And I can't keep up while I'm at work, so I'll use the Bund to respond.
Ryan is voicing concern that our "4th trimester" abortion-supporting President is being allowed to give the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame this May. I agree that his views on when life begins and what a woman can or cannot "choose" in regards to the life of her child are distressing in the extreme, and I think that the university's choice is a poor one.
But, he is not lecturing, teaching or expounding on faith and/or morals and it is the express position of the University that: "The invitation of President Obama to be our commencement speaker should in no way be taken as condoning or endorsing his positions on specific issues regarding the protection of life, such as abortion and embryonic stem cell research. You cannot change the world if you shun the people you want to persuade. The school is not honoring President Obama for his stands on issues, but rather his leadership."
He also voiced concern that some professors at Boston College had complained that the crucifixes in all the classrooms distracted the learning process, and had petitioned that they all be removed. As much as I am sure these professors would LOVE to try and get the school to remove these symbols of Catholic faith... their 6 and 7 digit annual salaries DEPEND on their signing a document called a "mandatum of doctrinal concordance" which basically means they cannot teach or advocate anything that actively or by association conflicts with or refutes established Catholic doctrine and magesterial teaching. Removal of the crucifix, or the image of the Blessed Virgin, or failure to acknowledge or allow for established worship schedules kept on the campus itself constitutes a breach of this mandatum... and they are fired, regardless of tenure or contract. These mandatum (Latin for "promised compliance"... similar to our "mandatory") constitute a legal requirement of employment and tenure, as established by the Holy See and upheld and recognized by the US Supreme Court as neither discriminatory nor unfair or unusual in its application.
In short... they haven't got a "prayer" of seeing this petition recognized.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
The "Left's" fundemental failing...
It occurred to me today as I was reading the latest headlines and news articles that the Left in this country is working under a very powerful but equally erroneous assumption:
That the Federal Government of the United States was established by the Founding Fathers to rule the nation and its citizens.
This is, quite simply and without question, NOT the case.
The United States Constitution was written and adopted by the various States to ensure that the laws, limits and regulations established within it dictated just how far the federal government could go WITHOUT interfering with the sovereign and independent authority of the individual States that make up the United States. In short, it details how far the Feds can go... and establishes very clearly that they can go no further. To ensure that no particular Branch of government can exceed these limits, all three branches were given separate but equal authority to "check and balance" the authorities of the other two branches.
The presumed assumption on the part of the Left today that, given the popularity of the Democratic Party in American politics, the agenda and intentions of the DNC must be the agenda and the intentions of the entire nation is not only FALSE, but inherently WRONG, as well.
We are NOT a democracy. No matter how much anyone (including some of Ryan's past rants) may want to use that term to describe the American system of Government... we are simply NOT a democracy. We are a REPUBLIC, and thus, we DO NOT vote for or elect "rulers" or "leaders"... we elect REPRESENTATIVES who enforce the laws, limits and regulations as defined in the Constitution or legislatively enact the same. The "Rule of Law" is not established in this country by RULERS or LEADERS, no matter if they are elected or not... it is established by the Constitution of the United States and by the individual and sovereign States that make up that Union. Anything to the contrary, in opinion or fact, is simply the failure of the people of the United States to realise and maintain that REPUBLIC and its make up.
Were the "majority" opinion or voice to be the only deciding factor of RULE in this country, as it would be in a true democracy, then the majority of voters could, conceivably, vote to legalize rape (or child pornography, or any one of a hundred other obviously heinous crimes) with no recourse for the "victims" rights or the minority voice. As the Framers managed it, though... the Rule of Law is established by the Constitution, and NOT by rulers and leaders, elected or otherwise.
I can offer no greater evidence to this FACT than to point to each and every Oath of Office taken by every President, Governor, Senator, Representative, Secretary, or Military Officer since the country. No one ever takes the Oath to defend and protect the United States, or its leaders, or its government, or its citizens... they "swear to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" and nothing else.
Our nation, our government... our very society is instituted on the IDEAL of the "republic"... not on the "idea" of democracy, or majority rule, or anything of the sort. We function or fail as a nation with the common understanding of this premise.
Does anyone else see a fundamental failure on the part of the Left to recognize this? Or am I, once again, preaching to the choir?
That the Federal Government of the United States was established by the Founding Fathers to rule the nation and its citizens.
This is, quite simply and without question, NOT the case.
The United States Constitution was written and adopted by the various States to ensure that the laws, limits and regulations established within it dictated just how far the federal government could go WITHOUT interfering with the sovereign and independent authority of the individual States that make up the United States. In short, it details how far the Feds can go... and establishes very clearly that they can go no further. To ensure that no particular Branch of government can exceed these limits, all three branches were given separate but equal authority to "check and balance" the authorities of the other two branches.
The presumed assumption on the part of the Left today that, given the popularity of the Democratic Party in American politics, the agenda and intentions of the DNC must be the agenda and the intentions of the entire nation is not only FALSE, but inherently WRONG, as well.
We are NOT a democracy. No matter how much anyone (including some of Ryan's past rants) may want to use that term to describe the American system of Government... we are simply NOT a democracy. We are a REPUBLIC, and thus, we DO NOT vote for or elect "rulers" or "leaders"... we elect REPRESENTATIVES who enforce the laws, limits and regulations as defined in the Constitution or legislatively enact the same. The "Rule of Law" is not established in this country by RULERS or LEADERS, no matter if they are elected or not... it is established by the Constitution of the United States and by the individual and sovereign States that make up that Union. Anything to the contrary, in opinion or fact, is simply the failure of the people of the United States to realise and maintain that REPUBLIC and its make up.
Were the "majority" opinion or voice to be the only deciding factor of RULE in this country, as it would be in a true democracy, then the majority of voters could, conceivably, vote to legalize rape (or child pornography, or any one of a hundred other obviously heinous crimes) with no recourse for the "victims" rights or the minority voice. As the Framers managed it, though... the Rule of Law is established by the Constitution, and NOT by rulers and leaders, elected or otherwise.
I can offer no greater evidence to this FACT than to point to each and every Oath of Office taken by every President, Governor, Senator, Representative, Secretary, or Military Officer since the country. No one ever takes the Oath to defend and protect the United States, or its leaders, or its government, or its citizens... they "swear to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" and nothing else.
Our nation, our government... our very society is instituted on the IDEAL of the "republic"... not on the "idea" of democracy, or majority rule, or anything of the sort. We function or fail as a nation with the common understanding of this premise.
Does anyone else see a fundamental failure on the part of the Left to recognize this? Or am I, once again, preaching to the choir?
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
On Nov 5th, 2008...
... I asked the question: Should the GOP play opposition politics in the same manner than the Dems did for the last two years of the Bush Administration? My answer was NO.
I advocated they should stand by their platform, principles and purposes... but to hold up nominations and block legislation the way they did would gain them nothing in the long run, and would give Pelosi, Reid and Obama someone to point at and say "See? THEY are holding up progress and change!" Better to stick to your guns, and wait for Obama-Pelosi-Reid to self-destruct.
We are just over 60 days into the "Obama era", and without any assistance from the GOP, "Obama & Co." is cracking at the base. I actually got to watch Gietner (sp?) give his litany of praise to a professed, card-carrying Communist governor of the Chinese Central Bank, and in less than 80 minutes, the dollar had lost 14% of its value on the global market. Two hours after that, the CBO came out with another updated report saying that the Obama omnibus budget would put the over-all US deficit over ten years at more than $9 billion dollars... which, by my meager math skills, comes to an average tax bill for the American tax payer (all 148 million of us) over ten years of just over $60,800... and that is PER TAXPAYER, not per household. That means we can expect to see just over $130,000 go out of our household in taxes between now and 2019 (more, if the two oldest stay home after high school)... just to balance what we have SPENT in the first 60 days of Obama's Presidency.
Some Democratic Senators are questioning the size and scope of the budget (mostly "blue dog", but Dems, nonetheless) and many Democratic Governors are balking at the scope of the changes that the new 10-year plans will force on State legislatures and their tax structures. Both the House and Senate budget bills have excluded the President's "middle-class tax cut" from their proposals... which even the wildly-biased mainstream media can't ignore. I can't wait to see Olbermann spin the omission of "Making Work Pay" from BOTH bills! How does THAT not Constitute another broken campaign promise?
I'm no longer waiting to see how much damage is done... the damage has already been done! Now, I just want to watch the Administration and this Congress implode all over itself.
I advocated they should stand by their platform, principles and purposes... but to hold up nominations and block legislation the way they did would gain them nothing in the long run, and would give Pelosi, Reid and Obama someone to point at and say "See? THEY are holding up progress and change!" Better to stick to your guns, and wait for Obama-Pelosi-Reid to self-destruct.
We are just over 60 days into the "Obama era", and without any assistance from the GOP, "Obama & Co." is cracking at the base. I actually got to watch Gietner (sp?) give his litany of praise to a professed, card-carrying Communist governor of the Chinese Central Bank, and in less than 80 minutes, the dollar had lost 14% of its value on the global market. Two hours after that, the CBO came out with another updated report saying that the Obama omnibus budget would put the over-all US deficit over ten years at more than $9 billion dollars... which, by my meager math skills, comes to an average tax bill for the American tax payer (all 148 million of us) over ten years of just over $60,800... and that is PER TAXPAYER, not per household. That means we can expect to see just over $130,000 go out of our household in taxes between now and 2019 (more, if the two oldest stay home after high school)... just to balance what we have SPENT in the first 60 days of Obama's Presidency.
Some Democratic Senators are questioning the size and scope of the budget (mostly "blue dog", but Dems, nonetheless) and many Democratic Governors are balking at the scope of the changes that the new 10-year plans will force on State legislatures and their tax structures. Both the House and Senate budget bills have excluded the President's "middle-class tax cut" from their proposals... which even the wildly-biased mainstream media can't ignore. I can't wait to see Olbermann spin the omission of "Making Work Pay" from BOTH bills! How does THAT not Constitute another broken campaign promise?
I'm no longer waiting to see how much damage is done... the damage has already been done! Now, I just want to watch the Administration and this Congress implode all over itself.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
You know what really pisses me off?
I'm right and no one will ever know it.
I was reading back posts of the Bund, looking for the criteria for the Presidential report cards and came across the energy debates circa April 2008. We were entrenched in the oil/gasoline prices at the time, $4 a gallon gas, etc. and the embryonic stages of my New Deal 2008 plan. (What twisted connotations ring with THAT title now, not even a year later!)Remember how everyone EXCEPT ME balked at the idea of the federal government spending 30 BILLION dollars for private home owner power generation over the span of a four year term? Remember how this money would be recovered in a decade because the initial money was SBA style loans? Remember why this could NEVER HAPPEN because 1) The feds had no place instigating that kind of policy, that was PRIVATE sector responsibility, and 2) There were better ways of spending 30 Billion?
Good freaking Lord how good does that plan sound now?
An honest to God stimulus action that would WORK. It A) pays for itself and B) funnels money BACK into the economy in two ways. Way number one, jobs in the creation of the devices (solar panels, wind powered generators) and their installation and two, money saved from power bills becomes discretionary income going to goods and services.
When this is all over we're going to have a federal government that won't spend a DIME more than it has to because it WON'T BE ABLE TO. 6.9 trillion is going to take a while to pay off. Maybe my grandkids will see a balanced budget and no deficit.
My plan WOULD HAVE WORKED! And we'll never know.
I was reading back posts of the Bund, looking for the criteria for the Presidential report cards and came across the energy debates circa April 2008. We were entrenched in the oil/gasoline prices at the time, $4 a gallon gas, etc. and the embryonic stages of my New Deal 2008 plan. (What twisted connotations ring with THAT title now, not even a year later!)Remember how everyone EXCEPT ME balked at the idea of the federal government spending 30 BILLION dollars for private home owner power generation over the span of a four year term? Remember how this money would be recovered in a decade because the initial money was SBA style loans? Remember why this could NEVER HAPPEN because 1) The feds had no place instigating that kind of policy, that was PRIVATE sector responsibility, and 2) There were better ways of spending 30 Billion?
Good freaking Lord how good does that plan sound now?
An honest to God stimulus action that would WORK. It A) pays for itself and B) funnels money BACK into the economy in two ways. Way number one, jobs in the creation of the devices (solar panels, wind powered generators) and their installation and two, money saved from power bills becomes discretionary income going to goods and services.
When this is all over we're going to have a federal government that won't spend a DIME more than it has to because it WON'T BE ABLE TO. 6.9 trillion is going to take a while to pay off. Maybe my grandkids will see a balanced budget and no deficit.
My plan WOULD HAVE WORKED! And we'll never know.
Monday, March 23, 2009
sigh, sigh, sigh . . .
. . . that's all you do! Sobbing like so much the injured little school girl, complete with the pink bow and plaid patterned skirt.
Look, panty man - face it: you are considered, in 2009, a rabid - and I mean RABID - right winger, I don't give a damn what letter begins your political party affiliation. Partly because of your own new conclusions on certain issues, and because the party of your youth has gone friggin-A bonkers. Lets also note that I have always been a conservative myself - albeit I am a much more mature one (in argument and self) now then was present in the Grand dice pit and on the back dock circa 2002. And with the election of the most left wing candidate in US history (William Jennings Bryant would have been preferable at this point) causing the convergence of monetary, social and defense policy into a single quasi-socialist (not to mention amateur & just flat out historically ignorant) voice booming from D.C, OF COURSE we find less and less to disagree on within current events.
So ... what's left? History. You have always been "skeptical" (as you've described it) of Regan's tax policy. Assuming that you still are, and with us all acknowledging he is a "top 5" US president, explain to me just how the largest tax receipts and fastest expansion of prosperity in the history of the US leaves room for "skepticism" from an enlightened fellow such as yourself.
Or pick another facet of history . . . or lets finish the "Presidential Report Cards." FDR and Clinton may prove particularly fractious here.
At any rate, stop whining - ACT!
Look, panty man - face it: you are considered, in 2009, a rabid - and I mean RABID - right winger, I don't give a damn what letter begins your political party affiliation. Partly because of your own new conclusions on certain issues, and because the party of your youth has gone friggin-A bonkers. Lets also note that I have always been a conservative myself - albeit I am a much more mature one (in argument and self) now then was present in the Grand dice pit and on the back dock circa 2002. And with the election of the most left wing candidate in US history (William Jennings Bryant would have been preferable at this point) causing the convergence of monetary, social and defense policy into a single quasi-socialist (not to mention amateur & just flat out historically ignorant) voice booming from D.C, OF COURSE we find less and less to disagree on within current events.
So ... what's left? History. You have always been "skeptical" (as you've described it) of Regan's tax policy. Assuming that you still are, and with us all acknowledging he is a "top 5" US president, explain to me just how the largest tax receipts and fastest expansion of prosperity in the history of the US leaves room for "skepticism" from an enlightened fellow such as yourself.
Or pick another facet of history . . . or lets finish the "Presidential Report Cards." FDR and Clinton may prove particularly fractious here.
At any rate, stop whining - ACT!
The ULTIMATE neighborhood watch!
You are going to love this. In the UK many of the papers have carried this story in their tech sections. I heard it moments ago on the conservative talk radio program of Roger Hedgecock. And there is little wonder why it has gotten next to zero play in the US papers, media etc.
Texas sheriff Don Reed, the executive director of border sheriffs, was able to secure funding in the 2007 budget for an innovative new program. In the wake of the popularity of groups such as the Minutemen, he wanted to expand participation in the same vane as a "neighborhood watch." In November the first 15 of a planned 200 cameras went up along the Southern US border. They are linked to the Internet where online users, free of charge, can pick from the various sections to monitor the border live! In addition, there is an "email hot line" to send in tips. With the first 15 cameras alone Sheriff Reed says over 30,000 lbs of marijuana have been seized and 30 incidents in which "groups" attempting to illegally enter the US of A have been apprehended. And even though the majority of participants are from AZ, NM & TX, he says they received one email from Australia in which the sender described he and his "mates are watching your border from our pub."
I haven't gone and looked for the website yet, but I'm sure something as unique as this will take little more then a few minutes to find, and I intend to link to it on our site.
Gotta love Texas sheriffs . . . hehe.
Texas sheriff Don Reed, the executive director of border sheriffs, was able to secure funding in the 2007 budget for an innovative new program. In the wake of the popularity of groups such as the Minutemen, he wanted to expand participation in the same vane as a "neighborhood watch." In November the first 15 of a planned 200 cameras went up along the Southern US border. They are linked to the Internet where online users, free of charge, can pick from the various sections to monitor the border live! In addition, there is an "email hot line" to send in tips. With the first 15 cameras alone Sheriff Reed says over 30,000 lbs of marijuana have been seized and 30 incidents in which "groups" attempting to illegally enter the US of A have been apprehended. And even though the majority of participants are from AZ, NM & TX, he says they received one email from Australia in which the sender described he and his "mates are watching your border from our pub."
I haven't gone and looked for the website yet, but I'm sure something as unique as this will take little more then a few minutes to find, and I intend to link to it on our site.
Gotta love Texas sheriffs . . . hehe.
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