Dear Mr. Beck and Mr. Hannity,
Let me start by saying “Thank You!” for being the great Americans that you are. You are getting the word out about all of the horrible and truly un-Constitutional things that this current administration and our Congress are doing to We The People. You have been instrumental in exposing the corruption in our government and the questionable character of the people our current President has surrounded himself with. I think you two have spearheaded some very profound pro-liberty initiatives that have made a difference in waking us up and getting us mobilized in the important cause of freedom.
Glenn: Your 9.12 Project is probably one of the single biggest reasons why many of us have finally woken up and have started pounding on the doors of our representation, filling up their email in-boxes by writing them letters, burning up their phone lines by calling them, and adamantly opposing these enormous and destructive health care, cap & trade, and other bills. Not that they are listening to us. Like many in the 9.12 Project and the Tea Parties, I have never done this kind of thing before – but I’m doing it now! My wife and I have both been heavily involved in our local 9.12 group – and we are so thankful, because we have met so many new and wonderful friends who feel just as we do; we are all fed-up, tired, and outraged by government shenanigans. My wife and I have your books and have embraced your common sense way of explaining what is “really” going on in our country. Arguing with idiots is no longer a challenge – we have been armed with some good information.
Sean: Your Freedom Concerts are just one example of how you are making a huge, positive difference in the lives of those who serve our country. Your great, great, great American Panel has been instrumental in illustrating the ranting of liberal, misinformed progressives who only want to destroy our country. I listen to you on our local Fox radio affiliate every day on the way home from work. You have given me many ideas for my blog articles and activities. Your logic has given me so much fuel for my arguments against those who just don’t get it.
Now for the hard part: I am a federal employee, which is primarily why I am writing this letter to you guys. It seems that recently, you have been making statements on your shows alluding to the notion that ALL of us in the federal government are over-paid tax cheats. I will not deny that there are certainly those in the federal government who are guilty of those things – and probably worse! But I have to be honest: In recent weeks, I have listened to your radio programs and watched your shows on Fox (as I always do) and I have come away feeling very hurt sometimes.
To give you a sense of why blanket statements painting ALL federal employees as over-paid tax cheats hurts me so deeply, let me tell you a little about myself and the people I work with in my particular agency:
OK. If you've somehow been living under a rock and not seen this, you need to. No prompters required, thanks very much.
D*mn racist tea partiers. Read More......Gonz recently pointed out the lunacy of CSU re-entering the "gun free zone". Here's the antidote:
Note the reference to the Holocaust Museum. Why the Fort Hood terrorist massacre couldn't have happened in Switzerland. Not only aren't military bases "gun free zones" but the entire country isn't one. 'Nuff said.We all need some humor right about now and this will tickle your funny bone:
Read More......The CSU President has repealed the policy that allows students with valid concealed handgun licenses to carry their firearms on campus. At issue appears to be the fear by CSU faculty and “security experts” that there would be another Virginia Tech type massacre on campus. But what is really at stake is yet another example where unfounded fear of guns has yet again disarmed law abiding citizens and created a target rich environment for predators and others who wish only to do people harm, and will have yet another place to do it where they know they will not be stopped.
Prior to this decision, the students responded with an eight-page resolution asking school president Tony Frank to continue to allow people with concealed-weapon permits to go armed on campus. To quote an article by the Denver Post:
"Twenty-one members of the Associated Students of CSU Senate voted in favor of the eight-page resolution (in favor of allowing concealed carry); three voted against, and five members were absent or abstained.
CSU is one of a few
The mass shooting at
Source: http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_13914952
Let’s look first of all, at some examples where gun free zones have had an effect on an outcome:
Now – let’s look at where armed citizens did make a difference:
What is it that the people who want to disarm these students don't get about the fact that the Virginia Tech shootings didn't happen because students were able to lawfully carry their firearms? The shopping mall shooting didn’t happen because law abiding mall patrons were armed. The shootings happened because these were yet more cases of a gun free zone where the shooter(s) KNEW that victims would be unarmed.
Furthermore - I would like to know when has an incident happened at CSU where a student legally carrying his or her firearms created an incident, perpetrated a shooting, or even had a firearms related accident. I don't seem to recall any – could someone please enlighten the rest of us as to when this has ever happened? Looks like these folks at CSU are reacting to something that happened at a gun-free-zone school awhile ago, and the knee-jerk reaction is just now catching up with you.
When are these people going to finally realize that they can make all the laws they want, make all the anti-gun policies they want, and all they will be doing is appeasing their own ignorance and sense of “showing” the public that they are doing something. Albeit that the “something” that they are doing is empty and meaningless. A crazed gunman or other armed criminal is going to walk right through your laws and policies, and do what they darn well please. Your actions only hurt the law abiding! As the saying goes: "When seconds count, the police are only MINUTES away." By taking away these students' right to carry, you are taking away their RIGHT to self defense. Making a gun-free-zone will not stop ANYONE intent on doing harm to others.
There was enormous support from students who say they wanted to keep the right to carry their firearms. These students have been vetted and scrutinized, as evidenced by the fact that they have their permits. They submitted to the required finger-printing, training, and background checks to get those permits. I personally know two students at CSU who carry concealed firearms. They practice and train constantly, and their proficiency puts that of most police officers to shame.
To the campus police who say that they want students unarmed - I ask you - are you planning on being with every single one of them every single second to protect them now? I didn't think so! A legally armed student is one of your greatest allies if a crazed shooter comes onto your campus. They will respond way before you can even think of getting away from the donut shop or your heated office to respond to those kids in need who are being attacked. But now you have lost that valuable asset. I hope you plan on beefing up your efforts to protect these students.
To the CSU President and faculty: The entire notion of “…streets running red with blood…” because of citizens being able to carry lawfully was debunked long ago. Read your history. You just made the stupid mistake of disarming these kids. History has proven time after time that when you disarm citizens you create a target rich environment for the criminals. If you do, and a shooting or other violent crime occurs, for any killed or injured students, their blood will be on YOUR hands.
A CapNTax preview from Australia where there are stirrings of consciousness:
Ray Harvey over at Fort Collins Tea Party has one of the videos you need to see to get up to speed on Climaquiddick:
Well more of a listen really but who cares when your chin is scraping on the floor?The lefty loon liars of Global Cooling AGW Climate Change have now been stripped of their masks. Apparently some hackers have had enough and have published a large number of recent emails from the Hadley Centre servers.
Unbelievably damning stuff outlining what a reasonable person could only describe as a criminal conspiracy.
O Duce will no doubt try to argue that this is a side issue like all the "stimulus" money going to non-existent congressional districts. Good luck to him.
O Duce needs to be thrown on the junk heap of history before your electricity rates "necessarily skyrocket".
General reaction seems to be that the CRUgate emails are genuine, but with the caveat that there could be some less reliable stuff slipped in.
In the circumstances, here are some summaries of the CRUgate files. I'll update these as and when I can. The refs are the email number.
... that we have a true genius of an AG when even Lindsey Graham can rip him a new one on the KSM trial travesty without even breaking a sweat:
And justly so. Read More......Some time ago, prior to the 2008 presidential election, I wrote an article for my gun club news letter about how people “…don’t talk like that anymore…” to illustrate how the elitist mentality so prevalent with today’s politicians keeps them from remembering the spirit of patriotism that founded this country. What I was referring to in that article, was how our Founding Fathers, in the language of their day, so eloquently expressed their love of freedom and their frustration toward a monarchy (elitist) government that was oppressive and tyrannical. This is an update to that article to represent the increased sense of urgency that I feel towards restoring our country, and to once again illustrate the need to return to what our Founding Fathers created for us when they declared their independence from an oppressive government.
In one particular scene in the movie “Hidden Treasure,” the character played by Nicholas Cage is reading aloud a passage from the Declaration of Independence, specifically the passage that reads:
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”
He then remarks that:
“...nobody talks like that anymore…”
Not only does no one use language like that to describe their feelings toward liberty and freedom, but until recently, I didn’t run into many people who even talk about these ideals in the same way that our Founding Fathers did. In fact, in one of the online discussion forums in which I regularly participate, one person even made the statement that the language used in our founding documents is obsolete. Fortunately, in this past year of extremely troubling and trying times, a good number of people have woken up, and I now see a strong resurgence in the feelings that our Founding Fathers held so dear. The tea parties, the 9.12 projects, and various web sites such as GrassFire.Org and ResistNet.Com have brought many like-minded people together to finally speak out against what we perceive as the accelerated effort to destroy our liberty.
With our establishment as a nation being more than 230 years old now, things like liberty and freedom just don’t seem to be a major concern for our politicians anymore. Many of the elite in power have deemed those concepts obsolete and unnecessary. And the every day Joe Sixpac who is still asleep and walking around with that glazed over “sheeple” look has taken those things for granted or just plain doesn’t care – as long as the government promises to care for him. I think many folks are caught up worrying about health care, wars, crime, and the rising prices of gas and food. With all these issues, people today don’t really think that they have time to worry about the principles of declaring independence from another country, or even the basic notions of liberty and freedom that were the driving force for our Founding Fathers. After all, we have been independent from another country’s reign for over 230 years now.
The concern that I have with many of these current attitudes is that on the part of Joe Sixpac, it represents an overall sense of complacency toward the ideals upon which this county was built. And on the part of the powerful elite, is the overall attitude that they think they know what is best for us, and that we are too stupid to take care of ourselves. More appropriately, they think they can use this to fool us into willingly relinquishing our freedom so that they can be our perceived guardians, while in reality, they simply desire to become a more powerful ruling class. I am deeply concerned because unless more people continue to wake up, our current generation of voters will be willing to trade more of our liberties and freedoms for promises of “change,” saving the planet, and universal health care instead of looking for ways for us to be energy independent and secure. I think too many people are looking at the short term gratifications, without regard to the negative effects that trading certain liberties has on our security.
What further gives me pause to be greatly concerned, is that when I read the reasons in the Declaration of Independence that our Founding Fathers gave for breaking away from the cloak of tyranny that oppressed them, and I make a list of what our current government is doing to us, the number of things in those two lists match more and more every day. In this past year, the accelerated pace at which the current administration and Congress have rammed things down the throats of the American people has been staggering. Never before have I experienced such a deterioration of our rights, and an increase in potential threats to our liberty as I see today.
I hope that as we approach the 2010 mid-term election in November, Americans everywhere can take pause to be reminded of the principles that our Founding Fathers used to build this country. I hope that we can choose the candidates who best represent those principles while preserving our liberties and freedom. And when these new people are elected, I hope that they seriously think about the obligation that all American citizens have to “…preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Our country, now more than ever, needs to be restored and “re-founded,” and not transformed or changed.
To that end, and in an effort to achieve this cause, I will commit to you, my fellow Americans, a willingness to resist the erosion of our liberty and to restore our country’s founding principles. I do so by restating the words of our Founding Fathers: And for the support of [the return to] this Declaration, with a firm reliance on divine Providence, I pledge my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor.
Who will join me in this pledge?
You know what a sad state this country has come to when we have to thank a British Lord (not the one who rules us mind you) for alerting us to the latest totalitarian travesty O Duce and his minions have in store for us. Bill has the link up to the "Instrument Of Repudiation" which you can sign to make your position known.
For the impatient, here is the short video of Monckton's ending call to action:
I received an email today that made me smile. I think it will make you smile too:
NEW PREAMBLE TO THE CONSTITUTION
This is probably the best e-mail I've seen in a long, long time. The following has been attributed to State Representative Mitchell Kaye from GA. This guy should run for President one day...
We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great- grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional. We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NON-Rights.
ARTICLE I:
You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.
ARTICLE II:
You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc.; but the world is full of dummies, and probably always will be.
ARTICLE III:
You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful; do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.
ARTICLE IV:
You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.
ARTICLE V:
You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in public health care.
ARTICLE VI:
You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you get the blue juice.
ARTICLE VII:
You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big screen color TV or a life of leisure.
ARTICLE VIII:
You do not have the right to a job. All of us sure want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful.
ARTICLE IX:
You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness, which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.
ARTICLE X:
This is an English speaking country. We don't care where you came from, English is our language. Learn it!
Lastly
ARTICLE XI:
You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution. The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history, sorry if you are uncomfortable with it.
If you agree, share this with a friend. No, you don't have to, and nothing tragic will befall you if you don't. I just think it's about time common sense is allowed to flourish. Sensible people of the United States must speak out because if you do not, who will?
What's that? You haven't been following my advice and watching Sonja? You really need to see this one. The genius of our "betters" in NYC.
Be sure to at least catch the woman from Argentina near the end. Then you'll know where the title came from. And you won't be happy about it either.
Yeah, but unlike Resident Obama, Jesus Christ still loves those that persecute disagree with Him.Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Read More......
Other differences:
Jesus: walks on water
Obama: walks on the beach
Jesus: fed 5,000 people with three loaves and two fishes
Obama: taxed 5,000,000 (more or less) citizens and gave the $ to three friends and two corrupt organizations
Jesus: Son of God
Obama: S.O.B.
Jesus: born in a manger, in what is present-day Jerusalem
Obama: born in...?
Jesus: died for your sins
Obama: makes everyone else pay for his own sins
Jesus: rose from the dead after three days
Obama: buried America in three years or less
Remember when I mentioned all those Cubans in the 9/12 Tea Party march on D.C.?
They're some serious "whitey" raaaacists aren't they? Not.Well this certainly does a nice job of concisely encapsulating today's absurd news:
And for the best joke about it go check out Althouse. Read More......Pretty much all you need to know right here. It appears there does seem to be justice in the world after all.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Home Crisis Investigation | ||||
| ||||
Socialist dimbulbs continue to run around saying the capitalists didn't see the crash coming and that's proof capitalism is dead.
Truth is, there are very few capitalists left in our now fascist/socialist/mercantilist system. See "Hamilton's Curse" for the start of our current end.
The truth is that capitalism has been dead for a long time and that's exactly the problem. Here, Peter Schiff entertainingly explains our serial bubble mania to the Mortgage Banker's Association before the crash took on full force. And for extra laughs, towards the end he is debated by someone who now looks like an enormous buffoon.
It's over an hour but surprisingly entertaining and enormously educational. If you're behind the curve on your economic education, this is as good as any place to start. And even if you think you understand free market capitalism you'll find it worth your time just for the satisfaction of what an excellent job Peter does.
Oh -- and no teleprompters! Enjoy!
You know, it's d*mnably hard to beat Ray to the punch on anything big nowadays, but I think I just did (by Jack Cashill at American Thinker; lifted in whole):
In his new book, "Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage," Best-selling celebrity journalist, Christopher Andersen, has blown a huge hole in the Obama genius myth without intending to do so.Wow.
Relying on inside sources, quite possibly Michelle Obama herself, Andersen describes how Dreams came to be published -- just as I had envisioned it in my articles on the authorship of Dreams. With the deadline pressing, Michelle recommended that Barack seek advice from "his friend and Hyde Park neighbor Bill Ayers."
To flesh out his family history, Obama had taped interviews with various family members. Andersen writes, "These oral histories, along with a partial manuscript and a truckload of notes, were given to Ayers." Andersen quotes a Hyde Park neighbor, "Everyone knew they were friends and that they worked on various projects together. It was no secret. Why would it be? People liked them both."
Andersen continues, "In the end, Ayers's contribution to Barack's Dreams From My Father would be significant--so much so that the book's language, oddly specific references, literary devices, and themes would bear a jarring similarity to Ayers's own writing."
More to come!
Just watch them both.
Note how at the 3:30 mark of the second clip Glenn brings out that people who have immigrated here from totalitarian societies keep pointing out to him something along the lines that this is all available to us and we refuse to see it while they had to read between the lines to decipher the totalitarian hellholes in which they were trapped.
Will somebody please explain to me how it is that placing a ballistic missile defense system in Poland has any hope of stopping a Russian ICBM attack against the continental U.S.? Putin is ROFL.
And how out of all of our options outside of Russia itself (let me hold my breath) an American President would consider placing a ballistic missile defense against Iran for the American homeland anywhere other than Poland or the Czech Republic?
We have such an epic educational fail in this country that people apparently can't even pick up a globe and trace an ICBM trajectory a line on it.
The only good news is that we're soon going to be able to save money out of our precious family budgets by no longer funding marches on Washington. Because since stupidity is self correcting there won't be a Washington left to march on.
Unless the Green Revolution succeeds. Which seems closer to happening than I dared hope. It's very interesting about the timing of Iran acquiring nukes and the people throwing caution to the wind -- “Tanks, rape and torture have no effect anymore”. Moussavi certainly knows how close his fellow nut-jobs really are to the bomb. He started them down the path after all.
Pray for the success of the Green Revolution. (No, not the Van Jones one.)
And pray for America as well.
For those of you who haven't taken the time to step back and look at the big picture of Barack OChavez, George Will has created a concise gem to marvel at:
On the 233rd day of his presidency, Barack Obama grabbed the country's lapels for the 263rd time—that was, as of last Wednesday, the count of his speeches, press conferences, town halls, interviews, and other public remarks. His speech to Congress was the 122nd time he had publicly discussed health care. Just 14 hours would pass before the 123rd, on Thursday morning. His incessant talking cannot combat what it has caused: An increasing number of Americans do not believe that he believes what he says.Just re-read this a few times and you'll be truly depressed about the comprehension and analytical skills of your fellow citizens.
He says America's health-care system is going to wrack and ruin and requires root-and-branch reform—but that if you like your health care (as a large majority of Americans do), nothing will change for you. His slippery new formulation is that nothing in his plan will "require" anyone to change coverage. He used to say, "If you like your health-care plan, you'll be able to keep your health-care plan, period." He had to stop saying that because various disinterested analysts agree that his plan will give many employers incentives to stop providing coverage for employees.
He deplores "scare tactics" but says that unless he gets his way, people will die. He praises temperate discourse but says many of his opponents are liars. He says Medicare is an exemplary program that validates government's prowess at running health systems. But he also says Medicare is unsustainable and going broke, and that he will pay for much of his reforms by eliminating the hundreds of billions of dollars of waste and fraud in this paragon of a program, and in Medicaid. He says Congress will cut Medicare (it will not) by $500 billion—without affecting benefits.
He says the nation's economic health depends on controlling health-care costs. Yet so important is the trial bar in financing the Democratic Party, he says not a syllable in significant and specific support of tort reforms that could save hundreds of billions of dollars by reducing "defensive medicine" intended to protect not patients from illnesses but doctors from lawyers. He has said he will not add a dime to the deficit when bringing 47 million people into government-guaranteed health care. But Wednesday night, 17 million went missing: "There are now more than 30 million American citizens who cannot get coverage." Almost 10 million of the uninsured are not citizens, and most of them are illegal immigrants. Presumably the other 7 million could get insurance but chose not to. Democrats propose fines to eliminate that choice. He suggests health-insurance companies are making excessive profits. But since 1996, profits of the six such companies in the S&P 500 have been below the 500's average. He says a "public option"—a government insurance program—would not be subsidized to enable it to compete unfairly with private insurers. (The post office and the government's transportation -"public option," Amtrak, devour subsidies.) He says the public option is vital for keeping health insurers "honest"—but that it is only a wee "sliver" of reform. About that, Nancy Pelosi -disagrees.
Read More......Of course the so-called media not only won't tell you about how big yesterday's protest was but go on and on about how everyone was an "astroturf Nazi racist" of course. Those charges are not based on fact but on psychological projection of course.
Mark Hemingway has a good report:I asked one guy, who came up from South Carolina with 160 people on three buses, who put his trip together. He laughed and said, "My neighbor." Can we drive a stake through the astroturf claim now?Why the toilet paper in the title? That would be because of a little black (brown?) market problem that socialist Cuba is having right now. And I guess I must be a racist for using the commonly accepted terms to describe it, huh?Another interesting detail about the march — it was filled with immigrants. I'm pretty sure every Cuban in a thousand mile radius was there, helpfully explaining to everyone who would listen that Cuba's vaunted free health care system involves shoddily trained doctors and bringing your own linen to the hospital. I also spoke to angry immigrants from England and Ireland, appalled the country was slouching toward socialized medicine.
But wait, didn't I just quote in support of Cuban immigrants? I love them dearly. Do you have any idea what hell many of them went through to escape the giant Alcatraz they came from to get here? And have you ever met my family? Never mind. The truth doesn't matter -- only Alinsky's rules rule.
Speaking of family, I recently ran across another Orwell quote that pretty well sums it up:A family with the wrong members in control; that, perhaps, is as near as one can come to describingAny more questions?EnglandAmerica in a phrase.
QandO has a great post with the proper ending. RTWT:
I remember doing something I never do – sitting in front of that TV all day. It was like the earth stood still. I watched the towers burn. I watched the people flee. I watched in horror as others jumped. I watched the towers collapse one by one. I watched as fire and police rescue headed into the disaster area as civilians fled. I watched as ash, like a volcanic explosion might bring, cover that portion of the city. And I watched as New Yorkers fled the city on foot over clogged bridges.Read More......
It was a stunning day – an almost visceral feeling of anger finally descended on me as I began to understand the full implications of what happened.
9/11 is certainly a day that will live in infamy as we were the victim of a cowardly attack that cost the lives of 3,000 people. But, as is often the case with Americans, there were a lot of heroes that stepped up that day. And the basic decency of our fellow countrymen was also evident as businesses and individuals did what was necessary to help and comfort those who had been able to flee those towers.
9/11 is a day for remembrance. Not a day for “community service” or whatever it is that some are trying to turn it into. It should be a somber day in which we remember those who died, recognize that we have enemies in the world who will stop at nothing to strike us and redouble our commitment to protect our homeland from such attacks.
And to all those who lost their lives on that day, we should dedicate at least a portion of this one to their memory.
From an email my wife received:
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class.Pretty much the story of the USSR in a nutshell. Any questions? Read More......
That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".
All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
Could not be any simpler than that.
Mark Steyn is one of my favorite authors and I haven't been featuring his work nearly enough. In fact, it's inexcusable that I haven't quoted him at all on this blog.
So let me overcompensate by stealing in its entirety a concise home run on Van Jones he just posted:
Powerline notices the evolution of Van the Truther's views. On September 13th 2001, as the towers still burned and the lampposts of lower Manhattan were plastered with flyers for missing loved ones, Van Jones spoke at a rally "against racism and war":This is just a beautiful portrait of why lefty loons and Islamic nutjobs are soulmates, no? Their logical faculties are so deficient that they routinely believe entirely irreconcilable things simultaneously.A recurring theme of the speakers was the brutal violence committed by or supported by the United States government on a daily basis. "The bombs the government drops in Iraq are the bombs that blew up in New York City," said Van Jones, director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, who also warned against forthcoming violence by the Bush Administration. "The US cannot bomb its way out of this one. Safety at home requires justice abroad."Gotcha. Blowback. America had it coming.
That was Van Jones in the fall of 2001. A couple of years later and suddenly it's the 9/11-was-an-inside-job routine.
Traveling through the Middle East about six months after 9/11, I was struck by the number of Arabs, from Egypt to the Gulf, who simultaneously believed (a) the Mossad were behind the attacks and (b) it was a great victory for the Muslim world. Van Jones would seem to be an American variant of the same phenomenon: a man who believes 9/11 was (a) blowback for the actions of the US government's war machine and (b) an inside job by the US government's war machine.
No wonder the left derides those boorish enough to bring this stuff up: Why, surely all sophisticated persons know these positions are little more than lifestyle accessories or fashion hemlines. One season, everyone on the catwalk is agreed 9/11 was blowback by Jihadists for Social Justice. The next, everyone is equally agreed that Bush called up the White House Steel Melting Czar and buried the whole thing under "miscellaneous" in the budget.
And while we're on the subject of the badly behaved, there's the issue of what their Messiah behaves like. It won't seem like 10 minutes when you're done. It will seem like an eternity:
It seems almost beyond belief that we could have elected a shameless bull artist like this doesn't it?Ray over at Tea Party Of Northern Colorado has this one up but it's so good I just had to make sure you didn't miss it:
And I think we can be quite sure he'll fix this up.Here's my letter to Congresswoman Markey of Colorado's 4th District (final):
From:
Bob Gronlund
Fort Collins, CO
To:
Congresswoman Markey
Colorado 4th District
Dear Congresswoman Markey,
First a little about myself. I am a master engineer for a well respected and widely known multi-billion dollar worldwide technology corporation. We are #1 in our industry. We build some of the most complex electronic and software products in existence to enable the global high tech economy. I work daily with people of all nationalities and races from all over the world on distributed, interdisciplinary engineering teams producing a continual stream of world-leading, innovative products.
I have a reputation for competence and integrity won in a 26+ year career of technology and people leadership. I have the ear of upper management in my company and am entrusted with decision making that impacts enormous revenue streams in our businesses. We have a rigorous hiring process and I love working with the high quality people of our company from all over the world. And while I don't always agree with them, I find our upper management to be smart, competent and ethical people.
I also have a long record of local volunteerism and philanthropy in our community. I have generally found the people of my community to be caring and committed to cooperation to make a better place to live.
Unfortunately, I see a complete disconnect between the largely functional organizations I find in my company and my community with what I see in Washington. In Washington I see a lack of humility, pandering to special interests (who wrote those bills anyway if the congresspeople haven't read them?), venality, rude language and lack of respect for the people for whom you are supposed to work.
On top of that I see a complete lack of knowledge about the fundamentals of economics and an overweening belief that the government is the solution to all problems when no sane person who operates in the real world can possibly believe that. I see fundamental innumeracy and a lack of appreciation for the negative impact that debt has on individuals, companies and governments. I see both Democrats and Republicans as being owned by Wall Street and special interests. This must stop and be reversed.
Government is not the solution. It is the problem.
In case you're wondering how it got this way, I think P.J. O'Rourke might have his finger closest to the truth when he said: "When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators."
Ever larger regulation just creates the illusion of healthy function. We need less government interference in people's lives, not more. And we need a focus on re-building a moral society and one where everyone is moral of their own volition, not "moral" because of government controlling their lives.
Which by the way is why I am implacably opposed to President Obama's and Congress' current health care proposals. Government interference has in large part created what problems we do have in our health care system -- and more interference will just make it worse. And should you vote for any of these disastrous and anti-competitive "public option" or "coop" plans I will work night and day against your re-election.
And by the way, there are many people of otherwise liberal leanings who point out some pretty damning things that are being squelched in the "debate". For instance, Dean Kamen -- a prolific medical products inventor and creator of the Segue scooter -- points out that the entire debate is "backward looking" and that we need to find ways to drive innovation and not starve it. ( http://tinyurl.com/kamenbackward )
Oh. And I'm very tired of being called a racist. Should you be tempted to do so, I challenge you to follow me around at work and to visit with my family. This is simply unacceptable for our representatives to behave in such a contemptible manner to create a dishonest smokescreen for their Machiavellian behavior.
I hope you have not already become accustomed to Washington. Because if you ever become so, I will work tirelessly to return you to the real world of everyday Americans.
In closing, I note that you have, I hope not disingenuously, been attempting to apply George Washington's rules of civility to your recent local meetings. One rule that an outside observer such as myself suspects you may find difficult to follow (in Washington's own city!) is: "A Man ought not to value himself of his Achievements, or rare Qualities of wit; much less of his riches Virtue or Kindred." Perhaps you have already voted for Congress to buy more private jets? That is a great irony of our time, isn't it?
And since we're mutually admiring Washington, I might also suggest paying close attention to his farewell address. In particular, his warnings about the dangers of party allegiance and influence of foreigners over loyalty to the people of one's country. ( http://tinyurl.com/washfarewell ) In particular, he warned against the alternate domination of one party faction over another leading to the "ruins of Public Liberty".
That I believe is what we are witnessing today. Please don't be a part of it.
And despite some of my rather forthright words, you have an open invitation to my home to discuss these and any other matters you desire over a very civil dinner. I can always be contacted at bgronlund at gmail dot com.
I suspect that you have somehow managed to convince yourself that people with my set of beliefs and background don't exist. I can assure you we do. We are not hicks and dimwits. I meet more and more people who are realizing that they need to become involved to stop our power-mad, reality disconnected Republican and Democrat parties from carrying out their unrealistic ideas.
And no, we will not allow you to "watch over" us. But we are watching your performance very closely.
And I'm going to be fascinated to see whether I get any indication that your staff recognizes that this letter may not be quite like many others expressing similar opinions that you ignore.
Sincerely,
Bob Gronlund
Fort Collins, CO
http://nocosurroundsthem.blogspot.com
That's how you'll find me Saturday the 22nd at noon at College and Mulberry in Fort Collins.
Be there or be a socialist.
Oh. And the sign I like best -- other than mine of course -- wins a quick $50 from me.
Just so you remember that capitalism pays.
Which almost everyone seems to have forgotten despite all the evidence that surrounds them.
Sigh.
UPDATE: The winner was a very nice, freedom-loving lady carrying the sign: 'This "Wise Latina" says no to Obamacare'. I would have taken her picture but I don't trust our "betters" not to find and harass her. I'm pretty livid right now about the lefty-loon abuse of Kenneth Gladney and the lady who challenged Arlen Specter for instance. The "people" doing this are truly contemptible. Somehow, protest seems to not be patriotic when it's on the other foot.
You need to advance directly over to Ray's to watch -- well really listen -- to this one. A smile of "they wouldn't listen to me now would they?" will be painted on your face for a good long time I suspect.
Read More......Folks it doesn’t get any clearer than that. Mr. Massa isn’t there to “represent” anyone. He’s made it clear that his agenda and his party’s agenda take precedence over anything his constituency wants.Kind of puts George Washington's warnings about the evils of political party (and foreign influence!) from his farewell address in a whole new light, doesn't it?
So we had Montana folks from ALL OVER the state with their homemade signs and their DOGS with homemade signs. We had cowboys, nurses, doctors you name it. There was even a guy from Texas who had been driving through. He found out about the occasion, went to the store, made a sign, and came to protest.Imagine my surprise. Read More......
If you are wondering about the press…..Well, all of the major networks were over by that remote hangar I mentioned. They were conveniently parked on the other side of the buildings FAR away. None of these crowds were even visible to them. I have my doubts that they knew anything about the crowds.
We did have some local news media around us from this state and Idaho. Speaking of the local media…they were invited. However, all questions were to be turned into the White House in advance of the event. Wouldn’t want anyone to have to think off the top of their head.
It was very obvious that it was meant to be totally controlled by the White House. Everything was orchestrated down to the last detail to make it appear that Montana is just crazy for Obama and government healthcare. Even those people that talked about their insurance woes, the White House called our local HRDC (Human Resource and Development Committee) and asked for names. Then the White House asked those folks to come. Smoke and mirrors…EVERYTHING was staged!!!!!!!!!!!
I am very dismayed about what I learned about our current White House. The amount of control and manipulation was unbelievable. I felt I was not living in the United States of America, more like the USSR!! I was physically nauseous. Joe and I have been around when Presidents or Heads of State visit. It has NEVER been like this. I am truly very frightened for our country. America needs your prayers and your voices. If you care about our country please get involved. Know the issues. And let Congress hear your voices again and again!! If they are willing to put forth so much effort to BULLY a small town one can only imagine what is going on in Washington DC. Scary!!”
I'm going to beat the Gonz to this one for once. It'll warm his heart. As it does mine.
Read More......Instapundit nails the idiocy that pervades Obama's health "care" obfuscations to the wall using the context of the most recent Robert Reich column's unwitting admission of incompetence:
... Mainly because there’s still no healthcare plan. All we have are some initial markups from several congressional committees, which differ from one another in significant ways. The White House’s is waiting to see what emerges from the House and Senate before insisting on what it wants, maybe in conference committee.But that’s the problem: It’s always easier to stir up fear and anger against something that’s amorphous than to stir up enthusiasm for it.
A concise jewel of evisceration, no? RTWT.Hmm. So it’s like this:
Obama: I’m going to turn healthcare upside down. Not sure how.
People: I don’t think I’ll like this.
Obama: Haters!
Remember how Bush was supposed to be the idiot who went into Iraq without a plan, while Obama was supposed to be the cool methodical one? But Reich is admitting that despite all the Administration hoopla, there’s still no plan. Or, possibly, that the White House has a plan, but won’t tell us what it is. And yet the people who don’t want to see a bill — some bill, doing who-knows-what — rammed through in the dead of night are somehow the ones who are ignorant and being manipulated. Right.
RULE 5: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. ...Just in case you were surprised about what was happening to Sarah Palin.
RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.
A stirring call to action by Bill Whittle. If you've never heard of Bill Whittle you'll be wondering why he's not in congress too.
Read More......I've finally figured out just the ticket.
First, we need somebody at the top of the ticket who's not only heard of Thomas Jefferson but can actually quote him with knowledgeable enthusiasm:
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