IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

Mark Noonan1 Comment

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness…

…We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Attacking the Racism of Abortion

Mark Noonan

From Life News:

The National Black Prolife Coalition released a new video today saying that, on the anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the nation should recognize babies in the womb as a class of unprotected human beings targeted by abortion. Members of the coalition include Ryan Bomberg of the Radiance Foundation and Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr…

…Life Issues Institute, a nationwide pro-life educational group, is partnering with the National Black Prolife Coalition for the new video.

“The abortion industry kills 1,000 black babies every day in the United States and over 15,000,000 have been killed since 1973,” LII director Brad Mattes says. “That’s more than the entire populations of Los Angeles, Detroit, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Washington DC, Oakland, Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami, and Baltimore combined. In New York City, home of Planned Parenthood, 60% of all black pregnancies are aborted.”…

It must never be forgotten that Planned Parenthood was founded to prevent “inferior” people from breeding too much. A bunch of starry-eyed “Progressives” of the early 20th century looked around, noted the lower white fertility rate as compared to black and went in to a panic…some day there might be enough “inferior” black people to utterly swamp the “superior” Anglo-Saxons. Yes, people seriously believed nonsense like that…taking their cue from the fact that the most powerful nations in the world were Great Britain, Germany and the United States, there was “settled science” that those of northern European ancestry were simply superior to everyone else. You think someone as ignorant as Hitler or the members of the KKK thought that up? Whole libraries of books existed to “prove” that Anglo-Saxons were inherently better…and people like PP founder Sanger took it seriously and set out to do something about it.

15 million black people are not here today because of the efforts of PP and other abortion groups. 15 million. The worst days of the trans-Atlantic slave trade weren’t this costly of black lives!

Abortion is just wrong – wrong like slavery is wrong. It does no good; only evil comes of it…and it is high time we stopped it, and also stopped ignoring the racist nature of “birth control”. Hopefully this ad campaign will start some people thinking and perhaps start a shift away from supporting those politicians and groups who claim to be for black Americans, but who have actually presided over the mass murder of black babies.

Cross Posted: Noonan for Nevada

Obamunism! Consumer Confidence Dips to 2011 Low

Mark Noonan

From Rasmussen:

The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, fell another point on Sunday to its lowest of 2011. At 69.8, consumer confidence is down three points from a week ago, down 16 points from a month ago and down nine points from three months ago.

The Consumer Index is now just one-tenth of a point above its lowest level for all of 2010 and 2011….

No surprise – who can feel confident right now? After all, our Democrats are now on the talking point that the renewed recession was deliberately created by the GOP…showing that they haven’t got a clue what to do.

It will get worse before it gets better – but it will get better. Mostly likely after January 20th, 2013.

Is the Minnesota Government Shutdown Intentional?

Mark Noonan

From the Star-Tribune:

…Did Dayton intentionally try to provoke a shutdown? We can only say that if he had wanted to, he would have acted precisely as he has in recent months.

Throughout the budgetary process, Dayton refused to give legislators the details they needed to take his priorities into account in crafting their own budget bills. He refused to negotiate on individual bills until he had seen them all.

The Legislature sent its bills to Dayton six weeks before the session ended, but he frittered away the time for negotiation. He vetoed all nine bills at the end of the session, so legislators had no chance to rework them to address his concerns.

As shutdown loomed, Dayton refused to resolve small differences and sign major portions of the budget, such as K-12 education, judiciary and public safety, on which agreement was close. The Pioneer Press called this “hostage taking,” not “compromise.”…

But, as the linked article goes on to note, this budget fiasco could make excellent anti-GOP campaign material next year – “those mean, horrible Republicans stopped education so they could provide tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires”. It is an article of faith in Democrat circles that the 1995 federal government shut-down is what won Bill Clinton a second term – the Republicans were cast as lousy obstructionists bent only on serving the rich while Democrats were the moderates who just wanted to get the business of America done.

It wasn’t quite like that, of course – a thumping economy (courtesy of GOP policies), a weak GOP Presidential nominee (Bob Dole), a third party splitting the GOP vote (Perot) and a slavishly devoted MSM in those pre-New Media days gave Bill Clinton a victory, while House and Senate Democrats went down to defeat. But, Democrats believe it was the shut down – so now they are always going to see a shutdown as a political winner.

We’ll see if it works – we’ll see if the people of Minnesota buy it in 2012. If they really believe that the GOP is just currying favor with the rich while Democrats are fighting for the little guy, then they’ll elect a Democrat legislature to go along with their Democrat governor…and then they’ll get all the massive spending and tax hikes a liberal can want with no chance of a government shut down. If that is what the people of Minnesota want, then that is what they’ll get…but I suspect the people of Minnesota will see right through this scam.


Fighting for American Ideals

Mark Noonan

Thaddeus McCotter did officially announce his candidacy for President – and here is what he believes:

1. Our liberty is from God not the government.

2. Our sovereignty is in our souls not the soil.

3. Our security is from strength not surrender.

4. Our prosperity is from the private sector not the public sector.

5. Our truths are self evident not relative

Don’t know if he’ll be able to rocket up from House to White House, but he’s miles ahead of President Obama, already.

Aside from McCotter, himself, I am noting that a lot of people in 2012 are thinking along these lines – thinking, that is, that we need a return to first principles. We have strayed so far from the Constitutional Republic that our Founders bequeathed to us that in a very real sense we need to re-learn how to be free. Re-learn, that is, how to be Americans. Over the past couple days I had a small Facebook argument with a very nice lady from San Francisco who appeared outraged that I would want to axe the Department of Education…there is a mental conception these days that doing anything requires government approval and aid…for some, there is no way for us to have education unless we have a Department of Education. The Founders would not understand this – and, indeed, I don’t think even my late father’s generation would really understand it, either.

Over the past 30 or 40 years, especially, we have been conditioned to look for government solutions…that someone needs to do something to make it right. Fading away among us is the willingness to dive in and just do it…and complicating things even for those who do is a determination by our massive government that no one shall. Try to set up anything on your own and the government will want it registered, licensed and taxed…and in the end government might not allow it to happen. Our Founders would very much have understood that – and Washington would have called out the militia and re-started the Revolution if he had seen it.

Let us make 2012 our revolution; let us reach back across the chasm of time and rekindle that burning faith in liberty which created the United States and made it the most generous, prosperous and powerful nation in human history.


An Excellent GOP Tax Hike Proposal

Mark Noonan1 Comment

From the comments over at Just One Minute:

…I think our side ought to make a good faith effort to show we’re open to tax increases of some kind. My suggestion is that the Republicans propose an end to a tax break for fat cats that reduces federal revenue by millions of dollars a year. I am speaking of the deductibility of state income tax. I think this would be a very popular proposal, because it would show the Democrats how committed we are to bipartisanship, it would give the patriotic citizens of places like New York and California and Massachusetts the opportunity to send more money to the government without just doing so voluntarily, and it sure wouldn’t bother anybody in places like Texas or Florida.

I can’t think of any objection to this proposal. Can you? I mean, it is just perfect – as well as being a heck of a lot of fun.

Just like my proposal for a “wealth tax“, this proposal would box the Democrats in – they would either have to go along with it, and harm their own constituents, or be revealed as the utter hypocrites they are. It is a win/win for us.

HAT TIP: PJ Tatler

Pelosi Decides to Help Republicans

Mark Noonan

From The Hill:

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will demand a seat in the table for the final talks on the national debt limit, putting a strong liberal voice in the room.

Pelosi and House Democrats were left out of the negotiations between President Obama and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) last year that extended nearly all of the Bush tax rates though 2012.

Pelosi didn’t participate in the final high-level talks over fiscal 2011 spending levels either…

I can’t imagine anything which would help the GOP better than to put Pelosi as the face of the Democrat party in the budget battle. Nothing like a corrupt, failed, liberal hack to set all things in focus – the GOP is for America, the Democrats are for the dying, destructive system. So, yes, by all means – give Pelosi a seat at the table. In fact, put her front and center. Make sure the cameras are always on her so that not a word of her wisdom is lost to the American people…

Does Venezuela's Chavez Have Cancer?

Mark Noonan

Venezuela News and Views retails a theory:

…Apparently the “knee” problem was a way to hide the prostate surgery which today can be dealt well enough in a couple of weeks. But if we are to believe Gustavo the post biopsy was not encouraging and they decided to do some advanced body scans which in Venezuela can only be done in a couple of private clinics. Not only Chavez entourage would not trust the discretion of private clinics but it would have been also an admission that the “socialist” care was not as performing as the “capitalist” care since the regime had not been able to match the equipment of the private sector for “el pueblo”. Thus the trip to Cuba. One caveat here: where would have Chavez got prostate surgery in full discretion? Has he set an O.R. inside Miraflores or Fuerte Tiuna?

Before, for show, Chavez stopped in Brazil and Ecuador and that must have been a mistake because he got a post op infection. And also some people found him walking strangely well for someone with an alleged serious knee injury. Arriving in Cuba he got feverish soon and they had to drain the abscess. That would have been the real “emergency” part. In a way that was a convenient excuse to justify Chavez stay while the real stuff was being done, namely the body scans.

He seems to have recovered well enough form his infection but apparently the scans were not good and they decided to start radiotherapy…

Before anyone breaks out the champagne to celebrate the imminent demise of a tyrant, keep two things in mind:

1. There is no real way to test this theory. Chavez keeps tight control over his own nation and Cuba is even tighter than Venezuela. Getting the truth out of either place is very difficult.

2. As the reports goes on to note, if Chavez were to die suddenly he could easily become a mythical hero of sorts, thus keeping alive his band of socialist totalitarianism. Remember, the best thing that ever happened to Stalin was that Lenin died…it allowed Stalin to use the image of Lenin to legitimize his own tyranny.

Still, the removal of a tyrant is always a good thing, over all. It is a pity, however, that Venezuela may never get a chance to overthrow this tyrant and put him on trial for his crimes.

Iowa Poll: Romney 23%, Bachmann 22%

Mark Noonan

From the Des Moines Register:

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann sit atop the standings in the year’s first Des Moines Register Iowa Poll on the Republican presidential field.

Romney, the national front-runner and a familiar face in Iowa after his 2008 presidential run, attracts support from 23 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers. Bachmann, who will officially kick off her campaign in Iowa on Monday, nearly matches him, with 22 percent…

I’d have to rate Romney’s support as soft – the sort of support you get for being around and not doing anything to make yourself actually unelectable. It is the sort of support which can easily be lost when someone better comes along – and right now, it appears that Iowa Republicans are starting to think that Bachmann is better.

To be sure, poll strength is not decisive in Iowa – that is all about the ground game at Caucus time, and if Romney’s caucus effort out here in Nevada in 2008 is any indicator, he’ll have a first class campaign for Iowa (Romney’s people simply steam rollered our caucuses…there was never a chance he wouldn’t win them). It now remains to be seen whether Bachmann, or anyone else, can out hustle Romney.