My wife just got out of the hospital, having received several stents, opening up some blocked coronary arteries. While there, we were privileged to view the actual process of injecting the dye into the heart and the obvious blocked areas of several blood vessels. The technology is quite astonishing, and the existence of such techniques got me to thinking.
The modern scientific establishment is downright dismissive of Biblical Christianity. The scientist-priests' scornful attitudes drip with sarcasm and contempt when they compare the modern technology and its wonderful results with the simplicity of faith. It is as if the modern world - especially with reference to the technical achievements of modern civilization - are the product of Atheism marching forward unopposed.
Now I know that the Atheist view is totally incorrect, unfounded and not historically true. Atheism cannot produce anything positive, and if it claims anything as its own, it is a claim based on intellectual theft. The modern scientific establishment would not exist at all unless it were not built on thought and investigation based on a Biblical Judeo-Christian worldview.
The father of the scientific method, Sir Isaac Newton, said "The most beautiful system of the Sun, Planets and Comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent being. All variety of created objects which represent order and Life in the Universe could happen only by the willful reasoning of its original Creator, whom I call the Lord God."
The practical system of investigation of the world around us and the use of careful observation and experiment, expecting logical results to proceed from logical inquiry, is one of his greatest foundations of the modern scientific world. And what drove Newton was his view of the Universe as an expression of God. He understood that the World of God and the Word of God are both established on the foundation of the Character of God Himself.
The "scientific" establishment of today is historically grounded on a Christian-Biblical worldview. But where God is not honored, blindness and futility set in. No one explores to find anything if everything is just "brute factuality." Without the assumption of an orderly universe, created by a purposeful, orderly God, then there is little point in spending money or effort to "discover" something that everyone knows cannot be there. It is far easier looking for something that is part of a pattern you know already exists. The whole process of discovery rests on an assumption that by following a logical sequence of steps, you know you are going to arrive at a logical conclusion.
If there is no God, there is no reason to believe that the universe is orderly or logical , or purposeful – even in our own lives or existence, no matter what we imagine; we are just the product of randomness – hence, no order. So why expect to find any order when you already know that there is no sense or order to be found? To believe in order is to believe in a giver of order. That is heresy to an Atheist.
Wrong views of God result in blight and blindness in an individual or a culture or an entire civilization.
Atheistic cultures steal the positive results of a culture built on a Christian worldview (tools, hospitals, technology, etc.) and claim it as their own creation, but as I have point out, they cannot possibly be the impetus for it. They really don't have the insight for it: they don't “think right” about the world and thus are blind - willfully blind – to the logical outworking of thought based on a Theo-centric worldview.
The modern scientific culture would never have come about as an outgrowth of Atheistic thought.
Political correctness is the fruit of Atheism – the deliberate rejection of the real world for the hoped-for world without God. Truly He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. There is no wisdom, nor counsel nor understanding against the Lord. In the end, He blinds those who refuse to see.
So we are able to give credit where credit is due - to the Lord God, who is the pillar and ground of the truth, and to His Grace, which granted to men who obey Him insight into His world, so they may "subdue it" and make it bountiful, within the confines of the Fall.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
The Frigate of Americanism
Thomas Jefferson, before becoming President, was usually in the party of those who favored a freeman-farmer type of government, where independence and minimal government reigned supreme. Jefferson was our third president, after Washington and John Adams. Adams was a Federalist, favoring a strong central government as opposed to Jefferson's ideal.
This Jeffersonian Propensity - a very worthy ideal - found a most excellent summation in this quote:
“Still one thing more, fellow-citizens--a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned” – Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 1801.
This tension is to be observed in the very early American government between the Jefferson types who favored very limited government, and the Federalist types who favored a strong central government., showing up in the debate over the building and manning of the US Navy for the defense of our trade. “Six Frigates”, by Ian Toll, traces the back and forth of US Policy that consecutively enabled and then starved the infant navy built to defend American national interests. Jefferson (typically) sponsored the idea of building gunboats in each port that would be manned by volunteers. It was a cheap and simple solution tailored to the early American ideal. It was also a complete flop when tested in actual defense of the harbors and towns. Later, President Jefferson sent the same frigates he had formerly opposed to the Mediterranean to deal with Islamic terrorists and marauders. They were eminently successful.
His “volunteer” force concept was proven to be wrong in the area of defending American interests in the dangerous arena of Maritime policy and national defense, yet in many other areas, his notions of freemen taking care of their own business has become the hallmark of what we used to mean when we said “Americanism.”
The first quarter of the nineteenth century, as witnessed by Alexis Tocqueville in his landmark book "Democracy in America" was marked by American volunteerism in the daily lives of the citizens. It could be fairly said that Jefferson and those who thought like him, expressed something essential about our people and how they viewed government and freedom. Government was not even on the horizon in most people's lives, rather it was Christianity and local community. Quite a contrast with today's in your face political correctness and swarms of inspectors and taxes and regulations harassing and eating out the substance of the ordinary person.
Some degree of government is necessary, and it is the duty and calling of every generation of freemen to attempt to keep the balance. In the last two or three generations I fear we have been so busy living “the good life” that we have sorely neglected that balance. We are perilously close to a point of no return in so many areas of the preservation of our Liberties.
We need a major course correction, or our “frigate” of Americanism will end up on the rocks.
This Jeffersonian Propensity - a very worthy ideal - found a most excellent summation in this quote:
“Still one thing more, fellow-citizens--a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned” – Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 1801.
This tension is to be observed in the very early American government between the Jefferson types who favored very limited government, and the Federalist types who favored a strong central government., showing up in the debate over the building and manning of the US Navy for the defense of our trade. “Six Frigates”, by Ian Toll, traces the back and forth of US Policy that consecutively enabled and then starved the infant navy built to defend American national interests. Jefferson (typically) sponsored the idea of building gunboats in each port that would be manned by volunteers. It was a cheap and simple solution tailored to the early American ideal. It was also a complete flop when tested in actual defense of the harbors and towns. Later, President Jefferson sent the same frigates he had formerly opposed to the Mediterranean to deal with Islamic terrorists and marauders. They were eminently successful.
His “volunteer” force concept was proven to be wrong in the area of defending American interests in the dangerous arena of Maritime policy and national defense, yet in many other areas, his notions of freemen taking care of their own business has become the hallmark of what we used to mean when we said “Americanism.”
The first quarter of the nineteenth century, as witnessed by Alexis Tocqueville in his landmark book "Democracy in America" was marked by American volunteerism in the daily lives of the citizens. It could be fairly said that Jefferson and those who thought like him, expressed something essential about our people and how they viewed government and freedom. Government was not even on the horizon in most people's lives, rather it was Christianity and local community. Quite a contrast with today's in your face political correctness and swarms of inspectors and taxes and regulations harassing and eating out the substance of the ordinary person.
Some degree of government is necessary, and it is the duty and calling of every generation of freemen to attempt to keep the balance. In the last two or three generations I fear we have been so busy living “the good life” that we have sorely neglected that balance. We are perilously close to a point of no return in so many areas of the preservation of our Liberties.
We need a major course correction, or our “frigate” of Americanism will end up on the rocks.
Friday, November 26, 2010
The Unelected Fourth Branch
Any course in American Government will contain the description of the three branches of our system of government: the Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial. These three represent the division of power that was wisely created by the Founders, in recognition of the inherent nature of those in power to aggregate power to themselves. Thus, by dividing the power into three heads, it was a means to restrain that impulse to dominate.
Yet, because the electorate has grown distracted, it has failed to note the growth of a cancer on our government that even now threatens to destroy that division of power and to swamp all our liberties by serving a non elected interest that is funded by taxpayer dollars. I am referring to the Unions, in particular, public sector unions.
The problem might not have ever come to our attention except that the economy has collapsed like a rapidly- receding tide, exposing the few remaining institutions that are still holding their own and prospering – public sector employees most notably. Almost all sectors of our economy are suffering, except the public unions - they are prospering.
The explanation of that fact is not hard to understand when one sees that public sector unions have no competition. Their source of funds is the public treasury and in theory at least, that source cannot fail. A private sector company bankrupted by private sector unionization kills its union parasite also: they both die, thus checking the union. But who checks a public sector union?
They are funded and protected through the government, which is in turn directed by elected officials who in turn are bankrolled and supported in their campaigns by public sector union bosses. These same bosses have a stranglehold on the dues of their members, who have little or no say how their dues are spent. Thus, when the legislators, who are bought and paid for by the unions, vote for wage increases and benefit increases and long term juicy pension benefits, they are passing on the bill to the taxpayers who cannot readily deflect the higher and higher taxes imposed upon them by the public sector unions. Even more perniciously, every dollar extracted from the hapless taxpayers against their will, provides an even larger war chest for union bosses to reward or punish legislators who vote on union issues.
Even the Democrat’s favorite Democrat – Franklin Roosevelt – was against public sector unions. Yet the present day Democrat Party would disappear if it were not the party of public sector unions. What Roosevelt feared has come to pass.
It is the worst sort of incest: paid for by the taxpayers, yet out of their control through the ballot box. It is bribery at the highest levels.
I have seen the union machine in action through several election cycles – from the Democrat United Mine Workers’ machine opposing conservative political candidates in the coal fields to Florida teacher’s unions threatening and then rewarding Governor Charley Crist in the run-up to the November 2010 elections. Crist vetoed an Education reform bill that the Republican-dominated Florida legislature passed in mid-2010. He was elected as a conservative Republican, but jumped parties when it was obvious that he would not prevail in a runoff for Senator in the Republican primary against Marco Rubio. Showing his true colors, he courted the unions, thus stabbing in the back a much-needed reform of the Florida Education system that the union vigorously opposed. While his election effort eventually failed, it demonstrated how seriously public sector union support is regarded by unscrupulous politicians who are willing to sell their souls for political power.
A number of corrective measures have been proposed: term limits is one longer term solution, which I support. Rescinding (at the federal level) of the Union’s right to organize workers. President John Kennedy signed an executive order in 1962 granting such a right. That order began the ruin of the Democrat Party, converting it into a Pimp machine for political power, eroding any basis for fair handedness or principle that it had in the past.
It has been estimated that public sector pay and benefits are as much as 44% higher than that of the private sector and growing daily. There are different ways of viewing this relationship and it is worth reading more about it. It is inconceivable that our government needs to be as large as it is, and to be involved in so much regulation and intrusion. We need to take dramatic action to cut away whole swaths of the government. I suggest that the cabinet level departments of Energy, Education, Labor, Health and Human Services and TSA be eliminated, and whatever remaining functions are necessary be privatized.
Government bailouts in 2010 have largely served to protect the interests of public sector union members at the expense of the taxpayers. The auto sector interventions served to enrich the UAW enormously and defraud the actual owners, the stock holders, constituting a thinly-veiled thug-like takeover of other people’s property and a bypass of the bankruptcy laws by a Socialist government. All public bailouts are bad policy. States and governments, financial institutions and private and public organizations must be allowed to fail and restructure, just like in the real world.
Congress must take back control of the currency and cut the Federal Reserve out of all monetary policy whatsoever. The Fed is no friend of the American government, and is certainly no friend of American Free Markets. The Fed is not even a government institution. It is a concoction of the multinational banks to protect their interests. Our government should have nothing to do with it. The Constitution places the regulation of the money supply squarely in Congress’s lap, yet many protest any move to restoration of that relationship. Why would they think it proper to abdicate that responsibility to an unelected and basically unaccountable organization that has more in common with unconstitutionalists bent on Global control than our own nation’s self interest? Recent revelations of the incestuous relationship between Wall Street and the Fed ought to cause any sensible person to call for the elimination of the Fed. View this humorous short video for a short course on this phenomenon.
One law that should be passed that would require all union elections to be free and open and uncoerced. Perhaps having union elections policed by such democratic stalwarts as Russia or Somalia would be an improvement over what they have now. Union members should have a right to challenge in court the way their dues are used. Right now, members are practically mute and powerless and their dues are in many cases being used to support causes that are at radical variance with the member’s values. The Unions are legally exempt from racketeering laws (RICO) also, thus putting the leadership in a safe position to actually use racketeering to achieve their ends and bully their members. The undemocratic processes in union elections must be reformed - primarily by the membership, but they need help.
The proposed Card-Check legislation that the Reid-Pelosi-Obama axis are attempting to sneak under the noses of the American People under the radically twisted misnomer of the "Employees Free Choice Act" is an example of exactly the wrong kind of legislation that Congress is considering. The intent of this act - to strip away proposed member’s rights to vote on the unionization of their workforce - is a real tip off to the morals and motives of many in the Democrat Party who are supporting what amounts to thuggery underwritten by the Federal Government on behalf of further unchecked growth of the entire union movement. What Union leaders could never achieve on a level playing field, they propose to ram down the throat of the American public in a lame-duck session of a Congress that been repudiated at the ballot box. This is the Democrat Party in its true colors.
The danger to the Republic shows on many fronts. It is ironic that from its beginnings in the industrial revolution, starting as a movement in which the workers were just pawns in the hands of the industrialists, it has grown so much in power that it now threatens the financial and political viability of the nation that has done more than any other to recognize the right of all citizens to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Unions now want a guarantee of economic happiness at the expense of all else. They must not be allowed to succeed.
Our greatest danger is from the Unelected Fourth Branch of Government - Public Sector Unions.
Yet, because the electorate has grown distracted, it has failed to note the growth of a cancer on our government that even now threatens to destroy that division of power and to swamp all our liberties by serving a non elected interest that is funded by taxpayer dollars. I am referring to the Unions, in particular, public sector unions.
The problem might not have ever come to our attention except that the economy has collapsed like a rapidly- receding tide, exposing the few remaining institutions that are still holding their own and prospering – public sector employees most notably. Almost all sectors of our economy are suffering, except the public unions - they are prospering.
The explanation of that fact is not hard to understand when one sees that public sector unions have no competition. Their source of funds is the public treasury and in theory at least, that source cannot fail. A private sector company bankrupted by private sector unionization kills its union parasite also: they both die, thus checking the union. But who checks a public sector union?
They are funded and protected through the government, which is in turn directed by elected officials who in turn are bankrolled and supported in their campaigns by public sector union bosses. These same bosses have a stranglehold on the dues of their members, who have little or no say how their dues are spent. Thus, when the legislators, who are bought and paid for by the unions, vote for wage increases and benefit increases and long term juicy pension benefits, they are passing on the bill to the taxpayers who cannot readily deflect the higher and higher taxes imposed upon them by the public sector unions. Even more perniciously, every dollar extracted from the hapless taxpayers against their will, provides an even larger war chest for union bosses to reward or punish legislators who vote on union issues.
Even the Democrat’s favorite Democrat – Franklin Roosevelt – was against public sector unions. Yet the present day Democrat Party would disappear if it were not the party of public sector unions. What Roosevelt feared has come to pass.
It is the worst sort of incest: paid for by the taxpayers, yet out of their control through the ballot box. It is bribery at the highest levels.
I have seen the union machine in action through several election cycles – from the Democrat United Mine Workers’ machine opposing conservative political candidates in the coal fields to Florida teacher’s unions threatening and then rewarding Governor Charley Crist in the run-up to the November 2010 elections. Crist vetoed an Education reform bill that the Republican-dominated Florida legislature passed in mid-2010. He was elected as a conservative Republican, but jumped parties when it was obvious that he would not prevail in a runoff for Senator in the Republican primary against Marco Rubio. Showing his true colors, he courted the unions, thus stabbing in the back a much-needed reform of the Florida Education system that the union vigorously opposed. While his election effort eventually failed, it demonstrated how seriously public sector union support is regarded by unscrupulous politicians who are willing to sell their souls for political power.
A number of corrective measures have been proposed: term limits is one longer term solution, which I support. Rescinding (at the federal level) of the Union’s right to organize workers. President John Kennedy signed an executive order in 1962 granting such a right. That order began the ruin of the Democrat Party, converting it into a Pimp machine for political power, eroding any basis for fair handedness or principle that it had in the past.
It has been estimated that public sector pay and benefits are as much as 44% higher than that of the private sector and growing daily. There are different ways of viewing this relationship and it is worth reading more about it. It is inconceivable that our government needs to be as large as it is, and to be involved in so much regulation and intrusion. We need to take dramatic action to cut away whole swaths of the government. I suggest that the cabinet level departments of Energy, Education, Labor, Health and Human Services and TSA be eliminated, and whatever remaining functions are necessary be privatized.
Government bailouts in 2010 have largely served to protect the interests of public sector union members at the expense of the taxpayers. The auto sector interventions served to enrich the UAW enormously and defraud the actual owners, the stock holders, constituting a thinly-veiled thug-like takeover of other people’s property and a bypass of the bankruptcy laws by a Socialist government. All public bailouts are bad policy. States and governments, financial institutions and private and public organizations must be allowed to fail and restructure, just like in the real world.
Congress must take back control of the currency and cut the Federal Reserve out of all monetary policy whatsoever. The Fed is no friend of the American government, and is certainly no friend of American Free Markets. The Fed is not even a government institution. It is a concoction of the multinational banks to protect their interests. Our government should have nothing to do with it. The Constitution places the regulation of the money supply squarely in Congress’s lap, yet many protest any move to restoration of that relationship. Why would they think it proper to abdicate that responsibility to an unelected and basically unaccountable organization that has more in common with unconstitutionalists bent on Global control than our own nation’s self interest? Recent revelations of the incestuous relationship between Wall Street and the Fed ought to cause any sensible person to call for the elimination of the Fed. View this humorous short video for a short course on this phenomenon.
One law that should be passed that would require all union elections to be free and open and uncoerced. Perhaps having union elections policed by such democratic stalwarts as Russia or Somalia would be an improvement over what they have now. Union members should have a right to challenge in court the way their dues are used. Right now, members are practically mute and powerless and their dues are in many cases being used to support causes that are at radical variance with the member’s values. The Unions are legally exempt from racketeering laws (RICO) also, thus putting the leadership in a safe position to actually use racketeering to achieve their ends and bully their members. The undemocratic processes in union elections must be reformed - primarily by the membership, but they need help.
The proposed Card-Check legislation that the Reid-Pelosi-Obama axis are attempting to sneak under the noses of the American People under the radically twisted misnomer of the "Employees Free Choice Act" is an example of exactly the wrong kind of legislation that Congress is considering. The intent of this act - to strip away proposed member’s rights to vote on the unionization of their workforce - is a real tip off to the morals and motives of many in the Democrat Party who are supporting what amounts to thuggery underwritten by the Federal Government on behalf of further unchecked growth of the entire union movement. What Union leaders could never achieve on a level playing field, they propose to ram down the throat of the American public in a lame-duck session of a Congress that been repudiated at the ballot box. This is the Democrat Party in its true colors.
The danger to the Republic shows on many fronts. It is ironic that from its beginnings in the industrial revolution, starting as a movement in which the workers were just pawns in the hands of the industrialists, it has grown so much in power that it now threatens the financial and political viability of the nation that has done more than any other to recognize the right of all citizens to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Unions now want a guarantee of economic happiness at the expense of all else. They must not be allowed to succeed.
Our greatest danger is from the Unelected Fourth Branch of Government - Public Sector Unions.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
The Great Christmas Boil Over
The Holiday Season is in full cry on TV. The Hallmark channel, obviously lacking seasonal movies that have any substance actually related to Christmas, are airing numerous touchy-feely films that clearly have the intention of being "seasonal" without being in any clear way connected with the Christ of Christmas.
Granted that the Season, as it is called, has been in the process of a stove top boil over for a long time. You know what a boil-over is, the pot of spaghetti or some other food frothing up and then boiling over, spilling its contents all over the stove top. What started as a considerable volume of water and food is frothed out and spent.
Same with the Christmas Story to our post-Christian culture. The once-vibrant testimony of a season of remembering that God sent his Only Begotten Son into the world to save the world - and that Jesus came as a baby into a humble family - in a not-ostentatious way into a hard, uncaring but oh-so-needy world - that story seems to have not only been back-benched, but completely taken off the menu of choices.
Rather, a number of spin off themes has emerged: Santa Claus, for instance. First, he was a figure based on a real person who did Christ like deeds at the winter season, showing charity and gift giving behavior. As a reminder of Jesus, who is the ultimate Prototype of such selfless behavior and attitude, the original Santa was not bad. That character quickly morphed into the miracle-working, magical Santa of today who has elves and a magical sleigh and a gift bag that can contain innumerable gifts to children who have been "good" all year. The modern Santa also has god-like powers and the ability to do powerful things for those he favors. "Miracle on 34th street" is an early example of the revisionist theme in the Santa genre. The last scene of the movie makes that point not so subtly.
Take the music for another instance. Up to the late eighties or early nineties, real hymns of Christmas were heard throughout the stores or on the radio and TV in the run up to Christmas Day, but the hard-eyed purveyors of political correctness and "diversity" have frightened most store owners into banning such songs as "Joy to the World" or "God rest ye merry gentlemen." Instead we are regaled with tunes of "Frosty the Snowman" another bit of boil over froth, and "Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer" and the multiple threads of froth that came from that fictional character.
There is the Grinch also: "The Grinch that stole Christmas." I am sure that a re-make of this old film would jettison the word Christmas if it could find a way to say the same thing without honoring Christ in the word itself. In any case, Whoville had a tree with gifts - another bit of froth - but no real mention of Christ or His birth. The Christ-hating world is even willing to use the general emotions of the Season, but hijack them and attach them to anything but the birth of the Son of God.
Perhaps the idea is: if we can spawn enough froth, the real contents of the pot can be discarded along with the froth that has covered the stove top. Everyone knows the froth is spurious, immaterial, imaginary, so perhaps it all is.
I know there is a growing segment of the culture that is plainly uncomfortable with the story of a Christ Child. They are uncomfortable for the same reason they don't like being reminded that the story of Easter is the story of Resurrection - which reminds them of the claims of a Christ who died for the sins of the whole world on a historical cross. A universal savior smacks of a universal damnation, and that is where the Christ story "quits preaching and goes to meddlin'" in many people's minds.
Emotions without a basis are really what the Atheists charge to the Christians. They believe - or try mightily to convince themselves - that the real Christmas Story - like the boil off from the story - is mythical. Most certainly the boil off is pure mythology, but the real Christmas Story - that is entirely factual, and historical.
Which is kind of tough on the unbelievers. They cannot rest easy in their beds, no matter how much they ignore or morph the story. Even killing the Christians and trying to burn or expunge their words won't work, because that which is true is written on their hearts by the God Who is There.
Let us who know HIM, continue on in faithful witness to the truth of His Word. A wonderful event happened two thousand years ago - in fulfilment of his ages-old promise to send a Savior and Redeemer - God sent his Only Begotten Son into the world, to save His people from their sins. He succeeded in that, for He is God. It is up to us to publish that truth to our generation, and to remain faithful to its message of true hope to a lost and dying world.
Granted that the Season, as it is called, has been in the process of a stove top boil over for a long time. You know what a boil-over is, the pot of spaghetti or some other food frothing up and then boiling over, spilling its contents all over the stove top. What started as a considerable volume of water and food is frothed out and spent.
Same with the Christmas Story to our post-Christian culture. The once-vibrant testimony of a season of remembering that God sent his Only Begotten Son into the world to save the world - and that Jesus came as a baby into a humble family - in a not-ostentatious way into a hard, uncaring but oh-so-needy world - that story seems to have not only been back-benched, but completely taken off the menu of choices.
Rather, a number of spin off themes has emerged: Santa Claus, for instance. First, he was a figure based on a real person who did Christ like deeds at the winter season, showing charity and gift giving behavior. As a reminder of Jesus, who is the ultimate Prototype of such selfless behavior and attitude, the original Santa was not bad. That character quickly morphed into the miracle-working, magical Santa of today who has elves and a magical sleigh and a gift bag that can contain innumerable gifts to children who have been "good" all year. The modern Santa also has god-like powers and the ability to do powerful things for those he favors. "Miracle on 34th street" is an early example of the revisionist theme in the Santa genre. The last scene of the movie makes that point not so subtly.
Take the music for another instance. Up to the late eighties or early nineties, real hymns of Christmas were heard throughout the stores or on the radio and TV in the run up to Christmas Day, but the hard-eyed purveyors of political correctness and "diversity" have frightened most store owners into banning such songs as "Joy to the World" or "God rest ye merry gentlemen." Instead we are regaled with tunes of "Frosty the Snowman" another bit of boil over froth, and "Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer" and the multiple threads of froth that came from that fictional character.
There is the Grinch also: "The Grinch that stole Christmas." I am sure that a re-make of this old film would jettison the word Christmas if it could find a way to say the same thing without honoring Christ in the word itself. In any case, Whoville had a tree with gifts - another bit of froth - but no real mention of Christ or His birth. The Christ-hating world is even willing to use the general emotions of the Season, but hijack them and attach them to anything but the birth of the Son of God.
Perhaps the idea is: if we can spawn enough froth, the real contents of the pot can be discarded along with the froth that has covered the stove top. Everyone knows the froth is spurious, immaterial, imaginary, so perhaps it all is.
I know there is a growing segment of the culture that is plainly uncomfortable with the story of a Christ Child. They are uncomfortable for the same reason they don't like being reminded that the story of Easter is the story of Resurrection - which reminds them of the claims of a Christ who died for the sins of the whole world on a historical cross. A universal savior smacks of a universal damnation, and that is where the Christ story "quits preaching and goes to meddlin'" in many people's minds.
Emotions without a basis are really what the Atheists charge to the Christians. They believe - or try mightily to convince themselves - that the real Christmas Story - like the boil off from the story - is mythical. Most certainly the boil off is pure mythology, but the real Christmas Story - that is entirely factual, and historical.
Which is kind of tough on the unbelievers. They cannot rest easy in their beds, no matter how much they ignore or morph the story. Even killing the Christians and trying to burn or expunge their words won't work, because that which is true is written on their hearts by the God Who is There.
Let us who know HIM, continue on in faithful witness to the truth of His Word. A wonderful event happened two thousand years ago - in fulfilment of his ages-old promise to send a Savior and Redeemer - God sent his Only Begotten Son into the world, to save His people from their sins. He succeeded in that, for He is God. It is up to us to publish that truth to our generation, and to remain faithful to its message of true hope to a lost and dying world.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
A Well-deserved McCollum Defeat
Once in a while I get to hug myself in glee. Last night's primary election results gave me one of those rare opportunities. Rick Scott defeated Bill McCollum to run for the Florida governorship in November under the Republican banner.
This has been the dirtiest campaign that I have ever seen, and his conservative claims notwithstanding, McCollum proved himself to be an underhanded dirty trickster of the worst sort. Beyond McCollum's very poor ethical performance, many of the establishment Republicans in the Florida Republican Party publicly supported McCollum - something they should not have done.
It was also distressing to see such a herd mentality at work among other national "conservative" voices such as Newt Gingrich, Dick Morris, Foxnews, Newsmax...the list reads like a roster of good guys. Knowing what I know of the McCollum campaign, I can only imagine that they, being at some distance from it, were not able to see what was really going on. I don't like the thought that they would throw principle overboard to support a corrupt career pol who is their pick. Such short-sighted behavior is what ruins political parties.
Normally, I associate the "conservative" logo as meaning that one's behavior is grounded in Godly moral principles, but I am at a loss to discover how McCollum could have garnered such support from so many people without someone blowing the whistle on what he was actually up to.
One staunch Republican friend in Palm Beach county blew the whistle on the unethical behavior by many in the state Republican party who were urging support for McCollum in their official capacity as representatives - insiders in the Party apparatus. No one would deny any person the right to privately support any candidate of their choosing, but to speak on behalf of one of the primary candidates when one occupies a postion in the State Party - and to make it known they are speaking in their official capacity - that goes beyond good ethical behavior. Some of them have quibbled that they did nothing wrong, but the donation of millions of Republican Party dollars to the McCollum primary campaign against Scott is clearly a betrayal of the Party's primary process and an open indication that the Florida Republican establishment is picking winners. Doing that in a party primary is both foolish and wrong.
Fortunately for the people of Florida (and the nation) their plans were derailed by voters who decided they did not like the underhanded campaign McCollum ran, nor the prospects of living under a governorship of such a man.
One can only hope that those same voters don't decide that they need to jettison the Party that so publicly polluted the primary.
I am sure that the right man won. It remains to be seen whether he can deal effectively with the disgruntled Republican pols who might form a barrier to his gubernatorial campaign and inadvertently hand the election to the Democrats. For them to refuse to cooperate with Scott because he is profoundly an "outsider" would, in my opinion, be suicidal for the Republican Party. It would solidify the suspicion in many people's minds that our basic civic problem is career pols who care more for their own things than the things of the people they purport to serve.
Of course it also depends on Scott's leadership skills. The gubernatorial race is now in his hands, and at this point he could presume to hold a lead going into the November elections. How he handles his public persona, and the issues, and the recently-beaten Florida Republican establishment will show us the mettle of the man. My support is with him. We need many more outsiders in our political system to reverse the decades of damage done by the career pols.
This has been the dirtiest campaign that I have ever seen, and his conservative claims notwithstanding, McCollum proved himself to be an underhanded dirty trickster of the worst sort. Beyond McCollum's very poor ethical performance, many of the establishment Republicans in the Florida Republican Party publicly supported McCollum - something they should not have done.
It was also distressing to see such a herd mentality at work among other national "conservative" voices such as Newt Gingrich, Dick Morris, Foxnews, Newsmax...the list reads like a roster of good guys. Knowing what I know of the McCollum campaign, I can only imagine that they, being at some distance from it, were not able to see what was really going on. I don't like the thought that they would throw principle overboard to support a corrupt career pol who is their pick. Such short-sighted behavior is what ruins political parties.
Normally, I associate the "conservative" logo as meaning that one's behavior is grounded in Godly moral principles, but I am at a loss to discover how McCollum could have garnered such support from so many people without someone blowing the whistle on what he was actually up to.
One staunch Republican friend in Palm Beach county blew the whistle on the unethical behavior by many in the state Republican party who were urging support for McCollum in their official capacity as representatives - insiders in the Party apparatus. No one would deny any person the right to privately support any candidate of their choosing, but to speak on behalf of one of the primary candidates when one occupies a postion in the State Party - and to make it known they are speaking in their official capacity - that goes beyond good ethical behavior. Some of them have quibbled that they did nothing wrong, but the donation of millions of Republican Party dollars to the McCollum primary campaign against Scott is clearly a betrayal of the Party's primary process and an open indication that the Florida Republican establishment is picking winners. Doing that in a party primary is both foolish and wrong.
Fortunately for the people of Florida (and the nation) their plans were derailed by voters who decided they did not like the underhanded campaign McCollum ran, nor the prospects of living under a governorship of such a man.
One can only hope that those same voters don't decide that they need to jettison the Party that so publicly polluted the primary.
I am sure that the right man won. It remains to be seen whether he can deal effectively with the disgruntled Republican pols who might form a barrier to his gubernatorial campaign and inadvertently hand the election to the Democrats. For them to refuse to cooperate with Scott because he is profoundly an "outsider" would, in my opinion, be suicidal for the Republican Party. It would solidify the suspicion in many people's minds that our basic civic problem is career pols who care more for their own things than the things of the people they purport to serve.
Of course it also depends on Scott's leadership skills. The gubernatorial race is now in his hands, and at this point he could presume to hold a lead going into the November elections. How he handles his public persona, and the issues, and the recently-beaten Florida Republican establishment will show us the mettle of the man. My support is with him. We need many more outsiders in our political system to reverse the decades of damage done by the career pols.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Scott vs McCollum Race in Fla. - A Friend's Commentary
A man I have grown to respect more and more as I got to know him wrote this email blast. There are other well-reasoned and well-documented thoughts he has shared recently, but I felt his words needed repeating. (His comments are in quotes at the end of this article.)
We are coming down to the wire in this Primary for Governor in Fla. I have observed that all the national Republican voices (Gingrich, Hannity, NewsMax -who recently received a visit from perhaps their new hero Bill Clinton) and the usual suspects.) have gotten on the McCollum bandwagon. Normally, I would have been glad about that, but something is not right about how this primary campaign has been waged by the McCollum people and other supporters. The career pols have circled their wagons and are vigorously attempting to exclude someone not of their career politician group from the governorship.
Often I will get behind someone I know something about, but this time I have learned more than perhaps I wanted to know about McCollum. I now regard him as the dirtiest pol in Florida, even dirtier than Charley Crist, and that is saying something. This primary campaign has solidified my attitude against the State and National Republican party, and some of the so-called conservative voices nationally who have thrown their support behind McCollum. FoxNews has also unwittingly been featuring McCollum, and not Scott at all (to my knowledge). The McCollum campaign has been run on an agenda of dirty tricks and innuendo, using Florida Republican Party funds - in a PRIMARY race. My friend points out that unseemly support from a group who takes party contributions from all Republicans and is not supposed to get involved in backing one primary candidate over another. That is an unforgivable betrayal of those who contributed to that fund.
I think on that point alone they have probably broken their trust with the party loyalists who have hitherto supported it. They Florida Republican Party leadership need to be held to account.
Unfortunately, this is a hard lesson, regardless of which way the race goes. Never trust a career politician, nor the party of career politicians that feed off of the continued election of these types. We have been betrayed on several levels already, and it might mean some more years of betrayal politics in Fla until the business of the state can be set right again.
Here are the comments from George Blumel, my friend whom I trust.
Title of the email: "Win or lose, we must learn this lesson..."
"The lesson here is never give money to the Republican Party directly –it can and will be used against you and your choices. Maybe you like their choice this time but next time they’ll give to the other guy. They have their own agenda. That applies to the RNC, The NRSC, the NRCC and your State Party, in Florida, the RPOF. In Florida’s primary race for governor, Rick Scott, the clean-government, self-financing outsider, is being vilified by the leadership and they are interfering with the primary election in favor of their career politician.
It takes more than money to win an election but at least Scott is spending his own money. "McCollum has raised just $7.7 million in hard money — but benefited from $3.9 million in help from the state Republican Party (RPOF) and another $9 million in special-interest money from Walt Disney, U.S. Sugar, Florida Power & Light, Publix Supermarkets and other companies, used to buy ads. In total, McCollum and his corporate backers hurled $21 million into his primary." That quote from the Orlando Sentinel doesn't even mention the taxpayer money McCollum has taken directly from the State. The special interests are buying their candidate as usual, but the big contributor that bothers me the most is the $millions from the RPOF. This is money contributed by Repubs for promoting the party and our candidates in the general election, NOT for taking sides in the Primary! OUTRAGEOUS!
The lesson here is NEVER CONTRIBUTE TO THE PARTY --these are the professional political establishment types that have given us corruption and bad government. They are scared to death that an outsider successful businessman will run the State efficiently with regard to taxes, regulations and even-handedness which largely leaves them out of their control. They lose their clout, their perks, their favors, their "importance."
Give to the candidate you favor directly or the funds will be used against your choice for the benefit of the insiders and business as usual. Jim Greer, Charlie Crist and the other crooks in our party have done that and continue to do it. Scott is our one chance to reverse that trend here in Florida –McCollum will happily continue his lifelong feeding at the government trough as he honors not his oath but his commitments to those who put him in office –Sugar, Disney, the utilities he is supposed to regulate, and all the others. "
All I can say is "Amen."
We are coming down to the wire in this Primary for Governor in Fla. I have observed that all the national Republican voices (Gingrich, Hannity, NewsMax -who recently received a visit from perhaps their new hero Bill Clinton) and the usual suspects.) have gotten on the McCollum bandwagon. Normally, I would have been glad about that, but something is not right about how this primary campaign has been waged by the McCollum people and other supporters. The career pols have circled their wagons and are vigorously attempting to exclude someone not of their career politician group from the governorship.
Often I will get behind someone I know something about, but this time I have learned more than perhaps I wanted to know about McCollum. I now regard him as the dirtiest pol in Florida, even dirtier than Charley Crist, and that is saying something. This primary campaign has solidified my attitude against the State and National Republican party, and some of the so-called conservative voices nationally who have thrown their support behind McCollum. FoxNews has also unwittingly been featuring McCollum, and not Scott at all (to my knowledge). The McCollum campaign has been run on an agenda of dirty tricks and innuendo, using Florida Republican Party funds - in a PRIMARY race. My friend points out that unseemly support from a group who takes party contributions from all Republicans and is not supposed to get involved in backing one primary candidate over another. That is an unforgivable betrayal of those who contributed to that fund.
I think on that point alone they have probably broken their trust with the party loyalists who have hitherto supported it. They Florida Republican Party leadership need to be held to account.
Unfortunately, this is a hard lesson, regardless of which way the race goes. Never trust a career politician, nor the party of career politicians that feed off of the continued election of these types. We have been betrayed on several levels already, and it might mean some more years of betrayal politics in Fla until the business of the state can be set right again.
Here are the comments from George Blumel, my friend whom I trust.
Title of the email: "Win or lose, we must learn this lesson..."
"The lesson here is never give money to the Republican Party directly –it can and will be used against you and your choices. Maybe you like their choice this time but next time they’ll give to the other guy. They have their own agenda. That applies to the RNC, The NRSC, the NRCC and your State Party, in Florida, the RPOF. In Florida’s primary race for governor, Rick Scott, the clean-government, self-financing outsider, is being vilified by the leadership and they are interfering with the primary election in favor of their career politician.
It takes more than money to win an election but at least Scott is spending his own money. "McCollum has raised just $7.7 million in hard money — but benefited from $3.9 million in help from the state Republican Party (RPOF) and another $9 million in special-interest money from Walt Disney, U.S. Sugar, Florida Power & Light, Publix Supermarkets and other companies, used to buy ads. In total, McCollum and his corporate backers hurled $21 million into his primary." That quote from the Orlando Sentinel doesn't even mention the taxpayer money McCollum has taken directly from the State. The special interests are buying their candidate as usual, but the big contributor that bothers me the most is the $millions from the RPOF. This is money contributed by Repubs for promoting the party and our candidates in the general election, NOT for taking sides in the Primary! OUTRAGEOUS!
The lesson here is NEVER CONTRIBUTE TO THE PARTY --these are the professional political establishment types that have given us corruption and bad government. They are scared to death that an outsider successful businessman will run the State efficiently with regard to taxes, regulations and even-handedness which largely leaves them out of their control. They lose their clout, their perks, their favors, their "importance."
Give to the candidate you favor directly or the funds will be used against your choice for the benefit of the insiders and business as usual. Jim Greer, Charlie Crist and the other crooks in our party have done that and continue to do it. Scott is our one chance to reverse that trend here in Florida –McCollum will happily continue his lifelong feeding at the government trough as he honors not his oath but his commitments to those who put him in office –Sugar, Disney, the utilities he is supposed to regulate, and all the others. "
All I can say is "Amen."
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907.
In the midst of all the furor regarding illegal aliens stealing across our borders to reap the benefits of an overly indulgent American people, this quote strikes a attitude that is both fundamentally correct and sensible, but also practically unutterable in today's culture of anti-Americanism emanating from the White House.
Interestingly, one ought to read it with Muslims in mind - especially in the light of the furor over the attempt to place a victory mosque at ground zero
Read:
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Theodore Roosevelt 1907
In applying the previous sentiment to most Muslims either immigrating to the US or born here, it becomes painfully apparent that many of the more literal Muslims do not assimilate. The ones wanting to build a ground zero mosque certainly don't want to. Their aim is to denigrate our liberties and the basis of our liberties - the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible, and substitute a foreign deity, allah, who is no friend to liberty or kindness.
If Muslims inhabited the early America, there never, never, never would have been a United States of America. Islam spawns thuggery and oppression, not Liberty, especially when it reaches critical mass, as it is doing in France and the Netherlands and other European countries. We will in our own lifetimes witness the takeover of those countries and the complete elimination of what we call Western Democracy.
That cannot be allowed to happen here. Radical Islam is more than a religious idea, it is an oil-financed Jihad bent on destroying and assimilating - like the Borg - the entire world. It has made remarkable progress and has already enlisted many in its cause, most notably, Barack Hussein Obama.
But the struggle is basically about worldviews, and the worldviews in contention are the Judeo-Christian worldview based on the reality of Biblical truth, and Islam, a sixth-century amalgam of militarism and thuggery wrapped in religious garb and enforced by fear and force. The two systems are mutually incompatible.
One of the founders, Samuel Adams, was of the opinion that Muslims could not faithfully discharge the duties of public office in America because they did not accept the core beliefs that established our nation. He was correct.
Interestingly, one ought to read it with Muslims in mind - especially in the light of the furor over the attempt to place a victory mosque at ground zero
Read:
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Theodore Roosevelt 1907
In applying the previous sentiment to most Muslims either immigrating to the US or born here, it becomes painfully apparent that many of the more literal Muslims do not assimilate. The ones wanting to build a ground zero mosque certainly don't want to. Their aim is to denigrate our liberties and the basis of our liberties - the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible, and substitute a foreign deity, allah, who is no friend to liberty or kindness.
If Muslims inhabited the early America, there never, never, never would have been a United States of America. Islam spawns thuggery and oppression, not Liberty, especially when it reaches critical mass, as it is doing in France and the Netherlands and other European countries. We will in our own lifetimes witness the takeover of those countries and the complete elimination of what we call Western Democracy.
That cannot be allowed to happen here. Radical Islam is more than a religious idea, it is an oil-financed Jihad bent on destroying and assimilating - like the Borg - the entire world. It has made remarkable progress and has already enlisted many in its cause, most notably, Barack Hussein Obama.
But the struggle is basically about worldviews, and the worldviews in contention are the Judeo-Christian worldview based on the reality of Biblical truth, and Islam, a sixth-century amalgam of militarism and thuggery wrapped in religious garb and enforced by fear and force. The two systems are mutually incompatible.
One of the founders, Samuel Adams, was of the opinion that Muslims could not faithfully discharge the duties of public office in America because they did not accept the core beliefs that established our nation. He was correct.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Sinister Politics and the Gulf Oil Spill
The actions of the Obama regime don't fit the pattern of an American administration bent on growing the economy or preventing loss of jobs or income for millions of Americans affected by the oil leak. In fact, as I think we can demonstrate, the regime's actions are at direct odds with sensible and obvious strategies to achieve those goals.
Of course, they are not saying it that way. If you would believe their rhetoric, you would think that Obama himself and his whole regime is personally committed to stopping the leak and remediating the effects of the spill. But what has he and his minions in the Federal government agencies actually done? You have to stop your ears - shut off the sound - and just watch their actions:
They have obstructed the use of non-US firms and effective technology from being employed in the cleanup and the staunching of the leak.
They have banned fishing or harvesting in a huge area of the Gulf, thus killing any chance of finding healthy fishery grounds.
They have refused to let the States affected by the oil take any actions to dam or buttress the shoreline from the oil coming ashore, absurdly citing environmental concerns.
They have taken charge of the Oil spill cleanup but then obstructed the cleanup by withholding critically-needed vessels and devices on flimsy pretexts.
They have refused to let the news media close enough to see what is going on in the Gulf by declaring the whole area off limits to over flights or surface vessel reconnoitering with reporters on board.
They have refused to allow the use of oil dispersant, then reluctantly agreed, but only after long delays, and "investigations" to assure the environment was not going to be "harmed".
They have contributed to a welfare-mentality by strong-arming BP to put up a "down payment" of $20Bil to be passed out as a bonanza to practically anyone claiming damage. The claims won't be limited to actual damage - but consequential damage, which is impossible to determine with any certainty. It is already turning into a free-for all, with even churches claiming damages due to "lost contributions."
The Obama department of Justice issued a six-month "moratorium" on new drilling, effectively shutting down all oil exploration in the Gulf. After being slapped back into their corner by a Federal District Judge for rule-making without merit, they scurried around to re-issue the moratorium in a revised form. Their actions are putting the economies of all the Gulf Coast States in jeopardy due to the over the top action by the regime.
They have appointed a commission, ostensibly to "study" the oil spill "accident" and make recommendations to prevent a future occurrence. The commission is packed with environmentalists (who haven't a clue as to how to prevent another blowout - except to stop all offshore oil exploration.), but contains no one from the oil industry, who just might have a word or two of guidance concerning how to prevent another disaster. But perhaps that is the plan without it being stated: hurt the Oil drilling industry. The commission will likely take its entire six months and then declare they need more time, thus providing an excuse to extend the moratorium even further - and thus extending the agony of the US Gulf oil industry. Such a moratorium for such a misguided reason is criminally absurd.
The entire affair is a case study in deliberate delay, covering up sinister motives.
One thing is certain: this regime is not acting like they really care about the main goals of the nation: to get the economy going again, to prevent more job losses, to reduce government obligations, to reduce regulatory barriers to business, and to come up with a practical and expeditious plan to stop the oil spill and heal its attendant environmental issues.
But do not imagine that Obama is without a plan. The idea that he is incompetent is a non-starter. He has had plenty of good advice and there is no lack of talent to deal with the real problems of the Gulf. It is just that he turns a deaf ear to practical solutions and instead implements rules that achieve the opposite effect.
There is only one explanation that fits all we know: he does not want the economy to recover. He wants it to fail, but to do so in a way that his regime can both blame the energy sector (or the sector du-jour that is next in the pillory) and to enact draconian measures to put it firmly under the hand of his ruling junta. All in the name of "preventing another disaster." Rahm Emanuel famously said: "Never waste a good crisis." Obama is certainly not wasting this one.
Just like the Depression of the 1930's, this economic disaster is the product of, and is being prolonged and deepened by, the Federal government's interference in the US economy. The present ruling junta regard the free enterprise system as the problem, and are seeking to subjugate it - if not outright stamp it out. Perhaps they view it like a milk-cow of benefits they can siphon off and use to reward their welfare constituencies. Socialist Progressives to a man, they cannot wait to get a tighter grip on the companies that have successfully met the needs of this country in the past - and those of the rest of the world - and subjugate them to their control.
So in a perverse kind of way, the Obama regime is acting in perfect sync with their philosophy - except that they have not been speaking publicly in full candor about what those goals actually are.
Were it not that the media - with a certain few foxy exceptions - is totally controlled and serving this regime, this strange behavior of saying one thing and doing another would have been in the headlines, and the topic at every dinner table. The silence of the media is thundering in our ears. Why no protest? Why is no one connecting the dots?
But we are a people who have experienced liberty. We won't submit to slavery - or oppression. A hard knot of us won't. Maybe the regime will end up with all the control and weapons, and we will be silenced; but they will not be able to hold the lid on forever. They will eventually fall like the old Soviet Empire. Even without Reagan, it would have collapsed under the weight of its own colossal human failure: it was a regime without a heart.
Obama's regime has no heart either. No government with a heart would issue an order snuffing out the livelihoods of millions of oil drilling workers just to stop a hypothetical oil spill from occurring again. Only an ideologue could do that - a radical one; one who believes that the goal of Socialism is worth the lives of innumerable people. Josef Stalin starved millions of Ukrainians when he took their crops and sold them to obtain foreign exchange. He called it "collectivization," but it was confiscation of the food and produce of a thrifty people - and a heartless murder. We are being led by a heartless murderer today also.
Despite all Obama's finger wagging and denials that Federally-funded abortion was in Obamacare, even obtaining the votes of the "moral" Blue Dog Democrats by signing a worthless executive order forbidding Federal funding for abortions - despite all that, the Federal government just authorized $160 million in funding
for abortions in the State of Pennsylvania. In order to achieve the goal of Obamacare, he heartlessly lied about this and so many other issues.
His political and ideological ends will justify any means. And therefore his present actions versus his words in regard to the Oil Spill events so perfectly fit this pattern. He will trash our economy, our liberties, our traditions, and our country, to achieve his Marxist goals.
But we the people have not forgotten Liberty; we have not forgotten our birthright; we have not forgotten that our rights to live free of government oppression is not something granted to us by a government but by the Living God who will hold anyone or any government accountable for trampling those rights.
This regime is doomed.
Of course, they are not saying it that way. If you would believe their rhetoric, you would think that Obama himself and his whole regime is personally committed to stopping the leak and remediating the effects of the spill. But what has he and his minions in the Federal government agencies actually done? You have to stop your ears - shut off the sound - and just watch their actions:
They have obstructed the use of non-US firms and effective technology from being employed in the cleanup and the staunching of the leak.
They have banned fishing or harvesting in a huge area of the Gulf, thus killing any chance of finding healthy fishery grounds.
They have refused to let the States affected by the oil take any actions to dam or buttress the shoreline from the oil coming ashore, absurdly citing environmental concerns.
They have taken charge of the Oil spill cleanup but then obstructed the cleanup by withholding critically-needed vessels and devices on flimsy pretexts.
They have refused to let the news media close enough to see what is going on in the Gulf by declaring the whole area off limits to over flights or surface vessel reconnoitering with reporters on board.
They have refused to allow the use of oil dispersant, then reluctantly agreed, but only after long delays, and "investigations" to assure the environment was not going to be "harmed".
They have contributed to a welfare-mentality by strong-arming BP to put up a "down payment" of $20Bil to be passed out as a bonanza to practically anyone claiming damage. The claims won't be limited to actual damage - but consequential damage, which is impossible to determine with any certainty. It is already turning into a free-for all, with even churches claiming damages due to "lost contributions."
The Obama department of Justice issued a six-month "moratorium" on new drilling, effectively shutting down all oil exploration in the Gulf. After being slapped back into their corner by a Federal District Judge for rule-making without merit, they scurried around to re-issue the moratorium in a revised form. Their actions are putting the economies of all the Gulf Coast States in jeopardy due to the over the top action by the regime.
They have appointed a commission, ostensibly to "study" the oil spill "accident" and make recommendations to prevent a future occurrence. The commission is packed with environmentalists (who haven't a clue as to how to prevent another blowout - except to stop all offshore oil exploration.), but contains no one from the oil industry, who just might have a word or two of guidance concerning how to prevent another disaster. But perhaps that is the plan without it being stated: hurt the Oil drilling industry. The commission will likely take its entire six months and then declare they need more time, thus providing an excuse to extend the moratorium even further - and thus extending the agony of the US Gulf oil industry. Such a moratorium for such a misguided reason is criminally absurd.
The entire affair is a case study in deliberate delay, covering up sinister motives.
One thing is certain: this regime is not acting like they really care about the main goals of the nation: to get the economy going again, to prevent more job losses, to reduce government obligations, to reduce regulatory barriers to business, and to come up with a practical and expeditious plan to stop the oil spill and heal its attendant environmental issues.
But do not imagine that Obama is without a plan. The idea that he is incompetent is a non-starter. He has had plenty of good advice and there is no lack of talent to deal with the real problems of the Gulf. It is just that he turns a deaf ear to practical solutions and instead implements rules that achieve the opposite effect.
There is only one explanation that fits all we know: he does not want the economy to recover. He wants it to fail, but to do so in a way that his regime can both blame the energy sector (or the sector du-jour that is next in the pillory) and to enact draconian measures to put it firmly under the hand of his ruling junta. All in the name of "preventing another disaster." Rahm Emanuel famously said: "Never waste a good crisis." Obama is certainly not wasting this one.
Just like the Depression of the 1930's, this economic disaster is the product of, and is being prolonged and deepened by, the Federal government's interference in the US economy. The present ruling junta regard the free enterprise system as the problem, and are seeking to subjugate it - if not outright stamp it out. Perhaps they view it like a milk-cow of benefits they can siphon off and use to reward their welfare constituencies. Socialist Progressives to a man, they cannot wait to get a tighter grip on the companies that have successfully met the needs of this country in the past - and those of the rest of the world - and subjugate them to their control.
So in a perverse kind of way, the Obama regime is acting in perfect sync with their philosophy - except that they have not been speaking publicly in full candor about what those goals actually are.
Were it not that the media - with a certain few foxy exceptions - is totally controlled and serving this regime, this strange behavior of saying one thing and doing another would have been in the headlines, and the topic at every dinner table. The silence of the media is thundering in our ears. Why no protest? Why is no one connecting the dots?
But we are a people who have experienced liberty. We won't submit to slavery - or oppression. A hard knot of us won't. Maybe the regime will end up with all the control and weapons, and we will be silenced; but they will not be able to hold the lid on forever. They will eventually fall like the old Soviet Empire. Even without Reagan, it would have collapsed under the weight of its own colossal human failure: it was a regime without a heart.
Obama's regime has no heart either. No government with a heart would issue an order snuffing out the livelihoods of millions of oil drilling workers just to stop a hypothetical oil spill from occurring again. Only an ideologue could do that - a radical one; one who believes that the goal of Socialism is worth the lives of innumerable people. Josef Stalin starved millions of Ukrainians when he took their crops and sold them to obtain foreign exchange. He called it "collectivization," but it was confiscation of the food and produce of a thrifty people - and a heartless murder. We are being led by a heartless murderer today also.
Despite all Obama's finger wagging and denials that Federally-funded abortion was in Obamacare, even obtaining the votes of the "moral" Blue Dog Democrats by signing a worthless executive order forbidding Federal funding for abortions - despite all that, the Federal government just authorized $160 million in funding
for abortions in the State of Pennsylvania. In order to achieve the goal of Obamacare, he heartlessly lied about this and so many other issues.
His political and ideological ends will justify any means. And therefore his present actions versus his words in regard to the Oil Spill events so perfectly fit this pattern. He will trash our economy, our liberties, our traditions, and our country, to achieve his Marxist goals.
But we the people have not forgotten Liberty; we have not forgotten our birthright; we have not forgotten that our rights to live free of government oppression is not something granted to us by a government but by the Living God who will hold anyone or any government accountable for trampling those rights.
This regime is doomed.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
The Next Reichstag Fire?
Glen Beck, that ever-thinking voice of conservatism, just opined that the stage may be set for an "emergency" event, involving "civil disorder" that will give Obama the pretext of suspending the Constitution and taking over the country. His latest book, "The Overton Window" is themed around that idea.
Frankly, I think he is dead right.
I am already of the opinion that the Gulf Oil spill initiated by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon, was probably sabotage. I base that opinion on the extremely convenient timing of the event, and how well it has played into Obama's hands. It could not have been contrived more perfectly to harm the Energy Industry. The political damage he has sustained during Federal obstructionism, inaction and dithering since the oil spill occurred is quickly wiped out if he manages to take over the country. It won't matter then at all. There will be no effective opposition.
Regarding who is helping him, I cannot imagine a more sinister gang of thugs that could have been gathered to help him do it than those he has already put in place as "czars" and heads of bureaus and departments. Eric Holder has already shown himself to be a defender of this administration, not at all interested in genuine law-breaking, but only in targetting those who oppose or embarass this regime.
Historians still debate whether the Nazis set the Reichstag fire, or it was the actions of the communists. It certainly occurred at a very convenient time for Hitler to grab power and suspend the old Weimar Republic. I think we are on the cusp of that time again.
Consider that Obama is likely to suffer servere damage in the Mid-term elections in November. His own party might even rebel against him although I don't see many signs of that yet. Yet he does not seem to be very concerned. Maybe I am reading too much into his demeanor, but he might just have a joker up his sleeve.
I know that Rahm Emanuel famously joked that "one should never waste a good crisis", which could have been a good quote from every dictator's playbook. Of course the Alinsky gang believe not only in using events as they occur, but also creating them to make things happen the way you want.
Read Glen Becks' interview about the Overton Window to see some more detail on this theory. I sincerely hope it will turn out to be just a theory. The USA as a dictatorship is an awful thing to ponder. Imagine Drone aircraft patrolling troubled (read WASP) neighborhoods for signs of unrest.
Frankly, I think he is dead right.
I am already of the opinion that the Gulf Oil spill initiated by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon, was probably sabotage. I base that opinion on the extremely convenient timing of the event, and how well it has played into Obama's hands. It could not have been contrived more perfectly to harm the Energy Industry. The political damage he has sustained during Federal obstructionism, inaction and dithering since the oil spill occurred is quickly wiped out if he manages to take over the country. It won't matter then at all. There will be no effective opposition.
Regarding who is helping him, I cannot imagine a more sinister gang of thugs that could have been gathered to help him do it than those he has already put in place as "czars" and heads of bureaus and departments. Eric Holder has already shown himself to be a defender of this administration, not at all interested in genuine law-breaking, but only in targetting those who oppose or embarass this regime.
Historians still debate whether the Nazis set the Reichstag fire, or it was the actions of the communists. It certainly occurred at a very convenient time for Hitler to grab power and suspend the old Weimar Republic. I think we are on the cusp of that time again.
Consider that Obama is likely to suffer servere damage in the Mid-term elections in November. His own party might even rebel against him although I don't see many signs of that yet. Yet he does not seem to be very concerned. Maybe I am reading too much into his demeanor, but he might just have a joker up his sleeve.
I know that Rahm Emanuel famously joked that "one should never waste a good crisis", which could have been a good quote from every dictator's playbook. Of course the Alinsky gang believe not only in using events as they occur, but also creating them to make things happen the way you want.
Read Glen Becks' interview about the Overton Window to see some more detail on this theory. I sincerely hope it will turn out to be just a theory. The USA as a dictatorship is an awful thing to ponder. Imagine Drone aircraft patrolling troubled (read WASP) neighborhoods for signs of unrest.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Getting McChrystal All Wrong
The media, both Liberal and Conservative, have taken the position that General McChrystal made a big mistake in letting Rolling Stone interview him and his staff, resulting in a series of criticisms of the Obama administration and its chief oversight personnel regarding the Afghan war that were particularly embarassing to the administration. The published comments, few of which are directly attributable to McChrystal himself, have caused an uproar in political circles. Almost the entire media establishment has charged McChrystal with bad judgment to even agree to the series of "in country" inteviews, or to make - or allow his staff to make - unguarded comments about the civilian oversight.
I believe the whole interview affair, intended by Rolling Stone as a sly hit job against McChrystal and the entire war effort (which they carried off to perfection) was in fact planned by McChrystal and his aids as a very powerful criticism of the Obama administration and its subversion of the US war effort.
If my premise is correct, instead of the General being rolled by the Stone, the Liberal Rolling Stone was used as a tool by the General to stir a debate about the deliberate losing of the war effort by the Obama administration. In its glee at an opportunity to hurt the military, Rolling Stone might have unwittingly dealt a very powerful blow against the entire Liberal establishment and Obama's credibility in particular.
I think the General should be congratulated.
He is not a fool, nor unwitting to the potential consequences of inviting anti-war rag Rolling Stone into his inner councils. The first - huge - mistake is to so misjudge this man. No, I believe he knew exactly what he was doing, and it was a form of policy insubordination, but done very subtly.
He probably understood that it would perfectly fit the negative concept news anchors have of the military to assume that he and his staff are just a bunch of credulous, unsophisticated klutzes when it comes to PR, kind of like General Patton during WW2. The Rolling Stone people certainly would think that way about the military. And news anchors, by and large, are not known as deep thinkers either, nor apparently capable of imagining this being done deliberately and craftily. Even FoxNews, normally a bit more perspicatious about events making news, missed this one.
Think about it: what would you, a real patriot, do if you were forced to fight a counter insurgent group who knew you would be out of there next year sometime? That makes all your efforts null and void. You become a convenient target, but nothing more. The insurgents have already won: all they have to do is sit back and wait you out. Therefore every American death is totally wasted because the outcome is predetermined by the traitor in the White House.
If I were a commander who took my responsibility seriously - as a sacred mission to accomplish the nation's goals while shepherding my men's lives, not treating them like pawns in some kind of political game but as comrades and buddies - I would be furious at Obama's sellout of the military and his subversion of the very idea of winning.
What would you do to prevent the betrayal of the troops whom you loved and who would do anything for you? Would you march yourself and the rest of your command over the side of a cliff for such an one as Obama? When we have a Manchurian Candidate in the White House, it is insane to think that we owe a usurper any obedience and loyalty. To many minds, acknowledging Obama as commander in chief of the military is equivalent to appointing Jack the Ripper as head doctor over an abused women's recovery ward.
Nothing will change unless Obama gets backed into a corner by circumstances - public opinion - energized by the perception that he and his home-team are betraying America's interests, and a solid view that the administration is proven to be held in deep contempt by practically the entire military establishment, and especially his hand-picked army-guy in Afghanistan.
What better way to do that than though the pen of one of the publications that loathes the US Military? And done in such a way that it appears to be a mistake in judgment by the top military people to disclose their real feelings? That might change the rules enough to save the war effort, or derail Obama and his strategy of surrender.
As long as McChrystal played by the rule book, the troops will continue to lose, the Nation will lose, and our strategic interests will lose. So he had to go outside the rule book.
Douglas MacArthur did it with Truman, and for arguably similar reasons. The only difference is that McChrystal might actually succeed in changing policy, whereas MacArthur did not.
Contrary to all the cluck-clucking about "bad judgment," I think that he acted with deep wisdom, even managing to extricate himself from political and military oversight so as to be able to become an advocate for America's true interests. He certainly could not do that as the commanding General in Afghanistan.
The sacking of a Theater commander is a big deal. It makes a lot of ripples and causes people to think about the reasons for the war, and the wisdom of the political leadership. McChrystal did not choose the path of direct insubordination that MacArthur did; he was more subtle about it, and thus, he might have served the best interests of his troops and his country far more effectively than any direct assault on Obama might have done.
I am betting that we have not heard the last of McChrystal on the war effort and the Obama administration.
I believe the whole interview affair, intended by Rolling Stone as a sly hit job against McChrystal and the entire war effort (which they carried off to perfection) was in fact planned by McChrystal and his aids as a very powerful criticism of the Obama administration and its subversion of the US war effort.
If my premise is correct, instead of the General being rolled by the Stone, the Liberal Rolling Stone was used as a tool by the General to stir a debate about the deliberate losing of the war effort by the Obama administration. In its glee at an opportunity to hurt the military, Rolling Stone might have unwittingly dealt a very powerful blow against the entire Liberal establishment and Obama's credibility in particular.
I think the General should be congratulated.
He is not a fool, nor unwitting to the potential consequences of inviting anti-war rag Rolling Stone into his inner councils. The first - huge - mistake is to so misjudge this man. No, I believe he knew exactly what he was doing, and it was a form of policy insubordination, but done very subtly.
He probably understood that it would perfectly fit the negative concept news anchors have of the military to assume that he and his staff are just a bunch of credulous, unsophisticated klutzes when it comes to PR, kind of like General Patton during WW2. The Rolling Stone people certainly would think that way about the military. And news anchors, by and large, are not known as deep thinkers either, nor apparently capable of imagining this being done deliberately and craftily. Even FoxNews, normally a bit more perspicatious about events making news, missed this one.
Think about it: what would you, a real patriot, do if you were forced to fight a counter insurgent group who knew you would be out of there next year sometime? That makes all your efforts null and void. You become a convenient target, but nothing more. The insurgents have already won: all they have to do is sit back and wait you out. Therefore every American death is totally wasted because the outcome is predetermined by the traitor in the White House.
If I were a commander who took my responsibility seriously - as a sacred mission to accomplish the nation's goals while shepherding my men's lives, not treating them like pawns in some kind of political game but as comrades and buddies - I would be furious at Obama's sellout of the military and his subversion of the very idea of winning.
What would you do to prevent the betrayal of the troops whom you loved and who would do anything for you? Would you march yourself and the rest of your command over the side of a cliff for such an one as Obama? When we have a Manchurian Candidate in the White House, it is insane to think that we owe a usurper any obedience and loyalty. To many minds, acknowledging Obama as commander in chief of the military is equivalent to appointing Jack the Ripper as head doctor over an abused women's recovery ward.
Nothing will change unless Obama gets backed into a corner by circumstances - public opinion - energized by the perception that he and his home-team are betraying America's interests, and a solid view that the administration is proven to be held in deep contempt by practically the entire military establishment, and especially his hand-picked army-guy in Afghanistan.
What better way to do that than though the pen of one of the publications that loathes the US Military? And done in such a way that it appears to be a mistake in judgment by the top military people to disclose their real feelings? That might change the rules enough to save the war effort, or derail Obama and his strategy of surrender.
As long as McChrystal played by the rule book, the troops will continue to lose, the Nation will lose, and our strategic interests will lose. So he had to go outside the rule book.
Douglas MacArthur did it with Truman, and for arguably similar reasons. The only difference is that McChrystal might actually succeed in changing policy, whereas MacArthur did not.
Contrary to all the cluck-clucking about "bad judgment," I think that he acted with deep wisdom, even managing to extricate himself from political and military oversight so as to be able to become an advocate for America's true interests. He certainly could not do that as the commanding General in Afghanistan.
The sacking of a Theater commander is a big deal. It makes a lot of ripples and causes people to think about the reasons for the war, and the wisdom of the political leadership. McChrystal did not choose the path of direct insubordination that MacArthur did; he was more subtle about it, and thus, he might have served the best interests of his troops and his country far more effectively than any direct assault on Obama might have done.
I am betting that we have not heard the last of McChrystal on the war effort and the Obama administration.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
"Anchor Babies" and Automatic Citizenship - Is it really Constitutional?
I have recently been drawn into a very interesting and informative discussion on the question of whether the "anchor baby" phenomenon is in fact a loophole in the U.S. Constitution, or a mistake created by a flawed or possibly artificially contrived understanding of the text of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
To be sure, the plain language of the Amendment seems to be pretty clear: that is, until one begins to read it carefully and to question one of the less-than-obvious phrases which is typically passed over in discussions of the applicability of the amendment to foreigners' children born here.
Here is a partial text of the Amendment:
"Section. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. "
The first phrase would seem to be a slam dunk for the "anchor crowd" - "All person born" would seem to take in even illegals. But the catch is in the phrase "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof," The "subject to" phrase is an integral part of the sentence and cannot be parsed out as applying to another context. Therefore the phrase "all persons born" must be understood in the context of the modifying phrase "subject to the jurisdiction thereof." A foreigner (and his or her children born) is not "subject to the jurisdiction of "the United States" in the sense of the Fourteenth Amendment, and therefore is excluded from the application of this Amendment.
I would argue that the language of the Amendment is easy to misunderstand at this point because it is not obvious what the jurisdiction phrase refers to. After all, aren't all persons who are physically in the territory of the United States, "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" whether they are citizens or not? In one sense that is true. If they commit a crime, they will be tried because they violated the laws of the U.S. and will be tried under the jurisdiction of the government. However, taking the phrase in that way robs it of any meaningful application: it is then entirely unnecessary to the understanding of the sentence. However, its true meaning if found in understanding the context of the ratifying debate in the Senate, and specifically with reference to the words of the author of this phrase in the Amendment.
To quote a commentator in the posts following the article cited above from The East Valley Tribune: "who would know the meaning better than the person that wrote the amendment? Senator Jacob M. Howard.
During Reconstruction Howard participated in debate over the intent of the first clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, arguing for including the phrase "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof".
Howard said "[The 14th amendment] will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the government of the United States, but will include every other class of person." 1868
Clearly, in the historical context of the day, following the Civil War, the Amendment was crafted to correct the basic text of the US Constitution which gave blacks only partial representation and a questionable status as citizens. This Amendment sought to settle the issue of the citizenship of blacks once and for all. And it did so effectively.
But it created another issue due to the poor phrasing, or rather the later practice of ignoring the exact text of the Amendment and its originally stated intent. The author of that portion of the amendment makes that intent very clear. He says the meaning of the phrase "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" means that only parents who are already citizens can give birth to children who automatically become citizens. He plainly meant to exclude all others.
Under the existing text and legislative intent of the 14th Amendment, foreigners were never intended to be able to travel here in order to have their babies automatically become citizens.
The present situation in which there is some judicial precedent establishing the opposite meaning and application to illegals is unfortunate, but like many things that have grown up in the interpretation of the Constitution which can be demonstrated to have turned the meaning and intent on its head, this is another instance that needs correction.
It is worth asking when did the present interpretation that illegal foreigners' babies automatically acquire citizenship begin? Was it from the very ratification of the Amendment? That clearly is not the case. I will hazard a guess that it was an outgrowth of the late twentieth century activist Judiciary. I have not researched it, and possibly I am wrong, but my instinct tells me that it wasn't always this way. Perhaps that is a question to be answered in a subsequent article.
Again, I reiterate: foreigners should not be allowed to camp out here to have their children so as to mooch off our country. If they want to become citizens, let them go through the front door, otherwise, go home, or register on a visitor visa and follow the rules. Breaking our laws is a criminal act, and no foreigner has a presumptive "right" to American citizenship - especially if they sneak into our country with larcenous intent to defraud our American political system.
I am now convinced that the 14th amendment was never intended to create the predicate for "anchor babies". The AZ political figure (Az Senator Russell Pierce) championing that cause is right on to challenge conventional "lawyer's opinion" on that matter. I appreciate him having the courage to bring up such a sensitive matter in a state over-populated with illegals. Read up on him. He is the kind of brave citizen-legislator we need in public office.
To be sure, the plain language of the Amendment seems to be pretty clear: that is, until one begins to read it carefully and to question one of the less-than-obvious phrases which is typically passed over in discussions of the applicability of the amendment to foreigners' children born here.
Here is a partial text of the Amendment:
"Section. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. "
The first phrase would seem to be a slam dunk for the "anchor crowd" - "All person born" would seem to take in even illegals. But the catch is in the phrase "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof," The "subject to" phrase is an integral part of the sentence and cannot be parsed out as applying to another context. Therefore the phrase "all persons born" must be understood in the context of the modifying phrase "subject to the jurisdiction thereof." A foreigner (and his or her children born) is not "subject to the jurisdiction of "the United States" in the sense of the Fourteenth Amendment, and therefore is excluded from the application of this Amendment.
I would argue that the language of the Amendment is easy to misunderstand at this point because it is not obvious what the jurisdiction phrase refers to. After all, aren't all persons who are physically in the territory of the United States, "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" whether they are citizens or not? In one sense that is true. If they commit a crime, they will be tried because they violated the laws of the U.S. and will be tried under the jurisdiction of the government. However, taking the phrase in that way robs it of any meaningful application: it is then entirely unnecessary to the understanding of the sentence. However, its true meaning if found in understanding the context of the ratifying debate in the Senate, and specifically with reference to the words of the author of this phrase in the Amendment.
To quote a commentator in the posts following the article cited above from The East Valley Tribune: "who would know the meaning better than the person that wrote the amendment? Senator Jacob M. Howard.
During Reconstruction Howard participated in debate over the intent of the first clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, arguing for including the phrase "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof".
Howard said "[The 14th amendment] will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the government of the United States, but will include every other class of person." 1868
Clearly, in the historical context of the day, following the Civil War, the Amendment was crafted to correct the basic text of the US Constitution which gave blacks only partial representation and a questionable status as citizens. This Amendment sought to settle the issue of the citizenship of blacks once and for all. And it did so effectively.
But it created another issue due to the poor phrasing, or rather the later practice of ignoring the exact text of the Amendment and its originally stated intent. The author of that portion of the amendment makes that intent very clear. He says the meaning of the phrase "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" means that only parents who are already citizens can give birth to children who automatically become citizens. He plainly meant to exclude all others.
Under the existing text and legislative intent of the 14th Amendment, foreigners were never intended to be able to travel here in order to have their babies automatically become citizens.
The present situation in which there is some judicial precedent establishing the opposite meaning and application to illegals is unfortunate, but like many things that have grown up in the interpretation of the Constitution which can be demonstrated to have turned the meaning and intent on its head, this is another instance that needs correction.
It is worth asking when did the present interpretation that illegal foreigners' babies automatically acquire citizenship begin? Was it from the very ratification of the Amendment? That clearly is not the case. I will hazard a guess that it was an outgrowth of the late twentieth century activist Judiciary. I have not researched it, and possibly I am wrong, but my instinct tells me that it wasn't always this way. Perhaps that is a question to be answered in a subsequent article.
Again, I reiterate: foreigners should not be allowed to camp out here to have their children so as to mooch off our country. If they want to become citizens, let them go through the front door, otherwise, go home, or register on a visitor visa and follow the rules. Breaking our laws is a criminal act, and no foreigner has a presumptive "right" to American citizenship - especially if they sneak into our country with larcenous intent to defraud our American political system.
I am now convinced that the 14th amendment was never intended to create the predicate for "anchor babies". The AZ political figure (Az Senator Russell Pierce) championing that cause is right on to challenge conventional "lawyer's opinion" on that matter. I appreciate him having the courage to bring up such a sensitive matter in a state over-populated with illegals. Read up on him. He is the kind of brave citizen-legislator we need in public office.
Friday, June 18, 2010
'Shakedown' remark causes uproar - Jake Sherman - POLITICO.com
'Shakedown' remark causes uproar - Jake Sherman - POLITICO.com
Another uproar in Congress over a truthful, but politically-incorrect remark made in absolute candor, and even indignation by a senior Republican Representative. The uproar has been remarkable.
What is really remarkable about this "uproar" is the failure of will or imagination of even seasoned Congressional Republicans to take this pass in for a touchdown, instead of fumbling the ball and helping the Democrats run it back toward their own goal. The hapless Republicans jumped on the Democrat bankwagon in denouncing Joe Barton's (R-Tex) remarks opening the BP congressional hearing on 6/16/2010. He charged the White House with a "shakedown" of BP for 20 $Billion to create a political "slush fund."
Right on, Joe. I could not have said it better myself.
But the hapless Republican leadership, never able to execute deftly, continue to drop it give the ball back into the hands of the quick-thinking Demagogues who portray themselves as the saviors of the common people in the Gulf oil spill. They are emphatically not the saviors of anyone but their own partisan power-seeking interests.
Consider: if the government really wanted to do something constructive about the oil spill, they would immediately remove the government environmental restrictions on the cleanup. They would immediately exempt foreign vessels and companies from participating in the oil cleanup. They would immediately get out of the way of the States' efforts to conduct their own cleanups as they see fit in their own waters and shores which they know far better than any government bureaucrat stuck in his desk chair in Washington, DC. And as the final act of the Obamites - repeal any moratorium on the exploration and drilling in the Gulf.
That one act alone will destroy the oil industry in the Gulf, perhaps permanently, and wreck the economies of the Gulf States, especially the oil producing ones. I am surprised that no one has thought of this consequence yet, but a six month moratorium might as well be a six year moratorium. The oil exploration rigs that are operating there now will not sit idle for six months: they will migrate to where oil exploration is still going on - off the west coast of South America, for instance, in the new Soros-influenced oil fields bankrolled by US taxpayers. Production will ramp up there, benefitting the Chinese (and Soros) rather than the US taxpayers. To discover how this all makes more sense than mere speculation, just connect the dots.
But these hearings are just another tired, sad, debacle - covering up and distracting from the main issue, which is the government's gross ineptitude (or could we call it criminal mischief and high crimes and misdemeanors?) demonstrated during this event. The Federal government ought to be the big story rather than BP.
I am persuaded that the oil spill is probably an orchestrated event, the explosion being the result of sabotage of the oil rig - possibly done under deep cover by some agents of the Soros-Obama axis. The timing is just too exquisitely convenient for Obama, and the spinning of the event just too handy in playing into the hands of this regime, intent on controlling every aspect of the US economy and turning our country into some version of Cuba or Venezuela. I have written on this in my blog previously.
I am glad Joe said what he said. I am saddened by the inept way the Republicans handled this matter. It is so typical of them. I call them the "Charley Brown Republicans" after the way the comic strip character Charley Brown is incessantly snookered by his friend Lucy when she pulls the football out of the way as he runs to kick it. He always ends up on his back, as she shakes her head in disbelief at his naiveté in never being on guard against her tactics. She gets him every time. So do the Democrats get the Republicans every time. It makes me wonder whether there really ought to be a third party of quick-thinking and conservative Americans (I don't classify the Democratic Party any more as "American") to truly represent the best interests of our citizens.
Joe Barton just said what everybody was thinking. Good for Him. Bad that no one had the courage to "amen" what he said and rejoin the debate, taking it to the Democrats and corrupt Obama Regime.
Another uproar in Congress over a truthful, but politically-incorrect remark made in absolute candor, and even indignation by a senior Republican Representative. The uproar has been remarkable.
What is really remarkable about this "uproar" is the failure of will or imagination of even seasoned Congressional Republicans to take this pass in for a touchdown, instead of fumbling the ball and helping the Democrats run it back toward their own goal. The hapless Republicans jumped on the Democrat bankwagon in denouncing Joe Barton's (R-Tex) remarks opening the BP congressional hearing on 6/16/2010. He charged the White House with a "shakedown" of BP for 20 $Billion to create a political "slush fund."
Right on, Joe. I could not have said it better myself.
But the hapless Republican leadership, never able to execute deftly, continue to drop it give the ball back into the hands of the quick-thinking Demagogues who portray themselves as the saviors of the common people in the Gulf oil spill. They are emphatically not the saviors of anyone but their own partisan power-seeking interests.
Consider: if the government really wanted to do something constructive about the oil spill, they would immediately remove the government environmental restrictions on the cleanup. They would immediately exempt foreign vessels and companies from participating in the oil cleanup. They would immediately get out of the way of the States' efforts to conduct their own cleanups as they see fit in their own waters and shores which they know far better than any government bureaucrat stuck in his desk chair in Washington, DC. And as the final act of the Obamites - repeal any moratorium on the exploration and drilling in the Gulf.
That one act alone will destroy the oil industry in the Gulf, perhaps permanently, and wreck the economies of the Gulf States, especially the oil producing ones. I am surprised that no one has thought of this consequence yet, but a six month moratorium might as well be a six year moratorium. The oil exploration rigs that are operating there now will not sit idle for six months: they will migrate to where oil exploration is still going on - off the west coast of South America, for instance, in the new Soros-influenced oil fields bankrolled by US taxpayers. Production will ramp up there, benefitting the Chinese (and Soros) rather than the US taxpayers. To discover how this all makes more sense than mere speculation, just connect the dots.
But these hearings are just another tired, sad, debacle - covering up and distracting from the main issue, which is the government's gross ineptitude (or could we call it criminal mischief and high crimes and misdemeanors?) demonstrated during this event. The Federal government ought to be the big story rather than BP.
I am persuaded that the oil spill is probably an orchestrated event, the explosion being the result of sabotage of the oil rig - possibly done under deep cover by some agents of the Soros-Obama axis. The timing is just too exquisitely convenient for Obama, and the spinning of the event just too handy in playing into the hands of this regime, intent on controlling every aspect of the US economy and turning our country into some version of Cuba or Venezuela. I have written on this in my blog previously.
I am glad Joe said what he said. I am saddened by the inept way the Republicans handled this matter. It is so typical of them. I call them the "Charley Brown Republicans" after the way the comic strip character Charley Brown is incessantly snookered by his friend Lucy when she pulls the football out of the way as he runs to kick it. He always ends up on his back, as she shakes her head in disbelief at his naiveté in never being on guard against her tactics. She gets him every time. So do the Democrats get the Republicans every time. It makes me wonder whether there really ought to be a third party of quick-thinking and conservative Americans (I don't classify the Democratic Party any more as "American") to truly represent the best interests of our citizens.
Joe Barton just said what everybody was thinking. Good for Him. Bad that no one had the courage to "amen" what he said and rejoin the debate, taking it to the Democrats and corrupt Obama Regime.
A VAT-full of Taxes
Early in June 2010 a proposed one-cent sales tax increase for the Fire Fighters in Palm Beach County, Fl was successfully beaten back by a host of groups who saw it as bad public policy. At a time when property values have fallen more than forty percent in some cases from 2007, any talk of new taxes is not popular.
How would things have turned out if that same tax increase was done by a bureaucrat in Washington, and spread over the whole state or nation, and no one was none the wiser? Maybe we would eventually sense that things were continuing to get more and more expensive, but we couldn’t put our finger on what was going wrong. Prices on items from bubble gum to bus tickets; from gasoline to hotel rooms would continue to increase but no one would be able to identify which taxes were responsible. The politically-favored fire fighters union would be congratulating themselves, however, on another victory, while the rest of us would carry a heavier tax burden and not be able to do anything about it.
What is the VAT? It is a tax placed on a product at every level of its creation. Every sales transaction is taxed, unlike our existing sales tax system which only taxes the final sale to the consumer . With VAT, the percent of tax at each level is small, but the accumulated tax adds up to as much as twenty-five per cent overall. Compare that to our 6.5 percent sales tax in Palm Beach County, Florida.
The VAT is a kind of sales tax on steroids.
With the VAT, there never would have been a hearing with the county commissioners. It just would have become another line item in a county budget that received funds from the state and Federal government, apportioned according to some esoteric formula that was decided “on high,” far from the teeming masses of the unwashed (that’s you and me.)
The Federal Government is going to propose a VAT as a way (they say) to “balance the budget”. It will totally transform our national system of tax collection and be a god-send to the tax and spend politicians who never saw a tax increase they didn’t like – except those that embarrassed them. But in European countries, which have had the VAT for decades, there is no serious thought of balancing the budget. They always find spending that is more “necessary” than leaving money in the pockets of the producers. So they get nation-level defaults like in Greece, and Portugal, and Spain, and next, the US.
If you think this Recession has been fun, wait until they impose a VAT on the US. But we still have a chance to dodge the bullet – ask where each political candidate stands on a VAT, and if they favor cutting spending at all levels of government. If they think the answer is more taxes and spending – scratch them off your list. The money you save will be your own.
How would things have turned out if that same tax increase was done by a bureaucrat in Washington, and spread over the whole state or nation, and no one was none the wiser? Maybe we would eventually sense that things were continuing to get more and more expensive, but we couldn’t put our finger on what was going wrong. Prices on items from bubble gum to bus tickets; from gasoline to hotel rooms would continue to increase but no one would be able to identify which taxes were responsible. The politically-favored fire fighters union would be congratulating themselves, however, on another victory, while the rest of us would carry a heavier tax burden and not be able to do anything about it.
What is the VAT? It is a tax placed on a product at every level of its creation. Every sales transaction is taxed, unlike our existing sales tax system which only taxes the final sale to the consumer . With VAT, the percent of tax at each level is small, but the accumulated tax adds up to as much as twenty-five per cent overall. Compare that to our 6.5 percent sales tax in Palm Beach County, Florida.
The VAT is a kind of sales tax on steroids.
With the VAT, there never would have been a hearing with the county commissioners. It just would have become another line item in a county budget that received funds from the state and Federal government, apportioned according to some esoteric formula that was decided “on high,” far from the teeming masses of the unwashed (that’s you and me.)
The Federal Government is going to propose a VAT as a way (they say) to “balance the budget”. It will totally transform our national system of tax collection and be a god-send to the tax and spend politicians who never saw a tax increase they didn’t like – except those that embarrassed them. But in European countries, which have had the VAT for decades, there is no serious thought of balancing the budget. They always find spending that is more “necessary” than leaving money in the pockets of the producers. So they get nation-level defaults like in Greece, and Portugal, and Spain, and next, the US.
If you think this Recession has been fun, wait until they impose a VAT on the US. But we still have a chance to dodge the bullet – ask where each political candidate stands on a VAT, and if they favor cutting spending at all levels of government. If they think the answer is more taxes and spending – scratch them off your list. The money you save will be your own.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Oh, Those Beautiful Sunsets
Sunsets have a way of reminding us, sometimes by their beauty, and sometimes by their thunder and lightning, that all days come to an end.
In the midst of an ever-increasing financial burden on all levels of government, we are somewhat belatedly becoming aware that our public sector - the government employees - have somehow contrived to get themselves immunized from real world economics with state and federal laws that guarantee some very good salaries and some out of this world pension and medical plans.
Perhaps part of the reason there was not quite enough opposition to Obamacare to derail it was that the public sector employees, who now number more than private sector employees nationally, couldn't care less about that issue because they are immune from the effects of practically all economic stress - in particular healthcare stress.
At our Republican club meeting last night we were discussing with some State Senate candidates their approach to solving the public sector employee "problem" just mentioned. I made the point that the unions for the fire workers and police had the legislature conveniently vote in some regulations that establish rules for compensation and retirement which, as I said, are out of this world. Local municipalities are groaning under the weight of burdensome retirement and medical plans that are even now at the point of unsustainability and promise in just a few years to totally consume the entire budgets of some cities. California, that poster child for big government run amok, is virtually in that situation today, as is New Jersey and a number of other states. It obviously is not a local problem; it is epidemic.
In our discussion, one of the candidates who has served in the state legislature for about ten years, made the point that we cannot abrogate the pensions that we promised to workers - all state workers too - when we hired them. That statement sounded balanced and fair to me at the time. She suggested that we ought to draw a line in the sand now, though, and begin to plan and budget our way out of the dead end street we find ourselves on.
Reflecting on that statement about "promises", I began to suspect that at the time the "promises" of rich, luxurious benefits were enacted into law, there were already some people who were promising lush support for the legislators who would vote in such largesse. In other words, the promises were on the order of bribes for campaign funds. Now of course we cannot prove that, but knowing human nature, and especially the corruptibility that resides in all human hearts, including mine, I would not be surprised that I have hit the nail on the head. Campaign support from public sector unions at a certain point in time, before the benefit costs began to run away, might have seemed like a simple thing to vote for - a kind of "no-brainer", and no one was thinking of the future effects of such legislation. And after all, don't public workers, especially those involved in safety, deserve to receive good compensation and benefits?
So the "promises" made were made at best unwise, and at worse, made as a quid pro quo for some political support. Perhaps that is "politics as usual" but it is bad public policy at any time to benefit one special group at the expense of all the taxpayers.
The Police and Fire workers' unions have gotten themselves a deal that is much better than the free marketplace would pay them and they are not about to let it slip. Any candidate that is unwise enough to stand against them is sure to find him or her-self on the receiving end of a vitriolic negative campaign come re-election time. And woe unto those who are running against the unions for their first office.
But something has to give.
The liabilities are already consuming more than fifty percent of some municipal budgets, and those expenditures are non-discretionary: the cities must pay or be in legal default. Why? Because the State legislature passed a law mandating it that way.
So what is the solution? For one, the law needs to be repealed or modified so that the workers have to negotiate with the municipalities in good faith, not with the legislative gun to their heads.
The candidates' suggestion of drawing a line in the sand and curtailing further entitlements is a great idea too, and would be something that reasonable people of all party stripes could agree upon.
Also, I suggest that a general principle be adopted that all regulations - across the board - have sunset provisions embedded into them. That would cause a lot of scurrilous legislation and regulation to simply die a natural death. We all die some time; why not government laws and regulations too?
As for sun-setting special privileges and exemptions from market forces, who says that commitments made unwisely are not subject to being re-opened and examined in the light of new circumstances? When was it ever wise to vote for lush pension plans for privileged state employees? How can that ever have been good public policy?
And that is why I favor creating a good sunset on unbridled benefits to certain privileged job categories. They never should have had it so good, and those who voted for those laws did not represent the best interests of all our citizens. We all desire to see a good sunset to our fiscal problems. We just have to have the courage and wisdom to see it done.
In the midst of an ever-increasing financial burden on all levels of government, we are somewhat belatedly becoming aware that our public sector - the government employees - have somehow contrived to get themselves immunized from real world economics with state and federal laws that guarantee some very good salaries and some out of this world pension and medical plans.
Perhaps part of the reason there was not quite enough opposition to Obamacare to derail it was that the public sector employees, who now number more than private sector employees nationally, couldn't care less about that issue because they are immune from the effects of practically all economic stress - in particular healthcare stress.
At our Republican club meeting last night we were discussing with some State Senate candidates their approach to solving the public sector employee "problem" just mentioned. I made the point that the unions for the fire workers and police had the legislature conveniently vote in some regulations that establish rules for compensation and retirement which, as I said, are out of this world. Local municipalities are groaning under the weight of burdensome retirement and medical plans that are even now at the point of unsustainability and promise in just a few years to totally consume the entire budgets of some cities. California, that poster child for big government run amok, is virtually in that situation today, as is New Jersey and a number of other states. It obviously is not a local problem; it is epidemic.
In our discussion, one of the candidates who has served in the state legislature for about ten years, made the point that we cannot abrogate the pensions that we promised to workers - all state workers too - when we hired them. That statement sounded balanced and fair to me at the time. She suggested that we ought to draw a line in the sand now, though, and begin to plan and budget our way out of the dead end street we find ourselves on.
Reflecting on that statement about "promises", I began to suspect that at the time the "promises" of rich, luxurious benefits were enacted into law, there were already some people who were promising lush support for the legislators who would vote in such largesse. In other words, the promises were on the order of bribes for campaign funds. Now of course we cannot prove that, but knowing human nature, and especially the corruptibility that resides in all human hearts, including mine, I would not be surprised that I have hit the nail on the head. Campaign support from public sector unions at a certain point in time, before the benefit costs began to run away, might have seemed like a simple thing to vote for - a kind of "no-brainer", and no one was thinking of the future effects of such legislation. And after all, don't public workers, especially those involved in safety, deserve to receive good compensation and benefits?
So the "promises" made were made at best unwise, and at worse, made as a quid pro quo for some political support. Perhaps that is "politics as usual" but it is bad public policy at any time to benefit one special group at the expense of all the taxpayers.
The Police and Fire workers' unions have gotten themselves a deal that is much better than the free marketplace would pay them and they are not about to let it slip. Any candidate that is unwise enough to stand against them is sure to find him or her-self on the receiving end of a vitriolic negative campaign come re-election time. And woe unto those who are running against the unions for their first office.
But something has to give.
The liabilities are already consuming more than fifty percent of some municipal budgets, and those expenditures are non-discretionary: the cities must pay or be in legal default. Why? Because the State legislature passed a law mandating it that way.
So what is the solution? For one, the law needs to be repealed or modified so that the workers have to negotiate with the municipalities in good faith, not with the legislative gun to their heads.
The candidates' suggestion of drawing a line in the sand and curtailing further entitlements is a great idea too, and would be something that reasonable people of all party stripes could agree upon.
Also, I suggest that a general principle be adopted that all regulations - across the board - have sunset provisions embedded into them. That would cause a lot of scurrilous legislation and regulation to simply die a natural death. We all die some time; why not government laws and regulations too?
As for sun-setting special privileges and exemptions from market forces, who says that commitments made unwisely are not subject to being re-opened and examined in the light of new circumstances? When was it ever wise to vote for lush pension plans for privileged state employees? How can that ever have been good public policy?
And that is why I favor creating a good sunset on unbridled benefits to certain privileged job categories. They never should have had it so good, and those who voted for those laws did not represent the best interests of all our citizens. We all desire to see a good sunset to our fiscal problems. We just have to have the courage and wisdom to see it done.
Monday, May 31, 2010
The Gulf Oil Spill - A Political Red Herring
I wonder what happened to the healthcare debate? Implementation is rapidly underway right now with not one voice raised in opposition or exposure of its noxious consequences. I wonder what happened to the card-check legislation? I wonder what has happened to the attempt by the police and firefighters union to take over all such unions at a Federal level?
Aren't there more important things going on in the background than the oil spill? What, indeed, can be done by the news media endlessly repeating what they don't know, or worse yet, parading an array of lawyers and other neer-do-wells across the screen in an endless cacophony of blame and counter-blame, all before any facts are on the table?
FoxNews coverage has been especially disappointing in this regard. I expect the lame-stream-media (LSM) to constantly harp on anti-capitalist and leftwing environmentalist themes, but I had hoped that Fox was more insightful than that. They are part of the media feeding frenzy centered on BP, even though real facts are not on the table. Beck might be on to this issue in its true ramifications and of course Rush, but the main FoxNews coverage has been fawningly similar to the LSM. I turned it off today.
I, for one, am intensely interested in what forensic evidence can be gleaned from the now sunken wreck of the drilling platform. Despite the incessant innuendo concerning BP's "poor safety record" I have not seen or heard any facts concerning the drill ship that would convince me that the event was even an accident. How could such an explosion occur, with oil jetting up onto the rig and burning? There had to be a breach of the pipeline below the blowout preventer. We know that because the X-rays of the preventer, taken while it is still lying on the bottom, show that it is closed. Strange, is it not? If it closed, then why an explosion? If the battery backup that everyone has been speaking of was defective, then how did the preventer get closed in the first place? Did it close using the fail-safe circuits that were still operational before or during the explosion? Then whence the pipeline breach? If the preventor did not close as part of the emergency - and it is a fact that it is now closed - then how did it get closed? Perhaps the explosion was "man caused" as the current political PC-speak would have it. I want to know, and see the real guilty parties brought to justice. And I am not referring to BP or their contractors.
Maybe we need a "Pelican Brief" to expose what really happened.
Obama is not helping resolve this oil situation either. With his claim of the oil spill being an "assault on our shores," he seems to be deliberately dragging military terminology - perhaps ghosts of Normandy - before our minds, but he almost certainly does not intend any allusion to the Islamic assault on our shores that is definitely underway, or an assault on our borders from the south - especially through Arizona. That brave state is fighting for its life against both the illegals and the Washington see-no-evil crowd of globalists. He seems to deliberately major on the minors when he calls the oil spill an "assault."
I think that the oil spill, as I said in an earlier blog article, is a god-send for Obama - suspiciously timed and way too convenient, as it has acted to knock almost everything else off the table of national political discourse in favor of the oil and its "dreadful consequences."
Some might point to the "hits" he is taking because of the failure to stop the leak, but that is not a valid criticism, and almost everybody recognizes that he cannot do anything about it. But it helps that he stirs things up with comments like "stop that damn leak" implying that he cares. I think that if he can keep it on the front burner, even if some in his own party vilify him, he gains because he is keeping other things - substantive things - out of the attention of the public.
And concerning the extent of this "disaster:, recently I caught just a fragment of a report that "30 acres of marshland has been impacted by the spill." Well that certainly sounds like a disaster to me! After all, there must be hundreds of thousands of acres of precious marshland along the coastline and we are hyperventilating about thirty acres? Disaster? What disaster?
This oil spill, whether accidental or not (and I am deeply suspicious that it is not an accident but a contrived event to do precisely what it is doing) is keeping important political revelations out of the news in the pre-election season. It has silenced Sarah Palin for all intents and purposes, and it is dampening the fires of political discourse in the conservative movement, which for the most part is pro-drilling and pro-exploration. People have been set back on their heels by this much-trumpeted "disaster."
It is as if the wind has been taken out of our sails. It is just a bit too convenient in its import and its timing - and results. I call it a political red herring. It is an ongoing drama drawn across the path of our thinking with the intent to deflect us off the trail of the socialist makeover that is underway.The implications of this being a deliberate event are as serious as Obama being a natural citizen of Kenya or Indonesia, and not the United States. It needs a full forsensic investigation and open results. For that reason the Federal Govenement must be kept out of it as much as possible and impartial investigaors used. The fox must not be allowed to guard the henhouse.
Aren't there more important things going on in the background than the oil spill? What, indeed, can be done by the news media endlessly repeating what they don't know, or worse yet, parading an array of lawyers and other neer-do-wells across the screen in an endless cacophony of blame and counter-blame, all before any facts are on the table?
FoxNews coverage has been especially disappointing in this regard. I expect the lame-stream-media (LSM) to constantly harp on anti-capitalist and leftwing environmentalist themes, but I had hoped that Fox was more insightful than that. They are part of the media feeding frenzy centered on BP, even though real facts are not on the table. Beck might be on to this issue in its true ramifications and of course Rush, but the main FoxNews coverage has been fawningly similar to the LSM. I turned it off today.
I, for one, am intensely interested in what forensic evidence can be gleaned from the now sunken wreck of the drilling platform. Despite the incessant innuendo concerning BP's "poor safety record" I have not seen or heard any facts concerning the drill ship that would convince me that the event was even an accident. How could such an explosion occur, with oil jetting up onto the rig and burning? There had to be a breach of the pipeline below the blowout preventer. We know that because the X-rays of the preventer, taken while it is still lying on the bottom, show that it is closed. Strange, is it not? If it closed, then why an explosion? If the battery backup that everyone has been speaking of was defective, then how did the preventer get closed in the first place? Did it close using the fail-safe circuits that were still operational before or during the explosion? Then whence the pipeline breach? If the preventor did not close as part of the emergency - and it is a fact that it is now closed - then how did it get closed? Perhaps the explosion was "man caused" as the current political PC-speak would have it. I want to know, and see the real guilty parties brought to justice. And I am not referring to BP or their contractors.
Maybe we need a "Pelican Brief" to expose what really happened.
Obama is not helping resolve this oil situation either. With his claim of the oil spill being an "assault on our shores," he seems to be deliberately dragging military terminology - perhaps ghosts of Normandy - before our minds, but he almost certainly does not intend any allusion to the Islamic assault on our shores that is definitely underway, or an assault on our borders from the south - especially through Arizona. That brave state is fighting for its life against both the illegals and the Washington see-no-evil crowd of globalists. He seems to deliberately major on the minors when he calls the oil spill an "assault."
I think that the oil spill, as I said in an earlier blog article, is a god-send for Obama - suspiciously timed and way too convenient, as it has acted to knock almost everything else off the table of national political discourse in favor of the oil and its "dreadful consequences."
Some might point to the "hits" he is taking because of the failure to stop the leak, but that is not a valid criticism, and almost everybody recognizes that he cannot do anything about it. But it helps that he stirs things up with comments like "stop that damn leak" implying that he cares. I think that if he can keep it on the front burner, even if some in his own party vilify him, he gains because he is keeping other things - substantive things - out of the attention of the public.
And concerning the extent of this "disaster:, recently I caught just a fragment of a report that "30 acres of marshland has been impacted by the spill." Well that certainly sounds like a disaster to me! After all, there must be hundreds of thousands of acres of precious marshland along the coastline and we are hyperventilating about thirty acres? Disaster? What disaster?
This oil spill, whether accidental or not (and I am deeply suspicious that it is not an accident but a contrived event to do precisely what it is doing) is keeping important political revelations out of the news in the pre-election season. It has silenced Sarah Palin for all intents and purposes, and it is dampening the fires of political discourse in the conservative movement, which for the most part is pro-drilling and pro-exploration. People have been set back on their heels by this much-trumpeted "disaster."
It is as if the wind has been taken out of our sails. It is just a bit too convenient in its import and its timing - and results. I call it a political red herring. It is an ongoing drama drawn across the path of our thinking with the intent to deflect us off the trail of the socialist makeover that is underway.The implications of this being a deliberate event are as serious as Obama being a natural citizen of Kenya or Indonesia, and not the United States. It needs a full forsensic investigation and open results. For that reason the Federal Govenement must be kept out of it as much as possible and impartial investigaors used. The fox must not be allowed to guard the henhouse.
Friday, May 28, 2010
What Obama can really do about the Oil Spill
James Carville's recent rant against his hero Obama points up one thing that is pretty certain to the people of the Gulf States. Someone needs to do something about it.
Obama can't since he is completely out of his depth. In fact, the worse the disaster is, ironically, the better it is for his ultimate agenda of taking over the Energy sector and wrecking the American economy. I don't know if the origin of the oil spill was a genuine accident or sabotage, but it must be seen as a god-send to the Lefty environmentalists. There is virtually nothing imaginable that could have played into their hands more perfectly than this event.
Certainly some like Carville are trying to get Obama down there to use his vaunted "leadership and intellectual powers" in the cause of a cleanup, but their hopes are wasted on Obama and even the Federal Government. No goverment is any good at this kind of thing, despite years of Liberal dogma and propaganda to the contrary. Obama, to his credit, has paid lip service to this idea, but has wisely stayed away. Even though the Liberal media are pummeling him, there is really nothing he can do about it.
Stupidly, the Conservative media like Fox, have also jumped on the bandwagon, mocking him for his ineffective response, and contrasting his record unfavorably with that of Bush who was even more strongly criticised for not acting more aggressively after hurricane Katrina. But again, there was not much he could do either. While thousands of hapless citizens sat in the sports arena crying out for some one to take care of them, they did nothing for themselvs. This was a sad testimony to years spent training a citizenry to look to the government for everything - ie: the fruit of the welfare state.
The recent flooding in Knoxville, Tn produced a response that was a marked contrast to New Orleans. The news people did not even cover it (almost didn't), but the fact is, the citizens just picked up and got about the business of putting things back together, receiving such aid as the state and neighboring communities gave. It was a "no whine" zone.
I would have thought the conservative media would smell a rat in all the cries for the FedGov to "do something" about the oil spill. Since when is it even the responsibility of the Federal government to fix every bad thing that happens to any area or group in the country? We are Americans and traditionally self-reliant. There is nothing that we cannot do as citizens when we pick ourselves up and begin organizing on the ground, unlike ineffectual top-down FEMA efforts.
There is one thing that FedGov can do, and it is almost certain that they won't do it: that is, they can suspend all environmental restrictions on local and state actions to deal with the oil. Governor Jindel of Louisiana has been virtually begging the EPA and Army corp of engineers (and probably hundreds of other regulatory agencies that form a Gulliver's web of restrictions) to stop prohibiting any effective action to deal with the spill. Like Reagan's famous quote about government from his first inaugural: "Government isn't the solution to our problems; government IS the problem." It is not that government isn't doing enough; it has already created the recipe for a much larger disaster because of its interference with those who already would have been taking effective action to minimize the damage from oil coming on shore.
Instead of looking to big government to take care of this problem, why don't we recognize that the efforts of big government are really best viewed in a support role: let them get out of the way, provide what resources in manpower and equipment that are readily at hand; be prepared to provide funds if necessary for short term relief, and as to the rest, just get out of the way of the people on the ground.
While the Lefty environmental wack-jobs would go ballistic again, one of the most universally-applauded announcements that this Federal government could make would be to announce a moratorium on all environmental restrictions on action for some extended period of time along the Gulf Coast. Such a sensible announcement would galvanize whole armies of citizens who are now sitting back and witing for "someone else" to do it, when the obvious thing is for the local and state people to take charge. After all, they are there, and they are the ones being most directly impacted. They have the most incentive to be effective, and they definitely can be.
I note sadly, that this sensible announcement is most unlikely to be made, for it would also highlight the insidious nature of those same regulations which are ostemsibly "for our good." For the most part, I am of the opinion that they are much more of an obstruction to caring for the practical living environment of our country than we realize. Relieving us of them might just prove too big an embarassment to the Lefties. So don't hold your breath.
Local people rising to the occasion is the quintessentially American way of dealing with disasters of every kind, from the Johnstown flood to the Knoxville flood. It is a sign of the times that we have so forgotten our roots that even the Conservatives are whining that Obama is not fixing the problem quickly enough. That is sad.
Obama can't since he is completely out of his depth. In fact, the worse the disaster is, ironically, the better it is for his ultimate agenda of taking over the Energy sector and wrecking the American economy. I don't know if the origin of the oil spill was a genuine accident or sabotage, but it must be seen as a god-send to the Lefty environmentalists. There is virtually nothing imaginable that could have played into their hands more perfectly than this event.
Certainly some like Carville are trying to get Obama down there to use his vaunted "leadership and intellectual powers" in the cause of a cleanup, but their hopes are wasted on Obama and even the Federal Government. No goverment is any good at this kind of thing, despite years of Liberal dogma and propaganda to the contrary. Obama, to his credit, has paid lip service to this idea, but has wisely stayed away. Even though the Liberal media are pummeling him, there is really nothing he can do about it.
Stupidly, the Conservative media like Fox, have also jumped on the bandwagon, mocking him for his ineffective response, and contrasting his record unfavorably with that of Bush who was even more strongly criticised for not acting more aggressively after hurricane Katrina. But again, there was not much he could do either. While thousands of hapless citizens sat in the sports arena crying out for some one to take care of them, they did nothing for themselvs. This was a sad testimony to years spent training a citizenry to look to the government for everything - ie: the fruit of the welfare state.
The recent flooding in Knoxville, Tn produced a response that was a marked contrast to New Orleans. The news people did not even cover it (almost didn't), but the fact is, the citizens just picked up and got about the business of putting things back together, receiving such aid as the state and neighboring communities gave. It was a "no whine" zone.
I would have thought the conservative media would smell a rat in all the cries for the FedGov to "do something" about the oil spill. Since when is it even the responsibility of the Federal government to fix every bad thing that happens to any area or group in the country? We are Americans and traditionally self-reliant. There is nothing that we cannot do as citizens when we pick ourselves up and begin organizing on the ground, unlike ineffectual top-down FEMA efforts.
There is one thing that FedGov can do, and it is almost certain that they won't do it: that is, they can suspend all environmental restrictions on local and state actions to deal with the oil. Governor Jindel of Louisiana has been virtually begging the EPA and Army corp of engineers (and probably hundreds of other regulatory agencies that form a Gulliver's web of restrictions) to stop prohibiting any effective action to deal with the spill. Like Reagan's famous quote about government from his first inaugural: "Government isn't the solution to our problems; government IS the problem." It is not that government isn't doing enough; it has already created the recipe for a much larger disaster because of its interference with those who already would have been taking effective action to minimize the damage from oil coming on shore.
Instead of looking to big government to take care of this problem, why don't we recognize that the efforts of big government are really best viewed in a support role: let them get out of the way, provide what resources in manpower and equipment that are readily at hand; be prepared to provide funds if necessary for short term relief, and as to the rest, just get out of the way of the people on the ground.
While the Lefty environmental wack-jobs would go ballistic again, one of the most universally-applauded announcements that this Federal government could make would be to announce a moratorium on all environmental restrictions on action for some extended period of time along the Gulf Coast. Such a sensible announcement would galvanize whole armies of citizens who are now sitting back and witing for "someone else" to do it, when the obvious thing is for the local and state people to take charge. After all, they are there, and they are the ones being most directly impacted. They have the most incentive to be effective, and they definitely can be.
I note sadly, that this sensible announcement is most unlikely to be made, for it would also highlight the insidious nature of those same regulations which are ostemsibly "for our good." For the most part, I am of the opinion that they are much more of an obstruction to caring for the practical living environment of our country than we realize. Relieving us of them might just prove too big an embarassment to the Lefties. So don't hold your breath.
Local people rising to the occasion is the quintessentially American way of dealing with disasters of every kind, from the Johnstown flood to the Knoxville flood. It is a sign of the times that we have so forgotten our roots that even the Conservatives are whining that Obama is not fixing the problem quickly enough. That is sad.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
The Oil Spill a Disaster? Maybe only in some people's minds.
I found this article fascinating for what it only suggested - a very politically incorrect conclusion that the oil spill is likely to be much ado about nothing. That certainly won't play well in Washington, where some are preparing the death knell of the American Oil Industry.
One thing about oil that needs to be recognized: it is a hydrocarbon - that is, it is a biological food for a ton of organisms. While it is true that sea birds, turtles and even air-breathing mammals like dolphins and porpoises may perish if they are engrossed in the slick, it is not a given that this is a disaster at all.
Remember that most of the hype is driven in the so-called main stream media by political, Leftwing animus against a nexus of issues like oil drilling itself, big corporations like Halliburton (associated with that big bugaboo Dick Cheney whom the Liberals hate) and BP, and environmentalism. They hate anything that spills into the environment because they come pretty close to worshipping the planet as some kind of god. Thus, their "god" is being polluted. Their evangelical fervor is religious in nature.
This oil spill is very convenient for those who want to stop oil exploration, drilling, production, and ultimately to stop the entire US economy if they can pull it off. Many are alleging that the oil spill is much larger than has been reported. There is only one problem with that, the pesky oil slick just doesn’t seem to be coming onshore, and it seems so elusive that many are beginning to worry that it won't show up in any significant way.
The author of the subject article reserved some of the best facts for the last: "This was a problem we ran into with Ixtoc, we never found the oil." Ixtoc was a Mexican oil rig in the western Gulf that spilled up to 420,000 barrels of oil a day for nine months in 1979 before being capped. That kind of makes this oil spill seem a bit puny in comparison. And we never heard about it.
Now that is an interesting prospect: they can't find the oil.
I suggest that there is much more to this subject than has been officially reported. After all, Obama cannot push the oil industry around if the environment - alleged to be so fragile that it will be destroyed if a single drop of oil spills - can easily handle anything like this. That is not likely to warrant the draconian measures this uber-Marxist has in store. He is just warming up with his charges of a "cozy relationship" between the regulators and the Oil industry which he proposes to strangle with a strait-jacket of new controls. The end of this will be the takeover and control of the industry. A much greater harm will come to our country as a result of Obama-ization of the oil industry than will ever come from some alleged environmental disaster.
My instinct tells me that there a lot of little bugs out there who are just waiting to sink their teeth into this rich feast of food floating somewhere in or on the ocean. In fact, they seem to be dealing with it pretty effectively to date. The article points out that a substantial portion of the oil will just evaporate harmlessly.
I don't buy the notion that this was an accident - see my other article on that subject - and I don't buy into the doom and gloom of the environmental wack-jobs. Just like humans are not the cause of any climate change that might be occurring, I also don't think we are capable of creating a natural disaster on the scale that the main stream Liberal media are alleging. Perhaps I will have to eat my words, but I don't think so.
The Daily Business Review reported last week that some South Florida law firms are gearing up for a whole raft of environmental lawsuits over this oil spill and its effects. You could see the cheesy grin on the face of one of the attorneys - just slavering over the prospect of milking millions - or billions - out of BP and Halliburton, spurred on by the Federal Government: a virtual feeding frenzy in prospect. Nothing would make me happier than to see all of that evaporate into nothingness, just like the oil. The only losers would be those ambulance-chasers hoping to cash in on their supposed bonanza.
I am sure that some oil globs will wash up on the shore, but a "natural disaster"? I suspect this will be a fizzle and an embarassment to the MSM and the Obama administration. Aside from being glad at not seeing a disaster of Biblical proportions, I would also be glad to see Obama and his socialists take a stick in the eye.
One thing about oil that needs to be recognized: it is a hydrocarbon - that is, it is a biological food for a ton of organisms. While it is true that sea birds, turtles and even air-breathing mammals like dolphins and porpoises may perish if they are engrossed in the slick, it is not a given that this is a disaster at all.
Remember that most of the hype is driven in the so-called main stream media by political, Leftwing animus against a nexus of issues like oil drilling itself, big corporations like Halliburton (associated with that big bugaboo Dick Cheney whom the Liberals hate) and BP, and environmentalism. They hate anything that spills into the environment because they come pretty close to worshipping the planet as some kind of god. Thus, their "god" is being polluted. Their evangelical fervor is religious in nature.
This oil spill is very convenient for those who want to stop oil exploration, drilling, production, and ultimately to stop the entire US economy if they can pull it off. Many are alleging that the oil spill is much larger than has been reported. There is only one problem with that, the pesky oil slick just doesn’t seem to be coming onshore, and it seems so elusive that many are beginning to worry that it won't show up in any significant way.
The author of the subject article reserved some of the best facts for the last: "This was a problem we ran into with Ixtoc, we never found the oil." Ixtoc was a Mexican oil rig in the western Gulf that spilled up to 420,000 barrels of oil a day for nine months in 1979 before being capped. That kind of makes this oil spill seem a bit puny in comparison. And we never heard about it.
Now that is an interesting prospect: they can't find the oil.
I suggest that there is much more to this subject than has been officially reported. After all, Obama cannot push the oil industry around if the environment - alleged to be so fragile that it will be destroyed if a single drop of oil spills - can easily handle anything like this. That is not likely to warrant the draconian measures this uber-Marxist has in store. He is just warming up with his charges of a "cozy relationship" between the regulators and the Oil industry which he proposes to strangle with a strait-jacket of new controls. The end of this will be the takeover and control of the industry. A much greater harm will come to our country as a result of Obama-ization of the oil industry than will ever come from some alleged environmental disaster.
My instinct tells me that there a lot of little bugs out there who are just waiting to sink their teeth into this rich feast of food floating somewhere in or on the ocean. In fact, they seem to be dealing with it pretty effectively to date. The article points out that a substantial portion of the oil will just evaporate harmlessly.
I don't buy the notion that this was an accident - see my other article on that subject - and I don't buy into the doom and gloom of the environmental wack-jobs. Just like humans are not the cause of any climate change that might be occurring, I also don't think we are capable of creating a natural disaster on the scale that the main stream Liberal media are alleging. Perhaps I will have to eat my words, but I don't think so.
The Daily Business Review reported last week that some South Florida law firms are gearing up for a whole raft of environmental lawsuits over this oil spill and its effects. You could see the cheesy grin on the face of one of the attorneys - just slavering over the prospect of milking millions - or billions - out of BP and Halliburton, spurred on by the Federal Government: a virtual feeding frenzy in prospect. Nothing would make me happier than to see all of that evaporate into nothingness, just like the oil. The only losers would be those ambulance-chasers hoping to cash in on their supposed bonanza.
I am sure that some oil globs will wash up on the shore, but a "natural disaster"? I suspect this will be a fizzle and an embarassment to the MSM and the Obama administration. Aside from being glad at not seeing a disaster of Biblical proportions, I would also be glad to see Obama and his socialists take a stick in the eye.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The false lure of "let us all have one purse"
The temptation of the welfare/socialist state: "Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse." Pro 1:14. But the spoils are those of robbery and murder and to take the innocent in a snare. God counsels us to not to consent to such enticement. Where is such wisdom today?
Some have objected that this is not a valid application of this scripture, since the enticement was to engage in “street violence.” The principles of the scripture are timeless, and applicable to all ages and societies. If we are forced to view them as being strictly captive to their time and culture, then they have nothing to say to us today. Certainly that is not true. This portion of Proverbs 1 is the warning of a father to a son to not be fooled into thinking there is profit in heeding the enticement of criminals to join them in stealing their living from other people and to all share a common purse funded from their plunder.
A working example of this is found in the New Testament in the story of the Good Samaritan. In that parable, the man on his way down to Jericho is set upon by thieves and beaten and robbed and left “half dead.” The Samaritan encounters him on the road; shows compassion, and helps him.
The warnings against the enticement to rob others for a living are only a part of this father’s advice. He also warns about having one bag in common. The lure is partially that the participant will always have something monetary to count on since they will all be contributing to the bag. He owns a part of what is in the bag. In other words, he sees it as a means to security in an insecure world. There is also the practical perspective that if they don't share and share alike, it will pit them against one another. That would be no incentive to be part of such a gang, so the one purse is the only solution.
But there are other problems: the security of having one bag is ephemeral, for the bag itself is not secure. His confidence in the bag is predicated on the good character of the one who holds it. The problem with this thought is that one cannot expect to find good character in a band of thieves. Say what you will about "honor among thieves" I would think that it has strict limits. Thus, he won’t be able to depend on a fair and equal sharing out because the bag is in the hands of a thief and murderer to begin with. Who is to say that the spoils in the bag are not systematically plundered by the bag-keeper and maybe a few of his closest cronies? It is highly likely. A newcomer might bring something to the bag, but it is very unlikely he will draw much from it. And complaining or questioning the bag-keeper might prove fatal.
There is a further trap in the plan. Throwing in your lot with murderers and thieves might sound exciting, but one’s own life is now in danger because he is not able to leave the group. He would not be allowed to leave because he knows who they are, their victims, their hideouts, their lurking places and their crimes. Any attempt to leave would likely cost him his own life. He has forfeited his freedom in joining them.
The warning not to try to profit by thievery is seen to be very good advice to a young man indeed.
Some pointed out that Jesus’ group had “one bag” also (John 12). There is no doubt they did, but I also have no doubt that the invitation to join his group was not predicated on an enticement to profit by ill-gotten gains, or that they would all live out of one bag. Jesus’ “bag” was funded by voluntary contributions and not, God forbid, on rapine and murder.
It is noteworthy as an aside that the one bag was also in the hands of Judas Iscariot who stole from it. The experiment of trusting someone even in Jesus’ inner circle proved to be a failure because of the bed character of Judas. This might even be an implied warning that even in the presence of the Son of God, checks and balances are required to secure wealth that is placed in the hands of a fallible man. I will not speculate as to why Jesus allowed this. He certainly knew what was going on with the bag. But it is a fact nonetheless.
It is also doubtful that the one bag was shared out evenly – it was shared out in accord with what Jesus would have dictated (whatever was left from Judas’ depredations.) Jesus’ one bag has many points of contrast to the Proverb’s bag. The Proverb warnings are not applicable because the two examples are so far apart..
This portion in Proverbs 1 is important because it is a father’s advice to a young son just starting out his life. I commented on it mainly because of the enticement that the ringleaders dangled in front of his eyes: “join us and we’ll all share the spoils”. IE: “you’ll profit by joining us because our source is others’ wealth – and best of all, you will get a portion of it (without having to work for it.)”
What is most important in my application is the heart of the enticement – the prospect of getting something for nothing (which by the way, is a violation of the Eighth Commandment not to steal.) He is being enticed to ignore the unrighteous source of his wealth.)
That is exactly the enticement of the Socialist welfare state. It entices some to profit off of what has been taken from others by force. “Never mind where the money comes from, just be glad you can swill at the common trough.” Margaret Thatcher said it very well: “Socialism works fine until you run out of other people’s money.“ She had a keen appreciation of the lure of Socialism, and the real source of its apparent (but temporary) “success.” It eventually wrecks a country or society. Think Greece.
That is why we should scrupulously avoid all Socialist schemes that depend on coercion to fund their “bag.” Sharing risk voluntarily is our privilege as individuals, but sharing risk against our will, and by crooked means, as it is in the heart of Socialism, is dead wrong. We all ought to carefully heed Solomon’s counsel.
Some have objected that this is not a valid application of this scripture, since the enticement was to engage in “street violence.” The principles of the scripture are timeless, and applicable to all ages and societies. If we are forced to view them as being strictly captive to their time and culture, then they have nothing to say to us today. Certainly that is not true. This portion of Proverbs 1 is the warning of a father to a son to not be fooled into thinking there is profit in heeding the enticement of criminals to join them in stealing their living from other people and to all share a common purse funded from their plunder.
A working example of this is found in the New Testament in the story of the Good Samaritan. In that parable, the man on his way down to Jericho is set upon by thieves and beaten and robbed and left “half dead.” The Samaritan encounters him on the road; shows compassion, and helps him.
The warnings against the enticement to rob others for a living are only a part of this father’s advice. He also warns about having one bag in common. The lure is partially that the participant will always have something monetary to count on since they will all be contributing to the bag. He owns a part of what is in the bag. In other words, he sees it as a means to security in an insecure world. There is also the practical perspective that if they don't share and share alike, it will pit them against one another. That would be no incentive to be part of such a gang, so the one purse is the only solution.
But there are other problems: the security of having one bag is ephemeral, for the bag itself is not secure. His confidence in the bag is predicated on the good character of the one who holds it. The problem with this thought is that one cannot expect to find good character in a band of thieves. Say what you will about "honor among thieves" I would think that it has strict limits. Thus, he won’t be able to depend on a fair and equal sharing out because the bag is in the hands of a thief and murderer to begin with. Who is to say that the spoils in the bag are not systematically plundered by the bag-keeper and maybe a few of his closest cronies? It is highly likely. A newcomer might bring something to the bag, but it is very unlikely he will draw much from it. And complaining or questioning the bag-keeper might prove fatal.
There is a further trap in the plan. Throwing in your lot with murderers and thieves might sound exciting, but one’s own life is now in danger because he is not able to leave the group. He would not be allowed to leave because he knows who they are, their victims, their hideouts, their lurking places and their crimes. Any attempt to leave would likely cost him his own life. He has forfeited his freedom in joining them.
The warning not to try to profit by thievery is seen to be very good advice to a young man indeed.
Some pointed out that Jesus’ group had “one bag” also (John 12). There is no doubt they did, but I also have no doubt that the invitation to join his group was not predicated on an enticement to profit by ill-gotten gains, or that they would all live out of one bag. Jesus’ “bag” was funded by voluntary contributions and not, God forbid, on rapine and murder.
It is noteworthy as an aside that the one bag was also in the hands of Judas Iscariot who stole from it. The experiment of trusting someone even in Jesus’ inner circle proved to be a failure because of the bed character of Judas. This might even be an implied warning that even in the presence of the Son of God, checks and balances are required to secure wealth that is placed in the hands of a fallible man. I will not speculate as to why Jesus allowed this. He certainly knew what was going on with the bag. But it is a fact nonetheless.
It is also doubtful that the one bag was shared out evenly – it was shared out in accord with what Jesus would have dictated (whatever was left from Judas’ depredations.) Jesus’ one bag has many points of contrast to the Proverb’s bag. The Proverb warnings are not applicable because the two examples are so far apart..
This portion in Proverbs 1 is important because it is a father’s advice to a young son just starting out his life. I commented on it mainly because of the enticement that the ringleaders dangled in front of his eyes: “join us and we’ll all share the spoils”. IE: “you’ll profit by joining us because our source is others’ wealth – and best of all, you will get a portion of it (without having to work for it.)”
What is most important in my application is the heart of the enticement – the prospect of getting something for nothing (which by the way, is a violation of the Eighth Commandment not to steal.) He is being enticed to ignore the unrighteous source of his wealth.)
That is exactly the enticement of the Socialist welfare state. It entices some to profit off of what has been taken from others by force. “Never mind where the money comes from, just be glad you can swill at the common trough.” Margaret Thatcher said it very well: “Socialism works fine until you run out of other people’s money.“ She had a keen appreciation of the lure of Socialism, and the real source of its apparent (but temporary) “success.” It eventually wrecks a country or society. Think Greece.
That is why we should scrupulously avoid all Socialist schemes that depend on coercion to fund their “bag.” Sharing risk voluntarily is our privilege as individuals, but sharing risk against our will, and by crooked means, as it is in the heart of Socialism, is dead wrong. We all ought to carefully heed Solomon’s counsel.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The Gulf Oil Spill - A Crude Coincidence?
The linked article - please read it - makes an excellent point: the timing of the explosion on the oil rig is just too convenient for Obama and his environmentalist wackos. I would place my bets on sabotage, but I am not very hopeful that this can be proven, what with the loss of life and the destruction of the evidence. Perhaps someone will come forth who was on the rig and has some real knowledge of what happened.
This I know: the oil industry has a long and successful history of managing risk. Like the coal mining industry, of which I have been a part, a hostile and dangerous environment is made livable by human ingenuity. Without solid irrefutable proof, I am not willing to believe that there has been any engineering failure. The circumstances surrounding the ongoing behavior of the Obama regime lead me to strongly suspect that this was a "man-caused" disaster - eco terrorism on the highest level - and encouraged, if not carried out, by the agents of this regime under deep cover. If the explosion was caused by an act of man, then there will be a way of gathering up some pre-explosion evidence. Were there any new employees on the rig the day of the explosion? Are there satellite iimages - or logs - of any submarine vessel activity in the rig's vicinity just prior to the "accident"? Are there persons who know what happened who can put forth some facts? Why hasn't the rescued crew been deposed? What did they have to say about the explosion and its cause? Why is no one asking these questions?
The recent explosion in the West Virginia Coal mine is another suspicious occurrence. Perhaps another incident of sabotage? Who can tell? Will enyone investigate?
I predict that there will be another major energy sector disaster in the near future - nuclear pehaps - that will establish the predicate for a call for a government regulatory takeover of all energy producing portions of the economy.
If you watch what this regime is doing, not what they are saying, the pattern is disturbingly clear. They create a disater or crisis, then they exploit it to increase goernment control. Once this regime took power, they financed themselves with the TARP and other stimulus expenditures. The accounting of that money will never be done because I suspect it went down a lot of Liberal rat holes to buy elections or reward supporters of Obama.
Then came the "healthcare" debacle, which is nothing short of a takeover of the entire health system, including mandatory power to enlist non-conforming doctors into the military, stripping them of their civil rights, and forcing them to work for the system upon pain of imprisonment or worse.
Now we have Financial sector "reform" under debate - another 1000 to 1500 pages of regulations that no one in Congress has any interest in reading, and which is being shepherded through by Pelosi and Reid according to the Obamacare pattern, without substantive debate. This bill is not about helping prevent disasters - the market will do an excellent job of regulating that - no, this is an insider's protection bill, along with a takeover of the financial sectors, including monitoring and controlling every American's financial accounts. This is Big Brother on Steroids.
On the energy front, we have this oil spill, which is being spotlighted as a natural disaster, which it most certainly is, with little attention paid to how it happened. It is as if no one cares. How could a successful engineering system design with billions of experience-hours behind it fail so disastrously with no warning? Yes, it could be simply that, a failure, with no one to blame. But somehow, with this Communist agenda-driven Obama regime pulling strings at all levels, I am unconvinced there is not much more to this whole matter.
(Editors' note: It is May 14 now, and no plausible explanation has yet been offered as to how an explosion occurred on an oil rig specifically designed to make such ignitions extremely unlikely, if not impossible. As far as I have been able to determine, the explosion occurred on the rig, not underwater, as some have said.
I have more confidence in the safety of the oil rigs - and offshore drilling in general - than I have in our homeland security under the hand of Obama and his thugs. Hugo Chavez has wrecked the Venezuelan energy industry with his communist government. The cronies he put in charge don't know what they are doing, and their incompetence has brought the once-lucrrative sector of that country's economy to the point of shambles. We can expect the same if our Socialist-in-chief manage to get a strangle-hold on our Energy Sector.)
Most certainly this was a god-send to Obama, who offered the olive branch to the energy industry and a majority of the population who endorsed development of our natural resources. Two weeks ago, (was it that short a time?) Obama indicated that he would support "exploration" of the offshore oil in previously banned areas. Sounded like he was going to go for it, but his Green supporters went beserk even over that announcement.
Now enter this disaster, allowing him the moral high ground to do practically anything he wants with energy policy because drilling has proven to be so "dangerous to the environment". That is just too convenient.
I don't know how this is going to play out, but one thing is sure. Just like we did not shelve the Space Shuttle after the disaster with the Challenger (caused by the effects of junk science), but went on to complete the series of missions, just so we need to stand up and say the unsayable - drilling must go on. A thorough investigation must be done and the technical flaws, if any, corrected. Government must be locked out of the investigation. With this Regime, there is no trusting the results of any investigation since Obama has so much to gain by not reporting any embarassing facts. Our government has become the enemy of truth and the search for truth.
The author of the article to which I linked titled his piece a "Crude Coincidence." Perhaps it was not crude at all, but a very sophisticated plot to manipulate public opinion so as to achieve the aim of taking over the Energy sector, further crippling the US economy. That would fit the Marxist agenda of this Regime to a "Tee".
This I know: the oil industry has a long and successful history of managing risk. Like the coal mining industry, of which I have been a part, a hostile and dangerous environment is made livable by human ingenuity. Without solid irrefutable proof, I am not willing to believe that there has been any engineering failure. The circumstances surrounding the ongoing behavior of the Obama regime lead me to strongly suspect that this was a "man-caused" disaster - eco terrorism on the highest level - and encouraged, if not carried out, by the agents of this regime under deep cover. If the explosion was caused by an act of man, then there will be a way of gathering up some pre-explosion evidence. Were there any new employees on the rig the day of the explosion? Are there satellite iimages - or logs - of any submarine vessel activity in the rig's vicinity just prior to the "accident"? Are there persons who know what happened who can put forth some facts? Why hasn't the rescued crew been deposed? What did they have to say about the explosion and its cause? Why is no one asking these questions?
The recent explosion in the West Virginia Coal mine is another suspicious occurrence. Perhaps another incident of sabotage? Who can tell? Will enyone investigate?
I predict that there will be another major energy sector disaster in the near future - nuclear pehaps - that will establish the predicate for a call for a government regulatory takeover of all energy producing portions of the economy.
If you watch what this regime is doing, not what they are saying, the pattern is disturbingly clear. They create a disater or crisis, then they exploit it to increase goernment control. Once this regime took power, they financed themselves with the TARP and other stimulus expenditures. The accounting of that money will never be done because I suspect it went down a lot of Liberal rat holes to buy elections or reward supporters of Obama.
Then came the "healthcare" debacle, which is nothing short of a takeover of the entire health system, including mandatory power to enlist non-conforming doctors into the military, stripping them of their civil rights, and forcing them to work for the system upon pain of imprisonment or worse.
Now we have Financial sector "reform" under debate - another 1000 to 1500 pages of regulations that no one in Congress has any interest in reading, and which is being shepherded through by Pelosi and Reid according to the Obamacare pattern, without substantive debate. This bill is not about helping prevent disasters - the market will do an excellent job of regulating that - no, this is an insider's protection bill, along with a takeover of the financial sectors, including monitoring and controlling every American's financial accounts. This is Big Brother on Steroids.
On the energy front, we have this oil spill, which is being spotlighted as a natural disaster, which it most certainly is, with little attention paid to how it happened. It is as if no one cares. How could a successful engineering system design with billions of experience-hours behind it fail so disastrously with no warning? Yes, it could be simply that, a failure, with no one to blame. But somehow, with this Communist agenda-driven Obama regime pulling strings at all levels, I am unconvinced there is not much more to this whole matter.
(Editors' note: It is May 14 now, and no plausible explanation has yet been offered as to how an explosion occurred on an oil rig specifically designed to make such ignitions extremely unlikely, if not impossible. As far as I have been able to determine, the explosion occurred on the rig, not underwater, as some have said.
I have more confidence in the safety of the oil rigs - and offshore drilling in general - than I have in our homeland security under the hand of Obama and his thugs. Hugo Chavez has wrecked the Venezuelan energy industry with his communist government. The cronies he put in charge don't know what they are doing, and their incompetence has brought the once-lucrrative sector of that country's economy to the point of shambles. We can expect the same if our Socialist-in-chief manage to get a strangle-hold on our Energy Sector.)
Most certainly this was a god-send to Obama, who offered the olive branch to the energy industry and a majority of the population who endorsed development of our natural resources. Two weeks ago, (was it that short a time?) Obama indicated that he would support "exploration" of the offshore oil in previously banned areas. Sounded like he was going to go for it, but his Green supporters went beserk even over that announcement.
Now enter this disaster, allowing him the moral high ground to do practically anything he wants with energy policy because drilling has proven to be so "dangerous to the environment". That is just too convenient.
I don't know how this is going to play out, but one thing is sure. Just like we did not shelve the Space Shuttle after the disaster with the Challenger (caused by the effects of junk science), but went on to complete the series of missions, just so we need to stand up and say the unsayable - drilling must go on. A thorough investigation must be done and the technical flaws, if any, corrected. Government must be locked out of the investigation. With this Regime, there is no trusting the results of any investigation since Obama has so much to gain by not reporting any embarassing facts. Our government has become the enemy of truth and the search for truth.
The author of the article to which I linked titled his piece a "Crude Coincidence." Perhaps it was not crude at all, but a very sophisticated plot to manipulate public opinion so as to achieve the aim of taking over the Energy sector, further crippling the US economy. That would fit the Marxist agenda of this Regime to a "Tee".
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