I see where LTC Terry Lakin (I don't care what the Army says, he earned the rank and has done nothing to deserve losing it) is home from his stint at Leavenworth. As a combat vet and former non-commissioned officer I am personally and professionally outraged at his sacrifice on the alter of political expediency. Or more correctly, political chicanery. From all available information his "trial" at court martial was a mockery. The trial judge (I wonder what colour HER skin is) hamstrung his defense, ignoring the requirement that orders be lawful to be legitimate. The question was not even allowed to be raised.
There can be no doubt that the present occupant of the White House National Park is an illegitimate poser. Article II Paragraph 1 of the Constitution plainly states that the holder of the office of Commander in Chief be a natural born citizen of the United States. Barack Hussein Obama is not so qualified, regardless of the existence of, or validity of, birth certificates, long or short. No import exists for the location of his birth, the fact remains that his father was not a citizen of this country but rather of Kenya (note to the adolescent hacker who built his "birth certificate" Africa is not a nation) hence Barry baby is not "a natural born citizen" of the US whether born in Mombasa, Honolulu or even Chicago, the ghetto of gutter politics and ward heeling from which he emanated . Even the Botoxed Bolshevik Bimbo from the Cereal State knew enough to certify him as "the official candidate of the Democratic Party" rather than as a qualified candidate as she did John McCain. (That says a lot for Nancy the Nut Job if she would consider HIM qualified either. But I digress.) The only question remaining is how long this charade can continue. The harm to the republic already is dangerously close to irreparable.
So the Army court, suckling on the public teat, refuses to address the issue, the civilian courts, suckling on the public teat, refuse to allow private citizens the "standing" to address the issue and the lamestream media, suckling on the Obama penis denigrate the efforts of anyone attempting to address the issue (and concomitantly shed light on their fellatio) with derision, distortion and disinformation. "Public be dissed" and "all the propaganda we feel to print".
Only in the US Army could Mrs Calley's little boy Billy wind up in Leavenworth for following an unlawful order, and LTC Lakin attend the same alma mater for NOT doing so.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Reflections on Public Education and Other Forms of Incarceration
Couple of years back the first and third prize winners of the National Spelling Bee were home schooled. One has to wonder if public education is living up to its potential or merely spending up to its budget.
It is important to note that the primary purpose of an educational system is to prepare children to be productive citizens by equipping them with the skills necessary to hold a job. Stand in a checkout line at your local super market and you can see exactly how efficient public education is at accomplishing that mission.
There are scanners to input the prices (complete with an annoying beep reminiscent of a Mickey D's fry-o-lator on Quaaludes), a loudspeaker to announce these prices, (with no requirement that the drone behind the cash register even verify its rectitude and precluding the necessity that he or she knows how to read) and a connection to the cash register that allows the self same loudspeaker to announce to all and sundry exactly how much you are in the habit of spending on your weekly Wheaties or non-essential Chinese junk. (The detritus kind, not the floating kind.) Then the self same brainless voice announces to the equivalently brainless clone exactly how much change to tender you, leaving this victim of public education quivering in confusion as to how many dollars, dimes and pennies make up, "Change due, three dollars seventy-three cents."
(If you really want to set the cat amongst the pigeons offer the odd quarter and pennies and say, "Just give me the even five." Any shopper who can't clear at least a thousand dollars a year in un-reported income with this trick just isn't living up to his potential.)
While never having learned to add, subtract, multiply or divide without electronic assistance, and barely having a clue which button to do when, you may rest assured that thirteen years of exposure to the public school system will have our hapless adolescent firm in the "knowledge" that:
a) Heather's two mommies are indicative of a normal alternative life style
b) The warming pattern of the globe can only be changed if he buys an electric hybrid from Government Motors
c) The rapacious appetite for energy of profit driven industry is responsible for all the ills of the world, to include the common cold and ragweed (but not of course the energy overhead of his own 42" plasma TV and attached DVD, TiVo and Gameboy)
Next stop will be an "institute of higher learning" where his lack of mathematical expertise will serve him in good stead as the prospect of assuming student loan debt equivalent to a mortgage on seven bedrooms, 3-1/2 baths, complete with debit card, strikes him as sound fiduciary policy. Baying socialist jackasses will inculcate him with propaganda proclaiming that the only cure for government instigated disaster is more of the same and our now thoroughly brainwashed clone will buy into it to the tune of ignoring the Constitution as the congresscritters do. For the same reason; they've never read it, neither has he.
Meanwhile, guess to whom, or what, our "educated" fool is indebted. Why the same government that's been hosing him all his life! First the involuntary servitude of the brainwashing "educational experience", then the involuntary servitude of inescapable debt to the federal government (by Obobocare law, the sole source of student loans) that with a little luck will be paid off just in time for him to co-sign for his own kids' slavery.
It is important to note that the primary purpose of an educational system is to prepare children to be productive citizens by equipping them with the skills necessary to hold a job. Stand in a checkout line at your local super market and you can see exactly how efficient public education is at accomplishing that mission.
There are scanners to input the prices (complete with an annoying beep reminiscent of a Mickey D's fry-o-lator on Quaaludes), a loudspeaker to announce these prices, (with no requirement that the drone behind the cash register even verify its rectitude and precluding the necessity that he or she knows how to read) and a connection to the cash register that allows the self same loudspeaker to announce to all and sundry exactly how much you are in the habit of spending on your weekly Wheaties or non-essential Chinese junk. (The detritus kind, not the floating kind.) Then the self same brainless voice announces to the equivalently brainless clone exactly how much change to tender you, leaving this victim of public education quivering in confusion as to how many dollars, dimes and pennies make up, "Change due, three dollars seventy-three cents."
(If you really want to set the cat amongst the pigeons offer the odd quarter and pennies and say, "Just give me the even five." Any shopper who can't clear at least a thousand dollars a year in un-reported income with this trick just isn't living up to his potential.)
While never having learned to add, subtract, multiply or divide without electronic assistance, and barely having a clue which button to do when, you may rest assured that thirteen years of exposure to the public school system will have our hapless adolescent firm in the "knowledge" that:
a) Heather's two mommies are indicative of a normal alternative life style
b) The warming pattern of the globe can only be changed if he buys an electric hybrid from Government Motors
c) The rapacious appetite for energy of profit driven industry is responsible for all the ills of the world, to include the common cold and ragweed (but not of course the energy overhead of his own 42" plasma TV and attached DVD, TiVo and Gameboy)
Next stop will be an "institute of higher learning" where his lack of mathematical expertise will serve him in good stead as the prospect of assuming student loan debt equivalent to a mortgage on seven bedrooms, 3-1/2 baths, complete with debit card, strikes him as sound fiduciary policy. Baying socialist jackasses will inculcate him with propaganda proclaiming that the only cure for government instigated disaster is more of the same and our now thoroughly brainwashed clone will buy into it to the tune of ignoring the Constitution as the congresscritters do. For the same reason; they've never read it, neither has he.
Meanwhile, guess to whom, or what, our "educated" fool is indebted. Why the same government that's been hosing him all his life! First the involuntary servitude of the brainwashing "educational experience", then the involuntary servitude of inescapable debt to the federal government (by Obobocare law, the sole source of student loans) that with a little luck will be paid off just in time for him to co-sign for his own kids' slavery.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
$38.6 Billion: Whoop de Do!
While the news media and the congresscritters are dancing in the streets and risking severe cervical spinal damage from patting themselves on the back over a not quite forty billion cut in the federal budget little cognizance seems to be given to the fact that it's just a spit in the ocean. The projected deficit of $1,650,000,000,000.00 or thereabouts is just about 42.746 times the amount cut from the budget (if Texas Instruments still knows how to manufacture a calculator).
Big effing deal. That's about the equivalent of saying, "We can't pay the mortgage or put food on the table, but we just paid off the library fine for an overdue comic book." I say comic book since it is obvious there are very few in the Zombie Zone of DC who can read words. Certainly not the words of the Constitution of the United States. They even admit that half of what they do is unconstitutional. The Bolshevik Bimbo from the Land of Fruits, Nuts and Flakes even stands in front of the House chamber and proclaims that legislation must be passed un-read "so we can see what's in it!" with a fatuous grin (grimace) that makes you think she either really IS that stupid or she's been snorting Kerry's botox. Just in case lardass AlGore is right and excess CO2 is causing global warming will someone please smother that bitch. (Allegorically, of course.)
No-one expects the Kommie Kenyan Pretender to worry about the Constitution. After all they never studied it in Indonesia, and all he learned in law school is how to get around it. Just like the Senate slugs who ignored Constitutional requirements and put one of their own in Foggy Bottom. (Of course with those stern sheets it's now Fuggy Bottom. She may not believe it, but hers stinks like everyone else's.) The Senate was probably glad to see the back of the Hildebeast. First thing she does is sign the UN Small Arms Treaty and attempt to give away our civil rights to the Army of the Powder Blue Beanie. If the Senate is ever stupid enough to ratify that rag watch the Second American Revolution break out right here in River City. (We got trouble with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "C" and that stands for Congress!)
Is this what has become of the Constitutional Republic those of us in uniform have sworn to protect, preserve and defend and the Constitution unto which we are sworn to bear true faith and allegiance? Is this the country for which over 58,000 of my brothers (including my room mate) were sacrificed? I am outraged at the betrayal of their oath of the bulk of the Congresscritters whom we compensate at four times the wage of the average worker and allow to steal enough more to walk out of office as millionaires. I'm tired of government fomented by talking heads on the tube who's only skill is reading the (generally grammatically atrocious) propaganda scripts before them. I'm tired of an educational system that turns out fools unable to determine the difference between fact and opinion with over $100,000.00 in student loan debt to highlight their stupidity. I'm tired of a government too busy meddling in issues beyond their Constitutional purview to do the job they are in place to do, defending the country and its borders.
I'm tired, cranky and MAD AS HELL!
Big effing deal. That's about the equivalent of saying, "We can't pay the mortgage or put food on the table, but we just paid off the library fine for an overdue comic book." I say comic book since it is obvious there are very few in the Zombie Zone of DC who can read words. Certainly not the words of the Constitution of the United States. They even admit that half of what they do is unconstitutional. The Bolshevik Bimbo from the Land of Fruits, Nuts and Flakes even stands in front of the House chamber and proclaims that legislation must be passed un-read "so we can see what's in it!" with a fatuous grin (grimace) that makes you think she either really IS that stupid or she's been snorting Kerry's botox. Just in case lardass AlGore is right and excess CO2 is causing global warming will someone please smother that bitch. (Allegorically, of course.)
No-one expects the Kommie Kenyan Pretender to worry about the Constitution. After all they never studied it in Indonesia, and all he learned in law school is how to get around it. Just like the Senate slugs who ignored Constitutional requirements and put one of their own in Foggy Bottom. (Of course with those stern sheets it's now Fuggy Bottom. She may not believe it, but hers stinks like everyone else's.) The Senate was probably glad to see the back of the Hildebeast. First thing she does is sign the UN Small Arms Treaty and attempt to give away our civil rights to the Army of the Powder Blue Beanie. If the Senate is ever stupid enough to ratify that rag watch the Second American Revolution break out right here in River City. (We got trouble with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "C" and that stands for Congress!)
Is this what has become of the Constitutional Republic those of us in uniform have sworn to protect, preserve and defend and the Constitution unto which we are sworn to bear true faith and allegiance? Is this the country for which over 58,000 of my brothers (including my room mate) were sacrificed? I am outraged at the betrayal of their oath of the bulk of the Congresscritters whom we compensate at four times the wage of the average worker and allow to steal enough more to walk out of office as millionaires. I'm tired of government fomented by talking heads on the tube who's only skill is reading the (generally grammatically atrocious) propaganda scripts before them. I'm tired of an educational system that turns out fools unable to determine the difference between fact and opinion with over $100,000.00 in student loan debt to highlight their stupidity. I'm tired of a government too busy meddling in issues beyond their Constitutional purview to do the job they are in place to do, defending the country and its borders.
I'm tired, cranky and MAD AS HELL!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Stupid Tax
Many who know me are aware of the fact that I follow the programme and theses of Dave Ramsey. (www.daveramsey.com) Unfortunately there are myriad in government who do not. One of the principles that Dave teaches is that there are times you have to take your lumps and pay for the mistakes you have made; he refers to this as "Stupid Tax". Bitching and whining will not make this go away. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
The time is come for the taxpayer to pay his stupid tax. You have elected these self serving sycophants and they have screwed you. Whine, bitch and complain to your heart's content, but pay the bill. YOU HAVE NO CHOICE.
The situation in Wisconsin is a classic example of what is going on. The governor is taking advantage of the typical attitude of those who for one reason or another work without the benefits and protection of a negotiated contract. Unwilling to recognise their own stupid tax responsibility they lash out at those who are so protected.
In stupid reaction, union workers stage protests and strikes to protest their so called grievances, in so doing performing patently illegal walkouts, encouraging students they are charged with educating to act similarly dishonestly and illegally.
Meanwhile Governor Walker whips the ensuing tempest to a froth by proposing to unilaterally abrogate a contract, or contracts and forge ahead with the union busting plan that apparently was his agenda the whole time. Never have I seen a collective bargaining agreement that was not signed by BOTH parties, and I worked under them for nearly four decades. Either party not adhering to a contract is in breach. I suspect that in this case the teachers' unions have allowed themselves to be maneuvered into that position.
Guess what, boys and girls, your stupid tax is coming due.
The public reaction is predictable; irrational, but predictable. "Why should they get stuff I haven't got, especially when I have to pay for it?" Why then, did you pay no attention when these contracts were negotiated? How many school board meetings have you attended? How many times have you written to your state and federal legislators and told them to keep their noses out of local affairs? How many protests have YOU attended to see that state and federal departments of education are unfunded with YOUR tax dollars?
How many times have you not bothered to vote in school board elections or against school budgets?
Guess what, boys and girls, your stupid tax is coming due.
And public employees, what have you done to protect your own wage/benefit package? Signed on to a "Wimpy" contract? ("I will gladly pay you on Thursday for a hamburger today".) Remember him from Popeye? (Don't remember Popeye? OK, your education has been neglected; I could already tell that from the way you write.) Believed the promises of a bunch of politicians on the other side of the bargaining table? Politicians who you KNOW will lie, cheat, steal, and kiss your neighbours ugly grand baby to feather their own nests; and if they are not lawyers themselves they will have lawyers by their sides. Lawyers who will lie, cheat and/or steal, as that's their stock-in-trade. (After all has it not been said that it's 99% of lawyers who give the 1% a bad name? Shakespeare knew this a half a millennium ago.) Why were you not collecting benefits as you were earning them, instead of relying on promises?
Guess what, boys and girls, your stupid tax is coming due.
And to the Goebbelsesque propaganda machine that purports to be news media, your demonstrated journalistic integrity has put you just below lawyers, used car salesmen and congresscritters on the public trust-o-meter. Used to be that if-it-bleeds-it-leads, but now the fit into biased agenda dictates how, and if, it places. If Greenpeace ever gets laws against caging birds passed your market will disappear and folks will have to start wrapping their fish in wax paper.
Guess what, boys and girls, your stupid tax is coming due.
If I walk into your restaurant, consume a meal and then afterward complain that I cannot afford it is it YOUR fault that I ordered the Beef Wellington at $46.95 a plate? Or is consuming and not paying a case of theft of service? But then again, what would you expect from politicians, they're thieves by their very nature; getting paid for producing NOTHING. (Except disruption and confusion of course; not exactly marketable commodities.)
Our national debt of over $401,000 per person (your basic government 401K plan) would disappear if Congress would tax stupid instead of income.
The time is come for the taxpayer to pay his stupid tax. You have elected these self serving sycophants and they have screwed you. Whine, bitch and complain to your heart's content, but pay the bill. YOU HAVE NO CHOICE.
The situation in Wisconsin is a classic example of what is going on. The governor is taking advantage of the typical attitude of those who for one reason or another work without the benefits and protection of a negotiated contract. Unwilling to recognise their own stupid tax responsibility they lash out at those who are so protected.
In stupid reaction, union workers stage protests and strikes to protest their so called grievances, in so doing performing patently illegal walkouts, encouraging students they are charged with educating to act similarly dishonestly and illegally.
Meanwhile Governor Walker whips the ensuing tempest to a froth by proposing to unilaterally abrogate a contract, or contracts and forge ahead with the union busting plan that apparently was his agenda the whole time. Never have I seen a collective bargaining agreement that was not signed by BOTH parties, and I worked under them for nearly four decades. Either party not adhering to a contract is in breach. I suspect that in this case the teachers' unions have allowed themselves to be maneuvered into that position.
Guess what, boys and girls, your stupid tax is coming due.
The public reaction is predictable; irrational, but predictable. "Why should they get stuff I haven't got, especially when I have to pay for it?" Why then, did you pay no attention when these contracts were negotiated? How many school board meetings have you attended? How many times have you written to your state and federal legislators and told them to keep their noses out of local affairs? How many protests have YOU attended to see that state and federal departments of education are unfunded with YOUR tax dollars?
How many times have you not bothered to vote in school board elections or against school budgets?
Guess what, boys and girls, your stupid tax is coming due.
And public employees, what have you done to protect your own wage/benefit package? Signed on to a "Wimpy" contract? ("I will gladly pay you on Thursday for a hamburger today".) Remember him from Popeye? (Don't remember Popeye? OK, your education has been neglected; I could already tell that from the way you write.) Believed the promises of a bunch of politicians on the other side of the bargaining table? Politicians who you KNOW will lie, cheat, steal, and kiss your neighbours ugly grand baby to feather their own nests; and if they are not lawyers themselves they will have lawyers by their sides. Lawyers who will lie, cheat and/or steal, as that's their stock-in-trade. (After all has it not been said that it's 99% of lawyers who give the 1% a bad name? Shakespeare knew this a half a millennium ago.) Why were you not collecting benefits as you were earning them, instead of relying on promises?
Guess what, boys and girls, your stupid tax is coming due.
And to the Goebbelsesque propaganda machine that purports to be news media, your demonstrated journalistic integrity has put you just below lawyers, used car salesmen and congresscritters on the public trust-o-meter. Used to be that if-it-bleeds-it-leads, but now the fit into biased agenda dictates how, and if, it places. If Greenpeace ever gets laws against caging birds passed your market will disappear and folks will have to start wrapping their fish in wax paper.
Guess what, boys and girls, your stupid tax is coming due.
If I walk into your restaurant, consume a meal and then afterward complain that I cannot afford it is it YOUR fault that I ordered the Beef Wellington at $46.95 a plate? Or is consuming and not paying a case of theft of service? But then again, what would you expect from politicians, they're thieves by their very nature; getting paid for producing NOTHING. (Except disruption and confusion of course; not exactly marketable commodities.)
Our national debt of over $401,000 per person (your basic government 401K plan) would disappear if Congress would tax stupid instead of income.
Friday, January 28, 2011
And somewhere in the middle lie the facts...
Citizens of Transylvania, UNITE! Congress has been up on the Hill building monsters again. (Line freely plagiarized from a play script I read one time. IIRC it was "Light Up the Sky".)
Why is it that politicos and pundits all see the problem with "health" care as an issue of insurance. When people didn't have insurance their sick care (which is REALLY what we are talking about in the great debate) consisted of calling the doctor to the house when you couldn't cure it yourself. Now with the concomitant circumstance of coverage and litigation we are treated to home wrecking sick care costs predicated on the practice of medicine that supplies the highest cost whiz bang pharmaceuticals, regardless of efficacy, provided by companies with the biggest advertising budgets (as well as detail reps with the biggest busts) and the most congresscritters in their pockets. All overseen by a power hungry (it's a government agency, what would you expect?) FDA intent on rubber stamping so called college research grant generated reports reminiscent of nineteenth century snake oil spiels. "Independent research" on products of companies "supporting" it to the tune of billions of dollars is an oxymoron, at best.
Meanwhile back at the court house, doctors are spending an inordinate amount of time defending their malpractice of not calling for an MRI for every hangnail, or are back in their offices interpreting the results of the MRIs prescribed with reckless abandon in an effort to stay out of court. Why the hell not, insurance is covering it.
So now, the cost of government and industry sky-rockets ostensibly due to the cost of health care benefits afforded to their employees; benefits that the employees earn on an hour-by-hour, day-by-day basis. Let it never be said that employers "provide" health insurance any more than they "provide" three hots and a cot for their employees and their families. It is earned by employees as part of their wage and benefit package. Unfortunately too many employees believe the promises of their employers. Instead of collecting their insurance costs on a paycheck-to-paycheck basis they trust that the insurance will be there if and when they need it. Rather like pensions and social security, health insurance becomes an "unfunded liability". Now when it's time to pay up, the employer whines about the expense, while the employee whines about the employer being broke. In reality it's the product of mutual stupidity and/or duplicity.
Along comes the Troika from Hell (Kenyan Kommunist Pretender, Bolshevik Bimbo from the Land of Fruits and Nuts and the Marxist Mormon from the Mafia State) with another stupid government program that purports to solve the problem by forcing every body into the program that caused it in the first place. Mandatory "health insurance" makes as much sense as Jim Jones' exhortations to drink the Kool-Aid. And with the promise of turning the monitoring over to the American Gestapo (IRS) with similar brand of "persuasion".
So lets just blame the problem on union contracts. Note the lame stream media emphasis is on "union" not "contract". A contract is a mutual agreement between parties. If you don't think the contract is to your mutual advantage, don't enter into it. First complaint is that the cost of labor is too high. I've got a bulletin for you, Spanky; the cost of labor is now, has always and will be forevermore the same. One hundred percent. Nothing in your lifestyle is made of material that did not come from God's green Earth. Nothing. All you pay is for the labor of the folks who dug it up, cut it down, harvested or processed it, and carried it to your store or door. (And of course the four times average American wage for congresscritters to legislate half again the cost into their own collective pocket.)
Next logical step is government provided health care. Anybody who thinks that will work has only to speak to any veteran unfortunate enough to deal with the VA "health care" system. A bunch of generally really nice people bogged down in a bureaucracy and inundated by enough clientele to make a six month wait for an appointment almost a given. Call any VAMC (Veterans Administration Medical Center) and the first thing you will hear is "if this is an emergency, hang up and dial 911". At least they're honest.
Let it never be said that I would elucidate a problem without tendering a solution. I propose that every one be given the opportunity to have a Health Savings Account and that health care insurance plans have a reasonable threshold of say, $10,000 or one calendar quarter's gross income whichever is smaller (That's a threshold, not a deductible or co-pay.) Individuals would be given full tax credit for any deposits into an HSA until their threshold offset is met, and for any subsequent deposits to replenish the account. By removing the mickey mouse small claims onto the shoulders of the patient's HSA the cost of insurance would rapidly plummet. So too would the overhead of claims processing to the medical professionals. The lower premium cost would offset HSA deposit cost to the employee and the higher wage would increase tax revenue to the government.
Might be worth a closer look. Couldn't be any worse than what we got.
Why is it that politicos and pundits all see the problem with "health" care as an issue of insurance. When people didn't have insurance their sick care (which is REALLY what we are talking about in the great debate) consisted of calling the doctor to the house when you couldn't cure it yourself. Now with the concomitant circumstance of coverage and litigation we are treated to home wrecking sick care costs predicated on the practice of medicine that supplies the highest cost whiz bang pharmaceuticals, regardless of efficacy, provided by companies with the biggest advertising budgets (as well as detail reps with the biggest busts) and the most congresscritters in their pockets. All overseen by a power hungry (it's a government agency, what would you expect?) FDA intent on rubber stamping so called college research grant generated reports reminiscent of nineteenth century snake oil spiels. "Independent research" on products of companies "supporting" it to the tune of billions of dollars is an oxymoron, at best.
Meanwhile back at the court house, doctors are spending an inordinate amount of time defending their malpractice of not calling for an MRI for every hangnail, or are back in their offices interpreting the results of the MRIs prescribed with reckless abandon in an effort to stay out of court. Why the hell not, insurance is covering it.
So now, the cost of government and industry sky-rockets ostensibly due to the cost of health care benefits afforded to their employees; benefits that the employees earn on an hour-by-hour, day-by-day basis. Let it never be said that employers "provide" health insurance any more than they "provide" three hots and a cot for their employees and their families. It is earned by employees as part of their wage and benefit package. Unfortunately too many employees believe the promises of their employers. Instead of collecting their insurance costs on a paycheck-to-paycheck basis they trust that the insurance will be there if and when they need it. Rather like pensions and social security, health insurance becomes an "unfunded liability". Now when it's time to pay up, the employer whines about the expense, while the employee whines about the employer being broke. In reality it's the product of mutual stupidity and/or duplicity.
Along comes the Troika from Hell (Kenyan Kommunist Pretender, Bolshevik Bimbo from the Land of Fruits and Nuts and the Marxist Mormon from the Mafia State) with another stupid government program that purports to solve the problem by forcing every body into the program that caused it in the first place. Mandatory "health insurance" makes as much sense as Jim Jones' exhortations to drink the Kool-Aid. And with the promise of turning the monitoring over to the American Gestapo (IRS) with similar brand of "persuasion".
So lets just blame the problem on union contracts. Note the lame stream media emphasis is on "union" not "contract". A contract is a mutual agreement between parties. If you don't think the contract is to your mutual advantage, don't enter into it. First complaint is that the cost of labor is too high. I've got a bulletin for you, Spanky; the cost of labor is now, has always and will be forevermore the same. One hundred percent. Nothing in your lifestyle is made of material that did not come from God's green Earth. Nothing. All you pay is for the labor of the folks who dug it up, cut it down, harvested or processed it, and carried it to your store or door. (And of course the four times average American wage for congresscritters to legislate half again the cost into their own collective pocket.)
Next logical step is government provided health care. Anybody who thinks that will work has only to speak to any veteran unfortunate enough to deal with the VA "health care" system. A bunch of generally really nice people bogged down in a bureaucracy and inundated by enough clientele to make a six month wait for an appointment almost a given. Call any VAMC (Veterans Administration Medical Center) and the first thing you will hear is "if this is an emergency, hang up and dial 911". At least they're honest.
Let it never be said that I would elucidate a problem without tendering a solution. I propose that every one be given the opportunity to have a Health Savings Account and that health care insurance plans have a reasonable threshold of say, $10,000 or one calendar quarter's gross income whichever is smaller (That's a threshold, not a deductible or co-pay.) Individuals would be given full tax credit for any deposits into an HSA until their threshold offset is met, and for any subsequent deposits to replenish the account. By removing the mickey mouse small claims onto the shoulders of the patient's HSA the cost of insurance would rapidly plummet. So too would the overhead of claims processing to the medical professionals. The lower premium cost would offset HSA deposit cost to the employee and the higher wage would increase tax revenue to the government.
Might be worth a closer look. Couldn't be any worse than what we got.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Jaundiced View from the High Plains
This from my facebook page in reference to the following article: http://www.resistnet.com/f
on Thursday, 29 July 2010 at 07:15
Once again I shout from the rooftops. They are NOT "illegal immigrants", or "illegal aliens". Illegal entry is a crime! Trespass is the crime of entering upon property wherein you have no legal authority to be. These people are CRIMINAL TRESPASSERS. If I, with my family, break into your house, sleep in your beds, endanger the lives and welfare of your family, does that make us undocumented dinner guests? No! It makes us criminals, whether we're only there to "make a better life for our family" or not.
As for the argument that this criminal might be alive if she had been deported on schedule; note, that's deported, not "released", the fact remains that she never would have been incarcerated at all if she had refrained from CRIMINAL ACTIVITY. I have every sympathy for anyone so despondent as to take her own life (that also being a crime, incidentally) but see no standing for her family to litigate. Any judge who would let this case go forward should be reminded that consequences to a criminal during the commission of a crime are on his (or in this case her) own head.
Until such time as the federal oligarchy starts performing its job, cases such as this will continue. Confiscating 40% of the nations economy in a vote buying program to keep themselves in "public (self) service" (and paying themselves four times the average working stiff's wages while at it) is not what the Constitution calls for. It is most assuredly, however, what the founders envisioned and what they wrote the Constitution to preclude. We now have a congressional majority of self serving sycophants who ignore said Constitution on a daily basis, and a Kenyan pretender in the white house who, in any other position in the military but commander-in-chief would be shot for dereliction of duty, installed by an electorate of such intellectual magnitude as to believe that Obama would pay their mortgages and fill their tanks with gas.
Forty-four years ago this month I raised my right hand and solemnly swore before my Heavenly Father and man to protect, preserve and defend this nation and her Constitution against "all enemies, foreign and domestic". I do not recall there being an expiration date on that oath. It is the same oath that all in congress swore, and most now ignore. Betraying an oath makes one a traitor. Betraying an oath in time of war gives aid and comfort to the enemy; by definition treason. The penalty for treason is hanging. There are a lot of lamp posts in Washington, DC.
Do the math.
As for the argument that this criminal might be alive if she had been deported on schedule; note, that's deported, not "released", the fact remains that she never would have been incarcerated at all if she had refrained from CRIMINAL ACTIVITY. I have every sympathy for anyone so despondent as to take her own life (that also being a crime, incidentally) but see no standing for her family to litigate. Any judge who would let this case go forward should be reminded that consequences to a criminal during the commission of a crime are on his (or in this case her) own head.
Until such time as the federal oligarchy starts performing its job, cases such as this will continue. Confiscating 40% of the nations economy in a vote buying program to keep themselves in "public (self) service" (and paying themselves four times the average working stiff's wages while at it) is not what the Constitution calls for. It is most assuredly, however, what the founders envisioned and what they wrote the Constitution to preclude. We now have a congressional majority of self serving sycophants who ignore said Constitution on a daily basis, and a Kenyan pretender in the white house who, in any other position in the military but commander-in-chief would be shot for dereliction of duty, installed by an electorate of such intellectual magnitude as to believe that Obama would pay their mortgages and fill their tanks with gas.
Forty-four years ago this month I raised my right hand and solemnly swore before my Heavenly Father and man to protect, preserve and defend this nation and her Constitution against "all enemies, foreign and domestic". I do not recall there being an expiration date on that oath. It is the same oath that all in congress swore, and most now ignore. Betraying an oath makes one a traitor. Betraying an oath in time of war gives aid and comfort to the enemy; by definition treason. The penalty for treason is hanging. There are a lot of lamp posts in Washington, DC.
Do the math.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
On Firearms: Opinion of a Geriatric Cuss Old Enough to be Opinionated
This is a re-post of a note from my facebook page of the indicated date.
The second amendment to the Constitution recognizes (not grants, recognizes) everyone's right to be armed for the defense of person and property unless and until that right has been surrendered by virtue of criminal activity. Lately it seems that the criminal activity has been on the part of governing tyrants making rules to reserve civil rights unto themselves and their cronies, and enforcing those rules purporting them to be law. Should you be resident in such locales it is incumbent upon you to take whatever steps are necessary to have any such illegal laws (doesn't that seem an oxymoron?) struck from the books before society falls into the state known as WROL; without rule of law. WROL is what happens when the police are dis-inclined or unable to protect society such as what happened during hurricane Katrina in New Orleans the other day. At that time, up to and including the present, authorities went house to house confiscating personal property at gunpoint and have not as yet returned all to rightful owners. So if your firearms were stolen by the cops in New Orleans back then, good luck ever seeing them again. And if the cops also broke into your storefront in an effort to harvest emergency supplies for the public good, good luck in getting your TVs and DVD players back again too.
Case law has proven time and again that governmental agencies have NO DUTY TO PROTECT YOU! Police are provided by governments to protect society as a whole (which primarily means the government) and to apprehend criminal perpetrators for prosecution by the government (and incidentally the people) they are hired to protect. Note that I refer to them as hired, not sworn. Duly sworn law enforcement officers are sworn to protect the people, but hired to protect the government. The US Capitol Police Department consists of approximately 1600 officers, or about three protectors for each member of the Congress. Granted there are more than 535 people in the Capitol but God forbid there ever was a hostage situation in the building guess who would be saved first, the young page just beginning her life or the geriatric doddering old fool who has been sitting on his ass swilling uselessly at the public trough for the last 60 years. Bottom line YOU are responsible for your own life and safety.
There are numerous ways to protect the life and safety of yourself and loved ones. You can study martial arts and after 20 or 30 years develop the skills required to disarm someone bent on your destruction. Of course if he is bent on destructing you with anything more destructive than a club or knife you will no doubt find yourself at a net deficit. Two 9mm slugs beat a 10th dan black belt 9 out of 10 times. Maybe that's why they call them 9mm. Those self same 2 each 9mm can easily be trumped however by 2 equivalent 9mm traveling on a reciprocal vector; especially if dispatched first.
If you are alive, you have a life to protect. If you are married with children, or even if you have parents, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbours, or in-laws you have multiple lives to protect. (Although in the case of in-laws there has been vigorous debate from time immemorial.) THERE IS NOBODY OUT THERE TO COVER YOUR ASS BUT YOU, SKIPPY! Bottom line: get armed, get trained, get good. Unarmed you are a slave to circumstance. Un-trained you are a criminal case waiting to be prosecuted. Un-good you are a hazard to yourself and others. There is little consolation having shot a loved one in the fact that you thought you were aiming at the bad guy.
The first question anyone who has decided to take his responsibility seriously (And here I hasten to state that the masculine pronoun is gender unspecific. I refuse to butcher the language of Shakespeare and Keats in an effort to appear politically correct. Those who know me, know better and those who know me not, matter not.) will ask is, "What kind of gun should I buy." As a veteran of close to two decades of military service I will immediately respond that a gun is something that lives on the deck of a ship, so unless you are a navy you are shopping for either a rifle, a shotgun (I know, I know sometimes things are wrong enough long enough to be accepted as correct. See my PC comment earlier.) or a sidearm. ("Handgun" isn't the only thing those Bozos of the Brady bunch screw up.) Ask this question of ten people and if you get less than a dozen different answers you are probably in the newsroom of the L.A. Times. (Gun? Why would you want a gun? The police are there to protect you. Guns are dangerous. Guns should be outlawed. Yadda, yadda, and/or yadda. You can tell the sheeple by the tune they bleat.) Quick answer: firearms are designed to make dead stuff out of live stuff, so what are you needing to kill? And where and under what circumstances. The ONLY justification for killing something is if it is trying to kill you or another innocent or if you are going to eat it. If your attacker is an elephant on the African veldt a nice double rifle in .600 Nitro Express is quite appropriate. But if accosted by a club wielding panther at a Philadelphia polling place you might find a discrete sidearm in 9mm quite sufficient. Conventional wisdom says that you want something big enough to knock the bad guy on his bum, but small enough not to knock you on your own bum.
Further consideration must be given to blatancy. If you chose to carry a long arm (rifle or shotgun) discretion is difficult at best to exhibit; some sort of sidearm will be necessary if you choose not to advertise the fact that you are equipped to protect yourself. That means that in all but three states you will need a note from Mommy saying you are allowed to exercise your God given right to self defense. Most states today have laws stating that they MUST give you a note to teacher as long as you are not a proven dirt bag. Several states have laws saying you MAY get a note if the government feels like giving it to you (ie. you know, or blow, someone) and at the pinnacle of ignorance of human rights we find the states of Wisconsin and Illinois (plus the territories of Guam and Northern Marianas) where concealed carry of a sidearm is not allowed for the hoi polloi and civil rights are reserved to minions of the state. Granted Wisconsin allows open carry of a sidearm when you can get away without police harassment, and Illinois allows open carry when you are outside city limits. At least you can protect yourself from a rabid triceratops, but Heaven fore-fend that you might consign some inner city scum attempting to murder,rape or rob you to a long term career as a sub-subterranean horticulturist. (Just lying there pushing up daisies.)
Of course, like everything in this life, there ain't no free lunch, and everyone has an opinion or two. If I were shopping for a first firearm I think I would be looking for a pistol caliber carbine, preferably in 9mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Luger, 9mm NATO or 9x19mm) because that's what the government uses. If rule of law collapses the first thing the powers that will stop at nothing to continue to be will do is shut down access to ammunition. "Borrowing" from the authorities to return one round at a time may be your only option and a long firearm is easier to handle and aim than a sidearm. A carbine is compact enough to be used as a home protection weapon in most circumstances and the 9x19 round is tender enough not to be a hand cannon but sturdy enough to be quite dissuading in a social situation. Besides when it comes time to graduate to a pistol you will be using common ammunition and in some cases even common magazines.
Next purchase (NO ONE is properly equipped without several firearms) I would recommend in my never to be humble opinion is a .22 caliber pistol. While the .22 Long Rifle cartridge is fairly anemic as a defensive cartridge, ammo is quite inexpensive (sometimes as low as a nickel a round in bulk) and learning to handle a sidearm without the flash, bang and buck of a larger caliber is a good thing. Add the fact that most "22" pistols hold at least 10 rounds and will put serious sting on an assailant at danger range (generally considered to be within 7 yards) and you will only be under equipped in an all out gunfight. Knife or bludgeon wielding assailants, you could probably hold your own.
Third candidate for your hard earned dollars is a pistol in the same caliber as the carbine. At this point you will have to decide if you will be discreet carrying or not, and select a sidearm appropriately sized to be easily concealed or large enough to be more accurate. Remember that social situations usually develop at fairly close distances so the ability to group 5 shots under a quarter from 50 yards away is not necessary. (Fun, but not necessary.) Unless you are going to be one those "gun nuts" fabled in movies and media you are probably going to want something reasonably concealable based on hand and body size.
When rule of law collapses, collapse of access to food will follow quite rapidly. If grocery store shelves empty at threat of a half foot of snow now, imagine what will happen at the threat of half a year of armed lawlessness. A .22 rifle is a handy pot hunting firearm for small game like rabbits and squirrels. Again the cost of ammunition is too cheap not to get and stay proficient.
Last but far from least I would recommend a good rifle in 5.56x45mm NATO. Again that is the current issue of government forces and is essentially the same as .223 civilian ammo. Make sure the firearm you are considering will digest either. Some .223 rifles will not chamber 5.56 or will not like the higher pressure of military ammo. Base your decisions on the fact that it could come to "appropriating" ammunition from military sources, and not necessarily US forces. There are "mutual aid" agreements in place to allow foreign troops onto American soil, and you can (and are) bet your life if rule of law collapses in this country there will be UN forces running around the country attempting to disarm the populous. I like the Ruger Ranch Rifle in this caliber as it is not huge nor overly heavy and can take larger game like deer and antelope. Compared to the cost of AR platform firearms the Ranch Rifle runs 1/2 to 1/4 the price as well.
I like the thought of having at least 500, preferably 1000 rounds for each muzzle in your inventory. I recommend you buy as much as you can each month until you reach what is your comfort level. Remember the first commodity to disappear will be ammunition. You should have a year's supply on hand to balance your year's supply of subsistence commodities.
Now that you have all the essentials in hand you might consider a shotgun or two. 12 gauge generally has the greatest selection of munitions while 20 ga. is easier on the physiology. Smooth-bore barrels on many models can be changed for rifled barrels that will throw a sabot discarding slug a respectable distance and put some pretty big game in the pot. Fresh meat is always a negotiable currency in hard times.
My personal preference for a daily carry piece is a .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) caliber compact pistol. Like a very wise man once said, ".45 ACP; because shooting twice is silly." Not for the faint of heart or hand, the .45 does what it was designed to do puts bad guys down quick. Few are there who remain standing after 45 hollow points knock on their chests.
Remember: It's not paranoia if they are really after you.
Pray for peace, but lock and load.
Case law has proven time and again that governmental agencies have NO DUTY TO PROTECT YOU! Police are provided by governments to protect society as a whole (which primarily means the government) and to apprehend criminal perpetrators for prosecution by the government (and incidentally the people) they are hired to protect. Note that I refer to them as hired, not sworn. Duly sworn law enforcement officers are sworn to protect the people, but hired to protect the government. The US Capitol Police Department consists of approximately 1600 officers, or about three protectors for each member of the Congress. Granted there are more than 535 people in the Capitol but God forbid there ever was a hostage situation in the building guess who would be saved first, the young page just beginning her life or the geriatric doddering old fool who has been sitting on his ass swilling uselessly at the public trough for the last 60 years. Bottom line YOU are responsible for your own life and safety.
There are numerous ways to protect the life and safety of yourself and loved ones. You can study martial arts and after 20 or 30 years develop the skills required to disarm someone bent on your destruction. Of course if he is bent on destructing you with anything more destructive than a club or knife you will no doubt find yourself at a net deficit. Two 9mm slugs beat a 10th dan black belt 9 out of 10 times. Maybe that's why they call them 9mm. Those self same 2 each 9mm can easily be trumped however by 2 equivalent 9mm traveling on a reciprocal vector; especially if dispatched first.
If you are alive, you have a life to protect. If you are married with children, or even if you have parents, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbours, or in-laws you have multiple lives to protect. (Although in the case of in-laws there has been vigorous debate from time immemorial.) THERE IS NOBODY OUT THERE TO COVER YOUR ASS BUT YOU, SKIPPY! Bottom line: get armed, get trained, get good. Unarmed you are a slave to circumstance. Un-trained you are a criminal case waiting to be prosecuted. Un-good you are a hazard to yourself and others. There is little consolation having shot a loved one in the fact that you thought you were aiming at the bad guy.
The first question anyone who has decided to take his responsibility seriously (And here I hasten to state that the masculine pronoun is gender unspecific. I refuse to butcher the language of Shakespeare and Keats in an effort to appear politically correct. Those who know me, know better and those who know me not, matter not.) will ask is, "What kind of gun should I buy." As a veteran of close to two decades of military service I will immediately respond that a gun is something that lives on the deck of a ship, so unless you are a navy you are shopping for either a rifle, a shotgun (I know, I know sometimes things are wrong enough long enough to be accepted as correct. See my PC comment earlier.) or a sidearm. ("Handgun" isn't the only thing those Bozos of the Brady bunch screw up.) Ask this question of ten people and if you get less than a dozen different answers you are probably in the newsroom of the L.A. Times. (Gun? Why would you want a gun? The police are there to protect you. Guns are dangerous. Guns should be outlawed. Yadda, yadda, and/or yadda. You can tell the sheeple by the tune they bleat.) Quick answer: firearms are designed to make dead stuff out of live stuff, so what are you needing to kill? And where and under what circumstances. The ONLY justification for killing something is if it is trying to kill you or another innocent or if you are going to eat it. If your attacker is an elephant on the African veldt a nice double rifle in .600 Nitro Express is quite appropriate. But if accosted by a club wielding panther at a Philadelphia polling place you might find a discrete sidearm in 9mm quite sufficient. Conventional wisdom says that you want something big enough to knock the bad guy on his bum, but small enough not to knock you on your own bum.
Further consideration must be given to blatancy. If you chose to carry a long arm (rifle or shotgun) discretion is difficult at best to exhibit; some sort of sidearm will be necessary if you choose not to advertise the fact that you are equipped to protect yourself. That means that in all but three states you will need a note from Mommy saying you are allowed to exercise your God given right to self defense. Most states today have laws stating that they MUST give you a note to teacher as long as you are not a proven dirt bag. Several states have laws saying you MAY get a note if the government feels like giving it to you (ie. you know, or blow, someone) and at the pinnacle of ignorance of human rights we find the states of Wisconsin and Illinois (plus the territories of Guam and Northern Marianas) where concealed carry of a sidearm is not allowed for the hoi polloi and civil rights are reserved to minions of the state. Granted Wisconsin allows open carry of a sidearm when you can get away without police harassment, and Illinois allows open carry when you are outside city limits. At least you can protect yourself from a rabid triceratops, but Heaven fore-fend that you might consign some inner city scum attempting to murder,rape or rob you to a long term career as a sub-subterranean horticulturist. (Just lying there pushing up daisies.)
Of course, like everything in this life, there ain't no free lunch, and everyone has an opinion or two. If I were shopping for a first firearm I think I would be looking for a pistol caliber carbine, preferably in 9mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Luger, 9mm NATO or 9x19mm) because that's what the government uses. If rule of law collapses the first thing the powers that will stop at nothing to continue to be will do is shut down access to ammunition. "Borrowing" from the authorities to return one round at a time may be your only option and a long firearm is easier to handle and aim than a sidearm. A carbine is compact enough to be used as a home protection weapon in most circumstances and the 9x19 round is tender enough not to be a hand cannon but sturdy enough to be quite dissuading in a social situation. Besides when it comes time to graduate to a pistol you will be using common ammunition and in some cases even common magazines.
Next purchase (NO ONE is properly equipped without several firearms) I would recommend in my never to be humble opinion is a .22 caliber pistol. While the .22 Long Rifle cartridge is fairly anemic as a defensive cartridge, ammo is quite inexpensive (sometimes as low as a nickel a round in bulk) and learning to handle a sidearm without the flash, bang and buck of a larger caliber is a good thing. Add the fact that most "22" pistols hold at least 10 rounds and will put serious sting on an assailant at danger range (generally considered to be within 7 yards) and you will only be under equipped in an all out gunfight. Knife or bludgeon wielding assailants, you could probably hold your own.
Third candidate for your hard earned dollars is a pistol in the same caliber as the carbine. At this point you will have to decide if you will be discreet carrying or not, and select a sidearm appropriately sized to be easily concealed or large enough to be more accurate. Remember that social situations usually develop at fairly close distances so the ability to group 5 shots under a quarter from 50 yards away is not necessary. (Fun, but not necessary.) Unless you are going to be one those "gun nuts" fabled in movies and media you are probably going to want something reasonably concealable based on hand and body size.
When rule of law collapses, collapse of access to food will follow quite rapidly. If grocery store shelves empty at threat of a half foot of snow now, imagine what will happen at the threat of half a year of armed lawlessness. A .22 rifle is a handy pot hunting firearm for small game like rabbits and squirrels. Again the cost of ammunition is too cheap not to get and stay proficient.
Last but far from least I would recommend a good rifle in 5.56x45mm NATO. Again that is the current issue of government forces and is essentially the same as .223 civilian ammo. Make sure the firearm you are considering will digest either. Some .223 rifles will not chamber 5.56 or will not like the higher pressure of military ammo. Base your decisions on the fact that it could come to "appropriating" ammunition from military sources, and not necessarily US forces. There are "mutual aid" agreements in place to allow foreign troops onto American soil, and you can (and are) bet your life if rule of law collapses in this country there will be UN forces running around the country attempting to disarm the populous. I like the Ruger Ranch Rifle in this caliber as it is not huge nor overly heavy and can take larger game like deer and antelope. Compared to the cost of AR platform firearms the Ranch Rifle runs 1/2 to 1/4 the price as well.
I like the thought of having at least 500, preferably 1000 rounds for each muzzle in your inventory. I recommend you buy as much as you can each month until you reach what is your comfort level. Remember the first commodity to disappear will be ammunition. You should have a year's supply on hand to balance your year's supply of subsistence commodities.
Now that you have all the essentials in hand you might consider a shotgun or two. 12 gauge generally has the greatest selection of munitions while 20 ga. is easier on the physiology. Smooth-bore barrels on many models can be changed for rifled barrels that will throw a sabot discarding slug a respectable distance and put some pretty big game in the pot. Fresh meat is always a negotiable currency in hard times.
My personal preference for a daily carry piece is a .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) caliber compact pistol. Like a very wise man once said, ".45 ACP; because shooting twice is silly." Not for the faint of heart or hand, the .45 does what it was designed to do puts bad guys down quick. Few are there who remain standing after 45 hollow points knock on their chests.
Remember: It's not paranoia if they are really after you.
Pray for peace, but lock and load.
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