The Stupid Nation

Looking forward to becoming a minority

2012-05-30T02:48:13Z

In the news today, some wacky dude named Louis Farrakhan was all wound up about the decline in birth rates of white folk. Farrakhan issued forth a prophecy that one day, white people will be a minority in the United States (assuming the United States survives that long).

I say that's a great thing. It probably won't happen in my life-time, but when the white people finally make it to the promised land of minority status, and get government hand-outs for being white, get most favored status for government jobs, have test scores skewed in their favor, get admittance to top schools they otherwise would be locked out of, and get priority status for government housing and government grants and loans - hoo-ha!

I'd like to thank all the minorities that came before us. Those who blazed the trail, so that we wretched few who one day will remain, could reap the rewards of being a minority in America.

Unreal reality TV

2012-05-23T00:28:53Z

I had an enjoyable week off last week, and on my last day of "freedom" I decided to just hang out and pretty much do nothing but run a few errands and watch TV. There were a number of shows on during the course of the day including Deadliest Catch, Ax Men, and Pawn Stars. So I noticed a few things sitting in front of the 'boob tube' that just got me to thinking that sometimes, reality is not all it seems.

Famously, some keen-eyed soul noticed something on the show Jersey Shore (which I despise - the show, not the place) and investigated. That person realized that a fight on the program had been faked/staged. And the proof was changing foot-wear in-between 'takes' of the faux drama.

On the program Ax Men, aside from the phony competition to cut and haul more wood than select competitors, there is also subtle product placement crap going on with that show. Or maybe not so subtle, since I noticed that the camera was lingering just a little too long on the Dodge badges on one trucks a crew member was using. As for staging - when that nutty father/son boat team 'sneak' up on the boat they'd lost to a stupid bet, in order to renege and reclaim it from their arch rivals, it isn't a coincidence that the cameras are there to capture the entire caper. Staged? Of course it's staged. Reality? Far from it. The timber crews - they know that a snapped cable makes a good camera shot so they pull a little too hard once in a while to create some drama. Maybe. BTW - as a former Dodge truck owner - don't walk, RUN out of the dealership. Those trucks suck. Sorry Dodge.

And then there is Pawn Stars, a show I like and watch regularly. I was watching a re-run, and in comes this guy wheeling an old Coke vending machine. Rick and the guy negotiate briefly and the machine is bought. Then Rick takes the machine to another Rick - of Rick's Restorations - and has him restore the battered machine to gleeming new condition. Only problem is that, now that both Pawn Stars and Rick's Restoration shows have progressed, I recognized that it was Restoration Rick's brother who wheeled in the machine and sold it to Pawn Star Rick, who more or less pretended not to know the guy. The entire segment was staged, presumably as a vehicle to introduce Rick Restorations to the cast of characters.

I haven't spotted anything that has jumped out at me as being staged on the show Deadliest Catch (which I also watch regularly), but it wouldn't surprise me if some of the drama was played for the camera. I am going to take the high rode here (a pun there) and have some faith that the Captains of these boats would not deliberately place themselves or their crews in harms way just for the camera shot. They all do get paid to be on TV. What that amount is I am not sure, as Discovery doesn't like to talk about it.

Then there is that Alaska Gold show. Those miners were portrayed as down-and-outers who were trying to get something going for themselves. Nobody mentioned that they got paid by the TV show to toil in the Alaska wilderness, so they were not quite as down and out as down and out could be. Doubt it? Riddle me this: Where did all the money come from in season 2, after their disastrous season 1, to buy all that new gear? Eh?

Last but not least is the multi-show tie-ins. Are we to seriously believe that with all the advertising hype over the upcoming History Channel drama based on the famed Hatfield and McCoy feud, that it's a freakish coincidence that the American Pickers boys just so happen to go a-pickin' for Hatfield/McCoy artifacts? Or that an upcoming Pawn Stars show is to feature another potential Hatfield/McCoy artifact? Come on. Reality not. And what makes this un-fun, it that once you realize you are being more or less duped into thinking this is "reality tv", some of the draw of these shows is lost.

Nobody - well, almost nobody - likes to be played for a fool. The unreality of these reality shows is getting a wee bit obvious.

Maybe the problem is that reality is just too boring afterall.

A Soldier who protects us, gets no protection in return

2012-05-15T22:28:15Z

One of the worst things a free citizen of the United States can do is run afoul of gun laws in those areas of this country where the State hates freedom loving gun owners. Even inadvertent violation of local gun laws while lawfully transporting firearms interstate can result in huge legal bills, time in the slammer surrounded by real criminals, and a life turned upside down.

1st Lt. Augustine Kim, a wounded combat veteran, who put his life on the line to protect those Washington DC bureaucrats and their God given right to harass gun owners at any and every opportunity, has learned the hard way that sacrifice and service to one's country means nothing to a leftist in pursuit of their anti-gun agenda.

So even after the sham legal process was over, and the charges ultimately dismissed (they should have been dismissed outright), the City of Washington DC refuses to return that which rightfully belongs to the owner.

This debacle is yet another example of how stacked the deck is against the people whom Government is supposed to serve, and an indicator that the fundamental relationship between government and the people from which power supposedly emanates, is dysfunctional at best. So while Lt. Kims' service to his country is admirable, the government of Washington DC's service to Lt. Kim is not.

Not by a long shot.

How Long Would It Take Mitt Romney to give the Go?

2012-04-30T05:04:42Z

So the latest in a series of adolescent attempts to distract would-be voters from Obama's abysmal record is to roll out the rotting corpse of Osama Bin Laden, and try to make people think take Mitt Romney wouldn't have to requisite guts to make the call on the big play to get the boogeyman.

I don't know what the Romney camp's reply is to this load of bull, but if I were Mitt Romney, I would retort that not only would I be entirely comfortable making big decisions, I wouldn't need to sleep on it, or take 16 hours before making the tumultuous decision. I would also say that I wouldn't waffle for weeks on troop strength decisions while our boys were fighting and dying overseas. And lastly I would say that I wouldn't declare a date for the end of the Afghan war to the world, lending aid and comfort to our enemies, so that they know all they have to do is hang on until that date is reached to renew their guerrilla war against the current Afghan government, and destabilize the region.

Pathetic.

If I wanted America to fail....

2012-04-26T15:16:59Z

Here is a potent video that lays it all out succinctly and brilliantly.

To follow, not lead..

To suffer, not prosper..

To despair, not dream...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-4gnNz0vc

And the Drip, Drip, Drip of Liberty Lost Goes On

2012-04-18T03:05:29Z

Hop on a bus in Houston Texas and you may encounter an over-eager GED graduate TSA agent who wants to grope your junk. Yes loathsome Democratic Congressperson Sheila Jackson Lee heralded in a new era in public transportation down yonder by declaring the the Transportation Security Agency and the local police are teaming up to combat crime and would be terrorists.

What's new here is that TSA is trying to expand it's role, with the help and rousing endorsement of the stupid congresswoman, into "crime" fighting rather than what it was created for - terror fighting. The fears of America drifting rapidly into a police state are totally legitimate, and it's unconstitutional government intrusion like this that shows the way.

And it is unconstitutional. A while back I wrote about how the US Supreme court neatly side-stepped the constitution by creating the "administrative search doctrine" out of thin blue air to permit searches at airports and court houses and the like, even though they all knew the 4th Amendment explicitly barred such searches without probable cause. Now we can see the result of that oil slicked slope. The government has latched on to that ruling to grant itself the power to search you almost anywhere outside the home without probable cause or due process in the name of "terrorism", and now with an ominous twist of 'preventing crime'.

To date the Courts have obfuscated and or foot-dragged on legal challenges to what the TSA is doing. Their self-expanding role in our society, to challenge citizens in any public or semi-public space at any time for any reason and search them is unacceptable. Sooner or later the Supreme Court is going to be confronted with the topic and they are going to have to deal with it.

I hope that day comes soon. Whether for good or ill, the people of this country need to see up close and personal their freedoms fading away day by day. Drip by drip. Unfortunately people simply will not object until this impacts them directly, and even then, a worrisome percentage will not object anyway. And if and when that does happen, there is a possibility it will be too late.

I think there may be a curious correlation between the information age and the loss of freedom. Sort of like the doctrine of the more information we have, the dumber we get. I think governments, including our own, get very insecure over the idea that they have lost or are losing control of information. So, perversely, as information has become more readily available, our freedoms are dwindling. Maybe that's just a strange coincidence - no cause and effect...maybe.

In the meantime, if you don't want to have your junk groped, or your kid molested; if you see something, say something...to your Congressperson and Senators especially.

Barone: Ten year price tag for Obamacare - 1.2 trillion

2012-04-16T03:00:27Z

Michael Barone's latest blog item provides some facts and figures to support the upwardly adjusted cost of Obamacare. This proves, as if we didn't know already, that there are no free lunches, and no free health care either.

That's just for starters people. The cost of Obamacare will wind up being higher than 1.2 trillion, but the analysis is a nice piece of work, and a reminder of why we all need to oppose Obamacare as a threat to National Security.

And this, coupled with my previous post quoting Dick Cheney that Obama is a one man disaster area, leads me back to something I have mused on before - if our own President is a threat to National Security, then what do you do? What do you do?

Answer: The 25th Amendment.

Let's take the following hypothetical: Say Obama gets hit by divine light and wins re-election. However, the Republicans win a majority in the Senate and House, effectively creating a fatal deadlock in Congress. Obama flips out that his manifest destiny has been lost, and tries one power grab too many. Enter Joe Biden stage left. Joe Biden and the Cabinet can declare Obama incompetent, without engaging the impeachment process, thanks to the old 25th. During Reagan's second term (1987), some in the Reagan Administration suggested the 25th would need to be invoked as Reagan seemed out of it. Just as people started watching Reagan carefully, he rebounded, and thus section 4 was never evoked

Biden's golden moment to seize power may yet come. In that scenario, we would wind up with a President dumber than two Sarah Palins.

Interesting scenario, isn't it?

Dick Cheney doesn't like Obama - apparently

2012-04-16T02:07:17Z

According to Real Clear Politics web site, a post-heart transplant Dick Cheney thinks Barack Obama is an "unmitigated disaster".

I could not agree more.

For North Korea, the time has come to say Sayonara

2012-04-14T03:43:54Z

For Kim Jong-Il, I always had an uneasy sensation looking at that guy's picture. He had an ill favored look, some behind-the-eyes empty deadness which gave off a vibe that he was one creepy dude.

Then the dear leader kicked the bucket, as even bona-fide tyrants like him, and Hugo Chavez, are mere mortals and have a finite amount of time here on spaceship earth to do their worst.

So, along comes the heir apparent, whose picture projects a different vibe - that of a dumb clueless frightened man-child regime puppet. And in the midst of the "leadership" change, seemingly a break-through in long, fruitless "talks" on dismantling North Korea's nuke program.

Then predictable sudden reversal of the US food-for-nukes program. Yes, it would appear that the US policy of trading food for nukes is just as successful as the US's fondness for cash-for-guns.

At any rate, the North Koreans once again reneged on a deal and went back to their war-mongering ways, ultimately resulting in a face-losing failed ballistic missile test. I don't envy the North Koreans responsible for the test, and it's failure. It must truly suck to be them right now.

From the end of the Korean War until today, we have seen time and again North Korean dishonestly, and depravity and deception. Here the long history of past performance, coupled with current events leads me to conclude that the best policy is one of total abandonment. We should say sayonara to the kid puppet and his puppet masters, and let the North Koreans know that so long as there is no real regime change in North Korean leadership, we are totally uninterested in them, and their self inflicted woes. We should turn to China and say: 'This is your mess, you deal with it, you fix it, cause we've had quite enough, and will no longer play the game'.

Then that's it. No more talks, no more food, no more anything. Just dead silence.

Like any petulant child, being ignored will hurt the most.

Sayonara.

NJ Gov Christie popular, but tired

2012-04-13T04:04:12Z

A recent poll indicates a rarity in the State of NJ - a governor who is scoring high marks with state residents. It's been a long time since that happened.

Another article mentions that Christie was 'caught' napping while attending a Springsteen concert. How the hell can anyone doze during a Springsteen concert? Well, there is a reason.

The problem here isn't so much the demands of the Governorship on Christie, but the reality that when you are morbidly obese as much as Christie is, the excess weight takes a huge effort to move around each day, and you get tired...really tired, just moving from once place to another.

I used to work with someone who was grossly overweight. He would nap in the office frequently, because moving all that girth wore him out. It's not stupid in any literal sense, it's just reality that when you let yourself get that fat, you can't defeat the fundamental laws of nature.

I don't agree with everything Christie has done, as I have stated on this blog before. Yet he certainly does deserve the high ratings and accolades for taking on the entrenched self-interested power-brokers in NJ, and winning much of the day. My point here is simple. Christie is older than his biologic years because of his obesity, and if he doesn't hunker down and do something about it soon, he is not going to be with us much longer.

If the Governor can do something as monumental as turn around what seems like a hopelessly corrupt state seemingly doomed to failure, then he can get rid of the flab whenever he sets his will to it.

I hope he does, and soon.

Do you Believe it?

2012-04-07T03:27:49Z

Gallup claims Obama's approval rating stands at 50%.

Do you buy it? I don't.

These are strange days indeed, where the facts and circumstances of a killing in Florida are purposefully distorted by "seasoned" news people in order to fan the flames of racial discontent, where the chief of the Associated Press gushes over Obama to such an extent it's embarrassing to watch, and where we are assured that Obama is far more popular than he really is.

If I didn't know any better, I'd almost think we were all living in the Soviet Union being fed phony news by phony Government controlled news organs.

Almost.

In the movie All the Presidents Men, the character portrayed by Robert Redford is admonished to "follow the money".

If you do that, you will find that our seemingly popular President is having trouble drawing in the big cash. Whatever people are saying in public about Obama, you can be certain what they are saying privately is much different.

The ultimate poll is the one in November. When that poll comes 'round and people step into the privacy of that booth, and have to pull that lever, press that button, or check that box, my prediction is that Obama will lose by a landslide.

That is my expectation, my hope, and my prayer.

God save us from ourselves.

Our thug president issues a not so veiled threat

2012-04-03T04:33:17Z

To the Iranians?     No
To the Syrians?      No
To the Russians?   No
To the Chinese?    Of course not
To our Supreme Court? Hell yes

This is how "Chicago" politics is played. This is how a thug President tries to interfere with the Separation of Powers doctrine and exert improper political pressure on another branch of Government.

If it were only possible for the libs and conservative justices to band together to issue a unanimous Obamacare decision throwing out that Obamanation legislation in defiance of of this bully. What a message that would send.

Alas I know it will not be so, but I am still hopeful the Supreme Court will gut the Obamacare train wreck.

November can't possibly come soon enough.

The future of the Republic stands on the edge of a knife

2012-03-28T04:45:20Z

As the US Supreme Court hears the arguments pro and con for compulsory Obamacare, the fate of the nation hangs in the balance.

Will the court grant the corrupting absolute power tp compel it's citizenry to spend it's treasure on what the government orders them to? Or are there limits to federal power as the founders of this nation envisioned?

Predicting what the US Supreme Court will decide is a perilous endeavor. I can tell you what I hope they will decide, but I can't tell you with any degree of certainty what they will decide.

The next President will likely have a large impact on the make up of the Supreme Court. Ginsburg is sickly, and others are no longer young. If conservatives prevail we may yet be able to beat back the tide of socialist liberalism that our liberal media would otherwise have us believe is irresistible. If Obama were re-elected to a 2nd term, the damage to our military, our economy, and our very way of life, would be of such magnitude that it's hard for me to imagine how we could survive it as an intact nation. The Russian professor who predicted the fall of the United States might then get his wish.

Here's to hoping that Providence intervenes and guides the USSC to the correct conclusion - that Obamacare is a gross over-reach of government intrusion into our lives, and therefore unconstitutional.

Doomsday be not nigh, but...

2012-03-22T04:32:20Z

I've watched a couple of episodes of the TV show Doomsday Preppers and have a few observations to share.

As a first responder for my local community, I believe I have a better understanding of the threats we live under day in and day out than many. The constant threat of Global Thermonuclear War prevalent in the 50's thru the 80's, has subsided, and in it's place, worries about rogue nuclear states, terrorists with dirty bombs, mega tsunamis, super solar flares, mega earthquakes, super volcanoes, pestilence, famine, alien invasion, and worst of all - cats and dogs living together.

Mass hysteria.

Doomsday Preppers is to emergency preparedness what Extreme Couponing is to shopping. The TV show profiles people on the bleeding edge of preparation - many of them seem the obsessive compulsive type - who have spent thousands to hundreds of thousands preparing to survive the end of the world as we know it.

Each profile on the show starts out with a Prepper mission statement: 'I am preparing for an EMP pulse which will destroy the power grid' one prepper declares. Another preps for a pandemic, another preps for a super volcano eruption, and so on. As a side note - to the prepper profiled on the TV show getting ready for an EMP attack - I've got news: if your shelter is miles away from home, then you are going to be walking to your bunker, because if your car was built after around 1980 or so, the electronic engine components will be destroyed, and your car rendered useless scrap metal in an EMP attack. Anyway....frankly, this 'theme' approach to prepping...it's stupid.

Why you ask? Well, I'll tell you. No one has any idea when or in what form a cataclysm may come. So preparing for one type of disaster may leave you unprepared for another. The object should be general preparation to react to a disaster situation in your area regardless of it's origins.

Is prepping an activity reserved for nuts, kooks and the like? No, it isn't, and that's one thing that has me concerned about this Doomsday Prepper TV show. It gives off a vibe that to prepare for disaster, you have to be a few cards short of a full deck. This is absolutely not the case. Furthering the sense that most of these people profiled are nutjobs, is the summary at the end of each profile where nameless/faceless "experts" critique the prepper, and inject commentary on the remoteness of the chances for the various doomsday scenarios are. There is always a catch phrase, if you listen closely to the narrator discuss the odds - "most experts agree". That also means some experts disagree, and that just underscores my point; that no one really knows when the big event is going to come, or in what form it may be. Sure, some potential calamities are more likely than others, but predicting which, or when, is a fools game best left to the ghosts of ancient Mayans.

So, what is prepping really? For the 99%, prepping is a little less intense, with no bunkers to build and bury, and no multi-year supply of food to purchase and store. What prepping should mean to all, is that each of us has a personal responsibility to take reasonable steps to prepare for an emergency where local life is disrupted, and access to life sustaining supplies may be difficult or impossible to get on a timely basis. That means having a store of non-perishable food and a supply of potable water as well as any life-sustaining medications you need.

I read a study some time ago that analyzed a number of regional emergencies around the globe, and it determined that most of the major emergencies that occurred during the study period disrupted normal infrastructure for approximately 6 weeks (I wish I could find the study to give proper accreditation, but I have been unsuccessful). Nonetheless, this means if you have water and non-perishable food that will last you 6 weeks you have all but the mega emergencies covered. I have read that for day-to-day life, you should reserve 1 gallon of water per day per person. For 6 weeks, that's a lot of water. The minimum amount of fresh water you need to consume to sustain life (assuming average temperatures and so forth) is 8 oz. per day. Water, as all pundits will tell you, is the single most important item to have in an emergency. You will die within days without water, but can survive for quite some time without food. You cannot assume that the water that comes out of your tap will be there in an emergency, or even if it is there, that it will be safe to drink or use.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recommends that everyone should have a minimum of a 3 day emergency supply of food, water and essential medicines. So there you have a range - a low of 3 days, and a high of 6 weeks, will, at a minimum have you in some level of a prepared state.

Opinions on the level and depth of preparedness vary like the weather, You can surf the internet and find a multitude of opinions on the topic. The bottom line is that you should be prepared to some degree rather than not at all. If you are not prepared at all then you will be at the mercy of whatever Government services are functioning. Government is simply not designed to instantaneously cope with disaster. So the more people who are prepared, the easier it is for Government to recover and repair. The more unprepared mouths to feed, as it were, the more strained those Government services become. It should be common sense, but for many it isn't.

I am prepared for that average 6 week regional emergency. I have food, water, medicine, and all the other incidentals such as soap, a first aid kit, toilet paper, toothpaste and spare toothbrushes and so on.

And you should "be prepared" too.

Those knees must have been a-knockin'

2012-03-16T01:26:35Z

So our illustrious Defense Secretary Leon Panetta jets off to exclusive Afghanistan on a previously scheduled trip that had new meaning and import after a US Soldier allegedly went nuts and slaughtered a bunch of innocent Afghans.

As has already been reported widely, before Panetta spoke to a gaggle of US Marines 'over there', those tough ombre's were hurriedly disarmed. Apparently, that's the first time a sitting Secretary of Defense feared for his own life while taking the podium to speak to his own troops.

I don't blame the guy, however.

According to Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, Panetta has good reason to be ascared of his own troops. Davis wrote an essay recently which was heavily critical of the Afghanistan operation, and particularly critical of what he felt were less than truthful assessments of the situation flowing out from his superiors.

Our troops, and especially the Marines, are trained to land in hostile territory, and then kill, crush, and destroy the enemy. They are not trained in how to prosecute a war without really trying. Thus, the status quo as described by Col. Davis and others, is certainly enough to drive a combat troop in-country nuts. Is that a proper excuse for the accused? Hell no it isn't, but that someone snapped and went Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs is not a surprise, and was likely inevitable given the status quo.

So, when you have to stand in front of 200 heavily armed Marines, many of whom are likely totally pissed off and disgusted with the failed policies you are advancing...hec, I might have bladder control problems too, if that were me.

Remember that Obama, harshly critical of the Bush Admin for distracting the nation and the world with that supposed side-show in Iraq, claimed the real action was in Afghanistan. Ironically, all the predictions and claims of Iraq being a terrible quagmire proved more or less false (at least we are no longer in the quagmire directly, and Iraq has not imploded - yet). While Obama's war, where the real action was supposed to be, is a total clusterf%$# quagmire. How many more troops will be driven into madness, or outright killed waging a stalemate largely of our own making?

The next president, whether it's Obama, Mitt Romney, or some other dark horse (Hillary?<shiver> ) is going to have to figure out how dress this shit sandwich up, and get us out of Afghanistan somehow, some way.

The only problem is, no matter how much you dress shit up, it's still gonna stink, and taste really bad.

Obamacare cost estimate doubles - who's suprised?

2012-03-14T03:19:59Z

The headline of the Washington Examiner blazes CBO: Obamacare to cost $1.76 trillion over 10 years.

This is why a stupid nation fails.

I'll drive a stake in the ground and arbitrarily estimate that anyone in the United States with half a brain still functioning knew the Obama numbers on the cost of Obamacare were cooked. The Congressional Budget Office knew they were cooked during the legislative process of passing Obamacare by liberal super-majority. Then the President summoned CBO officials to the White House for a not so subtle or unmistakable shake down session to get the CBO to see his tainted socialist point of view. Months after, the CBO produced what many construed as a favorable analysis of the so-called 'Baucus Plan'. And some cried foul that CBO caved to Obama, which CBO denied at the time.

Democrats knew that the claimed "savings" was nothing more than The Big Lie, but it was and is OK for the Democrats, because the cost held no relevancy for them. It was purely about projecting their derivative of Socialism on America, and the liberals were only too happy to lie through their teeth about the economic consequences.

So now CBO publishes a new study, and truth, of course, is worse than the fiction, as it always is. Typically, a federal legislative bill, once passed, is enormously difficult to repeal. So by the time the truth comes out, we the people are already jaded and tired of all the fuss and have long since given up on the issue. Proponents of any onerous bill know this, and game the system to get their turd passed before the anybody of import figures the scam out. We all have thirty second attention spans right?

Well, the problem here isn't so much 30 second attention spans, but that almost everybody knew Obamacare would cost far more than the snake oil salesmanship was claiming. And yet it passed anyway, to the cheers of the liberal intelligentsia, some of whom at least, not only had to lie to you and me about Obamacare, but also to themselves.

There are only two things that can stem the flow of cumulative red ink in Washington, of which Obamacare has done nothing but accelerate the engines of our long term economic demise. One is another Republican Revolution come this November (very possible still). The other is total economic collapse (inevitable unless the flow of the Red Ink river is reversed very soon).

The coming election is probably going to decide the future of the United States. If you allow the liberals a win, then frankly you can bend over and kiss your ass good-bye. The sucky part is that the rest of us will be unwillingly enslaved to machinery of failure, with no opt-out.. As a practical matter, there will be nothing we can do about it except spend the last of our treasure buying long shelf-life food and supplies and bunkering up as best we can.

May God have mercy on us this November.

The double dog dare and other things

2012-03-12T05:25:15Z

Another posting from Drudge (the first website I usually visit for news) tells us that Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. (R-N.C.) has introduced a resolution proclaiming that if Obama goes to war again without Congress approval, the President should be impeached.

Well, Mr Honorable Representative from North Carolina, I guess you missed the big news that this is exactly what happened in Libya.

Obama should have already been impeached.

Speaking of impeachment, another article on Drudge from of all places, Russia. It seems Pravda is peeved that famous (or infamous depending on your point of view) Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona isn't getting much attention in the "mainstream" American press. Arpaio held a press conference recently in which he claims forensic evidence suggests Barack Obama's birth certificate is a forged document. Curious coming from Pravda considering it's a state organ, and Obama has dropped America's drawers on the Russian nuke treaty (if passed by Congress).

Sheriff Joe and the Obama Administration have been feuding for some time, and Sheriff Joe is sticking it in the eye of the President once again. It's an interesting claim, and at a minimum with breathe new life into the 'birther' conspiracy theorists. I am not ready to sign on as a 'believer' just yet.

The reality here is that Obama won't be impeached, even if he starts bombing Syria, Iran or both without Congressional approval. To impeach the first black President in history is simply unthinkable in the eyes of liberals. Obama would have to do something inescapably drastic, like walk into a congressional session and blow Speaker Boehner's brains out on national TV. Even then liberals would claim it was justifiable homicide. No, Obama will have to be removed from office the old fashioned way, by voters fed up with an unacceptable status quo.

And if Obama somehow manages to miraculously win another term in office...well, those bunkers you see on the tv show Doomsday Preppers will start to look more and more attractive.

Either way the resolution offered by Rep. Jones is a waste of time and taxpayer money. If Obama takes up the double dog dare, Congress will bleat like sheep being unnaturally violated by the herder, and do nothing.

A tale of two Judges

2012-03-07T05:51:08Z

A recent Drudge headline blazed that a federal judge issued a ruling that found a Maryland concealed carry gun permit law unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Benson Everett Legg - a Bush appointee - issued his ruling that MD could not require citizens to provide a "good and substantial" reason for carrying a firearm concealed on their person (also known as bearing arms). The Second Amendment's existence, the Judge reasoned, was all that was needed to justify the plaintiff's desire to pack heat.

I agree, but.....

In another court case decided in January and not linked by Drudge, U.S. District Judge William H. Walls - a Clinton appointee - issued forth his ruling which tossed out a concealed carry lawsuit brought against the state of New Jersey. This time, the Judge ruled that the Second Amendment does not guarantee the right to bear arms outside one's home. So, in NJ, it's ok to pack heat in your house, but not out in the cold cruel world where you are more likely to need it (especially in Newark where Judge Walls sits).

So let's pause here and review the text of the Second Amendment:

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

A funny thing about that pesky 2nd Amendment, it doesn't say...

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms inside one's own home, shall not be infringed."

There is interpretation, and then there is fabrication. In this case, Judge Walls has fabricated a constraint that was never envisioned by our founding fathers. Of course, in doing so he violated this oath:

I, William H. Walls, do solemnly swear that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as a US District Court Justice under the Constitution (emphasis added) and laws of the United States. So help me God.

So help us God indeed.

The phony legal doctrine of 'only in the home' is one advanced by liberals as an intellectually dishonest rationale to try to contain the current wave of favorable rulings regarding the individual right to keep and bear arms. It is not about public safety. It's about control. There are now enough states which have 'shall-issue' concealed carry laws that the statistical evidence is painfully incontrovertible - people who pack heat are not blood thirsty red-necks who start blasting after a dirty look. In the states with these favorable concealed carry laws, the streets have not run red with blood.

Of course, if you're the Federal Government, you can get away with actually arming blood thirsty drug cartels so they can do their ugly worst, but for us ordinary ninety-nine percenters, the humungous majority of us just peaceably go about our business. Damn our peaceful hides, the Brady people lament.

The contrast between these two rulings by opposing legal 'philosophies', issued almost simultaneously, could not be greater. Whether or not the US Supreme Court will take up the issue at all, and if they do, whether they ultimately rule in favor of the right to bear arms is unknowable at this time. The lesson imbedded in here is that the stakes for the upcoming election could not possibly be higher for practically any aspect of where this country may be headed.

This is just one reason among dozens why no conservative can sit on the side-lines for the upcoming election regardless of who wins the Republican nomination for President.

When Obama says 'I've got your back' - RUN!

2012-03-05T22:51:23Z

A Reuters article linked by Drudge today regarding a meeting between Obama and the Israeli Prime Minister had this to say, in part:

"Obama sought to assure Netanyahu that the United States was keeping the military option open as a last resort and always "has Israel's back," but also urged Israeli patience to allow sanctions and diplomacy to work."

Well, I'll tell you...based on Obama's track record of 'keeping the back' of our allies, if I were that Prime Minister, I'd have formed beads of sweat at hearing such an absurd claim from our two-faced President. Indeed, Obama has tried to sell out Israel to it's enemies more than once since the President took office.

I recall well the Israeli attack on Iraq's nuclear plant on June 7, 1981. The diplomatic world was in an uproar over the surprise attack. Domestically, many members of Congress were also flipping out, as were officials in the White House. Yet there was a hold-out in the near universal condemnation of Israel. At the time, hawkish Secretary of State Alexander Haig related privately that Israel had done the US a favor by taking out the reactor. Some in the administration were appalled by Haig's remarks, but he turned out to be right.

Now Israel is faced with a similar dilemma. Once again Israel may provide an essential service to an ungrateful ally. We shall see.

A bargain by any corporate measure

2012-03-05T21:50:07Z

In the news today, Sen. Jon Tester issued a statement calling for the top executive of the US Postal Service to take a pay cut in light of the continuing struggles that agency has making ends meet when snail-mail is ever increasingly an anachronism in the modern era. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe earns roughly $384,000 a year.

According to Wikipedia, the US Postal Service "employs over 574,000 workers and operates over 218,000 vehicles. It is the 2^nd largest civilian employer in the United States.

It is indeed a rare day when you see me defend a government agency, but in this case for the CEO of an employer who oversees half a million workers, and approximately 200,000 offices and facilities, compensation of 384K is a genuine bargain compared to the enormous income earned by his peers in the "real" world of Corporate America.

Indeed Mr. Donahoe should be given a huge bonus just for having the temerity to recommend downsizing the USPS in the face of market realities. Downsizing and Government is the stuff of proverbial vinegar and oil, even if the USPS is technically an "independent" agency. Virtually every move the USPS makes has to be blessed by Congress. So it takes a measure of guts to go before our legislators with deep cuts on the agenda.

If Senator Tester wants to do something substantial to help out those poor postal workers, he would do well actually pay for his own postage, which he currently gets for free (see franking). The perk of Congress getting free postage costs the USPS about $34 million a year. How may Postal jobs does that translate into, Mr. Senator?

My own anecdotal experience with the USPS is that they do a good job overall at delivering snail mail, and long lines at the local post office can be annoying. Disruptive technologies have a tendency to disrupt. The USPS must change with the dynamics of the modern era, whether Mr. Tester likes it or not. Mr. Donahoe can keep all of his relatively humble salary, and we can all cheer that he is not taking home ten or twenty million dollars a year in bonuses and stock options. As for me, I wouldn't want that USPS CEO job for 3 times the price.

Thank you, Mr. Donahoe, for your service.