Why are Americans so Discontented? (Part 3 of 3) A Baker’s Dozen reasons

Posted on 2014-01-10 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

A good friend of mine sent me an article, which readers of her column (to remain anonymous for now) had sent her several times.  I could not find a source, but still wanted to share my own responses to the claims and the “solutions” presented in the original article.  It is entitled, “Discontented?”  I commented extensively on that article in Parts 1 and 2 of this column.

This third part is my own thoughts on the subject.  Why are we so discouraged and discontented and disgruntled?  I’ve cut back on my own news reading and listening because it is such a drain on me.  Even so, just hearing from friends, family, neighbors, and even acquaintances, it seems that things decline month by month.

Here are some thirteen reasons: a Baker’s Dozen (TM), reasons why so many Americans might be upset and angry.  Note, they really don’t have all that much to do with the media: more to do with government.

A BAKER’S DOZEN (TM) REASONS WHY AMERICANS ARE UNHAPPY (DISCONTENTED)

  1. Each month, a US dollar buys less and less: food, clothing, services, other products.  Yes, some products (like fuel) are very volatile in price, but overall, the trend is UP, UP and UP!
  2. Each month, the governments (federal, state, local) tell us more and more lies about more and more things:  whether it is heath care, or spying on us, or telling us that we really can’t do what they told us we could do; the lies are bigger and better all the time.
  3. Each month, we discover more lies that the governments told us in the past, back when we trusted government a little bit more, and find out that their lies cost us more money and more freedom.
  4. Each month, we hear two to four stories about children in school being suspended or expelled or otherwise disciplined for such hideous crimes as pointing their finger like a gun, drawing pictures of guns or crosses, wearing a Jesus tee-shirt, or kissing each other (unless they are the same sex).
  5. Each month or so, we have a “mass shooting” (four or more shot or dead), usually a school, where no one is armed and prepared to defend the students and teachers against murderous nut jobs or drugged-up shooters.
  6. Each month, while a few (maybe a dozen) children and teachers and others are killed in horrific mass shootings at schools or theaters or malls, hundreds of children are gunned down one at a time in the big cities where the gun laws are the “best.”  They don’t make the national news, of course.
  7. Each month, we read multiple stories about how celebrities are caught drinking or drugging and driving, and also multiple stories about how celebrities think America is a totally evil nation and filled with bigots and this-and-that-phobes who need to give up God and common-sense morality.
  8. Each month, we see another list of dead (but not the much longer list of severely wounded) American soldiers sent by the White House (with collusion of Congress) to “fight terrorism” or “keep the peace” or something else that has little or nothing to do with protecting the nation and our freedom.
  9. Each month, while American troops are protecting other people’s borders (and maybe freedoms), we see more or less immigrants, terrorists, drugs, and whatever else slide across our borders (especially the Southern border) while being told it is wrong to try and protect our own borders.  And we hear of cops killing and beating and abusing and robbing more and more people of their money and their freedoms here at home.
  10. Each month, we see politicians squander billions, including millions and millions for their own pleasure in travel and entertainment and paying off their own families and foreign governments, and stupid studies and subsidies for this and that, often in remote locations far from home.
  11. Each month, we are told how more and more government services are being reduced or eliminated because they don’t have enough money, at the same time as they pass or jury-rig new taxes on more and more things, at all levels, and waste the billions. (#10).
  12. Each month, we read of judges who decide that yet another part of American and biblical morality is unconstitutional and must not be not allowed, but the destruction celebrated and embraced by all of us.  And we see the judges and media and others punish people for trying to maintain old standards of morality.
  13. Each month, we are made subject to more and more laws that make things we have always done illegal, while being spied upon more and more, and being forced to do more and more things that we don’t want to do, but have to do because government said we should (or shouldn’t).  And we hear politicians and their supporters who claim that all these laws and agencies are “keeping us free” and “keeping us safe.”

We could add a baker’s dozen more reasons, but this is enough to show that although we live in a wonderful land and have so many blessings, many of us are disgruntled and discouraged.

The real question, though, remains unanswered: WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT?  Perhaps, with thoughts from readers and others, I can come up with a Part 4.

Mama’s Note: The one thing that each person can “do about it,” immediately, with full integrity, is to stop thinking that any government, any group of people, has any legitimate authority to control their lives or property. It is this false, utterly diabolical superstition of authority which binds most people to the abuse and outright destruction going on all around us. They simply cannot imagine being true self owners, and self responsible. They have been conditioned for centuries to NEED and believe in the need for permission of their overlords, even when they hate and resent them. That’s what has to change.

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Why are Americans so Discontented (Part 2 of 3)

Posted on 2014-01-09 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

A good friend of mine sent me this article, which readers of her column (to remain anonymous for now) had sent her several times.  I could not find a source, but still want to share my own responses to the claims and the “solutions” presented in the original article.  It is entitled, “Discontented?”
My comments are in italics, following the quotes from the article.

PART 2  (Click here to see part 1)
 Meanwhile, we enjoy the freedoms that are protected by an all-volunteer army that is out there defending us.  Make no mistake about it.  Our troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere overseas have volunteered to serve, and in many cases have died for our freedoms. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn’t have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ”general” discharge, an ”other than honorable” discharge or, worst case scenario, a ”dishonorable” discharge after a few days in the brig.

I write this as a serving (Reserve) officer:  the Army and other services today are NOT protecting our freedoms, especially not OVERSEAS.  They are serving the self-serving Congress and White House in maintaining an immoral and illegal empire. And keeping people who are angry at the US government (for good or bad reasons) from figuring out better ways to kill us and attack the US and our allies.  The dead have not died in vain, but they are NOT dying for our freedoms.  Not now.  Indeed, the more that have died in Aghanistan and Iraq and other places, the more our freedoms have been stolen by Congress and the White House and our state and local governments (overall) – see New York, Connecticut, California, and Colorado for RKBA, or ObummerCare.  He makes good points about the draft (and how many of us prayed for a long time to end that travesty of freedom).  But he misses the point: what is in the past is no longer true.

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69% of Americans?  Say what you want, but I blame a lot of it on the national media.  If it bleeds, it leads, and they specialize in bad news.  Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts.  How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner?  The national media knows this, and media outlets are for-profit corporations.  They offer what sells.  Just ask why they were going to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book and do a TV special about how he didn’t kill his wife but if he did, how he would do it.  Insane!  And we tune in to this stuff day and night!

The MEDIA?  You know I never hesitate to bash the mainstream media, but this is an incredibly shallow excuse for what this writer sees as the problems.  We are often talking about things that would never have made the news outside a small-town weekly, twenty years ago – that the media just ignored (not saying suppressed) and information that wasn’t available unless you could go directly to the source for the data and records.  And how is the media really different than it was in the days of yore: say 1898 or 1917 or 1929.  I don’t know about Ben Franklin, but it seems that almost every big-city paper since him has specialized in bad news.  And O.J. Simpson?  When did this get written?

Stop buying the negative venom you are fed everyday by the media.  Shut off your TV, set aside your electronic gadgets and use the negative news pages for the bottom of your birdcage.  Then start being grateful for all we have in our country.  There is exponentially more good than bad.

Again, simplistic and just not a solution,  maybe not even true.  You notice that the writer did not address the immoral acts and lack of responsibility exhibited every day by millions of Americans – from the White House down to the drunk passed out in the town park.  He did not talk about corruption of governments (tribal, state, local, national, “world”).  And a lot of people gave up on TV and the dailies (“big dailies” like RCJ and SFAL and such, not just the NYT and WaPo and Chron) a long time ago.  And those electronic gadgets are the ones that also bring GOOD news like people who have saved some one or prevented crimes or helped out where needed.  He is throwing the baby out with the bathwater!  AND proposing things that don’t make a bit of difference.

I close with one of my favorite quotes from B. C. Forbes in 1953:
”What have Americans to be thankful for?  More than any other people on the earth, we enjoy complete religious freedom, political freedom, social freedom.  Our liberties are sacredly safeguarded by the Constitution of the United States, ‘the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.’  Yes, we Americans of today have been bequeathed a noble heritage.  Let us pray that we may hand it down unsullied to our children and theirs.”

This may have been true in 1953 – my grandparents and parents thought it was (I was still two years from being born, then).  It might have even been true in 1973 or 1983.  By 1993, the Constitution was a virtual dead letter, and “complete” freedom in anything dying.  By 2003, the opposite was true, and in 2013, we have less and less freedom by the day, and the Constitution is not just dead and buried, but condemned and ridiculed by the judges and lawyers and elected officials who swore to uphold it – and are damned by their betrayal.

I suggest we sit back and count our blessings for all we have.  If we don’t, what we have will be taken away.  Then we will have to explain to future generations why we squandered such blessing and abundance.  If we are not careful, our generation will be known as the ”greediest and most ungrateful generation” – a far cry from the proud Americans of the ”greatest generation” who left us an untarnished legacy.

Any idea when this was written?  Even 30 years ago this might have helped, but today, many of our blessings HAVE been taken away, in greater or lesser degree.  We DO have to explain to the future WHY and HOW we threw them away.  It was not just THIS generation that squandered our liberties: we CAN blame much of the “greatest generation” including such prominent names as John F Kennedy and Lyndon B Johnson and Richard M Nixon and Gerald Ford and Robert Dole and millions of unknown people who didn’t pay attention and didn’t stand up for their liberty and that of others, or let their fears trade liberty for a false security against the USSR and China and Islam and terrorists and poor health and all the rest.

More to the point, what is he proposing?  Is this it?  Stop listening to the media (1), Be thankful for things that don’t exist, (pretend that they still do?) (2), and count our blessings (3).

Maybe I am being a Bible thumper, but what about (1) Repentance, (2) Prayer asking for forgiveness and help and strength, and (3) Action to correct these things?

What about what Joel said to the people of Israel?  What about speaking up to counter all these things?  Why did he write this article?  To blow off steam, or was he really trying to present a problem and a solution?  What he seems to have come up with is a whitewash – what a wonderful place and what a wonderful people we are, with just a few things, like insufficient pride and thankfulness.  He sounds like the Pharisee of whom Jesus spoke.  He was thankful, too: Luke 18:11: The Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this: “God I thank you that I’m not like other people – greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. …” Of course, if most people who claim to follow Jesus today even DID as much as this Pharisee – he gave a tenth of “everything I get.”  Would that half of christians today gave just 5% of what they get to preach the Word and help the sick and homeless and all the other things that could turn the country and the world around!

If you have never been in any country other than America, you don’t realize that you never had it SO GOOD!

Almost, I can agree.  But he is still wrong: it is NOT “never had it so good,” but rather, “once upon a time, it was much better in American than any place else in the world, and than it is today.”  This writer is a jingoist, though.  In so many ways.

God Bless America!

At last, something I can agree with.  This kind of article is so common today: we must have black or white:  but no one seems to want to take a position that says, “As wonderful as America has been and still is, we have severe problems and have lost much of what made us a free people and nation;  those problems are the result of our own actions and failure to act, individually and collectively.  They are a result of our pride, our rejection of God (partial or complete), and our refusal to require responsibility of ourselves and others.  For years, we have swept problems under the rug or found quick and easy, bogus solutions that really didn’t solve the problems, just put the inevitable off, and more and more divorced ourselves from God and common sense.  We let crooks and evil men pander to our weakness and lead us into sin, but we ourselves are responsible for what has happened, and only each of us, individually, can start doing things to fix the problem.

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Why are Americans so Discontented (Part 1 of 3)

Posted on 2014-01-08 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

A good friend of mine sent me this article, which readers of her column (to remain anonymous for now) had sent her several times.  I could not find a source, but still want to share my own responses to the claims and the “solutions” presented in the original article.  It is entitled, “Discontented?”
[Editor’s note: If you have a link to this article, please leave it in comments below.]

My comments are in italics, following the quotes from the article.

A Newsweek poll alleged that 67% of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed, and 69% of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president.  In essence, 2/3 of the citizenry just ain’t happy and want a change.

This is not too far off: current (December 2013) poll numbers show as high as 75% unhappy with the nation.  And 65-70% unhappy with the guy living it up in Hawaii and at 1600 PA.

So being the knuckle dragger that I am, I starting thinking, ”What are we so unhappy about?” Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?  Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter?  Could it be that 95.4% of these unhappy folks have a job?  Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur and Sudan and other war-torn countries have seen in the last year?

Raining on the parade, but who is this person speaking for?  Someone who lives in Soldier Creek or Manderson? (Reservation towns in South Dakota.) There are a LOT of people who are on the verge of losing their running water and electricity each month, if they don’t pay – and often can’t.  And there are many who DON’T have these.  And 95.4% of us have jobs? In whose dream world?  The bogus “official” unemployment rate is 7.3% (92.7% employed) but a lot of people are pointing out the REAL unemployment rate is 30% or close to it which would mean ONLY 70% HAVE jobs.  And what I see in Montezuma County, in Rapid City, in Greeley and Evans, and Denver, looks like it is closer to 30% than 7.3%: 70% not his claimed 95.4%.  And notice, I’m not talking about the Rosebud or Pine Ridge (again, Indian reservations in South Dakota with very high unemployment).

As for grocery stores – well, ignoring what you and I do NOT see at Turtle Creek Crossing store, seeing it and being able to buy it is a big difference. (A tribally-owned grocery store in South Dakota where theft, poor business practices, and a lack of capital mean that 50-80% of the store’s shelves are empty most of the time.) Prices have gone up by 8-10% in the last year, 25% in the last 2-3 years.  And with each storm, each change in regs, I see less and less rapid restocking.  I don’t argue we are much better off than South Sudan or Zimbabwe, but it doesn’t mean that people are not worried, and don’t have a reason to be worried. Actually, if he is looking for good things to not be unhappy about, shouldn’t he have mentioned that at least 47 million of us get enough to eat because of food stamps, paid for by about 10% of us – or the next X generations? (When the old philosophers in the tribes talked about the Seventh Generation, surely they didn’t mean that is how long the taxes should have to be paid for what the Zeroth Generation spent!)

Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state?  Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that provide temporary shelter?  I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough.  Or could it be that when we wreck our vehicle, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all involved?  Whether you are rich or poor, they treat your wounds and even, if necessary, send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

I suppose that 70-80% of travelers (not counting truckers of course, who DO have to present ID papers at EVERY state border) don’t have to, if they are lucky.  But every state now claims that they have the authority to detain and demand ID from EVERY vehicle for EVERY person in the vehicle (including proof that that is really YOUR child or baby).  A police officer just told us yesterday that he has been taught that EVERY traffic stop is a de facto arrest and that if the driver (and passengers) attempt to do ANYthing that they are not specifically given directions to do and permission to do, the officer can use deadly force against them, and can haul them off to jail with NO other reason than that they did not obey him.  And that ANYthing can be searched.  And that is not just within the 100-mile “no Bill of Rights” zone along the borders and around international ports, but everywhere.  I have personally seen hundreds of cars and trucks backed up on an Interstate highway almost 200 miles from the nearest border, in broad daylight while Border Patrol and State Police went “papers please” to every vehicle.  Of course, that is just driving: still more free than trying to take a plane, a train, or a bus, courtesy of TSA.  So I suppose that is a relative blessing.

As for motels and restaurants – again, if you can afford it.  Any wonder more and more people sleep in their cars, maybe in the WalMart parking lot, when they travel?  So they can buy food that they can afford in the WalMart, since the restaurant prices are also going up and up and up.  As for wrecks and medical service and medevac copters – yeah, MOST people. But you and I know that there are a LOT of places where help is hours away, and helicopters are nothing but a TV fantasy.  I remember the woman standing on the side of the road in Wyoming, holding her purse and her (useless) cellphone (no signal) as everything she owned including her retirement home, an RV, burned to the hubs, because it was a thirty-minute trip to a place with a signal, and a 40-minute response time from the fire service. And you and I both know or know of people who could have been saved if a copter had been available or if they had been close enough to a location where a copter could have gone. (Referring to availability of good medical service on South Dakota reservations and other rural areas.)

Perhaps you are one of the 70% of Americans who own a home, or you may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of having a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top-notch equipment to extinguish the flames, thus saving you, your family and your belongings.  Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes, and an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents – neighborhoods where 90% of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

Now we are going from the “most people” to the totally imaginary.  Firefighters in seconds?  Even in DC or Denver? (Yeah, right, a policeman friend of mine who spent most of his career in Denver says, very sarcastically.) Not where we live:  neighbors in Whispering Pine, our neighborhood, lost their house in a fire several years ago, that was totally engulfed in less than five minutes.  The fire house was a half-mile away and responded in less than 10 minutes (AAAA rating by insurance) and could do nothing.  The cops?  Today, the ones that show up for a burglary in progress (a virtual impossibility) are more likely to shoot you or your dog than the evildoer, in many towns and cities.  Yeah, we don’t have “militia” raping and pillaging our neighborhoods, just cops… especially in poor, minority neighborhoods in the big urban areas.  And there are bombs – just not as many as Mesopotamia or Afghanistan.  But not from lack of trying, and the real reason is possibly that we only have 1-2% Muslims in this country, and many of those are refugees from their fellow Muslims.

How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67% of U. S. citizens so unhappy.

Complete!  Oh, yeah – Phil Robertson ring a bell?  Or how about the dozens of incidents in the last few weeks: Dallas children can’t give hospitalized vets cards that have “Jesus” or “Christmas” on them?  Churches that are taken to court because they have a billboard with a flag that says “Support our Troops”?  Ron Paul supporters thrown out of state and national conventions, or confined to “free speech” pens.  Five year olds suspended for spraying another student with a water pistol at a bus stop; five year olds suspended for kissing a classmate on the hand (with her permission). Eleven-year-olds disciplined for showing a picture of their daddy, a soldier, because he was carrying a gun! High school seniors arrested for having a multi-tool (with a knife blade) in the glove box of their pickup in the street outside the school parking lot.  A Medal of Honor winner and retired state governor and major general detained (arrested) for having a sharp point on the pin on the back of his Medal at an airport. Teachers fired for telling each other “God bless” or having a Bible on their desk?  Soldiers told in training that Catholics and Evangelicals are terrorists?  National Guard soldiers told that they can’t call their fundraising sports competition a “Christmas” event, just a holiday event.  People that are condemned for ANY criticism of the guy at 1600 PA as being racist?  Envy of the world?  Please.  What universe did this man write this in?

Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S., yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are: The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don’t have and what we hate about the country, instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

Well, I almost agree with that first statement – except that “we” are not the group:  A LOT of Americans are brats – they’ve never grown up, and let us not get started on their parents or schools or government that let them avoid growing up.  But not all of us, by any means: like those volunteer firefighters, and the honest, reliable peace officers that still exist.  And business owners, and the soldiers he talks about later.

Actually, and I realize that we are talking about perceptions here, I’ve heard a LOT more people from other countries that speak very highly of Americans as individuals and families, but disparagingly of the US as a nation, and of the US government.  This guy has it just reversed.  And he also has it reversed about whether we complain or thank God.  (For one thing, it isn’t an either or… my daily at 7 PM prayer for the nation (the idea that you passed on to me) always thanks the Lord for what we have and for our nation but includes a lot of petitions for helping restore what we ONCE had.).  Again, maybe the brats, like the ghetto gangs and the elite liberals only complain and whine and don’t thank God (perhaps because so many of them don’t believe in Him), so I think this writer is dead wrong about most Americans.  But ignoring the problems is NOT the solution, and is NOT coupled with thanking the Lord for our people and our land.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-02B: Theft by government and killer cops

Posted on 2014-01-08 by TPOL Nathan

Theft by government
Census: D.C. Suburbs, With All Those Gov’t Workers, Have Highest Median Income
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This is not new news, just a reminder.  My family, back when I was getting off active duty, could have been some of those government workers, but chose more freedom and less temptation. We must remember that government workers enjoy very high levels of security, and while they once, as a result, had lower incomes, that has changed.  Today, government workers still do not attain the rarified levels of the very successful entrepreneurs with their high-risk, high-income jobs and businesses, or of the top-of-the-pyramid corporate executives and managers, but are far and above the average American white-or blue-collar worker, and the total of the rest of the service sector (which is theoretically what “government” is supposed to be, right?).  Part of this is the Praetorian system:  keeping the people who keep the leaders/elite in power happy, as dating from Tiberius on.  Part of this is corruption and spoils.  And part of it is purely “we can get away with it, and we will,” like the thugs in Bell, California and Detroit and Chicago.

Stupid government – National Defense
Marines Delay Female Fitness Plan After Half of Women Fail
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Shucks, sounds like high school and college: if the students don’t pass the class, lower the standards.  How many Marines, male and female, will die because standards are lower?  And please do not tell me that machines and equipment can substitute for upper body strength.  That is garbage.  Now, tell me, if the government hires (recruits) people who are unable to do the jobs for which they hired them, and instead reduces the standards, is that not yet ANOTHER form of theft by government?  As well as fraud and corruption on the part of the officials?

Home front – Nazgul and their minions
Illegal Immigrant Hopes His New Law License Will Help Others Like Him
(CSNNews.com)

Nathan: An illegal lawyer, how fun! This kid in California is obviously more foreign than he claims (that he was brought illegally to the US as an infant, and didn’t know better, but became a poster child for letting illegal immigrants practice law in California).  Why do I say more foreign?  Even illegals know that becoming a lawyer isn’t going to make you more liked – indeed, it is normally the opposite.  Later stories say that even though the California Assembly passing this law gives him a license, he may still not be able to be hired to work as an attorney, due to OTHER federal and state laws.  Apparently he either refuses to apply for legal status or citizenship (can he be his own client?) or has been denied that.  I can picture him standing outside a Home Depot or Lowes in a three-piece suit with a sign “Looking for Legal Work” together with those looking for day jobs for other things, like digging ditches or cleaning out basements.

Stupid political commentators
Buchanan trashes potsmokers and AR-15 buyers/owners
(Political Outcast)

Nathan: Pat Buchanan (as always) exhibits a wide streak of insane paranoia and a hypocrisy that is astonishing.  The comments by the reporter are very interesting to read, and make a lot of sense.  For one thing, Buchanan is just plain wrong:  It was not some mythical majority of “potheads” in Colorado that voted to legalize recreational cannabis, but a LOT of people who are sick and tired of government trying to control their lives and those of everyone around them.  And who did not have a chance to vote on General Assembly gun laws and about 90 other stupid things.  To try to equate libertarians with all this garbage means that after all these years, he does not understand either minarchists OR anarchists.

Mama’s Note: It seems to me that many people are starting to accept the fact that if the “rulers” can dictate the use of a plant or any food, relationships with their doctors, steal whatever part of their productivity they please, threaten them with jail or death for defending themselves, or for owning inanimate objects of their choice… they’re starting to get the idea that these dictators will stop at nothing to control everything and everyone eventually. About darn time.

Stupid Political Tricks
Retired officers call for peaceful revolt against DC
(Freedom Outpost)

Nathan: I am of very mixed thoughts (and emotions) about this.  On the one hand, this is really disturbing:  they are trying to create a “Street Senate” – a mob that will attempt to force tyranny against ALL of us, starting with Congress.  Of course, I don’t think that they will get a million, much less multiple millions.  What they ARE likely to get is a bullet in the head, and an excuse for more cancellation of liberty and rights.  But on the other hand, I have to ask, what are the reasonable alternatives?  What alternatives will make sense?  Armed revolt is a very-low-probability success strategy.  I believe that a broad (say, 3-5 million participants) armed revolt against federal and state (and most local) governments COULD succeed with the right propaganda and reasonably moderate planning and coordination.  But only “succeed” in collapsing the current system.  I do NOT think that success would lead to more liberty, but rather could open the door for French/Russian/Iranian style successor dictatorships.  And waiting, for things to get worse, is nothing more than the boiling frog strategy:  we will slide into deeper and deeper tyranny.  Voting, letter and petition writing, and moaning to each other on the Internet is folly. Will efforts like this be the trigger for massive and brutal response that will require resistance and self-defense?

Mama’s Note: I suspect that the collapse of the economy and the final devaluation of the dollar to zero will accomplish the revolution, with no one group or entity either the victim or the villain, and no planned armed insurrection for the most part. The only mass action I can foresee is that of the suddenly bereft entitlement class, from the welfare/unemployment people to the “public servants” at all levels, who will suddenly find themselves without an income. Most will not have made any rational provisions for this eventuality, as proven by many natural disasters, and without a “bailout” of stolen money and bogus “credit,” the war will be on.  I suspect that once the paychecks and perks are gone, the government won’t have all that many actually working for it. Unfortunately, those parts of that parasite class who are now armed and deadly will simply become more so. The arms will be in the hands of the predators, and those who are prepared and willing to defend themselves from them.

Now, what will be built on the ashes of this collapse, nobody knows. I suspect that the key will be how many survive who actually accept self ownership and non-aggression. No guarantees, of course, and utopia is not an option. Going to be a long, long century, I fear.

Home front: killer cop
North Carolina: Cop executes disturbed teen in front of parents
(WECT via Political Outcast) WECT: Wilsey said his family called the police to help with his schizophrenic son Keith Vidal who had a small screwdriver in his hand. Officers used at Taser on Vidal and then shot him, according to Wilsey. Wilsey said officers came into their home after they called for backup help when Vidal was having a schizophrenic incident. Wilsey said officers had his son down on the ground after the teen was tased a few times and an officer said, “we don’t have time for this.” That’s when Wilsey says the officer shot in between the officers holding the teen down, killing his son.

Nathan: This is what North Carolina cops must refer to as “cleaning up the streets.”  Murder, pure and simple: 95-pound, 5’3″ kid: certainly no Trevon Martin.  Murder because this cop couldn’t be bothered after HE intervened illegally and unnecessarily.  Of course, the parents must take some of the blame because they so STUPIDLY called for law enforcement intervention in a situation that SHOULD have been handled among family and friends.  With all the news we have about cops killing and beating and maiming more and more people for virtually ANY reason, why would ANY parent do this?

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Answers to reader’s questions

Posted on 2014-01-07 by TPOL Nathan

Mama’s Note: This was left as a comment to your article ““Hostile to the United States” Part B: Internal countries, organizations, and individuals“

You seem to be very knowledgeable on the matter, so let me ask, why is the term “native American” disrespectful? At one time, in the ’60′s or ’70′s, it was demanded as the ONLY acceptable term by a number of vocal members of [that group]. It is of course true that their ancestors arrived only a few tens of thousands of years ago, the blink of an eye in geologic , or even human evolutionary terms, but they were in fact “native” when explorers and settlers arrived from Europe.

Nathan: Actually, the term became common in the late ’70s and ’80s, and was not used in the 1960s. Indeed the most radical and vocal “Native American” group in that period (2nd Wounded Knee, Alcatraz, etc.) Called themselves the American Indian Movement (AIM), not the “Native American Movement.”  Like many politically correct terms, “Native American” was invented by academic and political elites, to try and ingratiate themselves with the community, like “black” and “African-American” and “Afro-American” and so many others.  These terms are used, quite often, in the most asinine of ways – example, referring to a German of Namibian heritage as a “German African-American” or speaking of the large “Afro-American population” of Belgium (which is mostly black-skinned people from the Congo (Zaire) and nearby countries).  And of course, REFUSING to refer to an American whose parents were Afrikaaner as an African-American because he has “white skin.”

Why is “native American” disrespectful?  Let me first answer that from my own perspective, and then from that of a good many enrolled members of various tribes.  But I warn you, I am an engineer and a geologist, and I do not believe in either evolution nor the standard “historical geology” fantasies.

Native, as in “native-born” refers to someone who is born in a given land, usually of parents also born in that specific land: it is usually a legal term.  Native also has a negative connotation, as in primitive, local (hicks, yokels, etc.)  So the PC term itself has issues and is confusing.  I for example, am a “native” of Colorado because I was born in that state.  Although I lived outside that state, I was a state resident (“citizen”) from my age of majority (18) until I gave up my Colorado citizenship in 1990 to become a South Dakota resident or citizen.  However, my parents were NOT native Coloradoans; one was born in New Mexico and one in Texas.  Under the laws of those states, I can claim to be a “Native Texan” and a “Native New Mexican” because my parents were born and lived in both those states.  I can also claim to be a Native Texan AND a Native “Texican” or “Texian” because I have several Anglo ancestors who were citizens of the Republic of Texas, and were naturalized (back to being) Americans when Texas was admitted.  But I can also be called “Native American” by the PC crowd because some of my ancestors were Cherokee from the Carolinas, Chiricahua (one of  the Apache bands), and Quahadi Numu (Comanche). (The Comanche was originally “Texan” and the Chricuahua “Arizonan” but both tribes ended up in what is now Oklahoma. So the phrase is, at best, confusing and often misleading.

That, of course, is the problem with “native American” and “American Indian” and even the general term “AmerInd.”  It is like introducing a Lapp, a Basque, a Hellene, and a Manxman and telling them that they must be “Native Europeans” or “European Whiteskins” and that they all have to wear Greek kilts, eat Lapp-style Reindeer steak, and use the Suomi sauna, wear Phyrgian caps, and have Roman-style government!  Lumping everyone together IS demeaning and judgmental and certainly does not further liberty.

Closely related to this is the confusion of “Native American” versus “Native Canadian” and “Native Mexican” (and so on for every nation in the Americas – mainland and islands included.  I have seen Canadian tribal members called “Native American” when rather, they are “Native Canadians”  (where, by the way, the politically correct term is “First Nations.”)

Also, many enrolled members of tribes consider it demeaning because of the connotations of “native” (as made popular by the colonial powers of the 1700s, 1800s, and early 1900s) for people in Asia and Africa – backwards and primitive.  (There is a similar negative connotation to the term “Aboriginal.”)  And they do NOT consider themselves to be all mashed together in some mass, instead preferring (as do I) to be identified by their nation(s) (tribe(s)).  Even so, they do take more pride in being called “American Indians” because they ARE Americans, and overall, most tribal members I know are very patriotic, and usually (despite their votes for Democrats and Republicans) pretty conservative.

Continuing your question:
And how is the term “American Indian” appropriate or non-disrespectful? India is, as I’m sure you’re aware, an actual country far far away from America, which is not in any way connected to the people who settled in America. Why does Christopher Columbus’s brain fart carry so much weight, and the patina of legitimacy?

Nathan: First off, “American Indian” or just plain “Indian” is NOT a reference to the subcontinent (or nation) of India, but rather to the “Indies,” which was the Spanish name referring to all of southern Asia, including what has been for centuries known as the “East Indies” – which today is mostly the nation of Indonesia.  This was based on the miscalculation as to the diameter of the planet, which is why the islands of the Caribbean are now the “West Indies.”  Since these were the first long-term inhabitants to be encountered by Europeans (well, Spanish, though commanded by an “Italian” who was actually a Genoan), the name stuck, was NOT derogatory, and makes sense if you are dealing with multiple nations (tribes) and cultures.

This is similar to the fact that most Brits and Americans refer to the Low Lands (Nederland or Netherlands) as “Holland” even though that is just one small (if important) province of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Koninkrijk der Nederlanden).) Or referring to a Scot or Manxman as a “Brit” (short for British subject).  Or even referring to Britain as “England” as so many Americans do, including those who claim to be “PC.”

Second, the term American Indian was not originally derogatory, disrespectful, or non-appropriate.  It was simply descriptive.  And for that matter, the use of just the word “Indian”  when its meaning is clear in context should not be a problem.  It is simply a name, and not intended to be derogatory in any way. Do we have a problem with “titmouse” even though it is not a mouse and does not have teats?

As for Columbus himself, he didn’t establish any legitimacy; indeed, he was long dead before the term “American Indian” came into common use in English. But consider how the name America even came about: from a relatively unimportant explorer, who discovered (as known even in his day) pretty much nothing.  If we want to be so politically correct, then let us use the English translation of the most common term for the two continents used by the pre-Columbian inhabitants:  “Turtle.”  So it would be “these United States of Turtle,” and we would be “Turtleans?”

I don’t think disrespect has anything to do with the use of the term:  anymore than it would be disrespectful to call Johnny Cash’s “boy named Sue” by the name his parents gave him.  It is not the name, but how the name is used, that constitutes disrespect.

My own preference (which I normally use) in referring to people from several different tribes or culture groups is an anthropological term, “AmerInd.”  It is both simple, it removes at least some of the confusion and sting of the full terms, and can be neutral.  It has customarily been applied to ALL pre-1492 inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere.  And people understand it.  Still, whenever possible, I will use the common name or the people’s own name for themselves:  Navajo or Dineh, Inde or Apache, Comanche or Numu, and Sioux or L/D/Nakota.  (Actually, the best term in my opinion is Ahkota for the Seven Council Fires, since it includes (like “Sioux”) all three dialects.)  I know and work with many people who are mostly (by blood) and culturally Lakota, and while about 1 in 10 prefer “Native American,” more accept “American Indian”

Obviously, people’s personal attitude can vary.  But I do not think that refusing to use a term (or terms) that is clearly understood and accepted by most of the people so described makes sense.  Even the term “Redskin” falls into that category: it is nothing more than descriptive, just like “White” or “Black” unless it is used with the intent to demean.  Those are unlike words such as “squaw” or “buck” which were derogatory from the git-go.  (Which is why words like “brave” or “warrior” are, to me and many others are acceptable.)  The fact is, it is to the advantage of politicians and statists to denigrate the use of certain words.

I hope this answers your questions.  Thanks for asking!

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-02A

Posted on 2014-01-07 by TPOL Nathan

Stupid government
IRS Seeks to Shut Down Free Speech Again
(One News Now)

Nathan: Fully in the spirit of the immoral and unconstitutional Johnson Amendment against churches. Once more we have to point out, the purpose of the IRS (like MOST government agencies) is NOT, say again, NOT to provide services, such as getting revenue – the primary purpose is CONTROL and POWER.  This proposal is unlikely to get issued in this form.

Mama’s Note: Of course, neither revenue NOR control are valid reasons for their existence.

Self-defense NOT
DC: Tow Truck Driver Kills Hold-up Artist
(Washington Post)

Nathan: This was NOT self-defense, people, say again after me, THIS WAS NOT SELF DEFENSE.  This was revenge.  The tow truck driver was no longer in danger, and killing the robber was STUPID.  If people cannot learn the difference, they will find themselves given the same lack of mercy, sooner or later.

Panic and Stupid People
36 Signs the Media is lying to you about Fukushima radiation and West Coast US
(TheTruthWins.com)

Nathan: Actually Godzilla is sign #37, but no one has spotted him yet.

Seriously, we know the media lies, but in this case the people that are telling you that the media is lying are lying just as much or more.  I found this story by Michael Snyder reprinted on several websites, including those which have been pretty good in the past about vetting stories.  And they clearly failed on this one, although there were comments (some, but not many) that pointed out that the 36 signs did NOT and do NOT make sense; that much of the information reported is exaggerated or is making claims that the data used to make claims are NOT supported.  This is scaremongering, and even a basic understanding of health physics and general physics, with careful reading and comparison, will help you see it for what it is: panic.  For example, the claim is that 300 tons of radioactive water per day is being dumped into the Pacific.  That sounds like a LOT, but that amounts to a grand total of 0.93 cubic feet per second – significantly less than needed to water a 60-acre field.  The Pacific Ocean is estimated at 714 million cubic kilometers, or 714,000,000,000 cubic meters, and a cubic meter is about 35 cubic feet, so 24,990,000,000,000 cubic feet.  So even almost three years of spilling water (1,000 days) means that 80,352,000 cubic feet of water in that time, which is 0.00000322 or less than one part per million.  The claims by sailors (now mysteriously up to 71 from 51 reported just two weeks ago) just don’t match the facts.  Other more supportable explanations of sealife and avian die-offs make much more sense.  In short, these people are countering the lies from government and government-supported big business (and what else is new) with more lies, and NOT the truth.  Let us not exchange one set of lying power-mad scumbags for another set of lying fanatic power-mad scumbags.

Mama’s Note: Amen, and the bold emphasis above is mine.

DHS Thuggery
‘JFK Customs destroyed 11 of my instruments’
December 31, 2013 by Norman Lebrecht 206 Comments
A Canadian citizen, based in New York and with a green card employment permit, Boujemaa was flying home from Marrakech, Morocco, when his baggage was opened by Customs at JFK. ‘I told them I had these instruments for many years and flew with them in and out,’ he said. ‘There were 11 instruments in all. They told me they were agricultural products and they had to be destroyed. There was nothing I could do. The ney flute can be made with bamboo. Is that agricultural?’

Nathan: Well, this guy may be a good musician, but a biologist he ain’t.  Sorry, Mr. Boujemaa, but bamboo IS an agricultural product.  Millions of tons of which are imported into the US each year. And NOT something that justifies this kind of insane, psychotic, power-mad behavior.  No doubt this is one reason that they are so hyped about keeping  air travelers unarmed.  These people are (literally, sometimes) the kind who pull milk out of babies’ mouths, steal their toys and their candy, and grope old women and underage children.  They are the kind of people who belong in “halfway” houses permanently, where they can’t molest good people.  The kind that give NAMBLA a “good name.”

Nazgul – Theft by government
Budget Cuts Imperil Federal Court System, Roberts Says
(New York Times) By ADAM LIPTAK
Budget cuts have imperiled the ability of the federal court system to deliver prompt justice and to protect the public, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote on Tuesday in his annual report on the state of the federal judiciary.

Nathan: Brings a laugh, huh?  Prompt justice?  Maybe for sequoias and turtles.  Protect the public?  From the benefits and pleasures of liberty, maybe.  Budget cuts?  Now I really am rolling around laughing:  they are only getting an increase in their budget of 8% instead of 10% (That is a “2%” cut for them), only getting a payroll increase of 2% instead of 4%?  Only getting 20 new, luxurious, marble-floored courthouses instead of 40?  Gee, they might have to buy robes that only cost $1000 instead of $1200?  And we let this man make legal decisions?

A couple of stories from last week, to comment on:

Home front
Chicago teen kills and beheads, mutilates boyfriend as “Christmas present” to aunt
(CBS Chicago)

Nathan: I know his crime: killing his victim with a hammer, cutting off the head, cutting off the nose and ears and gouging out the eyes, then calling 911 to boast about it, sounds like a standard Islamic honor killing or jihad against enemies of Islam.  But no, he apparently is NOT Muslim.  He is, after all, celebrating Christmas, and that is verboten in Islam.  And his victim/intended victim was not his daughter, his sister, or his mother.  And apparently he did not scream Allahuakbar!  No, this was apparently a normal, run-of-the-mill psychotic wannabe mass murderer, who is likely to always be a menace to others, and has the morals and point of view of a rabid pit bull who has been totally ruined.   This being Chicago, he had to obey the law and didn’t use a gun: he had to use a hammer. (I am sure the City Council will close that loophole in murder weapons soon enough.)  If there were a Coventry into which he could be dropped to swim or die, it would be a blessing.  But his public defender wanted to get him released on bond…

Mama’s Note: The most fitting and moral outcome for any lethal attack is the death or mortal injury of the perpetrator at the hands of his/her intended victim. The real tragedy in cases like this is that the victims are so incredibly helpless, both physically and otherwise.

Culture wars: Killing babies
Record 87 Surgical Abortion Clinics Close in 2013 – Total Drops 73% from 1991 High
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: But the ones that remain are bigger and “better” and RU-248 and other drugs are being used (and pushed) more and more for killing babies.

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Crude Oil and Common Sense (Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-01B)

Posted on 2014-01-03 by TPOL Nathan

Home front – Accidents and more
ND: Train collision sets oil cars ablaze
(Chicago Tribune) “A BNSF train carrying crude oil in North Dakota collided with another train on Monday, setting off a series of explosions that left at least 10 cars ablaze, the latest in a string of incidents that have raised alarms over growing oil-by-rail traffic. Local residents heard five powerful explosions just a mile outside of the small town of Casselton after a westbound train carrying soybeans derailed, and an eastbound 104-car train hauling crude oil ran into it just after 2 p.m. CST, local officials said. There were no reports of any injuries.” (12/30/13)

Nathan: This is the third “significant incident” within a short while.  I figure that it will trigger still more and more panic – because that is what the mainstream media love to do.  A friend (Tim) sent me the following editorial earlier this week, discussing the issue.

Tribune editorial: Transporting Bakken crude needs review
(Bismarck Tribune) Is Bakken sweet crude more volatile than typical crude oil? If so, do additional precautions need to be taken in transporting Bakken crude from well head to refinery?  The questions need answering.  Certainly, no one wants to be responsible for a derailment, explosion and fireball like the one in July in Lac Megantic, Quebec, in which 42 people were killed. Apparently, the tanker cars in the train were carrying mislabeled Bakken crude. Another oil train derailment in Alabama in November also resulted in a powerful explosion, again the cargo was Bakken crude. Fortunately, no one was killed in the Alabama incident.  The investigator for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada working on the Lac Megantic explosion describes the Bakken crude tested from the tankers there to be closer to gasoline than typical crude. It’s a finding that Beach Fire Chief Dan Buchholz agrees with in general.

Nathan: To me, this seems like nothing but yet another attempt to provide excuses for not developing the Bakken play, and extract the trillions of barrels of oil and gas which seem to be located there in North and South Dakota, Montana, and up into Saskatchewan and Manitoba.  As I pointed out previously, this “difference” is NOT something new.

Apparently, the people who are dealing with this issue are not familiar with the history of oil production in the United States, based on their “surprise” about Bakken sweet.  For decades, crude oil produced in the Permian Basin – the famous “West Texas Intermediate” was a very light, sweet oil which COULD be burned in the gasoline-powered engines of the 1930s – 1960s, with the possible need to add lead the the “white gasoline” which came directly from the well-head with a very simple filter.  It was “highly volatile” and additional precautions had to be taken with the handling and transport – techniques which apparently have been lost in the last two generations.

Labeling is always a problem, but it is impossible to come up with fifty different labels for fifty different types of crude oil.  Oil flowing from wells in the Permian Basin (West Texas) is DIFFERENT than oil flowing from fields in central Kansas, or Pennsylvania, or the Powder River Basin in Wyoming or the Overthrust Belt in Utah.  You cannot provide sufficient information to tell firefighters and first responders ALL the information some board or commission or armchair expert in DC or Ottawa thinks that they need, or even what the firefighters themselves might want to have.  It is no different than dealing with the various concentrations of another common chemical, like hydrochloric or nitric acid, or for that matter, the difference in various “grades” or blends of wheat flour!  But when you want an excuse to get more power, or to increase fees, or to prevent something from being done, this is perfect.  It is, indeed, the same tactic that got the Keystone XL Pipeline put on hold, because they could come up with some small differences, invent or lie about things (like the temperature to which certain types of crude oil must be heated to be pumped in pipelines) and then went hogwild.  We’ve seen it happen with manmade global warming, we’ve seen it happen with asbestos and lead paint and gun control.  And it will keep happening until people demand that it stop and take action to deny power to the idiots who do these kinds of things.

It is interesting, and perhaps important to point out that this sort of nonsense, this “Chicken Little” or “Cry Wolf” sort of behavior has been going on a VERY long time (I think that the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” was originally a fable from about the time of Plato.) and so we will always have it with us.  It existed when people invented the railroad, nearly 200 years ago (Oh, people will die if they travel that fast; the noisy contraptions will make all the farm animals die or spoil their milk or become maddened; the train will set the forests on fire!).  It happened 130 or so years ago, when the automobile was being developed and deployed (Oh, people will die if they travel that fast, the noisy contraptions will destroy city life and kill crops, people can’t control them well enough, they are unsafe).  And SOME of these claims were true, but people – voluntarily, privately (for the most part), and intelligently worked around or solved the problems.

It is easier today than ever before in history to check out the facts as claimed by the hysterical news media and spouted by the people who want nothing to change and fear change.  Sadly, it seems that it is very difficult to get most people to look things up on-line or in the library or by talking to people who really ARE expert because they work with and solve problems in that field every day.  Yes, there is a lot out on the Worldwide Web that is bogus – especially found on the websites of the mainstream media, special-interest groups, and government.  But the truth is also available, and cross-checks much better than the lies, exaggerations, and distortions.

But knowing it is NOT the real problem.  The real problem is that we have surrendered so much of our lives and society and economy to the “elites” whether it is the celebrities (particularly those in the media and other entertainment industries) or to the fanatics (whether sports or religious or social or environist or peace or war), or to the governments. The only way that common sense can again be followed in these United States, and the world, is when we take away the power we have so foolishly given to every institution from a Home Owners Association and a Township Board clean to Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court, and the UN General Assembly, and everything in between.  When we stop living our lives for and at the whim of other humans.

Enough is enough.

Mama’s Note: Amen!

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Computer Privacy – Warning: Danger (Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-01A)

Posted on 2014-01-02 by TPOL Nathan

Nathan: We have long accepted that NSA, like TSA, DEA, FBI, ATF, and other alphabet Federal agencies have gone rogue, not just ignoring but denying the Constitution and (long before Congress explicitly stated it in the latest NDAA) treating virtually ALL Americans (individuals, organizations, and countries) as hostile (“enemies”) to the United States government.  It seems that every week, we have more revelations of EXACTLY how deep their claws are into us.  We have much to thank people like Snowden and Assange and their organizations, and allies, for this.  Events like the Chaos Computer Congress this week in Hamburg allow communications and coordination (mostly in the form of sharing data) between those and tens of thousands of unknown people who are waging a deep and secret war against the tyranny which is growing ever stronger, and the powers that be who think that victory is near, thanks to the very technologies and tactics we are discovering.

Free speech/Privacy – Tyranny and NSA Thuggery
Snowden disclosure: NSA uses Windows error messages to spy
(Daily Mail [UK]) “Error messages that pop up on Windows computers could enable the National Security Agency to spy on PC users, according to a report. The error messages appear when a Windows programme stops working or ‘freezes’ and a computer user can choose to send an error report to Microsoft to highlight the problem, which is designed to help Microsoft engineers improve their products and fix bugs. However, conscientious computer users might be sending reports to the NSA as well as the tech giant, a report by German magazine Der Spiegel suggests. News that the reports are being sent to the controversial organisation’s top hacking unit, the Tailored Access Operations (TAO) division, come from the latest leaked documents from Edward Snowden …” (12/31/13)

Nathan: Fun, huh?  Just read on!

Free speech/Privacy – Tyranny and NSA Thuggery
New malware roosting place: Inside your SD Card?
(CNet News)  “Security researchers have found a way to hack SD Cards, the most common form of flash-memory cards used to store data mobile phones and digital cameras, and run software that intercepts data. Andrew ‘bunnie’ Huang and Sean ‘xobs’ Cross disclosed the approach Sunday in a blog post and talk at the Chaos Computer Congress (30C3). With the attack, a person could run malicious software on the memory card itself. That’s because the cards have tiny built-in computers called microcontrollers that are used to oversee the details of data storage.” (12/30/13)

Nathan: These two stories MUST warn hundreds of millions of us that the communications we depend on DAILY, and the equipment that we use DAILY, is perverted to the use of evil men and women who consider us nothing but dirt, who treat us as slaves and animals, and who believe that we exist only to serve them and their kind.  They, of course, do not depend on themselves to gather and use this knowledge, but instead have trusted people, still dirt and slaves, but elevated to trustee status to interface and rule over us and punish or kill us, whether for the reason that the elite have or because they have been told otherwise and have bought into fairy tales and myths.  Data, knowledge, is power:  the more they know about us, the easier it is to control us.  But the same is true in the opposite directly.  The more this hidden war is revealed, the more we can fight it, the deeper we must dig.  And the more we must protect ourselves.

Of course, this is critical because of stupidity like this:

Nazgul – NSA Thuggery
Federal judge: Constitution irrelevant, NSA spying legal because TERRORISTS!
(USA Today)”A federal judge ruled on Friday that the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of millions of Americans’ telephone and Internet records is legal and a critical component of the country’s effort to combat the threat of terrorism. The decision by U.S. District Judge William Pauley contrasts with a ruling earlier this month by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon and increases the likelihood that the issue will go before the U.S. Supreme Court.” (12/27/13)

Nathan: This is “old news” but we need to look at it in the light of what else has been revealed this week.  “War is the health of the state,” is clearly something this judge agrees with. Another may not, and so two unelected Nazgul (why two, and not eight? because it is likely to be a 5-4 decision, or maybe a 6-3 decision in the Supreme Court) will get to decided whether to again ignore the dead letter called the Constitution in exchange for accepting a false-front hologram that people pretend to be “in force.”  NSA spying on 99.9% of the world (including the US) is NOT a matter of “survival” of the Union (if it were still alive) or of the nation.  The nation will survive without that – and frankly, is unlikely to survive WITH it.  None of these things, if forbidden, will turn the Constitution into a ‘suicide pact,’ because of the power of the state – and even if we rolled it back all the way to the Articles of Confederation, with only the State Constitutions identifying and protecting our God-given freedoms and liberties as free people, the wisdom of cooperation and “mind your own business” would allow us to live free and prosper.  Americans – Americans who are really free – do NOT need the nanny state or an all-powerful Federal government to live well, to enjoy the freedoms we once did enjoy, or to have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Mama’s Note: The myth that any “state,” at any level, however formed, can ever actually protect free people is the first problem. Such a state might choose to “protect” the subjects, as a shepherd protects his sheep… but it will always be for the benefit of the shepherd, not necessarily the sheep. The wool and meat will continue to be gathered into his barns.

Until individuals accept the truth that no “state” has, nor can be given, any legitimate power to protect them… that they must govern and protect themselves in all things, they will continue to have overlords and masters of one kind or another. No person, nor group of persons, for ANY reason, has legitimate authority to govern or control the life or property of another person.

Posted in Commentary on the News | 2 Comments

Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-52A: Ending the year #1

Posted on 2014-01-02 by TPOL Nathan

Culture wars: Religion and the media
Republicans growing more skeptical about evolution
(Washington Post) When it comes to increasing partisanship in the United States, it seems no issue is immune. And that includes evolution.  A new Pew Research Center poll shows a widening political gap over theories about how humans came to be, with Republicans growing increasingly skeptical about the idea that humans evolved over time. Read full article >>

Nathan: IF, of course, government was (a) not involved in education, and (b) not pushing their agenda of humanism, de-facto atheism (except of course, State = God), and a general attack on religion, there would not be a “political” gap.  And there ARE a few Democrats who do not believe in evolution.  Of course, another important aspect is that people can look around and see people and society DEVOLVING – breaking down – and they ask, “and we supposedly evolved to more intelligence, more civilization?  Give me a break!” Of course, the WaPo sees this as just one more way to demonize the GOP: to present anyone who does not agree with them as hicks and ignoramuses, anti-science, anti-human, and just mean.

Mama’s Note: One of the problems in such screeds is the idea that large groups of people with SOME similar ideas, beliefs or goals must necessarily share all of them. It’s an easy trap to fall into. Many individuals and their voluntary associates are “devolving,” absolutely. Other individuals, however, are learning and growing, evolving toward their best potential. And some people seem to have died already, just not having the courtesy to fall down so they can be properly buried. They wear all sorts of labels, and sometimes more than one.

Theft by government – Crash of 2009
Americans Still Driving Less Than They Did In 2000
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Gas locally is selling for about $3.12 (near the national average), Diesel about $3.85 a gallon – in January of 2007 it was $2.12 for gasoline (gasbuddy.com; no Diesel info available).  Gee, I wonder why we are still driving less than before the Crash of 2009?  Actually, demand for gas dropped so quickly in 2008 (after HE “won” the election) that price dropped to almost $1.65 a gallon, or about HALF of what it is today.  Meanwhile, although Federal tax on gasoline did not go up, most state taxes and many local taxes DID go up.  Thousands of stations have closed, car prices have jumped, other travel costs have jumped, and individual American’s income has stagnated – not counting the millions of unemployed (estimated at as high as 30%).  Gee, you figure that we can’t afford to just go for a drive any more?  Just run into town for a single item?  But no, they are typically government-stupid.

World Wars – Stupid government
And The Country Posing The Greatest Threat to Peace as 2013 Ends is …
(CNSNews.com) … as 2013 ends a global poll finds that the country seen as representing the greatest threat to peace today is … the United States. Not only did the U.S. top the list with an aggregate of 24 percent, but the runner-up threat country, Pakistan, was way behind at eight percent. China was third at six percent, followed by North Korea, Iran and Israel at five percent each. The survey of opinions across 65 countries by pollster Win/Gallup International … Paradoxically, just because people view the U.S. as the biggest threat doesn’t necessarily mean they wouldn’t like to move there if they could.  The pollsters also asked, “If there were no barriers to living in any country of the world, which country would you like to live in?” Some countries where the U.S.-as-greatest-threat view holds strong are also those where America would be a prized destination as a new home country. .. American respondents named Iran as the greatest threat to peace (20 percent), followed by Afghanistan (14 percent). North Korea (13 percent) – and the U.S. itself (13 percent). – See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/and-country-posing-greatest-threat-peace-2013-ends#sthash.MVqXmwLt.dpuf

Nathan: They DID ask Americans: one in seven of us see the truth that the US has become little more than a bully, a corrupt and sadistic cop on the world beat!  And apparently a lot of people don’t like us, but want to BE us.  Not too much a shock: who wants to be threatened, but how many people are willing to be able to make the threats!  Also, they know that in more than six decades, the one place that doesn’t really get torn up in one of America’s (or anyone else’s wars) is America itself.  Two big attacks in 2001 still are not much compared to business as usual.  So it really isn’t that much a paradox.  And all of us who see the FedGov as a threat to peace (internally and externally) have very good reason to believe that is the case, the way the nation has behaved in the last fourteen years (and more) is a very strong argument.

Congress in action – Islamic wars: North African front
Intelligence Committee Members Dispute NYT Assertion That al-Qaeda Had No Role in Benghazi Attack
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Uh-oh!  They are in deep doodoo: the NYT will come out against them, reveal all their sordid little secrets, and tell people to stop making campaign contributions to them.  Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch, of course, but doesn’t make it right.  And of course, for once this committee seems to have the right of it: and are right in rejecting another attempt to rewrite history.

Islamic wars: Afghan Front – Politics 2013
Afghanistan war more unpopular than Vietnam
(Washington Post)  Public opposition to the war in Afghanistan has hit a new high and is now well above even opposition to the war in Vietnam, according to a new poll.  The CNN/Opinion Research poll shows just 17 percent of Americans support the effort, while 82 percent oppose it.

Nathan: One big difference between 1975 and 2013 is that “democracy” (or a republic) doesn’t matter anymore.  Congress and the White House have no reason to listen, really, to the voters and whether they oppose or support the nasty things the government does.  So they can keep sending Americans to kill and be killed for worthless (or nonexistent) objectives, while refusing to do the things that NEED to be done, in Afghanistan or Mesopotamia or Detroit or Denver or Delta.  (And refusing to allow anyone ELSE to do them.)  Just as the first thing the Allies did after conquering Germany in 1945 was eliminate National Socialism (Nazi-ism) (and not just the “radical” or “extreme” elements like the SS or the Gestapo), so should have been done in Afghanistan and Iraq: eliminate the root and trunk of the evil: Islam.  Not just the radical Taliban or Al Quada, but the whole evil mess and system: the imams and the other clerics should have been treated just like the Gauleiters and the party secretaries: given a choice of repudiating the religion, imprisonment, or death.  Of course, that was not done.  Not even what was done to the Ost Zone, post Reunification in 1993 was done.  Instead, the source of the evil continues to exist.  And America becomes evil in basically square-dancing with Islam there.

Mama’s Note: What in the world makes such destruction the prerogative of the US government? How can anyone grant the US government the power and “authority” to destroy anything in Iraq or Afghanistan, then object when that same government destroys whatever it pleases anywhere else – including in the US. Can’t have it both ways.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-51C: Islamic Evil (still with us)

Posted on 2014-01-01 by TPOL Nathan

Islamic war: Central African Front – Evil
Nigeria:  Islamists justify killings
(680 News, via Freedom Outpost) An Islamic extremist leader in northeastern Nigeria says the bloody insurgency will continue because Allah says they must decapitate and mutilate. In a video newly released Saturday, Abubakar Shekau claims responsibility for the Dec. 20 attack on a tank battalion barracks and says his men would have eaten their enemies, but Allah forbids cannibalism. Witnesses said insurgents put soldiers to flight and set the complex ablaze before they were driven off by a jetfighter.

Nathan: The Boko Haram use the following passages from the Koran to justify their murderous activities, which were finally condemned last month as ‘terrorism” by the US Administration, after several years of vicious attacks.

Qur’an (5:33) – “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides…”

Qur’an (8:12) – “Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): “I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their fingertips off them.”

Nathan: Contrast this with the Bible, especially the New Testament.  But even when God ordered the destruction of nations and the death of the people, it was not specified HOW this was to be done – and even stoning was done only after specific legal proceedings (for those who care, the New Testament removed those powers and punishments:  as christians, we are not given any power of punishment of unbelievers or even those who “wage war against us” except the power of self-defense against attack.  I suppose the Boko Haram are at least “somewhat” civilized: they do not eat the bodies of their enemies.  Unlike their fellow Islamists in wartorn Syria (next story):

Islamic wars: Syrian front – Evil
Syria: Disease associated with Cannabalism appears
(Shoebat.com) It’s called Kuru, an extremely rare disease which virtually became extinct after extinguishing cannibalism in Papua New Guinea. Amazingly Kuru has now been found in 8 to 20 people, out of all places, in war-torn Syria, and the only way it could have come about, doctors confirmed, is through cannibalism and the consumption of human brain, as first reported by Arabian news source Zaman al-Wasal and substantiated by Orient News Television.Two of the infected were sent from Syria to a hosptial in Ghazi Antab in Turkey for further examination to only be transferred to another hospital in Germany. One of the two already died, since Kuru is 100% fatal. Kuru is contagious and has symptoms of skin ulcers and worms, and according to a piece on the New York Times, Kuru is a very rare disease. It is caused by an infectious protein (prion) found in contaminated human brain tissue.

Nathan: Sick enough yet?  Enough reason that I (and many others) refer to Islam as a death cult, as evil as any Moloch worshippers burning babies (or abortionists killing babies) or Azteca priests carving the hearts out of their victims on the pyramids?  HOW many Islamic voices have you heard condemning this?  How many apologists for Islam have you heard saying, “this is evil, this is wrong, this is not Islam?”  Except the one guy in Nigeria (previous story) who says Allah does not permit cannibalism?  And even he did not speak out about Syrian evils.  Of course, there is at least SOME evidence of cannibalism, as well as child sacrifice and the killing of slaves to accompany their dead masters to paradise in ancient Syria’s various civilizations.  Are these “rebels” just reverting to ancestral practices?  Apparently, Islamic authorities and their fellows are not opposing it.  Which makes even modern people, so condemning of God’s instructions to Israel during the conquest of Canaan, a bit more understanding about why whole peoples and nations were to be wiped out.  But governments and people tend to be rather stupid about such things.

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