boost by putting her name in front of getting the Keystone XL through the Senate. Keystone is hugely popular in Louisiana as well as 65% approval across the US.
They did get it to a vote, but they could not pass it! In what is one of the landmark cases of political incompetence, they attempted to put a feather in their candidates cap, but even with Republican help were unable to get the job done!
Corrupt and Incompetent -- the cornerstones of TP and government in general.
'via Blog this'
Since TP controls the media, the facts are usually to be found only with the difficulty of following the ball on a 3 card monte game. The TP story on congress for 4 years now has been "the Republicans are obstructionist", when the fact was that hundreds of bills were stopped in the TP controlled Senate with no reporting.
But in a shameless case of naked political opportunism, TP wanted to give Mary Landrieu's run-off bid a boost by putting her name in front of getting the Keystone XL through the Senate. Keystone is hugely popular in Louisiana as well as 65% approval across the US.
They did get it to a vote, but they could not pass it! In what is one of the landmark cases of political incompetence, they attempted to put a feather in their candidates cap, but even with Republican help were unable to get the job done!
Corrupt and Incompetent -- the cornerstones of TP and government in general.
'via Blog this'
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
BO "Lies In" On Grubergate
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2014/11/18/bret_baier_transparency_issues_plagued_obamacare_from_the_start.html
So HHS is paying Gruber $400K, yet it and the Democrats persist in quoting him ad nauseum as an "independent source". It gives criminal corruption a bad name -- mob bosses were far far more honorable than this.
There really are no words. "I just learned about this a few minutes ago" ... Arrogance, narcissism, complete lack of even a hint of truth, and utter disdain for America and it's people.
The nation voted itself into the abyss and there is clearly no bottom.
'via Blog this'
So HHS is paying Gruber $400K, yet it and the Democrats persist in quoting him ad nauseum as an "independent source". It gives criminal corruption a bad name -- mob bosses were far far more honorable than this.
There really are no words. "I just learned about this a few minutes ago" ... Arrogance, narcissism, complete lack of even a hint of truth, and utter disdain for America and it's people.
The nation voted itself into the abyss and there is clearly no bottom.
'via Blog this'
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