The Great American Nanny State's Dirty Little Secrets
Source: Hambo's Tantrums

SECRET I: CONSTITUTIONAL INVERSION
From the onset, our Elected Tormentors and the army of bureaucratic trolls who do their dirty work chafed under the U.S. Constitution's unambiguous restrictions on the federal government. They understand, too damn well, that the Founding Father's Constitutional game plan was to establish an island of government surrounded by an ocean of inalienable individual rights. Gradually, inexorably, deliberately, generations of Elected Tormentors inverted this original concept until, today, we have a small, shrinking, island of besieged individual rights that's surrounded by a relentlessly rising ocean of government.

One of the most annoying elements of this Constitutional inversion is the Brave New World of individual rights. I know what you're thinking: what about the Bill of Rights? The Bill of Rights is comprised of amendments that were created to underscore the uncontested fact that the U.S. Constitution did not give the federal government any power to intrude in certain vital areas of inalienable individual liberty: freedom of speech, the right to keep and bear arms, the right to peaceably assemble. In the Brave New World of rights the preferred mantra goes as follows: "Where does the Constitution give two male individuals the right to marry? Where does the U.S. Constitution give an individual the right to smoke pot? Blah, blah, blah" The short answer is obvious: "It doesn't." We know that the Constitution does not contain an exhaustive list of individual rights. Why should it? The Constitution is, from start to finish, a document that places explicit restrictions on government. The better question about rights is this: "Where does the Constitution give the federal government - explicitly - the right to dictate when and how an individual can exercise his freedom of speech 30 days before an election? Where does the U.S. Constitution, explicitly, give the feds the right to tell a business how it should operate, what it can manufacture and whom it should hire?"

The Founding Father's views on rights - and the Bill of Rights - is contained in the egregiously neglected 9th Amendment:

Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Constitutional Inversion is the dirty Nanny State secret that turned an ocean of rights into a shrinking island of rights. It sucks and it utterly and completely pisses me off.

SECRET II: THE COMMERCE CLAUSE
The preferred weapon employed by Nanny State nitwits who are eager to intrude into our lives is the Constitution's commerce clause. Willfully stretching the original meaning beyond recognition, the Beltway bozos give themselves the power to intrude in every aspect of our lives. For example, in a 2005, ruling the U.S. Supreme court ruled that, under the commerce clause, the Capitol Hill cretins had the right to impose federal marijuana laws on an individual who grew pot for his own use, on his own land and never tried to sell it. Why? Because some-damn-how his activities impacted the "current" of commerce.

For those who want a hint on the real purpose of the commerce clause, here's Hambo's far from scholarly assessment. During the Colonial period, each colony was a separate entity with its own ties back to the crown and the English government. The individual colonies were like mini nations with their own laws, charters, and trade practices. When they banded together to fight for independence, then form a new nation, the old mini nation concept had to be scrapped. The way to build a single nation out of individual colonies/states was to take down the barriers that made it difficult for citizens, goods and services to move from one state to the next. The commerce clause gave the new federal government the power to prevent an individual state from erecting trade barriers with its neighboring states. That, as I understand it, is the original meaning of the commerce clause.

In the ensuing centuries, the commerce clause was inflated to give the Beltway bozos the power to dictate such things as: auto design, broadcast content standards, educrap standards, regulate the hiring practices of private firms, dictate food content, restrict drug availability. The list is long and getting longer every damn day. For a well-written article on the meaning and abuse of the commerce clause, I strongly suggest you read this item from the Federalist Blog: Interstate Commerce Myth

As far as I'm concerned, the "money quote" from this piece is this gem:

The authority to regulate trade is identical among the States as with foreign countries, and what you cannot regulate among foreign countries is equally prohibited among the States. If Congress cannot prohibit citizens of Moscow from growing pot in their backyards, then they are equally prohibited from outlawing backyard pot growing within the jurisdiction of local governments in the United States.

The instant the federal court system stamped a seal of judicial approval on this expansive "if you can tie it to commerce, you can regulate it" interpretation, it opened a political Pandora's Box that unleashed an insatiable Nanny State on our individual liberty. This egregious misinterpretation of the commerce clause led to the liberty-nuking carnage that followed.

SECRET III: THE PUBLIC BURDEN SCAM
The Nanny State's extra-constitutional intrusion into the health care marketplace - Medicare, DeathCare, and assorted other welfare state crap - rolled out the red carpet for a gem that's the weapon of first resort for socialists and shysters. It's called "the public policy issue" scam and it gives these scumbags an excuse to plunder capitalists deep pockets and dictate, in great specificity, how they must run their business. A prime example is the on-going Tobacco Jihad.

The Tobacco Jihad is erected on the dubious "public policy issue" canard. The argument is crude, but heretofore effective. Smokers are endangering their health. By endangering their health with this legal, but unhealthy, product, they impose "costs" on the Nanny State. Therefore, when the smoker incurs these healthcare costs he "burdens" the Nanny State due to the Nanny State's extra-constitutional intrusion into the medical marketplace. The solution, according to the socialists and shysters, is to force the tobacco industry to "pay" the "costs" incurred when the Nanny State blatantly stuck it's nose where the U.S. Constitution says it doesn't belong. This public burden scamnailed tobacco growing and manufacturing capitalists for billions of dollars. Did this extorted money go to compensate the Nanny State for its expenses? Get real. The lion's share of it lined the pockets of shyster scumbags. The remainder went to various states to give them more ill-gotten boodle to spread around. Bottom line: the shysters get richer and the socialists get more power to intrude into our lives.

The "public burden" scam was so amazingly successful - and profitable for shysters - that the same scumbags are gearing up for another assault on American capitalists. This time, the target is "big food". They're using the game plan that worked so well in the Tobacco Jihad. First, they flood an eager to spread the bad news media with the health dangers of trans fatty acids, and assorted other fates worse than death. Next, they try to coerce "big food" into "voluntary" compliance. Finally, declaring that the situation is a national crisis, they invoke "public policy issue", trot out dubious studies and statistics about the dangers of trans fatty acids, then go to court to "recoup" the healthcare costs incurred by the Nanny State. Once the process is complete and "big food" is plucked clean, they'll start looking for another set of deep, capitalist pockets to pick. They won't stop until they've cleaned out every-damn-body.

SECRET IV: STRINGS ATTACHED
The Beltway bozos are complete scumbags, but, they're not stupid and that last fact makes them especially dangerous. They devised a devilishly simple way to intrude into our daily lives. I like to call this gambit: "Our money, our rules". The plan is, as usual, crude but damn effective. First, they kindly "offer" to share the "costs" of certain activities that are, per the U.S. Constitution, beyond their control. Educrap is a prime example. Spouting drivel about their concern for the educational development of American tykes, these Beltway bozos are generous to a fault. HOWEVER, there's the fine print to consider. "Since you're taking our money" the Beltway bozos insist, "you are required to follow our Draconian rules about how you conduct your business". With that foot in the door, the Beltway bozos dictate, in great specificity how, what, where, and upon whom the educrap is perpetrated.

Setting aside the fun fact that it's not the Nanny State's money - it's your money that they stole from you - this "our money our rules" crap is depressingly effective. I'm compelled to admit that few, if any, Educrats can resist the Siren song of "free" money. Strings or no strings, they're ready, willing and downright eager to grab as much of it as they can. The same, is true for various other American entities who take "free" money from, or do business with the Nanny State.

SECRET V: WILLFUL NEGLECT
The dirtiest Nanny State secret isn't that big a secret. I'm referring to the fact that the Nanny State willfully and deliberately neglects one of its legitimate functions: safeguarding our nation's borders. The Nanny State nitwits are so busy doing all the crap that the Constitution forbids them from doing, they can't/won't take the time to fulfill one of their primary, unambiguous functions: safeguarding our nation's borders.

Sometimes this willful neglect is driven by ulterior motives. In part, that's the case here. Key members of the Nanny State - Vincente W. Bush and Chico Obama come to mind - flat out do not want to secure our borders. Why? In W's case the reasons aren't clear. It does appear that he's obsessed with establishing a border erasing, American Union patterned, in part, after the European Union. There's probably more to it than that, but I'm not sure that it matters. In Obama's case, his willful neglect of our porous borders is part of his blatant bid for Hugo Chavez class perpetual, personal, politicial power.

The primary reason for willful neglect is political inertia. Quite simply, it's much easier to do nothing and hope that the problem will magically resolve itself or mutate to a form that's not politically radioactive. We saw this at work in the mid 60's when the Capitol Hill cretins perpetrated the first "final solution" to the border jumping scumbag problem. Twenty years later, the problem got radioactive again, so they perpetrated the "final solution II", an amnesty program that succeeded beyond their wildest dreams in making the trickle of border jumpers turn into a goddamn tidal wave. This same "if we ignore it long enough it will go away" thinking is starting to take hold on Capitol Hill concerning the Jihadikaze rat bastards who are so eager to destroy us. If ignoring our Jihadikaze problems works as well as ignoring the border jumping scumbag invasion, I’m house-hunting on Pluto.

PARTING SHOTS
Is there any reasonable way to stop the Nanny State from swallowing us, our liberty, completely with their Dirty Little Secrets? Yes, but it won't be easy, or popular. The ultimate Dirty Little Secret is that, in too many cases, sovereign individuals allowed Nanny State largess to transform them from rugged, self-reliant individuals into parasitic wards of the all powerful Nanny State. That makes the preferred solution - a return to Constitutional principals - a tough sell. Gloomy Gus that I am, I fear that it will take a complete collapse of the Great American Nanny State's house of cards to make a properly-Constitutional American government a viable option.

Assuming a critical mass of sovereign American individuals can be achieved, I'm convinced that a new Constitutional Convention will be needed to plug the loopholes that these power-obsessed Beltway bozos opened in the our nation's founding document. Until that glorious day arrives, learn to swim, PIGsters, because the ocean of government is thisclose to swamping our shrinking island of rights.

I hear you pounding your desks out there, PIGsters. I hear you bellowing: "What the hell does all this have to do with Political Correctness, Hambo?" It has everything to do with Political Correctness. Cultural Marxists rely on relentless Nanny State growth to help them snuff out our inalienable individual rights with their p.c. bovine excrement. Therefore, daring to believe in a limited, properly-constitutional government is the ultimate form of political incorrectness. Are we all on the same page now, doubting PIGster Sparky?

Islam Is Also A POLITICAL Movement
Source: Pagan Scribbler Meltdown

[The more things change the more they stay the same. When I originally wrote this, Vicente W. Bush lurked in Hambo’s rhetorical bull’s eye. I’m far from thrilled that Messiah Barry has taken this willful myopia and kicked it up several notches. Neither of them were up to the challenge presented by Jihadikazes whose underlying motivation was, is, and will continue to be their particular flavor of ISLAM.]

The president, and his loyal minions, insist that we are not at war with Islam. In one sense, he’s right. In another, he’s very, very wrong, dangerously wrong. Osama Bin Laden may be, as so many claim, the leader of a fringe, ultra radical, fundamentalist Islamic sect, but focusing on Osama misses the point. The fact is that for a significant number - hundreds of millions - of Mecca Maniacs, Islam is more than a religion, it’s a political movement that seeks to impose its 7th century notions on everyone, believers and unbelievers alike. The truest of the true believers - Osama is one of them - these Mecca Maniacs are, invariably, the most active, most vocal, most influential members of their religion. Their goal is nothing less than world domination and they plan to achieve it, one country at a time.

The process is simple, but very effective. Phase one involves becoming the dominant voice within a country’s primary Islamic institutions, plus staging a vigorous campaign to attract new converts:

First, the fundamentalists take control of mosques. They also seize control of Islamic schools, youth groups, community centers, political organizations, and professional organizations. Within these groups they spread their radical agenda that includes political control, the imposition of Islamic law - Shariah, on all of a country’s citizens no matter what their beliefs.

Another initial step is to infiltrate the so-called underclasses, especially the poor and the chronically discontent, where they quickly build up a critical mass of converts. It’s a simple matter to wean these eager new true believers off their initial, fuzzball flavor of Islam and transform their belief to the more radical variety. This feat is performed in the schools, mosques and other Islamic institutions controlled by the fundamentalists.

A highly successful tactic employed during this first phase of the campaign involves using a given country’s existing laws to gain special rights or protections for Mecca Maniacs. A World Net Daily commentary provided the following facts on this activity as it’s being carried out in the Mecca Maniacs’ top candidate for an Islamic State, the United States of America:

Promoting Islamic rituals and customs in the public square. Islamists want secular authorities to permit students in public institutions, for example, to recite the basmallah (the formula “In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate”) in classroom exercises. They also want the right to broadcast over outdoor loudspeakers the five daily Islamic calls-to-prayer. Similarly, they have agitated for publicly maintained prayer facilities in such institutions as schools and airports.

Privileges for Islam. Islamists seek public financial support for Islamic schools, mosques, and other institutions. They also lobby for special quotas for Muslim immigrants, try to compel corporations to make special allowances for Muslim employees, and demand the formal inclusion of Muslims in affirmative-action plans.

Restricting or disallowing what others may do. Islamists want law-enforcement agencies to criminalize activities like drinking and gambling that are offensive to Islam. While seeking wide latitude for themselves, for instance when it comes to expressing disrespect for American national symbols, they would penalize expressions of disrespect for religious figures whom Islam deems holy, especially the prophet Muhammad; punish criticism of Islam, Islamism, or Islamists; and close down critical analysis of Islam.

The second phase begins when an Islamic political party gains control of a government. Once in power, the rights and freedoms of all citizens, especially those who aren’t Mecca Maniacs, are essentially abolished. Depending on the strength of the Islamic party in power, the resulting nation can be as oppressive as Iran, Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia or as benign as Turkey.

In most cases, the results are chilling. Pakistan, a member in good standing of Uncle Sam’s anti-terrorism coalition, has hundreds of Islamic schools, all of which have been proven to be nothing more than indoctrination centers for a new generation of Islamic fundamentalists. Nigeria is on the verge of a religious civil war, as one state after another imposes Sharia on all its citizens. A virtual who’s who of hot spots world wide can trace the source of their troubles to this political brand of Islam: Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, the Phillippines, Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Egypt, the Kashmir province in India, and let’s not forget Afghanistan, a country that those lovely Taliban transformed in to a ‘hell on Earth’.

Osama’s brave new Islamic world, won’t tolerate the likes of: William Shakespeare, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Albert Einstein, Madam Curie, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Victor Hugo, Aristotle, Leonardo Di Vinci, Bill Gates, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison. Osama’s brave new Islamic world would eradicate: N.O.W; the ACLU; the NAACP; Christians; Jews; Buddhists; Hindus; atheists; Republicans; Democrats; Libertarians; secular media like CNN, Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, Time, Newsweek, Chicago Tribune, the Times of London, BBC; schools like Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Cal Tech, Oxford or Cambridge. In Osama’s brave new Islamic world, there will be no progress of any kind: no new discoveries, no medical breakthroughs, no scientific advances, no technology to make life easier for everyone. Osama’s brave new Islamic world would deny us the great literature that inspires us, the music that enchants us, the movies that entertain us, the sports that thrill us, and the individual liberty that sustains us. In Osama’s brave new Islamic world: the boundaries of human knowledge will shrink; the quality of life will become abysmal; the average life span will decrease dramatically; abject poverty and despair will suffocate the human race. We’ve been down this road once before. It was called the Dark Ages, for a good reason.

Do you want to repeal the civil rights of women? Do you want to subject your daughters to that horrific ritual mutilation the Mecca Maniacs call ‘female circumcision’? Do you really want to live in a world run by an international Taliban? Do you really want to live in a world where the most vile form of supernaturalism obliterates our inherent right to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’? Do you really want to live in a world where 11th century religious fanatics dictate our every thought, word and action? If not, then wake up and smell the coffee, before it’s too late.

In the end, we get back to the central question: Is this a war on Islam? The answer is, has to be, hell yes! It’s a war on this virulent, political style of Islam that would enslave us all. In fact, this is a war against all forms of state-imposed supernaturalism. There can be no peaceful co-existence with this Islam, because, pure Islam, is - always has been - a belief system that demands total control of every human on this planet. This is a war for our very survival. The sooner we accept this, the better.

Guest Commentary
Source: PIGster BroIN

We Used To Be Free – Before Nanny Government

Harlingen, Texas, July 8, 2010: By Executive Order the mayor of San Francisco has banned soft drinks and flavored waters from all vending machines on public property.

Posting Executive Orders banning everything from drilling oil wells to fishing in the Gulf of Mexico seems to be the new Orwellian way of implementing departmentalized marshal law in these United States. Remember the good ole days when the people actually voted For those things they wanted or rejected?

Last year the government banned the sale of all books printed before 1985. There was a chance some lead in the print might come in contact with people's skin.

Of course, this means I am doomed. Hundreds upon hundreds of volumes have surrounded me for most of my adult life. I have only lived a portion of those years of what could have been a century long run if it were not for poison books.

One reason for my short life span could be all the lead based paint on the houses and in the rooms where I resided growing to manhood. Before nanny government stepped in I had this lead based death threat forced upon my person by evil business operators. While on this topic I can't forget the lead in the gasoline, the dozens of lead soldiers I played with as a boy, the lead paint on my bicycles, and all of the lead sinkers I used when I went fishing. No wonder I can never become a centurion.

The government banned religious groups from displaying Christian crosses in the Obama inauguration parade. Christian symbols were also banned from the White House Christmas tree. Nativity Scenes and the Ten Commandments have been banned from the public square. Children in schools have even been forbidden to sing religious hymns at Christmas events.

As previously noted, we all know about the government banning oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska and the ban on fishing, shrimping, and shellfish harvesting. There has even been a ban of foreign boats helping to clean up the oil slick and a ban on chemical dispersants. Burning off the oil has been severely restricted.

For some, government mandates are almost as troublesome as those things it bans. For most of my adult years I could use or not use a seat belt. It was my choice until nanny government stepped in. Now I must use one under force of law. My son grew up riding in the back of a station wagon with no seat belt and no child safety seat. He made it with no government assistance. Now all children must be restrained in a government approved seat.

As a boy I enjoyed some great cheeses from around the world. My father was a cheese lover and often brought them home for us to sample. Now, some of the world's finest cheeses cannot be imported, because the milk used is not pasteurized. In truth, the danger of getting sick from raw milk is about on par with getting sick from eating raw oysters.

We all know about the bans on smoking, drinking, drugs and other sinful or harmful practices. Our government has decided it is the overseer of all things that are suitable for its citizens. While it stops the use of these harmful ingestible habits, it has also decided that the word God, prayer in school, wearing American patriotic clothing, pictures of guns and anything shaped like a pill are equally bad for people in need to be banned from public sites.

The point of this silly rant is quite simple… as Americans we do not need our every action, like or dislike decided by a government that has an unbelievably poor track record of getting anything done right. Parents should decide what is good, right or fair for their children. Adults should be able to make their own choices, free of government instruction or guidance.

Remember, freedom does not vanish in one harsh moment. It is lost one step, one inch, one act, one day at a time.

Semper Fidelis
Thomas D. Segel

Hambo Rants Of the Week
Source: Hambo’s Hammer

A Primer On The American Dream

The American Dream means different things to different people. In fact, by its very nature, the American Dream is, of necessity, defined by the dreamer. Each of us has his, her, hisher or its own dream, a dream that can't be...must never be...dictated by some outside entity. I can't tell you what to 'dream'. The Nanny State can't tell you what to dream. That pernicious pest 'the majority' can't tell you what to dream. Your preferred flavor of supernaturalism can't tell you what to dream. It's your American Dream, Sparky, and you're the one who must define it for yourself.

The essence of the American Dream is the unbridled liberty to make your own choices, set your own goals, and define your own criteria for 'success'. The American Dream gives you the freedom to conduct your life and exercise your liberty as you pursue your happiness. The American Dream is a highly personal thing and that's why it is derided as 'selfish'. Of course it's selfish and who said that being selfish is, invariably a bad thing? Like it or not, altruistic Sparky, a rational self interest is an inherently human trait. The American Dream is built upon this fact of existence.

In a larger sense, the American Dream involves creating a political and social environment wherein a sovereign individual has the inherent right to determine the course of his, her, hisher or its life, unimpeded by outside forces. The American Dream is, to borrow a familiar phrase, the freedom "to be all that you can be". But, it's more than that. The American Dream doesn't demand that you reach for the stars when you determine the course of your life. The American Dream is the freedom to become as MUCH, or as LITTLE as you want.

For some, an American Dream might be an utterly altruistic life that seeks to make the world a better place by helping others. For others, it might mean banding together with like minded sovereign individuals to create something meaningful to each of you (a new invention, a product, an outpost of capitalism, or simply a book). For certain rugged American individuals, the American Dream means striving to test your limits in some specific endeavor. Your dream could be as simple as being the first member of your family to get a college degree. Maybe your dream is to get married, buy a home and raise a family. The nature and scope of your personal American Dream is only limited by your imagination.

The essential point about the American dream is that, by the nature of your inalienable individual birthright, it's your call. It's up to you to determine how to utilize your inalienable right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. You are free to make this monumental, life-defining choice, without the permission of the Nanny State, the tyrannical majority, or some flavor of supernaturalism. The Nanny State, the 'majority' and the true believers need to butt out because nobody asked them to make this call. In this land conceived in liberty, the momentous decision to define your personal version of the American Dream is all yours. You can dream as big and as grand as you want, but how well you do is dictated by the amount of energy, talent and intellect you have at your disposal.

The American Dream involves giving an individual the liberty to make his own choices about the course his life will take. But, since it's your personal choice, your individual American Dream, it comes with certain baggage. In your pursuit of your American Dream, you must be free from outside coercion. By the same token, the American Dream does not allow you to coerce others into handing you that American Dream on a silver platter. You are free to enlist others who choose to join your quest, but you can't force them into it. The dark underbelly of the American Dream is that it's your intellect, your energy, and your talent that seal the deal. If you expect to reap the rewards when you realize that American Dream, you need to do the heavy lifting.

There's one more thing you need to know, need to accept, about the American Dream. No matter how you define your American Dream, you're going to be second-guessed, criticized, and, in some cases, vilified. Depending on the nature of your dream, you'll be impugned as "selfish", "materialistic", "hedonistic", "arrogant", and of course "doomed to failure". You'll need to develop a tough hide if you expect to see your personal version of the American Dream all the way to that finish line. You must learn to ignore the naysayers, the critics and the parasites who can't wait to steal a piece of your success. Nothing worth having comes easy, Sparky.

There have always been barriers, traps and unexpected consequences lurking between an American and his dream. Back in the day, many of the barriers were dictated by an untamed environment and the prevailing level of technology. In the 21st century, the Nanny State shoves its greedy mitt into your pocket at regular intervals. If, by sheer force of willpower and talent, you achieve your dream, the Nanny State will do its level best to crush you with bureaucracy, regulations, taxes, intrusive laws and assorted other obscenities. Does that mean the American Dream isn’t worth the effort? Nobody can make that call but you, Sparky. If you’ve got the right stuff, you’ll shrug off the Nanny State nitwits, the naysayers and all the other pests who want to keep you from achieving that dream.

The bottom line about the American Dream is this: success is not guaranteed and there are more barriers in your way than you want, need or deserve. All this land conceived in liberty gives you is the opportunity. But, when you cross that finish line and achieve that American Dream, you are entitled to gloat and mete out the relevant 'neener, neener, neener'. Once you're done with that, don't rest on your laurels. Set a new goal, and start striving for that next American Dream, because there's no limit on how many American Dreams you can have in your lifetime.

Are we all up to speed on the American Dream now, Sparky?

What Is An American?

What is an American? The answer to that depends on whom you ask:

Osama, Mahmoud al-Gilligan, and all their Jihadikaze home boys will tell you that an American is evil personified. They will insist that an American is a demon who inhabits the Great Satan, their term for the United States of America.

Messiah Al’s disciples will tell you that an American is a carbon-spewing, energy swilling junkie who is callously destroying Mother Earth.

Hugo "Skipper" Chavez and his Marxist cohorts will tell you that an American is a capitalist exploiter who is enslaving the underclasses.

Cindy Sheehan class peace punks will insist that an American is a war monger who won’t rest until he has trampled defenseless nations underfoot and enslaved the denizens of those nations.

Before we can get a meaningful answer to our question, we need to seek the answer to another, equally important question: What is it that defines a national identity like "Italian", "Canadian", or "American"?

Ethnicity: Many national identities (Japanese, for example) are based, in part, on a shared ethnicity. That’s a viable standard, but it won’t work for America, because Americans can, and do, come from any/every ethic group. There is no ethnic/racial litmus test that will exclude someone from becoming an American.

Culture: Another common criteria for a national identity is a shared culture that stretches back centuries or millennia. That won’t work for Americans who have a propensity for remaking their culture on the fly. Americans, routinely, borrow elements from other cultures, especially when it comes to foods, fashions and terminology.

Geography: Being an American isn’t tied to a certain portion of the North American continent. It’s not the land itself that makes someone an American. An American is an American, no matter where he, she, heshe or it lives.

Longevity: In some instances, a national identity is based on how long a group of people have lived in a certain place. Excluding Siberian-Americans, those most commonly identified as Americans have only been living in the New World for 400 years, at most.

Obviously the usual traits that define a national identity don’t seem to apply to ‘American’. The ‘American’ identity isn’t limited by ethnicity, culture, geography and longevity. We need to dig deeper for the answer to this question.

What is an American? It’s not the vile things that our critics claim and it defies the conventional criteria for a national identity. The essence of being an American was shaped by this land, but not defined by it. The essence of being an American was, and is, enriched by the many ethnicities that inhabit this land conceived in liberty but isn’t limited to any one of them. The essence of being an American is demonstrated by, not defined by, American culture.

The traits that define an American aren’t anything tangible. Being an American is an attitude, a singular mindset, that we carry inside each and every one of us who are proud to state "I’m an American". The central fact about Americans is that their national identity was created, from scratch, by those rugged individuals who made their home here.

We are, as the open borders crowd insists, a nation of immigrants. Each new wave of immigration has put its own mark on the American character, redefining what it means to be an American, in the process.

The first immigration wave to the New World was undertaken at least 10,000 years ago, in the waning days of an ice age. Leaving the world they knew, those original immigrants - those individuals I call Siberian-Americans - gazed upon the land bridge spanning the Bering Straits and boldly began a long journey into the unknown. They were the embodiment of that classic human trait that makes us seek the answer to the question: "I wonder where that leads?" They started out on a dangerous journey into unknown territory to face its dangers head-on. Why did they risk it? Because it’s a primal human impulse to find out what’s around that next turn in the road, beyond that hill on the horizon, or across that dangerous stretch of ocean.

The next wave of immigration began when determined individuals in Europe started out on their own dangerous journey in boats that were barely up to the challenge of a notoriously unforgiving stretch of ocean. They landed on the new world and began to populate its eastern shores with men and women who dared to dream of a bold, untried form of government. Many of those who started that journey never lived to finish it. Some of those who completed that dangerous passage, didn’t survive the rigors that the New World imposed on them. Those who emerged from that trial by an unflinching Mother Nature laid the ground work for that singular individual we call an American.

Americans are, by nature, innovators, risk takers. An American is an individual who wants to test, his, her, hisher or its personal limits. An American wants to see how far, how high, their intellect, talent and hard work can take them. An American seeks "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" without Nanny State interference.

That seems to explain why people around the world spend years jumping through bureaucratic hoops, and surmounting countless hurdles for the right to become an American. Many of them understand what it really means to be an American better than most native born Americans. In many cases, these newest Americans put us to shame with their classically American work ethic, their determination to build their lives from scratch, and make their mark on the world, without Nanny State assistance.

There’s a lot we can learn from these legal immigrants who work so hard to enter America through the front door. They have much more to offer than exotic foods, fashion trends and new terminology. They are a badly needed lesson, a warning, that we are allowing the Nanny State and its damn social safety net to strip all the real meaning from American’s national identity.

It’s my considered opinion that too many native born Americans have lost their way. The Nanny State’s siren song of artificial rights and safety nets that ‘spare’ us the essential, character building, life lessons is destroying us. Those life lessons, those blows, that the Nanny State absorbs, are vital when it comes to forging the American character. We have become fat, lazy and much too complacent, while the Nanny State chips away at our birthright of inalienable individual liberty. We are, in short, our own worst enemy when it comes to the erosion of that rugged individualism that is the solid foundation which gives being an American its unique meaning.

We’ve lost our way, but the situation isn’t hopeless. Many - perhaps most - of America’s legal, front door, immigrants harken back to the essence of what it means to be an American. They don’t want a handout. They don’t want a safety net. All they want is their chance to become that self-reliant, that self-made individual, an American.

What is an American? If you still don’t know, ask any legal immigrant. Ask any of those determined individuals who walk that long, torturous, path that ends at a ceremony where they are sworn in as a certified American. Ask those eager immigrants who dip their toe into those teeming capitalist waters with that donut shop, convenience store, dry cleaners or gas station. Ask that endlessly patient individual who is on that years long waiting list, ready, willing and eager for permission to realize that dream of becoming an American.

What is an American? A dreamer, an innovator, an arrogant, swaggering pain in the butt, who dares to tell the rest of the world: "I’m living proof that there’s a better way."

Guest Commentary
Source: E-Mail Inbox

WAYNE ALLYN ROOT: Overwhelm the system

Barach Obama is no fool. He is not incompetent. To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis and social chaos -- thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within.

Barack Obama is my college classmate (Columbia University , class of '83). As Glenn Beck correctly predicted from day one, Obama is following the plan of Cloward & Piven, two professors at Columbia University . They outlined a plan to socialize America by overwhelming the system with government spending and entitlement demands. Add up the clues below. Taken individually they're alarming. Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant, Machiavellian game plan to turn the United States into a socialist/Marxist state with a permanent majority that desperately needs government for survival ... and can be counted on to always vote for bigger government. Why not? They have no responsibility to pay for it.

-- Universal health care. The health care bill had very little to do with health care. It had everything to do with unionizing millions of hospital and health care workers, as well as adding 15,000 to 20,000 new IRS agents (who will join government employee unions). Obama doesn't care that giving free health care to 30 million Americans will add trillions to the national debt. What he does care about is that it cements the dependence of those 30 million voters to Democrats and big government. Who but a socialist revolutionary would pass this reckless spending bill in the middle of a depression?

-- Cap and trade. Like health care legislation having nothing to do with health care, cap and trade has nothing to do with global warming. It has everything to do with redistribution of income, government control of the economy and a criminal payoff to Obama's biggest contributors. Those powerful and wealthy unions and contributors (like GE, which owns NBC, MSNBC and CNBC) can then be counted on to support everything Obama wants. They will kick-back hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party to keep them in power. The bonus is that all the new taxes on Americans with bigger cars, bigger homes and businesses helps Obama "spread the wealth around."

-- Make Puerto Rico a state. Why? Who's asking for a 51st state? Who's asking for millions of new welfare recipients and government entitlement addicts in the middle of a depression? Certainly not American taxpayers. But this has been Obama's plan all along. His goal is to add two new Democrat senators, five Democrat congressman and a million loyal Democratic voters who are dependent on big government.

-- Legalize 12 million illegal immigrants. Just giving these 12 million potential new citizens free health care alone could overwhelm the system and bankrupt America . But it adds 12 million reliable new Democrat voters who can be counted on to support big government. Add another few trillion dollars in welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps, free medical, education, tax credits for the poor, and eventually Social Security.

-- Stimulus and bailouts. Where did all that money go? It went to Democrat contributors, organizations (ACORN), and unions -- including billions of dollars to save or create jobs of government employees across the country. It went to save GM and Chrysler so that their employees could keep paying union dues. It went to AIG so that Goldman Sachs could be bailed out (after giving Obama almost $1 million in contributions). A staggering $125 billion went to teachers (thereby protecting their union dues). All those public employees will vote loyally Democrat to protect their bloated salaries and pensions that are bankrupting America . The country goes broke, future generations face a bleak future, but Obama, the Democrat Party, government, and the unions grow more powerful. The ends justify the means.

-- Raise taxes on small business owners, high-income earners, and job creators. Put the entire burden on only the top 20 percent of taxpayers, redistribute the income, punish success, and reward those who did nothing to deserve it (except vote for Obama). Reagan wanted to dramatically cut taxes in order to starve the government. Obama wants to dramatically raise taxes to starve his political opposition.

With the acts outlined above, Obama and his regime have created a vast and rapidly expanding constituency of voters dependent on big government; a vast privileged class of public employees who work for big government; and a government dedicated to destroying capitalism and installing themselves as socialist rulers by overwhelming the system.

Add it up and you've got the perfect Marxist scheme -- all devised by my Columbia University college classmate Barack Obama using the Cloward and Piven Plan.

Guest Commentary
Source: E-mail Inbox

[This one comes to us from an Arizona denizen who is, literally, on the front lines of our war to defend American sovereignty from border jumping scumbag invaders.]

Since AZ passed laws on checking SS Numbers for new workers, Sheriff Joe's raiding businesses and now the new Immigration Law, the number of illegals in AZ has decreased dramatically. Schools are clamoring about the loss of students and the money they are losing.

The amount of illegals standing on the corner are few and far between. Houses in Mexican neighborhoods are empty and apartment owners are complaining so our laws have made an impact and it's all for the good of us U-S citizens.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

What if 20 Million Illegal Aliens Vacated America? (note: ILLEGAL - here without papers)

It would save more than $20 million in prison costs, and the terror that those 7,300 alien criminals set upon local citizens. Denver Officer Don Young and hundreds of Colorado victims would not have suffered death, accidents, rapes and other crimes by illegals.

Denver Public Schools would not suffer a 67 percent drop-out/flunk-out rate because of thousands of illegal alien students speaking 41 different languages. At least 200,000 vehicles would vanish from our gridlocked cities in Colorado. Denver's 4% unemployment rate would vanish as our working poor would gain jobs at a living wage.

In Florida, 1.5 million illegals would return the Sunshine State back to America, the rule of law, and English.

In Chicago, Illinois, 2.1 million illegals would free up hospitals, schools, prisons and highways for a safer, cleaner and more crime-free experience.

If 20 million illegal aliens returned 'home' --

If 20 million illegal aliens returned 'home', the U.S. Economy would return to the rule of law. Employers would hire legal American citizens at a living wage. Everyone would pay their fair share of taxes because they wouldn't be working off the books. That would result in an additional $401 Billion in IRS income taxes collected annually, and an equal amount for local, state and city coffers.

No more push '1' for Spanish or '2' for English. No more confusion in American schools that now must contend with over 100 languages that degrade the educational system for American kids. Our over-crowded schools would lose more than two million illegal alien kids at a cost of billions in ESL and free breakfasts and lunches.

We would lose 500,000 illegal criminal alien inmates at a cost of more than $1.6 billion annually. That includes 15,000 MS-13 gang members who distribute $130 billion in drugs annually would vacate our country.

In cities like L.A., 20,000 members of the '18th Street Gang' would vanish from our nation. No more Mexican forgery gangs for ID theft from Americans! No more foreign rapists and child molesters!

Losing more than 20 million people would clear up our crowded highways and gridlock. Cleaner air and less drinking and driving American deaths by illegal aliens!

America's economy is drained. Taxpayers are harmed. Employers get rich. Over $80 billion annually wouldn't return to the aliens' home countries by cash transfers. Illegal migrants earned half that money untaxed, which further drains America's economy - which currently suffers an $8.7 trillion debt.

At least 400,000 anchor babies would not be born in our country, costing us $109 billion per year per cycle. At least 86 hospitals in California, Georgia and Florida would still be operating instead of being bankrupt out of existence because illegals pay nothing via the EMTOLA Act.

Americans wouldn't suffer thousands of TB and hepatitis cases rampant in our country-brought in by illegals unscreened at our borders.

Our cities would see 20 million less people driving, polluting and grid locking our cities. It would also put the 'progressives' on the horns of a dilemma; illegal aliens and their families cause 11 percent of our greenhouse gases.

Over one million of Mexico's poorest citizens now live inside and along our border from Brownsville, Texas to San Diego, California in what the New York Times called, 'colonias' or new neighborhoods. Trouble is, those living areas resemble Bombay and Calcutta where grinding poverty, filth, diseases, drugs, crimes, no sanitation and worse. They live without sewage, clean water, streets, electricity, roads or any kind of sanitation.

The New York Times reported them to be America's new 'Third World' inside our own country. Within 20 years, at their current growth rate, they expect 20 million residents of those colonias. (I've seen them personally in Texas and Arizona; it's sickening beyond anything you can imagine.)

By enforcing our laws, we could repatriate them back to Mexico. We should invite 20 million aliens to go home, fix their own countries and/or make a better life in Mexico. We already invite a million people into our country legally more than all other countries combined annually. We cannot and must not allow anarchy at our borders, more anarchy within our borders and growing lawlessness at every level in our nation. It's time to stand up for our country, our culture, our civilization and our way of life.

Hambo Rant of the Week
Source: Hambo’s Hammer [06/11/10]

Just Say No

[Now that my irritation has reached critical mass, it's time for me to run some rules of 'don't piss off Hambo' engagement up the flagpole. If you've already saluted this one, it won't kill you to take my one-size-fits-all, 'just say no' refresher course.]

"Just say no" hit the American mainstream as an anti-drug campaign championed by President Reagan’s wife, Nancy. Eventually, it engendered a similar campaign in the U.K. Long past its prime, the phrase still arises here and there in the popular culture. The scorecard on the original "just say no" campaign is spotty at best. Despite the use of child actors and a massive television campaign, the levels of drug use didn’t change markedly. However, as adherents point out, there’s no way to measure how many young ‘uns were deterred from trying drugs in the first place. This ends our history lesson.

I know what you’re thinking, and you're right, for a change. This rant has nothing to do with drugs or drug addictions, with the possible exceptions of alleged rational individuals who go off their medication and start listening to "the voices". This rant is about different, equally pernicious, blights. For the lack of a better term, I’ll describe these "blights" as elements of the everyday American life that bug the crap out of me and should be eschewed by rational individuals. Confused? Don’t be, I’ll give you some examples:

If your boom-boom looks like the Southern exposure of a northbound hippo, and you’re thisclose to putting on those body hugging stretch pants, don’t make that grotesque contribution to eye pollution. Just say "no" unless you want to hear "Whale Ho!" mere seconds before you’re nailed with the business end of a harpoon.

If your hairline is retreating faster then the French Army and your finances aren’t on life support, don’t be a Trump (rhymes nicely with "chump"), Sporty. Just say "no" to that combover and invest in some high tech hair.

If you expect to transact business with me, hire some government-schooled idiot with self esteem bubblehead to answer your phones. Just say "no" to those automated call answering systems and just say "HELL NO" to ‘press 1 for English’.

If you’re in a big hot hurry and shout pleasantries at the driver of a 30 year old ‘Z’ while riding his bumper, you’re begging for trouble. Just say "no" to tailgating Hambo’s Paganmobile, unless you want a painful introduction my traveling companions, Old Betsy and Big Bang.

Unless you’re just itching to piss me off, just say "no" to those f-ing robocalls. Don’t make me come over there.

If you’re a boom box programmer, pull your head out of your ass and seize the ‘weekend radio programs SUCK’ moment. Just say "no" to ANOTHER of those boring ass investment shows and put on something that someone who isn’t in a coma might want to hear.

If, after years of self-sacrifice, you have finally achieved the boyhood dream, a beer belly that needs its own zip code, I’m willing to be thrilled for you. If, however, you feel a burning need to share this treasure with the teeming masses by going out without wearing your shirt, don’t go there. Wear the damn shirt, dude, because I so don’t want to see it. Just say "no" to baring that belly.

If you’re a multi-tasking twerp...If you like to eat that ice cream cone with the left hand, talk on the cell phone in your right hand and decide to do it while driving your car just say "no" to that triple-threat multi-tasking.

If you’re a hottie who likes to strut her stuff in some hubba-hubba outfit, be a woman about it when I check you out. You’re the one who let it all hang out, so just say "no" to your bogus modesty and pissy attitude.

If an aspiring Elected Tormentor promises you the sun, moon, stars and a nearby galaxy on the taxpayers dime, then hits you up for a campaign donation, just say "no" because some of those freebies are coming out of my pocket.

If you’re stoned on Old Ka-Boom, I’m thrilled spitless for you. If you’re so full of this heavenly joy you feel the need to share the "good news", I’m less thrilled, but coping nicely. If, however, you’re stoned on Old Ka-Boom and feel the overpowering urge to knock on my door to share the good news, hold that thought. You don’t want to got there with this pagan scribbler so just say "no" to that urge and move on down the block.

If you’re one of those miserable cell idiot asshats who can’t cope with anything more complicated than picking your nose without that damn technological blight slammed against your ear, you’re pathetic, but not my problem. On the other hand, if you’re one of the aforementioned cell idiots and you decide it’s time to bellow details of your life into that damn phone while I’m trying to eat a meal in my favorite eatery, don’t go there, unless you want to get up close and personal with Hambo’s notorious dark side. Just say "no" to bellowing cell idiocy.

Life is too short to tolerate all these petty annoyances, so cut me some slack. I’m not asking for that much. Is it too much to ask that you use HUMANS to conduct your business and spare me the terrors of technology? Is it too much to ask that you find the operators manual for your MIRROR and learn to use it, before you inflict yourself on an unsuspecting world? Is it too much to ask that you give me some space when you drive and keep both hands on the wheel? Is it too much to ask that ONE RADIO STATION cuts the crap and decides to entertain me on the weekend instead of enraging me? Are my simple, just say "no", requests that unreasonable? Probably, but, I can live with that. Just say "no" to provoking me into matriculating from ‘request’ mode into ‘demand’ mode.

Hambo Rant of the Week
Source: Hambo’s Hammer [06/03/10]

It has come to my attention that some of you have an identity crisis and I don’t blame you. Your highly prized individuality is under relentless assault by the Obamunist horde which vilifies you as a 'goose-stepping racist Nazi domestic terrorist Tea Bagger exploiter'.

As bad as that sounds, it gets worse, because this nation conceived in liberty bears little resemblance to the nation you knew, the nation you love. Is your condition serious? Perhaps, if you’re, belatedly, forced to confront ‘it’. It? Yes 'it', that thing you’ve become since you began visiting this cyberspace speed bump. You think you’ve - GASP - turned into a - SHUDDER, CRINGE, MOMMY! - PIGster.

By now, many of you have blundered into the dark underbelly of this cyberspace speed bump. Don’t play coy with me, because you know what I mean. Your biggest hint happened, when you strayed onto Inkorrectness 101, then laughed out loud, without a single twinge of guilt. If that’s giving you night-sweats, tough darts, grow a pair Sparky.

On advice from PIG’s crackpot legal council, I am "officially" whipped with guilt but coping nicely. PIG’s shyster whines that we might need to add an official ‘warning label’ to our site that warns of its infectious qualities. My instinctive, all purpose, response - "bite me", accompanied by the requisite beer can fusillade - didn’t make that pest’s day. Life is so sucky that way. When Shyster Sparky got snarky with me, I, reluctantly, agreed to run this annual dose of 'guess what, PIGster Sparky' up the FSOP flagpole, again. I'll leave that pesky 'salute', or 'no salute' issue in your PIGish hands.

The unvarnished fact is that I could do a lot of things cure what ails you, but it’s not my style. We know how much you love and adore PIG, but we never told you to ‘go native’.

With nothing better to do and a Hambo’s Hammer rant to perpetrate, I’m willing to spend a few minutes to assess your condition. While I’m taking this timeout to ‘feel your pain’, I’ll channel my inner Doctor Phil, infuse it with a generous helping of Jeff Foxworthy, and administer this badly needed reality check. When I’m finished, you’ll still love and adore PIG, but some of you might be taking my name in vain for the insidious nature of PIG.

Crayons ready? Let’s get this dose of PIGish enlightenment rolling:

Are your neighbors complaining about all those pizza deliveries at all hours of the day and night?

You might be a PIGster.

Is your significant other wondering when your humble abode was transformed into a designated beer can recycling center?

If you’re not a member of the vaunted PIG staff, you might be a PIGster.

Have you been greeting your neighbor’s lovely bride, or fetching jailbait daughter, with a heartfelt ‘hubba-hubba’?

You’re cruisin’ for a bruisin’, and you might be a PIGster.

Did the local Hooters franchise ban you for life, after you greeted your waitress’ qualifications a bit too enthusiastically?

"PIG Staffer" is still in play, but you might be a PIGster.

Is your vocabulary showing a disturbing propensity for PIGlish?

Did you scandalize that citizen talkback session of your town council’s latest meeting by calling their latest antics a "Steaming Elected Tormentor Load"?

Have you caught yourself answering your boss with a rousing "You better damn believe it, Sparky"?

Have hot button PIGisms like "GLAAD BAAG", "border jumping scumbag", "Ethnocrat", "Legicrat", "Broadcast Blowjob Brigade", "Red Shed" and/or "Educrat" become a featured element of your written and spoken communications?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these PIGlish posers, you might be a PIGster and it’s looking damn serious.

Are you having trouble remembering the proper names of some public figures, but names like "Messiah Barry", "The Tingler", "Fat Cave Fathead", "Chaps Boy", "Botox Bitch", "Mahmoud al-Gilligan", "Hugo ‘Skipper’ Chavez", and "Prompter Punk" seem to roll off your tongue?

You’re encouragingly colorful and you might be a PIGster.

And what, you ask, if you’re not exhibiting any of these classic PIGster warning signs? You’re a slacker who isn’t trying hard enough, but there’s still hope for you. Get with the program, Sparky.

Guest Commentary
Source: Hambo’s E-Mail Inbox

[I won’t swear this is genuine, not that it matters. Whoever wrote it NAILED IT.]

LETTER FROM A RETIRED BORDER PATROL AGENT:

This letter sent to his Senator from a retired border patrol agent, and it has more common sense than all the bull being spewed from the Senate, with the exception of a few sensible representatives.

Dear Senator First:

There is a huge amount of propaganda and myths circulating about illegal aliens, particularly illegal Mexican, Salvadorian, Guatemalan and Honduran aliens.

#1. Illegal aliens generally do NOT want US citizenship. Americans are very vain thinking that everybody in the world wants to be a US citizen. Mexicans, and other nationalities want to remain citizens of their home countries while obtaining the benefits offered by the United States such as employment, medical care, instate tuition, government subsidized housing and free education for their offspring. Their main attraction is employment and their loyalty usually remains at home. They want benefits earned and subsidized by middle class Americans. What illegal aliens want are benefits of American residence without paying the price.

#2. There are no jobs that Americans won't do. Illegal aliens are doing jobs that Americans can't take and still support their families. Illegal aliens take low wage jobs, live dozens in a single residence home, share expenses and send money to their home country. There are no jobs that Americans won't do for a decent wage.

#3. Every person who illegally entered this nation left a home. They are NOT homeless and they are NOT Americans. Some left jobs in their home countries. They come to send money to their real home as evidenced by the more than 20 billion dollars sent out of the country each year by illegal aliens. These illegal aliens knowingly and willfully entered this nation in violation of the law and therefore assumed the risk of detection and deportation. Those who brought their alien children assumed the responsibility and risk on behalf of their children.

#4. Illegal aliens are NOT critical to the economy. Illegal aliens constitute less than 5% of the workforce. However, they reduce wages and benefits for lawful US residents.

#5. This is NOT an immigrant nation. There are 280 million native born Americans. While it is true that this nation was settled and founded by immigrants (legal immigrants), it is also true that there is not a nation on this planet that was not settled by immigrants at one time or another.

#6. The United States is welcoming to legal immigrants. Illegal aliens are not immigrants by definition. The US accepts more lawful immigrants every year than the rest of the world combined.

#7. There is no such thing as the "Hispanic vote." Hispanics are white, brown, black and every shade in between. Hispanics are Republicans, Democrats, Anarchists, Communists, Marxists and Independents. The so-called "Hispanic Vote" is a myth. Pandering to illegal aliens to get the Hispanic vote is a dead end.

#8. Mexico is NOT a friend of the United States. Since 1848 Mexicans have resented the United States. During World War I Mexico allowed German spies to operate freely in Mexico to spy on the US. During World War II Mexico allowed the Axis powers to spy on the US from Mexico. During the Cold War Mexico allowed spies hostile to the US to operate freely. The attack on the Twin Towers in 2001 was cheered and applauded all across Mexico. Today Mexican school children are taught that the US stole California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. If you don't believe it, check out some Mexican textbooks written for their school children.

#9. Although some illegal aliens enter this country for a better life, there are 6 billion people on this planet. At least 1 billion of those live on less than one dollar a day. If wanting a better life is a valid excuse to break the law and sneak into America, then let's allow those one billion to come to America and we'll turn the USA into a Third World nation overnight. Besides, there are 280 million native born Americans who want a better life. I'll bet Bill Gates and Donald Trump want a better life. When will the USA lifeboat be full? Since when is wanting a better life a good reason to trash another nation?

#10. There is a labor shortage in this country. This is a lie. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of American housewives, senior citizens, students, unemployed and underemployed who would gladly take jobs at a decent wage.

#11. It is [not] racist to want secure borders. What is racist about wanting secure borders and a secure America? What is racist about not wanting people to sneak into America and steal benefits we have set aside for legal aliens, senior citizens, children and other legal residents? What is it about race that entitles people to violate our laws, steal identities, and take the American Dream without paying the price? For about four decades American politicians have refused to secure our borders and look after the welfare of middle class Americans. These politicians have been of both parties. A huge debt to American society has resulted. This debt will be satisfied and the interest will be high. There has already been riots in the streets by illegal aliens and their supporters. There will be more. You, as a politician, have a choice to offend the illegal aliens who have stolen into this country and demanded the rights afforded to US citizens or to offend those of us who are stakeholders in this country. The interest will be steep either way. There will be civil unrest. There will be a reckoning. Do you have the courage to do what is right for America? Or, will you bow to the wants and needs of those who don't even have the right to remain here?

There will be a reckoning. It will come in November of this year, again in 2012 and yet again in 2014. We will not allow America to be stolen by third world agitators and thieves.

David J. Stoddard
US Border Patrol (RET)
Hereford, Arizona

Could It Happen Here?
Source: A Guest Commentary That Proved Too Hot for News Max

Here is the full text of John L. Perry’s column on Newsmax which suggests that a military coup to “resolve the Obama problem” is becoming more possible and is not “unrealistic.” Perry also writes that a coup, while not “ideal,” may be preferable to “Obama’s radical ideal” — and would “restore and defend the Constitution.” Newsmax has since removed the column from its website.

Obama Risks a Domestic Military Intervention
By: John L. Perry

There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America’s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the “Obama problem.” Don’t dismiss it as unrealistic.

America isn’t the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn’t mean it wont. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it. So, view the following through military eyes:

# Officers swear to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Unlike enlisted personnel, they do not swear to “obey the orders of the president of the United States.”

# Top military officers can see the Constitution they are sworn to defend being trampled as American institutions and enterprises are nationalized.

# They can see that Americans are increasingly alarmed that this nation, under President Barack Obama, may not even be recognizable as America by the 2012 election, in which he will surely seek continuation in office.

# They can see that the economy — ravaged by deficits, taxes, unemployment, and impending inflation — is financially reliant on foreign lender governments.

# They can see this president waging undeclared war on the intelligence community, without whose rigorous and independent functions the armed services are rendered blind in an ever-more hostile world overseas and at home.

# They can see the dismantling of defenses against missiles targeted at this nation by avowed enemies, even as America’s troop strength is allowed to sag.

# They can see the horror of major warfare erupting simultaneously in two, and possibly three, far-flung theaters before America can react in time.

# They can see the nation’s safety and their own military establishments and honor placed in jeopardy as never before.

So, if you are one of those observant military professionals, what do you do?

Wait until this president bungles into losing the war in Afghanistan, and Pakistan’s arsenal of nuclear bombs falls into the hands of militant Islam?

Wait until Israel is forced to launch air strikes on Iran’s nuclear-bomb plants, and the Middle East explodes, destabilizing or subjugating the Free World?

What happens if the generals Obama sent to win the Afghan war are told by this president (who now says, “I’m not interested in victory”) that they will be denied troops they must have to win? Do they follow orders they cannot carry out, consistent with their oath of duty? Do they resign en masse?

Or do they soldier on, hoping the 2010 congressional elections will reverse the situation? Do they dare gamble the national survival on such political whims?

Anyone who imagines that those thoughts are not weighing heavily on the intellect and conscience of America’s military leadership is lost in a fool’s fog.

Will the day come when patriotic general and flag officers sit down with the president, or with those who control him, and work out the national equivalent of a “family intervention,” with some form of limited, shared responsibility?

Imagine a bloodless coup to restore and defend the Constitution through an interim administration that would do the serious business of governing and defending the nation. Skilled, military-trained, nation-builders would replace accountability-challenged, radical-left commissars. Having bonded with his twin teleprompters, the president would be detailed for ceremonial speech-making.

Military intervention is what Obama’s exponentially accelerating agenda for “fundamental change” toward a Marxist state is inviting upon America. A coup is not an ideal option, but Obama’s radical ideal is not acceptable or reversible.

Unthinkable? Then think up an alternative, non-violent solution to the Obama problem. Just don’t shrug and say, “We can always worry about that later.”

In the 2008 election, that was the wistful, self-indulgent, indifferent reliance on abnegation of personal responsibility that has sunk the nation into this morass.

Unintended (?) Consequences
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [05/10/10]

It’s the brainchild of Senator Joe Lieberman, and, my initial, visceral, reaction is ‘give ‘em hell, Joe’. ‘It’, in this case is a savory-sounding plan to strip home grown Jihadikazes of their American citizenship. In reality, it's an extension of a WWII era law:

Under a 1940 law, the State Department already can withdraw citizenship from those who join an enemy's armed forces, and the lawmakers said it's time to update the law by adding terrorism to the list of reasons, particularly because the threat of homegrown terrorism is increasing.

"Our enemies today are even more willing than the Nazis or fascists were to kill innocent civilian Americans here in our homeland," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent, who is leading the bipartisan push.

The lawmakers argued that those who engage in terrorism have shown an intent to renounce their citizenship - the standard set in a 1980 Supreme Court ruling that rejected an effort to void the 1940 law. The court said Congress can decide there are some actions people take that prove they intended to renounce their citizenship. (News Max)

No harm, no foul? That appears to be the case. Furthermore, the notion gains traction, with rational adults, when they look at who is opposed to it: San Fran Nan, the ACLU, Barry’s spokeshole Robert Gibberish, and the appeasers in the U.S. State Department. If that rogues gallery is against it, it must be a good idea, or is it?

Instead of focusing on who is for it, and who is against it, we need to step back and focus on who will be enforcing this new law. Do you seriously think the appeaser-in-chief will yank an American Jihadikazes citizenship? This Red Shed retard still won’t pin a terrorism label on the Fort Hood massacre, so what are the chances he will allow any of the murdering Mecca Maniacs to lose their American citizenship? A snowball faces better odds in hell.

There’s another, more important, reason to view this proposed law with alarm. Messiah Barry and his minions might not pin a ‘terrorist’ label on Major Nidal Malik Hasan, but they are ready, willing, and eager to pin one on YOU, Tea Party Patriot Sparky. In the Obamunists’ world view, disagreeing with THE ONE is the highest form of terrorism.

The most predictable ‘unintended’ - unintended by Joe Lieberman - consequence of this proposed change to the 1940 era law, is obvious, to me. From sea to shining sea, Tea Party Patriots - and other EOB (Enemies Of Barry) - will be branded ‘terrorists’. Next, they'll be stripped of their citizenship, giving the Obamunists a free hand to spread their Hugo ‘Skipper’ Chavez kind of tyranny.

Stripping homegrown Jihadikazes of the citizenship still sounds like a good idea. But, given the rat bastards who infest Washington D. C., it’s a risk we can’t afford to take. Do you really want to trust the same Elected Tormentors who can’t even agree on the meaning of what ‘is’ is, to pin a properly narrow definition on ‘terrorism’ and/or ‘terrorist’. Not NO, but HELL NO.

Putting Some PIGish Fun Into Government
Source: Pagan Scribbler Shallow Thoughts [05/07/10]

One of the primary problems rational adults have with the Nanny State is the fact that our Elected Tormentors are having too much fun on our dime. They’re living large and laughing at the pitiful fools - that would be us, taxpayer Sparky - who are paying the bills.

We probably can’t stop them from stealing us blind, but we might inject enough drama into their lives to distract them from exterminating all of our inalienable individual liberties. How? We need to promote ‘public service’ from a cake walk up to a thrill ride.

Some of the following ideas might get the job done.

Prompter time limits: Let’s start with Messiah Barry. I’d love to impose a limit on his yammering, but, given the nature of the job, that’s never going to fly. Since we can’t slap a muzzle on the fool, as tempting as that is, we need to make his public spouting more entertaining, for us. How? Every Sunday evening, he would spin a wheel that’s similar to the one used in the final puzzle on Wheel of Fortune. After Barry spins, the designated rational adult pulls the card, then reveals how many minutes of teleprompter time Messiah Barry will be allotted that week. The minimum time is - DUH - 0 and the maximum time is 30 minutes. If he tries to cheat, he loses ALL his teleprompter privileges for the next month. Think of all the fun you’ll have, watching Prompter Punk stammering his way through an appearance after he has pissed away all his teleprompter time. I know what you’re thinking, but there aren’t any carry over limits allowed.

Extra-Marital Playmates: Aside from a few trolls, who couldn’t score in a whorehouse if they drove up in a fully loaded Brinks’ truck, most Elected Tormentors are going to stray from the marital bed. Since it’s going to be perpetrated on OUR dime, I think we deserve a voice in the selection process. Bubba Clinton’s sorry taste in playmate booty was embarrassing so, from now on, we should preselect a cadre of pre-approved booty using an American Idol style selection process. If the Elected Tormentor is pleasing us, the booty will be a hottie. If not, he’ll be thinking that Rosie O’Donnell is a living goddess.

Congressional Speeches: Some of those capitol hill gas bags need to put a sock in it, and everyone knows it. That's why I suggest that we disinter a relic from a bygone boob tube era. A trio of rational adults would be empowered to send the bloviating relic packing, by thumping that big, Gong Show gong.

Congressional Pay Raises: These should be more entertaining for us, and more stressful for them. I think it should be like Deal or No Deal - we’ll even pay Howie Mandell to host it. The primary difference is that most of the cases will contain pay CUTS. Just imagine the many hours of entertainment this would deliver. I think we would need a cable channel devoted to it 24/7. Best of all, after a political punk plays - and loses - pay raise roulette a couple times, he could end up paying US for serving this nation.

Walk the Walk: Since our Elected Tormentors are so damn eager to micromanage our lives, the least they can do is lead by example. How? Before they impose their bullcrap on We the People, they need do it themselves, FIRST. If they want me to give up burgers and fries, then live on rice cakes and soy bean curd, they need to put their money where their mouths are. They need to live on the diet, for at least one full term in office, while reality show snoops film their every move. If they want me to drive a pile of crap the size of a postage stamp that runs on crab grass, they need to walk the walk, by driving the blasted thing, for at least one full term in office, while reality show snoops dog their every move. Let THEM road test CFL bulbs that don’t work. Let THEM try to make a wind farm turn a profit, without a tax funded subsidy. If they insist on talking the talk, then make them walk the walk, first, while we sit back and enjoy their misery.

Final Jeopardy: Once a year, America’s rational adults will get to vote, American Idol style, for those Elected Tormentors who have earned some special abuse. The top 30 vote getters will be packed off to a remote, terminally hostile, location, for a month of ‘how badly do you want this job’ reality show fun and games, which were dreamed up by sovereign American individuals.

In a perfect world, we would simply cut to the chase and have an annual ‘no limit’ hunting season which puts our Elected Tormentors in the bull’s-eye. Unhappily, America, the world, hasn’t achieved the lofty level of Hambo-class enlightenment. On a happier note, I’m confident that we would have a excellent chance of creating a ‘no limit’ hunting season for DMV dipsticks, public employee union officials and IRS agents. Win some, lose some.

The Enemy in Our Midst
Source: Pagan Scribbler Meltdown

When the eulogy for the United States of America is written in a few years, it will reveal that this nation that was conceived in liberty was destroyed from within by a complacent populace who steadfastly ignored the enemies in their midst. This eulogy will state that this enemy emerged into the open in the first decade of the 21st century to perpetrate frontal assaults while America allowed itself to be distracted by the high tech version of bread and circuses. This eulogy for America will cite January 20, 2009 as the beginning of the end for a nation that began with such promise.

The signs of our destruction can be seen everywhere, once you wean yourself from that reality show umbilical. Surrender is in the air and its noxious fumes are energizing those who want America destroyed. The danger to our liberty is much greater because the recent elections made the enemy in our midst bolder. With a surrender obsessed ‘Messiah’ in the Red Shed and a Donkey Clan majority in charge of Congress, those rat bastards whose every waking minute is spent plotting the ultimate destruction of this land conceived in liberty, are coming out into the open. Will history record the year 2009 as the turning point in America’s unrelenting fight for survival? It looks that way. The situation is getting worse by the minute.

The deadliest threat to our nation’s survival is, as you’d expect, the on-going war on Jihadikaze scumbags. The Obamunists in power have systematically undermined our defenses, by hobbling our intelligence-gathering services and painting a bull’s-eye on our warriors on the front lines with asinine rules of engagement. The D. C. Beltway traitors are dooming America to defeat in a war that we, quite simply, can’t afford to lose. Led by a traitorous pile of political shit called Barry Obama, these America hating bastards can’t wait to hand Osama bin Laden, and his Jihadikaze cohorts, a victory in a war that, by any rational measure, they can’t possibly win. These Elected Tormentor traitors know that America can, and will, achieve victory in the long run, so they are doing everything in their power to disarm our men and women in uniform.

These traitors on the Potomac are engineering a catastrophic defeat abroad that will move the front lines in the battle against Jihadikazes to our own shores. We’ll be forced to stop fighting our enemy in his own back yard: Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, the Philippines. Instead, will we be fighting him here on our own soil: Chicago, New York, Detroit, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and everywhere in between. By moving the battle lines from the enemy’s territory to ours, the Appeaser-In-Chief, and the rest of his traitorous band, deny us the use of our most effective weapons, our military, and condemn us to a politically-correct, micro managed ‘war’ that we can’t possibly win.

The Jihadikazes lurking in the shadows aren’t waiting for this victory to be handed to them on a silver platter. They are busy using our legal system to secure the right to do anything they want, from sea to shining sea, without suffering the relevant consequences. CAIR is mounting a Jihad against airlines and airline passengers that will exempt Jihadikazes from any meaningful oversight and/or security measures.

Elsewhere, Jihadikazes demand special treatment...special privileges due to their supernaturalism. Islamikaze taxi drivers routinely refuse to transport passengers whose luggage MIGHT contain things banned by Mecca Mania. Jihadikaze clerks refuse to touch packaged pork products. Jihadikaze parents demand that cess-schools conform to Mecca Mania rules of engagement. That means ALL lunchroom meals must conform to Mecca Mania dietary restrictions. Schools must set aside special rooms for Mecca Maniac prayers. Finally, Mecca Maniac wenchlets should be educated in female-only classrooms.

Once they have our own legal system running interference for them, these Jihadikaze bastards in our midst will use their privileged positions to attack us from within. Make no mistake, PIGsters, that’s precisely what CAIR and other Jihadikaze scumbags are planning, right this damn minute.

America’s destruction is further hastened by assaults on us from other, non-Islamikaze enemies. For example, the same traitors who rendered America defenseless from the impending Jihadikaze assault are just as busy undermining us on another front. Aided and abetted by the so-called "patriots" in the Elephant Clan, they are gearing up to surrender our national sovereignty with a sweeping amnesty bill that will render American citizenship meaningless.

These Elected Tormentor rat bastards think we’re utter and complete morons. That’s proven by the way they intend to ‘legalize’ the 20 million border jumping scumbags in our midst. All a border jumping scumbag invader needs to do get Barry’s seal of approval is pre-register to vote Donkey Clan and, in a heartbeat, they’ll be rendered street legal. Instantly, our illegal immigration problem is resolved, until the next 200,000,000 border jumping assholes invade the third world cess-pool formerly known as the USA. That easily, every goddamn one of these border jumping bastards is, magically, transformed into a legal immigrant. Conservative estimates predict that the ‘illegal alien’ population can be transformed into ‘legal’ immigrants in about 20 minutes.

With Jihadikazes and border jumping scumbags poised to destroy us, you’d think that the traitors in our midst would be satisfied to sit back and savor the fruits of their traitorous labor. If you think that, you’re tragically deluded. Leaving nothing to chance, these traitors who are so eager to bury America, forever, are painting a Marxist bull’s-eye on the driving force that nourishes and sustains our liberty: capitalism.

This assault from within is led by prophets of impending doom, who spout reality-challenged bull crap that’s full of insane exaggerations and outright lies. They insist that their only concern is for the future of human kind and the overall health of this planet. That’s bullshit. They may or may not give a flaming damn about the future of the planet, but the underlying motive is the utter and complete destruction of the capitalism that sustains our individual liberty. Marching under the Global Warming banner, they seek the destruction of the foremost promoter of capitalism: the United States of America. Make no mistake, PIGsters, Al Gore’s bull crap has one, and only one, purpose, the utter and complete destruction of our liberty.

The enemies in our midst - Barry "America Sucks" Obama, CAIR, MechA, Al ‘Chicken Little’ Gore - are smelling blood in the water. They see victory within their grasp and they’re right. They’re destined to win, unless, you get off your goddamn butt and start making your own plans to defend this nation. I’m talking to you, too, international PIGsters, because when America goes down for the count, your own chances of survival go into the crapper right along with us. The dirty little secret that these enemies in our midst don’t want you to know is this: ultimately, America’s fate is in your hands, not theirs. Isn’t it about time you got off your butt and started fighting back? Wake the hell up!

Guest Commentary
Source: Hambo’s E-Mail Inbox [04/24/10]

[This commentary appears to be several years old. Based on its contents, I would put it early in the Bush-Cheney era, probably pre Iraq War, the sequel. Despite that, it represents, in Franklin Graham’s own words, his well-reasoned critique of Islam. It’s a highly recommended read, which will dispel any notion that Franklin Graham is some raving, lunatic.]

My View of Islam By Franklin Graham

Some of my recent statements, interpreted as critical of Islam, have been widely reported. I believe I've been greatly misunderstood, and I'd like to paint a more complete picture.

I should start by saying that I am an evangelist and chief executive of two large Christian organizations. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I believe the Bible to be the inerrant word of God. I believe in Jesus' statement: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." Christians accept this as the only way to God.

And so while I respect the rights of all people to adopt their own beliefs, I would respectfully disagree with any religion that teaches people to put their faith in other gods. As a Christian minister, my calling is to proclaim the God of the Christian faith, whose son Jesus Christ died for the sins of all mankind.

But Jesus also taught his followers to love others. It is this central teaching of Christianity that motivates my life and work, as a relief worker as well as a minister. While as Christians we disagree with Islamic teachings, if we obey the teachings of Jesus we will love all Muslims.

My concern is evidenced by the thousands of Muslims to whom our relief organization provides food, clothing, housing, supplies and medical care every day in many countries. In fact, in recent years we have provided more relief to Muslim people than to any other group in the world--support valued at tens of millions of dollars in places like Bosnia, Kosovo, Sudan, Afghanistan, Turkey and Iraq.

I do not believe Muslims are evil people because of their faith. I personally have many Muslim friends. But I decry the evil that has been done in the name of Islam, or any other faith--including Christianity.

I agree with President Bush that as a country we are at war with terrorists, not with Islam. But as a minister, not a politician, I believe it is my responsibility to speak out against the terrible deeds that are committed as a result of Islamic teaching.

The brutal, dehumanizing treatment of women by the Taliban has been well-documented and internationally condemned. However, the abusive treatment of women in most Islamic countries is nearly as draconian and falls far short of the dignity, respect, and protection almost universally given to women and mandated by the United Nations.

The persecution or elimination of non-Muslims has been a cornerstone of Islamic conquests and rule for centuries. The Koran provides ample evidence that Islam encourages violence in order to win converts and to reach the ultimate goal of an Islamic world. Conversions from Islam to any other faith are often punishable by death.

One example is the treatment of non-Muslims by the Islamic government of Sudan. In the past year, our hospital in southern Sudan was bombed seven times by the Islamic regime in Khartoum. These bombings pale in comparison with the two million Christians and animists killed, and thousands more enslaved by the regime in recent years.

In most countries where Islamic law dominates there is practically no freedom of religion (not to mention freedom of speech or the press). In most Islamic countries, including so-called moderate Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia, it is a crime to build a Christian church, Jewish synagogue, Hindu temple or any other non-Muslim house of worship. In contrast, there are about 3,000 mosques in the U.S., with new ones being built every week.

Muslims are free to worship Allah in the U.S., but Christians are not free to worship Jesus in most Muslim countries. There has not been a single church in Afghanistan since the exiled king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, destroyed the first and only one in the history of the country in 1973.

As we come to the end of the year, the world's three major monotheistic religions will celebrate their holy seasons--Ramadan, Christmas and Hanukkah. It is an important time for people of faith to have the courage and the right to express their deeply held beliefs. In this nation we are grateful for the ability to worship God and to practice the religions of our choice without interference from our government. I pray that it might be so throughout the world.

Mr. Graham is president of the international relief organization Samaritan's Purse and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. This commentary was first published in the Wall Street Journal.

Tea Party Musings
Source: Hambo’s Hammer [04/15/10]

I worry that the TEA Party movement’s focus is too narrow. I agree that runaway Nanny State spending is intolerable. I agree that our Elected Tormentors wouldn’t know fiscal discipline if it fell on them. I agree that, these political punks act as if my hard-earned money is theirs, by right, and it’s only their kind hearted generosity that allows me to keep any of it. I agree with all that, but the spending, the taxing, obscenity is simply a symptom of a much larger problem. Hundreds of thousands of sovereign American individuals took to the streets, from sea to shining sea, to vent their outrage over the Nanny State abuse. They have every right to be outraged, but, when they cool down, and stow their signs until the next TEA Party, there’s one more thing they need to do. They need to ask themselves how America strayed so far from the Founding Father’s vision for We the People. They need to ask themselves why did We the People let it get this screwed up.

How screwed up is it? Very:

Back in the day, whenever an American individual's life hit a speed bump, he, she, heshe or it would plan, organize or work their way out of it. Sometimes, that involved teaming up with some friends, or suitably motivated partners, but it was, invariably, a self-made solution. Now, too many properly-indoctrinated Americans, instinctively, whine for the Nanny State to ride to the rescue. We have been conditioned, coddled, and coerced into looking for a Nanny State solution to any, every, problem, big or small, instead of being the masters of our own fate. We have been transformed from self-reliant, rugged individuals into helpless children of the state who can't wipe our own noses without a Nanny State bureaucrat nagging us through the process.

We've become a nation dominated by parasites who scurry around scarfing up all the crumbs that fall from the Nanny State's table. When the crumbs run short, the parasites whine for more, because it's not coming out of their pocket. It's coming from those 'greedy' rich bastards who have more than they need. Never mind that they create the jobs, the prosperity, that keeps this nation solvent. The parasite wants his crumbs and he wants them right now.

We've become a nation that engages in wholesale wealth redistribution allowing American parasites to make somebody else pay for their healthcare, pay to school their children, and provide the money for their retirement. Whenever money runs short, the solution is simple, nail the rich again, or pile some taxes on somebody else's sins, like 'those damn smokers' , 'those dastardly cigarette companies', 'those damn boozers', or 'those damn strip club visiting perverts'.

We've become a nation where our first instinct, whenever life puts a speed bump in our path, is to demand a Nanny State solution. We want big Nanny State daddy to tell that employer he MUST hire us. We want big Nanny State daddy to tell our boss how much we should be paid, what benefits we should get, and why he can't fire our sorry ass. If we buy a house we can't afford, we demand that big Nanny State daddy stop the lender from foreclosing when we don't meet our obligations. When someone mean mouths us, we want big Nanny State daddy to punish them for 'hate speech'.

We've become a nation that tolerates - demands in too many cases - another, much worse, Nanny State solution to correct the unintended consequences of the last Nanny State solution. For instance, a series of Nanny State intrusions, unintended consequences and ensuing 'fixes' have brought America's healthcare system to its knees. Now, we are confronted by a perfect storm of Nanny State arrogance in the form of a complete takeover of this nation's healthcare system. Do we really want the same dweebs who run your local DMV making life or death decisions about your medical needs? Do we want the TSA class cretins who won't let your 3 month old tyke on an airplane because his name is on some 'no fly' list determining which medical procedures you're 'allowed' to undergo?

The bottom line is a hard pill to swallow: We the People are our own worst enemy.

We the People need to set the bar much higher for those Elected Tormentors we support.

We the People need to clean house, in Washington D.C., in our state capitols, and in our local government.

We the People need to tell our Elected tormentors to do the job we hired them to do and stop telling us what kind of lightbulb we’re allowed to buy, what kind of television we’re allowed to have, and how much transfat we’re allowed to ingest when we get the urge for a lardburger.

We the People need to tell the chronically needy parasites that the Nanny State does not owe them a living.

We the People need to stop asking the Nanny State to do things FOR us, that we could, SHOULD, be doing for ourselves.

We the People need to remember that America is a vision of liberty of, by, and for INDIVIDUALS, not clumps of alleged humans who are grouped by immutable traits and/or lifestyle choices.

We the People need to revert back to that rugged American individual who made his own luck, shrugged off life’s setbacks, and only had one thing to say to Uncle Sam: "Just stay the hell out of my way, Nanny State Sparky, because I’m the one who is in charge of my life, liberty and pursuit of happiness."

We the People deserve better than this, but if we expect the kind of government set forth in the U.S. Constitution, we need to elevate it from a request to a DEMAND, from we the people. If we want to restore that American which the Founding Fathers envisioned, then it’s up to We the People to do the heavy lifting to get it done.

Baring My Soul
Source: Pagan Scribbler Classics

[Several years ago, this made its glorious debut as a Top Story rant. Since then, it has been egregiously neglected in my personal archives. I’m bringing this one back, to answer those persistent pests who demand: "What’s your damage, dude?"]

Howdy PIGsters. My name is Hambo and I'm an oppressor. Wait a minute, let me rephrase that. My name IS Hambo and I'm darn proud to be an oppressor. Since we're all friends here - more or less - I'll let you in on a badly kept secret. I'm not your garden variety oppressor, I'm a triple threat oppressor who is doing everything humanly possible to become the first 4-star oppressor in human history. Unfortunately, the World Victimhood Alliance is being very pissy about adding supernaturalist affiliation to the big three: melanin content, gender and sexual orientation. Those, they huff, are "genetic", but religious affiliation is voluntary. The upshot is that I'm only authorized to wear my three assigned - by them of course - oppressor designators: WMH. W stands for whitey; M stands for male; H stands for heterosexual. What's the harm in expanding that to WMHP (P=Pagan)? Nothing, but they don't want to hear about it.

I know what you're thinking and I've got it covered. Why, you demand, would anyone in their right mind be "proud" to be an oppressor? You're assuming facts not entered into evidence, Scooter, because, nobody has accused me of being "in my right mind" in a very long time. Be that as it may, I'm proud of my triple threat oppressor status for several reasons. The most important reason is the thrilling fact that oppressors fulfill a vital function within the cult of victimhood:

"...The victim’s self image is constructed on the bedrock of their oppression, meaning that the continuing presence of an oppressor is essential. Without regular infusions of oppression, the victim’s very identity is threatened." (PIG: Tour The Hood).

That's right, PIGsters these self-defined victims need oppressors. They need triple threat oppressors like me so much that, if we didn't exist, they would invent us. Do I get thank you for oppressing me cards for my valiant, tireless efforts? Not a chance and that's making me feel very unappreciated. I'm bummed, but I'll get over it.

The most important reason that I'm a "proud" oppressor has nothing whatsoever to do with a properly-hyphenated pinhead's unrequited needs. Being an oppressor takes no effort on my part and, when it's done correctly, it can be big time fun. That's right PIGsters, being an oppressor is downright fun. Why? The key fact here is that, by and large, this "I'm a victim" crap is a byproduct of moribund synapses. In other words "oppression" is all in their fevered pea brains. Since my maleness and melanin-deficiency are so obvious, I can be smug in knowing that a self-defined victim - especially melanin meatheads and NO NADS - will feel oppressed every time they see me.

The nifty thing about effortless oppression is the fact that self-defined victims do all the heavy lifting on being oppressed. All an oppressor needs to do to accomplish this mission is to exist. These "victims" are the ones who insist on interpreting your every word, action or thought (they're empowered by their hyphenation to read your mind) into blatant oppression. No matter how harmless, irrational or bonkers your prose or behavior might be, they will find a way to ferret out your hidden (even when it's "hidden" from you) intent. Anything you do is automatically racist, sexist or homophobic because they say so. In other words, they're determined to make themselves miserable without your help, just because you exist.

As fun as this effortless "because he's there" oppression is, I can Emerilize it - kick it up several notches - with "the stare". I discovered "the stare" by accident one day while I was in a shopping mall waiting for my lovely bride to return. As usual, I was "zoned out" into scribbler land and more or less unaware of my surroundings. I returned from scribbler land abruptly when I oppressed a passing hottie with an appreciative stare. That's when I noticed two melanin-enriched womyn glaring at me. When they departed, I heard one say, "Did you see the way he was staring at me. I just know he's in the KKK." Truth be told, I never even noticed them, but I did gloat over the fact that I had a new weapon in my effortless oppression arsenal. The downside to "the stare" is the fact that I can't summon the writer's trance when I really need it.

If "the stare" seems more than you can handle, there's no need to abandon your attempts to Emerilize your oppressor fun. The bottom line on being an oppressor is this: Being an oppressor means never having to say "I'm sorry" because no self-defined victim is going to believe you anyway. Given that, why not go with the flow and turn your oppressor status into a game? Get creative. Devise some harmless sound, a bizarre expression or meaningless gesture. Practice it at home until you master it, then start deploying it obsessively, everywhere you go. That makes you bulletproof when you unleash it on properly-hyphenated pinheads. Instinctively, they'll choose to interpret it as "demeaning" and you'll be able to enjoy their reaction. If you're ever challenged, you're bulletproof because everyone you know will say that you "always do that". What am I deploying? I'm thisclose to mastering what I call "the all purpose grunt". I can't wait to unleash it on all those eager to be oppressed victims.

Another weapon that comes in very handy when you're confronted by a hostile "victim" is staying calm. When you remain cool, calm and collected while they bloviate, it will launch them into orbit. Best of all, if you can combine cool calm and collected with a grin, the effects are highly entertaining. As usual, you're having all this fun with little or no effort on your part, and the "victim" is providing you with a highly entertaining story to share with your friends and family.

The important factoid about the oppressor game is that anyone can play. If you're only a one star oppressor, "heterosexual" or "white" for example, that shouldn't stop you from having some relentless oppressor fun messing with some properly-hyphenated pinhead's mind. In fact, rational adults who are, by accident of birth, melanin-enriched or melanin-advantaged, have certain effortless oppression opportunities that makes a lowly three-star oppressor green with envy. It can be as simple as putting an Elephant Clan bumper sticker on your ride or letting yourself be seen reading Thomas Sowell or Walter Williams. If you're a female PIGster, then packing a Tammy Bruce book gives you unique, effortless, oppression opportunities.

The properly-hyphenated pinheads - all self-defined "victims" - are determined to be miserable, so why not have some fun with it, without breaking a sweat. Don't just sit there Sparky, get into the game. On your mark. Get set. OPPRESS!

Guest Commentary
Source: PIG’s E-Mail Inbox [04/03/10]

Saving the Republic: Yes We Can
By John Griffing

The road to dictatorship is well-traveled, with each discrete journey having one universal common denominator: political inaction. As citizens of democratic countries become less vigilant, a form of apathy sets in, rendering the usual methods of political correction like "throwing the rascals out" less and less effective. When political leaders know that the voting public is focused elsewhere, usually with diversions of a cultural nature, the tendency will be towards these leaders' ever-greater accumulation of power.

The health care reform debacle serves as a prime example. Despite the overwhelming evidence of American opposition to the Obama health care proposal, Harry Reid in the Senate and Nancy Pelosi in the House of Representatives rammed the popularly opposed legislation down the collective American throat. Some have speculated that this course of action was taken with full knowledge of the political cost in the next election. Reid and Pelosi by some accounts do not care about their personal positions, so long as their social agenda is successfully imposed, creating a circular replacement system that preserves their ideology notwithstanding political turnover. Perhaps. But at the heart of these seemingly suicidal moves is a deep-seated belief that Americans are too weary, too lazy, or too stupid to counteract this abhorrent behavior.

And with plans in the works for universal voter registration, the time is limited when the ballot box will serve to correct political injustice. Soon, the political left will have a lock on the White House for years to come, especially when exploding immigrant populations in states with large numbers of electoral votes is considered. The bottom line: Pelosi and Reid actually believe that all the talk of the "blood of patriots," that famous Jeffersonian allusion, is just talk.

The political elite has learned that Americans are quick to forget. The short memory of the American public has opened the door to a blurring of party lines:

Republicans spend like Democrats, smother civil liberties in the name of security, mortgage America to China, attempt to impose martial law, bail out the financial malfeasance of the private sector, cut the military, and fast-track citizenship for millions of illegal aliens (ahem, voters), all while fighting numerous undeclared foreign wars.

Democrats sell sensitive military technology to the Chinese (see Bill Clinton), let Osama bin Laden run free after his declaration of jihad, smother civil liberties in the name of security, engage the U.S. in multiple undeclared foreign wars in the name of peace, cut the military, attempt to impose martial law, pursue open socialism, bail out the private sector, naturalize swaths of illegal immigrant voters, and then play the moderate when elections roll around. Apart from slight changes in tax policy, "throwing the rascals out" no longer has the same effect.

This blurring of party lines positioned Speaker Pelosi to claim the right to "deem" legislation passed without an actual House vote, thereby avoiding those pesky pitfalls of House-Senate philosophical differences. The problem? It was undemocratic, unconstitutional, and plain un-American.

Although America has been temporarily spared from this travesty by means of Bart Stupak and his cowardly seven, the groundwork has been laid. If President Obama was willing to bypass Congress and scrap the Constitution in order to advance his health care legislation, what might he and his axis be willing to do to achieve more questionable goals? He has already indicated his willingness to use executive orders in the place of Congress, in one case overturning centuries of statutes governing the use of troops in the domestic arena. The power of martial law now rests with President Obama via executive decree.

Besides President Lincoln, there are few men with the moral stamina to take all power and then voluntarily give it back. And in the hands of a man like President Obama, seizures of power like this are breathtakingly dangerous. Americans must resist.

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Tea party speeches and saber-rattling will no longer cut it. If President Obama ignored the majority before his health care legislation was passed, in what sense would he feel obligated to heed the majority now that health care reform is law? Obama understands only one language: force. Therefore, we must meet his action with every kind of legitimate and legal force possible. The Civil Rights era, a time period Speaker Pelosi applied to the health care bill, can serve as the model, complete with mass protest and civil disobedience on a national scale. America must be pushed to the brink.

This is a time for people of all political persuasions to unite around some common principles. There are some things no American should tolerate. We should not allow petty politicians to spit upon America's hallowed democratic traditions. An assault on the freedom of one American is an assault on all.

Americans must speak up. Congress may provide at least some security. Directly accountable to the electorate, Congress has a historical role in reclaiming unconstitutionally exercised executive power. But if Americans do not seek redress, then there will be no redress. It starts with a decision to abandon fear and say no. No longer can Americans stand by and let this perversion of a presidency devour American liberty unchallenged. Thomas Paine said it best:

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Americans today are still confronted by choices: freedom over security, action over comfort, and the risk of ridicule (or being branded a domestic terrorist) over anonymity. Now is not the time for armchair grumbling. Freedom can abandon this blessed land with the stroke of a pen. Americans' voices are still being heard, and it is still possible to make a difference. But the time for sunshine patriots is past. If the republic falls, let it fall loudly.

Rude Awakenings
Source: Top Story Archive [Originally published on 01/07/09]

The names and places are the same, but this isn't the America we know and love.

Our great nation was founded by a collection of men who envisioned a new nation, one conceived in liberty, a nation willing to accept the huddled masses that arrive on our shores...legally. They fought an uphill battle for our liberty during the American Revolution, and won. They drafted two of the most important documents in modern history.

The Declaration Of Independence boldly states that inalienable individual liberty is our birthright, not a gift given to us by the Nanny State.

The United States Constitution is the first founding document, in any nation, which shields sovereign individuals and their liberty by imposing non-negotiable limits on government. Because of their efforts, the nation the founders created became a major economic and military powerhouse.

Guess what? It's all going to change with the ascension of The Messiah. When Messiah Barry spouted his teleprompter scripted drivel about ‘change’, many otherwise intelligent individuals wrote it off as campaign rhetoric. That, as you’ll soon find out, was, at best, wishful thinking. If you pretend otherwise, it's the fast track to a suicidal depression.

The winds of political change have reached hurricane force. They’re less than two weeks away from reaching into every corner of American life, every square inch of this land conceived in liberty. When the storm subsides, America will still be here, but it won’t be the America we knew and loved.

The People have spoken and the chads have been tallied. Now, we’re doomed to reap what they sowed: an empty suit who thinks he's the Marxist Messiah. The winds of change mean saying 'Night Night' to your American dream of building a better life for you and your family. The winds of change mean saying 'Adios' to your standing as a first class citizen, while Third World invaders piss, moan, and take a dump on America's front lawn.

The winds of change mean there’s a new Leader of The Pack: Messiah Barry and his brain-dead, mindlessly militant, O’Zombies. Who is on the losing end of this Faustian bargain? Every rational American adult who, foolishly, believes that their life, their liberty, their pursuit of happiness is none of the Nanny State’s damn business.

Once the initial shock wears off, you’ll feel like you woke up in the middle of a Twilight Zone episode. Superficially, everything will be the same, but, when you take a closer look, nothing is the way it was in your America. You’ll soon discover that all the essentials have changed, for the worse.

If it makes you feel better, feel free to ‘hope’ that these hurricane force winds of change aren’t headed our way. Hope is cool, but, in this case, it’s a waste of time. Instead, we urge you to man up and face the bitter truth. How? You can start by confronting the following Obamunist Error fetid facts:

Out: Life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness.
In: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

That’s right, PIGsters, Thomas Jefferson and his immortal words are yesterday’s news. In the short term, the Obamunists might pay lip serve to them, but that won’t last long. Much too soon they’ll drop the pretense and unleash the full fury of their Marxist mantra on your liberty birthright.

Out: Karl Rove and his compassionate conservative flavored Kool-Aid
In: George Soros and his Marxist flavored Kool-Aid

You’ll be thrilled to hear that there’s a new man running the presidential Kool-Aid stand. Instead of Karl Rove’s Texas Tea flavored Kool-Aid, the political in crowd will be swilling down the new Commie Red Kool-Aid, mixed by an America hating, capitalism despising, rat bastard named George Soros.

Out: A Messiah named Jesus.
In: A Messiah named Barry.

According to the Gospels in the Tome, Jesus was a god who humbled himself by taking human form. According to the Gospels spewed by the Broadcast Blowjob Brigade, Barry O’Bama is an unremarkable individual with grandiose delusions of Messianic glory.

Out: “The buck stops here” .
In: Plausible Deniability.

As far as we can tell, Messiah Barry has never taken responsibility for anything, at any time, in his whole life. His one meaningful accomplishment is raising the fine art of plausible deniability to dizzying heights. We predict that he will distance himself from any/all events and/or actions during his watch, for fear that some of it will stick to him, spoiling the illusion of Messianic perfection.

Out: Projected American Military Might
In: America, the defenseless bull’s-eye.

Under Messiah Barry, Teddy Roosevelt’s ‘speak softly and carry a big stick’ philosophy of projecting American power around the world will become as extinct as the Dodo bird. Instead of Teddy’s big stick, Uncle Sam will be fitted with a ‘kick me’ sign, to let everyone know how pathetic, defenseless, America has become.

Out: Israel
In: Hamas, Hezbollah, Mahmoud al-Gilligan

In this Obamunist Error, our friends will quickly learn that America can no longer be trusted to stand by them, when they need our help. On the other hand, our enemies will know that they have a free hand to do their worst, because we won’t lift a finger to stop them.

Out: Who, What, When, Where, Why
In: Messiah Barry loving broadcast blowjobs

The ‘X Files’ proclaimed that ‘the truth is out there’ and we won’t dispute it. Yes, the truth is out there, but, in the Obamunist Error you’ll be hard pressed to find it. Messiah Barry won’t give it to you and neither will his appointed acolytes. The News Nitwits wouldn’t recognize it if it fell on them, so don’t look for it there. In the short term, you might hear snatches of it on VRWC talk radio, but that will change, after they are ‘fairness doctrined’ into silence.

Out: I earned it and I’ll spend it.
In: Not yours, OURS, taxpayer Sparky.

Messiah Barry and his Marxist minions will do their best to convince you that there really is a free lunch. You’re free to believe that, but rest assured, that bill will come due, eventually, and it will have YOUR name on it, taxpayer Sparky.

Out: Building wealth through ingenuity, long hours and the sweat of your brow.
In: Adding an extra shift to keep the U. S. Mint’s printing presses busy cranking out worthless paper.

The Obama zombies swilled down that ‘hope and change’ Kool-Aid and decided that the ‘old’ American Dream involved too damn much hard work. Why bother, when Messiah Barry is promising to provide everything they want/need and make some hard working fool pay for it.

Out: VRWC, Evangelicals
In: Daily KOSsacks

It’s time to confront the fun fact that the lunatics are running the asylum. Granted, we had issues with the ‘old’ in crowd, but, by and large, they were more of an irritation than a pestilence. It’s a whole new ball game, now, because the ‘new’ in crowd will be impossible to ignore. They will be all over your inalienable individual liberty like stink on shit. Countermeasures? We suggest stocking up on ammo and keeping Old Betsy primed for action.

Out: A marketplace-enforced equality of opportunity.
In: A Nanny State-enforced equality of results.

In a bygone era, the American dream was based on each individual getting an unimpeded shot at success through his own hard work, intellect, and determination. In the Obamunist Error, an equality of results is imposed by looting hard-working achievers and redistributing the stolen goods to perpetually whining slackers.

Out: Eligible, registered, voters cast ballots.
In: Frankenized, anything goes, elections.

Election cycles where register, eligible, LIVING, voters punch chads are as extinct as the thunder lizard. Instead, we have elections that are decided by votes cast by dead people, votes ‘cast’ weeks after the polls have closed, and recounts where every Demoncrat vote wins a triple chad score. SENATOR Frankenstein? Bite me, asshole.

Out: Rugged American individuals
In: Slaves of the Nanny State

The days of rugged American individuals are numbered. The Obamunist Error’s Marxist paradise has no room for, no patience with, anyone who insists on calling his own shots then taking the credit, or blame, for the results. If someone won’t venerate the Marxist Messiah Barry, his O'Zombies will teach them the errors of their ways.

As bad as Messiah Barry’s Obamunist Error promises to be for sovereign American individuals, there’s something much, much worse. What? His rabid, Marxist, supporters like the Daily KOSsacks, are steeped in Ivory Tower hatred of America, capitalism and our liberty. They’re the rat bastards who will make your life a living hell, while a suitably ‘detached’ Messiah Barry mouths meaningless, teleprompted bull crap.

The Obamunists demanded "change" and they got it. Eventually, after they pull their heads out of their butts, they’ll be up close and personal with a venerable adage. What adage? Be careful what you ask for, because you might get it. The next time the O’Zombies feel the need for a "change", we suggest that they start by changing their own diapers and getting real.

America's Neo-Marxist Future
Source: Pagan Scribbler Meltdown [03/21/10]

We began as a nation in which a small, well-defined island of limited government was surrounded by a sea of individual rights. We’ve strayed from that founding vision and getting back promises to be a royal bitch.

From time to time, a member of the VRWC will wake up from his, her, hisher, or its, coma long enough to notice how far this nation that was conceived in inalienable liberty has drifted from its founding principles. They’ll thunder, with suitable alarm, about the ‘creeping Socialism’ that is slowly suffocating those 'inalienable rights' which were so eloquently advanced by our Founding Fathers. As usual - it’s probably that broken clock metaphor at work - they’re on the right track, but they’re still a step or two away from the brink, where they need to stand to get the big picture on America’s plight.

I'm compelled to point out that the term 'creeping' is no longer accurate and the term 'Socialism' seems much too mild. San Fran Nan, Whorehouse Harry Reid, Comrade Hillary and Messiah Barry have rolled out the ‘Welcome Comrades’ mat and invited an Ivory Tower brainwashed Red Brigade into government where they can implement neo-Marxist theory. 'Creeping Socialism' has given way to a headlong Stampede toward full blown Marxism.

These neo-Marxists advocate a faceless blob of humanity, in which each person becomes indistinguishable from the next as they achieve the coveted 'wards of the State' status. It’s an all powerful Nanny State which caters to the relentless 'gimme' rhetoric of those perpetual victims, the 'underclasses'. In this brave new world, excellence, achievement, and success are vilified while mediocrity, conformity, and sacrifice are lauded. Egged on by George Soros, the Daily Kossacks, and progressive pinheads (Marxists in disguise) the neo-Marxist Demoncrats propose an all powerful state which is 'empowered' to micro-manage ever aspect of every citizen's life, from cradle to grave.

Life is inherently unfair. This is a fact of nature which the neo-Marxists, who were swept into power in the 2006 and 2008 elections, are trying to eradicate through their war on excellence and achievement in American Society. These neo-Marxists hide behind such buzz words as 'true democracy', 'fair share', ‘shared responsibility’, 'equality', plus the new kids on the rhetorical block, ‘hope’ and ‘change’. They clamor for 'a level playing field' that enriches everyone, regardless of their individual competence or capabilities, by stealing from those undemocratic, self-centered, over-achievers whose exploits make these equality-seekers feel inferior. The equality for which the neo-Marxists and the 'common man' they champion clamor is an equality of results, where the incompetent enjoy the same rewards as the competent, invariably at the expense of the competent. Such a system, necessarily, reduces all performance levels to that of the least competent person in the group, leveling the playing field at the expense of excellence.

How long does this neo-Marxist sludge, none of whom has earned an honest buck in their alleged life, expect the achievers, the competent, their designated 'slaves', to keep producing for them? They don't care. They'll use them up and throw away their spent husks without batting an eye. Anti-rational by nature, mystics to the core, the neo-Marxists are convinced that once the achievers, those dastardly Capitalists, are eliminated, the 'underclasses' will magically, miraculously, selflessly, become competent. These faceless cogs in the world economic machine will produce, tirelessly, ignoring - for the first time in their lives - their own need as they work for the benefit of society as a whole. The fact that this scheme has been tried, repeatedly, failing miserably each time, doesn't discourage them in the least. Convinced that, as Tammy Bruce so cleverly put it, they’re smarter than the average bear, the neo-Marxists who lead this stampede have deluded themselves into thinking that they can make a fatally flawed scheme like Marxism work. It has to work because, among other things, "It’s for the children".

In their neo-Marxist Eden, these delusional dipsticks plan to banish 'failure', by sacrificing 'success'. Mediocrity, that bland 'sameness' so coveted by the incompetent, is destined to become the ultimate virtue. The rugged individual, that uniquely American over-achiever whose bold vision and innovation made so many significant changes, improvements, to the proverbial 'human condition', will be banished from the American landscape. They'll be ordered to disappear into the teeming, faceless horde, or perish. Those perpetual victims of Capitalist tyranny, the 'underclasses', can’t wait to trample the inherent property rights of the achievers in their mindless zeal to satisfy their endless 'need', without earning it.

During those initial, heady days, weeks, and months, of this neo-Marxist American Eden, there will be ample unlooted achiever wealth to sustain everybody. But, like any orgy of looting, that stolen wealth won’t last forever. Eventually, things will start breaking down and essential staples of life will become scarce. The parasite horde, the underclasses, won’t have the means, or the desire, to replace these essential items. The achievers, who were the primary victims of this class warfare, won’t be riding to the parasites’ rescue, either. It didn’t happen in Russia, China, Cuba, North Korea, or anywhere else Marxism was unleashed, and it won’t happen here, either. This is a tipping point, when ‘society as a whole’ will devolve into smaller groups - probably based on race/ethnicity - that will begin fighting for the remaining scraps. It’s going to get ugly, because it’s the natural cycle for liberty suffocating Marxism.

The economic collapse that's destined to accompany the looming reality check will devastate the incompetent, but the achiever, that American icon, the rugged individual, will survive and rebuild. This long overdue bitch-slap will teach these class warriors, and the ‘smarter than the average bear’ cretins who aid and abet them, an essential lesson: A host (achiever) can survive without a parasite (class warrior), but the parasite dies without the host.

After the parasites are forcibly disconnected from their host (the achievers), those dauntless rugged American individuals will rebuild America. We the People must build anew upon the solid foundation of inalienable individual liberty espoused by America’s Founding Fathers. We the People must take any and all necessary steps to ensure that another Red Brigade doesn't disinter Marxism, again, and let it wreak its inevitable havoc on us all over again.

Parting shot: Am I thrilled spitless by this scenario? Not really, but I know that you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs. As far as I’m concerned, we can start breaking those neo-Marxist eggs right damn now.

 

Porcus O’Publisher’s Annual St. Pat’s Day Meltdown
Source: PIG’s Top Story Archives

The Terror Of The Green

Parades, green beer, corned beef and cabbage, pretty lassies doing an Irish jig, and wearing of the green. Irish wannabes, one and all, take heed from a dude whose name would grant him automatic citizenship in the Emerald Isle. And the City of Boston.

It's Porcus O'Publisher here, to give you some heads up on what being Irish is, the other 364 days of the year.

Personally, I am complimented that people of all persuasions take the time to give a tip of the hat type props and celebrate an Irishman, who, allegedly chased the snakes out of Ireland.

But the wearing of the green every March 17? When I don't wear green, anything, on Saint Patrick's Day, and co-workers point that out, especially with my first name being...drum roll, please, Patrick. I simply reply with, "I prefer to let the wannabees do their thing." I've had Irish blood, much scotch, whiskey and beer pumping through my veins ever since my parents reluctantly claimed me from the maternity ward, and said, 'I guess he's ours, we'll take him.'

I don't need no stinking green to prove my heritage.

I, personally, regard myself as an American, and thank my lucky stars, green clovers, and other Lucky Charms, rainbows and pots of gold, that my ancestors boarded those coffin ships that were heading to America, and left those potato farms and famine behind.

Hambo, you take over while I go relieve myself of some 80 proof liquid leftover's, and curse the Brits.

It's a tense time here in PIG's Top Secret Bunker, as the most dangerous holiday of the year looms on the near horizon. I refer, of course, to St. Patrick's Day. Like the rest of the PIG Staff, I am mindful of the fact that St. Patrick's Day is, with the possible exception of Columbus Day, the most politically incorrect holiday on the America's "any excuse to get out of doing some real work" calendar. Why, you ask, is St. Patrick's Day so filled with tension? I'll get to that in due time, but first we need to address St. Patrick's Day incorrectness.

For starters, since it honors a Rosary True Believer saint, St. Patrick's Day venerates one specific flavor of Cross Cultism to the exclusion of all others. This blatantly Catholic holiday is inherently offensive to the differently-Catholic, Buddhists, Torah True Believers, Hindus, Mecca Maniacs, Wiccans and last but not least, atheists. Admittedly, most of the aforementioned groups will suffer in silence. On a more ominous note, it's a slam dunk that, some-damn-how, St. Patrick's Day is "offensive to Islam" and we all know what that means.

Setting aside St. Patrick's Day's supernaturalist implications, we need to consider several other features of the day that will set off one hypersensitive pinhead or the other. The militantly sober neo Carrie Nation's will be offended because this holiday is celebrated by imbibing adult beverages in great quantities. The fact that the holiday honors a - gasp - male is certain to catapult NO-NAD harpies into a panty-twisting hissy fit. The differently-heterosexual will be caterwauling because homophobic organizers won't let GLAAD BAAGs march in certain St. Patrick's Day parades. Greenie weenies will spout drivel about the ecological devastation caused by countless millions of drunken peabrains despoiling the landscape in their frantic search for four-leaf clovers. Last, but far from least, the fact that St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by wearing green is a deliberate insult to colorblind-Americans.

As fun as all this sounds - and we love every incorrect minute it - there is still angst in the PIG Bunker. Why? The day we've come to call "The Terror of the Green" is so alarming that, at this very moment, every member of the PIG staff is trying to erect his, her, hisher or its own fortifications to ward of the Terror of the Green. A few moments ago, I heard Sgt. Pork discussing the finer points of "interlocking fields of fire". The only PIG Staffer who is immune to this annual angst-a-thon in the PIG Bunker is Spike the Wonder Tyke who will, as usual, be wearing his Union Jack shirt bearing the immortal Tyke mantra: "Bite me, Potato Breath".

Who is this Terror of the Green that has the PIG Staff manning the barricades? The answer is simple: he's our esteemed publisher who just happens to be an unrepentant Irishman. Trust me when I tell you what a pain in the butt that can be on St. Patrick's Day. He labors under the insane delusion that everyone wants to be Irish on St. Patrick's Day. What a crock! I don't even want to be Irish on Halloween. Furthermore, he's more than a tad insulted when the merely mortal - lowly dolts cursed by the fact they weren't born Irish - decide to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with their Irish friends and neighbors. Finally, he's compelled to remind everyone that the Irish didn't come to the New World because they like to party. He wants everyone to blubber in their green beer over the fact that life got so sucky in Ireland, that many Irish men, women and children, undertook a long ocean voyage under dangerously crappy conditions to start a new life in the USA. We're bummed, but we'll get over it and so will he, once he gets over this year's Terror of the Green outburst.

If St. Patrick's Day serves any useful purpose - aside from outraging countless Korrectnik pinheads - it's the fact that it reminds us how legal immigration brought our Irish friends and neighbors to live among us. In the process, they added key elements of their rich culture to the American melting pot. If you're Irish, I'm glad you're here, but you'll understand what I mean when I tell you that I'm glad St. Patrick's Day only comes around once a year. Once is more than enough.

As usual, I, Porcus ‘Terror 'O The Green’ O’Publisher, endorse this rant, with a tip of the cap, and shot of scotch.

PIGster's watch out on Columbus Day, because that's the day Porcus reflects on the other half of his heritage, Italian, and transforms into Paisan Porcus.

What Happened To That Place Called America?
Source: Hambo’s Hammer [03/05/10]

Given the direction our nation is headed, I feel like we’ve lost some vital part of what makes us who, what, we are. For the lack of a better word, I call it ‘America’, in this piece from my personal archives. This rant only identifies what we’ve lost.

In my current state of mind, I won’t even pretend to tell how we’ll ever get it back. We are, I’m afraid, in the 'things have got to get a lot worse' phase of an eventual, albeit a long way off, return to what we once were, that shining city on the hill.

I can tell you one thing, that’s etched in stone. There’s no room for that place called America in the brave new world that’s being imposed on us by George Soros and his shill, a Marxist Messiah named Barack Hussein Obama.

America was a nation that one of its presidents called a ‘shining city on a hill’, a nation that showed the world what sovereign individuals working together, voluntarily, could accomplish.

It was a marvelous place that encouraged an individual to strive to achieve the maximum degree of success.

It was a land conceived in liberty where each individual was afforded the opportunity to go as high and as far as his talents, energy, and intelligence would take him.

It was a nation where an individual's great achievement and success were celebrated and cited as an example of what could be accomplished when a person focused all their energy, intellect and talent on a single goal.

It was a land where inalienable individual liberty reigned supreme and the government’s primary function was to maximize each individual’s birthright of unimpeded freedom.

It was the first nation that deliberately imposed limits on its own national government with a constitution that clearly defined the handful of legitimate functions the national government was allowed to perform.

It was a land that invited the free exchange of ideas, all ideas - noble and profane - a land whose inhabitants welcomed the vigorous debate that ensued.

It was a land where an individual had the inalienable right to decide how the fruits of his life’s work would be distributed after his death.

It was a land where a man's rightful property could not be stolen by the government and handed over to another individual.

It was a nation whose inhabitants elevated self reliance, and individual accountability, to virtues.

It was a nation with a notoriously robust sense of humor populated by individuals who were famous for cracking a joke no matter how dire the situation.

It was a land where an immigrant arrived on its shores knowing that success wasn’t guaranteed, but the opportunity to make something of yourself was available to anyone willing to put in the hard work.

It was a land where each newcomer added the best of himself to the land he now called home in exchange for the right to call himself an American.

It was a unique place, a nation the likes of which had never been seen before and hasn’t been seen since.

What ever happened to that place called America?

If you spot America wandering aimlessly in the uncharted wastelands, tell it to phone home, because We the People are trying to bring it back where it belongs, as that shining city on the hill.

Excuses, Excuses
Source: Hambo’s Hammer [02/23/10]

Excuses - blamism - are as old as humanity itself. They’re as old as that impatient cave dude, who tried to swipe a piece of meat from the Wooly Mammoth leg, which was roasting over a roaring fire. He reached. He got burned. He screamed in pain. He blamed his mate because she made the fire hot, and, besides, she knew that he’s a complete moron, so why didn’t she stop him? His stupidity, his pain, her fault.

Not much has changed, over the millennia, since our cave dude blamed HER for his stupidity. The flight from responsibility for your own actions is still going strong. If there’s a difference, it’s the inventiveness which humans are showing, when it comes to their excuses.

Most experts say that the golden age of excuse making began at a famous trial in San Francisco in the early 1980's. Dan White was a San Francisco city councilman who admitted that he murdered the mayor and another councilman. He got away with it, because his judgement was impaired by eating too many Hostess Twinkies. This adventure in blame shifting still represents the gold standard for excuses.

I’d like to tell you that it’s an isolated case, but I can’t. Here are some other memorable excuses to amaze you:

Excuse 1: A University President is caught making obscene phone calls. As the police are booking him, he suddenly remembers that his mother sexually abused him when he was a child. Later, he insists making obscene phone calls was his way of 'acting out his suppressed rage'.

Excuse 2: A woman cuts off her husband's penis with a butcher knife, insisting that she did it, because he physically and sexually abused her.

Excuse 3: A five year old boy in Ohio sets fire to his parents' house - a little girl dies in the fire. His mother instantly declares that a pair of obnoxious cartoon characters on MTV - Beavis and Butthead - made him do it.

Excuse 4: Teenage boys lie down on the center line of a busy street, getting two boys killed and another permanently disabled. The boys' parents blame a popular movie which contained a scene just like it.

Excuse 5: A female teacher stalks, seduces, has two children with, and eventually weds, one of her twelve year old students. She can’t help herself, due to bipolar disorder.

Excuse 6: A group of melanin-enriched teens in Mexifornia go on a Halloween rampage during which they terrorize, assault and abuse numerous white women because of 400 years of oppression.

Excuse 7: A mother drowns her five, pre-school-age children, one at a time, in her bathtub. She’s not to responsible, due to postpartum depression.

Excuse 8: A Melanin-Enriched congressman gets caught red-handed with bribe money in his ice box but it's not his fault, because he's a victim of a racist Justice Department.

Excuse 9: 19 Mecca Maniac zealots turn airliners into flying bombs that kill thousands of Americans but it's not their fault. America's Satanic foreign policy oppressed them into acting out their rage.

Excuse 10: Heavily armed street gangs have turned most major U. S. cities into war zones, where they indiscriminately murder anyone and everyone, but the so called experts blame violence TV shows, movies and video games.

By now, you’re ready, willing and downright eager to try your hand at the Blame Game, but you need some help getting started. For Blame Game Newbies, here is Hambo’s list of time tested excuses/blamisms:

1) Sexual abuse during childhood - usually by a family friend or relative.

2) Sexual harassment on the job, at school.

3) Racism - aka 400 years of oppression by the white race.

4) Sex and/or violence in movies, television, in cyberspace, and in print.

5) Fetal alcohol syndrome and assorted other childhood/prenatal factors.

6) A medical dictionary full of depressions, disorders, syndromes and rages.

7) Religious blamisms such as: homosexuality, Satanism, Satan, secular humanists, cults, evolutionists, witchcraft, demonic possession, atheists, pagans.

8) Political blamisms such as: the rich, capitalism, Global Warming, whitey, Eurocentric culture, Vicente W. Bush and Dick "Darth" Cheney.

9) Conspiracy theory blamisms: such as: the Tri-Lateral Commission, the Bilderberger Group, the Illuminati, the North American Union, E. T.

If none of those seems like a good fit, don’t despair, there are more excuses available on the boob tube. Prime boob tube excuse sources include: Celebrity Rehab, The View, MSNBC (whenever Messiah Barry steps in it), Dr. Phil, the Lifetime channel, the Oxygen channel, and - TA DA - Oprah. We can’t really recommend any of them, but if you insist on going there, keep an adult beverage handy.

Still not ready to play the Blame Game? No problem, we’ll give you a shove in the right direction with some test questions. Fear not, PIGsters, on this ‘test’ there aren’t any wrong answers.

You had your heart set on that new wide-screen boob tube but haven’t got the necessary funds. Who do you blame?

A) Those killjoys in the store, who refused to let you take the wide-screen home for the electronic equivalent of an extended ‘test drive’?

B) Your fatcat neighbor, who really needs to learn the virtue of ‘sharing his wealth’ with underfunded entertainment technology consumers?

C) Your significant other, who pissed away an obscene amount of money on such trivialities as the mortgage payment, the electric bill, and clothes for your children?

D) Your so-called friends, who keep riding your ass about your undersized...gear?

You’re a government school inmate whose grades are in the crapper. Who do you blame?

A) That ‘Girls Next Door’ marathon, which kept you from hitting the books?

B) Your friend Igor, who nuked your studious intentions, when he explained that your school gives you a 50 score for simply showing up at school and breathing the air?

C) That cheerleader, who kept flashing her panties, while you were trying to decipher the mysteries of that Algebra Test?

D) Your guidance counselor, who spilled the beans about your cess-school’s social promotion, graduating idiots with self esteem, policies?

You just got fired from your job. Who do you blame?

A) Capitalist exploiters who put entirely too much emphasis on making a profit?

B) Your company’s techno twerp, who kept pestering you about misuse of your office computer, while you were busy surfing porn sites using the company’s T-1 connection?

C) That hottie, who turned you every which way but loose, while dirty dancing with you at the company Christmas party?

D) Your boss, who should know better than allow a terminally horny, dirty dancing, slut like his wife, to attend the company Christmas party?

Your girlfriend just dumped you. Who do you blame?

A) Your girlfriend, who doesn’t appreciate what a catch the Assistant Night Manager at 7-Eleven is?

B) Your girlfriend’s parents, who kept harping on the fact that you live in your mom’s basement?

C) The public school system that failed to teach your girlfriend that ‘shared warmth’ is a valid concept which, on a cold night in January, might explain why you were in bed with her slut sister.

D) Your girlfriend’s hottie sister who swore she locked the door to her bedroom?

Are we starting to get the big picture on the blame game, finger-pointing Sparky? If not, there's no hope for you. You're probably one of those - GASP - rugged American individuals, and we all know how they are.

Don't be the last one on your block to play The Blame Game. The rules are so simple that even a child can do it. Hell, a child probably invented it! First, you go out and do something incredibly moronic (if your imagination fails you, the examples at the beginning of this article should give you ample inspiration.) Once you're made accountable by the appropriate authorities, trot out your shiny new Blamism, then start shopping for that perfect “survivor” outfit (the word victim is the ultimate in Political Incorrectness) to wear on your Oprah debut. We'll be watching for you.

Don't be a sovereign individual retard, play the blame card. It is, like it or not, an utterly American thing to do.

Update: I'm sorry to report that, 2 years later, The Blame Game is alive and well. In addition to the old, familiar, Blame Game faces, there are some new recipients of the accusatory finger:

Fox News

Tea Partying sovereign individuals

Sarah Palin

Birthers

Infamous Vast Right-Wingnut Conspirators like Beck, Hannity, and Limbaugh

Michele Bachmann

Finally, there are all those new synaptic malfunctions which the psychobabblers keep creating. For instance, Hambo's Hammer regulars might recognize these new psychobabble gems from a recent posting:

If you can’t stop daydreaming, are instinctively passive, and can’t get your brain out of neutral, you’re not a lazy loser who is destined for a long, enRICHing, career in Congress. You’re a victim of "Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Disorder".

If you’re the poster punk for temper tantrums, who flies off the handle over anything, everything, you’re not a chronically angry asshole - unless you're Keith Assholemann, in which case all bets are off. You’re a victim of "Intermittent Explosive Disorder".

If you’re a Tiger Woods-class horndog who must ‘repeatedly act out their sexual fantasies without any thought for the hurt it may cause others’, you’re not a testosterone poisoned jackass. You’re a victim of "Hypersexuality".

If you couldn’t get your wang ‘up’ and raring to go with a crane and a boatload of Viagra, you’re not a limp-dicked wimp. You’re a victim of "Sexual Arousal Disorder".

There’s even a malady for moral meatheads like Brent Bozell, Donny Wildmon, who get their rocks off by being ‘appalled by pornography and other obscenities’. They aren’t mere "Morality Nazis". They’re now Morality Nazis who are victims of "Absexuality".

The psychobabbling head shrinkers do the best they can, but, in this case their best falls woefully short. For example, they missed at least two of the most virulent mental maladies, but I'm ready, willing, and eager to ride to their rescue:

Olbermania: Often mistaken for tourette's syndrome, its primary symptom involves random outbursts of face-contorting, rage-a-holic, gibberish.

Christingles disorder: A malfunction of the central nervous system, it generates pronounced 'tingling' sensations in the victim's lower extremities, at the mention of, or sight of, a teleprompter.

 

Guest Commentary
Source: Hambo's E-Mail Inbox [02/19/10]

Written By: Bradley A. Blakeman

Without the ingenuity of America’s brightest minds and the investment of U.S. taxpayer dollars, there would be no Internet, as we now know it today.

Now, the Obama administration has moved quietly to cede control of the Web from the United States to foreign powers.

Some background: The Internet came into being because of the genius work of Americans Dr.Robert E. Kahn and Dr. Vinton G. Cerf. These men, while working for the Department of Defense in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the early 1970s, conceived, designed, and implemented the idea of "open-architecture networking."

This breakthrough in connectivity and networking was the birth of the Internet.

These two gentlemen had the vision and the brainpower to create a worldwide computer Internet communications network that forever changed the world and how we communicate in it.

They discovered that providing a person with a unique identifier (TCP/IP) that was able to be recognized and interact through a network of servers would allow users to communicate with others.

The servers would use a series of giant receivers to recognize the identifier and connect networks to networks, passing on information from computer to computer in a seamless real-time exchange of information. This new process of communication became know as the "information super highway," aka, the Internet.

Now for the bad news: In an effort to show the world how inclusive, sharing, cooperative, and international America can be, the Obama administration set off on a plan to surrender control and key management of the Internet by the U.S. Department of Commerce and its agents.

The key to the control America has over the Internet is through the management of the Domain Name System (DNS) and the giant servers that service the Internet.

Domain names are managed through an entity named IANA, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. The IANA, which operates on behalf of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is responsible for the global coordination of the DNS, IP addressing, and other Internet protocol resources.

In short, without an IP Address or other essential Internet protocols, a person or entity would not have access to the Internet.

For years, the international community has been pressuring the United States to surrender its control and management of the Internet. They want an international body such as the United Nations or even the International Telecommunications Union, (an entity that coordinates international telephone communications), to manage all aspects of the Internet in behalf of all nations.

The argument advanced for those seeking international control of the Internet is that the Internet has become such a powerful, pervasive, and a dependent form of international communications, that it would be dangerous and inequitable for any one nation to control and manage it.

Just this past spring, within months of Obama's taking office, his administration, through the Department of Commerce, agreed to relinquish some control over IANA and their governance. The Obama administration has agreed to give greater representation to foreign companies and countries on IANA.

This amounts to one small step for internationalism and one giant leap for surrendering America's control over an invention we have every right and responsibility to control and manage.

It is in America's economic and national security interests not to relinquish any control. We are responsible for the control, operation, and functionality of one of the modern world's greatest inventions and most powerful communications network.

What better country to protect the Internet than the United States?

We invented it, and we paid for the research and implementation that made it possible. We are the freest, most tolerant nation on earth, we believe in the fundamental right of free speech, and we practice a free market of commerce and ideas.

America has always been against censorship and has shared its invention with the world without fee or unreasonable or arbitrary restriction. The user fee to operate on the Internet is not one paid to the U.S. government; a consumer pays it to private Internet companies, who provide access to the Internet through servers for their subscribers.

Look no further than China's recent move against Google to censor the Internet, and you can envision what can happen when other nations less free than the United States seek to control the Internet beyond even their own borders.

America needs to wake up. If we lose control over the management of the Internet, we have given away one of our nation's greatest assets with nothing in return to show for it.

The Obama administration's actions will set in motion a slow and complete takeover of the Internet by the United Nations or some other equally U.S.-hostile and unfriendly international body. And once it is gone, it will be gone forever.

The surrender of the Internet will spell disaster for our nation, financially, as well as for safety, security and our standing as a great power that values freedom and the free exchange of ideas and information.

As far as I am concerned, America is still the last best hope for a more peaceful and prosperous world and our president should not be looking for ways to weaken us. Rather, his job is to work to strengthen us and protect our nation's greatest asset our people's creativity and ingenuity.

Bradley A. Blakeman, who was a deputy assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001-20004, teaches Public Policy & Politics & International Affairs at Georgetown University.

Guest Commentary
Source: ALG Daily Grind [02/08/10]

N.C. Schools: "Those Who Erase History…"
By William A. Wilson

It is one thing to forget, ignore or misinterpret our nation's history, but a group of uber-liberal educrats in North Carolina is taking the radical revisionism of America one step further. These politically-correct, taxpayer-funded "thought police" are actually trying to erase American history from our children's textbooks.

What do they want to replace it with? Radical environmental propaganda from left-wing extremists who view American liberties as obstacles to overcome, not safeguards to be defended.

In perhaps the most glaring example to date of our government's descent into socialist madness, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is attempting to remove all American history prior to 1877 from its textbooks, replacing it with a "global studies" curriculum.

Rather than learning about George Washington crossing the Delaware or Abraham Lincoln freeing the slaves (while studying from documents like the Declaration of Independence or the Emancipation Proclamation), high school students in North Carolina would instead be indoctrinated with more multicultural rhetoric and the fuzzy science of climate change (while studying form the Koran and the "Copenhagen Accord").

This sort of raw indoctrination is worse than misguided – it's treasonous.

If this new anti-American curriculum is adopted, American children would no longer learn about the principles on which this nation was established – and the blood that was shed in defense of those principles – they would instead be spoon-fed Obama administration talking points on how intolerant, imperialist America owes a huge financial debt to the rest of the world, one that we can start repaying immediately by helping developing nations "combat global warming."

"What we are trying to do is figure out a way to teach (history) where students are connected to it, where they see the big idea, where they are able to make connections and draw relationships between parts of our history and the present day," the chief academic officer for North Carolina's school system told FOX News.

What rubbish. These government censors are trying to rewrite history, pure and simple.

By removing the entire first century of American history from our children's textbooks, these radicals are doing more than just putting a "liberal spin" on things – they are trying to fundamentally alter the world view of future generations of U.S. citizens. They are trying to rip out American democracy by its roots and replace it with what Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer has dubbed the "New Socialism," the exploitation of climate-based fear-mongering as a means to facilitate a massive wealth transfer from American taxpayers to third-world governments, many of which are hostile to the United States.

Joseph Goebbels would no doubt be proud of such a curriculum – and the objective behind it.

Unable to convince the "America of today" to blindly follow Obama's socialist vision, these "Green Nazis" are endeavoring to create an "America of tomorrow" that is more receptive to their agenda – even as the scientific case for climate change continues to crumble all around them.

This attempted indoctrination must not stand. Not only must this so-called curriculum be rejected, but the educrats pushing it must be dismissed and never allowed near our children again.

An abiding respect and appreciation for America's bedrock freedoms and founding wisdom are the only things currently keeping these socialist hordes from overrunning this county – which is no doubt why they are now being targeted.

America was founded on a set of fundamental principles – a core collection of "self-evident" truths that forms the basis of who we are as a people. We cannot allow those truths to be erased – or those principles to be discarded – for anything, least of all the latest liberal zeitgeist.

Bill Wilson is the president of Americans for Limited Government.

Guest Commentary
Source: Hambo’s E-Mail Inbox

ANATOMY OF A FAILED PRESIDENCY!

The following is an interesting article and I wonder how long Dr. Geoffrey P. Hunt can remain at NIH once the powers that be get wind of this article.

Dr. Hunt is a social and cultural anthropologist. He has had nearly 30 years experience in planning, conducting, and managing research in the field of youth studies, and drug and alcohol research. Currently Dr. Hunt is a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Scientific Analysis and the Principal Investigator on three National Institutes on Health projects. He is also a writer for American Thinker.

Another Failed Presidency
An article from American Thinker by Geoffrey P. Hunt

Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson. In the modern era, we've seen several failed presidencies--led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ. Failed presidents have one strong common trait-- they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out.

Of course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding a shove into oncoming traffic by his own party. Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant overture to China.

But, Barack Obama is failing. Failing big. Failing fast. And failing everywhere: foreign policy, domestic initiatives, and most importantly, in forging connections with the American people. The incomparable Dorothy Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it: He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them. Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says he is failing because he has lost control of his message, and is overexposed. Clarice Feldman of American Thinker produced a dispositive commentary showing that Obama is failing because fundamentally he is neither smart nor articulate; his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame.

But, there is something more seriously wrong: How could a new president riding in on a wave of precedented promise and goodwill have forfeited his tenure and become a lame duck in six months? His poll ratings are in free fall. In generic balloting, the Republicans have now seized a five point advantage. This truly is unbelievable. What's going on?

No narrative. Obama doesn't have a narrative. No, not a narrative about himself. He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else. But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn't connect with us. He doesn't have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us. All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans. We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are. Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don't align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, and Reagan.

But not this president. It's not so much that he's a phony, knows nothing about economics, and is historically illiterate and woefully small minded for the size of the task--all contributory of course. It's that he's not one of us. And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper.

Moreover, he doesn't command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don't add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don't make sense and don't correspond with our experience.

In the meantime, while we've been struggling to take a measurement of this man, he's dissed just about every one of us--financiers, energy producers, banks, insurance executives, police officers, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, post office workers, and anybody else who has a non-green job. Expect Obama to lament at his last press conference in 2012: "For those of you I offended, I apologize. For those of you who were not offended, you just didn't give me enough time; if only I'd had a second term, I could have offended you too."

Mercifully, the Founders at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 devised a useful remedy for such a desperate state--staggered terms for both houses of the legislature and the executive. An equally abominable Congress can get voted out next year. With a new Congress, there's always hope of legislative gridlock until we vote for president again two short years after that.

Yes, small presidents do fail, Barack Obama among them. The coyotes howl but the wagon train keeps rolling along.

Guest Commentary
Source: Hambo’s E-Mail Inbox [01/28/10]

[Uncle Jimbo at Black 5 knows this warrior and verifies the legitimacy of his prose. Case closed.]

Letter To President Obama
By Harold Estes

Dear President Obama,

My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me for the first time don't believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert.

I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos'n Mate. Now I live in a "rest home" located on the western end of Pearl Harbor, allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.

One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man. So here goes.

I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do, but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.

I can't figure out what country you are the president of.

You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like: "We're no longer a Christian nation" "America is arrogant" -- (Your wife even announced to the world, "America is mean- spirited." Please tell her to try preaching that nonsense to 23 generations of our war dead buried all over the globe who died for no other reason than to free a whole lot of strangers from tyranny and hopelessness.)

I'd say shame on the both of you, but I don't think you like America, nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do, for the obvious gifts this country has given you. To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.

After 9/11 you said, "America hasn't lived up to her ideals."

Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British? Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man, that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War? I hope you didn't mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers, husbands, and a lot of fellas I knew personally died for in WWII, because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around, because we stand for freedom.

I don't think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.

Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man.

Shape up and start acting like an American. If you don't, I'll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue. You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.

And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don't want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts, who was putting up a fight? You don't mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don't want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.

One more thing. I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life, but you're the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you're not in this fight to win, then get out. The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you're thinking of.

You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president.

You're not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That's not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now.

And I sure as hell don't want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.

Sincerely,
Harold B. Estes

Consequences
Source: Hambo’s Hammer [01/18/10]

We’ve all heard the mantra that says we must be responsible for our own actions. This axiom means weighing our options, making our decision, then playing that hand until objective reality gives us our report card. How? Life grades us by rewarding, or punishing, us with the consequences for our own actions. Those consequences are a vital part of the ongoing learning process that’s a thrill-inducing feature of life.

This repetitive cycle of actions and consequences is a great character builder. It’s also a spiffy way to expand your vocabulary, when you start learning - and deploying - all those highly expressive, cathartic, four-letter words. Like it or not, you’re not in full blown character building mode, until you start swearing. That’s a sure sign that you’ve just added a whole new level to your character.

As painful as consequences can be, they are a necessary part of life. That’s why it majorly pisses me off, when the Nanny State interferes by softening the blow of adverse consequences, or bringing you down if the consequences are beneficial, enriching.

* I don’t need some Fat Nazi weenie getting between me and what I choose to eat. I don’t need their help on transfats, calorie counts or fat content. I know what’s good and what isn’t. I’ll pick my own foods and let life’s report card - those consequences - tell me how I did.

* I don’t need some Smoke Nazi scumbag hounding me about those cancer sticks. The consequences of smoking are no secret, so they need to get the hell off my back and let me make my own life choices. As a non-smoker - MY CHOICE, not THEIRS - I’m tempted to start smoking, just to piss off the bastards.

* I don’t need some job-for-life Elected Tormentors telling me that lying about my net worth to purchase a house in a market that reeks of ‘bubble about to burst’ is a crappy idea. If I’m that stupid, I deserve to lose my shirt, and my house. Their assistance is not wanted or needed.

* I don’t need some Nanny State Nitwit to tell me that yammering on a cell phone, or texting, while driving is an accident waiting to happen. If I do either, or both, sooner or later I’m going to cause an accident, then the justice system, and my insurance company, will add several levels to my character with some very adverse consequences.

* I know what I’m willing to watch and can determine if a given program is acceptable for any tykes who might be in the room. I’ll handle those decisions, and any adverse, ‘they said a bad word’, consequences. I don’t need the Nanny State’s help with my boob tube and boom box choices.

Where consequences are concerned, nobody eludes them like the same Elected Tormentors who keep intruding on the consequences, adverse or beneficial, of your life. They steal your rightful property, squander it on the most insane crap, then act shocked when they run up an ocean of red ink. Normally, life would mete out harsh punishment. Normally, but not when you’re an Elected Tormentor. They blame it all on the ‘the rich’, rampaging Tea Party Patriots, Dick ‘Darth’ Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, or George W. Bush, steal even more money, then do it all over again.

A lot of times, consequences suck. I get that, but they’re my consequences and I’ll deal with them, myself, without the Nanny State’s help. Unhappily, too many Americans like letting the Nanny State soften life’s blows. That’s why this nation conceived in liberty is rapidly losing its competitive edge.

It’s time to get back to basics. It's time to kick the Nanny State out of our lives. It's time to grow the stones to face life’s ups and downs without some Elected Tormentor rat bastard sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong. Butt out, Elected Tormentor Sparky. That goes double for you, Prompter Punk.

Parting shot: While I’m bloviating about consequences, I’d be remiss, if I didn’t invoke Neal Boortz, at least once. Neal is fond of reminding us that ‘elections have consequences’. He’s right, and that’s especially true in the Bay State where chad punchers will select a replacement for Teddy ‘The Swimmer’ in the United States Senate.

Pollsters have been working overtime devising new loaded questions to elicit their pre-determined responses. As usual, the results vary dramatically, from a ‘dead heat’ to a ‘stunning upset by Elephant Clan challenger Scott Brown’. Polling is an egregiously inexact, unreliable, endeavor, at best, which explains why I don’t trust them, so I'm not buying any of this self-serving 'spin'.

All the usual Libertard suspects seem to be bracing themselves for an upset victory, but I’m not buying that, either. If Demoncrat candidate Martha Coakley reaps the consequences that she sowed with a pathetic campaign, Libertards like Chris ‘The Tingler’ Matthews will say ‘See, I told you so’. If, on the other hand, this Coakley wench wins - and she should in a predominantly Demoncrat state - the Libertards will proclaim that Prompter Punk, singlehandedly, snatched victory from the yawning jaws of defeat.

Is a Demoncrat win a knockout punch for pissed off rational, American adults? Hardly. The fact that Scott Brown scared Prompter Punk out of the Red Shed means that We the People are on the right track and far from ‘irrelevant’.

Is a Scott Brown victory a game changer? I doubt it, but it does make things a tad harder for the Demoncrats running roughshod over our liberty.

Update: When Scott Brown won, he kept ‘game changer’ in play. Does this make it a new ball game inside the D.C. Beltway? It’s still too soon to tell.

Guest Commentary I
Source: PIGster Swine Flew

The five cornerstones of the socialist apocalypse

1. Ignorance. Not only their own arrogant ignorance but a vigorous campaign to keep you ignorant. They deliberately ignore history that does not match their own myopic world view. It does not matter to them that every place that has moved more socialist invariably ends up worse off. If unable to ignore it they show their arrogance by saying it won’t happen this time because they’re smarter. If truly cornered they will resort to changing the subject, infantile name calling, and non-existent “facts” that “everyone” knows are true. They refuse to recognize the U.S. Constitution and if not denigrating it they refer to it as a living document that can be changed by whim. The recent secret meetings on health care “reform” show they know the only way to pass this turkey is to keep you ignorant. They teach your children all of the worst of our history and none of the best. They hide the real climate data. Need I go on?

2. Apathy. They need your apathy. They need you to believe you can’t do anything. They need you to sit on your butt while they steal the country. They need you to think ACORN is not a problem. They need you to not vote, thinking that all politicians are just as bad. They need you to watch “reality” TV instead of paying attention to what is going on. Most of all they need you to keep your mouth shut.

3. Fear. It is important for them to keep you afraid. A good crisis is invaluable to them and if one does not appear they invent one. If they can get you to believe there is a crisis you won’t read the small print. The health care crisis. The homeless crisis. Global warming crisis. The aids crisis. Etc. Etc. Etc. As soon as you get over one, they come up with another. They prevent good people from running by making them afraid all of the petty things they did will be exposed. They shut people up with the fear of ridicule.

4. Greed. They promise something for nothing. They prey on the poor by telling them the rich are rich because they took that money from the poor. They promise the government will support them. They created class envy and feed it every chance they get. They need you to stand out there with your hand out expecting someone else, not you, is going to fix the problem. They come up with imaginary rights to home ownership, health care, and the idea that you deserve something more than a chance. When the wheels fall off, as they always do, it’s always someone else’s fault. There are never consequences for bad judgment unless you are rich, white, conservative, or against them in any way.

5. Arrogance. Blind, absolute, monumental arrogance. They are smarter than you. They know what is best for you. They speak better than you. They care more than you. They truly think that they deserve to be elected. Hillary was crowned the smartest woman in the world. Obama’s moronic apology tour was called confident leadership and diplomacy. By the way, as a side note, the best definition I have found for diplomacy is saying nice doggy while reaching for a club. Nancy stood up in front of us and said the house health care debate was the most open in history. If elected they think they are your leaders, not your employees. They really believe they can get everyone to play nice. If you complain it is because you are too stupid to understand, a liar, cheat, right wing extremist, and/or domestic terrorist. If nothing else works they change the definition of words and blame the republicans.

It is up to you. Don’t be ignorant, don’t let you school system teach lies, and don’t keep your mouth shut when you are being told lies. Find some someone who is willing to put up with the election process and make sure he or she understands the Constitution. Don’t be a single issue voter. If the only thing you care about is abortion or guns then two things happen. One is that the candidate will either lie to you to get your vote or spend several minutes wasting your time saying nothing. Two is all the other things that you don’t care about will bite you after the election. A good, conservative, candidate that will listen can be swayed.

Do get off you butt, do present your point of view, even in the face of ridicule, get the facts and have them ready. Don’t ask the government for anything you can fix yourself. Every time you are moved to say “there aught to be a law” stop, there probably already is. Write your paper, write your congressman, and write your friends. Listen to all points of view, base your point of view on hard facts. Give a helping hand where you can. Go to a TEA party.

Guest Commentary II
Source: Hambo’s E-Mail Inbox

[Official disclaimer: I won’t swear that Dr. Tanay wrote this, but I doubt that it matters. It’s well written and says what needs to be said, needs to be read, and needs to be understood.]

This is by far the best explanation of the Muslim terrorist situation I have ever read. His references to past history are accurate and clear. Not long, easy to understand, and well worth the read. The author of this email is said to be Dr. Emanuel Tanay, a well-known and well-respected psychiatrist.

A GERMAN'S VIEW ON ISLAM
A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. 'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.'

We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honour-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.

The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous. Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China 's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet. And who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun. Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts--the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this on and on and on! Let us hope that thousands, world-wide, read this and think about it, and send it on - before it's too late.

Emanuel Tanay, M.D.

Guest Commentary
Source: Hambo’s E-Mail Inbox

[Disclaimer: I won’t swear that this item contains any legitimate Lee Iacocca quotes, and I’m not sure it really matters. Whoever wrote it is saying what needs to be said and this rant is, therefore, PIG-worthy.]

Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from its death throes? He's now 82 years old and has a new book, 'Where Have All The Leaders Gone?

Lee Iacocca Says:

Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder! We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course...'

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America , not the Titanic'. I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore...

The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs... While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the 'America' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. The Biggest 'C' is Crisis! (Iacocca elaborates on nine C's of leadership, with crisis being the first.)

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A hell of a mess, so here's where we stand.

Were immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving.

Obama is running the biggest deficit in the history of the country.

We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs.

Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble due to poor leadership in school districts.

Our borders are like sieves.

The middle class is being squeezed every which way.

These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo?

We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.

Everyone is hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on NBC news or CNN news will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough? Hey, Im not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope - I believe in America . In my lifetime, I've had the privilege of living through some of Americas greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: The 'Great Depression,' 'World War II,' the 'Korean War,' the 'Kennedy Assassination,' the 'Vietnam War,' the 1970's oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11.

If I've learned one thing, it's this: 'You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play.

Only a few people in the US know you elected an illegal alien to be President! A Muslim at that! And he jumped right in destroying the US from the inside. Osama bin Laden is smiling from ear to ear because he is winning the war on terror and you helped by voting this man in as President!

That's the challenge I'm raising in this book.. It's a "Call to Action" for people who, like me, believe in America '. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So lets shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had enough.'

Make your own contribution by sending this to everyone you know and care about. Its our country, folks, and it's our future. Our future is at stake!!

If you don't think your involvement is necessary you are wrong! Obama does not have America's best interest in mind, only observe what he has done so far. Enough is Enough!

Remembering Liberty
Source: Hambo’s Scribbler Archives

According to the same, inside the D.C. Beltway, Elephant Clan asshats who condemned us to this unrelenting neo-Marxist hell, the era of small, unintrusive government is over. They should know, because they’re the ones who helped drive a stake through its heart with one intrusive, big government stinker after another.

Is a smaller, liberty-enhancing, properly-constitutional government yesterday’s news? Is it dead, buried, and rotting away in an unmarked grave? Has the political spectrum shifted so far to the left that it will never find its way back? Would a 21st century Goldwater or Reagan be labeled an extremist and hounded from the public arena? The RINOs and Libertards want you to think so.

Has the Nanny State’s social engineering produced a critical mass of caterwauling, "what have you done for me lately" Statists? Perhaps. There do seem to be a lot more parasites eager for their turn to play victim and get slopped at the public trough.

Does that reality mean this sovereign individual is ready to give up the fight? Hardly. Before we start shoveling dirt on the Gipper’s shining city on the hill, let’s take a walk down memory lane with some of my favorite passages from two of Reagan’s most memorable speeches:

1st Inaugural
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.

We are a nation that has a government--not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.

It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the federal government and those reserved to the states or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that the federal government did not create the states; the states created the federal government.

Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it's not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work--work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.

It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we're too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope.

Farewell Address
Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: "We the people." "We the people" tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us. "We the people" are the driver, the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the people" tell the government what it is allowed to do. "We the people" are free. This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I've tried to do these past eight years.

Moving on to Barry Goldwater, I’ll pummel the canard that his ‘time has passed’ with a few of my favorite Goldwater quotes.

“I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is "needed'' before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents "interests,'' I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can.”

Here are two exceptional passages from his 1964 acceptance speech:

"Rather than useful jobs in our country, people have been offered bureaucratic "make work," rather than moral leadership, they have been given bread and circuses, spectacles, and, yes, they have even been given scandals. Tonight there is violence in our streets, corruption in our highest offices, aimlessness among our youth, anxiety among our elders and there is a virtual despair among the many who look beyond material success for the inner meaning of their lives. Where examples of morality should be set, the opposite is seen. Small men, seeking great wealth or power, have too often and too long turned even the highest levels of public service into mere personal opportunity."

"Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. Their mistaken course stems from false notions of equality, ladies and gentlemen. Equality, rightly understood, as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism."

I respectfully submit that time hasn’t rendered Barry Goldwater’s philosophy obsolete. Time didn’t invalidate his ideas. The only problem I have with Barry Goldwater is that he landed in the Oval Office Derby 44 years before we really needed him.

These ideas don’t come with a "use by" date. They are timeless. Instead of surrendering without a fight, America’s remaining sovereign individuals need to redouble our efforts to take this ideas out of the dust bin, polish them up, then re-introduce them into the ongoing political discussion. We won’t settle for someone who pretends to wear Reagan’s mantle. We need to demand someone who promotes the vision of minimized government and maximized government as envisioned by the Founding Fathers, Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.

Guest Commentary
Source: Hambo’s E-mail Inbox [12/19/09]

[This rant is strictly take it or leave it. Conspiracy theory alert. This is NOT a DRILL.]

This analysis by an Australian legal group, expresses a conspiracy theory that deserves some thought on our part.

Yes, read carefully and think about this.

Who are the people behind President Barack Obama?.....or can this man be such a magician to con everyone into believing that he is who he says he is? Can a man with really no background at all, other than being a Community Organizer make the decisions that have come out of the White House this past year? I don't think so! Read what a group of attorneys in Australia have to say about this "unknown"!

The No Bull Newsletter is written by a group of attorneys in Australia . You may learn more about them by googling the name "No Bull Newsletter." This article does give you a great deal to think about!

The NoBull Newsletter

Who's Really Running the Show?

I have been having a nagging intuition lately that something is not quite right about Barack Obama. I am not suggesting there is something wrong with the man, per se. Nor am I talking about the crazy, even dangerous, policies coming out of the White House. No, lately, I have been wondering if Barack Obama is, in fact, the person who is actually functioning as President of the United States.

I mean, there's no doubt that he fills the position of POTUS but is he really the one in command? The man actually seems lost at times. He seems to be reacting to ideas about which he does not really have a clue. He has left the writing of this health care bill to Nancy Pelosi's House of Representatives and she, in turn, has farmed the writing out to several fairly radical community action groups. When questioned about health care, he seems not to know or understand the details and even with his silver-tongue seems unable to demonstrate any leadership on the issue.

With respect to Afghanistan and the rest of our foreign policy, he seems equally lost. Especially when it comes to dealing with other world leaders. He makes beautiful speeches but seems to be unable to cut deals which benefit our nation. He seems to be acting as a pawn of much more clever world leaders.

The more I watch the man, the more I see a person who appears to be the "face" of some other entity or group. He seems like a "front man". And it is becoming clear that his strings are being pulled by someone else. He does not appear to be the man in command of the ship of state. At least, he is not in the driver's seat.

You might recall that people said about Bush that he was a front man for the neo-cons and that it was really Dick Cheney that was running the show. It turns out that Dick Cheney was not as influential in Bush's second term as many thought but, perhaps it is true that the neo-cons, whoever they may be, were pulling some of Bush's strings.

On the other hand, with Obama, it does not appear that there is anyone who is visible to we the people or the media who is pulling the strings. If they are there, they are not in elected positions as Cheney was. They are better hidden than that.

We know that he has been and remains surrounded by life-long radicals, professed communists and anti-capitalists, some of whom he has even appointed as czars in his administration. Thirty six czars, to date. But is it Obama who is picking the czars or is it the czars who are running the show and propping up Obama as their front man?

I know all this may sound crazy but, really, when you look at the man without the idolatry and media worship, does he really look like he knows what he is doing? Does he seem to have a direction? Firm convictions? Something he deeply believes in? The more he talks now, the more his words seems empty of content. Platitudes about America and the American people which, when he says them, simply do not ring true. They are words being mouthed but not believed by him.

Okay, so maybe he is really clever, is firmly moving the ship to the left while mouthing the words of a centrist but I don't think so. What I used to think was that he was a really slick conman who was making us watch his left hand while he was manipulating us with his right. But, now I don't think that so much. I think the man is more plastic than real. Now I begin to see him as the "Great and Powerful Oz": a fearsome presence who is being manipulated by men behind the curtain. And while Obama does not have strong convictions, the men behind the curtain do. And they are moving this country down a dangerous path. All the while, we are being distracted by Obama and what he says and does.

Okay, maybe I am simply a mildly paranoid conspiracy theorist. Why, you might ask, have Obama up there? Why not have one of the actual people behind the curtain run for President. Well, being a paranoid conspiracy theorist, I can come up with an answer to that question. Those other people behind the curtain have backgrounds that are so radical that they would never have made it past the first few days of a campaign. Additionally, they are life-long community organizers and they know what kind of face can be effective if you wish to radically change the nation. First, you need a black man to gain the support of the vast black minority. Second, you need a pale skinned black man so as not to be too much of a threat to white Americans. For the same reasons, you need a mixed race man who allies himself with the poor and down-trodden. And you need someone who speaks well enough to co-opt the language of the right and appear to be a uniter, not a divider. Someone who sees, or at least can articulate, both sides of an issue. This is the kind of man you would pick to be your front man so that while you move things drastically and dramatically left, the vast majority of Americans will not believe that was the intention of the moderate appearing front man.

Yes, Obama was a community organizer. Yes, he could be clever enough to have all this be his idea. But he really wasn't a community organizer for that long. And when he was, he didn't do anything truly radical. It was more a time during which he was being trained than a time when he was driven by a personal sense of commitment to anything in particular. There are people who are now in his government who have been community organizers and radical left wing activists for 20-30 years. These people have deeply ingrained commitments to changing the system and have been actively trying to do so for all that time. Obama is not one of them.

In my view, Obama has been trained and used as a puppet by others for a long time. His successes seem to have come too easily, as if they have been orchestrated. His life appears to have been pre-planned. I mean, Harvard Law Review without publishing a single paper of note. That is unusual. A community organizer for a short time, a State legislator for a few years, a freshman US Senator, a convention key-note speaker, and then POTUS. How does that happen? A person with zero governmental administrative experience is running the entire government of the United States.

How do 1100 page documents get developed and put out in such short order? Who is writing all these proposals? Does it not seem that something is just not quite right here? Forget about the specifics of the policies for the moment. Have you seen this level of activity in the first few months of any other administration in your lifetime? Does Obama seem like the kind of person that could manage this level of activity in so short a time? Too much does not make sense here.

So, slowly but surely, I am becoming convinced that it is not Barack Obama who is running the show. The White House has been captured by a group of people who are using Barack Obama as their front man. He is nothing but an articulate but empty suit. We have to start looking behind the curtains to find out who is really controlling the "great and powerful Obama".

Something to think about....

Guest Commentary
Source: Hambo’s E-mail Inbox

[Old Frank launched another PIG-worthy gem, this week.]

More Awful, Horrid, Stupid, B.S. from the Goracle and the Main Fault Again Missed by the MSM

Dear Friends:

Day before yesterday, the Goracle was pontificating before the world’s worthies at Copenhagen and erroneously claimed that a prominent scientist had forecast a 75% probability that the Arctic ice polar cap would be completely gone by 2014. The scientist immediately refuted Gore’s remarks, denying any such precise prescience on his part. The mainstream media caught that and reported it; but, what they missed from Gore’s truly idiotic remarks was the stupidity of his follow-on sentence: “…There are more than a billion people on the planet who get more than half of their drinking water – many of them all of their drinking water from the seasonal melting of snow melt and glacier ice...”

Has this boob – or the any of the MSM ever looked at an atlas? What connection would there be between a melting polar ice cap and the drinking water of “more than a billion people…”? In the first place, the arctic is scarcely populated. There aren’t any farms up there and only a few hardy Innuits, Siberian natives, Eskimos, Amerindians and Laplanders across the Arctic Circle survive by chasing down seals, whales, and an occasional caribou. No billions there, or even millions either. Arctic ice, if it fails to form or melts, remains as salt water – which no one can or does drink.

Now, all can agree that glacial and annual snow melt is an important source for large numbers of people around the world – but those folks are NOT at the north pole. And, “warming” has little to do with glacial retreat or lack of snowpack. (For those who followed my earlier paper on the nonsense of the retreating snow cap on Kilimanjaro and adiabatic lapse rates, please forgive the repetition here.) As our atmosphere thins as altitude increases, it loses its ability to hold heat, and gets drier. It does this at a long established scientifically proved given rate called the adiabatic lapse rate. So any mountain range with peaks at 12000 feet or higher will be snow capped all year long– if any moisture falls or has fallen during the year. If the climate is in a drier cycle (hardly a new, or unique phenomenon -- recall the Biblical record of Joseph who read Pharaoh’s dream of the seven fat cows and the seven lean cows) there is less moisture to fall as rain or snow – and thus less snow to melt at the lower altitudes of the mountain ranges. As most Californians realize, the extended drought there has had an impact on snow pack in the Cascades and is the cause of the resultant drawdown of the reservoirs that serve California’s major cities. Warming has nothing to do with it. California has always been warm.

So Algore conflates Arctic melting cycles with drinking water in California and the MSM completely misses the foolishness of his statement! With the willing assistance of the media, the Algores of this world are frightening our children with their horrific distortions and falsified “science.” The high priests of warming insist that 2,000 scientists agree with them that the planet is in peril because of mankind’s impact on climate – regardless of what their own e-mails and databases reveal to the contrary. Meanwhile there are 30,000 plus physical scientists in the U.S. alone, who DISAGREE with them. The “science” is hardly “settled” and the majority of participants at Copenhagen are politicians with no sense of physics, or science of any kind, and who are salivating at the prospect of greater control over our lives and ever higher taxes with which to enforce such controls, under the false guise of anthropogenic “climate change.”

Al Gore is a charlatan – a particularly dangerous one because he believes his own b.s.

Share this if you wish.

Old Frank

A Sovereign Individual Bitch-Slaps The AARP
Source: PIG’s E-mail Inbox [12/10/09]

[We’re told that this letter to a Mr. Rand, Executive Director of the AARP is, Snopes certified as ‘real’, but I’m not sure that it really matters. What does matter is the fact that the writer(s) of this gem NAILED IT.]

Dear Mr. Rand,

Recently you sent us a letter encouraging us to renew our lapsed membership in AARP by the requested date. I know it is not what you were looking for, but this is the most honest response I can give you. Our gap in coverage is merely a microscopic symptom of the real problem, a deepening lack of faith.

While we have proudly maintained our membership for several years and have long admired the AARP goals and principles, regrettably, we can no longer endorse it's abdication of our values. Your letter specifically stated that we can count on AARP to speak up for our rights, yet the voice we hear is not ours. Your offer of being kept up to date on important issues through DIVIDED WE FAIL presents neither an impartial view nor the one we have come to embrace. We do believe that when two parties agree all the time on everything presented to them, one is probably not necessary. But, when the opinions and long term goals are diametrically opposed, the divorce is imminent. This is the philosophy which spawned our 200 years of government.

Once upon a time, we looked forward to being part of the senior demographic. We also looked to AARP to provide certain benefits and give our voice a power we could not possibly hope to achieve on our own. AARP gave us a sense of belonging which we no longer enjoy. The Socialist politics practiced by the Obama administration and empowered by AARP serves only to raise the blood pressure my medical insurance strives to contain. Clearly a conflict of interest there!

We do not understand the AARP posture, feel greatly betrayed by the guiding forces that we expected to map out our senior years and leave your ranks with a great sense of regret. We mitigate that disappointment with the relief of knowing that we are not contributing to the problem anymore by renewing our membership. There are numerous other organizations which offer discounts without threatening our way of life or offending our sensibilities.

This Presidential Administration scares the living daylights out of us. Not just for ourselves, but for our proud and bloodstained heritage. But even more importantly for our children and grandchildren. Washington has rendered Soylent Green a prophetic cautionary tale rather than a nonfiction scare tactic. I have never in my life endorsed any militant or radical groups, yet now I find myself listening to them. I don't have to agree with them to appreciate the fear which birthed their existence. Their borderline insanity presents little more than a balance to the voice of the Socialist Mindset in power. Perhaps I became American by a great stroke of luck in some cosmic uterine lottery, but in my adulthood I CHOOSE to embrace it and nurture the freedoms it represents as well as the responsibilities it requires.

Your website generously offers us the opportunity to receive all communication in Spanish. ARE YOU KIDDING??? Someone has broken into our 'house', invaded our home without our invitation or consent. The President has insisted we keep the perpetrator in comfort and learn the perp language so we can communicate our reluctant welcome to them.

I DON'T choose to welcome them.
I DON'T choose to support them.
I DON'T choose to educate them.
I DON'T choose to medicate them, pay for their food or clothing.

American home invaders get arrested.

Please explain to me why foreign lawbreakers can enjoy privileges on American soil that Americans do not get?

Why do some immigrants have to play the game to be welcomed and others only have to break & enter to be welcomed?

We travel for a living. Walt hauls horses all over this great country, averaging over 10,000 miles a month when he is out there. He meets more people than a politician on caffeine overdose. Of all the many good folks he enjoyed on this last 10,000 miles, this trip yielded only ONE supporter of the current administration. One of us is out of touch with mainstream America . Since our poll is conducted without funding, I have more faith in it than one which is power driven.

We have decided to forward this to everyone on our mailing list, and will encourage them to do the same. With several hundred in my address book, I have every faith that the eventual exponential factor will make a credible statement to you.

I am disappointed as hell.
I am scared as hell.
I am MAD as hell, and I'm NOT gonna take it anymore!

Walt & Cyndy

Hambo Rant of the Week
Source: Hambo’s Hammer [12/06/09]

Questions

Here, in no particular order, are some burning, pagan scribbler questions.

Item 1
Messiah Barry and his merry band of Marxists are headed across the pond again, to pick up his Piece of Crap prize, then spread his special brand of joy at the Copenhagen Climate Confab. I have no problem with Barry getting out of Dodge, since it’s the most civilized thing he can do. I do, however, wonder why we the people keep letting him back in the country, after he leaves.

Item 2
By all reports, we the people are paying a very high price to protect Capitol Hill from a terrorist attack. Why are we so worried about some rampaging Jihadikaze attacking the Capitol from the outside, when there are 535 asshats already inside the building who TERRORIZE us on a DAILY basis?

Item 3
Iran is pissing and moaning about ‘religious tolerance’, because Swiss voters imposed a constitutional ban on building new minarets inside their country. When a ‘behead all infidels and nuke the Jews’ outpost of 7th century supernaturalism starts spouting drivel about religious tolerance, why isn’t everyone laughing like a mental patient and nominating Mahmoud al-Gilligan for a comedian of the year award?

Item 4
For the next week, all the Globally Warmed moonbats will be trading reality-insulated whoppers in Copenhagen. Instead of news vans, cameras, and microphones, why aren’t we deploying an army of straightjacket wielding mental health professionals to round them up, then cart them off to the proverbial ‘controlled environment’?

Item 5
I keep reading about major Sanctuary City of Angels water mains rupturing. The so-called experts can’t explain it, but I might be able to give them a kick in the right direction. Has anyone bothered to compute the destructive power of the gravity well generated by Kim Kardashian’s colossal caboose?

Item 6
How warped is Capitol Hill, when a fringe dwelling funster like Ron Paul is the sanest one of the bunch?

Item 7
Wouldn’t it be much, much, cheaper for the Crash Test Dummy to hire high priced call girls to haul his ashes when he feels the need?

Item 8
Wouldn’t it be much simpler, for all concerned, if one of Tiger’s posse simple issued a list - a very SHORT list - of waitresses whom the Crash Test Dummy didn’t bone?

Item 9
Given America's dangerous libertard tilt, is it really safe for Oprah to relocate her fat ass to the LEFT COAST?

Item 10
Now that the Colonistas have transformed the once 'Golden' State into a third world cess pool, is there some heretofore undisclosed, compelling, reason we shouldn't give Mexifornia back to Mexico?

Guest Commentary
Source: Our E-Mail Inbox

I don’t know who wrote this, nor do I care. Whoever it is NAILED it.

George Bush Was an Idiot... or Was He?

If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how he inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?

If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan's holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?

If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent "Austrian language," would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?

If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?

If George W. Bush had miss-spelled the word "advice" would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potatoe as proof of what a dunce he is?

If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?

If George W. Bush's administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?

If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans , would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?

If George W. Bush had created the position of 32 Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is happening in America, would you have approved.

If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?

If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?

So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can't think of anything? Don't worry. He's done all this in just a few months – so you'll have three years plus to come up with an answer.

George W. Bush certainly had his faults and his share of bad decisions, but nothing in the order of what Obama creating.

 

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