Monday, January 21, 2013

Current Events - January 21, 2013

 Second Inaugural Address: Obama Declares War on Liberty As We Know It

 Sounding the same themes of class warfare that propelled his re-election campaign, President Barack Obama devoted his second inaugural address to laying out his second term agenda: a struggle to undo the seeming injustices of America's past, and to overcome the army of straw men that stand in opposition to progress.

In the process, President Obama attempted nothing less than an assault on the timeless notion of liberty itself:

Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society's ills can be cured through government alone.
But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action.

After praising the "collective" and mocking the notion that America is a "nation of takers," President Obama targeted the political opposition. He targeted those who "deny" climate change, attacked those who allegedly refused to reward the elderly for their contributions, and defied critics whom he said wanted "perpetual war." He attacked the rich--as he has done so often over the past four years--and painted a caricature of an unjust nation: "...our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it....We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few."

President Obama's address failed to deliver on promises earlier in the day by senior political adviser David Axelrod that the speech would sound themes of national unity on a day of national "consecration." Instead, the president sounded combative themes familiar from his divisive first term, albeit wrapped occasionally in the lofty rhetoric of "hope" and "tolerance," and punctuated by the repeated refrain: "We, the People."
He acknowledged Americans have diverse concepts of liberty, but insisted that these could all fit together under the collective mission of the government to achieve its redistributive aims. Days after describing Republicans as determined to hurt the poor and elderly, he accused his opposition of intolerance: "We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate."
The president cited Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday is celebrated today, citing his "I Have a Dream" speech, implying that when Dr. King told America that "our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on earth," he was referring not to civil rights but to the mighty will of the state.
President Obama also spoke out in favor of gay rights and immigration reform, acknowledging groups of voters that were central to his re-election effort--yet for whom he did not fulfill many of his first-term pledges. He touched on three historic locations--"Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall"--critical to the history of the women's rights movement, the civil rights movement, and the gay rights movement, respectively.
Throughout his address, the President maintained his voice in a near-shout. This was not an historic address, a reflection on a moment in history; it was an exhortation to political action, in contrast to the political reality of a divided Washington, in defiance of the profound economic challenges still facing the American people.
It was a declaration of political war on individual liberty. It was a wasted opportunity--and a warning.

Obama Inauguration: "Preserving Liberty Requires Collective Action"


President Obama took the Oath of Office for his final time today in a ceremonial procedure in front of a watchful nation, laying out a fiercely progressive vision for his second term in office, embracing the liberal causes of climate change, gay equality, and gun control before an audience of hundreds of thousands of Americans, politicians and government officials. 

President Obama threw in a head-fake to conservatives at the beginning of his speech, saying that "we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society's ills can be cured through government alone," before saying that the American government must lead the way on clean energy and gun control, and that freedom isn't particularly worthwhile without collectivism.

"Preserving our individual liberties," the President said, "ultimately requires collective action." 

President Obama defended big government welfare programs as enhancing American freedom, saying that things like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security "do not make us a nation of takers" but "free us to take the risks that make this country great." 

In a surprising turn, the President aggressively laid out the issue he thinks might be the most important facing the country right now: global warming. 


"We will respond to the threat of climate change," he said, "knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms." 

Acknowledging the bankruptcies of many of his green-energy programs, President Obama said that "the path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult." 

Huge cheers arose from the assembled masses of progressives when the President launched into the most left-wing and defiant part of the speech, speaking of how America's "journey" is not complete until the government enacts every single part of the progressive agenda, calling for employers to be forced to pay their employees equally, for gay marriage to be enshrined as a right, for voters to be able to vote in the easiest manner possible, to welcome all immigrants, and to roll back gun rights:
For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.
Today was unlike President Obama's first inauguration. There, he was light on policy and plans, and heavy on what he's good at: soaring, aspirational rhretoric. Today, President Obama took the fight to those who have opposed him, outlining policy goals that he kept largely hidden during his re-election campaign. 

If conservatives are to deny this progressive policy program in President Obama's second term, they're going to have to lay out a positive agenda of their own. President Obama attacked conservative straw men today in his speech while at the same time claiming he's just as skeptical of central authority and collective action as the American Founding Fathers. 

The national debt stood at $10.6 trillion on President Obama's first inauguration. It's now at $16.4 trillion. 

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/kevinglass/2013/01/21/obama-inauguration-preserving-liberty-requires-collective-action-n1493967  

It’s Mourning in America

Today is Obama’s second swearing in, and despite what the Obama-adoring, Kool-Aid- drinking liberal mainstream media tells you, this is a day for sadness, not celebration. It's time to mourn for what Obama is doing to America....and even worse, for what he has planned for the next four years. The economy is in free-fall. Economists are suddenly all agreeing that Obama’s “solution” to the fiscal cliff—gigantic tax increases that are already taking big bites out of paychecks—will crater our projected economic growth for 2013. It’s bad out there, and getting worse every day. The fact is: We are in an Obama Great Depression.
I call it “Obamageddon.”

Today’s inauguration simply guarantees our economy is doomed to four more years of the same. And Americans are asking: Will we survive Obama’s second term as self-supporting independent individuals? Or as families able to take care of our kids and give them a start in life? As a nation? Will my small business survive? Will I have a job in four years?

The first key to surviving Obamageddon is to understand what’s really going on. Armed with the facts, we might just have a chance of surviving, and even thriving, during the Obama nightmare. But don’t hold your breath waiting for the Obama administration or the mainstream media to tell you the truth. For that, like most other things worth having, we have to do it ourselves.

So here are ten hard facts the Obama lackeys don’t want you to know:

1. The Obama administration has gone on the biggest spending spree in world history—$13.6 trillion since 2008.

2. Under Obama the national debt has increased by fifty percent. Obama is on track to add $12 trillion to the national debt – a staggering three times more than Bush in his eight years as president.

3. Under Obama the national debt now exceeds the entire output of the U.S. economy.

4. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, household income has fallen for all four years under Obama; it’s down $4000.

5. The net worth of the average American is down a whopping 40%.

6. Unemployment was over eight percent for an unimaginable 43 consecutive months. That’s more months of 8%+ unemployment than under all the presidents from Truman to George W. Bush.

7. According to economist John Williams of Shadowstats.com, if you factored in all of the short-term discouraged workers, all of the long-term discouraged workers, and all of those working part-time because they cannot find full-time employment, the real unemployment rate would be over 20 percent—higher than unemployment for most years of the Great Depression.

8. Fifty-three percent of all college graduates in America under age 25 are either unemployed or under-employed, and the total student loan debt is now over $1 trillion, with defaults at record levels.

9. Obama’s term produced horrendous economic damage to African Americans. Black unemployment is currently at 14%, even by official understatement.

10. A staggering 1 in 3 residents in Obama's home state of Illinois are now living in poverty. Shame. Disgrace. Pathetic. Embarrassment. But get ready- Obama is bringing that same economy to all of us. He wants to "spread the poverty around."

In sum, Americans are experiencing unimaginable economic wreckage, crisis and collapse from coast to coast.

How can Americans survive the next four years? By saying enough is enough. Seek out the facts, and refuse to swallow the Obama sound bites, or the mainstream media's Obama-approved propaganda. The fight to survive and thrive begins by taking charge of our everyday lives- with our taxes, our investments, our choice of where to live, our children’s education, our healthcare, our guns, our food supply, our home security, and of course, our faith in God, family and country.

So, today, instead of getting out the party hats and balloons for Obama’s inauguration, I'd suggest you make your best New Year’s resolution: Resolve to survive and thrive despite the coming Obamageddon.

http://townhall.com/columnists/wayneallynroot/2013/01/21/its-mourning-in-america-n1492612/page/full/

PK'S NOTE: This is fabulous. Read. it. All.

Mark Levin's Inaugural Day Message— Fight!

As President Barack Obama prepares for his inauguration, Breitbart News sat down with radio talk show host Mark Levin, the bestselling author of the blockbusters Liberty and Tyranny, Ameritopia, Men in Black, and Rescuing Sprite. Levin painted a stark picture of the reality facing the country – the rise of tyranny – but he also offered hope in one word: “fight.”

“I don’t think Obama knows exactly what he’s going to go for in his second term,” Levin said, "as he will look for opportunities to exploit as events unfold.  I am sure they've drawn up a partial a list, and we already know that it includes, but is not limited to, gun control; attacks on the First Amendment such as religious liberty; amnesty for illegal aliens; union expansion; institutionalizing Obamacare; institutionalizing voter corruption; de-industrialization via the EPA; destroying the capitalist-based economy via tax increases, smothering regulations, massive deficit spending, and endless borrowing; and hollowing out our military; etc.  This will effect all of us. It will do extreme damage to the nation in many respects. I think Obama sees himself as correcting historic wrongs in this country, as delivering the fruits of the labor of other people to people who he believes have historically been put upon. I think there’s a lot of perverse thinking that goes on in his mind, radical left-wing thinking. He was indoctrinated with Marx and Alinksy propaganda.  You not only see it in his agenda but in his words -- class warfare; degrading successful people unless, of course, they help finance his elections, causes, and organizations; pretending to speak for the so-called middle class when, in fact, he is destroying their jobs, savings, and future.  Obama's war on our society is intended to be an onslaught in which the system is overwhelmed.”

How to fight that agenda? Levin said the answer certainly doesn’t lie in the current Republican Party leadership. “I think the Republican Party, its apparatus, its so-called leadership, the parasitic consultants, represent an institution that is tired, old, almost decrepit, full of cowardice and vision-less.  It has abandoned the Declaration of Independence and any serious defense of constitutional republicanism.  The Democrat Party is now a radical 1960s party; it’s the anti-Constitution, anti-capitalism, anti-individual party.  It largely controls the federal government, including the massive bureaucracy and much of the judiciary -- what I call the permanent branches of the federal government.  The Democrat Party represents the federal government, and the federal government expands the power of the Democrat Party.  They're appendages of each other.  On the other hand, the GOP today stands for capitulation, timidity, delusion -- so mostly nothing.  Republicans may speak of the Constitution, limited government, low taxes, etc., but what have they done about them?  Next to nothing if not nothing.  Even when Bush 43 was president and the Republicans controlled Congress.  What did they do?  They went a spending binge.  They expanded Medicare, the federal role in local education, drove up the debt, etc.  Meanwhile, we are lectured by putative Republicans like Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Tom Ridge, and a conga line of others trashing often viciously NOT Obama and what the Democrats are doing to our nation, but conservatives, constitutionalists, and tea party activists who are the only people left standing for liberty against tyranny in this country."

But, said Levin, the answer isn’t to start a third party – “The problem is a practical one.  If we go third party, I can see the Democrats winning elections for a generation.  Given the radicalized character of that party, that would seal our fate, and the fate of our children and grandchildren to, as Reagan put it, 1000 years of darkness.  The day may come, perhaps soon, when abandoning the GOP for a new party is the best way to deal with events and stop the rise of tyranny.  I think the answer at this moment is for conservatives to retake the Republican Party.  Reagan did it, and Reagan was opposed by the Republican establishment every step of the way, including the Bush family. But this is a constant fight, just as fighting the Democrats is a constant fight. After the Reagan presidency, Bush 41 and Bush 43, who'd opposed the Reagan Revolution, immediately dragged the nation back into the Republican mush. In fact, they sought to distance themselves from Reagan and his achievements, using such silly phrases as "a kinder and gentler" conservatism or "compassionate conservatism," as if all the opportunities, wealth, jobs, and enterprises Reagan's policies launched were neither kind nor compassionate.  There is an intransigence in the Republican Party that sabotages and obstructs those who have answers for this nation based on our founding principles.  And so we had a brief eight-year period where Reagan showed us the way and created a foundation on which future Republican presidents could build, and they haven’t.  They invoke Reagan because he is beloved by the American people, but they reject his principles and policies.  Keep in mind, George W. Bush was the most profligate spender in world history until Obama came along; the Tea Party grew out of the last months of Bush 43 and the early months of the Obama presidency. Yet Bush administration staffers are everywhere today: the media, advising candidates, leading fundraisers, etc. And they arrogantly and condescendingly lecture conservatives about responsible, moderate governance.  They also cheerlead for more establishment candidates, like John McCain, Mitt Romney, and the like, who are not only sure losers, but have no grasp of the urgency of our times and the principled agenda necessary to address it.  Meanwhile, the Reagan and traditional conservatives, the constitutionalists and the tea party leaders, are all but unheard and unseen on TV, even some of our favorite outlets.”

The tendency toward a meaningless Republicanism isn’t confined to the Republican Party, Levin stated. It’s in the media, too. “I’m not that impressed with some of the new conservative faces and voices.  For starters, most of them aren't conservative at all.  They're establishment Republican, or at least reflect that bunch too often.  They are voices for the impotent GOP leadership, giving them cover while shooting at real conservative voices who are doing much of the heavy lifting.  Sadly, when you look at some of the great outlets for conservative thought and activism of the past, it’s a crying shame, because many of them have abandoned their past role as serious and substantive breeding grounds for conservative strategies, policies, and new intellectuals.  Instead, they spend an inordinate amount of time analyzing polling data and otherwise naval gazing -- when they're not taking shots at other conservatives or promoting their TV appearances.  With respect to policy, you could see this when the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Bill Kristol attacked the tea party back in 2011, when the tea party opposed the disastrous debt-ceiling deal.  They even reduced themselves to calling them Hobbits and Obama Republicans.  But, of course, the tea party was right, the Journal and Kristol were wrong, as recent events have demonstrated.  You can also see it with the recent fiscal cliff debacle, which grew out of the 2011 debt ceiling deal, where certain columnists were cheering the brilliance of the Republican leadership in agreeing with Obama to not only raise taxes on the so-called rich and eliminating numerous deductions, but they insisted they had actually cut taxes by defending the status quo re most of the tax brackets that have existed for the last 12 years.  And now, having declared victory in the fiscal cliff matter, they're already surrendering ground on the latest debt ceiling deadline, arguing for a three month deal.  This is now said to be a new, ingenuous strategy for forcing the Democrats in the Senate to pass a budget and expose Obama as a big spender.  It's laughable and pathetic.  Our society is deteriorating as the federal government devours more and more of it, we are on an unsustainable course that threatens our liberty and all we have built and earned, and these people act as if it's just another day of wheeling and dealing.  At a bare minimum, at least make the case to the American people, and if the people decide they want to live in chains, then there's not much we can do about it.  But make the damn case and fight like hell!" 

“As for the new media, I think they have already wrested some control away from the mainstream media, which is more accurately characterized as the statist media.  The so-called mainstream media promotes big government and those who advance it.  Obama, for example, is their champion.  When you look at the audience numbers for the networks, and you see the newspaper subscriptions dropping, that’s a good thing as far as I'm concerned.  The years of near-monopoly control over what is said to be news by self-serving liberal propagandists needs to end, as the recent outrageous comments by Bob Schieffer and Tom Brokaw make clear.  And their progeny are no better -- not just at MSNBC but at other supposedly more mainstream outlets.  I call these people pretend journalists. So, I think the new media is absolutely crucial: the more competition the better, the more citizen involvement not just in government but in free speech the better. The more the merrier, and I think a difference has been made and will continue to be made.  In the end, though, the consumer needs to be discerning.  Just because something is said in the new media or appears in the new media does not make it so. This is particularly true with the Left's emergence on the Internet and in social media.  Over time, it will sort itself out.  But I would encourage conservatives to continue to make maximum use of new technologies to preserve our nation and defeat the Left.”

But Levin said that the country rests on the blade of a knife right now, and that every effort is necessary to preserve its liberty. “Right now we have a government with so much power, a government so ubiquitous, a government so cancerous in its growth and so exponential in its expanse, that I cannot conceal my great fear for the future of this country. Trying to figure out how to unravel it all is a very difficult undertaking. I have friends who are conservatives who are very intelligent, I know a number of people who are in public office, and they say, ‘Be positive, if we win the next election, things will be okay.’ But it’s not just about winning the next election. That’s the minimum we need to do. We need to roll back the size of the federal Leviathan or it will surely be our undoing.  Republicans have been allergic to this.  We need to roll back the debt, even though the last Republican administration contributed mightily to it. The way to start is by cleaning out the old guard in the GOP and installing fresh, bold, articulate, knowledgeable, confident, courageous conservatives.  We must find a way to depose the old, decrepit, tired so-called leaders who've used the system to climb to the top, but once at the top demonstrate they don't belong there.  We also must find ways to devolve political and economic power back to the states and the individual.  It is a fools errand to believe that the same people who've brought us to the brink and the people who can solve the dire problems they've contributed to.  This is a puzzle that must be solved."

Will the country be able to come back from Obamaism? Levin said that the road would be an uphill one: “To be perfectly honest, many countries haven’t come back from this. It’s happening from within. When an individual like Obama uses the instrumentalities of government against us, when he uses the power that the Constitution grants to a president to evade the Constitution and abuse power, when he uses liberty to exploit opportunities to promote the tyranny of centralized government, it’s extremely difficult for people who are not paying attention or who are not engaged in the political process to help us stop what's taking place.  Only when things get so bad do many of them realize what's happening, and that's usually too late.  Reestablishing the civil society will be extremely difficult. I have hope, but I’m not going to delude myself or others that this is just another election cycle or just another president or just another agenda we can easily overcome if we win the White House back in 2016. The President is making institutional, structural changes to our country. Do I think the country can survive? I think America will certainly exist.  But what kind of America?  The question is whether we will be a free and prosperous people or just another miserable place where rights are denied and needs are scare and distributed by the government.  I believe knowing the perilous state of the nation, and not pretending otherwise, and knowing that only we conservatives have any hope of stemming this tide and gradually reversing course, we will fight this in every legitimate way we can.  And hopefully our already significant ranks will grow.  We have no choice but to stand and fight. Everything is at stake," said Levin.

But there is a bright spot: the American public still cares about the Constitution. In fact, they care more than they did even a decade or two ago. “The one positive aspect I see today,” Levin continued. “There are more people in America now who have at least a general concept of how the Constitution is supposed to work, including the Bill of Rights, and a general concept of what the Declaration of Independence means, including the emphasis on the value of every individual.  This was not so 10 or 20 years ago. That’s not to say that such an understanding can easily transfer into modern politics. But I think, in part, that’s why you see so many millions of people frustrated, because they know our government shouldn’t be operating this way. Even though we lost the last two elections, and Obama's reelection was by no means a blowout despite a fairly weak Republican nominee, so many people keep talking about the Constitution. I view this as a very positive thing. Are there more of us than there are the others -- that is, those who reject our heritage and are conquered by or have surrendered to the Leviathan?   History will tell us one day.  The choice is in our hands right now.”

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/01/21/mark-levin-inaugural-day-message

Tom Brokaw v. Founding Fathers

Thursday Jan 17, Tom Brokaw was given time on MSNBC to tell the Founding Fathers the self-evident truths they laid their lives on the line for are farfetched.

Are we lucky, or what? Our talking heads know so much more than the men who pledged their lives, their sacred honor to free us from the tyranny of Kings and establish real freedom.

Brokaw spoke with Andrea Mitchell. He aimed his remarks at people who believe in the Constitution by saying, in a scholarly formal tone (which passes for derision in his circles), that 2nd Amendment types who say the Amendment is there to protect citizens from government tyranny are 'pretty outlandish'.

'I have to keep my weapon because the government's going to come and try to take it away from me, and I have to be able to fight back when that happens,'" Brokaw said. "Well that's the most far-reaching thing you can possibly imagine."
He expanded that utterance with, "If we get to a stage where storm troopers show up on your doorstep, it's about a lot more guns, by the way, it's anarchy in this country."

Tom? No kidding, brother. And by the way that was your 'outside voice', sir. The one you should guard against using because that's the voice which reveals vacuity, emptiness, lack of understanding and general boorishness. Let's see what George Washington has to say to you in reply.

"Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence ... from the hour the Pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurrences and tendencies prove that to ensure peace security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable ... the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good."  George Washington, First President of the United States
Tom Brokaw. Smarter than George Washington.

Tom, can you summon the memory of John Kennedy's famous remark concerning Thomas Jefferson? "There has never been a greater concentration of intellectual power here at the White House since Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

Tom, let's recall Thomas Jefferson's declaration about citizen's Right to keep and bear arms. So you may gauge the sensibilities of your statement.

"The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that ... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed...."  Thomas Jefferson, letter to Justice John Cartwright, June 5, 1824. ME 16:45.
Duty, Tom. Duty. And on the possibility of tyranny by our own government, Tom?

"The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution."  Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States
Tom? Current administration, sir?

"What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms."  Thomas Jefferson to James Madison
Really, sir. Are you so insular in your New York media cocoon you are unlearned in our History? Unaware of the tyranny even now building? Blind to the disastrous road Washington has been building? Unheeding of the Greatest Generation you proclaimed?

Tom, come with me and review George Mason, co-author of the Second Amendment.

"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."  George Mason, Co-author of the Second Amendment, during Virginia's Convention to Ratify the Constitution, 1788

You seek slavery, Tom? Is this what you endorse? The rationale of the media personality? Is slavery preferable to you? Tom, here's a lesson you don't understand even with the enormous information matrix you've ridden to riches, Tom ... freedom is messy. Free citizens are the cure.

I close with two items you cannot understand, Tom, being a child of privilege and security. Everywhere you go, armed men stand ready to repulse evil for your sake, to put themselves between you and harm. Very few of us are afforded such luxury and then to have you pontificate out of hand that we are crazy for cherishing the Second Amendment and determined to use the Second Amendment is dastardly in its willful ignorance. I know you plead the Cause of Necessity, born of the horror of Newton, but Tom?

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom; it is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." - William Pitt, 1783
Are you really more learned than our most famous voices. Tom? What have you built? What risks have you taken? What have you done other than talk? Fancy suits, car service on demand and $200 haircuts are not a soapbox from which you can stand and lecture us, Tom.

Maybe a mere bumper sticker is more the style of script you're used to reading in your informed, formal tone, Tom.

"An armed man is a citizen. A disarmed man is a subject."   Anon.
A nd from a man you surely knew and admired.

"The right of the citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible." - Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey

Tom, I leave you with this page of quotes. These are not all the quotes, but for a small mind, it ought to at least get you started.

Please, use your access to the airwaves wisely, sir. You can do grotesque damage with your words, or inspire a rebirth of liberty. Your call, amigo.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/01/tom_brokaw_v_founding_fathers.html

The Left's Inability To Be Civil

It was inevitable that the American left, and its mouthpiece the mainstream media, is now resorting to its usual mindless name calling, as they cannot intimidate the NRA and the bulk of the American citizens into meekly acquiescing to their so-called "gun violence" initiative.   The majority of the citizenry see this ploy for what it is: an attempt at further incrementalism with the ultimate goal of eviscerating the Second Amendment.  Therefore, the references to the NRA and gun advocates as racists as well as comparisons to Hitler and the Nazis are coming fast and furious.  It is as predictable as the sun rising in the east.

This past week, Bob Sheiffer of CBS compared defeating the NRA to defeating the Nazis in World War II.  Not to be outdone Martin Bashir of NBC said the NRA "...deserved to be compared to Hitler."  Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA) claimed:  "...they [NRA] cannot get over the fact that Obama is black."  And the ever reasonable Charlie Rangel (D-NY) in discussing gun control said: "..the Southern states have cultures that we have to overcome."  These are but a few of the many references to either Hitler, the Nazis, racism or backwoods gun-totting hicks in fly-over country since the debate spawned by Obama's determination to impose more stringent gun control measures began.

The well-worn and dog-eared tactic -- used by the Progressive cabal to malign and intimidate their political opponents by the obligatory reference to anyone who opposes their agenda as Nazis, references to World War II and the mindless charge of racism as synonyms for political disagreements -- is beneath contempt and is indicative of the inability to present a coherent argument in support of their position.

The mindless references to the World War II period are an insult to and denigration of the memory of nearly 70 million people who died in the War and the countless millions who suffered and were displaced.  None of you, on the left, who so glibly throw around these terms have the slightest idea of the experiences of those who were there.

Your frame of reference is perhaps a faded and grainy yet impersonal black and white film of ashen faces staring into the camera, or of emaciated children begging for food, or of lifeless bodies strewn across a field.   To others, it is sitting in a movie theatre for two hours, watching a Hollywood portrayal of the War.  In either case, these images are quickly forgotten as you go about your daily lives.  But to those of us who lived it do not have that luxury.  Our experiences haunt us every hour, day, and night.

There are no political disagreements, groups or movements in the United States that can be remotely compared to those days of death and destruction when, for the people in the center of the maelstrom, there was not the option of thinking of tomorrow; instead it was how to live through the day.  To those on both sides of the political spectrum, in particular the left, and on behalf of all of us, living and dead, who experienced the years of hell -- the time has come to stop using references to the War in order to demonize your political opponents.  You only succeed in diminishing yourselves as the worst of scoundrels.

Since Barack Obama was inaugurated in January of 2009, the use of the race card has reached epidemic proportions.   Anyone who disagrees with his policies is branded a racist --a term filled with negative and ominous connotations.  Its use is solely intended to demonize and intimidate the political opposition and is succeeding only in creating the most polarized society since the 1960's.

Forty-eight years ago, while on a voter registration drive, I went up to a ramshackle house near a small town in southern Maryland.  There on the porch quietly rocking in her well-worn chair was the bent figure of an elderly black woman.  We sat on the porch, with its peeling paint and rotting boards, for two hours or more, the 92 year old daughter of slaves and a displaced war orphan from across the ocean, bound together by past life experiences but optimistic about the future.  When the time came to leave she gently took my hand and held it in her gnarled fingers long ago deformed by the ravages of arthritis and said:  "The times are a'changin, I hope my people will listen to God's word to forgive and lead a good and honest life.  May God bless you always."

As I never saw her again, I hope Acadie was able to live long enough to witness the historic transformation of American attitudes toward intolerance and discrimination that occurred over the past fifty years.   But it was her determination and that of so many before and after her that made the prospect of a black man being elected president achievable, as well as a society that has eradicated nearly all the vestiges of its racist past.  Thinking of those last words she said to me, I wonder what she would think of those in the black community and in the liberal establishment deliberately fomenting racial animosity by the indiscriminate use of the racist charge, solely for the purpose of political gain and the defeat of their political adversaries.  Having had the privilege, over many years, to meet her and so many like her here in the United States, I think I know.

The lifeblood of a Democracy is civil discourse.  It is painfully obvious that the left, the mainstream media, and the Democratic Party have no interest in any other point of view or even the future of the country.    They have instead descended into the depths of disgusting name-calling and outright lies and obfuscation.  They should be ashamed of themselves, assuming they are capable of shame or getting beyond childish playground taunts.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/01/the_lefts_inability_to_be_civil.html
Ayn Rand and the criminalization of everyday life
A few of my friends are avid fans of Ayn Rand, especially of Atlas Shrugged. As I’ve explained in this space and elsewhere, I am not. I’ve tried the book a few times and just couldn’t get through it.  I did see the first two installments of the recent movie version and rather liked them, though I know I am not supposed to.
At bottom, I think that Whittaker Chambers was right about Rand in the devastating review he wrote of Atlas Shrugged in National Review shortly after the book appeared.

Yet Chambers was right not only about Rand’s shortcomings — that’s what people remember about his review — but also about what she got right.  “[A] great many of us,” he wrote, “dislike much that Miss Rand dislikes, quite as heartily as she does.” That fact disposes “us” — i.e., us conservatives who share Rand’s belief in self-reliance and who dislike big government and the nanny state just as much as she did — to endorse some of what Rand advocates. Hence, for example, widespread popularity of Rand’s character John Galt and sympathy for “going Galt,” i.e., Just Saying No to the many violations of personal liberty perpetrated by an omnivorous, socialistically inclined state.

I’ve found that as I get older I become more and more libertarian, which I suppose means in part that I am more and more sympathetic to John Galt. Why? I’m sure there are several reasons. One is the increasing bureaucratization of life in this country, the progress of what Tocqueville called “Democratic Despotism,” i.e., the insidious proliferation of rules and regulations (and their concomitant rulers and regulators) that we’re told are being put in place for the commonweal but in fact are really put in place to  squelch individual liberty and solidify state control over our lives.

Examples are too numerous to linger over: imagine a country in which legislators tell you can no longer buy incandescent light bulbs but must henceforth purchase ones that contain a toxic substance and give off a sepulchral, Eastern-European-under-Communism sort of grimy light. Imagine a country in which other legislators (or perhaps they’re the same ones) are proposing to fit all new cars with a “black box” that will record where you’ve been, how fast you got there, and perhaps even what you had to drink before you got behind the wheel.

Amazing that we put up with it, no?

And this is the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

Behind all of these absurd regulations and laws, behind the petty bureaucrats, is that despotism Tocqueville warned about. Despotism. I.e., control.  What we are talking about is the criminalization of everyday life. Harvey Silverglate dealt in a masterly way with part of the story in his book  Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent , which I was proud to publish a couple of years back at Encounter Books.
Now Glenn Reynolds has weighed in with a thoughtful (not to say scary)  law-review essay called Ham Sandwich Nation: Due Process When Everything is a Crime. Glenn mentions the essay at Instapundit, where he also cites this marvelous passage from Atlas Shrugged:

 “Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?” said Dr. Ferris. “We want them broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against – then you’ll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures. We’re after power and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you’d better get wise to it. There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now, that’s the system, Mr. Rearden, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.”
That is spot on.  Maybe I will try the book again.

“It is seldom,” David Hume once wrote, “that freedom of any kind is lost all at once.”  That sucking sound you hear throughout the land is the sound of freedom being drained away, slowly here and there, with amazing rapidity elsewhere.

After quoting that stunning passage from Rand, Glenn concludes with the melancholy observation that “Things aren’t quite that bad. Yet.” Do we just wait around until “yet” becomes “now”?

http://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/2013/01/20/ayn-rand-and-the-criminalization-of-everyday-life/?singlepage=true

Debunking the Sandy Hook Debunkers

During the age of Obama, the major media have gone fully AWOL. If they fear that their reporting will lead to inconvenient discoveries, they simply stop their advance, lay down their notebooks, and disappear. This trend began in the Clinton years and picked up momentum after the 1994 electoral debacle, but the Clintons at least worried that the media might turn on them. 

If Barack Obama ever had any such anxiety, the nonreporting on Fast and Furious, Benghazi and now Sandy Hook has had to reassure him. Sandy Hook is particularly disturbing because the truth is, or at least should have been, so accessible. This tragedy should never have spawned anything like a conspiracy theory, but it obviously has.

Protecting the major media's flank during retreat are many and sundry well-funded leftist blogs -- Huffington Post, The Daily Kos, Media Matters, and TPM among others. While the major media withdraw, the blogs attack those who might challenge the "narrative" the majors have left behind.

A case in point is a recent multi-media Huffington Post piece titled "Sandy Hook Conspiracy Theory Video Debunked By Experts." In the video intro, HuffPo editor Meredith Bennett-Smith laughingly dismisses the various alternate theories of what transpired at Sandy Hook. Says Bennett-Smith, "That is what conspiracy theorists love to do. They put out a lot of questions, but they don't necessarily provide a lot of answers." When there is a Democrat in the White House, alas, anyone who asks a question becomes a conspiracy theorist.

Like too many alleged fact checkers, Bennett-Smith addresses only the least significant of the challenges to the Sandy Hook narrative: the alleged use of crisis actors, the memorials that predated the shooting, the confusion about what weapon was in Adam Lanza's trunk. The "experts" she promises in the headline turn out to be other Obama-friendly fact checkers like David Mikkelson, founder of Snopes, and Robert Blaskiewicz, editor of a comparable blog called Skeptical Humanities. Absent in the piece is anyone who knows anything about guns or police work.

Predictably, what the HuffPo piece does not address are the two most troubling inconsistencies in the Sandy Hook reporting: the nature of the guns used and the presence or absence of a second shooter. Both questions have gained importance because of the White House's obvious political exploitation of a ginned up "assault weapon" hysteria.

As to the guns, on December 15, one day after the shooting, NBC's chief justice correspondent Pete Williams spoke with Today Show host Matt Lauer. Williams shared "new information" from a "couple of federal officials and state officials." Said Williams, "They say now that there were actually four handguns recovered inside the school, not just two as we were initially told; four handguns and apparently only handguns that were taken into the school." (Italics mine)

Williams said that Lanza also brought an "assault style, AR-15 style rifle" with him to school, but, he added, "We have been told by several officials that he left that in the car." In the days that followed, the story would shift to the AR-15, not as the exclusive weapon -- two handguns remained in the story -- but as "the primary weapon used in the attack." On December 19, CNN reported, "Police say Lanza's rifle used numerous 30-round magazines." By January 6, the Hartford Courant was reporting that Lanza used the handguns only to shoot himself.

This shift in reporting may be justified, and Williams' sources may have been wrong, but why has no one at NBC addressed the discrepancy? The police had plenty of time to establish the nature of the weapons used that first day. Williams cited multiple police sources. He is a seasoned reporter on a show that takes itself seriously. In retrospect, it is easy to see why authorities would want to bend the narrative to an AR-15, but why would anyone have chosen to mislead Williams on day two?

Equally under-reported is the disposition of the second suspect. On day one, the media were reporting that the police had apprehended a likely second shooter. As CBS News reporter John Miller said definitively, "They have a second person in custody." He pointed out that this was not at all unprecedented given that there were two shooters at Columbine. Fox News described this person as wearing a black jacket and camouflage pants. According to Fox, a SWAT team escorted him out of the woods.

The Alex Jones Channel, although not always reliable, put together a nonconspiratorial video using network news clips of the chase in the woods, the capture, and interviews with witnesses. ABC News interviewed both a well-spoken child and an adult who confirmed seeing the man in custody. "They did walk a guy out of the woods with handcuffs," said the man. The fellow then pointed the reporter to a police car where the alleged second shooter was still sitting.

Admittedly, the media got much wrong on day one: the name of the shooter, the mother's relationship to the school, the supposed murder of the father, but the media quickly walked this information back. If they retracted the stories about the four handguns or the second shooter -- or even explained the discrepancies -- I have been unable to find any clarification, and the Huffington Post piece provided none either.

Until I see firm evidence, I remain agnostic about the official Sandy Hook narrative. My investigations into TWA Flight 800 and the Oklahoma City bombing have taught me to be wary of an "evolving" story line. In those two tragedies, as is often the case, the early reporting was the most reliable.

With TWA Flight 800, for instance, all initial reporting pointed to a missile strike as the cause of the highly visible explosion that killed 230 people off the coast of Long Island in July 1996. In the weeks that followed, without any new evidence, the Clinton Justice Department ignored the 270 FBI eyewitnesses to a missile strike and shifted the storyline from a missile to a bomb.

The FBI talked exclusively to the New York Times, and the Times returned the favor by interviewing none of the eyewitnesses. The cherry-picked evidence led to the following above-the-fold headline four weeks after the disaster -- "Prime Evidence Found That Device Exploded in Cabin of Flight 800."

Although not as unnerving as a missile strike, the bomb scenario threatened the peace and prosperity message to be promoted at the Democratic National Convention just days away. Whether coordinated with the White House or not, the Times simply ceased reporting on the bomb. A month later, the official narrative shifted from a bomb to a center fuel tank explosion, a possibility that had been ruled out a month earlier. Like the networks at Sandy Hook, the Times never bothered to explain what happened to the evidence that led to the earlier conclusions.

In a similar spirit, days after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the Washington Post reported specific FBI testimony describing "eyewitness accounts of a yellow Mercury with McVeigh and another man inside speeding away from a parking lot near the federal building." (Italics mine)

The media, however, quickly lost interest in the swarthy John Doe No. 2. The likely reason is that If he proved to be an Islamic radical, it would be harder to blame the "Republican Revolution" for the bombing. At McVeigh's trial, the Justice Department did not put a single one of the many reliable eyewitnesses on the stand because every one of them saw McVeigh with his foreign-looking accomplice. Again, the media chose not to notice the discrepancy. As Clinton himself acknowledged, Oklahoma City-i.e. the reporting on Oklahoma City -- saved his presidency.

Bottom line: if the Democrat-media complex can turn an obvious missile strike into a mechanical failure and lose John Doe #2 to history, turning four handguns into an assault weapon and making a second shooter disappear is small beer.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/01/debunking_the_sandy_hook_debunkers.html

Obama Latest "Reform": Deputy Doctor Snitches

The President is deputizing medical and mental health professionals who will be expected to betray to government and law enforcement authorities, the status of any American regarding gun ownership. This should strike terror in the soul of those who might rely on those professionals at one point or another in his life. All arguments about Constitutionality aside, turning medical providers into a network of government spies will be deadly. 


Take, for example, the military. I have a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Development, so I am a mental health professional turned talk show host who lives in a military city. In my work, I have observed that the first concern of those really needing help, is confidentiality.  I have examined the suicide phenomena among our soldiers. It is remarkably high and climbing. It does not take a professional degree to conclude that our troops might not want to confide in a mental health professional for fear of losing their military position. To seek help is to risk losing your fundamental right to defend and provide for your family, or even to work. The precursor to this liberalism was the Fort Hood massacre of American soldiers by a radical Islamist. Our bravest deserve the best, and certainly better than to be sent like lambs to slaughter. 


Under Obama's new E.O., not only is your confidentiality gone, but your mental or medical professional must have you locked up if she deems you a potential risk. Does that make you feel safer? Really? 


Consider for a moment the rape victim who has fantasies about killing her rapist. One might consider that a normal reaction to a violent crime perpetrated on an innocent victim, but it is not for that mental or medical health professional to decide any longer. Now, it would be their duty to report if there is the slightest suggestion of violence. 


Mental and medical professionals already have a "duty to report." That means, that in their best judgment, if they feel their patient might do harm to themselves, or others, they must report it. Then it is up to law enforcement to work with other professionals, based upon their experience and breadth of knowledge, to make an estimation as to the risk to the public, and that individual. 


Under Obama's proposed rules, if you go into a medical office and look shaken enough to be violent, they have the power to have you arrested for it. What if you mention your affiliation with a certain church, political group, or gun member association that the "health professional" considers "violent?" 


The reality is that the calculating criminal will know better than to seek professional help. The problem for mental health professionals used to be getting criminally dangerous people into the system in the first place. Now, the person with a criminal bent, the economically desperate disgruntled employee, the estranged wife, or the bullied student will be less likely to go for professional help, and more likely to get to the boiling point and actually commit a crime. Add to that explosive equation that law abiding citizens will be less likely to be trained and armed with defensive weapons, and this is a formula for murder. 


This assault on our Constitutional rights is unprecedented, unrestrained, poorly researched, and destructive. The blood of those who most certainly will die due to this irresponsible Presidential edict will be on the hands of this Administration, on those who are complicit in the politics of this feel good measure, and those who sit idly by watching their freedoms dissipate. 


Medical professionals are taught, "First, do no harm." Mental health professionals are taught empathy, compassion, and best treatment measures. How can any of them honestly look in the face of someone hurting so badly that they have "bad thoughts" and say they can help them while at the same time knowing they now have a greater duty to the community than the patient? A nation reeling in the aftermath of horrific attacks is naturally looking for solutions. Policy should never be made in fear and reaction to isolated events. Unfortunately, this is exactly when the left makes their most onerous policy pushes, never letting a crisis go to waste. Americans are usually loathe to give up their individual liberties for the sake of the community. We are ruled by an administration that hails from the farthest reaches of the radical left where the community comes first. 


Americans, especially parents of school aged children are anxious for solutions. There are ways to improve safety based on solid research, but the President suggested none of them. The Administration’s policy may sound good, until one considers the plight of the depressed soldier, or the parent of an autistic child who has to purge every gun from his home. Medical and mental health providers duties should be first to the patient. This policy has reversed that, giving agents of the state a higher duty to the community than the patient. It will have dramatically chilling consequences and will result in more deaths. This policy cannot stand.

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/ginaloudon/2013/01/21/obama-latest-reform-deputy-doctor-snitches-n1493546/page/full/

Northern State (Montana) Cracking Down on Illegal Aliens

 Separated by 1200 miles and bordering Canada, one would not think that the state of Montana would have a problem with illegal aliens. However according to the Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform, illegal aliens cost the state of Montana about $32 million a year, which is the lowest of any state in the nation. In today’s struggling economy $32 million is a big chunk of change.
 Since the federal government refuses to enforce all the immigration laws and take action to protect the United States from the invasion of millions of illegals, a number of states including Montana have found it necessary to take action themselves.

A year ago LR 121, a measure to deny all state services to illegal aliens, was passed by a 79.5% approval of the voters. This would include all those covered under Pres. Barack Obama’s illegal dream act which allowed 800,000 illegal aliens to remain in the US illegally and obtain work permits, drivers’ licenses, and other state benefits. Under LR 121 none of those illegals would be able to receive such benefits from the state of Montana.

Now a second measure, labeled House Bill 50, has been introduced into the Montana state legislature. HB 50 if passed will prohibit any city, town or municipality of any kind from establishing a sanctuary status for illegal aliens. If any city tries to establish themselves as a sanctuary for illegals, under HB 50, state funds will be withheld from them. The bill is currently in the Montana House Judiciary Committee and is scheduled to be voted on soon.

HB 50 reads in part:

“A local governing body may not enact, adopt, implement, or enforce a sanctuary policy and may not refer a sanctuary policy to the elect doors of the governing body’s jurisdictional area.”
One of the bill supporters, State Rep. Krayton Kerns (R-Laurel), told reporters:

“We like to be a favorable place for legal aliens, legal residence and all citizens…[however] we are trying to be an unfavorable place to illegal aliens.”
State Rep. David Howard (R-Park City), the sponsor of HB 50 said the purpose of the bill is to create a defense within the state of Montana which makes it an undesirable place for illegals to come to.

A similar bill was introduced in the last state legislature only to be vetoed by then Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer. No one is sure what the new governor, Democrat Steve Bullock, will do if the bill reaches his desk for signature. In my opinion if Bullock vetoes this bill, the sponsors and supporters of HB 50 need to get it placed on the ballot for the next state election and let the people of Montana vote on it like they did the last immigration bill.

Other states like Arizona and Alabama have taken other measures to deter illegal aliens and many of those measures have worked and numbers have been reduced. I would like to see every state have similar laws like those of Montana, Arizona and Alabama. If they did then perhaps we wouldn’t have to worry so much about the thousands of miles of our nation’s border that the Obama administration refuses to protect and secure.


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