Thursday, September 04, 2008

I'm With Stupid

I read any number of libertarian writers on a given day and occasionally one will make a point that just resonates with me. Well, noted libertarian and entertainer Penn Jillette has penned an article that just sums it all up for me. We don't need a saviour or a Great Leader. Nope. We really need someone dumb and lazy. Get thee hence and read it.

They all seem to think we need to get a smarter guy in the White House fast, and Bush is so stupid, that task shouldn't be too hard.

Not me.

I'd like to say that I believe every president in United States history, including the stupid one we have now, is smarter than me. My alma mater is Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth Clown College, so I'm damning with faint praise, but I'm stupider than this here stupid president.

Maybe I'm less stupider than Bush than I'm stupider than Jefferson. But I'm stupider than all the stupid in both of them put together.

The idea, especially from the Democrats that I know, is, we just get a smarter guy in the White House, and all the problems will go away. We'll have smart speeches, smart high gas prices, smart bad economy, smart war on terrorism, smart war on drugs, smart hurricanes, smart global warming, smart war in Georgia -- smart, smart, smart.

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But I don't think our next president being a great leader is a good thing.

I'm worried about someone smarter than Bush taking over that tremendous power. Charisma and ambition increase my fear exponentially, and a great leader scares me to death.

We need someone stupid enough to understand that the president of the United States can't solve many problems without taking away freedom and therefore shouldn't try. The only reason John McCain scares me a little less is because I think he's a little less likely to win. They both promise a government that will watch over us, and I don't like that.

I don't want anyone as president who promises to take care of me. I may be stupid, but I want a chance to try to be a grown-up and take care of my family. Freedom means the freedom to be stupid, and that's what I want. I don't want anyone to feel my pain or tell me to ask what we can do for our country, or give us all money and take care of us.


That's what most of us libertarians want. A chance to run our own lives without a big government helicopter parent getting in the way. We just want everyone to run their own lives, free of interference as adults ought to. Unfortunately, we are unlikely to get anyone, from any party who is liable to let us do this. None of them really believe that our lives belong to us. That's the peril of the system that politicians have created. Penn does sum it up well.
So remember, the only way to waste your vote is to vote!

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Friday, August 29, 2008

Here It Comes

Well, Obama the Lightbringer gave his acceptance speech to the Democratic cultists and I must say that it was filled with quite a bit of...stuff. Mainly it was filled with stuff that many of us knew was coming. More and bigger government, gun bans (if not outright grabs), plans to indenture our children and drive businesses from this country.
Let's take a look at some of the highlights from the transcript, shall we?

The -- the reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than they are for those plagued by gang violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals.
Of course, if you own one of these weapons you must be a criminal, for surely you would have no other reason to own one, right? Guns aren't about defence, they're about hunting. Of course there are hunters out there who are going to agree with him and sell other gun owners down the river. We can look forward to yet another AWB, and this time there is unlikely to be a sunset provision.

I will end this war in Iraq responsibly and finish the fight against Al Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts, but I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression.

I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation, poverty and genocide, climate change and disease.

So, we can look forward to more warfare from an Obama administration. Only the theatres will change. An escalation of hostilities in Afghanistan is the promise and we already know that he's asserted a desire to attack Pakistan. Now it looks like he's planning a Clintonesque confrontation for Darfur, (something his running mate has espoused in the past). What's his plan for Russia? Who knows. The only thing Russians truly respond to is force, it's all they understand. Is he looking for a physical confrontation? Given their present beligerance and the Wests lame responses to their current aggressions that would seemingly be his only recourse.

I will -- listen now -- I will cut taxes -- cut taxes -- for 95 percent of all working families, because, in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class.
Of course, he's going to leave feed the masses on the gains of that other 5% and he won't cut spending, so we can look for ballooning deficits.

And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as president: In 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.
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Now is the time to end this addiction and to understand that drilling is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution, not even close.
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As president, as president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I'll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America.
So, despite the fact that our entire economy is built on the use of oil, from lubricants to fuels this idiot thinks that drilling is not the answer. Drilling is not a stop gap and, even if it were it is an absolute necessity. His understanding of this shows that he's delusional. If drilling weren't the solution then why is China drilling in the Gulf of Mexico? They Chi-Coms get, why not Comrade Obama? As for nuclear power....it's already safe. More people have died in cars driven by Ted Kennedy than have died as a result of American nuclear plants. All we need is for Obama and his buddies inside the Beltway to tell their Green supporters to shut the hell up and then get government out of the way.

I'll invest in early childhood education. I'll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries, and give them more support. And in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability.

And we will keep our promise to every young American: If you commit to serving your community or our country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.

So, he still plans on getting our children earlier. And then creating an army of "volunteers" to rival the military and commit to service. I know I'm not the only one to find this appalling. It's all been done before.
Now -- now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American.
Oh, look! It's socialised medicine, everyone. Despite the visible evidence from across the globe that this boondoggle doesn't work, Obama and his fellow Dems (along with a number of Republicrats) will likely impose this travesty and destroy the best healthcare system on the planet.
We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy.
That says it all, for me. FDR, as we all know started this Long March to socialism and JFK got us involved in Vietnam. Presumably, we can expect more of the same of BO.

As a gun owner, I can certainly expect an outright assault on my liberties and my ability to buy what a free market has to offer. And I can also expect to have significant portions of my families wealth transferred to people who have no right to it. I'll see the same happen to friends, too. I will likely see attempts to enlist my children into a new Young Pioneers-like organisation under the tutelage of the latest Great Leader. All in all I expect an Obama administration to truly mess things up, even worse than Bush and his people have. Higher taxes on the productive, more money to the unproductive. A diminishment of liberty in general and a tightening of the reins of power. I harbour no illusions that Obama will not use the powers already in place to further the agenda of the Left. And, make no mistake, McCain is really no better. Both are proponents of bigger government.

Obama and his cultists remind me greatly of Mussolini and his own Italian cult of personality. He, like Obama was the darling of the West and it's political class. People strove to emulate him and his system, until he crawled into bed with Hitler. Obama promises the world and has really only failed in one area. He hasn't promised to make the trains run on time. Yet.
Tutto nello Stato, niente al di fuori dello Stato, nulla contro lo Stato

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UPDATE: B.W. talks about the speech, as well.

Friday, August 01, 2008

Google Blows It

Looks like our wayward host has decided to add some new anti-spam features that have managed to get a number of legitimate blogs classified as spam blogs. David Codrea's "War On Guns", REAL ID Rebellion and many others have been blocked from posting and are currently threatened with deletion by the Google Powers That Be.
Real ID Rebellion
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58 Posts, last published on May 14, 2007

This blog has been locked due to possible Blogger Terms of Service violations. You may not publish new posts until your blog is reviewed and unlocked.

This blog will be deleted within 20 days unless you request a review.


While I can commend a private company for their efforts to block unethical spammers in an attempt to maintain a respectable reputation and give a good experience to their members, my head spins when I think of the incompetency that must reign in their software division. Add to that the fact that they say it will take a minimum of two days to respond to your request to review your blog and allow you to post again and you have a FUBAR situation that should make the evening news. They've used a spray and pray method and wounded who knows how many innocents in their attempt to limit spam. Apologies and rapid response should be Google's top priority right now, but I won't hold my breath on that one. If you have a Blogger account, keep your eyes open and your fingers crossed.

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Thursday, July 17, 2008

D.C. To SCOTUS: Screw You

It looks like the powers that be in the District of Columbia have decided to give a hearty "screw you" to the Supreme Court.

Dick Heller, the man behind the case which brought down the DC handgun ban has been denied a permit by the DC powers. It's also likely that his firearm has been confiscated, as well, even though the article fails to mention it.

WASHINGTON (WUSA) -- District residents can start registering their guns today. But at least one very high profile application was already rejected.

Dick Heller is the man who brought the lawsuit against the District's 32-year-old ban on handguns. He was among the first in line Thursday morning to apply for a handgun permit.

But when he tried to register his semi-automatic weapon, he says he was rejected. He says his gun has seven bullet clip. Heller says the City Council legislation allows weapons with fewer than eleven bullets in the clip. A spokesman for the DC Police says the gun was a bottom-loading weapon, and according to their interpretation, all bottom-loading guns are outlawed because they are grouped with machine guns.

So, semi-automatic handguns are now "machine guns"? Insanity certainly rules inside the Beltway, (but, we already knew that now, didn't we?). Looks as if we are in for yet another round of court battling. I can't help but wonder if this will be an example of Scalia's "reasonable restrictions".

As an aside, I cannot help but wonder if Mr. Heller and his attorneys did not pursue this particular course on purpose. It would certainly be a good case to bring before the courts in order to force DC to implement a rational policy, rather than the overly restrictive current policy.
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