Washington and Lincoln: a fair portrayal?

Posted on 2012-12-13 by TPOL Nathan

I received this e-mail today, worth reviewing.
WallBuilders: Speilberg’s Lincoln and NBC’s Washington False Protrayals
(WallBuilders)  … in “George Washington” we are told that “his true character is revealed for the first time”– a statement that immediately raises red flags. Probably no other American has been so thoroughly investigated or had so many books written about him, so there are no new revelations to be made. Yet suddenly, through the scriptwriters of NBC, we are being exposed to his “true character” – and it is “for the first time”?  …  The movie “Lincoln” also has serious historical problems. This is especially true in regard to the repeated profanity that laces the movie, including the use of the F-bomb and Lincoln’s non-reaction to it. In this, the movie is grossly inaccurate.  Early in the Civil War as Lincoln visited troops, he was distressed to hear profanity, so an order was issued against it, declaring:  Any non-commissioned officer or soldier who shall use any profane oath or execration shall incur the penalties expressed in the foregoing article.

Yes, I realize that “Wall Builders” (operated by David Barton – NOT my brother and no known relation of mine) has some problems and has its own agenda, that many see as opposed to liberty.  But they do hit the nail on the head with this article (sent out as an e-mail).  They just don’t hit it hard enough.

Regarding Washington, despite his many political flaws, his contemporaries are unanimous in admiring his many admirable character traits, and these so-called revelations are so much hogwash.  He had enough enemies that if these things had been true, they would have been exposed at the time – by the Brits and Loyalists if no one else.  Nor do they point out that Washington changed (as do we all): the young surveyor and soldier who became the stalwart wartime leader (a true Cincinnatus) was NOT the same man who served two terms in NYC and Philadelphia, and who sent troops to collect a liquor tax.  While it is wrong to turn George Washington into a Demigod (as has been done since about 1845 or so), it is also wrong to tear him down just to make him as evil and hated as the mainstream media and the Tranzis try to make ALL the Founding Fathers.

With Lincoln, it is exactly the opposite:  While Lincoln had a few good traits (his hatred of profanity being one of them), his evil traits far outweigh them – and Wall buildings does not point this out.  Profanity or not, Lincoln takes front billing for the destruction of American liberty, not only on his own actions and those of his minions, but for the stage he set for later further departures from the right path.  Wallbuilders mentions briefly that the interpretations of the two men are in favor of government control and the current Tranzi mindset (my words, not theirs) but they don’t point out what those are, or what Lincoln in particular REALLY thought and did.

Posted in Commentary on the News, Nathan's Rants | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News, #12-52A

Posted on 2012-12-12 by TPOL Nathan

As a preface, somehow, I got my numbering mixed up.  This is the week of the 9th of December, the second full week of the last month of the year, and two more weeks to go, but I’m up to #52.  Oh well, guess everyone gets something extra.

News this week seems to be incredibly slow, which doesn’t bother me.  The NOAA, USGS, and assorted other government goons are still screaming about how we are all gonna die because of global warming and how the records make this year the warmest on record (ignoring all the research that shows WHY these numbers are completely bogus and biased in the wrong direction), but one of the worst early December blizzards (named “Caesar” by the Weather Channel,  though NOAA doesn’t like that) on record dumped a whole lot of snow on South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.  We didn’t get any here in the Black Hills’ urban core, but fifty miles to the south and forty to the north got walloped.  A good hard winter would be just what we need, and think of all the new grant proposals and thesis papers and fellowships to be developed on manmade global cooling!

The “common wisdom” is usually about as trustworthy as the guy behind the meat counter telling you that the bologna doesn’t really have any pork in it. Anything about the weather that we don’t remember happening last year or last decade is “proof” of global warming or global cooling or the return of the prophet Zarquon.  Same in politics:

Islamic wars – Government stupidity
US Intel Community: Islamic Terrorism could end by 2030
(CNSNews.com) – The wave of Islamist terrorism is receding and “could end by 2030,” according to a new long-term assessment by the U.S. intelligence community. … “Several circumstances are ending the current Islamist phase of terrorism, which suggest that as with other terrorist waves – the Anarchists in the 1880s and 90s, the postwar anti-colonial terrorist movements, the New Left in 1970s – the recent religious wave is receding and could end by 2030,” said the National Intelligence Council’s Global Trends 2030 report.

Nathan: Hey, folks, this is the US Intelligence Community we are talking about.  If we had had such a thing in 1775, we’d still be singing “God Save The Queen” before the fireworks on her birthday (although I admit that London pubs would be serving chili-cheese dogs and burritos instead of giros and couscous).  These are the idiots that let Woodrow Wilson and FDR suborn them in 1917 and 1941, the ones that gave us Korea in 1950 and Kuwait in 1990, the ones that couldn’t foresee the fall of the Soviets or the insurgency in Mesopotamia or the overthrow of the Shah.   Face it, there has been “Islamic terrorism” since Mohammed (peanut butter und honig) led the first raid against a Jewish settlement in Arabia in 721 or thereabouts.  And until Islam joins the worship of Moloch and Quetzalcoatl on the dusty back shelves of Subbasement 16 in the Library of Ancient History, we are going to still have “Islamic terrorists.”  Look up “Fall of Constantinople,” and “Siege of Vienna” and “Moro Uprising” and “Grand Mufti and Nazis” and “genocide in Armenia” and “honor killings” and bombings of church buildings in Nigeria.  Sometimes, government goons are more stupid than normal – which is a pretty high degree of stupidity.

Mama’s Note: It would be great if “Islamic terrorists” were all we had to be concerned with. I’m a whole lot more worried about the increasing terrorist tactics of the police, the BATFE, and assorted other domestic nasties. Terrorists are those who can reach out and touch people with death and destruction in order to gain control. We must learn to defend ourselves from all of them, regardless of their motives, religion or national origin.

Theft by government
Raising Revenue: The Least Worst Options
(Tax Foundation, via National Center for Policy Analysis) As the fiscal cliff dominates discussions in Washington, lawmakers are looking for new sources of revenues in an effort to reach a bipartisan agreement to reduce the deficit, says Scott A. Hodge of the Tax Foundation. However, some avenues of raising revenue are better than others. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development economists have created a hierarchy that includes revenue raisers ranked from least harmful to most harmful in terms of long-term economic growth.

Nathan: “Least worst,” eh?  The list reads like a “decide how you want to be executed list,” starting with standing on ground zero of a 100-MT bomb and on down the list past the guillotine and chemical injection and electrocution and firing squad and hanging, and listing everything but “blood eagle” and “drawing and quartering.”  The Tax Foundation misses the point, although I think the NCPA does understand:  taxes and revenue are not the solution because they are not the problem: it is SPENDING that is the problem.  Setting aside the immorality of government stealing what people own or earn or are given, the current situation is like a pool with a six-inch line going in and a 12-inch drain in the bottom.  You are NEVER going to be able to put more water in than flows out.  This year it is education, next year it is health care, the year after that it is seniors, and the year after that it is children, and the year after that it is defense.  Once you make government responsible for everything, the only choices are to get rid of government or slide into total slavery, now or later.  The Bible teaches that anything more than 10% IS slavery; we are up to 40% by most accounts, and higher by others.  This planet is a sphere of slavery; it is just that not everyone is a slave all at the same time or constantly.  It is “democratic” slavery.

Mama’s Note: How is 10% theft any better than 40%? The bible seems to indicate that a 10% GIFT to the temple (not to the Romans) would be right, but it says nothing at all about stealing that or anything else from the unwilling.

Her Majesty’s subjects and liberty
UK Independence Party making Tories tremble
(The Guardian) Once described by UK Prime Minister David Cameron as “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists”, the fiercely eurosceptic movement is becoming a mainstream political force. They are attracting the most europhobic elements of the Conservatives and helping shape government policy.

Oh, I feel SOOO bad for the Tories and Labor and the SDP/Liberals.  Heaven forbid that a party that wants its nation to be free of outside, foreign domination should be allowed to become a “mainstream” force.  The UKIP is nowhere close to Libertarian (even the UK’s Libertarian Alliance is scarcely more than a moderate minarchist organization), but they are a needed contrast to the three old parties.  None of which disagree about the root of the mess: absorption by the EU.  They just want it at different speeds and in a different order of getting swallowed.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Rearranging the seats on the Titanic

Posted on 2012-12-12 by TPOL Nathan

Today I had not one, but TWO political pollsters call me with extensive surveys.  One, actually for my son (but since he was gone, they let me answer) was from Oregon, as I figured when he called the South Dakota capital “Pi-erre” instead of the correct “Pier.”  The pollster had the usual either-or and limited-choice questions (Anarchist, Self-Governor and even Libertarian were NOT on the list of political affiliations, for instance).  But it appeared to cover a wide range of questions regarding the congressional delegation (since I know 2 of the 3 personally, THAT was easy to answer, and no, I didn’t use cuss words), the legislature (did I know the three for my district, and did I ever talk to them), and a few issues such as Obummercare – but only two choices.  And they did ask two open-ended questions which caused me to think:  “What should be the South Dakota legislature’s biggest concern in the next session (which starts in January)?” (my answer was, prepare for the collapse of the federal government and the Union), and “If you could get the legislature to do just one thing right now, what would it be?” (My answer was, to stop accepting federal laws and regulations automatically and tell DC to stick their ideas in painful places.)

The second survey was from a nice little lady in Sioux Falls – imagine that!  Hers was more of a push poll, apparently trying to get a feel for some changes in the state constitution to (a) have a “non-partisan” commission redraw legislative districts every ten years, (2) make all legislative districts single-seat, (3) make the legislature “non-partisan” like Nebraska’s, (4) make all legislative districts follow county and municipal boundaries, and (5) reduce the Senate from 35 to 31 members.  (The last by the way is what triggered this article.)

For those who don’t know South Dakota, there are 35 senate seats and 70 house of representative seats in the legislature.  Every district has one senator and two representatives, who run at large, so that each political party can have two candidates for the house.  (There are four half-districts which have only one representative, ordered by some federal court to make it easier for Lakota representatives to get elected, since otherwise their vote would be diluted by large nearby Anglo populations.)  The districts do not quite split houses in half, but they do tend to be odd and divide towns and counties and such, in order to get districts as equal in size as possible.  And while there are some hints of gerrymandering it usually isn’t too bad. (Usually.  For instance, my wife and I are in a community which was slipped from the district it had been in for decades. We were moved to another district with a large suburban population, just after her running for the legislature kept a really dangerous GOP candidate from winning one of the two seats.  It may have been a matter of fate, but it was very convenient for the old district’s solid GOP constituency, and separated us from the strong Libertarian community in the old District.)

I could go through each of these proposals and explain and argue them, but that is not the point of this article.  Rather, the point is this:  Why bother?  (Especially the business about 31 instead of 35 Senators?)  Why reorganize and go all non-partisan?  Just because we don’t have letters behind their names, we can pretty much figure out who is on what side of which issue.  And frankly, after several decades of South Dakota politics, you learned in the first year or so to ignore the party labels.  Some of the biggest and loudest liberals (even Tranzis) in the state wear (R) after their name; some of the most stalwart foes of increased taxes and even limits on government have (D) after their names.  South Dakota has a lot of one-party districts; districts in which either the GOP or the Democracy don’t even bother to run candidates, and the election is decided in the primaries in June.  Getting rid of the partisan labels will just keep minor parties from having anyone in the general election and will REDUCE choice – if it even matters.

As I said, I could argue all these, but the plain and simple truth is that NONE of these changes would do ANYTHING to restore Liberty in South Dakota.  It isn’t so much who or what party is in power, it is the fact that they have POWER.  Too much power.  (What is too much?  If the town council has any more power than deciding who gets to make the speech before the fireworks on Independence Day, they’ve got too much.  If the legislature gets to do anything more important than decide what the State Fossil should be, too much!)  Congress and the Fifty State legislatures have led the whole nation down the primrose path to the edge of the cliff, we are running all out over that edge, and YOU want to “reform” state government by getting rid of four senate seats?

Seems to me, that is how we got into this mess in the first place: majoring in minors.  And thinking, “just this one little change will magically fix everything.”

Posted in Nathan's Rants | Tagged , | 4 Comments

False Guilt and The Common Good

Posted on 2012-12-09 by MamaLiberty

By Susan Callaway, Editor

Republished from November 30, 2009

My father’s favorite saying was about the man who complained he had no shoes, until he met the man who had no feet.

Properly understood, that would lead one to appreciate what they had and, probably, to sympathize with the person who had less. But, Dad would go on to say that, unless you had chopped off the other guy’s feet yourself, you were not responsible for him in any way.

He might have been born that way, or had been injured through no fault of his own. Or, just as possible, he might have been too lazy to take proper care of himself, or otherwise caused – or contributed to – his own condition.

Either way, you can feel sorry for him all you want, but that doesn’t make you responsible unless you actually did it to him. There is a fundamental difference here, vital to understand.

My mother had a friend who was not much of a cook, but very religious. Once in a while, we’d wind up there for a meal – which mother would turn into a serious lesson as soon as we got home. This lady never failed to tell the children to clean up their plates because “there are starving children in China” who would be grateful for what we didn’t want.

Of course there are starving children all over the world, and any good person would take advantage of a real opportunity to help a child anywhere, but the idea that we should assume some sort of personal guilt over it, let alone because of what we did or didn’t eat then, is tragic – and downright evil. The five and six year olds she said this to had no part in starving the Chinese children, and no responsibility to stop it – even if it were possible to mail them the leftovers.

This false guilt is exactly the burden socialism and many religions attempt to place on your back every minute of every day. They use your natural compassion and sympathy to impose the totally irrational idea that such guilt – and the theft of your life and property – could even hope to contribute anything to the well being or happiness of everyone else in the world. This is staggering, especially when you consider how many people actually fall for such a monstrous lie.

Examine your own conscience. What have you done, personally or by encouraging and supporting others, to harm another person? Your only honest guilt is for those actions. You owe them, and them alone whatever reparations are possible to make it right. You and I do not owe anything for actions taken by others, especially before we were born. And nobody not actually a victim of those wrongs is due any sort of compensation! You cannot logically assume guilt for other people, nor be liable for the debts of others unless you freely assume them.

This false guilt then leads to theft, murder and torture of other human beings in the name of a utopian “equality” of outcome – the idea that everyone must sacrifice their own life and needs for some nebulous “greater good,” never defined in any but the most global, irrational terms.

What is “the greater good?” Is it universal misery and poverty? That is the usual outcome of such thinking when the individual is denigrated and abused.

The world has seen many examples of this, but people foolishly continue to dream that the next round of theft, murder and subjugation to the elite masters will produce something different. Do remember the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.

On the other hand, the world has seen a few instances where individuals followed their own ultimate self interest, in voluntary cooperation and mutual support, and achieved unprecedented productivity, prosperity and peace. The early history of the US is a prime example.

Isn’t this, by far, more productive of the “common good” and a template for building ever more of the same? The more people who are productive and free to create, the more will be prosperous and happy because there is no limit to the creation of wealth and peace.

The fact that these examples were not universal, and often did not last long, does not remove the fact that they existed. These people were not perfect, by any means, and mankind has a long road to reach this state as more than a fleeting aberration in the long history of poverty, hate and ignorance…

But the choice for each of us seems very clear:

Individual sovereignty, self ownership and responsibility with integrity,
or slavery to false guilt, universal poverty, war and endless death.

I am an individual sovereign. I choose life.

Posted in Mama's Rants | Tagged | 1 Comment

A Gift for Granny

Posted on 2012-12-09 by MamaLiberty

Many of us spend a great deal of time and effort trying to think of the appropriate gift for loved ones and others. It is especially difficult when we consider the elderly. Only one thing is necessary… give the gift of your heart.

Granny…

Mrs. B. spent each morning parked in her wheelchair in front of the reception desk, enduring the blasts of either cold or heat, depending on the season, each time the big automatic doors opened with the endless stream of people coming and going. She would not accept food or water, medicine or anything else during this vigil, but each day at noon her cheerful countenance would fall and she would allow the attendant to wheel her back to her room and put her to bed.

Whenever she was asked why she sat at the door each day, she would say only, “My son is coming.” But he never came. Continue reading →

Posted in Mama's Rants | Tagged , | Leave a comment

“Public schools” and their dangers

Posted on 2012-12-08 by TPOL Nathan

Do Schools Kill Creativity?
(TED via Huffington Post) A friend (thanks, Steve!) sent me the above with these thoughts: “The link above is from a group called ‘TED’. In the video the speaker does, I THINK, a good job of explaining how public education messes up kids by robbing them of their creativity. I am not saying I agree 100% with him, but I do believe he makes some excellent points. I thought it good enough to pass along.”

Nathan: Thanks again. TED has a wide variety of speakers and the universe for topics. Usually good. This is one of the oldest talks they made available on-line. The updated comments at the website are also worth reading. His points about modern educational systems doing three bad things (promote standardization, promote compliance, and demand rigid, linear processes) are even more true six years later. Most of his talk addresses “public schools.”

I would like to share my reply to my friend:

I think you know that I am totally opposed in virtually every way to public schools. I like Marshall Fritz‘s term: instead of public schools, “government-run, tax-funded schools” or GRTF schools. (I often go one further and call them “government-ruined, theft-funded schools,” same acronym.) Schools, like churches, should be totally separated from the state in every way: funding, ownership, management, you name it. That was the way it was for the first half-century and more of American independence, and even until the late 1800s, “public” meant that the local families got together and built a schoolhouse and paid a share to hire a teacher. Then the Prussian system was introduced – UNDER THE REPUBLICANS and BY REPUBLICANS – more of those refugees from the failed Socialist rebellions in 1848, and the same people that introduced the modern reservation system for AmerInds.

Today, GRTF schools are as bad as jails and prisons, in part because they are so hypocritical. They warehouse children so that both parents can work and produce taxes for the state. They claim to educate according to certain standards and others claim that they spend 90% of their time on the top 5% of students. In reality, they teach almost nothing: at best children have some chance to learn. Not only is creativity destroyed, but so is independence, the ability to do multiple things at once, and then lets talk about morals and self-respect and self-responsibility and reasoning ability. Each of these things is replaced by some ersatz: usually called the same thing. Creativity is now letting students spell and do math however they please, and praising them for it. They are taught to have “Self-esteem” which makes them more and more of a coddled and privileged group entitled to everything from the state: true self-respect is non-existent, so girls enjoy their “liberation” and “self-esteem” by sluttishly submitting to boy after boy and then either having abortion after abortion or welfare child after welfare child. Of course, their “self-esteem” is validated by the school offering day-care for their infants, and a speedpass through the nurse’s office for the abortions (and for the birth control). (And a box behind the nurse’s desk has free condoms for the boys, to use once and then knock their girl-friend (of the day, sometimes) up.

Even those things the Prussian system was supposed to teach: loyalty to the state, regimentation and discipline (from above, not self-discipline), and how to be a good, docile worker and cannon-fodder, the modern American school system fails to do.

What GRTF schools ARE good at is:

  • creating jobs (deputy vice principal in charge of busing, deputy under-superintendent for vocational counseling, school psychologist, school nutritionist, director of janitorial services, director of grounds maintenance, and on and on), which are almost all union jobs;
  • spending money ($10,000+ per student per year or MORE), plus billions in capital spending for new buildings “because students learn better in new buildings,” as two supporters told me once;
  • producing propaganda to convince voters to cough up more and more moolah for more jobs and newer and ever more secure and grandiose buildings and grounds and all the rest,
  • producing propaganda to convince students of the legitimacy of the government, the green movement (both environism and global warming), deviant lifestyles (not just homosexuality but much else), and the rejection of parental authority, plus the destruction of creativity and other vital character traits, and of course;
  • as many new babies of the right kind to ensure this farce goes on and on.

There is no alternative, either for liberty or godliness, than ending the unholy alliance between school and state – together with unions, big business from textbook publishers to contractors to milk producers, and the transnational progressives who are well on their way to tearing down all elements of a free society to then rebuild it into a monolithic global system of control.

Posted in Nathan's Rants | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-51B: Home Front

Posted on 2012-12-08 by TPOL Nathan

Home Front: TSA Thuggery and Congress in Action
Is TSA dead?
(Huntington Post) One by one, panelists took turns excoriating the agency charged with protecting America’s transportation systems. It was plainly clear why Pistole was a no-show, and it had nothing to do with jurisdiction; it would have been an openly hostile crowd. Charles Edwards, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting inspector general, described the TSA as bureaucratic and dysfunctional. Stephen Lord of the Government Accountability Office, suggested the agency was ignoring the thousands of complaints from air travelers. And Kenneth Dunlap, who represented the International Air Transport Association, criticized the current TSA as expensive, inconsistent and reactive.

Nathan: Thanks to Jeff for this. Notice that of the four witnesses cited in the HuffPost (hardly an enemy of government), THREE were from government agencies, including one from the Department which is (nominally) the superior headquarters of TSA (apparently, TSA is a rogue agency).  These aren’t disgruntled passengers upset because their kid’s milk bottle got empty or because they got their breasts fondled.  These are bureaucrats who are saying that there IS (incredibly) a limit.  But Congress will do nothing except surrender what power they have left to the “messiah” and his security apparat.  Can you say “SPQR” and “Augustus?”

By the way, no matter what the HuffPost writers may think, I suspect that TSA is far from dead.

Home front – Stupid people
Polling Firm: ‘Values Gap’ Between Young Americans and Europeans Is Narrowing
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: In other words, the propaganda effort of decades of government-run, tax-funded schooling is WORKING.  Or the PTB want us to think it is, and are just giving more disinformation with polls like this.

Mama’s Note: A third possibility… the young people of Europe are starting to smell the burnt coffee…

Home front – War on some drugs
Poll: Americans Favor Legalization of Marijuana 51-44%
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: If you REALLY think that this is a democracy, then PLEASE explain this and the statements coming out of the White House and DOJ and FBI and Congress.  Show me where ONE congressman or senator has introduced a bill to END the cannabis part of the War on Some Drugs.

Home Front – Local tyranny
Gun Rights Leader: 470 Murders in Chicago, Rahm Emanuel ‘Has Some Blood on His Hands’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Oh, yes, just a wee bit of blood.  Nothing like what he had from being the “messiah’s” chief of staff, but a bit.

Stupid people – Home Front
Gallup: 53 Percent of Democrats Have ‘Positive Image’ of Socialism
(CNSNews.com) In a poll conducted Nov. 18-19, Gallup asked, “Just off the top of your head, would you say you have a positive or negative view of each of the following? ”Fifty-three percent of Democrats and “leaning Democrats” said they have a positive view of socialism while 23 percent of Republicans said the same. When asked the same question about small business, free enterprise, and entrepreneurs, 94 percent, 88 percent, and 84 percent of Democrats and “leaning Democrats,” respectively, responded by saying their image was “positive. On the other hand, Republicans and “leaning republicans” view of small business, free enterprise, and entrepreneurs was 95 percent, 94 percent, and 91 percent positive, respectively.

Nathan:  The headline is misleading, isn’t it?  TOO many Americans are in favor of socialism and/or don’t understand what it is.  As I commented earlier, the propaganda in the “public” schools is working.

Theft by government
CBO: Current Law Brings 55% Increase in Annual Spending, $4.25T in New Debt–And Record Taxation
(CNSNews.com) – If Congress allows current laws signed by President Barack Obama to stand and follows the fiscal path they have set for the next decade, federal tax revenues will rise to a record level as a percentage GDP, according to the Congressional Budget Office, but annual federal spending will also increase by 55 percent and continuous deficits will require Congress to lift the federal debt limit by another $4.25 trillion even as the government rakes in unprecedented tax revenue. Under the so-called “fiscal cliff” scenario, in which all of the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire and “sequestration” of some anticipated federal spending takes place, the federal government still will not balance its budget. In the “baseline projections” published in its latest update on the budget and economic outlook for the period from 2012 to 2022, CBO assumes that “current law” will remain in place.

Nathan:  Well, when will we get fed up with the constant lies?  BOTH sides are lying in this “fiscal cliff” talks, and there is NOTHING that they will do (or even propose) that will stop the spending.  Although it is too late, STOPPING the increases in spending that the CBO talks about would be more productive than either of the two sides in the talks (actually three: apparently Boehner is arguing with himself as well as with the White House).  The nation is toast.  (The excuse always given for having to increase spending is that “inflation” and population increases makes that necessary.  Well, we know who is to blame for inflation: government.  And a strong argument can be made for the government being to blame for increased population -at least of the population that sucks up money from government, at least: not just poor border security but the REASONS so many people are willing to jump the border.  And the reason that so many of the welfare-dependent underclass have so many children.)

Mama’s Note: Immigration of any kind is a very small slice of this thing. The destruction of the economy, constant job loss as businesses contract or quit – or never get started, and the increasing disincentives to save or even look for a job… these are the things that are driving the crisis. There are not too many people, of any kind… there is far, far too little freedom. And the government is simply too stupid or arrogant to face the truth… I really wonder from whom they expect to collect all that “revenue.” If it isn’t generated, they can’t collect it.

Crash of 2009 – Stupid government (2 stories)
73% of New Jobs Created in Last 5 Months Are in Government
(CNSNews.com) – Seventy-three percent of the new civilian jobs created in the United States over the last five months are in government, according to official data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In June, a total of 142,415,000 people were employed in the U.S, according to the BLS, including 19,938,000 who were employed by federal, state and local governments. [In November, that climbed to20,559,000. according to the next story, and that doesn’t include military.]

Nathan:  Well, here we have it clearly stated just what the problem is:  1 in 7 employed Americans WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENTS!  The other six employed Americans (including those who pay no taxes, or about 20%, so really, the other FIVE people) are expected to support the government employees, who for the most part make a LOT more than the average American does.  And we wonder why we are in financial trouble?  Why the economy is toast?  Why the NATION is toast?  Of course, even the “conservatives” don’t get it, as the next story points out.

Unemployment Plunges to 3.8% for Government Workers; Government Adds 35,000 Jobs in November, 544,000 Since July
(CNSNews.com) The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts someone as a government worker if they are not in the military and they are currently employed by any level of government—local, state or federal—or they are unemployed, they are looking for work, and their last job was for any level of government.

Nathan: These are not really government workers – they are just unemployed.  But I understand the reason to break these out, I guess.  The problem is, the number is TOO low, and in a nation really trying to get its fiscal house in order, this number would be GROWING rapidly.  What is a reasonable number of government employees which are UNEMPLOYED?  How about 100%.

Our right to self-defense
Smith & Wesson Posts 48% Increase In Second Quarter Sales As Demand Surges For All Firearm Products
(CNSNews.com) The press release also shows that the company now anticipates higher net sales from continuing operations.  The latest projections estimate between $550.0 million and $560.0 million in net sales for fiscal year 2013, which would represent year-over-year growth from continuing operations of approximately 35.0%.

Nathan: The increase is understandable.  And one I encourage: the more weapons in private hands the better – but I am worried that some of these purchases are for governments!  (By the way, if the average price is, say $500-$600 for an S&W (unlike other, cheaper brands), this amounts to a million new weapons on the streets (well, in homes and cars and businesses, really) in 2012.  I can live with that!

Theft by government – Stupid Congress in action
John Boehner: Raise Taxes on the Rich
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: And just WHO is the socialist in these talks?  Or rather, who ALL are the Socialists.  Clearly, Boehner is.  Yeah, I know that this is to make the Dems look bad and show everyone how stupid this is.  But the truth is, NO ONE will state the obvious: taxes and government spending are poison to economic development, prosperity and liberty.

Mama’s Note: Nobody in love with government will even entertain the fact that all taxes are theft, and everything they spend is stolen from those who earn it – who create the wealth.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

House Republicans should Shove the Constitution up Obama’s Butt

Posted on 2012-12-07 by MamaLiberty

By Robert Greenslade
© Nitwit Press

With a so-called financial cliff only weeks away, which pundits and politicians claim will be triggered when tax cuts expire at the end of the year, Obama and his sycophants are asserting that since he won the 2012 election, the majority has spoken and republicans are obligated to comprise and implement the Obama “agenda” because he is President of the United States.

Once again, democrats are counting on their willing accomplices in the main street media and the constitutional ignorance of the American people to pressure republicans into submission. Instead of cowering in a dark corner like scared school children, republicans need to stand tall, pull out their copies of the Constitution, and shove them up the butt of Obama and his legions of civics challenged drones.

Even though republican politicians are part of the plague that has ravaged the country, they have the power to do something constructive for a change and hinder or arrest Obama’s out of control monetary policies because they control the House of Representatives.

Republicans have 3 trump cards they can play simultaneously:

First, Article I, Section 1―
“All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”

The power to legislate is vested exclusively in Congress. A president has absolutely no power to legislate and that includes so-called executive orders.

Second, Article I, Section 7―
“All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.”

Every single piece of legislation that raises revenue MUST originate in the House of Representatives, not the White House or the Senate.

Third, Article II, Section 3―
“He [the President] shall…recommend to [Congress] for their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient…”

Constitutionally, there is no such thing as a President’s agenda. A President’s role in the initial legislative process is secondary because Congress has the sole power to legislate independently of a president. Congress is free to adopt, modify, reject or ignore any recommendation submitted by a president. A recommendation is just that―a suggestion that’s not binding. Congress is a separate co-equal branch of the federal government; it is not a president’s bitch as Obama and the democrats would have us believe when they hold the presidency.

Republicans in both Houses of Congress, as the lesser of two evils in my mind, need to craft a speech and stand up to Obama. This man continually slaps their faces and they say “thank you sir, may we have another.” If I were in charge of writing a speech for republicans on this issue, the civil version would say something like this:

“Elections have consequences. President Obama and the democrats would have you believe that a consequence of the recent presidential election is the obligation of republicans in Congress to capitulate to Mr. Obama’s wishes and demands because a majority of the American people elected him President. Under our constitutional system of government we do not elect a king, dictator or potentate. The Constitution established 3 co-equal branches of government. Each branch has separate and independent powers and duties. A president is the chief executive officer of one of those 3 branches and his powers and duties are defined and limited by the Constitution. By the same token, Congress has powers and duties that belong exclusive to that body.

The power to craft legislation is vested exclusively in Congress, not the president. Presidents do not have ANY power to legislate under our constitutional system of government. A majority of the American people may have elected Mr. Obama president but those same people gave us majority control of the House of Representatives and that body is vested with the exclusive power to originate ALL legislation that raises revenue.

President Obama is asserting that he is the one constitutionally charged with the power to craft and dictate tax policy to Congress. Mr. Obama needs to stop misleading the American people on this issue and consult his Constitution czar for a lesson on the separation of power between the legislative and executive branches of government. If he did, he would find that presidents only have the power to “recommend,” not mandate, legislation for Congress to consider. Thus, when in comes to raising revenue, President Obama is only empowered to give members of the House of Representatives “recommendations,” not orders and mandates. Once a revenue bill passes the House, it goes to the Senate for consideration. A president is constitutionally powerless to intervene in this process. If a revenue bill passes the House and Senate, then and only then is President Obama constitutionally empowered to enter the process and act on the legislation. He can either sign or veto the legislation but Congress has the power to over ride his veto and pass the legislation. The ability of Congress to pass legislation over a presidential veto shows the Framers intended Congress, not a president, to be the ultimate power in the legislative process.

Since republicans in the House of Representatives hold the majority and the constitutional duty to initiate ALL bills raising revenue is vested in the House, we will perform our constitutional duty of leading the House of Representatives in crafting revenue legislation. If President Obama wants to exercise his constitutional authority of recommendation, we will be happy to hear and consider his suggestions but we object to his constant attempts to mislead the American people concerning the branch of government charged with constitutional authority of initiating revenue legislation.

End.

Since Mr. Obama is the most arrogant condescending president in my lifetime and a threat to the survival of what’s left of the republic, someone needs to educate the American people on constitutional issues and put this community agitator in his place. Unfortunately, in this case, we have to rely on the Republican Party and their members in the House of Representatives to do the right thing and put the good of the country ahead of politics. If John Boehner and his hand picked stooges in the House cave and fail to perform this simple function, which I predict they will, maybe then those who still view the Republican Party as the answer will wise-up and treat it with the same contempt as they have for the Democratic Party.

Posted in Friends of Liberty | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Holder and other haters of Guns and Liberty

Posted on 2012-12-06 by TPOL Nathan

Our right to self-defense:  Guns and Holder

Earlier this week, a friend sent me an “urgent” message to log in at USA Today and give my opinion on an issue:

Attorney General Eric Holder, has already said this is one of his major issues. He does not believe the 2nd Amendment gives individuals the right to bear arms. This takes literally 2 clicks to complete. Please vote on this gun issue question with USA Today. Then pass the link on to all the pro-gun folks you know. Hopefully the results will be published later this month.

(Editor’s note: poll is no longer available)

Here is my response:

My friend, the problem is, Holder is RIGHT.  The Constitution – even the Second Amendment – does NOT give us the right possess arms.  GOD GIVES US THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR – to possess – ARMS.  NO MAN CAN GIVE US THAT RIGHT, and NO MAN CAN TAKE THAT RIGHT AWAY FROM US.  All the Constitution was supposed to do was clearly state and “guarantee” that right – and IT HAS FAILED.

The Constitution of the united States is a DEAD LETTER.  It is an animated zombie, seeming to be in effect but in reality as dead as Rome, as dead as Carthage.  As dead as the Old Testament law.  We have a federal government and State governments that pretend to follow it, while in reality they have gutted it.  Until these thugs are dealt with, there is little or no chance of the Constitutions being restored: federal or State.  Even then, given its failure, we need something better to replace it: something in which it is clearly stated that our only King, Lawmaker, and Judge is the Great God Jehovah, and that NO human has the right to initiate force or fraud against any other human, and that every human has the right to defend themselves in any manner appropriate to the threat.

Further thoughts on this:

Too many Americans think that GOVERNMENT gives us rights; that the Founding Fathers thought these things up and “gave” us freedom of religion, freedom of speech, the right to a jury trial by our peers, the right to not incriminate ourselves and all the rest.  This is simply not true, and indeed, many of the Founding Fathers (Hamilton, for example, and Washington himself) were not enamored of the idea that the rights of the individual took priority.  But they never dreamed of the day when government would be so powerful and so hateful of liberty that all rights would be claimed to be “group” rights or “rights” exercised on the behalf of the people by our elected representatives and the various rulers and sub-rulers and sub-sub-rulers down to the local “law enforcement officer” (cop) on the beat and the lowest-paid petty bureaucrat with a rubber “DENIED” stamp in their hand.

Today, too many of us are the products of government-ruined, theft-funded (public) schools who have been taught that even IF there was a god, government replaced it long ago and that the State loves us, the State made us what we are, the State (or at least its soldiers) died for us, and that the State has, is, and will be saving us, our children, the environment and everything – that the State will serve and protect us, and that we have no existence outside of the State which gives us laws and liberty and license and largess.

Is it not time that we saw these monsters who call themselves our “leaders” and our “representatives” and our “judges” and our masters and saviors and all, for what they REALLY are?  Petty and not so petty tyrants and greedy, power-hungry parasites who suck us, our families, our neighbors, our communities and the world dry?

Mama’s Note: Not everyone will accept a god, let alone the specific God of the Bible, as their sovereign master. And any attempt to impose that would be a disaster for freedom every bit as much as the current worship of the state.  Each person must choose for themselves how they will conduct their lives and whom they will trust or follow. Then they must be prepared to accept the consequences for their choices and actions.

Posted in Nathan's Rants | Tagged | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-50: This and That

Posted on 2012-12-06 by TPOL Nathan

Theft by government
Current US Regime Borrowed More Money Than in All Previous Administrations Combined
(VisiontoAmerica.com) At the close of business on Jan. 20, 2009, when President Barack Obama was inaugurated, the national debt stood at $10,626,877,048,913.08, according to the Treasury. At the close of business this last Thursday, it stood at $16,323,083,449,604.98. That means the debt has increased $5,696,206,400,691.90 during Obama’s presidency.  On July 2, 2001, more than five months after President George W. Bush entered office, the national debt was $5,693,220,327,798.14, according to the Treasury. By the close of business on July 3, 2001, it had risen to 5,698,195,769,465.40. Since then, the debt has never again dropped below $5,696,206,400,691.90—the amount it has increased in less than one full term of Obama.

Nathan: It really isn’t HIS debt, for Congress is FAR more to blame than the First Citizen, because they will not/cannot control this monster and his minions.  But it will go down in history as his, of course.  Seems to me that anybody could understand these numbers, but society seems to be dumbed down incredibly.

Self defense
Florida: Vendor Grateful After Customer Shoots Gunman
HIALEAH, Fla. (WSVN) — A South Florida fruit vendor is speaking out with words of gratitude for a customer who stepped in after someone tried to mug him. Blood stains and crime scene tape remain on the sidewalk marking the spot of the near-fatal confrontation that occurred Tuesday afternoon. According to Hialeah Police, a customer stepped up and shot a teenager who tried to hold up the fruit peddler, who spoke on condition of anonymity. According to Hialeah Police, at around 12:45 p.m., 19-year-old Jason Arnoldo Bonilla walked up to the fruit vendor, who parked his truck in the area of West 72nd Street and 30th Avenue to sell fruit, pointed a gun at him and demanded cash. “When he sees I won’t give him the money, that’s when he cocks the gun,” the vendor said, speaking through a translator. When a regular customer at the stand saw Bonilla cock his gun, he decided to act, shooting him several times. “He started looking for his gun after he was shot,” said the vendor.

Mama’s Note: Sure wish we could know the real story. Hard to see why six shots would be necessary… hope he hit the robber with all of them… and, OF COURSE the good Samaritan had a “permit!” Good grief, They all would have died otherwise. If you don’t have a permit, you just have to stand there and be killed. ARGGG That just makes me crazy.

Nathan:  I wonder just what goes through the mind of the criminal aggressor who suddenly finds he is NOT the only one with a weapon.  As for six shots, well, a good many instructors tell you to make sure the aggressor STAYS down.  It reminds me of the little old lady being questioned about why she shot the mugger six times.  “Well, that’s all the gun holds,” she is reputed to reply.

Self defense
Dallas Woman Shoots at 2 Intruders; 1 Dead
(MSNBC.com) Dallas police said a woman shot at two people who kicked in the door to her house late Wednesday morning, killing one. The shooting occurred at about 11:30 a.m. in the 7200 block of Concordia Drive. Dallas police said the woman was home alone when she heard a noise — two men had kicked in the front door of her house. She confronted the two men as they reached the second-floor landing and shot at them several times, police said. The intruders ran out the front door, and one of the men collapsed from a gunshot wound, police said. He was transported to Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The other man is still on the run. Investigators said a gun recovered at the home indicates that at least one of the intruders was armed. Charles Brown, the father of the 22-year-old woman who fired the shots, said he is proud of his daughter.”Yeah, it is — it’s puffed out because I’m real proud of her because I taught her that,” he said. “I taught my girls that — to defend themselves when someone come to hurt them, and apparently she listened.

Mama’s Note: Outstanding! Too bad she didn’t get both of them.

Nathan:  Nice to see a young woman able and willing to defend herself and her home.  I wish that more parents would learn the importance of this.

Home front – Evil’s homeland
Mayor Rahm Emanuel: ‘Chicago Is the Most American of American Cities’(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Such arrogance, indeed.  He no doubt views that pesthole by the lake as the natural center of American capital and politics and business, a goal the city and its corrupt and tyrannical politicians have been seeking for nearly 200 years.  Sadly, he may be right: American government in general is characterized by more or less corruption and of course, the omnipresent theft, and Chicago does it better than most.

Congress in action – Stupid “representatives”
Sheila Jackson Lee:  ‘Who Wants to Make a Fuss About Social Security When It’s Solvent?’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: And who wants to make a fuss about SJL when she keeps her mouth shut?  Of course, she can’t, any more than the Social Security fund can keep paying out without stealing more and more.  The facts are clear and even a woman as naturally and intentional stupid as SJL knows it, but she will keep lying until someone puts her up against a wall and sends a bullet through her brain.  No, I stand corrected: her gabbling obviously does not require a functioning brain.  Perhaps a wooden stake through the heart would do it.

New religions: environism – Stupid government
Obama Says No to Oil Leases, But Yes to Windmills, Off the Atlantic Coast
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Well, it is obvious who (or what groups) are paying his campaign debts, contributing to his library, and funding his luxurious retirement (that is, what the taxpayers won’t fund).

Islamic wars: Arab street revolt
Unhappy Egyptians Given 2 Weeks to Consider Divisive Constitution That Elevates Shari’a
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Seems to me that for at least those 100,000 or so who were protesting in Tahir Square don’t need two weeks or two days: they don’t want it. Or the Pharaoh that snuck in with it.

Home front: Evil’s homeland
Rahm Emanuel Likens Obama to Lincoln
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Wow, can you believe it?  I actually agree with Emanuel on something: that the “messiah” is like Honest Abe the Tyrant!!!

Mama’s Note: Me too… but you can bet Rahm didn’t mean it the way we do.

Stupid government – Culture wars: homosexuality
Hillary: We’re Standing Up for LGBT Rights All Around the World
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Which is a convenient excuse to NOT stand up for any other rights – real rights and not made-up rights: like freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to defend yourself, freedom from being robbed blind by government and other thugs, and all the rest?

Stupid government – Islamic war: Canaanite front
Susan Rice: U.N. Vote ‘Does Not Establish that Palestine Is a State’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Any more than calling a tail a leg gives a dog five legs.

Stupid government – The “Elite”
DHS Confirms: Deportation of Obama’s Uncle on Hold as Immigration Board Re-Opens Case
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: So, once more: it ain’t what you know or do, it’s WHO you know.

Stupid government – Culture wars: homosexuals
CIA Makes History: Please Apply Here If You Are a Member of the LGBT Community
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: As with racial quotas (that are anything they want to call them BUT “quotas”), we have gone to blatant “reverse” discrimination:  and we will wonder why the quality of the work of the CIA declines even more.  As with the military, the CIA is used for engineering society and NOT for protecting it (by protecting the Constitution).  Of course, with the Constitution dead, both the military and the CIA apparently need to find something else to do.  Kinda like the FBI and other agencies had to find something else to do when Prohibition ended in the 1930s, or like when a bodyguard lets his client get killed: he has to find someone else to be a body guard for.

Congress in action
Concerns About U.S. Sovereignty Lead Senate Conservatives to Nix U.N. Treaty on Rights of Disabled
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: One of the few good pieces of news coming out of DC this week.  This would be one more nail in the coffin of the powers and rights of parents and families, courtesy of the scumbag parasites that infest that tombstone on the East River on Manhattan.

Mama’s Note: The news this morning is that this “treaty” was defeated.

Theft by government – Congress in action
Federal Entitlements Prevent  U.S. From Being Third World Country, Lawmaker Says
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: The gall of the lying monsters is greater than ever. It is the ever growing federal (and state) entitlements that are turning the US into a third-world country.  Well, that and the politicians who cannot understand that you can’t spend money you don’t have forever, and who cannot see that taxation is theft.

Theft by government (2 stories)
Governors Say Fiscal Cliff Threat to States – Ark. Governor to Obama: We Don’t Need Federal Tax Cuts That Merely Require State Taxes to Rise
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Of course, these two stories point out the obvious.  The one-time employee of the States continues to eat its former employers, all the while assuring them that it is for their own good that it is consuming them.  The truth is, this “Fiscal Cliff” and all of the hype is just that: hype.  Taxes proposed to PREVENT the cliff are WORSE than those that will go into effect automatically thanks to the cowardice and stupidity of Congress a year ago.  And none of it solves the REAL problem: the FedGov is hopelessly in debt and cannot stop spending.

Stupid government
Anti-Poverty Expert: ‘Jesus Said Poverty Would Always Be With Us’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Duh!  But in 2,000 years, of course, humans have become smarter than God, and we KNOW we can eliminate all that nasty historical unpleasantness.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , | Leave a comment