I know we don't have the death penalty for nonces, but it makes you wonder how prisoners in prison get to have razor-blades to use against other prisoners

David Davis

This is the first of my long-headline-pieces for some time.

Someone called Ian Huntley, who killed two girls in 2002 in the benighted place called Soham, where I wonder how anyone can ever sell a house these days, got his throat slashed, actually while _/in prison/_ …

I thought that the death penalty for “capital crimes” had been abolished in 1968. And it seems that this was by the very people who engineered laws of various kinds that criminalised people, increasingly stringently over the recent years, who were thought to think about girls, and sex, and stuff like that, like Ian Huntley apparently is thought to think.

These people are called Fabians. I am not saying that Fabians are the only people that think that strange men should not murder little girls for any reason whatsoever. The murder of little girls is wrong, and libertarians are against this.

Well, there you are. The effing nonce killer has been attacked, with intent, while in prison. Could someone please tell me how prisoners get blades of sharpness, and what for?

I wonder whether this British-State, although having officially abolished the death penalty 42 years ago, has privately decided that this specific penalty _/can/_ be applied, and perhaps should be applied, sometimes, in an “accidental” sort of unsupervised way, but only to criminals which it has decided that nobody will bitch about the death of, and who are already “inside”.

By other criminals, so nobody who matters gets blamed for stuff “going through the wrong channels”?

It’s just nasty buggers killing each other, in a “sort of criminals’ hierarchy”.

How barbaric is that, then?

I thought we were in favour of the “Rule of Law”?

No?

I am not in favour of a “State Death Penalty”. It transfers the obligation to end the life of another human to the State’s decision, which we cannot do and which we cannot delegate since we are currently not allowed that individual right. If we cannot delegate this right, not possessing it supposedly, then we cannot allow the State to allow other prisoners of it to end the life of Ian Huntley.

If we as sovereign individuals are allowed the right to end the life of those that torment and oppress us, then we can kill others, and so someone else who is aggrieved by him can kill Ian Huntley – but NOT the other prisoners. He is not their problem, and they are not his. IF he is to be kept alive by statute law, then he ought to be kept away from scumbag murderers and robbers who’d kill for a half-penny, and who think that they hate “pediatricians”.

Only the parents and relations of the girls he killed could have any traction in this one.

[Via http://libertarianalliance.wordpress.com]

Michael's Old Country Sabbath Challah from Chernowitz

My daily bread for this week is challah bread. Specifically, it is Chernowitzer Challah bread from my current favorite iPhone app, Epicurious. I have always felt the pull of Judaica since I was a child in the shtetl of Jacksonville, Florida. Now, I can partake of a little bit of manna. This bread took about 6 hours to make -my kitchen is a bit cooler than that called for leavening dough. The bread out of the oven looked great but was “biscuit-y” according to my wife. The difference was that I used bread flour rather than plain enriched white flour -perhaps the enriched flour is more gluten-rich? I will try when it has cooled -perhaps the structure will set in as it cools giving the inner texture that one associates with the best challahs. That may be it or the Chernowitzers just prefer cakey challah.

My daily bread for this week is challah bread. Specifically, it is Chernowitzer Challah bread from my current favorite iPhone app, Epicurious. I have always felt the pull of Judaica since I was a child in the shtetl of Jacksonville, Florida. Now, I can partake of a little bit of manna.
This bread took about 6 hours to make -my kitchen is a bit cooler than that called for leavening dough. The bread out of the oven looked great but was “biscuit-y” according to my wife. The difference was that I used bread flour rather than plain enriched white flour -perhaps the enriched flour is more gluten-rich?
I will try when it has cooled -perhaps the structure will set in as it cools giving the inner texture that one associates with the best challahs. That may be it or the Chernowitzers just prefer cakey challah.

[Via http://golfism.org]

The Ticking Time Bomb--The Wrath of The Tea Party Patriots

Glenn Beck-03-19-10-A

Glenn Beck-03-19-10-B

Glenn Beck-03-19-10-C

Glenn Beck-03-19-10-D

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[Via http://raymondpronk.wordpress.com]

The End of the World as We Know It?

Absolutely not.  The past week has been a pretty rough roller-coaster with the current administration’s and representative’s plans and actions.  On top of everything, our traditional media outlets have done a fine job of making it either feel like everything is going to be fine or that the rapture is near (and neither are quite true in my opinion).

None of us know the future, all we have is today.  All of us, together, have this day to make a difference, and to make a positive impact within our family, our community, and our country.

What to do?  Well, there is sure enough complaining and throwing hatred to go around.  Our job here at The Good American Post is to find content and contributors that talk about positive and sustainable people, places, and functions that protect our liberty and constitution.  In our opinion, the opportunity to pursue anything is the only thing worth fighting for, and that is the fight we are up against now.

Today, take small steps to make positive impacts.  Start learning about where your food comes from.  Find out who the troops protecting this great country are in your community.  Volunteer to help a cause, or start your own business where you can create development in your local economy.  Ask questions, keep up to date on what is going on with these threats to our constitution, however spend some time making positive advances, not just worrying about all the things that are wrong.

Because I can tell you, there are so very many things that are right.  And for the little ones who have a future to grow up in, we need to be using this time we have to work for a positive difference – it is our duty.

By: Tisha Casida

[Via http://goodamericanpost.info]

Coming Soon: Bloody Sunday

The Stage is set.

All the players are lining up.

Sunday, March 21, 2010 is likely the end of the road for America.

The Democrats will likely “deem” the Senate bill pass in the greatest act of political cowardice and underhanded chicanery in American History.

And The President is worried.

President Obama is not worried about the “procedural” debate over whether House Democratic leaders should go ahead with a plan to approve health care reform without a traditional vote, he told Fox News on Wednesday.

Why should he be.

Though the Senate will still have to vote for the Reconciliation package (and additional 2,300 pages bringing the monster to 5,000 pages!!) it will be by simple majority, which should be no real problem.

So Obama will get enshrined in the Liberal Socialist Hall of Fame and raised up amongst their Gods.

The mere mortals, The American People, who are not for it, get stuck with a terminal cancer that will eat away at them forever.

Democracy in action.

“I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about what the procedural rules are in the House or Senate,”

<>

Obama said. “What I can tell you is that the vote that’s taken in the House will be a vote for health care reform. And if people vote yes, whatever form that takes, that is going to be a vote for health care reform. And I don’t think we should pretend otherwise. And if they don’t, if they vote against it, then they’re going to be voting against health care reform and they’re going to be voting in favor of the status quo.

<<>>

“So Washington gets very concerned with these procedures in Congress, whether Republicans are in charge or Democrats are in charge,” he said.

Indeed, House lawmakers would be going on record for health care reform. But they wouldn’t be casting a vote for the Senate bill alone.

Instead, under a process called a “self-executing rule,” the House could simultaneously approve the Senate bill while voting on a package of changes to it. This would “deem” the Senate bill to be passed, without compelling members to vote for it directly.

They vote for the rule, not the bill.

Schoolhouse Rock’s “I’m Just a Bill”  has just been murdered! :0

But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. (Article 1 Section 7).

But the Orwellian bastards will try and sell that pile of crap all summer and the Liberal media (aka The Ministry of Truth) will go along with it when it comes up.

There is no “Fourth Estate” to protect you, they are a Fifth Column.

Asked to respond to a viewer’s e-mail question about why he has to “bribe Congress to pass it,” Obama said, “I’ve got the same exact e-mails that I could show you that talk about why haven’t we done something to make sure that I, a small business person, am getting as good a deal as members of Congress are getting, and don’t have my insurance rates jacked up 40 percent?”

Obama later added, “I’ve got to say to you, there are a lot more people who are concerned about the fact that they may be losing their house or going bankrupt because of health care.”

Obama expressed confidence that the health care bill will pass.

“And the reason I’m confident that it’s going to pass is because it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

“And yes, I have said that this is an ugly process,” he said. “It was ugly when Republicans were in charge. It was ugly when Democrats were in charge.”

“But they did it too Mommy!!” is Obama’s basic answer for everything these days.

But if it passes (or is “deemed” more likely) he gets to ascend to Liberal Socialist Godhood and nothing else matters.

Except, attempting to rig future elections that is.

Remember, the White House took control of the Census data that can be used to gerrymander legislative districts.

Also, you have 12-20 million new socialist Democrats and ACORN chomping at the bit to get them registered.

They are called Illegal Aliens.

Obama won by 10 million last time.

But he has so pissed off many Americans he would need more voters to replace them.

So in come the Illegals, most from socialist countries to the south.

Most can’t speak much English.

Many are very undereducated.

And virtually all will be grateful to their new God, Obama and The Democrats for giving them Amnesty.

But that won’t stop the Illegals.

They’ll still keep coming.

And with Former Arizona Governor and lover of all things Non-American Janet Napalitano cutting funding for Border Security you have a never ending supply of new Democrats to bring in to use as electoral weapons.

And with Cap and Trade (which they will try and pass before November) they can effectively run your life for you.

As Obama said, it’s the right thing to do.

They “deem” it so. So mote it be.

So enjoy your weekend, as Americans, it’s probably our last.

Unless, there is a Miracle.

[Via http://indyfromaz.wordpress.com]

Change

In just a few short days the direction that this great country travels in, may be changed forever. The will of the American people will be tested and history will decide who flinched first. As passage of the health care reform bill looms precariously just over the horizon and with it a new precedent may be established that could change our democracy as we know it.

If there are not enough votes in the house for final passage, Nancy Pelosi has stated that they may try another tactic and deem the bill passed. Violating not only the constitution of the United States but, also the rights of it’s citizens. Ultimately paving the way for more legislation that they may deem necessary for the good of the country. Frightening isn’t it? They are in essence re-writing the very document that has guaranteed our liberties and freedoms for over one hundred and twenty years.

Never before in the history of our government has so much been at stake, with the passage of a single bill. Still, the issue at hand is not as much the contents of the bill, rather the methods that have brought it to the center of attention.

President Obama came to the political arena under the guise of hope and change. The people of this country were at the time disillusioned with government and the wars in the middle east. He offered a change that some Americans were elated to see. He promised to bring the country back together and establish transparency in government that would help heal the wounds of a people that no longer trusted lawmakers. He promised to reduce the deficit, put people back to work and solve the problems with the economy. He painted a beautiful picture. What happened?

Had Obama been properly vetted we may never have had to ask this question. His close relationship with Saul Alinsky would have certainly come up and that may have been the end of it right there. Americans have the unique ability to be misled at the behalf of a severely biased news media. They painted a portrait of a young politician that was almost too good to be true. Clearly he based his agenda squarely down the middle appealing to those on either side of the aisle. McCain and his party never had a chance.

Alinsky’s doctrine initiates change through crisis and in the first few weeks of the new administration, this country faced a crisis at every corner. Rahm Emanuel was quoted recently as saying; “never waste a good crisis.” Apparently this administration didn’t. Economic crisis, mortgage crisis, banking crisis, auto manufacturer’s crisis, one crisis after another. Law makers were urged to act now before it is too late! Chicken Little’s words echoed throughout the congress; “the sky is falling!” Trillions of American taxpayers hard earned dollars were shoved out the back door to open hands, with barely a glance at the check book that it was drawn out of. Driving this country into a debt that broke the bank. TARP was born.

Words from the master himself, Saul Alinsky and Rules for Radicals. “Men don’t like to step abruptly out of the security of familiar experience; they need a bridge to cross from their own experience to a new way. A revolutionary organizer must shake up the prevailing patterns of their lives–agitate, create disenchantment and discontent with the current values, to produce, if not a passion for change, at least a passive, affirmative, no-challenging climate.” President Obama learned well, he had a brilliant teacher.

We are now facing a crisis. A real crisis. A crisis in the most cherished of all places. Our democracy. The very constitution itself is being assaulted. The people of this great nation sit back and hold their breath as their freedoms become a bargaining chip for the grand prize. Health care reform.

Nancy Pelosi indicated that she “will pass this bill by any means necessary.” Does this mean at the expense of the constitution? Outrage is now out in the open. Anger, divisiveness and frustration at the apparent inability to stop this thing from becoming law are driving a wedge between the people. Change will come as a result of all of this. Alinsky was right. You need an inside agitator for change and we have found one.

[Via http://7men.wordpress.com]

Guest Blogger: Joseph Farah from WND

// //

All issues are ’social issues’

Posted: March 15, 2010
1:00 am Eastern

© 2010 

Just as many Americans don’t understand the left-right political spectrum extends from totalitarian government control on the left to anarchy on the right, there’s much confusion over the phony divide between “economic issues” and “social issues.”

A story in last week’s edition of Politico attempts to stir up conflict between what it calls the “evangelical right” and the tea-party movement. I am certain it will be the first of many like it in media determined to see an end to both movements.

“A reeling economy and the massive bank bailout and stimulus plan were the triggers for a resurgence in support for the Republican Party and the rise of the tea-party movement,” explains Politico’s Ben Smith. “But they’ve also banished the social issues that are the focus of many evangelical Christians to the background.”

The story goes on to say the tea-party groups “eschew social issues.”

We have become conditioned to hearing that “social issues” are abortion and the gender-bending agenda. However, I would like to make the case that all political issues are, in fact, “social issues.” And just as those entering the political fray as tea partiers should recognize this, so must the traditional “conservatives” who have focused their attention on abortion and gender-bending.

I have some familiarity with both camps.

The problem both have is not always seeing the forest for the trees.

America is not just in trouble because government no longer respects the sanctity of life.

America is not just in trouble because government no longer respects the sanctity of marriage.

America is not just in trouble because government is spending more money than it has.

America is not just in trouble because government is redistributing wealth.

America is in trouble because government is doing all of these things and more to exceed the strict limits of its constitutional authority.

And, America is in trouble because government has, to paraphrase Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, “forgotten God.”

(Column continues below)

// // //

These are the two principles that unite the vast majority of the tea-party movement with the more traditional “conservative” movement and especially those who are devoted to the sanctity of life and family.

There’s no divide here.

There’s only a divide if we create one.

And if we create one – or allow our enemies to create one – then America will return to business as usual, and the great awakening we have seen in the last 18 months will have been just a momentary blip on history’s radar screen.

This is a time for unity among pro-life activists, pro-family activists, “conservative” activists and libertarians. There are two principles that unite most of these people – whether they know it or not:

• Overwhelmingly they believe we are accountable to a sovereign God who grants us unalienable rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

• Overwhelmingly they believe the Constitution strictly limits the power of the federal government and uniquely recognizes and protects those unalienable rights.

This is where the focus needs to be between all of the freedom-oriented groups now battling to take America back from those who would transform it to be more like all the other nations of the world – those that long ago turned from God and those that don’t have a 223-year-old Constitution that removed shackles from the people and placed them on the government.

I know the heart and soul of the tea-party movement.

It is populated by people who think just like I do about these big issues. It is a movement of prayerful people, people who love God, people who go to church and synagogue. And it is a movement of people who revere the Constitution. It is not just a movement founded upon issues of materialism and economics.

Furthermore, I would submit to you that “all issues are social issues.” The great economic plundering taking place by a rapacious government and the elite they serve is a “social issue.” The victims are people. Private property rights is a “social issue.” Equal protection under the law is a “social issue.” The rule of law is a “social issue.”

And, most of all, the will of the people is a “social issue.”

Don’t let your enemies dictate the terms of debate nor the rules of engagement.

If you care about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, you care about “social issues.”

[Via http://shawnwilson.wordpress.com]

Don Boudreax Trusts Parents

Don Boudreaux of Cafe Hayek wrote this letter to the New York Times:

While applauding government-imposed national standards for schooling, you give no credence to the argument that each set of parents – rather than government – is in the best position, and has the strongest incentives, to determine whether or not their children are being educated well (“National School Standards, at Last,” March 14).  Indeed, the only persons you mention as being parties interested in the successful education of children are school superintendents, state governors, and members of Congress!

Not a single mention of parents or families – an omission that’s more than passing strange.

With genuine school choice, procedures to determine if any school is performing well or poorly would be no more complicated, and every bit as effective, as is the procedure we use today to determine if, say, any particular supermarket is performing well or poorly.  That procedure is competition among private, unsubsidized suppliers for customer dollars.  If consumer choice and competition serve well to maintain the quality of supermarkets (and of restaurants, and churches, and hotels, and…), then why do you think that tweaking, with national “standards,” the subsidized and largely monopolistic government schools that haunt the land today is the best way to transform these dysfunctional institutions into effective ones?

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux

I agree.

Many do not share mine and Professor Boudreaux’s trust in people to make their own decisions.  Yet, many parents already do.  While government fiddles to find an way to determine education success, and hold schools accountable, parents make choices about their kids’ education everyday.

For example, parents consider the quality of the school district and local school when choosing where to live.  My parents moved to change my school district.  Part of my decision of where I chose to settle was based on the quality of the schools.

These choices are also reflected by parents who choose to pay to send their kids to private schools or to home school.

Where there’s more choice and competition among schools, like middle and upper incomes, there’s generally better schools.

Where there’s less choice and competition education is worse.  Consider lower income neighborhoods where people do not the financial flexibility to move or send their kids to private schools.  They may not be able to readily afford more expensive housing in districts with better schools or they may not be able to afford the extra transportation costs that comes with living further from work.  Yet these parents have very limited options, often stuck in the middle of abysmal school districts.

I see no reason for limiting educational choices for parents with low income.

Nice letter Don.

[Via http://ourdinnertable.wordpress.com]

THERE WILL COME A TIME.

THERE WILL COME A TIME.

There will come a time when the hordes remember,

who bound our grand-parents to the yoke of oppression,

who sentenced our parents to deprivation,

who bid poverty sink its teeth into our heart,

who teach our children, greed is a noble art.

Who sent our sons through the gates of hell to a litany of cambist brawls,

crammed coffers with blood-stained gold while laughing in Ares’ halls.

Who does these terrible things to us?” they will ask,

and when they remember,

they’ll bring an energy that is endless to drive a fist that is fearless.

 Then this merciless market-driven world will crumble under an insurrection of integrity,

 the poor will emerge from the dark husk of capitalism to live in the light of social justice.

 There will come a time when the hordes remember.

ann arky’s home.

[Via http://annarky1.wordpress.com]

Strategies for Advancing Liberty

I just read an excellent article by Murray Rothbard (circa 1989) called, “Four Strategies for Libertarian Change“.  Strategies for social change have long fascinated me. (I ran a student colloquium on the topic when I was with the Mackinac Center’s Students for a Free Economy, reading packet for one of the events is here.)

In the article Rothbard describes four approaches with four historical examples and discusses the pros and cons of each.  The piece is entertaining and well worth a read on its own, but coupled with the response by my current colleague Steve Davies (starting on page 13 of the linked article) it is especially savory.  Davies largely finds Rothbard on point but happily advances the discussion further.  He corrects a few of Rothbard’s historical characterizations (Rothbard’s histories are always engaging, but often portray events and figures as more libertarian than they probably were), and adds a dose of Public Choice realism. Most interesting to me, however, is the addition of other potential strategies.

Davies mentions the seldom attempted but often fantasized strategy of letting things get so bad they eventually get better (which I briefly address in this Liberty Magazine Reflection, “Story Time“), and wisely warns against it.  He mentions the possibility of violent revolution and rightly dismisses it out of hand.  He mentions the libertopian approach of a mass defection from current societal arrangements but, Seasteaders not withstanding, considers this highly impractical if not fundamentally flawed.

The final strategy that Prof. Davies mentions is to me the most promising and intriguing, and probably has the best track-record historically, though it often goes unnoticed.  That is the idea that existing coercive institutions can be toppled not primarily by direct attack, but by subterfuge.  Rather than convincing people they should give up the status quo, which means convincing them to drop the perceived security of the known and embrace an unknowable future, or overturning it by force or via an elite cadre, instead create the alternative.  Convince the world that non-coercive institutions and solutions to social problems are preferable by showing them.  If this is done well the act of formally removing state institutions becomes almost a foregone conclusion or a mere formality.

This approach is very Hayekian, and therefore very unsatisfying to us as libertarian “elite” intellectuals.  It’s messy, slow, unpredictable, and nearly always lacks that single climactic moment when freedom defeats statism.

to illustrate how unsatisfying it can be, consider that we may be witnessing an example of this approach unfolding before our eyes in mail delivery.  Public Choice realities being what they are, the likelihood of toppling the state postal monopoly with any amount of education, policy paper publication, or direct civil disobedience is very slim.  (Ask Lysander Spooner.)  These efforts are not futile and, as Davies points out, work to compliment and aid the undermining process, but ultimately they cannot win the day alone.

We’ve seen the Post Office’s monopoly weaken with the advent of UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc.  We’ve seen it’s importance wane with new technologies like email.  Sure, policy battles have played a part in this process, but the real impetus has been self-interest; people wanted it quicker and cheaper, there were large profits stood to be made so innovation occurred.  It is likely that the Post Office will die a slow death – or maybe never even completely disappear on paper – but one day we will be so used to other methods of delivering goods and information we will forget it ever existed.  I would not be surprised to see the public education system undermined in the same way.

The beauty of this method is that it does not require the agents of change to themselves be libertarian, only self-interested entrepreneurs.  Libertarian ideas still play a key role, as do policy and legal efforts, activism and education, but the real change comes when the alternatives to state programs are implemented rather than just talked about as possibilities.

Now a little twist.  This strategy can be very powerful on an individual level when combined with Rothbard’s first strategy, a sort of Taoist retreatism.  In order to make society a happier, freer place it helps to make oneself happier and freer first.  (This is the nut of an argument I made against worrying about elections, and reading the news.)  We ought to focus less on what makes us unhappy and thwarts our freedom and focus more on how to be as free as possible as individuals.  Just like UPS undermines the Post Office, we can undermine our own oppressive mindsets and internal institutions by building up freer alternatives underneath them.  I do not mean to be cute or self-helpish.  I genuinely believe that a social movement led by unhappy or internally unfree people is doomed to failure.  Occasionally retreating from the things we wish to change in the world and realizing that true freedom is not contingent on other people not only improves our own quality of life, but makes us much more attractive to would-be converts to the freedom philosophy.

First free yourself.  Then work towards societal freedom by creating competing solutions to those offered by the state.  Simple, right?

[Via http://isaacmorehouse.wordpress.com]

Democrat Agenda.. Self Destructive LUNACY or INTENTIONAL TREASON ?

A NATION UNDER SEIGE FROM WITHIN..

Between the “Healthcare” Coup, EPA threats and gag orders, the daily Pelosi/Reid dog and pony show.. its gettin’ crazier every hour..

Since before Mr Obama was inaugurated his minions have been hell bent on driving this country into the dirt face first.. with his smiling willful approval. They blame our problems on Bush to placate the anarchist left they aligned with during the election, they blame our problems on capitalism to placate the communists they have sold us out to and they blame our problems over their actions on us for resisting their headlong race into marxism.. as if nobody is paying attention.

There are so many things going on at once that its almost impossible to keep track of them all and that’s not an accident or a miss step, its intentional and we haven’t heard yet from all the whacko leftist “czarist courtesans” Mr Obama appointed to his court. Make no mistake they are each on a mission of their own, their follies to be announced when its time for their next move at communizing our country. The confusion, the lies, the disinformation from the media allies.. its all preplanned, nothing incidental or accidental about any of it.

There are strange things going on in your country right now.. be aware. The govt is arming its federal agencies, not the FBI or ATF but the Dept of Education for one..SHOTGUNS of all things, not to mention the NPS, DOE, BIA, DOI.. and others.. why ? Sniper Rifles, Night Vision.. WHY ??? Surely your agency mooks cant be planning another Waco or Ruby Ridge anytime soon ? What are the embedded collectivists in these agencies expecting to happen.. are the grizzly’s gonna revolt or the Indian Nations gonna have an uprising ? ..how about students ??     WTF Barry ?

The quislings presently in congress pushing the Health Care Coup are right now prepping a rule to bypass a vote on the damn thing.. Who the hell do they think they are ? Close to 70% of the people DON’T WANT GOVT INVOLVED IN THEIR HEALTH BUSINESS yet we are told lie after lie that’s its for us. What is their agenda that is so critical other than a COUP ? Between the RINO’s and the other DOMESTIC’s out there  ITS GETTING HARD TO TELL WHICH ONES ARE STILL AMERICANS WITH ALL THIS COLLECTIVIST CRAP EMANATING FROM EVERY CORNER OF THE PEOPLE’S HOUSES.

Mr Obama acts as if he has a legitimate right to rule over us and his obvious anger and frustration at our refusal to be ruled is extremely annoying not to mention self explanatory about his concept of a free society even if he is trying to overthrow it with his CHANGE.. take a hint stupid. YOU WORK FOR US !

In fact all of you on the marxist side of the coin here need an object lesson in CONSTITUTIONALISM BECAUSE ITS OBVIOUS YOU DIDNT FORGET ABOUT YOUR OATH OF OFFICE, YOU NEVER INTENDED TO COMPLY WITH IT FROM THE START. And for you “Others”.. so called Republicans clamoring to come up with their own version of a power grab, annoyed only because they didn’t think of it first.. not because of any patriotic sense of duty to the citizens or the country. Some are RINO’s and are also TRAITORS. One thing is certain to the majority of the citizens from all parties is that all of you in CIVIL SERVICE, every damn branch of it from federal to local, are way out of control, overstepping your constitutional restrictions and interfering with the rights of your employers and we’re not happy about it at all. Its also obvious to your employers that you no longer consider this your “Home’ but rather a place you find uncomfortable and annoying, so much so that your penchant for apologizing for its presence has become a daily occurrence. You can ALWAYS leave.

Unlike many people in my country I know I no longer suffer from the delusion that you traitorous bastards are in any way my fellow countrymen. How much time will pass that, due to your actions against us, we will no longer give you the benefit of the doubt for your actions appearing to be contrary to our country’s interests because they are contrary on purpose… before we will no longer accept your illegal decisions as law because they are corrupt and as illegitimate as you have become ?

There are things that need to be done to right the wrongs you have committed with your unconstitutional actions and laws and the  illegal actions of your complicit agencies. Your treason needs to be addressed in a court, unfettered by your judicial activists,  your services need to be terminated as soon as humanly possible to restore the Republic to the people to which it belongs.

“Make NO mistake”, as Mr Obama is fond of saying, it matters not what deals you have made with foreign countries, we wont honor them, or what military options you have arranged or might choose to exercise or what political games you may attempt.. we know you all, After all, We the People hired you, and We the People will fire you. For the record.. you were NOT hired by any GLOBAL organization.That’s how Liberty functions. We the People Run the Show.. Not the Hired help.

Normally in the capitalist job market an individual who is going to be let go is given the option to leave before being embarrassed.. some of you collectivist cretins in congress, agency heads, appointees, traitors ad infinitum..  you know who you are.. you all should take a serious hint and LEAVE NOW, Resign, Quit, Vacate the Premises. The rest of you, the believers, the marxist ideologues, the closet Stalinist’s.. above all DON’T BE STUPID.

This is OUR HOME.

[Via http://spitnyri.wordpress.com]

The Dangers of “Wartime Powers”: Or Freedom is Slavery

 A few weeks ago at CPAC, a Friday panel was assembled to answer the question: “Does security trump freedom?” Among the panelists were Robert “Skip” Ash, who teaches a course on “national security law” at Regent University, and also serves at the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) as their Senior Litigation Counsel for National Security Law. The deck was stacked beforehand: The ACLJ claims to be “focused on National Security issues and waging an effective and constitutional war on terrorism” (Constitutional? What Constitution?), and the debate moderator was Jay Sekulow, who serves as the organization’s Chief Counsel.

In his opening statements to the audience, Ash commented: “[The troops] also wonder why the President of the United States cannot bring himself to admit that the United States is in a long-term war with enemy jihadists, who seek to destroy us.” Several panelists, including the chief architect of the Patriot Act, went on to defend the Patriot Act as a set of wartime powers necessary to protecting freedom; as former Attorney General John Ashcroft had explained earlier in the day, “the purpose of security is to reinforce and enhance freedom.” Or, as George Orwell famously listed as a slogan of “the Party:” Freedom is Slavery.

To this, the short response is: If these “wartime powers” are so essential to maintain America’s national security and the freedoms of its citizens, why not declare a war? The heart of the matter, of course, runs much deeper. As Glenn Greenwald wrote in his New York Times bestseller, How Would A Patriot Act?, the goal is not to uphold or defend the Constitution at all, but rather to utilize fear to undermine it:    

“We do not have a government where the president can break the law in secret and then tell us not to worry about it because it is being done to “protect” us. We have never had a system of government operate on such paternalistic and blindly loyal sentiments. And we have never before been a nation living in such fear that, in exchange for promises of protection and safety, we are told that we must allow the president to seize those very powers which the Constitution prohibits.”

The guise, initially sold to the American public by Republican Party leadership, was that these powers would only be temporary. In the CPAC panel, Rep. Dan Lundgren [R-CA] said as much, proudly touting the fact that he helped to implement the so-called “sunset clauses” in the original legislation. However, this reassurance by the leadership of both parties of the validity of things called temporary wartime powers falls short, both historically and by the literal definition.

As has been evidenced by the history of government – and even if we restrict our study only to the history of American government – the government is very hesitant to cede any of the powers it fought so hard for, or any of the money it looted from the taxpayers. Consider the despicable practice of military conscription and the associated Selective Service System in the United States. The original Selective Service Act of 1917 was implemented under a declared war, but set the dangerous precedent that the federal government had the authority to force American citizens into military service without their consent. The draft was discontinued in 1920 at the completion of World War I; however, Selective Service was established as a government entity.

By the time World War II had begun, Selective Service was used as a resource to conscript male citizens, even before war had been declared. Drafting continued until 1946, and the Act of 1917 was allowed to expire shortly thereafter; however, a new Selective Service Act was passed in 1948, not only with no declared war, but absent the threat of one. Although the draft is not active today, the Selective Service System is still with us, and has transformed itself from a temporary wartime power to conscript into a permanent registration of citizens in a time of peace, required of anyone who wants a government loan or job.

The examples are seemingly endless: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was established in 1933 as a temporary government corporation, only necessary for recovery from the Great Depression, until it was made permanent in 1935. More than 500 dormant legal provisions are re-activated in every instance in which the President declares a state of emergency – most of which were created as temporary powers deemed necessary to deal with the crisis or threat of the day. More alarming, perhaps, is the fact that recent Presidents have utilized the “state of emergency” declaration for such imminent threats as swine flu.

Needless to say, the new powers conferred upon the President by the Patriot Act are unlikely to be documented by history as temporary powers, especially considering that it has now been reauthorized three times: in 2005 and 2006, and most recently this month, when Congress slipped the reauthorization inconspicuously into a bill called the “Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act.”

However, even if these gross atrocities against the Constitution and civil liberties were somehow necessary to defend the nation in a time of war, they would not be valid for the simple reason that we are not at war. Such a declaration would force the hands of government officials to either present these powers as the permanent injustices that they are, or to discontinue them at war’s end. As such, the endless “War on Terror” will continue undeclared: the current strategy affords the President the luxury of using the powers no Constitutional scholar knew he had, while shielding him from well-deserved ridicule and outrage for doing so. And, as both parties have demonstrated, neither is about to eliminate powers that “their President” might like to use once elected.

Unfortunately, members of the military are making the ultimate sacrifice, not for the national security of America, but for the job security of its politicians.

Source: Liberty Maven

[Via http://orwellsdreams.wordpress.com]

American People Should Force Federal Government To Sell Off The Land Its Owns To Payoff National Debt!

Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen – This Land is Your Land

 

 

Glenn Beck – Our Own Government Is Stopping Our Independence

Federal Lands and Indian Reservations

“…Go to map listto view and print Federal Lands and Indian Reservations maps The Federal Government owns nearly 650 million acres of land – almost 30 percent of the land area of the United States. Federally-owned and managed public lands include National Parks, National Forests, and National Wildlife Refuges. These are lands that are held for all Americans. The Federal agencies responsible for managing America’s natural resources must meet both the public desire to protect them and the public expectation of economic growth based on them. Within the Federal Government, a number of agencies contribute to the management of natural resources associated with public lands. All of these Federal agencies are partners in the production of nationalatlas.gov.

In the United States there are only two kinds of reserved lands that are well-known: military and Indian. An Indian Reservation is land reserved for a tribe when it relinquished its other land areas to the United States through treaties. More recently, Congressional acts, Executive Orders, and administrative acts have created Reservations. There are approximately 275 Indian land areas in the United States administered as Indian Reservations (reservations, pueblos, rancherias, communities, etc.). The largest is the Navajo Reservation of some 16 million acres of land in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Many of the smaller Reservations are less than 1,000 acres with the smallest less than 100 acres. On each Reservation, the local governing authority is the tribal government. Military reservations are managed by the Department of Defense. Examples include army posts, marine bases, naval stations, and air force bases.

These maps were designed for use on the World Wide Web or for generating high quality color prints. Each map shows the Federal Lands and Indian Reservations overlaid on top of State boundaries, selected streams and waterbodies, and major cities for easy reference. In addition, there is a map showing Federal Lands and Indian Reservations for the entire United States.

The maps are available in the following formats. …”

 

 

http://www.nationalatlas.gov/printable/fedlands.html#list

[Via http://raymondpronk.wordpress.com]

Don't Let the Feds Take Away Your Right to Control the Health Care Industry

Okay, it’s a long title and it’s not very catchy, but let me blog a bit about what my title means.

There are so many arguments about the current Health Care Political Theater going on in the White House right now.

Should we have the public option?

Should we fund abortions?

What about gay marriages, will they get health care beni’s?

Who’s gonna pay for it? How much will it cost?

These are all great questions really and all of the issues are hot buttons as every person feels differently. Some people feel morally compelled to pay for those who can’t afford their own health care, others are so broke they can’t contemplate helping themselves, let alone thousands of the poor.

Others don’t mind universal health care but they don’t want to be fined for not joining the party, while some agree that everyone should be locked in and fined to help cover the costs, while still others are outraged that they would fine anyone to help cover costs and not because of an inherent need to force them to take better care of themselves.

There are still others who feel that everyone should just fend for themselves and deal with their problems without asking for a hand out.

Then you have me, and I’m not sure how many others agree with me, but I’m gonna blog about it anyways. For I find that my idea isn’t bad at all, it’s just that not that many people have thought about it.

My only question to those preforming in the political theater is:

Why does the Federal Government need to have anything to do with the Health Care industry?”

I could have sworn that per the American constitution, it says that they are only supposed to protect our freedoms, guard our shores and borders from attacker and to collect taxes to do those two things.

The constitution specifically says that everything else is to be covered by the people and their states. So why are we trying to get the federal government to give us a solution again?

The truth is, having federally mandated or universal health care will kill and ruin the health care industry. It will make the pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies ten times richer while we the people struggle to pay for our own health along with everyone else who can’t pay for theirs. On top of that, our freedom of choice in the medical scene will be completely shot, as the federal government will be entitled to regulate and run everything to do with Health Care.

They feel they can choose what you need better then you can. Don’t we already have enough problems with doctors who don’t really listen and laws that make it nearly impossible to seek alternative or outside help? How is having people that can hardly run the government, taking over the health care industry, going to help anyone other then the rich sob’s that are running the industry now?

IF instead we stopped the government from dealing with the Health insurance industry and instead used initiatives of the people in the states to rein in health care, we would see many glorious things happen.

Such As;

-The Federal Government can stop playing dramatic games and get back to work bringing our troops home.

-We can focus on the corrupt jobs system the federal gov is trying to set up and get people some real jobs and careers, instead of just temporary and wasteful jobs to pacify the masses for half a year or so.

-We can work on getting Cannabis legalized to create more jobs and a booming economy, as well as ending the trillions of dollars in taxes we pay to fight a useless drug war

-The states will be able to make customized regulations and mandates depending on the initiatives enacted by the voters and then voted on by the majority in each state. This will be so awesome, because if one state wants to mandate their health insurance to pay for everybody and give the greedy insurance companies more money, let them do it. But then the other 50 states aren’t bound to that method. If they choose to create a medicare type system with a tax and not mandate people, then let them go to it. If another state is happy with the way their insurance goes then let the people keep it with out any changes. There are millions of options and there is no reason that all 50 states and territories should be bound to one way and one way only.

-We will be prohibiting our federal government from getting more power that they neither deserve nor require

-We will be reining in the health care industry and regulating it without having to worry about tyranny.

-We the People will get to control just about everything about the health care and if someone doesn’t like the status of the industry in one state, they can move to another or enact an initiative to change things. This will enact changes faster and easier and they will be much easier to repeal if need be, then federal legislation.

Think about it. Do your home work in history. The States were supposed to be independent nations that were simply united by the common goals of freedom and liberty. The federal gov is not our boss, we are theirs. They are not authorities, they are public servants and we need to start acting our roles if we want to see true change that doesn’t drag our economy down even further.

Something to think about…. at least….

Comments Welcome

[Via http://fontistheperceiver.wordpress.com]

America . . . Do You Care?

I’d wager that most of my readers are old advanced enough to remember Schoolhouse Rocks. One of my all time favorites, and perhaps one of the catchiest of all was part of the America Rocks series, which included the telling of how a Bill becomes Law. Keep reading . . . I have that gem posted somewhere, but you’ll have to read through this post to find out where!

Our friend Bill is found leaning against the door of the House of Representatives. He seems glum and listless. Let’s see what transpires:

Li’l Sam: Hey Bill, what’s goin’ on?
Bill: *sighs deeply* I’m feelin’ blue, Sammy. A little down. Maybe I’m bi-polar, you know, like Congress.
Li’l Sam: *scratches his head* Umm, what?
Bill: That’s a joke, son! I’m throwin’, but you ain’t catchin’!
Li’l Sam: Sorry, I just don’t . . .
Bill: Aww, hell. Forget about it. Doesn’t really matter anyway.
Li’l Sam: What’re you bummed out about?
Bill: *rubs his nose and sniffles* I just finished reading an article in The History Channel magazine. Enough to drive a man to drink I tell ya! But I can’t, really, being paper and all.
Li’l Sam: *stares blankly*
Bill: Absorption, boy! Don’t you pay attention at school?
Li’l Sam: Well, I . . .
Bill: Don’t feel bad, Sammy. Believe me, you’re not alone.
Li’l Sam: Whaddya mean?
Bill: It’s enough to break my heart, kid.
Li’l Sam: Must have been some article, Bill.
Bill: You ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie.
Li’l Sam: *raises a finger and begins to speak*
Bill: I know. You don’t get it. *sighs again*
Li’l Sam: Not really.
Bill: This article was titled Who Cares About The American Revolution?
Li’l Sam: We learned a little bit about it in school!
Bill: “Little” being the key word, I’m sure.
Li’l Sam: I don’t remember much, though.
Bill: Color me shocked.
See, this group took a national survey back in 2009 to see what Americans knew about the Revolution. You know, what got us here.
Li’l Sam: We fought Britain over lack of representation in Parliament, right?
Bill: Not bad kid. In a roundabout way, you’ve got a grasp on the underlying fuse that was lit. But get this. . .
The survey revealed that Americans “highly value, but vastly overrate, their knowledge of the Revolutionary period.”
They found that 89% of adults—that leave you out, son—felt they could pass a basic test on the American Revolution.
Li’l Sam: Wow! A lot of people must know a lot about it, then.
Bill: Whoa! Slow down, Speed Racer!
83% failed the test. Eighty-three percent!
Li’l Sam: *drops his mouth open*
Bill: Tell me about it. I’m right there with ya, Sammy.
Li’l Sam: That’s bad!
Bill: You’re gettin’ ahead of yourself, kid. Listen to this:
Half of all adults surveyed believed the Civil War, The Emancipation Proclamation, or the War of 1812 occured before the Revolution. See what reality TV will do to ya, Sammy?
Before the Revolution! Are you f****ng kidding me!
Li’l Sam: But the Revolution began in 1776.
Bill: *slumps harder against the door* No, it began in 1775, actually. We declared independence in 1776. Where did your teacher say the first shot of the Revolution was fired?
Li’l Sam: Umm, in Lexington, I think.
Bill: Good boy!
Li’l Sam: Followed by a battle in Concord, Massachussets, right?
Bill: Careful son, you’re stepping on my despair.
Li’l Sam: *stares again*
Bill: *waves him off*
Bill: Here’s another punch in the face:
More Americans polled knew that pop singer Michael Jackson sang Beat It than the fact that the Bill of Rights is part of the United States Constitution.
Li’l Sam: *smiles brightly* I like Michael Jackson! He did Billie Jean, and Thriller, and Remember The Time . . .
Bill: Are you finished?
Li’l Sam: *nods quietly*
Bill: Good. Don’t let it happen again. Now where was I . . .
Oh yeah—One third . . . You paying attention, Sammy?
Li’l Sam: Uh huh!
Bill: One third of the adults who took the survey did not know the right to a jury trial is covered in the Bill of Rights. Thank God for Perry Mason and Judge Judy, huh? At least they know it exists.
Li’l Sam: Who’s Perry Mason?
Bill: A TV lawyer.
Li’l Sam: Like on Law and Order?
Bill: *another sigh* Yeah, kind of. I’m almost done, son. I know you’re quickly approaching your attention span limit. So here’s yet another mind numbing result:
Sixty percent of Americans could correctly identify the number of children in reality-TV show couple Jon and Kate Gosselin’s household (eight), but more than one-third did not know the century in which the American Revolution took place.
Li’l Sam: They don’t like each other now.
Bill: Who?
Li’l Sam: John and Kate.
Bill: You’re killin’ me, kid.
Li’l Sam: Sorry.
Bill: Last one, then you can go play in the street . . .
From a list of major battles, two-thirds of Americans could not correctly name Yorktown as the last major military action of the American Revolution.
What does this say about us? What hope do I, or you for that matter, have if we don’t understand what led us here?
Li’l Sam: I dunno.
Bill: You’re consistent, I’ll give you that.
Li’l Sam: Thanks!
Bill: You’re welcome. Thanks for cheering me up, kid. *does a face palm*
Li’l Sam: See ya, Bill!
Bill: Maybe not!

If you’re even remotely interested you can see the test results, or even take the test yourself at the site for the American Revolution Center.

And if you read through the whole post, then you’re entitled to the following:

A small site I created a few years ago which speaks to our Constitution and the underlying principles we Americans cling to yet know precious little about: That Which Defines Us

The actual Schoolhouse Rocks episode I’m Just A Bill. Go ahead. Be nostalgic. This is good nostalgia :^)

If you go here (the last page of my Constitution project) you can find a short video with Morgan Freeman and an all-star cast reading aloud the Declaration of Independence. Have your speakers turned up and maybe a tissue handy.

[Via http://avomnia.wordpress.com]

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2010.

Helen Crawfurd.

INFO HERE,
Date & time:  24 February 2010 13.00     End date:  30 March 2010 15.00

Event:

                FIREBRAND WOMEN

About:                  Women have fought for their rights and others throughout the decades and are still doing so. Glasgow Women’s Library is teaming up with the Workers Educational Association to offer 6 sessions showcasing some real Firebrand Women and the campaigns that they worked on which have allowed us the rights that we have today. Come along to hear the inspirational stories of the role women played in these campaigns.

Venue:
                 Various venues across the city, Glasgow, G1 5RH

Organisation:
                    Glasgow Women’s Library: Glasgow Women’s Library is a vibrant information hub housing a lending library, archive collections and contemporary and historical artefacts relating to women’s lives, histories and achievements. We deliver an innovative Lifelong Learning Programme, an Adult Literacy and Numeracy Project and a dedicated Black and Minority Ethnic Women’s Project.
MORE INFO ON THE EVENT.

ann arky’s home.

[Via http://annarky1.wordpress.com]

Avatar and the Magic of Real Spirit

Up until last night I had not been to see the beautiful and magical movie AVATAR. There were a couple of reasons. I really didn’t want to be a part of the rush crowd. When my family did see it, we wanted it to mean something very special to us. I do not just see movies because everyone else is going. We watch them for the connection and the thought and meaning behind them. Avatar is one such movie.

Funny how I also have a connection to the word Pandora, which was the planet referred to in the movie Avatar. I started a magazine last year called “Pandora’s Box.” I suggest you read the story of Pandora you will understand why the planet is suitably named that as well.

This picture is linked to the main web site and you can watch the movie trailer for anyone who has not seen it yet.

My take on Avatar was that it was a movie with many messages to humanity.

The spiritual aspect alone was the thing that took my breath away and many tears of happiness were filling up in my eyes, as I saw a deep love of nature and the blessings of giving back. For in this movie is the true beauty of what humanity needs to aspire to. The connection to all living and breathing beings. That we as a species are only great, if we allow the essence of love, life and spirituality to embrace every fiber of our being.

Avatar also takes us all into the greed and ignorance of humanity.

How we humans, will stop at nothing to destroy, kill and hate just to have what we desire. How man has used a mighty military force to conquer and try to subdue people who are already free. A people who lived in peace and who were not afraid to fight for their way of life, beliefs and their spirituality.

The one actor that I deeply connected to was Wes Studi. An Actor who is full Cherokee Indian. The character “Eyutkan” the tribe elder and leader, could only have been played by a man who understood the beautiful spiritual culture of the Indian people. The connection to the Indian way of life in this movie was very strong indeed.

Jake Sully, played by a fellow Aussie, Sam Worthington is a young man who was looking for something in his life he could become a part of. What happens to Jake in this movie is discovery, change, growth in a way he never expected, overcoming his old thoughts and feelings. Jake came to the realization an understanding that he was now connected to a way life that would make him happier than he had ever believed possible before. His military career was a sham of what he thought he wanted or needed in his life.

Tree of Souls, is a giant tree that is said to be the closest connection to “Eywa” on all of Pandora. Jake says one thing to that tree that I really connected to “ You chose me for something that is much bigger than just me.” I get that on a level most people could not understand. When The Collective asked me to teach their words to humanity all those years ago, I wasn’t sure if I could go out there into the world and speak without fear and be a a tower of strength either. It is all what you perceive and know in your heart to be right and just, that makes the difference.

There was one other connection in the movie that deeply touched me. This was where Jake was trying to redeem himself to the Na’vi tribe he had now come to understand, he betrayed. He asked the tribe “How can I serve you?”

When humanity finally all realize that the only true way we can all come together in peace, is to be in service to each other, then we will be one people, one tribe, one world.

Until mankind gets that it is NOT about power, how much money you have, or the control on others, we will never live in peace and happiness. All living and non living things, people, animals, plants, marine life are all connected. It is that energy and that power that sustains, nourishes and feeds us. That was pretty much the message in Avatar too.

The great awakening is happening around the world at this time.

This awakening of many beings includes dropping the bondage of fear. To know that our world Governments are only out for themselves and this is NOT the way we should live. Our spiritual essence and the energy we give to each other, is more powerful than any war, disease, power, hate, control, greed, corruption and dominance that we all have been forced to wear.

Religion is not spirituality, however love is. Jesus and other beautiful ones like him, never professed we be Catholic, Baptist, Mormon or any other such thing.

That was MAN who did that. It was that kind of doctrine and propaganda that has held us in fear, captivity and still does.

World Governments, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings, Queens are NOT the answer to humanities problems. They are part of the problem of corruption, greed, control and hate. They are the ones who give the approval for such unfairness, poverty, wars, famines and misguided propaganda.

You, me, your children and my own are the answers YOU seek. Trust and believe in yourselves. Stop turning to others for the answer and know that what you seek, is already inside of YOU. Hang on to your families, love and nourish them.

No-one will ever love you as much as YOU. Stop looking for others to give that to YOU.

Stop trusting others to make your life better, because YOU are the only one who can.

Power was taken as a means to control others. Wake up and see the lie of it. Corruption of this power, is the same way humanity is in service to world governments. Take off the chains of fear and learn to breathe the free air. Stop listening to the propaganda. Teach yourself to believe in your spirit and trust your instincts. These same instincts have been squashed and down trodden because of this modern lie we all live.

The house of cards is collapsing and it is not just in America. It is happening all over the world. Inform yourself of the truth, become wise and break free.

There were many great messages in Avatar. Watch it, listen to the hidden meanings your inner being already understands, then teach yourself the real truth for all of humanity.

Love and Blessings

Victoria

[Via http://catchfallingstars.wordpress.com]

Fiscal and social conservatives unite in new free e-book "Indivisible"

There’s a new book that just came out from the Heritage Foundation, my favorite think tank.

Here’s an excerpt from the introduction by Jay Richards:

To listen to media and political strategists is to get the impression that American public life is a checklist of issues. Some are known as “social” issues (marriage, family) and some are known as “economic” (international trade, wages). There may be some good reasons for this distinction, but when we itemize and divide these topics into two separate categories, we fail to convey the underlying unity of the principles behind the American Experiment in ordered liberty. In reality, the two groups of issues are interdependent. For instance, a free economy cannot long exist in a culture that is hostile to it. The success of free market economic policies depends on important cultural and moral factors such as thrift, delayed gratification, hard work, and respect for the property of others. A virtuous and responsible populace derives, in turn, from strong families, churches, and other civil institutions.

Conversely, economic issues have a strong influence on culture and the institutions of civil society. High taxes, for example, put pressure on families and force parents to spend more time in the workforce, leaving less time to devote to their spouses and children. When government expands spending and control in education, it crowds out parental responsibility; when it expands its role in providing social welfare services, it tends to erode a sense of responsibility among churches and other groups doing good work to help neighbors in need.

The connections are such that the individual issues rarely fit neatly and exclusively into one set or the other. An “economic” issue is rarely exclusively about economics. For instance, poverty in America is often as much a moral and cultural problem as an economic problem. Reducing such poverty depends on civil institutions that inculcate virtue and responsibility as well as policies that promote economic freedom and discourage dependency. Most poverty among children in America is not caused by a lack of jobs but rather by factors such as family breakdown, negligent or absentee parents, substance abuse, or other social pathologies. To consider American poverty in strictly economic terms is to fail to see the full scale of issues involved in this problem.

[...]The following essays are intended as a concise exploration of the link between liberty and human dignity and of the policy issues that tend to cluster around these two themes in American life. This collection brings together a number of well-known social and economic conservatives. To encourage cross-fertilization of their ideas, those known as social conservatives have written on themes normally identified with economic conservatives, and vice versa. The authors highlight economic arguments for issues typically categorized as “social” and social/moral arguments for “economic” issues. Each author focuses on a single topic, briefly summarized below, that is associated with either social or economic conservatives or, in some cases, both.

That’s also one of the main purposes of my blog, to show how fiscal conservatives and social conservatives depend on each other.

Here are the essays and authors:

• Civil Society: Moral Arguments for Limiting Government – Joseph G. Lehman
• Rule of Law: Economic Prosperity Requires the Rule of Law – J. Kenneth Blackwell
• Life: The Cause of Life Can’t be Severed from the Cause of Freedom – Representative Paul Ryan
• Free Exchange: Morality and Economic Freedom – Jim Daly with Glenn T. Stanton
• Marriage: The Limited-Government Case for Marriage – Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D.
• Profit: Prophets and Profit – Marvin Olasky, Ph.D.
• Family: Washington’s War on the Family and Free Enterprise – Stephen Moore
• Wages: The Value of Wages – Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr.
• Religion:  Why Faith Is a Good Investment – Arthur Brooks, Ph.D., and Robin Currie
• International Trade: Why Trade Works for Family, Community, and Sovereignty – Ramesh Ponnuru
• Culture: A Culture of Responsibility – Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.D.
• Property: Property and the Pursuit of Happiness – Representative Michele Bachmann
• Environment: Conserving Creation – Tony Perkins
• Education: A Unified Vision for Education Choice – Randy Hicks

Seeing the names of people paired with these topics just blows my mind. It would be as though William Lane Craig were suddenly to write a book defending free market capitalism or the war on Islamic terrorism. It’s just WEIRD. And you’ll notice that many of the Wintery Knight’s favorite people are in there; Paul Ryan, Michele Bachmann, Jennifer Roback Morse.  I also like Stephen Moore’s writing a lot.

The entire book is available for free as a PDF download, or you can order it from the Heritage Foundation. I ordered 10 copies of everything at the store, because I wanted a bunch to give away to all my friends. I think this is the perfect gift to give someone who doesn’t see the relevance of public policy to Christianity, marriage and parenting. There is no such thing as an informed Christian who is fiscally liberally or socially liberal.

Oh, and by the way: Ryan/Bachmann 2012 for the win!

[Via http://winteryknight.wordpress.com]

Thought for 3-3-10 - Global warming and democrats

Finally a warm day and some moderate confirmation that global warming is real. Thank God. I was getting sick and tired of the snow and ice for the last two months. Give me some global warming called spring. I’m ready.

That poor dumb egghead scientist in England that let his emails get loose was, according to the information I can find, at best a co-conspirator of the global warming hoax. The evidence now seems beyond a reasonable doubt that facts were being manipulated to support the theory espoused by world renowned genius scientist, Al Gore. Talk about a credibility issue.

But, like Obama democrats, the true believers in global warming are not swayed by the facts. Their faith is all they need to carry them through.

Now, I don’t doubt for a minute that human activity has changed the world in which we live. Deforestation in Brazil and smog in China surely can’t be good for the planet, but the fact is that there is no viable scientific data to suggest that we are destroying this planet. Which is not to say that we aren’t capable of it and might actually be on our way, but these effects are measured in eons, so we don’t have a full set of measurements yet.

What we do have is faith in the issue. Environmental zealot faith, or religious zealot faith, or global warming faith is the same kind of faith that my wife’s Aunt Shirley has in the democrats.

I hate to be mean, but there’s no gentle way to say this. Shirley is a moron. She’s my mother in law’s sister, but she is still a moron. She would vote for Lucifer if he ran on the Democratic ticket. You have a lot of that around here. You can’t even get Shirley to tell you why she’s a democrat. That’s because she doesn’t know. She can’t tell you even one of the basic platform issues held by the democratic party. She is a democrat, probably because her dad was and the only way she ever votes is to put an X by every candidate that is a democrat. Then she thinks she has done her duty. She has voted.

Did she study the issues? No. Did she attend any rallys? No. Did she attempt to reconcile her belief system with that of the party? No.

Shirley believes she’ll go to heaven but doesn’t have the facts to back it up. She also believes that Obama and the democrats will ‘save’ her, yet she doesn’t even know from what. She didn’t get a raise on her Social Security this year, but she doesn’t know why and when faced with the facts chooses to poo-poo them and go back to watching the Golden Girls. She’s an idiot. An idiot that votes. And her vote gets counted. Just like the millions of other idiot votes who vote straight party line tickets, because they are too stupid or too lazy to try and get the facts to make an informed voting decision.

This has got to change. I’m thinking IQ tests for voting. Just kidding. But, really, though, how do you deal with fanatical, faith based, blind, zealots? You can’t.

Islam is the same way. You have to kill them. Democrats? Not so easy.

[Via http://ozarkfreedomfighter1.wordpress.com]

Something to share

Michael Winning

I saw hwile over at Obnoxio the Clown’s place that these people, called Counting cats, would like this to be shared.

So, here it is! (Boss man says this stuff if lifted, has to be in red…wonder if I can do that)

BBC Bias (Again) Feb 28th, 2010
by NickM.

I saw a small bit of a thing on BBC News this morning. OK, this is from memory and I didn’t watch the whole thing because I would have been sedated to prevent me from hurling the cat at the Samsung. And neither Timmy nor the telly deserve that…

I would though chuck an irate ocelot at Harriet Harman’s minge. That is another story though…

It was about “The Rise of Climate Scepticism in Australia”. It described climate sceptics (they’d burn ‘em if that weren’t “polluting”) meetings as being like an “American religious revivalist meetings” (that’s so BBC on so many levels, that’s the sort of thing to get the average Indy reader priapic) and it was just generally horrendous. Despite my inchoate rage I did though clock something which outraged me beyond feline-throwing comprehension.

It opened with a shot of the cracked, dry Australian Desert. You know that thing that Australia has a lot of but also had a lot of when Captain Cook made landfall and even had a lot of during the Dreamtime of the Aboriginals with this soundtrack:

Yup, whilst the BBC now calls us “sceptics” and no longer “deniers” it plays music from a symphony written specifically about the Holocaust.

Where do you think that band is performing? Don’t look much like the Royal Albert Hall to me unless that gaff has really gone downhill very recently.

So the likes of me, PA and Cats wanna disagree with the “consensus” on a scientific issue and we’re ushered to the “naughty-corner” along with that cunt Nick Griffin. Well, some of us, Aunty Beeb actually not only can parse the science but will not fall for cheap tricks like that. Some of us know what an adiabatic lapse rate is and some of us have also been to Auschwitz. Some of us even listen to C20th orchestral music.

Some of us also know what pride comes before.

PS. Fellow bloggers. Take this. I want it known. I want it screamed from the highest parapets.

Posted in: BBC, Climate change, Climate fraud, Jumped the Shark, Propaganda, The Righteous, twats.

[Via http://libertarianalliance.wordpress.com]

Good Reading

Here’s a roundup of some good reading.

Walter Williams: Who Poses a Greater Threat If you’ve ever feared power consolidated in the hands of wealthy, you should read this column.

Bill Gates is the world’s richest person, but what kind of power does he have over you? Can he force your kid to go to a school you do not want him to attend? Can he deny you the right to braid hair in your home for a living? It turns out that a local politician, who might deny us the right to earn a living and dictates which school our kid attends, has far greater power over our lives than any rich person.

Thomas Sowell: Alice in Health Care Warren Buffett should read Thomas Sowell to get a better understanding of why health care costs are high.

One of the biggest reasons for higher medical costs is that somebody else is paying those costs, whether an insurance company or the government. What is the politicians’ answer? To have more costs paid by insurance companies and the government.

Mark Steyn: Our Own Greek Tragedy (HT: Cafe Hayek).  Steyn has a way with words.

While President Obama was making his latest pitch for a brand new, even more unsustainable entitlement at the health care “summit,” thousands of Greeks took to the streets to riot. An enterprising cable network might have shown the two scenes on a continuous split screen – because they’re part of the same story. It’s just that Greece is a little further along in the plot: They’re at the point where the canoe is about to plunge over the falls. America is further upstream and can still pull for shore, but has decided instead that what it needs to do is catch up with the Greek canoe. Chapter One (the introduction of unsustainable entitlements) leads eventually to Chapter 20 (total societal collapse): The Greeks are at Chapter 17 or 18.

We hard-hearted, small-government guys are often damned as selfish types who care nothing for the general welfare. But, as the Greek protests make plain, nothing makes an individual more selfish than the socially equitable communitarianism of big government. Once a chap’s enjoying the fruits of government health care, government-paid vacation, government-funded early retirement, and all the rest, he couldn’t give a hoot about the general societal interest. He’s got his, and to hell with everyone else. People’s sense of entitlement endures long after the entitlement has ceased to make sense.

[Via http://ourdinnertable.wordpress.com]

Liberty: Why I think the way I do. Part 5

5000, Year Leap

For today I am going to do a short post on how powerful government is meant to by.  By meant to be, I of course mean as laid out by the genius of our founding fathers.  The concept of right and left is irrelevant and ever shifting in the world of politics, but there is a way of measuring government power using a scale that is always applicable. On one extreme we have tyranny, the absolute power of one or a few over the whole population. On the other end of this continuum is anarchy which is lack of any government oversight or control. The founders saw anarchy as being just as bad or even worse than tyranny as  every individual would potentially be a  tyrant as they are  bound by no rules of conduct.   The founders first flirted with a weak government under the Articles of Confederation.  However, this system was too close to anarchy and the federal government lacked the ability to enforce taxation from the sovereign states. This nearly led to our end during the revolutionary war.  So later, under the US Constitution, the federal government was given a little bit more power, shifting to a balance between tyranny and anarchy.  While this position offered both the benefits of liberty and the protection of unity to the nation, it is a precarious balancing act.  The trend for the last 200 years has been for government to inch closer and closer towards the tyrannical end of the scale leaving more and more influence and power in the hands of politicians while the people are left feeling more and more disenfranchised.  The very nature of government is to reach for more and more power, it is the nature of the beast and it must I repeat MUST be kept in check by the might of the sovereign people of the United States.  Whenever you hear about a new bill, a new law, a new special interest group.  Don’t ask yourself if it is left or right, ask yourself will this legislation result in more tyranny or more  liberty.

For more information on this subject, check out The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen.

Tyranny——————————————————————-Anarchy

Where are we?

[Via http://libertywell.wordpress.com]