Something is Wrong With My Rights

Per the Senate of the United States of America, I have a new right. They tell me that I now have the right to health care. They say that all Americans have the right to health care. there are some things that the are not telling you.

They are not telling you that in America, there are two classes of health care. Health care for the royalty, and health care for the rest of us. The Government, that is the royalty, have their own 'special' health care plan. We don't know the details of that plan, but hell, we don't know the details of 'our' plan either.

They are not telling you that while you have the 'right' to health care, you just lost your right to make your own health care decisions. The range of treatment options available to you is going to be determined by a nameless, faceless, unaccountable beaurocrat who will take into account your 'value' to society. Face it, if you are over 50, the government will either want you healthy or dead.

They are not telling you that by making a huge number of people dependent on government for all manner of necessities, they are turning you into wards of the state. They are taking away your independence and teaching your children to beg at the trough of public assistance.

Merry Christmas.

Perhaps a Mis-statement

They call us 'extremists', and in carefully measured tones, they assail our motives when we dispute their royalist agenda. We are said to be 'bigots', and 'small minded'. Our gatherings in protest go unmentioned or discounted in the national media. Dripping condescension, the political class, the royalty, chants it's liturgy of lies about the economy, health care, and global warming but make no mistake, fewer and fewer Americans are listening.

Across this great country, Americans are waking up to the realization that evil exists in this world, and has taken up residence in Washington. Congress has reached a new low. It has given to the President billions of dollars of 'TARP' and 'Stimulus' money that is now being used by the President to 'buy' their votes for bills which strip us of our freedoms one by one . Every member of the Congress has the blood of our founders on their hands. Shame on every last one of them.

We are not buying the lies about health care that the President is peddling. It's not budget neutral. It won't cover everyone. It won't drive costs down, and they are going to pull the plug on Granny. Do you realize that in this Health Care Bill, the wages, bonuses, and profitability of the Insurance companies are going to be regulated? Since when does the government have any role in deciding how a private company is run and what a private company pays it's employees? Where in our constitution does it say that the government can limit profits of a private concern? When President Obama says this is not in the bill, he's not mis-stating things, he's lying.

We are not buying the lies about Global Warming that the President is peddling. The reason America consumes 60% of the worlds energy is that America produces 60% of the worlds goods and services. Cap and Trade is just a way to take money from Americans who have earned it and give it to corrupt politicians in 3rd world countries. That's all it is,. It's a massive transfer of wealth from those who produce it to dictators and tyrants and when the President says other wise, he's not mis-stating things, he's lying.

What do you call someone who claims you're a bigot because you don't think the government should own car companies, banks, mortgage and insurance companies? What do you call someone who claims you are a dangerous extremist because you don't believe Terrorists have constitutional rights and question the validity of mans impact on Global Warming? What do you call someone who tells you that you don't need to know what's in a bill before you vote on it?

Right now, we call him Mr. President, but in three years, we'll call him history.

A Far Away War

To be fair, Afghanistan is a tough problem. The Taliban is in the hills and is still a functioning force. Al Qaeda is hiding and festering in Pakistan. It's legend and message, it's decentralized cell structure and the internet make it yet a potent threat to the safety of westerners around the world. In this, the worlds first global guerrilla war, this combination of asymmetrical threats may well be our introduction to a new and deadly manner of conflict.

In the rugged hills of Afghanistan, theory is for corpses, and practical men triumph in the night. In this battle, symbolic victories are at once everything, and nothing. The perception of victory will foretell victory, and the perception of defeat will outweigh body counts. In many ways, your manner of fighting will determine how you are perceived, and that will determine your enemy's strength for the next battle. So, how do we look?

We are trying the 9/11 Terrorists as common criminals. Think of the trial as a 2 year recruitment infomercial for Al Queda.

Speaking only of an 'Exit Strategy' and without saying anything about victory, we have told Al Queda and the Taliban that we are leaving Afghanistan, and that they only have a year and a half to shoot more our soldiers. If I am Al Queda and the Taliban, I ramp up IED and ambushes to run up the US body count as much as I can because victory is only 18 months away.

In the mean time, we are sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, and we are begging Europe for 5ooo more. From the Al Queda/Taliban perspective, since the new troops are not there to 'win' the war, they are simply more targets. Their mission isn't to win the war. It is to protect President Obama from criticism for not pursuing victory in the war on terror. When you think about it you realize that we are asking young men to die so people don't say bad things about the president.

If we are not there to defeat Al Queda and the Taliban, we ought to leave tomorrow. If we are not there to achieve victory over forces who threaten us, then this far away war is not worth one more American life.

Not to worry, it's not really a 'far away war'. It's a global guerrilla war. It's coming to a shopping center near you! If we don't have the guts to win there, will we have to guts to win when it shows up here?

A New Strategy in Afganistan

On a small ridge above the intersection of two trails, two men lie motionless in the cold mountain air. Dawn is near when they hear the sounds of men coming down one of the trails. In the early morning light, two men carrying automatic weapons come carefully down the trail. They pause at the intersecton, then move on. A second group of armed men appear on the trail. One man is obviously being protected.

A single shot rings out, and the man who was being protected falls. A second shot sound, and another drops. A third shot echos across the barren land, and a third falls. The rest of the men dive behind rocks, and boulders and fire in all directions. In the brighening day, they dash one by one, back down the trail leaving thier dead lying on the frosty ground.

Two hours later, the post action team is on the ground at the intersection of the trails. The Marine sniper team is being debriefed, and has described the engagement. The dead are photographed and searched.

The comander of the post action team approaches the sniper team. The men stand to meet him.

"Did you shoot these men?", the post action commander asks.
"Yes, we did.", the sniper replies, and he describes the engagement.
"Did you command these men to stop, and drop their weapons?"
"No"
"Did you identify yourself as United States Soldiers?"
"No"
"Did you give them any opportunity to surrender?"
"No"
"Well, this is pretty clear cut.", the commander said. "Arrest them, charge them with murder."

What? Who are you guys?

NCIS: Kabul

Thia is the president's new strategy in Afganistan, and he is determined to bring the killers to justice.

Wrong People and the Bill of Rights

When the founding fathers laid down the foundation of our systems of government, they began with the phrase 'We, the People..'. For the first time in all of mankind's history, a nation was being defined by the people. State sovereignty came not to some man claiming 'Devine Right', but from the people. We, a free people, were chartering a government and defining for it certain tasks, and reserving for the people, all those rights not given over to the government.. In the first ten amendments to that document, the founding fathers specified a number of protections from the government that the people would enjoy. For two hundred years, these protections have served us well. Until now.

The United States Attorney General, in conjunction with the President of the United States, has decided that those who commit acts of war against American Civilians are entitled to civil trials.

Consider the problems this precipitates. If by virtue of the United States Constitution, a combatant has the right to remain silent, how does the military interrogate him? At trial, a defendant has the right to all the evidence that is arrayed against him. In order to get a 'conviction', must we now expose to the world our intelligence gathering methods? Considering all the legal technicalities that can be exploited by skilled attorneys, what is the probability that some cases will get thrown out? What do you do with a bomber you can no longer incarcerate?

The irony is that the founding fathers put together the Bill of Rights to protect us from the government. It has worked well for over 200 years. Too bad they didn't figure out a way to protect us from morons.

Something more important than Freedom

A year after selecting the most ill prepared man in history to sit in the Oval Office, America is sometimes still in awe of it's president, and often amazed by his decisions and actions.

This week, most of us will celebrate, or recognize in some way, the fall of the Berlin Wall. At the height of the Cold War, when the wall was new, John Kennedy went to Berlin. John F. Kennedy stood before that wall and proclaimed to the Soviets and to the world that he too, was a Berliner, that all free men were Berliners. America would stand by and in the hostage city because the only think keeping Soviet Tanks out of West Berlin was an American promise.

Ronald Reagan went to the wall and spoke. He said 'Mr. Gorbechove, Tear down this wall..and two years later, it fell. It fell as the Soviet Union began it's death spiral. The enslaved people of Eastern Europe began to shake of the shackels of Soviet domination and communism. Country after country kicked out it's Soviet masters. Soon, the Soviet Union itself splintered as it's conquered republics secceeded and chose independance over mother Russia.

This week, Germany remembers. Russia remembers. The world remembers. Everyone remembers, except one.

In Washington, a confused and overwhelmed man ponders his many problems and issues. Without the basis to understand the importance of this anniversary, he fails to recognize the it. He was busy. He was working on something more important. For the first time in history, an American President found something more important than freedom.

He was working on health care reform.

Welcome to the new America.

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This

As Congress struggles with Health Care Reform, no one yet knows much about what it's final form will be, but we do know the promises that the President and Congressional leaders are making. They say they are going to lower the cost of health care, but raise the standard of care. They say they are going to expand health care coverage without creating shortages, but they don't say anything about where the new doctors and nurses will come from.

In trying to lower health care costs, clearly not much can be done to lower the cost of treating a cold. Take two asprine, take fluids, and get plenty of rest. Not much fat in there.
No, the cost savings will come from denying expensive treatments to people. No matter how that decison is made, that is where the dollar savings will come from. The argument that the insurance companies exersize that power now is riddiculious because were that the case, this argument would be moot. Clearly the insurance companies are paying for a lot of expensive treatment that is saving and improving a lot of people's lives. This is the only place significant costs savings will come from because this is where the big money is.

If it is true that the health plan will introduce 45 million new people into the 'system', then even a moron can see that we will need to add health care providers or we will have shortages. Who will the new 'providers' be? Well, it's damn sure most won't be doctors, and many won't even be speak good English. And, if you think you spend a lot of time in the waiting room now, get ready. You haven't seen anything yet.
Consider the implications of this. Because you'll be treated more often by 'para' professionals, we will see a lot more botched diagnoses. A good diagnostician is produced by years of study, and years of experience. The coming wave of 'para' professional has yet to finish High School. "Last week, I couldn't spell 'diagnostician' and this week I are one."
Finally, because the incentive is being taken out of medicine, the treatments we now have will be as good as it gets. Well, that's not entirely true. Research into favoured diseases will continue with federal money. AIDS research will continue, but work on ALS may wellgrind to a halt. Work on acnea treatments will continue, but work on new Altzhimers will likely be greatly diminished.

Sadly, for all the promises from all the politicians, the reality is that even with all our present health care problems, it just doesn't get any better than this. When they tell you otherwise, they are lying.

When in the course of human events....

Is it just me, or is anyone else concerned about the increasingly domineering role that government plays in our lives?

In just the last week, a 6 year old cub scout was suspended from school for bringing an eating utensil to school, and an Eagle Scout with aspirations of attending West Point was suspended for 20 days because the survival pack he kept locked in his car contained a pocket knife with a two inch blade. Mindless but enpowered bureaucrats blindly enforcing draconian regulations designed to keep our kids safe. Who protects our kids from the bureaucrats?

Last year, a kid we know pants another kid at school. To most, a school yard prank that deserved at least detention, and at most suspension. The Vice-Principal handling the matter was required by ' school board policy' to contact the school's Police Liason officer because the act constituted an 'assault' and resulted in 'indecent exposure'. Both the kids involved were 12 years old. The vice principal was following a regulation that could have resulted in a 12 year old boy being branded for life as a 'sex offender' because he pants another kid at school. Under that criteria, most of my friends from Jr.High were chronic sex offenders. Who protects our kids from the School Board?

Following nearly every incident involving a gun that makes the news, the immedate reaction among legislators (federal, state and local) is to loudly demand stricter gun control laws. Are these people oblivious to the fact that the criminals are already ignoring the umpteen zillion gun control laws that already exist? Do these morons think that the thugs will read the new law, and suddenly decide that this one new law is the straw that broke the camels back, and that they will now abandon their criminal ways? Nope. You and I will be the ones who obay the law, whose effect is to disarm those who would be victims. The irony is that the thugs, when caught, often get leniency due to a life of deprivation and hardship, and having grown up in a bad neighborhood. Watch what happens when you or I, people who have jobs, pay taxes and participate in the community, violate a gun law that we didn't even know existed. Who protects us from our government?

When in the course of human events.....

A Time of Change

Little over a year ago, my family visited Gettysburg. We walked to grounds, stood among the ghosts, and told the story of that awful war to my son. Prior to that day, he knew that there had been an American Civil War, but he really didn't know why. He understood that President Lincoln had freed the slaves, that good had triumphed, and the world became a better place.

We stood on top of Little Round Top and peered downing into the Valley of Death, and talked about history. We talked about how it must have felt to be a soldier ordered to advance through that tiny valley. My son climbed on the bolders where sharpshooters once hid, and his far away look told me he was thinking about what had taken place on this ground. We walked across some of the ground where the 131st Mississippi suffered 100% casualties during Pickett's Charge, and I told him that was the entire student body of The University of Mississippi.

If you ask most people about the causes of the Civil War, they will tell you it was fought to end slavery in this country. It is true that the war did result in the end of that terrible institution. Sadly, that is generally recognized as 'The' cause of the war. It is simply not true, but a case of the victor writing the history that they 'prefere' over the history that 'was'.

No one in their right mind can defend the practice or institution of slavery. If that was what the war was about, who can say the Union was wrong?

But if the war was about Slavery, why did South Carolina fire on the Union Navy approaching Fort Sumter? Did they fear that the Union Navy was about to free all the Slaves held in the Union fort?

No, the shooting didn't start because of a threat to slavery. It started because South Carolina refuesed to pay unjust taxes and rejected northern political domination. The Confederate Battle flags that flew as hundreds of thousands of young men struggled to their deaths stood not for the enslavement of man, but for his freedom. The cannons that pummeled Fort Sumter drove out those who would blockaid the harbor for the collection of the Merril Tarrifs. The first shots of the war were fired in the same spirit as the battle at Bunker Hill...in defiance of collection of taxes.

There was a time when you could tell this story, and help people understand why so many men fought and died so valiantly for so long. There was a time when it was important that we as a people remembered what it took to create our great country, when we as a people understood the sacrifices that were made by our forbearers and appreciated the legacy of wealth, prosperity and freedom that they left to us.

But, times have changed.

Today, we don't value history. We don't understand freedom. The federal government is about to redistribute our wealth, to tax us over greenhouse gasses, and force a federal health insurance program on us. Every where you look, the government is taking money you and I have sacraficed and worked to earn, and is giving it to someone else to support programs that we are absolutely opposed to. Where once we stood for democracy and freedom, today our government is finding common ground with dictators and petty despots. The cult of personality surrounding the presidency diminishes the office, and insults the individual sovoriegnity of the American People. It certainly has been a time of change.

Which way to Charlston Harbor? Imagine the courage it took to say "Hell no!" and to touch off that first cannon.

Our cannons are the ballot box.

Remember in November.

You Might Be a Racist if.....

You might be a racists if.....
.....you are opposed to unilateral nuclear disarmament. I believe that the United States ought to have clear and unmistakable nuclear deterance.
.....you do not believe that we should halt construction of the ballistic missile shield in Eastern Europe.
.....you do not believe that our health care issues can be solved by a massive federal program, but rather by common sense tort reform and other similar measures.
.....you believe that anything that allies us with Danial Ortega, Hugo Chavez, and Fidel Castro is probably a mistake.
.....you do not believe that taxing me will stop global warming.
.....you do not believe that the president has any business discussing politics with school children.
....you do not believe that pulling of Afganistan is right. If the terrorists win, we lose.

Just a Thought

It's Political Campaign time.

Just a thought.....

A Vote for your Democrat Representative to Congress is a Vote for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

He have brought home the bacon for 30 years, but Nancy is going to fix health care for you and me.

He may be your children's Godfather, but Nancy is ramming Cap and Trade down our throats.

He may be your best friend, but remember, a government big enough to solve all your problems is a government big enough to take all you have.

Palintology

I like Sarah Palin because she isn't an ' elitist intellectual'. She didn't go to an Ive League School and most importantly she speaks plain english.

I like Sarah Palin because she is a soccer mom acting on her values, not a political hack or meglomaniac persuing a life long dream of political power. She's not out to establish "economic" justice or 'fix' the Constitution. Sarah Palin is a soccer mom who got angry at her city council for doing things she thought were wrong. She got involved and she won a seat on the council. Next, she became mayor, and finally she became governor. All this, because she didn't like the way things were being done. She wasn't elected because she is a woman. She was elected because a lot of people agreed with her ideas about what was wrong with government.

I like Sarah Palin because she is not the product of an corrupt political machine. Instead, she fought one and put a lot of theiving bastards in the penitentary. She is unsophistocated, which really is just saying that someone can still tell the difference between right and wrong and makes no appologies about it. If Alaskan oil money couldn't buy her, then she can't be bought.

I like Sarah Paline because she doesn't believe the government should be a provider health care, homes, food, cars or jobs. She does not believe that the government should take money away from those who earn it and give it to those who do not. She believes that the government should encourage prosperity, not penalize it; that the government should guarantee equal opportunity for prosperity, not equal access to the fruits of another's prosperity.

I like Sara Palin because no one has to tell her that an American President bows to no man. She knows that we fought a war about that in 1776. She understands that if you need gasoline, then you need oil. and if you need oil, then you have to drill for it, and if you need gasoline you have to refine the oil.

The thing that I think I like the most about Sarah Palin is that she scares the bejesus out of the Democrat nut case leftwingers and the hack corp of the Republican Party. Just mentioning her name drives both into a frenzy. They are absolutely horrified of her because the values they have seen in how she conducts her life are those of middle America. They are the values of farmers, and small bussiness owners, of carpenters, and truck drivers, doctors and country lawyers. They aren't phoney photo op values, but Norman Rockwell values of a good, and honest people doing good and honest things. Those values resonate with the real world.

The Left wingnutts are always better at identifying conservative leaders than the Republicans are, and both are scared to death. The Republican hacks know that the truth of her words and the validity of her record will peel the bark off of many of them and set the rest afire. Because she is a bona fide middle American, she is being assailed by windnutts and hacks. They fear her because they see her for what she is: honest.

They say she has no practical foreign policy experience. That may be a good thing. Though President Obama doesn't have any either, Biden and Hillary have 'mountains' of it, and they still can't send a clear message to any body on anything. I think GovernorPalin will do ok. She has no military experiance either, though I suspect her hunting experience has taught her that if a bear is charging at her, it is a good idea to shoot the bear before he is able to actually attack her. Unlike President Obama, Biden and Hillary, she'll understand that radical Islam is a charging bear who has already attacked more than once. She'll shoot the bear, and won't appologize for it. She has no experience with 'universal' health care, but she has enough sense to understand that America simply doesn't want it. She has never run a car company, but then again, our country never owned one before. She has never run banks or a mortage industry, but again, our country has never owned them before either. That was the Soviet Union. I would suspect she'll find a way to get these back where they belong in private sector. Because she sprang from local politics, I suspect that she respects local preferences and state sovorignity more than any president in recent memory. She may be our best hope to limit the dead hand of federal power.


I like Sarah Palin because she's angry about the same things that I am angry about. I like Sarah Palin because her idea of government help isn't a handout or a hold-up....oops...I mean a 'tax'. Her idea of government help is to get government off our backs, off our minds and out of our pockets. It's not government's responsibility to spend my earnings, it's mine. It's my government's responsibility to defend the boarders. Que Pasa Amigo?

I like Sarah Palin, and I think Thomas Jefferson would have liked her, too. I know she likes Thomas Jefferson, and Madison, and Washington. I believe in the United States Constitution and I like Sarah Palin because she believes in the United States Constitution, too.

What do you believe in?

Nine Out of Ten Morons Agree

Recently a friend commented to me that I ought to be glad that my Social Security dollars were not invested in the stock market as some had advocated a few years ago. After the meltdown of the last year or so, IRA and other investments are worth a lot less today than they were 18 months ago. As the econonmy continutes to crap out, and as President Obama struggles to get things moving again, the market will continue to be a very 'risky' place to put our retirement funds, my friend maintains.

Though tragic, at that moment, I realized that my friend is a moron.

Though my investments have lost roughly a third of their value, I still have them. I own them . They are mine. With Social Security, I have nothing but a 'deal' with the government. The government promised that they would take money from me each payday, which they did. In exchange, starting at 65 years of age, Social Security would send me a stipend for the rest of my natural life. Hmmm....not a bad deal...especially with life expectancies approaching 80 years.

Ah, but there is a catch in the giddy-up. Social Security will be broke in just a few years. This isn't news. We have known that it was acturiarly unsound for several decades. The weasles we send to Washington have not had the guts to fix it, thought they did figure out that if they give Social Security benefits to illegal aliens who 'follow a path' to citizenship, they will have a whole new class of paupers dependant on govenrment handouts for their existance.

After a lifetime of being coerced into contributing to and relying on a government promise of a retirement fund, the benefits side of the promise is about to be changed. Unless you are one of the thousands of illegal aliens who have never contributed to the program but whom the government wants to grant Social Security benefits to, the benefits side of that government 'promise' are about to change for the worse. The reality is that those who have contributed the most to this program are about to become the ones who recieve the least.

My 401k is invested in the America. I contribute to it every month. No matter whether the market is going up, or going down, I put a percentage of my income each month into my retirement accounts. I put my faith in free enterprise and capitalism. Through diversification and prudence, I protect my funds as a shepherd protects his flock, and I pray that President Obama doesn't nationalize anything have an interest in. ( It's really just a fancy way of saying the government stole a business.)

My friend laughed when I told him that I had lost roughly a third of my portfolio's value.

I asked him what he had. He said he had Barak Obama and Social Security.

I laughed.

You can't fix stupid.

The Obama Imperial Court

In the next few days, the Senate will confirm a racist, social engineer to become a member of the United States Supreme Court. Though she denied it during her sworn testimony before the Senate, the trail of her history on the Appeals Court betray her to be an 'activist judge'.

What is an 'Activist Judge'?

For starters, an activist judge is much smarter than you or I. They know what is best, and see it as their responsibity to use the power of their role and position to achieve their personal aims, regardless of what the Framers of the Constitution actually intended, regardless of laws that Congress passes, and regardless of what the people have voted on.

An activist judge is a judge who can find rights and meanings in the Consititution and laws that are not actually written there, and one who can fail to find rights, limitations and meanings that are cenumerated and learly spelled out.

An activist judge is a judge who 'makes law' from the bench. The activist judge is an un-elected super judical legislative functionary who believes that they are enpowered to shape society as they see fit; a super-judicial legislative functionary to solve our problems for us and who is appointed for life.

A activist judge is a judge who doesn't see their mission as the persuit of equal justice all. A activist judge is an advocate for a point of view, and will use their position to advance that point of view regardless of the provisions of the Constitution and the actions Congress.

Now, we have an Activist Judge testifying in Confirmation hearings and about to become member of the United States Supreme Court.

The most damning thing about the Sotomoyor confirmation hearings is that she is lying under oath. It is obvious to everyone on both sides of the isle in the Senate. The good judge knows that her her radical judical history would, in the minds of most Americans, disqualify her for the Supreme Court. Honest and fair minded people want justice based on the facts and the law, and not on their skin color or ethnicity. Judge Sotomoyor knows this, otherwise she would not have denied racist and manipulative past in her testimony.

Her racist comment about a 'wise latina woman' making better decisions than a 'white man' would have disqualified anyone else. Anyone else would be run out of Washington, and probably lose their Appelate Court position. Can you imagine if a white man had said that a 'white man' would make better decisions that a 'wise latina woman'? Several years ago, Senator Trent Lott said nice things to a 90 year old retiring collegue, and was stripped of his Senate post by jackels screaming 'racist'. Where are the jackels now? They are about to confirm Judge Sotomoyor.

Call your Senator. Tell them to oppose this person. This woman isn't really a judge. A judge applies the law. She is an activist. Her interest isn't justice. It's advancing her particular ideology. Is that what we expect from a Supreme Court Judge, or even a municipal judge?

Apparently, justice depends on the color of your skin.

Welcome to The Imperial Court in Obama's World.

Independence Day

As we celebrate our indendence, let us consider the men who won it for us, and how the did it.

For almost a 1000 years, every rebellion against an English king had failed.
The Rebels were hunted down.
They were brought to London.

They were hanged, drawn and quarted, and beheaded. Some were burned at the stake. Their families were dispossesed and often exiled to the far corners of the empire.

Not some of them. All of them.

The men who signed our Declaration of Independence were not malcontents. They were wealthy, successful men. They were Planters, and Brewers, publishers, and merchants. They were men who knew what happens to Traitors to the British Crown.

And they signed anyway. They signed their own death warrants.

They were more than just a bunch of rich white guys pissed at the king.

They were men longing to be free. In declaring their independence, our founding fathers were doing more than declaring one state free from another state. It was Man thowing off shackels and freeing himself from royal subjecation. Free men throwing off the royal boot of the English Crown. American sovorignity resides in the individual.

In 1775, with English troops all around, and arrest a very real possibility, Patrick Henry stood up in a church in Virginia and loudly said "Give me liberty, or give me Death."

As our slithering, smothering Obamacracy slowly wraps it's coils around us, who has the balls to say that now?

Voting Rights

The House of Representatives just passed the Energy and Climate Change bill. Just so we're all on the same page, it is the bill whose logic is this: We can control the weather by taxing the American People.

This lunacy is brought to us by my favorite collection of tree hugging facists, Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party. This bill is nothing more than a major tax increase, and job extinction bill. Just like promised during the presidential election, Barry...(excuse me, he likes to be called Barak now)...Obama promised to bankrupt the coal industry.

Any idea how much energy, as in electrical energy, we get from coal?

Consider this, if the cost to heat and cool your house goes up by, 40% as a result of this tax increase, how do you cut back? Sure in the summer, you sweat. In the winter, do you shiver? If you drive to work, the store, and to the doctor, how do you cut back? When the cost of grocerys goes up, how do you cut back?

When election time comes around think about it. All this was made possible because the Democrat Party voted for Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker, and she rammed the bill through. So, if your Representative is a Democrat, whether or not he actually voted for this bill, his vote to make Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House made this possible. If you're on board with these taxes and their effects, vote for him again. If your not, throw the bum out.

Oh yeah. One more thing. It doesn't really control the weather.

Fang Skull

At a height of about 5 feet, a kid has a different perspective on a lot of things. They know every dog in the neighborhood, and speak of the dog as if he were a friend. Property lines have little meaning. Nary a thought is given to cutting through backyards, side yards, and front yards on their way to the 'woods' or a friends house. They may borrow things, but they will never steal, and they will give you all they have for the asking. They haven't a clue about the value of a dollar, but they can tell you all about lucky rocks. At once, they treat their friends like dogs, and dogs like brothers. They are generous beyond good sense to friend and stranger alike, and loyal to the end even in the face greivous punishment. I think they pick that up from the dogs. They ride bicycles and skateboards with the causal elegance of a soaring hawk, crash them like flaming train wrecks, and rise again, bleeding but smiling and laughing. They find more joy in a single jelly bean than we find in Christmas, and, we try to teach these kids to be adults.

It seems to me, that we ought to consider becoming more like kids.

On Father's day, my son was in the worlds greatest store (Spenser's), and bought me a gift I will never, ever forget. Having blown my knee out last September, and despit having it surgically repaired, it still hurts and I limp a little. If you limp, you ought to have a cool cane. A cane much cooler than any that Dr. House might posses.

If you are a 12 year old boy, there is nothing better you can give your limping dad than a black cane that is topped with a skull with fangs.

If you are a limping dad, there is nothing better your son can give you than the look on his face when he sees you smile after opening a box containing the world's greatest cane.

It doesn't get any better than that.

Love Letters from Peking

Just like President Obama, when China senses weakness or an opportunity, they move with astounding quickness. Using many of the same techniques as our federal government used to take over the Mortagage Industry, a number of huge banks and General Motors, China is preparing to finally reign in it's 'renegade province', Taiwan.

China has read President Obama well. In the campaign season, his words regarding foreign policy spoke volumes to the observant Chinese. Here was a man so completly unprepared, that having Joe Biden as his 'main man' on foreign policy was truly an 'upgrade'. America had finally found a complete fool to elect president, hense, the opportunity.

Given the chance to endorse freedome, and the rights of man during this Iranian Election crisis, President Obama declined. Unlike every other American President, this president declined to use his bully pulpit to proclaim the rights of man to be free. He called it "meddeling".

China is thanking all 1000 of it's ancient gods.

North Korea can not flush a toilet without China's approval. On Chinese orders, they are ramping up their nuclear activity, begining to export weapons again, and testing misiles. All just to provolk President Obama to ask them to stop. They won't of course. Obama will ask the Chinese to make them stop.

They will, of course, for a price.

Taiwan.

For sixty years, America has stood between China and Taiwan. We have protected the freedom and independence of that island.

Now, they are protected by President Obama.

Of course, he doesn't want to meddle.

I am an American

I am an American, a free man by right, by God.

I bow to no man. Thought I may be governed, but I will never be ruled.
I do not expect my government to support me, to house me, to provide my health care, my child care or my job.
I expect my government to defend me and to protect the peace of the land.



My government has no right to spend my children, and grandchildren into poverty.
My government is not a health care provider.
My government has no business running businesses.
My government has no right to tax me for social engineering purposes.
My government has no right to take my earnings and redistribute them.
My government owes me nothing but equal opportunity.

I believe that equal justice for one, is equal justice for all.
I believe that if you believe Judges make law, you don't get to be a judge.
I believe that my right to own a gun does not infringe on your right not to.
I believe that Affirmative Action is institutionalized racism.
I believe that I am responsibile for my actions, and you are responsible for yours.
I believe that Man Made Global Warming is bullshit.

I am an American. A Free Man, by God.

Let My People Go

This is a great country. By virtue of the security offered by the expanse of the oceans, our country was able to develop in relative peace. Our vast natural resources enabled our economy to grow and produce a standard of living unmatched in the world. The United States was the only place in the world where a man could litterally begin life in poverty and by the product of his efforts alone, raise himself out of poverty and achive wealth and success. No class system holds a man down. No caste system denied opportunity. The product of a man's efforts were his to do with as he saw fit. We were a nation of a strong and free people. As a result, the citizenry of the United States of America achieved wealth and success an order of magnitude above that achieved by any other country in the history of the world. While the impoverished masses of other countries eat grass and live in huts with dirt floors, America's poor watch Oprah on color TV's in air conditioned comfort.


Today, our government is about to address the poverty problem. By nationalizing our banks, our government will begin to work through the social injustices and economic inequity inherent in our economic system. The Banks will no longer be run by those who have invested in them, but by a government who seized them. Because they are run by the government, the banks will no longer be operated for profit. They are vehicles for social change.

The corrupt wealthy are being dispossed of their ill gotten gain, and power returned to the people. Redistribution of the wealth is a good and rightious reform, or, at least that is the story that CBS/ABC/NBC sells. Interestingly, none of this will lift a single person from poverty. It will simply add to the numbers of the impoverished. Is it just me, or does it seem that a government program that seeks a more equal distribution of poverty is just fundamentally wrong. The law of unintended consequences is an intersting thing. The question, however, is whether or not this is actually an 'unintended' consequence. Many believe as General Powell said yesterday, governmental dependence is a good thing.

Not long ago, it was said that our failing automobile industry could not be allowed to collapse. Turns out that was wrong. Actually, it can collapse, but not entirely. After dumping billions of dollars into automobile industry because it is simply to big to fail, it has been decided that bankruptcy is, after all, an option. This wasn't an option until we pumped billions into the this black hole? Of course not. The billions went to the UAW.

In an impressive display of selective reasoning that only government experts can understand, our government has determined that it was a failure to producing enough unprofitable eco-box, hybrid cars that caused the collapse of the American automobile industry, and not the insane UAW contracts that rendered GM, Chrysler and Ford economically unviable. Soon, thanks to the abandonment of SUV production, and the increase in Hybrid production, Americans can to continue to subsidize the auto industry, and a government subsidy to buy expensive Hybrids because we have a 'right' to a car.

The really weird thing about all this, is that we get it all for free. Absolutly free. Will we ever pay for all this? Nope. Not us. We won't pay for it, but you can bet your sweet bippy that our kids and our grandchildren will. Our kids, too young to vote, and our grandchildren not yet born, are being spent into a life of poverty and debt servitude so deep that they will never emerge into a prosperity anywhere near that which we have enjoyed most of our lives. All this so we can force GM to produce cars we don't want to buy. When we prop up GM, and force them to produce Hybrids that no one will buy, we are forcing our kids to buy us cars we do not want.

Clearly, investments and possessions are no longer safe. If your vote is countered by the tide of votes cast by those who profit from the government treasury, then you can not change your government. If that government can seize your income and possessions, that of your childrens, and your children's children's, and distribute it today to those whom it favors, and you have no recourse, then I would argue that it no longer is your government. It has become your captor.

We know who the President is.

I'm looking for Moses.

The Age of the Idiot

The President says he doesn't want to control the banks, but he won't allow them to return theTARP money. He's having the government insist that it be converted to common shares of stock.

He says he's not interested in 'prosecuting the past', but his Attorney General is looking prosecuting the lawyers who wrote the interrogation memos, and the officials who ok'd the memos, and the guys who did the interrogations.

He tells us he 'inherited a tremendous deficit', but he as a member of congress, he supported the spending bills. He tells us that the 'earmark' spending must stop, but the budget contained many earmarks that he put in the bill when he was still in the Senate.

He told us bankruptcy was out of the question for Chrysler and GM. Chrysler just filed.

The polls still show him to be highly popular.

All this is a result of the influnce of lawyers in our socieity.

By putting warning labels on things like hair dryers, bug zappers, and leaf blowers, they have thwarted the natural selection process. Absolute idiots are no longer being electocuted by hair dryers, bug zappers and the like. Instead, these bastards are surviving.

We have reached the tipping point. There are more absolute morons in this country than thinking people. They elected this lying bastard. They still like this theiving weasle. The do not compare his words with his actions.

This meglomanic who sits in the oval office is a socialist intent on remaking America into something more 'equal' society.

Thank a Lawyer, or start removing those damn stickers and giving hair dryers for Christmas.

Call Me Arrogant

After France and The United Kingdom had been bled white by the German Maxim Guns, artillery barrages and gas clouds in the fields of France, American Doughboys arrived. Our young Americans made the difference, and the Kaiser was defeated. No one called us arrogant.


Twenty years later, American soldiers again crossed the Atlantic. Our young Americans liberated everything from the English Channel to the Rhine River. After the Nazi guns had fallen silent, America asked for nothing more than a place to bury her thousands of dead. No one called us arrogant.


When all of Europe was nothing more than a smoldering ruin with a shattered economy and exhausted armies, the Soviet Union cast a covetous eye over the broken continent. American Soldiers stood alone in the gap between Europe and Soviet domination. America pledged to defend Europe as if it were American soil, and no one called us arrogant.

I am an American and I believe that every human being is born with certain inalienable rights. I believe in individual liberty, personal and religious freedom. I believe in a fair and open market, and a free press. I believe that all men were created equal and I believe in a government by the people, of the people, and for the people. I believe in a government of laws, not men. I believe that these rights are worth fighting for and defending.

My president, and all of Europe may call me arrogant, but I'll never appologize for that. I am proud of it. I am proud to be an American.

Povety for All

One half of the American People pay no taxes.

The other half pays all income taxes. The top 1% pays more in taxes than the bottom 90%

One of the fundamental problems that we as a country have is that one half of our population does not contribute to the support of the government, and instead see the government itself as a means of support, a provider of sustinance.

Because the government is becoming a provider of essentials to so many, it endangers us as a country because it makes us vulnerable to pandering politicians who promise to have the government give more and more to those who contribute less and less. Beggers voting themselves more and more benefits, and seizing more and more profits until the engine of commerce is choked out. When that happens, there will be poverty for all, and justice for none.

Thank you American, It's been fun.

Government Motors

Now that our government is calling the shots for General Motors, give some thought to this. The same people who run Social Security are about to run our largest car company.

If past history is anything to go by, here's what we can expect:

- We are about to be required by law to pay for a car that we can never own, possess or maintain.

- When we die, the government will take the car away.

- We, who are paying for the car, can not choose anything about the car.

- We might not even ever get to drive the car, but we will certainly pay for the ride.

- People from other countries will be able to sneak in and get a car for free.

- Congressmen will get Mercedes Benz sedans for free, serviced by Germans.

- There will be one Warranty program for everyone…except large corporations, favored minorities, and politically correct special interest groups who will each have their own Warranty program.

- Warranty programs will be underfunded and overpromised…except for those warranties affecting large corporations, favored minorities, and politically correct special interest groups. Those will be lavishly funded, and any failure to meet expectations will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law as the failures will obviouslyl be the result of hate crimes.

- The guy who greets you at your dealership will barely be able to speak English. In the event he does speak English, he will be surley.

- Maintenance and repairs will be performed by mechanics hired to address social injustice. All errors will be the result of the failed policies of George W. Bush.

- Warranty claims will be reviewable only by a Warranty administrator, who is a civil service employee who can never be fired, or held accountable.

- Tremendous amounts of money will be wasted doing maintenance on automobiles that no longer exist.

Nero may have fiddled while Rome burned, but President Obama is carjacking the American Dream.

Rome or Weimar?

I have read the writings of some of those who were present at the fall of the Weimar Republic. The German economy had never really recoved from the Great War and was in shambles. The nation was strangled by a treaty which halted hostilities, but did not end the war. Worldwide, Germany alone was blamed for The Great War. Germans were split in all directions by political extremists. Out of the chaos following the war and the deprivation of the Great Depression, emerged an inspiring young leader full of soaring rhetoric and great plans for a reborn nation. Out of the dark and fog one night in March of 1933, a New Germany was born.

I have also read of the fall of Rome. Inflation, invasion, decay of citizenship and multitude of other contributors brought about a slow collapse that actually took several centuries to complete. Roman culture survived in bits and pieces throughout the West. Roman settlements became the towns that now populate Europe. From the Fall of Rome rose the world we know today. When the barbarians arrived at the gates of the last Roman palace, the last Ceasar, Romulus Augustus simply walked away.

In college a number of instructors pointed out to me and others, the startling similarities between the United States and it's relative state, and that of Rome during it's decline and fall. The similarites were shocking to young, relatively unread minds. I, like many, was enamoured with the comparison of the United States to Rome. Both reigned suppreme on the earth. No military power could challenge either. The economies of both utterly dominated every other economic system the encountered. Both enjoyed a prosperity never before imagined, much less achieved. In the end, both engaged in unwise military adventures, poor public policy, and economic mismanagement. Both, we all solemly concluded, would crumble in similar manner.

Today, I realized that we were wrong. We engage in self flattery and dillusions of grandeur when we compare our selves to the mighty Rome. Rome's influence has lasted 2000 years. Roman influence in education, military, and commerce is what dragged the world kicking and screaming out of the Bronze Age and started it toward the Information Age. Rome civilized the world. No, we are not Rome.

We are the Weimar Republic. We are quietly and meekly allowing our Congress to pass laws giving sweeping new powers to a president who will use them. We are about to create a 'National Civilian Security Force', and mandatory youth service. We are nationalizing businesses and banks. We are offering tax free status to the press in exchange for it's freedom. We are handing our individual responsibility for our health care over to the national government. We are taxing the engines of production, and subsidizing corrupt social organizations. We are ignoring the constitution and forgetting it's protections.

On Feburary 28 1933, Adolph Hitler, declaring a crisis following the Reichstag fire, asked the Reichstag of the Weirmar Republic of Germany to suspend many Constitutional protections. On March 23, the Enabling Act authorized the Cabinet to pass legistation without the approval of the Reichstag. The coup was done. The Weimar Republic died without a whimper. The echo of the vote had not yet died in the chambers when the brown shirts, Hitler's civilian security force, came. In the dark of night the first of their victims vanished. Some went quitely. Others ran away. Most died filthy, hungry, alone and cold, behind barbed wire.

No, we are not Rome. We are Wiemar. We did not elect Romulus Augustus. No, we elected a man who tells us he needs special powers and tools to handle the "crisis". Think you are a patriot? They will come for you first. What will you do when they come for you?

Remember, work will make you free.

It's Simply UnAmerican

This country has changed in ways unimaginable thirty years ago. The Democrat Party is still dominated by Unions, urban political machines, and corrupt political monsters, but today, there is a special brand of lawlessness among the players that we as Americans simply can not tolerate. In the old days, when you 'bought' a politician, he stayed bought. Not anymore, and that, my friends, is unAmerican.

Senator Chris Dodd of Connecuticut is a prime example. AIG has offices in Connecuticut. Senator Dodd recieved more money from AIG than any other politician. Many of his constituents work in the finance, banking or insurance industries. He sits on the Senate Finance Committee. He inserted into the AIG bailout bill language that not just allowed AIG to pay the bonuses, it guaranteed that they would pay the bonuses. He didn't do this on accident. It was deliberate. It was for stuff like this that the AIG gave him all that bribe money...excuse me,....all those campaign donations.

Now, we the people have found out about the bonuses, and we're pissed. Despite having come from this industry and having received bonuses of this type in the past, Geithner and Paulson are shocked that this occured. President Obama claims no prior knowledge of this, and Senator Dodd is scrambling to find a way to undo his clause and to cover his ass. All sorts of people are arguing that the money should be given back. Congressman Barney Frank is loudly lisping that the money should be taxed at 91%.

The real problem is that we are bailing out failing businesses. We should allow them to fail. If we let them fail, the others will realize that we won't save them. Those who can save themselves will save themselves. Those who can't will perish. In the case of GM, both GM and the UAW will be slapped with the reality that the American taxpayer isn't going to subsidize their health care and retirement programs. GM must become economically viable or die. Only then will the UAW either get reasonable with GM, get broken, or GM will fail.

In the case of AIG, everyone from Obama down knew about the bonuses. Because so many of the players either come from that industry, or are closely associated with that industry, it's simply not resonable to believe Gietner's, Paulson's and President Obama's claims that they had no knowledge of the bonuses. Geithner ran the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Paulson was CEO at Goldman Sachs. Didn't know? Hell, they were beneficiaries of these types of bonuses in the past. From the perspective of the Democrat Party, the real problem here isn't the bonuses, or even that the American public found out about the bonuses. The real problem is that the American public may realize that this particular bunch of crooks can be trusted even less than the prior bunch of crooks.

Senator Chris Dodd is the worst of the worst. AIG bought and paid for him, and now he's rolling over on them. If I am one of the executives at AIG who got the bonus, I'd be angry. If I have to give up my 'bonus' money, I'd be demanding, loudly and publicly, my bribe money back.....excuse me...my campaign donation money back. What good is it to buy a politician if he won't stay bought?

That's just throwing good money after bad.

Dissolving the Union to Create a Single State

The very thought of a civilian national defence force makes me shiver. That this civilian national defense force would be as well funded as the military makes me cringe. The idea that this civilian national defense force would be designed to be effective, efficient, and expedicious just scares the hell out of me.

"So that future Katrina's are averted...we need this force."

No. No, we don't.

I like the idea that our national government can not deploy troops inside this country to act in law enforcement. I like the idea that every tentical of our national government is ponderous, slow moving, incompetent and lethargic.

I like the idea that in all emergencies, our local govenment is charged with being the first responders. I especially like the idea that if my local government is ponderous, slow moving, incompetent or lethargic, I can vote and fairly easily throw the bums out. I like the idea that they are backed up by county and state resources. I like the fact that the national government has historically provided money and material, but not men.

I like this arrangement because I can go door to door, and help to change my local government if I don't like how they handled an emergency. I don't have to worry about hords of illegal voters in far away places like New York City, Phillidelphia, Miami, Los Angles over whelming my neighborhoods' voters and sticking me with a crook not of my own choosing. I don't have to worry about ACORN registering the bums, and dragging them in to vote. If I don't like the way things are done, it is in my power to affect change.

Consider for a moment, the consequences if the role of "first responder" is taken over by the federal government. Consider what would be involved with defying a federal order to evacuate, or assemble, or disperse. Were we to turn over to the federal governement to role of "first responder", the very role that this 'civilian defence force' is said to be designed to fill, we give up our right to make decisions for our selves. We surrender to nameless, faceless, risk averse, quota hired, unaccountable federal beaurocrats the authority to command our obediance; to require that we leave our homes, or go to our homes, or mass at a specified location, all under force and penalty of law and threat of detention.

Let that soak in.

Thomas Jefferson was afraid of this. Alexander Hamilton didn't see it as a problem. It's a classic debate.

How do you feel about history?

It has taken one hundred and forty four years to come to pass: This is the freedom that was lost at Appomatix Courthouse.

Outside the tent, pissing in.

I am pissed.

I am pissed because the SEC was supposed to be watching the theiving bastards on Wall Street and making them follow the rules and conduct honest business. Now we find out that someone didn't do their job. Bernie Madoff and serveral 'Mini-Madodd's' have bilked thousands of people out of gazilliions of dollars. Where were the SEC regularors during all this? Who are they? Why are they not being held accountable for allowing all these Ponzi schemes to occur? When their incompetence or corruption has cost thousands their jobs, why do these theiving bastards still have theirs?

I am pissed because banks made bad loans, and were encouraged to make bad loans, and now that the bad loans are bringing mortagage companies down, you and I are being asked to pay for it all. Why did the banks make these loans? Why aren't Barny Frank and Chris Dodd being asked these questions? They run the congressional committees that run Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Why are they not sitting before a Grand Jury? Why are they still running those committee?

I am pissed because we are bailing out bad companies. When the government prevents companies from failing it screws everything up. Part of the 'reward' for operating with a sound business model is that when someone flies their company into the ground, you get to feast on the assets at bargain prices. When the governmment props up the incompetent, it takes away opportunity from the competent.

I am pissed because we have allowed financial institutions to grow so large that their failure represents a threat to financial security of our country. Our government is supposed to protect us from this stuff, but instead, because we have consistently elected self serving, corrupt, incompetent, lying weasels ( Social Democrat and Republican), the Federal Government has allowed merger, after merger. They have allowed the consolidation of financial resources in to a few huge entities whose existance must then be guaranteed by the government. This means that advancement in those companies will no longer be on the basis of merit, but on the basis of connections. Worse yet, many of the snakes who ran the financial institutions we are bailing out have found new jobs working for the new administration. Who thinks that is a good idea?

I am pissed because at a time when our stock market is cratering, our government thinks health care reform, and carbon credits are a bigger issue. They are lying about the impact of health care on bankruptcy. They are using 'global warming' as a means to further tax us. They are screaming 'crisis' every two minutes to pass legislation for programs that have nothing to do with solving the crisis. They say they are spreading the wealth, but all I see is that they are destroying it. Everytime one of them speaks, the stock market plunges. For the love of Mike, just shut up.

I am pissed because our government is failing us. The thing that made America unlike anywhere else in the world was our systematic honesty. An honest market place is the engine of our success. We have allowed the scoundrals we elect to our government to rig the game, and it has broken the engine of prosperity.

Now, the government, the very instrument of harm, the very people who broke the mortage industry, who let the thieves into the Stock Market, who thwarted captital recovery and bailed out bad bussinesses, and who aren't concerned with stock market meltdown, are telling us we must give them, the government, yet more power and more authority over every single aspect of our lives so that it can save us from ourselves.

Piss on them.

An Answer to Jimmy's Prayers

Jimmy Carter was a horrible president. He was the 'anti-Nixon'. He was everything that Nixon was not, and that is why he was elected, and, interestingly enough, why he was such an abject failure. He had absolutely nothing to offer the country other than a pure heart. For all his failures, President Carter was a undeniably a good man, and probably one of the most honest men to ever hold the office. Unfortunately, he was also incompetent and has become the embodiment of the Peter Principle.

As even brief examination of the Carter years will clearly illustrate, the Carter era was an unmitigated disaster. After four years of Carter policys, the economy was in absolute shambles. Interest rates were sky high. Unemployment was high. The stock market was down, and lingering. Gas prices were rising. With the singular exception of the Camp David Accords, his international relations were like a bad sitcom. Iran fell to the Islamo-Nazis, the Russians took Afganistan, and he gave the Panama Canal away. Finally, with his housing redevelopment act, he put in motion the sequence of events that has brought our mortagage industry to it's knees.

We are not yet 100 days into the Obama Administration and already we are seeing massive and profoundly interesting changes. These changes will funamentally alter the American lifestyle for years to come. The Obama Administration is slashing the tax protections for charities. Do you tithe? You won't next year. Do you own your own home? Have you read what is happening to your deduction for interest? Want to change you vote yet? Got a retirement account? He's planning on taxing that twice...once going in, and once coming out. The stock market is so scared that it has been in virtual free fall since his election.

It's no better in the International arena. The Russians laughed at the Obama Administration's attempt to link the missile shield in southern Europe to their help in curbing Iranian nuclear ambitons. Watch for Russia to have more adventures in Georgia, too. The Brits are pissed because President Obama insulted them with the return of the Churchill Bust, and his treatment of Prime Minister Gordan Brown. We are now funding Hamas with $900 million to 'rebuild' the West Bank. More accuratly put, rearm the West Bank. Do we now put ourselves on our list of nations who support or sponsor terrorism?

Domestically, do you think freedom of the press is a good thing? Kiss that good by. The 'Fairness Doctrine' or something like it will soon force a lot of voices off the radio. Several Congressmen in the Social Democrat party have already started talking about this. How do you feel about having the political pack in the White House running the Census? Why is this important? Because it controls your representation in the House of Representatives. Do you want your medical records private? Too bad, the stimulus bill had a provision for a national database to track your treatments. Think Karl Rove was bad? Meet Rahm "Never waste a crisis" Emanuel. Eager for your state to get bail out bucks? Don't be. Taking the money makes your state agree to committments that will force your taxes up in the future.

Jimmy Carter is dancing in the streets because we finally elected a president who will make us forget 1976-1980. President Obama claims he's spreading the wealth. He's not. He's destroying wealth and the means of production, and in it's place, spreading poverty.

Welcome to the third world.

No Crying in Baseball

Alex Rodreguiz is a cheater and a liar. He used steroids, and he lied about it. He's not the only athlete who has done this, but because of his stature, he is the 'poster boy' for it. I think he's still lying about it. He says he quit trafficing in steroids (that's what it's called) five years ago. Five years, it just so happens, is the statute of limitations for trafficing in steriods. Conincidence or just another lie?

We used to say that sports builds character, but today more and more, we find that our sports heros lack not only character, but also courage and strength. We find that Superman can't really fly. He's not really bulletproof. The bullets were fake. And, he doesn't have xray vision, just a ton of money and pair of really cool Raybans. He's not really Superman, but he plays one on TV.

If our sports organizations were serious about putting an end to steroid use, they could do it. Simply put in the contracts a clause that forfits pay and imposes a life-time ban for steriod use. When steriod use turns one milllionaire professional athlete into a broke unemployable athlete, it's use will stop. The rule is simple, "If you cheat, you have to give it all back, and you don't get to play any more."

Enforce that rule, and the steroid problems go away. It worked for gambling, just ask Pete Rose. The truth is that sports organizations won't do it. The game isn't about the game anymore. It's not about the players. It's all about the money. Big stars mean big bucks.

So face it, Superman is juicing.

Rights and Wrongs

I have rights. They were given to my by my Creator. They were not bestowed on me by my government. They were not granted me by my government. My government recognizes that they are mine by virtue of a higher power. We are free men. We are governed, but never ruled.

I can speak my mind, and no one can stop me because it is my right. I do not fear for my liberty, my papers or my property because my government explicitly recognizes my personal sovorignty as my right. I have the right to defend myself and my family. These rights make me an independent and free man. Our independence is the essence of our freedom.

In this day and age when the economy seems to be the most important thing we think about, it's is interesting to note that not one of these rights can be bought with money. They were all paid for in the blood of our forefathers on battlefields at home and abroad. From cold huts at Valley Forge, to the Wheatfield at Gettysburg, our rights have been paid for. From the windswept beaches at Normandy and the sea wall at Inchon harbor to the dark and muddy waters of Bassic River, to Basra, and Kabul, the price of freedom has been paid time and again. Perhaps the truth is that freedom is never paid for in full, but has to be paid for by each generation.

Rights, it seems to me, are liberating things. Rights are what enable me to make choices. As our country slithers up on a more 'socialized' approach to things, and we find that we have a 'right' to health care, and a 'right' to own a home, and a 'right' to a job, we ought to think carefully about these rights. With each of these 'rights', comes a trade-off. Our 'right' to health care means we lose our control over our own health care decisions. Our 'right' to own a home has already undermined sound lending practices and has caused our mortagage crisis. A 'right' to a job has bad trade-offs too. There are too many of them to list here. If you're really interested, just ask someone who lived in the Soviet Union. The government guaranteed everyone a job there, too.

These new rights are not liberatingl. They are imprisoning. They don't set me free. The make me dependant. They take away my choices and give someone else dominion over me. They change me from a free man in a free land into a vassel in a subjecated land. Who is it that will exersize dominon over me? The neo-aristocracy, our governmental beaurocracy, that is who.

The elected bastards in the government who tempt you to surrender to them your independence will take from you your freedom. They would beg you to trade freedoms paid for in blood for 'entitlements' bought with sweat of others. They will whisper to you that you have a right to all things, but not the ability to attain them for yourself. As they softly tell you that it's all free, they slowly slip the velvet manacles of servatude on you. Governmental dependence is the is a prison from which few ever escape. It shackels the American Spirit to the dead weight of the public trough. It fosters poverty, hopelessness, incompetence, and complatency. The mirage of free services soon evaporates into the desert reality of broken promises, and shattered dreams.

What the thieving weasles in government won't tell you is that for the government to give something to you, it has to first take it away from someone else. The government has no authority to take from you what you have lawfully earned, and to give it to another in the name of 'fairness'. Our forefathers paid in blood for our freedom from this. With lies, half-truths, deceptions and manipulation, the scoundrals in government are subverting our independence and stealing our freedoms, and that of our children.

The Vandals are stealing our rights, and we are letting them do it.

That is wrong.

Trust Me. I'm from the government, I'm here to help.

The first thing to realize about socialized medicine is that you have to trust the government. This would be the same government that runs Social Security. The same government that runs EPA. The same government that runs Veterans Affairs. This is the same federal government that controls our boarders. The same one that runs the Securities and Exchange Commission to guarantee legit operations in the stock market. The same one that runs the FDIC to guarnatee the soundness of our banks. The same one that runs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. After all, if you can't trust your government, you kind of screwed, aren't you?

The second thing to realize about socialized medicine is that the government wants you healthy or dead. It doesn't particularly care which because both Healthy and Dead don't cost. Treatments cost, and to the government, it's all about costs and payback. Asprine is cheap, but triple by-pass surgery isn't, and the payback of doing a triple by-pass on a 65 year old retiree isn't what they are looking for.

The third thing to realize about socialized medicine is that if you think paying for health insurance for your family is expensive, just wait until you get the bill for paying for health insurance for everyone. Socialized medicine isn't free. Just like everyother government program, it costs twice or three times what it should, it won't work with a damn and it will be run by quota hires who can never be fired.

The fourth thing to realize about socialized medicine is that the govenment will use it's knowledge of your personal health information to meddle in your life. Smokers will find their treatment options restricted because they smoke. Those of us who are overweight will suffer the consequences of being bad risks by having our treatment options restricted. By restricting treatments for those with serious, expensive needs the government will be able to do more for those with less serious needs. It simply doesn't make good financial sense wasting treatment on those whose cardiac risk is high. Over fifty and got diabetes? You're probably not going to get cataract surgery no matter how bad your cataracts are.

The fifth thing to realize about socialized medicine is that non-medical beaurocrat will be making your treatment decisons for you based on financial numbers and not your well being. Your options will be determined based on a number of factors that do not directly relate to your condition. If you are an overweight, over 50, hypertensive male with a blown ACL, you can forget about getting it fixed because most overweight, over 50, hypertensive males do not do things that require an ACL. If by chance, you are an overweight, over 50, hypertensive male who enjoys coaching soccer and snow skiiing and you blow out your ACL, under socialized medicine, your soccer and skiing days are over.

Got Asthama, AIDS, Altizemers, Parkinsons, or diabetes? New treatments are expensive treatments. The treatment you have now is the best you can ever expect,...unless of course, your profile and history indicates that the treatment you're getting now does not have a sufficient return potential. In that case, you'll soon be getting a cheaper treatment.

Finally, the crack whore on the corner who get's pregnant turning tricks for her next score will be able to walk into a public funded abortion clinic and get an abortion on demand because that's her constitutional right.

Welcome to socialized medicine.

No Nutts

Not too long ago, a friend of mine took her dog to the vet to get him'fixed'. The dog wasn't really broken. He just still had his nutts. To my way of thinking, he was 'working' properly. To her way of thinking, he needed to be fixed. Right in front of the dog, she spoke openly about the procedure. She discussed the procedure with the vet, again, right in front of the dog and the dog just sat there licking his butt, not paying any attention. The vet gave the dog a shot, and the dog fell asleep. A couple of hours later, the dog woke up and made a discovery: no nutts. The dog is pissed. You can't really blame the dog for being pissed. Event though he was licking his butt, he doesn't really speak much English.

A funny thing happend last year: the country got a shot. All year long, we heard politicians trying to outdo each other about closing Gitmo, about stopping the military tribunals where terrorists are held accountable for their actions, about off-shore drilling, and about ending corruption in government and business. Some spoke at length about economic fairness, and about how our constitution was incomplete because the founding fathers didn't address it. Were you listening, or were you licking your butt?

Now, the election is over. Our new president is closing Gitmo, though he doesn't know where to put the prisioners. Here's a hint. The wheels are in motion to use 'rendition'. That's a Clinton Era invention where we give them to another country. In most cases, this means a country where they will be summarily shot, or routinely tortured. By the term 'torture', I don't mean being forced to listen to Britney Spears 24x7. I mean being beat daily with rubber hoses and having your gonads lit up with tasers. We find sleep deprivation to be torture, but are ok with beatings, beheadings and firing squads as long as it's done by others.

The Economic Stimulus bill our new president is pushing is no such thing. It a 'cover name' for a bill to pay back all the special intrest groups that elected the democrats. Job Creation by the government? The only way the government can create a job is for it to take money away from someone who did something productive and give it to someone to do something that is not productive.

Going beyond stopping the military tribunals, this president is setting in motion events that will eventually render unto the terrorists the complete protection of the United States Constitution. This means that you and I will foot the bill for endless legal proceedings while the terrorists contest their imprisonment on constitutional grounds. 'I wasn't Marandized!' won't be heard many times before the prisioner take begins to decline. In the heat of battle, it will become impossible to legally take a prisioner, so there will be no quarter given. Don't be surprised when this administration prosecutes some soldier for shooting an enemy dead whom someone else judges to be trying to surrender. Our soldiers will be prosecuted under the U.S. Code of Military justice in a Military Court, but the terrorists get a civilian trial by jury. Quite a differenet standard, if I do say so. This kind of makes you wonder who the government percieves to be the enemy.

Mark my words, it won't be long before the president and the congress change their minds and reinstitute the ban on off-shore drilling. Already, he has pledged to break the coal industry. He is against nuclear energy, and during the campaign he advocated raising taxes on gasoline. So, with no new energy sources, how are we going to meet our energy needs? We'll do it like every other third world country. The government will manage it. We'll pay insane prices and suffer chronic shortages. In the name of 'greening America', we will become accustomed to suffering blackouts.

Democratic Senators are starting to mumble about 'balance' on radio. This is code for forcing voices they disagree with off the air under a resurected 'fairness doctorine'. That my friends, is the first step toward suppressing dissent. Supressing dissent in America! Some change.

And just when you thought it couldn't get worse, apparently there aren't enough democrats paying taxes to fill out the president's Cabinent.

What is Economic Fairness? It is the use of the awesum power of government to redistribute wealth from those who earn it to those who do not. Economic Crisis? We apparenly have lost the right to read the bill when we elected Mr. Obama, who has implored Congress to pass it saying "Don't read the bill, just pass it". How about Health Care reform? You and I are about to pay for free medical care for everyone who can swim the Rio Grand.

Now, people are waking up. Some are starting to realize that we are socializing the economy of this country, freeing the terrorists who have attacked us, and discussing how to censor free speach on the radio. We are going to prosecute the soldiers who defend us, stiffle our energy business, build a national para-military force and nationalize the automotive industry. You can not be shocked. He told us what he was going to do. He said so openly, and often. Those of us who weren't licking our asses knew this was coming.

The dog has a right to be pissed about his nutts. The dog doesn't speak English. The dog woke up, licked his ass and realized his nutts were gone.

How long will it take America to wake up and realize our freedom, economic and political, is gone.

The Great Masquerade

As we watch the national Episcopal Church implode, I sometimes have to supress a smile. You really can't make this up. At the local and diocesian levels, it is as if a comic tragedy is being played out. If someone had described this senario to me five years ago, I would have said that person was nuts because priests are men of integrity and bishops are titans of virtue. The reality is that as the money gets tight, funny things start to happen.

Suppose a priest angered so many of his parishioners that they left by the hundreds. So many turned their backs on his manipulations and lies that the once thriving parish began to fail. A parish with no debt suddenly could not support itself. The parish began to draw on it's reserve fund to pay the priest's salary. Even though the number of parishioners falls every year, this priest demands and gets his 3% raise every year.

Suppose a bishop cared more about being a bishop than about ministering to the diocese. What if the diocese had many parishes that were failing. So many that the diocese was failing. Would it make sense for the bishop to be interested in saving the failing parishes? Would it make sense for the bishop to try to figure out what can be done to save the diocese? Seems logical to me that healthy parishs make for a healthy diocese.

Imagine parishioners at that poor, old, dying parish struggling mightly to remove an unmotivated, complacent priest only to find that the parish can't remove the rector. Only the bishop can remove him. Their appeals to their bishop go unanswered. More parishioners walk away, further weakening the tiny parish. Why would the bishop not help? The bishop is familiar with this parish, the parishioners, the beautiful church grounds, park, and residence. Why would the bishop refuse help this wonderful old parish in it's struggle to survive?

In the Episcopal Church, the diocese holds title to all parish properties. The diocese holds the deeds in 'trust' for the parishioners.

Money is as tight at the diocese as it is at the tiny, dying parish. Only a new priest at the tiny, struggeling parish can save it from extinction.

What if the bishop refuses to remove the failing old priest at the dying parish? What if the old priest hangs on, depletes the reserve fund, alienates a few more parishioners and makes it to retirement. With few parishioners, no reserve funds, and no prospects for hiring a new rector, the parish fails. When the parish fails, the diocese sells the parish property. This beautiful old church and its' property will easily fetch more than a million dollars. This influx of cash replentishes the diocese funds and allows diocese to survive, and the bishop continues to being a bishop for a little while longer.

How would it make you feel if you realized that scoundrals masquerading as priests and bishops had looted your church, then sold it.

I suppose this is what happens when priests lose their faith, but not their jobs.

A Change in Energy Policy

Last summer, oil peaked at $147/Barrel and begand to descend when President Bush announced that he was resinding the Presidential Ban on off-shore drilling. Since that time, the oil bubble has burst. Oil is now trading at rougly 25% of it's peak price. This is consistent with the pattern seen with other commodity bubbles.

It appears now that President Obama is about engage his energy policy. He will soon move to suspend any new off-shore drilling. We will build no new refineries. We can not use coal. We can not use nuclear power. We hear a lot about what we won't do to produce energy, but nothing about what we will do to produce it. From these new policies, you would think we had too much energy, not too little.

The really interesting part of all this is that this policy will transform of our heavy dependence on foreign oil into absolute dependence on the federal government.

Because our failure to build more refineries creates an artifical restriction on our capacity to produce gasoline, and our demand for gasoline will surely rise again, the 'market' for gasoline will cause the price of gasoline to rise. The Oil Companies make their money as a percentage of the sell price. They make more money when gas sells for $4/gal than they do when gas sells for $2/gal. Consequently, when gas goes up, they make more money. This profit will be demonized, and the governmnet will be that as an excuse to nationalize the oil industry. Then our fuel supply will be managed by the same nameless, faceless folks who have done such an admirable job managing Social Secuity, running Fannie May and Freddie Mac, regulating banks, and running the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Because it will be managed at the Federal level by Federal Civil Service employees, they will be completely unaccountable for failure. We are about to see new levels of mismangament, corruption, and incompetence. Because energy will be administered by the federal government, you can soon expect 'energy' entitlements to help ease the inequity of distribution that our capitalist society has imposed on the poor. It is, after all, the federal government's responsibility to ensure an equitable distribution of the resources.

We are moving from a 'free people' to a 'social people', from independence to dependence, from a proud and self-reliant people to an empoverished mob reduced to begging at the public trough for more and more scarce energy resources. With federal involvement, drilling bans, bans on coal and nuclear energy, be assured that private dollars will run away from exploration and development of energy resources.

This is change that you can believe in.

Conflits of Interest

A few years ago, I heard about a priest at a dying little parish. Once a strong and thriving church, in the course of the last ten years or so, everyone watched and wondered as Sunday attendence withered from 300 to 200, to 100, to 50, to 29. Seems that every year or so, a few parishioners would raise 'issues' and 'concerns' about finances or spending. Priests are apparently above reproach and are not bound by ethics, so they are easily able to easily manouver and manipulate meetings and votes. The parishioners raising the concerns are easily labeled troublemakers. They simply can not be tolerated. Consequently, no holds are barred and they were ostericized. But, who would have expected so many "troublemakers" in such a single church? None the less, no troublemakers equals no problems.....sort of.

Unfortunately, as the attendence fell, so did the giving. Apparently a lot of the troublemakers had been tithers, and had histories of being big givers for special projects. Luckily, though the cash flow of the church was drying up, the spending habits of the parish did not have to change because deficits were covered by the reserve fund. As luck would have it, the very same people who had given to the reserve fund were the ones who had become troublemakers and had left the parish. They were no longer there to object when the memorial money they had given for dedicated purposes was diverted into operating expenses. Promises are so easily broken when you are above reproach.

As the reserve fund was drawn down over the years, and the end of the money comes into sight, the priest became concerned. The end of the reserve fund, and consequently the end of the parish, will clearly arrive prior to his retirement.

What's a good priest to do?

Set up a 'special fund' at the parish to encourage the elderly parishioners to bequeith money to the church, of course!

Time passes on, but few parishioners do. Depending on your particular perspecive, that may not be a good thing. Now, money is really tight at the parish. The reserve fund is almost empty.

Call me cynical, but when a elderly parishioner falls ill and is hospitalized, and the priest goes to visit and to pray over the parishioner, what's he praying for?

The parishioner?

If the parishioner survives, the priest may not make it to retirement. If parishioner passes, then the parish profits. So, what's a priest to do?

He will do what he has always done. He's a good priest.