School Vouchers

These women ask "why?" One word: unions

Obama's Friends

...ALL THIS LEADS to one important question. Suppose Obama succeeds in building friendships with Chavez, Castro, Ahmadinejad and the Taliban. What then? Does America still get to feel that it stands for something? Will we still be the beacon of liberty and freedom to the rest of the world, or will we have sold out in the name of political expediency? And do any of us seriously believe that presidential friendship is going to get a megalomaniac like Hugo Chavez to ease up on the levers of power, or are we just feeding his ego by showing him he can be a tyrant and still have a beer with the president of the United States? Will the Iranians really stop enriching uranium through diplomacy rather than economic sanctions?

HT: Drudge

Hating What's Right

This lecture by Evan Sayet (9/11 conservative convert) was one that explains his concept of how liberals make decisions. This concept subsumes Jew/US hatred under the same umbrella and provides a cogent rationale for the ever-present Jew-hater at the anti-war rallies...Notes and embedded video below-watch it if you have the time:

To the liberal, Indiscriminateness is a moral imperative

However, indiscriminateness of thought does not lead to indiscriminateness of policy...it sides with evil.

Because of the indiscriminateness, there is no justification for anything that is better than anything else, therefore, failure is de facto proof of victimization

A multiculturalist (one that believes that all cultures are equal) must de facto be a supporter of tyranny

Either there is is something exceptional about our culture, or there is nothing special about our culture. It the latter, our success is unjust and our longevity is proof positive that we cheated...among the most unjust in the history of the world.

The multiculturalist can't believe that we are an exceptional culture, therefore we stole our success.

"Objectivity is undesirable if history is to serve a social purpose." - Howard Zinn

Jew hatred goes hand in hand with US hatred...because of the same exact reason

The act of criminality is de facto proof that the criminal has been victimized

To not believe that the terrorists were not provoked is racism

The more heinous the crime, the more victimized the criminal must have been
Seeking the truth is an act of bigotry to the left.

In order for this to make sense, we must elevate the provocation to the level of the crime. Why would Durbin call our troops Nazis? Because the evil he is championing rises to that level.

Liberals have an inability to identify the "better things in life"
--Life is zero sum. If so, the way to prevent poverty is to prevent success
in the "grown-up world" all ships rise with the tide

In order to help people lead better lives, conservatives want to train people in better behaviors, but Liberals attack the behaviors, because they are signs of bigotry.

example: abstinence - this is a good practice for children, look at social statistics apart from any religious consideration. But, Liberals invariably promote destructive behaviors - "F- abstinence" rally.

Once the failure they've promoted takes place, they scream that they must confiscate our money to create a program to deal with the program

This promotion of behavior that lead to failure instead of success...is Orwellian

Commonalities:
1. Isolated from consequences of his own beliefs (when you live in a utopia, these ideas don't affect him) musicians and college students, celebrity and academia
2. Stupidity is a luxury...those who are on the left are those that can afford to be

Exceptions in celebrity - Professional athletes...work in a field of objective truth
Exceptions in academia - Hard sciences...

Q & A
The goal of the modern journalist is not objective truth, it is neutrality

Time is not on our side
a. Need to engage in the fight
b. We need to stand up for what is right

One-Party Classroom

"The wolves of the left, sensing a new opening with a new administration, are circling. Dangerous organizations like ACORN and MoveOn.org feel that Obama's victory is theirs as well. Poisonous figures like George Soros, Louis Farrakhan, and Bill Ayers who have spent their lives trying to tear America down feel newly empowered by the election results. Israel haters are licking their chops. Like their bloodthirsty comrades abroad, Islamo-Fascists here at home are ready to step up the stealth jihad they are waging against our universities and other domestic institutions. I have one thing to say to the leftists who would try to take advantage of America's present vulnerability: NOT ON OUR WATCH!"

--from David's excellent
conservative activist website, www.frontpagemag.com

I have been saying this...

Remember the $4B to Acorn in the stimulus bill? It's just the tip of the iceburg...

"It's a job patronage system" - caller to Michael Savage

Conservative Principles

Four transformational challenges faced by this generation simultaneously:
1. Social and economic turmoil of globalization (industrial to a globalized marketplace)
2. Evil enemy in al-qaeda
3. Rise of Communist chinese superstate and a strategic threat
4. Will moral relativism erode a nation built upon self-evident truths

The way to address these challenges are through the principles of conservativism as explicated by Thaddeus McCotter:

1. Liberty is from God, not government
2. Sovereignty in souls, not soil
3. Security comes through strength, not surrender
4. Prosperity from the private, not public, sector
5. Truths are self-evident, not relative

The Tipping Point

Without having given a whole lot of thought to this concept, (caveat in case I write something unduly stupid) I tend to think that, if we have passed a tipping point of sorts in our nation toward socialism, it is due to our former President and his many willing accomplices.

The last President represented much of what we had hoped for in a President...someone who placed great value on preborn human life, appointed good...no...great, SCOTUS justices -- he just wasn't a conservative.

However, his penchant for using government to achieve economic equity set the stage for the drubbing that conservatives received in the last election...because no one can outspend the liberals.

Over the last 50 years, we've been on vacation...getting fat on the government dole. Bush primed the pumps for the current massive acceleration of our reliance by doing things just conservative enough to earn the ire of a large percentage of the population and just liberal enough to lose his friends.

And now, we have what we voted for...a group of elitists wealthy from years of "public service" ready to fill up their stockings with a wish list that has been growing since 1994. Make no mistake, this talk about government creating temporary deficits is illusory...there is no such thing as a temporary government anything. Reagan said

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!

The best we can do is reform a government program, like welfare reform in 1996 -- a very successful reform that is being undone as we speak.

One can hope that the ineptitude that our current President has shown in foreign policy will be a harbinger of his success at getting his agenda foisted upon the American people.

An infuriating missive

I received this in my email tonight...

GovTrack.us Tracked Events Update

This is your email update from www.GovTrack.us. To change your email updates settings, go to your account settings page.

You are currently monitoring: Rep. Holden [D-PA], Sen. Casey [D-PA], Sen. Specter [R-PA], H.R. 1: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Congress will next meet on Feb 23, 2009.
Feb 17, 2009 - Bill Action
Law Enacted: H.R. 1: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
This bill has become law.
(You are seeing this event because you are tracking H.R. 1: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009)

"The right of representation in the legislature [is] a right inestimable to [the people], and formidable to tyrants only." --Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence, 1776.

Too Punny to Pass Up

Taken from the Bill

I'm just going to copy and paste from the Senate stimulus package and let you see if you think this will create jobs:

• $200,000,000 - Department, other than the Forest Service, for necessary replacement, modernization, or upgrades of laboratories or other facilities to improve workplace safety and mission-area efficiencies as deemed appropriate by the Secretary:
• $400,000,000 - farm ownership loans (lots of jobs to be had on farms nowadays!)
• $275,000,000 - Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations
• $65,000,000 - Watershed Rehabilitation Program
• $100,000,000 - National School Lunch Program equipment assistance
• $500,000,000 - SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION PROGRAM FORWOMEN, INFANTS, AND CHILDREN (WIC)

I'm getting tired, and there's 756 pages to go...click on the link and check it out for yourself.

Contact Your Senator

Here's an email reply sent to me by one of my Senators, Arlen Specter.

Dear Mr. Tubbs:

Thank you for contacting my office regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The concerns of my constituents are of great importance to me, and I rely on you and other Pennsylvanians to inform me of your views. I will keep your thoughts on this matter in mind. Thank you again for writing. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office or visit my website at http://specter.senate.gov.

Sincerely,

Arlen Specter

I know this is a form email...but it's important to communicate with our representatives, and since the direct election of Senators, they have become our reps as well.

So, contact your senators for the vote tomorrow, but only if you agree with me!

Menagerie of Incompetence

The circus on Capitol Hill is alarming...not because of the dancing elephants, braying donkeys or those miniature rinos...it's the clowns...you know, the creepy clowns that are supposed to make you laugh, but you can't see behind all that makeup so, you're just not sure. One thing I know for sure...they're never very comforting.

Does anyone really think that this bill will help what is going on?

Our President today said, "Our nation will sink into a crisis that at some point we may be unable to reverse." This to my mind reveals a hard-line Keynesian economic view that is truly nonsensical.

1. He believes that an Act of Congress will save us from an economic crisis.
2. He believes that we will reach an economic point of no return

Truly, this is obtuse.

First, Reagan understood, and with the help of Congress, helped us recover from the ill-suited (and ideologically similar to our current President) Jimmy Carter. He understood that government is not the solution, but the problem. So, he set about lowering tax rates and getting government out of the way...which inevitably led to a tremendous amount of production by individuals in the free market.

When government tries to help people, it is legal plunder. Federal government is not there to help me...it is there to protect my rights and defend me from foreign invasion.

So, in the case of this travesty of a bill, the dems are not even pretending to put things in there that are stimulus related...it's a power grab, plain and simple. And our President is standing behind his party, come hell or high water...irrespective of the horrendous nature of the bill.

Second, markets have cycles...there's no such thing as a point of no return, unless you're talking about massive government intervention claiming that regulation is needed more than economic freedom. That's still not a point of no return, but it's sure as heck close.

So, the clowns, instead of making us laugh, continue to spout doom and gloom unless "something" (i.e. pork for me and my friends) is done immediately! Oh, and don't listen to Rush.

GOP: The 500 pound man

Good take on the future of the GOP

The New Collectivism

I've not done research, but just on an anecdotal level I seem to be hearing a lot more public support for collectivism than in the past. It seemed that the Reagan view of government had generally taken hold and people generally understood that government couldn't do most things nearly as efficiently as the private sector.

This notion, however, is now being challenged by many people who are more blatant about the "benefits" of redistribution.

As examples, I've heard people make a distinction between redistribution and a progressive income tax, crediting the tax for the creation of wealth in America since the Industrial Revolution.

I've read people lamenting the fact that Obama isn't really a Marxist.

I read approving headlines about President-Elect Obama wanting to "take action" (read "government intervention") on the economic crisis.

The pseudo-Republican administration of George Bush caving to Paulson's dire predictions has really set the stage for a massive federal government take-over of private businesses. This is what the socialists in our government have been waiting for...an opportunity to gain power...they are gaining confidence and not necessarily hiding their intentions behind acceptable rhetoric.



We have to be mindful of this presence in our government and not let the sweet idealistic words of socialism lull us into slumber, allowing the all-saving hand of government to be our safety, our charity, our success...our god.

How Should a Christian Vote? Part II

HOW SHOULD CHRISTIANS VOTE? Part II
Just Treatment of the Afflicted

Who are the afflicted? The afflicted can be defined as citizens generally, and more specifically, those citizens that may have difficulties in maintaining general standards of living.


What policies affect our consideration of just treatment for the afflicted? For this talk, I will consider elements that are found in the party platforms. I am aware that there are other issues that should have policies dedicated to them (i.e. drug enforcement, rural & urban poverty, etc.), however, for today’s consideration we will stick to the policies seen to be important by the two major parties. Of these, I will point out a couple germane points...REMEMBER, there will be a Q&A time, so write down questions you would like to know more about.

Income Tax

Principle #1 – Property is to be owned individually.

• Scripturally, property is to be owned individually. Otherwise, the injunction “Thou shalt not steal” makes no sense.

OBJECTION: The early church participated in communal living

REBUTTAL: Two main differences between communal living and socialism: 1) Communal living is voluntary, and one may cease to participate whenever he sees fit; in Socialism, communal giving is required, and may be given to causes that the individual does not approve of. 2) Communal living is conducted on a small scale with a group of people who generally agree, Socialism is conducted on a national scale, where people will most certainly not agree.

Principle #2 – Governments cannot justly do what individuals cannot justly do.

• When an individual steals money to enrich himself, he is punished for acting unjustly. When a government steals money from its citizens to enrich itself, it is an unjust act. [example: Congressmen inserting clauses in legislation to pay for pet projects that will ensure that they are re-elected]

OBJECTION: What about #4 of just war?

REBUTTAL: The right of self-defense is bound up within the individual.

Principle #3 – Government has no money. Only individuals have money.
(Give unto Caesear; unto God)
• When government gives money to certain causes (AIDS, welfare, social security, etc.), it should only be done with the explicit consent of the people. [Suggestion: have referendums to determine viability of various social spending projects]


Hierarchy of Justice

Just Treatment of the Innocent

When discussing these themes of justice, we must consider placing the requirements on a hierarchy. One can readily assume that justice in all things is to be desired, but will not happen in a fallen world.

"The common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights -- for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture -- is false and illusory if the right to life is not defended with maximum determination." -- Pope John Paul II

I propose a hierarchy modeled off of the recognized natural rights of human beings, that is, right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness (private property). These rights are bound up with one another, and have a progressive nature.

If one’s right to life is not respected, then the other two are moot. Some say that this doesn’t necessarily mean abortion...

“...abortion is not the only life-and-death issue in this election. While the Republicans line up with the Catholic stance on abortion and stem-cell research, the Democrats are closer to the Catholic position on the death penalty, universal health care and environmental protection.” – Mark Roche

The problem with this statement is that he is substituting a vague notion of life and death as found in universal health care and environmental protection for the reality of little humans being torn limb from limb in the womb. In addition, he failed to mention the consideration of guilt vs. innocence when mentioning the death penalty.

Proposed hierarchy:

Life – Ensure safety and security for its citizens
Liberty – Ensure just and equitable protection of freedom
Pursuit of Happiness – Ensure just interaction between citizens and protection of property rights