Allahpundit points out what is going to be for many conservatives a depressing poll – boiled down, no one wants to cut anything. At least, that is, when a pollster asks a question like, “do you want to cut aid to the needy in the United States?”. To that question, 27% want to increase it, 44% want to keep it the same and only 24% want to cut it. Like I said, rather depressing to most conservatives. To me? Its delightful. Shows we can easily win this debate and get America back to fiscal rationality.
Author: Mark Noonan
Scare Mongering the Sequester
Twitchy has collected a bit of Democrat scare-mongering regarding the sequester – the best was Rangel’s claim that 2,100 food inspectors would be thrown out of work. My first question was: we have more than 2,100 of them? Rangel wants to know if we want to worry about the food on our table? My attitude: meh…properly cooked food is just about zero risk, at all events, and even without the inspectors its not like the food producers will suddenly go, “oh, goody, now we can poison people with food!”. There is an indisputable fact to place before the American people here: some how or another, we didn’t all die before food inspectors came along. Muddling through without the Nanny State, those who provide food for the market managed to divine that their best bet was to provide good, safe food because that meant your customers stayed alive and came back the next day to buy some more.
Now, just why are our Democrats so hyped up about this? The real reason seems to me that they are fearful that if real cuts are done – and while the sequester is a teeny, tiny little cut which won’t actually reduce our fiscal peril, they are real cuts – then if death and destruction don’t result, the argument for more cuts will become overwhelming. Democrats are desperately afraid that their license to steal might soon be revoked – that the American people will figure out that about half what we spend is just payoffs to Democrat constituencies. And so they will keep banging the drum saying that we’re all going to die if the Sequester (Obamaquester – because it was his idea, after all) goes through.
Exit question: will all this Democrat whining megaphoned by the by-lined Democrats in the MSM cause the GOP to cave? So far, it doesn’t appear it will – but never underestimate the Congressional GOP’s ability to wilt under pressure…we shall have to see.
UPDATE: The article has it as a growing alliance between the RINOs and the Democrats. Me? Nope; its just the Ruling Class taking the mask off. It is an us vs them fight – the people vs the powerful, with our biggest problem is that a large number of the people don’t realize how badly they are being screwed. Yet. Matters are being clarified and once we start campaigning in the “blue” areas, the lines will be drawn.
The Lanza Story: Absolutely no Surprises for Me
As expected, it took a little while for people to dig in to the life of Adam Lanza and this story in the Hartford Courant is pretty good. Reading it, there was nothing in it I didn’t expect to find. A broken family (divorce for the perfectly asinine “irreconcilable differences”: translation – neither of them tried)…
Gabriel Gomez for Senate
Its not really so much a question of whether or not a SEAL can be elected to the Senate from Massachusetts but, rather, whether anyone with any sense at all can. We’ll see.
The Odd Reaction to Christopher Dorner
No, I haven’t read his “manifesto” and I’m not inclined to ever do so. You want me to read your revolutionary manifesto? Then engage in a full scale attack on a police station or military base – don’t bushwhack unarmed people, especially if one of them is merely the daughter of the person you’re mad at. Real revolutionaries are manly and do the right thing. But what Dorner has done and is doing is of less interest to me than some of the reactions I’ve seen.
Twitchy has been diligent in gathering reactions, and Robert Wargas went over to Huffington Post and got a large sample, as well. What is happening is that a lot of our liberal friends out there are finding much to cheer about in the actions of Dorner. Dorner is described as a hero – which does make a little bit of sense once you place yourself in a liberal mindset: liberals have a long history of applauding cowards who attack the unarmed in the name of “justice”. The Los Angeles Police Department is described as a pack of racist pigs who are getting what they deserve, and t his is after decades of the LAPD making every possible effort – often to the detriment of actual law enforcement activities – to implement “diversity” at the command of our liberals.
This is all very bizarre. Liberals are essentially applauding violent, insane attacks upon the sources of their own power – and describing someone as a hero who, had he been of the right, they would have condemned as a lunatic. Ultimately, this whole case is just another bit of proof that we are living in the Age of Lies…so much moral confusion that way too many people here – starting with Dorner – are disconnected from reality
So God Made a Liberal
Pretty much…
A Couple Months Too Late, But People are Waking Up…
From Pew via Hot Air:
As Barack Obama begins his second term in office, trust in the federal government remains mired near a historic low, while frustration with government remains high. And for the first time, a majority of the public says that the federal government threatens their personal rights and freedoms.
The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Jan. 9-13 among 1,502 adults, finds that 53% think that the federal government threatens their own personal rights and freedoms while 43% disagree…
Perhaps it took the way Obama has become increasingly arrogant since re-election to get people to understand what is going on? I don’t know of a re-elected President who went with more of a “my way or the highway” attitude upon being re-elected. The general run of things is at least some sort of attempt to bridge the partisan divide and extend some sort of olive branch to the defeated…all we’ve got from Obama is demands that GOPers cave in, and, also, accept blame for everything that is going wrong. Not exactly the way to appeal to us…
For the longer term, this poll encourages me greatly in thinking that our future battles should be fought out over personal liberty – even if it means we have to engage in tactical retreats on some issues. If our strategy is to restore America then key must be re-energizing the spirit of ’76…that one-time ardent American desire to just live free or die. It is the basis for reducing the size of government, creating a genuinely free economic market and, of course, allow us in our localities to run our own affairs without let or hindrance from the federal government. This is not necessarily the time to emphasize what we are against but, instead, to emphasize our commitment to personal liberty…after all, if we believe that freedom is best and that our ideas are true (and I answer “yes” to both) then we must believe that if given a genuinely free and fair debate – impossible under current, tyrannical conditions – people will come over to our side. That is, people will come to understand that freedom really is the freedom to choose to do the right thing – and that, in the end, wins for us all down the line.
But, meanwhile, we’ve got a government more and more out of control – remember, we have a Raisin Administrative Committee – and ever more determined to curtail our rights. Unless all of us who believe in freedom unite – and that includes uniting with people who have widely divergent views – then we’re doomed.
Patty Andrews, RIP
The last of the Andrews Sisters has passed away at 94. Before my time, of course – but I remember my dad liked them and I’ve seen them in movies. A class act, a great talent – and a symbol of a vanished America.
The GOP Establishment Fought Against Ted Cruz
You can watch Cruz’ dismantling of Hagel over at The Right Scoop. Hagel is ill-informed, often has strayed in to anti-Semitism and is clearly unfit to be Secretary of Defense. Obama will probably still get him through as Democrats do hold the Senate majority, but it will be clear for all time that Obama picked an unfit man and Democrats approved an unfit man simply because they wanted someone who could twist the GOP…and, of course, be Obama’s willing tool in hollowing out our military and coddling our enemies.
In Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Pat Toomey (all of whom were unwanted by the GOP establishment) we have just the sort of Senators we need – leaders who are well informed, aggressive, capable and able to communicate the truth clearly to the American people. They are revitalizing the GOP brand as we speak – as we sit here, still in the slough of despond over our loss last year, here is the future…here is where we pick ourselves up and get back in to the fight.
Fear Not, Americans: The Raisin Administrative Committee is on the Job!
Thank goodness for Big Government!
Long-time California raisin farmers Marvin and Laura Horne have been forced to experience firsthand the costs that America’s regulatory state imposes on entrepreneurs, especially innovative members of the agriculture industry.
No longer do farmers enjoy the ancient right to sell their produce and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Indeed, Horne v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture exemplifies the extent to which all property and business owners are made to suffer a needless, Rube Goldberg-style litigation process to vindicate their constitutional rights.
In this case, the USDA imposed on the Hornes a “marketing order” demanding that they turn over 47% of their crop without compensation. The order—a much-criticized New Deal relic—forces raisin “handlers” to reserve a certain percentage of their crop “for the account” of the government-backed Raisin Administrative Committee, enabling the government to control the supply and price of raisins on the market. The RAC then either sells the raisins or simply gives them away to noncompetitive markets—such as federal agencies, charities, and foreign governments—with the proceeds going toward the RAC’s administration costs…
I mean, my goodness, that was a close shave! Imagine if we lived in a world where raisin growers could grow as many raisins as they wish and sell it for whatever price they want! Utter chaos would certainly ensue. There would be an unregulated market out there – and such things have been known to put an eye out when in the hands of irresponsible people – you know, citizens. But we’re safe from all that – there are plenty of wonderful government regulators in the Raisin Administrative Committee on the job to protect us from ourselves. And better than that, some of the Horne’s fellow raisin growers – clearly from altruistic reasons; couldn’t possibly be out of a desire to limit competition – are entirely on the government’s side here…protecting us from having to make our own choices! After all, we know that there are only two valid choices a human being – unsupervised by government – can make: to have an abortion and to have sex.
All kidding aside, this is what Big Government is all about – and the fact that some of the Horne’s (allegedly) private sector competitors are on the government’s side illustrates what I mean about a Big Government/Big Corporation alliance to suppress the people. The United States is simply awash in bodies like the RAC and various administrative authorities – essentially unsupervised by anyone; do you want to bet that Obama and the entirety of Congress are completely ignorant of this case? – ruling over people who are doing nothing other than what people do. In this case, a couple raisin growers are just growing raisins – a wanted and needed crop and if they can grow more and better than other people, then they deserve to prosper…but Uncle Sam (and their competitors) say, “no”…you can’t do better than others. If you do, then you must surrender what your hard work has produced so that we can make things all fair and square with those who aren’t as successful as you.
This is the battle we need to fight – the fight for a free market, opportunity society. This is how we can build a 60% majority – by fighting for the real rights of the American people.
UPDATE: Details on the RAC:
The Raisin Administrative Committee is comprised of 35 members representing producers; 10 members representing handlers of varying sizes; 1 member representing the Raisin Bargaining Association (RBA); and 1 public member. Members serve 2-year terms of office that begin on May 1. Producer and handler members are nominated at meetings and by mail ballots.
Meetings and mail ballots? Oh, that sounds like it can’t possibly become an old-boys network which works to protect those most juiced in with government.
There is a list of government agencies, but it doesn’t even begin to cover it all; the RAC is not listed…it is part of the FDA and Lord only knows how many similar bodies are covered by the FDA and all other Departments of government. Someone needs to get us a genuine list of all agencies – and a one paragraph description of what they do.
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