Pledge To America: Some Commentary from Social Values Folks

SEE HERE Check it out. Worth a look. One of the problems these days is that the left is constantly lying to us. Listen to this to get the way they pull the wool over your eyes.

Seems A Shame: Obama Bans Import Of An American Iconic Gun— What an Idiot!

SEE HERE

Massive and Widespread Abuse — No Really!

Check it out! Is this a Democratic Administration or what? Corruption? Ah no, it can't be! Hahahahahahahahaha!

Did You Ever Wonder Why Anyone Wants to Be A Congressman?

SEE HERE Wonder no longer!

The Left Can't Escape Its Own Narrative

SEE HEREThe polarization of society these days is quite breathtaking. Both right and left suffer from it, but the left more than the right because the left takes as its fundamental mantra descended from its Marxist and extremists' roots that everything is politics and that truth doesn't matter, only dominating the discourse and ending up on top. The right, in this atmosphere of the eternal dialectic with propagandists and spin doctors, has started to catch the same disease. It is deadly and the victim is truth. Truth is the way things really are and not how they are perceived. When someone says "Perceptions are reality!" you have met someone who only cares about power and influence and not about the way things really are. The way things really are is fairly simple: You are born, made in the image and likeness of God, and you develop either to become an eternal glory or an eternal horror and then you die and are judged. To see this in a much more beautiful setting read C.S. Lewis's sermon "The Weight of Glory." You'll be glad you did!

Alan Greyson Is An Incredible Liar

Can it get worse then this. Fundamentally dishonest. Here's a clear and evident instance of a total liar. Wow! Unfortunately you have to watch a brief ad first.

This Is Ridiculous

The gravy train goes on and on and illegals get benefits which they have never contributed to. So does this mean everyone can come across the borders and claim benefits? Why? It's crazy!

Objective Truth Applied to Real Objectives

Michael Voris of RealCatholicTV holds liberals and conservatives too to a higher standard than that of the progressive worldly utopia which is the real opium of the people. C.S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man called these kind of people the Conditioners. The anointed hold out the promise of paradise on earth but what they really offer is control. As Orwell said in Animal Farm "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

Will the Real Racists Please Stand Up

SEE HERE Racism is a word used to characterize anyone who a liberal doesn't like ... goes along with words like Nazi, homophobe, and on and on ... Liberal Hate Speech is simply the "truth" as liberals see it, SEE HERE while anything a Conservative says is likely to be explained by some Bulverism.

Taxes for Wealth Distribution Are Theft

SEE HERE It's stealing when you take money from some to give it to others. Government is not about redistribution of wealth. That's forcing some to give money that you are then going to give to others. It's not clear that government should be in the Robin Hood game, and in any case Robin Hood was an outlaw, a romantic one like Bonnie and Clyde, but likely just as vicious. The government rules with a fist in a velvet glove but the use of force to take your money and give it to others is still stealing no matter who does it or how generous they claim the motive is. Charity is voluntary.

The Credibility Gap: The Political Class Chasm (The People Versus the Anointed)

Summarizing the Tea Party movement. A true "grass-roots movement." It's time for the political class to listen up.

New Shroud of Turin Website: 3D

SEE HEREThe Shroud of Turin in 3D is worth a look. I'm unclear on how the technology worked and how much artistic intervention was required, but regardless of those details, the results are quite impressive. Dr. Petrus Soons and his team did this work and reported it at the 2008 Shroud Conference in Columbus, Ohio were I presented a couple of papers. It was very impressive. Now here is a whole website on the topic. If you have time you might also like to look at Mario Latendresse's Shroud Scope HERE

Conduct Unbecoming

40.8 Million People On Food Stamps

Welcome to Obamanomics which swelled government employment at the expense of everyone else. Did you know that government employees are making twice what their private economy counterparts are making? How did that happen I'd like to know? When I worked for the government 1960 to 1977 all I ever heard was how much better the private sector did. I went to work for the private sector and just to get a competitive salary they had to boost my position compared to the position I had with the government (so already government employees were paid more). Now it's gotten worse and they do less. There is too much government and it doesn't do enough that is really worth doing. Indeed, much of what government does is positively destructive.

What It's Really Like In America, Unless You Like Being a Victim

It's Great When All the Priorities are TOP PRIORITIES

Obama's Top Priority from RightChange on Vimeo.

Can Republicans Be Redeemed? or Is Tyranny Inevitable?

SEE HERE Can the Republicans find their way back to grace? Can they restore confidence that they really are the party of principle and values? I certainly hope so, because the Demon-crats have been lying and cheating so long that I'm quite certain that they won't. They will just continue the path to socialism and serfdom. If you wonder what I'm talking about you might want to read "The Road to Serfdom" by Hayek. I have my grandfather's copy. It was published in 1944, a couple of years after I was born and what it describes defines what I have seen over my life as we move inexorable, or so it seems, towards socialism. We shall see, my children will see, how the story evolves. I will likely be gone. But I will be watching too from another place. The struggle against tyranny and evil is never ending until that bright day when the world meets its maker.

Thomas Sowell Gets It!

SEE HERE Why don't bills address the issues they are supposed to? Well, if they did, then the politicians wouldn't be able to flim flam us so often. What does selling gold have to do with the medical bill? It's all about control. Those that control are the masters. That that are controlled are the serfs. Welcome to serfdom suckers. If you want to restore freedom then you have to start to reform government. November Is Coming!

Check out the Tax Cheat In Charge

Stop Vote Fraud

Vote fraud has been a staple of Democratic politics for generations. It's time to bring it to a halt. The integrity of the whole system demands an honest vote.

More on the Question of Presidential Elegibility

Nancy Pelosi sent a unique eligibility document to the state of Hawaii. It's not clear why Hawaii was being told that Obama was eligible. The Democratic party in Hawaii refused to certify Barack Obama as eligible, so Nancy Pelosi had to interpose herself. Hawaii had endorsed the party nominees in 2000 and 2004. Only in 2008 did a different procedure apply. Is this cogent? I'm not at all sure. It sounds a bit Mickey Mouse to me. It is strange that a special intervention appears to have occurred. The on-going doubt about the president's eligibility seems to be justified if only because on a matter so fundamental and on an issue so trivially resolved if the birth certificate actually exists, it should have long since have been resolved. So it seems likely that there is no birth certificate which means that the president may not have a way of demonstrating his eligibility to serve regardless of his place of birth.

Climate Change? What Climate Change? It's Called Weather!

SEE HERE Data analysis of three centuries of data show that there has been no net warming trend. Oops! Also shows that CO2 climate influence is undetectable. Oops! The basic finding is that we've been lied to by a bunch of climate modelers. They ought to learn some physics.

"I'm An American" and November Is Coming!

John Schwarzman is a conservative from Reston, Virginia and has written and produced a music video that everyone should see. SEE HERE

The Mind of Tyranny

SEE HERE People speaking their minds? That's fine on the left only so long as the speech approves their talking points. Those other people ... the ones that don't like what they are doing or don't believe in their principles, those people are insane and should be silenced. In a nutshell that is the mindset of the left. It is authoritarian and has no place for freedom of speech, only the freedom to agree with the anointed. More people need to speak out and protest. This is America. We will not be silenced by a government with a tyrannical mindset. November Is Coming!

Tea Party VA Convention Oct 8th and 9th

SEE HERE If you're interested in what the Tea Party is doing in Virginia, they're having a convention in Richmond on October 8th and 9th. Sounds like it might be a good wing-ding for those who can make it. Check it out if you're so inclined.

A Political War Is An Immoral War: Win or Get Out!

SEE HERE This piece based on revelations in the new Bob Woodward book is an example of the kind of thinking we get from the leadership on the left. They are cynical and have no concept whatsoever of the sacrifices the men and women of the U.S. military make to advance our nation's policies. We will see how this plays out. Obama's horizon seems to begin and end with Obama.

There Will Be No Republican "Civil War"

SEE HERE and the reason there will be no Republican "Civil War" much to the disappointment of the Democrats, is that the Republican grassroots are virtually to a man and woman in sympathy with the Tea Party and fed up to their eyeballs with the left, the progressives, and the so-called moderates (the RINOs) in their own party. Let the revolution begin, frankly. If you want more government then you should find some other country because we have more than we want, much more than we want. Freedom isn't about government controlling everything and treating us all like serfs. November Is Coming!

One Way to Shut Down a Heckler

New Jersey governer Christie shuts down a shouting heckler. Seems like the rest of the crowd appreciated it.

The Focus: November Is Coming!

As Usual, the Hypocrites are Out In Force

SEE HERE Michelle Malkin nails it when she points out the comfortable deals that the beltway political Democratic elite cut to continue themselves in privilege and power while they look down their noses at hard working ordinary people,authentic people, like Christine O'Donnell. I get a bit frustrated just reading about their hypocrisy. We really do need term limits and I'm not sure we wouldn't be better served by filling all these elected positions with a national lottery. Then at least we'd be ensured that we'd get Americans that actually understood the plight of ordinary people.

Isn't This Just Outrageous ... Fiscal Mismanagement? or Just Stupidity?

SEE HERE You gotta wonder how $1.45 billion (yeah billion) evaded the hawk eyes of the Democrats when they said they could not afford to keep the rest areas on the interstates open in Virginia. Over the years I've seen the bureaucrats over and over figure out how they can do something punishing to the electorate if they want something like higher taxes. This pretty much takes the cake though. We need to clean house big time folks! November Is Coming!

Listen Up: Eliminate These "Lame Ducks"

It's Out of Control Big Government Stupid!

SEE HERE Do the Republicans get it? You have to wonder. Politics is all smoke and mirrors which reflects the lack of sincerity and the special interests of our political elite. It's time to face up to the fact that if they have been in Washington a long time they likely have the disease. Lack of candor, cynicism, negotiable principles, and hypocrisy are all staples of the Washington elite. As some wag said, "We could do better with a few hundred people chosen at random from the phone book."

Sheer Hypocrisy! It's Always Amazing!

SEE HEREAnn Coulter calls it like it is. The sheer hypocrisy of the left is simply breathtaking. How can they do that with a straight face? Are they really so disrespectful of the electorate that they think no-one will notice? Just Amazing! But, thankfully, November Is Coming!

In Case You Wonder About Moslem Sanity

A friend of mine sent this to me with the following comment: (BTW I'm not the bald guy who knows "Jeff") that's just the video source.

MUSLIM CEREMONY IN VIENNA

Just so you may have a better understanding of Islam……….Be sure to note the women and mothers standing calmly in the crowds and eating ice cream. [Probably thinking ‘and we are married to these idiots’] Civilized ceremony? You decide. This is an annual celebration by Muslims. They are supposed to experience pain like their Sunni Ancestors did when they were massacred several centuries ago by the Shiite Muslims over a Jihad (Holy War) in a fight over who succeeded Mohammad. Now you know why Muslims are killing fellow Muslims -- they must experience pain and suffering. One day we are going to end up in hand-to-hand combat with these people. We may not have anything left but rocks to fight with if the gun grabbers have their way!

Check It Out! Christine O'Donnell In Her Own Speak

Part I

Part II

I heard Christine O'Donnell speak at the Value Voters' Summit and it was quite clear that she is not some nut-job as the liberal media is striving to frame her. Sorry boys and girls, you have to develop a more "nuanced" narrative. Screaming "Idiot, Witch, and Nazi" only goes so far. Don't you just wish sane speech would return to America?

Truces: We've Had Those and What Has It Got Us?

SEE HERE Red State looks at the unique idea of actually embracing principles. What could be more foreign to the Washington elite mindset? I can hear them now, "Principle, we don't need no damn principles!" Well maybe they should reconsider. November Is Coming!

The Tea Party Is Real People Not Politicos

At the Value Voters' Summit this past weekend one of the speakers made the point, don't remember which, that "Politics" comes from Poly for "many" and Tics for "blood sucking insects" ... I thought it was funny but all too true. Check out Sarah Palin here explaining the Tea Party. The Grassroots were never so green and those blood sucking insects are concerned. Makes me laugh.

Reflecting On Core Realities

SEE HERE Let's put it right out there. The issue is honesty and integrity. Washington doesn't have and has not had it for a darn long time. The bottom line is that they're all feathering their own nests and creating havoc on the back of the citizenry. Between the Demon-crats who simply slander and slam and havn't got two ideas to rub together, and the run with the pack RINO Republican whiners who say one thing and do another, people are just fed up. I'll vote for almost anyone that isn't a Washington insider. If Karl Rove likes them they are probably terrible. If the Democrats like them they are definitely terrible. Frankly I'll salute the Tea Party. They want to see freedom and liberty front and center and a whole lot more responsibility shown in that slimy pit called Washington, D.C. I just spent the weekend there and I had the sense that it's downright insidious. The odor of corruption is everywhere ... two much money ... too expensive ... waste wherever you look. It's time to cut back to essentials and start rewarding virtue, integrity, honesty and a few other virtues. I sure hope that they all get their heads handed to them in November.

Corruption is the Trademark of Our Times

SEE HERE One of the largely untold stories of our time has been the story of how ACORN, Jesse Jackson and other community activists have been able to transfer billions of dollars from banks to their own organizations' causes, with the aid of the federal government, exemplified by the Community Reinvestment Act and its sequels. Thomas Sowell as usual, captures a lessen missed by so many others. Corruption is the mark of our times as is coercion and the conspiracy of power and privilege aimed at separating the marks from their money. We need to turn it around, but the path is not easy. It is much easier to sink into the slime and suffocate. But on the bright side, we will get one more chance November Is Coming! PAT BUCHANAN on much the same issue.

Rush Calls Rove On His Beltway Bigotry

SEE HERE "Why not fight for it? Castle's OK as the 51st vote, but this woman isn't?" Limbaugh asked.

"Everyone I know that saw this was just — they were perplexed and said, 'What's going on? Why is he so mad at a Republican?'" Rush complained of Rove's move.

"Where was this anger directed at a Democrat ever?" Rush asked again.

Can you ever remember a Democrat leader urging fellow Democrats not to support Al Franken when he won his Senate seat — despite a blizzard of oddities he provided over his long career?

This kind of response from Republican talking heads is one of the reasons that people are angry. The election result was that Christine O'Donnell won ... she got the most votes. The people have spoken and these smug self-satisfied talking heads from the Republican party can only whine that their RINO didn't win. What is going on here? It looks for all the world like these people think they are in charge and not the electorate. We've come to expect that kind of stuff from Demon-crats, but now it's coming from Republicans too. It's time for a broad house cleaning in Washington while there is still time and people still pay some attention to elections. If it goes much further than it is now, elections will no longer work and the system will have collapsed. "A shining city on a hill ..." as Reagan described us, will have become a stinking slum of favoritism and privilege and no-one need apply except the anointed ones. It stinks! November Is Coming! and It's Your Last Chance to Make a Difference.

"Danger Will Robinson" ... Ignoring Warnings Often Leads to Bad Places

SEE HERE The RINOs and the establishment Republicans who might be legitimately called Demon-crat lite are dissing the Tea Party Conservatives and the reality is that failing to acknowledge that the only valid movement in the country is the Tea Party, the rest is bought and paid for propaganda, failing to recognize this is a recipe for long term collapse not only of the Republican Party but of the republic itself since the current progressive left Marxist extremists controlling the administration are hell-bent on a program which can hardly do anything but collapse the economy and precipitate a crisis of monumental proportions. The mid-term elections are the one chance to turn it around, failing that we're going to face more and worse. November Is Coming!

Write-In Strategy Is Just A Spoiler Strategy

Spoiler tactics will simply throw the election to the Democrat. So much for her hypocrisy. She was rejected by her constituents and now is acting like a whiner. It's all about her! Typical RINO. Here's the SOURCE link.

Inspirational Story

I heard this young man at the Value Voters' Summit this weekend. He was on a panel that was discussing the attempt to overthrow the DADT (Don't Ask Don't Tell) policy of the United States military to allow homosexual person to serve and be openly homosexual. The panel discussed the immense destructive impact this revised policy will have on the military. The primary impact on retention, recruitment and small unit cohesion will substantially reduce the effectiveness of the U.S. Military with no compensating impact. Very stupid, and frankly immoral idea. Check him out at http://blownupguy.com/

Establishment of Religion? Only If It's Christianity Apparently!

Our sensitivity knows no bounds, unless it's about Christianity and then "horrors."

Panic Sets In and the Spin Goes On

SEE HERE Anything, anything to stop the rise of liberty as Tea Party candidates rise from the political shadows. What is going on? Perhaps it is liberty rising. Perhaps it is a new awareness among the electorate that Democrats are bad for the republic and RINOs are only Democrat lite. Maybe that's what it is. And maybe it's the spin the media spin doctors suggest, just bad luck for the president that his gargantuan efforts to "stimulate" the economy have not borne fruit quickly enough. No one can be sure, but spin almost by definition is about lying gracefully and everyone has had their fill. Newt Gingrich at the Value Voters Summit in Washington D.C. today sounded an interesting comparison with Poland and the 2+2=4 protest. It was very instructional. Ultimately truth trumps lies and that's the point. We're running out of other people's money so socialism, whatever else it can do, can't have a long life.

The Conventional Wisdom of the Political Elite

SEE HERE Charles Krauthammer joins Karl Rove in suggesting that Christine O'Donnell is unelectable in Delaware. That of course is TBD (To Be Determined). O'Donnell addressed the Values Voters Summit conference this weekend in Washington, D.C. and was very impressive. Newt Gingrich, no slouch when it comes to political affairs, suggested that she was indeed electable because in his assessment the election will come down to paychecks or foodstamps with the liberal policies leading to increased joblessness and dependency. We'll see who is right in November. In any case electability is not the sole measure. There is something called truth and values and until we face up to that we will continue to see the dissolution of the republic.

Don't think for a moment that the issue is merely winning a particular office. At this time we are met on a great battlefield for the hearts and minds of America. On one side stand the leftists who hold out a false promise of utopia constructed on the bodies and treasure of the productive and on the other hand are those who support freedom and liberty. You cannot have a utopia built on stolen treasure, but the treasure is soon exhausted and poverty follows.

The Idiots Are Still In Control

SEE HERE Here is Thomas Sowell again, doing what he does so well, talking common sense, a skill all to seldom seen these days. "Disarmament" is fundamentally an incoherent idea in the real world. Sowell points that out. One has to have a suicide wish is this world to try disarmament. It could only work if men were fundamentally good. God may have intended them to be and created them that way, but they quickly queered the deal. Chesterton says that original sin is one truth about man that is empirically observable. So exactly why would you trust a nation to disarm? Did Germany disarm after WWI or did they do everything they could not to comply with the terms of disarmament? Do you really trust people who are militarists at heart to comply? Good luck. I've been looking for a buyer for this bridge I have for sale in Brooklyn.

In conclusion Sowell says:

International disarmament has long been a favorite crusade of the left, before as well as after the age of nuclear weapons. The period between the two World Wars were full of popular disarmament agreements and renunciations of war.

In fact, such pious agreements contributed to the outbreak of war. Because some nations adhered to these agreements and others did not, the military advantage swung to the latter, who started the war-- in which tens of millions of human beings died.

Of Liberals and Conservatives

SEE HERE Thomas Sowell skewers those who think liberal and conservative have well defined or even coherent meanings. It would be better I think to put up a short list of principles and identify oneself with those than to accept the convenient in nearly meaningless 'tags' that are used to categorize the political discourse.

Unhappiness In RINO Land

SEE HERE Red State sharpens the stick and points out what is going on. Too many Senate aides, sort of the bureaucratic underside of politics, are attacking Jim DeMint for his support for Christine O’Donnel. I think this shows the elitist attitudes of the inside the beltway power brokers who think that only one frocked in their fraternity should ever be considered for anything. The people have spoken and she's the nominee. Get over it boys! Maybe a new wind is blowing. We shall see in November.

A Sober Look At Islam

SEE HERE Armstrong Williams, the other Williams, skewers Islam for what it is today. Muslims are fine with religious freedom when they're in the minority in a country, because it gives them room to grow. But once they become the majority, they transform the nation into something else entirely, because a liberal democracy run by human reason is an offense (and an impossibility) to the Muslim Mind. Islam doesn't thrive in a liberal democracy; it merely bides its time. We need to understand that this is exactly true. How to deal with it? I don't know, but you ignore the reality at your peril.

Rats With Their Backs Against the Wall Act Like, Well, Rats!

SEE HERE Walter Williams is my other favorite economist and social commentator. Between Walter and Thomas I feel that I have a really nice and reliable pair of insightful commentators on the contemporary scene. In this piece he is talking about the rats, well they call themselves the liberal progressives, but they're rats. Williams says: Their agenda calls for the elimination or attenuation of the market. Why? Free markets imply voluntary exchange. Tyrants do not trust that people behaving voluntarily will do what the tyrants think they should do. Therefore, they seek to replace the market with economic planning control and regulation.

These are dangerous people and they don't have your well-being at heart. It's time to take stock and take action. November Is Coming!

People are Generally Idiots and Led Around By their Noses

SEE HERE The media, since they decided they were no longer reporters but opinion shapers are constantly mouthing all kinds of idiotic "narratives" about wealth and poverty. Language and assumptions are important. Thomas Sowell, one of my favorite people, skewers them precisely when he says: The grand fallacy in most discussions of income statistics is the assumption that the various income brackets represent enduring classes of people, rather than transients who start at the bottom in entry-level jobs and move up as they acquire more experience and skills.

Evil Wins When People Simply Look the Other Way

This is a Catholic perspective from Michael Voris, but it touches all Christians, or ought to, because if Christians were really Christian, the world would be a better place. "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to stand by and do nothing."

The Media Mentality: Simply Insanity

SEE HERE Ann Coulter simply puts it out there. The incoherent smug idiocy of the media is getting a bit thick in the muddled brain mush department. I wonder if these folks realize just how manic and silly they appear? Probably not since they, like so many others, are suffering from beltway meltdown. Perhaps it is time to recognize that there is something that destroys common sense that exists inside the beltway. We should move the capital to someplace cool, like Juno, Alaska. Then they'd have to be motivated to go there. If that doesn't work something up closer to the North Pole might.

Something to Watch Closely

Now to be frank, I know next to nothing about O'Donnell, but I don't trust Karl Rove. So the fact that he's already running a shtick against O'Donnell is just another case of "establishment pundits" running down candidates that are outside what they think of as the beltway mainstream. They did this to Sarah Palin with all sorts of innuendo and here Rove is doing the same thing. Bottom line: the access to power is a club jealously guarded by an elite. When you see people being attacked for vague, not very substantive reasons, immediately check your plausibility meter. Rove doesn't pass mine. He is sowing doubt intentionally and I think that is the sign of a troll.

The Stupid Party?

SEE HERE If you ever wondered why columnist Joseph Sobran always called the Republicans "the stupid party" then read Red State today. There must be something in the water in Washington that makes perfectly reasonable men go mad when they get there. The GOP ought to be the part of thoughtful conservatives, but it's really the party of Democrat-lite in large part, equally invested in liberal principles with the single caveat of going slower than the "hell bent for leather" (whatever that means) Demon-crats. The grassroots of the GOP are largely conservative, so the behavior of their elected representatives often irritates them to death. John McCain only got grassroots support after he put Sarah Palin on the ticket no matter what the media talking heads were saying. So here we have the elected officials shooting themselves in the head. We should takes names and collect the heads.

C.S. Lewis at EMU Sep 22nd 7:30 P.M.

SEE HERE As a big C.S. Lewis fan this is an event not to be missed. And SEE HERE too!

Read Robinson and Assume He's an Obama Flack

SEE HERE Well I don't know how far I go with Newt Gingrich or Dinesh D'Souza, but I trust them a whole lot more than I trust Eugene Robinson, who almost whenever I read him seems to be shilling for the administration. Frankly, explaining Obama's bizarre actions and relatively disconnected discourse is a thankless task which perhaps Gingrich and D'Souza should just give up as a lost cause. I think both of them are more trustworthy than Robinson, so when he hits on them both in once piece me'thinks he protests too much.

Isn't It Time for a Definitive Answer?

SEE HERE Just how long can the president posture. I, for one, am sick and tired of this thin charade that producing a birth certificate isn't necessary. You have to be a natural born citizen to serve as president of the United States. Is it too much to ask for the president to demonstrate that he is, especially when his own relatives are on record saying he was born in Kenya. The only evidence he's produced is a certificate of live birth which is not a birth certificate. It doesn't list the hospital of birth or the attending physician or any of the specific information. At least one former Hawaiian official has gone on record saying that it is common knowledge that there is no birth certificate for Obama in Hawaii. Now the president has gone around posturing as if he's done everything he can. Well let's see the birth certificate Mr. President.

You Ain't Seen Nutt'in Yet ...

There is something almost surreal about this administration's attitude towards economics. It's as if a mad engineer has gotten into the engine room and is slamming the gears and levers every which way to see what will happen. The crew is scared to death and hunkering down and the idiots are proclaiming their brilliance with each new slam of a lever, each new 100 billion down the tubes. The engineer is a madman who is skilled only at yelling "Change, yes we can!" and pulls another lever.

The Wind of Words — By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

SEE HERE As usual, Thomas Sowell brings some much needed light to the wind of words that escapes from the politicians. The fruits of their actions belies the wind of their words.

St. Louis Under the Arch 9/12 : Can You Hear Us Now!

It's Not a Mosque. It's Not a Cultural Center. It's a Rabat!

SEE HERE In case you wondered why the ground zero "mosque" should not be built, read this piece which reveals the true nature of this abomination. It is a celebration of the 9/11 raid (ghazva). New Yorkers understand that instinctively.

After each ghazva, the Prophet ordered the creation of a rabat -- or a point of contact at the heart of the infidel territory raided. The rabat consisted of an area for prayer, a section for the raiders to eat and rest and facilities to train and prepare for future razzias. Later Muslim rulers used the tactic of ghazva to conquer territory in the Persian and Byzantine empires. After each raid, they built a rabat to prepare for the next razzia.

The World Is Made Magical By Children

SEE HERE There is something amazing about children. Perhaps it is their innocence, unspoiled yet by the awareness of all the slimy things that tarnish and diminish the world. Each new day is a magical event as the sun rises and reveals the dew on the daisies and the cotton candy clouds. But Sauron has invaded the West and Moloch has claimed the children.

There is a theme in science fiction called if this goes on and it tends to focus on something which if it continues will lead to dire consequences. The declining birth rate in the West is one of those things. The consequences are now hard upon us. Europe will cease to be Western in another generation. We are closely behind. The great experiment which started in Athens and acquired it's spiritual dimension in Jerusalem, the union of free men with a triune God will end because we no longer care about the children.

If Fidel Castro Gets It Maybe There Is Some Hope for Obama In About 51 Years

SEE HERE This is an interesting piece from a "conservative physicist" which amused me, I mean the conservative physicist part. Since I tend to think of myself in somewhat the same light I was drawn a little more to the piece than otherwise. After destroying Cuba, it's odd to see Castro admitting that perhaps it doesn't work very well after all.

The Mastery of Double Speak

What has America become?

This letter appeared in June 2010 and has been floating around. I found it on my sister's blog and followed a link HERE I think it captures the hypocrisy of the culture where truth is no longer the test, only some kind of political correctness.

Editor,
Has America become the land of special interest and home of the double standard?

Lets see: if we lie to the Congress, it's a felony and if the Congress lies to us its just politics; if we dislike a black person, we're racist and if a black person dislikes whites, its their 1st Amendment right; the government spends millions to rehabilitate criminals and they do almost nothing for the victims; in public schools you can teach that homosexuality is OK, but you better not use the word God in the process; you can kill an unborn child, but it is wrong to execute a mass murderer; we don't burn books in America, we now rewrite them; we got rid of communist and socialist threats by renaming them progressive; we are unable to close our border with Mexico, but have no problem protecting the 38th parallel in Korea; if you protest against President Obama's policies you're a terrorist, but if you burned an American flag or George Bush in effigy it was your 1st Amendment right.

You can have pornography on TV or the internet, but you better not put a nativity scene in a public park during Christmas; we have eliminated all criminals in America, they are now called sick people; we can use a human fetus for medical research, but it is wrong to use an animal.

We take money from those who work hard for it and give it to those who don't want to work; we all support the Constitution, but only when it supports our political ideology; we still have freedom of speech, but only if we are being politically correct; parenting has been replaced with Ritalin and video games; the land of opportunity is now the land of hand outs; the similarity between Hurricane Katrina and the gulf oil spill is that neither president did anything to help.

And how do we handle a major crisis today? The government appoints a committee to determine who's at fault, then threatens them, passes a law, raises our taxes; tells us the problem is solved so they can get back to their reelection campaign.

What has happened to the land of the free and home of the brave?

- Ken Huber
Tawas City

Sometimes It Takes the Cat In The Hat

I do not like this Uncle Sam,

I do not like his health care scam.

I do not like these dirty crooks,

or how they lie and cook the books.

I do not like when Congress steals,

I do not like their secret deals.

I do not like this speaker, Nan,

I do not like this 'YES WE CAN.'

I do not like this spending spree,

I'm smart, I know that nothing's free.

I do not like your smug replies,

when I complain about your lies.

I do not like this kind of hope.

I do not like it, nope, nope, nope!

Welcome to Insanity New York Style

SEE HERE Hopefully these ridiculous charges will be dropped. Just exactly what are you supposed to do when you're threatened? Are you supposed to wait to respond until you're wounded or dead? Shooting into the ground seems like a good way to warn the enemy that you mean business. But apparently you're supposed to end up dead in Long Island. Sheesh! Is there anyone sane in the U.S. anymore?

Government Has A Way of Messing Up Nearly Everything

SEE HERE It's true that's all. There used to be a joke about computers that to really screw something up royally you needed a computer. I think the reality is a bit more mundane. To really screw things up in world-class fashion just invite the government in to fix them. We need a lot less government and a lot more freedom. People can manage their own lives, they don't need a nanny-state to do it for them.

Education Has Been Declining and Not Just Among the Black Population or The Inner Cities

SEE HERE Walter Williams gives a sad account of what amounts to malfeasance of educators. Giving young people the idea that they are doing well when they are simply being well behaved is criminal. The schools are increasingly falling short of the performance of the schools of the past. I like to collect old books and among the most interesting are old school books. They are almost always much much more advanced than current school books of the same grade. Don't worry, the educators have all sorts of nonsensical excuses for this phenomenon, but none of them are really true. The truth is that they simply are not educating the way they did in the past. It's tragic. It is cheating the young, and ultimately it is destroying the nation. We need education reform now.

Dear Lord, Save Us From the Idiots!

SEE HERE Those who live on the progressive left drink a peculiar brand of bottled water which contains essence of nonsense, and spirits of blindness. Drinking this concoction makes you forget reality and live instead in a world full of phantoms of your own construction. Diversity, accommodation, Amerika a nation that spawns hatred of itself around the world. Most of these people are congenitally unable to do anything actually productive except issue talking points based on the aforementioned beverage. Some take it up a notch to Koolaid. It is important to live in the real world at least once in a while. The real world is the world of truth for the true things and onlyt he true things are real. The goal of any discourse as Mortimer Adler would tell you, is to arrive at the truth. If you're drinking extract of nonsense laced with blindness and distorted perceptions you likely won't recognize the truth when you fall over it. Adler says that if you can't arrive jointly at the truth, then the next objective of discourse is to arrive at understanding, an understanding so complete that you can give the other fella's case as powerfully or more powerfully than he can himself. On this test the progressive left fails utterly. They have no interest in any ideas but their own. It has to be something in the water.

An Indictment: We Are All Hypocrites!

Michael Voris in his usual direct manner indicts us all as hypocrites who say one thing and do another. Would that it were not so!

Radically Transforming America Has To Stop

SEE HERE for the painting. November Is Coming!

Thomas Sowell Lays The Deficit At The Democratic Congress's Door

SEE HERE Yup, the current deficit and the run up to it was caused by the Democratic congress now and in the last several years of the Bush administration. The so called Bush crisis was manufactured by the congress as usual. That doesn't mean that Republicans are particularly fiscally responsible, they're not. But the Democrats are far worse and always have been. The idea of a fiscally responsible Democrat is actually an oxymoron.

Government Tyranny: Light Bulbs! Outrageous!

Since when can congress ban something safe and require something hazardous made in a foreign country. This kind of nonsense has to end. LAST LIGHT BULB FACTORY CLOSES The triumph of ideology over common sense. Stupid! Notice who voted for this ignorant nonsense.

Who Are the Haters? Those Who Kill the Children and Destroy the Families

This is an incredible video of a courageous young woman who is a black conservative and says it like it is. We need more young people like her. November Is Coming!

It is Insane to Negotiate with Terrorists

SEE HERE I'm a big fan of negotiation with sane people. Unfortunately those in the grip of an ideology that permits them to strap bombs on their children and pretend that any killing of innocent people so long as they are Jewish is just some sort of just retribution for long past wrongs, such people are clinically insane. They won't keep any bargain that they negotiate and they will use any and all negotiations to simply continue their insane pogrom.

Russell Kirk: Knight Errant!

SEE HERE I met Russell Kirk only once, shaking his hand at the Elizabethtown Conference on the Shroud of Turin. Kirk was one of the organizers of the meeting and sat on a panel that discussed the shroud in the light of the speakers at the conference which represented all the major players pro-and-con authenticity. I would have liked to know Russell Kirk better, but for that I have only access to his books and papers and the reflections of his friends.

Perceptions versus Reality

SEE HEREI don't know much about Bob Livingston who wrote this. He sends me a daily newsletter headlined: Personal Liberty Digest. A lot of times he makes a lot of sense. Sometimes he comes across as a nut-job, so you can flip a coin. I had a boss once that liked to say "Perception is reality." That's actually a bit of a scary idea. It means that if I can fool you into thinking something, then for you, that's reality. Only on the surface is perception reality. Reality is true while perceptions may or may not be true. That's why you need as many perspectives as possible. I still remember a conversation with a friend that I had now many years ago, around 1963. We were walking across an aircraft hanger at the Naval Air Development Center and we were talking about how complex avionics systems had become and whether anyone really understood them. My friend said: "My dad says it is all a game of 'who do you trust?'" That's stuck with me a long time because I thought at the time and I still think that it is one of the most perceptive statements. So Who Do You Trust? November Is Coming!

An Invocation Worth Listening To A Time or Two

Would that I have the grace this lady has as I grow older. Here's a link to HOME INSTEAD

An Open Letter to the Chancellor of Germany

SEE HERE 130 scientists state the case against the prevailing global warming alarmism.

November Is Coming!

Can You Hear Us Yet?

The Rule of Law? France's Experience of Islam

SEE HERE

Acta non verba

On Friday, August 6, David C. Dolby passed away suddenly in Spirit Lake, Idaho at the age of 64. Childless, Mr. Dolby had lived in virtual seclusion in the town of Barto , PA since the passing of his wife in 1997. Barto is so small and insignificant the Rand McNally Atlas doesn’t even list it in its appendix. Mr. Dolby’s passing went so unnoticed that even his hometown paper didn’t acknowledge it. His passing was announced by an organization to which he belonged. Evidently most felt Mr. Dolby’s death didn’t merit any notice at all and almost nobody gave it a thought. He apparently hadn’t done anything in his life to merit any special attention.

Three days later, on Monday, August 9, Steven Slater, a childish, immature loser who up until that day had pretty much gone as unnoticed as David Dolby, threw a temper tantrum on a Jet Blue airplane at John F. Kennedy airport because his personal pet peeve is luggage that shifts during flight (or maybe it was tray tables not being in their upright and locked position). Since acting like a spoiled 16 year old, he has been featured on every major news network in the country, his face is on the front page of numerous national publications, Facebook pages have been established to “honor” him, and Mr. Slater has been called a “hero” by people we are supposed to believe know what that term means. Only in today’s America, Mr. Slater will, in all likelihood, stretch his 15 minutes of infamy into 30 and end up making an obscene amount of money from, and revered by, some folks in our great nation who believe that Mr. Slater’s parents actually DIDN”T pollute the gene pool. He will be interviewed by Today, the Early Show, Good Morning America. He’ll appear on Leno, Conan, Letterman. He’ll become what we in America these days view as “somebody”. He’ll be given praise he doesn’t deserve and labels he never earned. He apparently has done something that merits special attention.

In the meantime, later this week a funeral service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery. There won’t be any press there and likely only a handful of mourners who had the privilege to know David Dolby. And there will probably be a few guys there that are fellow members of the organization that announced his passing: the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

Dolby's official citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty, when his platoon, while advancing tactically, suddenly came under intense fire from the enemy located on a ridge immediately to the front. Six members of the platoon were killed instantly and a number were wounded, including the platoon leader. Sgt. Dolby's every move brought fire from the enemy. However, aware that the platoon leader was critically wounded, and that the platoon was in a precarious situation, Sgt. Dolby moved the wounded men to safety and deployed the remainder of the platoon to engage the enemy. Subsequently, his dying platoon leader ordered Sgt. Dolby to withdraw the forward elements to rejoin the platoon. Despite the continuing intense enemy fire and with utter disregard for his own safety, Sgt. Dolby positioned able-bodied men to cover the withdrawal of the forward elements, assisted the wounded to the new position, and he, alone, attacked enemy positions until his ammunition was expended. Replenishing his ammunition, he returned to the area of most intense action, single-handedly killed 3 enemy machine gunners and neutralized the enemy fire, thus enabling friendly elements on the flank to advance on the enemy redoubt. He defied the enemy fire to personally carry a seriously wounded soldier to safety where he could be treated and, returning to the forward area, he crawled through withering fire to within 50 meters of the enemy bunkers and threw smoke grenades to mark them for air strikes. Although repeatedly under fire at close range from enemy snipers and automatic weapons, Sgt. Dolby directed artillery fire on the enemy and succeeded in silencing several enemy weapons. He remained in his exposed location until his comrades had displaced to more secure positions. His actions of unsurpassed valor during 4 hours of intense combat were a source of inspiration to his entire company, contributed significantly to the success of the overall assault on the enemy position, and were directly responsible for saving the lives of a number of his fellow soldiers. Sgt. Dolby's heroism was in the highest tradition of the U.S. Army

NB: This post was sent to me by a friend. The Latin heading which I added means: "Action not words." SEE HERE

This Shouldn't Be A Big Surprise

SEE HERE New findings show that existing IPCC models are simply flawed and over estimate the impact of CO2 on the environment. Why is that a surprise? Among the interesting things that are mentioned is the fact that instead of positive feedback the probably should have negative feedback which would operate to stabilize rather than support the various run-away scenarios. There's really no very big surprise here, but you'd think the IPCC should have known this. HERE's a fun page to explore. HERE's A PAPER NOT TO MISS It shows that the Greenhouse effect is a figment of Climate Alarmists imagination. Not to surprising for a trace gas that is only about 390 parts per million.

UVA Dodges Cuccinelli's Challenge In Round One

SEE HERE Well apparently retired judges can come out of retirement to find in favor of a plaintiff who their wives formerly worked for ... and more. This is especially interesting since it sounds like the state argued the pants off the university attorneys. No doubt more to come! We'll find out about Hockey Stick Mann sooner or later.

Spend A Moment On The Important Things

SEE HERE The world is mostly full of crap. The airwaves, the newspapers, all the media is constantly blaring about what you should think, buy, care about ... and it's all crap. Sometimes I wonder if the world wouldn't be better with a whole lot less of this technology that creates on the one hand a phony immediacy, a 24/7 connectivity with triviality while the really important things get little or no attention. I'm father of four, grandfather of 14 and time has simply raced by as these children and now grand children have developed into first fathers and mothers and now their children are developing into young men and women.

I look at the world we are leaving them and I almost want to cry. All we are leaving them is the crap. Most of the good stuff, the love and caring for things that are important seem to have moved to the back burner or maybe further back than that to where it isn't even noticed anymore. We have to stop and remember, stop and recover our center, stop and restore the kinds of things that West Point meant when it adopted the motto "Duty, Honor, Country." Too few know what that means anymore and when we finally forget the republic fails.

The Beat Goes On!

Apparently the fact that Barack Obama might be embarrassed is sufficient to deny the rights of a defendant. This matter continues to be bizarre beyond belief.

Losing the Culture War

SEE HERE The death of a civilization doesn't come in large battles lost in a twinkling of the eye. Instead it comes with the erosion of values, the lose of vision, one slow drip at a time draining away the vitality of virtue and settling slowly into the slime.

The American moment may well have already passed. The signs are there to read. Would that it were not so. If we have a chance to turn the whole thing around it is only a slender one and only in the next few decades. After that we likely will have crossed the divide, if we have not already, and the decline will have become more a torrent than a trickle. It all begins when we forget both virtue and God. We are now a nation that gives only lip service to either. Soon enough we will have forgotten altogether. There is a piece of Chesterton that always comes to mind when I think thoughts like these. It goes:

Somewhere along the Ionian coast opposite Crete and the islands was a town of some sort, probably of the sort that we should call a village or hamlet with a wall. It was called Ilion but it came to be called Troy, and the name will never perish from the earth. A poet who may have been a beggar and a ballad-monger, who may have been unable to read and write, and was described by tradition as a blind, composed a poem about the Greeks going to war with this town to recover the most beautiful woman in the world. That the most beautiful woman in the world lived in that one little town sounds like a legend; that the most beautiful poem
in the world was written by somebody who knew of nothing larger than such little towns is a historical fact. It is said that the poem came at the end of the period; that the primitive culture brought it forth in its decay; in which case one would like to have seen that culture in its prime. But anyhow it is true that this, which is our first poem, might very well be our last poem too. It might well be the last word as well as the first word spoken by man about his mortal lot, as seen by merely mortal vision. If the world becomes pagan and perishes, the last man left alive would do well to quote the Iliad and die.