In a Huff Blog

More qustions. More answers.

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:52:17 GMT

Why do you feel excluded?
This presupposes that I feel excluded. There is no answer to this question.

Can you hold 2 seemingly opposite concepts in your head at the same time?

Certainly, you must be able to do this in order to evaluate data. In order to properly do this, you also have to be able to extrapolate and project those concepts into the future and decide which of the two contribute to the long-term survival of those affected by it.

Do the houses in your neighborhood all look alike?

No … some are actually painted.

Does everyone have a manicured lawn?

Most in my neighborhood have sand for a lawn. There may be a tumbleweed or two also.

How do you express yourself creatively?

Mostly I write. Though I do have and IMDB credit.

Do you/ did you color outside the lines?

I tried...but inevitably I had very little control over the crayon.

When did you stop coloring?

About the time I learned to write my name.

Do you have any gay friends?

I have had friends that were gay though they probably wouldn’t have admitted to it. I remember as a young man being invited over to a co-workers place for some beers. He told me at the end of the night that the security gate locked at 11 PM and so I would not be able get out until morning. Being naive in the ways of Los Angeles, I believed him. I told him I’d sleep on the couch. He poo-pooed that idea and invited me to sleep in his bed. I agreed and everything was fine until about ten or fifteen minutes later when he draped his arm around me. I immediately got up and slept on the couch and left about the time it got light. I had no animosity toward this guy. I did not mention the incident and we still worked together for some time after that…but I did not return to his place to hang out after that. Currently, if I do, they have not originated to me about it.

Do you make over $500,000 a year?

I wish. If you do, I want to be your friend. It matters not a whit if you are gay or straight.

What do you fear will be taken away from you?

More of my freedom. Every time there is a raise in taxes, it takes a little bit more of that freedom. My time is being taxed and I am working more days of the year to pay those taxes. The bulk of that money I earn is not going to those things that will protect me from force or fraud, they are not going to protect the borders from those that may want to do harm to the country. It is not going to gather intelligence and to handle external threats to the country. It is going nominally to provide assistance to those that are “less fortunate”. My industry is supporting those that are not or are less industrious. Those that I deem worthy would get my charity in any case. Entitlement means government theft and redistribution to those a bureaucrat deems worthy. It is used to buy votes for politicians. It is used to reward bad behavior and it penalizes good behavior. As we lose that freedom the entire country loses to that extent its exceptionalism…the things that made this country the richest, most dynamic and most powerful force of good in the world. And that is what I fear losing…mostly for my children.

Are you capable of pluralism?

Pluralism means: a state of society in which members of diverse ethnic, racial, religious, or social groups maintain an autonomous participation in and development of their traditional culture or special interest within the confines of a common civilization.

With this definition, NO.

In this country there is a myriad of ethnic groups that have enclaves in various cities. I think each ethnic group that comes here adds their own unique flavor to the soup that is the American culture. But they MUST become part of that soup and not a side dish. They MUST become American. They cannot individuate from this culture. To be allowed to do this is suicide for the country. They must speak English. They must know American history, the good and the bad. Again, they must become…American. Maintain your traditions, maintain your language and give us the best of your culture. Leave behind the worst parts of your culture; which is probably the reason you moved to America in the first place. Bring the best of you and leave the aberrations and non-survival aspects of that culture behind.

Are you ethnocentric?

This means: characterized by or based on the attitude that one's own group is superior.

As above American culture is made of many ethnic groups. American people may eat three or four different ethnic meals in a week. Where else can you get Chinese take out, tacos, sushi, fish & chips and a hamburger etc. ad infinitum (or perhaps more appropriately -- ad nauseam) within 50 feet of each other?

There is a reason the American experiment lead, in less than 200 years, to the most powerful, most industrious, most innovative, most benevolent (despite it’s atrocities and other failings) and richest country in history. It did not have to do with race or gender but with a system put in place that promoted and grew a distinctively American ethnic of “can do”, self-reliance, independence and entrepreneurship.

So, ethnocentric, no, but Americanocentric…Yes.

Liberal questions.

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:33:03 GMT

I recently got involved in a conversation on facebook. Most of my friends are either libertarian or conservative. One person who is of the liberal persuasion took a dissenting view. These questions gave me an insight into the liberal thinking process and hopefully I have been able to jar some of the misconceptions liberals have. Her questions are in black. My answers in blue.

Why are you so threatened? There are many cultures that have relinquished their independence for the security of the state. The nazi and the communist nations are pretty much same ideology and in the twentieth century has killed more than 100,000,000 people. 180,000,000 by governments of all types. Government is not compassion. It is force.

Why can't you envision balance? Balance means: a counterbalancing weight, force, or influence. With the data given above, the drive to individual responsibility, self reliance and a fundamental distrust of government is the balance.

Why the extremes? Can't you see all the shades of gray in between? Extreme? Wow. I do not see any extreme beliefs or actions here. The basic wish is to return to the Constitution and what the founding fathers envisioned for the country. These are the things that made this country great. We are in greater need of this now than ever before. There are shades of gray. The path from the light of freedom to darkness of enslavement has many shades of gray, until the path turns from gray to black.

Why do you so fiercely support an agenda that does not support you? Truthfully, I do not know what this means. Can you elaborate?

Why does anything that looks different look like a communist threat? Obama is a Marxist. His mentors and many of his appointees are Marxists. One is an admitted Communist. (He was fired, but not for being an admitted Communist but for being a “Truther”) With a filibuster proof Senate, a majority in the House the first stage of government run health care has almost been reached. Cap and Trade is the next on the agenda. Between these two things, the government will be able to control every aspect of life in the United States. This looks to me a lot like either Communism…or fascism. I do not know what will happen to your Constitutional rights if this happens. And yes it is scaring a lot of people.

Why are your "facts" right & my "facts" wrong? Which facts are you talking about? You have to be clearer…but I will say that contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong.

Why don't you want to "do good"? This is kind of like asking “Do you still beat your wife?” But I would ask good for whom? One ultimately acts in one’s self interest. I love my family and my country. I will act in my self interest and do what I can to protect my family and this country from actions that will mean its ultimate demise.

Do you want to "do bad"? Have I done something that makes you think I want to “do bad”?

Why can't you make a profit AND take a little care of the less fortunate? Well certainly I can and have. I took in a homeless couple and let them live in my home for a year, recently. They lived on my charity to the tune of thousands of dollars. They were able to get back on their feet enough to move out. Did you know that the people who identify themselves as conservative give much more of their own money to charities than those that identify themselves as liberal? Why do you need the guns of the government to take by force money from those who earn it to give to those that haven’t? There are many people who are not capable and need to be taken care of. This is the province of charity. Charity is more efficient and capable of delivering aide to those that need it than the government that will waste 40 cents on the dollar in the form of fraud, and waste. Charity is certainly more moral and in every other way superior to government run programs. Also, the question points to a mindset that those making a profit do not help the less fortunate; which many (if not most) certainly do. But making a profit is itself a help to the less fortunate. It allows companies to expand and hire more people. An honest business is not taking pieces from some imaginary pie, leaving little to be consumed by the rest of us. These businesses actually create wealth making the pie bigger for everyone.

Are you so incapable of possibly being less fortunate one day? Probably not. That does not give me sanction to take the product of others efforts. If I did this personally I would go to jail. When the government does this, it is called entitlement. There is nothing moral about this. It denigrates the giver and the receiver.

How does another's greed benefit you? Most people start a business or go into a business because they want to create something. Usually a side benefit is money; sometimes a lot of money. Greed is only bad when a person practices force or fraud to get money or something else of value. Fortunately there is very little force or fraud in the corporate world; much less than in government. They channel that greed into productive efforts that benefit all of us.

Do you plan to draw social security when you retire? I’ve paid a lot of money into this scheme (by force I might add). I would have gotten a much better return on this money by investing in the stock market, or T-bills even. It will probably be bankrupt by the time I retire.

Are your parents / grandparents on Medicare? Both of my parents are deceased. As far as I know neither were on Medicare.

If your house is on fire, will you call the fire dept.? Why wouldn’t I? This is a proper function of a government, though not the Federal government.

Did you go to college with a grant? No. I paid my way.

Will your children go to college with a grant? No. Your point?

Do you go to the library? On occasion I do. Again, this is a service run by a community government not the Federal government and it is totally proper that they do. You should really read the Constitution. If you did you’d see that the Federal government has enumerated powers. The tenth amendment states: The powers not delegated to the federal government belong to the states or the people.

Isn't your healthcare NOW in the hands of corporations who make a profit by denial of benefits? Insurance is basically a contract between the insurer and insured. It states what will be covered and what will not be covered. The contract is a protection for both parties. If there are gray areas there will be conflicts. Did you know that Medicare denies more claims on average than the private insurance companies? However, if people could buy health insurance across state lines and without all of the mandates loaded on to policies by the state governments, that competition would soon make insurance companies much more responsive.

Should the government not stop corporations from hiring children ... if it ensures a profit, they should stay out of it, right? This should not be a federal mandate. It can and should be left to the states where per the Constitution this power resides. If enough people believe this important issue needs to be uniformly enforced across the states, then the Constitution has a mechanism to change it by amendment.

Is there really nothing to be learned from other cultures/countries? Certainly. We seem to have learned too well how to grow government to the point of unsustainable proportions. I would ask you: Do you have kids and do you really want to burden them to the point they’ll need to work their lifetime to pay off the debt we are giving them? We really need to learn from the mistakes of these countries and from our own financial folly.

Did you know that "the people" have more power in some countries than we do? Which countries?

Did you know that some people have more freedom than we do? Again, which? At the rate we are losing those freedoms, I don’t doubt it.

Why do you feel the need to gang up on someone who is different? Has someone ganged up on you? Do you feel different? If you are referring to our past conversations, I’ve tried not to gang up on you. I’d rather not attack a person. I will however attack an idea and ideology that will result in the ultimate enslavement of not just our culture but will snuff out the light we hold out to the rest of the world.

Who hurt you? Melody McGuire. First grade.

What are you afraid of? See your first question.

Why do you see evil? One only has to open ones eyes. Any government that wants to take property from those who earned it and give it to those that did not is evil.

Why do you need to be at war? I don’t know of any person that “needs” or wants to be at war. However, once at war it has to be finished. Leaving these tasks undone makes a much more dangerous world. Hundreds of thousands of individuals died when we left Vietnam unfinished after these people trusted us. This betrayal of South East Asia also resulted in millions being slaughtered in Cambodia. Korea 60 years after the cease-fire is one of the most dangerous threats we have. Abandoning Afghanistan after Russia finally left resulted ultimately in 3,000 deaths in 2001 drawing us into a wider war. We must finish what we start and keep our promises once made.

Don't you have enough? No. Do you? There are things I want to do that I do not have the resources for…creative things (OMG). Does the government determine a magic limit on the resources that can be accumulated? What is your limit, what is enough for you?

What did you do today to make the world a better place? Hopefully, I have helped to make a liberal think outside a narrow view of those who do not want the government to take over the province of individuals violating the Constitution in the process.

Stealth Blondes on Fox Business Block

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 01:19:20 GMT

Leigh Gallagher recently came from CNBC to become a regular on Cavuto on Business. I watched the show this week and ended yelling at my TV (again)…

You know, just because Leigh came from another financial channel where she read a business news prompter does not mean she knows anything about economics. She obviously does not. Obviously since Dagan Mc Dowell (another Fox business commentator that used to make idiotic statements on this show) got educated and stopped being a stealth blonde, she had to find a replacement to take on that role. Leigh must now be the designated stealth blonde.

She just stated (among other bone headed statements):

"When government spends it does put money in consumers pockets". This is not only wrong it is idiotically so. Government does not not not have any money except for the money that it TAKES from those that actually produce it. Government spending takes away money from the productive private sector and puts it in places that are either less productive or downright NON-productive or destructive.

Adam is just as brain dead saying that the Government creates A LOT of jobs. Again wrong. Some...some jobs in government are necessary and proper to have; to fulfill the proper function of government. The vast bulk of "jobs" in government are ones that are not at all productive but take money from the productive private sector to spend on useless government jobs. These are jobs that either could be done much more effectively by the private sector or serve no purpose at all thereby destroying jobs on average.

Governments only legitimate purpose is to provide a secure environment for individuals to engage in legitimate forms of trade free from force and fraud and free from threats beyond our borders.

These people need to be educated. I suggest they start with the Constitution and Federalist papers. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and Milton Freedman's Free To Chose would also be basic primers into free market economics.

Leftist economics does not and has never worked to lift the bulk of people up but only to crush them under the boot of bureaucrats and dictators. As O'Reilly might say..."Wise Up".

Neal Boortz Commencement Address to Texas A&M

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:04:53 GMT

Below is Neal Boortz address to Texas A&M Neal’s alma mater. I would have liked to have seen the faces of the faculty after he started his address. One can only hope that some of his wisdom made it through to the students that have been steeped in a liberal brew over the past four years. It is a great address and I wanted it to have as wide an audience as possible.

"I am honored by the invitation to address you on this august occasion. It's about time. Be warned, however, that I am not here to impress you; you'll have enough smoke blown up your bloomers today. And you can bet your tassels I'm not here to impress the faculty and administration. You may not like much of what I have to say, and that's fine. You will remember it though.. Especially after about 10 years out there in the real world. This, it goes without saying, does not apply to those of you who will seek your careers and your fortunes as government employees.

This gowned gaggle behind me is your faculty. You've heard the old saying that those who can - do. Those who can't - teach. That sounds deliciously insensitive. But there is often raw truth in insensitivity, just as you often find feel-good falsehoods and lies in compassion. Say good-bye to your faculty because now you are getting ready to go out there and do. These folks behind me are going to stay right here and teach.

By the way, just because you are leaving this place with a diploma doesn't mean the learning is over. When an FAA flight examiner handed me my private pilot's license many years ago, he said, 'Here, this is your ticket to learn.' The same can be said for your diploma. Believe me, the learning has just begun.

Now, I realize that most of you consider yourselves Liberals. In fact, you are probably very proud of your liberal views. You care so much. You feel so much. You want to help so much. After all you're a compassionate and caring person, aren't you now? Well, isn't that just so extraordinarily special. Now, at this age, is as good a time as any to be a liberal; as good a time as any to know absolutely everything. You have plenty of time, starting tomorrow, for the truth to set in.

Over the next few years, as you begin to feel the cold breath of reality down your neck, things are going to start changing pretty fast... including your own assessment of just how much you really know.

So here are the first assignments for your initial class in reality: Pay attention to the news, read newspapers, and listen to the words and phrases that proud Liberals use to promote their causes. Then, compare the words of the left to the words and phrases you hear from those evil, heartless, greedy conservatives. From the Left you will hear "I feel." From the Right you will hear "I think." >From the Liberals you will hear references to groups -- The Blacks, the Poor, The Rich, The Disadvantaged, The Less Fortunate. From the Right you will hear references to individuals. On the Left you hear talk of group rights; on the Right, individual rights.

That about sums it up, really: Liberals feel. Liberals care. They are pack animals whose identity is tied up in group dynamics. Conservatives and Libertarians think -- and, setting aside the theocracy crowd, their identity is centered on the individual.

Liberals feel that their favored groups have enforceable rights to the property and services of productive individuals. Conservatives and Libertarians, I among them I might add, think that individuals have the right to protect their lives and their property from the plunder of the masses.

In college you developed a group mentality, but if you look closely at your diplomas you will see that they have your individual names on them. Not the name of your school mascot, or of your fraternity or sorority, but your name. Your group identity is going away. Your recognition and appreciation of your individual identity starts now..

If, by the time you reach the age of 30, you do not consider yourself to be a libertarian or a conservative, rush right back here as quickly as you can and apply for a faculty position. These people will welcome you with open arms. They will welcome you, that is, so long as you haven't developed an individual identity. Once again you will have to be willing to sign on to the group mentality you embraced during the past four years.

Something is going to happen soon that is going to really open your eyes. You're going to actually get a full time job!

You're also going to get a lifelong work partner. This partner isn't going to help you do your job. This partner is just going to sit back and wait for payday. This partner doesn't want to share in your effort, but in your earnings.

Your new lifelong partner is actually an agent; an agent representing a strange and diverse group of people; an agent for every teenager with an illegitimate child; an agent for a research scientist who wanted to make some cash answering the age-old question of why monkeys grind their teeth. An agent for some poor demented hippie who considers herself to be a meaningful and talented arist, but who just can't manage to sell any of her artwork on the open market.

Your new partner is an agent for every person with limited, if any, job skills, but who wanted a job at City Hall. An agent for tin-horn dictators in fancy military uniforms grasping for American foreign aid. An agent for multi-million- dollar companies who want someone else to pay for their overseas advertising. An agent for everybody who wants to use the unimaginable power of this agent's for their personal enrichment and benefit.

That agent is our wonderful, caring, compassionate, oppressive government.. Believe me, you will be awed by the unimaginable power this agent has. Power that you do not have. A power that no individual has, or will have.. This agent has the legal power to use force, deadly force to accomplish its goals.

You have no choice here. Your new friend is just going to walk up to you, introduce itself rather gruffly, hand you a few forms to fill out, and move right on in. Say hello to your own personal one ton gorilla. It will sleep anywhere it wants to.

Now, let me tell you, this agent is not cheap. As you become successful it will seize about 40% of everything you earn. And no, I'm sorry, there just isn't any way you can fire this agent of plunder, and you can't decrease its share of your income. That power rests with him, not you.

So, here I am saying negative things to you about government. Well, be clear on this: It is not wrong to distrust government. It is not wrong to fear government. In certain cases it is not even wrong to despise government for government is inherently evil. Yes ... a necessary evil, but dangerous nonetheless ... somewhat like a drug. Just as a drug that in the proper dosage can save your life, an overdose of government can be fatal.

Now let's address a few things that have been crammed into your minds at this university. There are some ideas you need to expunge as soon as possible. These ideas may work well in academic environment, but they fail miserably out there in the real world.

First is that favorite buzz word of the media, government and academia: Diversity! You have been taught that the real value of any group of people - be it a social group, an employee group, a management group, whatever - is based on diversity. This is a favored liberal ideal because diversity is based not on an individual's abilities or character, but on a person's identity and status as a member of a group. Yes, it's that liberal group identity thing again.

Within the great diversity movement group identification - be it racial, gender based, or some other minority status - means more than the individual's integrity, character or other qualifications.

Brace yourself. You are about to move from this academic atmosphere where diversity rules, to a workplace and a culture where individual achievement and excellence actually count. No matter what your professors have taught you over the last four years, you are about to learn that diversity is absolutely no replacement for excellence, ability, and individual hard work. From this day on every single time you hear the word "diversity" you can rest assured that there is someone close by who is determined to rob you of every vestige of individuality you possess.

We also need to address this thing you seem to have about "rights." We have witnessed an obscene explosion of so-called "rights" in the last few decades, usually emanating from college campuses.

You know the mantra: You have the right to a job. The right to a place to live. The right to a living wage. The right to health care. The right to an education. You probably even have your own pet right - the right to a Beemer for instance, or the right to have someone else provide for that child you plan on downloading in a year or so.

Forget it. Forget those rights! I'll tell you what your rights are! You have a right to live free, and to the results of 60% -75% of your labor. I'll also tell you have no right to any portion of the life or labor of another.

You may, for instance, think that you have a right to health care. After all, Hillary said so, didn't she? But you cannot receive healthcare unless some doctor or health practitioner surrenders some of his time - his life - to you. He may be willing to do this for compensation, but that's his choice. You have no "right" to his time or property. You have no right to his or any other person's life or to any portion thereof.

You may also think you have some "right" to a job; a job with a living wage, whatever that is. Do you mean to tell me that you have a right to force your services on another person, and then the right to demand that this person compensate you with their money? Sorry, forget it. I am sure you would scream if some urban outdoorsmen (that would be "homeless person" for those of you who don't want to give these less fortunate people a romantic and adventurous title) came to you and demanded his job and your money.

The people who have been telling you about all the rights you have are simply exercising one of theirs - the right to be imbeciles. Their being imbeciles didn't cost anyone else either property or time. It's their right, and they exercise it brilliantly.

By the way, did you catch my use of the phrase "less fortunate" a bit ago when I was talking about the urban outdoorsmen? That phrase is a favorite of the Left. Think about it, and you'll understand why.

To imply that one person is homeless, destitute, dirty, drunk, spaced out on drugs, unemployable, and generally miserable because he is "less fortunate" is to imply that a successful person - one with a job, a home and a future - is in that position because he or she was "fortunate." The dictionary says that fortunate means "having derived good from an unexpected place." There is nothing unexpected about deriving good from hard work. There is also nothing unexpected about deriving misery from choosing drugs, alcohol, and the street.

If the Liberal Left can create the common perception that success and failure are simple matters of "fortune" or "luck," then it is easy to promote and justify their various income redistribution schemes. After all, we are just evening out the odds a little bit. This "success equals luck" idea the liberals like to push is seen everywhere. Former Democratic presidential candidate Richard Gephardt refers to high-achievers as "people who have won life's lottery." He wants you to believe they are making the big bucks because they are lucky. It's not luck, my friends. It's choice.

One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was in a book by Og Mandino , entitled "The Greatest Secret in the World." The lesson? Very simple: "Use wisely your power of choice."

That bum sitting on a heating grate, smelling like a wharf rat? He's there by choice. He is there because of the sum total of the choices he has made in his life. This truism is absolutely the hardest thing for some people to accept, especially those who consider themselves to be victims of something or other - victims of discrimination, bad luck, the system, capitalism, whatever. After all, nobody really wants to accept the blame for his or her position in life. Not when it is so much easier to point and say, "Look! He did this to me!" than it is to look into a mirror and say, "You S. O. B.! You did this to me!"

The key to accepting responsibility for your life is to accept the fact that your choices, every one of them, are leading you inexorably to either success or failure, however you define those terms.

Some of the choices are obvious: Whether or not to stay in school Whether or not to get pregnant. Whether or not to hit the bottle. Whether or not to keep this job you hate until you get another better-paying job. Whether or not to save some of your money, or saddle yourself with huge payments for that new car.

Some of the choices are seemingly insignificant: Whom to go to the movies with. Whose car to ride home in. Whether to watch the tube tonight, or read a book on investing. But, and you can be sure of this, each choice counts. Each choice is a building block - some large, some small. But each one is a part of the structure of your life. If you make the right choices, or if you make more right choices than wrong ones, something absolutely terrible may happen to you. Something unthinkable. You, my friend, could become one of the hated, the evil, the ugly, the feared, the filthy, the successful, the rich.

The rich basically serve two purposes in this country.. First, they provide the investments, the investment capital, and the brains for the formation of new businesses. Businesses that hire people. Businesses that send millions of paychecks home each week to the un-rich.

Second, the rich are a wonderful object of ridicule, distrust, and hatred. Few things are more valuable to a politician than the envy most Americans feel for the evil rich.

Envy is a powerful emotion. Even more powerful than the emotional minefield that surrounded Bill Clinton when he reviewed his last batch of White House interns. Politicians use envy to get votes and power. And they keep that power by promising the envious that the envied will be punished: "The rich will pay their fair share of taxes if I have anything to do with it. The truth is that the top 10% of income earners in this country pays almost 50% of all income taxes collected. I shudder to think what these job producers would be paying if our tax system were any more "fair."

You have heard, no doubt, that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Interestingly enough, our government's own numbers show that many of the poor actually get richer, and that quite a few of the rich actually get poorer. But for the rich who do actually get richer, and the poor who remain poor ... there's an explanation -- a reason. The rich, you see, keep doing the things that make them rich; while the poor keep doing the things that make them poor.

Speaking of the poor, during your adult life you are going to hear an endless string of politicians bemoaning the plight of the poor. So, you need to know that under our government's definition of "poor" you can have a $5 million net worth, a $300,000 home and a new $90,000 Mercedes, all completely paid for. You can also have a maid, cook, and valet, and $1 million in your checking account, and you can still be officially defined by our government as "living in poverty." Now there's something you haven't seen on the evening news.

How does the government pull this one off? Very simple, really. To determine whether or not some poor soul is "living in poverty," the government measures one thing -- just one thing. Income. It doesn't matter one bit how much you have, how much you own, how many cars you drive or how big they are, whether or not your pool is heated, whether you winter in Aspen and spend the summers in the Bahamas , or how much is in your savings account. It only matters how much income you claim in that particular year. This means that if you take a one-year leave of absence from your high-paying job and decide to live off the money in your savings and checking accounts while you write the next great American novel, the government says you are 'living in poverty."

This isn't exactly what you had in mind when you heard these gloomy statistics, is it? Do you need more convincing? Try this. The government's own statistics show that people who are said to be "living in poverty" spend more than $1.50 for each dollar of income they claim. Something is a bit fishy here. Just remember all this the next time Charles Gibson tells you about some hideous new poverty statistics.

Why has the government concocted this phony poverty scam? Because the government needs an excuse to grow and to expand its social welfare programs, which translates into an expansion of its power. If the government can convince you, in all your compassion, that the number of "poor" is increasing, it will have all the excuse it needs to sway an electorate suffering from the advanced stages of Obsessive-Compulsive Compassion Disorder.

I'm about to be stoned by the faculty here. They've already changed their minds about that honorary degree I was going to get. That's OK, though. I still have my PhD. in Insensitivity from the Neal Boortz Institute for Insensitivity Training. I learned that, in short, sensitivity sucks. It's a trap. Think about it - the truth knows no sensitivity. Life can be insensitive. Wallow too much in sensitivity and you'll be unable to deal with life, or the truth So, get over it..

Now, before the dean has me shackled and hauled off, I have a few random thoughts.

* You need to register to vote, unless you are on welfare. If you are living off the efforts of others, please do us the favor of sitting down and shutting up until you are on your own again.

* When you do vote, your votes for the House and the Senate are more important than your vote for president. The House controls the purse strings, so concentrate your awareness there.

* Liars cannot be trusted, even when the liar is the president of the country. If someone can't deal honestly with you, send them packing.

* Don't bow to the temptation to use the government as an instrument of plunder. If it is wrong for you to take money from someone else who earned it -- to take their money by force for your own needs -- then it is certainly just as wrong for you to demand that the government step forward and do this dirty work for you.

* Don't look in other people's pockets. You have no business there. What they earn is theirs. What you earn is yours Keep it that way. Nobody owes you anything, except to respect your privacy and your rights, and leave you the hell alone.

* Speaking of earning, the revered 40-hour workweek is for losers Forty hours should be considered the minimum, not the maximum. You don't see highly successful people clocking out of the office every afternoon at five. The losers are the ones caught up in that afternoon rush hour. The winners drive home in the dark.

* Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection.

* Finally (and aren't you glad to hear that word), as Og Mandino wrote,

"1. Proclaim your rarity. Each of you is a rare and unique human being.

2. Use wisely your power of choice.

3. Go the extra mile ... drive home in the dark.

Oh, and put off buying a television set as long as you can.. Now, if you have anyidea at all what's good for you, you will get the hell out of here and never come back.

Class dismissed"

The Left Running Scared? Townhall

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:53:38 GMT

I have said in the past in my post “The Left Running Scared” (which you can see here) : http://www.politicallyempowered.com/Blog/tabid/7125/EntryID/1152/Default.aspx ) that the public will follow the line of attack. It turns out I was right if the current polls are correct in showing increased support for the so called “Astroturf” townhall protesters.

I was interested to see that Charles Krauthammer of Fox News, apologized this week and admitted his error in saying that loud and “uncivil” discourse would work against the right – or the people who are against the government health care take over.

It is now shown this is the best thing that can be done by those who are opposed to the expansion of government to include cradle to grave health care and with it the loss of freedom and privacy.

The combined strength of the most powerful politicians on Capital Hill and in the Whitehouse could not dissuade the people from determining that the concerns of these townhall people were and are real. These are the people that get up and go to work every day. These are the people who do not normally go out to political rallies and meetings. They are busy with their lives, growing children and grandchildren. They are trying to plan for retirement. They are not paid activist. It takes a serious issue to get this sort of person out.

There is a growing dissatisfaction with not just Democrats but all politicians who want to intrude more and more on the lives and pocketbooks of Americans. But it is more than that. It is the sense that our great country is going to turned into a third world country if the current trend continues. Our debts are now greater than all other debt the world has ever seen and the politicians want to spend more, print more money and borrow more from our enemies.

People are getting tired of being told that we have to buy oil from our enemies because environmentalist who have the politicians in their pocket or who are just scared to death, when we have coal, oil and natural gas here that we can safely mine and drill for. (California could get out of its budget crisis if they would just authorize drilling off the coast…but I digress.)

The people who actually pay the bills for the country are waking up to the fact that the bills are too high and there are an a lot of people that are not paying their fair share (who are NOT the rich). They are getting tired of those who demand the government implement more and more programs that pay others for their bad behavior. They are tired of the government usurping the laudable goals of charities by implementing programs that do the same thing (but badly and inefficiently) using money extorted from those who work hard and pay their own way.

I applaud the townhall attendees and encourage more to voice their opposition to any sort of government plan to take over health care or generate more “revenue” by the “kneecap and trade” legislation, or any other government expansionist plans.

More people invoking the Constitution in fighting these blatant attempts to infringe our founding document also encourage me. I cheer on everyone to read the Constitution and to challenge every politician to answer the question “Where in the Constitution does it give you the power to do this?” The Federal government has enumerated powers. It can ONLY do what the Constitution say it can do…that wall has been breached quite awhile ago but that does not mean it is too late to stand in that breach and push back those committing the violation.

Slavery Reparations?

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:21:59 GMT

The Senate passed an apology for slavery recently. It has been reported by the news and intimated by interested parties that this is only a “down payment” to further actions.

What further actions? The stage is being set for reparations.

This is bad for the economy, bad for race relations which is bad for the United States AND it is bad for Blacks…er…African Americans.

Despite the fact there has been reparations for years in the form of “Affirmative Action”, welfare and aid to dependent children and a plethora of other “Great Society” programs …all of which have not worked to solve any real problem with this portion of the culture.

What the Nuevo-bleeding hearts will be demanding is to create circumstances where the receivers of reparations, are not in exchange with their environment.

What is criminality but someone who is not exchanging (is "out-exchange") with his environment? Exchange is value for value and where this is out of balance a person is criminal to that degree.
Receiving that which has not been earned pushes one toward criminality.

What ever the intentions behind this bad idea, paying reparations will not have the desired or promoted effect, it will necessarily have the exact opposite effect.

Lack of exchange is deadly to those engaging in it, psychologically, morally and spiritually. This is why welfare is so damaging to any society. It puts those receiving it on the road to criminality. It degrades those who receive it and puts them on a downward spiral. (This doesn’t even consider the damage done to the rest of the society because what they receive is extorted from productive members of that society).

Charity is not damaging because it has a negative connotation to the receiver and no one wants to receive "charity" except under extreme circumstances. (It is also voluntary and not extorted from others.)
Welfare on the other hand is foisted off as an "entitlement". No longer something to be "gotten off of" and so the exchange of the receiver goes further and further "out".

Reparations will ensure that all those getting it will go criminal.

If reparations are to be paid at all then the baseline value should be that of any of the African countries. How much would a reparations receiver be earning if they had been left in their country of origin. If this were done, the only conclusion is that it would be a negative figure.

Many other cultures have come to this country with fewer prospects than African-Americans. What is needed is that they pull themselves up by their bootstraps and join society rather than embracing the victocrat ploy of black and ultra-left pseudo-intellectuals.

Miranda Rights for Terrorists

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:34:58 GMT

What once was a punch line in the last presidential election now appears to be legitimate behavior for those capturing terrorist combatants on the battlefield.

Recently it was found that these combatants were being given their Miranda rights; in what has been said “to preserve the quality of evidence obtained."

The first question that pops into my mind is: “What the hell does that mean?” This is the sort of gobbledygook phrase that means nothing and tells you only that the Dick Chaney and other Republicans were right that the current administration would go back to a pre-9-11 mentality, treating a war like a law enforcement action.

This will only serve to make the U.S. look weak in the eyes of the terrorist and invite attacks on our interests overseas and on our own soil.

The left’s suicide mentality has manifested itself in the God like vision of Barak Hussein Obama who has the superpower of making thing glow right. His powers of persuasion will shield the U.S. from the malignant hate of the Islamo fascists and bring all joy and prosperity to our homeland – NOT!

I’ve had my doubts that if Obama got into office that the United States of America could survive. I now had even more severe doubts about this once I saw the direction Obama was heading.

There can be no doubt now that our country will be much more at risk due to his flawed and naive foreign policy, exacerbated by ghastly economic and fiscal policy.

If one were looking for a way to bring the country to its knees, there could not be a more effective way than electing this soft spoken, affable, eternally congenial and ideologically ultra left despot wannabe to the White House.

It is a year and a half until the 2010 elections. We can hopefully throw out the Democratic enablers and restrain Obama’s megalomania at that point while working to throw the bum out in 2012. Let’s also hope there is some country left to salvage and some of the damage can be undone.

Note to Janene Garofalo - another racist

Sun, 24 May 2009 20:50:19 GMT

The following letter was written by Anne Wortham Sociology at Illinois State University and continuing Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

This was originally on the Start Thinking Right website located here: http://startthinkingright.wordpress.com/2009/01/31/no-he-cant-by-prof-anne-wortham/

It is worth reading and sending on to Obama voters.

Fellow Americans,

Please know: I am Black; I grew up in the segregated South. I did not vote for Barack Obama; I wrote in Ron Paul's name as my choice for president. Most importantly, I am not race conscious. I do not require a Black president to know that I am a person of worth, and that life is worth living. I do not require a Black president to love the ideal of America.

I cannot join you in your celebration. I feel no elation. There is no smile on my face. I am not jumping with joy. There are no tears of triumph in my eyes. For such emotions and behavior to come from me, I would have to deny all that I know about the requirements of human flourishing and survival - all that I know about the history of the United States of America, all that I know about American race relations, and all that I know about Barack Obama as a politician. I would have to deny the nature of the "change" that Obama asserts has come to America .

Most importantly, I would have to abnegate my certain understanding that you have chosen to sprint down the road to serfdom that we have been on for over a century. I would have to pretend that individual liberty has no value for the success of a human life. I would have to evade your rejection of the slender reed of capitalism on which your success and mine depend. I would have to think it somehow rational that 94 percent of the 12 million Blacks in this country voted for a man because he looks like them (that Blacks are permitted to play the race card), and that they were joined by self-declared "progressive" whites who voted for him because he doesn't look like them.

I would have to wipe my mind clean of all that I know about the kind of people who have advised and taught Barack Obama and will fill posts in his administration - political intellectuals like my former colleagues at the Harvard University 's Kennedy School of Government.

I would have to believe that "fairness" is equivalent of justice. I would have to believe that man who asks me to "go forward in a new spirit of service, in a new service of sacrifice" is speaking in my interest.. I would have to accept the premise of a man that economic prosperity comes from the "bottom up," and who arrogantly believes that he can will it into existence by the use of government force. I would have to admire a man who thinks the standard of living of the masses can be improved by destroying the most productive and the generators of wealth.

Finally, Americans, I would have to erase from my consciousness the scene of 125,000 screaming, crying, cheering people in Grant Park, Chicago irrationally chanting "Yes We Can!" Finally, I would have to wipe all memory of all the times I have heard politicians, pundits, journalists, editorialists, bloggers and intellectuals declare that capitalism is dead - and no one, including especially Alan Greenspan, objected to their assumption that the particular version of the anti-capitalistic mentality that they want to replace with their own version of anti-capitalism is anything remotely equivalent to capitalism.

So you have made history, Americans. You and your children have elected a Black man to the office of the president of the United States , the wounded giant of the world. The battle between John Wayne and Jane Fonda is over - and that Fonda won. Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern must be very happy men.. Jimmie Carter, too. And the Kennedys have at last gotten their Kennedy look-a-like. The self-righteous welfare statists in the suburbs can feel warm moments of satisfaction for having elected a Black person.

So, toast yourselves: 60s countercultural radicals, 80s yuppies and 90s bourgeois bohemians. Toast yourselves, Black America . Shout your glee Harvard, Princeton , Yale, Duke, Stanford, and Berkeley. You have elected not an individual who is qualified to be president, but a Black man who, like the pragmatist Franklin Roosevelt, promises to - Do Something! You now have someone who has picked up the baton of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. But you have also foolishly traded your freedom and mine - what little there is left - for the chance to feel good.

There is nothing in me that can share your happy obliviousness.

Doomed to Third World Status or Worse?

Sun, 24 May 2009 11:31:12 GMT

I should not be so pessimistic. With all of the bad news on the economy, foreign policy, Obama in the White house, corrupt politicians infesting the congress, Islamic fascist at the gate, unprotected borders, leftist assaulting the American culture, bailouts and massive government spending about to send the dollar plummeting and inflation blasting into outer space – it is hard not to be.

I used to have great hopes for this country, that our country could weather any storm because we are so strong. We have the strongest military, strongest currency, strongest economy, and strongest culture. Right?

The left has eaten away at the foundations of our culture and economy to the point these foundations are straining against collapse. The fissures in the foundations have opened the door to greater threats. The war on the Christian culture has made abortion safe, legal and pervasive. Thousands, even hundreds of thousands of infants are killed every year.

You can argue about the morality of killing infants. Many people do not consider these unborn as people and assuage conscience by keeping the infant wreckage out of site. You can argue about this I guess – infant rights vs. a woman’s right to choose. But there is an unintended consequence which cannot be argued.

The low birth rate of our society, given to us mainly by the leftward viewpoint is killing us. It is killing us more slowly than it is killing Europe but killing us just the same.

Without the immigration from Mexico and Muslim countries, our birthrate is not sustainable. The population of the culture that made the U.S. a great country, with prosperity unmatched in history could go the way of the dinosaur within the foreseeable future. With it will go the foundations of civilization. I have said in the past and still say that if this happens there will be a dark age that will make the original look mild by comparison.

Our birthrate compared to that of the Islamic cultures is miniscule. The children and grandchildren of people in Europe will live in an Islamic country, under Sharia Law. The U.S. will probably hold out a while longer but I do not see any real awareness here that this is a problem in order to stand against the onslaught.

In the end I see all of our descendants bowing to Mecca and praying five times a day or being consigned to be a second class citizen or worse if we cannot stem the tide.

One would have thought that the killing of 3000 plus people on American soil would be enough to wake people up out of their stupor (a stupor brought on by a comfortable life style, drugs, easy sex, and an education system that not only does not educate but works against a student’s ability to think.)

Too many have bought into the 70’s idea that there are too many people on the planet. This idea helped to make abortion acceptable as well as the trend toward smaller families. An urban lifestyle also contributed to this as large families were no longer necessary to tend the family farm.

There are solutions and the predictions above are not inevitable but in order to change this trend we need to sound a louder alarm. The left has a way of lulling the population to sleep by calling those that do care and dare to speak with a loud voice, fear mongers and misdirecting the issue to things such as “Global Warming” or “Climate Change” and “It’s all Bush’s fault”.

When the gavel finally falls and the sentence is handed down on the fate of the Great United States of America, it will be the “anything goes except for disagreeing with me” left that will be sentenced to hanging – or stoning by our new Muslim masters and there will be no negotiation.

Radical Islam Is Here

Tue, 19 May 2009 22:50:34 GMT

This was written a cousin of mine. I thought it deserved a wider audience.

Radical
Islam Is Here
By: Michael A. Huff

We were attacked on 9/11.
Plane flew into tower.
If only for a little bit,
The killers made us cower.

We never know what’s coming.
We never thought to think
If someone didn't care at all,
It could happen in a blink.

Early in the morning
Day eleven in month nine
Nineteen crazy people
Claimed it was their time to shine

They got up onto airplanes
That were headed to L.A.
But none of them would go there
They planned to kill that day

We start to get some phone calls
From passengers on board
They think they're being hijacked
Die! The killers roared

A first plane comes. It crashes down.
The second one is here.
Now, the second one has crashed.
We're crying out in fear.

But it’s not over - Not at all.
This terror’s just begun.
Now, here comes the consequence;
A consequence to stun

People scream in panic now
It’s getting hard to see
They're trapped up in the 100th floor
As viewers make a plea

We're hoping for the best now
As the television blares
The awful things occurring
That stands on end our hairs

People point and shout and run
As rumbling is heard
She’s gonna fall. They backed away
As the tower stirred

A tower falls out of the sky.
It crumbles to the ground.
The second one falls in pursuit.
They're a shattered, broken mound.

The screams of panic
Get real loud
As smoke comes rushing
Though the crowd.

Firefighters, cops, and troops
Are rushed onto the scene
But everyone was so confused
How could people be so mean?

A thousand people died that day
And yet, a thousand more
Another thousand yet again
Like waves flow off a shore

Never will these people speak
Or utter any phrase.
Nor smile, or wave, or even laugh
They're lost within the haze.

Now we sit and try at peace
But this is now a war
Peace is not what killers want
What’s next they have in store?

Some people just don't want to think
Those terrorists are bad
They're confused and sad and misunderstood
Should they not be mad?

I say no ‘cause they've no right
To take away a soul
Those dead are people that we miss
Our time with them, they stole

We can't make nice. We always try.
But does it ever work?
I wish it did, But it does not.
So don't be such a jerk.

You can't tell me; just forgive
Don't worry, it’s all right
I say killers come again.
They'll try with all their might.

They’ve said it like a million times
And still we do not hear.
They want to kill America
And they won't shed a tear.

They say down with the U.K.
They hate the Jewish too
They don't like Christians much at all
That leaves a lucky few.

Why should they all hate us?
They say we're of the devil.
We're western civilization
So we're below their level

We're a source of corruption
I'll have to disagree.
We actually let people think
Not kill them with TV

We don't shove lies down people’s throats
You think what you would like
But they decide to stop all thoughts
That threatens their great Reich.

We see it every day now.
But nothing’s ever done.
It’s on the news: the little kids
Are taught to use a gun

As soon as they can speak now
They're chanting deadly words
They're taught to hate that’s all they know
Huge, ignorant, mean herds.

When they get old its honor now
This deed must be fulfilled
It’s time to bomb them suicide
So innocents are killed

But that’s no problem we can’t handle
While its still just small
However, it could get really bad
If we just want to stall

This reminds me of the Nazis
A race before my time
They hated, ranted just like this
Claimed all the Jews were grime.

We were less experienced
It got WAY out of hand
People were dying left and right
By the time we took a stand.

We had won but far too late
6 million Jews had died
And then there were still millions more
But none of them could hide

Is a holocaust what we want now?
‘Cause that’s what’s coming next
It’s not that hard to understand
Why make it so complex?

We tell them “NO!” you have to stop
“Bye, scram, beat it, go!”
What you're doing’s really wrong.
You're getting really low.

We won't keep playing with this game
Stop or die. Your choice
When it comes to our own lives
We’d like to have a voice.