Archive for June, 2007

Cause and Effect-Soviet Style

Thursday, June 28th, 2007

In free societies it usually begins as a sense of entitlement, a notion that because one sits at the table of ultimate decision-making that one also has special powers. Those feelings then morph into a deluded sense that somehow those special powers translate into special privelege, and all the trappings that go along with such favour. Finally, the mind equates these misconceptions with omnipotence, and the seed is planted for totalitarianism.

     Today the people of America, with the help of a new medium and ideology, succeeded in beating back the first tentacle of such a scenario, much to the chagrin of our alleged representatives in Congress.
    
     These so-called representatives have become all too accustomed to living the good life while making decisions on our behalf even when a majority of us have been appalled at the votes. We have simply not been loud enough in the past, but we have now succeeded in raising the pitch level to heights only the dogs of Congress can hear.  And they heard, loud and clear.
    
     The new medium alluded to of course is talk radio, and I believe that without its reach, today’s victory would not have happened. It has been clear throughout the amnesty debates that politicians of all stripe have been the victim of mass information and equally clear that they have been most uncomfortable with the outcome. So what does a ruling power do?
    
    
     The House was debating the re-instatement of the “fairness” doctrine today. Here’s how it turned out, I have just learned…

 

    
     Ah yes…there is hope for us yet.
-Woody

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¿Como Se Dice Adios?

Wednesday, June 27th, 2007
     For those of you unfamiliar with the Spanish language, I suggest it’s time to learn it. But the lead means, “How do you say goodbye?” You may be inclined to use English nonetheless, and that is your prerogative, but be advised that it may be met with a blank stare as those to whom you say it will not understand unless you happen to give a friendly wave when you say it. If you’re like me, I suspect there may be an accompanying wave, albeit not so friendly. They’ll understand that, too.
    
     Between the amnesty bill currently being shoved down our throats, moves by our own government to bring about a “North American Union“, and immigrant politicians more concerned with their former compatriots than they are about America’s best interests, it may be drawing near time to vacate these hallowed shores. At the least, I can envision a not-so-distant future with no America per se, but a vast land mass stretching from above the arctic circle damned near to the equator, a place where we’ll be expected to be one big “Feliz Familia “.
    
     Not me, amigo. I’d rather move to Australia and live with English speaking folk.
    
     Nah, I’ll tell you what I’d really like. I’d like our government to stop screwing around. They say, “We can’t round up 12 million people and ship them back home”, and of course people nod. What we can do, though, is stop stopping local law enforcement from enforcing. We can stop accomodating people who are here illegally.
    
     A few days ago I wrote an essay extolling the virtues of  my County Executive for refusing to buckle to the State Legislature by building a hiring hall for…illegal aliens seeking day labor. Today, he says he will not “obstruct” such a hall provided it be built on state, municipal, or private property and without county funds. In other words, he is willing to look the other way in order to have the legislature re-instate a 1% sales tax that will prevent the need to raise property taxes and fire thousands of county workers, including police.
    
     God Damn It!
    
     To have the last sentence translated into Spanish, press “2″ to find someone who gives a damn.
   
      I also heard Ohio Senator GeorgeVoinovich on the radio today trying to defend the amnesty bill, and he all but admitted that he hadn’t even read the bill but rather “read summaries” of it. He got very annoyed with the host of the show and eventually begged out of the conversation and hung up. It seems he didn’t like being challenged.
    
     We have politicians who are so out of control that they claim mandates where none exist and actually ignore the ones that slap them upside the head. The ‘06 elections are a prime example, as they now ignore the pitiful 14% approval ratings they “enjoy”.
    
     I’m ready to say “adios”, alright. To about three quarters of Congress.
-Woody

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The House Of “Represen’in’”

Friday, June 22nd, 2007

   This article is not about radical islam. I just felt compelled to get the correlation out of the way right up front. Do you mind? Good.

     There is a large portion of our population who scoff at the notion that radical muslims could conceiveably win enough support and subsequent positions of influence in our governmental structure to bring about Shar’ia Law. Skepticism is one thing, and an understandable position to take. Outright denial is dangerous.  I intend to demonstrate the inherent danger in looking the other way.
    
     While Shar’ia Law is still a minor threat, it is nonetheless a distinct possibility despite the lack of overt support from our current crop of elected officials at all levels. Illegal immigrants are the clear and present danger, admittedly not on the same level as jihad, but still enough of a threat to change forever the face of America. And they have a broad support structure that reaches high into our Governmental offices, not only from the obviously pandering, power hungry “leaders” of both political stripes, but from the seats their countrymen have managed to gain legitimately, through the ballot box. Here’s where the title of this article get’s its origin…
    
     Throughout our relatively brief history, elected officials have sworn to uphold the laws and sovereignty of America. While they have become increasingly corrupt through the “lobby” heirarchy, they have maintained a somewhat healthy love of country. That is all beginning to change, and right before our eyes. I’m not even referring to the obvious; Republicans joining with Democrats to ram through an amnesty bill we clearly do not want. No! I’m talking about ethnic groups gaining seats and “represen’in” fellows of their ethnic group, at the peril of our nation.
    
     I have a local example (New York), but I welcome any similar situations from you, the reader. This example should raise your awareness and to be blunt, piss you off, especially if you are able to relate a story from your own particular part of the country.
    
     From my local newspaper, Newsday:
    
 
    
     “ALBANY — Millions of dollars in sales tax revenue for Suffolk County were imperiled Thursday by a dispute between County Executive Steve Levy and a group of black and Hispanic members of the Assembly upset over his strident opposition to illegal immigration.   

     In a rare move here, the minority lawmakers forced a sales-tax bill for Suffolk to be tabled in protest of Levy. He then responded angrily, vowing not to bow to pressure to open a hiring hall for immigrant day laborers. He said he would rather forgo the $300 million in revenue.”

 

     “Immigrant day laborers”.  Notice the absence of the word “illegal” in the second paragraph?   


 

     We have elected members of the New York State assembly taking punitive action against a county executive (and ostensibly the people) for having the audacity to insist on upholding the law.
    
     Here’s a summary for those unfamiliar with the situation here:
    
     There is a town named Farmingville on the Eastern portion of Long Island where perhaps 100 illegal aliens gather every morning to get what has affectionately been termed “day laborer” jobs. They clog the street and intimidate passersby. I have personally witnessed the crowds, and can attest that they are large. There has been a running battle between “immigrant advocates” and regular Americans for years. Rather than determine the legal status of these trespassers and remove them, a segment of our own government apparatus determined that building a taxpayer-funded hiring hall would alleviate the congested streets. Levy, a Democrat, has held strong in opposition, and he is now being labelled a “racist”, among other things. I, a staunch Republican, have Levy’s back on any given day.
    
     The fundamental issue here is that people we elect are beginning to behave in a tribal fashion rather than as representatives of the community as a whole. They are beginning to unabashedly endorse the positions of people who have not the rights to even vote for them, at least until they can succeed in making that legality a reality, even if it is by nefarious means.
    
     In a nutshell, they are gaining elected seats in the governance of our cities , counties and states,  and they are instilling their own beliefs and misguided policies on the rest of us with no motive for the betterment of America but rather for the advancement of “their own people”.
    
     This, ladies and gentlemen, is how empires fall.
-Woody

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The Farmer From Hell

Wednesday, June 20th, 2007
     Mr. Peanut is at it again. Arguably the worst President in U.S. history, Jimmy Carter just will not go away, and is still actively working to undermine our great nation. Perhaps he continues to view it as a job left undone from his days in the White House.
    
     Dang it, he was quiet for a while, doing his nice work building houses in relative obscurity. Then Oslo had to stoke the fires again, giving him a phony Nobel Peace Prize which seems to have invigorated him, and now he’s out running his mouth again in opposition to America.
     “The United States, Israel and the European Union must end their policy of favoring Fatah over Hamas, or they will doom the Palestinian people to deepening conflict between the rival movements”, former US President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday. 

 

     Breitbart.com offered this addendum:

     Far from encouraging Hamas’ move into parliamentary politics, Carter said the U.S. and Israel, with European Union acquiescence, sought to subvert the outcome by shunning Hamas and helping Abbas to keep the reins of political and military power.

     “That action was criminal,” he said in a news conference after his speech.

 

     For someone who lamented Reagan’s “sabre rattling” to defend Hamas is nothing short of hypocritical and quite astonishing. Hamas’ own charter includes the destruction of Israel as its goal, and yet this cretin who was once our “leader” recognizes them as a legitimate player in diplomacy? How can anyone take him seriously?

     There is much debate as to what is seditious and what is protected speech, but I insist that Mr. Peanut should be facing a firing squad. Not convince by his words alone? Then let’s take a look at one his greatest accomplishments, also from the Jerusalem Post:

     Carter pressured the shah to make what he termed human rights concessions by releasing political prisoners and relaxing press censorship. Khomeini could never have succeeded without Carter. The Islamic Revolution would have been stillborn. I guess Oslo thought this was worth of a prize.

    Thanks Jimmy. Thanks a lot.

-Woody

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Trent Chavez (R-MS)

Saturday, June 16th, 2007
     I think I must surely be going mad. There is no other way to explain the Republican reaction to its constituency regarding the immigration amnesty bill.
    
     It was bad enough when they accused all of us of being lazy by saying that these illegal aliens (yes, no mincing words here) are doing work we won’t do. From the President on down, they have denigrated us and McCain even went so far as to say to a group of union leaders at a speech that they wouldn’t pick lettuce for fifty dollars an hour. “You can’t do it, my friends.”
    
     But now we have Trent Lott doing his best imitation of Hugo Chavez. Lott supports the President and the bill, but he’s gone even further out there in its defense. He’s now attacking arguably the most important reason why the Republicans enjoyed a sort of rennaisance in the last decade or so; talk radio.
    
     Here’s what he said the other day: “Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.”  To me, that sounds eerily reminiscent of the policies of Hugo Chavez, and that at the least, the next order of business for Lott is to re-enact the Fairness Doctrine.
    
     But it goes deeper, and here’s where I really begin to question my own faculties. He’s also beginning to sound like a tyrant, saying things like this; Senate Republican leaders may try to rein in “younger guys who are huffing and puffing against the bill.”
    
     Don’t get me wrong, I’m not so naive that I don’t understand that this sort of thing goes on in the Halls all the time. But when it’s right there in print, and coupled with his obvious disdain for talk radio, it seems to set a pattern for some dangerous ideology.
    
     The underlying message, however, is much broader, as evidenced in recent months. Neither party cares much what we think or desire. They are in power and they will do what they wish.
    
     In Lott’s own words, we have to deal with that.
-Woody

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It’s True. Liberty Is At Risk.

Thursday, June 14th, 2007

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! -Patrick Henry

     Who is really stealing your liberty?

     To listen to liberal pundits, bloggers and celebrities, George W. Bush and the Patriot Act are steadily eroding the freedoms we once held dear. Warrantless “wiretaps”, Guantanamo and national identity cards are all clever ruses designed to enslave us all and form a “fascist state”. Nevermind that we have an enemy determined to either kill or subjugate us, neither of which are options many of us would choose. The left only sees an enemy in their own government which is equally determined to prevent the above mentioned scenarios. The threat, I might add, is relatively temporary assuming our eventual victory over it.

     The real threat is one so insidious and gradual that no one even notices it. Add to that the cloak it wears as it approaches; the mantle of liberalism. While liberals claim to care for the people and “only wish to help”, they are deliberately suffocating freedom. How, you may ask?

     Exactly by the “help” they offer.

     I’ll take “healthcare” as one issue. A century ago, when people got sick they called the local doctor, who came to their house to treat them. They paid as best they could and often times bartered for the services of the doctor. Granted, a century ago the quality of care was not near as good as it is today, but people didn’t obsess over it. They worked, they played, thay ate and they sang. And they died. It happens to all of us no matter how desperately we attempt to avoid it. The difference today is this; back then, people were happy and content. No one told them what to eat, what to smoke, how to raise their children.

     I absolutely know that a certain brand of reader will see this as some sort of mad lament for a long gone past, and a part of that assessment has some truth to it, but I do appreciate the advances in medical care. I just miss the liberty we enjoyed then. So where am I going with this, you may ask.

     The Scheme

    What is the best way to control a person or a group of people? Offer them goodies and keep giving until they need them. Once they can no longer remember how to do without, begin setting conditions for the continuance. Now you make the rules, and the recipient has little choice but to obey. Or little desire to do otherwise.

     So where does that lead us today? We are being dictated to on matters of personal choice (don’t worry, the abortion issue is not lost on me), because if we decide to smoke, or eat eggs, or not wear a seatbelt in our cars, we are chastised and fined. Government is now telling us which legal pleasures we are permitted or not permitted to engage in, and it is all done under the guise of “cost” to the nation.

     To the best of my recollection, the people never asked for the government to pay for our healthcare. And had they known about the ensuing rules and regulations that were to come I’m confident that they would have rejected the offer outright.

     What is really frightening is the fact that we have all of these impositions on our lives now, and government isn’t even totally in control yet where healthcare is concerned. How far would they go if we nationalized the system? Would we have speakers set up all over street corners to guide us through morning exercise routines? We’ve already seen the government getting involved in the “trans fat” issue. 

     Being healthy is a good choice, I agree, but it’s also the slowest possible rate at which one can die. I smoke. I drink. I eat eggs and bacon. Oh, and salt. If I could gain two years on my life without those things? No thanks, leave me alone with my pleasure. I could probably live to well over 100 if I gave up everything and got hooked up to machines right now. Again, no thanks. 

      …give me liberty or give me death! -Patrick Henry

     What a smart man.

-Woody

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Those Damned Tax Cuts!

Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
     “They’ll be the ruination of this great country! George W. Bush only cares about the rich, our grandchildren be damned. How will our future generations ever be able to dig out from this unimaginable debt?”
    
     Oh, how they wailed and wailed. They insisted that choking the economy with draconian and exorbitant confiscation of wealth  was the only salvation and if Bush had his way and was able to maintain his “tax cuts for his rich pals”, our poor children and grandchildren would be saddled with debts that they would never be able to dig out from under. Oh, the humanity! See if any of you remember headlines like this:
    

US federal deficit tops 400 billion dollars in 11 months

 

     If you follow the link, you’ll see that that was an article from 2003. Bush’s economic juggernaut was humming along pretty good at that time, and the blame was being heaped on with extra helpings.

     All we heard was that if we didn’t wake up and stop those infernal tax cuts “for the rich” immediately, the wheels would fall off of the economic wagon and we’d all die! OK, I embellished a bit at the end, but you get my point; we were made to believe (or at the least, they attempted to make us believe) that we simply had to make the “rich” pay more again or we’d be up a creek without a paddle.

     Well, isn’t that just so interesting. Bush has been able to maintain the tax cuts, at least for the time being, and what has it wrought? Nothing less than this:

Federal Deficit Sharply Lower

“WASHINGTON (AP) – The federal deficit is running sharply lower through the first eight months of this budget year as growth in revenues continues to outpace the growth in spending. The Treasury Department said that the deficit through May totaled $148.5 billion, down 34.6 percent from the same period a year ago. That improvement came even though the deficit in May increased to $67.7 billion, up 57.8 percent from May 2006. However, analysts attributed this big increase to the fact that the Internal Revenue Service was more efficient in processing tax returns this year, meaning more revenue was collected in April with fewer tax collections left to be counted in May.”      Astonishing. More from the article:

The increase in revenues has been supported by continued strength in corporate profits and low unemployment, which has helped to push individual income taxes higher.

     Three Liberal myths dispelled in one, concise sentence…

  1. Despite all of the liberals’ caterwauling to the contrary, corporations do contribute to the tax revenues. Huh, whodathunk?
  2. If the increase in revenues is partly attributable to low unemployment, then I guess the excuse that “people quit looking” goes out the window. Right??
  3. Individual incomes are…wait for it…higher! Not lower, as has been the plaintive neying of the left. Individual income taxes are higher because more people are working. It’s a collective statement.

     Imagine folks, where we would be with those tax cuts, and without 9/11 and the havoc it wreaked on just the airline industry alone. Then factor in the war, which would not have happened. How high would the surplus actually be under that scenario? One can only wonder.

     One more point to ponder, and this is a fun one for those of us on the right; We hear “brilliant” singers, actors and other entertainer-types tell us how “dumb” Bush is and yet, he was smart enough to lie them all into war. It just doesn’t compute.

     But here’s another practical joke he’s managed to pull over on all of us…he said he was going to cut our taxes. BAH! He actually found a cunning way to get more tax revenues while we cheered him on.

     What a moron!

-Woody

 

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Bring It On!

Saturday, June 9th, 2007

   I have a fear of dogs. Not that I don’t love dogs, I do. I have three, and I fear not one of them, but my personal experience over almost 50 years of life on this planet has led me to a healthy distrust of the ones I do not own. For reasons I cannot fathom, dogs seem to hate me and they have been unabashed through the past ½ century in demonstrating that emotion where yours truly is concerned. You can color me “bewildered”.

     Oh I know, anyone reading this will immediately rely on the old wive’s tale/axiom: “Well, they must sense your fear.” People always use this in defense of man’s best friend, and I used to fall for the premise, I really did.
    
     That was before I really began to examine the occurrances that led me to this phobia. Save for one time in my life, virtually every other “attack” was completely unprovoked. It was then that I realized that dogs don’t “sense fear”, but rather, they smell adrenaline. Dogs have no mechanism to differentiate between fear and excitement, or fear or aggression. Nor any other emotion which will release exorbitant amounts of adrenaline…they smell it and the fight instinct takes over.
   
     Regardless of my own personal phobia where stray dogs are concerned, I long ago deduced that the best therapy would be to actually engage a dog in combat, and while that scenario has yet to come to fruition, I still maintain that it is the best therapy. If the dogs only knew…
   
     There is a destination to which this article leads, however: The spectre of radical islam pervading America. It is bound to happen, right? After all, Israel has been dealing with this scourge forever. How is it that we, with our porous borders and our uber-permissive society, have managed to evade the plague of suicide bombings in malls and metropolitan pizzerias? This is the perfect place to enact such wanton acts of barbarism. So why has it never happened? I go back to the dogs…
Fear Factor
     Despite the best efforts of our media and more embarrassingly, our own Congress, to immasculate our citizenry, the forces who would wreak havoc with the level of success they have enjoyed in Israel are wary of what we boast amongst our own population: The people! The dogs!
    
     Those whom we deride as the fringe element, the ones living in the desolate stretches of expanse that is our Midwest, may ultimately be our only salvation. It is they who the radical jihadists fear. It is they who, despite all of our allegedly sophisticated derision, may be the last (or the first, depending on your take) line of defense in this country. They will bark and awaken us.
    
     We are an immense sleeping dog and, when poked in the eye long enough, will eventually awaken and have an appetite for vengeance. The terrorists know this, but they don’t care, not the so-called leaders, at least. The “soldiers” also know this and the fact that they have been imbedded in our society for so long bears out the absence of that which we see in Israeli suburbs on a regular basis.
    
     This country is very large, much larger than any other that bears the burden of daily or weekly attacks on its citizenry. In the days following 9/11, I thought for sure that there would be brutal and random attacks on “innocent” people of Middle Eastern descent. I am pleased to say that that did not happen, but in the event that another, similar attack should occur, I would not be so optmistic. Nor would I anticipate the same level of restraint if attacks on civilians became the daily norm.
    
     One great worry many of us may face, as I did on the morning of 9/11/2001, when my Guyanese friends and contractors were potential targets of a violence that never was, thankfully, is just that prospect. That true lovers of America may be innocent victims of a long pent up rage.
  
     That is the only hope for jihadists. Our enduring compassion, as Americans. If they spend it frivolously, it is at their own peril and unfortunately, at the peril of too many true innocents.  Either way, the dogs will attack if they smell adrenaline.
-Woody

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The “P” May Stand For President…Someday

Wednesday, June 6th, 2007
    
     “George P. Bush, a nephew of President Bush, has contributed to the prospective presidential campaign of Fred Thompson and signed an e-mail asking friends and associates to do the same, The Politico has learned.”

 

     Yeah. That’s how these things usually snowball. People often ask, “What got this dynasty started?” 

     Of course, I’m not referring to a Bush family-style dynasty, at least not immediately. But who’s to say that George P. Bush might not have a shot somewhere down the line? So far, he seems to be playing his cards with the proper amount of acumen. A successful Thompson bid and the strategic support of a younger Bush might just do the trick where a future presidential bid is concerned.

    Thompson, on the other hand, may need to be cautious in his acceptance of “friends like these”, but if he can sift the flour of the Bush clan and smooth the mix, why not? And it would seem that the Bush’s that have had the most to lose from W’s missteps are on board for a Thompson run. I understand completely.

      Obviously, the Bush clan is not alone in their assessment. I was a huge Bush supporter in the first term and hoped that with a second term he would remove the gloves and have a go at the dems, a la Reagan. With no worries of having to run again, I assumed that the man I voted for, and blindly accepted as a Conservative, would lose his inhibitions and tell the left that the game was off, and that they would have to somehow overcome the mantle of the Michael Moore’s and the Rosie O’Donnell’s. That they would have to find a way to win over the mainstream Americans they had managed to alienate.

     But it was George W. who ultimately alienated his base.

    W has succeeded in making me, one of his most staunch allies, rethink my allegiance to him. This “immigration” bill he endorses, and the attacks on those like me who oppose it strenuously, have done nothing but erode any support I had for him in the past. He has never ascended to the level of Reagan by any stretch of the imagination, and his seeming acquiesence to the left is nothing short of utter embarrassment.
   
    That being said, perhaps young P has the right idea after all. Garner support for he who seems to be the one and only Conservative (not quite yet) on the ticket and possibly pave the way for your own political future. Jeb might have been a viable option if not for his own radioactivity due to his virtual proximity to his brother.
    
     Make no mistake, however. I have not done anything on the level of research needed to assess the qualifications of George P. Bush for president, but if he can avoid the stigma of his uncle and use what’s left of the good family name to further the candidacy of Fred Thompson, I am on board. “P” can wait and mature on the sidelines.
     -Woody

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