America: Land of the Unfree…Are We Still the Home of the Brave?

Mark Noonan50 Comments

Reading that headline, you might think that what I’m on about is the NSA and IRS scandals – and that does play a role, here, but the fact of the matter is that I’ve been worried about the erosion of our liberties for quite some time.  I just happen to have concluded, as of today, that we are simply an unfree people.

Scanning our emails, etc is just a symptom of a larger problem.  If we were a free people it wouldn’t be that our emails weren’t scanned but that no one in government would dare to even suggest it, let alone carry it out.  Free people keep the government on its toes – these days, fellow Americans, it is government which keeps us on our toes.  We can’t even turn around without first obtaining a “by your leave” from the government.

Do you think you own property?  Paid the mortgage and the title deed is in your hand?  Ha!  You don’t own it.  You’re just renting it from the government – they call it “property taxes”, but rent it is…and if you don’t pay the rent, you’re off the property.  And, worse than that, if the government figures that someone else can pay more rent than you, then they’ll take “your” property from you and hand it over to the other guy.

Do you think you’ve got freedom of speech?  Go to a college campus or corporate break room and merely state the Catholic position on homosexuality.  You’ll be lucky if you’re only fired from your job or escorted off campus by the police.

Do you think you’ve got freedom of assembly?  Tell that to all the groups with “patriot” in their name back in 2012 – the IRS deliberately oppressed them for the simple fact that patriots wanted to gather together and petition their government.

Do you think you’ve got free exercise of religion?  Oh, for crying out loud – try to maintain a cross in honor of fallen soldiers of even mention God at an official function at school.  You’ve got the ability to go to Church – but if you take what the pastor preached and try to apply it in the public square, you’ll swiftly learn just how free you are to exercise your religion:  hardly at all.

To be sure, there is a vestige of freedom left – more from a force of habit than anything else.  Because until rather recently we were free it hasn’t become entirely ingrained in us to knuckle under, nor ingrained in government to immediately wipe out all dissent.  The tattered remnants of liberty are still left to us – and therein lies the question: are we brave enough to seize our freedom back from those who have usurped it?

That, quite honestly, I don’t know.  But we do have the capability – while government is still yet weak enough that it can be forced back in to its proper role.  We can, if we are brave enough to face the hatred and spite of our rulers and their misguided followers, simply vote out the oppressors and pass the necessary laws to restore freedom and restrict government.  If we are brave, then we will do it – and we will be, once again, the land of the free as well as home of the brave.  Time will tell what path we choose – the brave path to freedom, or the cowardly path to slavery.

Edward Snowden, NSA Leaker: Hero or Fool?

Mark Noonan32 Comments

Well, he outed himself – a former CIA and NSA employee until just recently working as a contractor for the NSA is the man who leaked the spying plan.  Now, what to make of it?

I’m not sure if he’s a hero or a fool – but he does have some guts because at the very least, Uncle Sam is going to want to drop on him like a ton of bricks.  Whether or not that happens remains to be seen – now that he’s self-outed and not easily detainable by the government, things might not go so bad for him.  What he’s done, in strictly legal terms, probably carries a lot of “20 to life” terms.  We’ll have to see how this plays out.

I’ve been pondering this whole mess and I’ve come to the conclusion that the ultimate problem we have is a misunderstanding of just what the threat is.  The government – especially under Obama, who is desperate to propagate the myth that Islamist extremism poses no great threat to the United States – is engaging in massive intelligence gathering in a desperate effort to stave off terrorist attacks before they happen.  Of course, we have seen how well this works in Boston.  Now, of course the government probably has thwarted a large number of attempted attacks – but can’t tell us about them because to do so would reveal sources and thus jeopardize ongoing efforts to keep after the terrorists.  But, also, Boston does show that even the most massive intelligence gathering leaves gaps.  In other words, no matter how much data they mine on us and everyone else in the world, they will never catch all the terrorists – and the terrorists will keep after us, forever, unless we stop them, permanently.

Permanently stopping them means going to war with them and chasing them to the ends of the earth and killing or taking all of them.  Now, will we do that?  Not now.  Not just because Obama is unable to see the threat, but because America is tired of fighting the Islamists.  American wars can go upwards of 5 years, but no longer – we just don’t have the patience beyond that.  Especially if there’s no clear-cut goal in sight.  We’ll have to wait until the Islamists hit us again, very hard, and then hope we have leadership which sees the path to true strategic thinking.

Meanwhile, I think I’ve had enough of this intelligence gathering.  We need laws specifically prohibiting any government employee, at any level, from obtaining or retaining data on any American without a warrant – and the warrants must have an expiration date, upon which the target of the warrant is informed of its existence and 100% of the data collected in connection with it – seriously; all the original documents mailed to the target so he can see what was found (I’d like it to be no more than 90 days, but others I’ve discussed it with say it has to go longer – but it must have a drop dead date).  Intelligence gathering overseas and among foreigners I don’t give a darn about – knock yourself out, NSA.  But on Americans?  No.  Dad fought on Saipan and Grandpa in the Argonne to stop this very sort of nonsense from happening.  Enough is enough.

 

A False Recovery, Part II

Mark Noonan109 Comments

From Mish’s:

Inquiring minds are digging into the stunningly bad Quarter-Over-Quarter decline in wages and real wages across all sectors…

…The BLS notes “Unit labor costs in nonfarm businesses fell 4.3 percent in the first quarter of 2013, the combined effect of a 3.8 percent decrease in hourly compensation and the 0.5 percent increase in productivity. The decline in hourly compensation is the largest in the series, which begins in 1947.”…

This is just lousy.  Now, before any of you out there get all “that’s just GOPer doom and gloom”, Mike Shedlock (Mish) was firmly anti-Bush 2001-09 and stands entirely outside the GOP.  He’s not in any way, shape or form one of us.  He’s just a genuinely independent observer and economic analyst.  And his conclusion?

The Fed and Obama are both engaging in counterproductive policies that discourage hiring, especially hiring of full-time employees.

Of course Obama will respond by asking for a raise in minimum wage (giving further incentives to businesses to seek ways to get rid of employees), and the Fed will vow to keep interest rates low (enabling companies to borrow money for next to nothing to do just that).

Between the Federal Reserve (entirely committed to Keynesian idiocy) and Obama (also entirely committed to Keynesian idiocy), the ability of the United States to recover from the 2008 crash has been crushed.  And to make it all worse, the twin policies of Bernanke and Obama are setting us strait on the path to renewed, and much worse, crash.  The only way we can get out of this mess is to produce our way out of it – by creating wealth.  That takes making, mining and growing things in a free market…not subsidizing green energy scams or dinosaur auto makers; not printing more fake money and piling up more debt; not by re-paving an already paved road and hiring more diversity coordinators for the Department of Departmental Affairs.

 

 

A False Recovery

Mark Noonan62 Comments

Lately, our liberals have been pumped over the stock market rising to record highs – to them (you know, the people who were occupying Wall Street in 2012), this is proof positive that Obama’s economic policies have worked.  I’ve been pointing out since 2009 that pumping fake money in to the economy merely allows everyone to hide the true economic facts and that eventually there will be a renewed collapse.  This inevitable collapse will be worse than the original crash as there is more debt and fake money infecting the economy.  I quite honestly didn’t expect that Bernanke and Obama could keep the ball in the air this long – I also didn’t think that anyone, not even a Ruling Class bankster like Bernanke, would be stupid enough (apparently) to think that he can print money forever.  These days, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Dow hits 20,000 – after all, when the latest ISM – Manufacturing report came out today showing economic contraction, the stock markets initially surged…likely because people believe that bad news means Bernanke will print even more, thus shoving stock prices higher.  But, still, reality is out there.

The reality is that Europe is in a crushing recession – indeed, with youth unemployment in some countries in the 50% range, its in a crushing Great Depression.  China’s economy wobbles along mired in hidden debt and massive corruption (and very fake official government economic reports).  And, I believe, we are in recession – and a recession with a nasty stock market and real estate bubble (sound familiar?).  This article over at Zero Hedge is the best description of our circumstances – and just why a high Dow isn’t a sign of economic health.  I heartily recommend reading it.  It concludes thusly:

A good case can be made for the fact that there is no recovery and that we are just beginning our decline. The efforts of government merely served to drive us more deeply into debt and stave off normal economic healing. If this observation is correct, all that has been accomplished is a postponement and accentuation of the pain to come. My economic sense tells me that is the case.

Whether you accept this conclusion or not, don’t be fooled by the performance of the stock market. There is little other than inflationary Fed policy to justify financial asset prices. Furthermore, recent performance really isn’t special as those living through the 1930s learned. In fact, what has happened recently doesn’t even measure up to the initial rebound that occurred during the Great Depression.

Time will come when this cannot be sustained.  Today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year.  Pain cannot be avoided – a crash must and will come and it will hurt.  The only thing we can do is try to get some policies which will allow us to climb out of it swiftly.  Unfortunately, it is impossible for us to get such policies on a national scale until Obama leaves office.

How Liberals Treat Conservatives

Mark Noonan51 Comments

From Pajamas Media:

Government targeting of conservatives is not confined to a couple of federal departments, as demonstrated by the events in a small District of Columbia employee relations board. A letter obtained by PJ Media documents open racism and hostility toward pregnant and conservative employees in the D.C. Public Employee Relations Board (PERB). The letter also demonstrates that lawless hostility toward conservatives is a characteristic of all levels of government.

According to a resignation letter from its executive director, this District of Columbia government board responsible for resolving employee disputes with management has engaged in racist hiring practices, discrimination against pregnant women, and hostility toward conservatives…

Detailed in the articles are complaints from liberals at PERB that the African-American head of the PERB hired a white male, while another person proposed for hiring by the board should not be approved because her work record allegedly showed a “right of center” political ideology.  The resigning head of the PERB – Ondray Harris – seems to have merely been a fair-minded man who followed the law in his hiring decisions.  This, apparently, is an outrage to liberals who view government as their private preserve. 

How are we supposed to work with such people?  Where can there be bi-partisan activity with people who clearly hate us with a white hot passion?  As we on the right work for victory – and we will be victorious, in the by and by – we must remember these things and take the necessary steps to ensure that all those in government who have abused their authority are removed from office – and if this takes firing half the people working in government, then so be it.

Wars Don’t “End”: They are Won, or Lost

Mark Noonan35 Comments

In light of Obama’s recent statement that the war must end, I just wanted to point that out.  Wars don’t end, they are won, or lost.  And if you want to know the difference then think of it like this:  if you aren’t winning, then you are losing.  Anyone want to argue that we are winning the war against that ideology which launched an attack on us on 9/11?

Obama is abdicating his responsibility for the safety of the United States.  He wants to pretend the war is over so that he can move on to other things.  His bet is that nothing particularly nasty will happen between now and January 20th, 2017.  He may be right about that – the Islamists are likely to be busy in Libya, Egypt and Syria for the next few years and while they will seek to launch attacks on us, their primary goal will be to consolidate their control over those Muslim nations.  But the war goes on – we may want it to end, but they don’t want it to, and in war it only takes one to tango.

Unless we fight them they will not be stopped – and the longer we refuse to fight them, the stronger they will get and the more bloody and difficult the eventual war will be.  Like the leaders of Britain in 1938, Obama had a choice between war and shame – he choose shame.  He’ll get war, too.  Though the really terrible part of the war may not come as long as Obama is in office.  But come it will – the Islamists are certain they are on the wave of victory and that they will conquer the entirety of Western Civilization.  You might think it foolish.  It might well even be extremely foolish – but it is no more foolish than Hitler thinking he could conquer the world.  It doesn’t matter if its foolish – if the fools think it can be done, they will try it.  And, right now, the fools very much think it can be done…and we’re doing nothing to convince them otherwise.  Indeed, we’re encouraging them – by Obama’s actions – to think that they’ve got it made.

 

Fight or Die

Mark Noonan55 Comments

In light of the cowardly way we ran and hid in Boston when two terrorists were loose; given the reaction of the British crowd to a soldier being massacred by two Muslims in Britain; as we watch the Swedes endure day after day of Islamist youth on a rampage, I’ve come to a conclusion.  It was neatly solidified when Walter Russell Mead quoted In Flanders Fields in his Memorial Day column:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Mead correctly points out that the poem does not call for us to feel sorry for the dead, but to carry on their fight.  Mead was more of a mind to remind us not to just pity, but to remember and to honor what the dead fought for.  For me, its a slightly different take.  As a person who had read libraries of history with a definite concentration on military matters, I remember all of the men of our civilization who have fought.  To me, any man who took up arms in his nation’s cause and who did his duty honorably and nobly is worthy of my respect and remembrance – and my best efforts to see that what is right and good in our civilization is defended.  Of course those who died for my nation hold pride of place in my heart and mind, but I spare a thought, from time to time, for those British who died for King and Country; those Russian who bled for their Tsar; those Kaisertreu Hapsburg soldiers who faced hopeless odds at Sadowa.  All of them stood forth and did their duty as men, as Christians and as citizens of our common civilization.

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Memorial Day Weekend – Open Thread

Cluster28 Comments

I have to say that this new age of civility at B4V has me all a flutter. There were some very good comments and discourse in the previous thread, so it is possible to post respectful comments and not be offended by those we disagree with. However there was one casualty – LOL.

Lot’s of issues to comment on, so pick your favorite and let us know how you feel about it. The one that caught my attention this morning was the riot in Sweden. Often touted as a liberal paradise, it seems that the NON natives are now restless. Do you suppose that we will ever be able to convince progressives that legislating “fairness” is impossible? Based on the recent post from the DailyKos – I would say not –

..[T]he ideals of the Republican party reflect tribalism, selfishness, and zero-sum games, while the Democratic party’s reflect unity, humility, and leaving a better world to our descendents… …[T]here really is no room for Republicans in the world we are living in. So long as the people in this country are facing unpredictable, deadly, natural as well as man-made disasters, medical care that needs to be provided, life-altering climate change that needs to be managed, and the turmoil that comes with living paycheck to paycheck, Republicans and their supporters are dead weight to the rest of us…But then, there’s no denying that Republicans are also a demographic of the people with whom we need to plan on sharing this better world, because they are likely not going to change their ways anytime soon. The best we can do is get them out of the way, as in out of our government…

Think about the statement for a moment. The “reflection” of unity, humility and leaving the world in a better place is how this poster sees the Democratic Party. Not for the results the policies actually produce, but simply for the “feel good” intent. That is a dangerously educated person that is currently walking our streets and voting.

Take a moment this weekend to say a prayer of thanks to our veterans that have given the ultimate sacrifice in protecting this greatest nation on God’s green earth, and I hope you all have a fun filled weekend.

Liberalism

Cluster118 Comments

We are living it now folks. We are up to our collective necks in liberalism and it wasn’t just a result of the last 5 years under Obama, of course he opened the throttle quite a bit, but this is a slow, festering symptom that started with Republican Theodore Roosevelt, picked up steam with Woodrow Wilson, accelerated with FDR, and reached overdrive with LBJ. And now we find ourselves mired in a mediocre stew of progressive feel good policies that have only served to bring the strongest, most economically robust, most individually free country to its collective knees. Ironically, the policies that progressives champion, hoping to “level the playing field”, do anything but and were strictly designed and marketed by a ruling class to win elections. There is zero intent by the leaders of the current Democratic Party, or the ruling class which includes many Republicans, to actually resolve the issues they promise to fix primarily because, to do so would render themselves useless. Their sole intent is to continue to amass money and power and doing so, requires a loyal, fever pitched base convinced that they need their benevolence and protection. For those conservatives who fear the onset of a socialist state, that ship has sailed – we are already there. The myriad of welfare programs, Medicaid, Medicare, SS and now Obamacare has America firmly planted in socialism.

What other current issues can we attribute to liberalism you may wonder? Take Benghazi – here is a ME outpost that sits in a chaotic country void of any leadership, specifically because of the recent actions of our military, and one that is rife with rogue and radical elements. The current liberal brain trust, which included Ambassador Stevens, thought that reinforced security measures were not important, and would send the wrong message, primarily because liberalism believes that the US military is part of what’s wrong with this world, not what is right. Therefore, their cavalier attitude towards radical elements resulted in four American deaths, and their attempt to obfuscate that fact has resulted in the recent scandal.

The IRS – liberalism believes that any opposition towards their high-minded policies is tantamount to malicious obstructionism and borderline treason (see Michael Moore), therefore, the intense scrutiny the IRS applied towards groups opposed to the administration was in line with the culture that liberalism creates.

The debt – Every dollar taxed and sent to Washington DC, is another dollar stripped from the private market, rendering it less powerful and more dependent on the government. It’s really that simple. By creating crisis’s that require additional spending and running up the debt, the Federal Government can convince their loyal base that taxes need to increase and the problems they face are not because of any actions of their own or the government, but because those with the money refuse to pay their “fair share”. Take for example Oklahoma – the Democrats are claming that they need to borrow more money to pay for the storm, are demonizing conservatives for wanting off sets, and not reminding anyone of the fact that Obama just sent $200 million to Syrian refugees that could have been used for the storm, or that there is $11 billion currently in the FEMA account. They are simply exploiting a crisis to rile up their base, demonize an opponent, and take more money away from the private sector.

These are just a few examples of what the disease of progressivism has wrought, and if we continue down this path, these and other problems will only persist and expand. As David Axlerod recently admitted, the Federal Government is too vast, our debt is too big, our problems are too pronounced, and our labor force is too small, but our country is too important. We currently have a President that does nothing, and knows nothing so it is incumbent upon us to be diligent and engaged if we are to ever repeal the progressive efforts, policies and mindsets that brought us to this point.

UPDATE, by Mark Noonan.  Axelrod tweeted that he hopes the bridge collapse will induce us mean, evil Republicans to pass more spending for infrastructure.  This is the kind of nonsense I think all of us on the right are sick of.  Axelrod’s President has been in office for more than four years; trillions of extra money has been spent since Obama took office, a great deal of it justified as money to rebuild infrastructure and here’s comes one of the dunces who put Obama in office to demand that we GOPers agree to spend even more money!  Tell you what, Axelrod, maybe if you and your buddy Barry hadn’t use the last pile of money just to keep your union buddies employed then that bridge would have been fixed!  I hold Obama and Axelrod personally responsible for this – they didn’t do their jobs and a bridge collapsed.  They’ve had more than four years to ensure that all bridges are inspected and necessary repairs done.  That is more than enough time – though I guess what with all the vacations, golf outings and neglect of embassy security, fixing bridges escaped our President’s notice.

The View From Here

Cluster73 Comments

There has been a lot of discussion lately re: the continued admittance of liberal posters at B4V, the cautioned albeit well intended advice to a friendship based on commonalities other than politics, but those thoughts and discussions are also combined with an increasing obsession to personally belittle others from both sides. I must admit that early on in my B4V presence beginning in 2006, I did enjoy attacking liberals, and still do post some sarcastic remarks, but the personal attacks have certainly escalated over the last few years, and that is just not healthy for anyone, particularly the one leveling the attack. Personally, I had to reflect on that – do I really harbor such disdain in my heart for someone I don’t personally know? I will admit that when I read a post from majordomo that begins “We, Ourselves”, I still have to hold back from launching into a sarcastic tirade, but on the occasion I have, I realize that that tirade only affects me, and me alone. It tends to discombobulate my attitude and my day, and quite frankly majordomo isn’t worth it. So I decided a while back that I just wasn’t going to engage in the swamp anymore. That I would simply voice my opinion, which I enjoy doing, and would only respond in kind to those liberal posters that I deemed worthy of a response. Everything else I would just ignore, and I must say, that my blood pressure is down – LOL.

As some of you know, my daughter is a liberal and voted for Obama in the last two elections. In 2008, she and I were at odds, and the dialogue was heated on occasion, but being that she is my daughter, I made a point to converse on a range of topics outside of politics and when the conversation did circle back around to politics, I was tempered as was she. Consequently, we have had some very good conversations. A while back I sent Mitch a personal email at his request, and in the beginning we did battle each other on political issues, which of course we were at odds over, but slowly the conversation turned to other issues and common ground was struck. In my opinion, life is simply too short to personally attack each other on line. This doesn’t mean that I have stopped contributing, campaigning, writing on, and voting for the demise of liberalism, as that is a passion of mine that will not abate anytime soon, but I also realize that at my age, heated rhetoric is something I choose to largely ignore and wish everyone on this blog, conservatives and liberals, would also adhere to. Simply voice your opinion on the issue du jour, or comment on your over arching ideology, be prepared to defend it civilly, and don’t be offended by those who try to drag you down into the swamp. I also ask of Matt and Mark to delete posts that do insult and harangue, and if it doesn’t stop, to ban the commentator, and that includes me. I would like to see a new direction at B4V, one that actually provokes thought, converses on a range of topics, and one that welcomes civil and insightful input from a diverse group. What do you think the chances of that are?

In keeping with the spirit of the blog, my issue du jour is – The Fifth! Hard to believe that Lois Lerner plead the Fifth. I think it does more harm to the regime than good. It just reeks of malicious intent. Furthermore, why is Sarah Hall Ingram not testifying? And why is she being promoted to oversee the ACA enforcement? This whole IRS scandal doesn’t pass the smell test.