"In a democracy (‘rule by mob’), those who refuse to learn from history will be the majority and will dictate that everyone else suffer for their ignorance."
…is telling you that the political elite are about to screw up by the numbers. Again.
In my adult lifetime, the “feddle gummint” has made some sizeable screwups, and the Boys n Girls on the Hill seem about to do it again with the WallStreet Bailout. Just a few low points in “feddle gummint” meddlin’ should suffice to articulate a pattern of stupidity we can reasonably expect to apply to current events:
In the 60s, Johnson gave us the inception of the greatest expansion of the government “welfare” plantation with the Great Society programs. That’s worked out well, now hasn’t it? (You’ll excuse the sarcasm.)
Then, toward the end of the next decade, Dhimmi Kahtah gave us BOTH the “Department of Edumacationizing” which has accelerated the slide of public education in this nation into the toilet, AND the government interference in the housing market with low income housing “incentives” that have resulted in the collapse of mortgage banking and the current economic woes. Good going, Dhimmi!
Now, Congress is about to enact a $700billion “welfare for stupid, greedy bankers” bailout of their problems when Congress itself created the environment that led to the stupid, greedy bankers getting caught with their shorts around their ankles.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
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Sometimes I have to remind myself that, although I may have remarkable skills in the field of music education, for example, it’s simply a waste of time to try to teach a pig to sing.
Now, this applies whether it might be a discussion with someone about schools of philosophy when they
a. are woefully subliterate in the language the discussion is couched in
b. seem to be historically subliterate as well and
c. know very little about the schools under discussion
OR
When attempting to discuss (U.S.) economics with someone who
a. does not have to experience the consequences of policies they promulgate
b. is woefully subliterate in the language the discussion is couched in
c. knows very little about how our economy works
The first case is trivial. There are millions of folks who are the products of “prisons for kids” and so-called higher education in these DYSunited States who are woefully subliterate and have no idea that they are, but who nevertheless can be semi-productive citizens in a society where there’s enough productivity built into the system from previous generations to carry them. For a while.
The second case, however, is more troubling, because subliterate, dumbass, venal, crooked, power-hungry congresscritters endanger us all.
Are we doomed? Well, I’ll not positively assert that we are, if only because I am warned by the weight of history–quite apart from theological warnings–that despair is a deadly, deadly sin.
So, what to do?
Take every opportunity, make every opportunity, to denounce the subliterate, dumbass, venal, crooked, power-hungry congresscritters who endanger us all. Vote (early and often–*heh*) to kick the bastards out. The new officeholder may not be better, but at least he would have the example of his predecessor that he can be dethroned.
Then, the next time the new guy is up for election, if he’s proven to be a subliterate, dumbass, venal, crooked, power-hungry congresscritter, then work hard to get him kicked out.
I’d be moderately pleased if Congress had as close to a 100% turnover each election cycle as possible, at least for a couple of decades.
The stupid and enstupiated we will have with us always. Let’s just try to keep the worst of them out of public office, eh?
Speaking of which… (h.t. to Dafydd at Big Lizards) note the subtle differences between the two videos bellow. The Obama campaign is citing the edited (cut, redacted, truncated, butchered) version of the statement by Roy Blunt (Representative, America’s Third World County, et al–and yes, I’ve actually spoken to the man and shared a venue with him) to make it appear he is saying something opposite what he actually said.
vs.
As Dafydd says,
Team Obama is pointing to the truncated video to claim that even Roy Blunt agrees that McCain has been nothing but a roadblock, toppling a done deal and plunging America into a dark night of the financial soul.
Want to know just how corrupt, mendacious, and dishonorable is the campaign by the One We Have Been Waiting For, campaigning by what we call “Chicago rules?” That’s how.
The One is certainly buffing up his creds with The Father of Lies (John 8:44).
Notedallover, the governor of the state where America’s Third World County is located (yeh, I voted for the guy–one of my few happy votes) has gone public with condemnations of the Obama campaign’s brownshirting of view that oppose The One,
Gov. Blunt Statement on Obama Campaign’s Abusive Use of Missouri Law Enforcement
JEFFERSON CITY – Gov. Matt Blunt today issued the following statement on news reports that have exposed plans by U.S. Senator Barack Obama to use Missouri law enforcement to threaten and intimidate his critics…
Read the rest of Governor Matt Blunt’s statement here.
Dan Rhiel suggests a grassroots blog protest using the posting of the following NRA ad which has been a target of the Obama campaign’s brownshirt tactics. Roger, Dan, Wilco.
The ONLY “negotiating” that remains to be done with Iran (or any other rogue state) seems to me to be to set those puppies down and say once, and once only,
Meddle thou not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and good with ketchup
After that, their fate would be in their own hands.
1. Repeal the 17th Amendment
2. Limit the terms of congresscritters
3. Amend the 14th Amendment to clarify “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” to explicity exclude citizenship to ALL children born to illegal aliens (as the original Senate discussion of the amendment would support*, contra 20th century bureaucratic fiat from Foggy Bottom)
4. It may seem trivial at first, unworthy of an amendment to the Constitution, but think it through a bit… Institute a halt to any further federal holidays, ending with one last one mentioned in the amendment: National Potomoc Day, where the entire electorate is invited to descend upon Congress like locusts and devour its substance, dunk congresscritters, bureaucraps, judges and justices, president, vp, cabinet members, etc. in the Potomoc, and party on from there… Hey! It’d work for me.
5. Add real teeth to the 10th amendment. Madison’s “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined” as eventually embodied in the Constitution itself and emphasized in the 10th amendment is routinely ignored by the “feddle gummint” we have today. Let’s have an amendment that requires each and every bill and each and every bureuacratic fiat to be specifically justified by specific wording in the Constitution itself–as explicitly explained by the Framers themselves in their own words–authorizing such bill or bureaucratic ruling. Right there: reduce the budget by 90%. Specific exception made to “cruel and unusual punishment” for federal government employees of any kind convicted of abuse of the Constitution. Forfeiture of all worldly possessions for any congresscritter or bureaucrap (and their extended families) who violates this amendment. Banishment and eternal reprobation without absolution, amnesty, pardon, or remission to follow. Erasure of such persons’ names from all records public and private. Made into complete non-persons. Shunned, avoided, eschewed, ostracized. Made absolute pariah, to be spat upon, abused, debased, tortured and maligned at will by any citizen. IOW, kindness, generosity and mercy beyond measure extended to such vile vermin.
Now, don’t you like those proposals for amendments to our Constitution? Would they not indeed be aids in restoring the representative republic we’ve long lost? I certainly think them moderate, restrained, well-measured responses to the overweening anarcho-tyranny that our “feddle gummint” has become.
*heh*
*During the original debate over the amendment, Senator Jacob Howard of Ohio, the author of the citizenship clause described the clause as . . . excluding not only Indians but “persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, [or] who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers.”
The danger of arguing the pragmatic against the principled is that pragmatism always depends upon fallible human prognostication: it’s a gamble. Sometimes things break with the odds as the pragmatic sees them. Sometimes not. A lot can depend on knowing enough up front. Only hindsight can be 20-20, though even with hindsight the human tendency to rewrite history to favor whoever has the power to do so–and thus fake a better outcome than truly exists–is always a problem as well… *sigh*
The problem with choosing principles over pragmatism is even more complicated. First, in today’s society where often principles are argued against simply because they are about right and wrong and post-rational post modernism sees “right and wrong” as meaningless–except where “principles” of post-rational post modern are concerned, of course–simply asserting principles exist can be dangerous for the asserter. The minefield of such meaningless stances as “Right to Choose”–which means the right to deny a child the right to choose whether it wantsd to be born or not–is fraught with peril.
And that’s just the fetid grounding of today’s social setting. Political? Simply defending principles such as freedom of political speech by citizens in the face of McCain-Feingold* is literally dangerous to a citizen’s continued existence outside of iron bars.
Nevertheless, sometimes it’s profitable to at least ask, “Is what we’ll gain by this pragmatic decision–even if it works as planned–worth what it will cost us in the long run?”
Now, that sounds rather like meta-pragmatism, doesn’t it? *heh* Well, that’s how principles work.
Specifics:
Wall Street/banking bailout.
Short term gain: stabilize the economy.
Medium-term gain: the “feddle gummint” couldreap over $2Trillion on the “investment” of $700Billion. (Yeh, read Andy Kessler’s WSJ article at the link. He could be right about the medium-term outcomes.) Now, if (BIG “IF”!) that potential gain were to actualize and be applied only toward federal debt or even to set up an inviolate Social Security fund, untouchable for expenditures apart from retirement payments to those who’ve paid into the system, I’d not be as concerned about
Long-term loss: free markets. Bailouts of those who supporedt alien invaders with junk loans. Greedy, avaricious, thieves who profitted from losses they caused with their bad management of other people’s money (and yes, that specifically includes all the politicians who actively pressured lenders to throw bad money after good in mortgages to people who could not pay for them).
Since any “profits” that the federal government coffers might gain from the bailout will, if history is any guide at all, simply be wasted on more unconstitutional spending rather than be used for commonsense things like reducing the debt load, that leaves only the short-term gains to balance the long-term losses to a free market.
Even a pragmatic person might see that violating principle here could be too costly, no?
Addendum: Maybe we could push for an amendment to the Constitution requiring a personal response to “I, Pencil” from every “feddle gummint” bureaucrap and elected official before allowing them to suck at the public teat. Perhaps then we’d be able to weed a few out who have less understanding of free market principles than a head of cabbage does. Perhaps. (I suspect most would simply crib from a Cliff Notes dumbing down of the already simple little didactic story.)
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Yeh, yeh. Well, it’s not “a rich man’s world” as far as I’m concerned. America’s Third World County has a different model of “rich” than the media, I’m sure, but even at that, very few of our “rich” have a disproportionate impact on our daily lives here*, which is why I’ve not posted much here about the Wall Street/banking brouhaha.
One thing I’ve been waiting for has finally peeped its head over the wall of silence, though. Michelle Malkin is flagging the elephant in the boardrooms: the impact of alien invaders on the banking bust of 08.
Regional reports across the country have decried the subprime meltdown’s impact on illegal immigrant “victims.” A July report showed that in seven of the 10 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates, Hispanics represented at least one-third of the population; in two of those areas – Merced and Salinas-Monterey, Calif. – Hispanics comprised half the population. The amnesty-promoting National Council of La Raza and its Development Fund have received millions in federal funds to “counsel” their constituents on obtaining mortgages with little to no money down; the group almost succeeded in attaching a $10 million earmark for itself in one of the housing bills past this spring.
For the last five years, I’ve reported on the rapidly expanding illegal alien home loan racket. The top banks clamoring for their handouts as their profits plummet, led by Wachovia and Bank of America, launched aggressive campaigns to woo illegal alien homebuyers.
(See the article for links embedded in it.)
Yep. On top of the billions upon billions of dollars siphoned off our economy in remittance money sent back to Mexico, the impact on health and education services of 20million alien invaders, the resurgence of diseases once virtually eliminated in the U.S. and a alien invader crime wave that annually surpasses in deaths the cumulative totals of servicemen killed in both Iraq and Afganistan from all causes, we have alien invaders defaulting on subprime loans.
And these loan defaults are the fault of politicians and bureaucrats of both parties dragging their heels over (or engaging in deliberate sabotage of) enforcement of already existing immigration law, compelling loans to subprime markets–including illegal aliens–and failing to oversee the quasi-governmental bodies the politicians are responsible for creating.
To his (very minimal) credit, McCain did at least push for stronger oversight of Fannie and Freddie, though he has done nothing to stem the tide of alien invaders. The Obamassiah, of course, was too busy accepting “pocket lining” from Freddie and Fannie lobbyists to look into what those organs were doing up his posterior.
So, just remember when The One attacks his opponents on the economy, he is the number two piggie at the trough sucking up money from the slop that started the cascade of failures on Wall Street.
But neither candidate–The Obamassiah or Juan Mexicain–have clean hands on the alien invader issue, although Juan has lately come around to admitting we need serious border/immigration enforcement before we can even consider any other steps to address the alien invader problems.
I just hope it’s more than electioneering bushwah.
*There is one family that does still exercise disproportionate power in the county, because they own a small telco that serves several communities comprising a majority of the population. Fortunately, cable providers and cell phone use are cutting their influence down to size.
Just a quick Q: anyone making book on how Obama’ll do debating McCain without his blankie?
Perspiring minds wanna know don’t give a flip.
(Aside: I really don’t get the “Obama=great orator” meme. I’ve seen a couple of his “read the teleprompter” gigs and while standards for political speeches are in the toilet in general, how does merely–barely–competent equate with great oration? Is society so utterly debased that The Obamassiah’s oratory skillset truly passes for “great” nowadays? If so, we are doomed no matter what our economy is like or who is elected to public office, because we as a people have become too stupid for anything but our own collective Darwin Award.)
Yeh, yeh: I stole the list from Fox News–stole it, I tell you! (Cos I don’t feel like following Bobblehead Joe around to collect ’em myself, that’s why.)
While everyspore and its maiden aunt in the Mass Media Podpeople Hivemind has been spending millions of man uh, person, um, spore hours spinning stories about how dumb that Northern lights redneck chick on the Repug ticket is, Bobblehead Joe has been gong about his business of providing innumerable humorous-were-he-not-a-major-party-veep-candidate schtiks for the public’s amusement:
And he runs the gamut of every kind of gaffe from “Stand up, Chuck” to a guy in a wheelchair to citing to another bobblehead (Katie the Couric-Couric bird) President Franklin Roosevelt’s television speech after the stock market crash of 1929 (when there was no broadcast TV and Roosevelt was still Governor of NY). In between he managed to
*Condemn the Obama ad ridiculing McCain’s computer use (a direct slap at his prison torture wounds)… until slapped down by Obama and gigged to say making fun of McCain’s disabilities is hunky dory.
*Proclaim on video, “We’re not supporting any coal here in America,” and “No coal plants here in America,” before–again–being slapped down by his field boss (right before The One turned around and lied about the McCain ad that accurately portrayed Biden’s statements).
*Admitted that he is a poorer choice than Hillary would have been (still not contradicted by The Obamassiah, who is probably convinced of that truth)
*Forgotten about a certain Tea Party and pushed the idea that paying more taxes is a patriotic duty
But wait! There’s more!
*Renamed The One, “Barack America” (Maybe something’s in the works we don’t know about, though)
*Proved his Defense creds when he demonstrated a complete lack of knowlege of military structure (Hint, Joe: a battalion is not a brigade.
And of course, there’re still more, but I’m bored now. What exactly qualiies Biden to be a heartbeat away from the presidency of a (maybe) ex-smoker like The Obamassiah? Mr. Plagiarism’s original thought processes? His long record of being wrong on every single foreign policy issue of the past 30 years or so? His ability to be comic relief for the serious Marxist?
Ummm, yep. I think that sums it up. Qualified to be the brunt of every late-night comedian’s jokes, and that’s about all Joe Bobblehead is qualified for.
*feh* I know six people in my lil one-horse town who’re better qualified than Biden. And all of them are better qualified than Obama as well.
Frankly, I’ve stopped keeping track of all the times the Obama campaign has labeled a McCain ad that simply cites verifiable fact as a “dishonorable lie”. BTW, by “verifiable fact” I mean on-the-record votes and/or statements by Obama or Biden or videographic evidence (like that below) that does not–as the Obamabots are wont to do (can anyone say “Charlie Gibson” or, well, “Obama”?)–take mini-bites out of context in order to manufacure a lie. You judge for yourself: what does Joe Biden say below?
The McCain camp interpreted Biden’s clear statements, “We’re not supporting any coal here in America,” [emphasis added] and “No coal plants here in America,” to mean, “We’re not supporting any coal here in America,” and “No coal plants here in America,” and Obama responded with,
This is yet another false attack from a dishonorable campaign. Senator McCain knows that Senator Obama and Senator Biden support clean coal technology. Senator Biden’s point is that China is building coal plants with outdated technology every day, and the United States needs to lead by developing clean coal technologies.
Of course, Obamabots can explain the clear and unequivocal discrepancy. After all, in Obamaspeak, “clean coal technology” obviously means, “No coal plants here in America,” right?
More lies and deception from Obama labeling truth in advertising as… lies and deception.
Professing lies to be truth and truth to be lies, calling evil good and good evil: can here be any better description of evil itself?
Spread the truth. Go viral with this, if you will. And someone, please, anyone with the time and intestinal fortitude to stomach this stuff, keep track of the number of times Obama and his minions call the truth a lie and their lies truth. I have literally never seen such massive brazen lying outside of open memebrs of the Mass Media Poepeople Hivemind before now. The only things I can think of that come close to Obama’s Potemkin Village world would be a collection of all the examples of Hitler and Goebbels implementing The Big Lie, “lies so ‘colossal’ that no one would believe that someone ‘could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously'”*.
And no, before someone who’s woefully subliterate reads the sentence above and accuses me of calling The Obamassiah “Hitler,” please re-read that statement. I did no such thing. All I did was note an uncanny similarity to a particular propaganda technique exercised by Hitler and Goebbels. Especially significant is their pattern of accusing opponents of lying–especially when their opponents spoke easily-verifiable, truthful fact… which is the specifically Hitlerian use of the Big Lie the Obama campaign–including The One himself, does time and time again. (Goebbels’ use was usually to tell an outrageous lie to counter a truth, ofen doing so in an anticipatory fashion, more than simply accuse a truthful speaker of lying–and this, of course, is something Obama himself often does–e.g., attempting to stampede senior citizens with outrageous lies about McCain’s Social security policies.)
Spread this truth: The Obamassiah and his minions only lie when their lips move, when they breathe and when they demonstrate their uncanny ability to make colonic reverse peristalsis appear to be speech.
