Friday, June 26, 2009

Cap and Trade 2009

Well, it happened. I heard it on the radio about 5:40pm CDT. Another large piece of our liberty was sold down the river and probably for less than thirty pieces of silver.

While most of America was obsessing over the death of a psychologically disturbed pop star, the U.S. House of Representatives rushed through, and got passed by a narrow margin, an energy tax bill that will cost thousands of jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars.


But don't feel too bad. Government just got bigger . . . and more intrusive . . . and richer . . . and . . . isn't that the goal of this Congress and administration anyway?

Government wins, the individual gets screwed. Welcome to 21st century America.

These people have no shame.

What's worse--the bill passed by seven votes, eight of which were Republicans. When I find out their names I will post them here. It is bad enough when Democrats sponsor and pass tripe like this--they were born stupid. But when Republicans are involved it makes my stomach wretch. You can't belong to the party of Reagan and do this. It's like a Jew selling gold swastikas on a chain . . . the ultimate betrayal. I hope this traitorous octuplet suffer a very painful, agonizing, miserable, horrible (political) death.

Only my better nature caused me to return to that previous sentence and add the word "political." But, honestly, in my heart I left it out.

Another victory for tyranny.

Missing Governors

Much was made of the absence of South Carolina governor Mark Sanford over Father's Day weekend. While the Democrats and media tried to make political hay of it and the governor's mansion, including Sanford's wife, sought in turn to make nothing out of it, Sanford himself, ultimately, is the one who made it what it was--a wreck.

Just what we needed, another political sex scandal. Sadly, this time it was what looked to be a good guy involved in it instead of the usual miscreants. Looks can be deceiving, it appears. (chuckle)


One of the more interesting aspects of all this, in my view, was one of the whines that kept squeaking out while the Palmetto-in-chief was out on his alleged Appalachian jaunt. It was repeated several times in my hearing even after the governor had returned from what turned out to be a romp on the beach with a mistress. This whine was uttered by one particularly miffed caller to the Dennis Miller radio show in the following fashion: "How can a governor just leave his state like that without even leaving anyone in charge? What if a natural disaster or something had happened while he was gone?" To the caller's discredit, I don't even think he was a citizen of Sanford's state. At any rate, that particular sentiment had already been expressed enough to irritate me, then this guy came along and provoked me into the following rant . . .

(Here's what I wish I could have said to that guy)

Are you serious? How old are you, twelve? You can't get along in your life without a governor for a couple of days? Where did we get this dependency upon government to the point that we are actually afraid that something bad might happen and we won't have the governor around to save us? Is the governor your daddy? Protector and provider? Arch-nemesis of the boogie-man?

Here's what you do, junior, if a natural disaster happens while the governor isn't around . . . be responsible for yourself. Take care of yourself. Provide for yourself.

Handle it yourself.

Have we really reached the point where we get nervous if the governor of our state steps away for a few days? I bet there are a lot of people out there who ardently wish their governor would go awol. I can remember a time when Ann Richards was messing with Texas that I would have felt great relief to get up in the morning and read a news story saying that she had been missing for several days. An awol governor can't screw things up.

Say, I have an idea. How about someone convincing the unholy trinity of Pelosi, Reid, and Obama to go awol? God knows I would love to tell them to take a hike.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

A Nod to Neil Peart and Rush

The idea for this blog came to me while listening to the classic Rush song Tom Sawyer. The lyrics were, at least in part, penned by Neil Peart, while Geddy Lee's voice wailing "The river!" is simply unforgettable. It is a powerful song with powerful lyrics--too heady for me to really get when I first heard it as an impressionable but slightly dull twelve-year-old. But at forty I think I pretty much get them and it wouldn't be right to have this blog with this theme without acknowledging Lee, Peart, and Lifeson, and their inspiration for it. Tonight I tip a cold one back for you boys and hope all is well for you.

Here is a link to their site.

By the way, all their old albums have been re-mastered and are available on CD. I've been purchasing them one at a time and re-enjoying them. Besides their great music, I appreciate the depth of their lyrics some of which are quite poignant in today's political climate. No Leftists these guys, unless you mean in the classic Jeffersonian sense. At least in their early stuff they come across as quite the Libertarians.

I recommend you buy some of their music if that style is your cup of tea. And if you've never heard them before give them a shot. They are, in my opinion, the pinnacle of rock-n-roll.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

The Republic for which it stands (Who is Tom Sawyer?)

"I pledge allegiance to the flag
And to the Republic for which it stands . . ."

That Republic no longer exists.

It has been replaced by a monolithic government which robs men of wealth, property and liberty. That monolithic federal government so little resembles the Great Republic of Washington, Jefferson, and Adams that these men would not even recognize it. Their Republic has died the death of a thousand cuts--none of them budget cuts to be sure.

Individual liberty is on the run. No longer in fashion, she has fled in search of a defender, a protector, a refuge. She finds it nowhere, not in either major political party, not in any major city, not in any newspaper or major media outlet. Those who still love her are few and those among them brave enough to stand up for her are impugned barbarously. Tyranny is now in vogue and woe be to those who oppose that ravenous beast.

I am one of those.

Am I a right-wing nut job--a conspiracy theorist who believes the world is run by Jewish bankers or the Illuminati or Bilderbergers? No. People who believe in vast conspiracies are idiots, even if they happen to be First Lady or Senator from New York or Secretary of State. No conspiracy theorist here.

Am I a militia member? Nope. Those guys need to get a brain too.

What am I then?

I'm fed up, that's what I am. I'm fed up with career politicians who exist to serve themselves and their own greed and power at the expense of taxpayers. I am fed up with a federal bureaucracy which gets more bloated by the minute, sucking the private sector dry. I am fed up with Washington/New York/East Coast/Hollywood elitists who think they exist to run (read: ruin) our lives. I am fed up with the lies these elitists feed me every day and expect me to believe thinking I must be as stupid as they are.

For what do I stand?

I stand for the individual--his life, his liberty, his property, his pursuit of happiness. I stand for states' rights, once regarded as sacred, now no longer in existence. I stand for de-centralized government. I believe in free speech, free press, freedom of religion, freedom to assemble and redress the government for its abuses, gun rights, freedom from excessive, unjust, and abusive taxation, and freedom from the tyranny being perpetrated on this once great land by a mob of elitist so-called progressives who meet regularly in a swamp area known as Washinton D.C. in order to conspire to take away those liberties which we as a nation once valued above our own lives.

If Thomas Jefferson were alive today he would be leading another rebellion.

I am not here to start or lead or even join a rebellion. What I am here to do is to stir up enough trouble for those Washington D.C. parasites that they will have to deal with an educated populace--armed with truth and angry for liberty. I am not for armed resistance. I am for civil disobedience. The difference between those two is the difference between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

Enough is enough.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Today's Tom Sawyer

Welcome to the River.


Perhaps you fashion yourself as an independent thinker. That's nice.

Maybe you think of yourself as well-informed on the news of the day. That's nice, too.

Maybe you think you have things figured out. After all, you think. You feel. You're hip. You know who you are and what you are. You're a conservative . . . or a liberal . . . or a moderate . . . or a libertarian . . . or whatever. You're also a Christian, evangelical, maybe Roman Catholic, . . . or not. Maybe you're above religion. You don't need a crutch.

Whoever you are, whatever you are, I'm here to challenge you. My name? Tom Sawyer . . . today's Tom Sawyer. Pleased to meet you.

I hope you'll stick around and be challenged. I want you to think. Yeah, I know. Sure. Whatever. I've heard it before. I know you think that you think . . . it's just that I don't believe you. That's right. I'm calling you out. On this blog I'm really going to make you think . . . about politics, religion, philosophy, you name it. I am here to challenge the status quo, conventional wisdom, and you.

Are you up for it?