The Importance of Situational Awareness

Robber shoots North Dallas man who thought holdup was joke

There are a few things I find fault with here.

1. The victim likely exhibited poor situational awareness. Remember, before and after you pull into your driveway, especially after dark, take a moment to look around you. This is even more important if you're not able to pull into a garage (and close the door after yourself). If you can see someone coming at you before you exit your car, you have that much more ability to flee or use your car as a weapon.

2. Lighting your surroundings at night is important. #1 becomes moot if you do not have enough lighting around your entry/egress points at night to be able to see if someone is there. Making sure your landscaping doesn't provide hiding opportunities is important as well.

Happy Holidays

I've been traveling, and find that when I'm with family and friends out of town, I don't have a lot of time to sit down and post blog entries.

One thing I did while I was in Tucson, AZ was visit a gun show. What makes this interesting for me is that I am able to compare this show with shows that I attended a few years ago. Seeing as how I've been away from Tucson for that long, I was granted a unique opportunity to observe first hand the changes that our new administration is wreaking on the firearms industry.

Tucson isn't known for having a show every weekend like Dallas. While I saw advertisements for another show in mid-January, typically you see shows in Tucson about 4 or 5 times a year.

So I grabbed my father, who also enjoys shooting and carrying firearms, and a good buddy of mine who has been working with me on various shooting techniques he learned the hard way and we headed down to the show. I intentionally arrived just as the show opened, as I've seen here in Dallas just how nasty things have been getting.

I was very impressed. Tucson, where I have never seen a line to get in to any show had a line that was well over 100 yards long to get in. And this to one of the smaller shows I had been to. Luckily, my father noticed that people were all waiting in line for one ticket booth - another was open right next to the first without a single person waiting. After dispelling a whispered rumor in the long line that you had to be in that line to get a firearm zip tied, we proceeded right into the show.

I was shocked at the dearth of actual guns for sale. Racks that in previous years always held a few good battle rifles, tables full of AR uppers and lowers and accessories, palettes of ammunition - all pretty much absent. I noticed a fair number of Mosin Nagants and their like, but not a *single* M1A was in evidence. I did notice one, and I mean one, Garand (it was actually a beautiful example of the species and not unfairly priced - if I had had the money I would have bought it). I did see a few AR uppers here and there, but in all reality - most of what was around, with the exception of hand guns, was junk.

I saw one real ammo dealer, and it looked like he was selling gold bullion to Wall Street investors - his table was jam packed with people buying everything they had.

After grabbing some plinking ammo to shoot with my buddy while I was in town (I drove my lovely M4 clone out there with me as a treat) we left. We had been inside a couple of hours, and came out to find....you guessed it - a line 100 yards long waiting to pay to get in. And of course, with BAA sounds in my mind, the second ticket booth was still empty. I took pity on the line folks and mentioned the red-headed ticket booth a few times as I walked beside it on the way to the car.

Nothing has happened yet. As Vanderboegh has mentioned, the crush is on, and we haven't even had pending legislation mentioned yet. I do believe that there are a fair number of first time buyers running around out there (a friend at work whom I have been attempting to introduce to shooting told me today he's "heard some things" and wants to buy a gun very soon), but certainly not the press of blind sheep that will surely come when the Messiah takes office and the legislation starts flying. The worst part - rifles and ammunition are already running very low. There are little spurts of bulk ammunition popping up here and there, and if you're savvy, you can still hit a show and find a lovely Patriot Ordnance Upper for MSRP (and by the way, that price hasn't budged by much for the last year or so that I've seen), but in reality, I agree that the crush is coming. The panic will start.

As with the Clintons, I think we can likely thank the Libs for promoting firearms, and especially "assault weapon" (man I hate that term) proliferation, but I cringe to think of the final buying panic when the first couple of bans are suggested on the floor of the House or Senate.

Have you gotten enough ammo to hold out for a while yet? Why not?

Blunt Force Trauma

Former Bond Actress Bludgeoned to Death by Home Intruder

I sure am glad that home invader didn't have a gun. He might have hurt someone!

What many gun controllers forget is the equalizing influence that a firearm provides. Lets say, for a moment, that there was a way that someone could flip a switch and all the guns on the planet just stopped working...for good.

Your typical gun controller would be dancing in the streets! Right up until he/she realized that the removal of firearms simply means that those who are strongest now rule...well....everything.

It's more difficult for weaker people, who haven't been in the prison yard pumping iron for 5-10 years, to defend themselves without equalizing tools. The firearm allows anyone the ability to equalize the differences between them and an attacker. Differences such as strength, skill at hand to hand combat, even mobility (or lack thereof).

In this case, a woman who, had she been armed, would have had a fighting chance against this thug paid for her country's policies on guns with her life.

But again, at least he didn't shoot her!

Tools of a Resistance Mindset

The recent riots in Greece have produced some very interesting tidbits of information for those of us attempting to increase a resistance mindset.

Reports on the riot perpetrators are swinging a bit. As you're probably aware the initial catalyst for the riots was the shooting death of a 15 year old man by Police. I've read that the continuation of riots over the last eight days were by Anarchists, Communists, Leftists protesting a corrupt and thinly held right-wing majority government, etc. Most articles seemed to agree that youth are mainly responsible for the rioting.

So far, the Police have held up to the normal projectiles, rocks, trash cans, etc. The rioters have added molotov cocktails to that mix though. I saw one photo of an Officer engulfed in flames. To their credit, the Police have held their fire, which is generally believed to have been responsible for the rioting not increasing exponentially.

One tactic some rioters have turned to is pictured above. They are using lasers to dazzle the eyes of the Police. I find this to be an interesting idea. On the one hand, it is non-lethal in and of itself, though it should be noted that if the laser is of a certain intensity, it can permanently damage the retina. On the other hand, it is likely far better than, say, more lethal objects such as molotov cocktails.

I do wonder at the effectiveness though. In a tight beam such as pictured above, one can only affect one opposing force member at a time. Maybe two or three if you're playing it back and forth accurately. You'd have to have a lot of lasers distributed to the crowd to affect enough of the opposing force to make a difference. On the other hand, it may be possible to rig a vibrating mirror to rapidly play the beam over a wider area - allowing for a generally disconcerting bright flashing that would cause disorientation to a larger group of people.

What this ultimately proves to me is that I need to shift my mindset. There are likely many common tools and devices that we have in our daily lives that could potentially be used to cause uncomfortable but ultimately non-damaging/lethal effects on an opposing group of people.

Too often, when playing out what-if scenarios, the mind turns immediately to lethal implements. However, what the Greek protesters are teaching us here is that there is more than one way to skin a cat so to speak. Disruption can take many forms. Force multiplication relies on a tactic being cheap, easy, and effective.

Remember, the idea of an action such as this is not to create a situation in which the general public thinks you barbarous. Instead, you need to tailor your disruption in such a way as to affect mainly (or preferably only) the representatives of an oppressive force, and in a way that is seen as ultimately non-harmful. It's easy for for the media to show you burning people with molotov cocktails in a highly negative light - but if all they can do is show your group resisting with lasers and an occasional rain of rocks, it may be far easier to keep the public on your side.

As an example of tailoring your public image, look at the image of the Policeman on fire vs. the image of the laser above. Both images are from the Greek Rioting, but they evoke different emotions in a reader. The laser is "cool", the image is still very eye catching, and likely to end up in the media with a story about the protest. This image gets into the papers and sparks the public's interest. The fire is bad - it too gets into the public consciousness but generates thoughts that are not beneficial to your side.

By all means, respond with appropriate force to counter the other side's actions. However, let the other side escalate to the next level of the force continuum first, don't allow your side to cause the escalation in a way where retaliation can be reasoned away.

Hey Yutz! Guns Aren't Toys...

"Hey yutz. Guns aren't toys - - they're for family protection, hunting dangerous and delicious animals, and keeping the king of England out of your face. " -- Krusty the Clown, The Simpsons

David Codrea asks in today's Cleveland Gun Rights Examiner: "How would you respond to the assertion that it's too dangerous to keep a loaded gun in the home?"

I've responded to the article and posted my response below as well. If you'd like, take a moment to head over there and add your own comments.

Triptyx responds:
A firearm is a tool. Just like a hammer, or a kitchen knife, or rat poison. By itself, it does nothing more than sit on the shelf, gathering dust.

Unfortunately, at some point we as a society have elevated this tool to some god-like level. When put in a person's hand it somehow changes that person into a murderous monster. Having a gun makes a person feel powerful, makes them have a bigger johnson, and will cause them to prey on weaker beings.

Those of us who are responsible firearm owners, who study self-defense and train with our firearms; those of us who may even legally carry them frequently, understand differently though.

We know that the firearm is a tool. It is a piece of machinery that is actually quite simple. The firearm has no feelings, no emotional baggage attached to it, no will, no soul. Simply, the firearm performs a function - it launches a projectile downrange.

The firearm doesn't care what is in front of it, what is downrange, what stands in the way of destruction, it simply *is*.

The person picking up this tool is the deciding factor. Regardless of age or sex, regardless of past or present experiences, the person operating this tool is the impetus for the resulting effect of its use.

The mere presence of a tool, be it a hammer, a kitchen knife, a baseball bat, a shovel, even an ice pick (all of which are quite lethal in the wrong hands) is not dangerous in and of itself. To create danger, you must add the human element into the mix. Without a human to operate those tools, they are nothing more than lumps of metal or wood.

As a society, we do ourselves a great disservice when we decide to imbue inanimate objects with power. This simple minded idolatry precludes logical thought and reasoning (which doesn't seem to be taught much in our schools in recent history) and provides for an added level of danger in our environment.

By creating this sense of mystique and danger around firearms, we not only cause unenlightened adults to shun them for themselves, but to shun teaching anything about them to their children. Those children, when encountering a gun, know only what they see on TV, or video games. They do not know the real danger that exists in attempting to operate this tool without adequate care.

Having a loaded firearm in the house in and of itself is not dangerous. Having any tool in the house that is accessible to those ignorant of its safe use and utility certainly is. However, that statement can be made of any tool or object. Swimming pools, motor vehicles, natural gas/propane operated appliances, anything can become very deadly in the hands of the ignorant.

Why then, do we not teach basic gun safety in our schools? Why doesn't every child and adult understand what guns are, how they operate, and how to interact with them safely?

Ignorance is certainly not bliss.

I Don't Feel Safer Either...

We Don't Feel Safer

You often see editorials that frequently say "we have a right to feel safe". "The community has a right to feel safe."

Yet at no time do those authors even think about the rights of others around them for whom feeling safe means carrying a legally concealed weapon.

Does this mystical right to "feel safe" only apply to people who think one way? Perhaps these elitists truly believe that their way of thinking is the only correct way.

We don't demand they carry guns, despite our belief that guns make us safer. Why do they insist on demanding that we not carry guns due to their belief that not having a gun makes them safer?

Thanks to Oleg Volk for the image.

Backpack vs. Gun

Controversy Erupts Over School Proposal to Teach Kids to Fight Back Against Gunmen

Lord forbid we arm qualified, permitted teachers to simply put a few rounds into the gunman. We'd much rather have our children throwing books and backpacks at them.

This has been covered before on the various gun blogs, but here we are again.

"[He] (the school resource officer) was starting the conversation with us to say, well, ‘Do we want the kids to sit there and literally have the gunman be able to shoot them one at a time? Or do we want to allow instincts to kick in and basically allow them to protect themselves against the threat?'" Carol Jacobs, the district superintendent, told FOXNews.com.

Instincts? What instincts? Most people, at the sound of gunfire, will try to run away (and rightfully so). Fight or flight. And when you have nothing to fight with (or rather, far inferior "weapons" such as your Western Civ book, flight is number one on the list. And don't think for a moment that Carol Jacobs really wants people to be able to defend themselves against the threat.

If she did, she'd demand the state allow her teachers to train with and carry legal concealed firearms.

And in case you were wondering what the outcome is with regards to my blog title:
In the game of backpacks and books versus gun, gun wins.

The 3%

So here we are. On the other side, are the Brady Bunch, the AHSA, Joyce, the Main Stream Media, and many others whose ultimate goal is the total disarmament of the citizens of the United States of America.

Standing against them, are a few choice and select groups. JPFO, GOA, Three Percenters (3%) and local state organizations.

In between are pragmatists (prags), hunters (fudds), and sheep.

Prags feel that there is always yet a political solution. In this age of Olufson, Heller (sure, 2nd Amendment is great...except for what we say are "reasonable" restrictions), and our new ultra-left government, prags feel that "we should use the tools the forefathers gave us"...and nothing else.

Fudds believe that as long as the government doesn't touch their bolt-action hunting rifle, all is well. Those darned "assault weapons" and handguns should be banned.

Sheep, as one pragmatist put it recently, just want to drink their Starbucks and flip the bird to the driver in front of them.

Prags want to befriend the sheep, so the sheep will vote for pro-2nd Amendment issues. To the prag, the three-percenters are scaring the sheep, sending them scattering across the fields in terror. This, unfortunately, is probably true. However, I posit that the sheep are a lost cause as far as the pro-gun community is concerned.

Here is the problem. Sheep watch CNN, MSNBC, and their local news. Most Sheep news sources are not pro-gun. To your normal person watching TV, guns are for criminals and murderers. For now, news outlets are content to paint handguns and "assault weapons" as weapons designed to kill people. And not just people, but dewey eyed students and babies, and women at the hands of their drunk, red-neck male assaulters.

It was just recently here in Dallas that a competition marksman, using a 50 caliber rifle for practice, had a round get loose (I'm still not sure how, he was on a designated range) and crash through the ceiling of a woman's trailer, 5 miles down range. When the shooter heard of the injury on the news, he immediately turned himself in to the Police - as well as apologized in person to the woman and her husband. Luckily, the round only broke the woman's arm near her wrist, and the Police seemed likely to let the injury pass as an accident. The husband, while he accepted the gentleman's apology, happily went on the news and opined that this is why 50cal weapons should be banned. The news anchor, then, naturally chimed in that 50cal weapons can pierce tanks, shoot down airplanes, and, I kid you not, "destroy" concrete bunkers". And this was our local Fox News station. Yes, Fox ain't perfect, but when a network that is usually reasonably right-leaning makes those kinds of statements, what does that leave us with?

This misleading, and in many cases outright fabricated crap is what most sheep are inundated with day in and day out. Guns don't save lives. They aren't needed tools to ensure our Republic remains intact - they are for "gun nuts" and "red necks" to prove their manliness with, right up until Billy-Bob down the street decides he needs to shoot someone else because they took his parking space. I have even had friends who were gun enthusiasts tell me that I was "asking for trouble" because I carry a legally concealed weapon.

In all reality, how do you combat that? When the general populace has been conditioned to believe something by every source that they deem credible; when they are fed a constant supply of bull$^@# day in and day out, how do you really deprogram that when you do not have access to the level of resources that our enemies do? Further, how do you counter that kind of misinformation when your opponents have been trained not in logical debate, but rather taught to yell emotional tag-lines and stuff their fingers in their ears while screaming "lalalalala" when anyone raises a counter-argument?

Comments recently by self-described prags seem to indicate that those of us who are in the 3% have completely given up on the political front and are cleaning our guns in gleeful anticipation of "going hunting". However, that could not be farther from the truth. Most of us remain dedicated to a peaceful solution. Our opponents, however, know very little except for force (war). Don't pay your taxes, guys with guns come to haul you away. Criticize your representative, guys with guns come to take your guns. Even trying to work within the system ends up in which a shoestring is declared a machinegun (yes, this has since been reversed).

Make no mistake. Heller to the contrary (but not really), and the Constitution and Bill of Rights to the contrary, our government has proven time and time again that they will do whatever they want. Apparently, it is up to us to protest and get arrested and spend millions of dollars of our own money (and another few million of our tax dollars as the government defends itself) to get a ruling from a court that has shown it is no longer really interested in what the Founders intended. In the mean time, we spend years languishing under unconstitutional laws waiting and hoping that the powers that be will deign to let us actually live in the spirit of Freedom that is supposed to be guaranteed by "that goddamned piece of paper". Compounding the problem, there is actually little to no consequences for those who architect unconstitutional legislation and get it passed. The worst they get is voted out of office, and only then if they're not in a place where they have sufficiently programmed their constituents to line up and bleat with proper deference.

Meanwhile, the Fudds sit around cleaning their bolt-action deer rifles and vote for Obama because he's only after those evil massacre inducing "assault" weapons and handguns.

Ultimately, each faction of the gun community needs the others. As Mike Vanderboegh stated here, the Prags need us as the group that could be unleashed should Politicians refuse to be reasonable and follow the Bill of Rights. We need the Prags to act as the respectable front of people who aren't into all that "militia" crap and really don't truck with "revolution". The Fudds need both of the other factions to ensure that "armor piercing" rifle ammunition and "sniper rifles" don't get banned.

Unfortunately, until the three groups truly understand their differences and learn to work together to cover each others real and perceived weaknesses, the infighting and sniping will continue unabated.

Meanwhile, Mike's original question to the Prags and Fudds goes unanswered...
Where is the line in the sand at which point you will conclude that a peaceful political solution is no longer on the table?

I believe I answered that question recently myself.
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.

"This is as far as the bastards are going."

"This is as far as the bastards are going." Click the link to see Mike's dialogue with a confused pragmatist who will gleefully talk to gun controllers as they disarm him completely.

I have mentioned Mike Vanderboegh a few times on this blog, and definitely have talked about him to those people I'm lucky enough to talk to in person.

I've linked an excellent response Mike made to a pragmatist (we'll call them Prags) who thinks that we can reason with people who, while they say they want to compromise, really have only one goal - the eradication of private firearms ownership in any form.

Mike recounts an excellent story that I'll rewrite here from Anecdotes from the Battle of the Bulge:
Late on the night of December 23rd, Sergeant John Banister of the 14th Cavalry Group found himself meandering through the village of Provedroux, southwest of Vielsalm. He'd been separated from his unit during the wild retreat of the first days and joined up with Task Force Jones, defending the southern side of the Fortified Goose Egg. Now they were in retreat again. The Germans were closing in on the village from three sides. American vehicles were pulling out, and Banister was once again separated from his new unit, with no ride out.

A tank destroyer rolled by; somebody waved him aboard and Banister eagerly climbed on. They roared out of the burning town. Somebody told Banister that he was riding with Lieutenant Bill Rogers. "Who's he?" Banister wanted to know. "Will Rogers' son," came the answer. It was a hell of a way to meet a celebrity.
An hour later they reached the main highway running west from Vielsalm. There they found a lone soldier digging a foxhole. Armed with bazooka and rifle, unshaven and filthy, he went about his business with a stoic nonchalance. They pulled up to him and stopped. He didn't seem to care about the refugees. "If yer lookin for a safe place," he said, "just pull that vehicle behind me. I'm the 82nd Airborne. This is as far as the bastards are going."

The men on the tank destroyer hesitated. After the constant retreats of the last week, they didn't have much fight left in them. But the paratrooper's determination was infectious. "You heard the man," declared Rogers. "Let's set up for business!" Twenty minutes later, two truckloads of GIs joined their little roadblock. All through the night, men trickled in, and their defenses grew stronger.

Around that single paratrooper was formed the nucleus of a major strongpoint.

We have made some incremental gains in the last eight years. However, Obama's own Change.gov site dictates directly that he will do his level best to erase those eight years in a few fell strokes of a pen. And not only erase those last eight years, but plunge us back into the dark gun control filled days of the 80's. The gun control fanatics are already trumpeting their triumph and are lining up with new bills designed to disarm law abiding Americans - leaving us at the mercies of thugs, gangsters, and crazed terrorists bent on our destruction. Do not think for a moment that attacks like those that happened in Mumbai could not be easily carried out in Chicago, Washington DC, or New York City - all three of which are full of unarmed victims. All three held up as utopias by gun control organizations.

The time for one step forward and two steps back is over. People like Mike (and I'd like to think myself as well) are willing to dig in where they are. They're willing to not only act as a rallying point for like minded individuals, but they're willing to risk potential harassment, imprisonment, or worse by showing the world that they're willing to stand up for what they believe in. By doing so, they provide hope and momentum to others who are willing to take up the fight, but don't have the eloquence, debate skills, or knowledge to effectively do so themselves.

Stand up and get vocal. Blog, leave comments and letters to the editor when you see an anti-gun article/editorial in your paper. Correct misconceptions where you can. Show the Government that there is a strong group of people out there that will not stand idly by while our rights are removed piece by piece.

Stop alongside your fellow Patriots in the road and dig in to bring the fight to the enemy.

For the record, the image above is a poster distributed to commemorate PFC Martin's heroic statement. The paratrooper in the image is PFC Vernon Haught, also of the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment. More information and a link to a nearly full size copy of the poster can be found at this site.

Spending Our Way Into Oblivion

Audit of $700B Financial Sector Bailout Fuels Criticisms of Paulson, Bernanke

Good morning! Yes, I'm posting this at night. But it is past time we woke up and took stock of our Nation and its Economic Health.

I took a few weeks off to get some personal business taken care of, it's too bad our Government didn't do the same.

Trillions of dollars now in guaranteed bad debt (read: hundreds dump trucks of money that are attempting to fill a hole the size of the Grand Canyon), hundreds of billions handed out to banks and other insolvent institutions with absolutely no stipulations attached. And where are we? Still screwed.

The States, the Auto Industry, voters, Unions - everyone is lining up for money. The problem is, we don't have money to give. Repeat after me - we DID NOT have any money to spare to start with. We were already spending more than we made in taxes BEFORE we starting playing "money machine" and throwing cash down the drain.

So, did our erudite Government look for ways to cut spending, to reduce tax burdens on our corporations that already rank amongst the highest in the world? Did they ease or reduce environmental regulations that are costing our industries and businesses money that they do not have to spend?

No, they turned around and further increased our debts to foreign nations. Debts that we (or rather our Grand Children and likely their Grand Children) must pay back. They dug us further into a hole that may very likely lead to a collapse of not just our economy, but the world economy.

As Karl Denninger has so aptly put it - pouring on more credit, bailing out insolvent and bankrupt industries, is like giving booze to an alcoholic. It may ease the pain now, but it only causes further damage, and an even harder recovery down the road (assuming that last drink isn't the one that destroys the liver and kills the drunk). Not to mention that it's expensive as hell for the one providing the booze (the taxpayers).

Until the market is able to force insolvent banks, homeowners, and businesses into bankruptcy where they belong, we will see continued crashes/softness, and further delay in our recovery.

Again, I call on the Ladies and Gentleman in our Government:
FREE THE MARKET NOW. No more bailouts. No more emergency loans. No more credit to people who can not repay it.

Stop the madness, before it's too late.

When Seconds Count...

A hat-tip to David Codrea at War On Guns for linking to this article.

I chose to post a comment to the article, I'll post it here as well:

A very interesting article, and one with a tone you do not often see on mainstream media outlets.

One thing you said interested me in particular though. Those of us who have gone through the background checks and training to carry a legal concealed weapon also believe that "no guns" signs encourage those bent on doing harm. As a group, we often tend to avoid locations who have posted such signs as a rule - since we are law abiding citizens (we have to be to have a concealed weapon permit by definition).

If the profile of an active shooter is indeed that they often turn the gun on themselves at the first sign of armed resistance, wouldn't having more people capable of armed resistance make sense?

While the (erroneous) point is often made that regular citizens with legal guns will do more harm than good in an active shooting situation by shooting each other and innocent bystanders, and how are Police to know they're the good guys, the basic idea is this: The guy you shoot is the one shooting people who are running and screaming. The guy you don't shoot is the one who has their gun out but is not shooting at people running and screaming.

While most folks with a legally concealed weapon aren't necessarily going to get involved in a situation like a mall shooting by throwing themselves into the fray, they will definitely defend themselves if attacked directly. And that's what you need. You need people who, when a sociopath comes into the building with a shotgun and opens fire, will fire back. Even if they don't hit him, they can potentially contain them long enough for the "experts" (Police) to arrive and take control, limiting the damage an active shooter can do.

Thank you for writing this article. I do hope folks will take a moment to think about the purpose a "no guns" sign really serves. In the game of life, gun beats paper - every time.

Keep Digging, China is Down There Somewhere

Pelosi to Seek Auto Industry Relief Bill

You know, we were told that the bailout was to immediately provide relief to failing banks and the credit market. We were told that there would be no money in ATMs, that the monetary system would collapse, that there would be tanks in the streets.

So they threw $700bil at it. $700bil that we do not have. $700bil that we will STILL be paying off decades from now (assuming there is something still here to pay it). $700bil that, I might add, for the most part still has NOT been applied towards "easing the credit crisis". And yet, things are still running, the world hasn't ended. Yet.

Now, we're told it's needed to bail out automakers. Yes, the same automakers who have failed in an ever so epic manner to be profitable for the last 30 years. The same automakers who go hat in hand to the government every year crying about how they're going to fail. The same automakers, because of whom, we charge massive tariffs on imported cars from countries like Japan that understand YOU MUST MAKE A PROFIT TO SURVIVE. GM today sounded their last death rattle unless the Government throws a LOT of money at them.

And who pays? We pay. We pay more for cars because our automakers could give a flying f*#$ about quality and don't care to compete with foreign manufacturers. We pay more for cars because the UAW has their hands up the automaker's butts in an effed up macabre puppet show. WE PAY FOR THE AUTO MAKERS EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT PLANS.

I don't know about you, but I'm incredibly freaking tired of MY hard earned money going to insolvent banks, ineptly run auto factories, dumbasses that couldn't figure out they couldn't afford a home, greedy bastard politicians and their con-men cronies, Jihadist Extremists in the desert, jackoffs that won't get off of their asses and get a freaking job, disaster survivors who feel that they deserve a plasma tv and a new car, people who would rather buy a bluetooth earpiece than school books for their kids, failed wars on stuff that shouldn't be illegal in the first place, corrupt dictatorial nationstates...need I go on??

When is enough enough?

Look on the bright side. At the rate we're going, foreign nations are going to call us due any time now. And it's costing us $2bil/day in debt to keep everything spinning at the moment. Without foreign investment in debt we can't repay, we get to see just how well people can survive with a government that couldn't afford to buy a carton of eggs, let alone their mortgage payments.

A little light reading, if your stomach is up for it.

Always Remember

In light of our new overseers, remember this.



Hat Tip to Western Rifle Shooters

2A Today for the USA

As you might have noticed from my side bar I have the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership listed as a group I am a member of.

While I'm not Jewish, the JPFO has proved time and time again to be an excellent group actively working to preserve our 2nd Amendment rights. You don't have to be Jewish to be a member, and I've found their literature and activism to not be limited strictly to items impacting the Jewish faith. I can't, however, think of a better group of people to champion the Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms.

Please take 20 minutes to watch this video, and share it with anyone you feel might benefit from watching this.

More information, as well as a link to a large downloadable copy of this video can be found at the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership web site.

Coming Soon to a Nation Near You?

Australia to Implement Mandatory Internet Censorship

Let's see. This is something that you expect to see in Beijing, or Havana, or even Pyongyang. Instead, here we have Australians.....Australians! mind you, getting ready to apply more broad based, mandatory content filters to the Internet.

Naturally, like all Left-Wing ideas such as this, it all started "for the children". They wanted to filter out child pornography. A laudable goal surely. Then, it was "adult content". Now, anything deemed "controversial" will be blocked at the borders. This is not about safety, this is about control. This is about making sure that dissenting voices and opinions can be suppressed and silenced. This program is not optional for these people.

Folks, George Washington put it best - "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force.
Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."

As you get ready to go to the polls, remember what party wants to bring back the Fairness Doctrine. Remember that what the Aussies are about to do is not all that far a stretch for a revived Fairness Doctrine. Remember what party currently controls the main stream media and wants to stop the blogosphere and Conservative radio shows from broadcasting dissent. Remember who the people are who respond to discourse not with logic, but with ad hominem attacks and rancor and hate, or even the Police.

The Democrats are about to have a filibuster-proof majority in the House and Senate. This means that Republicans will be forced to sit impotently on the sidelines as bill after Liberal bill is passed. There will be no checks, there will be no balances, there will be no stopping it. The amount of damage to Conservative and Libertarian ideals and principles will be immense.

Who do you want in the White House? No matter if you hate Bush, or hate the Republicans, or the war, do you really want the Democrats to have unfettered control of the legal system for at least 2 and more likely 4 years??

Are you ready to lose your voice in Congress AND your 1st and 2nd Amendment Rights?

How will you vote on Tuesday?

Obama - The Formative Years

Recently, with all the furor over Marxists, and Obama, the failure of the Main Stream Media to address his past, and all of the very interesting things coming out about Obama's associations, I've begun to think a little on America, its people, and its total failure to educate our children.

I have come to realize that in just about every class I took growing up, I was taught to rely on others to provide me with my facts and ideology. Instructors placed an emphasis on regurgitating the facts as provided by the books they provided and the lectures they gave. One History Professor at Northern Arizona University even went so far as to say if we wrote down something on our essay question tests that he hadn't told us or that we hadn't read in our reading assignments that he'd not count that answer towards our grade.

I was lucky enough, however, to encounter an amazing Professor quite literally at the end of my college period. I needed 3 more credits to graduate, and took them over the summer. I took a class on The Logic of Argument. This Professor gave reading assignments. Yes, they were Kant, and Marx, and Hume. But the idea wasn't to read these as a source of ideology, but with an eye towards poking holes in the arguments, towards diagramming the logical progression, and understanding the meanings behind the overt words written on the page. In short, this Prof was attempting to teach us how to think.

I did very well in the class, but I found reading in that manner profoundly hard at the time.

With that lead-in, take a quick look at this article (and the lovely picture of Marx up there at the top of this post).

Obama likes to think that he can have all of these associations. That he can seek out Socialist Professors, radical Feminists, avowed and unrepentant terrorists, and that they haven't actually made an impression on him.

Coupled with his Joe the Plumber remarks, and Biden's "more taxes are patriotic", paired with more than $1 trillion in spending, do you really think Obama's Marxist roots are all in the past? Do you think that his truth squads and habitual attempts to suppress dissenting media are just a right wing smear, or a lie?

It's far past time people opened their eyes and looked past the MSM to the truth and the facts.

Obama Cuts off Interviews with FL TV Station

Remember folks, Obama doesn't want his true message and true intentions to get out.

Kudos to this TV station for actually DOING THEIR JOB and asking the hard questions of Biden. THIS is what the main stream media should have been doing FROM THE START.

THIS IS WHAT THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN REALLY IS.

You can read the article at The Orlando Sentinel.

The War on Guns goes "mainstream".

A quick note today to encourage you to head on over and read up on David Codrea's new blog in the Cleveland Examiner. You can click the image to head on over there.

This blog is likely the first of it's kind - a mainstream media outlet has allowed one of the premier voices of gun rights and liberty an outlet to get our message out.

I encourage you to head on over there every day if you can to read the latest, and please feel free to leave a comment in support or expansion of what is being said. Or heck, start a debate if you want to, but lets make sure this blog succeeds so that we may have even more opportunities to get the word out.

Remember, It's Time to Be Patriotic!

It's time to be Patriotic! Lets bankrupt ourselves for the cause!

Obamanomics

Ever really taken a hard look at your paycheck? And I mean, not just glanced at the final number at the bottom - but a really hard look at all of the money that gets taken out before you get to that ever-important bottom line?

Well, here's some fun for you.

For states with high state taxes - how does 37.7cents on every dollar you earned getting returned to you sound?

That's right. You make a dollar, the government under Obama deigns to "allow" you to keep 37.7 cents.

Only for the "rich" you say?? Sure. It's easy to play class warfare and get the mob riled up against the "rich" - you know, those making more than $250k a year. Just remember, though. "Rich" used to refer to those making $500k per year. Will "rich" mean $80k next year? $40k the next? After all, there's always someone making less than you that "deserves" a fair amount of the money you make.

Take a listen to this clip - it's the raw conversation between Joe (and fine, the media has slimed him up - but this is Obama talking to someone he believes to be legitimate, and is really explaining what he believes to be fair).

Obama and Ayers

Before you watch this video, I want you to think carefully about a few things. Obama sat on a board with Ayers, a lead member of the Weather Underground - the group that this former agent is talking about. He launched his political career in Ayers' living room. He considers himself to be a friend to Ayers.

This is what Ayers was looking for then. Considering he is still unrepentant, and considers the bombings in New York and Washington that he perpetrated to be "good work", this is STILL what Ayers is looking for.

These are the kinds of people Obama is hanging out with, listening to, considers friends.

Are these the kinds of friends *YOU* want anywhere near the most powerful person in the world?

Betrayed

I voted early on Monday. I voted against my Republican Senator because he voted for this farce of a scam. I hope you'll do the same.

Free the Market!

This article from Fox News would have me in stitches, if this weren't so serious.

What I find sad is that no one in a public position is looking at the one thing that can save this situation.

A free, capitalist market.

Not a market where companies hide their debt in offshore accounts and "invisible" credit default swaps.
Not a market where the government tries to prevent insolvent companies from being broken up and sold to other companies that can run them better.
Not a market where you keep throwing money at it until hyperinflation ends any hope you had at being a world power.
Not a market where you attempt to artificially keep home prices higher than they should be by attempting to keep people who can't afford to pay for them living in them.

Over and over we hear "we need to stop the price of homes from falling". What hubris! What gall! Government doesn't dictate any pricing to a free market! Let me say that again - NO ENTITY can dictate the prices of ANYTHING to investors. People who play with money for a living are smarter than that.

The market determines what people will pay for a good or service. And that's how we're now in this mess. We have a bunch of egomaniacs running this country, Democrat and Republican, that seriously believe they can somehow wave a magic wand and everything will go back to what it was last year.

The only problem is - the people with the money have woken up. Their eyes are now opened on what is truly going on, and they don't like what they see. And parlor tricks with an interest rate that is already too low, throwing money at insolvency, and trying to sell TBills that are barely worth the paper they're printed on isn't going to suddenly entice them to play ball.

Once again, as I did last month, I call on Congress and the Executive:

Let the free market reign!
Force companies to disclose their actual assets and debts, shine a light on credit default swaps, and LET INSOLVENT COMPANIES FAIL.

And most of all...
STOP WASTING OUR TAX DOLLARS ATTEMPTING TO PERPETUATE A FAILED ECONOMIC POLICY

ACORN and the Entire Starting Lineup for the Cowboys

Ahh, Community Organization and Chicago Politics. What do they have in common? Both are corrupt as hell, and both have a goal - keep tyrants in power at any cost.

Over the years, ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) has done things that would make Daley proud. The best part: Barack Obama trained many of ACORN's "community organizers".

Apparently, he trained them well.

27,000 fraudulent voter registrations in Washington State That's right, just head down to the local library with a stack of registration forms and sign up people in phone books, baby naming books, heck, add Mark Twain while you're at it - he'd likely love to vote Democrat. Right after he beat you to death with his walking stick - while dead. Tough guy that one.

And in Detroit last year.

In fact, here is a map showing all of the locations where this group has conducted fraudulent voting drives FOR OVER 10 YEARS.

And yet, time and time again, the ACORN heads claim ignorance. And every year it happens again. ACORN supports Democrats. And Democrats support ACORN, even attempting to add funding for ACORN to the recent bailout.

Today, ACORN offices were raided in Nevada for......guess what!

Wait for it.

Voter fraud of course.

Isn't it about time to say enough is enough?

Don't Forget

Where this "crisis" really came from. Don't fall for the Democrat (tail)Spin.

If your congresspeople voted for the bail out - BAIL THEM OUT OF OFFICE. Yes, I will be voting for a Democrat for Senator for the first time ever in a few weeks. My House of Representatives member (who is up for re-election) smartly voted against the bail-out, so I will vote for him.

If you're not looking behind the scenes here. If you're not realizing who's really at fault for this mess....you deserve every bit of what's coming.

A list of who voted what in the Senate.
A list of who voted what in the House.

We've had a do nothing Congress so far, right up until they decided to screw us, and our markets. A half oil-change could only be for the better.

An oldie, but a goody.

Just a reminder, The Anointed One is still out trying to sell us a bill of goods.

Have you asked an Obama supporter what specifically he has accomplished lately??

The House of Cards Shudders a Little

Finally, it sounds like there is real debate with regards to this farce of a "bailout".

While the Dems are enjoying an attempt to snipe at McCain, the basic fact is that McCain ducked out a side door after this meeting - avoiding the press altogether. It was the Dems who felt a need to go get licks in against McCain in in front of the cameras.

That said, at least one Representative showed up with 11 pages of responses from Drs. of Economics spread out amongst some of our most prestigious institutions, including Harvard, Yale, and MIT. All 11 pages were against the bailout as proposed by the administration. All agreed that infusing cash in this manner will only delay the crash, and give us that much more to fall when it does come. Another mentioned last night that comments from his constituents were running 300:1, against the bailout.

I am hopeful that the package, as it stands right now, has cut the amount of money initially available to Treasury to $250bil, with more available only after a Congressional vote. The new package also has much more oversight and approvals, and requires any profits be reapplied to the National Debt. Still not great, and still not the correct response, but a much much more manageable number. This new package also provides more time to look at the results before committing fully.

Politicians Will Say Anything

Not only to get elected, but to try and make their case and get publicity.

There are two Marines suing Representative John Murtha for his comments after a number of women and children were killed in Iraq in 2006.

Whether Representative Murtha is found guilty or not, this will hopefully serve as a warning to our Government that they will be held accountable for opening mouth before finding out the facts and engaging brain. Being an elected official does not give one carte blanche to slander and libel others, though it seems of late that that has become a common practice in the media.

It's time that our Representatives are held more accountable for the crap they spew in an attempt to grab votes and publicity.

Even More Silliness in this Bailout

Original Article Here

I noticed a few changes to the article I posted last night today. Namely, this:

The administration is balking at another key Democratic demand: allowing judges to rewrite bankrupt homeowners' mortgages so they could avoid foreclosure.

So lets get this straight. Democrats want to "prop up" the housing market. How? By destroying the ability of lenders to be secure in their contracts. The Dems basically want a judge to be able to rewrite these loan contracts however he wants to make sure that home owners do not get foreclosed on.

Boy, I'd sure like that service too. I think I need to pay half of what I'm paying now. Why? Why not. I must be entitled to the house that I'm in. Heck, I don't think I'll even pay my mortgage any more. After all, the Government will be there to make sure the big bad man at Countrywide doesn't take my house away.

I still don't understand how it is ok for people to enter into a contract, and then because it's "too hard" turn right around and get out of that contract. I don't understand how this action will "prop up" the housing market. And I really don't understand why the Democrats suddenly think that when a bill is being touted as "emergency must pass", they should add a bunch of idiocy and pork to it. As you've read here, I don't want this one to pass, but at the same time, it's obvious that the Dems see this as an opportunity to add all kinds of bullshit to this bill to ram through programs that they know they couldn't get away with normally.

Ultimately, it comes down to this. Homes are overpriced. The price of housing in most areas of this country has far, far exceeded the abilities of the average person to become a homeowner without putting themselves into crippling house payments. The response to this situation is NOT to "prop up" the housing market. The only thing that these actions is doing is prolonging the misery of the housing market itself. The market needs to be left FREE to drop and correct itself. Will this put some people in a bad way? Yes it will. Will it cause some hardships and bankruptcies? Absolutely. Will it allow us to break a few more bars in this prison of debt that we are putting ourselves into? Most certainly. And that, my friends, is a good thing.

Allow the housing market to correct. Let it go and be free. Let it correct itself and put housing back into an affordable range for our families and citizens. DO NOT prolong this overpriced situation to imprison future homeowners in a cage of mortgage debt.

Mortgages represent REAL MONEY. They represent cash that you MUST pay back to people. Don't treat a mortgage as this ephemeral situation where you're not playing with real money.

Mr. President and Congress, let the markets be FREE.

When Seconds Count, Police are only Minutes Away

So often you hear the following from anti-self defense (including anti-gun) advocates:
Don't escalate the violence by fighting back.
Just give the robber what they want.
It's the Police's job to protect you.

911 call details violent struggle for Tarrant County couple that left burglar dead

Tonight in Dallas, a couple fought a home invader for 45 minutes, tooth and nail. Either this couple didn't own a gun, or they were unable to get to it when the man entered their unlocked back door. They gave the intruder everything they had right up front, and he still starting hitting them with a pipe. At one point in the struggle, the couple was even stabbing the intruder with a knife.

They finally got the invader subdued to the point that they could call 911, and despite an immediately lethal and dangerous situation, it still took the Police 12 minutes to get to them.

This intruder was armed with various weapons, including a gun - which was unloaded.

Folks. The Police would love to help you, but they can't be everywhere at once. What are you going to do for 12 minutes when an armed invader is in your house intending to kill you? Better yet, if you are a person who owns a gun for self defense, where is that gun right now?? Is it near to hand? Is it across the house in the bedroom? Is it unloaded and locked up in a safe??

I'm not advocating leaving a firearm where an untrained youngster can get to it, but there are options that allow you to safely keep a ready and loaded weapon near to hand.

This couple got lucky. Will you count on luck if this happens to you?

Too Little, Too Late?

The $700 Billion Dollar Bungle is moving ever closer to a vote.

Democrats have successfully added "mortgage help", though I'm not yet sure what that means.

Worse:

In one expansion of its original proposal, the administration is asking for broad power to buy up virtually any kind of bad asset — including credit card debt or car loans — from any financial institution in the U.S. or abroad in order to stabilize markets.

You've read that right. We've gone from making sure our well-connected friends in high places (who, I might add, are part of starting this mess) to offering to accept bad debt from around the globe. After all, with a blank check of this size, one must spread the wealth no? After all, it's not your money they're playing with...oh wait.

Frank said he and Paulson had agreed to create a congressional oversight board as part of the bailout and to mandate that the government come up with a plan to avoid foreclosures on any mortgages it acquires in the rescue. A government official with knowledge of the talks confirmed the administration backs those provisions.

Well, some oversight might be nice, but then again, the same people overseeing this are the ones willing to sign off blindly on this bailout without listening to cooler, more disconnected heads.

There is a small light revealed in this article, however:

And in a fresh sign of a challenging road ahead, Sen. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the top Banking Committee Republican, blasted the emerging plan as "neither workable nor comprehensive."

"In my judgment, it would be foolish to waste massive sums of taxpayer funds testing an idea that has been hastily crafted and may actually cause the government to revert to an inadequate strategy of ad hoc bailouts," Shelby said.

Will it be enough? Will your calls and the calls of your countrymen be enough?

I hope so.

Fool Me Once...

Thankfully, we did not see a massive decline in the financials today.

However, The markets were not fooled one bit.

Crude Oil made it's greatest one day increase ever, and the dollar reached a new low against the Euro. Add a $43 spike in gold and you can immediately see that this bailout isn't exactly "just what the doctor ordered".

The Nationalization of our Banking System

This one is going to be short.

If you do nothing else, please read this post over at the market ticker.

The most chilling thing is this excerpt from the $700bil bailout bill, the text of which hit Fox News here.

"The Secretarys authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time"

Emphasis mine. "Outstanding at any one time". So if they buy out a company, and then sell it off immediately at a loss, that loss doesn't count. The taxpayers eat the loss, and then the Treasury immediately has the entire amount they originally spent available to do it again.

There are a number of other very scary items in this bill. Please read the analysis over at The Market Ticker. Please do it, and then call your representatives if you don't want this so called "solution" to be enacted as written.

$700 Billion Dollars

That is the amount the Government wants to come up with to throw at this problem in our markets.

Think about that amount for a moment. Think about how much money that is. Realize that our Gross Domestic Product for an entire YEAR is only $13 billion. Think about raising the cap on our National Debt to $11.3 trillion to cover this amount.

We're in the hole. Really, truly in the hole. It's a very deep hole. And we're still digging.

And in response, Democrats say that they want to add, ADD!! money to that bill to bail out homeowners that can't stay in their homes?!?! Are you serious? What good is throwing money at people who made a mistake and can't afford their house going to do? They STILL won't be able to afford their house. They'll STILL have to sell it at a loss. And taxpayers will still be left holding the bag.

Folks, we've got a serious problem here. We are owing more and more money to the various nations of the world. And we really don't have it to pay them back. We're in a credit prison of our own making, and before long, I suspect these Nations aren't going to want to give us any more.

What then?

What then do we do when the tap of foreign investment gets shut off?

We either print money to cover the overrun, which would cause disastrous inflation, raise the hell out of taxes, destroying business as we know it (and likely making homeless and starving a fair portion of our population) or we let our infrastructure, the social programs, the pork, the ear marks, the Government as a whole die for lack of funding.

This bailing out and dumping money at things HAS TO STOP.

Our markets must adjust. They must fall, and they must adjust. We appear now to be operating under the assumption that growth, and market increases, and profits from those markets must always go up. The profits have to keep coming in. This can't happen. That condition does not exist in nature. We got a wake up call earlier this week when the market plunged. And instead of letting it correct, instead of letting businesses that are now insolvent and are more debt than assets fail and dissolve as they must, we threw money at them. We tried to keep them alive. That was the wrong thing to do.

When hints of this bold, new mistake were leaked yesterday, the markets roared back. The numbers were being trumpeted from everywhere as if they represent what is really happening.

They don't.

Despite the rises in the market, the dollar sank. Crude oil was up 7%. The world is not fooled.

I suspect, if this new bill goes through, we are not going to see the results we were hoping for. I'm no market expert, I'm certainly no financial wizard, but I know how to listen. And underneath all the hype of those gains yesterday, I'm hearing some real worry. I'm hearing some very cautionary notes coming from many sources regarding the potential for inflation out of this mess. And that potential is very high.

I'd like to be able to say that I trust our Government to make the right moves here. But then the Dems go and announce that they want to continue the same, failed policies and add worthless, expensive gestures to this bill. They are not taking this seriously. They have not opened their eyes to realize that it was the insistence that everyone own a house is part of what got us into this mess.

Our Government, as a whole, has failed this nation miserably. They have failed to properly ensure that all of the debt that is currently being hidden from the public books of these companies was reported, they have failed to stop Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from operating in a fraudulent manner, and their failure may be the end of this nation as we know it.

Keep your powder dry folks. I have a bad feeling that things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get any better. I sincerely hope I'm wrong on this one.

I'd recommend everyone take a read at this article over on The Market Ticker. I don't understand everything this guy is saying, but it makes a ton of sense to me.

Obama's "Plan" for Failure

The following are segments from Obama's "plan" for our economy. This was copied directly off of http://barackobama.com/plan. My remarks are inline in red.

Energy Rebates

Obama and Biden will enact a windfall profits tax on excessive oil company profits to give American families an immediate $1,000 emergency energy rebate to help families pay rising bills. Read more »

Listen carefully to what they are saying here. They are going to take an industry that, on average, makes about 10% profits on their revenues each year, and take those profits away. There are a goodly number of industries out there making higher profit margins than that! Should we also take away the profits of the Clothing and Retail industries? Some of which make 20% profits?

Ask yourself - who benefits from profits? Yes, the CEO maybe gets a bonus, but ultimately where do those profits end up? They end up as a higher stock price, as dividends, as expansion of the operations of that company. They end up as money in the shareholder's pockets. That's right - you, and me, and the rest of America that owns stock in that company benefit from those profits.

In this, Obama and Biden show truly as the bullies that they are. They've found an industry that has been villified by the Left and they want the entire schoolyard to help steal their rightful earnings. Who's next? Maybe YOUR industry is making too much profits and needs to be punished as well.

Create 5 Million Green Jobs

Obama and Biden believe that we should invest in innovation and manufacturing jobs in the growing clean energy market, freeing us from our dependence on foreign oil within a decade and creating 5 million green jobs. Read more »

Obama doesn't want to raise taxes on the Middle Class, but here he wants to spend more money on something that the free market has not demanded. He wants to dump your money at any and every crackpot "green" idea that comes down the pipe, in the hopes that "something" will free us from foreign oil in a decade. They want to dump money here, and money there, BILLIONs at this. But they're going to lower taxes?

Who pays for this? Who pays for the more expensive energy and technology that will be Federally mandated out of this? YOU do. YOU pay. The middle class will pay, the lower class will pay, and the "rich" (see my blog post here on the fallacy of raising taxes on the "rich") will pay through the nose. And in the end, we'll all lose.

New Jobs Through National Infrastructure Investment

Obama and Biden believe that rebuilding our highways, bridges, roads, ports, air, and train systems will create jobs, ensure safety, and bolster our long-term competitiveness. Read more »

Here's another $60 billion over 10 years to maintain our infrastructure. What happened to the monies set aside for this? Oh right, already spent by the Government on other things.

Technology, Innovation and Creating Jobs

Obama and Biden will increase federal support for research, technology and innovation for companies and universities so that American workers can lead the world in cutting edge jobs and products. Read more »

Even more tax credits! Are you keeping track? Lots of money going out so far...

Support Small Business

Obama and Biden will level the playing field for small business by eliminating all capital gains taxes on start-up and small businesses. Read more »

So now these guys want to get a $500 per worker credit to small businesses, and have the business pay both sides of the income tax for those workers. I'm not even sure how that works. They also want to throw $250 million per year to "incubate small businesses in disadvantaged areas". So the market won't bear a business in that area, we need to make sure there is one there anyways by spending our tax dollars on it. Brilliant.

Labor

Obama and Biden will strengthen the ability of workers to organize for good wages, healthcare, and secure pensions. Obama and Biden will fight for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Obama and Biden will ensure that labor appointees support workers' rights and will work to ban the permanent replacement of striking workers. Obama and Biden will also increase the minimum wage and make sure it remains a real wage year over year. Read more »

Now this one gets my goad. This would essentially force companies to pay workers whatever the workers demanded. Not being able to permanently replace workers who are being unreasonable about their requirements on pay/benefits/etc. would essentially force most companies into bankruptcy, AND raise the prices of their goods and services should they remain in business to the point that no one would be able to afford them. The beauty of a free market is simply that if I have a group of workers that strike for higher wages, and I can replace them with similarly skilled workers that work for lower wages, the people demanding higher wages shouldn't be making higher wages in the first place! This part of the plan means that the inmates would be running the asylum.

While they're at it, they'd continue to impact the free market by demanding higher and higher minimum wages. Why not just go ahead and pay workers at Burger King $25/hour. They obviously deserve the house in the foothills and the plasma tv just like everyone else who actually went to school and worked hard to make something of themselves.

Protect Homeownership and Crack Down on Mortgage Fraud

Obama and Biden will crack down on fraudulent brokers and lenders. They will make sure homebuyers have honest and complete information about their mortgage options, and they will give a tax credit to all middle-class homeowners. Read more »

More tax credits in this one. I'm still not seeing any "fiscal responsibility"...

Work/Family Balance

Obama and Biden will help working families by doubling funding for after-school programs, expanding the Family Medical Leave Act. They will provide low-income families with a refundable tax credit to help with their child-care expenses, and encourage flexible work schedules. Read more »

Obama wants to cut the size of companies required to comply with the FMLA from 50 to 25. This may result in critical positions in a small business being unfilled in the event that worker has an emergency for a long period of time. This is not good for small businesses, some of which couldn't survive in that state for long.

Obama also wants another $1.5 billion to provide monies to people taking time off work for certain charitable activities. While a nice idea in principle, I question it as being "fiscally responsible".

In this point also are doubling funding for after school programs, increase the amount of money given to low-income families for child care, as well as create other programs.

So I have one question for Sen. Obama. Where does all the money for this come from? It certainly won't happen from a "windfall profits tax", and I have a feeling that you couldn't squeeze the "rich" taxpayers for nearly enough to cover this.

Where does it come from?

Buy Your Patriotism!

Joe Biden today proudly announced that it is patriotic for those that earn more than $250,000 to pay more taxes! He went on to say that the money we take from the wealthy will be given to the middle class. In any other circle in this country that would be called grand larceny.

Amazing. The Democrats continue to use class warfare as a distraction by insinuating that the people that pay the most taxes (and indeed, the upper echelon of this country already pays 94%+ of all tax revenues) should pay even more! Further, they continue to have the audacity to act like the money is theirs to take from you.

What they don't tell you is that many of the entities paying these taxes are not all "fat cat" individuals. They're not all oil barons, or bandit CEOs - many of them are actually businesses. Those same businesses that provide jobs, goods and services to millions of Americans.

Think it through now, what happens when a business' costs go up?

Their prices go up too. And not only do prices go up for consumers, decreasing their abilities to buy those goods and services, but wages go down, and people lose their jobs. That's right, even the lowest earners with the least (or no) tax burden lose money. Further, the folks that are really paying the taxes, that top 1%, utilize more tax shelters and havens and further reduce income tax revenues coming in to the government.

Now, a quick history lesson. Who was a prominent Democratic Party President who realized this? President Kennedy of course. And his course of lower taxes to increase productivity and ultimately tax revenues was confirmed when President Reagan did the same thing. This is not a new idea to either party.

So what do Obama and Biden *really* want to do? They want to reduce your purchasing power. They want to further harm businesses that employ Americans, some of which are already on the ropes. They want to make sure this economy goes down in flames. They want to arbitrarily say who has too much money and who has too little, and rob Peter to pay Paul. All in the name of raising taxes only on the "wealthy". And even if they don't actually raise those taxes, Obama has stated that he will let the Bush tax cuts we have been enjoying for the last 6 years expire. Oops, higher taxes for everyone. But wait! He flipped on that again. So which is it Sen. Obama?

Don't be fooled. Don't support people who want to raise taxes in any way shape or form. The average American worker ALREADY works 113 days to pay off all of the taxes that are assessed on them throughout the year. Why would you possibly want to increase that burden? That is money going to pork and failed social engineering programs that could be putting food in your children's mouths, and keeping the roof over their heads.

Do not let anyone *near* the White House that even breathes that they are going to increase taxes for anyone. Biden's unguarded statement today shows the true Socialist roots of these two fools. They do not want you to succeed. They want themselves and their cronies to succeed at YOUR expense.

Petulant Children (Part 2)

In the last post, I shifted gears rather abruptly, here is why.

In another stunningly stupid move, the House yesterday approved a new energy plan which includes more domestic drilling. Or does it?

This is a long one, but read up and see the bill of goods you're being sold by your government.

Once again, they think we're too quiescent and stupid to see through their obvious ploys. They want to say they did something about it, and pin any resulting failures on the oil companies, or anyone else that is conveniently nearby.

Am I sounding cynical enough yet? Some highlights:

Permanently institutes a ban on new offshore development out to 50 miles. [Sec. 102] Folks, you can't just go out in your back yard, and successfully drill for oil. Oil exists in very specific geological structures and locations. Most known offshore oil is inside of 50 miles of the coast, and that which isn't is so deep, we don't currently have the technology to get at it easily or economically.

But that's ok! Except:
Permits leasing only between 50 and 100 miles offshore only if the adjacent state legislature ‘opts-in’ to allow leasing off its coastline. [Sec. 102] Oh. So this, plus no provision for the state to share in the revenues means - you got it. No state has the particular urge to allow anyone to drill even within 100 miles. And states such as California, who love to use oil but don't particularly feel like allowing anyone to drill for it *gasp*, well you get the picture.

And that's just the start. This is truly pathetic. How long do you think it will be before some raging Lib uses the above passed bill in an argument about how "we keep giving them opportunities to drill but the oil companies just won't do it so they can keep the prices high!".

Bet it won't be long.

Are you getting angry yet???

Full actual text of the bill is here: H.R. 6899 - OpenCongress.org

Petulant Children

Unless you've been in a cave, if you're even remotely interested in politics you've likely heard the Heller decision from the Supreme Court. To recap, it was a wishy washy ruling that established the 2nd Amendment as an individual right, independent of service in the military, but subject to "reasonable restrictions". Just the hogwash I've come to expect from the Government these days.

The result of that decision, was that Washington D.C.'s total ban on handguns was unconstitutional. In response, D.C's City Council imposed a draconian registration scheme, requiring the presentation of the weapon at a local Police Station for ballistic fingerprinting (which is a joke), and *still* required that all weapons be trigger locked or completely disassembled and stored in a safe. A small provision was made to unlock it if you felt your life was in immediate danger.

Ever tried telling someone who just broke into your house and is advancing on you with a lethal weapon "hang on while I unlock my handgun and load it?". Yeah, right.

Meanwhile, D.C. left provisions in that named pretty much all bottom loading semi-automatic pistols (just like the Glocks, Berettas, Rugers, etc. etc. etc. that Police and citizens in other states carry daily) machine guns. That's right. Your handgun accepts a magazine from the botton - machine gun. Baaaaaanned.

While slightly better than a ban, obviously, this was the City Council's attempt to try and get back at the Court and at their Citizens.

This petulant temper tantrum became even more obvious at all the bleating and hand wringing that's been going on as the House of Representatives passed a bill today bringing D.C's gun laws into the same realm as most of the rest of the free states in the country. As that bill was being passed, D.C's City Council passed another emergency rule easing the rule on semi-automatic handguns and at least allowing unloaded weapons to be stored freely in the home.

There are two issues here though.

1. Why did the Council wait this long to ease those rules? Well, how better to take care of a tantrum than hauling the screaming kid outside of the playground and putting them in the car to think about what they've done? Good on the House for calling D.C. on it's tantrum and threatening to remove the power to throw it.

2. The down side of #1 is that the House has moved so late in the Legislative Session to do so that it is very likely that the Senate will never see the bill. Oh. So, as a slimy gun grabbing Democrat, you can stand up and beat your chest and proclaim your support for gun rights, all the while safe in the knowledge that the bill you just passed will never see the light of day in the Senate. Pardon me if I don't stand up and clap.

Folks, are we done allowing our so called elected representatives to smugly hold the chloroform soaked rag over our faces while they fish the cash out of our pockets and destroy our liberties? Can we wake up and realize that the level of Machiavellian machinations in our political apparatus are nearing a critical point? Can we even get the Bread and Circus dazzled masses to care?

Don't think for a moment that a free market has created the situation in which we find ourselves today. Don't even believe that this country was founded to run on the doublespeak, outright lies, and suppression of dissent we are seeing today.

This is not a Left versus Right wing issue. They're both at fault.

Terrorist in Training

Some great FBI material was declassified recently.

I'll direct you to the always excellent writing over at the Western Rifle Shooters Association to read about this.

By the FBI's definition, I'm proud to say that I must be a "Terrorist in Training". By their definition, are you?

From the document:
(U//FOUO) Showing a keen interest in marksmanship, obtaining sniper-related books and
other training materials, spending time at shooting ranges, modifying vehicles in a
nontraditional manner, and purchasing rifles and associated optics may be indicators of
potential terrorist planning efforts; however, most of these indicators can be associated
with legitimate purposes.

Please head over to the link above and read more.

Government Dependence

Wasn't this Great Nation founded on INdependence?

How often do you hear from the Police after a foiled robbery "don't get involved". Or "give them what they want"? Now we have welfare, Social Security, Liberals screaming to bail out people that got in over their heads by being stupid when they bought a home, bailouts of businesses that made incredibly horrible decisions (Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, AIG), and yet let Lehman fail. Did Lehman not make contributions to the right people???

Now, the argument being made is that the loss of these companies would be too damaging to the economy. At the same time though, while things may have overcooked, and I certainly don't want a depression or worse either, how can you possibly justify using taxpayer money, and large amounts of it, to pay off other companies to take on these failed corporations? I am certainly not a financial wizard, but would welcome some good, sound reasoning on why this is a good thing for everyone.

So that said, we have the nanny state stepping in left and right. Didn't save for retirement, that's ok, we'll help! Didn't do you research and make sure you could afford a home before you bought it? That's ok! You don't have to repay those evil profiteers in the mortgage industry. Burned yourself with that coffee?? That shouldn't have been hot! You're entitled to all the money you can get from that evil corporation!! You bought a bunny advertised with floppy ears and it didn't have floppy ears? Call the cops! Wait...

Non-Floppy Emergency

Your rabbit's ears aren't floppy? Sorry, that's not an emergency. So said police in Scotland when a woman rang the emergency 999 number to discuss her concerns about her new pet. She said the newspaper ad promised floppy ears, but flop they would not.

Central Scotland Police said Monday they were equally unimpressed by another caller who complained that a passing car had splashed water on him, and by someone else inquiring about the postal code for a town's post office.

"Whilst officers and staff are dealing with these frivolous matters that a member of the public has deemed so serious as to call 999, they are not dealing with genuine emergency calls," said Chief Inspector Alan Stewart. (AP)

Sure, that's Scotland, but (formerly) Great Britain is often held up as a burgeoning Socialist paradise. That's alright though, since I heard last month that a man called the cops because the Subway sandwich shop wouldn't make his sandwich correctly. Hey, your government can fix anything for you! Just call them up and they'll make it right.

Where'd our sense of intrepid independence go? When, as a Nation, did we lose that individuality and sense of adventure that allowed us our meteoric rise to power in such a short 250 some odd years? When did we start listening to people who don't make any sense (the far left and a fair number of the far right too)?

When will we wake up and realize that all this politically correct regulating of everything is destroying the very fabric of this Nation?