A Booming Economy

You know, our economy is going to crap. We need to get rid of all those capitalists that are ruining it and empower our economy by reaching out to the common man. You know, like Zimbabwe did. Re-distribution of wealth now I say!

Apparently if you run out the evil white farmers that generate your country's export wealth and the act the typical hatter to scare away any foreign investment in your country then things do not go so well. Hey, but at least corn is cheap.

"The government has printed money to pay debts and subsidize some producers, further boosting inflation. The Grain Marketing Board buys corn from farmers at 5,200 Zimbabwe dollars a metric ton, and sells it to millers for 600 Zimbabwe dollars, according to the central bank."

Well, at least we would never try to artificially prop up industries here, or cap the price of gas. We, being enlightened, will raise the tax on gas so the common man can help save the environment. We will tax the evil oil companies more if they still dare make money. We will empower our workers by raising their minimum wage, a harmless token that will never cause basic goods and services to be more expensive.

Paging John Galt

Blood to run in the streets.

I am shocked to learn that a federal appeals court has transformed bucolic Washington D.C. into the Anbar province of the West. Yep, that is right, they ruled that some ruthless peasant is wronged by the city disallowing his use of highly viscious firearms. Our peaceful shrine of freedom will now surely be wracked with spasms of gun violence, illegal guns, as well as the drugs, crime, and broken homes that evil guns create. Yep, carnage.

We keep this up and pretty soon the power hungry will have to consider the deterrent effect of a free populace as they go about their daily D.C. business of eroding our freedoms and ignoring their oathes. Can't be having that now can we?

an Inconvenient Truth to those in power yes, but to quote the majority opinion that over-ruled the ban " activities protected by the Second Amendment “are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual’s enjoyment of the right contingent” on enrollment in a militia." That's right most ethical Congress in history, we are all the militia simply because we exist. That 2nd amendment is to protect us from you. Read the Constitution that you work for please.

May future decisions build upon this one.

Pat Robertson was right!

There, I said it. I hate to agree with anything that freaking lunatic utters, but he had a point last year. Our country needs to save itself a lot of future trouble and BUMP OFF HUGO CHAVEZ NOW!

One fella interviewed in the story almost gets it:
'Outside the Spanish Embassy, dozens line up with documents in hand. Many plan trips for tourism or study, but Henry Krakower is thinking darker thoughts. He wants a passport for his 10-year-old son in case they need to leave for good.

"I don't really know what all the coming changes are, but I don't think it's the best idea to give all the power to a single person for him to decide on my behalf," says Krakower, the son of a Polish concentration camp survivor who found a haven in Venezuela after World War II.'


Edit: Change "in case they need to leave for good." to we are leaving this hellhole right now.

Change the rest to read: I don't really know what all the coming changes are, but they ain't gonna be good. One concentration camp is enough for this family. Besides if this "revolution" fails it will naturally be my fault, I'm Jewish.

Hmm, "mother law" , "Maximum Revolution", "power to the people", "Nothing stops the revolution!" Sounds great huh?

Inconvenient Truth? Yep, I agree with Mr. 700 and that fact alone gives me gas.

Tyranny of the Majority? Yep, a lot of folks in Venezuela voted for this guy or helped stuff ballot boxes for him. It looks like they have a tyrant for life, so the majority screwed themselves pretty good here. Besides, even if Chavez doesn't have majority support(probable even though the linked article makes it sound like he does *journalattio*) he has a majority of the people with guns. America should remember that as we head to the polls to elect a socialist in '08.

Afghans won't spray poppy fields

Afghanistan does not want to chemically eradicate its poppy crop. Hmmm? well, why should they want to? Would you voluntarily take 1/3 of your current pay to make some foreign gov't happy? Maybe the American government needs to accept the inconvenient truth that not everyone shares our puritanical values. Maybe we should stop forcing our values on others. How hard is it? Buy every damn bit of poppy resin in the country, every bit. If the free market for legal opiates cannot use the crop then just dump it at sea. Stop eradicating the plants, encourage small farmers to grow opium poppies. Why empower the Taliban by allowing them to profit from illicit trade abroad?

Boo Freakin' hoo

Seems that Sunni Iraqis are upset that Saddam's brother's head popped off. Gruesome yes, and yes Saddam's hanging was botched too, but it couldn't have happened to a nicer guys. Besides, where exactly was all this outrage when these same folks who are mad now were literally dancing in the streets over videos of infidels getting beheaded on purpose? I guess if these newly outraged had any morals or introspective qualities they would conclude that either what was good for the goose is good for the gander....or...more hopefully they could make the moral distinction between executing a murderous tyrant and glorifying the unwarranted killing of innocent ordinary people. I guess that little bit of self-awareness would be way too inconvenient for them to grasp, so let's stick to situat...er sectarian ethics.

My thoughts exactly!

Well, now, thats best news I've heard in awhile! I do not agree with some of what Ron Paul says, but his record in the House shows that he has consistently stood up not only for the 14th district of Texas, but for all Americans with his staunch defense and clear understanding of the Constitution.

Ron Paul for President!

Monroe, where art thou?

Here is yet another very good reason to secure our southern frontier. Demagogues unite! I am all for fighting terrorism on someone else's soil, and if we cannot control what comes across into our southwest we will face it here. Nothing Chavez and Ahmadinejad collaborate on are going to be very good for any free people in the Americas. Hopefully their cancerous politics can be beat back by more U.S. influence and assistance to Central and South America. If we do nothing these type of goons will spread their influence. We can most certainly make it without Citgo gas, but if future developments threaten the Panama canal we will be back down there in a big way, and none too diplomatically. In today's mobile world the Monroe Doctrine is no longer entirely practical, but taking care of our own backyard couldn't hurt.

I think a declaration of war with Venezuela is about all that we need so that the next time we see Cindy Sheehan hugging on Chavez we can shoot her for treason. While we're at it, why is David Duke still breathing? More power to them to exercise their fundamental right to self-expression; I just figure if you want to be a treasonous bitch you can turn in your passport on the way out and never grace our shores again. Jane Fonda, you getting this? You're next Clooney!

These events happening to our south will make drug trafficking across our southern border look quaint when we look back in several years. Anyone in this country who is in power and does nothing to secure our southern border is abetting this growing enemy. Border control is not about our country being racist, it is about obtaining essential security for our nation. Bush, McCain, and many others purport to be patriots but are undermining our security by pushing for immigration reform that does not lock our border down. John McCain, for painting yourself as a patriot and war hero while actively working to leave our nation vunerable, you are the devil.

Update: I'm bored so I present(with apologies to Frank J.)

The nation has many items of news to fixate on them and it seems like Saddam and James Brown have eclipsed the passing of Gerald Ford. I am not sad for Ford, it is the natural order for us to die when we are old. I respectfully note his passing. Historians will debate his legacy, I personally think he made the best of difficult times and was what the country needed after Nixon. Ford saw his role as uniting the country and one negative aspect of that may have been to gravitate towards moderate principles. A result of that is still with us today, John Paul Stevens

The Supreme Court is an essential check to our other branches of government. All too often in the past 40 years it has legislated from the bench. The Supreme court abides first by the Supreme law of the land, The Constitution. Stevens has consistently led the charge of advancing the federal monopoly on power. I will post some more; but for now but suffice it to say that he wrote the majority opinion in Kelo . To find that taking one's property because you can give it to someone who will hand you back more tax revenue is a mockery of the 5th Amendment's takings clause. Without security in their property Americans just will not invest in their future. Why bother if someone will just take it? How exactly is this different from Feudal Europe when the king owned everything? More to come on Kelo. If there was ever a tyranny of the majority, the 5-4 court deciding law in defiance of the Constitution is surely an example.

It looks like everyone is staying up for Friday Night Hangings, the Baghdad edition. I am too, though the subject is covered to death.
Michelle has it all Fun excerpt:

Jesse Jackson is also shedding tears for Saddam.

Professional grief-mongers never stop. I would have listened longer if Mike Tyson had said something about Saddam today whilst being arrested.

The only thing that I can say about the Saddam thing is several mistakes are being made. One, executing him before trials are complete for larger atrocities such as Anfal . He is being hanged for killing Shiites in Dujail and was judged by Shiite judges. Let those same judges try him for doing his level best to make Kurds cease to exist, let those judges try him for killing fellow Sunnis that got in his political way. Let all of Iraq see justice.

The second mistake is sneaking him away in the night to be secretly executed. I like one of the suggestions posited here .

“Many of the Iraqis who lost their family members during and after Saddam's rule will be relieved to see him executed on TV. I prefer to see him getting shot by the firing squads. This way a soldier from each ethnic group - specially soldiers who lost family members - will participate in the execution. However, I think he will be hanged based on the Iraqi law. "

Public executions are an anathema here in the U.S. and should be. However, a genocidal dictator doesn't come to justice every day and the people of Iraq need to SEE justice done. A firing squad may give Saddam a little more military hero cred than he deserves but oh well. Much like we displayed the bodies of his sons and made public the shaming video of his capture the Iraqi government needs to let its people see justice and the end of a tyrant. His death will never atone for the hundreds of thousands that he killed, but it can be a symbol that the age of oppression is over. A secret execution in the dark of night will just breed rumors for years that the imperialists (that's us) secretly got their way and the fix was in.

At last, a meaningful immigration bill!

No, not really. Actually it is more like your favorite bootlegger's son/whisky swiller/all-around good driver, Ted Kennedy, teaming up with John (excuse me while I wrap this flag around myself) McCain to draft a bipartisan amnes... er.. immigration bill.


So what is wrong with this whole amnesty thing? It is admission that we have lost control of our borders so we will just re-set the clock of legality and keep on letting folks pour in. Further, it is racist vote pandering. The bipartisan number crunchers know that it takes just a few million swing voters to decide their political future so they invariably show up in a black church for the first and last time ever, gingerly kiss an asian baby or two, and promise not to do anything meaningful to anger the “latino” voters. I can just see a bunch of these presidential (or theoretical) candidates sitting down playing race card poker:

Jesse/Al: Hmmm, I possess with finesse, a hand of great largesse. Gaze now upon my inner-city straight flush.

Pat Buchanan: I got a full house of South Florida Jews.

Jesse/Al: Damn, Hymietown strikes again!

Rudy: Everyone loves me so they gave me all these cards. Anyone want these conservative credibility cards?

Hillary: I’m the mom, I have six queens!

Kucinich: Hey you cheater, there are only four queens in the deck!
(dark suited men enter, Kucinich disappears)

Jeb Bush: I got some Cuban jacks, top that!

McKennedy twins: Hah, we got a full meat packing pla… I mean a perfectly straight record of helping the brown man overcome!

Vilsack: I got white cards, anybody need the ones with smelly hair and sandals?

Dean: YeEEEeAArrrGHHh! I’ll take those!

Obama: I got a get out of jail free card and a “Pass go and collect anything you want from the adoring masses” card. I’d like to play those but I’m late, I must attend a campaign stop, something about making wine and breaking fish in half.


Hey, I have an idea, how about courting American votes. Not brown, white, rich, poor, black, yellow votes, American votes. That would sound like some platitude out of an Obama book, but to do it correctly would require a candidate to say what he/she believed in, what they would work for and leave it at that. I am sure many groups would be offended. Too bad.

So McCain wants to court voters of one demographic. Fine, everyone is doing it right? Yes, except that unchecked immigration destabilizes our economy, fractures our society, and opens us up to a fair number of tan-skinned folks who can’t hit a lick of Spanish but are probably fluent in Arabic or some derivative.
Okay you may say, so McCain is not the brightest for pushing something that will hurt the country. Is he really the devil or just misguided?
Nope, he is the devil incarnate because he will pander to the “latino vote” while his campaign not so subtly shoves down our throats what a great American war hero he is. I find it patently dishonest to push an obviously anti-american policy while wrapping one’s self so tightly in the flag.

The is a lot more wrong with immigration and with McCain(campaign finance reform). I hope to address more of both in the future.

Merry Christmas! Now get off the computer and go be with your family!

Metal and Wood

Here I present an essential essay by Mr. Dennis Bateman.

"Metal and Wood"by Dennis Bateman

The following essay was originally published at www.thefiringline.com


It is a rare person who does not attach some sort of value or emotion to some physical object or to an event. A home becomes more than a building. A statue of the Virgin Mary, a crucifix, a flag or a song, or even a photograph can stir emotions greater than the value of the material item.
I have a piece of paper showing I served in the military until I was discharged honorably. But, oh, the memories that piece of paper conjures up. The friends, the fun times. The bad times. The times when we were bound closer to strangers than to our own families and, in frightening chaos, our lives hung by a thread.
Many of our friends died far from home. Ask us about the feeling of "American soil" upon returning to the land we loved. Ask those returning soldiers about America.

Remember the old, faintly humorous band of American Legionnaires, wearing out-dated military uniforms straining at the buttons. But, God how proudly they marched. Grinning, waving to friends and families, and always, always "The Flag!" Ask them if the flag is mere cloth, I dare you.
See the elderly lady sitting in a lawn chair watching the fourth of July parade. Three flags carefully folded some forty years ago into triangles now rest in her lap - one for each lost son. Ask her if those flags are mere cloth, I dare you.
Look at the old man quietly crying, leaning against the Iwo Jiima Memorial at Arlington Cemetery. As he turns to you, smiles with some embarrassment, and says in a choked whisper, "I was there." Ask him, "Is it just metal and clay?" Ask him. I dare you.
The Wall. My God, the Wall. See the young man lightly tracing the name of his father there inscribed. Ask him if its just rock. Ask him. I dare you.
My guns? They’re of little real value compared to my family and my home. They are toys, or tools, or both. But what those guns represent to me is greater than all of us, greater than myself, my family, indeed greater than our entire generation. What could be of such value?
The freedom of man to live within civil, self-imposed limitations rather than under restrictions placed upon him by a ruler or a ruling class.
Imagine the daring, the bravery of a few men to declare they intended to create a new country, independent of the burden of their established Rulers!
Those men we call our forefathers were brilliant men. They could have maneuvered themselves into positions of influence within the structure of the times, but they did not. They struggled to free themselves from tyranny. They wrote the Declaration of Independence. And they backed up their words and ideals with metal and wood.
They knew the dangers of such dreams and actions. They knew it was a frightening and dangerous venture into the unknown when they dared reach beyond their grasp for a vision - for an ideal. But they dared to dedicate themselves to achieve Liberty and Freedom for their children, and their children’s children, through the generations.
Imagine the dreams and yearnings of centuries finally being reduced to the written word. The Rights of "We the People!" instead of the "Powers of the Monarchy."
Our forefathers dared to create a new government - a new form of government. And they knew that any organization has, as its first and foremost goal, its continued existence. Second only to that it strives to increase its power. It plots, it devises, it maneuvers to achieve control over its environment - over its subjects.
Our Forefathers decided to make America different from any country, anywhere, at any time in the entire history of the entire world. This country, this new nation of immigrants, would be based upon the concept that people could rule themselves better than any single person or small group of persons could rule them.
Other countries have had outstanding documents with guarantees for its citizens - but the citizens have become enslaved. How, these great men pondered, can we ensure this new government will remain subject to the will of the People?
They wanted limits upon this new government. Therefore, our forefathers wrote limitations into the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. And one of those Rights was that metal and wood, as the final power of the people, would secure this country for the future generations.
Metal and wood were the means by which we won our freedom.
Metal and wood were the means by which we kept our freedom.
Metal and wood may be the means by which we regain our freedom.
Metal and wood are the final power of the people. Take away the metal and wood and the people become powerless - they can only beg, they supplicate for favors.
We are unique in our ability to rule ourselves but we are letting it slip away. Today we compromise. We try to appease man’s insatiable appetite for power by throwing him bits of our freedoms. But the insatiable appetite for power can not be appeased. The freedoms we feed him only make us weaker and him stronger. We must conquer him and again ensure the "Blessings of Liberty" won for us by our forefathers.
We must be ready to use metal and wood again, for if we are ready, truly ready, we may be able to conquer the monster with words - for in its heart it is a coward. But if we continue to feed the monster our freedoms, we will become too weak to win, to weak even to fight, and we will become a conquered people. We will have sold ourselves and our future generations into servitude.
If words fail us, we will use metal and wood, we will regain what we have lost, we will achieve what we seek, we will guarantee the America of our forefathers for the future generations.
So you see, our guns are more than metal and wood. They are our heritage of freedom. They are the universally understood symbol that the government, no matter how big and strong it may be, answers to us! They are the tools we will use to prevent tyranny in the land of our forefathers and our children. So, ask me what my guns mean to me. Ask my children what our guns mean to them. Ask us. I dare you.