Category Archives: Political

Yahoo

 

I waited a day to write here so that all of my exuberance had enough time to settle out. I think I’m there.

So “we” took the Senate, added more seats in the House, and also increased our gubernatorial advantage across these United States.

So, Yahoo! I’m guessin that everything can get back to normal and we can forget about things for the next, oh, two years while we await the coronation of Hillary.

Happy? Are you really?

Well, I suppose that I am as well. After all we managed to take back control of a completely useless upper chamber while at the same time disinfecting the evil influence of the evil Tea Party by increasing our majority in the lower one.

By the way, I would like to spend some time sometime with someone who can explain to me why the Tea Party is so darn evil. I think they pretty much have the barrel on the ball. But, another time for that one.

But what are those major-party policy-setters in Washington going to actually do, starting in January, that is any different from what has been done in the past? How are they going to stop being self-serving politicians who have not exactly taken this country in a direction that I, for one, would like to see it go?  The way it was always intended to go for the most part. (NOTE: If confused simply read the Constitution. Probably take you under an hour; maybe just a bit more. Definitely less time than the length of a football game.)

You see, when it comes to Congress, especially the Senate, I am a highly skeptical person who believes that the differences between the Democrats and the Republicans is merely one of degree. They are all, still, national politicians and share all of the same characteristics and are driven by the need to just keep getting elected every six years so that they can continue to enjoy the many fruits of a career that is not so readily available to the vast majority of those of us who they have been elected to supposedly serve. Even the good ones eventually get Washing-toned.

(NOTE: $100M spent in North Carolina alone? Why don’t some of the bleeding hearts complain that that money should be put toward kindly social causes? Wouldn’t that buy a lot of stuff?)

So, it is good that we have stopped the bleeding (hearts)- performed the necessary triage, if you will; for now, maybe, but so very much more than that will have to be done. And even in a Reidless world a lot of what needs to be done will probably not get done because it requires a whole bunch of work by the surgeon on the surgeon. And one must never bite the hand that feeds one. Soon enough they all get that point in a short amount of time so it seems to me.

(NOTE: What is the political equivalency of spaying and neutering? Answer, for free- getting elected.)

More exciting to me, and something that gives me the most hope for the future, is the continuing rise of the number of Republican governors and then the fact that they get good stuff done. This had been fairly steady (though I need to go and check on the actual stats) and it appears for good reason. The best states are those run by the Republicans while the worst are run by the Democrats. Just look at the advances in Wisconsin (gotta admit that I really like and respect Scott Walker), Louisiana, Texas, Ohio, New Jersey (well, kinda), Florida, and so on.

Heck, if even Illinois elects a Republican then maybe things are changing. (NOTE: We still have Madigan and Durbin and Chicago.)

Maybe not in Illinois though since we here seem to mostly elect pre-convicts. The bars usually wind up closing on whoever we put up down in Springfield. Part of the job description.

BUT, for the most part, I like the set up at the state levels and I trust that from that crop of good governors might grow a good candidate to run as a real candidate, someone who has actually done something, for President in 2016.

I’m a firm believer now in electing a governor, a good one, a successful one, as President. It just makes sense given the effectiveness and applicability of their resumes. What the hell do senators ever do anyhow?

If the newly-elected members of the now-majority or more-majority houses of Congress, upper and lower, can somehow get their act together and do what they were elected to do and are also given to do (or, more importantly, NOT do) by the Constitution and if we can elect a successful governor like Scott Walker to the presidency then maybe, just maybe, we all have a chance. This country might then have a chance; a good one.

Also, if the Chicago Bears just simply get even just an average defense they could run deep into the playoffs.

Here’s to wishin; here’s to hopin’; here’s to dreamin’; here’s to a helluva lot more hope and a whole different kinda change.

And, for now, just for a little while here is a heartfelt and hearty YAHOO!

Vote (y’all)!

 

It is midterm election day. I am up super early and my wife is mad at me because I can’t sleep. Somehow it is my fault that I cannot sleep. I understand though as I get upset with my kids for the very same thing. They think it’s unfair; I don’t get that option.

But I do get to vote and today is the day to do it. It’s gonna be a slightly colder and rainy day but that’s okay. I am looking forward to getting down to the polling place to cast my ballot against a bunch of useless and corrupt Illinois Democrats. I can only hope that the state will begin to turn itself around by casting out Quinn and at least giving Rauner a chance. The voters will never turn out Durbin though- he is too entrenched and just too valuable to the state machine. You see, the Chicago machine eats and feeds right along with the Cook County, Illinois State, and national demomatics so a vote agin one is a vote agin the other. You best not be black and living in the city and vote any other way than dem dem dem. Dat ain’t allowed no how (my bestest Hillary imitation dere).

On the national scene we shall see how the gov races go. Of especial interest to me is Wisconsin and Walker.

We shall also see if the dems lose more seats in the House and if they can hold the Senate. There is too much analysis out there to really draw any early conclusions so we’ll just wait to see how it goes when the returns start rolling in.

I wonder lately though if the dems would not indeed be okay with losing the Senate and even more seats in the House. Think about it a minute.

Obama has managed to do a lot with the exec order and use of the exec chair. The dems never get blamed for anything by the media though they have controlled the Senate for eight years now. That chamber has become impotent and certainly by Progressive design.

Further empower the exec and castrate the Senate. Marginalize and demonize, in the eyes of the public, the House. Let the Republicans take both houses at a time when Obama is increasingly weak and failing in the eyes of the public so that for the next two years he and they (dem dems) can legislate with the pen and the phone from the White House and, at the very same time, simply blame everything and anything that they so choose, with the full and complicit support of the media, on the Republicans. Nice, huh?

Why? Well, 2016 of course.

See, the Republicans just kept saying no and were obstructionists and Obama just couldn’t overcome it because, oh I dunno, because of the rampant racism that is this country.

And what then?

Give it to the white lady to fix.

2016.  The Coronation of Clinton.

Want to have chance to stop it? Then get out and vote and vote for what is better. Sometimes it’s just that simple.

Meanwhile, though tired, I cannot sleep. And I am in trouble for the transgression. My bad.

The Gales of November

 

November. Decision time America. It’s just a day away. Are you ready?

I hope that all of you who have expressed concern, concern in the extreme, about this country and where it is being dragged (not led, not directed) then this is your chance to do the rightest thing. You may think that the candidates on the ballot are not worth a trip to the polls but you cannot possibly advance a defensible argument that can support one candidate not being a better choice than the others. C’mon!

Sometimes in life we just have to take the lesser evil, the better thing. Even if it ain’t the best or maybe still smells a bit. The shortest path from A to B may be a straight line but the only way to do it in real life is just a series of tacking maneuvers.

Check out the ads. The politicians all know that the easiest way to make progress is to show that the other guy is bad bad bad…implying in the process that their guy may be once bad but not thrice. It is a matter of degree and they know it. My guy simply sucks less.

Sure, we should strive for the end goal that one day we might return to actually voting for the guy who has a good record, clearly defined positions on the issues, and a communication strategy that will educate all constituents but, until that nirvanic day has arrived for us I believe that we just need to keep the ball in play. Like baseball, as long as we have one out remaining to us the game ain’t over. Get ‘em on, get ‘em over, get ‘em home. One bloody run at a time if necessary.

How will these mid-terms go? I guess we will see by the end of the day tomorrow- or very early Wednesday.

Meanwhile life goes on.

The family situation is better (though always a sensitive organism). Muslims continue to recruit radical members from around the world for jihad or whatever the hell they want to label their evil (but maybe some countries are beginning to wake up just enough). American voters are still uniformed for the most part (but getting pissed and maybe that can be put to temporary good use as we continue to try to educate them). The Christian religion remains under attack, even here at home (but folks are pushing back on this with some measurable amount of success). Our culture and its moral underpinnings are not improving (but maybe the degradation is slowing just a bit). Our schools still mostly suck (and I hope that parents will rise up in protest one fine day and make teachers teach and not do just about everything else but). Youth sports continue to amaze me with how badly too many are run and how irresponsible and even reprehensible the coaching is (and how many good kids and potentially great athletes just end up quitting as a result). Music can still inspire those who truly listen (though some of it moves people in the wrong direction). Obama continues to lose support (more people in his audiences now sit behind rather than in front of him…hurrah). America may finally be waking up to the false accusations that face those of us who have the audacity to disagree with “the agenda”.

Bottom line, there is still hope. We still have one out to go and the game ain’t over.

Not for me; not for you; not for this country.

Get out there and vote tomorrow. Remember, triage is needed at times to keep the heart beating and life prolonged until the real doctor can get there.

One out left; heart still beating.

I kinda somehow sorta like our chances.

Foreign Policytical

 

I just don’t get it. I just don’t understand why all of them are doing this. To me!

I have tried, really tried to stay way away from any conflict, to appease all them as suggested (I really was never good with that but that’s what they suggested so I went with it- not really my fault man!) but all this they’re doing is going so wrong, so much against me.

I don’t get it. What do they want? Who can I talk to who can take care of all this for me? I need to appoint someone to handle this. A new “World Peace Czar”. Or maybe it’s “Tsar”, don’t remember. But I have people and they aren’t doing it, they ain’t getting the job done. No, they ain’t, they aren’t. And it’s hurting me.

I have tried and tried. I have been generous, I have been good to them and even tried to be more like them in what I said and the things I decided to do or have done and they just keep coming. Things don’t seem to be settling down and they said it would be different. Did they lie to me?

I suppose I could try a different approach but what? I don’t want to do what them others suggest since it wouldn’t be good for the Party and it would cause problems in November. Like I care about that shit anyhow. Forget the damn October Revolution, we can’t afford a November one. I guess. They tell me that. Shit man! Why do they keep this up? I’ve stepped over the line that I drew; I extended my hand; I kept bringing down things here so that they would get it and stay over there. But they ain’t, man, they ain’t! They just keep comin’, just like those damn zombies on that TV show. We throw them bodies and they just want more. Shit man! I thought all this would make them want to join me, want to listen to me, want to like me. Be like me. Think like me. Love me. Worship me.

I know some folks are mad because Americans are dying. I can’t help it they’re dying! As if any of that’s my damn fault. Shit! Why do they have to die on me?

I tell them I just want to be left alone to do the things I need to do to get things right here- like I always planned but never bothered to mention. Ha! That comedian guy on TV was sure as shit right on- Americans are stupid! Hee-hee. But wait, no, no time for funny stuff now. I got this world thing to deal with; I got these people outside of this country who won’t get in line and do it the way I want it done. I have to find out who is responsible for not getting those assholes in line.   Why? How? Who!? Shit!! I have a plan and they need to get in with it but I need to know who dropped the frickin’ ball on this one. Who the hell did this to me?

I can’t make this a racism thing. Or can I? Shit, I don’t know. Not a rich against poor or war on women thing. Hell, those assholes are killing their own women so that’s a tough one to spin just right. Let’s see. Maybe the Christians? Hmmm.   Maybe something there. Can’t use minimum wage or the unions or the oppressed folk without jobs since they don’t seem to care about the economy or working or anything like that. Hell, I wonder what they do for work. Gotta be something when they ain’t fighting me.

I know. Maybe they just want money. Maybe we could give them some of our money or land or something- take it from someone who has it and give it to them. Probably won’t work though- it didn’t with Israel and those Jews and Palestine people. Don’t they get it? What do they want anyhow? Don’t they know what this is doing to me?

I’m getting really mad here. At them. At my people who don’t seem to know shit and are failing me.

I’m getting really, really mad. The elections are coming up and I know I’m just gonna wind up taking action on my own after that- who the hell would challenge me? Me!!?

I am getting more than really mad. They all failed me! And on top of all the things that seem to keep getting fucked up here then this stupid fucking ebola thing- gottta get a czar on that-  has to come in and really fuck things up even worse for me!

I gotta think. Get control man. I gotta take a minute. Be a man. That’s what my father would have said to me if I had a father who looked like my father. But he didn’t stick around. Still a man though. Had to leave though because it was too tough, too damn tough to stick around. Rough. Probably had a lot of folks failing him just like me. You can put them in place and listen to their words and believe what they say when they pledge their allegiance to you but you can’t rely on them when it is time to make your decisions. How am I supposed to make these decisions if there ain’t no one to rely on anymore? Gotta have someone who can make my decisions. But I gotta be careful because I don’t wanna make it all about them when it needs to be all about me.

I think that’s it though. Be a man. Let the American people, stupid as they are, know that their president is a man who can make decisions. Strong, dependable, manly. But still kinda soft and loveable when he needs to be. But now, gotta man up. Let’s see if I can remember how to get in touch with the man in me.

I know. “Hey Michelle, Valerie! Come on in here I need some decisions! Come on in here and give ‘em to me!”.

It all starts with I and ends with me.

To Vote

 

I think that if you want a say in where this country and her people are headed then one of your few choices is to exercise your power of the vote. It is about all that a lot of us still have. And they want it.

Why do you think that the government is so willing to take so much from the bad man who has (one vote) and through the magic of redistribution give it freely to the helpless hordes who have not (many votes).

Works great I guess until the man who has winds up having no more. And when he has no more then you have no more neither. Every fat cow only has so much milk to give.

But so many of you out there just don’t get it. Why not? Are you really that stupid or simply just so willingly oblivious? Why do think that ALL of the big socialist experiments wind up with so many, a tremendous majority, of the population in absolute destitution? Forever until the system is one day replaced. Time and again this is learned but then forgotten.

Read your damn history folks- it is all right there. And I don’t mean the revisionist crap that the schools defecate. I mean REAL history that tells the real tales from an honest and unbiased viewpoint. It is a bit hard to find but hardly impossible. Try a few different angles and read and learn and educate yourselves.

THEY are betting that you are too damn lazy or too damn stupid or maybe both to ever do this. THEY are the smart ones; THEY are the ones that know best; THEY are the ones who get to make the decisions of who gets what and when and why. And THEY will be the ones who will just toss away your votes when voting is no longer needed. Maybe not that far away in the future if we keep going the way we are going.

The complete transformation of America. Think it isn’t happening?

Think again, and get out and vote for anyone who can help stem the tide. He or she may not be the best choice, this is rarely the case, but there are always better choices that leave better on top of worse. That may be the best that can be done at present but it is a start.

Don’t lose your country, don’t just give up your freedoms, and sure as hell don’t give up the fight. Not now, not ever. Too many examples of this being done all throughout history. Just go read to find out.

But if you still say you don’t have time to read then at least make time to vote. And vote for the person who believes in the things that made this country great once upon a time and not the person who willingly admits that this is an evil country that needs to be torn down.

Get out and vote and do this to help save this great land of ours before the time to turn back has passed us by.

It ain’t too late people.

It’s Time

 

Some folks would have you believe that 2016 is the key year for elections, given that is the year when we decide to turn over the helm of this sacred ship to either one who can and will correct its course or simply to another who will maintain the destructive heading set and sailed to by the current captain.

All true of course. But there is an earlier call that you, that we all, must hear and heed if we are to begin the catharsis toward what we once were when we followed the original plan our founders fought and thought so hard to establish and grant to those who would, indeed, follow.

That call is now upon us, all of us, who still care to begin to heal.

I am aware of precious few who stand out and stand up within any political party to speak truth to fallacy and fact to fiction. If it does not serve them personally or politically within their party then they tend to give, at most, vacuous words and lip-like service to what it is that concerns us who still believe in the family; God; Christianity but also the right to worship or not as you please as intended in the Constitution; a cleaned-up culture; American strength at home and abroad; the entrepreneurial spirit; the free marketplace of things and ideas; limited and restrained government; a hand up over a handout; much better and honest education for our children; reduced taxation for people and businesses made possible by greatly reduced government spending; significantly reduced public welfare and support programs made possible by much greater personal motivation; a much less regulated statist structure; American exceptionalism even and especially at the exclusion of other nations who want a free piece of our pie; the elimination of racism where it exists in minimal actuality but also the cessation of perturbations from those who continue to make such fallacious claims so as to produce it in maximal falsity; the elimination of foreign aid to any and all countries who support or refuse to denounce radical Islam and other such terrorist evils; the clearing out of the pernicious liberalism that has infested in cockroach-fashion our institutes of higher learning; laws against activist judiciaries and a reinforcement of making sure that their job is done as originally intended by the law, for the law; the right to arm ourselves as prescribed in the Constitution; term limits; the gradual weakening of the never-ending PC leviathan and a return to fair but common sensibilities; simplification of the tax code; elimination of Obamacare and the proper and effective overhauling of our great medical-care system in a way that makes it even better but cheaper and more available, not free or subsidized by others who must foot the bill; smart counseling for our high school grads so that they pursue a life-career that is right for them and not some overly-expensive and government-subsidized college education that simply produces more personal debt along with some useless degree; the reduction of our huge national debt and the return to proper government accountability for the budget and spending, not in the form of some very convenient continuing resolution; exercise, ownership and personal accountability for our youth, troubled or not; a renewed sense and enhancement of parental responsibility; greatly reduced abortions; and, just to finish this incomplete list off, the Constitution of these United States as initially intended, drafted, and enacted all those years ago.

Socialism is bullshit and does not work. It never has and never will. If you disagree then show me where it has been successful. All that it does is to starve the many in order to feed the few who have done nothing but talk their way or be born into positions of power. Talk about an elitist structure.

Why not create and pursue a system that encourages and rewards those who take risks and work hard for years to achieve a goal, to fulfill a dream, to serve a productive purpose? Why not set up everything within such a system to not inhibit or interfere with such unique and lofty ideals? A system where we are all recognized as being equal and are limited almost exclusively by our own capabilities or ambitions. A system where politicians and government do not rule, but serve- no one rules.

Oh, yeah, we did that already. It’s called free market capitalism; it’s called a representative (not ruling!) republic; it’s called the United States of America.

Or, at least, it used to be.

On November 4th you have the chance to join in our journey back by voting for those who come closest to supporting as many of these very same beliefs and initiatives as possible.

2014 can be the beginning of the end or the end of what we have allowed to begin and grow and mutate for far too long.

Go ahead, stand up and be counted and do all that you can for what you believe in.

Don’t vote or vote incorrectly and you will have no one more to blame than yourself. And we will have lost our country as a result. Believe that.

Becalmed and Taking Water

 

Sails are funny things. Sailboats as well. They work with wind; they don’t work without it. Wind…work. Wonderful. All hands on deck and lay out the canvas.

So when the wind is blowing strong it is good. Too much can be bad, say a hurricane, but a good steady wind fills the sails and makes progress possible. Fill your sails and reach your destination.

Hell, I know that and I ain’t even a sailor! Some things just come naturally to those with a modicum of common sense. And sometimes I got mo’ modicum than most. At least I like to think so.

Back on land you can go ahead and continue to vote for those who don’t do just enough to stay out of serious trouble, personally and politically. They know how to lay anchor and perhaps ride a current into the channel. But without the wind there is no work and no progress. Do they know this? Do they care? Are they doing much to change it?

They don’t do much to get you a job. They don’t do much to improve your education or the education of your children. They don’t do much to reduce crime in your neighborhood and make it safe to step outside again. They don’t work very hard to protect the borders of your country. They don’t do much to improve the economy that works to lift all boats in the harbor. They don’t do much to let you know much of what it is that they are actually doing or not doing. When they speak they say nothing. Nothing. They don’t seem to care anymore for the old standards of a decent life- no one fights for the poor old white man, the heterosexual man, the conservative woman, the married woman who stays home with her kids, the Christian couple who still believes in the American dream and deeply desires some of it for themselves and their children… They don’t seem to care too much for the Constitution of these United States. But are they not, in fact, making it just fine to ignore it more and more each day?

The interests and efforts are so limited and specialized now, targeted for the simple purpose of locking in a long-term voting base, that everything that once seemed important once, long ago, is no longer so considered. All that was is no longer. It was and is not now.

And before you go all slinging-racism on me you should know that they ain’t really doing anything much to help out the black folk, or the Hispanic folk, or the women folk…they just sayin, they ain’t doin. There ain’t no wind for those sails or, there ain’t no sails for that wind. And wind is all it is if you could just be honest with yourself. Lots of wind.

And, oh, by the way, the ones talking most and loudest may BE like you and SOUND like you and say they have your interests at heart but the ones who are making the decisions are still not much like you, are they? You ever wonder why? You ever wonder if the mouthpieces who stoke your passions are under the control of folks strangely similar to those they demonize. Weird? Yeah. Hypocritical? Sure is. Despicable? Only if you make it so; otherwise it is just the status quo and will always be so. Spin, becalmed, and wait for the wind.

So how do you guarantee the sinking of the ship?

Find no wind or unfurl no sails. Disable the rudder. Poke a hole or two in the hull. Throw your old and experienced sailors overboard. Lots of ways.

Do nothing.

Or at least appear not to.

Just Die

 

We are a caring nation, yes?

Our private citizens and companies give generously to many charities. We love to help.

Our communities reach out to help those in need. At least they used to. That help now comes quite often from outside of the community and is funded by those who do not know Mrs. Jones around the corner or Mr. Jensen down the road a piece.

When I was growing up the folks who needed help in some way, shape, or form got it first and foremost from the family, many of whom were still nearby if not right in the home itself. Those that had, gave; those that could, helped; those with blood ties, cared and helped and gave. It was a beautiful system that complemented the role of the limited, local government. The only time you dealt with the bigger guys was during elections, at tax time, and perhaps with a visit to the DMV.

Sometimes we had older folks who had no children nearby any longer or perhaps had lost their only son to the war or some other calamity. They had lived there forever and everyone knew them.   And whether they were liked or not, when they needed help they could turn to the church and the groups sponsored by the church or some other caring and giving organization.

There always seemed to be someone or some group or some institution that could and did help out when the family could not or, less likely, did not. It was a beautiful system.

And what did they help with? Family counseling, family planning, hospice, food, home maintenance, rides to and from the store or church, recovery from an accident or illness, watching young children for an hour or two before or after school, maybe with some mentoring for kids in trouble… The problems that received local help and the ways in which the help was given were innumerable. Family and neighbors and parishioners loved to help. Even if it didn’t directly get your soul into heaven it sure as hell nudged your heart and mind into a better place.

You just did and gave what you could. Communities helped and since they were already organized there was no need for that.

Activism was not required to elicit results and aid to those truly in need.

No organization, no activism, just good old fashion giving-a-damn and doing something to help. Anything.

A beautiful system once upon an older time.

Now, neighbors do not often know each other, at least not very well, and much less local help is requested or given. Families are scattered about the country and are unable to provide any assistance. So help is provided from afar. A simple and a new system.

But what is provided is provided from those who have no choice and have no ties to those who receive. That used to be okay, for example, when we used to give (freely!) to organizations that provided, say, medical aid to poor countries around the world. We kind of knew where our bucks were headed. Nowadays we do not have that freedom of choice and we have no direct connection to those who we are purported to be helping.  Nowadays we just provide the money and resources to the middle man. And after they take their cut then some of what is left may find its way to some who need it.

Or maybe not.

What do we support with this tithe to the middle man?

Oh let’s see some. Free phones. Endless compensation for those who can work but choose not to do so. Endless compensation for those who have kids they cannot afford to have and then have more. Free food for those who look like they have not missed too many meals. Free contraceptives. Services that no one really even needs but take nonetheless. Housing for those who do not even live here and have entered outside the law. Reduced or free transportation. Free college for those who will never do anything with it. Grants to universities for doing research that has no purpose and no direction other than to perpetuate such similar largesse. Subsidies for utilities to those who should be providing that themselves. Cheap or even free abortions. Subsidies to huge corporations who are in political favor (and then enter into political control).   I tire of even thinking on this endless list. And it is endless but still grows. One more though- healthcare.

I mean, why not?

So what would be a good plan?

How about this. You take what used to be- the family, the church, the close-knit, long-term community and you abolish it, demean it, erase it, degrade it, destroy it, eliminate it completely.

But wait, aren’t the same things that the individual really (and I mean really) needs still needed?

Why yes they are. And there is just the right and convenient solution- the government can provide.

And if the simple staples and needs of life are not enough then provide some more. Provide so much that the person receiving has no desire to change things and has every fear that it will be taken away.

What was a hand up, a limited offer so that you can help yourself to get back to where you should be, to where you want to be because of how you grew up, because of what you were taught all along, has now become a hand out. Free, free, and more free. That is the new freedom in our country.

Well, not quite completely free. While receiving with your right hand you simply give with your left. A simple vote is all it takes. Vote for and you get to keep; vote against or not at all then you will lose all that you have been trained to expect, all that keeps you alive and well all that your ever-growing government has given to you. Don’t even think of leaving the plantation.

What a plan.

Oh, and just to make sure the leverage is complete, just take control of healthcare. Nothing more controlling than that next to air and food I suppose.

And certainly none of that could ever, would ever, be taken away.

Right?

Only if they decide to do it. When they have grown so large and so controlling that they no longer need your vote. The family, the church, the local community cared from the heart. Does your government do the same?

Later on they may decide who will be born, perhaps even the genetics of those allowed to be born.

For now they are content in moving swiftly to decide how you will live.

And, oh yeah, who will die.

Nine Twelve

 

This is and will always be the day that follows nine eleven. It has always been so.

How did you observe the day yesterday? Did you spend anytime remembering the events from that terrible day, now some thirteen years in the past? Did you say a special prayer for those who perished at the hand of pure evil or perhaps to those diminished and forever-saddened souls who remained behind, without a mom or dad or brother or sister or son or daughter or cousin or niece or nephew or aunt or uncle or grandparent or grandchild or fiancé or simply just a friend? Did you fly the flag? Did you think about the evil you believe may have left that terrible day, some thirteen days now in the past? Did you think, even for a brief moment, that maybe, like the poor innocents left behind, that perhaps evil remained as well? Did you think, even for a brief moment, about what your elected and compensated government is doing to recognize, confront, and destroy such evil? Or maybe, rather, you worried about all that is not being done?

I flew the flag. I said a prayer for the innocents taken and those left behind. I thought about the rising tide of pure evil that may be rising faster now than ever before. And, of course, I thought about all that I know this government is not doing to protect us, to protect this country.

Wasn’t that supposed to be one of the key functions of this government as expressed in the Constitution? Isn’t that their job?? Isn’t that one of the reasons why we give them so much of our money?? Am I a dreamer or just stupid?

Sometimes I dream about a real debate between John Kerry and Thomas Jefferson. Or maybe Hillary Clinton and John Adams- no, wait, make it Abigail. Or how about Obama and Washington? Maybe Susan Rice and John Jay? Harry Reid and Patrick Henry? Pelosi and James Monroe? Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Marshall?

Sorry, I digress.

But one more digression. I also sometimes dream about administering a pop quiz, popped on those listed above who are still living, that includes both a citizenship and a constitutional test as given to legally immigrated folks and also to junior high students across this great land.

Who would get the best grade? Or, put more in popular vernacular, who would suck least?

Back to topic.

Perhaps you did not even remember or note the passing of nine eleven because of all the coverage of the Ray Rice incident where he knocked out his fiancée as evidenced by the video captured on the elevator. A terrible incident and one that happens far too often to too many people, women, children, and, yes, even men.   It is impossible to escape the news coverage on this- it is 24/7 as they say.

And no matter your opinion or position that is maybe as it should be; I will not argue something so subjectively personal to each and every one of us.

In any event it is inescapable.

At least, in this case, no one was killed. Thank God.

But there were people, Americans, killed on nine eleven…two thousand and twelve.

You most likely know the name of Ray Rice’s fiancée yes? Do you even know any of the names of the four Americans killed two years ago, and one day, in Benghazi, Libya?

Allow me to help you with this.

Christopher Stevens.

Sean Smith.

Tyrone Woods.

Glen Doherty.

Where is, where was, all the hysterical coverage on that? Where was all of the investigating and celebrity commentary and main stream media outrage? Where has all the follow-up disappeared to after two years now? Why has absolutely no one, as in the case of one Roger Goodell, been called out on this? Why is no State Department official, up to and including Hillary Clinton, been held accountable if not responsible for the unnecessary and brutal deaths of four Americans on nine eleven two thousand and twelve?

Why has the president not been taken to task and pressed on this at all?

Where is all of the Ray Rice outrage?

Hell, where WAS any of the Ray Rice outrage?

Oh, I see. Completely different situations.

Really?

Not completely. The reason behind the outrage on one and the acceptance of the other is exactly the same.

It was the video.

John Adams Said…(Was Just Sayin…)

 

I first noted a reference to this passage in the book “The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic” by Mark R. Levin. Interesting viewpoint from a bygone era when none of today’s REAL issues could have possibly been recognized, known, appreciated, or anticipated those many decades ago…especially from a bunch of Old White Guys. #OWG…OMG.

BTW, Mr. Nedham, is AKA Mr, Marchamont Nedham (Needham). Just sayin…

“Suppose a nation, rich and poor, high and low, ten millions in number, all assembled together; not more than one or two millions will have lands, houses, or any personal property; if we take into the account the women and children, or even if we leave them out of the question, a great majority of every nation is wholly destitute of property, except a small quantity of clothes, and a few trifles of other movables. Would Mr. Nedham be responsible that, if all were to be decided by a vote of the majority, the eight or nine millions who have no property, would not think of usurping over the rights of the one or two millions who have? Property is surely [9] a right of mankind as really as liberty. Perhaps, at first, prejudice, habit, shame or fear, principle or religion, would restrain the poor from attacking the rich, and the idle from usurping on the industrious; but the time would not be long before courage and enterprise would come, and pretexts be invented by degrees, to countenance the majority in dividing all the property among them, or at least, in sharing it equally with its present possessors. Debts would be abolished first; taxes laid heavy on the rich, and not at all on the others; and at last a downright equal division of every thing be demanded, and voted. What would be the consequence of this? The idle, the vicious, the intemperate, would rush into the utmost extravagance of debauchery, sell and spend all their share, and then demand a new division of those who purchased from them. The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If “Thou shalt not covet,” and “Thou shalt not steal,” were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free.”

http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/2104#Adams_1431-06_19

 

Oh, and for those modernists internetsia among the sum lot of you below you will find a blurb taken from the entry on Machiavelli in the holy web bible. Interesting how old white guys like John Adams were so well-read and well-versed on schlubs like that old Italian dude. Since he didn’t have the intellectual linkage that Wikipedia brings forth to the masses in the smallest of bites it was left to Adams, and others like him, to devour the whole course, several actually, in order to finish the meal; think about it all, talk about it all to similarly minded old white guys, and then write more than a few tweets about what was concluded. But such treatment could never pass for the shroud of supreme knowledge available today to the masses but best wielded by the chosen. It is too deeply considered and takes far too long to digest such fare. Small bites by nimbly constricted minds is all that seems able to be swallowed. Pity, that.

“Whatever his intentions, which are still debated today, he has become associated with any proposal where “the end justifies the means“. For example Leo Strauss (1958, p. 297) wrote:

Machiavelli is the only political thinker whose name has come into common use for designating a kind of politics, which exists and will continue to exist independently of his influence, a politics guided exclusively by considerations of expediency, which uses all means, fair or foul, iron or poison, for achieving its ends—its end being the aggrandizement of one’s country or fatherland—but also using the fatherland in the service of the self-aggrandizement of the politician or statesman or one’s party.”

Hmm, sound familiar to anyone out there?