Another Video You Should See - Your Government: Legislation

Here at the editorial desk of Everything is Backwards, our staff has the task to not only observe the many ways in which everything is backwards, but to also offer solutions.

Simplicity is the motto. Basically, you fix things, particularly governmental-type things, by doing the opposite of what's being done today. Let's say you observe that legislation is filled with unfamiliar phrases, unclear concepts and wrong assumptions about human nature. As a result, you have little understanding of the meaning of a law that you are required to abide by. No doubt you've heard of your responsibility as a citizen to obey all the laws, perhaps in person by a judge - "Ignorance of the law is no excuse."

Hmm. One wonders, Your Honor, how much time should be spent familiarizing oneself with the law, especially when just one piece of legislation number some 2000 pages and is written in a language that would be at home in an archeological dig, so removed is it from everyday linguistics, logic, and concepts. How about a law that merely opens the door for bureaucrats to write more law on the fly and transmogrifies two thousand pages into more than ten thousand pages?

Now imagine this being done every day.

One grossly misunderstood aspect of our unique form of government is that it's pretty much the exact opposite of all governments that came before it. In those other places, the government gave you permission to do something. Everything was prohibited unless you were given dispensation by the authorities. The government owned everything and if you were a good little subject, it just might let you live as you pleased, especially if you were its friend (or a relative).

The basis of American Exceptionalism is this concept, except backwards: we are free to live as we please unless there is a law, rule, or regulation that says otherwise. It's an unwritten rule, sorta.

Now, this doesn't mean that our leaders will always abide by it. Many in our own government don't seem to understand this simple concept and pat themselves on the back and claim that they're doing one helluva job in Washington because they're up there passing laws. If they truly held the notion of freedom in their heart, they'd be passing far fewer laws.

What they'd really do if they were genuinely interested in their fellow citizens and their God-given right to live freely, would be to review existing laws to see if they're still needed, and to repeal them if they weren't. This would also go for regulatory agencies.

An even better thing to do would be to include a sunset provision in each and every law that would require it to be re-enacted after, say, five years.

So, here's today's lesson, gentle readers: More laws = less freedom.

And, laws should be written clearly, in plain English. Most of today's laws are written by a cross between a lawyer and the Godfather: you get an offer you can't understand.

This is done on purpose. Heaven forfend that a law be written so that it can be easily understood by everyone. Who then would we pay to decipher it? How else would we know what to do to live in accordance to the law but pay a lawyer? What would our Supreme Court do?

Oh well, maybe one day we'll set everything right and get back to having some common sense in Washington.

Until then, here's Bill Whittle, our Virtual President, to expand on this idea. Enjoy.

 

 

 

The Fallacious Period of Man

If you or I were anthropologists, we might be tempted to look at this particular age with a jaundiced eye. Everywhere there are false claims, exaggerations, wild theories, misinformation and other evidence that something is missing. While that’s certainly nothing new, technology is enabling bullshit to be more widespread than ever.

I call this Man’s Fallacious Period. I’ve mentioned it before.

It’s not like we’re stupid or anything. Certainly there are and always have been intelligent people. The American Twentieth Century is an example of the world’s best and brightest people doing what they did best: dreaming of a better world and then bringing those dreams to fruition, thus raising the living standard of not only America but the world to levels never before thought possible, creating wealth for themselves and others in the process.

The most recent example of this was the late Steve Jobs.

But intermingled with all this was fallacy. In a way, Mr. Jobs helped to promote this, which is not to diminish his considerable contributions. He could be likened to the first person who harnessed fire. What you do with it after that is up to you.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the political arena. As candidates jockey for power, they say a great many things, some true, some not.

It’s along about here that I draw the analogy between facts and fire, and present, in no particular order, a few of these fallacies.

1. Capitalism is unfair.

2. Mankind is killing the planet.

3. The Tea Party is racist.

4. President Obama knows what he’s doing.

5. America is the world’s Bad Guy.

6. Lady Gaga is a shy, retiring, fashion maven.

I may have made that last one up.

Anyway, you get my point. We’re presented with a great many ideas, some good, some not so good. The question then becomes, “How do I tell the difference?”

In my experience, you need some sort of inner GPS system in order to navigate the seas of fallacies that crash across your bow and threaten to wash you overboard. It’s essential that you remove your emotional reaction from any decision. To quote that great philosopher/warrior Obi Wan Kenobi, your thoughts can deceive you, being as they are so closely linked to emotion. That’s the first thing.

Once free from the ravages of emotion, you can remain calm and take your time exploring as many sides of an issue as possible, testing them against your own experience and those of others. As I used to tell BackwardsBoy’sBoy, some mistakes are so big, you don’t need to make them yourself, you can watch what happens when someone else screws up to see the results. Sometimes, all you need to do is wait for the correct answer to come to you, as it inevitably will. Patience really is a virtue.

We’re currently having our beliefs tested against reality. What works? What fails? Even more importantly, am I seeing things accurately and truthfully?

I sure hope so.

And I hope the same thing for you.

Economics ala Obama - What Private Sector?

Good Monday mornin', y'all.

Economics has been referred to as "the dismal art." As it's being practiced by the Obama administration these days, that description hardly begins to describe it. Dismal is what we're seeing, hearing and feeling with every new economic report.

Every economic indicator that should be up is down, and vice-versa. There are record numbers of Americans living in poverty and on food stamps, record numbers of Americans out of work or working in jobs outside their chosen field for far less money than a few years ago. Inflation is way up, led by energy prices. One big reason for the high cost of groceries has to do with energy: we're using foodstuffs, primarily corn, for fuel.

The Obama administration concocted the Cash for Clunkers program that, while nice in theory, was a disaster in practice. Recently constructed vehicles were destroyed by the program, skewing the price of used vehicles and putting a reasonably priced used car out of reach for many Americans.

These are but two examples of the many wrong economic notions that this administration has glommed onto. It seems that Obama and his economic team have a penchant for pursuing all the wrong policies in trying to control our economy and get it back on its feet.

In short, Mr. President, you're doing it wrong.

It's not just the practices and false theories. There are plenty of those to go around. We're getting many lessons in what not to do. Destroying perfectly good vehicles isn't a good idea in any economy. Neither is using food for fuel, especially when we have vast reserves of oil and natural gas that we aren't allowed to harvest.

I fear is that, as we watch more and more questionable economic policies and theories being employed by Obama, we're in danger of forgetting how it's really done. We have some recent history to guide us in making sound economic decisions, but no one inside the Beltway seems to understand it.

This administration is teaching a valuable lesson to the nation. It's doing everything in its considerable power to alter our traditionally free market. These economic gurus and guru-ettes have studied every sort of cockamamie economic theory except the one that works. And the one thing that would work would be removing the shackles of government from the market.

Capitalism is being strangled to death. And the very same ones doing the strangling are more than happy to say that capitalism doesn't work. Indeed, how can it when the Obama administration is busy churning out more and more regulations by the day? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I get queasy when I see what the White House is doing. I'm past the idea that this is the cause of incompetence. After nearly three years, these people know what they're doing. They're trying to permanently alter our economic system so it will never again function as intended. "Fundamental transformation" is the term they use, if I remember correctly.

I'm not alone in my assessment. This link from Hot Air says it all: The vast majority of Americans believe business and consumers are over-regulated. And this post from Fox News.com puts it into perspective...

From financial services to farming, plumbing to computer repair, business owners say new regulations have them so bogged down in compliance that it is hindering their ability to plan and expand for the coming years.

Even though President Obama recently acknowledged the need to minimize regulations, the number appears to be growing. Obama administration regulations on new business rose to 3,573 final rules in 2010, up from 3,503 in 2009 -- the equivalent of about 10 per week.




Indeed, the 2010 volume of the Federal Register, the "newspaper" of regulatory agencies, stands at an all-time record-high 81,405 pages composed of final rules, proposed rules, meeting notices and regulatory studies.


"There is something like 180 million words of binding federal law and regulation. It would take a lifetime just to read it," said Philip K Howard, founder of Common Good.

But this is only one mistake this administration is making. Of course, I'm assuming they really want the economy to perk up. It would seem that after nearly three years of wrong decisions and using flawed and erroneous economic theories, they would change course and embrace the free market.

Instead, they act as though the private sector doesn't even exist when it comes to creating jobs.

I just hope we don't forget completely how it's done, reviving the economy, that is. Ace had this story from NRO in the sidebar the other day. It's long, but well worth your time to read - Houston, we have a solution. It's an economic Tale of Two Cities. And speaking of Michigan, here's a stat I've never seen before, the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index. (Warning: the comments are NSFW, being as how they're Morons and all.)

And if you don't read anything else today, read this, also from Ace's sidebar - The Progressive and the Pencil.

At least there are a few people who remember how free market capitalistic economics is supposed to work.

We need to remind ourselves that what's currently happening to our economy need not happen. If we had the right people in the right places in Washington, we wouldn't be in the mess we find ourselves in today.

There is a right way to get our economy going again, to create jobs and wealth and tax revenue and everything else we need.

This administration refuses to do it.

"It's unpatriotic!"

A few quick things, I'm running late as usual this morning. Is there a way I can hook up a coffee IV and have it start about a half-hour before I get up? Submit your design in the comments.


Taking the President's Advice

Remember President Obama's Magical Misery Tour last week? He was asked by a farmer about the new avalanche of regulations about to come from on high. In a moment of high snark, the President advised the farmer to call the Agriculture Department about his concerns.

Well, somebody did, the results are here. Hilarity ensued.

Green Jobs? Shirley, you jest.

So, how's that "Green Economy" thingy working out for us? Not very well. But we knew that already. Why do otherwise intelligent lawmakers tend to believe what they're told by special interest groups instead of their own experience? We truly have the government we deserve.

Why we can't deal with criminals the good, old-fashioned way.

I always wondered when conventional wisdom concerning criminal activity changed from it being their fault to the fault of society. Now I know, and after you read it, you will too. How does such blatant bullshit become policy?

Robert A. Heinlein, man of vision.

Professor Glenn Reynolds runs this link all the time at Instapundit. I had never clicked on it until a few days ago. I highly recommend it.

And finally, intellectual and moral consistency are not President Obama's strong suits.

Presented without comment, but with a great deal of snark.



Enjoy this day, and be glad.

Another Real, Live, Blog Post

I'm starting to notice that I can't keep up with all the stuff going on, at least on the opinion side of it. Me, Alabama, slow, you know the drill.

And since variety is the spice of life, (and here I always thought it was Tiger Sauce, which is great on eggs, with a beer, which is the official after-gig breakfast) I thought all eight of you might enjoy another post that looks more like a real, live, blog. I kinda enjoy them too.

I watched Obama's presser yesterday about the budget negotiations. Several things struck me, chief among them is the very casual attitude of this President in general. The second thing I noticed was his overall demeanor, that of someone who suddenly discovers he's losing a very expensive hand of poker. I coulda swore I saw some genuine fear in his eyes there a few times. It was subtle to be sure, but still, I've learned to trust these little flashes of insight, however small they may be.

Another thing I've noticed about Obama is his intellectual inconsistency. He will literally say anything at any time on any subject to advance his power and his own sense of self. Here he is in 2009, saying that raising taxes in the middle of a recession is a bad idea. And here he is yesterday digging in his rhetorical heels about the need for a "balanced" approach to the debt problem, which means he wants to raise taxes dramatically to fund what we were told was a temporary increase in spending.

This lack of a consistent stance is indicative of a larger problem. Living in a swirl of thought like a fart in a hurricane is no way for President to be. However, he did once mention that he was a blank screen upon which the nation could project any political impression of him it wished. Um, maybe we thought we were looking in a mirror...

Obama speaks, the Dow drops. There's a bumper sticker in there somewhere.

My Senator, Marco Rubio, knocks it out of the park with this statement, "Everything is worse under Obama." Video at the link.

What President Obama Doesn't Understand About Americans and the Debt Ceiling Debate, from Fox News online. This is not an all-inclusive list, by the way.

Today is the day the bill to repeal the incandescent light bulb ban goes to a vote in Congress. You might want to give your legislator a call and recommend that he/she/it vote in favor. Also, George Bush, what in the hell were you thinking when you signed this bill?

Also, there's an important local vote out in Los Angeles today. Janice Hahn, who has been funneling money to local gang members, among other nefarious acts, must be defeated in her bid for the 36th California Congressional seat. All the sordid details are here. If you know anyone out there who lives in that district, please let them know about this and the importance of keeping her out of office. It's all of our civic duty.

OK, that about wraps it up for this edition of BlogBoy.

Unless, of course, you'd like a little space rock with some politics mixed in. If you've never heard of the band Klaatu, you are in for a real treat, especially if you like progressive music. This is one case in which the word "progressive" actually means something good. If you have a good sound system or headphones, crank it up.

To set this song up for you, it's about some space farers who travel around the universe in eighty days and happen upon the ruins of an ancient civilization about which next to nothing is known, except that they aren't around anymore.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Politzania.



Or, the Obama National Anthem.

A Pre-Friday Post Wherein This Looks Like a Real Blog

Another short post as I must lay my good friend to rest today. So instead of the usual biting insights into the state of American politics, I'll do my best Instapundit imitation for you. Kinda sorta.

First on the list is my favorite hangout, Ace of Spades HQ. Rumor has it that somebody named Andrew Breitbart likes the commenters there. That place is like mental Wheaties. Or going to a biker bar where all the patrons are Mensa members.

One of our own, The Wordy Bitch. Ima, you do realize we're probably related, since we're both from Alabama, don't you?

I know I'm in the minority as a conservative musician. Here's another one, Right Wing Rocker.

Here's a new site from the Cato Institute, Downsizing the Federal Government. And similar site, Dirty Spending Secrets.

When I get enough energy and time, I'll put these links in the sidebar.

Here's a few things I've been thinking about posting about. So much malfeasance, so little time...

Victor Davis Hanson's Fourth of July treatise, Liberal Frankensteins. Not Fronkenshteens?

Enemies. Here's a snippet...

These so-called “progressives” or “liberals” are not advocates of progress or liberty: they are enemies of them, and the sooner champions of liberty acknowledge what they are, the better our slim chances for defeating them will be.

I'm looking forward to more of this sentiment inside the hallowed halls of Congress.

What if the conventional wisdom about the energy future of America and the world has been completely wrong? This, however, sounds about right - the cost to transition to the so-called "green economy" is around $76T, with a "T", dollars.

Nancy Pelosi is still the least popular House leader. In other news, water is wet.

Yet another reason to fight Net Neutrality: Documents show the FCC coordinated with a far left-wing organization (is there any other kind?) on the rules. Gee, it's almost like the average American doesn't have a voice in Washington. And another thing, embedding YouTube videos may soon become a felony.

OK, gentle readers (of which one more is added to the roll this week, thanks), click and enjoy while I attend to familial duties here.

My friends are my family.

I Am America and I Must Speak

I am America.
You are my people. In a way, you are my children.

I’d like to have a talk with you.

I’ve been rather quiet lately, but I’ve noticed that there are a more than a few of you who don’t have a very good opinion of me. Some of you have been misinformed. You don’t seem to be aware of history.

I’d like to set the record straight, if I may.

I’m the world’s oldest standing government. My constitution hasn’t been substantially changed in over two hundred years. I have some authority from which to speak.

Before I was born, governments operated from a simple premise: people needed the permission of their leaders before they were allowed to do anything. There was no standard the people could rely on when it came to conducting their lives. Their monarch was the law. Whatever he or she felt like doing, no matter how outrageous, was the law of the land, usually under the penalty of death.

I was different. The people who built me had a new idea about government. They were the first in the world to wonder if mankind could rule himself. Power, which is what government is all about, would belong to the people. They would gather and agree on the rules they wanted to live by, and hold elections to appoint someone who would guarantee their rules were made into law and that those laws were enforced.

What made me special was that I would be small. Although I had power, I used it sparingly and only with great trepidation. I was made not to interfere with the lives of my people, as all before me had done. I was designed to leave people alone and let them live as they saw fit. I was to be a silent guardian of rights, used only when necessary, and with the approval of all.

My laws were basic. They were drawn from mankind’s observation that there is a way of life that is decent and good, one that leads to peace if those laws of life are followed. My laws were constructed around the Ten Commandments of Judaism, for these were found to be the best yardsticks by which to live. They were administered with the compassion that marks the Christian faith.

Yes, I am a Christian country. The men who built me were men of God. They didn’t try to hide their faith. Instead, the sought to codify the good things they found in it. They wanted their faith in God to be the foundation of a government that would let people be truly free. The men who built me would never live to see their labors come to fruition, but the tree of liberty which they planted would become great with time, and bear much fruit for the whole earth, the fruit of freedom. Sweet if eaten with humility, bitter if eaten to excess. Always to be tended by a Master Gardener and held fast in the belly of Man.

My people had freedom enshrined in their government for the first time in history. And they made the best of it, both for themselves and for others.

This made me unpopular with those who had become accustomed to power. From my birth, I was criticized. They said I could never work. They said that man was far too flawed, that he needed the firm hand of a ruler in order to thrive.

I proved them wrong.

I showed the rest of the world what man could do when he was free to follow his conscience.

I attracted the best and the brightest people from around the world. Many people came to me penniless, and I filled their purse with freedom. Many came to me destitute; I filled their cupboards abundantly, asking nothing in return except that they preserve the foundation upon which I was built.

As time passed, I gave more of myself than anyone who came before me. From me came a new way of life and many blessings.

My scientists gave the world new medicines. Plagues became a thing of the past. Water became clean. Mankind began living longer, better lives.

My engineers gave the world new technology. From me came modernity. I gave you automobiles, airplanes and washing machines, computers, television and radio. I gave you the best products at the lowest cost.

Travel to other lands that once took months can now happen in one day. You are better clothed and fed than anyone in history. You know more than anyone who came before you. I did this to show you the lessons of history, so that you wouldn’t make the same mistakes again.

I gave you more time to spend with the ones you love. I gave you a prosperity that no one on Earth had known before. The world is better off because of me.

Even in war, I was different. Many times, I’ve been called upon to right wrongs and to stop the advance of evil. I could have done what others had done, and remained as a conqueror in those foreign lands, but I did not. Many times, I have rebuilt those whom I have warred against. I always returned to my home and left other countries better than I found them. If I chose, I could claim far more land as my own.

My blood has been spilled all over the world for the cause of freedom. But I value freedom above power.

I thought I had proven myself.

I see I was wrong.

Instead of adopting my ways and imitating my success, others continued on the path of power, not freedom. With a loud voice, they continued to condemn me. They act as if I have done nothing to improve the lot of man.

I’ve had my faults. No country is perfect. But because of the way I was made, I can correct those faults. And I have done so many times.

But that’s not enough for those who claim false things against me. Although I am still a beacon of freedom for the world as evidenced by the many waiting to become Americans, there are those who live within me who say I am not what I have proven myself to be.

They say that I oppress, that I stifle, and that I smother. They say that my foundation is no longer strong. It’s outdated and not modern enough for the times.

The world has changed, they say, and I haven’t kept up with it. I find that somewhat amusing, for it was I who changed the world.

My enemies are determined to transform me into something that I was never intended to become. My enemies want me to become like the rest of the world. They want my people to be far less free than I want them to be.

My enemies are those who seek their power over my people.

They have managed to poison the tree of liberty with lies and deceit. They have twisted the minds of my children and taught them that I am somehow wrong. They call me a thief. They say I stole land from my neighbors. They act as though treaties I signed in good faith were no longer valid.

Not content with that, my enemies have posed as my people and taken up residence within my halls, scheming and planning my demise from the very ground upon which I was born. In the same place where I once was praised, I am now condemned. Where once I was defended, I am now given over to my enemy, tyranny, and its handmaiden, misery.

Those who claim to do my work and continue my legacy are busy making more and more laws every day with which to restrict the freedom of my people. Those who truly loved me would never want to bind my people, for they are their neighbors. They would act with restraint, loathe to enact another law.

To them I ask…

How many laws are enough?

How much tax is enough?

How much power is enough?

I fear. I fear for my liberty. I fear for my life.

I fear that I am no longer loved by my own children to whom I have given so much. They were born in my land, nurtured from my bosom and given opportunities they now take for granted, smug in the belief that those rights of freedom and liberty can never be taken away. They think they are superior to me because they believe what the rest of the world believes.

I was never like the rest of the world. I don’t wish to become like it now, nor ever.

To my enemies, I say leave me, and my people, in peace.

I ask no more than that.

If you are discontent with the blessings I’ve bestowed upon you, you are free to go live in a place more suited to your values. I’ve opened up the world to you. I won’t force you to stay with me as others do.

See how the rest of the world lives and ask yourself who has the better life. Open your eyes to the wonder of the world I’ve done so much to fashion in the mold of freedom.

See for yourself what I have done.

Decide for yourself.

You are free.

Bin Laden’s Death and Postmodernism

We knew this was coming. Not bin Leaden’s ultimate demise, but the unfortunate and all-too-predictable reaction from the usual subjects concerning his death. The last bubbles had hardly surfaced before some people started their America-bashing, claiming that we were the big, bad bullies for personally arranging Osama’s final dinner date with those 72 sturgeons. Even in countries that have experienced their own attacks at the direction of that animal, they strove mightily to establish their position on the highest moral ground by claiming that OBL’s death was illegal, immoral, and fattening. It even violated some international law.

I call bullshit, as you probably have too.

I’m terribly sorry to anyone who may be offended by my joy over the death of bin Leaden, but I'm not apologizing to anyone for it. We needed it. The world needed it. Nothing brightens my day like knowing the world has one less practitioner of evil in it. The birds sing a little sweeter at the thought that my five-year-old granddaughter doesn’t have to live in fear of him, and that one day, she’ll ask me who that bad man was. I’ll tell her and give her all the details I think she can handle.

The most important lesson I want to give her is that there are good people and there are bad people in this world. Good people do good things and bad people do bad things. Killing people is a bad thing, but killing a bad person is a good thing because it stops them from doing bad things to good people.

It really is just that simple. What surprises me is there are big people who can’t grasp that simple concept. And a few of them proudly proclaimed their misguided beliefs in the wake of bin Leaden’s death.

At which point I wondered, “What part of good and evil do you not understand?”

Amidst the moral universe in which we live, there are seemingly as many beliefs as there are stars in the evening sky. Well, maybe not that many, but there are an awful lot of them, and a lot of them are awful.

Bigfoot. Space aliens. The Loch Ness Monster. Keynesian economics. Political correctness. Multiculturalism, where all cultures are equally good. We need to spend money to keep from going bankrupt.

All popular beliefs and all of them wrong.

Yet there is one Big Wrong Belief that acts like an umbrella covering all the other ones from the cleansing rain of reality. You may have heard of it. It goes by the name of Postmodernism.

Sounds trendy, huh? Want to prove to your friends that you are terminally hip? Just say that you’ve been studying up on the latest philosophical craze, postmodernism. Your friends will be amazed.

Unless they know what it is. Then, what your friends will marvel at is your intellectual shallowness and infantile need for approval, not to mention your self-esteem issues for falling for the oldest trick in the book, in addition to being just plain stupid.

For the uninitiated, postmodernism is the basic belief that there is no such thing as good or evil. Following that, no decision you make or action you take is wrong. So, to coin a phrase, just do it. It’s all good. Nothing matters and what if it did?

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Since there’s no right or wrong, you’re free to live life on your own terms without that stodgy old thing called morals that the lesser humans babble on about. You’re a true intellectual, yes you are. You can now move on to other things, like splitting those pesky atoms with your mind and putting all those scientists at CERN to shame.

Silly humans.

If you’re not up to speed on this concept, do yourself a favor and search out a few articles on it. If you have any experience at all in the real world, you will rightly question anyone who buys into postmodernism. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it’s just codified insanity. The scary part about it is, there are a lot of folks who believe it, and too many of them hold political office. Cass Sunstein springs immediately to mind.

If you believe in PoMo, you are actively disengaging your own conscience. Control freaks like Sunstein have no problem with the idea of controlling other people because of it. All they need to do is point to how popular PoMo is (in certain circles) and voila! No need for any explanation and certainly no need to answer the questions that inevitably arise when you find out that there is someone in Washington whose fondest desire is to “nudge” you into a certain behavior.

Nor is there any need to explain the oft-cited stratospheric certitude that “One death diminishes us all.” Really? Bin Laden’s death diminished us? In what way? We killed a mass murderer. We killed someone who encouraged others to kill us for the crime of being non-muslim. We killed someone who hated us for breathing. Sorry, but out here in the real world, we must occasionally kill rabid animals for everyone's safety.

And we’re the ones who were wrong to kill him? Some of these fake bleeding hearts wanted him arrested and tried for his crimes. The idiocy of that proposal defies all logic and probably a few laws of physics, too.. While we’re playing mind games, let’s imagine for a moment what would have happened had we held the World’s Biggest Show Trial for bin Laden. He would’ve had the stage for his beliefs, the trial likely would've lasted for many years forcing the survivors of 9/11 to relive that horrible day over and over, there would be terror attacks and millions of dollars spent on security, the defense would have presented all manner of excuses for his behavior and would have retired after their books were published. It would’ve been a debacle of global proportions, just like OBL would have wanted it.

So, thanks once again to Seal Team 6, wherever and whoever you may be. You did the world a favor, and we owe you our gratitude.

As for the America bashers here and abroad, take your moral relativism and shove it, along with your stupid beliefs.

US Drowning in a Sea of Debt by Design

As the budget battle in Washington takes shape, one thing is becoming painfully clear. It’s a question that has been lurking in the corners of everyone’s mind. And now, faced with the simple, stark choice of increasing or decreasing the size of the federal government, it can no longer be avoided.

This binary argument seems to be too simple for many career politicians to comprehend. The answer is either a “yes” or a “no.” One answer will lead to our destruction; the other will start to turn us toward prosperity once again.

After two years of Obama and his hard-left enablers in the Congress, our economy is in shambles. More money has been spent by them than by any Congress or president in our nations’ history, using the excuse that massive amounts of tax money was needed to pull us out of the most severe recession any of us have ever seen. TARP, the Stimulus, Cash for Clunkers and the takeovers of the healthcare, student loan and banking industries have resulted in a sea of red ink.

The world’s financial sharks are circling, smelling our nations’ life-blood in the water, waiting for our ship of state to sink so they can feast upon our remains.

Oh, and a happy Monday to you all.

This is a problem of our own making. Can there be any doubt that we’ve chosen people to represent our interests in Washington with all the thought that goes into the purchase of a pack of chewing gum? Big Spending Progressives with no real understanding of free market economics have ruled the waves. They have repeatedly violated all the know laws of economics and have brought us to this sad point in our history. One expensive and intrusive government program after another has effectively done what no foreign fighting force could ever hope to accomplish.

They have brought us to our knees.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’ll repeat a few of the numbers. Regular readers will already know these things, as I try to keep you all informed of the things you won’t hear on the evening news reports. You need to tell your friends and keep reminding them that things don’t have to be this way. We could have pulled out of this recession long ago: it’s the lack of leadership we have in Washington that is directly to blame for our continuing troubles.

We could have low gasoline prices, but President Obama is actively preventing us from exploring our rich natural resources. He would rather help Brazil drill for oil with $2B of our tax dollars.

We could have lower prices at the grocery store, but the Fed is pumping dollars into the economy recklessly in an attempt to inflate our way out of  debt.

Food prices are rising in part because of the misguided emphasis on unproven energy ideas that are subsidizing corn for use in our gas tanks instead of oil, resulting in higher feed grain prices for meat along with every other food that uses corn in any form.

Jobs are being displaced as the costs of doing business rise because of increasing rules and regulations imposed upon small companies. Add to this the overt hostility to “big business” and “the rich” that is contained in every speech that Obama gives. His demagoguery of the Ryan budget plan was full of it.

Class warfare is being used against us to divide and conquer. Those of us who are old enough to remember when we all wanted to be rich, because we could be, now stare in disbelief at a president who openly criticizes the creation of wealth and the demonizes wealth-creators as an enemy, while Al Qaeda and muslim extremism is not. I cannot fathom the enthusiasm of anyone who has been without work for years cheering his of speech.

High unemployment, the reporting of which is skewed by the numbers of unemployed who have dropped off the state’s rolls, record numbers of Americans in poverty and on food stamps, an anemic GDP projection of 1.5% all spell economic doom for which there are solutions, but this administration will not embrace.

What this administration does embrace is immature blaming and finger pointing. While actively preventing a recovery, they seek to lay blame on the dread George Bush for getting us into the mess that they cannot seem to get out of. Sorry Barry, after two years, you own this economy, and somebody needs to tell you, You’re Doing It Wrong.

So, we’re back to The Question. Since Americans are a forgiving nation, we have waited patiently to see whether Washington and this administration would do all the things it promised when it was elected in 2008. As things deteriorated, we waited some more, thinking that eventually Democrats would wake up to the facts that the rest of us know and start turning the economy around by opening up our domestic oil fields for production and loosening the reins on the business community to release the flow of private sector activity that will lift us out of this Obama Depression.

We wondered whether it was incompetence on their part, or naivety. They’ve had two years to accomplish their goals, and it seems as if they are doing what they planned.

We wondered if the continued harm they are inflicting upon our economy was deliberate. After Obama’s speech last week blasting Ryan’s budget plan, there can be no further doubt.

This is being done to us on purpose.

Let the Games Begin – Obama Launches His 2012 Reelection Campaign

(h/t Ace of Spades HQ)

This video can barely contain all the enthusiasm. Confidence virtually drips from the monitor. Can you feel the Hope, or maybe that’s the Change, it’s hard to tell.

The script is telling, coming almost exclusively from women,

“The last couple of elections have been almost turning point campaigns.”

“Kinda nervous about it.”

“I think it needs to reflect the changes we’ve seen in the last two and a half years.”

“I can’t not be involved. There’s just too much too much that’s fundamentally important right now that’s going on.”

“I don’t agree with Obama on everything, but I respect him and I trust him.”

Well, Ed from North Carolina, right there’s your mistake…



The rest of those well-rehearsed lines contain about as much intelligence as one can expect from an Obama supporter: There’s no “there” there. Vapid, rambling, bordering on incoherent, all in all, it’s the perfect Obama campaign ad.

Three years ago, all this worked on an unsuspecting country. After eight years of continuous Bush-bashing by the MBM (Make Believe Media), we’d been softened up to the point where Bill the Dead Cat could’ve won the election.

We got his cousin instead.

While the DNC and Obama think they can get by this time with more gauzy platitudes and indistinct goals, the rest of us know better. We have a bit more data with which to measure this administration.

Here’s a short list:

Avg. retail price/gallon gas in U.S.

01-09 $1.83

Today $3.104

+69.6%

Crude oil, European Brent (barrel)

01-09 $43.48

Today $99.02

+127.7%

Crude oil, West TX Inter. (barrel)

01-09 $38.74

Today $91.38

+135.9%

Gold: London (per troy oz.)

01-09 $853.25

Today $1,369.50

+60.5%

Corn, No.2 yellow, Central IL

01-09 $3.56

Today $6.33

+78.1%

Soybeans, No. 1 yellow, IL

01-09 $9.66

Today $13.75

+42.3%

Sugar, cane, raw, world, lb.

01-09 $13.37

Today $35.39

+164.7%

Unemployment rate, non-farm, overall

01-09 7.6%

Today 9.4%

+23.7%

Unemployment rate, blacks

01-09 12.6%

Today 15.8%

+25.4%

Number of unemployed

01-09 11,616,000

Today 14,485,000

+24.7%

Number of fed. employees, ex. military (curr = 12/10 prelim)

01-09 2,779,000

Today 2,840,000

+2.2%

Real median household income (2008 v 2009)

01-09 $50,112

Today $49,777

-0.7%

Number of food stamp recipients (curr = 10/10)

01-09 31,983,716

Today 43,200,878

+35.1%

Number of unemployment benefit recipients (curr = 12/10)

01-09 7,526,598

Today 9,193,838

+22.2%

Number of long-term unemployed

01-09 2,600,000

Today 6,400,000

+146.2%

People in poverty in U.S. (2008 v 2009)

2008 39,800,000

2009 43,600,000

+9.5% in one year!

U.S. rank in Economic Freedom World Rankings

01-09 5

Today 9

National debt, in trillions

01-09 $10.627

Today $14.052

+32.2%

In light of two years of Obama, this ad is much better:



Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

What He Said, He Being VDH

Much has been written about the Tea Party movement. Those within it (and I count myself) are naturally enamored with it while those in opposition view it more like a trip to the zoo. Understand that I'm not a member, since there seems to be no mechanism for membership. Also, there seems to be no national leader, no organizational chart and no bulging bank account. Hence, attempts to define a movement that has no clear definition is proving to be a daunting task, even for the most erudite among us.

Enter one Victor Davis Hanson. From his perch overlooking his vineyards, this history professor is one of the leading voices of conservatism. For those who are unfamiliar with his work, he can be found over at Pajamas Media. Here's a link to his recent posts.

In this post Where Did the Tea Party Anger Come From? he gives us his take on the Tea Party and makes some salient points about the country along the way.

He answers his question early on:

There is a growing sense that government is what I would call a new sort of Versailles — a vast cadre of royal state and federal workers that apparently assumes immunity from the laws of economics that affect everyone else.

If I were up on my European history, I might be familiar with his example. I'll just conclude that this sort of dissatisfaction with the overreach of the Obama administration is nothing new.

But at some point — perhaps triggered by the radical increase in the public sector under Obama, the militancy of the SEIU, or the staggering debts — the public snapped and has had it with whining union officials and their political enablers who always threaten to cut off police and fire protection if we object that there are too many unproductive, unnecessary, but too highly paid employees at the Social Service office.

Ooooh, that's good. And accurate.

There is another Tea Party theme that those who play by the rules are being had, from both the top and bottom.

More accuracy right there.

As goes California, so goes the nation?

There is a sense of futility: new higher taxes won’t lower the deficit and won’t improve infrastructure or public service. Much of it will go to redistributive plans that, the middle believes, will only, fairly or not, acerbate social problems. In California there is a sense (born out by statistics) that we lack a civil and humane public culture brought on by two often neglected facts: a small cadre of overpaid public employees ensures that we don’t have the money for continuance of basic public services; and, second, we feel our tax money is going to redistributive entitlements rather than focused on improving a collapsing infrastructure of dams, canals, freeways, airports, and trains.

Since his article is rather lengthy, I'll quote the passage that really got my attention. It concerns the steady drip of the loss of respect, for the nation and its people and values. We're not the country that some in the media think we are. We're still humble, honorable, and honest. The problem is that we've allowed ourselves to be taken in by the sweet nothings whispered in our ears by self-serving politicians.

It's not our system that needs a change. It was originally designed to be operated by fellow citizens who understand that they are working for other fellow citizens. In other words, our Founders relied on the wisdom of the average American to keep the government from growing too big for its britches. But progressives have sought to undermine the foundation of the country by feeding us a message that we're a country we're not. Now, as the Tea Party emerges as a movement comprised primarily of average Americans, we hear the same lies being trotted out by those who seek to see us submit to our alleged betters.

Here's what really jumped from the monitor:

Somehow we forget that we are in the 21st century with our multitude of cell-phones, laptops, no-down-payment new car leases, big-screen TVs, cheap food, and accessible rent that have permeated all society and given the proverbial underclass appurtenances that only the very rich of the 1960s could have dreamed of. Yet the Dickensian rhetoric has only intensified. There is rarely any acknowledgment of the public’s investment in anti-poverty programs or of its efforts to promote social equality. Instead, an overtaxed electorate is constantly reminded of its unfairness and its moral shortcomings. (I just left a multimillion dollar ICU unit in Fresno, where I was visiting a relative. Over a third of the visitors there did not seem to speak English, and so I was impressed by the public generosity that extends such sophisticated care to those who that day seemed largely to have arrived here recently from Mexico. The notion that a visitor to Mexico could walk into such a unit in Mexico City and get instant, free — and quality — care is, well, inconceivable. Yet politicians talk of our heartlessness, not our generosity.)

(emphasis mine)

If you're new to VDH, this article is a good introduction. If you're already a fan, this is one of his better posts. As they say, read it all.