Sticks and Stones

Occupy Soldier Field

2011-10-23T09:44:00.004-05:00

Good morning, comrades. “Good morning, comrades.” And thank you for participating in Occupy Soldier Field. “And thank you for participating in Occupy Soldier Field.” OK, enough of the creepy ‘human microphone‘ thing. “OK, enough of the creepy ‘human microphone‘ thing.” No, really, stop.
Before we get started let’s give a big hand to 99 percenter’s George Soros, Michael Moore, and Kanye West for stopping down to give their support on the way up to their luxury box seats. And how about a shout out to our friends from the Communist Party USA and the American Nazi Party for helping keep order down here on the field. My assistants inform me we haven’t had a theft, rape or molestation yet and we’ve been here for nearly an hour! In your face, Cleveland!
But, friends, today we are here to shine the light of justice on yet another blatant example of income disparity in America. Are you aware, brothers and sisters, that the average NFL player earns $1.9 million a year? I repeat, $1.9 million per year! And, are you aware that the average disposable income for the American citizen is a mere $32,479 per year? This, my friends, is not justice. It works out that these fat cat players earn 60 times the yearly income of the average American. Sixty times! And who knows what Big Ownership takes in. This, comrades, is not the America in which I would choose to reside!
Their despicable greed knows no bounds. Here in the very stadium in which we stand, one of the biggest current stories involves running back Matt Forte. He currently earns $600,000 a year. Is he happy earning 20 times what the average American does? No! His avarice is infinite. His greed unbound! Are these the values that capitalism instills? Then, friends, capitalism must die!
And do they pay their fair share? I shout a resounding, NO! They invest their money tax free in Wall Street. In Wall Street, brothers and sisters! And they buy real estate. For themselves. Where is the Main Street in that? They are reneging on their side of the Social Contract. They are not paying ‘their fair share’!
And what‘s worse, just this weekend we have seen them callously shipping American jobs overseas. The Bears/Buccaneers game is being played in England! The very same England we fought in our revolution. Maybe, friends, it is time for a new revolution. Against Big Football, against fat cat players, against evil greedy coaches.
And what have any of them actually accomplished? It is merely the whim of fortune that has given them their physical prowess. Where is the fairness in that, I ask. Why should we less physically fortunate not be allowed the same access to the game as they? Is it right that mere fate decides who plays and who does not. I say NO! I say that until you and I are able to start at running back for the Chicago Bears that there is no fairness in America! Justice demands it! NO, we 99 percent demand it!
Lastly, our Top 10 list of demands:
1. The Chicago Bears immediately cut Adam Podlesh and Gabe Carimi and send them back where they came from.
2. Free Guy Fawkes masked for all children this Halloween season.
3. Extra police cars for the ladies in order to shorten the toilet lines.
4. Canadian corporation, Adbusters, be given American tax-free status.
5. U.N. peacekeepers to protect the protesters from police brutality.
6. Smoke alarms free with every purchase of an American flag.
7. A complete list of home addresses for every NFL player.
8. Forgiveness of all debt past, present, and future for everyone everywhere, except for the top 1%.
9. No more negative connotation connected to the words “in your parents basement”.
10. The words ‘marxism‘, ‘communism‘, ‘liberalism‘, and ‘progressivism’ to be purged from all documents and language and replaced with the words ‘Democratic state religion’.
Can I get an amen? “Amen”. God, is that annoying.

Holiday Reform

2009-12-20T09:19:00.001-06:00

Some believe that with Obamacare very nearly in hand, and this being the season of giving, it is high time this country faced what has been referred to as its next single greatest injustice. Experts agree that upwards of 140 million children will not receive adequate holiday gifts this season. They say charities do what they can, but this inequality is simply too large for the private sector. They argue that it is time for the Federal Government to act.
The proposal being envisioned is already being referred to as “The Uncle Samta Bill” by some insiders in Washington.
President Obama wished to be perfectly clear when he stated, “This is not the utopia, er, America I envision. It is time Wall Street, Big Business, Big Oil, the pharmaceutical companies, the insurance industry, bankers, the Chamber of Commerce, and many others too lengthy to mention did their part in the gift giving in this country!”
Senator Harry Reid called this issue “a gross inequity” and compared inaction akin to slavery. He then went on to promise a bill by Christmas 2013.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated, “I will not sign any bill that does not include a single giver clause. Parents are already so stressed this time of year. Anytime, and I do mean anytime, the Federal Government can help in easing the responsibilities of ‘the little people’, it simply a must. This reform is no less than our moral duty.”
Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.), originally opposed to the bill due to private versus public giving issues, has finally fallen into line. From the steps of the just built Louisiana Center for Government Largesse and Social Sustainability said, “I fully back the public plan. Oddly, my fears that the taking of giving out of private hands could somehow lead to a worse individual have now been fully forgotten.”
The Republicans in the House and Senate have stood together in their opposition, questioning the President’s claims that the bill would be deficit neutral and would provide a fair distribution of non-Chinese lead-free toys to all American children.
Former vice-president Dick Cheney said, “For the Democrats to blame the previous administration for a lack of quality, affordable dolls and PlayStations is patently ridiculous.” He added, “And a Happy New Year to you too. In jail!”
Fox News and the Right-wing blogs have been reliably up in arms. They greedily argue that giving and compassion should come from the individual. Glenn Beck even had the gall to claim that parents should hold the ultimate responsibility. The Huffington Post shot back, “For the Right to believe that minorities and single mothers should somehow once again bear the brunt of gifting while investment bankers are receiving record bonuses and the planet is drowning in CO2 is just sickening on its face. It is time for the rich to pay their fair share.”
Keith Olbermann then named George Bush “The Worst Person on Earth” and Michael Moore added, “It’s no surprise that Capitalism has led us down this road. In Africa, the Middle East, and the secular European countries this doesn’t seem to be much of a problem.”
But all this sermonizing is just chatter until the CBO report comes back. The president has promised to keep the budget for this bill under one trillion dollars and vowed to veto any bill coming in over that amount. “Even the Federal Government has its limits. If I was to give every child everything on his or her list, I wouldn’t have the money to nationalize the life insurance and farming industries.”

When Our Heroes Fail

2009-02-08T10:13:00.002-06:00

Heroes in post-Capitalist America tend to be more rare than gains on one’s 401K. So it was with no small amount of exhilaration that I gleefully welcomed three promising candidates into my mental Mount Olympus. Two great men and one woman of such high moral stature, unfathomable bravery, and devout strength that I as a humble homosapien could only stare in awe (and quickly avert my eyes so as not to be struck blind) at such inspiring brilliance. I was, it seemed, one leg shiver away from a man crush.
Ah, but if I have learned anything on my eternal path to maturity it is that there is no perfection in this realm of physicality. That all utopian hopes and standards fall far short of the eventual reality. And so it was to be with my soul’s investment in these three as well.
But I should not get too far ahead lest I lose the reader to mindless wordiness and numbing meaninglessness. Thus I will start with a premise I find most basic, yet one that is today spoken only in whispers in smokey backrooms in rural America.
The Thirteenth Amendment made slavery illegal in the United States of America. We all know this. Well, at least those of us who have had the good fortune to have attended government schools pre-Noam Chomsky and Al Gore. Yes, the Thirteenth Amendment finally brought truth to the Founders promise “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” This was a great moment for our country. America’s founding promise fulfilled.
But the ratification in 1913 of the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution changed all that. It gave the Federal government the right to a direct income tax on "wages, salaries, commissions, etc. without apportionment". Sure, there had been an income tax during the Civil War, but this tax had a definite date of termination. The Sixteenth Amendment codified eternal taxation on American production.
With that history lesson, I now submit my premise: All taxation is slavery.
Any time a human being unwillingly works for the enrichment of another by threat of force from that same entity, this is slavery.
But let me be precise, American’s are not slaves. Not always anyway. In 2008, working Americans worked until April 23 to pay their taxes. That is nearly four months of work, not for one’s own self interest, but for the sole interest of another party(here government) through the tacit threat of force.
One may be thinking at this point, “This is all fine mental gymnastics, but what does any of this have to do with present day heroes and men of greatness?”
Ah, but if the reader will only grant me a moment more digression it should all become a bit more clear.
In his essay Civil Disobedience, tax resistor Henry David Thoreau wonders, ”Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?” His refusal to pay six years of delinquent taxes and an ensuing night in jail until his aunt finally paid them (over his protestations no less) were his answer.
But that was ancient history, what relevance has any of this to do with today’s passing scene? It is here we meet my fallen heroes.
Tom Daschle, former U.S. Senator from the great state of South Dakota, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, former nominee to lead Obama’s Health and Human Services Department, and former anti-tax zealot. His righteous stands in non-payment of $101, 000.00 for limo expenses and his under reporting of $83,333 in consulting income were a shot across the bow of the immoral slave ship in which every working American now sails.
Next we have Tim Geithner, previous president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and presently Obama’s the United States Secretary of Treasury. His refusal to pay $34,000 in due taxes stoked steam to the train of a modern Underground Railroad of freedom from tax slavery.
And lastly there was Nancy Killefer, previous Senior Director and Head of the Washington D.C.’s office of McKinsey and Co. and failed Obama nominee to head the cabinet position of Chief Performance Officer. Her admirable stance in avoiding a freedom sapping $950.00 tax lien reminded me of such great American Abolitionists as John Brown and John Jay.
Ah, but human greatness is such a fleeting thing. The insult, offense, and even the grief that I felt when each in kind relented to the threats of the taxation status quo, no words can accurately express. The fact that not a single one of these champions I had previously exalted could stand up for their most deeply felt beliefs tore a hole in my soul that will assuredly take a lifetime to repair.
My heroes had acquiesced. The Founder’s promise of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” would again be put on hold.
Oh, Tom, you could have fought for the promise of “Life”. For that portion of “Life” that is stolen from each worker toiling not for himself but for the government. The moments of his “Life” he could have better spent as a free man, not a slave constrained by the ties of governmental intrusion.
Poor Tim, where is the “Liberty”? Where, indeed, when a free man must spend a third of his working life in slavery to the whims of government? Is a man two thirds free, free at all?
And Nancy, what of “the pursuit of Happiness”? I can not deny that a man can pursue “Happiness” while enslaved, but I will aver he can not be truly happy.
You could each have stood up and said, “No more”. The moment was yours to throw off the ties of bondage and make a stand for freedom. Freedom for us all.
You could have been heroes. But like Icarus the heat was too much, freedom just a passing dream. It seems as always, when heroes fall, they fail us all.

An Open Letter to President Obama

2008-11-06T18:21:00.002-06:00

President-elect Obama,
It seems congratulations are in order to you and to the Democrat party on your successful bids for the American presidency and both houses of Congress. I congratulate, also, those Americans who put the proper time, effort, and thought into their choice of elected officials.
Also, I must profess appreciation for the wisdom inherent in the following words uttered at your acceptance speech on that historic Tuesday evening in Chicago, “And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.”
I, sir, am one of those voices. As are more than 50 million of our fellow Americans. You campaigned as a “Great Unifier”, soon will come the time to make good on that promise. Undoubtably, it will be no easy task to join red and blue, capitalist and socialist, Conservative and Progressive. With this in mind, I have put together a short list of suggestions aimed at helping you traverse the obstacles that will surely impede your progress along this arduous, near impossible path.
Sir, despite your belief that many of your fellow citizens cling to guns simply out of some mental or psychological weakness, the truth is that many of us have a deep seated faith in the Second Amendment for a much deeper, fundamental, and yes even American reason. There are those who innately understand that a government that takes away the ability of its people to protect themselves from that self same body is no longer an government by and of the people, but rather a government that in fact rules its people. The NRA alone has more than four million members. You, sir, will be their president, too.
Sir, it may be your view that those who oppose your tax programs must be selfish, unfair, or simply unpatriotic; but let me assure you this is, in fact, not the case. You must at least attempt to entertain the thought that there may be no small number of Americans who may simply disagree with the idea of taxation as a mechanism for social change. A group with a different view of the government’s role in the pilfering of monies. Who understand that taxation and freedom exist in opposition, and that the more there is of one, the less there will be of the other. Our founding fathers understood this. They fought a revolution for this very idea. Millions of Americans still hold those old fashioned beliefs. You, sir, will be their president, too.
Sir, I ought not show such hubris as to question your belief in the sanctity of the First Amendment, but there have been some rather ominous signs during your campaign of an inclination toward intimidation and the silencing of your critics. Your monk-like silence while your followers viciously attacked the personal lives of those who would question or disagree with your views lends to the belief that you condone such behavior. The smear campaigns against Joe the Plumber, Stanley Kurtz, and Sara Palin come to mind. Both sides need understand that the First Amendment does not absolve one from disagreement or from opposing arguments. But it most definitely should protect a citizen from personal attacks, unlawful government intrusions, and any and all types of intimidation. Most all Americans believe deeply in their First Amendment right of freedom of speech. Unfortunately, fewer believe that right includes the free speech of others as well. You, sir, will be their president, too.
Sir, it may just be that the notion ‘no matter what the question, government is the answer’ has been encoded into your personal DNA, but this is not the belief of a large section of the American public. In fact, many believe they succeed in spite of the government, not because of it. As a scholar interested in our shared history, you surely must know that the Federal government today is larger than it has ever been at any time in our history. Yet somehow our ancestors, with that very same smaller government, endured and even prospered for nearly two and a half centuries. The fact is many believe this was not merely a coincidence. You, sir, will be their president, too.
Sir, I will give you the benefit of the doubt that your stance on Global Warming comes from an honorable place, that you are in fact more interested in protecting our shared planet than accumulating even more governmental power. But do your stated policies even stand up to scrutiny? Many believe they do not. According to Jacob Sullum at Townhall.com, you plan to “”implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050." That is even more ambitious than the goal of a cap-and-trade bill that the Department of Energy estimates would cost between $444 billion and $1.3 trillion in reduced economic growth over two decades.” The Cato Institute’s Policy Analysis “The Consequences Of Kyoto” posits that even with a worldwide adherence to Kyoto protocols, “The amount of warming "saved" by the emissions reduction...is infinitesimal: 0.19 degrees C.” Let’s face it, not even a polar bear could feel that variation. Again that 0.19 degrees, sir, is with a worldwide adherence. Your program simply deals with America alone. Let’s do the math, over a billion dollar hit to the U.S. economy on the one side, the mere possibility of a fraction of a degree temperature change on the other. There are still a few Americans left with the facility of critical thought. You, sir, will be their president, too.
In closing, sir, I “hope” that you truly are a “change” from what we who may disagree with you have come to expect from the Liberal establishment. I hope that you will, as you have said, hear our voices and be open to our help. As hard as it may be for you to fathom, we ‘loyal opposition’ still have America’s best interests at heart. It is important, if you wish to be true to the moniker of “Uniter”, that you do not simply dismiss us. For you, sir, are our president, too.

Obama and the 1st Amendment

2008-10-01T19:35:00.003-05:00

With the endless din of righteous indignation erupting from the Left over imagined book burning in Alaska, one would be led to believe that surely Wasilla today must bear a striking resemblance to Nagasaki circa 1946. One might also be led to believe that those same indignant Obama faithful would have a deep seated adoration for the First Amendment. Sadly, one discovers, this is simply not the case.

For where are the shouts of censorship from Democrats over the Obama campaign "...asking Missouri law enforcement to target anyone who lies or runs a misleading television ad during the presidential campaign."? As well, why are St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, and Sheriff Glenn Boyer not being pilloried by our mainstream media for their culpability in this prime example of the chilling effect of intimidation on free speech?

But the intimidation does not end at the Missouri border. The NRA-PVF has recently released ads "to educate gun owners and sportsmen about Barack Obama’s longstanding anti-gun record". So what did the Obama camp do to counter? Did they deny, refute, or attempt themselves to educate the hayseed gun clingers? Well, no. They reacted by "bullying media outlets with threats of lawsuits" and "intimidating cease and desist letters...threatening their FCC licenses if they run the ads". In fear, it seems, of the truth of Mr. Obama’s record on the 2^nd Amendment, his lawyer cartel had no problem at all in trampling the 1^st.

Oh, but there’s more. Recently, Stanley Kurtz, a contributing editor to National Review Online, appeared on WGN 720 radio out of Chicago to speak about the William Ayers/Obama connection. The Obama campaign was quick to mobilize its base to mass e-mail and mass call to attack the "right-wing hatchet man Stanley Kurtz" and "his baseless, fear mongering terrorist smears". WGN’s Zack Christenson, a producer for "Extension 720 with Milt Rosenburg", noted that the station received "...the biggest response we’ve ever got from a campaign or candidate...people are flooding the calls and our e-mail boxes". One may wish to assume the e-mails were to praise WGN for its preemptive compliance with the Left’s threatened Fairness Doctrine. One could assume such a thing, but one would be wrong. Weeks later the author of "The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media’s Favorite Candidate", David Freddoso, then appeared on the very same radio show. Obama’s speech brigade again went on the attack. In an e-mail to National Review’s Corner, producer Christenson wrote, "Tonight, we have David Freddoso on our show discussing his new book. As we speak, thousands of Obama supporters are flooding our phone lines and e-mail boxes, just as they did for our show with Stanley Kurtz. An Obama Action Wire was sent out tonight to intimidate us into taking Freddoso off the air." Obviously these men’s free expression of ideas were a danger to Obama’s free ride to the Oval Office and thus must be suppressed at all costs.

Let us return to Stanley Kurtz, for he had not seen the last of the Obama thought police. In his investigation again of the Ayers/Obama connection, he became aware of "a large cache of documents...the internal files of the Chicago Annenburg Challenge". Documents that were "housed in the Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Chicago", documents that could demonstrate a link between President wannabe Barack Obama and ex-terrorist and Weather Underground member William Ayers. Mr. Kurtz contacted the library and was told he would be allowed access to these records, only to be informed upon his arrival in Chicago that "the donor of the CAC records" had alerted the library to the fact that it did "not have a signed deed of gift" and that "access to the collection is closed". Mr. Kurtz was finally able to review the documents, but one can not help but wonder about the who and the why behind this attempted stifling of freedom of information.

Nearly as disturbing as the above is Mr. Obama’s recent establishment of a "no sign" policy. During his speech before a fawning crown of possible future ACORN enlisted voters in Berlin; citing "security concerns", his organization handed out flyers "that read ‘Posters & Banners not allowed’". One could argue that this is fine for a German audience, even if one be rather skeptical of the security spin, for they are not bound by the American Constitution. However, at a rally at the University of Mary Washington, a publicly funded university no less, his people reiterated his anti-free speech policy. It may be that Mr. Obama’s interest in pristine photo-ops co-opts his interest in the Bill of Rights. Or it may be that he just feels an innate need to censor all opposing viewpoints.

In closing, one can not help but find it odd that a man who so regularly espouses transparency as an all encompassing governing value would feel the need to go to such extremes in order to hide his beliefs and past, thus abusing the very American values he may soon be sworn to protect.

All in all it looks like the Obama campaign is busy writing the book on First Amendment abuse. Anybody got a match?

Sorry, Mr. McCain

2008-08-23T07:37:00.001-05:00

Alright, Democrats, you win. I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll sign whatever papers you need.
I never thought I’d live to say this, but please, my God, let me vote for Hillary Clinton!
What a Machiavellian plan you’ve hatched. Such subtle intrigue. I stand an awe bound simpleton to the machinations of minds capable of such intricate complexity. It echoes of Roveian depth and width. And it has won me over.
Where did you find him? Was he built from the ground up or was it just simple dumb blind luck that you stumbled upon him? For he is perfect. He is the quintessential anti-American elitist populist academic know nothing empty suit. Hold on, maybe I’ve gone too far. I apologize to all empty suits.
But he is perfect. He is not just the “I’ll hold my nose and vote for his opponent” candidate. He is the “I’ll vote for anyone else, just tell me who. Please, I mean anybody else!” candidate. The anti-anti-Manchurian candidate!
But, it was this statement that broke the back of every Conservative clear thinking camel this side of sane:

Everybody's watching what's going on in Beijing right now with the Olympics, think about the amount of money that China has spent on infrastructure. Their ports, their train systems, their airports are vastly the superior to us now, which means if you are a corporation deciding where to do business you're starting to think, "Beijing looks like a pretty good option."

Where in God’s name do I start?
How about here. Mr. Obama, is anybody home? For a man of such purported intellect, what were you thinking? Or does this statement actually show the wading pool depth of your thought?
Surely you understand that Beijing has been rebuilt over the last several years as a showcase to the world. That the Chinese communist government would spare no cost in its people’s cash and cheap back breaking labor to make it so. Do you feel this it what should be done throughout American cities? And as an aid to corporations? This will not sit well with the anti-capitalist wing of your party, my friend.
And, sir, do you really believe that this “superior” infrastructure is the standard for other cities and rural areas throughout China? If so, where did you get this information? Is the idea of a centrally planned government so ingrained in your mind set that you can simply ignore reality? I think I already know the answer to that one.
Did you not know, sir, that as of 2006 the average Chinese worker earned the grand total of $2,756 per year or an impressive $230 per month.* If not, why? Isn’t this little fact a rather important one if your point is to make any sense when viewed from the American model? How do you feel American unions will be reacting to this rather substantial cut in pay? I wonder what types of hours they will be forced to work. Under what circumstances. What sir, do you intend to do with OSHA?
I can’t go on, my head’s starting to hurt. I’ve already admitted defeat. Just give me the ballot, Bill, you win. I’ll vote for your wife, let’s just get the dirty business over with.

*http://www.forbes.com/markets/2007/07/02/china-wage-growth-markets-econ-cx_jc_0702markets1.html

One Million, Two Hundred Twelve Thousand, Five Hundred and Forty Two Pounds of Yellow Cake

2008-07-12T11:24:00.002-05:00

WASHINGTON (AFP) — At Iraq's request, the US military this year transferred hundreds of metric tons of yellowcake uranium from Iraq to Canada in a secret, weeks-long operation, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday.
The 550 metric tons of uranium, which was sold to a Canadian company, was moved by truck convoy to Baghdad's "Green Zone," then flown by military aircraft to a third country where it was put on a ship for Canada, said Bryan Whitman, the spokesman.
"The operation was completed over the weekend, on Saturday," Whitman said.
The yellow cake was discovered by US troops after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq at the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Facility south of Baghdad, and was placed under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Yellow cake is a form of processed uranium ore that can be used to make fuel for nuclear reactors, or if further enriched as fuel for nuclear weapons.

One million, two hundred twelve thousand, five hundred and forty two pounds of yellow cake was transferred “from Iraq to Canada.”
One million, two hundred twelve thousand, five hundred and forty two pounds of Saddam Hussein’s yellow cake “was discovered by US troops after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.”
One million, two hundred twelve thousand, five hundred and forty two pounds of yellow cake that can be “further enriched as fuel for nuclear weapons.”
One million, two hundred twelve thousand, five hundred and forty two pounds of yellow cake has been ignored by the mainstream media.

Nationalized Legal Representation

2008-07-02T18:56:00.002-05:00

There is a silent crisis stalking the cities and countryside of 21st century America. An emergency more immediate than some distant future climactic apocalypse. A cataclysm more far reaching than 40 million medically uninsured. A tragedy more personal even than the right to marry or bear arms. An injustice so dire, so clandestine that we have dared not speak its name.
Until now.
-In 2001 legal fees constituted 2.04% of the U.S. GDP. Which means “that the average American family of four paid a “litigation tax” of nearly $2,900 in increased prices for products and services.
-In 1997, more than 15 million lawsuits were filed in state courts—one every two seconds.
-The average person is more likely to end up in court than in the hospital, and yet most people have hospitalization plans, but not a plan for legal services.
-In the case against tobacco alone “in Mississippi, 12 law firms were awarded $1.4 billion in fees and expenses” and “$775 million in legal fees” went “to five Massachusetts firms”. In fact, “Lawyers fees allowed so far in 12 states total $8.95 billion”.
-Sixty U.S. senators have law degrees.
-At the beginning of the 102nd Congress in January, 1991, 244 of the 535 members of both houses (46%) claimed attorney as their profession.
These numbers are simply astounding. And some are over 10 years old. Could anyone honestly argue that these numbers have declined in the intervening years?
There is a crisis in America today. It is not the price of gas, nor Global Warming, nor gay marriage.
The crisis we as Americans face is Big Law.
Big Law with its windfall profits, often at the expense of the little guy. Big Law with its unacceptably massive, growth zapping drain on our national economy. Big Law with its “litigation tax” on nearly all our products and services. Big Law with its stranglehold on both Houses of Congress.
Truly though, is it really wise to allow our Constitutional “right to counsel” to be entrusted to something as unpredictable as the Capitalist system? The 6th Amendment touches on the “right to counsel” by giving every American the right to "counsel for his defense” in criminal prosecutions. Does one really believe that our founding fathers did not wish this right to hold sway in the civil sector as well? And moreover, should not all rights be protected from the corrupting power of money?
In today’s legal climate, a single lawsuit is often enough to send a individual or small business to the brink of bankruptcy. And not only the losers, but the winners, as well. Legal fees for either litigant often reach into the five or six figures.
Divorcing mothers are frequently impoverished due to enormous lawyer fees. Left, as single mothers, to fend for themselves in a patriarchal uncaring society.
Many of our elderly, poor and destitute, cannot afford the services of an attorney. Their remaining lives and even the instances and preferences of their deaths are then left to the whims of faceless elderly-care providers.
Americans, without the assets to procure an attorney or the wherewithal to do it for themselves, often go through life without such essentials as prenuptial agreements, leases, and other simple contracts.
The rich can easily absorb these costs, but woefully most Americans are suffering.
So what can be done?
Lack of health insurance affects 40 million Americans, lack of legal insurance affects us all. The “right to counsel” is promised by the 6th Amendment to every American. Should not every American enjoy that rightSurely, free of charge?
Surely, it is time we nationalized legal representation. In order to make it affordable for all. In order to bring it into alignment with Progressive priciples. In order to assure its quality.
Tom Daschle, a leading Democrat of the past once stated, “You don’t professionalize until you federalize.” Every American deserves the superior representation that such a socialized legal representation system would promise.
It should be of no surprise to anyone that none in our Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches have proffered such an idea. They are nearly all lawyers. They stand to lose billions. Obviously, we cannot expect much help from the politicians. That said, the nationalization of legal representation will need to be a grass roots effort.
Still, there are groups who are willing to help. Groups such as Justice in Justice, a non-partisan, carbon neutral organization as certified by Green International(greeninternational.us). Their efforts in community organizing and policy analysis have earned them high esteem in the activist community. Known for their unending battles for fairness and equality, they are bringing their expertise to the realm of justice. They can be reached at JusticeinJustice.us.
But the real heroes here, if there are to be heroes to be had, will be individual Americans. Those Americans who are tired of the status quo. Tired of politicians pandering to Big Law. Tired of the inequality of legal representation. Tired of the unfairness inherent in a system of cheap hack lawyers and high legal fees.
We as individuals can talk of the unfairness to our family and friends, coworkers, and business contacts. We can mass e-mail our contact lists with essays on inequality of representation and access. We can blog on the lack of quality in a Capitalist run system. And we can contact the media and write letters to the editor pointing out the promise of the 6th Amendment and how it has been usurped by lawyer politicians.
Americans are suffering. It is time we worked to end their misery. Nationalized Legal Representation is a great way to start.

Earth Hour 2008

2008-03-29T07:39:00.001-05:00

Listen up people, the most important day of this calender year is upon us. For today is the day we get "Earth Hour 2008". The day you can, "join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights..."

How nice...darkness. Like in the good old days. Before the combustion engine, natural gas furnaces, air conditioning. Just sweet carbon-free enviro-friendly darkness.

It seems to me that this is just where the environmental wackos would want us all to be. In darkness.

In reality though, the hatred for a people’s free use of energy is their "statement about...turning off the lights". They long to control our energy use. Through taxation, intimidation, guilt.

The Global Warming hysteria is simply an attack on freedom and the Capitalist system. That is what needs to be lit up. The truth behind the fear.

For the hysterics, it is better to keep people in the dark about such things as the un-forecast cooling of the oceans. Sunspot cycle’s influence on weather. Or that of cosmic rays. The fact that, "The ice between Canada and southwestern Greenland has reached its highest level in 15 years.". Or that there has been no warming since 1998. In fact, 2007 was the coldest in Canada in 15 years.

Could this be the beginning of an Ice Age?

I, for one, am not willing to take that chance. So I intend to turn on every light in my house this evening. Every electronic piece of equipment I own. I’ll start my car. Turn the furnace up to 85. The A/C down to 50. I’ll light the burners on my stove and crank up the oven. All for the good of the planet.

Join me, won’t you, for "Earth Hour 2008". The day we make our own "statement about climate change" and stop the dreaded Global Cooling.

The Children Will Have to Wait

2008-03-15T12:22:00.005-05:00

As a liberty loving individual there is no phrase that frightens me more than “for the children”. That phrase seems always to follow a personal freedom I am expected to cede to some governmental body at one level or another. The only other term that maybe comes close is “global warming” and even that is sold as doing something in order to save the planet “for the children”.
Well, in this climate of hyper identity politics I have decided to fight back. And I know just how to do it. It is high time we “middle aged white guys” get down for the struggle and begin to fight back. Yes, I believe this is the perfect opportunity for me and my fellow pale graying patriarchs to begin to speak truth to power. The “middle aged white guy” will be heard!

With that in mind...

It took nearly two hours for the members to elect Pelosi on a 232-202 party-line vote. They stood one by one, many delivering brief remarks along with their votes. "Just as the biblical Esther was called to save the nation, I cast my vote for another woman called for such times as these," said Rep. Bobby Rush, the Chicago Democrat and former Black Panther. Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) announced her vote for Pelosi was "for the future of all of our “middle aged white guys” and for world peace."
Pelosi sat in the center right section of the House, surrounded by “middle aged white guys” holding one in a white blanket in her arms. She hugged and squeezed any other “middle aged white guys” who came within range and stood up to kiss a steady stream of well-wishers, including Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), former Colorado representative Pat Schroeder and former transportation secretary Norman Mineta.

Yes! Finally, one for home team.

After listing a range of other social injustices, such as the 13 million “middle aged white guys” who he said go to sleep hungry at night and the 45 million individuals earning under $10.50/hour and living without health insurance, Nader repeatedly implored the audience to consider its reactions.

Amen brother, been there, my wife won’t let me eat after 7:00 PM, I go to bed hungry every night.

Sexuality is still a very taboo subject in our society," she said. "’Middle aged white guys’ tell us that they can't make decisions in the dark and that adults aren't properly preparing them to make responsible decisions."
Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the study shows that "the national policy of promoting abstinence-only programs is a $1.5 billion failure, and “middle aged white guys” are paying the real price.

That reminds me, I’m running low on Cialis.

In an effort to shield “middle aged white guys” from secondhand smoke, the Kennesaw City Council passed a measure this week to ban smoking in city parks, making it only the second city in the state to make smoking illegal in such public spaces...The Kennesaw ban grew out of citizens' concerns that “middle aged white guys” were being exposed to secondhand smoke at parks where they play sports, Taylor said. "I feel like it's an ordinance that is just keeping with what the Georgia Legislature passed," said Kennesaw attorney Fred Bentley Jr. "There will be places provided for smoking."
The Douglasville ban is more restrictive, forbidding smoking in all park property. "We want to promote a healthy lifestyle and set a good example for the “middle age white guy”," said Kevin Teate, Douglasville's deputy director of parks and recreation.
"Hopefully, other folks will follow our lead," he said.

Thank the Lord for local bureaucrats, they've saved me from myself once again.

Barack Obama is a committed advocate for “middle aged white guys”. He will make sure that every “middle aged white guy” has health insurance, expand educational opportunities for low-income “middle aged white guys”, extend resources for low-income families, support and supplement our struggling foster care system, and protect “middle aged white guys” from violence and neglect.

Thank you, Barack, thank you. Ooh...I’m...feeling...a...little...dizzy...

Global warming is likely to disproportionately harm the health of “middle aged white guys”...There's evidence that “middle aged white guys” are likely to suffer more...says the report's lead author, Katherine Shea, a pediatrician and adjunct public health professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill..."This is not a political issue, it's a public health issue," Shea says. "If we know the health of “middle aged white guys” and future “middle aged white guys” is threatened, we have an obligation to act.

She cares, she really cares. I’m feeling warm all over. Uh oh, it’s starting already.

Get the point? Well if you didn’t, here it is, a little more pointed.
There are 70 million plus baby boomers in the United States alone. Somehow, without the aid of do-something activists, millions of us miraculously survived. We survived second hand smoke, no car seats, no bicycle helmets, alternating temperatures, an unpeaceful planet, missed meals, monkey bars, and too many other dangers to numerous to mention. Must have been just dumb luck, I guess. That, or maybe America is not as dangerous a place for children as politicians and activists would like us to believe.
American liberty has survived great peril and great evil. A bloody revolution, a brutal civil war, two devastating World Wars, the menace of Communism, economic depressions and recessions, assassinations, and racial strife. Powerful forces, all.
How ironic it is, that in the hands of a few politicians and activists, “the children” may finally do what so many others could not.

Conservative or Liberal?

2007-11-17T18:50:00.001-06:00

Being a politico, it is often easy for me to forget or ignore the fact that most Americans are either non-political or (no insult intended) politically ignorant. With this in mind, I have put together 30 questions that will enable the politically illiterate to decide on which side of the fence they reside.
That said, do you believe that...

1. The main reason for public education is
A) to teach American children
B) to keep teachers employed

2. Public celebrations of Christmas are
A) as American as apple pie
B) almost always offensive

3. Backing our soldiers is
A) a duty every American should undertake
B) a political statement in support of the Bush regime’s illegal imperialistic wars

4. The U.N. is a
A) conglomeration of diplomats bent on curbing American power
B) international Democratic body whose laws should hold sway even over national laws and boundaries

5. Homosexuality is
A) a personal choice between two consensual adults
B) a civil right bestowing extra-governmental protection and interference

6. Marriage is
A) between one man and one woman
B) between any two humans no matter what the sex, but definitely not between more than two, or between persons related even if in love, or between consenting species, or...

7. Smoking is
A) a decision made by the individual
B) a societal menace only curbed through intense governmental interference

8. The intake of fatty foods is
A) a decision made by the individual
B) an addiction best curbed through massive class-action law suits

9. Taxation is
A) a necessary evil
B) a way to instill fairness and justice to society

10. War is
A) a necessary evil
B) simply a lack of proper diplomacy

11. Evil is
A) a reality that must be fought when encountered
B) only relative to its cultural experience

12. Men and women are
A) inherently different and synergistic
B) merely a patriarchal societal construct

13. Global warming is
A) the means for government to intrude even more into one’s personal life and pocketbook
B) the end of the world unless government intervenes into one’s personal life and decisions

14. Parenting is
A) a huge personal responsibility to create a decent independent human being
B) a role best left to the professionals

15. Illegal immigration is
A) a huge problem in America for various economic and safety reasons
B) a great way to gain a voting bloc

16. Capitalism is
A) the means for a higher standard of living for all based on enlightened self-interest
B) an unfair system built on the labor of the proletariat to enrich the bourgeoisie

17. 9/11 was
A) a vicious attack on America by Muslim fanatics bent on the destruction of our country
B) a scheme by the bush regime to enrich the military industrial complex

18. Islamo-fascism is
A) a dangerous sect of Islam with a desire to destroy the Great Satan and install a world caliphate
B) a word made up by bigoted Conservatives to besmirch an entire religion

19. Healthcare is
A) a personal responsibility best handled by the individual
B) a social responsibility best handled by a faceless bureaucrat

20. The Constitution is
A) a document enumerating the rights of the individual and placing limits on the powers of government
B) a living document to be interpreted by each generation in order to enforce a political dogma

21. The human fetus is
A) a baby human not yet born to the world
B) a group of cells no different than and due no more rights than a virus or pathogen

22. The Second Amendment is
A) the right of every American to gun ownership for self protection
B) an antiquated idea dangerous to children and society

23. The American military is
A) patriotic American men and women dedicated to the protection of our country and our interests
B) the enforcement arm of American imperialism

24. Profit is
A) the amount of return a business earns as the result of good business practices, correct economic choices, and proper risk evaluation
B) the amount of return allowed a business by governmental bodies

25. Wal-Mart is
A) a great American business profiting by selling decent products to American’s at affordable prices
B) the very face of corrupt corporate Capitalism loosed upon an unsuspecting uneducated public bent on destroying all that is good in the world

26. An individual’s net pay is
A) the amount a worker legally earns after taxes
B) the cash amount left over that the government allows the individual to take as his own

27. The First Amendment means
A) the freedom to speak one’s mind without governmental interference
B) the freedom to speak one’s mind without interference of differing opinions or arguments

28. Gas prices are
A) too high and we should be allowed to find and drill for oil in desolate areas of America and off our coasts
B) not high enough to stop energy hungry fat cat Americans from driving their gas guzzling SUVs

29. Social Security is
A) in dire straits and badly in need of reform
B) just fine, we just need to sock the rich with more taxes to pay their fair share

30. Nuclear power is
A) a great way to power our cities and lower our Carbon footprint
B) another way for energy hungry Americans to ignore their responsibility for the coming global climate apocalypse

If you answered overwhelmingly “A”, you are a Conservative. Most likely with Libertarian leanings. You would have been considered a Democrat during John Kennedy’s administration.
If you answered mostly “B”, you are in the mainstream of today’s Democratic party. You are a Progressive model of virtue.
If you answered equally “A” and “B”, you are truly a Moderate. Please self medicate for the good of yourself and society.

“The Lives of Others”-Critique of a Critic

2007-10-30T18:11:00.000-05:00

The lack of self-awareness on the Left seems at times at the very least childish, but more often fully pathological.
I recently had the pleasure of watching the winner of the best foreign-language film Oscar of 2006, “The Lives of Others”. It is a powerful, subtle, inspiring film. It shows the dark side of socialist East German life before the fall of the wall. Let me repeat, that is socialist East German life.
So I was somewhat surprised when I went back and read film critic turned Liberal propagandizer, Roger Ebert’s, review of the film. Oh, he enjoyed it well enough, but that is not my point. It was his comparison of the coercive, intrusive, totalitarian bent of the East German bureaucracy to the current Executive branch of American government that struck me as odd.
Here is his assessment:

But the movie is relevant today, as our government ignores habeas corpus, practices secret torture, and asks for the right to wiretap and eavesdrop on its citizens. Such tactics did not save East Germany; they destroyed it, by making it a country its most loyal citizens could no longer believe in.

First, I would like to remind Mr. Ebert that East Germany was a socialist/communist regime. A regime of the Left. A government built on the idea of comradery, of all for one, of fairness, and of equality. In short, a perfect Liberal utopia.
To compare the actions of such a regime to America today is simply ignorant. Americans have not lost there rights to habeas corpus, Mr Ebert. I would appreciate any proof you have otherwise. And what you would like to consider torture today, would have been seen as merely discomfort under the previous East German regime. Also, the only people who your hated Bush regime want to wiretap are those in contact with foreign terrorists. Let us, please, at least be honest.
Second, as long as we’re being honest, how can you but admit that attacks on the liberty of modern American citizens come almost always from the Left? Political correctness, college speech codes, the shouting down of Conservative speakers on college campuses, the threat of destruction of talk radio through the Fairness Doctrine, the silencing of debate with smears such as bigotry, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, chicken-hawk, and hater. All these attacks on free speech come from Left of center. Coercive smoking bans, seat belt and insurance laws, the latest attacks on fatty foods, the slow steady erosion of parental rights. These nanny state policies stem most always from the Left. The preference toward governmental larceny that is intrusive taxation is a Leftist ideal. As are threatened taxes on vehicle and home size, carbon usage, and certain types of foods. Our forefathers understood that taxation is most always an attack on personal liberty. Progressives seem to have forgotten this fact.
Third, and last, is the way in which the East German government aimed at controlling its populace. Where does the urge to control come from in today’s America? Possibly from those who believe they know how to run our lives better than we ourselves? Sounds like Leftist elitism to me. From those who fear our actions, if untempered, will lead to environmental destruction? That’s the greenie Left this time. From those who believe that fairness can be inflicted through progressive taxation? Yep, it’s the Left again.
The characters in “The Lives of Others” dealt with real governmental coersion and intrusiveness on a daily basis. Their liberties were undermined on a true and personal level, unlike Mr. Ebert’s paranoid conspiratorial fear of Bush. They lived under a regime that believed ‘the government governs best who governs the most’. Is that a value of the Right? Or rather the Left, Mr. Ebert? I think we both know the answer to that. But if you do not, then you are either lying to yourself or else you are impossibly ignorant.
I believe it was Thomas Jefferson who said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free,
it expects what never was and never will be.” Maybe sir, you should learn from that.

Stolen

2007-10-06T10:23:00.001-05:00

It’s an odd day in October today.
The Cubs are coming home to play a meaningful game. In October.
But that’s not the most of it. It’s 85 degrees today just West of Chicago. In October.
When I was a boy we’d have called it Indian Summer. You couldn’t walk in the street, meet with your buddies, or go to the mall without someone saying, “Hey, how ‘bout this Indian Summer?” Today this statement is most probably politically incorrect. But the point here is, there is no more Indian Summer...it’s now known as Global Warming. Indian Summer has been stolen from me. By a bunch of hysterical zealots.
This got me to thinking. What else has the Left stolen from me? From my country? They squawk, “Give us our country back!” How about this, give me my country back. You know the one, the one that actually existed. Not the utopia the Left nostalgically remembers from the sixties, but the one that really was there. A country of individuals. A country that believed in freedom. Freedom from the nanny state government micro-management of lives. Even freedom as a beacon to the rest of the world. As a self evident right to all peoples.
It is sad where we’ve come to in America.
Last night on 20/20 they told the story of the two boys, 12 and thirteen year old boys, from Oregon arrested for sexual felonies arising from a childish game they called ‘slap butt day’. It involved horseplay and patting some girls on the rear end. Forget the girls were just as guilty, but these young boys were arrested, strip searched, and held for six days in Juvie hall. This is insane. In a sane world, the boys would have been given detention, asked to apologize, and that would have been the end of it. Today, if not for the uproar, they could have been marked as sexual predators for the rest of their lives. The point? Feminization has stolen common sense from our schools.
All this week Rush Limbaugh has been dealing with a smear launched by a Left wing group and happily picked up on by the main stream media. I have listened to Rush for many years now, and I heard the actual ‘phony soldier’ broadcast. Rush did not impugn our soldiers. And any honest clear thinking human who would actually listen to his show for even a short amount of time would have to admit he respects and appreciates our military and our soldiers. Ah but he is a ‘Conservative’ and to our friends in the media that means ‘bad’. Either without any further investigation or with willful complicity the news media jumped on the story. If not for his massive listener-ship and the power of Conservative talk radio and Fox News, this smear would have gone unanswered. Point here? The trust Americans once had in the news has been stolen by a now unquestionably partisan media.
I love movies. Better, I used to love movies. I am afraid to watch anything coming out of Hollywood these days. The Leftist slant spewing from that moral desert is simply relentless. Over the past few months, I have had to turn off movies that I had paid good money to see. Not because the acting was bad. Not because of the sex or the violence. But because of the blatant propagandist Leftist themes dancing across my Hi-Def screen. The movie “Perfect Stranger”, with Halle Berry, lasted all of five minutes in my DVD player. The Republicans-Evil, Liberals-Good message was all too clear mere seconds after the opening credits. Not even Clint Eastwood’s “Flags of Our Fathers” could add much to my carbon foot print. I had thought it would be a movie about American heroes in WWII, it turned out to be another Leftist attack on the American military.
And music today is just as bad. I apologetically admit that in the past I had been a fan of Bruce Springsteen, U2, and John Cougar...or whatever name he is using these days. I say “apologetically”, because I can not even bear to listen to these artists anymore. I used to, and still do, love their music. But I will not buy anything new that they produce, lest it insult my values, country, or way of life. Which brings me to the point...Leftist propaganda has stolen the arts from me.
This screed has gone on a little too long as the Cubs are coming on. Oh, the safe haven of sports. But wait, wasn’t Keith Olbermann on ESPN? Hope the above doesn’t qualify me for the “Worst Person in the World Award”.
Oh, well. Here’s wishing you a happy Indian Summer.

Free Will and Governance

2007-09-23T08:45:00.000-05:00

The idea of free will has always intrigued me. It is significant in so many aspects of human life and interaction. Society, philosophy, religion, and governance to name a few of the most encompassing.
The argument against its existence does not interest me. Nor does, in this essay, from whence it comes. It is simply a priori to the human condition and is what to a large extent makes us human in the first place.
Here I will opine as to its affect on society and what would seem to be free will’s natural bias towards a certain type of human governance.
But in order to do this, first we must agree that humans over all other creatures on this planet are endowed with the largest dose of free will. And that access to free will is in direct correlation to intelligence among species. This seems so simple a proposition that it needn’t be mentioned, but I fear there are those who would argue the case. If you fit into this category, you may choose to use your free will and read no further for my thoughts and arguments will likely fall on deaf ears.
We remaining are now, I presume, in agreement that we as a species among all others on this planet are endowed with the highest degree of free will. So, then, what can this teach us about society and governance? Let us first look at the lack of free will in lower creatures that live within social groups.
Bees and ants have highly formed social structures. All individuals work together for the good of the collective. Some gather, some tend the queen, still others protect the whole. Yet, we can all agree there is no free will here. These creatures act and interact per their genetic programming. They are simply parts of the whole, not really individuals at all. Their lives are predetermined, there is no choice involved.
Now let us look at more advanced animals that live within social communities. Wolves and lions inhabit such social constructs. As compared to the social insects, it should be obvious to all that these creatures have a higher degree of free will.
So how does this affect their social interactions? They do not, as bees and ants, have predisposed roles to fill. So here a caste system develops. The strongest and most intimidating become the leaders. The weaker are designated to wait their turn for food and breeding. These weaker still have some amount of free will, but the strong use their power to impel the weak to submit. Still, the weak of the pack will often test the strong. They will either be rebuked or become the strong themselves.
So what does all this have to do with the idea of human free will? Well, first one should be able to see that the more free will a creature possesses the less the idea of a collective makes any sense at all. Creatures, such as the bees and ants mentioned above, with no free will are perfect candidates for the collective society. They do not question or want, they act. Yet in the higher animals, our wolves and lions with some level of free will, other strategies must be implemented in order to keep a stable society. Why? Well, partially because the impulse towards a rebellion against authority is inherent in the notion of free will. And as mentioned above the lower class, the weak, often test the strong. They wish to exert their free will. As we possess more free will than any other creature, this is even more so the case in humans.
This is an important point and one that should teach us something about the preferred form of human governance. Free will has as a basic tenet an urge to resist authority, to exert itself. This is its very essence. And we are imbued as no other animal with this essence. So then what type of government makes the most sense for humanity?
Surely, not collectivism. We are individuals with particular wants, needs, and cares. We are not robots destined by our genetic structure to fit only preordained roles. Our complexity relocates the idea of a human collective society to a quaint but naive concept. Our free will further invalidates collectivism as we naturally want more and better for ourselves and ours, and willfully work towards that end. Free will offers us choices, in our lives and in our actions. This aspect does not easily fit into a collectivist society.
The caste system does not seem a proper fit for humans as it is for the wolf or the lion. It grates against all that we feel is just. It lends toward one class to despise and envy the other. Free will demands the human question why he is stuck in one immutable class. He wishes to act upon his want by moving up and out. After all free will at its most basic is about choice. And the human longs for personal choice.
A large intrusive nanny state is also not the answer. It seems to me that small government Conservatives have the right idea. They, many unconsciously I will admit, better understand the inherent resistance towards authority that free will impels. Big government advocates, you know who you are, appreciate the urge to “question authority” or “speak truth to power”, but they miss what this impulse means on the societal whole. They seem not to understand that the more government there is, the more force from above, the more free will induces the human to want to force back. This in turn causes more government imposition and the cycle often repeats itself until tyranny is the result. More, these big government advocates love to harp on the idea of personal choice, but seem not to realize that the larger and more intrusive the government the less true free choice there can actually be.
One can look at free will as a blessing or a curse, but one cannot deny it is a part of the human condition. And as a part, we need to respect it. We need to learn what it can teach us about ourselves. What kind of society, governance, and community makes the most sense for free willed beings. And then use that free will, itself, to establish just such a society.

The Forgotten Man

2007-09-19T18:52:00.000-05:00

The coming descent into Socialism that is ‘Nationalized Healthcare’ reminds me again of just who I am.
William Sumner, professor of sociology at Yale University in the late 19th century, proffered the notion of “The Forgotten Man.” His thesis on the scheme of compassionate humanitarianism explains the term.

A and B put their heads together to decide what C shall be made to do for D...C is the forgotten man.

I am that “Forgotten Man”, and it is my guess that many reading here are as well.
As a young man I worked hard to get a decent education. Still, today, I make learning an important part of my daily life. I began my working years in a sub-minimum wage job and have worked up the economic ladder into a decent stable job. I show up to work every day and give an honest day’s work for an honest wage. I am married in some faithful loving relationship. I have no children out of wedlock. I do not murder, rape, nor steal. I do not drink to excess, gamble away my family’s income, nor beat or abuse my spouse. I do not live on the street. I spend my hard earned money in an appropriate manner, i.e., bills before toys. I take the term personal responsibility very serious. I am respectful to others and show decorum in public arenas. I have compassion for those, who through no fault of their own, endure hardship. I am thankful for my lot in life and ask nothing from others that I would not willingly return. I feel I pay too much in taxes, yet pay honestly anyway.
Yes, I am “The Forgotten Man”. Forgotten by the politicians who pander to the lowest common denominator in an effort to buy votes. Forgotten by the bureaucrats who spend my money on broken programs and endless bottomless boondoggles. Forgotten by the elites who wish to rearrange the very society that has allowed us all to live in such abundance. Forgotten by the media who see my ilk as simple, quaint, and antiquated.
Oh, but if it were only that simple. It seems I lose my “Forgotten Man” status when I “must pay my fair share”, when I am compelled into compassion, when I must dance to the whims of the nanny state. It is those times most I wish I were forgotten.
You see, I would gladly accept the label “Forgotten Man” if I could choose when to be forgotten. Forget me, Senator, when you institute a new law that adds more responsibility on the law abiding in an inane effort to curb those who would disrespect it. Forget me, Mayor, when you look to find yet another income stream. Forget me, Congressman, when schemes of redistribution dance in your head. Forget me, Your Honor, when you usurp the ideals of the founding fathers simply to further your political agendas. And forget me, Mother Government, when you promise new programs that incrementally and ultimately rob me of my constitutionally protected freedoms.
This is who I am. I am “The Forgotten Man”, the C in Professor Sumner’s equation above. You need to ask yourself, which letter are you?

Who's the Fascist?

2007-09-03T07:33:00.000-05:00

Democrats can not, and I restate can not, stop themselves from wanting to control every single aspect of our lives. They know better after all.

From John Edwards on his new Socialist Medicine Plan:

"It requires that everybody be covered. It requires that everybody get preventive care. If you are going to be in the system, you can't choose not to go to the doctor for 20 years. You have to go in and be checked and make sure that you are OK."

Thanks, John. Your stupidity makes my colon hurt. Why don't you stick your head right up there and let me know if everything looks "OK".

Total Kaos Offers Methane Credits

2007-08-24T17:55:00.000-05:00

It is high time, my friends, for the denial to end. Time for each of us to bear the ultimate responsibility we owe to our children and to their children as well. Time to stand up for what is right. Time to sacrifice for the common good. Yes, comrades, it is time to pay the piper.

Der Spiegel’s recent expose uncovering the ominous role of ungulates, moose in particular, in the disaster that is Global Warming should be a wake up call to us all.

Each moose, it has been learned, expels approximately 2 tons of methane gas per year. This equates to a 13,000 km trip in an automobile.

Methane, a Global Warming pollutant, is one of the major gases responsible for the coming Climate Change Armageddon. In fact, it is 23 times more potent than carbon.

We have all heard of Carbon Credits...the idea of buying credits toward reducing one’s personal carbon footprint.

With this in mind, we here at Total Kaos believe it is time to begin a similar program. Methane Credits.

Here is how the program will work. For a mere $5000 investment(1 Methane Credit...Possibly tax deductable-check with your financial advisor), any self proclaimed champion of the environment can do his or her part to save the planet from total eco-annihilation. With the remittance of this small stipend, one of our Ungulate Warriors will posthaste be sent into the field in order to restore true balance to the state of nature. His intent, to remove a single Alces alces. This honorable deed will subtract from the total Climate Change devastation by 2 entire tons. Helping to keep the world that much cooler for your children.

But that’s not all. All the meat, not taken personally by the Ungulate Warrior himself, will be donated to such worthy causes as homeless programs, women’s shelters, hungry children, African famine relief, and Chinese pet food companies.

And there’s more. You will receive a special numbered certificate authenticating your planet salvaging Methane Credit. As well, every moose taken will be photographed and hoof printed, and you will receive a copy of each for your records...or just to show off to your friends.

As if this were not enough, we are throwing in your choice of our world famous bumper stickers:

Methane Hunter: Protector of the Environment
We Hunt...For the Children

Ungulate Warriors, Saviors of the Earth

We Hunt...So You Don’t Have To

Saving the Planet, One Moose at a Time

We Kill Them Before They Kill Our World

Mill Koose

Give a Peace of Moose Meat a Chance

That’s a $20 value, yours free.

*As a special offer, we are allowing any Warming Warriors who have purchased at least 1 Methane Credit the ability to become Ungulate Squires. Not only will you receive a special Ungulate Squire hat, but a photo card of your personal Ungulate Warrior, as well. As with any squire there are certain duties and responsibilities that come with the title. We’re not asking you to clean stables or sharpen swords, but sending remittance to your Ungulate Warrior for daily expenses such as weapon upkeep, hotel fees, and other needed resources will be expected and appreciated.

**Total Kaos: Protectorate Illuminati of the Global Environment, are in the process of recruiting Ungulate Warriors.

Applicants must have experience in the field of ungulate reduction. Hunting, fishing, or outdoors experience is a must.

Applicant must show a proficiency in the use of rifles, shotguns, and archery equipment.

An interest in protecting and conserving the environment, and a willingness to restore it to Pre-Cambrian levels is a plus. Applicants must be willing to put their own lives on the line to protect the future of our children.

We cannot stress enough the importance of a taste for, and a willingness to provide Total Kaos members with, large amounts of Tennessee whiskey.

The Final Argument Against the Term 'Chicken-Hawk'

2007-08-24T06:51:00.000-05:00

Simple.
The logic behind the slur of ‘chicken-hawk’ is simply that the so called ‘chicken-hawk’ has never been in the military so thus has no experience and cannot opine upon anything to do with the military, wars, military action, and so on.
To that I say, the user of the slur has never been a ‘chicken-hawk’. He has no experience being a ‘chicken-hawk’ and can thus not truly use the term as he can not know anything about it. I, on the other hand, through his own disparagence, am a ‘chicken-hawk. And being a ‘chicken-hawk’, state that he should have no opinion upon things he obviously knows nothing about.
Done. Argument over, go back to your basement.

Historic Heroes of Global Warming

2007-08-07T19:59:00.000-05:00

With our future doomed to the devastating effects of man made Global Warming and our present beseeched by floods, storms, and heat waves; I feel it is important to look to the past for inspiration. To find those great men who fought in the front lines in the battle against climate change. Yes, to unearth the Historic Heroes of Global Warming.

First, let us begin in October of 1492 with our first hero Christopher Columbus. It was he who brought small pox and other Old World diseases to the New World. Estimates of the native population of the Americas at that time reach as high as 80,000,000. Some say that the mortality rate from these diseases reached 94 percent. Even if these numbers are highly exaggerated, it seems safe to say over 40,000,000 Native Americans died from diseases brought to the New World by Christopher Columbus and others like him. Today we know modern Americans are responsible for 22 tons of carbon dioxide a year. If Native Americans, who made wood fires for everything from cooking to religious ceremonies, even total half of that then Mr. Columbus is responsible for are massive carbon credit of 400,000,000 tons. That is per year. I shudder to think how hot it would be today had Christopher Columbus not sailed the ocean blue.

Now to 1633 and our next great hero Pope Urban VIII. It was he who imprisoned the heretic Galileo Galilei for the insane idea that the sun was the center of the solar system. The madman had some hair brained idea that this huge fiery ball had some sort of an effect upon the our planet, Earth. Excommunication is too small a penalty for such blaspheme. Yes, Pope Urban VIII was far ahead of his time as today we know that the sun has absolutely no effect whatsoever on this planet we call home.

Let us go back to the New World for our third hero, Buffalo Bill Cody. Between 1868 and 1881 it is estimated that 31,000,000 buffalo were slaughtered in Kansas alone. Buffalo Bill was said to be personally responsible for reducing their numbers by 4000 in only 2 years. It is said that modern day cows, much smaller than buffalo, produce 280 liters of methane per day and are responsible for “four percent of global greenhouse gas emissions”. Thanks to Mr. Cody and his friends, and using only the amount of methane from proportionally tiny modern cows, Kansas was relieved of the burden of 8,680,000,000 liters of methane per day. If stretched out to a year, we’re talking real numbers here.

But one needn’t fear that the 20th century has no Global Warming heroes. Here we shall save space by lumping many of the great modern day carbon fighters together. Adolph Hitler, it is said, is responsible for the deaths of nearly 21 million human beings. Joseph Stalin nearly 62 million. And we can not forget Mao Tse-Tung and his 77 million. Again we multiply those numbers by the yearly carbon dioxide output of 22 tons a year and we come up with the astrological number of 3,520,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year. How can the modern day carbon warrior not cower in awe at the feet of such greatness?

Ah, but there are so many ways to fight the good fight. Our next hero Jim Jones knew this all too well. In the mid 1970's he founded Jonestown in Guyana. A People’s paradise, where all food was to be produced within the settlement by members of the Peoples Temple. No need for carbon spewing trucks, trains, and boats. No need for energy sucking cooling units to keep the food products fresh. The ultimate in local economies. A modern day carbon Eden, if only it hadn’t been for all that other stuff that happened.

Now back across the Atlantic to our next paragon of climate protection, not a single person, but the heroes at Planned Parenthood. Since 1973, and the Roe vs. Wade decision, it is estimated that over 48 million abortions have been performed in the United States. Again we use our average for yearly carbon dioxide output...22 tons per person. That is an amazing 1,056,000,000 tons of CO2 never to pollute our shared atmosphere annually. Good thing for us that all those babies, oops I mean fetuses, never saw the light of day.

Joseph Campbell once said that all men need heroes. I hope that the soldiers in the battle against complete climate catastrophe gained some amount of inspiration and peace of mind from the Historic Heroes of Global Warming I have listed here. Our planet’s future may be bleak, but you can rest a bit easier with the knowledge that if not for the warriors that came before it would today be even bleaker still.

Postscript:
Now available at your local Wal-Mart, Historic Heroes of Global Warming action figures.
*All figurines are manufactured only in third world sweat shops by children who are, of course, doomed to short life spans which lower their lifetime carbon footprint.

Three Degrees of Democratic Envy

2007-06-09T10:52:00.000-05:00

I was half watching the Republican debates last week when a Wolf Blitzer allowed an audience member, a philosophy teacher from Saint Anselm College, to pose a question.
"My question is a simple one," he said. "In your opinion, what is the most pressing moral issue facing this country today?"
I turned up the volume and moved to the edge of my seat. "Give the right answer," I thought to myself. "This is a simple one, now come on. Show some guts and just say it for God’s sakes!"

For those who sneer at the very idea of wisdom, you need read no further.
I do not possess vast amounts of knowledge’s better half myself, but what little I have garnered I freely share.
That said...
"The key to happiness is thankfulness."
Simple and true.
And the destroyer of thankfulness is envy.

Had I been on that stage, I’d have thanked the guest for such an outstanding question and stated simply, "Envy."

Wikipedia defines ‘envy’ as "an emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another’s superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it."
That sums it up pretty well. Envy is when one man either wants what another possesses or wishes the other did not possess it at all.
Envy is the sixth of the seven deadly sins, however it is my stern belief that it is the worst of them all. For not only is it often the principal cause of so much evil in the world, it is also the main impediment to the individuals ability to achieve lasting happiness.
Now to the meat of my point. And it is this...There is a national American political party dedicated almost exclusively to the idea of pandering to the envious. I freely admit that its opposition party now dabbles in this as well, but envy is not the crux of the Republican party’s platform. That honor goes, of course, to the Democrats.
It is hard to think of a single Democratic issue that can not be connected to envy in less than three steps. It is the Democrat’s version of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon", "Three Degrees of Democratic Envy".
Let’s all give it a try, shall we?
"Tax the rich", "Big Oil’s obscene profits", "The income gap(fat cat CEOs)", "The wage gap(men vs. womyn)", "affirmative action", "Two Americas". These are all too easy. It should be obvious to all that envy is at the core of each of these issues. Hidden behind the guise of "fairness", is the face of envy. Pure and simple.
But let’s go for a few tougher issues.
How about Global Warming? How does that connect to envy? Simple. 1) Ask any believer who he or she believes is main culprit in Global Warming and he or she will respond that America is only 5% of the world population, yet uses 26% of the world’s energy(forget that America also accounts for between 21 and 28% of the Global World Product). Energy use equals carbon output. 2) America is the world’s richest country. 3) Europe and the Democratic party, through use of the battering ram that is Global Warming, wish to impose massive controls on th US economy. Thus slowing, or better yet, stopping its expansion. This will help to alleviate the envy felt by the Europeans and their own sputtering economies and the Democrats will have taken another step in their plan for a Socialist Republic.
I will not quibble about whether or not the Democratic party is Socialist. Encyclopedia Britannica online defines Socialism as: (a) system of social organization in which property and the distribution of income are subject to social control rather than individual determination or market forces. Sound like the Democratic/Liberal agenda to you?
Honestly, it is to the point where they, themselves, no longer even try to hide the fact. The following comments by leading Democrat Hillary Clinton say it all...
"We have to build a political consensus. And that requires people to give up a little bit of their own turf in order to create this common ground."
"We’re going to take things away form you on behalf of the common good."
"I prefer a ‘we’re all in it together’ society."
"Fairness doesn't just happen. It requires the right government policies."
So just what is the connection of Socialism and envy? Again, simple. Socialism takes from the haves and gives to the have nots. Almost the very definition of envy.
I would gladly to go into the issue of the war in Iraq, but it is really just a portion of a bigger issue as it relates to envy. U.S. power. And the way in which Democrats and Liberals deal with the idea of the use of American power throughout the world. 1) America is the most powerful military on the face of the Earth. 2) When our military acts, it crushes the opposition. This makes other countries and our enemies envious and fearful. They wish we did not possess such a powerful military. Unquestionably, most all American Leftists would agree with that opinion.
In order to appease the envy of other countries, as well as our enemies, the Left constantly searches for ways to belittle the American military. Abu Ghraib, the flushing of a Koran at Guantanamo Bay, unequal and improper enlistment tactics, "...young American soldiers ...going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women...",
"...you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans..."
But let us get back on point. Envy. It is everywhere in the Democratic agenda.
Healthcare. Why should some have it while others do not. Vote Democrat, we’ll give it to you. Soft borders. Why should Americans be the only one’s to enjoy the American economy? Hop on over, vote Democrat, we’ll give it to you.
End Tax Cuts(raise taxes). Why should the rich have more than you. Vote Democrat, we’ll take stuff from them.

I began this essay making the point that envy is the "most pressing moral issue facing the country today".
It is.
It is a character flaw and one that must be struggled against daily. It normalizes the entitlement mind set. It fattens the welfare rolls. It ignores the importance of personal responsibility for one’s own lot in life. It is the gremlin in the engine of a Capitalist system.
How I wish even one of the Republicans at that debate had stepped up and said what needed to be said. That envy is the real moral issue. And that, fortunately, we have the tools to fight it...thankfulness, personal responsibility, gratitude, true happiness in the prosperity of others, individuality...these are the values of a true American. And the values that can defeat the evil that is envy.

Stem Cell Breakthrough!

2007-06-06T18:48:00.000-05:00

Now here is some great news from the medical community...

Three teams of scientists say they have produced the equivalent of embryonic stem cells, at least in mice, without taking the controversial step of destroying embryos. Their procedure makes ordinary skin cells behave like stem cells. If the same can be done with human cells — a big if — the procedure could lead to breakthrough medical treatments without the contentious ethical and political debates surrounding the use of embryos. Embryonic stem cells can give rise to all types of tissue, so experts believe they might be used to create transplant therapies for people who are paralyzed or have illnesses ranging from diabetes to Parkinson's disease.

Now a few points.
1) Funny how the author of this story chose to insert the phrase, "a big if" in regards to this procedure possibly working in humans. I wonder if he/she would have used the same phase in regards to using present embryonic stem cells to cure anything? Ever seen the following sentences in a major media story on stem cells, "Billions of dollars in federal and state funding are being thrown at scientists working on cures using embryonic stem cells. If these scientists can find cures for many of today’s debilitating diseases-a big if-every penny will have been worth it"
2) If and when this procedure is found to work with human stem cells, are we taxpayers to expect a return of the monies wasted on embryonic stem cell research?
3) Does anyone really believe that this breakthrough will stop or even slow those who are invested in the destruction of embryos? If, in fact it does not, will it then be apparent that these people are more interested in protecting the ‘right to choose’ to destroy an embryo than in any way curing disease?
Ah, but I should not be so dour. This is a huge breakthrough and one that needs all the attention we can give it.

How Many Democrats Does It Take to Screw Up an Economy?

2007-06-03T08:29:00.000-05:00

I found this story in the Odd News section of Yahoo, a site I often browse for content for Total Kaos.
It is about a Pole by the name of Jan Grzebski who regained consciousness after spending 19 years in a coma. An odd story to be sure, but one quote from Mr. Grzebski really caught my eye. I started thinking about Hillary and her hatred of an ownership, "on your own society".
Here is the quote:

When I went into a coma there was only tea and vinegar in the shops, meat was rationed and huge petrol queues were everywhere. Now I see people on the streets with cell phones and there are so many goods in the shops it makes my head spin.

Capitalism, what a concept.
Mrs. Clinton, you have a problem with the idea?
"I prefer a 'we're all in it together' society. I believe our government can once again work for all Americans. It can promote the great American tradition of opportunity for all and special privileges for none...There is no greater force for economic growth than free markets. But markets work best with rules that promote our values, protect our workers and give all people a chance to succeed. Fairness doesn't just happen. It requires the right government policies."
Hmm, "free markets" under government control? That’s not even Socialism, Mrs. Clinton, it’s economic Fascism. Funny where the politics of envy invariably lead.

All the Spin That's Fit to Print

2007-05-26T07:52:00.000-05:00

Our media is no longer a "News" media, it is a bad news media. So when I came upon the following headline at Baltimoresun.com, I was more than a little surprised.

U.S. Muslims well assimilated, content with life, poll finds

Wow. That is good news. No, that is great news.

Or so I thought. I read further...

Muslims in the United States are better assimilated and more concerned about religious extremism than their counterparts in Western Europe and elsewhere in the world, according to a poll released yesterday by the Pew Research Center.

Ok, I’m liking what I’m reading...

It indicates a mostly immigrant adult Muslim population that is hardworking, educated, relatively affluent and, despite shared concerns about post-9/11 discrimination, generally content with life in the United States.

Good...good...

The poll found that those younger than 30, despite having deeper American roots, are comparatively accepting of religious fundamentalism and far more likely to think of themselves as "Muslims" before "Americans."

Muslims in their 20s were also found to attend mosque more than older adults and to be more sympathetic to extremists.

About a fourth of young Muslims think suicide bombing in the name of Islam can be justified, at least in rare circumstances, compared with 9 percent of Muslim adults older than 30, the poll found.

Doh! And I was just feeling like I could sleep a little easier at night.

Hmm, only "a fourth of young Muslims" believe it’s okay to blow up elementary schools...not such good news after all, I guess.

Seriously, what in the hell? "Muslims well assimilated"? "A fourth of young Muslims think suicide bombing in the name of Islam can be justified"?

That is one heck of a spin job. I think my head needs casters.

Makes me wonder what the headline would have been if instead the research showed "a fourth of young Catholics think blowing up abortion clinics can be justified"? Probably wouldn’t have been quite so cheery, I'd bet.

Ahh, but maybe it was just BaltimoreSun.com. Surely other news media would be a little more honest.

Pew Study Sees Muslim Americans Assimilating-NPR

Poll: American Muslims reject extremes-USA TODAY

Muslims 'well integrated' in US-BBC NEWS

Muslim Americans in line with US values-Financial Times

Survey: U.S. Muslims Assimilated, Opposed to Extremism-Washington Post

I’m not quite sure the reason for the template here...maybe multiculturalism or simply fear of reprisal, but I thought maybe I would join up with this new more positive spin on the news with some headlines I would like to see.

A Measly One Sixth of Americans Now Without Health Insurance Study Finds...So What’s All the Fuss About?-New York Times

Let’s Hear it for the Rich! Top 5 percent of Taxpayers Bear Half the Federal Income Tax Burden-ABC NEWS

A Mere 1 Degree Rise Over the Last Century? Al Gore Shut Your Mouth!-CNN

Study: Women Live Seven Years Longer Than Men. Hillary Upbeat About Future.-Los Angeles Times

Adult Stem Cells Actually Cure Stuff...Embryonic, Not So Much-Rolling Stone Magazine

Poll of Immigrants Shows Illegals Not Real Worried About Breaking Another Law-Salon.com

9,728 Insurgents Dead so far in Iraq-Boston Globe

Dealing with Ahmadinejad’s Nuclear Ambitions Easier with Saddam Deposed from Iraq, Panel Finds-NPR

Feel free to comment with some headlines of your own!

Link

2007-05-26T07:47:00.000-05:00

As if.

More Warming Lunacy

2007-05-08T17:26:00.000-05:00

For those who felt my post Global Warming: The Green Utopia was nothing more than fear mongering, a mere two days later and this editorial emerges...
From Paul Watson, Founder and President of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, posted May 4th, 2007...

Humans are presently acting upon this body in the same manner as an invasive virus with the result that we are eroding the ecological immune system.
A virus kills its host and that is exactly what we are doing with our planet’s life support system. We are killing our host the planet Earth.
I was once severely criticized for describing human beings as being the “AIDS of the Earth.” I make no apologies for that statement. Our viral like behaviour can be terminal both to the present biosphere and ourselves. We are both the pathogen and the vector. But we also have the capability of being the anti-virus if only we can recognize the symptoms and address the disease with effective measures of control...
...There is only one cure, only one way of stopping this rising epidemic of extinctions. The solution requires an extraordinarily immense effort by all of human society but it is achievable.
We need to re-wild the planet. We need to “get ourselves back to the garden” as Joni Mitchell once so poetically framed it.
This is a process that will require a complete overhaul of all of humanities economic, cultural, and life style systems. Within the context of our present anthropocentric mind-set the solution is impossible. It will require a complete transformation of all human realities...
...We should not be living in human communities that enclose tiny preserved ecosystems within them. Human communities should be maintained in small population enclaves within linked wilderness ecosystems. No human community should be larger than 20,000 people and separated from other communities by wilderness areas. Communication systems can link the communities...
...We need to radically and intelligently reduce human populations to fewer than one billion. We need to eliminate nationalism and tribalism and become Earthlings. And as Earthlings, we need to recognize that all the other species that live on this planet are also fellow citizens and also Earthlings. This is a planet of incredible diversity of life-forms; it is not a planet of one species as many of us believe.
We need to stop burning fossil fuels and utilize only wind, water, and solar power with all generation of power coming from individual or small community units like windmills, waterwheels, and solar panels.
Sea transportation should be by sail. The big clippers were the finest ships ever built and sufficient to our needs. Air transportation should be by solar powered blimps when air transportation is necessary.
All consumption should be local. No food products need to be transported over hundreds of miles to market. All commercial fishing should be abolished. If local communities need to fish the fish should be caught individually by hand.
Preferably vegan and vegetarian diets can be adopted. We need to eliminate herds of ungulates like cows and sheep and replace them with wild ungulates like bison and caribou and allow those species to fulfill the proper roles in nature. We need to restore the prey predator relationship and bring back the wolf and the bear. We need the large predators and ungulates, not as food, but as custodians of the land that absorbs the carbon dioxide and produces the oxygen. We need to live with them in mutual respect.
We need to remove and destroy all fences and barriers that bar wildlife from moving freely across the land. We need to lower populations of domestic housecats and dogs. Already the world’s housecats consume more fish than all the world’s seals and we have made the cow into the largest aquatic predator on the planet because more than one half of all fish taken from the sea is converted into meal for animal feed.
We need to stop flying, stop driving cars, and jetting around on marine recreational vehicles. The Amish survive without cars and so can the rest of us.
We can retain technology but within the context of Henry David Thoreau’s simple message to “simplify, simplify, simplify.”
We need an economic system that provides all people with educational, medical, security, and support systems without mass production and vast utilization of resources. This will only work within the context of a much smaller global population.
Who should have children? Those who are responsible and completely dedicated to the responsibility which is actually a very small percentage of humans. Being a parent should be a career. Whereas some people are engineers, musicians, or lawyers, others with the desire and the skills can be fathers and mothers. Schools can be eliminated if the professional parent is also the educator of the child.

Sound familiar? Well, the following is from my post. Written with no foreknowledge of Mr. Watson’s lunatic babble...

1) Fossil fuels will be a thing of the past.
Man will have to rely on the whims of solar energy, unproven battery and hydrogen technologies, and/or human and animal power. Land transportation will thus be largely restricted to basic local movements. Air travel will no longer exist. Sea travel will be costly and time consuming. The average human will then rarely journey far from his own small community.
Without the advantage of fossil fuels, and of course no nuclear energy, electricity will be an iffy proposition. Solar and wind power are simply not reliable sources of constant power. Hydro is more so, but it limits one’s choices in location as well as being hypocritical to the Green’s want for no human intrusion on nature.
Without electricity and a ban on natural gas and heating oil, heating of the domicile will be an interesting endeavor. Burning wood will be out of the question, as both causing pollution and being destructive of the environment. Homes will have to be small and natural. Air conditioning will consist of opening the flap on the tepee.
But what of something as basic as food supply?
No more energy sucking supermarkets with their massive overhead lighting and huge refrigerators. Food storage will have to be local. And without refrigeration most foods will have to be cooked and dried.
However, cooking itself will be tricky. No natural gas, propane, or wood products.No more gas guzzling combines to plant and reap. Back breaking manual labor will have to do.
Something as basic as lighting will now be a constant struggle.
Forget computers, iPods, or various other entertainment devices...they are made mostly of plastic, which is made from fossil fuels.
Hospitals as we know them will cease to exist. Just think of all the electronics used in modern health care. An MRI machine, alone, can use as much as 50 kilowatts of electricity. Is it realistic to rely on solar energy to supply that amount? And what to use as a backup supply...gas powered generators? Not on your life.
Life will be primitive. And hard. And short.

Global Warming: The Green Utopia

2007-05-05T13:35:00.002-05:00

Preface

"As only 11,000 years has passed since the last Ice Age, scientists can not be certain that we are indeed living in a post-glacial Holocene epoch instead of an interglacial period of the Pleistocene and thus due for another ice age in the geologic future. Some scientists believe that an increase in global temperature, as we are now experiencing, could be a sign of an impending ice age and could actually increase the amount of ice on the earth's surface." Matt Rosenberg, member of the Association of American Geographers, National Council for Geographic Education, and the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers.

Does Global Warming exist or doesn’t it? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. But, how would we know, as no single scientist can say what the appropriate temperature of the planet actually should be. Climate is ever changing.

Is it caused solely by man? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Who can say, as our planet has been much hotter and much colder many times throughout its history. And through no fault of we homo-sapiens. Climate is always changing.

But sadly, in reality, these questions no longer even matter. For now there is consensus.

Dangerous, all consuming unquestionable consensus. That climate change must be stopped at all costs.

So where is the consensus? In the science?

Well no, not there.

“Recently many people have said that the earth is facing a crisis requiring urgent action. This statement has nothing to do with science. There is no compelling evidence that the warming trend we've seen will amount to anything close to catastrophe. What most commentators—and many scientists—seem to miss is that the only thing we can say with certainly about climate is that it changes. The earth is always warming or cooling by as much as a few tenths of a degree a year; periods of constant average temperatures are rare.” Richard Lindzen, the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

So if no consensus in science, then where?
Well, in the pandering of politicians. In the implicitness of the media. In the indoctrination of the malleable minds in our schools and universities. In the greedy outstretched hands and elitist battering rams of those with the power over the way you may live your life.

So, you see, it no longer really even matters whether Global Warming is real or not. It is being treated as if it were.

And it matters little whether humans are, indeed, causing Global Warming or even whether we as a species can have any real affect upon stopping it. We all will be subjected to and affected by the changes that the Greens, and the politicians that pander to them, have in store for us whether any of this is really true or not.
This boat has sailed.

And so the real question is, just what are the Greens prepared to have us do about it?

The Question

“The answer to global warming is in the abolition of private property and production for human need.” Louis Proyect, programmer in the Administrative Information Services department Columbia University.

If the above quote is the answer, well then what pray tell is the question?
Maybe something along the lines of, “What are you as an American prepared to sacrifice in order to avoid a possible future consequence which your actions today may or may not be, in fact, affecting?”
Think about that one for a moment.

And at the same time, why not mull over just what sacrifices the Greens and their gathering legions are intent upon forcing you, through the policing power of government, to make.

Sound alarmist? Read on.

Consequences

“The climate is crashing, and global warming is to blame.”-CNN.com.

If one truly believes that we are in the midst of an actual Global Warming phenomena, he must then ask himself two questions.
Is Global Warming a natural phenomena, controlled simply by the whims of nature, physics, and time?
And if is not, then is it the artificial outcome of humanity’s insatiable lust for more and greater creature comfort?
If it is the first, then we measly humans most probably can have little to no affect upon the trend towards warming. Even if we could, would it not be immoral to the code of the Greens for humanity to try to step in and affect a naturally occurring cycle?
Ah, but if it is the second and we humans are in fact responsible, then we must ask what are we prepared to do about it?
Most consciences decent people would be more happy to do their part. That is, if that part included rational, reasonable actions. Such as turning down the furnace a couple degrees, cutting back on unnecessary driving, choosing more efficient vehicles and appliances, turning off unneeded lighting, and weatherstripping windows and doors. Rational, reasonable actions.
And we as a nation could do our part as well. Ever heard of Nuclear power?
Not from the Greens, you haven’t.
But the French have...80% of their electricity is owed to our friend the atom. Safely.
Nuclear power would also cut the release of the dreaded human induced CO2's into our atmosphere by a huge amount. And help to wean us from our dependence on Middle East fossil fuels, as well.

But these are not options that our friends in the Global Warming apocalypse crowd have in mind for us. They have in mind, instead, a fundamental change in the way we humans now live our lives on this planet.

We will get to just what those changes are a bit later.

But first, how are the Global Warming advocates to get average Americans to agree to such elemental changes in the way in which we live our lives?

With fear, of course.

The Politics of Fear

“Before this century is over, billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic." James Lovelock, scientist, author, researcher, environmentalist and futurologist.

One can no longer turn on the television or radio, or open a newspaper or magazine, and not hear another story of the certain coming doom caused by manmade Global warming.
“Heat Wave slams the Southwest”...manmade Global Warming. “Strong Hurricane Season Predicted”...manmade Global Warming. “Unseasonable Heat Dampens Skiing Season”...manmade Global Warming. Even “Record Coldest April Easter in 57 Years”...manmade Global Warming.

When Al Gore, in his shockumentary, “An Inconvenient Truth” tells our kids, in our publically funded schools no less, that the sea levels are going to rise 18 to 20 feet and flood coastal cities, this is scary stuff.
And that is nothing compared to the hype from Greenpeace International, “Between the Greenland ice sheet and the Western Antarctic ice sheet the world could well be facing a 13 metre (43 foot) rise in sea level if we do not drastically curb our greenhouse gas emissions.” Frightening.
When ABC News correspondent Bill Blakemore states, "It's surreal to have pre-eminent scientists tell us very seriously that civilization as we know it is over. The scale is unprecedented. It touches every aspect of life.” What are we and our children to think?
When Chris Thomas, professor of Conservation Biology at England’s University of Leeds writes, "A quarter of all species of plants and land animals, or more than a million in all, could be driven to extinction." What is a decent caring human being to do?
Al Gore on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos”, "George, we have a planetary emergency. That phrase may sound shrill or alarmist but it's not. … We may have less than 10 years before we cross the point of no return." “Planetary emergency”, “Point of no return”? Oh my God, is it truly the end?

And as if instilling terror in the minds of Americans and children were not bad enough, those who do so willingly admit to being somewhat less than truthful.
"[W]e have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we may have. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest."-Stephen Schneider, Stanford University Climatologist.
"Unless we announce disasters no one will listen." Sir John Houghton, first chairman of IPCC.
“I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous [global warming] is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are.” Al Gore, messiah of the Green religion.

They do this, all the while denying, or deliberately ignoring, any positive affects that Global Warming may actually have on our planet.

However, in The Old Farmer’s Almanac 2007 one can find another view. The article “The Good News About Climate Change” takes a somewhat more positive approach to the looming Global Warming disaster.
It quotes an American study that claims, “...that a warming of 4.5 degrees F(2.5 degrees C) would lower the annual death rate in the Unites States by 40,000, while reducing medical costs by almost $20 billion per year.”
And further since “most of the warming has been in the form of warmer nighttime and winter temperatures...expenditures for heating and cooling would be cut by at least $12.2 billion annually.”
It goes on to show that increases in fresh water because of the warmer temperatures would actually help those in the poorest parts of Asia and Africa, that warmer weather would boost production of “crops such as wheat, rice, and soybeans”, and since the “warming is greatest in the oceans around the poles”, it could open up new and more efficient Northern shipping lanes.

Ah, but enough of the good news.

Instead, we have Tim Flannery, author of "The Weather Makers” stating, "If humans pursue a business-as-usual course for the first half of this century, I believe the collapse of civilisation[sic] due to climate change becomes inevitable."
And from Jeffrey Kluger senior writer at Time magazine, "Never mind what you've heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to play out. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us. From heat waves to storms to floods to fires to massive glacial melts, the global climate seems to be crashing around us."

So now that we have been scared to death by this certain impending complete climatic apocalypse, what would they have us do?

Sacrifices

“There are 1.5 billion cattle and buffalo on the planet, along with 1.7 billion sheep and goats...Given the amount of energy consumed raising, shipping and selling livestock, a 16-oz.T-bone is like a Hummer on a plate...If you switch to vegetarianism, you can shrink your carbon footprint by up to 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide a year.” Time.com, ‘The Global Warming Survival Guide’.

So, what are you as an American willing to give up in order to appease the Global Warming warriors?
Would you be willing to give up your home? Your choice of automobile? The types of foods you eat? Large chunks of your paycheck? Choice as to the size of family you would raise? How about the basic system under which your economy is run...would you be willing to give that up? Would you be willing to give up the rights granted you by the Constitution? Even something as simple as the amount of toilet paper you can legally use, would you let them wipe that freedom away?

Would you be willing to change every aspect of your life?

Well, you had better be. Because if the Global Warming zealots win the day, these freedoms are the spoils the Green fighters will demand. And through force of law, these are the sacrifices they will ecstatically require us to make.
“...in the U.S., big houses are becoming the norm, even though a relatively inefficient small house consumes less energy than a greener large house and uses fewer building materials, which expand the carbon footprint. A typical new single-family home in the U.S. is nearly 2,500 square feet today, up from about 1,000 square feet in 1950, even as the average household has shrunk from 3.4 to 2.6 people.”
The message here certainly is, “you knuckle dragging consumer driven Americans and your insatiable lust for large homes, you should be ashamed of yourselves”.
Still, as Americans, we think, “It’s our money, we should be able to choose the size and/or type of house that suits our fancies.”
That may be so, but it will be much harder to buy the house of our dreams with the enactment of the Green’s pet project. Your environmental penance, the Carbon Tax.

The Carbon Tax Center explains, “Charging American businesses and individuals a price to emit carbon dioxide (CO2) is essential to reduce U.S. emissions quickly enough to prevent atmospheric concentrations of CO2 from reaching an irreversible tipping point.”
So what exactly does that mean to the average American tax payer?
“(I)f the taxes are set high enough to have the needed impacts. A federal “starter” carbon tax equating to 10 cents a gallon of gasoline, but applied to all U.S. fossil fuel burning, will bring in roughly $55 billion a year in revenue. This equates to around $180 per U.S. resident, or $720 for a family of four.”
That’s not so bad, but unfortunately it is just the beginning.
You see, our power companies will also be taxed on their Carbon emissions. Taxes that will be passed onto you, the consumer.
And let us not forget that all our consumer goods must somehow get to the stores from which we acquire them. Usually via large gas guzzling trucks. The producers of these products, as well as those who deliver them, will not simply take the hit of the Carbon Tax on their bottom lines. They will embed those taxes in the prices of their goods. Which means again, you the consumer, will pay.

And that is not all.
This from GlobalWarming.org,”The United Nations is studying proposals for global taxes as a means to generate sources of financing for development in poor countries. The proposals being considered include a carbon tax on fuel use, a tax on currency transactions (the Tobin tax), an arms sales tax, a global lottery, and a tax on international airline travel.”
If there is a way to be taxed, the Greens will want it.

Ever heard of a ‘Carbon Budget’? You will.
“(D)ivide greenhouse-gas emissions by population, and give everyone in the world the right to emit the same amount of carbon—a personal carbon allowance...Bike to work and live beneath your allowance, and you can sell your carbon credits to energy spendthrifts who refuse to give up their SUVs. The balance of your allowance might be recorded on a sort of carbon-debit card, so if you buy that SUV, you'll be spending carbon too. If you want to keep living as if it's 1989, all you have to do is pay for it.”
Brings up the interesting question of just who will have oversight of your evil insidious Carbon Dioxide production. Another great governmental bureaucracy? Maybe the Internal Combustion Service?
Whoever it will be, it surely means more money out of your pocket. That 1000 square foot house is looking better all the time. Looks like grandma’s gonna have to find another place to crash.

But what of that car you drive? Surely, in a country that believes in freedom as much as America claims to, the right to drive the auto of one’s choice will always be protected. This is probably true...on the face of it.
But there are ways around that. Ways that make it nearly impossible for you to afford that SUV or minivan you’ve had your eye on.
One way is, you guessed it, an additional tax on gasoline.
Gregory Mankiw from ClimateArk.org thinks that’s a great idea, “We should raise the tax on gasoline. Not quickly, but substantially. I would like to see Congress increase the gas tax by $1 per gallon, phased in gradually by 10 cents per year over the next decade.”
As does the Governator, “California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may increase petrol taxes as part of an ambitious plan to lower greenhouse gases in America's richest and most populous state.”
Seem like your whole paycheck is headed down the drain? Well, you had just better be careful what else you’re putting down there.
"I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting...I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required. " Singer and environmentalist Sheryl Crowe.
Now who gets the job of enforcing that limitation?

“But I am safe from these things, I have rights under the Constitution!” Oh, really?
"I would like to say we’re at a point where global warming is impossible to deny. Let’s just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers, though one denies the past and the other denies the present and future." Ellen Goodman, columnist for the Boston Globe.
Already there is ‘hate crime’ legislation in Europe making it illegal to deny the Holocaust. With our ever evolving ‘hate crime’ laws in America how far are we from that end? And if “global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers” how long until denying becomes a crime?
Think it can never happen here? Think that your freedom of speech is safe? That your job or even your life is safe if you have the audacity to actually question Warming dogma?
Think again. The intimidation has already begun.
Through the use of threats against one’s livelihood.
As from Heidi Cullen who hosts The Weather Channel's weekly global warming program The Climate Code, "If a meteorologist can't speak to the fundamental science of climate change, then maybe the AMS shouldn't give them a Seal of Approval.”
Or pointed out by Richard Lidzen, “Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their grant funds disappear, their work derided, and themselves libeled as industry stooges, scientific hacks or worse.”
How about threats of jail or hanging. From David Roberts staff writer for Grist magazine, ”It's about the climate-change "denial industry," which most of you are probably familiar with. What you may not know about is the peculiar role of the tobacco industry in the whole mess. I've read about this stuff for years and even I was surprised by some of the details.
When we've finally gotten serious about global warming, when the impacts are really hitting us and we're in a full worldwide scramble to minimize the damage, we should have war crimes trials for these bastards -- some sort of climate Nuremberg.”

Sure, taxation, toilet paper, and even basic rights are one thing, but by far, the most frightening and dangerous side of our Green friends is their implicit unbending hatred for the entire human race.

"Us homo sapiens are turning out to be as destructive a force as any asteroid. Earth’s intricate web of ecosystems thrived for millions of years, as natural paradises, till we came along...The stark reality is that there are simply too many of us. And we consume way too much. Especially here at home...The solutions are not a secret: control population, recycle, reduce consumption..." Matt Lauer's "Countdown to Doomsday" special on the Sci-Fi Channel.
"If we had half as many people, we wouldn't have much of a climatic warming problem." Ric Oberlink, a spokesman for Californians for Population Stabilization.

Now just what do you think they are implying here?

Oh, this must be what they mean, “Population is the underlying problem - the catalyst for the whole thing, but we didn't get into that in the film. That is the underlying problem - too many people..." Thank you, Karen Coshof, producer of "The Great Warming".
I think I’m starting to get it.
The Green’s hatred of humankind has become as clear as the ice that once existed a long, long time ago on an Earth far, far away.

A shout out to Mark Steyn for this gem from Dr. Sue Blakemore freelance writer, lecturer and broadcaster, and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of the West of England, “In all probability billions of people are going to die in the next few decades. Our poor, abused planet cannot take much more...If we take the unselfish route and try to save everyone the outcome is likely to be horrific conflict in the fight over resources, and continuing devastation of the planet until most, or all, of humanity is dead.
If we decide to put the planet first, then we ourselves are the pathogen. So we should let as many people die as possible, so that other species may live, and accept the destruction of civilization and of everything we have achieved.
Finally, we might decide that civilization itself is worth preserving. In that case we have to work out what to save and which people would be needed in a drastically reduced population-weighing the value of scientists and musicians, against that of politicians, for example.”
Humans are “the pathogen”, it can’t get any clearer than that.

You must not be allowed to breed.

Just ask Garrett Hardin. Before his death, this leading ecologist and member of The Hemlock Society stated,“Freedom to breed will bring ruin to us all.”
So your freedom to choose something as basic as family size is now at risk.
Heck, if certain Greens had their way you yourself, as a “pathogen”, may not even be worth saving at all.
Still, just what would a Green friendly utopian future look like?

The Brave New World

“We must have population control at home, hopefully through changes in our value system, but by compulsion if voluntary methods fail.” Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb.

So just what would the temperature stable environmentally sustainable future envisioned by Mr. Ehrlich and his Green friends’ look like?

Well, we must first start with far, far fewer humans. Homo-sapiens are the root of all evil to the Global Warming crowd.
But, how many fewer? We have seen them state with an almost religious fervor that “billions” will die. We have heard them cry that humans are “as destructive a force as any asteroid”. We have read the statement, “we ourselves are the pathogen”.
OK, so how many fewer?
Well, Dr. Eric R. Pianka, University of Texas ecologist, named the 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist recently said 90% fewer. Oh, and just for laughs, the humans as “pathogens” angle, “We are behaving like bacteria growing on an agar plate, flourishing until natural limits are reached or until another microbe colonizes and takes over, using them as their resource. In addition to our extremely high population density, we are social and mobile, exactly the conditions that favor growth and spread of pathogenic (disease-causing) microbes.”

This is just one man’s opinion, but one cannot deny that nearly all the Global Warming zealots at some point call for a largely reduced human population.

So let us do the math. There are presently around 6.5 billion humans on the planet, 90% of which is 5.85 billion “pathogens”. Just imagine the amount of methane released by that many decaying bodies. It would be an environmental disaster...somebody call the EPA.
OK, so 10% would leave us with a mere 650 million humans left on Earth. Roughly half the population of China. To cover the entire Earth.

That may still seem like a lot, but the societies those 650 million live in will be much different than those we enjoy today..
George Monbiot, environmentalist, political activist, and writer for The Guardian had this to say in November of 2000, “All that needs to be done to bring our contribution to climate change to an end is for the government to announce that in five years' time the burning of fossil fuel in the United Kingdom will be illegal.”
And from our friends in the UN 2005 “Promotion of Solar Panels” Resolution #122 which stated,
“After the period of ten years and seven months all burning of fossil fuels shall be halted and electricity shall be generated by Solar Panels, together with and environmentally friendly methods each respective nation should wish to introduce.”

Two factors as to the makeup of the Green’s utopia may be gleaned from these statements.
1) Fossil fuels will be a thing of the past.
Man will have to rely on the whims of solar energy, unproven battery and hydrogen technologies, and/or human and animal power. Land transportation will thus be largely restricted to basic local movements. Air travel will no longer exist. Sea travel will be costly and time consuming. The average human will then rarely journey far from his own small community.
Without the advantage of fossil fuels, and of course no nuclear energy, electricity will be an iffy proposition. Solar and wind power are simply not reliable sources of constant power. Hydro is more so, but it limits one’s choices in location as well as being hypocritical to the Green’s want for no human intrusion on nature.
Without electricity and a ban on natural gas and heating oil, heating of the domicile will be an interesting endeavor. Burning wood will be out of the question, as both causing pollution and being destructive of the environment. Homes will have to be small and natural. Air conditioning will consist of opening the flap on the tepee.
But what of something as basic as food supply?
No more energy sucking supermarkets with their massive overhead lighting and huge refrigerators. Food storage will have to be local. And without refrigeration most foods will have to be cooked and dried.
However, cooking itself will be tricky. No natural gas, propane, or wood products.
No more gas guzzling combines to plant and reap. Back breaking manual labor will have to do.
Something as basic as lighting will now be a constant struggle.
Forget computers, iPods, or various other entertainment devices...they are made mostly of plastic, which is made from fossil fuels.
Hospitals as we know them will cease to exist. Just think of all the electronics used in modern health care. An MRI machine, alone, can use as much as 50 kilowatts of electricity. Is it realistic to rely on solar energy to supply that amount? And what to use as a backup supply...gas powered generators? Not on your life.
Life will be primitive. And hard. And short.

2) Massive loss of personal freedom and hugely intrusive governmental control.
Ehrlich’s statement at the beginning of this section says it all, “...but by compulsion if voluntary methods fail”.
Today’s environmentalists understand human nature all too well. They understand that when people see the struggle involved in primitive living, they will likely want to return to the easier, more comfortable lifestyle we live today. Punitive, “compulsive” laws will have to be enacted to stop that from happening. Laws designed to force one into the type of lifestyle envisioned by the elites.
Laws that limit your breeding. Population control is a mainstay of today’s environmentalist doctrine and as we have seen it assuredly will be even more so in the future. To keep populations in control, maximum age limits may have to be implemented if control of the ‘breeders’ proves insufficient.
Laws that limit your consumption. With limited electricity, governments will not simply sit by while their people needlessly waste this important resource. The use of lighting will be tightly restricted. Heating of water for washing and bathing will be strictly controlled. The limited use of electricity will be a mainstay of government intrusion and intervention into the lives of its subjects.
Laws that limit your output. The natural urge of man to have more and better for his own will need to be quelled. It leads inevitably towards Capitalism and the unsustainable use of resources...we will get into this idea more a bit later.
Laws that control nearly every aspect of your life. Expect cradle to grave control of the “pathogen” by those in power.

One last aspect that can not be ignored is the socialist/communist connection to the issue of Global Warming. A quick Yahoo search of “capitalism Global Warming” is all one need do to find the link.
“Official: Capitalism is killing our planet!”
"The root cause of environmental problems is capitalism, the private ownership of the means of production by a relative handful of people.”
“There seems to be almost universal agreement that we are destroying our environment, and that the culture of capitalism is unsustainable.”
“Meanwhile, the ecological consequences of unbridled capitalism will be dire. The collapse of the world’s great ecosystems, driven by capital’s insatiable lust for material wealth, is already well under way and is almost certainly irreversible.”
The connection between the Global Warming doom sayers and the anti-Capitalists is undeniable.
This is important as to the point that there shall be no Capitalism in the Green’s vision of the future. For according to their dogma it is a dangerous doctrine, and one that most probably was the root cause of the disaster in the first place.
In the Green’s vision of a future socialist/communist utopia every man must only have as little as his fellow comrade.

Not convinced?
From David Cromwell, Scottish writer and activist, in his review of Aubrey Meyer’s book Contraction & Convergence: The Global Solution to Climate Change, ”Human-induced climate change is the greatest environmental threat today. Rising to this terrible challenge means overturning the global apartheid between rich and poor.”
And from Climate Ark, “We should all now think about how we can change our lives for the common good.”
And this from Michael Livingston, author at Peoples Weekly World, “Capitalism has gotten us all in hot water...Now capitalism is boiling the human race alive in hot water. We have nothing to confess, but we have much to do, starting with changing the crazy economic system of capitalism that has place us in this hot water in the first place.”

Epilogue

"Primitive INDIVIDUALS and SMALL GROUPS actually had considerable power over nature; or maybe it would be better to say power WITHIN nature. When primitive man needed food he knew how to find and prepare edible roots, how to track game and take it with homemade weapons. He knew how to protect himself from heat, cold, rain, dangerous animals, etc. But primitive man did relatively little damage to nature because the COLLECTIVE power of primitive society was negligible compared to the COLLECTIVE power of industrial society." Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber.

So there we have it, the environmental Eden. A world of few human pathogens, hoping the sun remains shining and the winds continue blowing so they can power what few luxuries the oppressive Green government will allow them to even own. Although the term ‘owning’, if referring to private property, is probably not one allowed by the speech police.

For those readers who may be feeling that the above is simply hyperbole and fear mongering, be warned we do indeed have “a planetary emergency” but it is not Global Warming, it is rabid unbridled environmentalism. In the words of Al Gore, himself, “That phrase may sound shrill or alarmist but it's not.”
Finally, for any doubters of the dire future predicted in this essay, one last point to ponder.
Humans are responsible for merely 3-5% of all green house gases. Still, if we were to somehow get rid of all combustion engines, stop all use of fossil fuels, and basically get our CO2 output to zero; what would happen then?
Are there any serious thinkers who believe that weather would then become stable? That there would be no more hurricanes, no more tsunamis, no more hot and cold snaps? Of course there would be. There always have been, there always will be.
So what, you ask?
Here is what. The very next day after the first hurricane of the zero percent CO2 emission age, Al Gore and his ilk would be on CNN screaming, “Apparently, we just haven’t done enough!”

And that is how we ride the slippery slope to environmental utopia.

Every Human Needs Meaning

2007-05-01T20:21:00.000-05:00

There is a deep need in the spirit of the human for meaning beyond one’s self. An urge towards a greater goal. A want to leave a mark. These things exist in both the religious and the secular, it is the ways in which the longings manifest themselves, however, that may be different..
Or they may not.
A young non-religious Egyptian teacher studying in America sees only the greed and perversion of the West. Before long returns home an Islamist, determined to spark a movement to restore the Muslim caliphate. He finds meaning in his mission and gains strength though his goals. He dies a martyr. His mark, two toppled buildings and nearly three thousand dead.
This time a fifty seven year old Austin classical guitarist lured by the threat of looming environmental disaster and his moral duty to join “the cavalry” of The Climate Project discovers meaning in a public slide show. As an apostle to the messiah of climate change, finds his calling in the altering of the natural state of an ever changing world. He must hope, one thinks, of a legacy of stagnation.
And last, a senator with her eyes on the White House makes it clear “that faith would be part of her campaign”. She uncovers meaning in the words of the profits and hopes to take them for herself. Fighting all the while for the greater goals of a blue America and the mark she can leave on its soul.

More Embryonic Stem Cell Insanity

2007-04-11T17:57:00.000-05:00

Here we go again with tax payer funded embryonic stem cells..

A stubborn Senate voted Wednesday to ease restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research, ignoring President Bush's threat of a second veto on legislation designed to lead to new medical treatments.
The 63-34 vote was shy of the margin that would be needed to enact the measure over presidential opposition, despite gains made by supporters in last fall's elections.
"Not every day do we have the opportunity to vote to heal the sick," said Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a senator less than 100 days following a tough 2006 campaign in which the stem cell controversy played a particularly prominent role. "It is a noble cause," she added.

Even as adult stem cells continue to make actual breakthroughs...

Beginning an emotional, political and ethical drama that is widely expected to climax with the second veto of President Bush's presidency, the Senate on Tuesday began a two-day debate over the use of taxpayer dollars for embryonic stem cell research.
The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, to be voted on late today or Thursday, would loosen Bush's Aug. 9, 2001, ban on federal funding for research on stem cells isolated from human embryos after that date.

and...

U.S. researchers have isolated cochlear stem cells located in the inner ear, primed for development into ear-related tissue to treat hearing loss.

So why, if Ms. McCaskill Democrat from Missouri truly believes in her “noble cause” to “heal the sick”, is she not demanding public funding of adult stem cells? You know, the type of stem cells that are actually curing diseases and helping people. Why, oh why? Hmmm...
Any ideas, Lefties?
If our true interests are, in fact, healing the sick then why should our tax dollars continue flowing toward a mere ‘possibility’ of future cures when they could instead be funneled towards actual cures today?
I’m waiting for an answer, but I'm not holding my breath.

Concensus

2007-04-07T07:18:00.000-05:00

A top hurricane forecaster called Al Gore "a gross alarmist" Friday for making an Oscar-winning documentary about global warming.
"He's one of these guys that preaches the end of the world type of things. I think he's doing a great disservice and he doesn't know what he's talking about"...
...Rather than global warming, Gray believes a recent uptick in strong hurricanes is part of a multi-decade trend of alternating busy and slow periods related to ocean circulation patterns. Contrary to mainstream thinking, Gray believes ocean temperatures are going to drop in the next five to 10 years...
...Kerry Emanuel, an MIT professor who had feuded with Gray over global warming, said Gray has wrongly "dug (his) heels in" even though there is ample evidence that the world is getting hotter.

Total Kaos Presents:

2007-04-02T18:32:00.000-05:00

Thursday, April 5th at 6:00 pm CST, Total Kaos with Dave and Glen will interview Eric Beckjord (see info below). This is a MUST LISTEN!

Jon-Erik Beckjord, BA (honors -Tulane),MBA (UC Berk.) , is a managment consultant and also an investigator of anomalous phenomena world-wide, spirit photographer, an adventurer, traveller, lecturer and author. There is a tremendous amount of info, photos, evidence in these sites linked below, and how can Beckjord have done this? He used his MBA skills, Mensa traits, & photographic skills, to go out and go after these mysteries full time, working only to get the next airline ticket, while others decided to raise kids, become middle-managers, watch TV, join Little League, and get early heart attacks. Your webmaster avoided that, is often broke, but he has had a glimpse of the mysterious, and it has been worth it.

Adventure!

Now he shares it with you, and several books will be made form these sites. Letterman,Leno, and Good Morning America all seem to approve and he's been on them all, and more. Now take a look.

This site is dedicated to educating the average public as to the Multiverse, parallel universes to infinity, the new paradigm of advanced theoretical physics, wormholes, blackholes, Dr. Micho Kaku, Dr. Fred Allen Wolf, Dr. Colm Kelleher and 20 others, and how this relates to scientific anomalies. NEW ANSWERS!

More Miracle Cures from Taxpayer Funding of Embryonic Stem Cells!

2007-04-02T06:44:00.000-05:00

A British research team led by the world's leading heart surgeon has grown part of a human heart from stem cells for the first time. If animal trials scheduled for later this year prove successful, replacement tissue could be used in transplants for the hundreds of thousands of people suffering from heart disease within three years.

Oh, sorry, my bad. Those damn bone marrow stem cells. Of course, I had to read 10 paragraphs into the story to find that out. An oversight by the journalist, I am sure.

By using chemical and physical nudges, the scientists first coaxed stem cells extracted from bone marrow to grow into heart valve cells.

But I’m sure with just a little more of our money funneled into the type of stem cells that have never cured anything(embryonic, for those who watch The View), we’ll be far on our way to curing every disease known to man.

Your Date with The Internal Combustion Service

2007-03-26T19:33:00.000-05:00

Have any of you Greenies actually asked yourselves what Mr. Gore has in mind when he talks about government intervention to control Global Warming? The following is slated for your not so distant future..

Joe Smith: Hello?
Internal Combustion Service Agent: Mr. Smith?
JS: Yes. Can I help you?
ICSA: Yes, sir. I am calling from the Internal Combustion Service.
JS: The What!?!
ICSA: Please do not play dumb with me, sir. As you are well aware, the ICS has been instituted by the Federal Government of your United States in order to protect the integrity of ‘The Federal Carbon Rationing Act’.
JS: Oh, that.
ICSA: Yes, sir. And I am calling you this evening in reference to your account from the previous calender year...
JS: Well, if in fact you are aware of my account, then you should also be aware that I have sent in the proper 1040CO2 short form. Properly signed and well before the April deadline.
ICSA: Yes, sir. The form itself is proper, as well as the signature and time stamp. But we have found some, let us just say, improprieties.
JS: Improprieties?
ICSA: Yes, sir. I am calling to advise you of an audit to your ‘Carbon Rations’ account.
JS: An audit?!?
ICSA: Yes, sir. As you are surely aware, each American citizen has only a limited amount of Carbon output available each calender year. Any overage in output must be equalized through the use of ‘Carbon Offsets’ or ‘Overage Purchases’ available only through proper ICS agencies.
Yours, sir, simply do not add up.
JS: According to you they don’t.
ICSA: Yes, sir. I will be needing from you all applicable receipts and or documents...
JS: Such as?
ICSA: Well, of course, all gas and oil receipts. Your home heating and electric bills. The make, model, and mileage information on all autos owned by you and your family. The number, weight, sex, and age of each family member along with their federally certified ‘Carbon Dioxide Breath Emissions’ numbers. A list of all electronic appliances and their cited power usage. Your furnace make and model and it’s efficiency rating. Square footage of your home. Square footage of your property along with the types and numbers of trees, grasses, and foliage therein...
JS: Is that all?
ICSA: No sir it is not. I will also need your ‘Job Specific Carbon Output’ if you are self employed. A list of all lawn machinery and maintenance equipment with all applicable efficiency ratings. A list of all motorized vehicles, including boats, ATVs, and children’s toys, and all applicable efficiency ratings. Quantities and types of all purchased food stuffs for the past year. You must make us aware of any physician verifiable gastrointestinal dysfunctions you or your family may suffer from. Total hourly usage as well as cord weight from the use of any fireplace or wood burning appliance. A full list of all battery operated appliances or miscellany and applicable efficiency ratings. And finally a list of all vacations and trips, with the modes of transportation therein, you and/or your family have taken within the last calender year.
JS: OK, I get it now. It’s just more massive government intrusion into the lives of ordinary citizens. Another bureaucracy to make criminals of decent hard working Americans.
ICSA: No need to get snippy, sir.
JS: No need/!? No need? This whole idea of man made Global Warming is now, and has always been, a scam invented by anti-Capitalists to increase the power of government. And low and behold we now have the Internal Combustion Service nosing into every corner of our lives.
ICSA: It’s for your own good, sir. And for the good of the planet. It’s for the children. You do care about the children, don’t you. A few small inconveniences now for the future of the children.
JS: This is a joke.
ICSA: No, sir, it is not. Fraud and/or lying to a Federal agent is serious business, sir. Punishable by fine and/or prison time.
JS: Oh, I understand the consequences, alright. I just wish our representatives in the government had understood them before enacting these fascist intrusive nanny-state laws. I truly do not think you are what our founding fathers had in mind when they conceived of a government limited in scope and by the people. I can not, nor ever will, understand the mind set of the masses who would gladly cede their rights simply for empty promises of safety and protection.
Even if we were to bring our Carbon usage down to absolute zero, do you really believe there would be no more hurricanes, tornadoes, glacial melting, and typhoons? Is anyone really that stupid? And when these things do come, as they surely will...what then? More stringent and tyrannical laws? Where does it end? Weather will always be with us, it always has and always will! And, unfortunately, so will those Utopian elitists who hunger for power as well as the weak minded sheep eager to be fed upon.
ICSA: I’m sorry sir, but that thirty second rant and the accompanying rise in your blood pressure and heart rate have increased your exhalation over and above your "Allowed Carbon Output’. This will have to be taken into account at the audit.
Again, I thank you sir, your appointment is for this Friday at 2:00 PM at the Federal Building on Main and 1st.

Solar Activity and Arctic Temperatures

2007-03-23T18:16:00.000-05:00

This graph, courtesy Dr. Willie Soon, shows how solar activity and Arctic temperatures seem to have some correlation.

Now who would have thought that our sun had any control over the temperature here on Earth?

To hear Mr. Gore tell it, man is the major culprit of temperature change.

Then again, maybe he's just 'over-representing'.

As when he says...

I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous [global warming] is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are.

Global Warming Extremism

2007-03-21T14:49:00.000-05:00

Global Warming zealotry is out of control.

‘No more room for argument,’ the "scientists" say. Is that you, Galileo, rolling over in your grave?

When activism trumps logic and common sense it can become extremism. And extremism often leads to self-delusion, conspiratorial thoughts and ideas, outright falsehoods, and fictional realities invented to protect the activists' world view.

This is now the case in the Global Warming arena. The zealots are loose in the world of weather.

And lest you doubt my sincerity, let us hear it from their own lips...

"A global climate treaty must be implemented even if there is no scientific evidence to back up the greenhouse effect."-Richard Benedick, an employee from the State Department working on assignment for the Conservation Foundation (from his report "Who Needs Evidence?").

"[W]e have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we may have. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest."-Stephen Schneider (quoted in "Our Fragile Earth" by Jonathan Schell)

"Unfortunately, very few people in America know the real name of Hurricane Katrina because the coal and oil industries have spent millions of dollars to keep the public in doubt about the issue."-Ross Gelbspan, author of ''The Heat Is On" and ''Boiling Point".

"Between the Greenland ice sheet and the Western Antarctic ice sheet the world could well be facing a 13 metre (43 foot) rise in sea level if we do not drastically curb our greenhouse gas emissions."-Greenpeace International

"We live in a country where more people care about the death of Anna Nicole Smith than the death(italics mine) of a planet."-Moderator Judy Muller, a long-time NPR contributor and associate professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Journalism.

"Never mind what you've heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to play out. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us. From heat waves to storms to floods to fires to massive glacial melts, the global climate seems to be crashing around us."-CNN.com

"It's surreal to have pre-eminent scientists tell us very seriously that civilization as we know it is over. The scale is unprecedented. It touches every aspect of life."-ABC News correspondent Bill Blakemore.

"(T)he science is clear. We need not a 20% cut by 2020; not a 60% cut by 2050, but a 90% cut by 2030."-George Monbiot, journalist for The Guardian newspaper.

"The science is clear. This month, a study published in the journal Nature by a renowned MIT climatologist linked the increasing prevalence of destructive hurricanes to human-induced global warming."-Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

"The climate is crashing, and global warming is to blame."-Time magazine.

"Unless we announce disasters no one will listen."-Sir John Houghton, first chairman of IPCC.

"Indeed, when we wake up 20 years from now and find that the Atlantic Ocean is just outside Washington, D.C., because the polar icecaps are melting, we may look back at this pivotal election. We may wonder whether it wasn't the last moment when a U.S. policy to deal with global warming might have made the difference, and we may ask why the party most concerned about that, the Greens, helped to elect Mr. Bush by casting 97,000 Nader votes in Florida."-Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times.

"I would like to say we're at a point where global warming is impossible to deny. Let's just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers, though one denies the past and the other denies the present and future."-Boston Globe's Ellen Goodman.

"They were experiencing temperatures that weren't expected with global warming. But one of the things we see with global warming is unpredictability."-Ann Atwood, organizer of an expedition to the North Pole to bring attention to Global Warming...which had to be called off due to extreme cold after one of the explorers suffered frostbite.

"If Greenland melted or broke up and slipped into the sea, sea levels worldwide would increase by between 18 and 20 feet."-Al Gore.

"Global warming is too big a problem to be solved by energy experts alone. It’s about people. It’s about how many of us there are and how we choose to live our modern lives. It’s about the very personal decisions we make about whether, when, and how many children we choose to have. We can start by supporting the notion that every woman and every couple should have the resources and power to control their own reproductive lives."-John Seager, national president of Population Connection, formerly Zero Population Growth.

"When we've finally gotten serious about global warming, when the impacts are really hitting us and we're in a full worldwide scramble to minimize the damage, we should have war crimes trials for these bastards — some sort of climate Nuremberg."-Dr. Heidi Cullen,, climatologist for the Weather Channel.

"A quarter of all species of plants and land animals, or more than a million in all, could be driven to extinction."-Chris Thomas, professor of Conservation Biology at England’s University of Leeds.

"Global warming has largely been blamed for the survival and spread of the Asian Hornet, Vespa velutina, which is thought to have arrived in France from the Far East in a consignment of Chinese pottery in late 2004."-Telegraph.co.uk.

"It's most likely to be the...warmer climate."-Martyn Robinson from the Australian Museum on why the Australian house cockroach, methana marginalus which likes warmer climates, has begun moving in.

"Before this century is over, billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic."-James Lovelock, scientist, author, researcher, environmentalist and futurologist.

"If humans pursue a business-as-usual course for the first half of this century, I believe the collapse of civilisation due to climate change becomes inevitable."-Tim Flannery author of "The Weather Makers".

"Climate extremes would trigger meteorological chaos -- raging hurricanes such as we have never seen, capable of killing millions of people; uncommonly long, record-breaking heat waves; and profound drought that could drive Africa and the entire Indian subcontinent over the edge into mass starvation. ... Even if we could stop all greenhouse gas emissions today, we would still be committed to a temperature increase worldwide of two to four degrees Fahrenheit by the middle of the twenty-first century. It would be warmer then than it has been for the past two million years. Unchecked it would match nuclear war in its potential for devastation."-Former Democratic Senator George J. Mitchell.

"Malaria, one of Africa's leading killers, is spreading to higher altitudes because of rising temperatures. The Sahara is expanding, turning farmland into desert and contributing to conflicts like the one in the Darfur region of Sudan. And the list goes on."-Jeffrey Gettleman, East Africa bureau chief of The New York Times.

"The current global population growth rate outpaces even our best efforts to reduce carbon emmissions. Learn what else can be done to bring this global problem under control, and what you can do to make a difference...Global warming and the destruction of wildlife habitat are just two environmental concerns that tie directly to global population growth."-Quote from the National Wildlife Federation website.

"Population is the underlying problem - the catalyst for the whole thing, but we didn't get into that in the film. That is the underlying problem - too many people..."-Karen Coshof, producer of "The Great Warming"-a documentary on Global Warming.

"We all may be sneezing, sniffling, and scratching more in decades to come, due to global warming."-From an article on WebMD by Saylynn Boyles on June 6, 2006 on Global Warming worsening allergies.

"If we continue our present growth path we are facing extinction - not in millions of years, or even millennia, but by the end of this century."-Peter Barrett, director of Victoria University's Antarctic Research Centre.

"Freedom to breed will bring ruin to us all."-Garrett Hardin, a leading ecologist.

"Us homo sapiens are turning out to be as destructive a force as any asteroid. Earth’s intricate web of ecosystems thrived for millions of years, as natural paradises, till we came along...The stark reality is that there are simply too many of us. And we consume way too much. Especially here at home...The solutions are not a secret: control population, recycle, reduce consumption..."-Matt Lauer MSNBC.

"Every time someone dies as a result of floods in Bangladesh, an airlines executive should be dragged out of his office and drowned."-George Monbiot, journalist for The Guardian newspaper.

"As global warming melts the world's ice sheets, rising sea levels are not the only danger. Viruses hidden for thousands of years may thaw and escape - and we will have no resistance to them."-From The Independent/UK by Kate Ravilious.

"This is an emergency...It's a frightening thing...It'll make world war look like heaven."-John Edwards, Democratic candidate for President of the United States.

"Global Warming is a universal issue. It will cause famine, disease, war, death and suffering."-Headline from Democratic Underground.

And lastly...and this is what the whole human induced Global Warming scare is all about...

"The answer to global warming is in the abolition of private property and production for human need."-Louis Proyect, programmer in the Administrative Information Services department Columbia University.

Are You a Critical Thinker

2007-03-11T10:52:00.000-05:00

If you have seen Al Gore's film "An Inconveniant Truth" and have not watched "The Global Warming Swindle" you owe it to what is left of your soy drenched brain to see it. If you do not, your ideas have no basis in true science and you should be ashamed of yourself. You are not an intellectual, you are not a scientist, you are not even a thinker...you are a zealot.

UPDATE: Oddly, the original URL used for "The Global Warming Swindle" above has been made "unavailable" by Google. Go here instead.

An Angry Libertarian Rant

2007-02-25T08:21:00.000-06:00

I do not like government. It does nothing well. It never has.
That said, I understand its usefulness. I willingly cede it my God given powers over self determination on such issues as national borders, warfare, police protection, and infrastructure. These things it does not so well either, but I am convinced it does them better than I could myself.
But that is where it ends. I do not believe it is governments responsibility to save the poor. To force vaccines on preteen girls. To take my legally earned money and give it to someone for the suffering of their grandparents under the guise of ‘retributions’. Or to stop me from smoking. Or to force me to wear a seat belt. Or frighten my children with end of the world pseudo-scientific scenarios. It is not the government’s concern that I make minimum wage or that I earn 100 times what other employees take in. My tax money should not be used to destroy embryos...you personally want to do that, pay for it yourself. And for God’s sakes, why would any sane human being want a bureaucrat to decide his or her healthcare?
If these things are what government is now for, I don’t want it. You can keep it. I got some guns, some basic understanding of survival techniques...me and mine will be fine on our own, thank you very much.
I am convinced that our founding fathers did not have the juggernaut that we now call the government in mind when they took their lives into their hands to found a free society. That word ‘free’, does it have any meaning left? Americans pride themselves on their freedom, I question its existence.
Every time there is a disaster, a tragedy, or simply little Johnny has the hiccups some self-important politicians take it upon themselves to draft a bevy of new laws. Laws to change our behavior. Laws that makes criminals out of decent men.
Laws should be made to protect person and property, most of the rest are simply government intrusions on freedom. Hey, there’s that word again.
I often ask myself, are Americans now afraid to be free? Is today’s American willing to cede his or her freedom simply for personal comfort and freedom from worry? The answer I find is nearly always unpleasant.
This is not the America I choose to inhabit. Nor the one, I believe, our forefathers had envisioned. No thank you, I’d rather secede. That is, if I could only figure out with which of the myriad governmental entities I need to file my secession papers...

National Healthcare Time Line

2007-02-22T19:14:00.000-06:00

-02/21/2007 UPI...“Zogby Poll Finds 45% of Americans feel Healthcare is Top Issue”

-12/25/2009 Los Angeles Times...“President Obama’s Nation Healthcare Program Passes House”

-06/13/2010 Chicago Tribune...”Department of Health Opens Its Doors”

-11/15/2011 Washington Times...”Doctors Bemoan Bureaucratic Control Over Tests and Procedures”

-08/03/2012 New York Post...“AARP Chief, ‘If Republicans elected, they will take your healthcare.’”

-11/23/2015 Kansas City Star...”Feds Pay Average $10,000 per MRI...Price Caps Proposed”

-01/14/2016 International Herald Tribune...“Canada, European States Take Steps Toward Privatization of Health Care”

-04/16/2016 Boston Herald...”Governors Demand Healthcare for Undocumented Workers”

-11/02/2017 Drudge Report...”Senators Pass National Dental Care Bill”

-03/28/2018 NewYorkTimes.com...“New Department of Health Chief Warns of Booming Black Market Healthcare”

-01/13/2020 Newsday.com...“Long Cold Snap Putting Strain on Nations Hospitals -Al Gore Treated for Frostbite”

-03/03/2020 JAMA...“Study: Fewer American Students Pursuing Medical Degrees”

-03/03/2020 WashingtonPost.com...“Congress to Impose Quotas to Force Students Into Careers in Medicine”

-06/06/2022 San Francisco Chronicle OnLine...“Rainbow Council Angry of Lack of New AIDS Drugs”

-01/22/2024 Sydney Morning Herald...”Australia Now World Leader in New Drug Debuts”

-11/27/2025 Wall Street Journal Online...“Nationalized Healthcare Now 33% of Federal Budget”

-07/01/2026 Atlanta Journal-Constitution...”Aged, Overweight, and Smokers Main Stressors on Healthcare Budget Study Finds”

-10/15/2026 DailyHerald.com...”New Law to Make Smoking a Felony”

-05/13/2027 StarTribune.com...“Congress to Argue Maximum Age Proposal”

-08/22/2027 ChristianScienceMonitor.com...“Religious Leaders Question Ethics of ‘Age Cap’ Law”

-12/12/2028 ABCNews.com...”Poll Finds Many Young Angry at Bearing Weight of National Healthcare for Elderly”

-03/05/2029 Dallas Morning News...“Study: Dozens in Federal Prison for Seeking Private Healthcare”

-09/22/2029 NewYorkPost.com...“Doctors’ Unions Threaten Strike Unless Granted Wage Increase”

-11/24/2030 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel...“Health Secretary Asks Congress for Law Mandating 2000 Calorie Maximum Diet”

-04/04/2031 Detroit Free Press...“ACLU Claims Poor Have Longer Waits For Care”

-04/08/2031 NewYorkTimes.com...“Average Americans Question Pro Athletes Access to High Quality Health Care”

-05/25/2031 DenverPost.com...“Long Waits for Basic Tests, Study Says”

-03/13/2025 StLouisPostDispatch.com...”Poll Claims 45% of Americans Unhappy With Healthcare System”

Global Warming? Bring It On!

2007-02-15T19:09:00.000-06:00

Ironically, I was lying awake last night shivering at the threat of Global Warming. Thinking, worrying, fretting about the dire consequences ahead for me, my family, and friends. Warm winter nights, lower heating costs, sandy beaches in Ontario...the looming menace that is Global warming seemed more than I could stand. That is, until I began to look back rather than forward. The impending doom signaled by iceberg bound polar bears seemed much less intense when I realized just how lucky I have been. Wait. No, ‘lucky’ is not the right word, it smacks too much of passivity. My history shows I am not a passive man. And I am not a lucky man, I am a survivor. Yes, that is a better word...Survivor.
For have I not survived...
Y2k
the 1970's Ice Age
the bird flu pandemic
heterosexual AIDS epidemic
global deforestation
world wide destruction of the ozone layer
end of the world oil supply
global water shortage
the soil erosion scare of the 1980's
killer bees
world overpopulation
massive globe wide species extinctions
acid rain
global famine
the Japanese economic takeover
coffee, eggs, sugar, and trans fats
secondhand smoke
DDT
asbestos
irradiated foods
dioxin
power lines
SARS
Yes, it is clear to me now, I have nothing to fear. A little Global warming? Hah, I scoff. Shorter, more moderate winters? To that I say, “Bring it on!”

Stem Cell Update

2007-02-13T17:32:00.000-06:00

US scientists say they have discovered a new source of stem cells that could one day repair damaged human organs.
Researchers successfully extracted the cells from the fluid that fills the womb in pregnancy and then grew them in lab experiments.

Damn it, but we wanted to kill embryos!

US researchers have cloned healthy mice from skin cells for the first time.
Despite notorious difficulties in producing animals through cloning, nine of 19 mice who were born survived into adulthood.
The scientists replaced the nucleus from an unfertilised egg with the nucleus from an adult skin stem cell.

Evil adult stem cells strike again...add to the looming rat overpopulation disaster!

Women have grown their own breast implants through pioneering stem cell treatment, it emerged yesterday.
Scientists harvested the stem cells from the women's own fat and encouraged them to form breast tissue.
They say the result gives a more natural look than many of the synthetic implants used by showbusiness stars like Pamela Anderson.

So many non-embryonic stem cell breakthroughs it’s tough to keep abreast of them all.

My E-Mail to The Weather Channel

2007-01-21T09:48:00.000-06:00

Hey it's one degree warmer today than yesterday here in Chicago...proof of Global Warming? I think so.
Looks like I'm going to have to start using my furnace less and less. Ah, but that runs on fossil fuels. So I'll be using fewer fossil fuels (which supposedly contribute to Global Warming) thus lowering the risk of Global Warming. My head is starting to spin.
And speakng of spin, hasn't it been freezing in California, Texas, Oklahoma, etc? How do you spin that?
Like this, I guess, "You'd expect that from Global Warming!" That, strangely enough, seems to be the pat answer used by you folks for any weather pattern whether normal or not. Huge hurricane season... "You'd expect that from Global Warming!". No hurricanes hit US this year..."You'd expect that from Global Warming!" Warm weather in the North East... "You'd expect that from Global Warming!" Frozen citrus in California..."You'd expect that from Global Warming!"
Wow. You guys really got it figured out.
But lastly, I'd like to just add that when you can give me a correct weather prediction two days ahead of time maybe just maybe I'd have some openness to trust your ability to predict weather ten years into the future.

Christmas Time is Here

2006-12-11T18:48:00.000-06:00

Coming soon to Total Kaos...”A Total Kaos Christmas Carol”, starring Dave and Glen and the world renowned character actors, the Kaotics.
Can’t get into the Christmas spirit? We’ve got the key to the liquor cabinet! So get the kids together, fire up the fireplace, spike the eggnog, crank up the laptop, and listen December 21st @ 5:00 CST.
The critics agree...

The Grinch at CaveBC News says, “I thought the whoos were gay, but this eclectic group of thespians beats them all to the bathhouse!”

Clarence from it’s a wonderful Life Magazine raves,”Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings. The bell should have rung on this production years ago!”

And Buddy the elf of The North Pole Times quips, “This show is part of the five main food groups...candy, candy canes, candy corns, syrup, and the sugar sweet Kaotics!”

So be here on Thursday the 21st @ 5:00 CST, simply click on the microphone on the upper right hand side of our site, and prepare for the joy of the Christmas season to overwhelm you, much like Dave’s appetite at an Old Country Buffett.

Wow. Just Wow.

2006-12-04T09:16:00.000-06:00

Read this now!

It's All About the Hope

2006-12-02T09:49:00.000-06:00

I believe an important feature of being an honorable human is the ability to admit when you are wrong. So with that in mind, here I go.
I was wrong. I admit it. I take full responsibility for my error. I beg your forgiveness. I have seen the light.
In my last two posts here and here, I mistakenly opined that embryonic stems cells have, as yet, had no affect. That they, in fact, had done nothing. But it has come to light that I was wrong. They have done something, they have given hope. Yes, my friends, hope.
Connecticut just doled out $20 million of tax payers hard earned money to fund embryonic stem cell research. And with that, Robert Mandelkern, a committee member and state coordinator of the Parkinson's Action Network had this to say, "Without hope, there is no quality of life. This committee has given people hope."
Hope, thank God for hope. But there’s more.
The Democrats have just taken Congress, what can we expect from them? My bad, it’s hope of course. Sing it Harry.

Reid said he hoped the president "will relent and see the light" that the research gives hope to Americans struggling with illnesses and injuries.

And finally, from our friends in Hollywood.

Michael J. Fox‘s successful acting career might soon be upstaged by his success as a lobbyist – his stumping for stem cell research in last month’s election turned the tide in favor of the controversial legislation in several states across America.
Fox, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, is putting hope for a cure in medical research using embryonic stem cells.

Oooh, free hope from Michael J. Fox. Thank you Mike...did you hear I apologized? Yeah, I’m on your side. Let’s shake on it.
Aah, but I would be remiss not to inform the reader of just a few random facts.
From YahooNews:

But don't expect those promised cures anytime soon. The research is in such a nascent stage that even fundamental questions such as what defines a human embryonic stem cell remain unanswered.
When the committee that runs the center meets to adopt a 10-year scientific plan Thursday it is expected to acknowledge that routine, widespread stem-cell treatments are unlikely to arise within a decade.

Man, that’s a long time, I hope my hope can hold out that long.
Hang on, maybe it won't have to.

There is good news for those of you suffering from those excruciating back aches, a University of Manchester researcher has developed a treatment for lower back pain using the patient's own stem cells, which could replace the use of strong painkillers or surgery that can cause debilitation. Dr Stephen Richardson, of the University's Division of Regenerative Medicine in the School of Medicine (FMHS), has developed the treatment; and in collaboration with German biotechnology company Arthrokinetics and internationally-renowned spinal surgeons Spinal Foundation are hoping to enter pre-clinical trials next year. It is expected to rapidly yield a marketable product which will revolutionise(sic) treatment of long-term low back pain.

My bad...those are adult stem cells. Man, they just keep chuggin’ along don’t they? And without government funding, too.
Well, how about this then...

RejuvaCell Inc., a global leader in adult stem cell therapy for intractable Heart and Vascular diseases, achieves extraordinary advances in the treatment of type-2 diabetes. Over 200 patients treated to date, with 85% of 100 Patients at one year on, maintain significant improvement.

Dang it, it’s those adult stem cells again.
You know what? Screw them and their treatments and cures, I’m sticking with hope!

Crossposted @ Total Kaos Radio

My Challenge to Embryo Hating Lefties

2006-11-16T19:20:00.000-06:00

My last post “Stem Cells and Ion Drives” has been up over 2 weeks now and the best opposing argument I’ve received is the following(anonymously from my comment section) :

"And like the forever promising ion drive, embryonic stem cells have offered us nothing to date but false hopes and empty dreams...all funded by the American tax payers."

embryonic stem cells have offered us nothing to date - untrue

false hopes - unproven

empty dreams - not an argument

all funded by the American tax payers - absolute lie

C’mon Lefties you can do better than that. How are you going to convince the American people that Communism is a good thing if you can’t even muster a decent argument promoting your pet pork project, embryonic stem cells?
Ah, but let us not live in the past. In the words of the great modern philosopher Mike Ditka, “Those who live in the past are cowards and fools.”
So moving forward, what great life enhancing developments have occurred in the field of embryonic stem cell research since my last post? Uh...none.
But don’t look so dour, there is some good news. In adult stem cell research, of course.
From Yahoo News:

In promising new research, stem cells worked remarkably well at easing symptoms of muscular dystrophy in dogs, an experiment that experts call a significant step toward treating people.
"It's a great breakthrough for all of us working on stem cells for muscular dystrophy," said researcher Johnny Huard of the University of Pittsburgh, who wasn't involved in the work...
...The study was published online Wednesday by the journal Nature. It used stem cells taken from the affected dogs or other dogs, rather than from embryos. For human use, the idea of using such "adult" stem cells from humans would avoid the controversial method of destroying human embryos to obtain stem cells.

And from Medical News Today:

Johns Hopkins scientists have successfully grown large numbers of stem cells taken from adult pigs' healthy heart tissue and used the cells to repair some of the tissue damage done to those organs by lab-induced heart attacks. Pigs' hearts closely resemble those in humans, making them a useful model in such research.

And from NZZ Online:

Scientists at Zurich University have for the first time grown human heart valves using stem cells from the amniotic fluid that cushions babies in the womb.
This revolutionary approach could be used to repair defective hearts and could overcome the ethical dilemmas connected to stem cell use.

So I am literally begging you...no, I am challenging you Lefties, bring it on. Let’s hear an argument for embryonic stem cells. Educate me. Edify me. Show me the error of my ways.
Let me end here with this one little thought experiment.
Let’s say you have $10,000 to invest(I know that is a stretch, as, if you had that kind of cash you wouldn’t be living in your mother’s basement, but) and you have a choice of 2 stocks to choose from. One stock has never made a cent, yet many experts feel that sometime in the distant future it may earn 50% per year. The other has averaged 10% a year for the past 5 years and shows no sign of slowing down. Where do you invest? C’mon, even you anti-capitalists know the answer to this one.

Stem Cells and Ion Drives

2006-11-01T16:46:00.000-06:00

HOT WET STEAMY SEX!!!
Got your attention? Good, now let’s get serious.
I want to begin by building a little thought experiment.
Let us say that back in the 1960's, as it did, America decided it was important to go into space. That is was important we as a country should reach the moon and maybe even the stars beyond.
And let us say that the shout went out to all ends of these United States to uncover and invent the technology with which we could attain this lofty goal.
And that private interests within our country took up the challenge, did the research, and decided that chemical rockets were the way to get us there. All the while,of course, with an eye on a possible future financial boom for them as well. Thus, private industry began to invest in chemical rocket technology and in research and development in that field of study.
So here we have on the one hand, private industry.
Ah, but now let us look at the other hand...big Government. The public interest, politicians, and of course buckets full of 'free’ money. So bigwigs in the House and Senate meet and agree to round up all the greatest scientists on the public payroll and let them decide the best course for America to reach the stars. Soon the best and brightest government engineers, chemists, and physicists sit down together and unanimously decide that it is ion drive technology that promises America the moon. They decree that chemical rocketry is a short term solution and the ion is surely the wave of the future.
So the race begins. Private industry and their chemical rockets vs. Government and their ion drives.
It doesn’t take long before the private sector has a rocket in space. A short time later they are circling the globe. And a few more years still until, yes, a chemical driven rocket lands on the moon.
All this time, the government scientists have been feverishly working on the ion drive. Facing technological wall after technological wall. Fighting their uphill battle, but always looking toward the pot of gold at the end of the ion powered rainbow.
A decade later chemical rockets are sending probes into the furthest reaches of the known galaxy. And a decade after that a robot lands on Mars.
Still the promise of the ion drive is being touted by our government scientist and financed by the American people.
So here we are at the end of our thought experiment, and the reader is still wondering what the hell this article is all about. OK here you are, it is about stem cells.

This morning I experienced the pleasure of watching a campaign commercial paid for by a local Democrat who claimed that her opponent was ‘against embryonic stem cells’. In all truth, she is most probably accurate. Still, I believe she is being deceptive. I believe she is fully aware that the general public has no idea of the differences between embryonic and adult stem cells. Or even that any differences exist at all.
So I, here, will point out a few.

-“Embryonic stem cells, as their name suggests, are derived from embryos. Specifically, embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos that develop from eggs that have been fertilized...”
“An adult stem cell is an undifferentiated cell found among differentiated cells in a tissue or organ, can renew itself, and can differentiate to yield the major specialized cell types of the tissue or organ.”
“Unlike embryonic cells, adult stem cells can be taken from a variety of sources, including the placenta, umbilical-cord blood, skin, bone marrow, hair and body fat, with no destruction of human life at any stage.”

-According to Dr. Peter Hollands, the Chief Science Officer of the UK Blood Bank and early pioneer of embryonic stem-cell research, “It is important to note that embryonic stem cells have never been used to treat anyone and that there are no plans to do so...Currently the average person thinks that embryonic stem cells are the only option available … [believing] if we are going to help those people suffering from disease then we have no option but to pursue embryonic stem cell technology. This is completely incorrect.”

-David Prentice, senior fellow for life sciences at Family Research Council and founding member of Do No Harm, the Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics claims that in 72 cases adult stem cell treatment has shown some benefit.
(For a complete list, go here)

-An important point from The Heritage Foundation’s web site, “Private investors aren’t funding embryonic stem cell research. They are funding adult stem cell research...”

-From NPR online:
"California... authorizes the state to sell $3 billion in bonds to fund embryonic stem-cell research over a 10-year span.
Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell signed legislation that will provide $100 million in funding over a 10-year span for adult and embryonic stem-cell research.
Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich bypassed the Illinois state legislature to create a stem-cell research institute by executive order...gave the Public Health Department $10 million to fund research
Maryland...authorizing $15 million for research in fiscal year 2007."

-"British scientists have grown the world's first artificial liver from stem cells in a breakthrough that will one day provide entire organs for transplant...Described as a 'Eureka moment' by the Newcastle University researchers, the tissue was created from blood taken from babies' umbilical cords just a few minutes after birth."

-From Yahoo News: "Injecting human embryonic stem cells into the brains of Parkinson's disease patients may cause tumors to form, U.S. researchers reported...Steven Goldman and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York said human stem cells injected into rat brains turned into cells that looked like early tumors."

With that, we return to our thought experiment and the analogy therein.
Like our Chemical fueled rockets, adult stem cells have had successes. Treated illnesses. Grown the world’s first artificial liver. And they are being funded through private investment. Today, adult stem cells are actually showing results, not just promise.
And like the forever promising ion drive, embryonic stem cells have offered us nothing to date but false hopes and empty dreams...all funded by the American tax payers.
So now need ask ourselves a few questions.
How long do we, as tax paying citizens, continue to fund embryonic stem cells before we demand results?
Why, if we should publically fund this research at all, are we not funding adult/umbilical stems cells which have shown results?
Why should we destroy life to save life if there are other avenues that show promise towards that end?
Could it be that the abortion lobby has an interest in embryonic stem cell research?
Let me end by acknowledging that the stem cell issue is more than just a little complicated. But this, in itself, is an important point.
Like many issues, it takes investigation by the individual, himself, in order to acquire a thorough understanding of its ins and outs, its pros and cons.
In the case of stem cells, the media will not provide this understanding, it does not fit their political agenda.
Don't count on politicians to offer it. Keeping the electorate ignorant often helps get them into and/or hold onto power, much as in the campaign ad I spoke of earlier.
HOT WET STEAMY STEM CELLS!!!
Got your attention? Good.

Things You Will Never Hear John F. Kerry Say

2006-10-31T18:11:00.000-06:00

The nabob of nuance, John F. Kerry, stuck his French manicured foot in it this time with the following...

You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.

A surprise from the mouth of a Lib?
Not really.
Not from those who more often than not show their elitist distaste and outright disgust for all things patriotic. Not from those seemingly born with an almost genetic inability to comprehend how any decent, intelligent American would actually choose to serve his or her country. And surely not from the cut and run/peace at all cost crowd whose inbred need to demean and abase our soldiers seems to know no bounds.
Ah, but that is drifting away from the point of this essay. And that is, Things You Will Never Hear John F. Kerry Say.

You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't...

...it will be your own damn fault and yours alone that you are forever stuck in a minimum wage job.
...you’ll spend the rest of your worthless adult life leeching off those who did.
...you, personally, are final proof of the ridiculousness of the theory of evolution.
...hey, you could always move to Paris and become “disaffected”.
...no need to fret, little Democrat, Mother Government will always be there to protect you from all your bad decisions.
...no worries, there’s always ‘income redistribution’.
...it looks like it’s back to the ghetto for you, home boy.
...you can always find work in Hollywood.
...it’s the rich, Halliburton, Big Oil, and evil corporations’ fault.
...Hell, isn’t that what Socialism is for?
...then you’re more than smart enough to vote in Nancy Pelosi as third in the Presidential line of succession.

Ah, now that was fun. Poking fun at Lurch on Halloween, it don’t get no better than that.

The NeoCon...Spirator

2006-09-19T18:27:00.000-05:00

There was a time not so long ago when the aluminum hat wearing crowd would play their schizophrenic mind games quietly alone in their basements. Or, at least with widely scattered groups of their fellow deniers of reality.
Sadly, those days are long gone.
For there is a new breed of conspiracy buff. One I will here dub the Neo-ConSpiracy Nut.
With his recent appearance in our midst, the Neo-ConSpiracy Nut has raised the level of insanity and lowered the level of public discourse throughout our entire society. Worse yet, his arrival has made all our lives somewhat more dangerous.
There have always been those among us who have been drawn to the conspiratorial. Those tempted towards a belief in unseen forces at work behind the scenes controlling and manipulating, most if not all, of human endeavors.
But today it is different. For today we are witness to a confluence of groups and philosophies that together embody a new and growing threat.
So from what dark cesspool has this new breed of beast arisen?
We begin in the sixties with the emergence of the anti-establishment community. This group had the mind-set that any established norms and all standing authority must be first questioned and ultimately disrespected. In their twenties during the sixties, today this group makes up a vocal majority in the Liberal Democratic portion of the party. They have, unfortunately, brought their sixties mind set with them into the 21st century.
The startling thing about this group is their vitriolic unflinching hatred of George W. Bush. The loathing they have for the sitting American President goes far beyond any level of logical political disagreement. They abhor the man for his simple existence.
This blind unbending hatred causes them to believe the worst of intent in any of this man’s actions. It is only secondly they search for the ‘data’ and ‘proof’ to back up their preconceived views. This is the very process that is the building block of the conspiratorial thinker...Unstable theory followed by a rebuilding of history.
So let us move on the next group in our little ensemble-‘the peace-at-all-costs’ crowd.
A group of humans who would gladly sacrifice the lives of you and your family for their John Lennon’s “Imagine” view of Earthly utopia. A group who long ago lost its ability, and/or its will, to discern the difference between right and wrong, between good and evil. And it is this very attribute that makes them prime fodder for conspiratorial thinking. When one sees no difference between the good and the evil, it is easy to imagine evil intent in the good. And again, then find the ‘facts’ to back such suppositions up.
Next we meet the ‘fear of reality’ sect. This group lives live’s of constant denial. Afraid to face any reality that has the hint of responsibility or danger. They will happily and unquestioningly believe nearly anything as long they feel protected and free from obligation.
And now we have the last ingredient, the ever present paleo-conspiracy nut. The axle that drives the wheels. He has always been with us, has always done his dirty little work. He brings an innate ability to weave facts and pseudo-facts into a web of his own alternate reality.
He is relished by the Bush haters as he builds the framework for such presumptions of the President’s evil intent as:
-Bush and his regime planned and executed the horrors of September 11, 2001.
-Bush allowed the Saudi royal family to fly out of the US after 9-11.
-Bush’s religious foundation drives him to move the country toward a theocracy and the world toward the ‘end times’.
-Bush and his cronies are listening to all your personal phone calls.
How is the paleo-conspiratorial nut acknowledged by the ‘peace-at-all-costs’ sect? He puts together the background for their insanity, as well. In instances such as:
-Bush’s ‘war for oil’.
-Bush attacked Iraq and Saddam as revenge for the attempted assassination of his father.
-Bush attacked Afghanistan only to enrich his oil buddies who needed a pipeline through that country.
And finally we come to the ‘fear of reality’ gang. Their fears of Islamo-Fascist global conquest, and their own responsibility therein, are eased if:
- 9-11 was in fact and inside job.
-Bush created the war on terror in order to back up his invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in order to enrich his oil buddies.
-the CIA is behind most, if not all, of what have been deemed terrorist attacks.

It must be noted here that many of these groups have been overlapping for some time and individual members may have been members in one, some, or in all groups at one point in their lives. Which brings up an interesting question...Why is the Neo-ConSpiratorial Nut most always Left of center?

So these are our groups and these are the ideas that connect them, but where is the danger?
It is mostly this, the conspiratorial mind often borders on the schizophrenic. It denies historic reality for a preferred version of its own reality. It loses its ability to reason or be reasoned with. It sees connections where there are none. Intent where there is none. Manipulation where it does not exist.
And it now has the power to bring others into its web of intrigue. In the past, believers of these inane scenarios were few and far between. But the merging together of these groups and others like them has increased their numbers to a significant and vocal level. And with the emergence of the internet, the media’s love of controversy, and the 24 hour news cycle; the ideas fomented by those with this mind set more easily get out for public consumption.
So if there is a danger here, what can we do?
It is up to those of us in the true ‘reality based community’ to stand up to this maelstrom of insanity. We must ignore, berate, and/or shame any that we encounter who choose to lower themselves and the level of civility to the point of unreality. We must attempt to aim those who would be tempted to conspiracy towards reality with facts and logic. And last, we must ourselves continue to hone our ability to recognize the true from the temptingly easy. We must not ourselves fall into the web of the Neo-ConSpiracy Nut.

They Just Need a Hand Up

2006-09-16T13:51:00.000-05:00

With gas prices dipping below two dollars a gallon in many areas throughout the United States and with record losses looming in the fourth quarter of 2006, many of the movers and shakers of 'Big Oil' are taking preemptive action. More and more there are whispers of lay offs, pump station closings, and even bankruptcies murmuring through the entire oil industry. Exxon-Mobil, and others, intend to go straight to those in the power circles of government to plead for a helping hand...a hand up, if you will.
We here at Sticks and Stones, self-professed shills for the oil companies, have procured exclusive access to a letter sent by these aggrieved organizations to certain members of the US Senate. Edward Kennedy, John F. Kerry, Dick Durbin, and Barbara Boxer are but a few of the officials to receive this mailing and we at this blog are confident in the compassionate governance of these individuals.
That said, here is the letter...

Dear sirs,
We of ‘Big Oil’ are today facing down a most dire of futures.
Every day, it seems, per barrel price plummets and our losses soar.
The business of extracting oil from the planet, as you are surely aware, is a very specialized enterprise. Very few companies have either the means or the ability to succeed in such an endeavor. It would be not only a shame, but certainly dangerous to national security for certain companies to be forced to dissolve.
Let it be said that we as an industry have done all we could in order to avoid the necessity of this correspondence. We have literally begged the people of this great nation to pay more for gas in order to help us in our hour of need. Our requests, sadly, seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. And our calls for aid to Bill O’Reilly have, as yet, gone unreturned.
So it is that we turn to you, members of the esteemed Democratic wing of the US Senate. You who only recently have attempted to enact a windfall profits tax. A tax, you claimed, aimed to help those in need. We are now here to ask, nay to demand, that the government of the United States return to those of us in the oil business all the losses we may incur in the fourth quarter of the 2006 business year.
As it is obviously within your power and your will to take from one group and give to another in the guise of compassion; it would seem common sense that you could simply tax those who are now paying less for a gallon of gasoline and remit the accumulated tax dollars to those of our companies who are currently in need.
We of ‘Big Oil’ have the ultimate faith in your humanity and disregard those who would label you with the tag of hypocrites. We are sure you will do the right thing and work toward resolving our ever approaching decent into poverty.

Sincerely,

ExxonMobil
Chevron Corp.
British Petroleum
Royal Dutch Shell
ConocoPhillips

We here at Sticks and Stones also have faith in the honor of our Democratic friends in Congress, and can hardly wait for the upcoming debate on the floor of the US Senate.

Whoo Friggin' Hoo

2006-07-11T19:26:00.000-05:00

Let’s keep our fingers crossed, but it looks like tomorrow is the big day. Or big night, whatever.
Wednesday @ 8:00 PM CST all order will be destroyed and Total Kaos shall finally ensue. Listen and enjoy...we know where you live.
Just click on the microphone on the right side and the rest is magic. Internet radio magic.

Update

2006-07-05T18:01:00.000-05:00

Wow.
First the good news...The W.A.R. traffic on the 4th was astounding. Way past what was expected.
And now the bad...Because of the amount of traffic we crashed the server. Doh! Oh boy, more good news...Kender and Co. have assured us that with our new servers(to be installed Friday), it will be smooth sailing from there on out.
Uh oh, stupid bad news...This means Total Kaos with Dave and Glen will not begin on Thursday as was previously stated.
Whoo Hoo, good news abounds...Looks like it’s Sunday for the virgin voyage. We will keep you up to date.

Total Kaos is on the Air

2006-07-04T09:50:00.000-05:00

Yes, my friends, the day is here at last.
Wide Awakes Radio begins broadcasting this July 4th.
The greatest coalition of Conservative bloggers the net has ever known are about to invade your sound card.
Al Gore may have invented the internet, but the ‘inconvenient truth’ is we’ll be making it relevant.
You can go to http://www.wideawakesradio.com/ to check out the schedule or simply click on the microphone on the right side of the blog to listen now.
Our show, Total Kaos with Dave and Glen airs on Thursdays from 5-7 PM CST and Sundays 7-10 AM CST. Don’t miss it, our wives need a new pair of shoes.

We're Coming for the Children

2006-07-04T06:57:00.000-05:00

Text from rant on Wide Awakes Radio:
Let me begin by offering my thanks and appreciation to all the American soldiers through all the generations whose heroism, honor, and sacrifice have allowed me and every other American to live in the freest most affluent country ever to grace the face of the Earth.
Greater men than Dave and I have paid the ultimate price in order that I may sit here and rant at this microphone.
So in their honor, I will do that now.
When the idea of Wide Awakes Radio first came about, I have to say I was not just slightly excited. But as the start up neared and the reality set in, a thought began to haunt my conscious mind.
‘Why do I do this? Why do I fight this conservative fight?’ I am sure this is not a thought particular to my mind alone. I would imagine that most who have endured the scars of the battle have had this thought cross their minds now and then.
So what is the answer? Why do we fight?
I think I know why.
It is to protect Conservative ideas and values from extinction.
You see, Liberal ideas, opinions, and policies are everywhere. They permeate our culture, our news, our media, our education system. One could no more hide from Liberal propaganda than one could evade the passing of time.
Is this up for argument?
Try these...
Gay marriage. Abortion on demand. America is the real terrorist. Capitalism is evil, as are the rich. Taxes are good. Men are obsolete patriarchal beasts. Ah, but men and women are exactly the same. Religion is superstition and Christians are more morally repugnant that Islamic zealots. The appeasement of evil. Rationalization of evil. Denial of evil. Yet Bush is evil. Competition is bad for humans. Girls should be as sexual as boys. Shame has no place in a modern society. Need I go on?
It is much harder to find Conservative ideas. To find them, one must actually have to go in search of them or simply fall into to them by mere chance.
This is why I fight. To keep Conservative ideas alive. To get them out into the void. To be a voice for the individual. For the America that was.
Liberals often attempt protect their ideas by shielding them in pseudo-moralism. ‘It’s to protect the environment.’, ‘It is not fair that some have so much while others, so little’, and of course ‘It’s for the children’.
Now there’s one Dave and I love...’It’s for the children.’ Higher taxes...for the children. Lawsuits against KFC...for the children. Fanatic ranting on Global Warming, demanding that government step in, take our SUV’s, and make each of live in mud huts and eat tofu...for the children.
Well, let me tell you right here and now, we at Total Kaos will have none of it! Children have grown into adulthood just fine for the last couple hundred thousand years and I am pretty sure that even without the help of Leftist zealots they will do so for a couple hundred thousand more.
All the while, the news media will chant disaster. The academics will crow unfairness. Hollywood will preach America bad and religion corrupt. And mindless socialist wackos will prophesy the end of the world brought on by capitalist greed and abundance.
But we will be here. Staid and solid. Stoic and selfless. A bit askew and simply off the wall. Aiming our Conservative spin and ironic take on Liberal inanity at the very heart of the Leftist hope for the future. You see, we are going after the demographic they so moralistically profess to protect. The young. Those with yet malleable minds. The young, whose thought processes we at Total Kaos can bend, shape, and reroute into the next generation of Conservative zealots.
So consider this a shot across the bow. Consider this fair warning. Your Liberal monopoly is over. We’re Total Kaos. And we’re coming for the children.

Total Kaos is on the Air

2006-07-03T19:28:00.000-05:00

It Makes My Head Spin

2006-06-13T21:34:00.000-05:00

This must hurt:

(CBS/AP) Top White House aide Karl Rove has been told by prosecutors he won't be charged with any crimes in the investigation into leak of a CIA officer's identity, his lawyer said Tuesday, lifting a heavy burden from one of President Bush's most trusted advisers.

Attorney Robert Luskin said that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald informed him of the decision on Monday, ending months of speculation about the fate of Rove, the architect of Mr. Bush's 2004 re-election now focused on stopping Democrats from capturing the House or Senate in this November's elections.

Shoot, if you’re a Lib it must really make you question our Justice System. You must think the system is totally screwed up. Just completely out of whack and irredeemable. With a stink to high heaven.
Hey, wait a sec. Isn’t that the very same Justice System the Left would rely on to prosecute the War on Terror? Doh!

Update:

The Court of Cassation, the tribunal of last resort in France, today upheld a March 2005 judgment that Soros violated the law when he bought Societe Generale SA shares in 1988 with knowledge that the bank might be a takeover target. The Hungary- born financier, who has been fighting the case for more than 17 years, will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, his lawyer said.

2 strikes...

My Dark Secret

2006-06-09T06:45:00.000-05:00

At long last, the moment has finally arrived. The moment I have been dreading for some time now. So with no small amount of trepidation, I step to the plate and state boldly that I have a secret. A dark truth, that until now I felt better lay hidden and repressed than be allowed into the bright light of day.
But I must first thank my Liberal brothers without whom I would still surely have lacked the courage of my convictions. It is with their sometimes nuanced, often explicit rebuttals to the Defense of Marriage Act that I have been spurred forward to this my ultimate confession.
First, however, a little background.
My secret life began, oddly enough, while wondering the wilds of my own back yard. A dead burning bush and my obsessive drive for its removal were to signal the beginning of my path to redemption.
As an amateur in the study of horticultural extraction, I felt no apprehension in asking for aid from my brother in suburban sprawl: Dick, my neighbor to the West. I should have known better.
After having revealed my need for advise as to the proper removal and disposal of aforementioned tree, Dick had only this to say.
“I know an angel who does that kinda stuff.”
Well, isn’t that something, I thought. An angel, eh? I’d never been one to believe in such things. Angels and devils, imps and orcs, yetis and X-Men; but hell, I needed the help. What could it hurt?
Dick handed me a business card. On it in New Times Roman font size 16, was a phone number, an address, and the name Angel Rodriguez-Landscaper Extra Ordinaire.
Wow, a real angel. And the answer to all my landscaping prayers!
Seconds ticked on like days as I said my goodbyes and raced home to place the mystical call.
As luck would have it, Angel Rodriguez was in. He listened intently to my predicament and with the wisdom of a true sage, explained the process and etiquette of proper tree/shrub removal.
With appropriate deference I ended the call. A quick stop in the garage for a shovel and I was off to my blessed chore.
It was while digging up roots that my life changed forever. You see, the Angel Rodriguez had told me just how and where on the tree to dig. And it was right there I found the two golden tablets. And right then I became a Mormon.
A Mormon and yet more. An avowed polygamist. My dark secret now plainly revealed.
And this is where my Liberal brethren come in. Their antagonism to the historic meaning of marriage as between one man and one woman warms the cockles of my patriarchal heart.
Words cannot convey the connection I felt with Mr. Kennedy when he boldly spoke the following words, “A vote for this amendment is a vote for bigotry, pure and simple.” How true, Teddy, how very true. I make a promise to you here and in front of the entire world...I will name my third son from my fifth wife Edward, after you Teddy my pluralist brother.And Joe Solomnese, President of the Human Rights Campaign, surely had my doctrine in mind when he stated, “Make no mistake about it, the debate happening on the floor of the United States Senate today is whether we are going to undermine our Constitution and deny rights to millions of Americans by singling them out for discrimination.” Ah, my friend Joe, you understand me and my kind so very well. Our love for multiple partners should never be undermined or denied by the petty whim of the democratic process. And even though I may have a tad trouble myself discriminating from wife to wife, I must never be discriminated against by the likes of those prudish Republican bible thumpers.
Speaking of Republicans, I would be amiss to not to give a shout out to Senator John McCain and his wise words regarding this divisive amendment, “Most Americans are not yet convinced that their elected representatives or the judiciary are likely to expand decisively the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples.” Just between us John, I won’t tell them about the judges in Massachusetts if you keep quiet about my friends in Utah.
I am sure there are those reading this rant who are somewhat angry with the author’s analogy of polygamy with same sex marriage. Well, too damn(apologies to Joseph Smith)bad. Every, and I do mean every, argument for same sex marriage works equally well for multi-marriage. John’s abiding love for Tim is no more important to society than mine for Susan, Ruth, Tabitha, Beth, Rosalyn, Samantha, Cheryl, and Connie. As much as one believes government should stay out of Rose and Brittany’s bedroom, it should stay out of my five bedrooms, as well. How does my love of women, and I do mean women, threaten any other persons marriage? And isn’t divorce more a threat to the standard definition of marriage than are my multiple loving partners? Anyway, is it not my civil right to marry whomever, or whomevers, I should love? If it is bigoted and divisive to deny one the right to marry another of the same sex, why is it not equally bigoted and divisive to limit marriage to the arbitrary number of two?
But in truth, I am not a selfish man. I am filled with empathy. And it is the future for which I truly fight. A future when my numerous brood will have the right to marry whomever and how many ever creatures they shall deem fit. A beautiful utopia full of love and freedom. Just one really, really, BIG happy family.

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes and Total Kaos Blog

Somewhere in Rural England

2006-05-20T06:58:00.000-05:00

Mrs. SR: Oh honey, you look so dour. It must surely be bad news.
SR: It is good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?
Mrs. SR: Of course, the bad news. We have had so much bad news, it is now almost like a warm blanket to me.
SR: You are too funny, but the bad news it is most...
Mrs. SR: They did not buy the rights, did they?
SR: No they did not.
Mrs. SR: But why? Every single American studio...why?
SR: They have their reasons.
Mrs. SR: But your book, it was a worldwide best seller. What can be their reasons?
SR: They say it will not sell. They say religion is a taboo subject. It is untouchable.
Mrs. SR: But that is a lie. What of “The Da Vinci Code”, “The Last Temptation of Christ”, “Jesus Christ Superstar”?
SR: That is different, they say.
Mrs. SR: How? How is it different?
SR: They say they can find no actors, no directors, no producers who even want a part of it.
Mrs. SR: Hogwash! With all the heroes in Hollywood?!?
SR: Woman, you slay me. But that is what they say. And they say even if the movie could be made, no theater would show it.
Mrs. SR: Maybe in Denmark...
SR: Nowhere. And they say if the movie were to be made and a theater were to show it, no newspapers would advertise it. No critics would review it.
Mrs. SR: Cowards! Cowards and hypocrites!
SR: Woman, do not be so harsh. It is only business, they say. They assure me that if they thought it would sell, they would pay top dollar.
Mrs. SR: Sometimes your naivete gets annoying. “The Satanic Verses” was a worldwide bestseller, Salman. They lie to you.
SR: Yes, I know. I know.
Mrs. SR: But you said you have some good news, let us hear it then.
SR: Ah, yes. Sony has agreed to buy the rights to my next book for ten million American dollars..
Mrs. SR: That is great news. What was the title again?
SR: “John the Baptist: Jesus on the Down Low”.

Crossposted @ Total Kaos Blog

One of Those Moments

2006-05-17T20:14:00.000-05:00

There was a time in my life, not so long ago I confess, when I hated to mow. It was a chore. A time consuming task invoking hours of pre-toil dread.
That was before.
Before the summer of drought. Before my lawn lay brittle, more brown than green. More dead than alive. A daily bitter reminder of my wasted appreciation.
Somehow, its slow slide towards death seemed to be my ride as well.
But that was last year. It is mid-May and the sky has not, as was the case last year, held its liquid life in check. It has been a wet Spring. A perfect Spring. For grass.
And for this writer, as well. The seemingly dead expanses stretching from one end of my suburban tract to the other have begun to green. To fill in with lush Kentucky teal. My lawn reborn from ocher ashes, like an emerald rising phoenix. New, fresh, alive.
And with it my love of mowing. I have mowed ten times already...easy.
But today is a little different. It has rained a lot this week. It has not been easy to find a break in the clouds of sufficient length to fulfill my self imposed responsibility.
But upon return from work today, the sun poked though and I was at it.
I had finished the parkway and was working on the front yard when the world turned black. I looked to the sky in time to see the clouds begin their circular rolling motion. The temperature dropped and the wind shook the wet from the maples.
It had not yet begun to rain and I determined to press on. I finished the front and was on to the rear yard, feeling more confident and sure by the moment.
But the darkness remained and the wind spun wild through the trees. Spinning and twisting, affecting an ominous dance.
I pushed on, mower roaring, wind blasting my face. It was a race now. Every new step was a moment closer to the finish line.
I could say here that the first flash of lightening simply strengthened my resolve. That the ensuing crack of thunder was drowned by the droning mower and ignored. That it was now nothing personal, but merely more yard work. But why should I lie.
It was me against it. A stumbling intrepid biped against the endless angry sky. A metaphor. Man against nature.
Then finally I had reached that point.
Any man who has mowed under the threat of rain knows that moment. That moment of no return. When no matter the torrent, the mowing would continue. When what is left of the yard demands the finishing of the thing. I had reached that point. No tsumani, no typhoon, no hurricane sent by God would stop me at that moment.
But the heavens are not impressed by the vanities of man. And an ebony glove settled earthward seemingly ignoring the unrelenting gale, grabbed the air and stopped it dead.
I paused, held by breath, then moved on. Just then the wind returned and with it the first drop of rain...
Sometimes one awakens and again remembers that life involves those little moments. Those times of strangeness and connectedness and oneness with the world. Time has a way of letting one forget that. I only relate this as to remind the reader to take the time to slow down. To look for those moments. To search them out.
...and for those among you who may still be wondering, “Did he finish yard, did he beat the rain?”
Well, let me just end by saying that that is between I and the sky.

Losing the War in Iraq?

2006-05-10T19:00:00.000-05:00

Here is the full translation of the document seized by the U.S. military during an April 16 raid just South of Baghdad(found at USATODAY.com). It's long, but it's worth the read.

A glance at the reality of Baghdad in light of the latest events (sectarian turmoil)

1. It has been proven that the Shiites have a power and influence in Baghdad that cannot be taken lightly, particularly when the power of the Ministries of Interior and Defense is given to them, compared with the power of the mujahidin in Baghdad. During a military confrontation, they will be in a better position because they represent the power of the state along with the power of the popular militias. Most of the mujahidin power lies in surprise attacks (hit and run) or setting up explosive charges and booby traps. This is a different matter than a battle with organized forces that possess machinery and suitable communications networks. Thus, what is fixed in the minds of the Shiite and Sunni population is that the Shiites are stronger in Baghdad and closer to controlling it while the mujahidin (who represent the backbone of the Sunni people) are not considered more than a daily annoyance to the Shiite government. The only power the mujahidin have is what they have already demonstrated in hunting down drifted patrols and taking sniper shots at those patrol members who stray far from their patrols, or planting booby traps among the citizens and hiding among them in the hope that the explosions will injure an American or members of the government. In other words, these activities could be understood as hitting the scared and the hiding ones, which is an image that requires a concerted effort to change, as well as Allah's wisdom.

2. The strength of the brothers in Baghdad is built mainly on booby trapped cars, and most of the mujahidin groups in Baghdad are generally groups of assassin without any organized military capabilities.

3. There is a clear absence of organization among the groups of the brothers in Baghdad, whether at the leadership level in Baghdad, the brigade leaders, or their groups therein. Coordination among them is very difficult, which appears clearly when the group undertake a join operations

4. The policy followed by the brothers in Baghdad is a media oriented policy without a clear comprehensive plan to capture an area or an enemy center. Other word, the significance of the strategy of their work is to show in the media that the American and the government do not control the situation and there is resistance against them. This policy dragged us to the type of operations that are attracted to the media, and we go to the streets from time to time for more possible noisy operations which follow the same direction.

This direction has large positive effects; however, being preoccupied with it alone delays more important operations such as taking control of some areas, preserving it and assuming power in Baghdad (for example, taking control of a university, a hospital, or a Sunni religious site).

Page 2 of 4

At the same time, the Americans and the Government were able to absorb our painful blows, sustain them, compensate their losses with new replacements, and follow strategic plans which allowed them in the past few years to take control of Baghdad as well as other areas one after the other. That is why every year is worse than the previous year as far as the Mujahidin's control and influence over Baghdad. .

5. The role that the Islamic party and the Islamic Scholars Committee play in numbing the Sunni people through the media is a dangerous role. It has been proven from the course of the events that the American investment in the Party and the Committee were not in vain. In spite of the gravity of the events, they were able to calm down the Sunni people, justify the enemy deeds, and give the enemy the opportunity to do more work without any recourse and supervision. This situation stemmed from two matters:

First, their media power is presented by their special radio and TV stations as the sole Sunni information source, coupled with our weak media which is confined mainly to the Internet, without a flyer or newspaper to present these events.

Second, in the course of their control of the majority of the speakers at mosques who convert right into wrong and wrong into right, and present Islam in a sinful manner and sins in a Muslim manner. At the same time we did not have any positive impact or benefits from our operations.

6. The mujahidin do not have any stored weapons and ammunition in their possession in Baghdad, particularly rockets, such as C5K Katyosha or bomber or mortars which we realized their importance and shortage in Baghdad. That was due to lack of check and balance, and proper follow-ups.

7. The National Guard status is frequently raised and whether they belong to the Sunnis or Shiites. Too much talk is around whether we belong to them or not, or should we strike and kill their men or not?

It is believed that this matter serves the Americans very well. I believe that the Committee and the Party are pushing this issue because they want to have an influence, similar to the Mujahidin's. When and if a Sunni units from the National Guard are formed, and begin to compete with the mujahidin and squeeze them, we will have a problem; we either let them go beyond the limits or fight them and risk inciting the Sunnis against us through the Party's and the Committee's channels.

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I believe that we should not allow this situation to exist at all, and we should bury it before it surfaces and reject any suggestion to that effect.

8. (Salah), the military commander of Baghdad (he used to be the commander of the Rassafah County and still is) is a courageous young man with a good determination but he has little and simple experience in the military field and does not have a clear vision about the current stage and how to deal with it Most of his work at al-Rassafah County is to take cars to the Jubur Arab Tribes, convert them into booby traps and take them back inside Baghdad for explosion. And the more booby trap cars he makes, the more success he has. This alone is not a work plan and we do not benefit from it in the medium range let alone the long range.

9. (Salah): The current commander of Northern al-Karkh (Abu-Huda) is very concerned because of his deteriorating security situation caused by being pursued by the Americans, since they have his picture and voice print. Therefore, his movement is very restricted and he is unable to do anything here. We should remove him from Baghdad to a location where he can work easier; otherwise he is closer to become totally ineffective. I know nothing about his past military experience or organizational skills.

10. (Salah): Northern al-Karkh groups are estimated at 40 mujahid, so is the Southern Karkh. They could double that number if necessary. Al-Rassafah groups in general is estimated at 30 mujahidin as I was informed by the commander of al-Rassafah. These are very small numbers compared to the tens of thousands of the enemy troops. How can we increase these numbers?

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Sounds to me like someone's winning and someone else is losing...bad.

One Piece in the Puzzle of Hate

2006-04-21T19:00:00.000-05:00

Surprise. We live in dangerous and serious times.
The rising sun of China and the simmering threat to Taiwan. The Iran nuclear threat. Genocide in Sudan. Global Islamic terror. Unhindered movement of arms from the former SSRs. Unchecked illegal immigration. Sexual slavery. Insane petty tyrants. Raging oil prices. Environmental devastation. The looming collapse of Social Security and Medicare. Rampant obesity. The Bird Flu. AIDS. Mumps. Cancer. E.D.. The scourge of crows feet. Stubborn belly fat.
Oh yes, we live in dangerous and serious times.
But in all truth, they are not such special times.
The world is a dangerous place. Always has been.
And that fact is literally driving the Left insane.
Let me explain. (Please excuse the Leftist mind frame)

There was a time, not so many years ago, when life was nearly perfect. Free love and free sex, sit-ins and drop-outs, turn-ons and tune-outs. A time when peace could save the world. Where no man was evil, only misunderstood. When ‘the man’ was the greatest threat to a decent life and anti-establishment the proper recourse. Patriarchy finally teetered toward terminal collapse. Camelot claimed the White House. And all the Heavens and Earth shone with a hazy warm humming soft glow.
But then came Viet Nam. The death of innocence in Dallas. And the darkness of Nixon. The Cold War. The American hostages. The implosion of Communism. Reagan and AIDS.
These were dark times. Surely dark enough to make any right thinking Liberal question his deepest held beliefs.
Could the world really be such a dangerous place? Maybe peace hasn’t always been the answer. Might evil, in fact, exist? Can all our presumptions have been based simply in a childlike naivete? Can this be what it means to grow up?
Ahh, but just then there were the Clinton years. A return to Camelot and our first black President. A booming economy. The rebirth of compassion. A world again finally safe and secure. Clear sparkling water and the freshest of air. America again shining and pure. Peace blossomed anew. Our future so bright we had to wear shades.
Until...
...Bush stole the 2000 election.
And with him brought September 11th and the resurfacing reality of a dangerous world. The creeping return of fear, worry, hatred, and dread. His illegal presidency bursting our bubbles of safety and tech stocks. The world hated us and deservedly so. We became racists, homophobes, profilers, and killers. Life more and more seemed uncertain, hard, and treacherous. It seemed like we were on our own. Our civil rights dropping like White Cross at Woodstock to a messianic empire building fascist fool.
For all this he will be surely made to pay.
Pay with jabs at his character. Insults to his intelligence. Questions regarding his motivations. Attacks on his policies. Lies about his past.
Evil walks the Earth now in the guise of an American administration and any degradation is righteously offered and surely well founded.

So this, then, is where the true schism begins in the mind of the Leftist.
If Bush is truly evil, then evil must truly exist. If he is to be blamed for all these wrongs in the world, then the world must be chock full of wrongs. If he can cause so many to hate America, then the world must surely be a dangerous place. If so many here who profess peace and love, abhor and wish the worst for him, then peace and love are mere words. Freed from all meaning.
It gets worse.
If these things are indeed true, then the ideas formed and actions taken during the time many on the anti-establishment Left consider the most meaningful of their lives end as nothing but lies and youthful delusion. The sixties then were just childish self-masturbation. Wasted brain cells. And wasted time. The importance with which they have seeded this time in American history, and their part in it, simply more self-deception.
Truths the immature mind takes no great pleasure in accepting.
This self-discovery leads then to even more hatred and bile directed toward the object which forced it to the surface in the first place. Anger and repression do a two-step in the Leftist mind. And lashing out, then, is never far behind.
Thus the circle of attacks and self awareness begin again. Playing out in a spiral towards insanity.
Yes, we live in dangerous and serious times.

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes

More Media Distortion

2006-04-17T18:52:00.000-05:00

I have little to no respect for what passes as journalism and media in this country. Even with that in mind, every day it seems, I am shown how much I obviously overestimate their honor, intelligence, truthfulness, and diligence.
Rush calls them the ‘Drive-by Media’.
But I think things are worse even than that. Most so called journalist are painfully under educated as to the substance of the stories they cover. But worse still are those whose ideology blurs the lines of ethics and infects their work with wink-wink half truths or even outright lies.
Today in The Chicago Sun-Times
was the perfect example of the latter.
Zay Smith, an obvious Leftist and ‘writer’ of the QT section, crossed the line from ideological opinion into downright deception with this line...

Capitol gains
News Item: Vice President Dick Cheney receives $1.9 million tax refund.

Is the statement true? Well, yes it is.
But does it tell the whole story? Or is it made merely to anger those who hate Mr. Cheney and believe the rich love nothing more than to cheat on their taxes?Does it give all the facts? Or is it simply another Bush hater using his to pulpit smear the administration through distortion and half-truths?
Here is the rest of the story from The Wichita Eagle,
a newspaper a tad more interested in telling the whole truth.

The Cheneys reported adjusted gross income of nearly $8.82 million.
The Cheneys donated about $6.87 million to charity from stock options and royalties earned on Lynne Cheney's books.
After subtracting the charitable contributions, the Cheneys' income was $1.95 million on which they owed $529,636 in taxes, according to a statement released by Cheney's office.
Since the Cheneys paid $2.46 million in withholding and estimated taxes over the year, they were entitled to a refund of about $1.93 million.

So, was Mr. Smith’s one-liner the work of an ethical journalist interested in uncovering the truth?
You can be the judge.
And then e-mail Mr. Smith at qt@suntimes.com and let him know what you think of the honor and integrity he so obviously feels for and instills in his so called ‘work’.

Crossposted @ Total Kaos Blog

Illegal Immigration with Pancho the Alien

2006-04-10T18:01:00.000-05:00

For those unaware, I have an expert.
Whenever a subject is too big for my tiny human mind to comprehend, it is to him that I turn for clarity. His name is Pancho. He is from the planet Morlo, the eighth planet in the Sagittariun system.

S&S: Hello, Pancho.
Pancho: And hello to you as well. I was just idling my time watching this Jerry Springer Show.
S&S: Uh huh...
Pancho: He was talking to a four hundred pound Rastafari lesbian who feels her trans-gendered daughter dresses too sexy.
S&S: Not surprising, I guess.
Pancho: You humans are one sick demented species.
S&S: Whoa there, Pancho. The Jerry Springer Show is not serious. I think it’s supposed to be some kind of dark low brow attempt at humor.
Pancho: Whew, I was worried there for a minute. I thought some of you humans actually take this guy seriously.
S&S: I, on the other hand, called you here to discuss a truly serious subject.
Pancho: By all means...
S&S: I’m not sure how things are on Morlo, but we here on Earth are split up into communities we call countries. Each country is a separate entity unto itself with well defined borders. I am an American as I reside in the country known as America.
Pancho: All this is extremely interesting, in fact I’m standing on the edge of my seat.
S&S: That’s ‘sitting’. You’re ‘sitting edge of your seat’.
Pancho: Really? How can you tell...we Morlons have no asses.
S&S: Whatever. I brought you here to discuss illegal immigration. America is being invaded by people from other countries swarming across our Southern border.
Pancho: Ah, we Morlons have dealt with much the same problem. For centuries Morlo has been invaded by an alien race we call Mexians. Not all at once and not through armed conflict, but slowly and steadily for ages.
S&S: Yes. This is the problem here, as well. Illegals by the thousands pour into our country, using our social services and paying little in return.
Pancho: Yes, the aliens on Morlon seem much the same. It has gotten so bad, in fact, The Bureau of Panderization has had to issue an edict that all Morlons must do their own yard work and wash their own dishes.
S&S: Oh my. One of the selling points from those who are pro-illegal immigrant in America is that these people will do work Americans won’t.
Pancho: And on Morlon, as well. Past this, the Mexians have become a powerful political force. They are using both Morlon parties against each other in order to gain legal status and rights. There is little either can do...they’re hands are tried.
S&S: ‘Tied’. They are ‘tied’!
Pancho: That’s what I said, neither can get the upper hand. And we Morlons don’t even have hands.
S&S: OK, you win. But I brought you here to help. It seems you Morlons have much the same problem as we here in America. What is your advice?
Pancho: Well, let me start by stating that this problem goes deeper than you can even imagine. On Morlon the Mexians not only take our jobs, but they maneuver themselves into our culture, becoming a necessary part of our economy. They work cheaper than the average Morlon and often harder, as well. Many own property, have mortgages, and are raising their alien offspring on Morlon.
S&S: Go on.
Pancho: To have used The Galactic Federation’s Department of Unionized Alien Repatriotization to round them up and remove them would have been a costly endeavor. Not even looking at the damage to the Morlon economy and banking system.
S&S: So what did you do?
Pancho: We decided to erect a force field around the entire planet.
S&S: Ah, so you cured the problem?
Pancho: Not so fast, don’t jump the spark.
S&S: ‘Shark’, you moron! ‘Shark’!
Pancho: Where? Does it have a lazer beam attached to its head?
S&S: Enough! Your grasp of the English language leaves something to be desired.
Pancho: Not surprising. As English is the fourteenth most difficult language in the entire Galaxy. Just one behind the United States tax code.
S&S: Amen.
Pancho: So we were going to build a force field. That is, until the ICLU stepped in.
S&S: Ok, I’ll bite. The ICLU?
Pancho: Yes the Intergalactic Civil Liberties Union. They threatened to sue over whether it was a violation of Mexian rights to close of Morlo from their illegal immigration. And the Morlon press began calling decent Morlons bigots for simply wanting their planet protected. It was a mess.
S&S: So with such inherent seemingly insurmountable difficulties, what did your people finally do?
Pancho: Ahem...I’m 3'2", with six arms, a spring for a leg, and a trunk growing out of my anus. Let’s just say, I didn’t come to Earth for my health.
S&S: Well said. Do I pay you with a check or cash?
Pancho: Why cash, of course.

*For more Pancho wisdom go here and here.
**Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes

Restoration

2006-03-29T20:10:00.000-06:00

I try to spend at least a week a year away from civilization. Alone with family and friends on a isolated lake in central Ontario. No electricity, no indoor toilet, no access roads.
We get in by float plane and out the same way.
This comes as close to true wilderness as one can get in today’s on demand world in which we live.
I go there to fish. I go there to relax. I go there to spend time with those I care most about. But mostly, I go there to remember. To refresh in my mind how little one truly needs in order to survive. To recall for a week the pleasure derived from being self-reliant. To be reminded of the value in hard work.
I fish for my food. Clean it and cook it. I chop wood for the fire. Build it and tend it. I battle daily my most fierce of foes...the ice house. Chip and clean the ice, keep the coolers filled, and the beer ice cold. I keep the camp clean to keep the bears away.
And I watch for those bears, and the moose, and the eagles. To get a glimpse of the natural world hidden from me through most of the year.
In short, I leave the world of my other fifty one weeks behind and remember what it is to be a man.
So little in today’s culture demands of one any struggle whatsoever. Sacrifice is a word better left to other generations. Surely never heard uttered from the mouths of the ‘gimme generation’ and its political patronizers.
I yearn for that harder life. For the man versus nature conditions of our forefathers. For the demands of self-sufficiency. For the honor that comes with struggle.
I am daily saddened by what I see of the young males loose on the streets of today’s America. Sad at the lack of respect. Sad at the lack of responsibility. Sad at the lack of interest of what makes up a man.
I long to take these young men with me. Miles away from iPods and Grand Theft Auto. Let them discover the true self esteem that comes from experience and self-reliance. Find the honor inherent in personal responsibility and struggle. Learn that character comes from hard work and respect. See them spend at least a week a year away from civilization.

Like a Fish Torches a Bicycle

2006-03-26T08:02:00.000-06:00

For those without the ability to extrapolate, the riots in France should come as solemn warning of things to come.
When the mental process of Socialistic entitlement moves from the conscious to the subconscious mind, this is the result. A bratty ‘it is my right’ mentality develops. An inherent disassociation from personal compulsion and responsibility inevitably arises.
These are the creatures one would expect.
Humans so rapt in a mixture of self-loathing and false self-esteem, confusion ultimately manifests in anger. Add to that the feminine Narcissistic tendencies that are reinforced by a culture that deserves rather than earns. And we end with a stew of young people without the masculine qualities of self sacrifice and restraint.
So here we are at the true meaning of this post. The new book, "Raising Boys Without Men : How Maverick Moms Are Creating the Next Generation of Exceptional Men", is an accurate example of the sickness that inhabits our society today. It is a book designed to help single and lesbian mothers raise ‘exceptional men’. ‘Exceptional’ by what standard, one wonders. By the standards of radical Feminism?
It once again brings example to the utter disrespect for the qualities strong males bring to the raising of children and to society in general. Men, finally, are irrelevant. The fish can at last save its money, better a hybrid than a Schwinn anyway.
Much of what one would consider qualities of the Left are in fact feminine attributes. Such things as compassion without responsibility, feelings oriented action, Socialistic sharing of resources, nonjudgmental acceptance, neurotic fear of failure, all are aspects of Jung’s anima. But they are only one side of the human psyche.
A strong health society can not long exist without the positive aspects of masculinity, as well. Can not long survive with out men of strength, valor, honor, and respect. Will fall into chaos without boys who exhibit self-control, protective instinct, personal responsibility, and drive.
Our schools choose to medicate the male out of the boy. Our culture reinforces the effeminate, while demeaning the masculine. Our government plays the role of mother rather than father.
Just what kind of man are we trying to build here?
For those without the ability to extrapolate, the riots in France should come as solemn warning of things to come.

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes

Another Useful Idiot

2006-03-25T08:23:00.000-06:00

You remember Madeleine Albright, don’t you?
She was Clinton’s Secretary of State during the Rwanda genocide.
And still Secretary of State as Osama bin Laden grew from “an ordinary man to a Hydra-like monster”, while he directed the bombings of the American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, and the bombing of the destroyer U.S.S. Cole.
She wondered while on Fox News before the election in 2004, “Do you suppose that the Bush administration has Osama bin Laden hidden away somewhere and will bring him out before the election?"
In October of 2003 she wrote, “I regret not having done more to push for liberalization within the Arab world...We must be relentless in shaping a global consensus that terrorism is fully, fundamentally, and always wrong. No exceptions, no excuses. I made this argument to Arab leaders many times when I was secretary of state. The responses, however, were rarely satisfactory.”
And she had these words to say about Saddam Hussein, “Saddam doesn't care a fig about the Iraqi people, whom he has used and victimized. We will not allow Baghdad to get away with flagrantly violating U.N. resolutions.”
Well, she’s back.

The Bush administration's newly unveiled National Security Strategy might well be subtitled "The Irony of Iran." Three years after the invasion of Iraq and the invention of the phrase "axis of evil," the administration now highlights the threat posed by Iran — whose radical government has been vastly strengthened by the invasion of Iraq. This is more tragedy than strategy, and it reflects the Manichean approach this administration has taken to the world.

I wonder, Ms. Albright, how different our ‘strategy’ on Iran would be now if Mr. Hussein were still in power in Iraq? How much more complicated? How much more dangerous?
You seemed to understand the Iraq problem while Secretary of State under Clinton as you stated, “What we are doing is trying to follow out the diplomatic string, but it is running out, quite frankly. And we are prepared to use military force.” And Saddam is “trying to sneak out the back with weapons of mass destruction in hand”
Or was your ‘strategy’ all bluster and threat?
Ms. Albright goes on...

It is sometimes convenient, for purposes of rhetorical effect, for national leaders to talk of a globe neatly divided into good and bad. It is quite another, however, to base the policies of the world's most powerful nation upon that fiction. The administration's penchant for painting its perceived adversaries with the same sweeping brush has led to a series of unintended consequences.

Hmm...

Iranian police and plainclothes agents yesterday charged a peaceful assembly of women’s rights activists in Tehran and beat hundreds of women and men who had gathered to commemorate International Women’s Day, Human Rights Watch said today.

On Sunday, November 13, the semi-official Tehran daily Kayhan reported that the Iranian government publicly hung two men, Mokhtar N. (24 years old) and Ali A. (25 years old), in the Shahid Bahonar Square of the northern town of Gorgan.

The government reportedly executed the two men for the crime of "lavat." Iran’s shari`a-based penal code defines lavat as penetrative and non-penetrative sexual acts between men. Iranian law punishes all penetrative sexual acts between adult men with the death penalty. Non-penetrative sexual acts between men are punished with lashes until the fourth offense, when they are punished with death. Sexual acts between women, which are defined differently, are punished with lashes until the fourth offense, when they are also punished with death.

Mass graves in Iraq are characterized as unmarked sites containing at least six bodies. Some can be identified by mounds of earth piled above the ground or as deep pits that appear to have been filled. Some older graves are more difficult to identify, having been covered by vegetation and debris over time. Sites have been discovered in all regions of the country and contain members of every major religious and ethnic group in Iraq as well as foreign nationals, including Kuwaitis and Saudis. Over 250 sites have been reported, of which approximately 40 have been confirmed to date. Over one million Iraqis are believed to be missing in Iraq as a result of executions, wars and defections, of whom hundreds of thousands are thought to be in mass graves.
Most of the graves discovered to date correspond to one of five major atrocities perpetrated by the regime.
The 1983 attack against Kurdish citizens belonging to the Barzani tribe, 8,000 of whom were rounded up by the regime in northern Iraq and executed in deserts at great distances from their homes.
The 1988 Anfal campaign, during which as many as 182,000 people disappeared. Most of the men were separated from their families and were executed in deserts in the west and southwest of Iraq. The remains of some of their wives and children have also been found in mass graves.
Chemical attacks against Kurdish villages from 1986 to 1988, including the Halabja attack, when the Iraqi Air Force dropped sarin, VX and tabun chemical agents on the civilian population, killing 5,000 people immediately and causing long-term medical problems, related deaths, and birth defects among the progeny of thousands more.
The 1991 massacre of Iraqi Shi’a Muslims after the Shi’a uprising at the end of the Gulf war, in which tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in such regions as Basra and Al-Hillah were killed.
The 1991 Kurdish massacre, which targeted civilians and soldiers who fought for autonomy in northern Iraq after the Gulf war.

Odai and Qusay were partial to having prisoners forced to drink gasoline and then shot with incendiary bullets that ignited their bodies. Others were stripped naked, smeared with honey and tossed to starving dogs.
Odai when he was head of the Iraq National Olympic Committee used torture of the country’s athletes as a motivational technique.

Torture victims in Iraq have been blindfolded, stripped of their clothes and suspended from their wrists for long hours. Electric shocks have been used on various parts of their bodies, including the genitals, ears, the tongue and fingers. Victims have described to Amnesty International how they have been beaten with canes, whips, hosepipe or metal rods and how they have been suspended for hours from either a rotating fan in the ceiling or from a horizontal pole often in contorted positions as electric shocks were applied repeatedly on their bodies. Some victims had been forced to watch others, including their own relatives or family members, being tortured in front of them.

Other methods of physical torture described by former victims include the use of Falaqa (beating on the soles of the feet), extinguishing of cigarettes on various parts of the body, extraction of finger nails and toenails and piercing of the hands with an electric drill. Some have been sexually abused and others have had objects, including broken bottles, forced into their anus. In addition to physical torture, detainees have been threatened with rape and subjected to mock execution. They have been placed in cells where they could hear the screams of others being tortured and have been deprived of sleep. Some have stayed in solitary confinement for long periods of time. Detainees have also been threatened with bringing in a female relative, especially the wife or the mother, and raping her in front of the detainee. Some of these threats have been carried out.

You can put me in the column, Madeleine, of those who want a “globe neatly divided into good and bad”. And I’ll put you in the column of ‘useful idiots’.

State-Mart

2006-03-09T17:23:00.000-06:00

Honorable Governor and members of the General Assembly.
It is time we deal with what has been a thorn in the side of not only the government of the great state of Maryland, but to its constituency as well.
The recent Supreme Court ruling in Kelo vs. New London has given us all the powers necessary in order to put an end to our state’s most grievous of human rights violators.
I am, of course, referring to the blight that is Wal-Mart.
I do not choose the word ‘blight’ lightly.
The taxpayers of this state have suffered far too long under the tyranny of Wal-Mart’s excesses. The meager share this evil corporation adds to the public trust will in the end be its final undoing.
It is high time these bourgeoisie capitalists paid for their disrespect.
As the esteemed Mr. Marx understood, communism can not be created on the backs of the poor. And we must understand that our way to freedom rests on the shoulders of the producers as well. We must appreciate the power of Capitalism to build a base of wealth. And likewise comprehend our responsibility to use that wealth for the betterment of our citizenry.
So here, comrades, is what I propose.
As it is now understood, the state’s powers of eminent domain and the Fifth Amendment’s Taking Clause allow a state to seize the property from a property owner in order to use that property in what the state deems a more profitable manner.
With these expanded powers, this state government may at long last have the ability to fulfill the obligations it has towards its people and their needs.
I propose that the state of Maryland and the local governments which are effected take action. That we simply repossess what was rightfully ours in the first place. That we as the ruling body of the state of Maryland take over ownership of every Wal-Mart within our borders.
The advantages to the citizens of our distinguished state of such a move would seem to leave us little choice.
As you will see, it is a no lose gambit for us.
As the new owners we would still receive the tax dollars already intended for us. But with Wal-Mart’s profit now averaging nearly 3.5%, how much more money could we then send to upgrade our schools, healthcare, and roads.
Present Wal-Mart employees, who scrape by on sub-standard wages would now be state employees entitled to all the inherent benefits. Benefits which would surely include health care.
Unionization, of course, would be a first priority. Increasing the standard of living for the employees and availing them of due process in any grievances they may suffer.
This unionization would, over time, lead to increased prices and through the laws of proportion thus again increase cash revenue to the state.
Our future control over the loose cannon that was the monopoly known as Wal-Mart would allow the legislature of Maryland vast opportunities. The opportunity to bring the manufacturing of products sold there back to the people of our state. The undisputed power to enforce the selling of whichever pharmaceuticals we would deem appropriate. An unbridled control over hiring practices, finally leveling the playing field for minorities and women.
As you see, comrades, the only wrong move in this instance would be no to move at all. To leave control of Wal-Mart to the fascists now in power there would be a gross negligence of our duties to the public. An utter disregarding of the responsibilities our positions require.
In closing, I simply ask that Maryland no longer follow other lesser states into the oblivion that is Capitalism, but let it lead the American proletariat to a greater and brighter future. A future where State-Mart is merely one brick in the foundation that is social justice.

Full Circle

2006-03-05T11:00:00.000-06:00

Timeline 2075. Anadyr, Chukotka, Siberia

“Hey, Sven.”
“Yes, Vladimir?”
“Another Vodka Pina Colada?”
“‘Absolut’ly”
“Sven, you are one funny surfer dude!”
Absolut Vodka, The Vodka for all your beaching needs.

The preceding ad would have seemed ridiculous just a mere 65 years ago. We here in the Northern Alliance wish to convey our deepest of gratitude to the desert states of the South. And with this in mind, we are offering a free week at any of our all inclusive resorts that dot the tropical coast of our beloved Bering Sea. You need only be a survivor of the cataclysmic rise in global ocean levels that so plagued the Southern superpowers in order to be eligible.
The Northern Alliance states...Russia, Finland, Alaska, Greenland, Sweden, and Nunavut are thankful to all who have had a hand in bringing the tropics to our shores. With an average temperature now of 85 degrees Fahrenheit, beautiful sand beaches, and a growing season of 8 to 10 months, our states are a Utopianist’s dream.
And it never could have happened without the efforts of the entire world community.
Even the American Left pitched in when we brought our case before them just a half century ago. On the one hand there was the threat and fear of Global Warming. On the other, the gross inequality of their countries lying fixed in moderate climates while ours ever remained lifeless frozen wastelands. They capitulated once they understood the stark unfairness in this state of affairs.
Understood the poverty that the ceaseless cold brought forth. Our living wage consisted of enough seal fat to survive the winter.
Understood the woeful lack of doctors needed for our free health care system and on demand abortions.
The utter deficiency in the numbers of homosexuals who at that time chose to live in less difficult environments.
The absence of Liberal indoctrination on people who had to live off the land and on their own individual wits. Uneducated people who actually had the gall to think first of themselves and their own families.
All these injustices they freely understood and embraced. Their compassion was a joy to behold.
We further explained that our wildlife, which at that point was suffering from the mind wrenching cold, would live a more comfortable life if Carbon Dioxide was more favorably embraced.
With that they ditched their hybrids, cancelled their Sierra Club memberships, and cooked on open wood burning stoves. They bought Excursions and went on non-essential trips. In short, they brought equality to our modern world.
You see, they understood that it was not our fault we lived in the far North. That our situation was not one we would willingly have chosen. But one forced upon us by the warm climate Nazi capitalists who would not fairly share their bounty.
So again we of the Northern Alliance, and I am sure those of the Far Southern Pact as well, wish to forward our utmost gratitude and thanks to the American Left and to all those who had a hand in building the fairer world that we inhabit today.

“Hey, Sven.”
“Yes, Vladimir?”
“Did you just feel that cool breeze?”
“Uh oh. Here we go again. Better break out the cheap s***”
Gordon Vodka, for when the Earth’s natural cycle comes full circle.

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes

Some Fun With Sticks and Stones

2006-03-04T08:03:00.000-06:00

There a few things as vitriolic as a Liberal when faced with an opposing opinion.
And fewer yet, things quite as funny.
At the risk of seeming like I am injecting a cheap plug, my blog name is Sticks and Stones. How this is relevant here will become clear soon enough.
Recently I was blog surfing and came upon a blog that caught my eye. Why? The name of the blog is With Sticks and Stones.
Interesting, I thought. And in my normal playful sarcastic mode posted the following comment on a post there:

gblagg said...
Argghhhh. You stole my blog name and your a Liberal. I'm in hell!!!
2/16/2006 6:10 PM

I should have known better. Here is what I got in return:

ariadnek, ph.d. said...
gblagg: "STOLE" your blog name? Hmm...in that case, please provide a link; I also highly doubt you even had (or even now have) a clue about Einstein's statement...'cause I'm not sure if fascist conservatives are capable of reading that well.
2/16/2006 11:17 PM

and:

ariadnek, ph.d. said...
gblagg, I found your blog (and incidentally, yours definitely was not a title "stolen" by us: yours is somewhat weak and out of context). I find it intriguing that you claim to be a Libertarian...I think your problem is that you're just a disguised neoconservative that desperately needs to get laid. Your hand doesn't count, either. :-P
2/16/2006 11:29 PM

Oh yeah, I'm also a neo-Nazi(thanks, Brad):

Brad said...
Interesting you can't point to any outside source that denies what I know to be true, only your own idiotic ramblings.

"Libertarians" are what KKK members would call themselves were they still active.

2/20/2006 12:24 AM

And for more on the Pandora’s box my sexual practices:

ariadnek, ph.d. said...
Dude...I guess you didn't get laid last night after all. I'm right on with Brad's perspective, and it would be impossible for any of your inane drivel to flex my convictions.
2/19/2006 5:32 AM

So as the adult in this internet relationship, I felt it was up to me to offer the olive branch. I sent the following e-mail to ariadneK, Ph.D.:

Dear Writers @ With Sticks and Stones,

Let me begin by stating my original comment on your blog was made half in jest. I have been blogging for a little over a year over at Sticks and Stones and when I ran across your blog, I was rather amused and somewhat excited. I was curious at its content and at what a brothers-in-name might have to say. When I stated you stole my blog name, it was meant in a wry, playful manner. I hope it was taken as such.

But let us get to the point of this correspondence.

Our country is deeply divided, as I am sure you are well aware. This is not a special case in the history of this nation, but the level of vitriol seems more intense and in all seriousness downright dangerous.

Thus, I feel, fate has offered us a unique opportunity here. It seems obvious to me, and I am sure to you as well, that our ideologies could not be more dissimilar. It is here where the opportunity presents itself. I offer you a truce. No, an alliance.

Here is my idea. In the interest of understanding, I propose we each be open to cross posting on the other’s blog. When a story of mutual interest pops up, we could express our opinions on the matter and run both posts on each other’s blog(Or on a different blog completely with the ‘Sticks and Stones’ theme, linked from our individual blogs).

This would allow both of us to reach an audience we never would have had access to. As well, it would allow the reader entrance into a world of ideas he may have never thought existed. It could open eyes to the innate differences, as well as spark awarenesses of what we actually may have in common. Beyond these honorable reasons, it is just quirky enough to turn into something big.

If you are interested, I do have a few prerequisites. We must remain civil in our arguments. We must allow that the other is intelligent and thoughtful in his ideas and opinions even while we may be in disagreement. We must agree that although our opinions on matters may differ, we both have the good interest of our nation and its people at heart. We must allow comments, unmoderated, as I feel that understanding the motivation of an argument is often more important than reaching agreement. These terms are open to discussion.

Think on it. If you are interested, please comment on one of my posts and we can work out details from there.

Thank you in advance,

GBlagg @ Sticks and Stones
stickandstone.blogspot.com

I received no reply. Although in all truth I had actually hoped for a hate filled rant, seething with bile. I guess you can't always get what you want.
So it was back to work for me.
Next was my comment on their profound post that basically stated that rape is bad:

gblagg said...
Wow, you guys are against rape...you really stepped out on a limb on that one. Pat yourselves on the back for your high fallutin' moral compass. Whew boy, you should start a religion or something. We lower life forms need direction.
2/27/2006 6:00 PM

Back to my sex life:

ariadnek, ph.d. said...
Go f***(asterisks are mine) yourself with a razor, gblagg. Then again, you'd probably get aroused by the prospect.

kim: we'll have a party with it!!! :-)
2/28/2006 11:54 PM

Alas, it goes on and on with Cracker entering the fray(If you enjoy this sort of thing or would like to jump in, go here). Yada, yada, yada.
But here is the tally so far. I am an idiotic, fascist, stupid, undersexed neoconservative. A pseudo-anarchist militia member in the KKK. A dumf*** Repulitard.
Wow. I guess I really am all that.

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes

A Dialogue on Justice

2006-02-26T09:07:00.000-06:00

GBlagg: I hoped today we could discuss the issue of justice.
S&S: Ah, yes justice. The ‘dividing line’.
GBlagg: The ‘dividing line’?
S&S: You will understand soon enough.
Where would you like to begin?
GBlagg: Well, I have been thinking lately about how it is that I form my opinions on issues. What process I use to come to these opinions. What exactly is it that my rational mind uses to measure and weigh the information in order to decide where my beliefs should fall.
S&S: And?
GBlagg: And, I have found that I almost universally rely on the idea of justice.
S&S: Ah. so here already we have come to the idea of the ‘dividing line’. The ‘dividing line’ of 'justice'.
GBlagg: Explain.
S&S: Man uses many different ‘filters’ in the decision process.
But here you wish to deal with the ‘filter’ of ‘justice’. You say you look to ‘justice’ to make decisions. Admittedly, I am much the same.
But this is not the case for many among us. The ‘filter’ of ‘justice’ is the ‘dividing line’ between you and those who use other ‘filters’ through which to come to an understanding of their own opinions.
GBlagg: Such as?
S&S: Well, let me ask you first...just what is it you would define as ‘justice’?
GBlagg: That one gets as one deserves, whether through actions good or evil. Good actions should result in positive outcomes and evil actions, negative outcomes. And adversely, good actions should not result in negative outcomes, nor should evil actions result in positive ones. And of course, reality being what it is, ‘justice’ is the working towards forcing reality to fit this balance.
S&S: Give an example, please.
GBlagg: OK. We have two young men.
One works hard in school. He avoids trouble through his teen years, goes to college, gets a decent job, finds a nice girl to marry, and lives within the law.
The other drops out of high school, he gets into drugs, runs afoul of the law, and lands in prison.
The first man lives a happy life, content and well liked.
The second spends his life in and out of the penal system.
S&S: I see. So the outcomes of their lives seem to you to be just. But what of the idea that society should see these men as equal?
GBlagg: That is insanity. They are not equal. One has spent his life doing what is right, the other the opposite. To call them equal is unjust. So as shown here, justice demands inequality.
S&S: I tend to agree, yet ‘equality’ is another ‘filter’. One that is used by many in our society.
Here we have the ‘dividing line’ of ‘justice’ and ‘equality’.
GBlagg: Go on.
S&S: Those who see through the ‘filter’ of ‘equality’, see no differences in actions. No difference at all between a good or evil action. As long as the outcome ends in what they see as ‘equality’, the means to that end mean very little to them. The originating actions, motives, and rationales simply do not matter. ‘Equality’ matters above all.
This person would see in the example you gave, a harsh unfairness. Both men, they would say, should suffer equal outcomes in their lives...‘equality’, they say, demands it. Equal happiness, equal social status, equal work and job opportunities.
GBlagg: I have dealt with many who think and act exactly as you describe. I can think of many examples of this type of thinking. Socialism and Communism come to mind. And affirmative action and feminist job quotas. Redistributive taxation and the entire entitlement culture.
S&S: You mentioned Socialism. Let us look at that for a moment.
GBlagg: It is the nearly perfect example. It is simply ‘injustice’ disguised as ‘equality’. At its core it is nothing more than the unproductive acting as parasites on the productive.
S&S: But it would be argued that this is in the name of ‘compassion’.
GBlagg: ‘It would be argued’, yes. But this is a lame argument. If one truly believes in ‘equality’, no man can have more than any other, yes? If this is so, then how is it ‘compassionate’ to those who actually work hard to take what they have truly earned and give it to those who haven’t? Where is the ‘equality’ in ‘compassion’ here?
For Socialism to work, it must work in the real world. And humans, being what they are, the lazy will ultimately take advantage of this so called ‘equality’. It is much the same as what we see in this countries entitlement culture. People believing that they are entitled simply through the accident of birth to that which another man has earned. There is no ‘justice’ here. And definitely no ‘equality’ of ‘compassion’.
S&S: OK, good. But are there any other points of divergence between the ‘justice’ and ‘equality’ crowds?
GBlagg: Well, how about the constant complaint that there are more of one race in prison than another?
S&S: OK, proceed.
GBlagg: We have both heard the argument that a certain minority is over represented in the justice system. The argument goes that inequality in race is proven through the fact that there is not the same proportion of race differential in prison as there is in free society. And added to that, there is usually a demand that those numbers be artificially made equal.
It seems to me, though, that ‘justice’ demands that it should not matter what the color of a man’s skin. If he is a criminal, he should be punished. If this means that one race is over represented in our penal system, then so be it. Let ‘justice’ decide, not ‘equality’.
S&S: Are there any other examples you can think of?
GBlagg: Well to be precise, it really has to do with ‘equality’ and ‘injustice’.
It goes to the whole Larry Summers debacle. Many feminists believe that there should be the exact same number of women as men in every job classification. As many women as men truck drives, miners, crab fishermen, roofers, scientists, etc. Many are so adamant, they seek laws to force this to be the case. They demand ‘equality’ in jobs women would sooner choose not to work. ‘Equality’ in jobs women would in all honesty not be as good at. This is unjust and insane.
And affirmative action is another example. It is the forcing of ‘equality’ with little or no regard to ‘justice’. Something as insignificant as the amount of melanin in one’s skin awards one an advantage in college admissions?
S&S: It seems the point has been made. But there are other ‘filters’ that work against ‘justice’.
Gblagg: Such as?
S&S: Well, how about the ‘filter’ of ‘peace at all costs’?
GBlagg: OK, I can see that. I have met those who believe that war is never right. That there are no such things as a just wars.
S&S: Yes, of course. So how does this oppose ‘justice’?
GBlagg: Where is the ‘justice’ in refusing to fight even as tyranny sweeps one’s country? Or remaining passive as men are beheaded, children slaughtered, or women raped?
Would it have been ‘just’ to stand by and let the Germans continue on through Europe in World War II? To finish the genocide of the Jews?
How can one, in all honesty, say it is always wrong to fight tyranny?
If ‘War is Never the Answer’, I need to see the question.
S&S: Yes, they are a mindless crowd. But let us move forward.
Let us look at the ‘filter’ of ‘moral relativism’. Does this ‘filter’ oppose ‘justice’?
GBlagg: I would say yes.
S&S: Explain.
GBlagg: In order for there to be justice, judgements must first be made. Justice demands judgements. Judgements of good and evil, right and wrong. Justice can not exist without judgement.
‘Moral relativism’ denies good and evil. It abhors judgements. This links back to the ‘equality’ argument. It argues that there is no right or wrong. So all men, all actions, all beliefs, all outcomes are ‘equal. And who are we to judge?.
S&S: I see. And how is this ‘unjust’.
GBlagg: We need simply take a look at the Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams case. He murdered an entire family in cold blood. He never took responsibility for these killings. He threatened the jurors at his trial.
He was a founding member of the Crips street gang.
Ah, but he wrote children’s books.
So on one side we have three people. Left lying bleeding, dying, gasping for life. And on the other, we have a book with some pretty pictures that may or may not influence some young thug to stay out of a gang.
Hmm, this is a tough one.
But this is ‘moral relativism’.
S&S: Can you think of any other examples?
GBlagg: Sure. Let us look at the way many feminists look at the fetus. They see it as being no different than a virus or a bacteria. Simply a parasite on the mother. So morally, to get rid of it is not unlike simply taking penicillin to cure a bug.
The idea of whether it is just or not to steal the future from a human being in the making either never enters the picture or is purposefully ignored.
S&S: So do we now understand the idea of the ‘dividing line’?
GBlagg: In those terms, now, yes. But, subconsciously and in all reality, I think I’d grasped the difference between what you call the ‘filter’ of ‘justice’ and those that oppose it all along.
S&S: As you say.

Timothy Treadwell...An Obsession

2006-02-26T08:50:00.000-06:00

Timothy Treadwell.
His story has a grip on my psyche that is almost obsessive in its magnitude.
For those unaware of his story, he is ‘The Grizzly Man”. He spent over a dozen summers in Alaska, living among brown bears in nothing but a tent. No guns, no bear spray, no electric fences. His film and photography can only be described as amazing. He ‘loved’ ‘his bears’. He felt they were misunderstood as dangerous man-killers. He taught children this message. He took risks no sane man would take. He and a female companion were killed and eaten by ‘his bears’.
Part of the attraction of Mr. Treadwell and his story for me is that I can see the allure. I can understand his fascination. I have more than a few times come upon bears in the wild and each event has been an experience I will never forget. There is a rawness to the meetings. A closeness to nature and the natural world that is hard to describe. A realization that this creature you are staring down can end your life at a moment’s whim. And when it does not, feelings of closeness and awe overtake you. Of being a part of the environment rather than something from the outside. It is a kinship with nature. I am sure this was one aspect of the addiction Timothy Treadwell developed while living in the last frontier.
But my obsession with Mr. Treadwell comes less from the nature of the world than from the nature of the man.
You see, Timothy Treadwell was the quintessential Liberal. I willingly admit that I do not know this man’s politics. But this matters little. It is in his actions that I find the perfect case study. And this is what this man’s life has become for me. A study in the Liberal mind.
I have devoured every book I could find on his life and his unfortunate demise. I have watched all or parts of Werner Hertzog’s documentary “The Grizzly Man” nearly a half dozen times. Seen the reactions of his associates to the documentary. Read numerous articles and blog posts on the subject. Spent literally hours in thought on the mental processes of this man’s mind.
And here is what I have found.
Mr. Treadwell exhibited all of the mental aspects that are the building blocks of the Liberal psyche.
There was his simmering anger at ‘the establishment’ for not recognizing his obvious talents. Treadwell endeavored many times to get his ‘scientific’ study of the brown bears of Alaska recognized by the academic community. He was often at odds with the Alaskan Park Service over his claims of poaching and his ‘protection’ of ‘his bears’. His anger boils over at one point in “The Grizzly Man” when he goes on an extended tirade against ‘the establishment’ and how he is the true protector of ‘his bears’.
Which brings us to the next aspect of the Liberal mind. Narcissism. Treadwell truly believed he alone stood between the bears and their ultimate annihilation. That he was their sole savior.
He longed to be a star. His friends freely admitted his lust to be viewed as ‘a rock star’. He reveled in his appearances on the Letterman and Rosie O’Donnell shows.
In his younger years, if he felt the story of his life was not exciting enough, he would merely change the facts to make it so.
One need only watch his self-important blustering and posturing on nearly every frame of “The Grizzly Man” film to get the point here. ‘Hey look at me, I’m Timothy!’ Like a child crying for attention.
And here we have the next point, a child like naivete. I use the term ‘naivete’ here with reservation as it refers to a lack of understanding of the facts. I feel Treadwell understood the dangers present in his endeavors but either consciously or subconsciously chose to ignore them. His reality would crumble if the truth of the nature of the grizzly were to rise to the surface of his mind.
And every meeting with the bears that did not end in his death simply reinforced this reality for him. He felt no need for the protections most other outdoorsmen in bear country would consider merely common sense...things such as guns, bear spray, electric fences around one’s tent. He felt these things could injure the bears he loved, and childishly refused to use them.
His was a life of activism, another Liberal attribute. Activism is described here as an uncritical, irrational drive toward a particular goal.
Mr. Treadwell saw in his life a chance to prove brown bears were misunderstood as dangerous wild animals. He was driven to make this contention so, the facts be damned. He paid the ultimate price for his dismissal of reality in the advancing of his cause.
Let me close with these last thoughts. I can not deny that Treadwell had a pair of brass ones. No matter the mental meanderings one must enforce upon one’s own psyche, to live among brown and grizzly bears for months at a time alone in the wilderness takes a man of no small mettle. For this he can be admired. But his knowing disassociation with reality always seems to creep back into any honest discussion on the subject. For his life cannot be truly understood without the acknowledgment of the facts of his death. He felt the reason for his life(his activism) was to show the world that it misunderstood ‘his bears’. The facts of his death proved otherwise. He felt it was his life’s work to protect all ‘his bears’. The deaths of the bears found feeding on his corpse gave lie to this, as well.
Yet in the last moments of Treadwell’s life something happened. While in the jaws of a grizzly, he shouted to his female companion to run. He understood his life was over and tried to save hers. In the final seconds of his existence he left 'Timothy' behind and grew up.

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes

It's Safe, They're Over There

2006-02-24T17:47:00.000-06:00

SAMARRA, Iraq Feb 23, 2006 (AP)— Insurgents posing as police destroyed the golden dome of one of Iraq's holiest Shiite shrines Wednesday, setting off an unprecedented spasm of sectarian violence. Angry crowds thronged the streets, militiamen attacked Sunni mosques, and at least 19 people were killed...

Shiite leaders called for calm, but militants attacked Sunni mosques and a gunfight broke out between Shiite militiamen and guards at a Sunni political party in Basra. Army Capt. Jassim al-Wahash said about 500 soldiers were sent to Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad to prevent clashes between Shiites and Sunnis...

A leading Sunni politician, Tariq al-Hashimi, said 29 Sunni mosques had been attacked nationwide. He urged clerics and politicians to calm the situation "before it spins out of control."...

So let me get this straight, MSM echo chamber....You’ll post this story that will obviously upset and enrage Sunni Muslims who may have been unaware of the bombing into rioting and killing, but we won’t show the cartoons because it might enrage Muslims into rioting and killing.
Looks like I’m adding journalists to those whose nuanced thinking my Conservative pea brain will never quite comprehend.

Muslim Control

2006-02-21T18:50:00.000-06:00

Here are three quick clips from the recent news...
From The Boston Globe...

''Our primary reason," the editors confessed, is ''fear of retaliation from . . . bloodthirsty Islamists who seek to impose their will on those who do not believe as they do . . . Simply stated, we are being terrorized, and . . . could not in good conscience place the men and women who work at the Phoenix and its related companies in physical jeopardy. As we feel forced, literally, to bend to maniacal pressure, this may be the darkest moment in our 40-year-publishing history."

From News.telegraph...

For the past two weeks, Patrick Sookhdeo has been canvassing the opinions of Muslim clerics in Britain on the row over the cartoons featuring images of Mohammed that were first published in Denmark and then reprinted in several other European countries.
"They think they have won the debate," he says with a sigh. "They believe that the British Government has capitulated to them, because it feared the consequences if it did not.
"The cartoons, you see, have not been published in this country, and the Government has been very critical of those countries in which they were published. To many of the Islamic clerics, that's a clear victory.
"It's confirmation of what they believe to be a familiar pattern: if spokesmen for British Muslims threaten what they call 'adverse consequences' - violence to the rest of us - then the British Government will cave in. I think it is a very dangerous precedent."

From Dawn the Internet Edition...

Pakistan on Monday sent out a pointed message to the United Nations and the European Union, particularly Denmark, to redress the damage caused by publication of blasphemous cartoons and demanded practical steps to prevent recurrence of such reprehensible acts.

Addressing a weekly news briefing here, Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam declared Pakistan expected the EU and the UN to take specific measures after the publication of the offensive cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), first in a Danish newspaper and then in other European publications.

“We want Denmark and other European governments to take action, practical steps that would stop from such events happening in future,” Ms Aslam emphasized.

“What we want from the European Union now is concrete steps. It’s not enough to say that in their society there is no tolerance for discrimination and they regret the hurt the cartoons caused. This needs to be backed up with laws,” she asserted.

“In this case we do expect the European Union to put in place some laws which would ensure that in future there are no such incidents,” the Foreign Office spokesperson said.

How can one read the above stories without seeing the obvious connective thread of 'control'? Control of media, of national, and of international law. Control through intimidation and threat.
Control is blood in the water.
I know I harp on the saying, ‘if you reinforce bad behavior, you get more of it’, but for God’s sakes are we all blind?
Because I can assure you our enemy is not. They see us all too well. They know we long for safety and peace. They know our media are cowards and hypocrites. They know the world community will be cowed rather than stand for what is right. They know all this and over and over they have gone about to prove it.
They have a taste of control, do we really think a taste is all they came for?
And how have we responded? With appeasement and capitulation. By bowing to intimidation. Through self blame and mutual understanding. With fear and self deception.
We need to see this for what it is, a war on Western ideals. And the using of those very ideals against us. The longer our heads stay imbedded in the sand, the more dire the future consequences.
There is blood in the water and the sharks have a taste. We must not let fear control our actions, the sharks won’t circle forever.

Afghans Live in Fear

2006-02-21T18:40:00.000-06:00

The Afghani Free Press.
Posted February 20, 2006 1:35 PM EST

3'9" Afghani Player Wins Slam Dunk Contest

Abdul ‘Spud’ Goupda, a guard for the Islamabad Crescents, won the Afghanistan Basketball Association’s Slam Dunk Contest on Sunday. The Slam Dunk Contest is but one of many activities during the All Star Weekend here in Tora Bora.
“I must say, I am very happy to have won,” Mr. Goupda said. “I only wish it had been a fairer contest.”
“The shot that won for me was really more of a lay up than a dunk, but this was all it took and I am proud to have been part of this great contest. Excepting, of course, that I was the only entrant to show up and actually perform. It is a very happy day and a very sad day, as well.”
The wee guard is referring, surely, to the unfortunate disappearance of every other national player.

Nearly All Afghani Basketball Association Players Gone Missing

Asked about the missing players, Mr. Goupda had this to say,” Oh, it is a very bad thing. A very, very bad thing. I am sure it is because of the words of the American sorceress hag that has caused this terrible event. You see, all of my fellow players have gone into hiding. She is an evil woman, a very evil woman.”
“Are there no laws in America to protect us from this devil woman? From her threatening words and actions? Is it she who steers the Great Satan? My friends are very frightened. What have they done to this witch after all?”
Mr. Goupda explained further, “They have hidden in the mountains. In the caves. She has driven them from their homes, from their families. Now they live like frightened children, in terror. Her words and her threats...she is the devil!”
He refers here to the words from the American Senator Hillary Clinton and her veiled threats to the great people of Afghanistan.

You cannot explain to me why we have not captured or killed the tallest man in Afghanistan.

Mr. Goupda continued, “I am ever so happy for the trophy, but my friends must be in such terror. The Americans, it seems, are coming to track them down and kill them. It is has been said the offer is five million rubas.”
When asked what a ruba is, the tiny jump shooter replied, “It is an island in the Caribbean, but that is not important right now. My friends, even the shorter ones, live in the fear of being mistaken as the tallest man in Afghanistan. Our 7'3" center has not left his knees since he heard, and it is not even a Friday night.”

The Wolf Who Ate Chicken Little

2006-02-20T17:09:00.000-06:00

Cracker, at times, forces me to listen to Air America. Often through threat of bodily harm.
Jerry Springer I can stand. After all, is Jerry Springer....of The Jerry Springer Show. Who in their right mind could take this man seriously? ‘Cross dressing hillbilly midgets who dress too sexy weigh in on the ‘culture of corruption’, And Dick Cheney lies, but is he the real baby daddy? All today on The Springer Show.’
But I have a much harder time dealing with Al Franken. He is grating and boring, but mostly
redundant and irritating. Why, you may ask? Well, there are only so many times my aural senses can be assaulted by the words, ‘lie’, ‘lies’, ‘liar’, ‘lying’, or any other tense, contraction, or slang for the base word ‘lie’.
My God, Al, we get it. Bush and his regime lie. Every day, every hour. Even, I am sure in their dreams. They are liars. Lying liars who lie even when they’re lying in their liable sleep.
It gets painful to listen to. Al, the horse is dead.
So Cracker and I came up with a way in which we could listen without the need to physically tear the radio from the dash in a mad psychotic rage. A drinking game. Take a shot every time Mr. Franken uses any form of the base word ‘lie’.
Cracker then gets what he wants...he can to listen to his favorite radio station, he no longer need hide in the closet. And I get what I want, to be so drunk after only five minutes that I can no longer comprehend Mr. Franken’s annoying assault on my rational mind.

But let us get serious for a moment.
It came to my mind one sunny day while listening to Mr. Franken drone on, that the only way to get through to some people is to speak to them in their own language. If someone is acting like a child, one must treat them like a child. Speak to them like one would to a child. It is hard to argue that many on the activist Left do not, in fact, opine and act in a childlike manner. Narcissistic and bratty. Juvenile and immature.
I, like most of you I am sure, was read stories as a child. Many were just puff, but a few had a message. A basic moral statement aimed to influence the values of the child. To teach life lessons. To build character.
There are two stories I believe the Left need revisit. The story of ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ and ‘Chicken Little’.
If you recall these stories, their themes are much the same. The boy ‘cries wolf’ so often that when there is true peril, no one listens. Chicken Little shouts ‘the sky is falling’ to anyone follish enough to listen, finally in the end, meeting a dire fate.
When Mr. Franken beats the dead horse of ‘lies’, he injures his own ability to be taken seriously. He loses credibility.
When the Left continues to cry of a loss of rights and freedoms, and yet those losses never seem to in reality appear; they slowly lose any influence those cries may have held.
When they attack every Bush appointee as a racist, fascist, xenophobe who will surely be the end of all civilization as we know it, they look like simple minded children toying with the fears of the masses when the end does not in fact occur..
When they carp on the sad state of the economy and the dire straits of the poor in America and it is obvious to most intellectually honest persons that these things simply are not the case, they look like silly little chickens calling for the end.
All this would be quiet cute, if it were not for the inherent hazards. As in the boy and the wolf, when real danger is threatened, it then often goes unheeded. Or as with Chicken Little, the real peril is ignored while make believe dangers are childishly pursued.
But in the end, it is simply a problem of discernment. Of knowing where to use one’s energy. Of understanding what is true danger. Of identifying what battles to fight. These abilities are learned through maturity and wisdom. Can we really expect such things from the mind of a child?

A 'Paucity' of Reality

2006-02-17T19:27:00.000-06:00

This Bryant Gumbel thing really hit a nerve with me. Here is what he said for any who may have missed it...

Finally, tonight, the Winter Games. Count me among those who don’t like them and won’t watch them ... Because they’re so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like, try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention. Try not to point out that something’s not really a sport if a pseudo-athlete waits in what’s called a kiss-and-cry area, while some panel of subjective judges decides who won ... So if only to hasten the arrival of the day they’re done, when we can move on to March Madness — for God’s sake, let the games begin.

Where do I start?
How about, you Mr. Gumbel, are naive, simplistic, patronizing, and uninformed.
It is, of course, your statement...‘a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention’, that has me so riled up. You surely can not be serious, because if you are, the name calling above can only be a start.
First, do you truly believe that there are so few blacks in the Republican party because the party chooses this to be so? In the real world of politics, every voter is an asset. In your fantasy world, Mr. Gumbel’s, racists bar your people at the door. But the fact is....and I will say it again...the fact is...if blacks en masse were eager to enter the Republican party they would be accepted with open arms. This is reality. Political reality. A reality that would end the Democratic party as it is known today.
Second, do you really see the GOP as so lily white? What of Ms. Rice, Mr. Powell, Herman Cain, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, etc...? Oh that’s right, they’re simply Uncle Toms bent on enriching themselves through hard work and personal responsibility. They can’t be ‘real blacks’, can they Mr. Gumbel? Your ‘real blacks’ must be life long Democrats. Unable to provide for themselves. Surviving only by the leeching off of government’s redistributive powers. This, Bryant, so you can feel they are being true to their race. What elitist tripe this is.
But in your case, Mr. Gumbel, it makes perfect sense. ‘Cuz it sure ain’t yo talent done got you where you at. You down with that?
Here is a little advice, Bryant. Stick to sports and leave the Liberal politics to your Democratic leadership. They probably won’t do it any better, but the paucity of blacks in that group makes the Winter Olympics look like an Usher concert.

Pancho The Alien and The Echo Chamber

2006-02-16T17:09:00.000-06:00

The ongoing melt down of the American media continues. From its childish tantrums over the vice-president’s hunting accident to the multi-faceted hypocrisy intrinsic in the non-airing of the Mohammed cartoons. The true face of our media is being revealed by the day. And the image is not a pretty one.
How does one reconcile one’s need for information with the obviously unhinged and immature creatures from whom one is forced to accept it? I do not have that answer and felt there was only one place I could go to ease my confounded mind. To gain some incite and maybe even a little wisdom. That place is of course, to Pancho the alien, my expert on nearly everything.
So I put my reservations aside, took a dozen Advil, and made the call.

S&S: Good day, Pancho.
Pancho: It is so good to hear from you, Earthling. It has been awhile, I feared for your health...
S&S: Yeah, well...
Pancho: Good, so you are fine. I as well...
S&S: Uh, can we just...
Pancho: Your abilities at the feminine trait of small talk are unmatched throughout the galaxy.
S&S: What?
Pancho: You see I am being sarcastic. I am blowing smoke up your rectum.
S&S: It’s ‘your ass’...
Pancho: Why, what did I do?
S&S: No, no, not ‘rectum’
Pancho: Oh good, he’ll be OK. I thought I’d damn well killed ‘em...
S&S: Shut up. I brought you here for a reason. I have a question about how things are handled in The Collectivist Federation of Planets.
Pancho: Great. You called the right man. I recall my early days at The Department of Reactionary Misinformation as some of my most cherished. I started out as Assistant Pseudo Clerk to the Director of Hyperbole and quickly moved up ten pay grades, all the way to Neo-Assistant Proto-Clerk.
S&S: Sounds like quite a bureaucracy.
Pancho: Oh, thank you so much. Now who’s smoking whose rectum?
S&S: Drop it. I only hope your vast experiences there won’t be needed in answering my primitive questions.
Pancho: Go on...
S&S: They concern the media in America, or in reality I guess, the media in your Federation. The news media on my planet are out of control. I wonder how advanced life forms like yourselves deal with such an enigma.
Pancho: Oh, we had enough eons ago. The Division of Nanny-like Protection funded a study to uncover the amount of stress the proletariat endured due to the excesses of our galactic media.
S&S: Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. What did they find?
Pancho: It was bad. We found that the attention wasted by our working class through the media’s lust for controversy, their anti-establishment mentality, their puerile interest in the trivial, and their neurotic need for personal reinforcement was not only inefficient, but down right annoying.
S&S: Sounds like a very scientific study.
Pancho: Yep. It was done by the text.
S&S: You mean ‘by the book’.
Pancho: Oh, I wouldn’t waste my time on that. I’d just hold out and wait for the movie.
S&S: Ugh.
Ok, so it was bad. What did your people decide to do?
Pancho: Well, The Department of Funding Unfunded Programs got together and decided to form a committee to look into what to do with the situation.
S&S: And?
Pancho: Well, they came up with some ideas and passed them along to The Bureau of Moving Plans to Other Divisions Department. And that was that.
S&S: Help me out here. What was the plan? Was it implemented? How did it work out? C’mon, give me something here...
Pancho: Excuse me...I guess I dropped the spheres on that one.
S&S: It’s ‘balls’...can’t you see its ‘balls’.
Pancho: No, sorry. It must be wearing pants.
S&S: Enough!
What happened with the galactic media?
Pancho: Oh, that. Well we decided that we could have it all. We could let the media continue to do what they do and yet the average comrade could go on with his life as normal, but not have to be bothered by the annoying inanities.
S&S: Go on.
Pancho: We put aside four uninhabited planets for what we call The Echo Chamber. We sent all our ‘journalists’ to the first planet... New Ork. The Second planet, P’litser, we populated with critics and such. Their only task is to devise award shows and scholarly honours for our journalist friends. Minutia, the third planet, is manned with Federation employees whose only job is to come up with pop stories to keep the inhabitants of New Ork busy.
S&S: And the fourth planet?
Pancho: Ah, Lefteria. This planet is designed to keep all our columnists and broadcasters heading in the right direction. Did I say ‘right’ direction? Now that is funny.
S&S: Do you need a minute? No? Good.
So you have four planets, how does that cure your problem?
Pancho: Oh, well, we let them do their stories and such, but there is a force field around the planets that does not allow their mindlessness out into the universe.
S&S: Hmmm, I like it. But let me ask you a few questions about some of the planets involved.
Pancho: Knock yourself off.
S&S: ‘Out’! ‘Out’! For God’s sakes, ‘out’!
Pancho: Hey, relax, you asked me here...
S&S: No, no...let’s just go on.
Tell me more about the third planet, Minutia.
Pancho: Minutia, eh? Well, that’s where it all begins. Everything stems from here. Ideas such as ‘death toll radio’...the theory that all radio news must have at least 3 items dealing with death, murder, or mayhem. And ‘if it bleeds, it leads’...this is the theory of leading any newscast with some form of violence or destruction. And then we have “scare the little guy’...these are news stories invented to add stress to the lives of the average Joe through the fear-mongering of events that have a near zero chance of actually affecting him. And then there are the ‘it must be important because a celebrity did it’ stories...I think those are pretty self explanatory. Also, of course, we have the ‘make the leader look stupid or guilty’ items...ceaseless attacks on those in power from those who wish they were. There are many more. Is that enough?
S&S: Oh yes, thank you. Tell me about the second planet, then, P’litser.
Pancho: Sure. P’litser is where all our media friends go to fan their flaming egos. Our planning committee found that most journalists couldn’t care less about the facts of their stories, they’re simply looking for some accolades. Looking for their peers to give them a stretch around.
S&S: ‘Reach’, damn it! ‘Reach’!
Pancho: Ok, ok...just don’t shoot.
S&S: Put your hands down and tell me about Lefteria.
Pancho: Sure, but try to relax. Lefteria is the planet where our journalists can go to spend time with their fellow story tellers. They can get training in many diverse areas...areas dealing with such ideas as socialism, secularism, anti-establishmentism, and galacti-culturalism. This elite planet personifies the whole Echo Chamber ideal. Where each man, woman, or other can stretch the boundaries of their beliefs by conversing with others who think exactly as themselves.
S&S: Great, sounds like paradise...
Pancho: Ooh, sarcasm. You wear it fountain.
S&S: ‘Well’! ‘Well’! ‘Well’!
Pancho: What? I’ve told you all I know.
S&S: Thank God, because I can’t take a moment more.

Global Warming With Pancho the Alien

2006-02-10T18:48:00.000-06:00

I have come to believe that the scarcity of critical thought on our planet has reached near disastrous proportions. That the discerning mind is now as rare as Paris Hilton in comfortable shoes. Or Susan Surandon dating a man.
With this in mind, I have taken it upon myself to go forth and rediscover, somewhere out there in the vast universe, the owner of a great and powerful intellect. A creature with logic capabilities far greater than those we as humans possess, one with a superior ability to dissect and describe the shared universe in which we all exist. And at long last, I feel, I found success.
Meet Pancho. He is a scientist. He is an alien(take that as you will). And he is my expert...On everything(so get used to him, you’ll be hearing a lot more from him).
So when I came across an article from The Globe and Mail online entitled “World at its warmest of past 1,200 years, researchers show”, I contacted Pancho for his thoughts.

S&S: Good morning, Pancho.
Pancho: And to you as well, Earthling.
S&S: What’s with the horn growing out of the middle of your head?
Pancho: Oh, that...well, it’s mating season. But I’m sure you didn’t call me here to discuss my amorous habits...
S&S: Truer words have never been spoken. I actually contacted you for some input on an article I recently had the pleasure to peruse. And to help explain some problems I had with a few of its points and assumptions.
Pancho: It would be my pleasure. My great discerning intellect is at your disposal.
S&S: Why do I have the feeling that ‘disposal’ is an apt choice of words?
Pancho: Eh?
S&S: Never mind. Let’s just get to it.
Pancho: I am at your service.
S&S: It’d would probably be easier if we took a few paragraphs, read them and then discussed them. How’s that sound to you?
Pancho: Perfect. That should work like a well oiled marine.
S&S: Uh, don’t you mean ‘machine’?
Pancho: Oh yes, of course. It will work like a well machined marine.
S&S: Let’s just get on with it.

The last part of the 20th century is considered by many scientists to be the warmest period since modern record-keeping began around the 1850s, but new research indicates the era is even more remarkable.
The warmth in which the Northern Hemisphere has basked since the middle of the 20th century has been the most widespread and longest period of unusual climate experienced at any time during at least the past 1,200 years, according to a research paper in the journal Science.
The finding, by a pair of climate researchers from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, U.K., was based on comparisons of the current warm period to other hot and cold intervals since the year 800.

S&S: As an expert, when a journalist refers to ‘many scientists’, what number is he likely referring to?
Pancho: That’s an easy one. The word ‘many’ usually correlates to the number of Leftist scientists the journalist has in his Rolodex.
S&S: By that logic, couldn’t he just as accurately used the word ‘all’?
Pancho: Yes, of course. But we are just splitting rabbits here, are we not?
S&S: I believe that’s hairs, but I disagree...
Pancho: Why would we be splitting rabbit hair....
S&S: Enough! Let’s move on.
When the writer states, ‘The warmth in which the Northern Hemisphere has basked since the middle of the 20th century has been the most widespread and longest period of unusual climate...’, what the heck does he mean? If there are, in fact, periods of unusual climates, then aren’t unusual periods actually part of the usual process. Aren’t they, in fact, ‘usual’?
Pancho: Usually I wouldn’t use a word like unusual. I consider such words unusable in the usual scientific discourse. Usually adjectives aren’t used. And I’m not used to their usage.
S&S: Ouch.
Pancho: You felling ok, you look kind of pale? You’re alright? Good.
Our author’s next point I find rather odd, though. My species only has records of climate on our planet for the last 500 years. Strange how you barbaric sub-evolved creatures have kept such accurate records since ‘the year 800'.
S&S: We’ll get to that a little later, let’s read on...

Among these long periods of alternating temperatures were the "Little Ice Age" that sent Northern Europe into a deep freeze, and the Medieval Warm Period around 1000, when an interval of more benign climate coincided with the rise of the sea-faring Vikings.

S&S: Here he freely admits to the Earth experiencing ‘long periods of alternating temperatures’, doesn’t this cause the article’s entire argument to fall apart?
Pancho: You see I would expect just that point coming from you, a non-scientist. You see all weather is merely another sign of global warming. Record snows on Hawaiian mountains are proof of global warming. Hurricanes in the gulf are portends of global warming. Heat waves in the Midwest are signs of global warming. Cold snaps in the Midwest...you guessed it, global warming.
S&S: Of course, why couldn’t I see that...moron.
Pancho: No, that’s Morlon. I’m a Morlon, from the eighth planet of Sagittariun system, Morlo.
S&S: Can we move on?

The research was undertaken to help determine whether recent warming is a natural phenomenon, part of the normal long-term fluctuations of temperatures that have been observed around the world, or something whose intensity makes it without precedent.
The researchers think their work bolsters the case that global warming due to human activity has created a change in climate unlike anything seen in more than a millennium.
The findings "provide additional support for the case that recent warmth is unusual in the context of natural changes in the last 1,200 years," said Timothy Osborn, one of the researchers, who added that the results are "probably related" to greenhouse gas emissions from human activity.

S&S: Finally, some intellectual honesty. But aren’t there other causes of ‘greenhouse gas emissions’?
Pancho: Yes, of course. We have found many plants and animals on Morlon give off such gases in very high quantities. Which is why The Bureau of Fixing Any Problems That Seem Scary has enacted a law to destroy all such flora and fauna.
S&S: Hmmm, your planet sounds very nice.
But back to the above paragraph. Why, I wonder, are we just looking at history of climate change ‘in the last 1,200 years’? Was there not ‘climate change’ before this millennia?
Pancho: Yes, you idiot, but not the kind that backs the author and his pet scientist’s theories. In our studies of Earth’s history, we found a history of climate change. Often brought on by natural forces such as changes in the Earths orbit, a change in the tilt of your planet’s axis, or a wobble of the axis. But let’s keep that on the low down.
S&S: The down low?
Pancho: No thanks, I don’t go that way.
Next.

Although direct temperature measurements extend back only about 150 years, the researchers were able to infer earlier readings throughout the Northern Hemisphere by looking at the signs that temperatures left in tree rings, ice cores and seashells from 14 sites across North America, Europe and Asia.
Two of the temperature estimates were from Canada -- one from tree-ring measurements taken in the Rockies near the Columbia Ice Field, the other from tree rings in a Northern Quebec boreal forest.
Other records were based on tree samples from the United States, Austria, Sweden, Russia and Mongolia, among others, along with Greenland ice cores and seashells from Chesapeake Bay in the United States.

S&S: What!?! So this great scientific theory is based on the study of ‘14 sites’. Fourteen whole sites!
Pancho: That is not so odd, you neophyte. In fact, I was sponsored by the Federation of Planets to conduct a study of life on your planet, Earth. I took samples from the Sahara desert, the top of Mount McKinley, the center of the Arctic Circle, and the Marianas Trench.
S&S: What were your findings.
Pancho: Well, I proved through my thorough exhaustive investigation, that there are in fact no life forms presently on planet Earth.
S&S: Uh, Pancho...you’re talking to me...I’m a life form...
Pancho: And your point is?
S&S: Well, you’re the expert here, but again, I’m a life form...
Pancho: Doh! Looks like it’s back to The Federation’s Bureau of Studies to Back Up Questionable Assumptions Department to beg for more funding.

Tree rings are an excellent gauge of past climate conditions, particularly if the trees are from cold-weather locations near the tree line, where growth is highly dependent on temperature conditions.
Dr. Osborn said that in such places, the amount of growth is limited by how warm the summer is. If it is warmer, the tree growth is greater and the tree ring is wider. Colder years have the opposite effect. Each year provides only one tree ring. "So counting back the rings can give the precise date to when each ring actually grew," he said.
Through recent measurements, scientists have been able to determine how much a tree will grow at any given temperature, allowing accurate estimates of previous temperatures.

S&S: Alright, now my head hurts.
Pancho: Can I get you something....
S&S: No, you moron...
Pancho: Morlon.
S&S: Oh my God! Whatever...
So I am to believe we are to base our entire future on tree rings? Tree rings!?
Pancho: That is not so odd. On Morlon, we often use tree rings as calenders...they are quite accurate. You have your nuclear clocks, we have our tree rings. Or we did, anyway. Until, as I’ve stated before, we destroyed the trees in order to protect the environment.
S&S: Your race reminds me of some humans here on Earth.
Pancho: I sure appreciate you giving me my propellers...
S&S: It’s ‘props’, you idiot...PROPS!!
Pancho: No thanks, I work without them.
S&S: Arrrgghhh!

There are usually periods in which some regions of the globe are warming and others are cooling.
But Dr. Osborn said the 20th century was remarkable for the geographical extent of the warming because "all records indicate warm conditions at the same time."
Reliable records from trees and other sources go back only about 1,200 years, but this allowed the researchers to measure the magnitude of the current bout of warming against two of the best known long-term weather conditions, the Little Ice Age from about 1580 to 1850, and the Medieval Warm Period from 890 to 1170.
These eras were not continuously warm or cool, but were punctuated by hot and cold spells.
However, their temperature extremes were not as pronounced as the current warming, according to the research.

S&S: Is it normal for scientists to extrapolate normal climatic conditions of a 4.5 billion year old planet from somewhat questionable information of a mere 1,200 years?
Pancho: Why, of course. On Morlon, I did a study for The Federation’s Bureau of Things We Can Spend Our Excess Budget On So That We Still Get an Increase Next Solar Year Department using much the same logic.
S&S: Ok, I’ll bite...
Pancho: Well, I had my interns count how many spaceships passed a certain point during rush hour. I can’t remember the exact number, but I think it was ten. So between 8 and 9 AM, ten spacecraft passed by. Well, logic told me that since there are 10 hours in the Morlon day, then one hundred spaceships would pass by in a day.
S&S: That’s just genius. You are amazing...
Pancho: Yes, thank you. But as it turns out The Division of Checking Up on Questionable Findings did an audit. They sent out a team to check my results, and as it turns out my findings were incorrect. The number was much less than one hundred...
S&S: Surprising...
Pancho: Yes, surprising. It was like something out of left of study.
S&S: If I’m not mistaken, it’s ‘field’.
Pancho: As you will. But you’re right, it was out of my field of study. They cut my funding.
S&S: I’m in hell...
Pancho: What is this hell you speak of?
S&S: Shut up. Let’s just get this over with.

Not all scientists agree that the 20th century is the warmest period in recent history.
In 2003, a team led by researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced that it believed the 20th century wasn't the warmest, nor the one with the most extreme weather of the past 1,000 years.
But this research has been criticized for its selection of the indicators used to estimate historic temperatures, among other problems.
The new paper tried to overcome some of these shortcomings by carefully selecting items, such as tree rings, that are directly connected to temperature changes.
Although the new paper looked at data up to only 1995, recent years have continued with even more pronounced warmth.
The World Meteorological Organization said late last year that the decade from 1996-2005 contained nine of the 10 warmest years on record.

S&S: So ‘this research has been criticized for its selection of the indicators’, yet fourteen sites to indicate planet wide weather is not?
Pancho: Fourteen is a lot. We Morlons have fourteen thumbs, you know. More than we really know what to do with. We just have no where to put them.
S&S: I’m sure that’s so.
I have one last question for you. The World Meteorological Organization said ‘the decade from 1996-2005 contained nine of the 10 warmest years on record’. But it does not tell where the temperature readings it uses were taken. If they were taken worldwide and measured against the tree ring and ice cores taken in mainly Northern climates and ‘cold-weather locations near the tree line’, as stated earlier in the article, wouldn’t it make sense that today’s weather would be found to be warmer? Temperatures of the entire Earth against those of Northern climates?
Pancho: Excellent point, Earthling. If you wish I could put in a good word for you at The Department of Cynical Aliens. They’re always looking for a few good primates. Seems most of your kind just trail the leader.
S&S: Alright, that’s it. It is ‘follow the leader', you freak. Follow the leader!
Pancho: Relax. I’ll gladly follow him, but how am I to follow him if I don’t know where he’s at...
S&S: No. Don’t say it. For God sakes don’t say it.
Pancho: All I’m asking, really, is take me to your leader.
S&S: That’s it. I’m done.

Those People

2006-02-07T17:38:00.000-06:00

All day today, I had the pleasure of listening to caller after caller on talk radio programs belching the same inane point,‘How irresponsible of the Dutch to run those cartoons when they knew how the Muslims would react?’
First, I have to wonder where these same mental giants were when The New York Times was chasing records with its coverage of the Abu Ghraib debacle. Or its stories on the flushing of the Koran in Guantanamo.
But my main point is one I hit on in my last post. And it is the ‘those people’ mentality.
‘That’s just what ‘those people’ do.’ ‘Why would you upset ‘those people’?’ ‘Those people’ get very angry when you insult their prophet.’ ‘America’s policies in the Middle East are the cause of ‘those people’s’ simmering anger.’
Why is it, I wonder, we hold the worldwide Muslim community to such low standards? And by ‘we’, of course, I refer to bleeding hearts and liberals. Are our Islamic brethren seen as less civilized to those on the Left? As a lower life form? As children unable to control their most base of emotions? It sure seems that way.
There is an old saying that seems lost to the modern mind on so many issues and it is this: If one reinforces bad behavior, one gets more of it.
By making excuses for and cow toeing to the sorrowful actions of the militant Islamo-fascists we do ourselves no favors. Each time we appease the anger and violence perpetrated by these thugs we are assuring ourselves more of that behavior in the future.
When the world press is intimidated into purposefully ignoring conflicting ideas and stories in fear of Muslim reaction, there is truly no more free press. Is that where we are headed? To a world where Muslims can act as they please through threat of retaliation? Through fear of resulting violence?
Whether one feels it was socially irresponsible for the Danish press to run those pictures or not is no longer the issue. Simply, if one believes in the freedom of press, it was well within their right to do so. Odd still, how the American press whose self love is ever evident has been so hesitant to do so. It surely shows a great lack of testicular fortitude and reminds one of deals made with Saddam Hussein in pre-war Baghdad. Their silence is deafening.
It is painfully obvious at this point in time that our great American press has already ceded control of their hallowed pages to the likes of Hamas and Al Qaeda. To the anger, the brutality, the threats of radical Islam. To the intimidation of rioting mad men. And yes, to the whims of ‘those people’.

Who Are We to Judge

2006-02-05T08:29:00.000-06:00

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A lawyer for an Ohio trucker who pleaded guilty to plotting to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge asked a federal judge Friday to throw out the case on the grounds that the government illegally spied on him.
Iyman Faris' challenge is among the first to seek evidence of warrantless electronic eavesdropping by the National Security Agency, a practice that began after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Government officials have reportedly credited the practice with uncovering Faris' terrorist plot and several others.

You know what...so what. I’ve seen pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge, and I must say I’m not terribly impressed. The damn thing is over a century old.
Don’t our comrades in the great state of New York deserve something better? Newer, less masculine, and shinier perhaps?
Stupid NSA.
But the real issue here is, what did we expect? Those people blow sh** up, that is what they do. They can’t and shouldn’t be held to any higher standard than that. They just can’t help themselves. Can’t we see that?
Much like the uprisings over the Danish cartoons or the riots after the Rodney King episode, we must strive to understand that some people just can’t control themselves. Is it right to hold such people accountable? Well of course not. That would be judgmental.
The enlightened do not look at the actions of individuals, but the root causes of those actions. And do we not all wish to be seen as enlightened? Of course we do.
So let us not look at Mr. Faris’ attempted actions with disgust or anger. He was likely molested as a child. Or suffered from ADD. Or was a victim of discrimination. Or he simply hated all Americans for their support of the Zionists and their aims at world domination. Whatever.
We, as a society, need learn that personal responsibility is an obligation that should not be forced upon any whom we deem below us. We should not expect good behavior from these people. Our expectations only add to their bad behavior through the exertion of undue pressure on them to act in a civilized manner.
They simply need a time out. Some time alone to think about what they’ve done. And when they feel they can reenter the civilized world, we should welcome them with open arms. No need for retaliation and no onerous burden of high expectations.

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes

From Gblagg’s 'Little Book of Liberal Euphemism Part III'

2006-02-04T16:10:00.000-06:00

It is my unwavering belief that words do, in fact, have meaning. Unfortunately, Liberals have usurped our language and with it the meanings of many of our words and terms. With that, I give you Gblagg’s 'Little Book of Liberal Euphemism Part III' (for parts I and II go here and here).

Free Speech: any idea or opinion that should in no way be exposed to dispute, disagreement, or consequence as this would be an obvious form of censorship(see Censorship) and/or a cause of injury to the speaker’s self-esteem(see Self-Esteem). DOES NOT, however, include the speech of those parties in disagreement.

Censorship: simply the threat of dispute or disagreement with and/or the mere fear of consequence arising from any idea or opinion. DOES NOT require any physical prevention from the presentation of idea or opinion.

Self-Esteem: that part of the human psyche which is developed not by the accomplishments of overcoming weaknesses and challenges, but from the disregarding of failings and deifying of victimization.

Satire: Any of a wide range of anti-establishment opinion, including but not limited to, insulting representations of female African-American Secretaries of State and armless and legless American soldiers. Can not, however, include likenesses of prophets wearing turbans shaped like suicide bombs.

Evil: an outmoded idea that has no basis in reality except as in the actual use of the word in context (i.e. “It is evil to call Islamo-fascists evil”) or when referring to any member of the Bush regime.

Activist: a member of the American proletariat whose main stream beliefs embrace the compassionate values of socialism(see Socialism), animal rights, atheism, euthanasia, and pro-choice in all its forms.

Wiretapping of Terrorists and their Domestic Contacts: the NSA’s illegal eavesdropping of telephone conversations between law abiding American citizens. The fact that this has never happened in no way changes the definition of the term.

Fascism: uh, George Bush, duh....

Socialism: the form of government our founding fathers actually had in mind. What the hell else can ‘General Welfare’ mean?

Hurricane: a open invitation from Mother Nature for Progressives to look compassionate by means of harping on global warming, race politics, and the greedy rich while actually doing little to improve the situation.

Weather: in any and all its forms, proof of Global Warming(see Global Warming). I.E. If it is extremely hot out, one would expect this from Global Warming; or if there is a cold snap, here’s further proof of Global Warming.

Global Warming: The warming (or is it cooling, I forget) of Earth caused only by the excesses of man. Ignoring, of course, the natural cycles of heating and cooling that have been the normal state of nature since the beginning of Earth itself.

Hollywood: the bastion of righteousness where a clear thinking non-hating comrade should look to in order find a true morality and an ethical ideology. Why waste one’s time studying mythical religions when all the answers are right there for $7.95...and they come with popcorn and a Coke.

Economics: the study of the period of time it will take for a Capitalist society to produce enough wealth so that Socialism might actually work...and how long it will take for Socialism to destroy that wealth.

Euthanasia: who says we don’t have ideas on lowering health care costs. And hell, the Norwegians do it.

Universal Health Care: same thing we have at present, but now the rich have to pay for that, too.

Energy Policy: uh, whatever Bush is for, we’re against. Oh yeah, and those poor caribou...

Free Speech and Censorship

2006-02-04T13:55:00.000-06:00

Odd that I as a Conservative American must spend my valuable time (better spent denying the poor their right to universal health care and enriching myself through their forced enslavement) reeducating my fellow citizens on the our shared common language. Odd, yet I must admit invigorating at the same time.
Today my attack on our common cultural insanity will include an English lesson. No, not a primer in language for our friends swarming like crabs from South of the border, but a lesson in definition. A study in meaning.
Now you philosophers out there need just sit back down, take another Valium, suck in deep relaxing breath, and deal with this thought...if words have no meaning, communication becomes impossible. Our words must have real concrete meanings. Objective, literal definitions.
But enough mental masturbation, let’s get to the real reason for this exercise in reeducation.
And it is in the meaning of the term ‘freedom of speech’ and in its antonym ‘censorship. The definitions of these terms have been either sadly lost or purposefully redefined in our country and culture today.
So let us begin by looking at the term ‘freedom of speech’.
As we are all aware, it is protected in The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

But just what does this term, ‘freedom of speech’, actually mean? Is it the ability to state an idea or opinion without the fear of undue retribution? Without the fear of physical attack or jail? Yes, I think we could all agree on this.
But does one’s ‘freedom of speech’ protect one from any future consequence from that speech? Well obviously not, as the simple thought experiment of yelling ‘Fire’ in a crowded theater illustrates.
How about excluding or protecting one from the disagreement or dispute one’s speech may generate? It is here, I believe, that the meaning of this term has become perverted. One man’s freedom to opine does not trump the freedom of speech of any man whom may disagree with him and an undefined point in the future.. This second man’s disagreement is not censorship, it is simply the right of the disputer to his own liberty of word.
And here we have come to ‘censorship’. So what does this word mean?
Is it censorship for a man or group of men to tell you your ideas are inane and should not see the light of day? The answer is no. Not if they do not in reality have some power to censor your ideas. Their thoughts and disagreement with your ideas are not censorship, they are simply another form of ‘free speech’. Their ‘free speech’. ‘Censorship’ can only arise when one with the power to censor your ideas actually does so. It must be understood that 'censorship’ requires the power to prevent thoughts and ideas from reaching the public domain. Disagreement is not censorship. Boycotts are not censorship. Threats are not censorship.
I am not sure where the redefining of these terms originated, but I have some ideas. I believe it stems from a weakness of argument. From malformed self-esteem. From a narcissistic victim mentality. If one has faith in his ideas and opinions, hard formed through thought and pragmatism, he is open to dispute and debate. It is the man who fears the strength of his ideas to stand on their own who uses name calling and victim status to deny all debate.
And if you don’t agree with that, just keep your trap shut and quit trying to intimidate me.

The Nature of Place

2006-02-02T19:10:00.000-06:00

I wouldn’t live in a large city for all the cash in the world. They are dirty, smelly, and in all truth downright ugly. But these are not my reasons.
City life makes humans weak. And dare I say, rather stupid.
One loses one’s individuality in a large city. To survive in such close quarters, a system of social engineering must be in place that controls most every element of the individuals life. We mustn’t do or say anything that could offend a neighbor or passerby. One’s residence, businesses, and travel options are micro-managed by city councils and various needling officials. These things must be agreed upon by one’s fellow urbanites...agreements that cede freedom for the sake of comfort, safety, and availability.
The weakness of our modern times are in effect more strongly, though rather subconsciously, in such an environment. With protection and aid so nearby, the need to command the world around oneself becomes much less vital. The forces, that in a more rural and/or wild area would cause a man to sharpen and hone his abilities are all but missing in the urban scene. Sure, one must always be on alert for crime and its inherent threat to one’s person, but law enforcement and hospital care are never far away.
This is no minor point. The difference in an Alaskan and a New Yorker is more than the locale in which they reside. The man himself is different. The Alaskan’s heart and mind are keener. He is less feminized. More self reliant. Yes, I’ll say it, more of a man.
It should come as no surprise that the city man tends to be rather more Liberal. He is a temporal creature. His removal from nature and its intrinsic dangers have made him less of a pragmatist. More at ease in a park than in a forest or wood. From this arises his Disneyesque view of the outdoors. His distaste for hunting and firearms. He will often view animals as humans in animal clothing if he chooses to view them at all. Does he feel a hole in his soul? Can he fill it with steel and cement?
By contrast the rural man appreciates the wildness of his surroundings. He feels a closeness to nature. It lights a fire in his soul and connects him to something greater. He sees nature for what it is, both beautiful and terrible all in the same moment. He respects the dangers around him and thus endeavors to be always prepared. His environment makes him strong. Makes him more of a man.
In closing, I offer this from Henry David Thoreau’s masterpiece Walden, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Impressions vs. Results

2006-02-01T19:22:00.000-06:00

Let me begin with this warning...this is going to be a rather complicated post. It will take no small amount of thought from the author and concentration by the reader in able for its points to be transplanted. I freely admit to being no Jerry Springer. I claim no ability to make a cultural statement through the use of bisexual kleptomaniac midgets as metaphor. I’m not that smart nor so damned nuanced. That said, here goes.
We will start at the beginning.
It has always seemed to me that there is a reason for government to exist. As a Libertarian leaning life form, that is no small confession. But that is what I believe. So if government does in fact exist for a reason, what might this be? Hmmm, how about the protection of life, liberty, and property? Maybe National Defense? Possibly to provide roads? A system of laws? I’d even go as far as for the education our young.
These are all good, important things. Things most intellectually honest Americans would agree on. So how do we get to these ends? How does government with this list of what it ought to do, then accomplish this agenda?
Well, any businessman worth his salt is screaming at his screen right now, “Set goals! Decide what it is to be accomplished and institute plans to reach those results. Then get to work to meet them!’
Doesn’t seem too complicated, huh? Well, that was the easy part.
We as citizens of this great land should demand results. We should be able to identify what problems need to be solved and set goals to accomplish them. We should plan accordingly. Well, that is the logic at least.
But what at present do we actually see in action?
Let’s look at some examples and see what we can learn.
Social Security as it now exists is heading for disaster. It can not stand in its present form. It will be a noose around the financial necks of our children and their’s as well. One party has identified this problem. Decided on the goal of making the system solvent and offered plans to affect that end. The other party has dismissed the coming disaster as hype and used fear and half truths to attack any attempts to avert it.
America needs a real energy program. A program that weans us off our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. One party sees this dependence as a national security issue. It has proffered the ideas of increased drilling in ANWR and off shore, more nuclear reactors for electricity, and investment in new technology. The other party screams of total destruction of the ecosystem, global warming, and an American consumption society gone wild.
Our national school system is a mess. We spend nearly $10,000 per student per year. More than most industrial nations. Yet our children continue to do worse than those of countries that spend much less. The efforts of our students in math and science is embarrassing...and dangerous. One party has offered vouchers as a plan to induce competition to the education system, thereby increasing its quality. It has questioned the power of the NEA, wondering if the protection of bad and dangerous teachers is really such a good idea. The other party rails against any change in the system. It claims any change from business as usual would be a cruel experiment on our children.
There are poor people in the United States(I refuse to use the word poverty as one man’s poverty is another man’s splendor). One party believes the way to help the poor is to empower them. To welcome them into the ownership society. To let them own their retirement, their health care, their homes. The other party harps ‘the rich are getting richer’, ‘record profits’, and ‘the income gap’.
OK, that’s enough examples. Here is the point of this post. Conservatives are goal oriented. They look for results. They develop and institute plans to reach these results. Liberals act and speak simply for impression. For effect, for appearance.
One more point. When a problem is identified and a goal is set, sometimes hard choices must be made to reach that goal. Keep this in mind.
Let us use the examples above and see just how this works out.
Conservatives want to fix Social Security. Liberals choose to frighten people, by claiming the Right wants to steal their retirement. This leaves the impression that they are protecting the elderly. They have no plan, just impressions. Hard choices need to be made on this issue, but the Left will leave those to the Right. Again leaving the impression that they are the good guys. No plans, just compassion.
Conservatives want a realistic energy policy. The Left cries for the caribou. They blame evil drivers of SUVs for all the evil in the world. They decry the horrors of nuclear energy. All so that they appear as environmentally correct. Many impressions, few realistic plans.
Conservatives want better more efficient schools. Liberals cry, ‘what about the children’, ‘we need more money...or they’ll cut after school programs’, and ‘schools are worse in poor neighborhoods’! OK, then you on the Left, let’s have a program! Enough emotion, how about a plan?
Conservatives care about the poor, but understand that only the individual can change his own circumstance for the long haul. Liberals shout that they lack opportunity. There must be a living wage. Or that Walmart is evil. The War on Poverty has been with us for over half a century, yet there are still poor among us. Can we finally agree that government is not the answer...can we quit with the emotional rhetoric? Can we get a workable plan?
I have no doubt that this essay has angered many who call themselves Left of center. But in reality, I am giving you Liberals a break. Because if the above is in fact untrue, it leads me to only one other conclusion. And that is that our goals are actually different. That you do not wish to fix Social Security, that it is simply one more notch on your belt of Socialism. That you do not wish America to be oil independent. Instead, you hope for a weaker America in the global community. That you do not wish to reform our educational system. That a dumbed down citizenry fits nicely in your future plans. That you do not want the poor to do better. Because this would mean you would loose an ‘impression’, no more use of ‘the politics of envy’.
I will end with this simple point...Compassion and rhetoric are meaningless if in the end they lead to no solutions.

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes

I'm Not a Hunter(But I Play One on TV)

2006-01-24T19:05:00.000-06:00

First this article

Fewer hunters today, but too late for one goose
By BONNIE ERBE
Scripps Howard News Service
23-JAN-06
The scene would have pulled the heartstrings even of those who have none.
She (or he) sat bleeding profusely into the waters of South Creek, off the West River in Churchton, Md. She was clearly dying. A bullet had entered one side of her torso and exited the other. She held up her wing, broken in two. Her neck was elegantly arched and her black eyes looked against her black feathers as if she were trying not to cry.
She was a Canada Goose. She was sitting silently under a Weeping Willow (weeping for her, I believed) just off the beach of a marshy cove, when I walked by with my dog and two acquaintances. We didn't own the property, but we had the owners' permission to be there. The hunter did not.
Whoever it was had taken a bad shot at the goose and wounded her fatally, but she had yet to die. I steadied my sickening stomach at the sight of this poor creature and tried to figure out what to do.
If we left her, certainly she'd die slowly of blood loss or be eaten alive. I'd taken other animals in near-death shape to my veterinarian (rabbits, turtles I found half-crushed in the road) only to find it a hopeless cause and to have my kind vet "put them to sleep" as the most humane course.
Recently I'd had one success. An 8-month old peacock who lives with about 15 others on the farm where I board my horses was mauled by a fox or a hawk (we think). She got away, but with an injured wing and a gimpy leg. My vet X-rayed her leg and found a bone infection. We put her on antibiotics and the bird is almost ready for freedom from her protective coop.
But not this goose. She was much more badly damaged. One of my companions said, "I grew up on a farm and killed chickens. I'll break her neck to put her out of her misery." We fussed and cried and tried to write happier endings. We finally concurred it was the best we could do.
She picked up part of a tree limb. I and the other woman turned away. Bash, bash, we heard. "Is she breathing?" I asked. "I don't think so," the angel of mercy replied. We started walking away. We heard something. The goose, head down, was flapping its wings. The angel ran back. Again, bash, bash. This time it took.
We were crying. Hysterical. The scene decorated my nightmares over and over and for days and days afterward. The memory was _ and remains _ awful.
Some insensitive human viewed that bird as no more than target practice. We saw her as a courageous individual. On the way out, we spotted an illegal blind placed by trespassers. Fueled by our angst, we ripped it to shreds.
Hunting is a dying sport in America. No, a dying hobby, or occupation. There's little sport in the destruction of wildlife with high-tech weaponry. This bird was shot by a trespasser in a suburban cove in view of 15 houses. Hardly a rural marshland. No cover in which the bird could hide. Like skeet shooting with a bloodlust. About as manly as wearing diapers.
The Christian Science Monitor reports, "A new US Fish and Wildlife survey shows ... the number of hunters has declined by 7 percent, to 13 million, in the past 5 years. While a few states like Alaska and Minnesota have seen slight increases ... officials in Georgia predict a 50 percent decline .... by 2026."
Hunting groups are so desperate for new blood they're lobbying some states to reduce the legal hunting age to 8. But urbanization and technology are doing what conscience never could: convincing more Americans not to hunt. Today's man is too busy, open land isn't easily accessible, and rural passions of a less educated America are giving way to urban and suburban sophistication.
It's too late for that goose. But it's not to late for the men (yes, mainly men) who continue to hunt, to find true manliness. It's not about extermination: it's about empire-building. It's not about physical, but intellectual prowess. Cruelty isn't sexy. It's a turn-off. Heartstrings rule.
(Bonnie Erbe is a TV host and writes this column for Scripps Howard News Service. E-mail bonnieerbe(at)CompuServe.com.)

And now my reply.

As Many Hunters As Need Be

Reading Ms. Erbe’s pompous piece Few Hunters Still Too Many in a recent edition of The Beacon News brought tears to my eyes. Not for the unfortunate she-goose Ms Erbe so passionately describes(although in such an instance I would have acted in much the same way), but for her somewhat skewed view of reality.
I would begin by wondering how she knew that the goose had, in fact, been shot. Was there an autopsy performed on the animal? The injuries she described, it seems to me, could have just as easily been caused by a coyote or a racoon. Would she that we got rid of these creatures in order to protect her delicate psyche from offense?
You see, this is a problem with many who consider themselves lovers of animals and of nature. They eagerly adore the beauty that is nature without accepting its horror as well. She frets that the goose may ‘die slowly of blood loss or be eaten alive’, even though, in reality, that is a most natural way for any animal in the wild to meet its maker. What she sees in nature is not the reality of it, but an ‘urban or suburban’ sophisticated Disney view of it.
She rails against hunters in much the same unrealistic way. She either refuses to acknowledge or is simply ignorant of the benefit that hunters have on our environment.
From the U.S. Dept. Of Interior,

“State fish and wildlife agencies will share more than $464 million in excise taxes paid by America's hunters, anglers and boaters to support fish and wildlife conservation and education programs..."Hunting and fishing are rich parts of our nation’s heritage,” said Steve Williams, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Anglers and hunters have been the leading force for conservation in America. By supporting these excise taxes, they are contributing critical funds – $9 billion over the past 67 years – for maintaining and restoring our fish and wildlife resources."”.

And from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,

“The sale of hunting licenses, tags, and stamps is a major source of funding for State wildlife conservation efforts...Each year, nearly $200 million in hunters' federal excise taxes are distributed to State agencies to support wildlife management programs, the purchase of lands open to hunters, and hunter education and safety classes. Proceeds from the Federal Duck Stamp, a required purchase for migratory waterfowl hunters, have purchased more than five million acres of habitat for the refuge system lands that support waterfowl and many other wildlife species, and are often open to hunting.”

Hunting clubs do their part, as well. Since its inception in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 9.4 million acres of waterfowl habitat throughout North America. DU supporters have raised nearly $1.6 billion for conservation since 1937. And Pheasants Forever has spent almost $10 million purchasing 65,000 acres of land totaling 600 sites as permanent features on the landscape. An amazing accomplishment, and these are only two of a great many clubs that pepper this great land.
Her article is awash in elitism. She sees those who hunt as conscienceless oafs who must be drug, surely kicking and screaming, into the 21st century through ‘urbanization and technology’. She claims to speak for all men as just ‘too busy’ to follow their own interests, as if all men strive to be the effeminate suburban definition of ‘manliness’ she so obviously wishes them to be. Her hope that those ‘rural passions of a less educated America’ give way, seems to me to be a death knell for many migratory birds and their habitat.
I, personally am not a hunter, but I am a realist. I understand it is in many a man’s soul to long for the connection with nature that hunting provides. I understand the agelong history of hunting that we as a species share with our ancestors. I understand that it is largely hunters themselves who protect the environment for the species they pursue. I understand that my choice not to hunt in no way should affect any choices another man should make. I understand nature is both magnificent and appalling and any offense I take in the latter is less than meaningless.
In closing, I find it rather sad that Ms. Erbe missed the most important lessons her experience could have taught her. Sad that she seems to believe her feelings somehow trump stark reality. Sad that she would use an attack on hunters to veil her obvious distaste for the masculine.

The Long Haul

2006-01-23T17:24:00.000-06:00

OK, this needs to be said. The death of Osama bin Laden will not end terrorism. He is an evil man and should be worm food sooner rather than later, but he is not the sole voice of terror throughout the world. He does not run Ansar al-Islam, Abu Nidal Organization, Abu Sayyaf Group, Armed Islamic Group, Asbat al-Ansar, or Aum Shinrikyo...and that’s just the ‘A’s’
'Well, that is just common sense. Any moron understands that’ you say? Odd then, that John F. Kerry and his ilk seem to miss this simple point completely.

Osama bin Laden is gonna die of kidney failure before he's killed by Karl Rove and his crowd and all he does is divide America over this issue and exploit it. And what he's trying to pretend is that somehow Democrats don't want to eavesdrop appropriately to protect the country. That's a lie. We're prepared to eavesdrop wherever and whenever necessary in order to make America safer, but we put a procedure in place to protect the constitutional rights of Americans and what I believe, George, and I believe it deeply, is you can protect the United States of America without devoiding(sic), without ignoring the constitution of the country.

OK, I will state this in terms even simple enough for the ‘reality based community’ to understand.
Bin Laden is just one battle in the war on terror. As are the insurgents in Iraq. The mullahs in Iran. HAMAS and every other fundamental Islamist group. When one is destroyed, others will surely arise. This is not and will not be a short war. I know that is a painful thought, but reality often is less than pleasant. Deal with it, buck up, and hunker down. Let those who are willing to fight the enemy do so. Do not tie their hands in a partisan lust for power. And if you are afraid, shut your mouth and just get the hell out of the way.
I know, I know little lambs, it is a big scary world. But ignoring the danger and attacking your protectors does not make you safer. Bush is not the enemy, people who want you dead or Islamic are. The NSA is not the enemy, a Mullah contacting his mole with a time and date is. CIA prisons in foreign nations are not the enemy, those who these prisons house are. Racial profiling is not the enemy, Middle Eastern Islamo-fascist men aged 18-29 are. Pentagon secret plans are not the enemy, timetables of troop withdrawal and the release of top secret information are.
So enough of this ‘I’d leave Iraq and go back and finish the job in Afghanistan’ business. And enough of partisan politics standing in the way of the future safety of our families and neighbors. We need to all agree and understand that we’re in this for the long haul. And if we catch Bin Laden tomorrow, or never at all for that matter, the war against murderous psychopathic religious killers must wage on until won.

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes

The Ever Expanding Bill of Rights

2006-01-17T19:41:00.000-06:00

OK, I get it.
We have a right to health care. We have a right to higher education. We have a right to a decent job. We have a right to a living wage. We have a right to abortion. We have a right to government sponsored HDTV. We have a right not to feel offended. Etc., etc., etc.
If one does not believe the above are basic American rights, either openly stated or merely hinted at in our shared Constitution, one need only find the nearest Liberal and simply ask ‘em. He or she will quickly set you straight(did I say straight? Whoops, that was very heterocentrist of me.).
So with the above in mind, I have decided to do my part and save the Social Security system.
‘What the hell are you talking about?’ you ask. ‘What on God’s green Earth does one thing have to do with the other?’
Well sit back, put American Idol on mute, scratch what itches, and I will gladly explain.
You see, if we agree that these rights are inherent to every American, and I am sure that we do, then we are forced to face this simple fact...That these rights did not begin the moment we were born (sorry Leftie narcissists the Earth does instead revolve around the Sun). That these rights have existed since the writing of the constitution. Therefore, our parents and their parents before them possessed these rights as well.
With this in mind, can we not see that our forefathers have been cruelly and most unusually denied their very birthrights? Denied the advantages of the rights we as Progressive Americans have been privy to? Well, I would aver, most assuredly so!
So what should we as fair Americans do to redress this grave injustice?
Reparations, of course. Reparations. Financial redress. To every baby boomer. To every senior citizen. To every octogenarian.
Huge, fat checks befitting the wrongs our elders have had to endure.
So here we have it. No more need for Social Security checks for our nation’s elderly, just a massive one time retribution payment for rights not granted.
Paid for, of course, by those Americans lucky enough to be living productive, profitable lives...Hang on, that’s who’s paying now. Oh, just never mind then.

Racism? Where?

2006-01-17T18:50:00.000-06:00

Let’s play a game.
It’s called “Spot the Racism”. Good luck.
Here is a little hint for you NPR listeners...the answers are b & c.

a.

"I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man," he says. "I know you as Mike Wallace. You know me as Morgan Freeman. You wouldn't say, 'Well, I know this white guy named Mike Wallace.' You know what I'm saying?"
The actor also criticizes Black History Month, saying setting aside a special month actually segregates black history from American history. Calling the idea "ridiculous," Freeman notes there's no "white history month."
"You're going to relegate my history to a month?" Freeman asks Wallace. "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history," he says.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said the following... It's time for us to rebuild New Orleans -- the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. This city will be a majority-African American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans no other way.

“When you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation, and you know what I'm talking about,"Clinton (D-N.Y.) told an audience at the Canaan Baptist Church of Christ during an event sponsored by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network.

Well, how’d you do? Better than the MainStream Media, I bet.