05 September 2008
United Statesmanship
Ever wonder why there aren't more real statesmen? I mean people on both sides of the aisle who are willing to put "Country First," as so many of the signs waving around the Xcel Center proclaimed last night, and party allegiances second. Because the current power structure won't stand for it. Every decision is calculated based on accumulation of power and punishment of those who refuse to toe the party line. Sadly, THAT condition DOES cross the aisle -- fomented by the ever-growing fringes that say disagreement is disloyalty and empowered/enabled by party leadership that can't see beyond its own narrow self-interests. It should go without saying, but We the People deserve better.
04 September 2008
The Bill of No Rights
This was originally the work of Lewis Napper. The original version can be read here. What follows is my own adaptation of an adaptation of the original.
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We, the sensible People of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid any more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, envy-gnawed, guilt-ridden, self-loathing, delusional liberals and other bed-wetters.
We hold this Truth to be self-evident: that the Sorry State of the Public Schools, in combination with the Decline of Social Mores and the Advancement of Aggressive and Pernicious Self-Aggrandizement, has caused many people to be deluded, so that many Things, obvious to Persons of Good Sense, need to be explicitly spelled out.
ARTICLE I
You do not have the right to free food, housing, a new car, big-screen color TV, or any other form of wealth. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing professional couch potatoes who strive to produce nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes. If you seek the Good Things in Life through honest labor, no one will applaud you more loudly than we, but no one is guaranteeing anything.
ARTICLE II
You do not have the right to free health care. From the looks of public housing and public education, we have little faith in the state's ability to deliver cost-effective quality health care, anyway.
ARTICLE III
You do not have the right to stop something merely because it offends you. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone, not just you. You may leave the room, change the channel, express a different opinion, et cetera, but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be. Likewise, you do not have the right to government funding of your cultural tastes, even if the rest of us are so philistine as to not share them.
ARTICLE IV
You do not have the right to escape the consequences of your own stupidity. If you stick a screwdriver into your eye, learn to be more careful, and do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all of your relatives independently wealthy. If you catch a fatal illness because you are too stupid to control your libido, don't expect the rest of us to shuck out a zillion dollars to find a cure for it. If you attempt to protest something by blocking a thoroughfare with your body, and somebody runs over you, don't come crying to us; we believe that such people should be run over.
ARTICLE V
You do not have the right to escape the consequences of your own inadequacy. The world has many people who are smarter than you, richer than you, better-looking than you, or more athletic than you, and we see no need for them to apologize for it, or become dumber, poorer, uglier, or clumsier, just to suit your neurotic jealousy. Get over it. Likewise, just because you are incompetent at running a commercial enterprise, do not expect Uncle Sam to help you retain your undeserved place in the market with loans, subsidies, price supports, anti-trust prosecutors, or other socialist paraphernalia.
ARTICLE VI
You do not have the right to physically harm other people, even if some now-dead ancestors of theirs imposed slavery and oppression on some now-dead ancestors of yours. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim or kill someone, don't be surprised when the rest of us gang up on you and make you into lasagna.
You do not have the right to the possessions of others, even if some now-dead ancestors of theirs imposed slavery and oppression on some now-dead ancestors of yours. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised when the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big-screen color TV or a life of leisure.
Furthermore, you do not have the right to go unpunished for something you did, merely because some inconsequential legal error was made during your prosecution. But if it makes you feel any better, we'll throw the miscreant official in jail.
ARTICLE VII
You do not have the right to make our children risk their lives in foreign wars to soothe your aching conscience. We hate oppressive governments, and if you actually go over there and do some of the fighting yourself, you might find one of us fighting alongside you. However, we do not enjoy parenting the entire world and do not want to spend so much of our time battling each and every little tyrant with a military uniform and a funny hat. Besides, the tactic we would prefer–which was last employed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki–would probably wound your sensibilities even more than the atrocities you presently decry.
ARTICLE VIII
You do not have the right to a paycheck of any particular size, or any paycheck at all. We expect you to obtain the skills necessary for honest labor, and we expect you to seek honest labor, but we also recognize that our businessmen need not hire or retain people whose presence in the work place is not to the employer's benefit. Likewise, you do not have the right to raises, pleasant working conditions, or to force your employer to keep your position vacant so that you still have a job when the strike is over.
ARTICLE IX
You do not have the right to order other people's lives or property to suit your whims. Specifically, if they wish to cut down a tree they own, kill a spotted owl on their property, or not let you into their club, too bad. Likewise, you do not have the right to impose your crackpot economical, environmental, political or religious ideas on the rest of us.
ARTICLE X
You do not have the right to happiness. Being a human being means that you have the right to pursue happiness, which is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an overabundance of idiotic laws created by those around you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.
------------------------------
We, the sensible People of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid any more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, envy-gnawed, guilt-ridden, self-loathing, delusional liberals and other bed-wetters.
We hold this Truth to be self-evident: that the Sorry State of the Public Schools, in combination with the Decline of Social Mores and the Advancement of Aggressive and Pernicious Self-Aggrandizement, has caused many people to be deluded, so that many Things, obvious to Persons of Good Sense, need to be explicitly spelled out.
ARTICLE I
You do not have the right to free food, housing, a new car, big-screen color TV, or any other form of wealth. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing professional couch potatoes who strive to produce nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes. If you seek the Good Things in Life through honest labor, no one will applaud you more loudly than we, but no one is guaranteeing anything.
ARTICLE II
You do not have the right to free health care. From the looks of public housing and public education, we have little faith in the state's ability to deliver cost-effective quality health care, anyway.
ARTICLE III
You do not have the right to stop something merely because it offends you. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone, not just you. You may leave the room, change the channel, express a different opinion, et cetera, but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be. Likewise, you do not have the right to government funding of your cultural tastes, even if the rest of us are so philistine as to not share them.
ARTICLE IV
You do not have the right to escape the consequences of your own stupidity. If you stick a screwdriver into your eye, learn to be more careful, and do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all of your relatives independently wealthy. If you catch a fatal illness because you are too stupid to control your libido, don't expect the rest of us to shuck out a zillion dollars to find a cure for it. If you attempt to protest something by blocking a thoroughfare with your body, and somebody runs over you, don't come crying to us; we believe that such people should be run over.
ARTICLE V
You do not have the right to escape the consequences of your own inadequacy. The world has many people who are smarter than you, richer than you, better-looking than you, or more athletic than you, and we see no need for them to apologize for it, or become dumber, poorer, uglier, or clumsier, just to suit your neurotic jealousy. Get over it. Likewise, just because you are incompetent at running a commercial enterprise, do not expect Uncle Sam to help you retain your undeserved place in the market with loans, subsidies, price supports, anti-trust prosecutors, or other socialist paraphernalia.
ARTICLE VI
You do not have the right to physically harm other people, even if some now-dead ancestors of theirs imposed slavery and oppression on some now-dead ancestors of yours. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim or kill someone, don't be surprised when the rest of us gang up on you and make you into lasagna.
You do not have the right to the possessions of others, even if some now-dead ancestors of theirs imposed slavery and oppression on some now-dead ancestors of yours. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised when the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big-screen color TV or a life of leisure.
Furthermore, you do not have the right to go unpunished for something you did, merely because some inconsequential legal error was made during your prosecution. But if it makes you feel any better, we'll throw the miscreant official in jail.
ARTICLE VII
You do not have the right to make our children risk their lives in foreign wars to soothe your aching conscience. We hate oppressive governments, and if you actually go over there and do some of the fighting yourself, you might find one of us fighting alongside you. However, we do not enjoy parenting the entire world and do not want to spend so much of our time battling each and every little tyrant with a military uniform and a funny hat. Besides, the tactic we would prefer–which was last employed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki–would probably wound your sensibilities even more than the atrocities you presently decry.
ARTICLE VIII
You do not have the right to a paycheck of any particular size, or any paycheck at all. We expect you to obtain the skills necessary for honest labor, and we expect you to seek honest labor, but we also recognize that our businessmen need not hire or retain people whose presence in the work place is not to the employer's benefit. Likewise, you do not have the right to raises, pleasant working conditions, or to force your employer to keep your position vacant so that you still have a job when the strike is over.
ARTICLE IX
You do not have the right to order other people's lives or property to suit your whims. Specifically, if they wish to cut down a tree they own, kill a spotted owl on their property, or not let you into their club, too bad. Likewise, you do not have the right to impose your crackpot economical, environmental, political or religious ideas on the rest of us.
ARTICLE X
You do not have the right to happiness. Being a human being means that you have the right to pursue happiness, which is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an overabundance of idiotic laws created by those around you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.
Enough Already!
Let me be clear: I was not thrilled that John McCain won the Republican nomination for President. At least not until I heard Sarah Palin speak last night, and I became convinced that she could be an effective balance to his moderate tendencies. As I watch the convention coverage, though, I am beside myself with anger at the seemingly constant disruptions of the proceedings (particularly during Palin's address last night, and continuing through McCain's address, which we're now about 15 minutes into) by the utter lunatic fringe left of the Democratic party. Do these judgment-challenged folks seriously think that they're helping their cause by acting out in such a public fashion?
See, that's my basic observation about Democrats, particularly those out on the fringes: All's well when they're getting what they want and the world is turning generally in the direction they think it ought to...but woe to anyone who dares to tell them that they can't have something they want, or that they're wrong! Suddenly they become churlish and childish, acting out and throwing tantrums like spoiled children. Their actions at the RNC over the past few days are living proof. They have no respect for the institutions of society or for others, and they appear at times to be unable to control their rage; the instability of most of them is shocking. Yet so much of the MSM continues to perpetuate the myth that these folks are square in the middle of the mainstream. I have to trust that most Americans see them for what they are -- pathetic, attention-seeking nut cases, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," to quote the Bard -- and will not be influenced by their incessant screeching when it comes time to cast their votes.
See, that's my basic observation about Democrats, particularly those out on the fringes: All's well when they're getting what they want and the world is turning generally in the direction they think it ought to...but woe to anyone who dares to tell them that they can't have something they want, or that they're wrong! Suddenly they become churlish and childish, acting out and throwing tantrums like spoiled children. Their actions at the RNC over the past few days are living proof. They have no respect for the institutions of society or for others, and they appear at times to be unable to control their rage; the instability of most of them is shocking. Yet so much of the MSM continues to perpetuate the myth that these folks are square in the middle of the mainstream. I have to trust that most Americans see them for what they are -- pathetic, attention-seeking nut cases, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," to quote the Bard -- and will not be influenced by their incessant screeching when it comes time to cast their votes.
Beyond the Palin
Like many, I have been sickened by the reprehensible MSM display, coordinated by their puppetmasters on the Loony Left, to smear and savage Alaska Governor (and newly minted Republican VP nominee) Sarah Palin and her family, almost from the moment that Sen. McCain announced her as his running mate last Friday. The woman has been "vetted" (and I use that term loosely, because the intent behind this vile campaign isn't to assess her ability to be VP; it's to place an anvil around her neck that will sink the Republican campaign with it) more thoroughly in six days than The O has been in the nearly two years he's been running for president.
If the MSM were truly interested in doing their jobs, they'd flock en masse to the south side of Chicago to investigate The O's connections with Tony Rezko, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (Think public schools are bad now? Just wait until The O "fixes" them.), and Dr. William Ayers of Weather Underground notoriety, just to name a few. Unfortunately for We the People, and for the republic we love, there is zero interest among the MSM in poking around in any of The O's closets for skeletons or other objects of interest; besides, it's doubtful that he keeps his good copy of The Marxist's Guide to Becoming President there.
Instead, we get the hot and heavy Palin-bashing from all quarters (stream of consciousness moment: if you support anything that Jann Wenner is involved in, such as Rolling Stone magazine, US Weekly, or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, please cease and desist immediately), and we see the lefties contorting themselves into all sorts of knots in their apoplectic fits because they were badly outmaneuvered in the VP selection process. What's funny to me is that it ultimately stems from the fact that their candidate, the fella that they finally recognized needed a handler (and no, they couldn't find anyone other than Joe "I'll get to the White House one way or another" Biden willing to take that task on), pales in comparison even to the Republican party's VP nominee in terms of REAL, RELEVANT EXPERIENCE.
Fortunately, because he has the overwhelming support of the MSM, The O can appear to stay above the fray. Never mind that he's made criticism of himself, his family, his policies, and pretty much anything else that he pleases, verboten. Now he can prove his magnanimity by insisting that all families should be off limits. Feel free to faint, or to simply kneel and kiss the ring.
Great articles about the double standard here (American Thinker) and here (the very liberal Susan Estrich).
Oh BTW...Gov. Palin knocked it out of the park tonight at the RNC. Easily the best, most real speech I've seen in a presidential beauty contest in many years. If you only read the transcripts or the articles that summarize the more salient points, you'll never get the tone and the intelligence that underlies the words, much less the hilarious biting digs against The O. I can't believe the speech was written by someone who just met her last week.
If the MSM were truly interested in doing their jobs, they'd flock en masse to the south side of Chicago to investigate The O's connections with Tony Rezko, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (Think public schools are bad now? Just wait until The O "fixes" them.), and Dr. William Ayers of Weather Underground notoriety, just to name a few. Unfortunately for We the People, and for the republic we love, there is zero interest among the MSM in poking around in any of The O's closets for skeletons or other objects of interest; besides, it's doubtful that he keeps his good copy of The Marxist's Guide to Becoming President there.
Instead, we get the hot and heavy Palin-bashing from all quarters (stream of consciousness moment: if you support anything that Jann Wenner is involved in, such as Rolling Stone magazine, US Weekly, or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, please cease and desist immediately), and we see the lefties contorting themselves into all sorts of knots in their apoplectic fits because they were badly outmaneuvered in the VP selection process. What's funny to me is that it ultimately stems from the fact that their candidate, the fella that they finally recognized needed a handler (and no, they couldn't find anyone other than Joe "I'll get to the White House one way or another" Biden willing to take that task on), pales in comparison even to the Republican party's VP nominee in terms of REAL, RELEVANT EXPERIENCE.
Fortunately, because he has the overwhelming support of the MSM, The O can appear to stay above the fray. Never mind that he's made criticism of himself, his family, his policies, and pretty much anything else that he pleases, verboten. Now he can prove his magnanimity by insisting that all families should be off limits. Feel free to faint, or to simply kneel and kiss the ring.
Great articles about the double standard here (American Thinker) and here (the very liberal Susan Estrich).
Oh BTW...Gov. Palin knocked it out of the park tonight at the RNC. Easily the best, most real speech I've seen in a presidential beauty contest in many years. If you only read the transcripts or the articles that summarize the more salient points, you'll never get the tone and the intelligence that underlies the words, much less the hilarious biting digs against The O. I can't believe the speech was written by someone who just met her last week.
20 August 2008
R.I.P.
Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) passed away after suffering an aneurysm while driving last night. I can't say I saw eye to eye with her on most issues, but I have a fundamental respect for anyone who is willing to enter and stay in public service in this day and age.
This story, like so many about people who die suddenly, reminds me that I need to spend more time hugging my kids and loving my wife, and less time with the stuff that's not nearly so important in the grand scheme of things. Think I'm going to sneak in and give the kids an extra kiss on the forehead...
This story, like so many about people who die suddenly, reminds me that I need to spend more time hugging my kids and loving my wife, and less time with the stuff that's not nearly so important in the grand scheme of things. Think I'm going to sneak in and give the kids an extra kiss on the forehead...
16 August 2008
Welcome, Race Fans!
For all of the rumblings from prominent and not-so-prominent Democrats about the racial issues that others have regarding The O (a/k/a "Skinny") and the fall elections, DNC chair Howard Dean has made abundantly clear where he stands on the Republicans. In an interview with NPR on Friday, he said the following as he was commenting about diversity in the Democratic Party:
“Our party has been a no-majority party for a long time. The fact is that the Democratic Party is made up of lots of different people. If you look at folks of color, even women, they’re more successful in the Democratic Party than they are in the white — excuse me — in the Republican Party.”
Noticeably, the MSM has been silent regarding Dean's comments. No cries of racism, because in their minds it's sufficiently true, even if there are sufficient exceptions to disprove it. No condemnation of a poorly thought-out comment that deserves universal castigation, either. The only folks offering comments in this first full news cycle after the comment are those who were offended, and they don't count, anyway.
“Our party has been a no-majority party for a long time. The fact is that the Democratic Party is made up of lots of different people. If you look at folks of color, even women, they’re more successful in the Democratic Party than they are in the white — excuse me — in the Republican Party.”
Noticeably, the MSM has been silent regarding Dean's comments. No cries of racism, because in their minds it's sufficiently true, even if there are sufficient exceptions to disprove it. No condemnation of a poorly thought-out comment that deserves universal castigation, either. The only folks offering comments in this first full news cycle after the comment are those who were offended, and they don't count, anyway.
10 August 2008
I'm Baaaaaaaaaack
So the world didn't stop spinning just because I took some time off...apparently these guys didn't get my memo. Pretty inconsiderate if you ask me, which they didn't. Neither did Zogby, Rasmussen, Gallup, Ipsos, realclearpolitics, or anyone else. Oh well, time to get back in the saddle and start pumping out more gushers of insight. Stay tuned...
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