The Art of Liberal Communication

We have all seen the steps a Liberal uses to communicate a point:

1. Make an unfounded statement.
2. When challenged with facts on that statement, change the subject.
3. When the subject can't be changed, insult the person counter arguing.
4. If that fails, attempt to get the Police or Authorities involved, or stamp off in a huff.

I had wondered where all of these people were getting their playbook from. Now I know.

Paula Anderson teaches "Communications" at Central Connecticut State University. Recently, when she assigned her class to make a reasoned argument regarding current events, John Wahlberg, one of her students, used that platform to make a reasoned argument for Licensed Concealed Carry (of Firearms) on Campus. I'm sure he didn't say he wanted to shoot students on campus, I know he didn't say he wanted to commit violence on anyone, he just stated that he wanted to be able to defend himself on campus, just like he can everywhere else in town.

Paula's response? Lodge a complaint with the Campus Police. Great Communications eh? David Codrea over at War on Guns has given us an assignment of our own. Let the Stasi calling Ms. Anderson know what we think about her little Marxist tendencies. I'll post her University contact information below. Feel free to drop her a line, I ask that you keep your discourse with her reasoned and civil.

Name: Anderson, Paula
Phone Number: 8322690
Job Title: Lecturer
Department: Communication
Location: R C Vance Acad Ctr 317
Email: andersonpau@ccsu.edu

My email to her is copied below:

I read with great dismay the harassment and degradation you visited upon John Wahlberg, simply because he was making a reasoned argument on current events, as assigned, in your classroom.

While we are all entitled to our own views, this country was founded upon tenets including personal freedom and accountability. That you would feign to teach "communications", and then call the authorities upon students with whom you had a disagreement of principles speaks volumes about your personal cowardice and complete lack of abilities in the subject you are supposed to teach.

What you have now demonstrated to your students is that they must submit to the status quo; that to believe differently than those with authority over you should be a crime. You have ensured that students who would think for themselves, that would speak up and ask simply "why" when they are in disagreement with what is being presented to them, will now fear the midnight call from the Stasi, that soft knock upon the door (or in this case, that evening phonecall from the Police); the harbinger of oppression.

I have sincere hopes that for your abuse of authority, you will see sanctions in some form. With any luck, the student you wrong will see fit to file suit for harassment. At best, I hope you lose your job over this.

While I have never subscribed to the statement "those who can't, teach", in this case, I believe it very apt.

Congratulations on successfully bullying someone with whom you disagreed, simply because you were unable to stand up and openly and logically refute their arguments.

I will be posting this at http://tyrannyunleashed.blogspot.com along with your University contact information. You are welcome to respond there, or by replying to this email address, that is, if you actually want to attempt to defend your craven actions.

--
Garry Morris
Tyranny Unleashed

As you can see, I have invited her over here to discuss her actions. I doubt she'll show.

While you're at it, head on over to the Campus Newspaper and dive into the fray in the comments section on their article.

To Mr. Wahlberg, I recommend you seek legal counsel and see what your options are to ensure other students won't be harrassed the way that you were. Thank you for your attempts to educate the Marxists at your school about what true Liberty involves, and I hope that you won't be dissuaded from continued efforts along this line. That they called the Police on you is the highest form of compliment - it means they didn't have any other way to refute your arguments or shut you down except to call for Daddy to come save them.

Congratulations Sir. If there is anything the pro-rights community can do for you, please let us know.

H/T to David and JD

Our Future Beckons

The [British] government’s appetite to maintain detailed files on its citizens is growing

Folks may notice that I pay attention to Britain quite a bit, and often post the goings on over on the Isle. There is, quite frankly, a reason. Without the Constitution such as we have, their government is happily moving more and more to the left, removing their rights like falling dominoes. It has gotten so bad, that even defending one's self from a home invader is considered a felonious offense. CCTV cameras stud every light pole and subway wall. You are always on camera, and you have very few actual rights when the Police decide you have offended the Gov's Politically Correct sensibilities.

Now, thanks to a slavishly Bush-poodling Labour government with a startlingly authoritarian bent, Britons are beginning to recognise that this sceptred isle, this earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, this other Eden is about to become this surveillance state, this database depot, this green and pleasant centre of preventive detention, this precious home of biometrically-keyed national identification cards set in a sea of CCTV cameras.

The Brits are holding Civil Rights rallies now. They are fighting to get back their right to bear arms, to defend their property from rampant thieves, to be able to go about their lives as they see fit.

So why pay attention? With our Government scoffing at the Constitution more and more each day, while our Supreme Court cheers them on, we are headed down this path. I'm worried that we will soon see these same rampant offenses upon our Liberty. I guarantee the Socialists in our country are cheering Europe's fall into Marxism and are working hard every day to ensure we're next.

The Voice of God is Government

Obama to Set 2010 Date for Ending Iraq War

And the anointed one did raise his voice in command, and so it will be.

Reality has left the building.

A Quick Clarification

Cheddar said...

"good only for stuffing into cattle cars to go take a shower"

WOW.

I should probably clarify that statement a touch lest I raise the ire of good folks.

The point of the statement that Cheddar has highlighted from tonight's post , titled Unbelievable, was intended to communicate the total disdain with which I believe the ruling elite regard the little bugs (that would be us) running around at their feet.

The god-like complex that infuses most of our politicians and public officials (to include the Police) results in their belief that ourselves, and by dint our lives, are lived at their pleasure. Theirs to order about, theirs to mandate how we must live, what we breathe, consume, possess, where we go (and when we can go there), even what we can believe. They even believe themselves entitled to the fruits of our labor, and deign to let us keep a little for ourselves.

When you live your life at someone's pleasure, they can, if they choose, terminate that life at any time. After all, they own you.

So down the road, when power is secured, and all conceived avenues of resistance have been crushed, a hue and cry will arise that will result in massive exterminations.

As the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership has rightly pointed out many times, totalitarianism and intolerance in government always ends in mass exterminations of undesirables. I don't think it takes too much of a stretch for that list of undesirables to include the list of destitute, ignorant, unwashed masses that you brainwashed, used and abused to obtain your power.

After all, they're just bugs right? Roll up the limo windows and drive faster so you don't have to look at them. And if they defy you...



Well, there's very little difference now is there?

What the Budget Will Cost You

A thanks to Toby at the UK Telegraph (funny how it always takes Fox, Drudge, or a foreign news agency to get reasonable analysis these days) for the following number:

$25k - per taxpayer.

That is what the new budget for '09 amounts to.

Do you have that much to throw into a bottomless pit this year? I know I certainly don't.

Unbelievable

Pork, pork, lies, damned lies, and more pork.
9,000 earmarks, and a 10% rise in spending from last year. They're not even pretending to tell the truth any more. These idiots will say anything because many in this country either believe it, or don't give a fig either way as long as American Idol will be on the TV tonight.

The new Domestic Agenda
Plenty of tax increases for the "rich". Of course, that includes most small businesses, which, along with the corporations will have to lay off people and pass the rest of the increases on to anyone who consumes their goods - oops, that would be you and me.

$1.3tr Budgets that rely on hope and change, as well as cap and trade (which will grossly raise your energy costs, including gasoline and power for your home) will ensure that this Nation will plunge into the depths of Socialism and misery.

Capped off by...of course...a new Assault Weapons Ban that Holder has announced is a priority for this Administration. Of course, I've been yelling about that since September, not that that matters. Naturally, you have the progression of mouth breathers in the comments for that article hyperventilating about how you "don't need hand grenades to hunt". I don't even know where to start on that one. We've really reached a point where a majority of Americans, by all appearances, are good only for stuffing into cattle cars to go take a shower - at least as soon as their usefulness as idiots has passed.

I'm losing all hope. I hate to say it, but I'm truly reaching a point where I just don't know what to make of it all. This is no longer a Government by, for and of the people, it is an Oligarchy. Stuffed with lawyers and appointees that could give a flying f*** about us. They simply want more power and more money for them and their cronies.

Has Montana seceded yet? I'm ready for some "change" myself.

Edit: I have clarified the cattlecar statement. Please read that statement before you respond.

Ever Rising Police State

Remote-controlled planes could spy on British homes

Ahh yes. I'm sure they'll use it "wisely" though. And they'd never abuse it to effect raids on innocent citizens would they?

Never allow your oppressors to acquire more tools to use against you without a fight.

Cash Crop

One facet of Liberty is the core motto of "leave me the hell alone". That tenet extends to many things. Essentially, so long as I am not infringing on your natural rights, I'm free to do as I please.

That may be owning guns, more common amongst the Liberty crowd, but that tenet also extends to using substances, such as, in this case, marijuana.

Ultimately, the "war on drugs" costs this country billions of dollars and millions of arrests. Marijuana alone resulted in 872k arrests in 2007, 89% of which were simply for possession.

Heavy handed SWAT tactics, including no-knock raids also result in loss of lives, property, and even mistakes which endanger the lives of completely law-abiding citizens.

I'm watching California carefully on this one, as, along with the many states that are already working on reaffirming their 10th Amendment rights with regards to limiting governmental power, CA, in its own way, is also attempting to establish their independency from the Federal Government in this matter. If the $14bil number from that article is anywhere close to accurate, CA may be able to get a nice chunk of tax revenue, as well as see dramatic cost savings from not incarcerating their share of people simply possessing a naturally growing plant.

Remember, freedom is more than just guns, it's a way of living.

Imposter in Chief

Soldier questions eligibility, doubts president's authority.

For an administration that campaigned on openness, transparency, and fairness, I find it very odd that they will not release Obama's actual medical records (which you'll recall they demanded of McCain), nor will they provide proof of his citizenship by providing a record of live birth.

I'd really like to see them provide that, so that they might actually live up to their own rhetoric.

Fraudsters Must Fail

AIG Seeks to Ease Its Bailout Terms

This is what we're dealing with folks. None of the stimulus, bailouts, Government backing, etc. is actually meant to improve our economy.

ALL OF IT, that's right, every last penny, is horse trading for favors, and ensuring powerful and well connected friends (however fraudulent) make out like bandits, all at your expense.

Essentially, the taxpayers are guaranteeing AIG's debts - that is, if AIG fails, we're on the hook for their notes. We, the United States Taxpayers, are ensuring that the credit rating isn't dropped on a company that is losing $60bil per quarter. And AIG is now indicating that they may not be able to survive under the current terms?

Are you kidding me? Our so called leaders have flat out lost their minds.

LET THEM FAIL This worthless crap is not what we have a Federal Government for. Get the hell out of my wallet.

ACORN Strikes Again

Arrest Made in Home Foreclosure Civil Disobedience Program

Ahh yes, ACORN, which is eligible to receive a slice of billions of our recent "stimulus" package.

First voter fraud, now breaking and entering, lovely.

I'm all for Civil Disobedience, but not when it is interceding on behalf of Socialist mores. Surely, though, they'll be able to use our money to fight the charges against their activist.

Police Officers - Some Animals are More Equal Than Others

David's National Gun Rights Examiner covers his ongoing "Only Ones" series of posts, found on his blog.

Too often I think Police Officers put themselves on pedestals as somehow more empowered and a higher class of citizen - the Police definitely do it to themselves. How often do you hear Police refer to their fellow citizens as "civilians", as if somehow the Officer is different than them.

I am a big fan of what I call the "Goose and Gander" approach to the Police and the laws they must follow when off duty. What is good for the goose (the Police) is good for the gander (All Law Abiding Citizens). For example, if the citizens of a state can not, for example, carry a gun in their daily lives, Officers should have to turn in their guns to the armory at the end of the shift. If things are bad enough that those Officers need guns off duty, laws should be passed to allow all qualified citizens to carry guns daily, and the officers can carry under those laws.

It is obvious from the various abuses, extension of ludicrous "professional courtesy", etc. that are perpetrated by the Police these days, that allowing them to be exempt from certain laws that the now believe only apply to the citizenry they are supposed to "serve", is resulting in the Police using their perceived elevated status as an entitlement to eschew following other laws by committing such offenses as DUI and theft, even occasionally murder. David Codrea's Only Ones series is definitely an eye opener as to the abuses perpetrated by Police every day. David admits himself that there are more emails pointing out these various offenses than he can even put into his blog without corrupting its core message.

I believe it is far past time to bring the Police down a peg. We can either hold them accountable to the maximum extent of the law in order to act as a check and balance on the extra power that they believe they wield, or we can repeal any and all laws that are meant to apply special powers to off duty Police Officers and let them follow all of the laws that their fellow citizens must follow.

Ultimately, you can not have it both ways. You can not wield more power and be held less accountable than everyone else. You must either be treated just like everyone else, or expect to have the book thrown at you if you violate the trust that has been placed upon you by your fellow man. Until this is done, we can be sure to expect ever more serious and violent Police misconduct.

A Proud Coward

Eric Holder today pulled a very typical Liberal trick. You make sure everyone around you is miserable by pointing out just how miserable they are to them.

You see, Mr. Holder says that the US is a Nation of Cowards because we do not go around discussing race on a day to day basis. Frankly, race isn't really an issue for me. What is an issue is the honor that you stand on in your interactions with me. Personally, I don't see how walking over to my neighbor's house and saying "I notice you are black, and I haven't met my quota of black friends yet...would you like to be my friend?" would go over very well. Frankly, I just don't feel the need to bus people to my house to BBQ on the weekends.

In a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," Holder said.

Race issues continue to be a topic of political discussion, but "we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race."

I have Hispanic neighbors, African American Neighbors, all kinds of neighbors. Everyone gets a wave as they drive by, or go out to their mailbox. And if they're in talking range, and look like they'd like to pass the time, I find out how their day is going. Since I'm involved in my community's leadership, I also make sure they don't have any problems or concerns that I may need to raise in the committees I'm in. I don't do it because of their race, I do it because they are my neighbors, and our community will stand or fall based on our interactions with each other - as a united whole.

One of my pet peeves are apologists such as Mr. Holder. Holder and his ilk believe they are somehow entitled to different treatment based on their race. They think that I should fall to my knees and beg forgiveness for past sins of people I have never even met every time I encounter someone in the street who is different than myself. That, to put it succinctly, is bullshit.

While some people are racist (and that goes for all different races mind you), many are not. To very many Americans, people are people. Every time someone like Holder comes out and tries to point out and emphasize the differences, they are doing themselves a grave disservice, and are fomenting those tensions that do exist between Americans (not only amongst the lines of race, but of class as well).

Liberals thrive on pointing out how "unequal" things are. How horrible it is that that person over there makes more money than you, or has a bigger house. They like to preach about how much "injustice" there is. They want you to believe that nothing is your fault, you're just a victim of the establishment. They don't want you to take responsibility for yourself because they know you then won't need them to tell you how to feel today. They know that if you take responsibility for yourself, you will see them for what they are - cowards.

Liberals know they can't stand on facts, they can't point to a single country where their message of Socialism has actually worked, and they know that happy people won't buy their line. They want you to feel guilty that you have done well. They want you to feel guilty for being happy. Eric Holder is attempting to project his cowardice on to you.

So, Mr. Holder, I'm proud to be labeled a Coward by you. I'm proud to say that I do not need to make an extra effort to "talk about race". I'm happy that to me, Americans are Americans regardless of their skin color, or level of wealth, religion (hell, I'm a Buddhist myself), or their sexual orientation. I've worked hard to make sure my lot in life is ample to my needs. I've worked harder to develop a sense of honor to make sure my interactions with people are honest and fair.

Luckily, I don't need people such as you, Mr. Holder, to tell me what my worth is - I am personally responsible for my own actions and my own honor. I am an island unto myself, and you, sir, have no authority in my domain.

Federal obligations exceed WORLD GDP

Accompanied by this timely post from Mike Vanderboegh comes this gem from World Net Daily - and lest you scoff, backed up by a report directly from the Treasury. While I thought we were nearing the point of no return, if you take into account the naked debt inherent in the Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security programs, and (like a cherry on top) add in the extra entitlement programs stuck into the spendulus bill like corn in crap, we are plummeting towards the ground, and a crater is all we have to look forward to.

As the Obama administration pushes through Congress its $800 billion deficit-spending economic stimulus plan, the American public is largely unaware that the true deficit of the federal government already is measured in trillions of dollars, and in fact its $65.5 trillion in total obligations exceeds the gross domestic product of the world.

The total U.S. obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits to be paid in the future, effectively have placed the U.S. government in bankruptcy, even before new continuing social welfare obligation embedded in the massive spending plan are taken into account.

The real 2008 federal budget deficit was $5.1 trillion, not the $455 billion previously reported by the Congressional Budget Office, according to the "2008 Financial Report of the United States Government" as released by the U.S. Department of Treasury.

We have a very, very deep problem. As usual, the normal media outlets are silenced by their handlers, and we are left with a populace that is being fed a steady diet of complete bullcrap by the Government. Outstanding obligations, including monies owed to entitlement programs, now exceed $65 trillion - that's more than the total GDP of the planet.

"Shy of the government severely slashing social welfare programs, federal deficits of this magnitude are beyond any hope of containment, government or otherwise," he said.

"Put simply, there is no way the government can possibly pay for the level of social welfare benefits the federal government has promised unless the government simply prints cash and debases the currency, which the government will increasingly be doing this year," Williams said, explaining in more detail why he feels the government is now in the process of monetizing the federal debt.

To survive, ultimately, we're going to have to hit the reset button on all of the entitlement programs. We're going to have no choice, as there is no way to fund these programs, period. The money can't be wished into existence, and the people relying on that money to be there can't magically disappear (well, they can, but that is a possibility that, while I will keep it in mind as such, is not something I care to dwell on). This means mass starvation, and the collapse of services as the millions of Americans that have been taught to rely on the Government for their daily needs will suddenly find themselves without. I'm sure they will not take that removal kindly.

The biggest problem of all, is that we now have a group of people in charge of this Nation that either do not understand the issue, or (more likely) understand it all too well and are going about the business of ensuring the survival of their own while damning the rest of the country to destruction. If you have any doubts about the accuracy of that statement, look at the actions of the Fed and Government at large since October. The American People are being disregarded and marginalized in a naked power and money grab. The worst part, is that a fair number of those people are cheering the looters on.

Winter is coming.

Openly Carried Firearms, Fellow Gun Owners, and Liberty

A gun forum I frequent (well, I frequent the part of it where issues regarding carrying guns openly and concealed is discussed) seems to have developed an interesting trend. Someone links to a drive in a state to allow citizens to openly carry their firearms. Often, someone responds with something to the effect of "open carry isn't a good idea because of..." and then lists a number of non-factual "reasons" why you shouldn't openly carry a handgun. The reasons are usually along the lines of:
You'll scare people.
Someone will take it from you.
If you're in some place and some guys want to rob it, they'll shoot you.

I've been attempting to refine my response. Today's incident had me responding to a poster who said, essentially, why would you open carry if you have a CCW permit?

Why concealed carry? Better yet, who are you to tell me how I am allowed to exercise my 2nd Amendment Rights?

Law Enforcement is sometimes a victim of gun grabs. However, most of those grabs happen not while the Officer is strolling down the street, but during physical tussles in which the Officer is hands-on attempting to make an arrest (or is in close proximity to a person who knows they have warrants and doesn't want to jail and the officer doesn't know it yet). Either way, using LEO gun grab stats to apply to citizens is not correct - it is apples and oranges.

Then there are those that always yell "someone will take it from you!" To be entirely fair, I have now heard of a grand total of one (1) case where this has happened in the US. Ever. The guy was out alone at 2 or 3am, in a dark area, and was mugged. They came up behind him (poor situational awareness) and got the drop on him. Can it happen? Yes. Will situational awareness help? Sure. Should you wear a holster with active retention systems - absolutely.

Ultimately, questions like this show that we're still our own worst enemy. The goal for all gun owners should be the unfettered, unrestricted ability to own and carry any gun we want, any way we want, so long as it is done responsibly. Whether it be rifles that are semi-auto (or please - full auto) versions of their military counterparts, big pistols, small pistols, shotguns, whatever, gun owners should be supportive of the 2nd Amendment as written - shall not be infringed. The moment we start thinking (and saying): "I don't think you need to....", and then attempt to validate that statement with emotional arguments that we can not back up with facts, we show that while we may talk about Liberty, we do not truly understand what Liberty means.

What is Liberty? In this particular case, Liberty means me carrying a pistol any way I want. Open, concealed, in a tactical rig, whatever - so long as I am doing so in a manner that will not directly endanger those around me. Questioning my need for exercising Liberty in that manner opens a Pandora's box that allows anyone to infringe anyone else's rights simply on the basis of their own biases and potentially flawed perceptions. It is from this direction that most Statists and Leftists come - "I don't think that's necessary, so you shouldn't be able to do it."

Why would anyone carry openly? Why indeed would anyone carry at all?

I feel all too often we really are our own worst enemy. How often do you hear someone who hunts say "sure, I'm for the Second Amendment, but those handguns (or assault rifles, etc) need to be banned"?

We really do need to focus on what is at the core of our ability to keep and bear arms. That is "arms". Not "bolt action deer rifles", not "revolvers", not "anything but assault weapons", just arms.

Allowing the banners to ban a class of weapons is like allowing a three year old to paint on the wall. The three year old doesn't care that you're just allowing it on the kitchen wall because that one's easier to clean. They know only that they just got away with it. So, if the kitchen wall is ok, let's try the living room wall. You have to tell that three year old right up front "No! It's never ok to draw on a wall!" A consistent message drives home the point.

Our inconsistency as a group in allowing the usurpation of certain freedoms and not others allows the banners to accomplish a divide and conquer strategy. We waste time bickering, they just laugh and proceed with banning something else.

That's why I have pursued a wider range of topics in this blog. I feel that as people who are concerned with Liberty, and if you're fighting hard on the gun issue, you're certainly concerned with Liberty, we have a responsibility to do our best to fight all forms of tyranny. That doesn't mean I think David Codrea at War on Guns should diversify - we need our specialists. I'm also not asking you to divert your limited resources and spread them out all over the place. However, take a little time to be aware of other issues, and drop an extra call or email to your reps letting them know your stance on those non-gun related issues.

Being involved in a wider range of Pro-Liberty activities will not only help to bolster the cause of gun rights, but will also allow you to argue more effectively on a number of subjects related to gun rights.

Most of all, think long and hard before throwing another Liberty oriented group under the bus. It's not ok to let someone go after someone else's rights just because you're not directly affected.

Spendulus!

Ahh, it's time to see what this bill includes. FoxNews.com readers read over the bill and supplied this list, at first glance:

What follows is a list of some of the more fascinating -- if less stimulating -- items in the bill:
-- $198 million for pensions for Filipinos who fought alongside the U.S. during WWII.
-- $450 million for NASA: "Science"
-- $200 million for NASA: "Aeronautics"
-- $28 billion for special education, Head Start and child care and development programs for disadvantaged children.
-- $100 million for the Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Grant Program
-- $200 million to the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund Program
-- $300 million for "Violence Against Women Prevention and Prosecution Programs"
-- $900 million for the IRS for the "Limitation on Administrative Expenses"
-- $1 million for the Railroad Retirement Board for administrative costs
-- $2 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Act
-- $50 million for Health and Human Services to carry out injury prevention programs
-- $1.1 billion for studies on the effectiveness of different medical treatments -- $200 million to upgrade labs and facilities for the Department of Agriculture "to improve workplace safety and mission-area efficiencies"
-- $10 million for urban canal inspection
-- $16 billion to pay for student financial aid
-- $1 billion to pay for the U.S. Census
-- $600 million to pay for a fuel-efficient federal auto fleet
-- $650 million for the Digital Converter Box Program to help the constantly delayed transition from analog television
-- $485 million to the Forest Service for "hazardous fuels reduction and hazard mitigation activities in areas at high risk of catastrophic wildfire"
-- Up to $1 billion for "summer activities" for youths as old as 24
-- $40 million for the occupational research agenda
-- $3 billion for the Centers for Disease Control wellness programs and vaccinations
-- $410 million for Indian health facilities
-- $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstrations

I've paraphrased a little bit, and added emphasis for the B in billions.

Not even included are the Socialized Healthcare Approval/Rejection system, money for Pelosi's swamp rats, or the high speed rail initiatives (rumored to mainly be used for a high-speed rail line between LA and Las Vegas - benefitting Pelosi and Reed's states respectively).

And certainly don't forget the $2.4bn for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere on the last line there - we need it to get colder out there after all.

The claim is that everything in there creates jobs. For whom? Construction workers? Where are the benefits for our businesses - you know, the folks that actually EMPLOY workers? All this is going to do is result in more debt, raising taxes even further (our corporate tax rates are already almost the highest in the world), and put more people out of work so they can dig ditches for the new CO2 scrubbers.

I'm entirely disgusted, but I expected nothing else from these idiots.

State's Rights

The Virginia Tech Betrayal

No doubt about it. These leftists will not rest until they have control over every little bit of your life.

The measure, sought by Gov. Tim Kaine after the 2007 campus spree, would have reined in the unfettered sales of lethal weaponry — from backwoods to battlefield guns — at weekend “sportsmen’s shows.”

With no background checks required on customers, the dealers present convicted felons and sociopaths an enormous loophole for mayhem. A federal study traced half of the crime guns in Washington, D.C., to Virginia. They move along the “Iron Pipeline” of weaponry infecting states along Interstate 95.

Ahh, the good old "Iron Pipeline". You're right, if we could just stop those 2% of crime guns that come from gun shows, everything would be better.

From the CATO Institute:

If you walk along the aisles at any gun show, you will find that the overwhelming majority of guns offered for sale are from federally licensed dealers. Guns sold by private individuals (such as gun collectors getting rid of a gun or two over the the weekend) are the distinct minority.

Yet HCI claims that "25-50 percent of the vendors at most gun shows are unlicensed dealers." That statistic is true only if one counts vendors who aren't selling guns (e.g., vendors who are selling books, clothing or accessories) as "unlicensed dealers."

Denver congresswoman Diana DeGette says that 70 percent of guns used in crimes come from gun shows. The true figure is rather different, according to the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice. According to an NIJ study released in December 1997 ("Homicide in Eight U.S. Cities," a report that covers much more than homicide), only 2 percent of criminal guns come from gun shows.

That finding is consistent with a mid-1980s study for the NIJ, which investigated the gun purchase and use habits of convicted felons in 12 state prisons. The study (later published as the book Armed and Considered Dangerous) found that gun shows were such a minor source of criminal gun acquisition that they were not even worth reporting as a separate figure.

All those guns are not causing problems in the states they originate in. They only seem to be causing problems in places with high ratings from the Brady Bunch, like Chicago and Washington D.C. Do you think for a moment that a criminal who is hell bent on using a firearm in a crime gets it legally? That they'd go down to the local gun show and get it? No. They'd much rather ask a buddy on a street corner and buy one illegally to avoid potential oversight.

What this demand from a panty wetting liberal really means is that he wants to be able to control what you do with your own property, in your own home, amongst your own friends and family.

There is no inter-state commerce involved in an in-state transfer between two private citizens. There is no Federal Jurisdiction to do this. Yet, in the name of the "children", we should enact draconian restrictions on private property rights.

Perhaps next we can regulate buckets, which kill far more children each year than guns. A bucket licensing and registration scheme, along with safety lock requirements would surely make more sense.

A Spendulus Deal Has Been Reached

The result, screw the people.

I'm still trying to find the exact items that stayed in the compromise bill, but the following seemingly innocuous statement is scaring the hell out of me:

Health: The plan includes subsidies to allow people who are laid off to purchase health insurance through the federal COBRA plan. There is also money to support hospitals seeking to modernize health information technology.
Fox News

It sounds like the Orwellian crap I wrote about in "Rank Tyranny" is still in play. This means Federal Government control over what procedures your doctor is allowed to perform on you. That's right - healthcare rationing. A bureaucrat gets to make your life and death decisions.

I'll be keeping an eye out for a copy of the compromise, but at this point, we may be lost.

Someone Finally Speaks Sense

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will unveil a long-awaited package of measures to help the financial sector at 11 am New York time.

But Rogers said Geithner, who was president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, "has been dead wrong about everything for 15 years in a row," and so was President Barack Obama's economic advisor Lawrence Summers, who acted as Treasury Secretary at the turn of the century.

"It is mind-boggling to me," Rogers told "Squawk Box Europe."

"If I were on your show 15 weeks in a row and was wrong, you'd probably never invite me back. These guys have been wrong year after year after year consistently and here they are making the same mistakes again. This is not going to solve the problem, it's going to make it worse."

Jim Rogers lays it out in this article on CNBC.

Government can not create jobs, all they can do is spend money that you and I give them. The more they spend, the deeper in debt they get, the more money it will take to pay off that debt.

Look at it this way: Lets say I need to fix my car. I don't have the money, so I use my credit card. Not only do I have to pay back the original amount, but I now must work even harder to pay off the interest. Now imagine I make $50k per yer (for example), and I decide that I'm going to put $50k on my credit card. What do you think the chances are that I'll be able to pay that back?

Our entire income tax take in this country is about $1,000bn. We're already promising at least that with this farce of a stimulus package (only 12% of which will actually go towards stimulus according to the Wall Street Journal). How does it make sense that borrowing (or printing) all of that money will actually make anything better?

Just remember, we're trusting the guy who has been at the helm of the Fed (and is at least partially responsible for this mess) to get us out of it. When the drunk ship captain runs you aground, you don't give him another bottle of Jack and tell him to get you off the rocks.

Outright Theft

We used to have something in this country called Due Process. You know, that pesky little thing where you had the right to a trial, innocent until proven guilty, jury of your peers, oh hell, the freaking Constitution and its limitations on those corrupt retards we call Government?

The 14th Amendment specifically states:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The 5th Amendment also mentions due process.

And yet, the lovely War On Drugs, has brought yet another fun tool of tyranny to the fore:
Property seizure by police called 'highway piracy'

Law enforcement authorities in this East Texas town of 1,000 people seized property from at least 140 motorists between 2006 and 2008, and, to date, filed criminal charges against fewer than half, according to a San Antonio Express-News review of court documents.

Virtually anything of value was up for grabs: cash, cell phones, personal jewelry, a pair of sneakers, and often, the very car that was being driven through town. Some affidavits filed by officers relied on the presence of seemingly innocuous property as the only evidence that a crime had occurred.

That's right. These thugs, who happen to have little pieces of pretty pot metal on their chests, guns on their hips, and an attitude that they are somehow above those that they are supposed to "serve", are basically conducting armed robbery of citizens who are passing through. They blackmail them with threats of charges and imprisonment, apparently frequently with no basis, and then take their property from them.

Now, if that property was potentially evidence, and a receipt was issued and charges filed, and then were that property returned after acquittal in a court of law, we'd be having a different conversation. Instead, these useful idiots and their so called leaders use pitiful excuses such as "without these policies, we couldn't afford more stuff". That's great, you steal from me to buy yourself more toys to use to steal from me again next week.

This isn't limited to the Highway Patrol though, oh no. These seizure laws also apply to people buying drugs in the ghetto - the Police like to take their car. Simply for buying drugs. Nevermind that the people they're confiscating the car from are usually too destitute to buy another. Nevermind that sometimes its not even the property of the person driving. Just take it. The same is done when a pot plant is found at a house. Take the whole house, and everything in it! It must be the result of drug activity. Cruel and unusual indeed.

Fine, I'm not into drugs much myself, but what is it to me if someone else wants to do them? So long as they're not hurting anyone else, they should be free to do what they please.

As to these guys in Texas, they wonder why there is an ever increasing "us and them" attitude developing. Perhaps they'd rather honest citizens open fire on them right off the bat when they make a traffic stop. After all, if they're going to play at being robbers, it falls on us to act like the cops. And we all know how to behave like cops don't we?!? Shoot first, shoot often, shoot lots, and plant evidence afterwards to make it look like it was justified.

After all, there's more of us than there are of them no? Kinda falls under that whole "Consent of the Governed" thing doesn't it.

Rank Tyranny

Ahh, no sir. As a political dissident (we've read your blogs), and being someone critical of the State, we do not deem you to need that particular medical treatment. Enjoy your cancer.

Read this article from Bloomberg. I'm rapidly losing all hope that our way of life, the way of life fought for by the Founders and American Soldiers throughout history, is at an end.

The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.

But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.” (emphasis supplied - GM)

The funding for this tiny section of the bill exceeds what we spend on the military.

I'd like to extend a special fuck you to Arlen Spectre, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe - all so called Republicans that decided that it's ok to bend over the citizens of this Nation, their constituents, by kicking the Statists one vote over what they needed to stop discussion on this bill and force a vote.

This is what we have to look forward to for the next four years - at least.

Stick a fork in us.

Doubling Down

U.S. Taxpayers Risk $9.7 Trillion on Bailout Programs

Read that number, and then look at the National Debt in my sidebar. Compare and contrast.

You don't hear about the bigger number in the news. The focus is all on the TARP and the new Bailout (the two of which combine by themselves into almost $2tr). What isn't seen is the $7,000,000,000,000 in monies promised as a guarantee to loads of bad mortgages and other toxic debt. I have a feeling, from the lack of transparency, a lot of those guarantees will be called due.

So here we are, doubling our National Debt to make sure the fraudulent thieves who made the bad bets in the first place, and whom, in some cases, intentionally moved their liabilities into off book loopholes go home with money in their pockets. Meanwhile, we all get higher taxes and to foot the bill for their largesse.

The stimulus package the U.S. Congress is completing would raise the government’s commitment to solving the financial crisis to $9.7 trillion, enough to pay off more than 90 percent of the nation’s home mortgages.

This is a sick joke. How Obama can get up there and act like this is being done to help the Country is pathetic. Building roads will not generate lasting jobs, neither will putting money into school systems that are already Federalized and failing miserably in their primary mission - to EDUCATE (not INDOCTRINATE) our youth.

It's all I can do to even listen to the mouthpieces. Our "leaders", and I use that term with the highest level of disrespect I can gather, are all platitudes and rhetoric - no real substance.

The Savior Based Economy

Mark Sanford had some excellent points on "The Savior Based Economy" today.

“We’re moving precipitously close to what I would call a savior-based economy,” Sanford also said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

The South Carolina Republican said such an economy is “what you see in Russia or Venezuela or Zimbabwe or places like that where it matters not how good your product is to the consumer but what your political connection is to those in power.”

This rings very very true to me. Between Carbon Offsets, mandated "green technologies", some of which this so-called bailout throws money at, even non-profits for whom $3bil is allocated - you have to have a political "in". Look at the bank bailouts - why is it ok to prop up one bank and not others? Is it about who's phone number you have? When the money comes free though, how much effort do you really make to ensure you're giving government maximum bang for their buck?

Ultimately, attempting to manipulate the market always fails. Sooner or later.

It's Time for "Balance"

You know, screw the 2nd Amendment. And screw the 1st while you're at it.



Look. The market has to be wrong. How can our enlightened Liberal talk radio programs keep getting canceled for lack of interest when the Conservative programs do so well? I know! Lets just mandate that radio stations (and only radio stations, Liberals enjoy their near monopoly in print and television media quite well thank you) play crap that no one wants to listen to, so that they'll have to change their format and silence those nasty Conservatives. While we're at it, lets shut down those nasty bloggers. They have a bad habit of pointing things out and letting people know what's really going on.

A commenter pointed out on Calderone's Blog that Sen. Stabenow's husband is in progressive radio. Nice conflict of interest there Senator.

These Liberals and their drone slobbering idiot followers are a total joke. It would be funny if it wasn't actually reality.

Keep Them in the Dark and Feed Them...

Democrat: Obama Team 'Encouraged' Defiance of Pelosi on Stimulus

There are some interesting cracks emerging here. The Democratic juggernaut is not intact and whole, and it sounds like Reid and Pelosi are being, well, Reid and Pelosi.

Nobody likes a dictator, and nobody likes being told what to do - especially when I'm sure the reason they got elected to Congress in the first place was to wield power (or make a change).

Sure, you can rise in the ranks by shuffling around behind your betters, Pelosi and Reid in this case, but did your constituents elect you to be a toady or to stand up for what THEIR best interests are?

"They don’t mind the partisan fighting cause that's what they are used to. In fact, they're really good at it — and they’re a little bit worried about what a post-partisan future might look like," Cooper said during the radio interview. "If members actually had to read the bills and figure out whether they are any good or not. We’re just told how to vote. We’re treated like mushrooms most of the time."

- Jim Cooper (D-TN)

It is important to remember that if you're in a state where you have a Democrat representing you (or even a Republican, get involved dammit) that you can still harass them by sending logical, friendly, well thought out requests that they vote the way you want them to vote. Even if they don't, a rising chorus of dissent in their boxes is a sure way to get their attention.

In 10 minutes you can go to Senate.gov or House.gov, select your state, and send an email to your rep through the contact form. If you're feeling particularly energetic, give them a call too.

Exploit those cracks. Tell your representatives what YOU want them to do. Democrat or Republican, VOTE FOR THEIR OPPOSITION in the next election if they do not follow your values. Yes, it sucks to vote for the other party, but if we keep electing these jackasses, how can we expect anything to change??

Open the Floodgates (Part 3)

Karl Denninger expands further on what I was saying over the last two days.

This is a must read article folks. If you don't understand some of what Karl is talking about, use the archive links on the right side of his site to read back a few posts. The problem should rapidly become abundantly clear. I'm no economist, and I only understand what I've read, but Karl's analysis has been passing the "smell test" for me for some time now, and the archives show that he called this mess as much as a year and a half ago.

From the article:

Automobile demand is a good example. The last few years we've built 14 million cars a year. But our inherent demand to replace destroyed cars (rusted away, crashed, etc) is only 11 million or so. The other three million were "pulled forward" with creative financing - for a while.

We employed hundreds of thousands of people building cars that cannot be sold on a permanent basis. That's a problem.

These distortions cannot happen without active government involvement. Without allowing willfully false statements on 1003s (mortgage documents) you cannot grant $500,000 loans to people who make $8/hour. It simply can't happen, because the inherent risk of default on those loans is so high that absent fraud nobody in their right mind will fund those loans and honest regulators will step in and stop the stupidity before it can get out of hand.

But when these distortions become embedded in the economy as a consequence of government mismanagement, willful blindness and even active complicity in the frauds then you've got a major problem because now laying people off for a few weeks or months won't solve anything. The excess capacity that gets built into the economy is too great and creative destruction has to take place - that is, we must actively destroy that excess capacity to get out of the mess. Worse, since "pull forward" financing has taken place we've got an even bigger problem - the companies that overbuilt wind up bankrupt as they can't service their debt, and the bankers who wrote that credit go under as well.

Thus we need some sort of "systemic reset" to get out of it, lest the spiral become embedded - and the economy experience a Depression.

- Karl Denninger

Obama and the Fed have gone all-in, they're holding a 2 5 offsuit, and the market isn't falling for their bluffs any more.

Open the Floodgates (Part 2)

Bill Gross of Pimco says we need to spend trillions of dollars immediately to prevent a depression.

There's an entertaining thought. If we can only spend $1tr on dog parks, golf courses, roads, museums, rural wireless internet, social programs, green energy, non-profit (but not really) lobby and voter-fraud organizations, purchasing worthless debt from insolvent companies etc. ad nauseum, we'll pull the economy RIGHT OUT of the toilet.

What Gross is really concerned about is trying to make sure everyone's ready to spend enough money to cover the massive mistakes and fraud that have occurred in the financial sector without holding any of the fraudsters accountable. He wants to make sure that all the thieving fat cats get away with their jets and billion dollar bonuses, made while lying through their teeth about the true financial status of their organizations.

Here again, the specter of foreign investors turning up their nose at buying more of our debt is raised.

Government borrowing will probably reach $2.5 trillion during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Speculation has risen that China, which holds $681.9 billion of Treasuries as the single largest investor in U.S. debt, may stop or slow the purchases of U.S. debt as its own economic growth slows.

“To the extent that the Chinese and others do not have the necessary funds, someone has to buy them,” Gross said. “It is incumbent upon the Fed to step in. If they do, that will be a significant day in the bond market and the credit markets.”

Does this make any sense to anyone else? I've asked before, what good is a new dog park going to do to help out businesses struggling under a load of high taxes and asinine Government bureaucracy and regulations?

Instead of spending money, why not severely curtail Government Spending (yes, that means you Mr. Entitlement program), lower taxes (I've heard it suggested we lower our corporate tax rates to 12%, just like Ireland has), and reduce the tax load on our American workers to help them make ends meet better, reduce their debt load, and get back to responsible consumption. Why not use those lower tax rates to attract more businesses into the country and increase jobs and productivity.

Letting these insolvent banks and businesses fail, their assets (and liabilities - including all that toxic debt we seem so keen on saddling the taxpayer with) go into receivership and bankruptcy, will go a long ways towards fixing this issue. Attempting to pay for debt such as mortgage backed securities, the contents of which are opaque and impossible to gauge, will just leave us essentially pouring money into the pockets of those people who were stupid enough to buy them in the first place.

That's right, buying toxic debt rewards the fraudsters that made that bad decision in the first place, and saddles their mistake on you and me.

We have such an aversion to letting bad businesses fail, that we're going to potentially drag the entire country down with them. Drag ALL debts and debt instruments into the open where they belong.

Value those securities at current market value - they're not worth more than that!! If they were worth more than their current market value, trust me, these idiots would be selling them ASAP! Reset leverage limits to 10 to 1. After valuation of their assets using the actual market value, anyone who fails to make that 10 to 1 leverage limit will declare bankruptcy, sell off their viable assets to corporations that have been responsible and are solvent, and we can move on with life.

Yes, this will cause more unemployment in the short run. But we will pull out of this nose dive a lot faster if everyone in the market knows exactly where everyone else sits. It's the only way to do this without potentially bankrupting our country and destroying our way of life.

Says Denninger at The Market Ticker:

I want to expand on the bond market problem because it is absolutely critical to understand this, and for the Obama administration to put an immediate halt to it.

Prices respond to only one thing in "reality" - supply and demand. Both can be illusory which produces short-term distortions but the truth always pokes its head through and when it does, the direction becomes clear.

Treasury, The Fed and Congress (the previous one) have in aggregate promised some seven trillion dollars in spending they do not have. This of course will eventually require issue of debt to find it in one place or another. The current spending plans of both Treasury and Congress are guaranteed to require upwards of $2 trillion of issue this fiscal year (running through September 30th.)

This last couple of weeks Treasury has been issuing bonds like crazy and as they have bond prices have taken a dive into the mud. Why? Because the supply has to be taken up by someone so that Treasury can fund the nation's promises, and as that supply is taken up money is sucked out of the system to buy those bonds. This then upsets the supply and demand picture in equities.

Reality has started to intrude into the market and it's not a pretty picture. FCBs sold Treasury and so did Primary Dealers in the most recent week. This is new, it is ominous, and it signals that market participants in the bond market have detected smoke in the room. Should they all rush the door at once the bond market dislocation that I have been warning of for months will gather steam and cut off federal funding, along with kneecapping the stock market. The Fed cannot possibly absorb this supply as it will not be limited to Treasuries; they would have to print up literally $20 trillion dollars to halt the collapse and should they attempt it the dollar would collapse instead as that would be a literal ten times over expansion of the monetary base. This would produce a monetary and market implosion twice as bad as what occurred in Iceland overnight.

This is where neoclassical monetary theory meets reality. In the real world credit leads, it is the dog and money supply is in fact the tail. When regulation of credit is abdicated to the degree we have seen in the last five years the resulting credit collapse cannot be avoided through diddling monetary and fiscal policy as the tail cannot wag the dog.

Open the Floodgates

The US Treasury on Wednesday opened the floodgates of government bond issuance, revealing plans for a record debt sale in February and more frequent auctions in the months to come.

I've talked before about foreign nations starting to get a little leery of buying more of our debt.

The Treasury said it would sell $67bn (£46bn) in new securities next week, the largest ever quarterly refunding, beating the last peak in August 2003. It may also start monthly sales of all its benchmark Treasury securities.

At the end of February, the Treasury will start selling seven-year notes every month for the first time since the issue was discontinued in 1993. Sales of 30-year bonds will double to eight times a year and the Treasury will say in May whether the bond will be sold every month.

...

In recent years, demand for US government debt has been stoked by developing countries running huge trade surpluses with the US and recycling dollars by buying Treasuries. However, many are facing growing pressure to stimulate their own economies and are seeing their current account surpluses decline as global demand diminishes.

As the effects of this recession hit the rest of the world, we should be very concerned that foreign nations aren't going to want to buy a ton more of our debt.

How long before the tap gets turned off, and what will we do with all these entitlement programs then?

Scare Tactics

Obama today posted an Opinion Piece to the Washington Post. He has indicated that if we do not pass the spending package, with all its earmarks and pork, the recession could be "irreversible".

This is classical Liberal Fear Mongering at its worst. No recession is irreversible. Hell, no depression is irreversible - unless the market isn't allowed to correct due to meddling by people like those in CONgress that have no freaking clue what they are doing.

Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse. - Barack Obama

So if you can tell me how massive spending of money that we do not have, incurring all manner of interest expense that we must pay off for the forseeable future, paying for STD Prevention, causing a trade war by demanding American products only be bought by the Government (further increasing our debt as a number of products are produced and imported less expensively from overseas), putting wireless internet access into rural areas, allowing mayors around the country to spend billions of dollars to build dog parks, museums, and other worthless un-stimulative pet projects (and no, constructing a building or building a road is not stimulative - it is a temporary employment measure that does nothing to create PERMANENT jobs for Americans), will NOT create a "recession...we may not be able to reverse", I'll eat my hat.

Creating more infrastructure and crap to maintain, when we can not afford to maintain what we have with our current budgeting process, all while meddling with the market and causing disruption by pretending we are going to do something effective and attempting to keep bankrupt home owners and companies in business (hint: they're hemorrhaging money for a reason, and it's not because they just need a quick boost of cash)....THAT, my friends, is what will create a DEPRESSION we can not reverse.

These spending packages will bankrupt the country. Maybe not in the next couple of years, but adding the amount of overhead that this package, and the various idiotic socialistic health care schemes they're pushing now, as well as trying to create a market for more expensive "renewable energy" products that can not survive in the wild without continued Government money to keep them propped up will sink us.

If you haven't contacted your Senators yet and told them that you DO NOT WANT a spending package that your children, grand-children, and their grand-children will be paying off for EONS, why not?

Get on the horn and tell your representatives you're tired of the same old spending in Washington and you want a change now!

A Chilling Look at Your Government

Denninger has a writeup here on the Government's (and the Fed's) behavior towards the banks. This was reported in the Wall Street Journal - we're not talking about tinfoil hat stuff here. This is real.

Our "elected" officials are clearly completely out of control. It would appear that they now truly believe that they are above the law, above the Constitution, and no longer answerable to the people. And the worst part - they continue to get away with it.

These are very frightening times. How long until the people (and the states) reach the breaking point? What will happen when that point is reached?

Fantasy Land

Challenges loom as Obama seeks space weapons ban

Ahh, Liberals. This idea that if you ban it, it just won't happen. It'll go away!

What I find entertaining (and scary to be sure) is what our enemies must think about us when we do this kind of stuff. Everyone holds up their right hand and pledges that they won't develop space weapons.

Meanwhile, everyone and their mother does so anyways out of sight. And what happens if the situation occurs where those weapons are needed? Everyone pulls them out and here we sit with our thumbs up our butts.

I do wish someone could explain to me how banning anything makes it go away. If you ban drugs, they magically disappear. Same with guns. While we're at it, why don't we just ban killing people....oops, already have that banned.

Well....ban it again and raise the consequences while you're at it - I'm sure that'll help.

Get out of Debt, Hurt the Economy

Frugal Americans Hurt Economic Recovery

This is great to see. Americans finally realizing that you can't spend your way to freedom.

Now if we could just get the Government to realize the same thing.

Dangerous Currents and Shoals

Anti-Gun Movement Gathering Steam

I don't know if I'd say it was gathering steam. In fact, with the recent gun purchases, and the recent advances made in the name of gun rights, I'd actually say gun control is losing steam.

This statement, however, should not be construed as saying that gun control groups (usually funded and run by a small group of rich elites) aren't turning up the volume. I am also not saying that we are entering a legislative period in which those small groups will be able to pass ridiculous anti-gun laws.

We are indeed entering what likely will end up being a very dangerous and dark time for our rights. And with efforts nationwide to make it as difficult as possible to remain a law abiding citizen while still exercising the rights we were supposedly guaranteed by the Founders of this once great nation, I fear greatly for our future.

The rising chorus that I hear day in and day out from Statists and Obama supporters is "give it a chance". The problem is, so much of what the government does any more is permanent. While occasionally, after years or even decades of fighting, a piece of legislation or policy gets reversed, it is so very rare that we actually see a bad law reversed. The answer is always "we didn't go far enough", and they layer it on further.

Look at this piece of garbage from the Times. Instead of looking at the Great Depression and attempting to learn from the mistakes made by both Republicans and Democrats alike during that dark time, they think it just didn't go far enough. Make it bigger! More expensive! Better! It'll work this time!

The problem is, it won't. Taxing corporations more, increasing deficit spending, all while funding social programs that, by their very definition, can not create wealth, doesn't get you out of this morass. What results is that your children, and your children's children, and possibly even their children end up losing their quality of life simply because Government today just can't fathom why they can't spend their way to prosperity.

The lobbies are lining up, and so are the states and cities for that matter, to dip a hand in the government dole. What is so often forgotten these days is that it is not the Government's money that is being handed out. It is your money. It is the fruits of your labor, the sweat you exert day in and day out in the hopes when all is said and done your family will be able to keep a roof over their heads and eat until the next paycheck. And every time they take money away from you, and spend it frivolously on STD prevention, or give it to people who don't even pay taxes in the name of a "tax rebate", or even enable fraudulent groups like ACORN to get funding, all they are doing is preventing you from ensuring your own family's survival. They are preventing companies from hiring and employing more workers, and expanding to create even more jobs.

They are ensuring your slavery. They want you under their thumb and desperate for the next handout to keep food in your mouth. Their attempts to control small arms, and restrict speech, and their propensity to kick in your doors in the middle of the night because some drugged out informant is being paid, by them, for results, is just another attempt to ensure your servility.

I, for one, am rapidly growing tired of being treated like a serf. Unfortunately, the masses have not awoken yet, and I fear that by the time they do, it will be far too late.