Where the Governmental Shutdown is REAL – and People are Angry

Posted on 2013-10-13 by TPOL Nathan

The governmental “Shutdown” is for the most part bogus:  the consensus seems to be that only 17% of all government employees are on furlough:  not expected to get a paycheck on the 15th or 31st of October (remember, even Federal employees are paid AFTER they work, whether they opt for mid-month or monthly pay: they DID get paid on Septermber 30th for work they did last month).  But for one government sector, the shutdown is REAL and impacting millions of Americans as well as tourists from overseas.

Related to this, Mama Liberty referred me to this article in the Wall Street Journal:
NBC/WSJ poll: 60 percent say fire every member of Congress

Mama’s Note: They’ve got the right idea, but for the wrong reason… and the wrong solution, of course.

Nathan: Actually, I am hearing people talking about necktie parties and bombing.  People are really angry, and the national park fiasco has gotten people mad.

Why do I say that?

First, it has an immediate and direct impact on tens of thousands OTHER than NPS employees: the business owners, operators, and employees of thousands of motels and hotels, restaurants and fast food places, campgrounds, tour guides, bus lines, and more in and around the national parks, from places like Carlsbad, New Mexico to Hulett, Wyoming, to New Market, Virginia and more.  If the things that draw people to these communities are closed, the businesses that survive by furnishing goods and services to these people are going to starve:  and THEY won’t have sugar daddies in Congress to pay them their back pay and profits.  And they in turn have relatives, and suppliers (grocery stores and food service supply businesses and bottlers and linen supply services and gas stations and mechanics and more) who will ALSO be hit for tens of millions of dollars.  And they have friends and relatives and other businesses.

Second, Americans view these places as OURS – NOT the government’s but ours, in part because the government constantly tells us they are “for the people,” and protected for us and our future generations.  Third, this isn’t something that people see on their television screens: it is something that they drive past everyday.  And they see the uniformed goons guarding the gates and cones to prevent anyone from entering or (sometimes, even looking).  And the anger burns deep.

On Friday, I saw this article from Breitbart (but first in the Durango paper, of all places):  (NOTE: Comments, unlike normal practice, are interspersed in a more lengthy than usual quote from the news story.)

The Obama administration said Thursday it will allow states to use their own money to reopen some national parks that have been closed because of the government shutdown. Governors in at least four states have asked for authority to reopen national parks within their borders because of the economic impacts caused by the park closures. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the government will consider offers to pay for park operations, but will not surrender control of national parks or monuments to the states. (Two things to note with this statement:  “will consider” – betcha they take weeks or more to “consider” and decide – also bet at least some of the governors will not wait.  Second point: it is interesting that this “messiah-minion” has to be careful to emphasize that they are not going to “surrender control” to the states.  Apparently, someone behind the scenes (and maybe not just us mad, radical, extremist self-governors) has hinted at such a thing.  Good for them!) Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said his state would accept the federal offer to reopen Utah’s five national parks. Utah would have to use its own money to staff the parks, and it will cost $50,000 a day to operate just one of them, Zion National Park, said Herbert’s deputy chief of staff, Ally Isom.
(Understandable, though:  I am told that Zion alone is costing the folks in Moab and nearby as much as $500,000 a day by being closed.) It was not clear if the federal government would reimburse Utah later. The Utah Legislature would have to convene in special session to appropriate the money, Isom said. Governors of South Dakota, Arizona and Colorado have made similar requests to reopen some or all of their parks. It was not clear Thursday if they would accept Jewell’s offer. (This is probably why:  even that piece of work Hickenlooper (as big a bootlicker of the “messiah” as you can find in the West in government circles) has threatened to use National Guard and State Patrol to take over Trail Ridge Road from Grand Lake to Estes Park – arresting Park Rangers/Police – to keep Estes Park supplied with food and such.  Don’t think he took a stand – yet – on the dozens of other sites, but traffic and visitors and sales are way down in the Cortez area because of Mesa Verde and Hovenweep.  (Wonder if Yucca House N.M. is closed?  Must go see.) In Wyoming, Gov. Matt Mead’s office said the state would not pay to reopen two heavily visited national parks or the Devil’s Tower national monument.  “Wyoming cannot bail out the federal government and we cannot use state money to do the work of the federal government,” Mead spokesman Renny MacKay said Thursday

(I see his logic, but then, it is an excuse.  Why not just introduce a bill in the Legislature to simply nationalize everything and take it over – including revenues?  Yellowstone and Grand Teton draw FAR more in visitor fees than they cost to run, even with the inflated government budget/manpower.  Devils Tower would probably MORE than pay for itself just through visitor donations.) Meanwhile, the park service said it is reopening to tourists a highway pull-out area that can be used to view and photograph Mount Rushmore from a distance following complaints that the agency was intentionally blocking viewing areas.  The national memorial in South Dakota has been closed because of the government shutdown. (Again, they don’t point out:  the parking garage at Mount Rushmore was built by private, donated funds, and is operated by a private foundation, which pays for its operation, maintenance, and future replacement by collecting the parking fees.  It receives NO money from the USG, unless it is also charging NPS personnel to park there. Hundreds(Try “thousands”) of tourists have complained that park rangers have placed cones along an area highway to stop drivers from pulling over to take photos of the iconic monument, which features the stone-carved faces of presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.  (This is really not accurate: the cones have been disappearing, courtesy locals, travelers, and National Guard.  (IF two people I know very well had gone on Borglum Highway as they intended and forgot last Wednesday, the cones would have been gone that day:  they are member of the Continental Society for the Succor and Care of Homeless and Lost Traffic Control Devices, (CSSCHLTCD) and they certainly considered these cones to be lost.) The park service never intended to ruin anyone’s view of Mount Rushmore, said Patricia Trap, deputy director of the agency’s Midwest region. (Again, reports from nearby and the few rangers willing to speak out indicate that THIS is a bald-faced lie.) The agency has a limited number of rangers available during the shutdown, and some pull-out areas were blocked with cones out of security concerns because there weren’t enough rangers to monitor those areas, she said.(Which proves the boldness of the lie:  the exact scenic view pullout [lay-by is such a Brit but useful term] which was one of several closed off is one I have driven past, visited and stopped at hundreds of times, and maybe 1 time in 50 (and only in the summer, Memorial Day to Labor Day) have I EVER seen a ranger there.)

I do think that the “messiah” has finally overstepped so badly that the revolt might finally be triggered.)

How much is TOO much?  I hope we have reached that point.

Mama’s Note: I’ve got my tar, feathers, pitchfork and rope all ready…  But this is the really hard part… at what point are we – who follow the non-aggression principle – truly justified in firing the first shot. What is that “line in the sand?” What is it we are waiting for? I don’t want to be the aggressor, by any means. But there IS a breaking point, and I’m afraid we’re darn close to it.

And these controllers have shot themselves in the foot, to a great extent. They might have gotten away with some nasty form of “gun control” even a year ago. Now? The first move toward federal confiscation of firearms will set this whole country on fire. Guaranteed. And any state that tries it now won’t get any different results. I’m not too sure it would even work in Massachusetts anymore.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-39E: World events and home front news

Posted on 2013-10-12 by TPOL Nathan

SHALE GAS – Europe’s COLLAPSE
There will be no revolution in Europe
(Les Echos) This week, France confirmed its ban on shale gas exploitation and the European Parliament demanded environmental impact studies before all test drilling starts. More obstacles for a resource that may yet not be the solution to Europe’s energy problems.

Nathan: Why am I NOT surprised that France (and the EU in general) don’t want cheaper, dependable, long-lasting energy that they don’t have to buy and import from Russia, Norway, or the US or Arabia?  Sometimes I think that they must give a partial lobotomy to everyone at birth (or when they enter the country, except for Arabs who have seemingly been bred without frontal lobes).

Mama’s Note: The silver lining to that nasty cloud is the fact that the oil will still be there when the Luddites have all died of exposure and starvation, or whatever.

IMMIGRATION – Europe’s Collapse
The new Iron Curtain falls on Brenner
(L’Espresso) The pass between Austria and Italy is one of the fracture points of EU immigration policy: on one side, the Austrian police try by all means to block migrants who are headed north; on the other side, Italian agents happily shut one eye.

Nathan: How stupid can the media get?  And how did they forget the REAL Iron Curtain a mere 22 or so years ago?  What a stupid comparison, what a stupid attitude.  Although many libertarians disagree, I believe that good fences make good neighbors, and while people should cross “borders” freely, it should be an honest passage, and will truly work only when BOTH sides of the “border” are truly free nations, where liberty is the rule and not the exception.  That is not the case in either Italy or Austria, today, and the honesty of the tens or hundreds of thousands of people of the Balkans and Turkey and Greece is not a given: they are as much invading hordes as any movement of Muslims or wetbacks or Huns or Visigoths and Ostrogoths…

Islamic wars: Syrian/Arab Street revolt
Syrian Rebels Swap Crosses Atop Churches for Al Qaeda Flags

Nathan: Truth in advertising, or doing what Muslims have done for almost one and a half millennia: stealing the property of those that they reduce to dhimmitude (if they don’t outright kill them)?

In Face of Shutdown, Foreign Aid Continues
(Blue Hornet via Personal Liberty Digest) The State Department confirmed that foreign aid programs for the world’s poor will continue even as states are cutting local aid programs for America’s poor for want of funds. (See more here)

Nathan: Remember the old saying: “Charity begins at home?”  Not once the government has taken over the charity “racket” – usually in connection with the “official” mob  or political machines or just plain grafters and grifters and con-artists.  At a minimum, given the reaction that these people have gotten from this bogus government shutdown, and the failure of their attempts to take guns and ammo away from the ordinary, oppressed, and more and more brutalized peons in this nation, they want to make sure that they do a better job of having nice hidey-holes than the Nazis did.  Ain’t life wunnerful?

HOME FRONT: Breaking up ain’t that hard to do.
Red State Secession Looming?
(Pat Buchanan)

Nathan: This commentary points out some important information.  Buchanan can be a real pain in the tush, but he may not be far off this time.  All of the current secession movements in the news (Jefferson, North Colorado, West Maryland) are all on the state level: large populations are sick and tired of the Tranzis that dominate their state government and force more and more government down their throats.  But there are many movements for entire states to secede FROM the Union (or former Union, if you prefer), or large chunks of states:  Texas (always!) and Alaska are the two most prominent and with the most supporters.  But there are others, including New Hampshire and Vermont, Hawai’i, and Wyoming.  But I suspect that nominally and legally, the secession will be far more subtle and hard to deal with: a Claire Wolf “Hardyville” sort of thing.

Mama’s Note: You forgot to mention northern California! Even some of the “blue” states are breaking up. Good news, but as you indicate, it won’t really help much until each individual is ready to secede from the collective, rather than hope to form a new one that will suit him better.

Politics 2013: Shutdown
Cruz, Interrupted: ‘Seems That Obama’s Paid Political Operatives Are Out in Force Today’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Wonder if they got more than the $15/hour that the fake “government employees” got for protesting in DC last week, when not on their shift at the local McD’s?

Abominable Act (Obummercare) – Congress in action
Mike Lee on Obamacare: ‘We Must Stop It, We Must Defund It, We Cannot Accept It’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: There is more, of course:  it is NOT Congress that needs to take the most action: it is a LOT of individuals, in some form of the “Committees of Correspondence” to make it MORE difficult for the individuals to be dragged off to disappear into some form of rendition:  a refusal to pay their stupid game any longer.

Congress in action – Politics 2013: Shutdown
‘Non-Essential’: Harry Reid Shuts Down Own Office
CNSNews.com

Nathan: Gasp!  For once I agree with Harry Reid.  His office (and HIM) are totally non-essential even with 2+ million federal employees (not counting uniformed Constitutional military).  Why doesn’t he just go back to Nevada for good?

Europe’s Collapse – Culture wars: Killing babies
EU Measure Seeks to Declare Abortion a ‘Human Right’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: So, Europe continues to go downhill, morally and ethically – and in population (except for all the Muslims flooding the place).  Killing the innocent has long been considered a “right” given to kings, other royals, nobles, and the thugs who work for them, but now ANYone (or at least, any woman) has the right to kill an innocent person on a whim.  If this passes.

Mama’s Note: Nathan… any woman always could kill their unborn, and probably have for all of history, but most did not. Just as anyone can take a weapon, ANY weapon, including their bare hands, and kill anyone who can’t defend themselves – but most do not. Abortion is  no more terrible than any other murder, and just possibly not as demonic as some of the abuse and terror perpetrated on children down through that same history. And MUCH of that murder and torture have been condoned and even facilitated for some, all that time.

The fact that so many treat abortion, or murder by cop, so casually is only one factor in the fabric of human history, and can’t be resolved until individuals accept their own sovereignty and self responsibility. So, passing this “law,” or any number of “laws” against abortion will not really make much difference because it does nothing to change the hearts and souls of those for whom it is supposedly written.

Stupid people – Congress in action – Abominable Act (Obummercare)
Rep. Johnson on Reading the 10,535 Pages of Obamacare Regs: ‘Not My Responsibility’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Just whose IS it then?  No representation committed here, for sure.  More and more, these people come across as cunning enough, but inherently and impossibly stupid.  Tell me, does he really KNOW how to read?  And does he KNOW how to delegate?  A couple of congressmen together, with a few staffers, could break this down, analyze it, and put together a good summary.  And then (theoretically) this goofball could read it.  But no, not in the United States Congress!

Mama’s Note: Actually, that would just be a waste of time. I’ll give you a one sentence summary. It is funded through theft, and carried out via aggression. That’s all anyone needs to know to reject the Unaffordable Act… or any other act of Congress.

Theft by government
Feds Collect $56 Billion in Taxes in 9 Days of ‘Shutdown’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: And supposedly gave WHAT in return for this thieving?  We do not know, and they aren’t going to tell us.  But I can tell you this:  ANYthing we get doesn’t make this stealing acceptable, moral, or right.

Home front: TSA Thuggery
TSA Loudspeakers Threaten Travelers With Arrest For Joking About Security
(Police State USA via Infowars.com)  George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, TX (audio recording with related images and commentary)

“You are also reminded that any inappropriate remarks or jokes concerning security may result in your arrest,” the loudspeaker message states. These new loudspeaker warnings remind us that the TSA continues to excel at indoctrinating Americans to be well-behaved prisoners via obedience training – reminding them that they can be disappeared if they dare speak out of turn, even in a humorous way.

Mama’s Note: Not that I consider “infowars” as a reliable source, but this illustrates just how desperate the goons have become.

Nathan: For your consideration: a major American airport in which this recording has been played hundreds or thousands of times a day for many, many months, through which 40 MILLION people pass each year – and yet is not reported except in the most doubtful of media venues, by a man and organization known for outrageous and outlandish claims.  And NO one objects or even comments or reports on it?  The recording sounds real, but then it could be faked for aggrandizement of Alex Jones and crew.  If this is a real recording, it does not just show desperation on the part of the thugs, but it shows how inured average Americans (and foreign travelers) have become to living and traveling as permanent suspects of the police state.  How much farther can these things go?

Mama’s Note: I didn’t even think about it not being reported in other media. A search turned up a few alternate and freedom type news sites reporting the UTube, most with comments. A good many bloggers covered the video and made their own comments. The MSM has pretty much ignored this sort of thing from the beginning, and that’s no surprise, but there isn’t a lot that gets past the bloggers. The links are all over a good many forums as well.

But I really think that each little item like this pushes a lot of people closer to the edge. The lady in the local Post Office – a staunch union member employee – was telling ME all about how stupid and destructive the “shutdown” was, even though it didn’t affect her job. She ranted for quite a while on the insanity of the coming stamp price hike and all the stupid “rules” they are saddled with. Shocked me to the teeth, I can tell you. When the government employees start to “get it,” the end is possibly in sight.

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Thoughts on the Passing Scene: Vanishing America

Posted on 2013-10-10 by TPOL Nathan

I (as always) have various discussions on a wide range of topics.  Here are several over the past few months to share with readers, and hopefully to generate some good discussion.  Many people are concerned about the way the America so many of us once knew is rapidly disappearing.

Moving towards socialism?

1.  A friend sent me several e-mails talking about how worried she is that we are moving towards socialism, and how recent decisions in DC and state capitols are leading that way.

Dear friend:  We already HAVE socialism; indeed the Sicangu and Oglala (two of the Lakota or Sioux Tribes in South Dakota, near where she lives) and the rest have had “socialism” since about 1851, certainly 1868 or 1877.  Eight generations now, and what has it wrought.  It is just that for most of us, the socialism is hidden, and given various names and disguises.

America – One big reservation?

2.  Yet another friend replied that we are going to be as bad off in a few years as all those folks on the reservations, who have had to put up with government for more than a century.

Dear friend:  The rest of us are also “on the rez,” where we can do nothing without massive government involvement and control.  Nero and Domitian never dreamed of the power that the guy at 1600 PA has.  We are just sliding into perdition: this is the end game: more and more things require more and more government actions, and the government actions get more difficult to comply with.  Just buying a piece of land, building a house, starting a business, even going to school or being hired for a low-paying job requires dozens of actions with and under the direction of the government.  Of multiple governments.  Today, the United States is one big reservation, and very few of us are able to slip through the fences and out of the chains.  Sometimes the imaginary ones are the hardest to get rid of, as the last fifty years have shown on the Indian reservations.

Whose responsibility is emergency preparation and response?

3.  I have been discussing issues of emergency response and preparation for disasters with another friend, and he related how he thought that was (and should be) the responsibility of governments, and that people could not do so on their own.  He cited biblical examples to try and prove his point.  In particular he cited Joseph and the preparation he convinced the Pharaoh of Egypt to do to prepare for the seven lean years.  He tried to contrast between socialism in which the government provides food and such to a bunch of welfare clients constantly, and government providing things in really bad, emergency situations.  Here is part of my response.

Dear Bob: I do not consider Joseph as a good example, certainly not of government.  The point you make is an excellent one as far as preparation, but Genesis tells us that Pharaoh (advised by Joseph) used the system to enslave the people of Egypt:  “never let a good crisis go to waste.”  I often point out, when teaching classes about Biblical History and Geography, that the Egypt in which Joseph grew up and then governed is the first detailed example we have of a powerful authoritarian (if not totalitarian) state – which four hundred years later at the time of Exodus had grown to be even more a monster.  It does show that people who do NOT heed God’s warning to care for one another will be preyed upon by those who would  control them, and replace the worship of God with the worship of the state.

But your point about preparation is good; one that people will (or should) pay attention to.  People can and DO prepare for disasters and crises by themselves and voluntarily with family and friends withOUT being required to do so by government, and without government involvement.  Indeed, government has largely destroyed the incentive for private individuals and groups to do that for themselves.  That is one reason that so many churches are losing their unity and willingness to help one another (as commanded and shown by example in the Bible):  they don’t have to do anything because the government is there to help!  But government (as with the Pharaoh) has ulterior motives in providing help: it gains power.  So we must look for OTHER ways to work together and prepare: voluntarily and as local as possible.  (See how the American Red Cross has become, in so many ways, just like government; Top driven and money hungry with the “servants” in charge.)

What has happened to churches in American life?

4.  This in turn generated another discussion, with several people.  Churches, which were once an essential and ubiquitous part of American society, seem to be dwindling in numbers, size, activity, and ability to carry out the traditional functions of religious congregations.  Why is this so?  Why are congregations no longer able to take care of their obligations to themselves, to their own members?  Here are my thoughts, condensed from long discussions.

Churches are obviously much weaker than in the past: part of this is caused by the huge distractions offered by modern society and culture and the economy.  Where it was once traditional for churches to assemble for worship and “prayer meeting” and classes two or even three times a week, today, there is NO evening that doesn’t seem to be taken up by some school or community or club activity, or by everything from going to the movies to having to work a second job to pay for all these activities.  In the past, you knew and saw and worked with the people that you worshiped with on Sundays and Wednesdays daily, your life was not so compartmentalized, and the church was a true community.  Today, the rest of the church is mostly someone you only see once a week, while your attention is concentrated on the worship (entertainment) being presented.  Even the scale of society has changed.

But the way we let things distract us, is in turn the result of thinking that spiritual things are not important:  the increasing emphasis on evolution and cultural diversity and truth as relative have led to this.  Materialism, more than ever, is dominant.  Churches are no longer important, because the spiritual is no longer important.  And because the needs that the churches once met are (in the eyes of most people) being met by other institutions: not just government (and government schools) but by the medical and health care industry, the entertainment industry (including sports especially), and all kinds of other businesses and organizations, many of which require NO commitment except your money.

Churches once saw themselves as having a few major functions, and society understood and accepted (and took advantage of) those functions:  to preach the Gospel to convert others and save their souls, and to teach and encourage and take care of each other (those already in the church) both spiritually and physically.  A community in New England or the South or the West might be made up of several different religious communities.  Those might disagree with each other and feud, but at the same time, they respected the limits and differences and did not let their conflicts become physical or so hateful that they could not function together in the larger community.  People with spiritual or emotional or physical (financial or health) problems went to the other members in their congregation, led by a preacher usually or by a group of “elders,” to get help.  And that help was provided voluntarily and freely for the most part – with perhaps fear of eternal punishment, but without a threat of “if you don’t do this government will force you to do it.”  But that has all pretty much gone away.  Today, those perceived needs are met by all kinds of other providers, most required to do so (and participation required) by law.

One more reason is that most churches separated themselves more and more from the community.  The pastor system meant that it was easy for a con man to become a “sky pilot” and become a parasite, not give.  In the past, under the common idea of tithing, a congregation of only 10-20 families could support a “parson” and his family who lived on the same general scale as the members, and provided not just preaching and teaching and counseling and assistance in time of trouble, but participated in the everyday activity of the church-cum-community:  helping farmers with their crops and animals, helping shopkeepers with business, and helping teach the children.  For smaller congregations, the evangelist might provide much of his own support by having a small business or farm of his own.  Contrast that to modern times, in which the “church” is a big business and the “pastor” is the CEO, with a salary and perks and prestige to match.  Today, it requires fifty or a hundred families to support the “pastor” and the “church building” and everything else, in part because the individuals give less and in part because the expectations of the “pastor” and “staff” are much higher.  As this has taken place, the church has gone from being a vital and essential part of the overall community to a weekly entertainment, a “first responder”  a few times a year for deaths and births and illnesses and assembly a few times a year for traditions like Christmas and Easter that seem to satisfy the “spiritual wants” of so many (who then wonder why their lives seem so empty and meaningless).  Claims by freethinkers and opponents, that the preachers and churches were just parasites, have become self-fulfilling prophesies.

There are, of course, many other reasons that churches are weak and inconsequential, but these are a few to think about.  And which can be changed:  the need to replace the services provided by evil government (and facilitating its evil) can be met by going back to the churches: to private and voluntary groups tied together by MORE than just physical needs.  Spiritual ties have always resulted in meeting not just spiritual but physical needs.  That is where churches have the advantage of insurance companies or civic organizations, and why successful civic and social organizations (from Boy Scouts to Shriners and Masons to labor unions) have almost always had some form of spiritual unity and elements:  man is a spiritual creature!  So the solution is simple: churches that return to their basics and stop trying to be businesses or governments.  And therefore displace the government and businesses and the materialism (“crass commercialism” and “politics”) that those organizations bring into dominance.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-39D: Stupid is as stupid does

Posted on 2013-10-10 by TPOL Nathan

Politics 2013: Shutdown – Theft by government
NIH Stops Therapy Dogs From Visiting Sick Children
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Of course, this is NOT “essential” because it is NOT the FedGov’s responsibility to do this – but again, don’t you think that someone might have been willing to do this without pay, “for the chillun’s sake?”

Politics 2013: Shutdown – Theft by government
‘Shutdown’ Day 7: Government Buys $47,174 Mechanical Bull
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Oh, yes, of COURSE this is essential: safety training and all that.  Never mind the couple that almost died in the desert when they were cast out of Big Bend National Park in Texas last week – that isn’t about safety like mechanical bulls are.

Politics 2013: Shutdown – Theft by goverment
Roll Over Plan: Treasury Needed to Pay Off Record $7.5T in Maturing Debt in FY 2013, Issued $8.3T New Debt; Increased Net Debt $777B
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Funny, I thought that there had been no new debt for the last six or nine months, yet here we see $777,000,000,000 NEW net debt?  Not only are they not telling us the truth, they are not playing with a full deck.

The “messiah’s” minions
HHS Secretary Goes on Comedy Show to Defend Obamacare Dysfunction
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Well, the venue is appropriate – if you like black comedy.  The entire nation is one big joke today.

Politics 2013: Shutdown – Theft by government
Obama Says He’s Willing to Negotiate, As Soon As Republicans Do What He Wants
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Hmm.  Channeling a whole bunch of folks now: Nero, Caesar, Napoleon, Onkel Adolph, Uncle Joe – oh, and don’t forget Abe Lincoln and FDR.  This is practice for when he pulls off the velvet gloves and we all see the mail-armored fists.

The “messiah’s” minions – Theft by government – IRS Thugs
IG That Watchdogs IRS–And Uncovered Targeting of Tea Party–‘Shut Down’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Definitely not essential.  We know HIS answer to “who watches the watchers?”  NOBODY.

Abominable Act – The “messiah”
WH: We Will Release Obamacare Enrollment Data on Monthly Basis
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Of course you will – after all, you are the most transparent administration in world history – indeed, in the history of the universe.  We know about every hole of every golf course and every vacation day and stop and what you have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and where she buys her dresses and where the kids go on vacation (all at our expense).  And we know all about how you stripped off your dress suit and leaped across the Atlantic in your supersuit to get Osama and to slay the dragon.  So I am sure we will know exactly who enrolled – even if they didn’t.

Politics 2013: Shutdown – Theft by government
Let’s Move? Park Police: ‘It’s Against Law’ to Use Mt. Vernon Trail
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: And the trails at Valley Forge, even if the parking lot isn’t blocked.  Of course, that is $100 to offset the budget deficit, right?  Just as it is illegal to walk across federal property to get to a private business, whether on private land or on a long-term lease for which they paid through the nose.

New religions – Culture wars
National Cathedral Leader: ‘Homophobia’ a Sin; Same-Sex Marriages Will Be Performed
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: No doubt from the Orange Catholic Bible, new “messiah” edition.  Sorry, don’t really mean to dis Frank Herbert’s great novel, but it was the first thought that popped into my head.  The NC is Episcopalian, of course, which used to be the same as Anglican, but isn’t any more, as a lot of “Anglican” priests and parishioners have decided that enough is enough and they are tired of trashing (and ignoring) the real Bible.

Stupid people tricks – Hoplophobes
Newtown residents vote to tear down Sandy Hook, build new school on the same site
(Guns.com) In the greatest voter turnout since the 2008 presidential election, the overwhelming majority – nearly 90 percent – voted to spend over $49 million in state funds to demolish the school and rebuild it on the existing site.

Mama’s Note: Well, how about that. They all voted to spend other people’s money… lots of it. 90%… of what? Not the state taxpayers, just the thieves in Newtown.

Nathan: What, they are building on that bloody ground?  Not a new location, demolishing two or three dozen homes and adding another $11 million or so?  What pikers!  The essence of welfare, for this rich community.  And the insanity of the once free State, and its legislature, to do this for sentimentality?

The “messiah” – Stupid government: The Shutdown
Obama to GOP: ‘I Will Talk about Anything’ If You Pass a Clean CR, Debt Ceiling Bill
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Sounds reasonable, doesn’t he?  Like ANY tyrant, do it my way and I’ll be nice, listen to you, and even talk back nicely.  Just, do it MY way.

Mama’s Note: Sure, exactly as “reasonable” as the rapist who says, “don’t make me hurt you.” It’s all your fault you got hurt if you resist.

Stupid government – World wars
GAO Audit: U.S.-Bound Cargo Not Monitored at Half of ‘High Risk’ Seaports
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: So, where is the government’s responsibility for defending the nation against attack?  The reason we are supposedly in virtually EVERY country in the world is to defend America, but we don’t do it.

Nazgul – Home front
Judge Sued After Sending Girl Back to Her Home Where She Was Raped
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Sovereign immunity, of course, will get him off this – that and a total lack of any concern for the mundanes.  It literally is no skin off his nose: he has no obligation except to his superiors to collect his paycheck.

Mama’s Note: And yet, this is the perfect example of why the “courts” and police can do little or nothing to solve the real problems, and most assuredly not domestic violence problems. The very best they can do is interfere with the things the people themselves need to do. The courts and judges are not omnipotent, and we don’t want them to pretend to be. Lawsuits don’t solve the problems when they make inevitable mistakes.

This girl was obviously NOT a “child,” and should have been perfectly free to defend herself by any means necessary, including finding another place to live. Her learned and enforced helplessness – and that of her mother – didn’t start with this court decision, by any means.

Stupid people – Welfare state
Randi Weingarten: ‘Women Actually Have to Work to Feed Their Families’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Really? All those welfare single mothers will be surprised to hear this:  their kids are nothing but a ticket to free government handouts, just as THEY were to their mothers, and now back about three generations.

Mama’s Note: The multi-generational “welfare family” is not actually all that common, except perhaps in a few major metro areas. I couldn’t find any recent studies, but in the 90s the average welfare recipient received benefits for only a year or so. Many would take a job if they could find one. The fact that most jobs they qualify for pay less than the welfare benefits – including free health care – is not a good incentive to work.

The answer, of course, is for government to completely get out of our business and stop destroying the economy. A truly free market would create enough opportunity for everyone to work, whether for themselves or others. The strangle hold of taxes, regulations and fiat “money, debt and nanny government, not only attracts people to dependence, it cements them there all too often.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-39C: Stupid government, dangerous people

Posted on 2013-10-09 by TPOL Nathan

The “Messiah” and the Mainstream Media?
Why reporters fear Team Obama
(New York Post) Many reporters covering national security and government policy in Washington these days are taking precautions to keep their sources from becoming casualties in the Obama administration’s war on leaks. They and their remaining government sources often avoid phone conversations and e-mail exchanges, arranging furtive one-on-one meetings instead.

Mama’s Note: Ah, privacy and confidentiality are now “furtive.” I wonder if the “journalists” are starting to realize that they were never really part of the privileged elite after all.

Nathan: My oh my, and here I thought that only Republican Administrations hated and abused the Press.  But somehow, I suspect that the Media elite will continue to back/kiss up to the “messiah.”  Obviously the peons are NOT part of the elite: not until they demonstrate their allegiance to the PTB by crushing stories and doing other things to demonstrate their loyalty.  Certainly, getting info from whistleblowers hardly proves that.

Stupid-stupid government
Could shutdown make federal government dumber?
(NBC News) A 2011 government study found that, across all occupations, federal workers took home paychecks of about 26 percent less than non-federal workers doing comparable work. Within the District of Columbia, that number jumped to 37 percent. But those calculations did not include the value of benefits received other than pay.  The conservative Heritage Foundation calculated in 2010 – incorporating benefits like health insurance and retirement plans – that federal workers are compensated 30 percent more than those in the private sector.

Perhaps the most commonly cited number is from a 2012 Congressional Budget Office report, which estimated that federal workers, on average, received about 16 percent more compensation than private sector employees. But that difference was much higher among workers who did not have any college education. Highly educated federal workers actually took home almost 20 percent less than their counterparts outside the government.

Mama’s Note: You can’t wet a river…

Nathan: True, but when you are dealing with human stupidity in groups, it is impossible to reach the bottom of the gutter and not find a way to get MORE stupid.  Of course, remember that a BIG reason for people to go to work as a civilian in the federal government is “job security” so this IS going to scare some people off – but at the same time, they know that inevitably, Congress restores them their back pay.  As for the government studying itself to see how their pay compares with the private sector – yeah, right, of COURSE they are going to report the truth.  Not outright lies, of course, but using statistics in the way that governments tend to use them: leaving out inconvenient facts. And clearly, NBC wants to present the shutdown in the worst possible light.  Me?  The more brains drained from the FedGov the better: if we soon have a bureaucracy with an average IQ of 75 or so, we’ll all be better off.

By the way, I have been referring to “stupid government” and “stupid government tricks” about as long as I’ve been writing these commentaries, so what can I do now?  More-stupid government?  Stupider government?  Stupid government extreme? Of course, we constantly have examples of how stupid the government is right now, as the next story reminds us.

Mama’s Note: The bottom of the “stupid” barrel is the grave. Ultimately, stupidity is fatal.

Islamic wars: African front – Stupid government
Failed Navy SEALs raid on Somali target could bolster Al Shabab
(Security Watch) The predawn raid Saturday came unstuck when the US troops were faced with heavier-than-expected return fire, and pulled out to avoid civilian casualties, two security sources said. No Americans were injured.

Mama’s Note: Should be of interest especially to those who cry that it is futile to resist the might of the US military.

Nathan: Indeed.  It is not just al-Shabab that will gain from this.  Even the success in the equally-illegal Libyan raid does not offset this failure.  Given the circumstances and the limits and orders, I do not fault the men on the ground for pulling out, if the reason (keeping from killing more civilians) is the real one.  But I very much question the entire legitimacy of the operation, and the senior officers in command for executing this without constitutional or moral authority.  And you wonder just who at some civilian level made the decision to try and pull this off – and WHY?

Mama’s Note: I was thinking more of those here who moan that freedom folks can’t ever hope to stand against the regular military or all their tanks and bombs. The history of Iraq, etc. gives the lie to that one.

Self-defense – Stupid crooks
Stork Clerk With a Machete vs. a Crook with a Gun: Guess Who Wins
(TheBlaze.com)

Mama’s Note: The key, as I see it, is that the clerk thought the robber had a toy gun. The robber, even though actually armed, wasn’t interested in being cut up with the big knife, obviously, and decided to run. I very much suspect that the round fired was reflex because the dumb cluck had his finger on the trigger.  All in all… good outcome. And NATURALLY, the stupid police tell the guy he should just “give them what they want.” Dumb owner too… Hope this guy goes out and finds a better job. He won’t be so lucky always.

Nathan: Many people fear naked steel more than a gun.  But we have to also remember that this thug seems like most: his courage is so small that ANY resistance with some basis: gun, knife, club; is enough to get him to run.  And we have to remember, the big advantage of firearms is that they level the field of combat: a weaker, older, slower person can offset the advantage of a stronger, faster, younger attacker.  But ANY use of weapons requires courage to some degree.  Who said, “there are no dangerous weapons, only dangerous men.”? Speaking of which…

Man Wielding Scissors Stabs 5, Including Toddler, in 9 Minutes at Upper West Side Park: Officials
(NBC News, New York)

Mama’s Note: Aren’t we so glad that nobody there had a gun? Why, someone could have gotten hurt!!  …oh, wait!!

Nathan: Nine minutes is a long time, but not long enough for cops to respond.  But if even ONE person in that park had been armed…  This man could have been armed with a ice pick or a steak knife… it is impossible to disarm people enough to keep this from happening when a disturbed person goes wild:  but it IS possible to have enough self-defense weapons available to counter them.

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The Government Shutdown – Just a bit more screaming, please

Posted on 2013-10-09 by TPOL Nathan

Stupid government – Theft by government : “Shutdown”

Nathan: Okay, we’ve now been in the so-called “Shutdown” for a full week.  Every time I think I’ve said the last thing I want to about it, another news story comes along that screams for a comment. So here is some more screaming at the White House and the idiots in that big domed building at the other end of Pennsylvania.

Welcome, once again, to “UnAmerica” the bizarro country that replaced the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.  While overall the “Shutdown” is bogus (come on, 87% of normal spending is taking place, 75% of ALL civilian federal employees are still working and 100% of ALL military personnel (except for National Guard technicians, apparently) are working), the Shutdown is REAL for some people, like this group out in Wyoming and Montana:

Wyoming: Gestapo Tactics meet Seniors at Yellowstone NP
(Newbury Port News, via Freedom’s Phoenix)  A busload of senior tourists, including visitors from overseas, are held at gunpoint by Park Rangers in a Yellowstone National Park hotel for two days, not even allowed to see Old Faithful, then escorted nonstop for 2.5 hours to the gate, not even allowed to stop and use the toilets at a private facility.  Those with poor English skills have to have it explained to them that they are NOT under arrest.

Nathan: Well, being detained for 48 hours in a hotel and not even allowed to go outside surely sounds like “arrest” to me, and despite protestations in some of the comments, it seems that “Gestapo” is a reasonable word to use.  These Park Rangers do NOT have to obey their orders, which are clearly unconstitutional and unlawful.  They can and should (especially if they are “under oath”) refuse to do so, and make public exactly what these orders are, coming from the Park Service, Department of Interior, and obviously, the White House.  The following commentary explains a wee bit.

Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior under President George W. Bush in an interview to the National Review Online summarized the problems the NPS has had with staying out of politics.

“The National Parks Service has a long history of dramatizing budget issues by inconveniencing the public… They often choose the most dramatic type of action in order to get their message across. It’s something I had to guard against when I was secretary — not letting them play budget games. I can see why there are places that need to be closed — historic areas that need to be protected. But when you’re talking about open-air memorials, or scenic, natural areas – those types of areas can be open to the public without the need for much monitoring… NPS has a choice to make between amplifying the political message, and making commonsense arrangements to avoid inconveniencing visitors. I don’t see many commonsense solutions. Given the fact that they have closed so much, and acted so broadly, I imagine that decision was made at the highest levels of park service leadership, in cooperation with department leadership and the White House.” Read more here.

Nathan: Norton is no doubt right.  The objective of the National Park Service is to make as many people as possible as miserable as possible.  It does not matter to them if it is tourists that paid thousands of dollars and came thousands of miles, or the employees of concessionaires in the parks or of the businesses that all too often have been surrounded by parks but are still on private land, and privately owned, or of the businesses who sprang up to meet the demand of tourists coming to these sites decades ago, and their employees.  The NPS personnel “furloughed” have a 90-95% chance of getting their back pay – and usually, their pay is so much higher than the private workers around them that, unless they have extraordinary circumstances or are incredibly wasteful spendthrifts, they can survive a week, two, or three without their pay.  (And many banks are willing to lend them money against that back pay, to boot.)  For many people in the private sector, that is not the case.  But it is MORE than just money at stake here (I’ve been accused of being too concerned with money), it is liberty and tradition and the fabric of our society that is at stake.  Here are some more examples, starting with one near (and dear) to me:

South Dakota:  Lay-bys near Mount Rushmore closed illegally by Park Service to bar viewing of Memorial
(Argus Leader) Over the past seven days, event after event has been marked: closing of the privately-funded, privately-owned and operated parking structure, followed by using cones to prevent people from stopping along US-16A and SD-244 (both State-owned highways), and to prevent them from using scenic overlooks on those roads, followed by a refusal to an offer by SD Governor Daugaard to have the state pay for the cost of operating Mount Rushmore, and then the impact of a massive, early-season snowstorm.

Nathan: Thousands of people’s jobs are threatened, directly and indirectly.  There are the contract vendors and their employees in the visitation complex at Mount Rushmore, the gatekeepers at the parking structure (built and operated by a private Foundation), the workers at tourist facilities in Keystone, Hill City, and even 30 miles away in Rapid City, and more.  The photo montages (RapidCityJournal.com and ArgusLeader.com and KOTARadio.com) show the faces VERY clearly of the Rangers who COULD have refused orders but instead are seen bullying travelers and visitors and being jackbooted thugs in all but clothing.  They may want to find other employment or get reassigned to someplace else a LONG LONG ways away.  Black Hillers have long memories, especially when neighbors turn against them.  There are places where you can see the faces and NOT be on Park Service or Forest Service lands, but because for more than a century these lands could NOT be homesteaded or purchased by private cities and companies. These and other government agencies have been actively buying back the land instead, or in some cases outright stealing it.

Every day, I am reading another dozen or more stories of the shutdown and the selective nature of the shutdown.  There is now a very good list at Breitbart. The majority of these are National Park and National Forest lands, but there are some that are just plain cruel and stupid.  For example, the commissaries on military bases stateside were closed for a week (most reopened yesterday or today):  this is insane because while the buildings are government owned, the bases on which they are located are operating, and the operating costs (salaries, wages, utilities, etc.) are paid for by surcharges – NOT by Congressional funds.  And to do this on a payday (1 OCT) meant disaster for many families.  Another example of stupidity was arbitrarily ending experimental cancer treatments IN PROGRESS and shutting down the Amber Alert site.  All these things are clearly intended to make life as miserable as possible for as many opponents of the current regime as possible.

The range is instructive: from WW2 and Vietnam veterans not being allowed to visit open air monuments in DC itself, normally open 24-7-365, to agencies being told NOT to allow contract chaplains even to volunteer to conduct services for soldiers, to refusal to allow access to privately owned activities (such as Mount Vernon and private homes along Lake Mead, the Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge, and Cliff House in San Francisco, among others) to locking up tourists in a motel.  Meanwhile, foreign aid gets paid, prisoners at a federal pen in Arkansas get paid (although the guards do not), and Michelle Obama’s website remain open.  It seems that all sorts of things get bought with the “broke” government’s money (stolen from taxpayers), even if that money wasn’t appropriated yet, while other small companies who are OWED money which WAS appropriated over a year ago and DID the work, aren’t getting paid (because of the shutdown – according to a very good source very close to me, who is suffering as a result).

Of course, who could have guessed a couple of years ago that the face of open tyranny in this nation would NOT be an FBI agent or a DEA agent or TSA thug, but someone in the green and gray uniform of a Park Ranger?  I always figured that it would be some new federal agency (perhaps the “Federal Law Enforcement Administration” – always liked that acronym).  Instead, the “messiah’s” front-line goons are the folks who have been folk heroes for decades.

ONE LAST mention, from Breitbart:

Shutdown Denies Death Benefits to Families of Fallen Soldiers – “The families of five U.S. service members who were killed over the weekend in Afghanistan have been notified that they won’t be receiving the $100,000 benefit normally wired to relatives within 36 hours of the death. The “death gratuity” is intended to help cover funeral costs and help with immediate living expenses until survivor benefits typically begin.”

Nathan: Adding insult to injury, he uses these troops for his own evil purposes, lying to them about how they are protecting freedom and this nation while expanding the Imperium, but uses the $100K of their death benefits to try and make the GOP look bad, and to use as an excuse to not only not compromise, but to demand that they give in completely.  Words fail me.

This is a gauntlet thrown down in front of people who already dislike the government, and want it to go away.  Of course, if the government REALLY shut down, most of these things would get done by private people just doing the best they can to do what they are supposed to do: serve people, care for people, respect the land, and so much more.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

It is time to retaliate by refusing service to Federal agencies and Federal workers – especially those deemed “essential” (like the White House chefs, the workers at the golf course used by the “messiah,” the NSA spies, the drone operators, and especially the Park and Forest Rangers who are carrying out their thuggish orders).  Refuse to let them use government credit cards, refuse to let them buy ANYthing at stores and gas stations and movie houses and hotels and motels.  I know we won’t be able to get the airlines to refuse to sell them plane tickets, but I’d LOVE to see the flight attendants refuse to serve them.  Ask to see IDs and if they show a government employee credit card, tell them “Sorry, I can’t serve you, you might not be able to pay me, because you are furloughed or going to get furloughed, and I can’t call your bank to see if you really can pay me.”  “And because you are part of a bunch of idiots working for the criminally insane in BOTH parties in Congress and the White House.”

Mama’s Note: For those truly interested in “doing something,” take a look at the Knappster” blog.

A New Project, in Beta

When it comes to negative social preferencing, the more the merrier: It should be crowd-sourced. If I refuse to have anything to do with you, no biggie. But if you can’t get a sandwich at your favorite deli, receive communion at your church of choice, etc. because everyone thinks you’re an asshole and doesn’t want to have anything to do with you, you’ve got a real incentive to stop initiating force against others, apologize for initiating force against others, and make restitution to those you’ve harmed.

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Steps to Return Some of Our Lost Freedoms

Posted on 2013-10-08 by TPOL Nathan

Bakers Dozen™ Steps to Return Some of Our Lost Freedoms

I probably should entitle this a “moderate, minarchist” checklist as part of my hopefully-famous Baker’s Dozen ™ series.  These are intended to be thought-provoking and do NOT reflect my true self-governor’s concept of government.

  1. Repeal ALL of “ObamaCare” (ObummerCare, Abominable Act, or Patient Protection  and Affordable Care Act)
  2. Repeal Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare and eliminate all related taxes (return these functions and the money to states and private people)
  3. Repeal the Sixteeenth Amendment and get rid of the Federal Income Tax.
  4. Repeal the Seventeenth Amendment and return to State election, not direct election, of US Senators.  Then replace ALL current serving US Senators with newly appointed people. NO incumbents or past members of the Senate or House should be appointed.
  5. Eliminate the Departments of Health and Human Service, Housing and Urban Development, Energy, and Education.  Eliminate minimum of 95% of employees and return 90% of all programs and activities to states or private sector.  There may be a few programs which should be (temporarily) left in federal hands until the best way can be found to get them on their own or closed down, like the Centers for Disease Control, or college loan programs.
  6. Merge the Departments of Agriculture and Interior, Veterans Affairs and Defense and Homeland Security, and Labor and Commerce and Transportation, while reducing their size by at least 80 percent.  Return virtually all functions to the states, leaving primarily coordination (such as establishment of standards and cooperative efforts between states).  For example, the Border Patrol would be replaced by National Guard units federalized for limited periods (say, maximum 13 months) which would provide border security.  These active Army units would be required to coordinate directly with local and state law enforcement, and NOT authorized to perform any police functions.  USDA programs would be transferred to states. Most labor and commerce programs would be transferred to states, perhaps with a small residue to coordinate data collection and resolve issues between states.
  7. Transfer ALL of the US Army and US Air Force, including the Reserves, to the National Guard, assigning units based on population of the various states, with some consideration as to stationing near if not in their states.   Transfer all installations to the states.  Reduce full time personnel to no more than 10% of the total force, plus any personnel stationed overseas, which must be approved by each state having troops overseas. This leaves the Navy and the Marine Corps and Coast Guard under US control.  However, even their bases and ports would belong to the state in which they are located, to be lent or leased to DoD.
  8. Transfer ALL federal lands outside of the District of Columbia, including military installations and post office facilities, to the states or the tribes in which the lands are located, with covenants for the protection of historical and cultural artifacts and natural features.  (Keep calling them National Parks, Forests, etc. but convert the NPS, USFS, and BLM into agencies for establishing standards, recognizing such, and coordinating work and research.)
  9. Eliminate ALL federal police agencies and convert the FBI into a training and standards agency which advises but does not assist state and local and tribal agencies.
  10. Require that ALL federal revenue be collected through the states, eliminating any direct collection of excise taxes, tariffs, import fees, service fees, or similar revenue.  (With elimination of the income tax, there is no need for the IRS: it would already be gone.
  11. Eliminate all federal grants or subsidies of state and local health and welfare programs and activities.
  12. Eliminate all federal laws which make anything which is a criminal act under state or tribal law (in ANY tribe or state) a “federal crime.”  For example, if “kidnapping” is a crime in ANY state (believe me, it is a crime in all states), then any federal law which makes kidnapping a crime will be eliminated.  No more “two-tier” criminal laws and charges.
  13. Convert as many residual functions of the various agencies to private (profit or non-profit) organizations.  For instance, the USGS and the NWS could both be converted to private, non-profit, member- and service fee-funded companies providing the same services, but in competition with other existing or new companies (such as the Weather Channel, Weather Bug, etc. for the NWS, and Bing, MapQuest, Royal Ordnance Survey, etc. for USGS).

These actions will STILL leave us with far too big a national government, and all the evils of big government on the state and local level, but it might be a good start.  It would free up trillions of dollars each year, so that people and companies can decide how to spend their money (rather than politicians and bureaucrats: we know how bad they are at it).

In this scheme, the Federal Government would return to being an employee or agent for the states, and to mostly dealing with foreign affairs, national defense, and resolving disputes between states and tribes (and honoring those treaties).  Notice this does not address any really challenging issues like getting rid of fiat money (and the Federal Reserve), or campaign finance reforms, or the incredibly low IQ of too many in Congress.  Those may not be resolvable until these thirteen things are done.  And perhaps, then, they may be a moot point.

Notice, I offer NO suggestions as to how to implement these:  a constitutional convention might be one way, but you can be sure that the politicians and their Tranzi friends and supporters will be far too numerous at such a thing to get this kind of slate passed.  Other ways shall be left to the discretion (or frustration) of the reader.

(c) 2013, Nathan A. Barton

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-39B: Religions and government and guns

Posted on 2013-10-08 by TPOL Nathan

Religion 2013 – Politics 2013
Pope Francis calls on the Church to divest itself of ‘worldliness’
(RawStory.com) In an address to the poor, he said: “Many of you have been stripped down by this savage world that does not give jobs, that does not help that does not care about children dying of hunger.”

Nathan: And just how does this differ from what the Lord lived in 2,000 years ago.  Exactly 2,000 years ago, He was probably about 16 or 17, and his father was no doubt having much the same problems as any small businessman or craftsman does today.  And those around Him included everyone from the very poor to the insanely wealthy, but whom by today’s standards we would consider ALL very poor.

Mama’s Note: Unfortunately, he gets this just backwards. What the poor people of the world need is the same thing we all need… freedom. The end of official theft and coercion, government murder and war… these are the things that bring starvation and death, prevents wealth creation, stops trade and insures hopelessness to billions of people. He needs to understand that the “world” can’t “give jobs,” or anything else. Having everyone sitting around starving in sackcloth and ashes solves nothing.

Nathan: Indeed, the Man whom Francis claims to be the Vicar of did NOT condemn the wealthy for being wealthy, but rather pitied them because it is so hard for the wealthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven because of their riches and the attitudes those riches engender in them.  His Gospel was one of personal salvation: change yourself and change others one or a few at a time, and YOU and THEY will change the society and the nation and the world around you: not by FORCING the world to change, but by your example and your actions.

Christians stopped the awful practice of exposing unwanted babies (equal to our modern partial-birth abortions and abortion in general) not by changing the laws, but by ignoring the law and proving God’s love in them by loving others.  Eventually, even a severely-degraded christianity stopped (for the most part, in most of the world, in an obvious form) the institution of chattel slavery, again not by changing the law (that came later) but by showing and proving love and helping people to change to see that their profession of following the Christ could not match with slavery.

Catholicism and their Orthodox and Protestant counterparts today have made a mockery of religion by claiming to be the church of the Lord, yet substituting a social gospel (“change the society and you change the person”) for that Gospel He brought to this earth.  Jesus did not say “You must give jobs to people,” nor did He say  “You must force others to pay money to keep children from starving,” or “You must get laws passed to make people help each other.”  He taught and did what was right voluntarily for the love of God and your fellow man, and because obedience to Him was given freely and sincerely because those who loved Him wanted to prove their love and thus fulfill their OWN goals and desires.  They could not “give themselves to others” because they had already given themselves to their Creator, for their OWN eternal destiny and not because they were altruistic or forced to do so. Until Francis and those around him and like him – from the Patriarch of Athens to the President of the LdS to the Archbishop of Canterbury all understand Christ and His Gospel, not politics and power and pressure and wealth, they will not be able to change the world.

Economy 2013 – New religions: environism
United States Becomes Largest Oil-and-Gas Producer
(Wall Street Journal) The United States produced the equivalent of about 22 million barrels a day of oil, natural gas and related fuels in July; Moscow’s forecast for 2013 oil-and-gas production works out to about 21.8 million barrels a day…

Nathan: Well, well.  Guess maybe we are not all washed up economically after all.  Of course, this is IN SPITE OF the federal and state governments’ interference with every aspect of oil and gas; just imagine what it would be like in a free market!  Of course, this is just HIDEOUS according to the Environists and similar religions, especially that of the Global Warming Cultists (GWC) who now have decided that “fossil fuels” are best left in the ground forever…

Stupid government – Theft by government
Federal Budget: “Use It or Lose It”
(NCPA) In many cases, Congress requires agencies to spend all their allotted funds by Sept. 30 or lose the money; as a result, in a single day, the Agriculture Department spent $144,000 on toner cartridges…

Nathan: This has been so much a part of everyday life for me for three-plus decades that I forget that most people don’t understand how broken the federal purchasing system has ALWAYS been.  This is called “obligation” which means that money from FY12 (which ended on 30 September) can be used to buy things even if they are not actually delivered until FY 13 (which began on 1 October).  When the vendor is paid for the goods, he gets paid with “last year’s” money.  HONEST!  I’m NOT making this up.  Congress hasn’t authorized any NEW money for this new fiscal year, either through that old-fashioned budget and program system OR through some piece of garbage legislation called a “continuing resolution.”  The entire system is set up to nominally control the spending of every penny, but has gone so far overboard that it in reality promotes waste and makes it EASIER to commit fraud and abuse the system.  That is why spending $5 billion dollars awarding contracts the day before the “shutdown” is not the big deal that so many people want to make it out to be.  For that matter, even the $2 billion dollars a day in various things is not an intentional zinger against the shutdown but just the way they are doing business.  What IS directly and obviously thumbing their noses at the shutdown is the fact that 75% of federal workers were NOT furloughed because they were “essential.”

Stupid People – Hoplophobes and Hoploclasts
Cleveland: NFL Rule Revokes “Only Ones” Status of Off-Duty Cops Carrying Guns
(Examiner.com) “NFL rule bans off-duty cops from bringing guns into FirstEnergy Stadium,” Brandon Blackwell reported Friday on Cleveland.com. “A new NFL policy will keep off-duty cops from taking guns into FirstEnergy Stadium,

Mama’s Note: I seriously doubt that… Even if someone “asks” or searches them at the gate. Remember, only “law abiding” folks disarm on command.

Nathan: Yes, calling cops “law-abiding” is a joke.  Of course, unless they are running everyone through metal dectectors, and unless their security force is NOT a bunch of off-duty cops themselves, it is likely that even those with more “dubious” authorization to carry are going to get by.  So there is a good chance that NFL fans will still have some level of “unofficial” protection.  Obviously the Examiner needs to assume that the ban will be carefully and fairly enforced, but you can be sure that it will not be, in the best interests of the security guards responsible for administering it, themselves.  They don’t want to be facing that off-duty cop looking up from their driver’s window next time they have a heavy foot on the gas pedal.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-39A: African collapse – Government “shutdown”

Posted on 2013-10-07 by TPOL Nathan

African Collapse – Islamic war: African front – Stupid government
During Siege at Kenyan Mall, Government Forces Seemed Slow to Respond
(NY Times)  NAIROBI, Kenya — When the first shots of automatic gunfire burst out, Raju, a member of a local gun club, was waiting in line in a bank at the Westgate shopping mall. He crouched down, pulled out his phone and feverishly pecked out a text message: “I am inside and I can confirm this is not a robbery.” Within minutes, his fellow gun club members, neighborhood watch volunteers, off-duty police officers and other armed Samaritans rushed to the mall. They found no command center, no SWAT team — in short, no coordinated government response as heavily armed Islamist militants shot civilians at will.

Mama’s Note: We can’t ever know the full truth, of course, but this seems to give a great deal of depth to what we were already told. At least SOME people there were armed, it seems… and the death toll would have been much worse otherwise.

Nathan:  I suspect that we can and will know a lot more, though.  And the little available so far indicates that government fell flat on its face.  Once more we have proof that the state is unable to carry out the PRIMARY responsibility for which it claims authority and jurisdiction: protecting their citizens from attack.  What is more. if this is correct and the first response was from private volunteers – imagine what it could have been like if most people did NOT assume that the government forces would respond quickly and effectively. and the mall’s owners, the store owners and employees, and the customers and neighbors had given even a LITTLE thought to defending themselves!  This is a lesson which Americans MUST learn and apply:  self-defense, not just in frontier and rural areas, but in urban areas, is something that CAN be done voluntarily and cooperatively with one another: formal or informal.  And it MUST be planned, at least a basic concept: even if all it is doing is following basic concepts like standard military planning and its civilian spinoff, NIMS.  And MUST be planned based on the assumption that government forces (whether police or sheriff or state) are either NOT going to be available or are going to be part of the problem!

Politics 2013: “Shutdown” – Stupid government tricks (3 stories)
Treasury Was Open for Business on 3rd Day of ‘Shutdown:’ Issued $106B in New Debt
(CNSNews.com)

In 3 Days of Shutdown, Gov’t Has Spent $3B on HUD–Same as Without Shutdown
(CNSNews.com)

Priests Risk Arrest for Offering Sacraments to Catholic Troops During Shutdown
(CNSNews.com)  Contract priests at military installations were ordered NOT to celebrate mass, and instructions went out that they could not even volunteer (instead of getting paid) to do it.  Most, it seems, ignored it, and apparently local commanders have not taken the action demanded by the Pentagon.

Nathan: Three of MANY stories demonstrating that the “shutdown” is bogus and hyped, and that what IS shut down (about 1/4 of US civilian employees and a long list of national parks, monuments, forests, other USDA offices, much of the Departments of Interior and Energy and Commerce) is planned intentionally and carefully to punish the American people by inconveniencing them and American business by stinging them.  Some of the examples I know of personally:  The scenic overlooks on the highways (State Highways) around Mount Rushmore were closed off – not by SD Highway Patrol or Sheriff’s Deputies (as many people were claiming), but by National Park Service rangers on orders from above: the same orders as given in DC for the National Mall.  I can’t find out if they did the same at Wind Cave National Park, where there are many scenic overlooks on the roads.  Mesa Verde is also closed, but they are having some problems because a lot of people live up there, and because there is a privately-operated hotel and campground.  But the new visitor center is closed, of course, and barricaded off.  We can get weather information, but very little of the data normally available for historical climate information: same for the soils data from NRCS and wetlands data from FWS. Agencies supporting tribal governments, including their finance departments (the interaction and mingling is intense) have been shutdown, meaning that contractors and vendors as well as basic functions (road maintenance, etc.) are grinding to a halt.  In DC, those nasty evil veterans are getting their wheelchairs oiled, fueled, and resupplied with ammo, and getting hopped up on all their meds, to assault and take back ALL the memorials that have been closed (despite the fact that they are normally open 24-7 withOUT security), and keep them permanently free of federal agents – or so some of my spies in the WW2 veterans camp are saying.  That may be as soon as today (Monday the 7th).

The goal seems to be to get businesses and individuals so mad at the GOP for refusing to roll over and play dead that they will punish them by withholding campaign money and votes.  The GOP, of course, tries to place the blame on the White House and the Dems in the Senate.  A lot of us wish there was a REAL government shutdown, while we stop paying taxes and expecting anything!  And it appears that the GOP story line is being accepted by a few more people than the Demo-“messiah” line, but that may be because my sources are more GOP-philic than not.  Visit the Dally Caller for a fun look at what is going on.

Modern Technology – Economics
After 279 Years in Print, World’s Oldest Newspaper To Go Digital-Only
(CNSNews.com) [Lloyd’s List, of London, continuously published since 1734, is going digital: only 2% of its subscribers rely on the printed version: everyone else reads it electronically.  It publishes shipping data.

Nathan: Its owners and publisher and editors are obviously NOT your usual media types: they know how to provide for customer requirements.  The List is in business to make money from and for its subscribers, and NOT to make money for its advertisers and act as a propaganda instrument for governments or anyone else.  Would that MORE newspapers understand their purpose as well!

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A Tale of Davy Crockett, Charity and Congress

Posted on 2013-10-04 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

This is great, far as it goes. The big problem is that it assumes theft from the people is somehow justified for other things.  If some people wish to “delegate” any powers or their property to government, I have no objection. But they can’t delegate anything for me. They can’t justify the theft of my property or the subjugation of my life by any means. I do not consent to the “constitution” or to be ruled by anyone, for any reason.

Just how many people would opt for any government if they could only speak for themselves, and there was no money involved except what they and those who agreed with them put into it personally? How many would even go through the motions if there was zero opportunity to gain control of the lives and property of others against their will? I think very few…

A Tale of Davy Crockett, Charity and Congress
No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose. If twice as many houses had been burned in this county as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of Congress would have thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief. There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they had shown their sympathy for the sufferers by contributing each one week’s pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are plenty of wealthy men in and around Washington who could have given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life. The Congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them spend not very creditably; and the people about Washington, no doubt, applauded you for relieving them from the necessity of giving by giving what was not yours to give.

The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.”

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