Government Design, or How We Lost Our Freedoms

Legislatures pass laws. What are laws? They are the limits placed upon each person to have a properly functioning and livable society. Now when these legislatures pass these laws they designate a particular agency to enforce them. For the purposes of this post this writer will group all these enforcement agencies as "the government."

The governments enforces these laws by taking something away from the law breakers. These could be money, property, freedom, even the life of the lawbreaker. In short, governments are designed to take something away from the citizens. If a person asks or demands that the government provide something the government will take something more valuable than it provides. The government will also provide only what THEY THINK YOU NEED, not what you want.

The government also demands the citizens provide a plethora of information. We gladly provide this information. Much of what we do in our lives must be transmitted to the government. We have to register, certify, or license nearly every aspect of our personal lives. Registration and licensing are just permissions to the government to take something away, specifically whatever one registers with them.

For example, take away descriptors of individuals and just say "person." Rather than talking about denying same sex marriage ask, "Who is denying whom from marrying?" The government. How? We are required to be licensed to marry. Denying the license is taking something away from the citizens. Registration acts the same way. Why does the government need to know? Is for statistical purposes? No, it's so the government knows what, where, and how many items they can take when they get the order to do so.

By just cooperating with the government every time they demand you fill out a form, pass a regulation, or the legislature passes new laws, we all lose more of our freedoms. This writer believes the next heroes will be those leaders who can reduce the laws, regulations, and forms that they impose upon the citizenry.

Conservative radio hosts should SHUT UP!!!!!

I have noticed a trend about how these supposedly conservative talk radio hosts feel about the "electability" of some of the Republican presidential candidates. Every candidate from the eastern time zone has real potential. Anyone from the Central, Mountain, Pacific, or Alaska time zones are unelectable. They even espouse the qualifications of of New Jersey governor Chris Christie, a guy who is virtually unknown except for his name outside of the I-95 corridor. And to be honest, the first time I heard his name as far as being presidential material I thought of the recently deceased piano player from the 80's.

Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, and the others need to take a road trip (stay off the airplane) and visit these other time zones for several MONTHS. They need to get away from NYC for a very long time and understand that what they are saying about these candidates are not what we know about them.

President Biden

Operation Gunrunner, as reported by CBS News, could result in charges against President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. Or at least they should be charged. President Nixon was ran out of the White House for less. This failure resulted in the killing of TWO law enforcement officers (so far).

Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was the first known victim. Recently an Immigration & Customs Enforcement agent was slain by one of these firearms. It is these deaths which should result in the removal from office of both Holder & Obama.

To be fair Operation Gunrunner was a Bush administration program. It was designed to trace guns purchased by straw purchasers to the point of export. However, the operation was designed to never allow any guns from leaving the United States. Operation Gunrunner was continued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (BATFE) and expanded with the addition of Operation Fast & Furious where firearms were allowed into Mexico, supposedly tracked to the end user. The problem is that, once in Mexico, agents lost track of the firearms.

One could ask why were they let loose. This writer believes it's Obama's way to ensure the claim that 90% of all guns used by the Mexican drug cartels came from the U.S. That way he can begin his anti-gun legislative push in earnest. Due to the economy tanking he has not been able to do it. He's getting a late start, even fooling some pro-gun people to think that he was not going to address gun control. However, after the 2010 elections he started to get some push-back from anti-gun supporters. When he failed to mention gun-control in his State of the Union message after Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was nearly assassinated, the anti-gunners started looking for someone to run against him. He may have decided NOT to mention gun-control because he knew this was about to blow up on him.

Currently removing President Obama is not practical. That vote would have to come from a supportive Democrat-controlled Senate. But if it were possible then the headline would become true. That is scary.

The Left are today’s Bigots

BIG'OTED, a. Obstinately and blindly attached to some creed, opinion, practice or ritual; unreasonably devoted to a system or party, and illiberal towards the opinions of others.  (New York: Webster’s English Dictionary, 1828.)  (Emphasis mine.)

I have listened to some recent (post mid-term election) liberal commentators.  I have also ran into several liberals in my daily life.  After hearing their comments or rants about conservatives I conclude they are the most bigoted people in America!

There is a perverse hatred towards people like Sarah Palin.  Admittedly there are some in conservative circles who dislike and, yes, even hate Barack Obama.  The difference is Mrs. Palin no longer holds any office.  In many ways she is at the same level as other political pundits.  Mr. Obama on the other hand is the President of the United States.  He literally has the power to beneficently or adversely affect every American’s life for years to come PLUS he has the added responsibility of representing America and her people to the world.  Some people, including this writer, do not like how he is performing in his responsibilities.

Yet if you were to ask liberals to point out bigotry they would invariably call out conservatives and Republicans. I have been called racist because I’m conservative.  In my experience once someone uses ad hominems they dismiss and ignore any points of arguments stated by the opponent. 

This writer objects to conservative talk radio hosts using ad hominems whether it be against entire groups (“femi-Nazis” by Rush Limbaugh) or individuals (“Nazi Pelosi” by Rusty Humphries).  No matter what justification they use for their favorite pet names the fact is that it shuts down valid debate of ideas. 

This writer contends that conservatives do not have the answers to this country’s problems and neither do the liberals.  But taking the best of liberal solutions and marrying them to the best of conservative solutions will resolve all the issues at hand.  It will not be the best for everyone but it will move us forward to a better America now and in the future.

No Agenda—Great podcast

Thought I would give a shout-out to a fun podcast called “No Agenda.”  It’s hosted twice each week, Thursday and Sunday, by Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak.  It is about two hours long and they cover pop culture, politics, even conspiracy theories.

R. I. P. Flying J

On July first a cruel hoax was played on the American trucker—Pilot bought Flying J Travel Centers.  Unfortunately its not a hoax.  For those of you who have not had the pleasure of visiting “the hook”  these locations, more than 200 across North America, they offered pretty good food in their full service restaurants, roomy showers with soft towels, a good sized TV lounge, and several games in the game room.  They were the FIRST truckstop chain to offer Wi-Fi throughout their network.

Pilot, on the other hand, has just fast food, only a few showers that are barely what one would consider clean, towels you could use to sand wood, no TV lounge, no games, and their version of Wi-Fi is spotty at best.  While Flying J’s parking lots were huge (typically more than 100 parking spots), Pilot’s lots are small (less than 20 spots).

Pilot has purchased other truckstops and every one of them was ruined when they took over.  If it wasn’t for Pilot offering deep discounts to major fuel users such as large trucking companies they would have been out of business a long time ago.

Only Winners deserve to Win

This writer has listened to many conservative commentators claim that there is no room for third parties.  According to them there should be only Democrats and Republicans.  Using their standards only the New York Yankees would win the World Series, only the Green Bay Packers win the Lombardi Trophy, only the Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup, and only the Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA Championship.

Let’s face it:  the major parties do not “deserve” any vote they did not earn.  If the voters’ concerns are not adequately addressed by the major parties but are addressed by a minor party that minor party deserves the vote. 

Reasonable Golf Laws

So many anti-gunners complain that the NRA and gun owners object to "reasonable gun laws." Their idea of reasonable are those ideas proposed by people who hate guns! Well, I do not golf. Using their logic I am well-qualified to propose the new laws of golf:

1. Golfers can purchase no more than one club per month.
2. All club purchases must go through a ten-day waiting period.
3. If you are found to have ever cursed, cussed, or threw or destroyed a club, ball, or bag you shall be denied to purchase any club or balls.
4. Golfers are limited to purchasing one ball per month and may possess no more than three balls in the bag.
5. No shaft can be longer than 28 inches nor any shorter than 12 inches.
6. No shaft can be made or used that is not made from metal.
7. No club head can weigh more than 2 ounces.
8. Sand wedge angle can be no greater than 20 degrees from vertical.
9. All shafts, club heads, and balls will be micro-stamped with a unique serial number that will be registered with Federal Golfing authorities.
10. The loss or theft of any golf equipment must be reported to law enforcement within 24 hours of the incident. Failure to do so shall be a Federal felony with no less than 5 years in federal prison and no less than $25,000 fine per incident.
11. All golfers must be members of a registered and certified golf association. No independent golfers shall be allowed to own, possess, or play golf.
12. No private sales of golf equipment shall be allowed. All sales or transfers of equipment shall occur with Federally-registered golf retailer.
13. No golf club shall have the capacity strike the ball further than 75 yards, the typical distance the word "fore" can be heard clearly in windless conditions before the ball arrives. All golfers shall reduce their striking distances when any wind of any speed is detected.
14. No person shall be allowed to play or practice golf before the age of 21 nor after the age of 60.
15. No golf courses can occupy more than one standard city block.
16. To preserve a valuable resource golf courses shall have no water hazards and shall be limited to watering the grass once per week.
17. In the spirit of levelling the playing field all golf courses shall have straight and level fairways and greens with no deviation from level.
18. To reduce the danger of the game all hazards and obstacles shall be removed from the course.
19. No golfer shall have any aggressive-looking emblems on bags, balls, clubs or shafts.
20. All golfers must use their real names on all registration papers and scorecards. No golfer shall use nicknames of any type including, not not limited to dangerous animals such as bear, shark, or tiger.
21. Any violation of any of the above reasonable laws shall result in a lifetime ban from golf in addition to any other penalties proscribed in these regulations or in the future by authority.

President Obama

I know I have not posted in awhile because I wanted to be fair to our new President. I wanted to be sure if my original misgivings were valid. I am here to say they were not. It is even worse!

Yes, Barack Obama is the first black president. He is more African-American than most other African-Americans. He cannot claim any affiliation to slavery.

He is also the first President to fire a Chief Executive Officer of a corporation, order companies to divest of certain operations, make the government major owners of publicly traded companies, tell executives of other companies how much they can make, and basically try to micromanage the economy. The last president who did that, Jimmy Carter, made things worse. Every president who has tried to micromanage the economy made it worse.

This president is attempting to take us down the road to Socialism. What gets me are the number of Democrats who did not see this coming. I have spoken to several former Obama supporters who told me this is not what they thought they were getting. I met a gentleman, a union worker, who was scraping the Obama/Biden bumper sticker off his car. He told me that the President's policies cost him his job and his home. WOW!

At the end of his first 100 days, Obama's approval ratings were lower than any other president in the history of American political polling. He is still dropping. When Pres. Bush left office last January, 3 out of 10 Americans believed he did a good job. At the rate Pres. Obama is declining he will be half of that by the end of his term.

Many conservatives already are predicting just one term for him. They believe that the disgust for Pres. Bush will have subsided. However, if the Republicans do not nominate a truly conservative candidate in 2012 then there will be no hope to defeat him anyway.

There were plenty of truly conservative candidates but they were all deemed "unelectable." As it turned out, the Republican nominee, John McCain, was unelectable anyway. The Republicans need to tighten up on their nominating process. Or, better yet, get out of the way of the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party. They both know how to find some really qualified conservative candidates.

The Kenyan takes over

Well, this is the day that Barack Obama (The Kenyan) takes  office.  I truly fear for my rights, freedoms, and liberties.