Saturday, December 26, 2009

The Gray Society

Like so many other liberals, my daughter-in-law doesn’t see it coming yet. But I’m fighting to save her children (my granddaughters) from the uniformity and dullness of The Gray Society that appears to be in their future. She, like so many other Democratic/Socialists probably thinks people who share my — newly ignited and suddenly radical — political passion are misinformed, misguided Astroturf Tea Partiers. That’s what she’s been told and she probably believes it. For the sake of family harmony this — and several other topics — are taboo.

But those who are relying on the messages and advice of our mainstream media are the ones who are misinformed and misguided, as a few are beginning to discover. They are the pawns in a great socialist movement. Those of us who can think independently are this country’s only hope.

If all goes according to the socialist plan, this is what I foresee (and fear) for my granddaughters:

• A country full of safety nets. No one will be able to fall too far. But no one will be able to achieve too much.

• A country of mediocrity. No one will be expected to accomplish much. And no one will.

• A society with no risks and no rewards.

• A community of sameness and homogenization, lacking extreme happiness and extreme grief. The highs of life will have been removed along with the lows.

• A politically correct society in which no one ever offends or challenges anyone or anything. A society in which “diversity” has come to mean “sameness.”

• A country of vapid television reporters/government mouthpieces supported by government stipends and having no competition.

• A country in which the proletariat works to support the ruling class with government jobs being the only “good jobs” and “secure jobs” left, one in which voting for the ruling political party is the best way to protect those jobs.

• A country in which the government runs everything (banks, auto manufacturers, utility companies, schools, news media, insurance, doctors, hospitals, and air transportation) as well as it runs the postal system, the railroads, and the welfare system.

• A country with crushingly expensive but nonetheless bad health care for all (or most anyway).

• A country with Russian-style education in which the ruling class determines what’s real and what will be included in the curriculum.

• A society in which only the criminals have guns and other countries have destructive weapons (that’s OK, we’ll meet with and talk to them).

• A country in which the wilderness is protected as a park and people are completely safe there in a Disney-like cocoon. There will be rationed time slots for visitors, so it’s never crowded (sign up now).

• A society of absolute security for most and unending dullness and sameness for all, one of no worry but also of no joy.

• A country of 1984-speak duplicitousness and misinformation provided by the media and big government.

• A country in which food, fuel, and entertainment are rationed, hyper-taxed to prevent many from buying (or from buying too much), or simply unavailable.

• A country of oppressive dept. My granddaughters and their fellow proletariat (including those lucky enough to land the “good government jobs”) will work to support their government and have little to show for their efforts. They’ll have exactly what everyone else has. Perhaps they won’t realize what they’re missing.

• A country of cities, mass transit, community-think, and stifling sameness. One for all and all alike.

• A country in which all forms of energy have been limited or capped so travel becomes impossible, creating a country with inhabitants who are insular and whose ideas are inbred.

• A society in which the proletariat is manipulated not so much by the thought-police as by their friends and neighbors who know what is correct and how all persons should behave in order to conform to all social expectations (recycling, driving green vehicles, joining certain clubs, shopping in approved stores, voting in acceptable ways, reading correct books, and eating the currently sanctioned diet).

• A world with unremarkable gray gauze stretched in everyone’s field of vision and blinding everyone’s world view.

• Essentially a world in which all the blacks and whites have been removed, leaving just the grays behind . . . a safe, secure, and monstrously monotonous society: The Gray Society.

That is the scenario I fear for the next generations. One by one, I hope others will turn off their one-way televisions, toss out their misleading and biased newspapers, boycott Hollywood, and begin to see the trends anew as independent thinkers. As more and more join our Astroturf revolution and the Tea Parties, it is my fervent hope that we will prevent the graying of this country for the sake of the generations to come.

By: KTL 26 December 2009

Monday, December 21, 2009

Christmas Greetings

Wishing you
the warmth of
hearth and home
this blessed Christmas season.

Matt and Linda Morehouse


Wood Stove Baked Apple or Poached Pear for Two

You can, of course, cook this on your stove top rather than your wood stove, if you prefer. Adjust proportions if you want to serve more than two diners.

1 large apple, Macintosh, Rome, or similar
2 tablespoons rum
½ teaspoon molasses
2 teaspoons raw sugar
1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
2–3 cubes candied ginger, minced fine
1 graham cracker, crumbled fine

Cut apple in half horizontally and core. Place in casserole or in cast iron skillet cut side up. Pour rum over apple. Drizzle molasses over apple halves. Sprinkle with sugar. Cover with aluminum foil or the skillet lid and place on moderate-heat wood stove for about an hour.
While apples are cooking on wood stove, blend peanut butter with minced candied ginger and graham cracker crumbs. Reserve for topping.

When ready to serve, spoon apple halves into small bowls and pour reduced rum over. Top each baked apple half with a dollop of peanut butter mixture.
Serve hot. Serves 2.

If desired, top with whipped cream or vanilla-flavored yogurt, but this is almost gilding the lily, for this dessert is perfect as it stands.

Variation: Wood Stove Poached Pear

Use a Bosc pear, split lengthwise and cored. Omit molasses drizzle and sugar sprinkle, but use the same amount of rum.
Cook on stove top same as apple. Serve warm, garnished with 2 tablespoons Neufachtel cheese, creamed with 2–3 minced cubes candied ginger and one tablespoon finely chopped walnuts. Different flavor, same great hot dessert.

From our cookbook, Cast Iron Cuisine from Breakfast to Dessert, published June 2009, now in its second printing.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Will 2012 Be the Year of the Mass Grave of the Democratic Party?

I think a good portion of the Democrats have finally morphed into full fledged totalitarian socialists albeit I suspect wimpy ones. They may not be fully aware of this change themselves. Being wimpy, once it hits the fan for our economy they will be the first to run for cover and I hope it is to another part of the planet. They may have bought themselves a one way ticket on a train headed to oblivion. Those who oppose their mad rush will unfortunately lose a lot also. Let’s review their current brain dead policies and attitudes.

  • They are intent on passing legislation like the government run health care bills and cap and trade bills that a majority of voters don’t want and that are certain to bring economic ruin. Their obsession with CO2 alone is a massive jobs killer. Recent polls show that around 52 percent of respondents oppose the health care reform under consideration in Congress and only 38 percent support it. The other 10% percent are the ones that are habitually clueless I suspect. I also suspect that when they bother to vote it is always for Democrats or RINOS.

  • They refuse to allow any type of sane energy policy which again is certain to bring economic ruin. They eschew all but wind and solar power.

  • They are continuing a reckless fiscal policy which the Fed is aiding and abetting with an equally reckless monetary policy. This combination alone would bring economic ruin upon any country.

  • They have tied themselves to the failed Keynesian policies that prolonged the Great Depression, damaged our economy for decades and now in hyper drive have us within months of going over an economic cliff.

  • They have lost any understanding of what a constitutional democratic republic is, what the founding philosophy of this country is and what market capitalism is if in fact any of them ever possessed such understanding.

Increasingly the Dems act like rulers rather than anyone’s representatives. Queen Nancy’s recent “Are you serious?” statement about the Congress’s constitutional authority to pass sweeping health care legislation reminds one of Marie Antoinette’s supposed quote “Let them eat cake.” If the economy continues on the current road a similar statement can’t be far off from the aging hollow-eyed hippie of Haight-Ashbury as Neal Boortz likes to call her.

Of course the problem is that this final banzai charge toward the socialist utopia will bring down our economy and create such misery and economic chaos that it could take a generation to repair the damage. Possibly it might never be repaired at least not in the lifetime of anyone now in existence. That means this madness has to be stopped to avoid a massive train wreck and it has to be stopped soon. At this point however the train may be traveling too fast to stop easily or without a lot of damage anyway. 11/02/2010 looks like our last shot but may not be soon enough. Economic processes like this tend to be somewhat exponential and we may be near extremis.

You might wonder what the point of all this madness is. It has happened before on large and small scales all over the world and has been chronicled by many in countless books. They explain the history and the process but I have never seen a good explanation of why especially given the fact that these suicidal actions aren’t new. There are plenty of bad examples. I believe it is an old Chinese saying that “everyone has a purpose in life even he who serves as a bad example”.

I have concluded that the mindset of these folks is not unlike that of fanatics engaged in a religious cult suicide pact. Life for them without their utopian dream simply isn’t acceptable. Do not expect rationality from these folks. In the last few days of the Third Reich Magda Goebbels poisoned all six of her children because she could not conceive of them living in a world without National Socialism. Remember these were not stupid people living in some third world backwater. Germany was a first world industrial nation. Yet they succumbed to the madness engendered by propaganda and the big lie.

Once it really hits the fan economically I think the Democrats are done. The party is headed for a mass grave. We just have to figure out how not to be dragged into our own tomb by the inevitable economic tsunami. I don’t think they will have the stomach or aside from a few thugs from organizations like SEIU the firepower to bring about a true police state which is what they will need to maintain power once the economy hits the wall. I don’t believe SEIU is full of former Marines, Green Berets or Navy SEALs.

A while back there was speculation on the internet, discussions of which you can still find; to the effect that this existence could actually be a computer simulation (OK techies on large doses of caffeine get a little strange late at night). Actually what the proponent of this idea showed mathematically was not that we were in such a simulation but that if it could be assumed that we would some day be able to build machines so powerful that they could reproduce or simulate our reality then the probability was very high that we were ourselves in such a simulation. One of these folks indicated that we might all wake up one day step outside and have an instant epiphany when we saw a sign in a bright blue sky that said: “Game Over”. Maybe that is what will happen on 12/21/2012!

Nothing so dramatic will happen to the collectivist Dems. Their “Game Over” moment will come when they fall ignominiously into the dustbin of history. I just hope things aren't totally FUBAR and we can piece the republic back together when they are finally gone.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Let's hear it for Small Business

I have a small business.

Like in a log rolling contest, past success in a small business is not a predictor of future success. Starting a small business involves risks that are so great that most people never try to do it. Safety nets for small businesses do not exist. "Too small to be allowed to fail?" Still, small businesses are the first engines to start up in an economic recovery, and they are, taken in total, the enterprises that create the most jobs.

In my opinion, the "leaders" of these large multi-national companies are not the kind of people who could or would start a small business. Nor could they run one successfully. They are steeped in the concept, much as politicians are, that you must do everything with other people's money. I can't fault this, they, like the politicians, seem to prosper no matter what.

Speaking as a small business owner, I'll state here what I would like to have from the Government(s).

1. Get off my back.
2. Get out of the way.

It is that simple.

Jerry

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Subsidized News

The main stream media seems to be taking no notice of the Climategate Scandal. That is because it does not fit their propaganda message. Bias? Of course, but there is hope. Some of these people are already in the bread line.

As we tap dance merrily down the primrose path toward socialism, we will see more and more elements of society line up at the public trough. After all, we bailed out Wall Street, and bought some car companies, and want to forgive some mortgage contracts while making more shaky mortgages for people that can't afford them. Who or what will be next? Why the journalists of course.

Here is a look at one of the latest schemes:

From Utahpolicy.com:
10/20/2009

Is Government-Subsidized Journalism the Future?

By LaVarr Webb

A new report from Columbia University's School of Journalism says government needs to step in to save journalism. BYU communications professor Joel Campbell, a former colleague of mine at the Deseret News, posted a link on Facebook to a blog called SaveTheNews.org, which reports on the study.

It suggests six steps to save journalism, most of which deal with providing tax breaks, government funding, and philanthropy to journalism organizations.

The report's bottom line: "American society must now take some collective responsibility for supporting independent news reporting in this new environment -- as society has, at much greater expense, for public needs like education, health care, scientific advancement and cultural preservation -- through varying combinations of philanthropy, subsidy and government policy."

So is traditional journalism so important that your tax dollars should prop it up?


Analysis by Jerry

This paper from the Columbia School of Journalism is long, perhaps in the hope that the sheer size of the work will make it more compelling. The authors start with a history lesson, and proceed through the causes of the decline in the fortunes of newspapers. One after another winks out. Many (like my hometown paper) are in bankruptcy. The authors move on to try to develop a crisis out of the lack of local reporting. That seems to be a key to the argument.


Finally, the authors say:

“We are not recommending a government bailout of newspapers, or any of the various direct subsidies that governments give newspapers in many European countries.

American society must take some collective responsibility for supporting independent news reporting in this new environment.”


Note here the use of the word "collective", as in collectivist, as in socialist. They say they don't want subsidies in the first sentence and waffle back to suchlike in the next sentence. Collective, collectivist.... socialist. "Do like the Europeans do."


The authors claim throughout the paper that we are going to lose big journalism, which is critical to our democracy. But they peck at the idea, perhaps to expand the length of the piece. (bad writing for a journalist) A better statement of this position actually came from Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google. This statement was in an article in the Wall Street Journal titled "How Google Can Help Newspapers" which is a piece defending Google for creating a site called Google News. which they bill as an Aggregated headlines and a search engine of many of the world's news sources.


Schmidt says: "We recognize, however, that a crisis for news-gathering is not just a crisis for the newspaper industry. The flow of accurate information, diverse views and proper analysis is critical for the functioning democracy."


I do not disagree with Mr. Schmidt, but I think we have already lost the thing Mr. Schmidt values.


To put it another way, if the main steam media is already not doing its job, I can't see how "collectivist support" (they don't want to call it subsidies) provided by the government will bring it back. I also don't accept the idea, offered by the authors, that government support of news organizations would not compromise their independence. Of course it would.


I offer a different view. I have believed for a long time that the Republican Party is in a life or death struggle with the main stream media. It is possible that neither side recognizes that quite yet, but I believe it is the case. I think the Democrats have recognized this for a long time. The Democrats understand this business of propaganda and control of communications. For example, the Democrats desperately wish to silence Rush Limbaugh, and they are willing to turn the first amendment upside down to do it. They have plans under the cloak of increased diversity, to gag the few other media outlets where Republicans and Conservatives communicate. They even eye the internet as a threat to their control of the "message".


What I mean by life or death struggle is that either the main stream media or the Republican party will survive this contest in some recognizable form. One will survive, not both. The first element in winning a fight is to know you are in one. I wonder if the Republicans know. They complain of bias, that is all. There is no aggressive attack offered in return for the aggressive attack from the main stream media on them.


While it may seem impossible to fight the main stream media, it is not. The main stream media is in a lot of trouble. As the Columbia J School piece says, Newspapers are going bankrupt, and some are closing their doors. The Columbia School of Journalism thinks this is bad and offers ways to save journalists from losing their jobs. They propose we use some "collectivist" (don't call it subsidy) solution so these people can continue to spew their left wing biased propaganda out and call it unbiased news. "Lets tax the internet providers and give the money to the journalists." That has an appeal. Push the competition down and make them give money to the poor journalists.


Instead, I suggest we continue to find ways to encourage the journalists' demise:

1) Embarrass them. Their accuracy has always been horrible. Point that out.

2) Discredit them by pointing out their bias.

3) Replace them with other forms.

4) If necessary, encourage a conservative boycott. (this last seems to be happening with no leadership or encouragement at all, but we could make it worse for them if we organized).


We are already living without good unbiased journalism in the main stream media. Don't subsidize them, let them go. They failed in their task.

Jerry

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Quote for the day

"It is disheartening that Americans must overcome not only enemies but their own government. But the spirit of liberty and the majesty of our Constitution empower us to do just that. There’s only one question: Do we have the will?"

Andrew C. McCarthy NRO Online 02 December, 2009