Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Hangings in America
The recent degeneration of political discourse in the form of effigies of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin and now twice reported effigies of Democrat Presidential candidate Barack Obama are a sad commentary on the state of America.
Chad Michael Morrisette, the creator of the Palin effigy that has hung since the weekend, says its art and humor. At the same time he acknowledges that such an image is distasteful and offensive, "The image of a hanged black man is a lot more intense than the image of a hanged white woman, for our country and the history of our country," he told a local station.
Yet the effigy remains despite outcry from local official as well as across the nation. The local sheriff says there’s no law against “bad taste” while the FBI responded, "It's clearly distasteful, but it doesn't appear to be a violation of federal civil rights statutes." A special agent with the Secret Service says, “incident seems to be a harmless, though unusual, Halloween display.”
Meanwhile, effigies of Obama have had brief appearances at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and at George Fox University in Oregon. Both effigies were immediately taken down, there were no references to free speech or art, only offered apologies and disgust.
The students who allegedly confessed responsibility for the GFU incident will be punished according to school officials while the president of KU, Lee Todd, “says that he plans to personally apologize to the Obama family on behalf of the university and that he is ‘personally offended and deeply embarrassed by this disgusting episode.’"
Why the disparate difference in response to these equally despicable acts of feigned violence? Do we in America, in the interests of “tolerance” fail to understand the significance of the act of hanging someone in effigy? Is good taste, or conversely abhorrent behavior, solely dependent on the political position of the one so depicted?
Perhaps so. The Islamic world well recognizes the power of the image of hanging one in effigy. We have seen images almost ad nauseam of President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Many Americans have found these images disgusting and disturbing, yet we have never heard outcries against them from those on the left who now find such images of Obama offensive.
From this lack of response one can infer that as far as the left is concerned, it is just fine and even acceptable practice to disparage, demonize, and disgustingly depict anyone on the right, or for that matter anyone who disagrees with the left.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: effigy, election, liberalism, Obama, offensive, Sarah Palin, tolerance, values
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
I just finished watching a DVD I heard about on Steve Brown Etc. several months ago and had put on my list of must see videos. It is Sophie Scholl: The Final Days.
If you have never heard of this story, or haven’t yet taken time to view it, you must do so. It is a lesson, first in the strength of character of those who truly believe in their cause and secondly, a treatise on the dangers of a government that believes it alone has the right to determine what ideas are proper and must destroy those whose ideas oppose it.
In a nation where government becomes so powerful that it invades the private economy, nationalizes industry, socializes its education and humanitarian sectors, that power is an elixir to the population and a source of control for those in power. The people become either emasculated through fear or gratitude, or a few rise and speak out against the iron claw of those in power.
Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans and a group of others known as the White Rose chose the latter. When they saw, either with their own eyes or through reports from others, the abuse of a government self-described as Nationalist Socialism, they knew it was their duty to speak out, even in the face of possible death.
That death came at the end of a kangaroo court where the laws and constitution of Germany were suspended for the sake of expediently dispatching those who opposed Hitler’s Third Reich.
The lessons for today are many. Throughout the film, which was created after interviews with many who were witness to the events as well as uncovered court records, Sophie, Hans and Christopher Probst were interrogated and harangued for defying the state in spite of their state provided educations.
How could they rebel against Germany after all Germany had done for them? With the continued intrusion of federalism in the United States into the educational system, the attempts to criminalize home schooling in California, and the control of the public (read “government”) education system by such liberal organizations as the National Education Association which allies itself with the Democrat party, our children may soon be asked the same question.
The education system envisioned by “Obama and Biden will create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state "zero to five" efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school.” It was Kruschev who in 1960 declared before the United Nations General Assembly ”America will fall without a shot being fired. It will fall from within.”
He was referring to the Communization of America, extolling the bullet points of the Communist Manifesto. What we are interested in here specifically is plank five, “Free education for all children in public schools.” An Obama nation would provide “free” education to all children, starting at birth; to indoctrinate them in the glories of a government controlled society.
It’s not surprising that Obama would promote such a scheme in that his college years included a plethora of socialist connections that have continued in one form or another to today. Black Liberation Theology, espoused by Rev. Jeremiah Wright whose Trinity United Church of Christ Obama attended for years, is rooted in Marxist philosophy.
But getting back to Sophie Scholl, it is important, even more so as we approach this coming election, that we remind ourselves of the dangers of empowering one who lifts himself up as the answer to all societal needs and will administer those remedies via the power of the state.
When we assign to the state our right of self-determination, we assign to the state our freedom as well. Freedom is not easy; moreover, it is difficult to determine ones course for ones life and family. When government assigns to the people certain entitlements, with each entitlement comes a loss of freedom.
Incrementally since Roosevelt’s New Deal we are assigning our freedom and liberty to an increasingly socialist government. With Social Security, the expansion of government education, the welfare system, Medicare and Medicaid, now with the advent of corporate welfare in the recent bailout of Wall Street and the intrusion of government mandating private industry rewrite legal contracts and looming on the horizon the specter of national healthcare, the American electorate is blindly and ignorantly reducing themselves to wards of the state.
Alexis de Tocqueville, who lived from 1805-1859 stated, “The American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money.”
Sophie Scholl, as she headed to the guillotine said in part, "How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause.”
de Tocqueville’s prediction is now coming true in America. The question is, is there anyone left who is willing to ascribe to Sophie Scholl’s admonition? I pray there is yet a remnant who will rise up stand. If not, it may soon be illegal to publish a dissenting article such as this.
Other sources:
Accuracy in Media - Obama’s Communist Mentor
Accuracy in Media - Obama’s International Socialist Connections
The New York Times - The Mask Slips
The Conservative Voice - Barack Obama Lauded by Marxists
American Thinker - Another Obama Marxist
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: abuse of power, Alexis de Tocqueville, democracy, education, election, Medicaid, Medicare, Nazi Germany, Obama, politics, Social Security, socialism, Sophie Scholl
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Is YouTube saying life begins before birth?
While I’m an a strong supporter of allowing a child the choice to reach full term and have every opportunity to engage in the life that God has breathed in him or her, I’ve often been uncomfortable with some of the tactics of Operation Rescue.
Too often it seems that they engage in practices that in the end may do more harm than good to the progress of creating an America where abortion is not only undesirable but also unavailable. Still, this is America and we have a constitutional right, and some will say duty, to express our views as individuals and groups.
Some will argue that such expression needs to be respectful, reasoned and responsible. I would agree with that sentiment. But there are times when a bold statement is the only way to shake someone enough to truly look at the core issues.
The producers did not distort Mr. Obama’s positions, just stated them in such a way that the results of those votes were graphically depicted. YouTube said it failed to meet “Community Guidelines.”
Apparently those standards are subjective to the sensibilities of YouTube and it’s corporate owners, Google. As Google’s motto is “do no evil” it seems that they believe it is evil to tell the truth about the beliefs an individual who aspires to the highest political office in the land, the most powerful office in the free world.
But if the censorship of this video by Google means they believe that in the case of Barack Obama freedom of speech should be suspended if it depicts him in a negative light, then they, Google, through their surrogate YouTube are themselves violating constitutionally protected speech and in doing so committing “evil.”
Some might argue that the graphic nature of the depiction is offensive or over the top and removal was justified. But a perusing of the YouTube site will reveal a plethora of video ranging from near pornography to graphically depicted violence. So one is left with the reasonable assumption that the only “Community Guidelines” offended were those of the “Obama Community.”
Of course if YouTube removed the video because the depiction of an aborted fetus violated their policy against viewing dead bodies they then have another problem. If by pulling it they are saying they will not show images of a dead body, they are tactically admitting that an aborted fetus, rather than a “mass of tissue,” is in fact a human being.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: abortion, election, Google, Obama, politics, speech, YouTube
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Wow Crowds in The Villages Frighten Dems
Sunday we headed south to The Villages to be part of the crowd welcoming Republican V.P. Nominee Sarah Palin. We left early because the crowds were anticipated to be in excess of 30,000. That estimate was based in part on the 30,000 event tickets that were snatched up by Florida residents who were anxious to see this charismatic candidate.
However, on Friday before the event, the Republican Party of Florida announced that all comers would be welcome; no one would be turned away. With that, the doors swung wide and the thousands who couldn’t get to a local party office to retrieve their free tickets stormed this small but growing retirement community 65 miles northwest of Orlando and 85 miles northeast of Tampa.
We arrived about 3 hours before the event was to begin and after waiting in traffic for an hour, only to learn that the parking for that area was closed, we turned around and headed back to another access. When we discovered we were in stopped traffic moving at a pace that would easily give a turtle first place, and finding ourselves 3.5 miles away we decided to reevaluate.
I needed to be back home to get some rest before getting up at 1:30 am for work and realizing, with the crowds and traffic, it would be hours after the event before we were able to get out of the heavy traffic and begin the drive back home. So we made the hard decision and turned around and left.
It was disappointing to miss being a part of this event, but duty called. When I learned the following day that the crowds were estimated to be 60,000, I wasn’t’ surprised. Though I had in no way got close enough to get a visual, and when we left it was still 2 hours before the event, the number of folks already there was amazing and there was no apparent end that we could see.
I’ve read a number on online accounts of the event but really not that many. It was heavily covered locally, but national coverage was limited. Newspapers close to The Villages reported the crowd at 60,000 estimated by the fire chief whose job it is to know such things.
There are anecdotal stories of people traveling in excess of 100 miles to be part of this event, the first by Mrs. Palin out from under the wing of Senator McCain. The crowd was hoping for a glimpse of this energetic and engaging newcomer to the US political scene. The media was hoping for a gaff.
A number of liberal papers and news sites disputed those numbers citing unnamed individuals in the crowd or pitting their reporters estimate of the crowd as low as 20,000 against the numbers cited by the professionals. They questioned the validity of the estimates and on Washington Post columnist suggested that the McCain campaign released the numbers provided by the Secret Service, which the columnist offered doesn’t provide numbers.
I think they are trying to diminish the welcome Florida gave to Palin because of the poor showing for Obama earlier in the week. The Miami Herald described Obama’s visit to Jacksonville, a metropolitan area of 1.3 million and heavily Democrat as attended by an “overflow crowd…capacity 13,000.
Oh, by the way, The Villages is a community of roughly 70,000 with the much larger metropolitan areas of Orlando and Tampa 1 ½ to 2 hours away. So it seems that even in something a benign as crowd estimates, the bias of the media shows through.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: Democrats, election, McCain, Obama, politics, Republicans, Sarah Palin
Friday, September 19, 2008
POM, PCP and DRS, dangerous mental diseases
In a recent interview by Sean Hannity, Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin referred to an addiction to OPM (say opium) when asked about the causes of the meltdown of Wall Street and the financial markets. She was referring to Other Peoples Money.
I think she also should have mentioned another addiction, that of the Washington politicians to PCP. So many of our politicians are controlled by this addiction as evidenced by their inability to separate themselves from the Washington power structure.
They keep returning year after year, election after election. Each time they complain about the corruption of Washington and vow to clean it up, but in the end they, year by year, election by election, become increasingly tainted by their addiction.
That addiction? PCP, also known as Personal Consolidation of Power. Except for the very strong and disciplined, they all fall into its grasp. The grasp of its tentacles and the tantalizing purr of its disarming voice more often than not overwhelm the good intentions of freshmen politicians.
Its most prominent symptom is the complete lack of acknowledgement of their addiction. As we all know, especially those whose life work is in addiction counseling, until an addict acknowledges his addiction, there’s no hope for him/her.
For those who are in the grasp of this addiction, usually their only hope is the good will of their constituents who, though not an easy task, must force themselves to think of their representative over themselves, and issue a massive dose of anti-incumbentadosis.
On November 4 of this year, voters across this nation have the solemn obligation, as they go to their polls, to vote for a candidate other than the incumbent.
I know, in some cases, this may be a very difficult task. It’s hard to think about what you are doing and consider your vote intellectually rather than by rote. But for the health of your representative, you must do so.
If you find you cannot, it may be a strong symptom that you are infected with an incurable case of DRS or Disassociative Responsibility Syndrome. Other symptoms are an insane belief that your politicians are actually telling you the truth as they campaign, that you want to get your fair share of the money the candidate is promising to dole out, and you think you must punish the greedy rich and big business by increasing taxes on them to transfer their money to your bank account.
If you exhibit any of the symptoms of DRS, it is vital that you isolate yourself immediately. Do not go out of your house until after November 4th. It is especially important that you stay away from your polling place and avoid at all costs absentee balloting.
Extracting yourself from the political process is the only hope for you to regain your sense of self responsibility and for your country to regain it’s equilibrium and return to the greatness for which it is known.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: election, humor, illness, voting
Thursday, August 28, 2008
You are being manipulated...
...and you probably don't even know it. Of course that's the whole purpose of advertising, to manipulate you into buying the advertised product or service. But what about politics? Are you being manipulated there as well?
According to a recent broadcast on NPR's Science Friday, you are and have been for a long time. I think the difference this political cycle is that the candidates and their campaigns are getting a better understanding of the science and using it to their advantage.
According to "The Science of Getting a 'Yes'" there is a proven relationship between the method of displaying an apparent large group of like minded people, and an individual's decision, conscious or otherwise, to go along with the group.
Obama is using this concept tonight to, for the first time ever, filling Denver's Invesco field with some 70,000 people, hoping those in attendance will use their cell phones to bring others there as well, at least in a virtual reality sense. If you are part of the group, well...if all these people believe it must be true. Right?
Of course, if you are armed with information, you can inoculate yourself from the manipulation, well, at least to the degree you want to be immune. So take 20 minutes or so and take a listen to the podcast by clicking on the player below.
If that doesn't getcha thinkin' maybe this will. Is Obama the Messiah? Of course you've heard it mentioned on talk radio for weeks, even months. But there are true 'believers'. Check out the following:
Is Barack Obama the Messiah?
The Obama Messiah Watch
Barack Obama's Messiah Complex
Obama, The Anointed ONE
AP Photo Evokes Obama as Christ at His Baptism
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has declared him "a leader that God has blessed us with at this time." Of course conservatives need to be careful about this. Many declared the same thing about George W. Bush.
But Bush didn't march around acting as though he was the answer to the worlds problems and that it was "our time." Obama acts as though he believes he is "the ONE" and the scripting of his campaign carries out that message both overtly and subliminally.
Of course thinking people know that anyone who thinks he has all the answers to the worlds, or even America's, problems doesn't. But then, it appears that those who support Obama have either checked their brains at the door, or have agenda that is supplemental (race) to or tangentially related (consolidating power) to an Obama presidency.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: Democrats, election, NPR, Obama, politics
Friday, August 08, 2008
Windfall profits?
Microsoft reports a net profit of 29.3% (5 year average of 27.9%) Industry 5 year average 16.3%
Coke reports a net profit of 18.4% (5 year average of 21.2%) Industry 5 year average 16.2%
Gannet (Newspapers) reports a net profit of -22.8% (5 year average of 15.8%) Industry 5 year average 7.2%
BP reports a net profit of 7.3% (5 year average of 8.2%) Industry 5 year average 10.9%
Exxon reports a net profit of 9.2% (5 year average of 9.6%)
Conoco-Phillips reports a net profit of 7.6% (5 year average of 6.7%)
So who's making more on their investment and which company are you going to invest in? Who is making more off the consumer? The "profits" are distributed to the investors, the stockholders. I.e. Mutual Funds, 401-K's, Pension funds and individual investors. Tax these "excess" profits and who are you taking the money away from? Vanguard, Washington Mutual, College Retirement Equities, Fidelity and 1624 more mutual funds and institutional funds hold 52% of Exxon alone.
Research the other oil stocks and see who is holding them, the majority holders include your next door neighbor, maybe even yourself. So before you demonize, know what it is you're demonizing.
The politicians are merely playing into the ignorance of the American, public school educated, people. It takes work to know the facts. Try it, it's empowering.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: election, fuel prices, politics, power, taxes, windfall profits
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Politics, power and pocketbooks...
It’s been a few days since posting. Lot’s of personal responsibilities clamoring for attention drew my attention away from the computer, but not the news. Still, in the coming days it will be a balancing act to write while continuing to take care of business at home.
Of interest is the today’s story on the draconian measures of House Democrats to shut down Republican efforts to pass legislation to deal with the current rise in prices digging into the pocketbook of American families.
The House leadership, without debate, passed a resolution Friday to adjourn that legislative body for the next five weeks. In doing so they effectively turned a deaf ear to the cries of Americans seeking relief from high gas prices.
Democrats are reticent to enact any legislation that brings relief to high oil prices, preferring to play on the American distrust of oil companies that has been perpetuated by their rhetoric and media misinformation.
After the adjournment, Republican held a protest on the House floor with Representative Thad McCotter (R-Michigan) proclaiming, “he believes part of the reason Congress is so hated by the American people is because they ‘care more about politics than about working people.’"
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind, declared, "Republicans will not go quietly. Let us demand that the president of the United States ... call a special session of this Congress on energy."
So what’s up this Democrat Congress? Why won’t they address the issue of high oil prices? I believe, like many others, it’s because they want oil and gas prices to remain high, at least through the November elections. What better tool to demonize Republicans than to paint them and the Bush administration with the false colors of complicity with “big oil.”
The ignorant voter base of the Democrats who will not educate themselves on the facts of the issues will blindly fall in line. Many other Americans who remain more interested in entertainment and celebrity than arming themselves with the facts will follow along.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama has flipped and now supports drilling offshore. That’s a 180-degree flop from his strongly held, immovable and principled position of only a few weeks ago. One would have to believe that his principles can be bought and the change we can believe in it the changing nature of Mr. Obama’s positions.
And the beat goes on. Meanwhile, while the American people struggle with high fuel prices, spiraling grocery prices and an economy that seems to be faltering, succumbing to the efforts of the Democrats and their media crony’s, Democrats and Republicans go on a spending spree.
The spending bill passed on Friday included 510 earmarks. These spending measures are stuffed into legislation, most going unnoticed until after the final vote. Most of the money spent goes to pet projects in the representatives’ district and much of it isn’t even requested or lobbied for by the recipients. Their primary purpose is to memorialize the representative or senator who lassos it.
Meanwhile, weighed down by the aforementioned increasing cost of living, American families are paying for the vanity of their representatives $17 Billion addiction. According to Citizens Against Government Waste, politicians spent $17.2 billion on 11,610 pork projects in 2008. It cost’s every American family $153.57. That’s more than a week’s worth of groceries for most families, money they could sorely use in their own budget yet Congress persists in pilfering the pockets of the public for their own pernicious practices.
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: Democrats, election, energy, food, fuel prices, Obama, oil, politics, Republicans
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Support your candidate, pin him down, er, up, er whatever
A short aside from the current topical line. There’s a new campaign tool out for the Obama campaign. Acknowledging BO’s deep knowledge and understanding of the US political geography one company has created a lapel pin for his supporters.
This is a great way to show your unwavering support of Obama, regardless of his knowledge, or lack thereof, of the country he’s campaigning to run. He's really a great guy who we know little of, but he’s talks real good and looks nice. That’s enough, right?
On the other hand, if you are not a supporter, get one, or several as a way to telling others you are not blinded by his charisma. This tongue-in-cheek slap will raise questions and perhaps give opportunity to explain why he actually isn’t the best candidate.
Of course, then you have to decide who is. Hmm, tough choice.
Get yours here:
View a larger image
"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson
Labels: election, humor, Obama, politics
Friday, February 08, 2008
Medias campaign to disuade Republican voters
With Mitt Romney now out of the race, the media can now start their attack on the leading Republican presidential candidate. Up to this point they’ve nearly had a “love fest” with John McCain, essentially defending him against the concerns of conservatives.
For weeks the media has disparaged Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity as the "goon squad" for their, ah hem, lack of support for candidate McCain. Flying false flags and characterizing the concerns of conservative pundits more as personality issues and ignoring the real ideological and policy issues these commentators have postulated.
Now, after the Romney withdrawal, the national media suddenly begins its attack on McCain, the AP enumerating his failure to show up for “half” the Senate votes in the past year. All the while demonstrating that while Sens. Obama and Clinton’s failure to show records were less than stellar, they still recorded more Senate votes than McCain.
That is just the initial salvo. Reporting on McCains’s speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Zachary Coile reported some of the specifics of conservatives disagreements with the front runner.
"It's not just that he voted against the tax cuts - he rallied moderate Republicans and Democrats to oppose the tax cuts"
“… his McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill, which they called an affront to the First Amendment.”
“…McCain is too eager to compromise with Democrats.”
“…his vote against the 2001 tax cuts…”
“…his immigration bill, which failed in the Senate last year…”
“…the Gang of fourteen.”
Suddenly, these and other issues, that conservatives contend reveal McCain’s liberal mindset, are making headlines. This worry, along with McCain’s propensity to link arms with liberal Democrats like Russ Feingold and Ted Kennedy, and even more moderate Democrats such as Joe Lieberman, rankle conservatives who have watched McCain abandon them repeatedly over the years while championing liberal causes.
When the details of the pundits’ disagreement with McCain may have been educational to and had an effect on Republican primary voters, the media was silent. Now, with McCain the frontrunner and presumed nominee, these issues become headlines.
It seems to me this is the beginning of the liberal medias effort to discourage the Republican voter and dissuade them for casting a vote come November. I think their strategy is, if Republicans flee the voting booth, no matter who the Democrat nominee is, Hillary or Obama, they will have smooth sailing to the inauguration.
I have to say I was having problems thinking positively about our now presumed nominee any way. I didn’t support him in our Florida primary, and working up support now is going to be real tough.
James Dobson, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingram, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage all have come out against McCain. But they aren’t the only ones. Conservative voters across the nation have serious problems with John McCain. Those who don’t probably haven’t studied his record.
Granted there are varying degrees of conservativism, and even conservatives will disagree on various issues, but all will find in John McCain to have abandoned them in many of the issues they hold dear. I place myself firmly in their camp.
Labels: conservatives, election, McCain, politics