Disgust is the mildest term

I'm sure everyone's heard about the latest kerfuffle with Planned Parenthood.  I'll summarize, but won't link to the story plus video.  I don't want to owe anybody a new keyboard because they vomited on theirs.

In a breathtakingly horrific flouting of U.S. law, they are not only performing partial birth abortions by delivering late term babies breech and murdering them in the process, they're harvesting and selling organs when they think they can get away with it.

And each and every individual in the United States, willing or not, is complicit in this atrocity.  Because Planned Parenthood is supported by our tax dollars.

Never have I ever been so glad that we get more back than we pay in.  Because every dollar heading for the EITC is one that cannot be handed over to the murderers of the most innocent among us.

I am so far beyond angry that I cannot even express it.

My giveadamn's busted.

Baltimore.  I just...don't care.  The people of Baltimore have chosen the course that has led to the consequences they're facing.  They voted for the shitheaps that created policy that led to the repeated incidences of police brutality that had everybody believing that the cops there severed Gray's spinal cord.

It isn't going to matter if evidence and autopsies prove that he did it to himself in the hopes of being able to sue the city.  Like with Ferguson, rioters are converging on Baltimore to destroy it, and no inconvenient fact is going to interfere with their beliefs that the cops murdered another undeserving black man.

I cannot bring myself to feel for the "victims" of the rioting.  They chose this, through their voting patterns, and through remaining in the situation.  The only ones I feel sorry for is those who are trying to keep family-owned businesses that have been in the same place for generations, businesses who literally could not survive without their long-built-up customer bases...and I question how many of those there actually are.

I do not feel sorry for the rioters--they aren't there for Gray, or for any honest protests about police brutality.*  So fucking what if their bail is "unfair" (according to lawyers)?  They earned the price the judges set on their heads, every penny.

I do not feel sorry for the scumbag's family.  If they'd really cared for the young man, they'd have stepped in a long time ago and taught him real, civilized values, instead of turning him into a stupid sociopath predator.

I do not feel sorry for the scumbag.  Especially since evidence has come out showing he'd done it to himself.

I do not feel sorry for the police force.  From what I've read, they've been predators on the law abiding almost as bad as Gray was.

I do feel sorry for the good ones amongst the bad, but that's limited by the fact that they have not stepped up to boot the scumbags out of uniform and out of the force.  They are as much at fault for the current situation as the bad cops.  Remember what they say about what allows evil to flourish.

Seriously.  At this point, after all of this, my ability to care, which is sorely limited by my own borderline sociopathic tendencies to not care about other people, has been completely worn out.

Breaking the Third Commandment

     "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain..." Exodus 20:7 KJV

I was taught as a child that this commandment was simple: you don't say the words "Lord," "God," or "Jesus" unless you're talking about the bible, about your faith, or praying.  If you didn't do that, you were fine on this commandment.

I really did think it was that simple, as a child.  As I got older, my understanding changed, because I actually thought about it.  It isn't just saying taboo words that breaks the commandment.  It's claiming that your actions are justified because God is on your side when you know you're doing evil.

What does that mean?  That means that attacking someone in God's name is breaking the commandment.  I do not mean self defense--I mean out of the blue: invading another country without provocation, claiming "God told us to invade, destroy, and rape those not killed, and sell them into slavery because they follow a variation of our faith differently from us."

Does this mean I think the fights between Catholic and Protestant in England was breaking this commandment?  Yes.  Same with Ireland more recently.

I couldn't tell you if Islam still follows the Talmud (the first five books supposedly set down by Moses), but if they do, their extremists break this one all the fucking time.

So do individuals.

The person who claims to be a Christian and then cheats their clients (builders, etc.) takes God's name in vain.

The person who makes $60-80K/year by sitting on the side of the road with a sign saying "For God's sake, please help," is taking His name in vain...but far worse than the first guy.

The people who claim to be Christians and squat in a property that the homeowner cannot afford, but refuse to vacate despite being repeatedly told to, are absolutely breaking that particular commandment--with malice.  Especially considering the way they've also borne false witness against the blogger whose house they're attempting to steal (commandment 9), the way they apparently covet the house (commandment 10), and are using the legal system to aid them in their theft (commandment 8).  (The whole filthy story is here--and is what prompted this particular post.  If you want to help, there's a fundraiser here.)

I cannot say what will happen to those who break this commandment.  It's above my pay grade.  However, the second half of the commandment reads "for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain," so I'd bet that the payback will be...rather warm...for those who've broken this one.

I would think that Christians would be far more careful about this.

After all, the real ones are.

Pretty sure the "I didn't mean it like that" defense didn't work for Edward II.

Back in the early middle ages, a king appointed one of his courtiers to the office of Archbishop of Canterbury.  He assumed that his man would represent the interests of the crown rather than that of the Church. 

It backfired spectacularly.  Thomas Becket was ordained, and began representing the interests of the Church, which pissed off the king...to the point where Becket fled to the Continent for a few years.  Once he returned, during the reign of the following king (who broke tradition and was crowned elsewhere--a bad sign), things got worse: the king, Edward II, said something along the lines of "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?"  The exact wording is under dispute, but what happened was that four knights, freshly returned from the Crusades, decided that this was a Royal Command, and went to confront Becket.  And then, they murdered him in the cathedral. 

Three years later, he was canonized.  No, the king wasn't directly punished, but that was pretty much a slap in the face, a "we don't believe you didn't mean it" from Rome. 

I see shades of that happening in San Diego, now.  San Diego has passed an anti-gang law that states that even those inciting gang violence, knowingly or unknowingly, or profiting from it in some way, are liable as conspirators.  And now, they've arrested a rapper--Brandon Duncan, aka Tiny Doo--under said law.  He faces prison for life with all of the charges laid against him.

The ACLU are protecting him, stating that he has a right to rap about whatever he wants--that the first amendment protects him and his art. 

I can, on the one hand, see their point. 

On the other hand, Duncan's defense strikes me as a cross between that of Edward II who implied that he wanted the Archbishop of Canterbury murdered, and that of the type of idiot that screams "fire!" in a crowded theater, then tries claiming that it was his right under the freedom of speech. 

Pretty much all of the gangsta rappers tend to incite violence, crime, and rioting.  Why shouldn't they be prosecuted under similar laws that normal people inciting riots are prosecuted under?

Incredible.

If the whole "furlough" of "non-essential" federal employees hasn't been bad enough, there's tons worse: scenic view pull-offs in South Dakota have been blocked off with orange safety cones to prevent people from pulling over to take pictures (not that that would actually stop someone really determined), and people have been evicted from their homes because they're technically vacation homes set up on federal land. 

So.  The "chief executive" who is the park department's highest point in the chain of command has shown how petty he is.  Now, let me show y'all a little bit more:

Intimidation tactics on full display.  More here.  Because we all know that those Vietnam vets are just explosions waiting to happen, and if they can just trigger one attack...

More petty, meanness on display here.  We must do what the Spoiled Brat wants!  The shutdown is hurting the children!

How about doing his damnedest to scare the shit out of Grandma by threatening to let her starve and freeze on the streets?

The worst, I think, is here.  This page was the Amber Alerts page.  You know, the page where the alerts issued by states were displayed, permitting people all over the country to potentially recognize a kidnapping victim, and get help. 

So.  Petty, mean, and evil.  What more do we need to know about the "leader" of our nation?

30% of our fellow countrymen are completely stupid.

Why?  According to this Rasmusen poll, 57% believe the government will be using the unconstitutionally gathered data to punish those not of the same political beliefs as the majority party, 14% aren't sure what's going to happen, and a full 30% are convinced that the government would never do something that horrible!!!

I don't "fear" that it will happen.  I assume it will, and plan accordingly.

And I don't believe any party is any better than any of the others.  Power corrupts.  And knowledge is power.

Uh-huh. Right.

If this goes through, it's a horrible precedent.  Basically, the government in Wisconsin wants to be able to access, and possibly freeze, bank accounts of people who are drawing unemployment insurance.  They claim that it will decrease fraud, and fix mistakes of unemployment insurance overpayment.

That won't be where it stops.  I can see the point of it with some circumstances (like with women with half a dozen children and counting, who use those kids as sources of welfare income), but not for those who lost their jobs because of government interference with the economy. 

I can already foresee one major, unintended consequence: people are going to stop trusting the banks.  I can see a lot of people starting to keep their cash stash separate, and untraceable, if this passes, mostly because they're not going to trust the banks to keep their money safe.  And once that switch flips, more and more people will stop trusting the banks, until banks start collapsing faster than they already are.

I don't distrust my bank.  I distrust my government, especially after seeing what the European governments that my government so admires have been doing to their people with money in the bank. 

Unfortunately, I'm kind of rare in blaming the government.  Most people won't see that it's not the banks that need to be distrusted, but the government that shoves the new law through.

Serves 'em right.

Speak up for others' rights.  It doesn't matter if you like a group, or see the relevance to you and your interests or not.  If you don't speak up for the rights of others...who's gonna speak up when it's your turn to have the fist of government shoved up your ass?

And, isn't it specifically the job of the media to shine a huge fucking halogen spotlight on injustices perpetrated by government?  Isn't that the whole purpose of "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of the press"?

Unfortunately, for at least my lifetime, the press has been an arm of the political left.  Which means that, now that the political left has one of their muppets* on the throne in the White House, the press has been an arm of the federal government for the past five years.  And, until now, they haven't given a damn that conservatives have been targeted for reprisal for their opposition to King Putt.  They have not only not given a damn, but actively rewarded those who ordered the targeted auditing of TEA Party groups and other conservative associations.

Now that the Associated Press has been found to be wiretapped--and wiretapped by probable White House orders (despite their whole "Not us--look to the DOJ" attitude), who among us is doing anything but sitting back, pointing and laughing at the useful idiots in the media.

Nobody.  Because they fucking deserve to be laughed at.

The National Socialist party in the 1930's gained power through catering to minority groups like the gay lobby.  Not long after starting to gather power, the party abruptly turned on the gay lobby, treating them much like Jews, only marked with a single pink triangle, rather than a yellow Star of David.

It's good that the media is learning exactly what their political masters are capable of, and discovering how the rest of us feel on a near-daily basis: violated.

*A puppet and a muppet both have strings, but a muppet also has somebody's hand up their ass talking for them.

One thing we will NOT be doing...

We will not be moving to any large city. 

I wouldn't go jogging in our local parks on the west side of town (the run-down, poorer side) unarmed.  No way would I go jogging in any park in any city larger than the small one where we live (recently updated population signs put the city proper at 50,000; with another 25-30,000 in the outlying bedroom communities that are blending into the larger city).  Especially not Central Park where everyone but the criminals are disarmed by diktat of Saint Bloomberg.  If some teen thug wannabe rapist is going to grab my bits, he's pulling back a stump at least, and more likely gonna get dropped. 

I also would rather brave city traffic than ride a city bus.  Especially in a union-policy-run cockroach motel like Detroit.  I'm sorry, but I refuse to risk being shot for a bus hitting a bump, causing me to step on some thug's foot. 

So, yeah: I am absolutely not moving my family into a city.  No way, no how. 

Our next home is going to be outside of town, have room for a large garden, and probably room to raise meat rabbits and maybe a couple of milk cows. 

Overqualified for the position.

A man who's out on bail for murder, rape, pimping, and pandering has thrown his hat in the ring to run for a city council slot.

It bothers me that he's already on the school board, and that they haven't kicked his ass off of it, but I do believe he may be overqualified for any political position he runs for, from city council level all the way up to national level.

I've got no objections to this proposal...

The ATF part of BATFE should indeed be disbanded.  A billion here, a few billion there (like food stamp/welfare fraud committed by the able-bodied who just don't bother to try to earn a paycheck), and soon we're talking real reform.

The E part of the whole thing, on the other hand, really does need to be regulated.  I certainly don't want any Cletus to able to buy as much dynamite (or worse) as he can afford.  Not without a lot of training in safety and how to use it without blowing everyone around him to kingdom come. 

Happy Independence Day

On July, 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies signed a document that listed the colonies' grievances with King George III.  They mostly revolved around unfair taxation, laws, and a lack of representation in the creation and application of those taxes and laws.

Today, two hundred thirty-six years later, we are faced with unfair taxation, laws, and a lack of representation in the creation and application of those laws--yes, we have an elected congress that are supposed to represent us, but they've fallen down on the job so badly that the Declaration penned by Thomas Jefferson might well have been aimed at the congresscritters of Washington, D.C., of 2012, rather than England and George III of 1776.

Crushing Americans under expenses

I just read a figure that gives a ballpark about what Obamacare is going to cost those of us who already have insurance: an extra $2100/year/family. 

I already pay $336/month for health insurance for my family of four.  Obamacare is going to add nearly $200/month to that, bringing our health insurance premiums--and this is for a plan that pays only for catastrophic things like hospital stays (provided they aren't complication-free childbirth related), with a $5,000 deductible--to around $500/month.

We live in a paid-for house.  Our mortgage payments were less than that, when we had it.  It's also more than most car payments. 

I don't like being penalized for being responsible.  I don't like paying the costs of those who are able, but refuse to do it themselves.  I don't like that this seems to be aimed at forcing more people into government dependence.

And everyone that forced this abortion of a law on the 75% of the population that didn't want it is going to find out some hard truths:

We hired you.  We can fire you.  And a lot of you will be out of a job in November for not figuring out a way to derail this.

Ohmigosh!!!

I can't believe it!  Charlie Rangel cheated to win the primary!  It's like he's been cited for an ethics violation!

Wait...never mind.

Yet another good idea whose time has come.

Republicans want to cut the $80 billion food stamps cost productive citizens by cracking down on abuses.  They rightly want to spend more on maintaining infrastructure than supporting leeches.

Of course, Democrats are terrified it'll reduce their voter base harm those who need it:

"Democrats led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York are resisting a proposal by Agriculture Committee leaders in both parties to trim a modest $250 million from the program each year by cracking down on abuses.

They say that would deprive about half a million households losing an average $90 a month in food aid."

When college students go on food stamps so that they can afford their alcohol habit and their gourmet, organic rabbit food, that is an abuse of the system.  When single moms refuse to feed their kids so that they can afford fake nails, weaves, and designer clothes, that is an abuse of the system.  When individuals buy a pack of gum with their SNAP debit cards so that they can get cash back, that is an abuse of the system.

Interestingly enough, most of the groups named above tend to vote Democrat to keep their paycheck for breathing.  Without Democrat support, they'd have to get jobs.  Without Democrat support, they'd learn just how much the rest of us hate supporting their nasty, worthless asses. 

And without the Democrats supporting their choice to keep being worthless wastes of resources, they'd have to become productive members of society, or starve. 

Personally, I'd love to see more people actually facing the consequences of their choices.  Maybe then, stupidity would be a bit less endemic. 

Wow--this is a step forward.

Indiana has passed a law stating that people whose homes are invaded by public employees--like police with a no-knock warrant kicking in the wrong door--can shoot the jackbooted thugs kicking in their doors.

Of course, the police are concerned, now, that they're going to get shot.

Here's a hint, guys: stop with the unconstitutional no-knock warrants.  Indiana is only the first state that's permitting people to defend themselves against uniformed thugs.  I'm certain that many more will follow.  The element of surprise isn't going to get cops anything but dead.

So not feeling it, right now.

I've got a couple stories up that are worthy of commentary--Pelosi going off the rails again, insisting Obamacare is a right like Social Security and Medicare; and Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. insisting on causing more inflation and more destruction of entry level jobs by increasing minimum wage to $10/hour--but I just can't concentrate on what needs to be said, tonight.  Sorry.

WHAT!????

Quantitative easing is part of the cause of our problems!  Someone needs to make that clear to the stupid, arrogant, self-absorbed, Keynesian-fellating, top-down model worshipping socialist douchenozzles in Washington, DC.  Preferably with a heavy, steel clue-bat, sometime before they spit-roast us with it again.

Want to fix those "slow" numbers?  Convince the twatwaffles in Congress to...

...cut corporate tax rates to 0%.

...cut capital gains tax rates to 0%.

...lower the top bracket on income tax at least, or better, set up a flat rate 15% with the first $40,000 per household exempt from taxation.

...repeal Obamacare.

...reduce regulations on creating new businesses.

If the first item on my list was done, they'd be shocked at how quickly new large businesses moved back into the US, creating an explosion of new jobs.  The second and third would encourage a lot more spending on a household level.  The last two would encourage people to become their own bosses.

QE III is going to make each dollar worth less and make everything cost more, which will lead to... drum roll, please... even worse numbers within six months.

Oh, wait... the next election is in about four months. 

I do believe that this calls for a Constitutional amendment.

I am appalled and disgusted by this.  Three years since the U.S. Senate has passed a budget?!  How the fuck has that been allowed to happen?

I propose a new Constitutional amendment, one in three parts:

1. The federal government may not operate in any form without a budget.

2. The federal government may not spend more than X percentage of GDP in any given budget year, without supermajority of voter approval.

3.  Any congress, House and Senate, which cannot pass a budget, are immediately terminated, with special elections being held to replace said deadbeats.

We, as a nation, cannot function like this, and continue to remain a solvent, sovereign political entity.  No more than can a family that makes $80,000 per year, and spends half a million per year, with no regards for the $420,000 per year shortfall. 

Sooner or later (and it's already later than many believe) the sharks will start circling.

Grades = paychecks??

Like the Affirmative Action Bake Sales, I can see the students involved in this completely missing the point.

They worked hard for that good GPA.  I see that.  I understand that they wouldn't want points taken from their good GPA and handed to those that don't work as hard. 

I work hard for my paychecks, and I resent every dollar taken from my family to be given to those who don't work.  I hate--hate--that such a huge part of the federal budget (54%) goes toward things outside the Constitutional responsibilities of the federal government.

I would be willing to bet that most of the students approached about redistributing GPA points to the less fortunate won't see the parallels.