Submit or Don't Fly

Mom,

I am very, very proud of you that at 96 you are still flying, alone, across country. And I understand that you want to be in Virginia for Ali’s wedding this June. But I need to give you a heads-up here.

The drill has changed. No longer will struggling to remove your shoes be enough. No longer will surrendering your nutritional yogurt, because it’s a liquid, be enough. No longer will it be sufficient to give them your nice diamond nail file because you might threaten the flight crew with it.

This time you have a choice: you can submit to x-ray screening of your full body, or you can submit to a finger check of your breasts and genitals. I am not making this up.

Now, I know that you have a history of skin cancers on your face, but I still recommend that you go through the x-ray machine. Because if you choose the alternative, they WILL go through your panties, and they WILL object—trust me, I know these people—if you ask them to at least use a new glove, not the one they used for the 20-something hottie right ahead of you. Herpes you don’t need; at least basal cell carcinoma is curable with surgery.

There’s no plea bargaining on this one. They don’t care that our whole family was under the security microscope back when Dad was Research Group Leader at Cal-Tech, developing a part of the Manhattan Project. They don’t care that more than one member of our family still works for a highly responsible branch of the government. They don’t care that you are a 96-year-old great-grandmother simply trying to see your loved ones.

You will submit or you won’t fly. Pistole has said so. Napolitano has said so.

But it will get worse, I guarantee you. Wait until some swarthy stranger decides to blow himself up, mid-air, with a bomb up his rear.

Your daughter, Linda Morehouse

Our Suggestions For 11/02/2010 Candidate Support in Key Elections

We will maintain and add to this list until 11/03/2010 . Check out these candidates and support your choice with campaign contributions or through volunteer work. And of course vote for your choice if you are eligible to vote in the state or state and district where the candidate is running. If you have suggestions for additions or changes, add the candidate's names and locations in the comment section or your suggestion for a change.

Caveat on Wikipedia links: In the past there have been problems with misleading and outright untruthful postings on political issues, various candidates and elected officials as well as other well known people. The folks in control of Wikipedia claim to have addressed this issue with more safeguards. However, be warned.

From Jerry (10/17/10) another important race – Mark Kirk (R) vs. Alexi Giannoulias (D) for U. S. Senator from Illinois (See Below).

Newest Addition 10/10/10 - Three Real Important Races See Below.

It is hard to keep up with all the important races. Here is another resource at Townhall.com that you can use to learn about contests that may be of interest to you – Race of the Day by Brian Walsh. In addition do what you can to support Sharron Angle in her attempt to replace Harry Reid in Nevada. The Democrats will do everything they can to keep that Senate seat. If we don’t oust Harry, any significant turnaround this November will be in doubt.

Mark Kirk (R) vs. Alexi Giannoulias (D) for U. S. Senator from Illinois.

Two reasons why this race is very important.

First, President Obama once held this seat. Losing it to the Republicans would be a bitter — and symbolic — blow.

Second, there are two ballots: one to seat the winner for 2011, and a second to fill out the remainder of the current term in the 111th Congress.

The victor of that would be seated right after the election on Nov.2. That could jar Democratic hopes for a post-election, lame duck session in the Senate.

What this means is that this is probably the most important race in this election cycle. If we can seat Mark Kirk in BHO's seat at the end of the election, he can block all manner of mayhem that will no doubt come from the lame duck legislature. If we can't seat him, stand by for a serious cram down of unpopular legislation. The Democrats don't really care about what the citizens want. They just want to shove us over the socialist cliff. That is because they are sure they know what is good for us, and are equally sure we don't know what is good for us. If you have any money left you might consider putting it with Kirk. That is probably where it will do the most good.

Three Real Important Races in Alaska, Nevada and Massachusetts.

I recommend that you continue to check out Brian Walsh’s TownHall column “2010 Race of the Day” (see link above) for information on the candidates in the November election. However, IMHO, there are three key races that you might want to consider for campaign contributions. One is Nevada where the polls have Harry Reid and Sharron Angle tied. Harry has just got to go. Support Sharron Angle if you can. Another is Alaska where the RINO Lisa Murkowski lost the primary to Joe Miller but is now a write in. She can’t win but she might siphon off votes for Miller. Support Joe Miller if you can. Finally there is the race in Massachusetts between Republican Sean Bielat and Rep. Barney Frank. Frank would be another venal corrupt politician whose defeat would really improve Congress.

The Alaska and Nevada races are in states that I consider mostly conservative/libertarian. We can’t afford to lose in these states and shouldn’t but there are special circumstances. In Alaska Miller will probably win (he is well ahead in the polls) but there is the Murkowski factor. Nevada is a bigger problem. Too many folks from states like California have moved there and have brought their bad voting habits with them. Angle is very important for two reasons. The first is that Reid is an egregious venal politician who does not deserve to be in the Senate or for that matter anywhere near a government post of any kind. The second is that Angle although classified as a conservative has a lot of libertarian leanings. Unless she has some incredible change in views after the election you can rely on the fact that she will not vote for anything that isn’t specifically authorized by the Constitution. In Massachusetts Frank is ahead so Bielat has an uphill battle but a Frank defeat would be a big bonus. It would mean one more venal corrupt hack politician out of Congress.

Candidates Running in Connecticut Against Richard Blumenthal

Peter Schiff (R) – Web Site, Article, YouTube Report, Wikipedia, Founder of Euro Pacific Capital, Who is Peter Schiff? A True Patriot.

Rob Simmons (R) – Web Site, Article, Wikipedia Campaign Suspended

Linda McMahon (R) – Web Site, Article, Wikipedia

The latest development in the Connecticut race - Rob Simmons has suspended his GOP primary campaign for U. S. Senate in Connecticut although his name will remain on the ballot. This leaves only two active candidates Linda McMahon and Peter Schiff. Here is Schiff’s video on this subject. Linda McMahon has a lot of money to use in a campaign against the Democrat Richard Blumenthal and she would certainly make a better Senator than the corrupt Chris Dodd who is retiring. But IMHO Peter Schiff is the guy to support. He will not sit quietly in the Senate and let these progressive/collectivists destroy the republic. I am confident he will fight them at every turn.

A new development in the Connecticut race - Dodd Won’t Seek Re-Election After Five Senate Terms. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat will run in Dodd’s place. This guy appears to be just a younger version of Dodd. Essentially people like Blumenthal think that government programs are the answer to all the countries problems or maybe more truthfully the answer to all his financial aspirations. Dodd has certainly done a great deal of damage during his time in the Senate so it is definitely a good thing that he will be leaving. However, continue to support your choice in Connecticut because it is important to reduce the general socialist mindset in the Congress wherever possible. Now is definitely not the time for complacency.

This is a donation request video from the Schiff campaign. Even if you don’t think you can support Schiff check it out anyway. It points out why you shouldn’t be complacent because Dodd has decided to retire. As Schiff points out we need to get rid of the mindset that people like Dodd represent not just the actual culprits.

Nevada Senate Race to Unseat Harry Reid

This is another very important race. One of these candidates will run against Harry Reid. Reid has become increasingly unpopular in Nevada but conservatives and libertarians can take no chances. This guy must be defeated. This election like the one in Connecticut has to be a no prisoners battle.

Danny Tarkanian (R) – Web Site, Article

Sue Lowden (R) – Web Site, Article

Sharron Angle (R) – Web Site, Article, Wikipedia

Chuck Kozak (R) – Web Site, Article

John Chachas (R) – Web Site, Article

Mike Wiley (R) - Web Site, Article

Mark E. Amodei (R) - Web Site, Article, Wikipedia

Mark Noonan (R) – Not Official, Web Site, SourceWatch Article, Blog Articles By Noonan

Bill Parson (R) – Web Site, Article

Robin Titus (R) – Web Site, Article

Chuck Flume (R) - Web Site, Dentist in WI (odd situation)

General article on the problems of a crowded field for Republicans. - Why having 10 candidates doesn’t help GOP.

This is a very crowded field but you might want to keep tabs on these candidates through the primary and support the candidate that emerges to challenge Harry Reid. Harry has got to go. He is one of the most corrupt members of the U. S. Senate.

Special Election in Massachusetts for the U. S. Senate Formerly Held By Ted Kennedy - Brown Wins!

This state has been pretty much a fiefdom of the Democrats and the old Kennedy clan for decades. This could be the beginning of the end at least for the extreme left of the Democratic Party.

Scott Brown (R) - Article, Web Site, Wikipedia


California U. S. Senate Race to Unseat Barbara Boxer.

This is another very important race. Boxer is a quintessential leftist who has enthusiastically participated in the unwavering march toward transforming the U. S. into a third world banana republic. Although China is far from political liberty it is important to contrast their economic policies with American leftists. The Chinese now get it. Socialist policies will not bring economic prosperity and cannot foster the growth of advanced high tech economic systems. The Chinese for example have no , I repeat, no capital gains tax. Folks like Boxer would become apoplectic if you suggest elimination of the capital gains tax.

Carleton "Carly" S. Fiorina (R) - Article, Web Site, Wikipedia

Charles S. DeVore (R) - Web Site, Article, Wikipedia

The Race in Minnesota’s 6 th District

The “progressives” in the Peoples’ Republic of Minnesota will stop at nothing to unseat Michele Bachmann. Here is a typical example on Huffington Post . The MN socialists have already captured both Senators. This is a must keep conservative seat in the House. Some recent news – Minnesota Poll: Bachmann "in a solid position politically" . But remember we are close to an economic cliff. This is no time for complacency.

Michele Bachmann (R) - Web Site, Article, Wikipedia, Gov Site

The Senate Race in Florida

Marco Rubio (R) – Web Site, Article, Wikipedia

Charlie Crist (R) – Web Site, Article, Wikipedia

George LeMieux (R) is the current junior Senator from Florida and was appointed by Charlie Crist as a seat warmer.

Marco Rubio makes a good case that Crist is a RINO and not someone that conservatives and libertarians want in the Senate.

Race in Florida’s District 22

Allen West (R) – Web Site, Article, Wikipedia, YouTube

Dead Rats: Thoughts on the May 6 Crash

On May 6, 2 Yo, the New York Stock Exchange’s Dow Industrial Average plummeted over $1,000 in an extremely short period of time. This is certainly unusual, to say the least. I heard that the porn watchers over at SEC were distracted from their assigned task of protecting us from naked folks getting it on long enough to determine that somebody had simply entered a computer transaction to sell 16 gigashares of a stock when the correct order was to sell a mere 16 megashares of that same stock. Never mind that an order to sell even the supposed correct amount of shares in a single company seems rather on the high side, almost like insider trading knowing that a company, a bank for example, is about to be assimilated by the collective at the Chief Executive Inn and Suites, but I would think, and I frankly admit that I’m not smart enough to get a well-compensated gig at SEC watching Debby do Dallas, that a 16 gigashare sell order might sound an alarm somewhere, anywhere. I heard that Debby knew about it immediately, but as a working girl I suspect she knows the value of money and doing a job right.
But consider these numbers. Last January 25, I began tracking the daily New York Stock Exchange volume. I get this number direct form the source, http://www.nyse.com/. About 7:55 AM ET the morning of May 7, 2 Yo, I took a screenshot before the market opened for the day. It shows the NYSE Listed Volume at 10,484,824,000. As this was snapped prior to the start of trading, it would be the May 6 volume. Any value of 10 or so billion is less than any value of 16 or so billion. Makes me wonder.
Because of problems with my ISP, I was unable to get the volume for March 15, 2 Yo, but excluding that I find the following Excel calculated table informative for the dates January 25 - May 5, 2 Yo inclusive:

Max Vol 8,108,469,000
Min Vol 3,774,678,000
Mean Vol 4,926,597,529
Mode Vol 4,521,047,000
Med Vol 4,687,405,500

Statistically speaking there are three types of average, a point not lost on the liars in dee cee since when most people hear the word average they think of how Miss Grundy determined Archie Andrews’ English grade by averaging his test scores. This technique is properly called the mean. The median average is determined by ranking the scores in order (high to low or low to high - doesn’t matter) and picking the one exactly in the middle. For example, given the numbers 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, we note that there are two numbers to the left of the 6 and two to its right. 6 is the one in the middle and thus the median. Another way of thinking of median, and one I suspect is taught the SEC voyeurs is to just imagine the unsuspecting waitress at La Brasserie, a restaurant near kapital heil in dee cee, who allegedly had a close encounter simultaneously with sinaters krispie-kritter dudd and toddy-boy kon-eddy, http://sonsoftherepublic.blogspot.com/2005/08/kennedy-dodd-waitress-sandwich.html. I hope the poor lady received a large stipend for being the median of a non-menu item.
Mode is simply the number that occurs the most often, receives the most votes so to speak. So based on my hopefully accurately copied numbers, since towards the end of last January the largest volume was just over 8 gigashares which occurred on April 16 in celebration of tiny timmie’s getting his ol’ tax returns filed on time. Mathematically speaking, and I’m certainly no Stephen Hawking, 16 of anything is about double 8 of anything. And no alarms went off?????? Maybe the dedicated video peeping-toms at SEC should spend their time taking a finite math class instead. I believe Miss Grundy teaches one in which they’d fit.
And I understand that the official unemployment rate increased from 9.7% to 9.9% even though beavisbud saved or created 290,000 jobs. Huh?
A few other points to ponder:
1) As pointed out by Glenn Beck the morning of 5/10, U.S. T-Bills tend to benefit whenever there is a sharp decline in the DOW.
2) The regime credits a huge influx of off-the-rolls unemployed inspired by the huge increase of available jobs with the rise in the Unemployment Rate. But if there are so many jobs why are they unemployed? And why did the discouraged worker rate increase to 17.1%? These statistics are as reported by The Washington Post http://voices.washingtonpost.com/economy-watch/2010/05/truer_unemployment_rate_rises_2.html
3) I used to be a Food Stamps Caseworker which made me a state employee. Every time I entered a transaction into the state computer, all my supervisors had next day access to everything I had done. The only reason they did not have instant access was because in those prehistoric times before obummer, these transactions were processed overnight. But they had the reports on their desks the next morning. So why 20 years of technological advances later do we still not know the fat-fingered culprit who hit a ‘g’ instead of an ‘m’?
4) Take a look at your standard qwerty keyboard and tell me how easy it is to aim for the m-key but hit the g-key one row up and 3 keys to the left. I could do it, but I’m an incredibly clumsy old man who suffered a stroke 30 months ago.
5) Is it a mere coincidence that this plunge occurred while the obummerites are lambasting Wall Street?

So you betcha I smell living dead rats trapped inside the wall and they’re stinking up OUR Country.

Anyone who’d like a copy of that NYSE screen shot or my Excel spreadsheet with my financial numbers, just drop me a request at gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com

Posted by Gill O Teen

Amend the Constitution!

The Constitution was never meant to be interpreted as it is today. This fast and loose attitude that the collectivists which includes many of our judges have toward the Constitution is now endemic and accepted. This is why ultimately I think we have got to amend the Constitution either via the process that starts with the Congress as it has been done in the past or via a constitutional convention. We have only had one such convention in our history.

We not only have to undo the evil that has been done by this fast and loose attitude but we have to keep the collectivists from just biding their time and when conditions are right repeating the process of undermining the republic. Here are my favorite amendments:

1. A balanced budget Amendment with real teeth like the one from Representatives Jeb Hensarling of Texas , Mike Pence of Indiana and John Campbell of California.

2. Repeal of the 16th Amendment that also makes plain that only consumption taxes like the FairTax are henceforth permitted cutting off the massive money pipeline that politicians use to punish enemies, reward friends and of course reward themselves.

3. An original language or original intent amendment that makes clear that the bogus and sophistic "living document"/ "general welfare" concept is henceforth banished from American jurisprudence.

4. An amendment that either abolishes the Fed or at the very least backs the dollar with precious metals so that out of control money creation is stopped.

5. An amendment that explicitly makes the commerce clause (in Article I Section 8) more restrictive and in line with its original intent, i.e. limits its applicability to acts by the states that are in restraint of trade such as duties, tariffs, subsidies, etc.

6. Repeal of the 17th Amendment and a return to Senators being appointed by the state legislatures so that the original idea of preserving state sovereignty is protected.

Now before you decide this is a bogus idea because (A) it is too hard to amend the Constitution (It’s supposed to be BTW), (B) it is a lengthy process and we don’t have time or (C) the collectivists will get into the process and we will end up with a document that looks like the EU constitution (now called a treaty) let me remind you how much damage has already been and will be done by just ignoring the Constitution as collectivists are want to do.

I contend that just using this process of ignoring the real intent by using the “general welfare/living document” argument and the almost limitless interpretation of the commerce clause collectivists will render the Constitution totally irrelevant in a few more years. In fact if you notice they barely used any arguments at all either constitutional or otherwise to pass this health care monstrosity. They just did it because they are the “ruling” class and they know best. Somehow that has to be stopped or this constitutional democratic republic will cease to exist before this decade has ended.

Ask yourself these questions. If without explicit amendments to reestablish the Constitution as a document to enforce limited government, can limited government ever exist here again? If we don’t amend the Constitution along the lines I have suggested at this late date how are we going to stop the sort of attitude displayed here by these two Congressman Phil Hare and impeached federal judge Alcee Hastings?

It is totally out of control folks. We may be able to slow things down this November and even reverse a few things in November of 2012 but remember this. The collectivists won’t go away and they will resume their incessant effort to circumvent, undermine and render ineffective the Constitution in anyway they can.

The Washington D. C. culture of money and power will not disappear. At least some of the folks that are elected by conservative and libertarian mined folks will get co-opted by the Washington D. C. culture. The collectivists will continue to use the D. C. culture to subvert the idea of a limited constitutional democratic republic.

With properly worded amendments a lot of power will be drained from this culture and we would have a fighting chance to maintain the republic. IMHO if we don’t resolve to do this eventually the only way to get back to a limited constitutional democratic republic will be the way the Founders had to do it. Their war was nearly a decade. Ours could be ten times that long. Even the youngest of our relatives and friends may not live to see it. In fact it could well disappear for all time.

Pedal to the metal

Please - Don't ease off the gas now!

With the Obamacare debacle fresh in our collective memory and Wall Street reform looming, I fear we're becoming a bit complacent. We cannot afford to make the critical mistake of assuming that November will bring a course correction. We've got to keep that foot on the gas pedal, and it's more important now than ever.

Consider that there is a lot of behind-the-scenes activity taking place in Washington that we hear little about. For instance, Cap-And-Trade (Cap-And-Tax?) still lurks in the wings, and isn't it convenient that there has been a major offshore drilling disaster just at this critical juncture? I am certainly no conspiracy theorist, but it certainly plays into the hands of those who would pass this ill-advised legislation.

The President has now formed his "bipartisan deficit commission" in order to have a place to point his finger when taxes for everyone go up dramatically. He'll be able to say, "Hey, I don't want to raise your taxes, but they said it had to be done." Campaign promises be damned along with common sense - it's coming, whether it emerges in the form of a V.A.T. or some other concoction meant to separate us from what's left of our money.

The mainstream media is going along with all of this, and when fall rolls around you can be sure they'll be helping the left tout "successes" on a number of fronts. They are already painting Senate Republicans with the obstructionist brush simply because they want Wall Street reform to be meaningful and to amount to more than a left-wing witch hunt.

I've found it more difficult to stay fired up after the health care fiasco, but I'm making a renewed commitment to be active and involved and to push for that November course correction. I'm keeping the accelerator pressed to the floor.

Tom Wells

Why We Should Scrap the Income Tax

1913 was a very bad year. That was the year the Federal Reserve was created and the 16th Amendment was enacted. In those days the United States Secretary of State had the task of verifying that an amendment to the Constitution had been properly ratified.

The man, a lawyer and professional politician, who was the Secretary of State at that time, was one Philander C. Knox, a Republican. There have been many folks who have called into question the 16th Amendment ratification process. There are some valid reasons why one could say it had not been properly ratified by the requisite number of states. That’s an academic discussion at this point. The 16th Amendment and the federal income tax are facts of life. The courts support the income tax. And why shouldn’t they. The salaries of judges at the federal level are supported by the income tax. They aren’t going to mess with what is a good thing from their standpoint. They want to keep the money pipeline open just as much as politicians and bureaucrats do.

We have looked at reasons not to continue with a central bank or at least to place the restriction of precious metal backing on money creation. Now let’s take a look at the income tax.

Professional politicians and bureaucrats whose very existence depends on taxation are always looking for ways to extract more money from the taxpayer. I think they recognize in an almost atavistic way that they must at some point curb their greed and desire for the power money can buy else they will kill the host. However, their insatiable desire for more money and power often clouds judgment and leads them to destructive policies. The power to tax truly is the power to destroy. In its modern form with features like payroll deduction and a powerful enforcement bureaucracy the income tax is a professional politician’s and bureaucrat’s dream. It provides an endless stream of cash and is a very useful instrument for rewarding friends and punishing enemies.

The very power focused reasons why politicians and bureaucrats love the income tax are also reasons why every citizen should want it abolished. There is another reason however. Even if you pay very little in income taxes or a lot (I have been in both positions) you should want this abomination deep-sixed for good. Why, you ask? The reason is that it is another governmental policy which acts like a sea anchor on the U.S. economy.

This tax system is very damaging to all but the governmental sectors of the economy. The U. S. advanced high tech economy has done well in spite of not because of damaging federal policies. Of all these policies the income tax is one of the worst. It not only siphons large amounts of capital from the private sector but also through its ridiculous complexities places a large added administrative burden on businesses and individuals to comply with the massive tax code and attendant regulations and letter rulings. In addition changes are made frequently by politicians who are constantly tweaking the code so from one year to the next no one can count on the stability of the tax burden being applied to them nor can they rely on constancy of reporting and filing. What does this mean? It means less capital available to truly productive sectors of the economy and fewer jobs.

There are lots of statistics and studies to back up the economic damage thesis so I won’t include a lot of tables and economic analysis. The interested reader will have no trouble finding large amounts of information on this subject.

We should repeal the 16th Amendment and institute some form of consumption tax like the FairTax. No tax is perfect but I would bet a lot in fact I would bet my life that if we had a balanced budget amendment with real teeth and got rid of the income tax in favor of a consumption tax businesses all over this planet would be lining up to set up shop in the USA. Capital formation, business formation and job creation would take off like a rocket.


Our problem of course is progressives again. I’ll end with this:

A progressive is one who is in favor of more taxes instead of less, more bureaus and jobholders, more paternalism and meddling, more regulation of private affairs and less liberty. In general, he would be inclined to regard the repeal of any tax as outrageous.

H. L. Mencken

Bourbon Thoughts

By: Gill O’Teen

I have learned through expensive on-going research that some Bourbons are definitely better than others. These stand up well when swallowed straight with no added water or ice. To my tongue these have a bit of age, a minimum of 6 years, and a bit of germ-killer, at least 45 ABV (90 proof). Some whisk(e)y experts recommend that when tasting such a product for the first time, it's best to add a drop of water in order to release the full wonders of its taste and smell. But there are other Bourbons which in order to trick my tongue into thinking they are as tasty as Ridgemont Reserve 1792, Wild Turkey Rare Breed, Knob Creek, Makers Mark or a dozen other first class spirits, may require a bit more boost. To my taste, 80 Proof (40% ABV) Bourbons such as Jim Beam (white label) and Old Crow need a flavor assist for me to enjoy them.

Now I am not an expert on making whisk(e)y by any criteria. When it comes to my opinion I am reminded of the old Monty Python skit in which some old ladies were visiting the local art museum. They were literally eating the expensive paintings. One said to the other, “I may not know art, but I know what I like.” But why would ABV play such an important part in the taste of Bourbon? I believe it has to do with water. With a distilled liquor, basically if it’s not alcohol, it’s water. Distillers like to sell their beverages at a certain proof level, which might have something to do with how the gum’mint’s outrageous excise taxes are calculated. Do you realize that when you purchase any alcoholic liquid, you pay sales tax on the excise tax. If a barrel contains a supply of spirit with an ABV higher than the target, sufficient water is added to dilute the alcohol. This newly added water was not aged in any container other than the nearest water supply and so lacks the flavors imparted to the rest of the liquid by a magical charred white oak barrel. That’s why, in general, I find cask or barrel strength whisk(e)ies tastiest. Blended whisk(e)ies retain their flavor by blended higher ABV product with that having lower ABV, which may be why 80 Proof Scotch tastes better on my tongue than its American cousin.

Last Fall, I visited a ‘legal’ moonshine distillery. I think that’s an oxymoron. It’s master distiller told me that the gum’mint of his state mandates that his product be sold at 80 proof. Mathematically inclined folks know that this means 60% of his whiskey is not alcohol. Essentially moonshine, white lightning, white mule or whatever it’s called in various locales is simply unaged condensation. This liquid consists of practically all alcohol and water. This means his ‘shine’ is mostly water because if it comes out of the still at a proof higher than the law allows, it must be diluted with water to make it legal. Say it comes out of the still at a healthy 125 proof such as Frankfort Kentucky’s Buffalo Trace Distillery’s White Dog Mash #1 (actually I don’t know at what proof it exits the still, that’s the proof of the bottled fluid), then to reduce it’s proof to that other state’s legal limit, the moonshiner mentioned earlier must add 422 ml of water to 750 ml of product to keep his license to bottle and sell. So to my thinking the higher the proof, the less added water and the more tasty the potion.

I love Bourbon. I do not know an incorrect way to enjoy it. Parker Beam has been Master Distiller at the Heaven Hill Distillery near Bardstown, Kentucky, an incredibly worthwhile tour, for just over 50 years. A big party was held in Louisville to celebrate this remarkable achievement on October 24, 2009. As part of the festivities New York mixologist, Allen Katz, put on a cocktail seminar for Bourbon aficionados (why wasn’t I invited? -drat). As part of the seminar Katz demonstrated how to make a hot Bourbon cocktail which is sure to cure the global warming winter chill blues. Courtesy of The Bardstown Whiskey Society Winter 2009-2010 Newsletter"The Barrelhouse Chronicle" (from which I stole other details of this paragraph), here’s that recipe. It makes more than I can drink in one night, and the addition of sugar makes storage difficult (freezing the leftovers might work). However, it might make an excellent party punch. There might be easy substitutions for the fruit juice such as Minute Maid for the orange juice or Realemon for the lemon juice. And I see no reason to not use your own favorite Bourbon - just make sure it’s one that mixes well.

Ski Lift - A bourbon cocktail invented by Allen Katz:
1 750 ml bottle of Evan Williams Single Barrel
2 ounces of Orange Curaçao
2 cups hot green tea
Juice of 3 lemons
Juice of 6 oranges
½ cup sugar
Stir tea, lemon juice, orange juice and sugar together over low heat until sugar has dissolved. Add Bourbon and Orange Curaçao. Stir gently, keep warm and serve in your favorite mug.

Might warm up your next party! Have fun!

Last Friday night I sampled a wonderful example of the brewing arts and fully endorse it for others. The drawback is that it is a pricey limited edition. It is Bourbon Barrel Stout (Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels) which is brewed by Odell Brewing Company, Fort Collins, CO
http://odellbrewing.com. It came in a 1 pint 9.4 fluid ounces (750 ml) now emptied bottle. Notes on the bottle side say, “This limited edition offering begins with a full-bodied Imperial Stout that has notes of sweet milk chocolate, smooth vanilla and roasted coffee beans. Then things get interesting. We transfer it to Kentucky Bourbon barrels where it’s aged for four months to let traces of oak and caramel come forward. The Bourbon barrels have a remarkable effect on the Stout. In turn, the Bourbon barrel aged stout has a remarkable effect on the senses." The Bourbon barrels might come from the Buffalo Trace Distillery mentioned above, and they make wonderful Bourbons and Bourbon Balls for those of us with a sweet tooth. Actually a Bourbon Ball imparts a nice finish to a just downed shot.

As mentioned earlier Bourbon must be aged in a NEW charred white-oak barrel. This means that once used for any reason the barrel cannot be used another time, if that second use is to age Bourbon. Bourbon distillers resell their once-used barrels to anyone willing to purchase them. Scotch and Irish distillers are large buyers of these and use them for building the huge casks in which they age their excellent beverages. Some sherry, brandy and wine companies also age their excellent fluids in used Bourbon barrels. That is what Odell did. By aging this stout in a used bourbon barrel, they have crafted a wonderful American Stout with a touch of Bourbon flavor to it. If you like Stout, and I do, and you like Bourbon, and I do, you will like this limited edition Odell offering.

If you are a Bourbon purist incapable of enjoying other drinks, I don’t care. I can be just as snotty as anyone; however, the only valid point to any alcoholic drink is to have a good time, as long as it makes the folks happy nothing else matters. If you don't like mixed drinks, I have no problem with that, but back off on the folks who do. The last thing this country needs is a whisk(e)y nanny. In my opinion, there is only one correct way to drink Bourbon - frequently. Everything else is incidental.

There are several distilleries worth a visit within an easy drive of Buffalo Trace such as Woodford Reserve, Four Roses and Wild Turkey. I have completed the 8 stops of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and have toured both known Tennessee Whisk(e)y Distilleries and encourage everyone do the same. Every one of these 10 businesses offer products which are worth our time and our hard-earned treasure. Most of the other Kentucky Bourbon trail stops are near Bardstown. Bardstown is also home to the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History.

Here are a few links to help your studies:
Kentucky Bourbon Trail http://www.kybourbontrail.com/
George Dickel Tennessee Whisky http://www.dickel.com/
Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey http://www.jackdaniels.com/
Bardstown Whiskey Society http://www.bardstownwhiskeysociety.com/
Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History http://www.whiskeymuseum.com/

I would never impose my own drinking preferences on another. The only correct thing to say to someone about to enjoy a tasty American spirit, wine, or brew is, "Salute!" - be sure to join him or her. However, there are thousands of other toasty expressions which may be substituted. An old friend of mine was fond of saying, "Look out lips, look out gums, look out stomach, here it comes!" I never corrected him, but I did drink his booze for free.

Cheers!

Gill O’Teen 09 February, 2010

Beware the Bigs

Once, about a half century ago I watched some hammerhead sharks eat some guys. It was a nasty business. The killing and eating did not proceed in series, but rather in parallel. Watching the sharks at their meal made me angry. There was irony in that since just a few minutes before, I had been trying to kill the same guys. But the irony did not sink in at the time, and to this day, if somebody came up with a plan to kill every last man-eating shark on the planet, I would be for it, bio-diversity and endangered species be damned.

I'm told the same emotions are evoked in even the most liberal of tree huggers when they see wolves at work doing what they were designed to do. Strange that they are so beautiful when they are not tearing a moose apart.

The lesson is that it is the nature of sharks, and wolves, and even cuddly white polar bears to eat you if they can. The less there is of this in your life's experience the happier you will be, but perhaps without a little bit of such, we tend to be naive.

As I try to find my way in the twisting and shifting political world of the moment, it is helpful to understand the nature of sharks and wolves and bears. They are going to do what they are going to do, according to their nature. I'm a conservative so I am obligated to say that they are welcomed to that provided I can stay out of their way.

There are not many sharks in my life these days, but there are other things. For example, I'm learning that I don't like Big. Specifically I don't like:

Big Government
Big Banking
Big Business
Big Unions
Big Political Parties

The interesting thing is that I think all of these Bigs are necessary. It might be better if the Bigs were small, but one of the problems with the way the world works is that success tends to make Bigs out of Smalls, so eventually some of these entities will be big. Anyway, how they were wrought does not matter so much. There they are ..., and they are big. And, they have a particular nature. The Bigs are all entities that seek money and power. Arguably, Big Banking, and Big Business can make money, but Big Government, Big Unions, and Big Political Parties don't create any wealth at all. They must take it from the people. In fact, that is their nature and they are good at it.

Even Big Banking and Big Business may tend to eye you more like lunch than someone to take to lunch if you catch them "in the act of being themselves".

The Bigs have three other characteristics in common. They are all top-down bureaucracies. They all crave money and power, and like all big things, they are not easy to feed. They need a lot of money and power just to continue to exist. Not surprisingly the Bigs that have been around a while are very good at getting fed.

You and I, as citizens, need to keep a wary eye on the Bigs. We can't simply avoid them as we might avoid sharks. We must go "in among them" as a part of our daily lives while carefully watching them all the time, never trusting any Big.

The best protection we have is the Constitution, and that part of the body of law that constrains their activities and limits their power. We would do well to keep these protections cleaned, well oiled, and loaded like the rifle we might keep nearby to even the odds should we encounter a bear that thinks we are lunch.

Not surprisingly, the Obamunists and other Big Government liberals don't like the Constitution. It is really in their way. They don't like democracy for the same reason. It is in their way too. Hell, they don't even like the country. They are always apologizing for it. They desperately need to make it a different thing.

If we let them have enough power, they would eliminate the constraints of the constitution, and even democracy itself. Their attitude is they know best, and we the people are just too stupid to understand the wisdom of their program and agenda. They see the value in the citizens... we the people. We are the ones that create the wealth that they have such an appetite for. We are the ones that grant them the power they are so addicted to. They might mumble something about the "consent of the governed" to justify what they get from us.

The Bigs are no different than the sharks, and wolves and bears. It is their nature to be what they are. It is their nature to resent any constraints that are placed upon them. It is their nature to tell us that they are our friend.

But have a care ..... that is just so they can get closer.

Jerry

Announcing the Gill O’Teen 2 Yo (2010 A.D.) Haiku Contest

Both of you who actually pay attention to what I post are aware that in the past I have attempted to have two fun contests.

The first simply asked contestants to submit their favorite Obama lie. I received exactly two entries and they each simply repeated the very lie I had cited as an example when announcing that contest, so I did not declare a winner.

Then I thought that to celebrate Obama’s lie that those who make less than $250,000 a year will not see their taxes increase even one thin dime, contestants were asked to compose a rhymed four line poem in the manner of George Harrison’s 1966 Rock Classic "Taxman". I received entries from one person. Accordingly that person was declared the Gill O’Teen Poet of the Year 2 Yo (2010 A.D.) and he was awarded a spiffy certificate.

A few weeks ago he sent me the following email:

"Gill, You might consider promoting a Haiku competition. They are very easy to do as they require only the 5-7-5 format. I've seen them mushroom on other discussion lists where rhyming verse did not. I would gladly sit this one out and watch what comes in."

Well why not, might be fun!

The rules for this contest are as follows:
1) Contest entries must be date stamped before February 21, 2 Yo (2010 A.D.).
2) All entries must be sent to my gmail account gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com.
3) Each entry must follow the basic haiku format of three (3) unrhymed lines. The first and third lines must contain exactly five (5) syllables. The middle line must contain exactly seven (7) syllables. Any entry containing obscenities or pornography will be disqualified. I will be the sole judge of this.
4) In the event that I and a contestant disagree as to exactly how many syllables a word might have, a standard dictionary or Google will be consulted. If that fails, I will ask the submitter for an explanation. If the dispute is not resolved by the contest deadline as determined by the email date stamp on the explanation, the entry will be disqualified.
5) I will compile a list of all the entries received which adhere to rule 3, and forward them to the Contest Judge as soon as practical. The identity of the composer of any entered verse will not be disclosed to the Judge. Each verse will be assigned a number based on the order received.
6) The Contest Judge alone will determine the winner using whatever guidelines he chooses. His decision will be final and may not be challenged by anyone.
7) The Winner will receive a certificate suitable for framing designating him or her "The Gill O’Teen Haiku Champion of 2 Yo (2010 A.D.)
8) The Contest Judge will be the Gill O’Teen Poet of the Year for 2 Yo (2010 A.D.).
9) His actual identity is known to participants in the earlier contest, but will only be revealed to others who send me a request. This request will be forwarded to him and only he has the right to divulge his name. For the purpose of this contest he will only be referred to as the Gill O’Teen Poet of the Year for 2 Yo (2010 A.D.).
10) Neither Gill O’Teen nor the Gill O’Teen Poet of the Year for 2 Yo (2010 A.D.) are eligible to win this competition. Everyone else who enters before the deadline is eligible.
11) The email address of all contestants will not be knowingly disclosed by Gill O’Teen to anyone for any reason.
12) Contestants will, however, be identified by their email user i.d. unless I am instructed to use an alias for said contestant. For example, ‘race5@oaklawnpark.org’ will be known as ‘race5'. If a second ‘race5' enters, that i.d. will be ‘race5(02)’ etc.
13) By entering any haiku in this contest, the contestant grants Gill O’Teen the right to use said haiku in any manner he deems fit except that he may not use any but his own compositions in any commercial enterprise without the signed permission of its author.

Sample Haiku I wrote (if I can do it, anyone can do it!)

I’d gladly concede
His first term the best ever
If he’d resign now.

Gill O'Teen

Do We Need the Federal Reserve?

I came to all the conclusions in this piece slowly over the years. To do it I had to unlearn and throw off almost all my Keynesian economics training just about the only kind you got back when I was an economics major. I guess the opposite of Keynesian economics would be the Austrian School of economics which until quite recently has been out of favor and ignored. There is a reason for that. It really doesn’t provide a rationale for increasing government power.

"Give me control over a nation's currency and I care not who makes its laws."
- Baron M.A. Rothschild (1744 - 1812)

The first thing we should clear up is the definition of wealth and the difference between money and wealth. Wealth is not the piles of paper, the bits on some magnetic storage device or even coins made of gold or silver. These things are used as money which can be a proxy for wealth as long as it is accepted as a store of value by individuals in a socioeconomic system and more importantly as long as it is not manipulated as implied by the above quote.

Once any such manipulation is truly understood by the actors in an economic system the store of value status is lost. Unless savers and investors have before this loss of value occurs moved to things that directly and more securely represent real wealth they lose everything. People have learned this painful lesson about money many times in the past.

It is important to remember that money is only a medium of exchange and can be a store of value only in a stable viable socioeconomic environment. Ultimately you cannot have a stable socioeconomic environment when the supply of money is manipulated.

Real wealth isn’t a static thing. It is productive capacity. It is a process by which people in an economic system apply brain power to the problem of producing goods and services that other folks want and that make living easier and better, better living through science and entrepreneurship so to speak. Investors can own a stake in this productive process through certificates of ownership via securities like stock or they can own a promise to pay a debt from wealth producers via securities like bonds. They can also hold money at interest which is a broader kind of security. It is the overall accepted store of value by a society and represents but is not actually the wealth of that society.

But as I said above once confidence in the store of value idea for a given type of money is lost your monetary representation of wealth is FUBAR. Fiat money the only kind in existence at this point in history can only hold its store of value status based on the promise by the government issuing it that it is in fact worth its stated face value. Ultimately no fiat money has ever lasted because it is too easily manipulated. Commodities like gold and silver however were more successful because they have intrinsic value and have some use beyond their use as money. Also much more importantly their supply is more limited although governments have debased even these types of monies by adding less valuable metals like lead to produce gold coins for example.

I consider 1913 the year that sealed the ultimate economic fate of the USA. It was the year that the Federal Reserve was created and the federal income tax was permitted by the ratification of the 16th Amendment (a subject for another time). The final nail in the economic coffin was the end of the gold standard for international transactions in 1971. In the U. S. we went off the gold standard internally in 1933 when the federal government confiscated all “monetary” gold and handed gold owning citizens twenty dollars and change and then promptly declared that all the gold then owned by the U. S. government was henceforth to be valued at $35! Not only was the confiscation a direct violation of the Constitution but they immediately cheated each gold owning citizen out of $14 dollars and change! Once upon a time any bill introduced into Congress was almost invariable challenged on grounds of constitutionality as a matter of course. See how easy violation of the Constitution had become by 1933?

Even so there was still some restriction on money creation by the Fed because internationally the dollar was still backed by gold. When that link was broken by Richard Nixon the Fed was freed to create as much money as they pleased whenever they pleased. We then had a pure fiat currency.

Did the Founders understand what printing too much paper money can do and what hyperinflation is? You bet they did. The demise of the paper currency called the Continental dollar was fresh in their minds when they wrote the U. S. Constitution to replace the Articles of Confederation. In point of fact they authorized the federal government to only create hard money from gold and silver. This is authorized in Article I Section 8. It says:

“To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the
Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;”

The Founders had no intention of allowing the unrestricted printing of a paper fiat currency. Under the Constitution there was and still is not any authority to do so or to create a central bank that could do so.

Some of the current increase in the price of gold, silver and other precious metals is due to an actual increase in value or purchasing power if you think of it in terms of money relative to other things. That’s because demand has increased and precious metals are relatively scarce. But most of the increase is because the value of gold and silver stays stable while fiat money is decreasing in value (now primarily internationally) as it is being created by central banks.

For thousands of years, gold and silver have been used as money. That’s because they are relatively scarce and convenient to use compared to other things. Fiat money (our paper and electronic forms) is very convenient but when politicians and bureaucrats have power over its quantity they will always abuse that power at some point and bring instability and a decline in purchasing power to consumers. They get away with it because the “dumb masses” as Boortz likes to call them don’t understand the process.

The “dumb masses” can’t be totally blamed for that since the people in power work mightily to hide the true reasons for inflationary price increases. That is because inflation is a hidden tax. They even spread the canard that a little inflation is a good thing. That’s odd because overall the period between 1800 and 1913 a period of massive industrial expansion had no price inflation. In fact in 1913 the dollar had slightly more purchasing power than in 1800. We have only had stability in purchasing power when we used gold and silver directly as money or to back another form of money like paper. It will always be thus.

There has also been a canard spread through the education system and MSM that falling prices are a bad thing. That is not necessarily the case. If prices fall because of advancements and efficiencies in manufacturing and services, that is actually a good thing. The decline in the cost of electronics is an example. BTW, that decline began long before the current day outsourcing controversy.

There were of course ups and downs in the business cycle during the period 1800 to 1913. But some of that was due to wars especially the massive conflict in the middle of that period. The American Civil War was devastating yet the period that contained it was still a period of amazing economic progress and prosperity. Downturns not connected to war were brief and economic recovery rapid during the period. It was not until the 1930’s that we had a prolonged period of economic problems. The evidence is very strong that these problems were prolonged by government and Fed actions.

I have concluded that unless we return to a gold standard or some other commodity (one of limited supply) based money system we will never be able to rely on our monetary system. I have further concluded that we do not actually need the Federal Reserve. Those banks can be dissolved or just converted to ordinary banks. Think about it. Why do we need an institution that can change the thing we use as a store of value whenever the folks that run it wish or when politicians pressure them to do so? It is nothing more than a hidden tax system. At the very least such power should be restricted. That restriction existed when we were on a gold standard.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

Duty

It is the patriotic duty of every American to keep as much money as possible out of the control of his government.

Matt Morehouse

2010 – Our opportunity to restore sanity

We are enduring a concentrated and vicious assault on American values and principles, led by the “troika” of President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid. They are aided and abetted by the usual hacks and demagogues in both houses of congress, and in particular by the mainstream media. We can bring it to halt in 2010, hopefully before the damage is irrevocable.

We’ll eschew the use of the word “Change.” -- That’s what we’d like to have a little bit of remaining in our pockets. We’ll also ignore any reference to “Hope.” -- That’s a little town in Arkansas made infamous for giving us Bill Clinton. The 2010 election will be all about a return to American values and principles, and a course correction to counter the current hard left turn that has all of our heads spinning.

The preceding posts to this blog point out the opportunity to remove chronic offenders such as Senators Dodd and Reid, but they also point out the crowded field lining up for the competition. Such a mob scene plays into the hands of the liberals, because they can and will use a divide and conquer strategy to point out the differences and cause rancor among the various candidates’ supporters. Those feeling hold over long past the primaries.

What do we need to do to make sure this doesn’t happen? We who have been vocal and active here and on other forums need to get involved. Here’s a five-point plan, subject to editing and amendment by those with better political instincts than I have.

1. In each critical race, identify those candidates who reflect conservative values and American traditions, and are not afraid to say so.
2. Carefully vet the candidates – not with the proctological exam techniques used by the media, but with a careful look at the history and career of each. Any red flags than can be used by the libs and the media to destroy a candidate have to be acknowledged and dismissed early, so that it’s old news.
3. Work with State and Local officials to objectively rate the suitable candidates, and then to identify the ones with the strongest chance to win.
4. Work with the other candidates to try and convince them of the wisdom of narrowing the field. A two-or-three candidate primary is far preferable to a ten-candidate primary, and will usually result in the better candidate being selected.
5. Finally – once the primaries are over, support the candidate selected, even if he or she was not your first choice. They are still going to be a preferable to leaving the Dodds and Reids in place.

We will not likely oust Nancy Pelosi or Barney Frank – they are both elected in districts that might be described as “People’s Republic of…” But if we actively work in the other important races, we can enhance the chances that sanity will return in 2010. Then we’ll be able to call Pelosi “Ex-speaker” and Reid “Former Senator.” Wouldn't that be nice?

Tom 23 Nov. 09

If it ain't broke...fix it??

When I was a young boy I used to tear down all manner of things just to see how they worked. Not all of these things got back together and went back into service, but my father was an indulgent man and kept bringing me more things to examine. Eventually he brought me things that already didn't work, with the stated expectation that they should work when I was finished with them. For a young boy it was a fine way to learn about how the things in the world worked.

As I was moving through this review of all things, I would occasionally see signs and bumper stickers saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I wondered about that motto. Later I would have engineering bosses who would say, "first prove to me that we have a real problem before you redesign that thing" (to fix a supposed problem based on one telephone call from the field). I learned from them too, and came to understand that they were essentially saying "If it ain't broke don't fix it."

Too late in life I began to take an interest in politics. Before that interest, I kind of understood that out there in the world somewhere there were "others", Nazis and Socialists and Communists. I even ducked a few communist bullets in my misspent youth, but I always had the feeling that those kind of people would never come to my homeland. I had to go to their homeland and fight them there.

As I grew older, I finally understood that "If it ain't broke don't fix it" really meant that lots of things work for reasons we may never fully understand, but if they work and we should respect them nonetheless.

As I studied the behavior of the socialists and communists, I detected a variation on "If it ain't broke don't fix it" Their motto was "If it ain't broke they won't let us fix it" So, "We need to break it first, then they will let us fix it." Socialism and communism cannot easily replace economic and governmental systems that work fairly well. Furthermore, almost all economic and governmental systems tend to work better than socialism and communism unless they are sabotaged.

And that is the point, or at least it is the question. Is our present administration, with their very socialist agenda, trying to fix things, or are they trying to break them? We are told now that our imbalance of trade and our ever increasing deficit are a big problem, big enough to destroy our way of life. Why then are we prevented from exploiting our own energy reserves? Is that so we have to send dollars to our Muslim enemies and aggravate the trade imbalance? Why have we made so many restrictive regulations on our own industry. Was that so we would export our industry and jobs to our arch enemy Communist China? Why are we contemplating cap and trade legislation that can only offer economic destruction? Communist China and India are not stupid enough to join us in this economic suicide. Without them, there will be no significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions so why are we intent on destroying the rest of our industrial base? Why is our government spending money at a truly shocking rate, thereby driving up the deficit and driving down the dollar? Why are we promoting the largest entitlement program in our history at a time when the government borrows almost half of all the money it spends?

Are the people in power at the moment trying to fix things.... or are they trying to break them? Have they reasoned that first they must break the system and then we the people will beg them to fix it? Good question. It is, after all, the socialist and communist way of gaining power and then keeping it.

By: Jerry




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A Fair Trial?

Ironically, after the Station Master of Treblinka, Adolph Eichman, was kidnapped in South America by Israeli agents, he was tried in an Israeli civilian court (tribunal), convicted, sentenced to death and hanged. No venire of twelve citizens of "average ignorance"!

I think Holder is a worthless piece of excrement for bringing those Islamic pigs here when we spent hundreds of millions engineering the Military Commissions and constructing a special court house at GITMO. If Military Commissions were good enough for the Germans and Japanese, they're certainly good enough for Islamic pigs! We both know this wasn't Holder's decision. Obama and Axelrod made this decision. BO is still grandstanding and campaigning --- for 2012.

I will never vote for a President who hasn't served in the military! This is week 12 of Barack's mulling-over a troop increase in Afghanistan. Like Jimmy Carter, he can't make a meaningful decision about anything.

We're still under attack! Case-in-point: Major Hassan. No doubt another excellent candidate for a "civilian" trial notwithstanding the fact he's active duty Army. BO's 2012 campaign is in full-swing.

Alan I7 Nov. 09

Quote for the day

“There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wound, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."

General George S. Patton

S.P.I.N.E.

“Why is it getting so hot, and what are we doing in this handbasket?”

That is the question Americans will be asking if the U.S. Senate follows the lockstep insanity exhibited by the House of Representatives.

Yes – there is still time to reign in the headlong rush to a government-run health care system and all the woes that come with such a monster. It will take several decisive events to stop it, including:

· The first step: Growth of actual spines by several Senators. This includes not only RINOs such as Olympia Snowe, but several so-called “Moderates” and even (hopefully) a few less liberal Democrats who have not fallen mindlessly into this lockstep rush to socialism.
· The second step: With backbones in place, this band must join committed conservative Republicans in blocking the Pelosi/Ried agenda and then offering up real, constructive reform such as interstate portability, tort reform and other changes that will help increase competition and reduce cost without handing the whole thing to the government.
· The Third step: Assuming step two can be achieved, the House and Senate bills brought to conference will be radically different. These Senators will then need all of the spine grown in step one to resist the inevitable arm-twisting, threats and wheedling that will take place as Pelosi and Ried try to force government-run health care down our collective throats. They must INSIST that the so-called “government option” be dropped; that portability and tort reform be left in place; and that any so-called “triggers” that would allow a government run plan to be brought in the back door be eliminated.

The thing we must do now is contact our Senators, forcefully and often, urging them to dig in for us and prevent the looming catastrophe. The movement needs a name. How about “SPINE?” (Senators Preventing Insane New Enactments)

Tom Wells
10 November 09