A Word of Advice to Liberals

I have liberal friends.

I try not to be seen in public with them, but I have them. One of them is my mother, which makes for interesting dinner conversations - but that's for another article.

I'd like to give my liberal friends, and my mother, some advice.

Seriously, we disagree on everything, and I hope their political efforts fail, but - friend to friend, son to mom - I'd like to offer them some advice.

Basically, here it is - don't trust the Democratic Party.

I'm not trying to cause trouble, I'm just giving a warning -- a warning based on experience.

Where the liberals are today is where we conservatives were a few years ago. We take turns having our day in the sun, apparently, and this is the liberals' day. They entirely control the federal government. They have the presidency and both houses of Congress. They are the bosses.

Only they aren't. The liberals don't control Washington, the Democratic Party does. That's where, for liberals, the trouble is.

Now, before I go on, let's make something perfectly clear: I disagree with liberals and hope that they get absolutely nothing of what they want. I disagree with them and believe that their philosophy will kill our country. They could not be more wrong.

But I respect them. I respect anybody who truly believes something. And I'm not bothered when people who truly believe something stand up for it.

That's what true conservatives and true liberals have in common -- they both passionately believe in things they think are very important. They both think that what they are doing is the right and best thing. They believe they have discovered and are advocating truth. After all, last I checked, the First Ammendment was still in the U.S. Constitution. That applies to both Republicans and Democrats alike.

Now, as a conservative, I believe my side is right and the other side is wrong. And I understand that liberals feel just exactly the opposite. Which is fine, we're both just being true to ourselves. But we're both also being exploited by our parties. More to the point, we both are played for fools by our parties. They take us for our money and our votes and then they push us to the side. They distance themselves from us and water down our priorities and pit us against one another and sting us along promising victories in the future. The things we believe in, the things that bring us to the political process, they never seem to completely get adopted. Always it's the next election, the next fight, the next round of fund-raising.

With both political parties, for true believers, it's all promise and no pay off. Which brings me back to the advice for liberals. You need to hold the Democratic Party's feet to the fire and make sure that it gives you what you want. Try to get a better deal out of your party than we conservatives got out of ours.

After we gave the Republican Party control of the White House and the Congress, it gave us exactly nothing. None of the issues that fundamentally matter to conservatives were addressed and several of our principles were directly assaulted and dismissed. We got the shaft. After all the years of work, the untold dollars contributed, the hopes and promises, and they spent their season in power doing next to nothing to advance that put them in office.

Conservatives gave the government to the Republican Party and the Republican Party defaulted on the debt just like the Democratic Party is defaulting on its debt to liberals now.

Liberals wanted the U.S. out of the war business. Yet their president has just escalated a conflict from which his secretary of defense has said we may not escape for 10 or 15 years. Liberals wanted the U.S. out of Gitmo. Yet their president has just suggested nothing more than simply moving Gitmo north to an Illinois backwater. Liberals wanted a single-payer government-run health system, or at least a dynamic and dominating public option. It's unclear what is going to pass, but it certainly won't include either of those things. Liberals wanted stringent rules to fight global warming. In Copenhagen, the Democrat government is pushing a policy that has the Third World walking out in a huff.

And how are gays in the military doing? And the illegal aliens?

Can you catch the scent in the wind? The supporters who worked most passionately for the Democratic Party and its candidates are the supporters who are getting nothing. Nothing but the back of the hand.

Now, personally, I believe that the amount of damage Barack Obama does to the nation will be directly proportional to how liberal he is, so I'm glad that he's flaking on some of his promises to the liberals. But - friend to friend, son to mom - I can understand that to the people who were chanting "Yes we can!" this failure to walk the talk is deeply disappointing.

From the liberal standpoint, the Senate health-care deal is not a compromise, it is a sell out. And, from the liberal standpoint, a lot of people who voted for the president and his party were sold a bill of goods. They are getting shafted just like we conservatives got shafted.

Thus the advice. Don't comprimise your principles. You fought this fight for a reason, and you ought not to surrender your victory. You ought not to let the Democratic Party flake on its promises to you. Because it's not conservatives or the Republican Party that are holding you back, it's the Democratic Party. We conservatives have no power. We are completely excluded from the health-care debate in both houses of Congress. And yet liberals aren't getting what they want or what they were promised.

And that's because of Democrats.

That's because of Democrats' dishonesty, and their manipulation of the liberal base that supports their party and gives it power.

I'm not gloating. The same thing happened to us. It was a betrayal that still hurts.

It is a betrayal the liberals should stand up and challenge. It is a betrayal they should not accept.

The death of Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years.
No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
Why the early bird gets the worm;
Life isn't always fair;
and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but
overbearing regulations were set in place:
Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate;
Teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch;
A teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental
consent to administer sunscreen or an Aspirin to a student; but could
not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot.
She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death
by his parents, Truth and Trust;
by his wife, Discretion;
by his daughter, Responsibility and
by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers:
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I am a Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

A thanksgiving to remember

Found this on the people's cube friggin hillarious!!!

Last Thursday a flying saucer landed in my backyard. A friendly, if slightly disoriented alien pilot told me he needed a drink. I had just what he wanted, since this was Thanksgiving and all. I was glad to have company so I wouldn't have to eat my famous fat-free vegetarian imitation turkey all alone.

His name was Ollie and he came to Earth looking for an honest, self-reliant, optimistic, and technically inclined nation that could benefit from a contact with his more advanced civilization.
"Whoa, whoa!" I raised my finger. "To call yourself advanced you must take at least three diversity training classes. What planet are you from, really?"

"There's no such thing as a more advanced civilization," I said. "All civilizations are equally advanced; they just find different ways to express their advancement."
My guest laughed. "I just escaped from a planet where people eat their neighbors whom they kill with sharp rocks. Does that sound advanced to you?"
"That is a value statement," I objected. "Did you try to examine the cause of their anger? Could they, perhaps, be hungry? Could they be disenfranchised victims of unfair trading policies, exercising early forms of class struggle against the oppressive neighbors? They didn't kill innocent chickens; that we do know."
"They sure wanted to kill and eat me. Come on, they're savages."
Savages? Really? "If you must use the 'S' word," I said indignantly, "have the decency to modify it with the word 'noble' - as in 'noble savage.'"
"They threw me into the fire," he said. "I was saved by my asbestos spacesuit, which they thought was my shiny skin. They're savages alright."
"At least they didn't harm the environment with asbestos, " I quipped. "Nor have they caused Global Warming with industrial pollution. That alone makes them more advanced than most Americans who have no social consciousness whatsoever."

"Who are these Americans you speak of?"
"I'm glad you asked," I said. "Americans are the most biased, oppressive, exploitive, insensitive, homophobic, racist, sexist, bloodthirsty, greedy, capitalistic, environmentally-unfriendly people who live in the ugliest country on planet Earth. You just landed in it."
The alien moved his eyes from the vegetarian imitation turkey, bottles of Evian water and his scoop of Ben & Jerry ice cream to the flat-screen high-definition TV, computer, dishwasher, cordless phone, and a thermostat on the wall next to the bookshelves with collector's editions of Marx, Lenin, Chomsky, and Michael Moore.

"For a citizen of such a hideous nation you're doing alright," he said. "Are you some sort of a king or a dictator?"
"A king?" I rolled my eyes. "I work on an educational grant from the government."
"Oh. So you do work for the government."
"It's not what it sounds," I corrected him. "I only let the American government pay me because that takes money away from their illegal wars. Whatever the Department of Education shells out on my grant is obviously not enough."
"Do tell me about the nature of your work."
"I am a professional revisionist. Currently I'm rewriting old novels that are on the students' reading lists, bringing them in compliance with the progressive worldview," I said. "I turn classic villains into sympathetic characters with legitimate grievances. The readers no longer have to take sides, which promotes in them a correct attitude of non-judgmental moral relativism. Occasionally I also expose classic heroes as biased reactionaries who enjoy their ill-gotten wealth, blind to exploitation of the toiling masses. The grant is called 'Prosaic Justice.' It is meant to raise the next generation of Americans as kinder, gentler, more sensible and intelligent human beings, unlike the grotesque monsters they are today."

"It still sounds as if you're part of this government's elite," he insisted.
For someone claiming to come from a "more advanced civilization" his naiveté was rather insulting.
"Let me put it this way," I said patiently. "I belong to the heavily underpaid intellectual elite, working against this government virtually in the underground."
"The anti-government rebels on this planet sure have style," he insisted. "Look at all the things you've got."
"Don't you understand?" I exclaimed indignantly. "All these things have been stolen from the oppressed people of the world through neocolonialism, unfair trade agreements, and wars. And now we're supposed to celebrate Thanksgiving? Honoring the theft of resources from the world's poorest citizens? Personally I use this occasion to celebrate my immeasurable guilt for having all these things that I don't even really need."
"Why don't you just give them back?"
"The former owners are dead," I lied. "But to talk about my guilt for having these things feels just as good as giving them back. Especially if I succeed in making others feel as guilty as I am. Your spaceship for instance. Where did you steal the metal to build it? And what solar system did you rape to get all that fuel? See what I mean?"
"I see," my guest stood up. "Looks as if this planet is not ready for contact yet."

"Wait!" I said, running after him. "We have other countries, much better than America! Progressive, socially conscious countries! Members of the United Nations!"
"It doesn't work that way," the alien said, beeping the door of his ship. "If this planet has a group of people that match your description, it's damaged goods."
"Damn you, America!" I cried. "Now that we finally had a chance to build a mutually beneficial relationship with other planets you had to go ahead and ruin it for everybody!"

With a faint whirring the flying saucer leaped above the roofs, hesitated for a few moments, and then disappeared among the stars, forever. I went back to my vegetarian imitation turkey, suddenly realizing that all the anger and the guilt that had been haunting me all day were gone - replaced with a sense of an accomplished mission. Come to think of it, I just saved a whole alien world from the corruptive American influence! It felt almost as good as when the US Forces withdrew from Vietnam and Somalia, or when we defeated Republicans in the midterm elections.

I adjusted the electronic shiatsu massage pad on my couch and turned on CNN.

December 7th 'A Date Which Will Live in Infamy'

Today we remember the lives lost on this day in 1941. Well, some of us do. I have yet to see a blurb on the news, Google did nothing with their cutesy banner like they do on world earth day. In that day the Japanese were locked in a struggle with China and as thier conquests and brutality grew the west slowly choked off the oil and mineral supplies it desprately needed to continue their war. In July of 1941 The west shut off the spigot and cut the Japanese from the raw matireials that it needed. This caused the Japanese to begin to look to the conquest of the East Indys and South East Aisia to gain the resources it needed. In November of 1941 peace negotiations were clearly approaching an end, U.S. officials fully expected a Japanese attack into the Indies, Malaya and probably the Philippines. The prospect that Japan would attack east was unanticipated.

8AM on December 7, 1941 saw A Japanese task force attack the Island of Oahu and specificly Pearl Harbor. in the three hours that followed 2400 US servicemen and women were killed, 5 of 8 Battleships were sunk or sinking and the rest were damaged. Several othe ships were damaged and the bulk of the aircraft on the island were destroyed or damaged to the point where they could not fly.

The Japanese launched this attack to keep us out of the war. Ironically it was the deciding factor that galvanized us as a nation and gave us the backbone to keep fighting to the end. Even when the Japanese were defeated in the Coral Sea, the memory of this attack kept American spirit high and we pushed until we had erased the territorial gains they had made and forced them to surrender

Seems like everyone has forgotten this day. Like another day a little more recently in our history. but that is another post.

The Nobel Peace Prize: A Cheaply Earned Accolade

If Obama had any integrity at all, he would have refused the Nobel Peace Prize.

Maybe in a couple years, Barack could have earned the peace prize. But certainly not now. Clearly not for the events between noon on January 20, 2009 and midnight January 31, 2010, for which this award is bestowed. None but the blindest partisans think he deserves the award.

Worse, he has now lost the chance to ever earn it fairly. A greatness he probably believes he has, and is eager to demonstrate, will go unhonored because some idiots in Norway had a crush on him. No true competitor wants the gold medal without running and winning the race, and that probably applies to Barack Obama.

Nothing truly good ever came on a silver platter, even if it was a gold medallion.

The harm done to Barack Obama by this award is similar to that done by praise too freely given to children and the unfair advantages associated with affirmative action.

Many children today, stewed in the self-esteem cult of contemporary homes and schools, are praised for everything, even failing. “Good try!” is shouted from the sidelines of countless athletic contests as a youngster has failed to make a play. High grades get smiley faces and low grades get smiley faces and everybody gets praised, and at the same time, equalized into the social common. Every child is the smartest and the prettiest and the result is a generation of talentless, lazy little narcissists with a massive chip on their shoulder.

But worse than being unexceptional, those children are deprived of praise truly earned. If you are a little hero for getting a "C", what does the praise really mean when you work hard and get an "A"? Like the movie says, “If everyone is special, no one is special.” And the child who excels, who works hard and achieves something worthwhile, hears praise that is cheapened by its ubiquity.

Affirmative action, passing out scholarships and jobs and promotions and praise on the basis of race or gender or handicap or religion, likewise cheapens genuine achievement. If someone in a favored class works and excels and earns a scholarship or a promotion or something of the sort, the victory is tainted to an extent because the same reward is given equally to those who have not achieved.

Unearned praise damages the person who has earned praise.

I kind of feel sorry for Obama... Kind of.

The Nobel committee ripped him off. As is always the case when something is given undeserved and unearned, he has lost the opportunity to prove himself.

The Nobel Peace Prize is probably something Barack Obama has daydreamed about. His astounding sense of entitlement and self no doubt had led him to believe that one day he would receive the Nobel prize.

And who knows, maybe someday he would have earned it. He certainly has a global view of himself, as a leader whose abilities and charms know no limit. And maybe after a year or four or eight he might actually have done something that, in honest assessment, merited the prize.

But now we’ll never know.

Now he’ll never receive it honestly.

His chance to prove himself was stolen by Norwegian propagandists.

They cheated not just history, but him.

You Can't Eat Gold

Forgive me for being stupid. But what is it with gold?

Lately, with all the "change" rhetoric from the White House and the economic problems which seem to ensue, there appears to be this influx of ads to buy gold, as though gold is going to be the only way to buy anything after Obama gets done with this country.

Supposedly, the world is about to end or the sky is going to fall or something like that, and our only hope for survival is to own gold. Not the kind in your teeth, not the kind in your wedding ring, the kind in little ingots and coins.

Which is where I get lost.

I can’t quite understand how, in the event of social collapse or famine or blizzard or a Republican return to power, owning gold does me any good.

Follow me on this.

Something happens so that the normal course of life is disrupted. Your job goes away or the supermarket runs out of food or there is a nuclear winter or something like that. Money has no value, the necessities of life are not available, the proverbial crap has hit the fan.

And gold coins are supposed to help me? I don’t get that.

Don’t get me wrong, while I doubt any sort of calamity is around the corner, I do believe it is wise to be prepared. Seriously, I think that everyone ought to be prepared in case things get really, really bad.

I would point out, however, that every previous prediction of the end of the world has been wrong. Forecasting doom and gloom has, thus far in human experience, always come up empty. But history and my faith teach me that, hey, you never know.

So I am prepared, and trying to get more prepared all the time.

That’s what I think the gold buyers are trying to do. My problem is, I’m too stupid to understand their thinking.

My thinking is that if something bad happens, all that’s going to matter is keeping my family fed, warm and safe. We are going to need to eat, we are going to need to stave off the winter cold, we are going to need to make sure that nobody comes and does bad things to us.

I figure that, if things get really bad, a can of beans is going to be more useful to me than a Krugerrand.

One other thing that strikes me is cost.

An ounce of gold costs $1,000 plus whatever fees the various gold companies are going to stick you with.

For that same $1,000, you can buy enough basic food to supply two people for an entire year. Or, if you want fancy freeze-dried stuff that tastes good, your $1,000 will buy a year’s supply for one person. And the truth is, if you’re smart and willing to do some work, $1,000 can get together enough essentials to keep a whole family going for quite a while.

As I look at my $1,000, I have to ask myself: Do I want an ounce of gold or 12,000 pounds of wheat? In the event of a true emergency, which is going to be more useful? I can pick up a little bauble, or I can store enough food to keep me and my family from starving to death.

I figure that if the currency system fails – if the dollar loses all value – I’m going to be more concerned with preserving my life than with preserving my wealth.

So we store extra food when we can. Our local grocer here puts on a sale about twice a year called the "Case Lot Sale" where they sell various staples and food supplies by the case at great prices so we pick up a case or two of what we actually eat on a daily basis. We live on some of it and save the rest. Now that makes sense to me. I am pretty sure that when the going gets tough, our extra storage purchases will start coming in very handy - probably more than a few gold coins.

We’ve also got extra clothes, blankets, sleeping bags, a tent, a water filter, bathroom supplies and basic medicines.

Maybe I sound like a nut, but I think my approach makes a lot more sense than buying a shiny bit of metal.

My mind isn’t closed, however. If somebody can show me a recipe for gold, or a way I can make it heat my home, I might reconsider.

33 Minutes

As I am sure you are aware if you have been listening to Limbaugh or any of your favorite conservative talk shows, yesterday President Obama made a decision which may well have compromised the security of our nation for the foreseeable future.

In one of the most stunning betrayals of modern diplomacy, Barack Obama announced yesterday that the United States is abandoning Poland and the Czech Republic. They are on their own against Russia.

And in what could not have been a coincidence, he did it on the 70th anniversary of the Russian invasion of Poland. An invasion that led to two generations of Polish slavery and the widespread slaughter of Polish citizens.

Ronald Reagan won the Cold War. Barack Obama lost it. The first bricks of the new Berlin Wall have been laid.

Here’s the background.

As the countries of central and eastern Europe emerged from a half-century’s domination by the Soviet Union, many of them sought to ally themselves with the United States. Why? Because they believed in freedom, because they believed that the United States stood for liberty.

And because centuries of history and culture have taught them that Russia is their enemy. In that part of the world, history has always been about one group conquering another group, and the aggressor has almost always been Russia. That giant nation has made a centuries-long habit of smashing smaller nations.

Like Poland and the Czech Republic. So we promised to protect them.

Specifically, we promised to give them the technology to defend themselves against the Russian nuclear missiles that even now are aimed at them. The purpose of the missile shield was to protect the Poles and the Czechs from Russian missiles.

Yesterday, the president and vice president said that the purpose of the missile shield was to protect those two nations from Iranian nukes. But Iran has never shown the slightest ill will toward either the Poles or the Czechs. Russia, on the other hand, has devastated them both more than once.

The George W. Bush commitment to put a missile shield over Poland and the Czech Republic was a warning to Russia that it should stay on its side of the fence. By taking away the threat of Russian nuclear missiles, the shield bought some breathing room for the Poles and Czechs.

And why would we want to do that? Because of freedom.

In 1968, something called the Prague Spring took place, when Czechoslovakia – a Soviet subordinate since the end of World War 2 – tried to give its citizens some measure of freedom. Some bans on the free press were eased, some rights to personal free speech were granted, some ability to travel to different parts of the country to visit relatives was allowed.

The Russians sent in tanks and the tiny country was crushed.

Poland was the champion of liberty and took the steps that began the toppling of the dominoes of Russian domination of Eastern Europe. It was Poland which allowed the formation of the first non-communist group in the Soviet bloc – the Solidarity trade union. It was Poland that allowed people to, quietly and on the sly, attend church.

When Russia threatened the Poles and demanded they crack down, the Poles refused. There was a dangerous, frightening standoff, but in the end, it was courageous Polish love of freedom that allowed that nation to shake off Russian domination.

Shortly thereafter, the rest of Russia’s empire withered, and places like Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia and Ukraine were free. Tens of millions of people were liberated from Russia’s almost-genocidal oppression.

It was one of the greatest events of the second half of the 20th Century. And it was cheered by the American people. The Cold War, with its face-to-face stare-down between communism and capitalism was over, and the freedom of capitalism had won.

Maybe that’s what ticked off Obama because now he has distanced the United States from Poland, and capitulated to Russian demands that Poland and the Czech Republic be left unprotected from its missiles.

Tens of millions of people became less secure yesterday, and the cause of freedom in central and eastern Europe was weakened. The only winner was Russia and its dreams of empire.

In the face of an angry and belligerent Vladimir Putin, Barack Obama blinked. Ronald Reagan demanded, “Tear down the wall!” Barack Obama whimpered, “Don’t let me get in your way.” We once directly challenged Russian dreams of domination, now we have – more than anything since the partition after World War 2 – facilitated that domination.

We asked the Czechs and the Poles to be our friends, and pledged our support to them, and then we reneged and threw them under the bus.

They have followed us to our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – Poland fields the second-largest number of troops fighting the war on terror – and they have fought and bled by our side.

And yesterday Barack Obama told them to screw off.

The Heritage Foundation has produced a film titled "33 Minutes" which clearly lays out the facts about national defense which we now can no longer ignore, and which the current administration has compromised.

Please take a look at this trailer and consider where we are now and where this administration is taking us.

A Nation of Pansies

I have a few words to say about this insidious attitude which seems to be turning this country into a nation of pansies.

Stop whining, stop licking your wounds, stop feeling sorry for yourself.

Don’t be a pansy.

Toughen up. Don’t be a cry baby, don’t play the victim, don’t expect people to feel sorry for you.

We’ve had too much Oprah, too many grief counselors, too much talking about our “pain.” We’ve turned into sniveling narcissists engaged in one giant, nationwide pity party.

How embarrassing.

What makes me think of it is the report that the Army has started a service wide training program on mental-health awareness. Now, I’m all for mental health. I’m all for being understanding and for getting help when you need it. But I notice that mental illness is catching. The more you talk about it, the more people get it.

It’s like one giant placebo effect, a power-of-suggestion phenomenon of self-fulfilling prophecy. If I give a class on the signs of mental stress, people who thought they were perfectly fine suddenly start showing symptoms of mental stress. After a while, you’re going to have a pack of touchy-feely pansies intent on having the world kiss their boo-boo and feel sorry for them. That’s the last thing that the Army needs.

I’m not sure when it started, but in recent years, American society has been emotionally castrated. We’ve become so comfortable with being “in touch with our feminine side” that we act as if it’s the only side. The traditional male approach to emotional stress – to be tough and shake it off – is ridiculed and rejected. Few things seem more personal than our emotions and how we handle them, yet there is widespread intolerance for how many people do that.

We have chosen an affected emotionality that induces and rewards weakness and breakdown. Like a child whose mother comes running when it falls down and skins its knee, contemporary Americans unconsciously see sorrow and emotional upset as ways to become the center of attention and earn sympathy and even celebrity.

In short, you’re nobody until you cry.

Our culture once admired and rewarded toughness. Americans were strong and stoic. They crossed plains and climbed mountains and fought Indians. They won the wars, endured the depressions, survived the diseases. Now they just cry.

The media feeds into it. If there is a storm or a fire or an earthquake, the camera gets stuck in the face of whoever blubbers the loudest. The steady folks who simply set about picking up and going forward don’t make the evening news.

If there is a bad wreck or a fatal fire or some terrible murder, they put the cops and firefighters on TV talking about how emotionally hard it was for them. Which is confusing, because I thought the dead people were the victims.

With the economic downturn, the nightly news is a never-ending parade of whiners and crybabies, each trying to outdo the other in describing how devastated they are by the downturn. We have become so fond of weakness and victimhood that we embrace it and crave it.

“How do you feel?” has become our national obsession.

And now every soldier in Basic Training is going to get schooled on his feelings. I wonder which real soldier skill they would have taught in the time that is now being devoted to group-therapy claptrap. Instead of equipping soldiers better for the rigors of their duty, it weakens them and opens them to difficulties they likely wouldn’t otherwise have had. So-called “experts” should be honest enough to recognize that their prevention of mental stress actually plants the seeds of mental stress.

Humans are creatures who learn. We are pretty much monkey see, monkey do. And when you tell people that they are apt to have emotional pain and disability, they unconsciously rise to the expectation. Having been taught that emotional disability is an expected result of military stress, they respond to military stress with emotional disability.

If on the other hand, a culture or a class teaches people that they are tough, that they can endure difficulty and stress, surprisingly, they are tough and they endure difficulty and stress.

It is vogue today to mock the old ethic of “suck it up and march on.” It is ridiculed as some sort of unevolved, Neanderthal attitude. It actually was a very useful and very kind ethic. It strengthened people for the challenges of their duty.

Why do you suppose our Army has record-high suicide rates today?

It can’t be because of the stress of their duty. While hugely difficult, it is not unusually so. Compared with the warriors of Vietnam, Korea and the Second World War, even multiply deployed soldiers today are not facing anything their predecessors didn’t face. In some ways, the duty of today is less rigorous than that of earlier generations.

Yet those generations had far-lower suicide rates? Why is that? What has changed? Have the soldiers changed? Are they genetically different? Is there some difference in the chemical make up of their brains?

No. Soldiers are soldiers. They haven’t changed. But their culture has. Whereas their fathers and grandfathers went into the service having been raised in a culture that encouraged and admired toughness, the soldiers of today grew up in a world “in touch with its feelings.” It is not the absence of emotional awareness that contributes to these suicides, it is the abundance of it.

When you raise people in a bath of crying Oprah guests and weeping faces on the evening news, when you warn them that they are going to be emotionally brittle, you cannot be surprised if, in fact, they turn out emotionally brittle.

The touchy-feely psychobabble attitude is not the cure, it is the cause. It’s too bad the Army doesn’t realize that, because it is going to do more harm than good.

Society should realize that. Parents should realize that. We are mollycoddling ourselves and turning into a nation of pansies.

Were You Asking Me a Question, Mr. President?

The answer is NO!

We don't want you to save us, we don't believe in your plan, we don't trust you to do it for us.

We'd rather be free.

That's what they don't discuss on the evening news. Amidst all the sob stories about expensive pills and death panels, completely overlooked is the principle involved -- and that is that government should not compete with or replace private enterprise. Nowhere in the Constitution or in our history is the federal government authorized to take over or run health care. It is not an enumerated power and it is not an inferred power, it is an assumed power.

And we all know what happens when we assume. (TJ - that's ASS U ME).

The problem with a runaway federal government -- the sort of government we've known over recent years and months -- is that it violates the principles upon which our Republic was founded. It's funny, but the most complex problems are often solved by the application of the simplest of principles. When you get the basics right, everything else takes care of itself. If you untangle and encourage the appropriate function of government and society -- if you turn loose individual liberty and the free market -- problems fix themselves and success comes to both individuals and society.

But that's not how things work today, and that's not what the president is thinking.

Instead of limited government and maximized liberty, what the president suggested last night was empowered government and diminished liberty. And it doesn't really matter how many stories he tells to make us feel sympathetic, or how much money he offers us, or how many songs he sings about justice and equality and compassion, the fact is that the government is not an insurance company and it is not a hospital, and it shouldn't pretend it is. To the extent that it does, it will fail and it will take us down with it.

What the president and many in his party fail to realize is that the purpose of the American government is to safeguard freedom. Our Republic is formed around the premise that liberty is our first priority. It is not meant to protect us from every ill, or take away the possibility of failure, or insulate us from our misfortunes and poor choices. It is meant to protect our liberties. Anything that takes away our liberties must not be embrased even if it is done in the name of "compassion" or "justice."

You can't do the right thing the wrong way. You do not liberate one man by enslaving another. To feed one citizen another citizen's bread, you must first steal it from that citizen. Crime in the name of compassion is still crime.

Each enterprise the federal government puts its hands on turns bitter and failed. Bureaucracy, political correctness and ineptitude breed inefficiency and waste. But the greatest waste is freedom -- the freedom to live the way we choose and do our business the way we choose. Health care is fundamentally a private concern. It is not a right, no more than a haircut is a right. Yes, private charity may provide health care -- as it has from the beginning of our nation -- but public compulsion sacrifices a right for a want and must never be tolerated.

The president thought his TelePrompt-tured eloquence could sway the public, that his magic words would sweep away the will of thousands shouted at town-hall meetings. He thought that his glorified touch would make everything right. But he was wrong.

You can't pick up a turd by the clean end, and you can't do nanny government the right way. He is grabbing power for himself and invoking servitude for us.

Government is not to compete with or replace private enterprise -- that includes insurance companies and hospitals.

It is a first principle of our Republic, explained and exemplified by the Founding Fathers and followed by wise leaders since.

It's not about sob stories, it's about freedom. And, simply put, Mr. President, we don't want what you're selling.

Stay the Hell Away from our Kids

I, for one, am pulling my kids out today during the school's mandatory Obama brainwashing of America's kids. Like so many others, we don't want Obama talking to our kids.

Why don't we want him talking to our kids? I mean, Reagan did it in 1988. He addressed Junior High School students and they got to ask the President of the United States questions that ranged from what are the so-called "Reaganomics" to how did he feel about gun bans.

So what's the big deal? Why are things so different now?

It’s fairly simple, really.

Tens of millions of American parents don’t trust the president. The upset over this morning’s presidential address to schoolchildren isn’t about the partisan divide, it’s about the president’s arrogance.

After seven months of crammed-down-your-throat Obama agenda, half the country has had a bellyful. After seven months of being told that they don’t matter, half the country is returning the sentiment.

They don’t trust him with their children not because they’re paranoid, but because he’s not trustworthy. He has shown himself to be an enemy to their values and beliefs – to be hostile to their families and their country – and they are merely saying, “Stay the hell away from our kids.”

This isn’t about Republicans, this is about Barack Obama. Specifically, it is about a president who steamrolled and marginalized those who didn’t vote for him and who now is astounded that they won’t kiss his royal backside. He wants to be a rock star but nobody’s buying tickets.

Here’s the background.

The Department of Education sent out talking points for teachers, outlines of lesson plans intended to precede and follow a then-unannounced speech by the president to elementary school students. Troublesome in the wording was a suggested assignment that pupils be asked to write down a plan for how they could help President Obama.

That ticked people off, but that was only part of it. Not only didn’t parents want their kids being drafted into the Obama army, they didn’t want this particular socialist politicizing the classroom.

When you’ve got a classroom being run by an NEA member and you’re piping in Barack Hussein Orwell, all of a sudden the home-school people don’t seem so kooky. All of a sudden it seems like an unnecessary lecture intended primarily to indoctrinate the impressionable into the cult of Big Brother.

Parents don’t so much mind the president talking to their children, but seven months have taught the country to expect propaganda, not talk.

Further, about half the country simply doesn’t trust his basic philosophy. Like the notion that America’s children need a lecture on doing their homework from the head of the federal government. See, the federal government isn’t in charge of my children’s education – I am. And American children don’t need the president to tell them that education is important – that’s what parents are for.

Every child in every classroom has a parent or guardian who can talk to them about doing their homework and paying attention in school. Every student in every classroom has a teacher or two who can talk to them about working hard and setting goals.

For crying out loud, even Bill Cosby is telling children about the importance of education.

We don’t need the Marxist-in-Chief to think that the nanny government has to get in the act. And, no offense intended, but there are a bunch of us who think that “community organizer” is not exactly the role model we want our children following. For a certain portion of America, squealing for a bigger cut of other people’s tax money isn’t particularly noble and it’s not what we want our kids to grow up to do.

Further, we prefer that people who used illegal drugs not hold themselves out as teachers of the young. We are not impressed by the irony that the guy in charge of the military would be barred – by virtue of his teen-aged drug use – from enlisting in the military.

But the bottom line isn’t politics or philosophy – it’s the way he’s treated us. He has treated half the electorate like dirt and has done nothing, through the first eighth of his term, to make friends or earn himself the benefit of the doubt.

Typically, when someone wins an election, he sets out to reassure and woo the folks who didn’t vote for him. Typically, basic decency makes a politician want to show he’s serving all the people.

The Obama Administration and the Democrats who control Congress have had no such disposition. It has been an arrogance unmatched for decades as divergent views have been dismissed and mocked. Half the country feels that the president and the Congress are condescendingly dismissive of them.

He has had seven months to extend an olive branch. He has chosen not to. He has chosen instead to attack people and philosophies different from his. He has chosen to play fast and loose with American tradition and principle. He has practiced scorched-earth politics against the people whose taxes support his grand dreams. He has dismissed anyone who doesn’t agree with him.

And tens of millions of Americans don’t want a person like that talking to their children.

And I’m one of them.

Town Hall Meeting with U.S. Congressman Brian Baird

This is off of You Tube and the descrition of this guy's channel

I, David William Hedrick, a member of the silent majority, decided that I was not going to be silent anymore. So, I let U.S. Congressman Brian Baird have it. I was one questioner out of 38, that was called at random from an audience that started at 3,000 earlier in the evening. Not expecting to be called on, I quickly scratched what I wanted to say on a borrowed piece of paper and with a pen that I borrowed from someone else in the audience minutes before I spoke. So much for the planned talking points of the right wing conspiracy.

Utah Believes in the Second Ammendment

Did you know that you can get a Utah concealed carry gun permit that is good in 30 other states in the Union?

I’d like you to join me in applying for a Utah concealed carry permit.

Let me explain why.

In Utah, we believe in the Second Amendment, so much so that we repeat it and expand it in our state constitution. And our laws reflect that.

For example, if you have a concealed carry permit from anywhere in the country, it’s honored in Utah. And that openness has resulted in an interesting phenomenon – Utah’s concealed carry license is itself accepted in most parts of the country.

Specifically, 30 states will honor a Utah pistol permit. If you have a Utah permit, you can carry in those states.

Now here’s the interesting thing. You don’t have to live in Utah to get a Utah permit. You don’t even have to visit Utah. You can do it all through the mail. You will have to take a class, but you can probably do that where you live, and the rest can be done long distance.

And two months later – if your background is clean – you will have the closest thing there is to a national concealed carry permit. Ironically, it may even be quicker and easier to get a Utah permit to carry in your state than if you went directly through your state government itself.

Now, here's an example of one of the states that does not understand the Second Ammendment – New York. New York doesn’t accept any other state’s permit. And, consequently, few other states accept New York’s permit – even though it is one of the most difficult and time-consuming to get.

And the odd thing is, a New York permit isn’t even good in all of New York. If you go into or through the New York City area, your permit is no good. If you cross a county line you stop being a law-abiding citizen and become a felon.

So a New York permit is good for driving back and forth to work and for around home. But if you’re taking any sort of a road trip, or going on vacation to another state, it’s useless. For holders of a New York concealed carry permit, the Second Amendment ends at the Pennsylvania state line.

Fortunately, though, they can be saved by the Utah legislature. And so can you. A Utah license will instantly create 30 more states where the Second Amendment will apply. It won’t be in all of America – we haven’t won that battle for liberty yet – but it will be 60 percent of the way there.

And while I’m grateful for that, I’m disappointed with a Congress that has failed to protect our constitutional right to keep and bear arms in all 50 states.

Here’s what I mean.

New York drivers licenses are honored in all 50 states. Ditto for marriage licenses and birth certificates. A divorce decree, or a name change, authorized by one state would be recognized by the others. Virtually all state-issued licenses and documents are honored by the other states – there’s a clause in the Constitution about that – but not pistol permits.

It is ironic that the only one of those things specifically protected by the Constitution is the only one of them not recognized.

What America needs is a national concealed carry permit. It is a keen disappointment that the Republican-controlled and NRA-backed Congress has not supplied that, and we will keep working on eventually getting one.

But until then, Utah is the next-best thing. It doesn’t cover the entire country, but it covers most of it.

Some will see this as a gun-nut loophole, that somehow Utah is opening the door to handgun ownership and carry to a slew of goofballs from all across the country. Some will see this as taking advantage of Utah. I don’t see it that way at all.

I see this as a situation in which the legislature of Utah has a keener understanding of American freedom and a greater regard for the American people than the legislatures of most other states. I see it as a service being provided the country by this freedom-loving state. I’m not taking advantage of it, I’m celebrating it.

I’m holding it up as a good example. I am applauding the politicians and government of Utah for doing what their counterparts across the country should do.

I feel the federal and several state governments have failed to honor the Constitution. Where they have failed, however, Utah has not. And I am grateful for that.

And I’m going to get a Utah concealed carry permit.

And I’m going to be grateful to my state and its leaders for helping more Americans to be free.

Cash for Clunkers Could Lead to Government Bulldozing Homes?

FORT LEE, N.J., Aug. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Inflation Association today released the following statement to its http://inflation.us members:

"The United States government's "cash for clunkers" program, which was just expanded by $2 billion on Thursday, exemplifies the stupidity of politicians in Washington today. It's insane to think that destroying perfectly good and valuable assets, cars that people can drive, will help save our economy. This program is digging our economy into a deeper hole that we will never be able to dig out of.

We do not have an automobile crisis in the U.S., the average American household already has 2.3 cars. The automobile industry needed to collapse in order to build a new viable auto industry from the ground-floor. By artificially boosting car sales, the government is preventing the free market from cleaning out the excesses in the industry.

During the Great Depression, millions of Americans couldn't afford to buy food. With food prices falling and huge surpluses of food building, the government decided to pass the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 which forced farmers to destroy crops and livestock in an attempt to artificially drive up food prices. The plan backfired and led to millions of Americans starving, prolonging the Great Depression for another six years.

The current financial crisis in America was caused by both the U.S. government and American people getting into too much debt. Not only is the government getting deeper into debt by purchasing used cars for $4,500 and destroying them, but Americans are being forced to get deeper into debt to buy new cars. The used cars being purchased and destroyed were owned by Americans outright. The free market would've encouraged Americans to drive these cars until they stopped working, while rebuilding their savings. The government is preventing this from happening and doing greater damage to the economy.

Four out of the top five models of new cars being purchased as part of "cash for clunkers" are foreign cars. Therefore, very little of this newly printed money is going to the bailed out U.S. automobile manufacturers. We are increasing our trade deficit with Japan and other foreign countries at a time when we should be manufacturing cars that we export to the rest of the world, so that we can shrink our trade deficit.

With all of the new government employees being hired to administrate "cash for clunkers", the true cost is over $6,000 per car. Most modern day economists featured by the mainstream media say "cash for clunkers" will be a huge boost to the economy, because it will help lower unemployment and increase our GDP. It's amazing how they can phrase the program as a success, when it is only leading our country further down the path of hyperinflation. The misguided and irresponsible phrase in the mainstream media will encourage politicians to come up with more stupid programs for other so-called crises.

Real Estate prices in America still haven't fallen to below year 2000 levels because the banks that are foreclosing on properties are sitting on these properties and not selling them. After banks get the required infrastructure and manpower in place and begin selling them, Real Estate prices will fall to unimaginably low levels. Will the government repeat their mistakes with the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 and "cash for clunkers" and begin purchasing these houses from banks only to bulldoze them?

There have already been isolated cases in places such as Victorville, California, where banks have destroyed nearly complete new homes instead of completing and selling them. In Flint, Michigan, local government officials are promoting "the concept of shrinking Flint in order to make it stronger", by bulldozing 40% of the community. What is to stop the federal government from destroying already built existing homes, to prevent them from becoming listed on the market? It sounds like insanity, and it is, but if the government destroyed food and is now destroying cars, houses are likely next."

Please spread the word about NIA and have your friends subscribe for free at http://inflation.us

About us:

The National Inflation Association is an organization that is dedicated to preparing Americans for hyperinflation. The NIA offers free membership at http://www.inflation.us and provides its members with articles about the economy and inflation, news stories, important charts not shown by the mainstream media; YouTube videos featuring Jim Rogers, Marc Faber, Ron Paul, Peter Schiff, and others; and profiles of gold, silver, and agriculture companies that we believe could prosper in an inflationary environment.
Press Release
Source: National Inflation Association
On Friday August 7, 2009, 2:24 pm EDT

There's Something I Want To Share With You

There's something I want to share. Something personal and private, something close to my heart.

I had thought to keep it private, to let my family face this alone and unknown, but I couldn't. My wife and I decided that perhaps our experience can help others, that maybe the road we are called to walk down can be of use to someone else. I'm not one of these people to wear ribbons or host telethons or get a colonoscopy just because Katie Couric said to, but sometimes these things just hit so gosh darn close to home that you can't keep quiet. You have to speak out.

So I am speaking out. If my family's experience can shine the light of public awareness on my daughter's affliction, if we can help just one other child, or make the way easier for a single family, then our pain and loss of privacy will be worthwhile.

So here goes. I have something to announce. My daughter has dysrationalia. We have been suspicious for a while, and it was confirmed last week.

We are a family with dysrationalia because when one member of a family has dysrationalia, it impacts everyone. Since the diagnosis, our house has been turned upside down. Every part of our life has been impacted.

Further, dysrationalia is genetic, and when one member of a family has it, there is a very strong likelihood that others in the family will have it as well. And though I don't want to go into too much detail, when our daughter started showing the signs of dysrationalia, I was quick to recognize the familiar tell-tale traits such as the fits and emotional break-downs.

For children in the early stages of dysrationalia there are many signs of what appear to be emotional and psychological disorders. The crying uncontrollably for no apparent reason. Flareups of anger over nothing. Sometimes she will lash out at us. It's hard.

When they get older, when the dysrationalia is more advanced, it can lead to more severe bouts of anger and frustration, as well as poor judgment and decision making. With dysrationalia parents sometimes feel helpless and out of control. Often, they are as frustrated as their affected children. It is a devistating condition.

And this is what our daughter has. Our little girl has dysrationalia.

I'm not saying this to get sympathy, or to collect money. Heaven knows there will be plenty of time for those things later. Right now, I'm just about awareness. It's like when that one TV guy's wife got irritable-bowel syndrome and she told about it on "Oprah," there are times when you show your pain and your vulnerability if it will help other people face the challenges of their lives. We're all human here, and we all face our trials and challenges, and when it's family it's family, and family helps family, and I hope my family can help yours.

Sure, I live a pretty decent life. I'm an IT Professional, I have a network of computers, and I've found I have a talent for cooking (which my wife thoroughly appreciates). I've kind of got it made in the shade. But this sort of stuff happens even to people like me. At the end of the day, we all put our pants on one leg at a time.

And I want my daughter's story to be heard. I want people to know. I want to raise public awareness.

I'm tired of people having to suffer in silence, and if my daughter's story gives one family the courage to stand up and say, "We have dysrationalia, too!" then I will be happy.

It's time for those of us touched by dysrationalia to stand up on our own two feet and make our voices heard. It is time for the government to pay attention to our children, too. It's time for an uncaring society to feel our pain. It's time that we stopped looking the other way when someone with dysrationalia passes. It's time that dysrationalia stopped being the invisible diagnosis.

We waited and wondered for a year, watching for signs. Countless silent families have done the same. Countless silent families have met the same fate.

But we're not going to be silent anymore.

My daughter has dysrationalia.

And I will not hang my head in shame any longer.

Obama's Beer Summit

As I am sure you have heard, this week the president and vice president sat down with Massachusetts Police Sgt. James Crowley and Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates in the Rose Garden for what some have called a "White House Summit" over a beer. Because after all, the President of the United States has time to just sit down with his old Harvard pal and have a beer, doesn't he. I'm thinking of inviting him over for Monopoly next week... If I have a moment.

But this was no casual beer with his old Harvard buddy. It was an obvious planned and calculated political move.

If I may, I would like to address the absurdity of this meeting as well as the racial ramifications which Obama, who claims to be the new hope for his race, are insinuating.

After the deal at Harvard, where the president assured us – before he “calibrated” his words – that “the police acted stupidly,” all the smart people on television assured us that this incident proves we need to talk about race. Crowley called the meeting "a positive step in moving forward" on race relations.

The assertion is both politically correct and preposterous. It is one more string of meaningless words that are nothing more than a call for yet another racial-sensitivity browbeating. This was exacerbated by Obama calling this a "teachable moment for Americans."

There is no dialog about race in America, there is a lecture. The word “dialog” implies two-way conversation, but the vicious rules of this politically correct society dictate that the conversation will be entirely one way. Every white person in America knows that – with the possible exception of the self-deluded and self-loathing white political elite. Every white person in America knows that an honest discussion of race would bring with it career-ending consequences and social ostracism.

For example, repeatedly over the last week it has been said that people of color predominate in America’s prisons. Essentially it is meant to be documentation for an American apartheid.

A common stereotype, but one that is significantly rooted in fact, and often unspoken, is the possibility that non-whites are more likely to go to jail because non-whites are more likely to commit crimes. Unspoken, because the heavy ax of social censure hangs over the head of anyone who would dare say it. Stereotypical, because society places this in the untouchable realm of political correctness.

Another example of speech restrictions that preclude dialog is the notion that the Harvard professor in question is not just a jerk, but quite possibly a racist. His racial motivation and preconceptions have not and will not be questioned or discussed. The cop is freely accused of racism – of treating the professor different because of the color of his skin – but no one dares venture the argument that possibly it was the professor who reacted based on the cop’s skin color.

These are all valid, logical questions, but so pervasive is the orthodoxy of political correctness that they cannot be spoken, thus, there is no dialog. There is merely another opportunity for society to be lectured on its intolerance and cruelty to non-whites. And that lecture doesn’t make racial problems go away, it engenders them. It makes both sides angry with one another and promotes division instead of unity and amity.

The race dialog envisioned by the talking heads – and the president – is one in which the commonly held black view that African-Americans are targeted and persecuted by police will be passed around with the expectation that everyone will agree. The problem with this approach – which has been used for years and years – is that it makes some whites angry and it makes some blacks feel separate and antagonistic. The identity of victimhood and alienation grows in one group and the resentment of being blamed for something you didn’t do grows in the other, further dividing America. Ironically, it is the racial dialog that flames our racial problems, or at least that’s the way many feel.

Unfortunately, voices and opinions are not welcome in the dialog on race. What some feel, but are not able to say, is that they believe the race dialog is pushed by those who stand to benefit and profit from racial tension. Its objective is not to heal the country but to promote careers, hold political power and make money.

If the goal were unity, the topic would be unity, not a focus on differences and different perspectives, but a focus on shared perspectives and shared values. If you want to unite people, you talk about what they have in common. If you want to divide people, you talk about what differentiates them.

Focusing on the differences of the average white and black experiences in America has a tendency to galvanize people on opposite sides of the color barrier. The talking heads know this. They must, yet they continue their nonsense anyway.

What happened at Harvard is that a man got lippy and made a scene in front of a crowd of bystanders. That’s disorderly conduct. He was arrested. Then the political correctness kicked in and the charges were dropped and the cops got dissed by the governor and the president. It broke down right along color lines. The black mayor and the black governor and the black president stuck up for the black professor. Maybe those three should start the dialog on race – and maybe they can start with the person in the mirror.

And maybe someday this country will be free enough for someone to suggest that those three are the ones with the racial bias.

Excuse me Mr. President, but your race bait is showing….

Your efforts to take advantage of a friend’s crisis seems to have backfired. What might have worked in a hotel ballroom full of like minded people, has only served to expose your manipulative tactics, and racist attitudes. You’re very deliberate efforts to smooth things over without a true apology does not go un-noticed.

However, it's hard not to be impressed with the attention shift away from the true issue at hand.

-Your power grab with Nationalized Health Care

Considering Linux - Another Option

I am not a Linux guru. At best, I am what some might call a Linux enthusiast, which is a glorified way to say I know enough about Linux to be dangerous.

But it didn't start out that way. I started in the IT field, like so many others, working with DOS and then going to Microsoft Windows. This was for economic reasons as much as anything. Most IT professionals' career paths often follow the money. You learn and work with the systems and technologies that the industry is using because that is where the jobs are, and where the money is.

I had heard of Linux early on but never gave it much attention because Linux began as such an obscure operating system. Later I became more interested and actually tried installing the system. I will be the first to admit that my first attempts at installing and running Linux were fairly unsuccessful and I abandoned the idea and then went back and tried again several times. The first few attempts with Linux were, at best, hit and miss.

It took time, learning, and a whole lot of patience with the system for me to get the the point where I am able to say I can truly work with Linux.

I have been able to make a comfortable conversion over to the Linux side. This is not to say that I have moved completely from Windows to Linux, but that I have found a balance between both worlds.

Linux still is not, for me a completely flawless and 100% working environment. Believe me when I say I have I have gone through many frustrating difficulties working with the system. Linux is not easy. It is not built with check boxes and buttons that fix everything. Linux has a long history of computer and software development and it is still growing, improving, and being shaped by the community which uses it. But if you think Linux is difficult to work with today, try setting up an early version of Red Hat when it was free, say about version 6 or 7. In those days, we dealt with hardware compatibility issues that make today's Linux a cake walk.

Linux was not originally designed to be a one-size-fits-all operating system, nor does it have the same goals and philosophies of business and customer service that commercial software has. This is my opinion, but in my view, the goal of the Linux community and the software that drives it is to provide the groundwork upon which users, developers, programmers, and designers can build. Any Linux distribution "out of the box" has the potential not only to do amazing things, but also has the potential to fail, leaving it up to the owner of the hardware to have the choice of which kinds of tasks they wish their computer to perform. It is the complexity and the uniqueness of these tasks that dictate how much effort will go into the software.

Microsoft and similar commercial software developers have but one goal - make money. It would be a mistake to perceive them in any other way because they are businesses who exists for this reason alone. With that in mind, it is easier to understand why and how they develop their products, and where their focus and philosophies differ from the Open Source community. One is not better or worse than another; they are just different.

It is, therefore, important to understand what our goals as end-users and developers are so that we can take full advantage of the benefits of whatever tools we wish to use. It is no more beneficial to completely disregard commercial products than it is to give up entirely on Open Source. Both have great benefits, and both are here to stay. I have chosen to take the best of both worlds and try use the best from each.

It is also true that, in general, those who help themselves tend to find clearer and more precise answers from other Linux users and within the Linux community because the struggle to find your own answers to technical questions will narrow down what you are asking. For example, the question, "Why does my video not function?" is a much broader question than, "Can anyone tell me where I can find drivers for my video adapter in kernel version such and such?" The second question indicates that some preliminary research was done before the question was asked. My experience looking for help within both the Linux community and commercial software support has been that the more I have done for myself, the more willing help I have received. And conversely, the times I have obviously not done my homework were the times that I have been told I need to look further.

The process of going from a novice understanding of Linux (or any operating system) to being able to solve your own problems can be a long and frustrating road. I have been at the beginning of that road and have gone through many frustrating hours of not finding answers, both in personal research and with the Open Source community. And sometimes there is no answer. Some things simply do not work. But my experience has also been that finding the answers and fixing the problems has its own rewards. The truth is, no software developer, commercial or otherwise, can really know how to create a tool to work just for you. If that is the goal, then you, the user, will have to build it. To me, there is nothing like being able to customize a computer system to perform the tasks that I need in the way that works best for me. My personal experience is that Open Source provides the most options to allow you to do this, but it does take work and it can be frustrating at times.

If you are interested in learning about the Linux operating system and want to experiment with it I say go for it. The only thing you will have to put into it is time - but it is time well spent. If you are prejudice, however, about Linux and unwilling to consider that there may be other options out there, other than commercial software, my considered opinion is that limiting your options also limits your choices and the Linux philosophy is all about choice and the freedom to use software which suits the user.

Obviously, Microsoft has a different philosophy.

Socialized Health Care or WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!?!?!?!?

Pamela over at Atlas has a great post here
here is an excerpt.

More than sixty concerned United States citizens and residents of Virginia’s 5th Congressional District gathered in the parking lot immediately outside Democrat Congressman Tom Perriello’s Charlottesville office today. Organized by Bill Hay and the Jefferson Area Tea Party, the rally’s purpose was to allow attendees a forum in which to express their concerns over the prospect of nationalized/socialized medicine directly to Congressman Perriello (who chose not to attend), or in close proximity to his office.
...
Approximately forty minutes into the event, Charlottesville police were called to the parking lot area. Unconfirmed reports from the scene tie at least one of the complaining phone calls directly to Congressman Tom Perriello’s office staff. While the attending police officers (professionally and politely) compelled the gathered crowd to disperse

there are a couple of videos that are telling and there is a partial list of items in the health care bill that will piss you off...

Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!

Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benes u get

Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill - YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!!

Pg 42 of HC Bill - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose UR HC Benefits 4 you. U have no choice!

PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill - HC will be provided 2 ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise

Pg 58HC Bill - Govt will have real-time access 2 individuals' finances & a National ID Healthcard will be issued!

Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Govt will have direct access 2 ur banks accts 4 elect. funds transfer

PG 65 Sec 164 is a payoff subsidized plan 4 retirees and their families in Unions & community orgs (ACORN).

Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Govt is creating an HC Exchange 2 bring priv HC plans under Govt control.

PG 84 Sec 203 HC bill - Govt mandates ALL benefit pkgs 4 priv. HC plans in the Exchange

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs for of Benefit Levels for Plans = The Govt will ration ur Healthcare!

PG 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill - Govt mandates linguistic approp svcs. Example - Translation 4 illegal aliens

Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps 2 sign up indiv. for Govt HC plan

PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs of Ben Levels 4 Plans. #AARP members - U Health care WILL b rationed

-PG 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill - Medicaid Eligible Indiv. will b automat.enrolled in Medicaid. No choice

pg 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Govt Monop

pg 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill - Doctors/ #AMA - The Govt will tell YOU what u can make.

Pg 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into pub opt plan. NO CHOICE

Pg 126 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay 4 HC 4 part time employees AND their families.

Pg 149 Lines 16-24 ANY Emplyr w payroll 400k & above who does not prov. pub opt. pays 8% tax on all payroll

This is a good thing to read if you do not believe me or this post, then look at the bill here

Another Ethics Complaint Filed Against the Governor

Something tells me that Sara Palin is quite a threat. They are still shooting arrows.....


Another Ethics Complaint Filed Against the Governor
July 20, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska – Once again, an ethics complaint has been filed and publicly released in violation of state law. This is the sixth complaint filed by Ms. McLeod. In addition, she has filed a lawsuit against the Governor's office and multiple public records act requests. All of her prior complaints that have been ruled on have been dismissed. The Ethics Act serves important state interests in ensuring ethical state government and was intended to prevent the various forms of corrupt misconduct that had plagued the Legislature in prior years and which resulted in the prosecution of legislators and others. It is unfortunate that the law has been abused and trivialized in the current manner............

More at www.gov.state.ak.us/pdf/VFpr-July20-2009.pdf

2+2= ???

Did Biden really say that we needed to spend our way out of bankruptcy? Sounds like basic accounting to me!

It should be illegal for people who can't do simple math to run the country!

Thats ALOT of money

Dear AARP - I'm Not Interested

Dear AARP,

Before you go to all the trouble of sending me a membership card and a packet with old folks information, please, don't bother. I don’t need it, I don’t want it, you can have it back. I am not retired, I am not old, I am not interested.

And where do you get the nerve to send a letter to my house telling me that I now qualify for your geezer fest and that if I mail in my $16 dues you’ll send me Polygrip coupons? First off, I don’t even qualify for your blue-hair bunch. To join AARP, you need to be 50, and I am not 50. I’m nowhere near 50. Even when I turn 50, I will not be retired. I won’t be close to retired. I’m on the backend of the Baby Boom, that means I get no pension, no Social Security and – after Obama is done with us – no money left in my 401k. I'm looking at another 30 years before retirement.

So write back then. Better yet, bring the card by yourself. That will make it easier for me to punch you in the nose. I’m not interested in your Viagra discounts or your expandable-waistband pants or your hearing-aid clinics. I don’t need to know about the price of condos at Boca Raton or Sun City, I’m not interested in magazine articles about Benny Goodman and I am not going to call my congressman and beg him to pass whatever free-pills-for-grama scheme you’ve got going.

No thank you. Not now or ever.

If somebody wants to join the AARP, they can hire a 13-year-old to look it up for them on the Internet. People who work in nursing homes could be specially trained to sign folks up for AARP. Coupons could be put in boxes of adult diapers. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t disrespect old people, I just don’t happen to be one of them. I have old-people friends. But they all lie about not being old, too. There’s no shame in being old, but there’s no great glory in it either.

Let me set the record straight. Yes, I have been feeling aches in places I've not felt before, I no longer run from one place to the next, and my clothes are starting to show that "middle-aged" look, but I am not old. I’m barely mature.

Being congratulated for becoming eligible for the AARP is like being told you’re the prettiest girl at Weight Watchers, or like being valedictorian of your drug rehab class. It’s like getting your GED in prison. It’s like being congratulated for getting old. In fact, that’s exactly what it is.

And, call me crazy, but I don’t need junk mail to remind me that I’m closer to the grave than I am to the cradle. My perpetual-youth bit is unraveling and the last thing I want is the mailman to make incontinence jokes when he hands me the mail.

Sure signs of age are, first the AARP envelope arrives in the mail, then comes the black balloons and all your moron friends making old-fogy jokes. After that you get no more promotions at work, they put a 25-year-old in as your boss, the music sucks and everybody starts mumbling. In the end, you look like Walter Matthau and smell like Ben-Gay. You find yourself clipping recipes out of the AARP magazine, and save for vacations to Pennsylvania Dutch country, and wonder whatever happened to Shelley Winters.

To which I respond: No thanks. I’m not hard of hearing, I’m ignoring you.

I’m not old, I just have an unusual familiarity with the music of the 1970s, I remember the moon shot, and in the right light Nancy Pelosi is not a bad-looking woman.

I’ve got a moon shot for the AARP. A wrinkly old saggy-baggy moon shot, but a moon shot none the less.

I'd prefer if the AARP would kindly take me off their mailing list. I'm not interested.

Because I’m not old.

Of Pit Bulls and Hockey Moms

You know the difference between a Pit-Bull and a Hockey Mom?

Lipstick... Sarah Palin

This was, arguably, one of the best ad lib moments of the 08 presidential campaigns. If you do not count B. Hussien's stuttering and searching for words trying not to say what he believes.

I know that Palin has stepped down as governor of Alaska. I know that there is a lot of speculation about why she has done this. I will offer my own humble opinion in this article and do my best to support with facts the suppositions i will advance.

Look at the joke that was told by Mrs. Palin and that will give you a clue. The comparison of Pit Bulls and Hockey Moms was not an accident then and the meaning still applies now. Mrs. Palin stepped down in an effort to save her family from the Maelstrom that they were not ready for. Let’s take a look at some things that support this.

Google Sarah Palin ethics complaints and you will get around 744k hits. Of course this includes news stories and hit pieces by 'news' outlets from the huffington post to cnn to the major 'news' networks.

According to The Christian Science Monitor

Alaska’s response to ethics allegations and requests for information concerning the conduct of soon-to-be-ex-governor Sarah Palin has cost the state $1.9 million...

All 15 ethics complaints against Palin considered so far by Alaska’s Personnel Board have been dismissed, though one resulted in a settlement requiring the governor to reimburse the state for travel costs incurred by her family...

...the governor and her husband are struggling with legal bills that exceeded $500,000.

Yes, there is a defense fund set up that will pay some of those costs but it will not cover all of them. The frivolous and petty ethics complaints have become a distraction for Mrs. Palin and that is no way to spend the time of the governor. Then lets look at the jokes and stories told. there is no end to the hypocrisy and the hate leveled at not only Mrs. Palin but her family. SO WHAT if she has decided she no longer wants to put her family through the meat grinder that has become public life on the Conservative side of the isle. If that is the only reason then you have to respect that decision.

It is said that the Conservatives are the only group that eat their wounded. If there is an allegation of impropriety we resign. If we don't resign we are ostracized. If a Dem is indicted or accused of a crime that actually ENHANCES their resume. We have kicked out, shut out and ostracized so many effective leaders that we don't have many left.

Maybe she has committed political suicide, i am not convinced that she has. Is she out of the public eye? No. Is she through with politics? Maybe. I can guarantee we have not seen the last of her, not by a long shot, and those on the left are scared.