The Burka Cannot Cover Perry

No, I am not talking about Perry Hood, the (near?) octogenarian insane socialist from Lewes, Delaware, although I would pay a Philippine Peso to see him in a burqa. No, this is about Texas Governor Rick Perry and the completely out of control, criminal, corrupt, Left-Wing lunatics in Austin. (There’s a reason “they” say “Keep Austin Weird.”)

In case you have been living under a rock, Travis County DA Lehmberg got busted driving on the wrong side of the road with a BAC of .238, or nearly 3 times the legal limit. She then tried to use her position of authority as a bludgeon to get out of her criminality. Among other things, “get me your boss”, spitting at people, kicking things, having to be placed in full restraints while seated all describe Travis County DA Lehmberg’s activities while drunk.

“You’re going to ruin my political career.” Yeah, I think you did that yourself, you belligerent fool, other than the fact you work in Travis County. Keep Austin Weird. “I’m a District Attorney, I’m a District Attorney.” Continuous power-play by the drunk criminal DA of Austin.

And Travis County DA Lehmberg refused to resign her position as chief Law Enforcement Officer in Austin, and head of the “kill the political corruption” unit for the whole of Texas. Governor Perry declared she needs to go, or her office will not get the money for the “kill the political corruption” unit that is normally sent from the budget of the State of Texas to the budget of the DA of Travis County. Imagine that. A convicted criminal is ordered to step aside or money from all the taxpayers of the entire state of Texas won’t be sent to the convicted criminal. And since the convicted criminal doesn’t like when the Governor tells her she is in no position to judge whether other politicians are corrupt, she decides to work to file bogus Felony charges against the person who thinks a convicted criminal is not the type of person who should be looking for corrupt politicians.

I have come up with a solution of my own. Move the “investigate corrupt politicians” unit to neighboring Bell County. It’s right next door to Travis County. And it’s growing rapidly. And it’s not hyper-Left-Wing. Just take the power completely away from those who destroyed Tom DeLay for purely political reasons, and is trying to destroy Rick Perry for purely political reasons. There are multiple years of evidence Travis County (Keep Austin Weird) cannot be expected to have integrity or Honor in their investigations.

So, how did I come up with the title of this article? Where does the Burka come in? Well, now that you asked, Paul Burka is an editor of a dead-tree magazine in Travis County, more notably called Austin, Texas. Keep Austin weird. Two years ago, Paul Burka wrote an amazingly dishonest and agenda-fed article attacking, among others, Governor Rick Perry. Rick Perry, who was the Texas campaign chief for Algore’s campaign to be President. Rick Perry, who just a few short years ago was a card-carrying Democrat. Rick Perry, who dead-tree-magazine editor Paul Burka declared a radical Right-Wing insurgent with no civic interest.

And here’s how I fisked Paul Burka’s article two years ago:
______________________________________

Editor/Journalist/Pundit Paul Burka ( @paulburka ): Research 0, Integrity 0, Propaganda 100

 

(This article made “Post of the Day” for Monday, July 9 at Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion.  Professor Jacobson called it “What’s under that Burka?”)

 

Paul Burka is the Senior Executive Editor of Texas Monthly, a dead tree magazine with an online footprint. And Paul Burka likes to think of himself as better than us plebes. I’ll show you that very clearly throughout this article. But first, let’s quantify Paul Burka just a wee bit, shall we? In writing about the Ted Cruz/David Dewhurst debate in which Burka declared Dewhurst the winner, Burka had this little gem which gives everyone a glimpse into his heart and soul:

[I just want to point out here that the bailouts worked extremely well, that they kept the American automobile industry alive through the worst of the recession, that most, if not all, of the money has been paid back, not only in the auto industry but also in the financial industry, and that the opposition to them is an example of how ideology can be blinding, even when we know all of the facts. Isn’t it clear to everyone by now that the bailouts saved the international financial system?–pb]

That is indeed the position of the radical Leftist establishment, Liberals, Progressives, Socialists, Communists, Fascists, Mainstream Media, and propagandists (brought to you in triplicate by the Redundant Department of Redundancy). That is not at all the position of Conservatives, mainstream Republicans, or even Ruling Class Republicans. It is also not at all true. Ford did not take any Government bailout and it’s doing just fine, thank you very much. The fact Obama threw the entirety of the bankruptcy Laws in the trash heap in order to feed the United Auto Workers Union meant that grandma and grandpa lost a lot of their retirement investments, permanently. And it is a stone-cold fact that GM paid it’s Government loans with Government money and not its own. And the Government still has tens of billions of dollars stuck in GM today. And, no, these bailouts did not at all “save the international financial system”. It is still a mess, and will be an even bigger mess since Government is still getting in the way of Free Market corrections and eliminations of wasteful and failed agendas. The bailouts only made matters worse.

Now that we’re a bit more clear on just who this clown Paul Burka is (he’s clearly a Liberal), let’s get down to Fisking his article in the July, 2012 print edition of Texas Monthly, which I have in my currently nicotine-stained fingers. *crinkle*crinkle*crinkle* It is available online if you’re registered. I’m not registered, so I’ll use the print version. (I trust it more, anyway, because lamestream media outlets are notorious in stealth changes to their articles, or memory-holing them in their entireties.)

Lies Of Omission

I’m fairly sure that anyone here is sufficiently ”plugged in” to current politics enough to have heard about House member Gabby Gifford’s recent plea for further gun restrictions. I’m not sure what your local media is like, but there’s a fair chance that there was even a mention of Sarah Palin or at least some sort of “incitement” behind that shooter’s attack. Given the body count, it’s not too surprising.

Also recently mentioned, though only in passing, is that the guy who shot up the Family Research Council in DC. Honestly, my main memory of that was being on a family trip and wondering why the heck somebody targeting based on “anti-gay bias” would have bags of Chick-fil-A. I can remember a few commentators suggesting that it was some sort of cartoonish attempt at “blending in”– an indication of just how crazy his view of those who disagree is or was. “Hey, Chick-fil-a is ‘anti-gay’ the same way that the FRC is– they don’t support redefining marriage to fit current pop culture appeals. The Family Research Council even denies a man and woman are functionally identical to two guys or two gals, of all the nerve! They’ll never notice me coming in and killing people if I have suitable fast food bags!”   Not someone to take too seriously, even if he <I>did</i> have a gun.

I vaguely remember reading a blog about him choosing the target from the Southern Poverty Law Center, but I think that was from a site that collects examples of the SPLC faking and inflating “hate” for fundraising purposes. As I said, it didn’t stick in my mind, and I already don’t trust the SPLC. I assumed that they’d mentioned the FRC as being against homosexual marriage and the guy had gone from there.

Mostly, the “Giffords shooting” (the six dead victims get less press, since it seems likely she was the focus– if only because her public meeting gave that scum a crowd) sticks in one’s mind so much more because of the horrible range of people killed; from the little girl that was a 9/11 baby and the retired grandparent-types to the federal Judge and the first staffer to die in the line of duty, there was someone incredibly relatable to for everyone. Nobody died in the FRC attack, and Leonardo Johnson was able to overcome the shooter even after being shot in the arm.  No fuss about heroism there, so it must have not been that bad of a shot, or it would’ve hit the news, right? (An aside: You might notice that I don’t name the murderers or attempted murderers. I don’t want to give them that level of recognition. The victims or heroes, though, are a different matter, and it took quite a bit of digging to find Mr. Johnson’s name wasn’t “A. Security Guard.”)

After today, I’m rather disabused of the notion that the Giffords attack was anything but more successful and more hyped: the attempted murderer bought the Chick-fil-A sandwiches to rub in the faces of his dying victims.

Insult to injury.  Fatal injury.  Not as cartoonish, now.

If not for Mollie Hemmingway’s post over at Ricochet, I wouldn’t have even thought about media bias. I’m Catholic– if that doesn’t make you realize how much the media screws up, what on earth will?  It would be easier to find stories about the Church where reporters got it right than where they didn’t.  I’m sure other traditional religion followers, or even folks who simply are part of uncommon fandoms or do something as “strange” as know more about a gun than what end the bullet comes out can relate…. The news screws things up, a lot.

I’m guessing folks will remember the “Blame Sarah Palin Because Her Website Had A Map With Gifford’s Area In A Target” to-do? If not, Mollie goes over it, with links. Although I want you to go read it, the short version is: even though Mrs. Palin didn’t say anything vaguely like ”go shoot this bad woman,” and there was no evidence that the Gifford’s shooter had even seen the map or Palin’s facebook page, it was worrying because it might affect an effect on “troubled” people.

Turns out that the FRC was ”mentioned” on the SPLC site– it was on a “hate map.” That’s where the thank-God ineffective attempted murderer got his target. From a hate map.  They’re hateful, you see– so it’s good to target them.

Target a house seat: dangerous.

Make a “hate map” of those who oppose you politically on an issue: not worth mentioning. In fact, noticing that the attacker specifically stated he chose the target because of that “hate map” means that you are picking a fight.

As Mollie writes in response to a quote about that little detail “reigniting the culture wars that erupted around the shooting:”

Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean? I mean, you have an actual shooting in the culture war – an actual shooting – and you dismiss this aspect of the story as a “detail” that is “sure to reignite the culture wars”? The gall. The chutzpah. The …. hypocrisy of our media. The story doesn’t mention, by the way, that the shooter had a list with other groups whose names he got from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Cherry on top: a guy goes in to kill people he hates, and has a list of other targets that he hates, and intends to assault the dying further with a symbol of yet another group he hates… and the SPLC doesn’t include that as a “hate incident.”

How Obama Loses In 2012: Obama’s Actions

This is a follow-up to my previous article. (Again, originating as a comment on The First Street Journal.)

According to the US Census Bureau, the fastest growing part of the US is the South (not to be confused with the southwest). And, with the Census Bureau’s delineations, the South consists of 38 percent of the US population. (There are four regions.) The Northeast and the Midwest combine for 122.2 million people. The South alone stands at 114.6 million people. And the West has 71.9 million people. And nationally, Democrats are pretty much giving up on the South as a whole, ceding basically 38 percent of the electoral college to Republicans right out the gate. That means Democrats must win the states in the other 3 regions basically 9 – to – 1 (by electoral college numbers). An 8 – to – 1 Democrat win in the other 3 regions would mean a Democrat loss nationally.

So, the Democrat Party, with Obama as its titular head, has given up on the South. How is he doing with the rest of the nation? Reports have him giving up on white, middle class blue-collar workers, who did a lot of work to get him elected in 2008. Oops. Lost votes, some of which will vote Republican this time and others who will not vote for President or will cast a protest vote for a Third Candidate. Baraka alienated a great many Catholics, who traditionally vote Democrat, by telling the Roman Catholic Church that it absolutely must commit immoral acts if it wants to continue its charitable work. Big oops. Baraka alienated a not-so-small number of black pastors, who lead black churches (and thus, their flocks give much heed to what they say) by declaring himself a homosexual “marriage” proponent. Big oops.

Now, while The RCC constituency which traditionally vote Democrat could very well swing Republican — doing great harm to Barack’s goal of winning a second Presidential election — the black church constituency will likely not vote Republican in any major way. There will be more blacks voting Republican this time around than last time (percentage-wise), as Obama won an historic 97 percent of the black vote (making blacks the most lock-step, monolithic voting sub-group in US history), but overall, this huge outcry of horror from black pastors will mostly suppress the black vote. Many of these black pastors, who hold sway in their churches, have declared they cannot, at all, vote for Obama, but they will not, at all, vote for a Republican. That leaves not voting or protest voting Third Party. And Obama loses those votes, without picking up any votes (only scads of cash from rampant radical Leftists).

Every step of the way, these past 3+ years, Obama has alienated one base sub-group after another, without adding a single sub-group to his re-election bid. Every state’s voting output will shift more Republican as a result. Every state. It’s only a matter of degree. It’s called “focusing on the margins” and it’s not looking good for Obama at all. However, it is looking very beneficial for the survival of the US.

Republicans Want [Group] Dead!

Republicans want to kill grandma.
Republicans want to kill sick people.
Republicans want poor people to starve and die.
Republicans want blacks dead or enslaved.
Republicans want hispanics imprisoned or gone.
Republicans want the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer.
Republicans want to poison the water and destroy the land and torture puppies (before Barack Obama gets a chance to eat them).

(Photo courtesy of NOBAMA.com)

We’ve heard it all before. The outrageously outraged hate-filled emotionalist attacks. The lie-filled over-the-top propaganda designed to keep the brainwashed in line. The absolutely absurd claims by the radical Leftists in Congress and the White House and in mainstream media. Karl, of Patterico’s Pontifications and Hot Air, has a linktastic article of Congressional Democrats making many outrageous and dishonest claims about Republicans very much in line with the above lies about Republicans. And do read his linktastic article at either Hot Air or Patterico’s Pontifications. He completely destroys two WaPo liars’ radical, extreme Leftist, lie-filled, hyper-partisan accusations (such as the fact they ignored the far Left Democrats throwing centrist Democrats out of office for being too centrist and not Leftist enough during this Primary season).

*Important sidebar: Republican does not equal Conservative. And Republican Office-holder most definitely does not equal Conservative. As multiple years of surveys show. Grass-roots self-declared Conservatives and Moderates both agree by overwhelming majorities that the Republican Leadership is to the Left of and out of touch with the Conservative base, while a plurality of self-declared Liberals falsely believe the Republican Leadership represents Conservatism.

As I noted previously, a study proving what Conservatives already know, that Conservatives understand Liberals but Liberals don’t understand Conservatives, has given some insights to this phenomenon. Quoting the above-linked Tina Korbe’s explanation provided by one of the researchers:

Haidt says conservatives speak a broader and more encompassing language of six moral values, while liberals focus on a narrow subset of those values.

This is very true. The political Left has a very narrow view on nearly everything, while the political Right has a much broader, far more encompassing view. And the political Left are, more often than not, incapable of expanding their view, if even to try to understand Conservatives.

I have previously quoted Congressman Colonel Davy Crockett multiple times, most recently in my pwnage of the historically illiterate Leftists Perry Hood and Molly. No very brief quote of Davy Crockett’s words will do him justice, so do read the entire multi-paragraph quote. But for a very brief and absolutely incomplete quote:

“I began: “Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates, and—”

“Yes, I know you; you are Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before, and voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time or mine. I shall not vote for you again.”

“This was a sockdologer. I had been making up my mind that he was one of those churlish fellows who care for nobody but themselves, and take bluntness for independence. I had seen enough of them to know there is a way to reach them, and was satisfied that if I could get him to talk to me I would soon have him straight. But this was entirely a different bundle of sticks. He knew me, had voted for me before, and did not intend to do it again. Something must be the matter; I could not imagine what it was.

“I had been making up my mind that he was one of those churlish fellows who care for nobody but themselves, and take bluntness for independence.” Sound familiar? Like all the things Leftists say about Republicans, Conservatives, and Libertarians? Why yes, yes it does. Does it entice you to actually read and understand his words? If you’re a historically illiterate hyper-partisan Leftist like Perry Hood or Molly, no. But if you’re interested in facts, histo-facts, the Constitution, the Declaration, and Truth, then it should. Liberals absolutely hate when Conservatives and Libertarians reference the Declaration, the Constitution, the words of the Founders and Framers in order to destroy Liberal talking points and agenda items. Liberals automatically hand-wave Conservatives and Libertarians as “one of those churlish fellows who care for nobody but themselves, and take bluntness for independence,” just as Congressman Colonel Davy Crockett had admitted he wanted to do. But, unlike Liberals, Congressman Colonel Davy Crockett was honest enough to actually pay attention and learn the errors of his ways. And then, to work to correct his errors.

It is a documented fact that Conservatives are much more generous than Liberals in voluntarily contributing their time and hard-earned money to help the aged and infirm, the hungry, the sick and disabled, the youth, and similarly “downtrodden” folk. “Religious” Conservatives are more generous than “non-religious” Conservatives; likewise, “religious” Liberals are more generous than “non-religious” Liberals.

Kristof admits to being “unhappy with my findings,” echoing sentiments from the researcher Brooks:

“When I started doing research on charity,” Mr. Brooks said, “I expected to find that political liberals – who, I believed, genuinely cared more about others than conservatives did – would turn out to be the most privately charitable people. So when my early findings led me to the opposite conclusion, I assumed I had made some sort of technical error. I re-ran analyses. I got new data. Nothing worked. In the end, I had no option but to change my views.”

Other findings from the data:

Follow the link to find the other findings. But be warned, Liberals will absolutely not like the other findings. They absolutely destroy the Leftist propaganda, and destroy Crockett’s self-admitted wrong belief. Across the board, Conservatives are clearly more generous and more personally involved than Liberals. And there is that Personal Responsibility thing again, something Liberals severely lack and something Conservatives have in spades. For more information, a simple Google search provides over 1.6 million results, including a New York Times opinion piece on page 1 of the search, written by an author who was taken aback by his findings proving Liberals are less charitable than those evil, greedy, selfish Conservatives.

The reason for the confusion is as simple for logical people to see as it is baffling for Liberals. It is also why Liberals absolutely believe the propagandastic lies about Conservatives promulgated by the radical Left. And it is something Crockett learned and subsequently expressed far more eloquently than can I.

As the previously noted study showing Conservatives understand Liberals but Liberals cannot understand Conservatives showed, Conservative moral positions are broad-based among the various moral groupings, while Liberal moral positions focus in on a very narrow subset. Liberals are far more close-minded in the realm of morals and cannot understand that which they cannot even see.

Liberals live under the twin fallacies of the false equivalency and the false dichotomy. In all the Liberals’ attacks against Conservatives for being “selfish”, “greedy”, “uncaring”, the twin fallacies of the false equivalency and the false dichotomy can be seen in full expression. An example of that twin-fallacy in action:

If you are against the Government feeding the poor, you are against feeding the poor. Likewise, if you are for feeding the poor, you are for the government feeding the poor.

As shown above, Conservatives are far more personally involved in charitable activities than are Liberals, thus proving the lie to the Liberal twin-fallacy talking point. But, as also shown above, Liberals in general are incapable of broadening their scope of understanding to accept anything beyond their own narrow viewpoints. And the greatest danger is that Conservatives and Libertarians will accede to the Liberal fallacies, thus inappropriately accepting Liberal redefinitions (hello, Big Brother) while trying to fight off other Liberal lies. Unfortunately, Hoagie has fallen victim to that Leftist ploy while fighting the Socialist Perry Hood over on The First Street Journal.

Remember, to the Left, those who oppose Government providing “stuff” to the “poor” oppose providing “stuff” to the “poor”, and corollarily, those who favor providing “stuff” to the “poor” favor Government providing “stuff” to the “poor”. It’s the false equivalence and false dichotomy married fallacy in which nearly all Liberals live. And it’s that married fallacy Hoagie accidentally allowed to be true, inappropriately ceding ground to Liberals that the Liberals had no right to claim. Allow me to explain.

First, and simply:
Agreeing that there are those who are suffering and in need of help does not at all mean the Government should step in and help.
Corollarily, declaring the Government has no business helping those who are suffering does not at all mean those who are suffering should be left to suffer.
Related: The US Constitution does not permit Government to step in. Period. (Full-stop, for those 17 percent reading this site who most likely speak the King’s English.)

Those who actually read Crockett’s words will have learned a thing or two about the Constitutional Conservative position. But I highly doubt Liberals and “Progressives” (read Socialists) such as Perry Hood or Molly will even bother with taking the time necessary to learn from history (hint, Molly). They are doomed to repeat the failures of the emotionalist, logic-free Left. Remember, it is a proven fact that Conservatives are more generous with their own time and money than are Liberals. And Conservatives want Government out of the business of wealth-redistribution. And these two positions are not at all in contradiction one with the other.

And here we get to Perry Hood’s lie-filled “Christian in name only” bovine biproduct. Perry Hood is a Socialist who has declared Christian doctrine to be brain-washing and mythology, and has rejected the deity of Christ Jesus. But Perry Hood, like all his Alinskyite mentors, falsely claims Jesus preached Socialism, and Government-forced Socialism at that. Despite all the parables that declared those who don’t have will have what they do have taken from them and be cast into Outer Darkness, and those who do have will be given ever more. And despite all the teachings declaring charitable giving to be a matter of the heart and not a matter of coercion.

While it is also important to give of yourself without seeking approbation from the people around you, and that would include blog readers, I am going to relate a bit of personal history. I am completely anonymous to most readers of this blog. Is my name here a pseudonym? Is it my real name? Most people don’t know, and will never know. So my speaking of myself in this medium does not allow for personal glory. But it does allow for a clear example of what I’m talking about.

I have never made as much as 35k in a single year. Never. And most of my adult life, I’ve been below 25k. So I’ve been, for the most part, one of the “poor” or very low level “middle class”. In 1988, I believe it was, I decided to provide four Thanksgiving Dinners to those less fortunate. And my family of three had an income of below 17k that year. I went out and bought four turkeys, four 5-lb bags of potatoes, four stuffing mixes, eight cans of cranberry sauce, eight cans of green beans, four aluminum turkey roasting pans. And, noting that there was a special on turkeys for Thanksgiving where one could buy a turkey for the outrageously cut-rate price of 25 cents a pound (or so), I made it a point that I paid full price. It was the principle. I wasn’t buying a single turkey and I wasn’t buying them for myself; therefore, I wasn’t entitled to the cut-rate price.

My pastor gave me the addresses of four needy families for me to personally deliver the Thanksgiving Dinner fixings, despite my very strong desire to give them to him so he could deliver them. He wanted it to be directly from me to them, while I wanted the anonymity and absolutely complete non-glorious attribute of nobody knowing nothing. But, c’est la vie. My pastor warned me that one of the families was to absolutely not be given any cash whatsoever and only food. A single mother on Welfare and Section 8 housing, who was completely irresponsible personally and would spend the money on things she should not be spending money on. But there was another family, an actual family who were members of the Church, who my pastor sent me to with my own gift of charity. That family of four was far better off than mine. Far better off. But they had hit a very severe patch of rough times and were very much in need of help. And, seeing the man’s eyes and face and body language when I told him I would be delivering the food the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and seeing his eyes and face and body language when I delivered the food was a memory I will never forget. He was absolutely ashamed of himself and absolutely ashamed to be accepting free food. But he accepted the free food.

I will never forget the shame that man felt. And I will never forget the nonchalant, almost entitled, expression of the Section 8 Housing single mother as I delivered her free food.

But on to the more extended point.

It is entirely possible for a Conservative to absolutely and completely reject any idea for Government to aid the downtrodden, while absolutely and completely supporting aid to the downtrodden. There is no contradiction, whatsoever. In fact, it is indeed in holding to Constitutional Conservative values and Christian values.

Liberals, who absolutely demand the Government spend billions of dollars to support those the Liberals claim are downtrodden and helpless, do not willingly provide their time and money in amounts comparable to Conservatives. Conservatives, who absolutely demand the Government has no right to spend tax-payer dollars in that manner, willingly provide their time and money in amounts far exceeding that of Liberals. And that’s a documented fact.

But you don’t have to look at dry documentary evidence. Just look around your communities. Catholic hospitals. Methodist hospitals. Presbyterian hospitals. Catholic charities. Inter-Church Social Services. Inter-Church food pantries. Various denominational housing for the homeless. Red Cross. Labor Day Jerry Lewis Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy. Blood drives. Food drives. Habitat for Humanity. ASPCA fund-raisers. UNICEF. United Way. Schools sending their kids to sell candy bars. Big Brother/Big Sister. Salvation Army bell ringers. These are all examples of people taking it upon themselves to help others. And there are many more.

But when Government gets involved and starts to put regulations that violate the principles of the various charities, those charities close down instead of kowtowing to the almighty Government (ObamaCare and its unconstitutional First Amendment violations regarding the Catholic Church and others, for one recent example). And when Government starts to pump in all manner of strings-free (supposedly) money, charities die. Prior to Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, the US was a rapidly expanding, rapidly wealth-growing nation without the Government providing everything for millions. After Wilson, Roosevelt, Johnson, a great many charities died and Government took over.

And the Government take-over provided all manner of guaranteed votes for the Democrat (read leech) Party. Perry Hood accidentally let loose the public secret that all this money to the “poor” from the Government came with a string: You have to be beholden to the Government that allows you to be a Personally Irresponsible leech. If you don’t kowtow low enough to the Government and the Democrat Party which made the “free lunch” possible, you are absolutely derelict in your duty to be appropriately appreciative of Big Nanny Government. WOWZERS! What a massive noose around your neck the Socialist Left (such as Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama) have placed! And if you even deign to take that noose off your neck? You have to be destroyed by all means possible! Legal or illegal, ethical or unethical.

If Christian Charities give you the support you need in times of trouble, they have expectations, too. They expect you to be Personally Responsible enough to stand up and take care of yourself. They do not demand, nor to they expect, any kowtows. Their glory is in helping you help yourself and in helping you become totally independent of any need. The Leftist/Statist Government? Why, if you don’t scrape your nose when you bow down, you haven’t done it right! Just ask Perry Hood or any of the other radical Leftists (provided they ever are accidentally honest).

No, the massive majority of American history shows success as a result of personal actions and not Government actions. In fact, George Washington had it right.

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.

Today’s Democrat Party, led by a massive amount of Socialists, worse than merely not being your grandparents’ Democrat Party, are totally in love with Big Government. In fact, the bigger the better for Democrats. And the more people who get “free stuff” from Government, the more likely Democrats are to be re-elected. The most successful, most free, wealthiest nation on Earth and in History, which has provided the greatest opportunity for poor to become wealthy; that nation is dying as a result of Democrats promising “freebies” to voters and then demanding unquestioned allegiance from those voters who got those “freebies”. Just like the queen in CS Lewis’ The Silver Chair. And with the exact same evil enslavement results.

No, I do not approve of Government ever stepping in to “help the poor”. Or whatever group the Leftists think need tax-payer dollars fed into it. I do not approve of Government exceeding its Constitutional limits. But Barack Obama has already declared an aversion to the “negative rights” which the US Constitution uses to prevent the Government from being that fearful taskmaster. That fearful taskmaster that Big Government Statist Republicans and Democrats have created for all of US.

Down on your luck? Don’t turn to Government. Turn to private charities. Government will demand too much from you while keeping you dependent. Private charities will demand that you stand up and become personally responsible. They don’t want your worship.

If someone is down on their luck, do I think they should be able to seek aid?
YES.
Do I think they should seek aid from Government?
NO. ABSOLUTELY NO. NEVER. NO.

I believe we should return to the US Constitution and get Government out of all its unconstitutional “for the poor” programs.

I recognize three points regarding my plan:
1) It would be very painful.
2) It would be very liberating.
3) It will never happen so long as Socialist Democrats and Ruling Class Republicans rule government, the horrible taskmaster.

And what is my plan, exactly? It’s a mere two-point plan. And it would return America to its glory days. Those two points:
1) Eliminate any and every Government program that “helps the poor”.
2) Eliminate 99.95 percent of all regulations on private charities.

That’s it. That’s all. If such were done, the severely atrophied private charities would suddenly grow to retake their rightful places, which Government usurped. If such were done, all Governments would suddenly go from devastatingly deficit spending to having an outrageously large revenue surplus. If such were done, businesses would start booming. If such were done, the “poor” would find it far easier to move up the economic ladder, as was historically the case — which mad the USA the wealthiest, most free, most desirable destination on Earth.

But if such were done, politicians would lose their massive power. (And is that a negative or a positive?)

Lights Of The Season, Season 3, Part V

For the first time in three Seasons, I bring you a video below the fold. It is well worth your time to watch the video. Those who have looked for this sort of thing already know of the Holdman light shows and already rave about them. Those of you who don’t know of the Holdman light show are in for a very pleasant surprise. Below the fold, you will find the entire package, the entire 2010 Holdman light show that ventures from techno to 50s music (40s music maybe?) and from Christian to not-Christian.

Mister Holdman himself has offered to send you a DVD of his 2010 light show, with one small catch. He wants you and a ten-spot to part ways. That’s right, his light show has the added benefit of parting people from their hard-earned cash. Let me quote directly from him.

Uploaded by holdmanchristmas on Dec 23, 2010

The complete Holdman Christmas Light Display for 2010 after a fresh snow storm. By request I am now offering this on DVD when you make a $10 donation to Make-a-Wish. Go to http://www.holdman.com/christmas/dvd

And there you have it. With further research, you’ll find out that the Holdman light show has, for multiple years, had separating you from your greenbacks as a key motivating factor. But there’s more than that, obviously. He wants your money to go to charity (and not to him) and he’s willing to spend a little of his money (on things like electric bills) in order to get a few of you to cough up the money to help oftentimes terminally ill children.

And now, on to the video.

I clicked on a link

I don’t have time to involve myself in a research project at the moment. But this is a rather puzzling matter.

I don’t know quite what to make of it.

#OccupyWallStreet Forces Food Drive Cancellation, Conservative Bloggers To The Rescue

Legal Insurrection points out the Occupy Wall Street rabble up in Boston hurled epithets, spit, and water bottles at a woman in uniform. There is very little Conservatives can do about that incident, other than continue pointing out the violent, lawlessness, hatred endemic to Left-Wing protests and contrast that with the peaceful, law-abiding rallies held by Conservatives. But on a different issue, there is something Conservatives can do.

The Occupy Wall Street mob in Boston (Occupy Boston) forced the cancellation of a food drive. While the Anarcho-Socialists for Big Government and Freebies (AS Big GAF) prevented a charitable organization from collecting food to provide to the needy, Conservatives stepped up to the plate. Specifically Conservative bloggers. From the Legal Insurrection story:

Fortunately, the blog The Right Sphere has mobilized conservatives to replace the lost donations that the Greater Boston Food Bank suffered due to #OWS:

Since ‘Occupy Boston’ has forced the cancellation of the Greenway Mobile Food Fest, The Right Sphere is trying to raise $1,000 for the Greater Boston Food Bank, which was supposed to benefit from that event. Please consider donating as little as $1, $5 or $10 to the Greater Boston Food Bank to help defray the Occupy movement’s damage to Boston’s nonprofits and to to show that we can put ourmoney where our mouth is and support the needy in Boston. You can do so using the button below. We understand that times are tough, so if you are unable to donate at this time, you can still help by sending this to others and posting this on any social media platforms you may use.

They are past $4,000 so far. Who Really Cares indeed.

AS Big GAF forced the cancellation of a food drive that was designed to help out the truly needy, and people could have starved as a result. Conservative bloggers stepped in and set a goal of 1000 dollars to replace the lost food AS Big GAF caused, but instead of reaching 1000 dollars, the Conservative bloggers have surpassed 4000 dollars. Now, does anyone believe Bostonians are suddenly going to give up their Liberalism and become Conservatives as a result? Not even the Conservative donors to the worthy cause believe that. So, why did they do it?

Liberals: generous with Other People’s Money.
Conservatives: generous with their own money.

That’s why.

Local Volunteers Are Better Than Government Agencies

HT Foxfier

Paul in Houston has a story about local volunteers coming to the aid of the mostly volunteer firefighters who were battling a nearby wildfire, and FEMA’s ham-handed attempts at dictatorially taking over. (As an aside, I have family in Magnolia who knew people who were evacuated from their homes due to this fire.)

One of the imported crews from California came into Unified Command and asked where the FEMA Powerbars and water were. He was escorted to the commissary and started through the system. He was flabbergasted. He said FEMA never did it like this. Kenna replied, ”Well, this is the way we do it in Texas.”
…
Mind you, all of this was set up by 2 Moms, Kenna and Tara, with a staff of 20 simple volunteers, most of them women who had sons, daughters, husbands, and friends on the fire lines. Someone always knew someone who could get what they needed – beds, mechanics, food, space. Local people using local connections to mobilize local resources made this happen. No government aid. No Trained Expert.
…
FEMA came in and told those volunteers and Kenna that they had to leave, FEMA was here now. Kenna told them she worked for the firefighters, not them. They were obnoxious, bossy, got in the way, and criticized everything. The volunteers refused to back down and kept doing their job, and doing it well. Next FEMA said the HEB supplies and kitchen had to go, that was blatant commercialism. Kenna said they stayed. They stayed.

Go to Paul in Houston’s site and read more, then follow the link he provides to read still more.

It’s terrible that a business would actually voluntarily provide for people in need at a loss to the business. People might actually be thankful to the business and decide to do more business with it. No, people have to be forced to be thankful to Big Government instead, and vote for more Big Government. It’s terrible that a few amateur volunteers were doing all this work, depriving Federal experts the opportunity to get paid tax dollars to do the job volunteers were doing for free.

No, if government would get out of the way, the local people could get the job done much more efficiently and cost-effectively. Sure, having out-of-state trained people come down and volunteer their time and effort is good and welcome, such as the California firefighters, but volunteerism trumps Government Bureaucracy every single time.

Outstanding, Marine!

Sergeant Thomas Brooks, I have two words for you: Semper Fi. You should be proud of your fiancee as she is of you.

And visitors should click through to the Hot Air article.

The Armed Forces Foundation is doing a wonderful job. And various businesses’ aiding the AFF should be commended as well.

Fort Hood Is Known For … Hugs?

I’m stealing DRJ’s post and posting it here.

Central Texas’ Fort Hood is special in several ways:

“Like the State of Texas, Fort Hood is big and boasts of being the largest active duty armored post in the United States Armed Services. Fort Hood is nicknamed The Great Place because of the quality of life the post and area offer Soldiers and their families. These qualities are important, especially with home-basing initiatives, frequent deployments and family stability and support.

Soldiers assigned to Fort Hood can expect to have one of the highest quality of life standards in the Army. New housing, quality medical care, thriving communities, recreation and schools combine to ensure that Fort Hood is The Great Place.”

There’s something else that’s special about Fort Hood. It has its own Hug Lady:

“Elizabeth Laird is the official Fort Hood Hug Lady.

The Fort Hood airport is her home away from home. It doesn’t matter whether a plane filled with soldiers is taking off or coming home. It doesn’t matter whether the plane leaves at 3:30 a.m. or arrives at 3:30 p.m.

The Hug Lady is here.

She wraps her arms around deploying soldiers before they board a plane and around returning soldiers just after they deplane. She is a one-woman welcome wagon and one-person goodbye party.”

Fort Hood estimates Laird has hugged at least 500,000 soldiers in almost seven years and apparently she hasn’t missed a flight. That’s nearly 7 years of commitment by Mrs. Laird, packed into a lifetime that hasn’t been that easy.

Well done, Mrs. Laird, as well as the Soldiers you hug.

– DRJ

This post made me cry. Mrs Laird is definitely a Gift sent from Providence. Fort Hood has been my daughter’s duty station since she left AIT, and that airport is the same airport she went thru to get to and from Iraq. I’m gonna have to thrash my daughter for not mentioning the Hug Lady to me.

Sex Scandal So President Fires Inspector General

No, this is not a rehashing of the Clinton administration. This happened on Obama’s watch.

When Walpin tried to have Johnson brought up on charges, the U.S. attorney balked and settled the matter without going to trial (Johnson’s charity, St. Hope, paid back more than $800,000 to Americorps). Walpin, quite rightly, was furious and took the matter to the Americorps board where he discovered to his chagrin that a new wind was blowing through Washington and the board members didn’t want to anger president Obama.

The result was that an Obama supporter on the board fired off a letter to the White House demanding that Walpin be fired. The excuse was that he was basically senile and that it was imperative that he be removed immediately – despite a law that protected IG’s from this kind of summary treatment.

This all happened last spring. Well, now Johnson’s peccadilloes have been revealed by congressional investigators along with the attempt to buy the silence of women. And “damage control[“] was handled by none other than Michelle Rhee, then on the board of one of Americorp’s charities, now Chancellor of the DC public school system.

Obama fired Walpin on June 10 of this year. Chicago politics as usual.

In other news, Obama bungle produces ‘worst U.S.-Japan summit in history’.

The American media aren’t reporting the story, and so far Bunshun is the only Japanese source reporting it, so far as I know.

Either President Obama wants to anger America’s traditional allies, as he is doing with the British, or he is simply a self-involved fool who can’t imagine others aren’t thrilled with everything he does. Considering his botched bow, I am going with the second hypothesis, for the moment. The bow made him appear to be a sophomoric bumpkin.

I, too, am going with option two.

ACORN, Democrats, FM2 And More

Michelle Malkin gave me the idea for this post and some inspiration toward my research. But she didn’t know she did it, so everything that comes after this shameless faux-praise of her website (you can find here) can officially be declared unknown to her… because she really unknowns it. 😉 And, for the record, I am not registered to comment on her site because I refuse to register to comment anywhere. If it takes a registration to comment somewhere… nemind, not important.

I found out yesterday that three members of ACORN in Nevada have been indicted for voter fraud. Along with those three members of ACORN, one of which was a regional director-type person, ACORN itself was indicted. The amount of fraudulant voter registrations for these three people is astronomical. The New York Times, hardly a conservative newspaper, reported out of 91,002 voter registration forms for Clark County, Nevada, only 23,186 turned out to be valid. That means barely over one out of four forms in a single county in Nevada was legitimate. Just think about the national ramifications of that. If that’s what was found in just one county of one state, how much fraud went unnoticed in all the other counties of that state? How much fraud went unnoticed in all the other states? And how can that kind of fraud not affect statewide and nationwide votes, let alone county-wide and precinct-specific vote counts?

Of course, ACORN claims it was not an organizational problem, but a case of a few bad apples. Allahpundit at Hot Air has Glenn Beck’s interview with an ACORN national spokesdummy making just that claim. And Beck does not let the spokesdummy off the hook during the entire interview. The spokesdummy makes an utter fool of himself. But I guess that is normal. Allahpundit said, “I understand why they continue to book him — angering the host is great for ratings — but why, given his astounding Edwards-esque unctuousness, does ACORN continue to send him as their rep? It’s practically an exercise in self-sabotage. I’m sitting here numb with horror at the possibility that he might be the most likable guy they have.” (emphasis Allahpundit’s)

The best part of the interview was, unfortunately, off-air. The spokesdummy asked Beck why Beck was afraid of black people. Yes, you read correctly, the absolute idiot went straight to the absolutely idiotic race-baiting hatred the liberal idiots are well-known to commit. Beck, in a rage, threw the brain-dead ACORN-paid vote-whore off his set.

I strongly suggest reading Allahpundit’s article, and following the links there.

But about that “rogue ACORN” stuff…

…

Ummm

…

Well

…

A 2006 article in the Wall Street Journal demands, not suggests, demands otherwise.

Friday, November 3, 2006 12:01 A.M. EST

So, less than a week before the midterm elections, four workers from Acorn, the liberal activist group that has registered millions of voters, have been indicted by a federal grand jury for submitting false voter registration forms to the Kansas City, Missouri, election board. But hey, who needs voter ID laws?

We wish this were an aberration, but allegations of fraud have tainted Acorn voter drives across the country. Acorn workers have been convicted in Wisconsin and Colorado, and investigations are still under way in Ohio, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.

The good news for anyone who cares about voter integrity is that the Justice Department finally seems poised to connect these dots instead of dismissing such revelations as the work of a few yahoos. After the federal indictments were handed up in Kansas City this week, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a statement that “This national investigation is very much ongoing.”

Let’s hope so. Acorn officials bill themselves as nonpartisan community organizers merely interested in giving a voice to minorities and the poor. In reality, Acorn is a union-backed, multimillion-dollar outfit that uses intimidation and other tactics to push for higher minimum wage mandates and to trash Wal-Mart and other non-union companies.

As everyone can attest, ACORN has not been stopped from its fraudulent and highly illegal actions to corrupt local, statewide and national elections. Even though it was obvious in 2006 that ACORN was deeply involved in criminal activities. A few rogue employees, eh? High moral standing, eh? I’ll buy that for a dollar!

8 OCT 2008

Michelle Malkin reports likely voter fraud in Missouri, Connecticut, Wisconsin, my state of Ohio and Indiana. Indiana interests me, where 105 percent of Indianapolis residents aged 18 and over are registered to vote. Did you see that? Let me explain more clearly. Out of every 20 people old enough to vote in Indianapolis, 21 are registered. Out of 20, 21 are registered. You just pumped 21 gallons of gasoline in your 20 gallon tank. Or maybe not. Maybe you pumped 1 gallon onto the ground. But there was 1 extra voter out of every 20 voting-age person in Indianapolis.

Quite clearly, it is impossible to have 21 registrations for every 20 eligible. That’s obvious. That’s an obvious 5 percent over-registration. How much of that over-registration used that extra vote? But wait, that’s not all! (to borrow from every late-night TV ad) No district ever gets all eligible voters to register, with the exception of that little hole in New Hampshire. And definitely not everyone in a region with one thousand or more voting-age citizens. So, Indianapolis, with several hundred thousand residents, meaning over one hundred thousand voting-age residents, has every voting-age resident registered to vote? Impossible. 105 percent? Since anything over 100 percent is physically impossible and anything nearing 100 percent is actually impossible… You tell me. Did ACORN involve itself in a metro-area voter fraud-type activity?

What about the other states? All that evidence of people tied to ACORN involved in illegal election fraud. But it’s not ACORN but a few rogue employees of ACORN. That’s their claim.

In October of 2008, the New York Times reported:

the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn, acknowledged cases where canvassers submitted false or duplicate registrations, but said they represented only a tiny fraction of the 1.3 million new voters the group signed up during this election cycle.

“Out of 13,000 workers there were inevitably a few who decided they’d pad their hours by duplicating a card and filling out another one or making up a name,” said Kevin Whalen, an Acorn spokesman.

“If we discovered this,” he said, “we not only turned that information over but turned the information we had about that former employee — because they’d been fired by that point — to elections officials and asked for their help in prosecuting that person.”

On Tuesday, Acorn was surveying local offices to come up with a tally of the number of “problematic” registration cards it had submitted to states. A spokesman for the group indicated that the number of employees who had been fired for job-related problems could reach 1,000 or more nationwide, but later backed off that estimate. The spokesman confirmed that more than 100 Acorn workers in Ohio and Michigan had been fired.

So, what is “a few” and who decides?

Remember the above Wall Street Journal report. Remember what you read when you went to that site. Forget all that R. Kelly stuff you were pumped full of in the mainstream media and remember what the mainstream media didn’t bother to remind you of.

Looking at the quick math above, out of 13,000 ACORN employees, 100 in Ohio and Michigan were fired for, let’s be plain here, federal law violations. They were fired for ILLEGAL activities regarding FEDERAL VOTER FRAUD. And that is a crime. But, back to the math, quickly, that means 260 ACORN employees were in each state, or 520 in ohio and Michigan combined. And if 100 out of roughlhy 520 were fired for voter fraud, that means nearly 20 percent of ACORN in Ohio and Michigan combined were engaged in Voter registration fraud. How many actually fraudulently voted in those two states alone?

2/3 of all Clark County Nevada voter registrations were fraudulent. 1/5 of all Ohio and Michigan ACORN voter registrations were fraudulent. ACORN in Washington paid a six digit fine for voter fraud.

The Columbus (Ohio) Dispath said, recently:

A Franklin County judge told three out-of-state campaigners for Barack Obama who voted here illegally that they should have known better.

The three chose Ohio over their home states — where Obama was likely to win — because they wanted to swing the Electoral College vote toward their candidate, Common Pleas Judge Charles A. Schneider said.

He ordered a year’s probation, a $1,000 fine and a 60-day suspended jail sentence for Daniel “Tate” Hausman, 32, and Amy Little, 50, both of New York, and Yolanda Hippensteele, 30, of California.

All were paid staff members for Vote Today Ohio, an independent get-out-the-vote organization supporting the Democratic presidential candidate.

So much for a legitimate 2008 election. And so much for the mainstream media finding this out. And so much for congress actually doing something about it when the Democrats are the ones benefitting.

Feminist Protects Rape Cover-Up

A massive government-funded organization is caught on video, at multiple locations, aiding in covering up rape and a feminist staffer for a mainstream periodical wants the person who exposed the organization to be criminally charged. She doesn’t want the organization criminally charged, she wants the organization protected from any who would dare bring this information to the public.

Newsbusters has the story.

US News’s on-staff radical feminist Bonnie Erbe returned to attacking pro-lifers, her favorite subject of ire, in a blog entry on Monday. This time, she singled out “20-something abortion foe” Lila Rose, a junior at UCLA, for her “dishonest” and “pointless” undercover videos which she has taped at several Planned Parenthood locations. She seems to be most upset by how Rose has “created a public relations nightmare” for the abortion-mongering group, and called for the young woman’s prosecution for “trespassing, fraud, and whatever other law she violated” for impersonating a 13-year-old statutory rape victim. The blogger later told pro-lifers to just “go away,” since they will “will never succeed in banning abortion.”

Please Give Me A House

Locomotive Breath 1901 reports Henrietta Hughes, the “can’t we have a home” lady, not only has a home but refused the offer of 3 months free housing from a Christian ministry in Florida and played the “pity me” scam in 2004 in New York. The Florida home is paid off, transferred in her son’s name, and still owned. Her son also refused job-skill training. And dirty Republicans gave Hughes and her son a place to live after the performance.

The USO, A Friend in Need

There is a saying: A friend in need is a friend indeed. And that is exactly what the USO is to our troops. While the US government created the USO years before I was born, the USO is not, I repeat not a government entity. The USO is a private, non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to be a “friend indeed” to our uniformed citizens and their families.

Having been in the military myself 20 years ago, I can say without a doubt I appreciated the USO’s presence. It provides military folk a place to relax and recreate as well as many “above and beyond the call” forms of support and aid, best described in the above link. Those of you who have ties to the military and seek information or aid could be well served in checking with the USO.

Since it is a non-profit organization, the USO uses many volunteers to augment its paid staff. It is also able to take donations to help keep it strong in support of the common soldier, marine, sailor, airman, etc. I strongly urge you to consider the USO when deciding which charitable organizations to support with your time and donations.