I find the reactions and hand wringing about the Florida church burning the Qur’an on 9/11 very fascinating.  Why is it that everyone around the world walks on eggshells whenever someone expresses an negative opinion or openly disparages Islam?

Where is the hypersensitivity when artists create controversial works that are disrespectful of Christianity, Catholicism, and Judaism?

You know why, but are too afraid to acknowledge the 800lb camel in the room.

Here we have a group of Americans who are completely within their Constitutional rights to express themselves - albeit something this stupid - all the while Islamic groups in the Middle East are reacting by demanding the death of Americans. Where is the outrage about that?  There isn't any because that is the expected behavior tolerated by the rest of the world.  I'm almost wondering if this is a publicity stunt to help teach the world a lesson by demonstrating the intolerance of Islamic extremists.

Burning a book is nothing compared to taking another person's life.  Burning a book or drawing someone's deity will NEVER cause the faithful any physical harm. If your faith is so threatened by symbolic expression, then you really need to thicken your skin.

Get a grip, grow a spine, and quit tolerating this behavior people!

All of the recent fracas about the DOJ suing the state of Arizona got me thinking about something.

Imagine if you will (invoke your best Wayne's World or equivalent whirlpoolish harpsian trip into fantasyland)...

What if a state like Arizona or Texas decided that enough was enough, made a solemn declaration of sovereignty, and kicked out ALL federal public employees, institutions, and boldly stated that the federal government is not welcome anymore until the federal government recognizes the Constitutional rights of the state.  No more monies sent to Washington DC and all representatives of Washington DC (federal employees) shall henceforth be considered enemies.

Imagine indeed...

I think that is what is needed.  The ruling class has finally broken the camel's back...

The kidlet is now a freshman.

He is also on the football team.

First away game, although just a scrimmage.

He got home at 9:30pm. 

He has homework.

He is exhausted.

I think this is the first time he is up past his bed time doing homework.

Welcome to high school... 

I was listening to a talk show discussion about how the drug cartels in Mexico threaten local media who report unflattering articles, news reports, etc., in addition to their usual intimidation of the local population, kidnappings, etc.  Many callers who had lived in Mexico conveyed their horror stories and confirmed what was being discussed.

Ironically my wife and I were discussing an ARTICLE I read yesterday about how the country of Portugal decriminalized drugs and the subsequent drop in the number of addicts and HIV infections.  During our discussion I mentioned my dismay and incomprehension of the enormous DEMAND for these types of mood altering substances.  What motivates someone to constantly want to alter their state is beyond me, especially for recreational purposes.  Yes, I do drink a lot of wine and beer, BUT I don't drink to get drunk.  I drink because I like the taste and refreshment and actually dislike the affects of drinking alcohol.

Here's a thought:  why not reduce the dangers involved with the illegal drug industry by simply legalizing it?  Remember the crime syndicates that were involved with the illegal alcohol trade during Prohibition? When Prohibition ended, they moved onto drugs and other things because there was no more money to be made with alcohol.  You don't ever read stories on how Anheuser-Busch, Samuel Adams, or Coors are terrorizing the populace, do you?  Hmmm...

He's my very unoriginal idea:

• Legalize EVERYTHING.


• Tax the crap out of it.


• Consider the use of these drugs just like alcohol in that you can't drive or come to work "impaired".


• No more tax dollars going to treatment, counseling, etc.  They know this stuff is bad, dumbass!


• Adults should be free to do what they want with their body.


• Let these future Darwin award winners check themselves out of the gene pool.

If adults want to do this to themselves, let them do it and let them also suffer the consequences for doing it.  The nanny state's penchant for avoiding the latter is one thing that is perpetuating this problem.  The demand for it is another.

People suck...

As if my timing couldn't be any better...

The recent Library of Congress decision to allow for the jailbreaking of iPhones and the ability to install applications deemed inappropriate or not up to Apple's standards is a perfect example of what I was just talking about in my last blog.  Everyone is so happy that they can now hack their iPhones "legally" and install porn apps that they're missing the bigger picture (yet again).

Apple (it could be any company) has designed a consumer product that no one is FORCED to buy, and has made a legal and exclusive contract with a carrier (another company) which was mutually agreed upon by these two private parties.  Now some government bureaucrat has decided that it wasn't "fair" that people weren't allowed to bypass the device maker's design intent and use control of its own product.  Silly rabbit...  At least they allowed Apple to keep the ability to void the warranty if it is jailbroken (for now, I'm sure).

What these people are missing is if the camel donkey doesn't already have its nose inside the tent, it is in now.  The precedent has been established.  What's to stop another well meaning or well lobbied bureaucrat to decide to bypass contractual law and alter the use of a private company's property (intellectual or material)?  What has happened here is that the property owner (Apple) has lost its control of its own intellectual property to the state.  Plain and simple.  If the state has any control of your product, they can force you to do anything they want.  

I'd like to have Bungie port Halo to the PS3, but I know it's wrong for me to convince a sympathetic judge to nullify exclusivity contracts solely because it's inconvenient for me.  I have options - buy an X-Box or plead my case with Bungie/Microsoft.  Same with the iPhone.  If you don't like the carrier or closed ecosystem, DON'T BUY ONE!  You have a choice to buy a product as it is intended from the manufacturer, not the right to force the manufacturer to make it as you want it.

Silly rabbit...

SOURCE

I don’t know if it’s a matter of denial or the suspension of disbelief, but I think that the majority of the American populace is under the arrogant delusion that the United States is somehow immune from the coming financial and social maelstrom resulting from years of socio-political engineering, as if:

• This time it will be different, although it has never worked in the past (history be damned), or


• We’re too educated/enlightened/better for all of the predictable poverty/suffering/death/tyranny to happen in the US.

I’m reminded of one of my favorite Ayn Rand quotes: "We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality."

So many people are quick to restrict the freedoms of others they disagree with that they are blinded to the bigger picture and the ever constricting web of the nanny state forming around them. They cheer when smoking bans are implemented, but wail when the same institution bans foie gras. They cheer when they take away the profits earned by a “greedy” private corporation or individual, but scoff when the same institution mandates that they must buy medical insurance or face a fine, or jail, or both. In their fervor to enforce their will upon another group of people they naively hand their jailers the keys to their own cells.

It can’t happen here, they say.

Another quote comes to mind, from German anti-fascist Martin Niemoller: "First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me."

All one has to do is take a look around and just open your mind and your eyes to current events and recent history to see that many of those past horrific episodes of the evil that humanity has endured against itself are still happening all around us. Slavery, religious and political persecution, dictatorships, and ethnic cleansing are alive and well, just generally outside our borders (at present). People think that our nation’s wealth and sophistication will protect us, that if only those other countries, civilizations, or people were like us then they could have resisted and prevented the atrocities left in the path for the control over humanity.

It doesn’t happen overnight, but sometimes it can. All it takes is a stroke of a pen, a stroke on a keyboard, or one more non-fatal cut to drain more of your blood, facilitating the loss of your wealth (stock/housing markets), property (eminent domain), or freedom (smoking bans, helmet laws), just to name a few.

It can’t happen here, they say.

Yes it can, and it already has...

Bad, naughty blogger!

I've (obviously) been neglecting my blogging responsibilities as of late. I must admit with great shame that I was seduced by the sultry siren song of Facebook. I think that I've experimented long enough posting my oblique and cynical missives to my distant acquaintances and will instead scribe my incoherent ramblings in this less frequented oasis of cyberspace.

In a nutshell, Nate graduated from 8th grade, I went back to Iowa for my 25th high school reunion, I'm still working on my house, and my band still hasn't found a singer!

More to come (promise).

For the past 200+ years America has been the world's beacon of freedom, prosperity, and a second chance for a new life free from tyranny. It was (and still is to an extent) a place where your ingenuity, hard work, and determination would be rewarded if you were willing to sacrifice the blood, sweat, and tears required to meet your dreams.

Sadly, I think this beacon's illumination is rapidly dimming under the growing shadows of control by the state. Soon it will join the great cultures of Europe in an era of socialist darkness, where freedom of the individual is valued less than the desires and mandates of the state.

For those of us who yearn for a society of limited governance as originally defined by the US Constitution, where on the globe can we turn to find a new "America" where freedom is valued most of all?

I'm looking...

Have you had enough "hope and change" yet?

And that paper that Congress just wiped their a$$ with was the US Constitution...

Now let’s talk about that necessary evil to all societies – government. Yes, even in Utopia there must be some sort of governing body to protect the masses from the undesirable influences from all of the other Utopian constructs out there - unless of course you’re forcing me to live in your Nirvana, then thanks but no thanks. I’ll take my chances without your caring benevolence.

My thoughts on the role of federal government are not original. In fact they closely mirror those espoused by the Founding Fathers, with an especially strong emphasis on LIMITED. In my opinion, federal government really only has a few primary responsibilities to uphold:

• Protect our borders (military)
• Foreign diplomatic relations
• Judicial branch of government validates every law passed by Congress against the limited powers granted by the Constitution BEFORE it is enacted. If a law exceeds any of those powers, it is denied.

Everything else that our federal government currently does outside of the items listed above, is the responsibility of the individual states. See, L-I-M-I-T-E-D. The federal government has no business or athority funding/regulating/controlling education, the arts, energy, food production, transportation, commerce, the environment, law enforcement, retirement, health care, etc.

CORE BELIEFS (Federal)
• The federal government has NO authority over the states. Any state authority can overrule any federal authority.
• The federal government can not own any property. Any property it occupies must be leased from the host state.
• All representatives (House and Senate) are limited to a single term of 4 years, with ½ of the representatives up for replacement every 2 years. With no reelection to worry about, they can focus on their job at hand. Because the role of federal government is so limited, being a representative could easily be a part-time job. Congress could be in session for a few months throughout the year.
• All laws enacted by Congress apply to everyone equally, no exceptions.
• Congress must pass a balanced budget and cannot go into debt. All surplus monies collected throughout the year must be returned to the taxpayers.
• The federal government can not infringe on any of the personal freedoms outlined in my previous post.

CORE BELIEFS (State)
• States have the authority and responsibility to govern itself as it desires as long as it doesn’t infringe on the rights of the people granted by the Constitution. No other state or ruling entity has the right to infringe upon this activity.
• States are responsible for its own entire infrastructure and are free to work with other states as it sees fit to combine resources.
• Every state has the freedom to engage in commerce or trade with another in mutually and freely agreed upon terms. No other state or ruling entity has the right to infringe upon this activity.
• The state government can not infringe on any of the personal freedoms outlined in my previous post.

Would this work? Who knows, but it’s my illusion so it must. Additions/corrections I’m sure will follow.

I came across this article the other day comparing two recent movies (Precious and The Blind Side) about dealing with the problem of neglected and abused children in America. I haven't seen either of these movies, BUT I did find some interesting items of note from the article:

"Bluntly stated, Precious presents the liberal solution — let the government do it — and The Blind Side presents the conservative solution — do it yourself."

"And in fact, in Precious, the system does work in exactly the way it was designed. The system was created by liberals to make themselves feel good, not to bring any actual benefit or relief to victimized children like Precious. She and her countless counterparts are doomed by dangerously mistaken liberals who think:

"I will vote to create taxpayer-funded bureaucracies that will fix this problem by taking up a forced collection from all my fellow Americans, and I will never have to get my hands dirty or do something disgusting like open my home to her, or actually do anything to help her myself. I will let the government take care of her, and since I vote for Democrats who create these bureaucracies, I have helped her, and I am better than those selfish Republicans."

"And if you think that assessment of liberals is too harsh, just remember: these are the same people that define their goodness by their Prius and their mulchers, and the way they meticulously sort their trash into different colored bins. When you think you can save the planet just by carrying your reusable bag to Trader Joe’s, there’s really no need to do anything really difficult or icky like becoming a Big Brother or a foster parent or adopting a child."

Personally I have no leg to stand on since I've done very little to help the betterment of my fellow human. Still, it's comforting to know that I'm not the only person who thinks this way.

ARTICLE

Google is a cult
Google is not afraid of offending any religious faith EXCEPT Islam
Google is a hypocrite for avoiding taxes while promoting progressive socialist ideology
Google is censoring data so it be used in freedom-limited countries
Google is not to be trusted with ANY of our private information
Google is caught manipulating its search results (again)
Google is ...

SOURCE

Even though I disparage all socialist Utopian fantasies, that doesn't mean I haven't formulated a Utopian construct of my own. Like all other perceptions of Nirvana, mine is only theoretical and its actual manifestation is impossible because not every human on this planet will agree with me or voluntarily adhere to my doctrine.

(Hint, hint, to all you socialists and progressives out there)

At the onset I'm sure this manifesto will have a distinctive Randian Objectivist bent but so what. This may take some mental contortion to convey since I am basically scribing this off the cuff, likely in an evolving multi-installment screed. My illusion isn't some surreal garden of eden of perpetual contentment filled with rainbows and unicorns. It is something more realistically down to earth, albeit equally as delusional.

Let's start with the basics, the foundation, and see where it goes from there. So imagine if you will...

CORE BELIEFS (Personal)
• Everyone has the inherent freedom to live their lives as they see fit, as long as it doesn't interfere with anyone else's freedom to do the same. No other person or ruling entity has the right to infringe on this freedom for ANY reason. This includes all interactions between private parties by mutual agreement.
• Everyone has the right to property: physical, material, and intellectual. No other person or ruling entity has claim to it for ANY reason, unless as mutually agreed collateral. What people do with their property is not subject to another person or ruling entity's discretion.
• No person has any forced obligation to the welfare of his fellow man or ruling entity, whom nothing is inherently owed nor entitled. Charity to another is strictly voluntary.
• Everyone has the freedom to engage in commerce or trade with another in mutually and freely agreed upon terms. No other person or ruling entity has the right to infringe upon this activity. All use and value of property or services is determined by mutual agreement between private parties.

Let's stop there for now. After reading this, you probably imagine a chaotic world full of selfish individuals, and you'd be partially correct. I don't envision the chaos, but do see the selfishness, although probably not in the extreme you might think. Nothing written above would prevent a person from helping his fellow man IF he or she freely chooses to do so. What I posit is that no person has the right to force another through the forced confiscation of private property, be it physical, material, or intellectual. This is best demonstrated by using tax dollars for charitable purposes.

To summarize so far, no one had the right to dictate to another how to live. The most horrendous transgressions to human freedom have been made under the guise of "good intentions" or for the "greater good", but it still boils down to forcing someone else to live under your rules and perceptions of society, civility, and freedom.

More to come...

Way too many rainy/sunny CA Christmas holidays. I needed a snow fix and I got it. Spent Christmas with Alicia's parents on our property in Montana. It stayed at a constant 22 degrees and that was OK. I finally got to shoot my LEGALLY acquired and registered firearms - good. Now I must hit the local range. I also got to help cut up a deer. At least my father -in-law gutted it first! Also tasted venison for the first time - yummo!

Lots of "change" to come in 2010...

And you wonder why I try to avoid Google as much as I can...

ARTICLE

Hell, I'll say it loud and proud: Happy Veterans Day!