No more “mother” and “father” on your passport:

The words “mother” and “father” will be removed from U.S. passport applications and replaced with gender neutral terminology, the State Department says.

“The words in the old form were ‘mother’ and ‘father,’” said Brenda Sprague, deputy assistant Secretary of State for Passport Services. “They are now ‘parent one’ and ‘parent two.’”…

I have a mother and a father; I don’t have “parent one” and “parent two”. Who decides, by the way, which parent is “one” and which is “two”? Its just insane – but all just part of the liberal agenda. Liberals hate the traditional family and this is just one more, small chip away from that foundation of civilization – small, in itself, but representative of a larger effort at destruction.

The House GOP should insist that “mother” and “father” be returned to the form – it will be a rollback of liberalism, and an earnest of more such to come.

A rather scary look at things by Daniel Oliver at Forbes – comparing our current situation to where we were just prior the inflationary spiral of the 1970’s:

…From 1969 to 1980 the dollar lost 96% of its value in terms of gold and 92% in terms of oil. The stock market was no safe haven: The Dow’s nominal value in 1980 was the same as in 1969, meaning it lost similar value against gold and oil.

In the current cycle, the dollar and the Dow began deflating in 1999. With gold at $1,400 and oil at $90, the dollar and the Dow have declined by nearly 80% against both. To match the 1970s, they would have to lose another 80% against gold and another 60% against oil, implying gold at $7,000 and oil over $200. Given that the current monetary abuse is far worse than in the 1960s and 1970s, these figures are conservative…

That is a big, old “yikes!” moment. I hope Oliver is wrong – but I can’t see the hole in his argument. Given the amount of printing by our Federal Reserve and central banks around the world, just how would we avoid such devaluation of our currency? Remember, this doesn’t take hyperinflation to happen – we had 14% inflation in 1980 and that was the worst year of it. All it took for that kind of price rise was, probably, an average of 7 or 8% inflation per year.

We really need to get Bernanke to turn off the presses – and Congress to balance the budget. If we don’t, then the price we pay will be very, very high…much higher than any pain a cut off of fake money would be.

Just terrible news:

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and six others died after a gunman opened fire at a public event on Saturday, the Pima County, Ariz., sheriff’s office confirms.

The 40-year-old Democrat, who was re-elected to her third term in November, was hosting a “Congress on Your Corner” event at a Safeway in northwest Tucson when a gunman ran up and started shooting, according to Peter Michaels, news director of Arizona Public Media.

At least three other people, including members of her staff, were injured. Giffords was transported to University Medical Center in Tucson…

We live in an increasingly insane world – whatever reason this murderer had, it won’t be a genuinely rational one. We’ve poisoned ourselves very badly, and if we don’t start taking the cure, we’re just going to see more and more of this lunacy.

UPDATE: Giffords is alive, a federal judge and a 9 year old child are dead.

UPDATE II: Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) speaks from the heart:

My heart goes out to the family of Gabby and her staff, sadly she was savagely gunned down while performing her congressional duties. This is not how a civilized society should act. Gabby and I were classmates and my tears are flowing and my heart is broken. I extend my hand of friendship to her family and office. Please continue to keep them in your prayers.

UPDATE III: Sarah Palin offers her sympathy:

My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today’s tragic shooting in Arizona. On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice.

UPDATE IV: Speaker Boehner:

I am horrified by the senseless attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and members of her staff. An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society. Our prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords, her staff, all who were injured, and their families. This is a sad day for our country.

UPDATE V: President Obama:

This morning, in an unspeakable tragedy, a number of Americans were shot in Tucson, Arizona, at a constituent meeting with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. And while we are continuing to receive information, we know that some have passed away, and that Representative Giffords is gravely wounded.

We do not yet have all the answers. What we do know is that such a senseless and terrible act of violence has no place in a free society. I ask all Americans to join me and Michelle in keeping Representative Giffords, the victims of this tragedy, and their families in our prayers.

UPDATE VI: Details on the shooter. Pretty much, just a nut. Some one of our modern times – a product of our social disintegration; wired to the ‘net, apparently reading all sorts of crazy things, lacking any real knowledge which would allow a rational judgment on what is read.

UPDATE VII: Showing true liberalism, Daily Kos blames Sarah Palin for the shooting. Turns out, of course, that Kos is taking an airbrush to his own website about Rep. Giffords. Nasty and dishonest…that is modern liberalism, in a nutshell.

Once again the Mt. Soledad cross is in the news:

The Mount Soledad Memorial Cross is unconstitutional because it conveys the message of “state-endorsed religion,” a federal appeals court ruled on Jan. 4.

The 29-foot cross, located in a San Diego public park near the suburb of La Jolla, was dedicated in 1954 to honor veterans of the Korean War…

The suit was brought by some twits who simply have way too much time on their hands. In a normal society, the people who brought the case would have been laughed out of court, and then tarred and feathered by normal people who have just been pushed way to far.

But, we don’t live in a normal society, we live in a liberalism-soaked society in which people seriously claim that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” means “religious symbols shall not be displayed on public land”. People who hold to this view don’t know what “Congress”, “law”, “establishment” and “religion” mean…but such people do hate the cross and are determined, as far as possible, to remove it from public sight.

It is not really all that surprising – the cross, and what it means, have been hated from the moment a few obscure Jews started claiming that a man who had been executed on one rose from the dead and was the Savior of the world. For a variety of reasons, a lot of people really got upset over that idea – and they’ve remained upset for nearly 2,000 years. It really is the crux of the whole matter – the only thing, in the end, we really argue over.

But enough really is enough – we need a Religious Liberty Restoration Amendment to the Constitution. It should say the following:

“The prohibition against Congress establishing a religion shall not be construed to deny the right of the people to erect religious symbols or exercise their religion on public property.”

Its sad that we’d have to do this, but there is simply no other way – our courts are just too shot through with liberal judges who have been trained to think in terms of “wall of separation”; we have to reverse this, and the only way to do it is to leave no means for liberals and their judges to interfere. It would be better if common sense could be applied, but liberals are opposed to common sense whenever it manifests itself…and, so, amending the Constitution is our only way to protect ourselves.

Best described over at Zero Hedge:

…Here is the wrap. The employment situation is still very bad. It brings up the specter of long-term structural employment in our economy. Job growth is still weak, buoyed by temp and health care workers. There are some positives in this report but job growth is still insufficient to overcome layoffs and a growing labor force. Some of the gains are technical in nature, and I expect unemployment to go up again in the next few months. The traditional drivers of growth, manufacturing and services (other than health care and temp) are still mostly flat. It appears that the Fed will continue its destructive monetary policy as long as unemployment remains high. It is conceivable that we are looking at another 5 to 10 years of sluggish job growth and a stagnant economy as a result of government fiscal and monetary policies…

I add to that this: if the government continues its current fiscal and monetary policies we will utterly collapse in national bankruptcy. Bernanke seems determined to never stop printing money and Obama and his Democrats have not, so far, really indicated a willingness to cut spending (they are offering some eye wash and they are probably hoping that some how, some way, growth resumes and thus allows the current spending levels to be absorbed by a much larger economy; they are fools for thinking this will happen, but they do seem determined on it, at the moment). If we cannot get a handle on this and start on a meaningful path to a balanced budget, then we are fiscally doomed – and not only will unemployment be bad, but it will get very much worse.

Well, at least this Harry Reid, from 2006:

Tell me, Democrats, was he lying back in 2006, or is he lying here in 2011? It has to be one or the other – with one thing being absolutely certain no matter what you do, Harry Reid is dishonest.

BDS is alive and well:

“We still would have lost the election because we had 9.5% unemployment. Let’s take it where that came from. The policies of George W. Bush and the Republican support for his initiatives, tax cuts are for the wealthy, recklessness by some,” Minority Leader Pelosi told CNN.

Yep, that’s it, Nancy, old gal – it wasn’t the rank corruption, trillions of new debt or ramming ObamaCare down our throats which did it…it was all Bush’s fault. In fact, he designed everything knowing that you’ve become Speaker…he deliberately sabotaged the economy in hopes of undoing you!

What you should do, now, to really get the American people on your side is press for Bush’s indictment by Obama’s Justice Department. A man that criminal cannot be allowed to walk around! Go get him, Nancy!

While I’m sure Obama and his Democrats will get all excited about the unemployment rate coming in at 9.4% instead of November’s 9.8%, the reality is actually pretty bad, as noted over at Legal Insurrection:

…Dig just a bit deeper, and you will see that 0.2% of that drop (or half the total drop) was from a decrease in the “participation rate” from 64.5 to 64.3 of the population. So half of the good news reflects that people have dropped out of the work force and have given up looking for work…

Go to the link and you’ll see a great chart made of the data – the number of Americans participating in the labor force is way off its peak. If you added those workers back in to the numbers, you’d probably get an unemployment rate of 12% or more.

We’re being sold a bill of goods by the banksters and bureaucrats – trying to convince us that all the borrowing and printing have done their job and we’re on the path to recovery. All of this in preparation for a “please re-elected Obama” campaign; the Ruling Class’ desperate bid to keep themselves at the trough after January 20th, 2013. Don’t buy it – until you see unemployment going down while labor force participation is going up, we’re not getting anywhere.

From The Hill:

A group of House Republicans introduced a bill on Wednesday to rein in the various “czars” in the Obama administration.

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and 28 other House Republicans introduced legislation to do away with the informal, paid advisers President Obama has employed over the past two years.

The legislation, which was introduced in the last Congress but was not allowed to advance under Democratic control, would do away with the 39 czars Obama has employed during his administration…

To me, this is just for starters – we should seek at least a 20% reduction in all Congressional and White House staff. The Czars, though, really have to go – they are nothing more, these days, than a way to put politically toxic Presidential supporters on the payroll without either civil service or Congressional oversight. To put it bluntly, we’re being forced to pay high salaries to people who couldn’t get a real job if you put a gun to their head…but, meanwhile, they get to use their sinecures to advance a far left agenda never supported by the American voters.

It is not just an economic policy – it is a world view. This is how it works, in practice – from Victor Davis Hanson:

…In 2009, brilliant economists in the Obama administration — Peter Orszag, Larry Summers and Christina Romer — assured us that record trillion-plus budget defects were critical to prevent stalled growth and 10 percent unemployment. For nearly two years we have experienced both, but now with an addition $3 trillion in national debt. All three have quietly either returned to academia or Wall Street…

Part of an excellent look at what Hanson is calling “our new sophists”, but that bit there is just too perfect in describing the sort of leadership we have. Its not that Orszag, et al didn’t believe in what they were peddling in 2009 – all their life and all their experiences taught them that massive government spending was the sure-fire cure for a down economy. The only problem with such thinking is that it wasn’t – and isn’t, and never will be – based upon reality. Keynes got it wrong – you can’t borrow and spend your way to prosperity via inflation. Such views are the creation of people who never worked at a real job, who have a great deal of wealth readily at their disposal and never spend any time just talking to the regular folks who actually make the country work.

But, they believed it – and still believe it. Its just that now its come a cropper, they don’t want to be confronted with their failure. So, they retreat to the universities and the corporate board rooms where they can continue to believe and never have any evidence come before them which questions their views. They’ll write articles and give interviews and expound their Keynesian views and retain the awed respect of their fellow sophists…people, after all, who can rationalize anything, be it unpatriotic behavior or butchering an unborn child.

Its really rather sad, when you think about it – but among the many banes of modern life is to have a class of people who don’t know, but think they do and, worse, have power to give effect to their bogus ideas. At the end of the day, our real problem is how to cut such people out of the equation – how to take these counter-productive sophists out of positions of authority.

This is both difficult and rather easy – difficult because the positions they hold allow them to make a lot of noise in defense of their views and position, but easy because almost all of them are in one way or another dependent upon government. Either in the form of direct employment or by government subsidy/regulation insulating them from real life. Cut government out from underneath them, and they’ll disappear…that is, they’ll be forced to actually do something worthwhile, and that will knock the nonsense clean out of their heads. In the end, we’d be doing them a service.