Excellent analysis of what's happening in Egypt and the Middle East courtesy of Ann Barnhardt over at Weird and Pissed off.
Take a couple of minutes and give it a read.
Stay safe.
30 January 2011
28 January 2011
Wondering....
I have often wondered how the military of a declining super-power would respond if ordered to turn their weapons on their fellow citizens to quell an uprising against their tyrannical government?
Being a veteran myself I know that as an Infantryman I was taught to follow the lawful orders that I was given by my superior officers. As a squad leader I trained my people to perform the tasks and to gain the knowledge required to complete the mission and to survive as an infantryman. My motives were different, in a sense, than the motives of the officers that were giving the orders. They had the "Big Picture" to look at. I had my squad to protect. You train and train and train so that, when given that order, you will function flawlessly. Constant training and discipline are the glue that binds it all together. They are the two things that, if done correctly, make you successful in accomplishing your mission and in keeping you alive.
The hope is that the training is so well ingrained into your mind that you will act and react without thinking. If your training is good and your tactics are sound your chances of success, and survival, are greatly improved. That's the goal. Success. Survival.
Still I wonder, would they turn their weapons on their fellow citizens if ordered to do so by their superiors? It's something that I never even considered being ordered to do when I was in the Army. Of course, that was over 30 years ago. The times were different then. The world was different. We had The Cold War, The doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction, the Berlin Wall, the Soviet Union, the East Bloc, Arab terrorists blowing up things at American military bases in Europe, the Olympic murders, little civil wars all over the world, mostly in Africa.
It was different then, yet the same. America had war protests going on all over the country when I was in High School and when I first enlisted in the Army. I was spit at in the Philadelphia airport in the summer of 1972 while running through the terminal in uniform to catch a bus to Fort Dix. That was an awakening for me. My second awakening.
A bunch of Liberal Hippies yelling and screaming and protesting the immorality of the unjust war in Viet Nam. Big Bad Amerika killing innocents in the jungles of South East Asia. Corporations getting rich off of the war and the sweat and blood of the workers.
What I find astounding (insert sarcasm) is the fact that the instant that President Nixon announced the end of the draft, the anti-war protests ended. That's when I realized what Liberals were all about. They weren't protesting the war. They were using the war to protest the draft. They didn't want to serve. They didn't want to give back to the country that was giving them so much. All they wanted was their tie dyed tee shirts and their dope. And to take over the world. They wanted to destroy "The Establishment". They wanted "social justice" for the poor and downtrodden.... They wanted to rule the world. Peace. Love. Dope. They just couldn't get behind that "Duty, Honor, Country" thing. They suffered from too much self interest, I guess.
Today these people are the elected representatives in the Senate and the Congress of the United States. They are the people who are tearing this country apart. They still don't think. They still don't listen. They "feel". They still run their mouths, they still call those who don't agree with them names the way a junior high kid would.
I guess some things don't change.
My first awakening?
About a week before completing Basic Training.
We were marched to the range to qualify with the M-16 rifle. Record Range. Something we had all been looking forward to for quite a long time. I wanted to earn that Expert Marksman Badge so badly that I could taste it. It was a good day.
After we were finished with the range we were marched out to a heavily wooded area of Fort Leonard Wood for some additional training. The Drill Sergeants were being very friendly with us for the first time since we arrived at Basic. They brought us hot chow as the sun was starting to set and let us take it easy and relax. We all felt like this was going to be something special.
After the sun went down we noticed that there weren't any Drill Sergeants around. That was weird. We hadn't been out of their sight for over 7 weeks, now they were gone. We started talking amongst ourselves, wondering what we were supposed to do.
It didn't take long before we found out.
5 or 6 "soldiers" in strange looking uniforms with strange looking helmets came out of the woods firing their weapons and yelling and screaming. We were confused and just sat there, looking stupid. Feeling stupid. We all knew we should be doing something! There were probably 60 of us in the company and we all sat there dumbfounded. When the 5 or 6 strange looking soldiers yelled at us to get on our feet and form a file, we did it without question. When they told us to move up against the guy in front of us and lock our arms around his waist, we did it. Without question or hesitation. 60 "soldiers" who were about to complete Basic Training standing in a file, tight enough to "make your buddy smile", arms wrapped around the waist of the man in front of you.
Talk about feeling uncomfortable. And scared.
Then they screamed at us to run. Don't let go of the man in front of you. In the dark. In a wooded area like the picnic area of a park.
As we started to clumsily run we could sense very bright lights coming on behind us. A light similar to a porch light came on in front of us, perhaps 200 yards away through the woods. We ran toward the light. The enemy soldiers screaming orders at us all the time. That "porch light" was a low wattage incandescent bulb on the side of a white wooden building. When we got to the building it looked like a small machine shed with a walk-thru door on the front at the far end of the building. They screamed at us to go inside. We complied without question. There were lights and bleachers in this building. It's dimensions were probably 12 feet by 30 feet. We sat in the bleachers and were left alone.
Soon we started asking each other "what the fuck just happened to us"? We got that giddy nervous laugh that comes as the adrenalin starts to dissipate from your body after being terrified. Terrified for 9 or 10 minutes that seemed like an hour. We figured that an instructor would soon appear to talk about night land navigation or something. I suppose we thought that because we had heard the Drill Sergeants talking about it amongst themselves at the range earlier that day. Glad that was over.
The door burst open and one, JUST ONE, of the soldiers in the funny looking uniforms came in the building. He was screaming and swinging a soaking wet white towel. We again cowered as he used that towel to hit anyone he could in the head. Terror. 5 minutes of terror. Pure terror. No one did a thing. 60 of us. Nothing.
He ordered us outside. We formed our centipede file again and were forced to run toward the bright lights 300 yards away. Barbed wire. 12 feet high. We went through the gates and they were closed behind us. A fucking camp. Shit. We were all scared. They were screaming at us. Making people get on the ground in the dying cockroach position. Some were forced to their knees and made to take their fatigue jackets off. Their tee shirts were pulled over their faces and water from canteens was poured over their mouths and noses. Can't breathe. Panic. No place to go. I was forced into a wall locker that had been laid on its back in a hole in the ground. They closed the doors and started throwing dirt on it.
Soon the lights went off and the yelling stopped. The lights came back on and the "guards" were gone. Someone who was unfamiliar to us but who seemed concerned and knowledgeable told us that we had to leave the compound and head through the woods. It was a mile to a road where buses would pick us up and take us back to the barracks. We only had an hour to get there and there were enemy in the woods.
Somehow we all made it back to the buses. The Drill Sergeants were there and they treated us differently than they had in the past. More respectfully. They weren't calling us Knucklefuck and Maggot and Dickhead any more. Those of us who had longer and more difficult to pronounce last names suddenly heard those names being pronounced correctly for the first time in almost 2 months.
That night, those few hours, were a life changing experience for me. I learned that people are sheep. All of us are, at one time or another in our lives. I learned that you can be scared to the point that you cannot make a rational decision no matter how hard you try. I learned that 60 men who could have easily overpowered their "guards", didn't. Training.
I made a decision right then and there that I would never allow myself to be put in the position of being a cowardly sheep again. I have never been so ashamed of myself as I was when I went over that night in my mind. Perhaps ashamed is too strong a word, perhaps disappointed in myself is a more appropriate description of how I felt. I wasn't prepared for what was happening to me....
That was almost exactly 39 years ago. So far, I have been successful in not feeling so helpless or useless in any situation I have encountered. I have been through a lot in my life, both in the Army and out. I've learned from it. I'm no longer that naive 18 year old who was learning to be a soldier.
That experience made me a better man. I learned more about myself and those around me in those few hours than I had learned in my entire life up to that point. Training.
That night was burned into my memory in a way that is even stronger than my memories of my wedding day or the births of my 3 sons. It prepared me for every other thing that was to come in the remainder of my life.
But I digress....
If the leader of a "free" country ordered his Generals to turn their weapons on their countrymen to quell an uprising against what they believe to be a tyrannical government, would those Generals give the orders?
Suppose the Generals do give the order to quash the insurrection.... Would the Colonels follow through? The Majors and the Captains?
How about the troops? Would the Grunts follow orders to carry out an illegal, immoral order? An order with no basis in law? An order to keep a tyrannical government in power?
Would anyone have the balls to just say NO!?
This is something that I wonder about sometimes.
Stay safe.
Being a veteran myself I know that as an Infantryman I was taught to follow the lawful orders that I was given by my superior officers. As a squad leader I trained my people to perform the tasks and to gain the knowledge required to complete the mission and to survive as an infantryman. My motives were different, in a sense, than the motives of the officers that were giving the orders. They had the "Big Picture" to look at. I had my squad to protect. You train and train and train so that, when given that order, you will function flawlessly. Constant training and discipline are the glue that binds it all together. They are the two things that, if done correctly, make you successful in accomplishing your mission and in keeping you alive.
The hope is that the training is so well ingrained into your mind that you will act and react without thinking. If your training is good and your tactics are sound your chances of success, and survival, are greatly improved. That's the goal. Success. Survival.
Still I wonder, would they turn their weapons on their fellow citizens if ordered to do so by their superiors? It's something that I never even considered being ordered to do when I was in the Army. Of course, that was over 30 years ago. The times were different then. The world was different. We had The Cold War, The doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction, the Berlin Wall, the Soviet Union, the East Bloc, Arab terrorists blowing up things at American military bases in Europe, the Olympic murders, little civil wars all over the world, mostly in Africa.
It was different then, yet the same. America had war protests going on all over the country when I was in High School and when I first enlisted in the Army. I was spit at in the Philadelphia airport in the summer of 1972 while running through the terminal in uniform to catch a bus to Fort Dix. That was an awakening for me. My second awakening.
A bunch of Liberal Hippies yelling and screaming and protesting the immorality of the unjust war in Viet Nam. Big Bad Amerika killing innocents in the jungles of South East Asia. Corporations getting rich off of the war and the sweat and blood of the workers.
What I find astounding (insert sarcasm) is the fact that the instant that President Nixon announced the end of the draft, the anti-war protests ended. That's when I realized what Liberals were all about. They weren't protesting the war. They were using the war to protest the draft. They didn't want to serve. They didn't want to give back to the country that was giving them so much. All they wanted was their tie dyed tee shirts and their dope. And to take over the world. They wanted to destroy "The Establishment". They wanted "social justice" for the poor and downtrodden.... They wanted to rule the world. Peace. Love. Dope. They just couldn't get behind that "Duty, Honor, Country" thing. They suffered from too much self interest, I guess.
Today these people are the elected representatives in the Senate and the Congress of the United States. They are the people who are tearing this country apart. They still don't think. They still don't listen. They "feel". They still run their mouths, they still call those who don't agree with them names the way a junior high kid would.
I guess some things don't change.
My first awakening?
About a week before completing Basic Training.
We were marched to the range to qualify with the M-16 rifle. Record Range. Something we had all been looking forward to for quite a long time. I wanted to earn that Expert Marksman Badge so badly that I could taste it. It was a good day.
After we were finished with the range we were marched out to a heavily wooded area of Fort Leonard Wood for some additional training. The Drill Sergeants were being very friendly with us for the first time since we arrived at Basic. They brought us hot chow as the sun was starting to set and let us take it easy and relax. We all felt like this was going to be something special.
After the sun went down we noticed that there weren't any Drill Sergeants around. That was weird. We hadn't been out of their sight for over 7 weeks, now they were gone. We started talking amongst ourselves, wondering what we were supposed to do.
It didn't take long before we found out.
5 or 6 "soldiers" in strange looking uniforms with strange looking helmets came out of the woods firing their weapons and yelling and screaming. We were confused and just sat there, looking stupid. Feeling stupid. We all knew we should be doing something! There were probably 60 of us in the company and we all sat there dumbfounded. When the 5 or 6 strange looking soldiers yelled at us to get on our feet and form a file, we did it without question. When they told us to move up against the guy in front of us and lock our arms around his waist, we did it. Without question or hesitation. 60 "soldiers" who were about to complete Basic Training standing in a file, tight enough to "make your buddy smile", arms wrapped around the waist of the man in front of you.
Talk about feeling uncomfortable. And scared.
Then they screamed at us to run. Don't let go of the man in front of you. In the dark. In a wooded area like the picnic area of a park.
As we started to clumsily run we could sense very bright lights coming on behind us. A light similar to a porch light came on in front of us, perhaps 200 yards away through the woods. We ran toward the light. The enemy soldiers screaming orders at us all the time. That "porch light" was a low wattage incandescent bulb on the side of a white wooden building. When we got to the building it looked like a small machine shed with a walk-thru door on the front at the far end of the building. They screamed at us to go inside. We complied without question. There were lights and bleachers in this building. It's dimensions were probably 12 feet by 30 feet. We sat in the bleachers and were left alone.
Soon we started asking each other "what the fuck just happened to us"? We got that giddy nervous laugh that comes as the adrenalin starts to dissipate from your body after being terrified. Terrified for 9 or 10 minutes that seemed like an hour. We figured that an instructor would soon appear to talk about night land navigation or something. I suppose we thought that because we had heard the Drill Sergeants talking about it amongst themselves at the range earlier that day. Glad that was over.
The door burst open and one, JUST ONE, of the soldiers in the funny looking uniforms came in the building. He was screaming and swinging a soaking wet white towel. We again cowered as he used that towel to hit anyone he could in the head. Terror. 5 minutes of terror. Pure terror. No one did a thing. 60 of us. Nothing.
He ordered us outside. We formed our centipede file again and were forced to run toward the bright lights 300 yards away. Barbed wire. 12 feet high. We went through the gates and they were closed behind us. A fucking camp. Shit. We were all scared. They were screaming at us. Making people get on the ground in the dying cockroach position. Some were forced to their knees and made to take their fatigue jackets off. Their tee shirts were pulled over their faces and water from canteens was poured over their mouths and noses. Can't breathe. Panic. No place to go. I was forced into a wall locker that had been laid on its back in a hole in the ground. They closed the doors and started throwing dirt on it.
Soon the lights went off and the yelling stopped. The lights came back on and the "guards" were gone. Someone who was unfamiliar to us but who seemed concerned and knowledgeable told us that we had to leave the compound and head through the woods. It was a mile to a road where buses would pick us up and take us back to the barracks. We only had an hour to get there and there were enemy in the woods.
Somehow we all made it back to the buses. The Drill Sergeants were there and they treated us differently than they had in the past. More respectfully. They weren't calling us Knucklefuck and Maggot and Dickhead any more. Those of us who had longer and more difficult to pronounce last names suddenly heard those names being pronounced correctly for the first time in almost 2 months.
That night, those few hours, were a life changing experience for me. I learned that people are sheep. All of us are, at one time or another in our lives. I learned that you can be scared to the point that you cannot make a rational decision no matter how hard you try. I learned that 60 men who could have easily overpowered their "guards", didn't. Training.
I made a decision right then and there that I would never allow myself to be put in the position of being a cowardly sheep again. I have never been so ashamed of myself as I was when I went over that night in my mind. Perhaps ashamed is too strong a word, perhaps disappointed in myself is a more appropriate description of how I felt. I wasn't prepared for what was happening to me....
That was almost exactly 39 years ago. So far, I have been successful in not feeling so helpless or useless in any situation I have encountered. I have been through a lot in my life, both in the Army and out. I've learned from it. I'm no longer that naive 18 year old who was learning to be a soldier.
That experience made me a better man. I learned more about myself and those around me in those few hours than I had learned in my entire life up to that point. Training.
That night was burned into my memory in a way that is even stronger than my memories of my wedding day or the births of my 3 sons. It prepared me for every other thing that was to come in the remainder of my life.
But I digress....
If the leader of a "free" country ordered his Generals to turn their weapons on their countrymen to quell an uprising against what they believe to be a tyrannical government, would those Generals give the orders?
Suppose the Generals do give the order to quash the insurrection.... Would the Colonels follow through? The Majors and the Captains?
How about the troops? Would the Grunts follow orders to carry out an illegal, immoral order? An order with no basis in law? An order to keep a tyrannical government in power?
Would anyone have the balls to just say NO!?
This is something that I wonder about sometimes.
Stay safe.
27 January 2011
Here we go....
This little article over at Newsweek is interesting....
That didn't take long.
I wonder what the Fed will say about this? One thing is certain.... The Libs will scream like zombies. That makes me happy. Know what I find strange about this? Last year when Arizona wanted to shut her southern border down, the MSM was all over that immediately. Everyday. Front page headlines talking about the cold, heartless Conservatives who wanted to control illegal immigration and the crime that goes with it. Now this. Why isn't the fact that 10 states are proposing legislation that requires a candidate to actually prove eligibility all over the front pages? This is something of a big deal, if you ask me.
Which brings me to the next question... Why wouldn't he just show his long form birth certificate and be done with the controversy?
Either his papers aren't in order, or he want's the controversy because it distracts attention from other things.
What do we know about this guy? Who is he? Where does he really come from? Was he born in Hawaii? Kenya? Baltimore? Seriously, we know absolutely nothing about him. Nothing. That speaks volumes about the Moonbats who elected him. I believe that it's our right as American citizens to know who our president is.
Hypothetical situation: Can you imagine the reaction of the Liberals if the Supremes were to decide that obama wasn't qualified to be president due to his dual citizenship at birth? (Did he ever renounce his British citizenship?) They would scream and rant about how obama's destruction of America was destroyed by a bunch of birthers. They would never even consider the fact that they had been deceived by thecommunist community organizer. The thought would never enter their minds. They are OK with circumventing all or part of The Constitution when it suits their needs. They would begin with the name calling, the pointing of fingers, and the blame game. They would scream like banshees.
Wouldn't it be wonderful?
In my mind, the definition of "natural born citizen" doesn't require any legal wrangling to define it...
"No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States."
A natural born citizen, common sense would dictate, is a person born of American citizen parents.
Ahhhh welllll....... It ain't gonna happen. It is what it is. I do like the idea of the states standing up to the Fed and passing legislation requiring proof of eligibility before allowing a presidential candidate onto their ballot. That's good thinkin'!
Stay safe.
That didn't take long.
I wonder what the Fed will say about this? One thing is certain.... The Libs will scream like zombies. That makes me happy. Know what I find strange about this? Last year when Arizona wanted to shut her southern border down, the MSM was all over that immediately. Everyday. Front page headlines talking about the cold, heartless Conservatives who wanted to control illegal immigration and the crime that goes with it. Now this. Why isn't the fact that 10 states are proposing legislation that requires a candidate to actually prove eligibility all over the front pages? This is something of a big deal, if you ask me.
Which brings me to the next question... Why wouldn't he just show his long form birth certificate and be done with the controversy?
Either his papers aren't in order, or he want's the controversy because it distracts attention from other things.
What do we know about this guy? Who is he? Where does he really come from? Was he born in Hawaii? Kenya? Baltimore? Seriously, we know absolutely nothing about him. Nothing. That speaks volumes about the Moonbats who elected him. I believe that it's our right as American citizens to know who our president is.
Hypothetical situation: Can you imagine the reaction of the Liberals if the Supremes were to decide that obama wasn't qualified to be president due to his dual citizenship at birth? (Did he ever renounce his British citizenship?) They would scream and rant about how obama's destruction of America was destroyed by a bunch of birthers. They would never even consider the fact that they had been deceived by the
Wouldn't it be wonderful?
In my mind, the definition of "natural born citizen" doesn't require any legal wrangling to define it...
"No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States."
A natural born citizen, common sense would dictate, is a person born of American citizen parents.
Ahhhh welllll....... It ain't gonna happen. It is what it is. I do like the idea of the states standing up to the Fed and passing legislation requiring proof of eligibility before allowing a presidential candidate onto their ballot. That's good thinkin'!
Stay safe.
25 January 2011
Sleep....
Since I can't sleep, I'm reading blogs this morning....
Here is an excellent post from American Thinker....
And this one from Adrienne....
Another one from American Thinker...
Stay safe.
Here is an excellent post from American Thinker....
And this one from Adrienne....
Another one from American Thinker...
Stay safe.
24 January 2011
Enumerated Powers....
The following article by Chris Carter is taken from "Unto the Breach" over at Victory Institute. Follow the link and read the other articles. Some good stuff there!
“The powers of the legislature are defined, and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken or forgotten, the constitution is written.”
"Now consider what Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 33:"
Clearly, any branch of government operating outside the bounds of their limited authority is unconstitutional, but the problem appears that nothing has been clearly codified. If our legal system gave the same consideration to high crimes, treason, and usurpations as it did to, say, fraud and murder, our elected and appointed officials would know precisely what they could–and couldn’t–get away with."
Stay safe.
“The powers of the legislature are defined, and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken or forgotten, the constitution is written.”
- Chief Justice John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison (1803)
"Now consider what Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 33:"
“But it will not follow from [the Constitution] that acts of the [federal government] which are NOT PURSUANT to its constitutional powers, but which are invasions of the residuary authorities of the [states], will become the supreme law of the land. These will be merely acts of usurpation, and will deserve to be treated as such.“"Simply put, when the federal government acts outside its constitutional powers, it should be considered an act of usurpation.
Clearly, any branch of government operating outside the bounds of their limited authority is unconstitutional, but the problem appears that nothing has been clearly codified. If our legal system gave the same consideration to high crimes, treason, and usurpations as it did to, say, fraud and murder, our elected and appointed officials would know precisely what they could–and couldn’t–get away with."
Stay safe.
23 January 2011
Seriously....?
Liberal academic rabble-rauser is now crying that she's a victim?
Raise your hand if you're surprised.
I hereby nominate her for "Barking Moonbat of the Week". Can I get a second on that motion?
Stay safe.
Raise your hand if you're surprised.
I hereby nominate her for "Barking Moonbat of the Week". Can I get a second on that motion?
Stay safe.
22 January 2011
Judge John Roll....
Read this. Share it. Shout it from the rooftops.
Ask yourself why we aren't hearing about this until now. Ask yourself what kind of man (or what kind of people) would ignore something like this for his/their own political gain. It was ignored for political gain, ya know.
It was ignored because it doesn't fit obama's story line. It would have been an inconvenient addition to the script that the Liberals have fabricated for this tragedy.
Suppose the headlines of the day would have read "He gave his own life to protect that of a stranger." Wow! Wow! That sorta kinda changes the whole message, doesn't it?
The Libs own the media.
It should have been spoken of in a LOUD and CLEAR manner at thePolitical Rally Memorial Service in the Stadium. Judge Roll should have been honored at that circus service. He should have been praised by obama as a sterling example of an unselfish American. Yet, in the end, it didn't fit the script. Judge Roll was an "also ran". He was an "Honorable Mention" in the aftermath of the tragedy in Tucson.
Are you fucking kidding me?
Disgusting.
Are you starting to see the kind of people we're dealing with? 52% of the electorate voted for obama in '08. You go to the polls and mark the box for the person most like yourself. The person you can most relate to. It's human nature. You should be scared to realize that 52% of your fellow citizens saw themselves as having desires and a vision similar to those of obama. (or was it the promise of more "free" stuff....?)
Hat tip to Free North Carolina for the original post.
Stay safe,
Ask yourself why we aren't hearing about this until now. Ask yourself what kind of man (or what kind of people) would ignore something like this for his/their own political gain. It was ignored for political gain, ya know.
It was ignored because it doesn't fit obama's story line. It would have been an inconvenient addition to the script that the Liberals have fabricated for this tragedy.
Suppose the headlines of the day would have read "He gave his own life to protect that of a stranger." Wow! Wow! That sorta kinda changes the whole message, doesn't it?
The Libs own the media.
It should have been spoken of in a LOUD and CLEAR manner at the
Are you fucking kidding me?
Disgusting.
Are you starting to see the kind of people we're dealing with? 52% of the electorate voted for obama in '08. You go to the polls and mark the box for the person most like yourself. The person you can most relate to. It's human nature. You should be scared to realize that 52% of your fellow citizens saw themselves as having desires and a vision similar to those of obama. (or was it the promise of more "free" stuff....?)
Hat tip to Free North Carolina for the original post.
Stay safe,
21 January 2011
Reality....
Is there any good news anywhere? Everything I read is depressing. Reality is depressing.
Our economy is about to collapse. It is now inevitable. I believe that we are at the point of no return. Today. Right now. The only legitimate question is "when" will it implode?
Will the Fed repudiate the debt? That would piss a lot of foreign governments off. They are heavilly invested in the good ole U S of A. In fact, I think they own us. We are in too deep to pay it off and become financially sound again. Raise the debt ceiling? Are you kidding me?
How did we get to this point? Obviously, we allowed it to happen.
Will the Chinese come to our shores to claim the collateral that we put up to guarantee our debt?
What disaster will finally befall us that will bring us to our senses?
This link comes from Free North Carolina. Fill out the petition. Hit send. Share the link with your friends and have them do the same.
I don't know where we're going. I do know that folks are getting pissed. We are being pushed to the breaking point. It feels like it could happen any day now.
The arrogance of our government has become overwhelming. Unbearable.
Give me some good news.
Stay safe.
Our economy is about to collapse. It is now inevitable. I believe that we are at the point of no return. Today. Right now. The only legitimate question is "when" will it implode?
Will the Fed repudiate the debt? That would piss a lot of foreign governments off. They are heavilly invested in the good ole U S of A. In fact, I think they own us. We are in too deep to pay it off and become financially sound again. Raise the debt ceiling? Are you kidding me?
How did we get to this point? Obviously, we allowed it to happen.
Will the Chinese come to our shores to claim the collateral that we put up to guarantee our debt?
What disaster will finally befall us that will bring us to our senses?
This link comes from Free North Carolina. Fill out the petition. Hit send. Share the link with your friends and have them do the same.
I don't know where we're going. I do know that folks are getting pissed. We are being pushed to the breaking point. It feels like it could happen any day now.
The arrogance of our government has become overwhelming. Unbearable.
Give me some good news.
Stay safe.
18 January 2011
Interesting....
Interesting link sent to me by a friend from out east....
I suppose I'm the last person to see it. Oh well....
He also sent me this link, which I admit I haven't read in its entirety yet. What I have read of it so far is interesting.
Had a couple of visits to the blog from The United States Senate in Alexandria, Virginia today. Looks like they were checking out yesterday's post. Please, by all means, leave a comment or send me a note the next time you visit. I'd love to exchange ideas with you.
Stay safe.
I suppose I'm the last person to see it. Oh well....
He also sent me this link, which I admit I haven't read in its entirety yet. What I have read of it so far is interesting.
Had a couple of visits to the blog from The United States Senate in Alexandria, Virginia today. Looks like they were checking out yesterday's post. Please, by all means, leave a comment or send me a note the next time you visit. I'd love to exchange ideas with you.
Stay safe.
17 January 2011
Civics 101....
Adrienne's post today gets a definite A+ and a gold star.
How about a show of hands....?
How many of you write your elected representatives on a regular basis? C'mon, put your hands in the air....
Our form of government is a participatory representative Republic. That means that we elect people to represent our wishes in Washington and in Statehouses across the land. After we elect them we are expected to participate in the process. Problem is that we vote and then sit back and bitch that they aren't following our wishes. Write, email, call your Senators and Representatives and let them know how you feel about every issue. Get your friends and neighbors to do the same thing. It can make a difference. Once you've voted, you have to follow through with the calls and letters. You all vote, right?
I remember the first time I wrote my Congressmen. I was a young Buck Sergeant stationed with an MP company at Fort Hood, Texas. I was nervous. A congressman ranked up there somewhere near a Sergeant Major! It was a long time ago, trust me.
The topic was gun control, if you can imagine that. My Congressman was a young fellow from just down the road a piece from my home town. Charles R. Grassley.
We used snail mail back then. A Texas Instruments calculator like the ones you buy at the check out counter at Wal Mart for $5 today were about $100 in the PX then. Hadn't even heard of a computer. Times change.
Anyway, within 2 weeks of sending my letter to the Congressman, I had a response. I was impressed. I was so excited that I was shaking. Surprisingly, Congressman Grassley wrote a nice letter to me and said that he agreed with me on the things I had talked about and that he would pursue them in the House. (which he did) I continued writing and he told me that if he received 5 letters a week it was a lot. That shocked me. People are basically lazy and don't want to follow up on those aggravating small details....
Anyway, Congressman Grassley is now a senior Senator and I still write to him regularly. We agree on most things. Your representatives like to hear from you. They want to hear from you. They wish that they heard from more of you, more often.
My other Senator is a Democrat. Tom Harkin. He doesn't usually respond to my emails, but that doesn't stop me from writing to him. When he does respond, he's usually off topic. We don't agree on much.
Iowa became a "Shall Issue" state this year. Thought that would never happen. Pretty liberal here.... (Half of the population is in Des Moines and Iowa City. Two hotbeds of Liberalism) A lot of letters were written to our former Governor and all of the representatives. He was a Democrat. He signed it.
Point is that it works. Persistance pays off.
My second point is that we Conservatives have been reactive rather than being proactive for the last 10 years. That has to change. We cannot continue to put ourselves in a position where we have to defend ourselves to the Liberals all the time. If they are full of shit they have to be told they are full of shit. If you don't like to cuss just tell them that their "Poopbox is full". Means the same thing.
By "we conservatives" I mean all of us, but especially our elected representatives. They've been pushed around like a cheap whore in the House and the Senate for years. obama has berated them and called them names since he took office. Pelosi and Reid did the same thing to them. When you write to them, let them know that you appreciate what they are doing and let them know also that you expect them to represent YOU. Don't be afraid to write letters to those that you disagree with. Don't be afraid to write to representatives that aren't from your state or district.
It's time to stop being the "silent majority".
This is the point of what Mr. Davis and The Guardians of Liberty are trying to do with The Seige. Talking to our representatives face to face in Washington D.C..
Talk to them. Let them know how you feel. Be persistant. Treat it like it's a matter of the life or death of the Conservative ideal. It may very well be, ya know.
An email takes only 5 minutes to write. Dead is forever.
Read Adrienne's post from today. Think about what she says. We have the momentum right now, lets not waste it.
Stay safe.
How about a show of hands....?
How many of you write your elected representatives on a regular basis? C'mon, put your hands in the air....
Our form of government is a participatory representative Republic. That means that we elect people to represent our wishes in Washington and in Statehouses across the land. After we elect them we are expected to participate in the process. Problem is that we vote and then sit back and bitch that they aren't following our wishes. Write, email, call your Senators and Representatives and let them know how you feel about every issue. Get your friends and neighbors to do the same thing. It can make a difference. Once you've voted, you have to follow through with the calls and letters. You all vote, right?
I remember the first time I wrote my Congressmen. I was a young Buck Sergeant stationed with an MP company at Fort Hood, Texas. I was nervous. A congressman ranked up there somewhere near a Sergeant Major! It was a long time ago, trust me.
The topic was gun control, if you can imagine that. My Congressman was a young fellow from just down the road a piece from my home town. Charles R. Grassley.
We used snail mail back then. A Texas Instruments calculator like the ones you buy at the check out counter at Wal Mart for $5 today were about $100 in the PX then. Hadn't even heard of a computer. Times change.
Anyway, within 2 weeks of sending my letter to the Congressman, I had a response. I was impressed. I was so excited that I was shaking. Surprisingly, Congressman Grassley wrote a nice letter to me and said that he agreed with me on the things I had talked about and that he would pursue them in the House. (which he did) I continued writing and he told me that if he received 5 letters a week it was a lot. That shocked me. People are basically lazy and don't want to follow up on those aggravating small details....
Anyway, Congressman Grassley is now a senior Senator and I still write to him regularly. We agree on most things. Your representatives like to hear from you. They want to hear from you. They wish that they heard from more of you, more often.
My other Senator is a Democrat. Tom Harkin. He doesn't usually respond to my emails, but that doesn't stop me from writing to him. When he does respond, he's usually off topic. We don't agree on much.
Iowa became a "Shall Issue" state this year. Thought that would never happen. Pretty liberal here.... (Half of the population is in Des Moines and Iowa City. Two hotbeds of Liberalism) A lot of letters were written to our former Governor and all of the representatives. He was a Democrat. He signed it.
Point is that it works. Persistance pays off.
My second point is that we Conservatives have been reactive rather than being proactive for the last 10 years. That has to change. We cannot continue to put ourselves in a position where we have to defend ourselves to the Liberals all the time. If they are full of shit they have to be told they are full of shit. If you don't like to cuss just tell them that their "Poopbox is full". Means the same thing.
By "we conservatives" I mean all of us, but especially our elected representatives. They've been pushed around like a cheap whore in the House and the Senate for years. obama has berated them and called them names since he took office. Pelosi and Reid did the same thing to them. When you write to them, let them know that you appreciate what they are doing and let them know also that you expect them to represent YOU. Don't be afraid to write letters to those that you disagree with. Don't be afraid to write to representatives that aren't from your state or district.
It's time to stop being the "silent majority".
This is the point of what Mr. Davis and The Guardians of Liberty are trying to do with The Seige. Talking to our representatives face to face in Washington D.C..
Talk to them. Let them know how you feel. Be persistant. Treat it like it's a matter of the life or death of the Conservative ideal. It may very well be, ya know.
An email takes only 5 minutes to write. Dead is forever.
Read Adrienne's post from today. Think about what she says. We have the momentum right now, lets not waste it.
Stay safe.
16 January 2011
It occurred to me....
While reading this post over at American Thinker....
It occurred to me that we Conservatives are far too polite.
The Liberals (or Socialists, Marxists, Communists, Leftists, Moonbats.... whatever you want to call them) know that we are polite and they take advantage of that every day. They know that we won't get in their faces and refute what they say, even though honesty and truth are on our side.
Every conversation that we have with a Liberal will eventually result in accusations of racism being leveled against us. They know that we are not racists and they know that we cringe at being accused of being racists. That's why they use the term. It shuts us up. Every conversation with a Liberal devolves to the point that they start calling us names.
Their method of operation, when confronted with the truth, is to scream and yell loudly and shrilly (is that a word?) until we back down. And we always back down. We don't want to create a scene. We are far too polite.
We maintain the moral high ground. Secular Morality is not morality at all. They depend on our Political Correctness to advance their agenda. Yes, we Conservatives are infected with the disease of PC. We are too polite.
They have eliminated God from our society in order to advance the agenda that they are trying (successfully, it seems) to impose on us today. If we still believed in God they could not succeed with their unholy agenda.
They have convinced the world that the abortion of innocents is not murder, yet capital punishment for heinous crimes is somehow wrong. Having a baby is inconvenient and taking care of a baby is difficult. Punishment is wrong. Having a baby will screw up my life. These poor criminals are just misguided and misunderstood.
I believe that abortion is murder and that it is wrong. I believe that criminals should be punished in ways that are commensurate with the crimes that they have committed. Sometimes that means that they should be put to death. I don't believe that rehabilitation is possible for hardened criminals and I don't believe that we should waste time and money trying to rehabilitate them. The purpose of prison is punishment.
Liberals have convinced the world that homosexuality is a normal lifestyle. They have screamed loud enough and long enough to convince people that homosexuals are "born that way".
I believe that homosexuality is a deviant lifestyle choice.
Liberals are convinced that it is right to take from a man who has worked hard and built a business and give the fruits of his labors to someone who will not, or does not, want to work.
"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." ~~Karl Marx
The thought of being responsible for oneself repulses them. They want to share in the fruits of your labors. It worked in the Soviet Union, right? Well, actually, it didn't work. It doesn't take long to realize that if you aren't productive, if you don't want to work, if you are lazy, you will still be taken care of. You just show up for "work" and put in your hours and you get the same ration coupons as the people who are actually working. If you are lucky you may get to know the "right" people and, if you find favor with them, perhaps receive extra coupons for bread or vodka in return for the favors that will be required of you.
Socialism becomes very corrupt very quickly.
Liberals believe that when they finally collapse our Republic and take it over that they will have achieved their Utopia. They don't think beyond what their masters tell them. They don't realize that they will become the proletariat when Socialism eventually becomes the law of the land. They will be the workers. There is only so much room at the top, and those at the top will consolidate their powers. The rank and file mean nothing to them. You are simply the means to an end. A tool to get Them to where They want to be. If Political Correctness hadn't destroyed Common Sense, the Liberals would realize that.
None of this has happened by accident. If you believe that it did, you are stupid. If you believe that obama and his minions are trying to do good, you are stupid.
That's why we call Liberals sheep. Because they are. They are followers. They do not think for themselves. They do what they are told and are made to believe that they are doing something good and purposeful. There is no respect for the individual, only for the collective. All they are doing is allowing for the consolidation of power that their masters want to achieve.
This isn't where I intended this post to go, but hey, that's OK.
Conservatives in America need to start speaking up when they hear or see something that they know is wrong or untrue. Conservatives need to realize that this phenomenon known as Liberalism is an attack on our way of life. If we don't start speaking up for what we KNOW is right we will become the 21st century's Jew, Gypsy, Undesirable.... We will be marched off to the camps to be cooked. Liberalism as we know it today is a mental disorder. It is a sickness. The product of a diseased mind.
Someday, after the Socialist experiment in Amerika fails, which it will, someone will write something like Martin Niemoller wrote after the Nazi's were finally destroyed.... They will be writing about us.
"They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."
It's up to us to speak up. When the Liberals lie, correct them. Don't back down. Most can't, and probably won't, debate you because they don't have the background or knowledge to do so. They lack common sense. Most can only repeat what they are told.
We are what used to be known as the "silent majority". We must start speaking up.
We don't want to tell others how to live their lives. We don't want to be told how to live ours.
Hopefully we can stop this before it gets ugly.
Stay safe.
It occurred to me that we Conservatives are far too polite.
The Liberals (or Socialists, Marxists, Communists, Leftists, Moonbats.... whatever you want to call them) know that we are polite and they take advantage of that every day. They know that we won't get in their faces and refute what they say, even though honesty and truth are on our side.
Every conversation that we have with a Liberal will eventually result in accusations of racism being leveled against us. They know that we are not racists and they know that we cringe at being accused of being racists. That's why they use the term. It shuts us up. Every conversation with a Liberal devolves to the point that they start calling us names.
Their method of operation, when confronted with the truth, is to scream and yell loudly and shrilly (is that a word?) until we back down. And we always back down. We don't want to create a scene. We are far too polite.
We maintain the moral high ground. Secular Morality is not morality at all. They depend on our Political Correctness to advance their agenda. Yes, we Conservatives are infected with the disease of PC. We are too polite.
They have eliminated God from our society in order to advance the agenda that they are trying (successfully, it seems) to impose on us today. If we still believed in God they could not succeed with their unholy agenda.
They have convinced the world that the abortion of innocents is not murder, yet capital punishment for heinous crimes is somehow wrong. Having a baby is inconvenient and taking care of a baby is difficult. Punishment is wrong. Having a baby will screw up my life. These poor criminals are just misguided and misunderstood.
I believe that abortion is murder and that it is wrong. I believe that criminals should be punished in ways that are commensurate with the crimes that they have committed. Sometimes that means that they should be put to death. I don't believe that rehabilitation is possible for hardened criminals and I don't believe that we should waste time and money trying to rehabilitate them. The purpose of prison is punishment.
Liberals have convinced the world that homosexuality is a normal lifestyle. They have screamed loud enough and long enough to convince people that homosexuals are "born that way".
I believe that homosexuality is a deviant lifestyle choice.
Liberals are convinced that it is right to take from a man who has worked hard and built a business and give the fruits of his labors to someone who will not, or does not, want to work.
"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." ~~Karl Marx
The thought of being responsible for oneself repulses them. They want to share in the fruits of your labors. It worked in the Soviet Union, right? Well, actually, it didn't work. It doesn't take long to realize that if you aren't productive, if you don't want to work, if you are lazy, you will still be taken care of. You just show up for "work" and put in your hours and you get the same ration coupons as the people who are actually working. If you are lucky you may get to know the "right" people and, if you find favor with them, perhaps receive extra coupons for bread or vodka in return for the favors that will be required of you.
Socialism becomes very corrupt very quickly.
Liberals believe that when they finally collapse our Republic and take it over that they will have achieved their Utopia. They don't think beyond what their masters tell them. They don't realize that they will become the proletariat when Socialism eventually becomes the law of the land. They will be the workers. There is only so much room at the top, and those at the top will consolidate their powers. The rank and file mean nothing to them. You are simply the means to an end. A tool to get Them to where They want to be. If Political Correctness hadn't destroyed Common Sense, the Liberals would realize that.
None of this has happened by accident. If you believe that it did, you are stupid. If you believe that obama and his minions are trying to do good, you are stupid.
That's why we call Liberals sheep. Because they are. They are followers. They do not think for themselves. They do what they are told and are made to believe that they are doing something good and purposeful. There is no respect for the individual, only for the collective. All they are doing is allowing for the consolidation of power that their masters want to achieve.
This isn't where I intended this post to go, but hey, that's OK.
Conservatives in America need to start speaking up when they hear or see something that they know is wrong or untrue. Conservatives need to realize that this phenomenon known as Liberalism is an attack on our way of life. If we don't start speaking up for what we KNOW is right we will become the 21st century's Jew, Gypsy, Undesirable.... We will be marched off to the camps to be cooked. Liberalism as we know it today is a mental disorder. It is a sickness. The product of a diseased mind.
Someday, after the Socialist experiment in Amerika fails, which it will, someone will write something like Martin Niemoller wrote after the Nazi's were finally destroyed.... They will be writing about us.
"They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."
It's up to us to speak up. When the Liberals lie, correct them. Don't back down. Most can't, and probably won't, debate you because they don't have the background or knowledge to do so. They lack common sense. Most can only repeat what they are told.
We are what used to be known as the "silent majority". We must start speaking up.
We don't want to tell others how to live their lives. We don't want to be told how to live ours.
Hopefully we can stop this before it gets ugly.
Stay safe.
15 January 2011
Say it isn't so....
"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance the government's reckless fiscal policies."
~~Sen. Barack Obama 2006
Stay safe.
~~Sen. Barack Obama 2006
Stay safe.
Things....
I was just reading this over at Doug Ross....
It's an idea that certainly makes sense and, if it could somehow be put into place, would make the Democrats in Congress squirm. I have to admit that watching them squirm would make me very happy. To force them to dismantle some of the "give away" plans that they have put in place would be sweet....
But....
Somehow our national thought process always gravitates toward how horrible and restricting our debt is. We wring our hands and pace the room wondering how we'll ever get it under control. We lose sleep at night worrying about the fact that our children and their children will be saddled with this debt forever....
We are constantly bombarded with gloom and doom regarding the debt from the media.
The only solution that our government proposes is increased taxation.
The answer is not going to be found in greater taxation and restriction of our rights.
Being more productive is the only viable solution to our financial woes.
I lay no claim to being an economist. Common sense tells me that the government has placed so many restrictions on business that business can no longer be profitable.
The solution to our suffocating debt is not to be found in taxing America to her knees, but rather in America shaking off the chains of government regulation and becoming productive again.
Government has done its part to kill American business through regulation and restriction. The cost of compliance prevents many people with great ideas from ever getting a business off the ground. The cost of compliance with government regulations in established businesses can be crippling. These are the by-products of Liberalism and they prevent businesses from being profitable. Profit is a dirty word to a Liberal.
Many will lament the number of "good Americans jobs" that have gone overseas and will blame Bush and Reagan, along with any other Republican they can think of, for these losses.
It wasn't Bush and Reagan that caused these jobs to disappear. It's the Loony Lefties who have demanded the increased regulation that has caused the cost of manufacturing to skyrocket.
Unions that have demanded more and more from companies will have to admit that they share the blame in the destruction of our economy. The result of union greed is companies sending the manufacture of their products overseas. The unions have forced companies to cut costs in order for the companies to survive. Labor is the most expensive component of the manufacturing process. That's why we build our washers and driers (as well as the majority of the durable goods that we use) in China and other places where the cost of labor is lower.
I remember reading a story several years ago about a major American athletic shoe manufacturer. This young start up company had moved the manufacture of their shoes to a Central American country rather than paying union labor to make their shoes. This created a big stink with the Left Coast wackos. The company defended itself by explaining that the cost of manufacturing in America was too great due to excessive government regulation and the high cost of labor. The Lefties rebuttal was to try to smear the company by saying that they were only paying their Central American laborers a dollar and a half a day to manufacture these shoes and that the working conditions were deplorable and amounted to slave labor. They "knew" that their audience was stupid and that they would refuse to buy the product because of these "human rights" violations. Turns out that the dollar and a half a day that this company was paying it's workers was a half dollar a day higher than the going rate for that local economy and the facility was the most modern in the area. In my opinion, that was just smart business. If they had paid an American union worker $20 an hour to do the tasks required in the manufacture of their shoes they wouldn't have sold because they would have been even more prohibitively expensive than they already were. Or, more likely, Nike wouldn't have succeeded as a business at all. It's all about creating profit in order to turn those monies back into the business to make it grow and flourish.
My younger brother works at John Deere. Deere went through the process of creating a 2 tier wage system several years ago and then hired new manufacturing labor for the first time in 15 years. Most of the "old guys" that were making $40/hr (plus benefits) to do the unskilled labor required in the manufacture of a tractor are gone. The "new guys" make about half as much as their predecessors and are on a different benefit plan. A benefit plan that requires co-pays and such when you see a doctor. A plan similar to what most working people have. They are still represented by the UAW.
The point is that Deere was running at a loss for years and couldn't afford to continue to hire at the "old" rate and stay in business. They didn't hire anyone in production for more than 15 years. They modernized and automated every facet of the production process that they could. Now that they have begun hiring again at a lower wage (which is still higher than anyone else in the area) they are turning a profit and growing again. Their legacy costs, like those of other union stifled manufacturing businesses, are tremendous. GM and Chrysler come to mind....
Government labor faces the same situation. They are paid higher than "average" wages, they retire early, and they have better benefit packages than most workers in the private sector. Also remember that all government employees are paid for by us, the taxpayer. Another thing to remember about government employees is that they produce nothing. In business terms, all government employees are an expense. They add nothing to the bottom line. In fact, they detract from the bottom line. Are they needed? Absolutely, well, some of them are. The military for sure. (I'm a huge proponent of a strong, well armed, well trained military. One of the few good uses of my tax dollars...) That's fodder for another post :) Point is that they have tremendous legacy costs also. And we keep creating more opportunities for government employment.
Read this article. It explains legacy costs much better than I ever could. The last couple of paragraphs defines the situation that the majority of us (non-government employees) fall in.
My point in this post is that increased taxation is not the answer. Production and corporate profitability is. You'll never explain that to a Socialist. They just don't get it. They want the handout. They want the life long "safety net". They are wrong. Increased profitability leads, by its nature, to increased monies going into the government coffers. Decreased government spending leads to a lowering of the debt. Lowering of the debt allows ("in the black") funding of existing commitments.
I didn't want this to be an exercise in bashing Liberals but Liberals got us into this situation. The obama administration has increased our debt more than any administration in history. In 2 years. That, my friends, is a fact. Spin it any way you want to, blame any previous administration that you want to, make any excuse that you want to, the fact still remains. obama and his cronies have done more financial damage to this country than any other administration in history. I don't believe it was an accident. (we will talk about the divisiveness of obama and his administration in another post....)
Please remember that I am not an economist. This post is overly simplistic as regards the economy. That said, I believe that it is a simplistically accurate representation of a capital based economy.
BTW, I took this Civics quiz today. I got 30 out of 33 correct. That's like 94% and should be an "A" in anyone's class. If they graded on the curve it would definitely be an A.... I'm kinda proud of myself! :)
I should take my wife to breakfast.
Stay safe.
It's an idea that certainly makes sense and, if it could somehow be put into place, would make the Democrats in Congress squirm. I have to admit that watching them squirm would make me very happy. To force them to dismantle some of the "give away" plans that they have put in place would be sweet....
But....
Somehow our national thought process always gravitates toward how horrible and restricting our debt is. We wring our hands and pace the room wondering how we'll ever get it under control. We lose sleep at night worrying about the fact that our children and their children will be saddled with this debt forever....
We are constantly bombarded with gloom and doom regarding the debt from the media.
The only solution that our government proposes is increased taxation.
The answer is not going to be found in greater taxation and restriction of our rights.
Being more productive is the only viable solution to our financial woes.
I lay no claim to being an economist. Common sense tells me that the government has placed so many restrictions on business that business can no longer be profitable.
The solution to our suffocating debt is not to be found in taxing America to her knees, but rather in America shaking off the chains of government regulation and becoming productive again.
Government has done its part to kill American business through regulation and restriction. The cost of compliance prevents many people with great ideas from ever getting a business off the ground. The cost of compliance with government regulations in established businesses can be crippling. These are the by-products of Liberalism and they prevent businesses from being profitable. Profit is a dirty word to a Liberal.
Many will lament the number of "good Americans jobs" that have gone overseas and will blame Bush and Reagan, along with any other Republican they can think of, for these losses.
It wasn't Bush and Reagan that caused these jobs to disappear. It's the Loony Lefties who have demanded the increased regulation that has caused the cost of manufacturing to skyrocket.
Unions that have demanded more and more from companies will have to admit that they share the blame in the destruction of our economy. The result of union greed is companies sending the manufacture of their products overseas. The unions have forced companies to cut costs in order for the companies to survive. Labor is the most expensive component of the manufacturing process. That's why we build our washers and driers (as well as the majority of the durable goods that we use) in China and other places where the cost of labor is lower.
I remember reading a story several years ago about a major American athletic shoe manufacturer. This young start up company had moved the manufacture of their shoes to a Central American country rather than paying union labor to make their shoes. This created a big stink with the Left Coast wackos. The company defended itself by explaining that the cost of manufacturing in America was too great due to excessive government regulation and the high cost of labor. The Lefties rebuttal was to try to smear the company by saying that they were only paying their Central American laborers a dollar and a half a day to manufacture these shoes and that the working conditions were deplorable and amounted to slave labor. They "knew" that their audience was stupid and that they would refuse to buy the product because of these "human rights" violations. Turns out that the dollar and a half a day that this company was paying it's workers was a half dollar a day higher than the going rate for that local economy and the facility was the most modern in the area. In my opinion, that was just smart business. If they had paid an American union worker $20 an hour to do the tasks required in the manufacture of their shoes they wouldn't have sold because they would have been even more prohibitively expensive than they already were. Or, more likely, Nike wouldn't have succeeded as a business at all. It's all about creating profit in order to turn those monies back into the business to make it grow and flourish.
My younger brother works at John Deere. Deere went through the process of creating a 2 tier wage system several years ago and then hired new manufacturing labor for the first time in 15 years. Most of the "old guys" that were making $40/hr (plus benefits) to do the unskilled labor required in the manufacture of a tractor are gone. The "new guys" make about half as much as their predecessors and are on a different benefit plan. A benefit plan that requires co-pays and such when you see a doctor. A plan similar to what most working people have. They are still represented by the UAW.
The point is that Deere was running at a loss for years and couldn't afford to continue to hire at the "old" rate and stay in business. They didn't hire anyone in production for more than 15 years. They modernized and automated every facet of the production process that they could. Now that they have begun hiring again at a lower wage (which is still higher than anyone else in the area) they are turning a profit and growing again. Their legacy costs, like those of other union stifled manufacturing businesses, are tremendous. GM and Chrysler come to mind....
Government labor faces the same situation. They are paid higher than "average" wages, they retire early, and they have better benefit packages than most workers in the private sector. Also remember that all government employees are paid for by us, the taxpayer. Another thing to remember about government employees is that they produce nothing. In business terms, all government employees are an expense. They add nothing to the bottom line. In fact, they detract from the bottom line. Are they needed? Absolutely, well, some of them are. The military for sure. (I'm a huge proponent of a strong, well armed, well trained military. One of the few good uses of my tax dollars...) That's fodder for another post :) Point is that they have tremendous legacy costs also. And we keep creating more opportunities for government employment.
Read this article. It explains legacy costs much better than I ever could. The last couple of paragraphs defines the situation that the majority of us (non-government employees) fall in.
My point in this post is that increased taxation is not the answer. Production and corporate profitability is. You'll never explain that to a Socialist. They just don't get it. They want the handout. They want the life long "safety net". They are wrong. Increased profitability leads, by its nature, to increased monies going into the government coffers. Decreased government spending leads to a lowering of the debt. Lowering of the debt allows ("in the black") funding of existing commitments.
I didn't want this to be an exercise in bashing Liberals but Liberals got us into this situation. The obama administration has increased our debt more than any administration in history. In 2 years. That, my friends, is a fact. Spin it any way you want to, blame any previous administration that you want to, make any excuse that you want to, the fact still remains. obama and his cronies have done more financial damage to this country than any other administration in history. I don't believe it was an accident. (we will talk about the divisiveness of obama and his administration in another post....)
Please remember that I am not an economist. This post is overly simplistic as regards the economy. That said, I believe that it is a simplistically accurate representation of a capital based economy.
BTW, I took this Civics quiz today. I got 30 out of 33 correct. That's like 94% and should be an "A" in anyone's class. If they graded on the curve it would definitely be an A.... I'm kinda proud of myself! :)
I should take my wife to breakfast.
Stay safe.
14 January 2011
Our "Leaders"....
di·vi·sive/diˈvīsiv/
Stay safe.
Adjective: Tending to cause disagreement or hostility between people.
Example: "obama is a divisive President"
On another subject.... Some worthwhile thoughts over at American Thinker.
Example: "obama is a divisive President"
On another subject.... Some worthwhile thoughts over at American Thinker.
Stay safe.
13 January 2011
Destined to be a classic....
Definition:
Liberal: Sounds much nicer than a "snively whiny ass self-esteem/warm-fuzzy deprived everybody receives a trophy don't worry, we don't keep score politically correct crybaby." ~~~posted by Graycat over at Moonbattery
I love it.
Stay safe.
Liberal: Sounds much nicer than a "snively whiny ass self-esteem/warm-fuzzy deprived everybody receives a trophy don't worry, we don't keep score politically correct crybaby." ~~~posted by Graycat over at Moonbattery
I love it.
Stay safe.
A rally in a stadium....
This is a political rally at a stadium in Nuremburg, Germany in the 1930's. It is not a political rally at a stadium in Tucson, Arizona in 2011. I just want to be clear on that.
Stay safe.
12 January 2011
Uh oh....
From my Statcounter page:
Why would the FAA care about me? Do you suppose they plan to revoke my pilot license?
They linked to me from Arctic Patriot's blog. Interesting. Veddy interestink. :)
Stay safe.
| 12 Jan | 20:26:09 | IE 8.0 | WinXP | 1024x768 |  | Washington, District Of Columbia, United States | Federal Aviation Administration (155.178.4.10) [Label IP Address] Blue's Blog: Uh oh.... causapatet.blogspot.com/2011/01/ready-to-package.html |
Why would the FAA care about me? Do you suppose they plan to revoke my pilot license?
| Date | Time | Browser | OS | Resolution | Location | Host Name/Web Page/Referring Link | ||
| 12 Jan | 18:21:29 | IE 7.0 | WinXP | 1280x1024 | | Arlington, Virginia, United States | Department Of Homeland Security (216.81.94.71) [Label IP Address] Blue's Blog www.blogger.com/profile/09326118453326721036 | |
| 12 Jan | 18:21:23 | Rippers 0 | unknown | unknown | | Arlington, Virginia, United States | Department Of Homeland Security (216.81.94.71) [Label IP Address] No referring link |
They linked to me from Arctic Patriot's blog. Interesting. Veddy interestink. :)
Stay safe.
11 January 2011
Jane Fonda....
Traitorous Bitch....
With another familiar face.
Jane Fonda disgusts me.
I just read this nice little article over at American Thinker. She's still up to her same old tricks. You would think that the old bag would just keep her mouth shut.
The prototypical Liberal.
Stay safe.
10 January 2011
Symbols....
Sarah Palin ad....
Definition of symbol used by Palin. Logical in the context of the ad.
The Democrat's ad....
Behind "Enemy" lines?
Clearly defined "Targets"....
Today's Amerikan Liberals are hate filled liars. They will do anything and say anything to take our country over and turn it into a fascist/socialist/communist state. They claim to hate big business and the free market, yet they are in bed with big business. They depend on big business. They own big business. Big business owns them.
They hate liberty because liberty requires hard work. Liberty requires personal responsibility and personal accountability. They want to be neither responsible nor accountable. They just want their handout. Everyone gets the same. How happy do you suppose they will be in their Uropia when they find out how little that "same" is?
They are delusional.
They have indoctrinated our children in the liberal public school systems for the past 35 years.
They claim to be educated but are incapable of original thought.
They scream that you must be tolerant but they are only tolerant of those with views that mirror their own.
They are afraid of conservatism. They are terrified of the Tea Party. Sarah Palin scares the shit out of them. Our constitution has worked for 230 years, yet they want to destroy it.
Religion sets moral standards that allow us to live together as human beings. They hate religion because it interferes with the lifestyle that they want to live. (Remember responsibility and accountability? Homosexuality and abortion?)
They want you to be like them. They want to control you.
The type of government that they propose has failed miserably everywhere that it's been tried.
They think it's OK to kill the unborn.
They are Godless.
Does this need further explanation?
Stay safe.
08 January 2011
The Times....
Read this at TL's blog....
And read this over at The Cliffs....
And this over at The Tree....
Do you have a knot in your stomach? A lump in your throat? Do you have that uneasy sense that something big is about to happen? Do you feel like things are happening way too fast? Faster than normal?
You realize that it's more than just the Dems, right? It's the entire Federal government. It's out of control like an uncaged gyro that has slipped out of it's bearings. Like a motorcycle with the throttle stuck open. It's going somewhere and it ain't a gonna be pretty.
Go read the blog posts that are linked above. Read the comments. Give it time to sink in and then give it some thought. I think they're right.
Pay attention, kiddies.
Stay safe.
And read this over at The Cliffs....
And this over at The Tree....
Do you have a knot in your stomach? A lump in your throat? Do you have that uneasy sense that something big is about to happen? Do you feel like things are happening way too fast? Faster than normal?
You realize that it's more than just the Dems, right? It's the entire Federal government. It's out of control like an uncaged gyro that has slipped out of it's bearings. Like a motorcycle with the throttle stuck open. It's going somewhere and it ain't a gonna be pretty.
Go read the blog posts that are linked above. Read the comments. Give it time to sink in and then give it some thought. I think they're right.
Pay attention, kiddies.
Stay safe.
06 January 2011
The Constitution....
They read it aloud on the floor of The House today. Almost in it's entirety. I think that's a good thing.
We still have a ways to go, though.
To wit:
"Rep. Jesse Jackson, D-Ill., spoke for African-Americans, women and others not enfranchised in the original draft and warned against historical revisionism. It was not right, he said, to redact despised sections such as the three-fifths clause because "many of us don't want that to be lost upon the reading of our sacred document.""
"It was not right to redact...."
Yet, they want to remove the word "nigger" from Mark Twain's Huckelberry Finn. Revisionism is revisionism, plain and simple. You can't have it both ways, folks. Obviously the Brother from Chicago sees it differently than I do. Perhaps he just wasn't thinking? Many of us want to read Mark Twain the way Mark Twain wrote.
Do you think Jesse is really representing all of the people in his district? Ya gotta wonder....
To share a quote.... "As long as any individual or group can expect to gain advantage by screaming "racism", racism will continue to exist." ~~Paul Buchanan
Or, how 'bout this one....
"How wonderful for governments that the people they administer do not think" ~~Adolph Hitler
Hmmmmmmm.......
It's a strange, strange world we live in, Master Jack....
Stay safe.
We still have a ways to go, though.
To wit:
"Rep. Jesse Jackson, D-Ill., spoke for African-Americans, women and others not enfranchised in the original draft and warned against historical revisionism. It was not right, he said, to redact despised sections such as the three-fifths clause because "many of us don't want that to be lost upon the reading of our sacred document.""
"It was not right to redact...."
Yet, they want to remove the word "nigger" from Mark Twain's Huckelberry Finn. Revisionism is revisionism, plain and simple. You can't have it both ways, folks. Obviously the Brother from Chicago sees it differently than I do. Perhaps he just wasn't thinking? Many of us want to read Mark Twain the way Mark Twain wrote.
Do you think Jesse is really representing all of the people in his district? Ya gotta wonder....
To share a quote.... "As long as any individual or group can expect to gain advantage by screaming "racism", racism will continue to exist." ~~Paul Buchanan
Or, how 'bout this one....
"How wonderful for governments that the people they administer do not think" ~~Adolph Hitler
Hmmmmmmm.......
It's a strange, strange world we live in, Master Jack....
Stay safe.
05 January 2011
Power tends to corrupt....
"Lord Acton said it well: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely. When we untether ourselves from the only real source of Power in the universe, we look for it in mere mortals. And as history has revealed to us again and again that there is great danger in worshiping false idols."
Good article at American Thinker.
Check it out.
Stay safe.
Good article at American Thinker.
Check it out.
Stay safe.
04 January 2011
Is that fear I smell....?
"Issa has tried to tamp down concerns about his agenda, but does not deny he'll be in a state of "constant battle" with the White House. He said in an interview Sunday that he views the administration as one of the "most corrupt" in modern times."
Read the entire article here.
The Democrats hire their own lawyer. Read it here.
The question of the day is, once again, will the Republicans have the intestinal fortitude to really, seriously investigate what they say they will investigate? If so, how far are they willing to go to fix the problems they find? Are they willing to do the will of the people or will they do what they usually do, that is, try to get the best deal possible for themselves?
I would agree that this administration does appear to be the most corrupt in "modern times". Perhaps they just aren't as good at covering up their misdeeds as previous administrations? I think that the vast majority of "them" are corrupt and it's all too easy to keep the people confused.
I am of the belief that, for the most part, Americans are an apathetic bunch. I think that's changing because people are starting to realize that "Hey! This crap does effect me!". "It effects me, and it effects my children and my grand children".
One has to remember that 52 or 53 percent voted for obama and his gang of thieves. He's losing his lustre, but he still has supporters. He has the unions and the people who depend on the government for their handout. He still has an agenda.
We are in a very precarious position, folks. We are at the edge of the cliff and our toes are hanging over....
What's it gonna be?
Oh yeah. Lindsay Lohan is out of Rehab. I knew you'd want to know.
Stay safe.
Read the entire article here.
The Democrats hire their own lawyer. Read it here.
The question of the day is, once again, will the Republicans have the intestinal fortitude to really, seriously investigate what they say they will investigate? If so, how far are they willing to go to fix the problems they find? Are they willing to do the will of the people or will they do what they usually do, that is, try to get the best deal possible for themselves?
I would agree that this administration does appear to be the most corrupt in "modern times". Perhaps they just aren't as good at covering up their misdeeds as previous administrations? I think that the vast majority of "them" are corrupt and it's all too easy to keep the people confused.
I am of the belief that, for the most part, Americans are an apathetic bunch. I think that's changing because people are starting to realize that "Hey! This crap does effect me!". "It effects me, and it effects my children and my grand children".
One has to remember that 52 or 53 percent voted for obama and his gang of thieves. He's losing his lustre, but he still has supporters. He has the unions and the people who depend on the government for their handout. He still has an agenda.
We are in a very precarious position, folks. We are at the edge of the cliff and our toes are hanging over....
What's it gonna be?
Oh yeah. Lindsay Lohan is out of Rehab. I knew you'd want to know.
Stay safe.
03 January 2011
Raise the debt ceiling...?
I was just reading this little piece over at American Thinker.
Interesting. Read the comments, of course :)
Will the Conservatives have the balls to refuse to raise the debt ceiling? Will they cut spending? Imagine the possibilities.
This is us being placed between the proverbial "rock and a hard place".
Everyone with a brain obviously realizes that our government has been lying to us for years about the seriousness of our debt situation. How's that make you feel? 14.3 TRILLION in debt seems like plenty to me. :)
Enjoy the article.
Stay safe.
Interesting. Read the comments, of course :)
Will the Conservatives have the balls to refuse to raise the debt ceiling? Will they cut spending? Imagine the possibilities.
This is us being placed between the proverbial "rock and a hard place".
Everyone with a brain obviously realizes that our government has been lying to us for years about the seriousness of our debt situation. How's that make you feel? 14.3 TRILLION in debt seems like plenty to me. :)
Enjoy the article.
Stay safe.
02 January 2011
The Pathology of the Liberal Mind....
I have always said that modern Liberals don't think, they "feel". Everything they do is based on "feelings" rather than on reason and logic. The vitriol they spew is based on the "talking points" of others rather than on individual research and original thought. They follow each other like they are lost, repeating what the leader says, over and over and over. Heck, they're still talking about and blaming Bush II....
I was blog-surfing the other day and came across this little tid-bit, which I think is worth sharing. Tons of good stuff at this site. Be prepared to spend a lot of time reading this blog! :)
I came across this little gem over at Moonbattery while reading blogs today. I have never been a fan of Katie Couric. I hold her in about the same regard as I hold Jane Fonda, which isn't very high. Fortunately, both Couric and Fonda are irrelevant. The only difference is that Jane Fonda finally realizes it. Katie hasn't gotten to that point yet. She will. In my humble opinion, Katie Couric is the definitive Barking Moonbat.
Watching Katie in the video, I was struck by her body language. It screams two things; Lack of knowledge regarding the subject to which she speaks, and insincerity. Both dangerous things, especially when your audience is, like I stated above, incapable of original thought. Some of them may actually believe what KC says. Scary. Fortunately for the rest of us, her ratings are in the basement with those of obama.
Watching her is kinda like watching obama. Have you ever noticed that when obama speaks he tilts his head back ever so slightly and looks down his nose at whomever he is speaking to?
Wow! I kinda sorta stayed on-topic through most of that. :)
Now to go a little off-topic:
Iowa has been, for many, many years, a "may issue" state regarding carry permits for firearms. The Sheriff of each of Iowa's 99 counties had a large amount of discretion in the issuing of handgun carry permits. Some Sheriffs issued permits to almost anyone who asked, as long as they passed the background check, training requirements, and gave a "good" reason for wanting a permit. Some Sheriffs issued no permits at all.
That all changed in April of 2010 when Iowa's Democratic governor, Chet Culver, signed legislation making Iowa a "shall issue" state. What this means is that all of Iowa's 99 Sheriffs must issue a concealed carry permit, without restrictions, to anyone who applies for one and who passes the background checks and meets the training criteria. Governor Culver is a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment and is an avid outdoorsman and hunter.
I expected a huge tormented cry from the Liberals in the state when this was signed into law but didn't hear hardly a peep from anyone other than a few Sheriffs, a few Law Enforcement Agencies, and a few mayors. The passing and signing of the bill went almost unnoticed in the media. That is until the past few days. You see, the law went into effect yesterday.
The media has been talking about it for the past week or so, putting their slant on it. I was watching a piece on this on one of the local stations a few nights ago. The newsreader who was presenting the story looked to be so pissed that he was spitting while talking and it appeared as if he would start crying at any moment.
Folks, this is a non-issue. There won't be gunfights in the streets. Crime may actually go down. A year from now everyone will wonder what all the fuss was about.
I have gone to the local gun shows for years and I can't remember ever seeing anyone from the media in attendance. At least not in any official capacity. Gun shows just aren't newsworthy events. :)
We had a fairly large show in town this weekend and it was very well attended. As I was leaving the show yesterday morning there was a newscaster and camera crew coming in the front door of the arena where the show was being held. I haven't watched the news today but I am interested in seeing what they had to say. I wonder if they will put any "spin" on it? Could be interesting! :)
Anyway, that's it for now. I hope that everyone had a safe and happy New Year. My wish for 2011 is that the American people will come to their senses and get back to work at making America great once again.
Stay safe.
I was blog-surfing the other day and came across this little tid-bit, which I think is worth sharing. Tons of good stuff at this site. Be prepared to spend a lot of time reading this blog! :)
I came across this little gem over at Moonbattery while reading blogs today. I have never been a fan of Katie Couric. I hold her in about the same regard as I hold Jane Fonda, which isn't very high. Fortunately, both Couric and Fonda are irrelevant. The only difference is that Jane Fonda finally realizes it. Katie hasn't gotten to that point yet. She will. In my humble opinion, Katie Couric is the definitive Barking Moonbat.
Watching Katie in the video, I was struck by her body language. It screams two things; Lack of knowledge regarding the subject to which she speaks, and insincerity. Both dangerous things, especially when your audience is, like I stated above, incapable of original thought. Some of them may actually believe what KC says. Scary. Fortunately for the rest of us, her ratings are in the basement with those of obama.
Watching her is kinda like watching obama. Have you ever noticed that when obama speaks he tilts his head back ever so slightly and looks down his nose at whomever he is speaking to?
Wow! I kinda sorta stayed on-topic through most of that. :)
Now to go a little off-topic:
Iowa has been, for many, many years, a "may issue" state regarding carry permits for firearms. The Sheriff of each of Iowa's 99 counties had a large amount of discretion in the issuing of handgun carry permits. Some Sheriffs issued permits to almost anyone who asked, as long as they passed the background check, training requirements, and gave a "good" reason for wanting a permit. Some Sheriffs issued no permits at all.
That all changed in April of 2010 when Iowa's Democratic governor, Chet Culver, signed legislation making Iowa a "shall issue" state. What this means is that all of Iowa's 99 Sheriffs must issue a concealed carry permit, without restrictions, to anyone who applies for one and who passes the background checks and meets the training criteria. Governor Culver is a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment and is an avid outdoorsman and hunter.
I expected a huge tormented cry from the Liberals in the state when this was signed into law but didn't hear hardly a peep from anyone other than a few Sheriffs, a few Law Enforcement Agencies, and a few mayors. The passing and signing of the bill went almost unnoticed in the media. That is until the past few days. You see, the law went into effect yesterday.
The media has been talking about it for the past week or so, putting their slant on it. I was watching a piece on this on one of the local stations a few nights ago. The newsreader who was presenting the story looked to be so pissed that he was spitting while talking and it appeared as if he would start crying at any moment.
Folks, this is a non-issue. There won't be gunfights in the streets. Crime may actually go down. A year from now everyone will wonder what all the fuss was about.
I have gone to the local gun shows for years and I can't remember ever seeing anyone from the media in attendance. At least not in any official capacity. Gun shows just aren't newsworthy events. :)
We had a fairly large show in town this weekend and it was very well attended. As I was leaving the show yesterday morning there was a newscaster and camera crew coming in the front door of the arena where the show was being held. I haven't watched the news today but I am interested in seeing what they had to say. I wonder if they will put any "spin" on it? Could be interesting! :)
Anyway, that's it for now. I hope that everyone had a safe and happy New Year. My wish for 2011 is that the American people will come to their senses and get back to work at making America great once again.
Stay safe.