Category Archives: Current News

This is about stuff in the mass media that generally has a short interest life span. Speculation about an election outcome a few days before the election is an example.

This Public Servant Bit Needs More Discussion

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This is an addendum to the post below.


As stated; as a public employee, as a public servant, your job, your individual tasks, your pay and the very existence of the department for which you work, exists purely at our (The People’s) pleasure.  It is our prerogative to alter this relationship, to dismiss you, or to eliminate your department entirely, at a whim.


As a public servant, you have no “right” whatsoever to a particular salary, or to a particular job, etc.  If we decide we must lower your pay or dismiss you altogether, your proper response would be something like; “I understand.  Thank you for the opportunity to have served you.”  At that point you are free to go your own way and prove your worth in the marketplace as you see fit.  May you live long and prosper.


If you decide, on the other hand, to get hostile about it and start in with the name-calling and the threats, what can We The People conclude about the relationship we’ve had with you?  Look at me when I’m talking to you!


In private practice, a servant that gets hostile with the home owner will probably result in the police being called in on a domestic disturbance.  At the very best it would result in an unflattering reference when you apply for another job.  This is OUR house.  If the hostility continues and becomes threatening, what are we to do?  If the police aren’t able to help us get you public servants under control, well then, what?  What are we left with for options in that case?  You aren’t going to get your way, let me just put it like that.  Not for long, I can tell you.  This is OUR country.

Someone Doesn’t Know Their History…

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…as Dan here at UltiMAK said about this.


I’ve often said that the socialists are calling the anti-socialists socialists for not being socialist enough.  Or the Communists are angry at the socialists for not being communist enough.


Christie is being called “Hitler” for trying to cut government spending.  The name-caller would have more credibility if he simply called Christie a “snotty nosed poopy pants”.


There is the fact that the communists are often bitterly angry at Progressives (who believe in achieving the goals of Marx through progressive steps).  The communists think the time is right to pounce– to take off the masks and have the “People’s Revolution” right now.  The Progressives are still in progressive mode, so there is a real conflict, but invoking the name of a famous socialist, as an epithet, doesn’t help their case.


There is also some conflict between the National Socialists verses the global socialists (FDR, Stalin and Hitler all held the same basic tentets, but differed only on the details and the execution) but I’m no more interested in the details than in the differences between rival crime gangs.  They’re all enemies and they all have to be ground into the dustbin of history if we’re going to have a free society.


ETA; You public employees around the country seem to be terrible confused.  See, you’re not “The People”.  You’re The Government– our servants.  Big difference.  Your jobs, your pay and your benifits, exist at our pleasure.  It’s when you tell us what our jobs, pay and benefits etc. should be, that’s Nazi-ish.  Get it?


HT to Drudge.

Something to keep in mind

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I did not know that:

Police said a hotel worker found the guns inside a trash can around 9 a.m. and alerted police. Both guns had one round in the chamber and two in the clip.

Police called the ATF, who ran the serial number. According to the ATF and FBI, the way the gun was loaded is consistent with a professional hit.

My hypothesis is the “ATF and FBI” either didn’t say that or are just making random stuff up.

Quote of the day—Kieran Healy

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I guess on Sunday when the #Rapture people feel really upset, we can’t console them by saying “Cheer up, it’s not the end of the world”.

Kieran Healy
May 20, 2011
[Via a retweet by Kris R.

On a more serious note—I should have updated my website www.whenprophecyfails.info. It still has a lot of great info on it. But I should have included info about this particular incident a week or two ago. I procrastinate too much.—Joe]

Do all socialists have this much money?

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One has to wonder where socialists get all their money and why doesn’t everyone have as much wealth as this guy in all socialists societies? [/sarcasm]

Mr Strauss-Kahn secured his release from Rikers Island prison as it was announced a grand jury had voted to have him prosecuted for the alleged sexual attack of a 32-year-old maid in his hotel room.

In a hearing at New York supreme court, Judge Michael Obus said he would allow the 62-year-old former head of the IMF out of jail despite the fact there was a “serious risk” he would try to flee.

He warned Mr Strauss-Kahn, who was arrested at JFK airport on a flight about to take off for Paris, that the consequences would be serious “if there is the slightest problem with your compliance”.

…

He must move into an apartment in Manhattan rented by his wife, and “will be monitored 24 hours, seven days a week, electronically and by at least one armed guard”, the judge said.

He will pay $1 million (£600,000) upfront, provide a guarantee for a further $5 million (£3 million), and cover the expense of his own security, which was estimated at $200,000 (£120,000) a week and include an armed guard at all times.

Critical Pedagogy Hits Home

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There’s been some talk about it lately and it’s been in the news, but it’s also been in your home town school for some time.  Here is a history paper, handed out in my son’s history class, complete with syntax errors, inexplicable asterisks, bad grammar, omitted words, and miss-numbering.  The kids were told to memorize it.  Keep in mind the title of the piece – “U.S. History”  This is all American.  Everything below is what made/makes us tick;



U.S. History
Philosophies — Foreign and Domestic


“What Made/Makes Us Tick”


1. Capitalism – Pure*** vs. Regulated


An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.


OK, right there; no mention of property rights, the acknowledgement and protection of which result in capitalism.  “Corporately owned” IS privately owned, but they must make a distinction.



Pure capitalism over time results in poverty, worker abuse, environmental destruction, a two class social structure, and governmental control by the wealthy.  All economic, political and social norms were control directly ad indirectly by the wealthy.  Even the presentation of religious views were seen through the eyes of the capitalistic values.(2-


Karl Marx would be giddy with pride seeing what our public schools are teaching my kids today.  There’s so much wrong with that one paragraph I don’t know where to begin.  For one thing, “governmental control by the wealthy” defines a corrupt government.  The acknowledgement and protection of property rights, which defines capitalism, does not lead to governmental control by the wealthy.  That’s a contradiction in terms, but you’re not supposed to notice.  Corrupt politicians lead to governmental control by the wealthy, and for that they should be arrested.



Regulated Capitalism – has produced our nation.  Government regulates what industry can do within limits.  Environmental impact (air quality), worker safety, fair pay, fair trade, and business dealings are regulated by law.


The Fascisti would certainly approve of that statement, and they were committed Marxists.  Notice throughout this whole piece that there is no mention of human rights, or of America’s founding principles.  That would blow the whole thing though, wouldn’t it?



2. Expansionism


The belief that the nation must grow to acquire natural resources, new areas of trade, and living space. (Safety Value Theory – Turner Thesis)


3. Manifest Destiny (New Manifest Destiny)***


— Similar to Expansionism.  This was the belief that God had pre-determined (destined) the United States to expand.  It was an outgrowth of the Puritan ethic [God rewards those who work hard and live an exemplary life.]  The term eventually meant that the U.S. would eventually control the land from coast to coast.  This belief system motivated the “Western Movement.”  The acquisition of land and the displacement of Native Americans became justified in part by this belief system.  The Mexican War, the Southwest land, Northwest Territory, and Alaska are also acquired with belief system as the driving force for America to expand.


Nearly every country that ever existed has practiced some version of Manifest Destiny or Expansionism.  The American government did some terrible things to the Indians.  The innuendo I get from this is that there are wrongs remaining to be righted, which is actually being said elsewhere, complete with the “R” word (revolution) in the above linked video, as part of a school curriculum.



4.  Whiteman’s Burden – Anglo Saxonism***  The term is taken from a poem by Rudyard Kipling in which he states is was “the white man’s burden” to colonize the other nations for their benefit.  In practice it was the belief that:


God had chosen the Anglo-Saxon race to colonize the “less fortunate” peoples of the world.  In so doing they were to bring them education, the Christian faith, a Puritan work ethic, capitalism, health care, and the other “benefits” of our culture.


Ah, so America really IS racist!  Crap!



5.  Imperialism***


–,The control of one nation over another nation or territory for the purposes of acquiring natural resources, trade, and/or military advantage.  This is the core of U.S. expansion.  The acquisition of Hawaii, Cuba, and the Philippines are examples of imperialism.


Notice how they slipped trade in there, like trading with people in another nation amounts to Imperialism.  We bastards!  Those poor victims!



6.  Rugged Individualism


— The belief that individuals are to provide for their own needs without the help of others.  “I can do it myself.”  This was the pioneer spirit and the belief of the nation in the 1800s.  It worked against the average person during the latter part of the Industrial Revolution as corporations controlled the variables of life.  Working harder did not mean greater rewards for the worker.  It meant greater profits for the corporation.


The ideal of self sufficiency worked against the average person, eh?  So you’d be better off relying on others.  Notice too the repeated use of the word “worker”.  “Workers of the World Unite” then, I guess.  There are those evil corporations again, and the use of “profits” as an epithet.



7.  Social Darwinism


— Applying the theory of Darwinism, survival of the fittest, to political and social life.  The strong must survive to benefit the entire nation.  No sympathy for the weak, (poor, workers).  Laws and social customs were for the benefit of the fittest (rich, industrialist, upper crust of society).  When you combine the philosophies of Social Darwinism with imperialism, and Manifest Destiny., the world created was a tough one for the average person.


The Nazis were Social Darwinists, or I would say “Socialist Darwinists”.  Let’s be clear.



8.  Humanitarianism


— the belief that mankind should help others just because they can.  “Social Gospel” of the latter 1800s.


“Just because they can”, mind you.  Not because it’s the right thing to do.  Not because there are rich people who are, you know, actually human.



9.  Liberty/Freedom/Self-determination*


These fundamental beliefs began to take on a new meaning for many of society as the end of the century approached.  The empathy to “occupied countries” overseas and to the oppressed at home gains attention of a wider spectrum of society in the late 1800s.


Again no mention of rights, rights protection, or founding principles.  Instead it’s all up for grabs, depending on prevailing theories.



9. AMERICAN IMPERIALISM


It is easier to define American Imperialism by contrasting it with Imperialism.


Imperialism is centered on Social Darwinism, Manifest Destiny, and White Man’s Burden.


There were never, ever, anywhere, any non-white Imperialists then.  You racist, you.



American Imperialism tempers those beliefs with humanitarianism and the beliefs of self-determination, freedom and liberty.  Our present foreign and domestic policies are motivated by this belief.


There you have it.  We’re an Imperialist nation.  Damn us all to hell.


This history lesson is a self-contradictory and confused jumble of omissions, lies, half truths and truths.  Would Karl Marx strongly disagree with any of it?

Mother and child of Satan

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Last year there was this guy that blew himself up and was in the hospital for some time but ultimately recovered. The speculation at the time was that he used Tannerite and he was extremely stupid in the application.

Even if the stupid part was correct it turns out that it wasn’t Tannerite. Darwin was unable to cure his stupidity and now the Federal Government is attempting to address the symptoms. He was arrested Monday and the affidavit for his arrest was unsealed yesterday with interesting details. His explosives included Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) which is sometimes known as Mother of Satan because of its high susceptibility to accidental detonation.

Other interesting stuff in the affidavit indicates the world would have been much better off if Darwin had been successful. This guy appears to be someone many would characterize as a child of Satan.

Update: I found the following interesting as well. This is from the list of items to be searched for and seized in the affidavit. Notice that nearly every home has the precursor chemicals to make explosives. This is one of the reasons I say the TSA explosives tests cannot be effective and are a waste of time. Explosives can be easily made from common household materials. If the TSA were to screen for these they would generate so many false positives that the “pat downs” and extensive searches would raise the cost of TSA to even higher levels and create even more public outrage. Since they don’t test for these chemicals explosive devices can be easily made and detonated on board commercial flights at will.

image

Random thought of the day

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Now that the U.S. has established the precedent of sending a hit squad into another country to kill those wanted for planning and implementing acts which resulted in the deaths of our citizens I wonder if the Mexican government will consider that justification for doing the same to those responsible for sending firearms to drug cartels in Mexico.

Quote of the day—David Hardy

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While opinions may vary, I’ve always thought that undercover operations should stop short of committing acts of war.

David Hardy
May 5, 2011
Project Gunwalker getting bigger
[I love understated humor.—Joe]

The police lost the gun

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As pointed out by Say Uncle (I also got an email from him) the letter that went out to all the gun dealers in Washington State earlier this month was because the Washington State Patrol lost a gun:

The state patrol won’t say how the gun disappeared — only that it was missing from the state patrol’s inventory in Tacoma last summer.

This is mostly reiteration of what nearly everyone else has said but poor handling on the part of the police is no reason for concern by anyone else. I’d use the letter for target practice.

Quote of the day—Milton Friedman

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Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.

Milton Friedman
[It is predicted the Federal budget deficit will reach $1.65 trillion this year with a $14.1 trillion debt and about $2.1 trillion in income. Yet the House cannot reach agreement on spending cuts. The House Republicans want to only cut $60 billion in spending and the Democrats only want to cut spending $6.5 billion. If you were to scale this down into numbers people might be able to relate to it would look like the following.

If your family income were $50,000 then:

  • Family debt is $335,700
  • Family deficit is $39,300 (spending is $89,300/year)
  • The head of household wants to cut $1,430 in yearly spending
  • The spouse wants to cut $154.80 in yearly spending

The children should cut up the credit cards and sell everything that isn’t the bare minimum needed for food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and communication. If the debt still isn’t being paid down they should consider selling their parents organs.—Joe]

Layers of editorial oversight

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It could be this was ignorance of the investigators or a communications error somewhere along the way but a fact checker or someone should have caught this before it went public:

When investigators arrived they found shell casings from a .380 magnum and an AK-47 at the scene in the 3900 block of North Lansing Place.

A “.380 magnum”? That would be something like a 9mm Lugar, right?

It’s not paranoia when they really are out to get you

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CBS is reporting that the ATF has been deliberately letting gun runners take guns into Mexico since 2008! I find that very interesting.

If I were a paranoid person I would be tempted to say it was all an elaborate plan to justify making U.S. gun laws more restrictive to “solve” the problem the U.S. government created.

Interesting question

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I love exploring questions like this. “Common sense” laws that nearly everyone agrees with end up being in conflict with each other:

The Oregon Supreme Court Thursday debated whether a state statute is at odds with federal law in a case involving a Medford marijuana patient who was denied a concealed weapons permit.

Appearing before nearly 200 law school students, the seven justices convened at Willamette University College of Law in Salem and focused on whether the statute conflicts with the intent of the federal Gun Control Act of 1968.

Alright, Classmates…

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We’ve been talking about this for several years here.  Who can tell us how Rand Paul utterly failed in this interview;


ETA; YouTube imbedding has been disable for this video, but you can still see it here.


Letterman make a pretty good attempt at it, but Paul is left like a deer in the headlights and didn’t even make the attempt.  As Rand herself would say; “Blank-out.”  Then she would go on to explain how the self described conservative voices are the worst, most deadly enemies of conservatism.


I give him a C minus as a junior high school student.  He did show having done some homework and some listening in class, but I’d flunk him from high school.  Maybe it was just nerves, but I don’t buy that.  You don’t forget your main point– the thing you’ve ostensibly been striving for all your professional life.  I kept waiting for it– fully expecting it, but alas.  Maybe he’s just another Republican.


Anyone?


HT to theblaze.com

Allen West Spanks a Koran Thumper

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Interesting isn’t it, how the left has always hated America-loving Bible Thumpers, but has no problem at all with America-hating Koran Thumpers?


West would make a great president, I’m thinking.  Too bad the video isn’t subtitled.  The CAIR rep, when confronted by West, I think, responds; “Hakkalakka, Muhammad jihad! Derka derka!” but I can’t quite make it out so I’m not sure.  The CAIR people aren’t accustomed to having anyone correct their ridiculous assertions.  I guess they’ll have to start learning on the job.


Hat tip to Glen Beck, who mentioned this on the radio this morning.

Collective Firing Rights

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There sure is a lot of talk about it, but little discussion of it.  Where is it written that public service employees (formerly known as public servants) have a right to collective bargaining?  Regular citizens have rights.  Government employees have responsibilities.  Do your job and quit yer bitchin’ or get out and get a real job– start your own business.  Whatever.  Just shut up and go away.  We never really needed most of you in those public positions in the first place.


I’m not so sure we should ever allow them to organize.  That’s what regular folks do, once in a while, and even then their employers have the right to collectively fire them.


Surely the public servants’ “right” to collective bargaining should come with the right to be collectively fired.  Maybe it’s time to grant them the latter, over there in Wisconsin.


Somehow an angry rent-a-mob of Marxist beatniks and global “One Big Union” socialist revolutionaries demanding more goodies from the pockets of taxpayers doesn’t sit right.  They’re certainly not what they want to be– equal in principle to civil rights marchers.  Not even remotely.


Since they’re pissed off at the state government and trying to stifle the democratic process therein, shouldn’t we be calling them Angry, Anti Government Protestors?  I’ll say they’re just exactly the same as Timothy McVeigh.  What the hell; they’re incipient terrorists.  If it’s good for the goose…


I say fire the lot, eliminate half the positions permanently, and cut all state taxes by half.  Tomorrow.  That would do for a start.  There’d be some breathing room for new start-up business and a rapidly shrinking deficit.  I don’t see a down side.

Campus carry in Texas

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For being published in a San Francisco newspaper this is a fairly balanced article claiming Texas will soon ease the restrictions on both students and professors exercising their right to keep and bear arms on college campuses.

Channeling the Jews from Nazi-Occupied Eastern Europe

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I have been reading some of the anti-gun people’s thoughts on the events in Egypt recently and a particular theme appeared.

From Colin and Andy Goddard:

If instead of staging peaceful demonstrations, Egyptian protesters been armed with guns, it is highly likely that the Egyptian military, equipped with billions of dollars worth of weapons supplied free of charge by our own government, would have retaliated. That would have produced massive casualties among both the armed and unarmed Egyptians.

From Brady Campaign board member Joan Peterson:

If things had gone otherwise and the military had decided to side with President Mubarek instead of the people, what good would pistols and shotguns have done against tanks and machine guns? I say, not much. It would likely have elevated the violence and increased the potential for deaths and injuries.

This theme bothered me but I didn’t quite have the words to express my discomfort. Then I found them here. This is from Reuben Ainsztein’s book Jewish Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Eastern Europe page 585:

The Jewish leaders, however, rejected the offer, arguing that if they behaved quietly the Germans might deport and murder 20,000 or 30,000, perhaps even 60,000 of them, but it was inconceivable that they should destroy the lot; while if they resisted, the Germans would certainly do so.

I fully agree that going to the street in a massive, anticipated to be peaceful, protest while being openly armed is generally not a good idea. I agree that making every reasonable effort to avoid violence is a good idea. It does not follow that the general population is better off without owning firearms the government is unaware of. It does not follow that once the government begins killing innocent people that non-violence is the best response.

The anti-gun people may be channeling the thoughts of the Jews prior to the Final Solution but the Jews hindsight is surely superior and it is those thoughts you should attempt to channel.

Democracy

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de·MOC·ra·cy – Noun – 1. The takeover of a state government by a state employee’s union, often resulting in ever increasing tax rates, and the eventual bankruptcy of the state.


They’re actually shouting, “Freedom!  Democracy!  Unions!” as though the three were compatible, while the democrats refuse to allow a vote.  All this over a proposal that might get their 3.6 billion dollar budget deficit down to 3.3 billion.  In two years.


Via theblaze.com we find Noam Chomsky (yeah, that Noam Chomsky) wants what happened in Egypt to happen in Wisconsin, stating that the governor has “eviscerated” democracy in the state;



The blatant rejection of all reason is on parade.