Evaporated Trillions
Post Published: 23 August 2011I am more and more impressed each day about how Obama’s “new tone” in Washington has taken hold. Candidate Obama read the teleprompter so eloquently when he spoke of changing Washington and building unity and all that other hopey-changey focus-group polled nonsense. I knew it would be impossible for an extreme far leftist to build any type of consensus in a divided congress – he had no record or experience building unity with anyone except Rev. Wright, Bill Ayres, Tony Rezko, Frank Marshall Davis, and the Hawaii Dept. of Records.
What Obama has accomplished has been in direct opposition to the vast majority of Americans – Obamacare, never producing a budget, Amnesty for Illegals, adding 4 TRILLION to the debt, producing a forged Birth Certificate, Keynsian policies of destruction, warring in Libya, ad infinitum. It stands to reason that the Tea Party was born to combat the obvious perception that this President does not have the best interests of most Americans at heart – at least, those Americans who actually produce, contribute, and pay taxes.
There is no disputing that Barack Obama’s family, his upbringing, his education, and his associations are how he developed his extremist ideology. He openly admitted to wanting to spread the wealth and redistribute government resources. (Note: For you public schoolers – government resources = tax dollars + borrowed Chinese dollars). Obamacare is a shining achievement of how to take a broken system and make it work ONLY for those who contribute nothing and take the most. Borrowing money at an unprecedented rate in human history, and spending it on failure after failure with little or no results is not explainable in any other way than: Obama simply hates Capitalism. Doesn’t understand it…never worked in it…thinks he knows a better way…whatever.
How about those Americans who feel that the President is doing irreparable damage to the future of this country? Simple: You get your underlings to start the process of undermining, name calling, and repetition afforded by the Obamanized Der Sturmer news media. You have Joe Biden call the Tea Party “Terrorists” and “Hostage takers” and have John McCain call them “Hobbits”. (Yes – I just inferred that John McCain is an Obama supporter…)
When you start calling those who oppose trillion dollar spending binges, government waste and abuse, and lack of a spending budget “Terrorists” – YOU HAVE LOST THE ARGUMENT. When you are reduced to school yard organized chanting on the news outlets – you have lost. When your incredibly expensive and fruitless policies fail to produce results, and your ONLY plan is to attack those who simply want to save you from yourselves – you have lost. After four trillion dollars have evaporated and with Socialism collapsing everywhere in Europe, how can Obama – a man with no documented experience in anything – believe he can make something work that has never worked before in human history? Where does one develop such delusions of grandeur? Where is his track record of accomplishments?
Who is REALLY in control of the teleprompter ???????
The Thespians
Post Published: 05 August 2011The thespian has always served to amuse others. They are the clowns, jokers, court jesters, and circus acts that have existed since the first cavemen sat around the fire playing charades. They have always existed on the fringes of societies as the performers in the performances that take us out of reality for short periods of time. Their “talent” is nothing more than creating NON-REALITY and mythical worlds for bored humans with nothing else to do.
As our society becomes more affluent, the thespians occupy a larger portion of our attention than ever before. In fact, the thespian is everywhere…24/7/365…you can’t escape them. Television, internet, news media, music, and advertising is nothing more than the non-stop thespianization of society. The very people who specialize in non-reality are bombarding us with their mostly ridiculous – but often harmful – messages relating to every aspect of our lives.
THE CLOWNS ARE IN CHARGE OF EVERYTHING.
As evidence, why do politicians always try to hang around with celebrities? Why does Obama travel with Bon Jovi and dine with Paul McCartney? Is it because Sir Paul has an awesome plan to cure childhood hunger or because Bon Jovi has a fair-tax plan that seems promising? Nope…it is because Obama’s handlers realize how much influence the thespians have over society. Matt Damon just recently garnered attention when the famous thespian went on a rant in defense of teacher tenure. What the *@&# does he know about ANYTHING? What does the famous thespian Leonardio Decaprico know about the effects of C02 in the atmosphere?
The fact is, most of these celebrities know only what they have heard from their far-leftist pals they cocoon themselves with. They are able to parrot their memorized lines – as good thespians can – without even realizing what they are saying. And as long as they say it with all the passion and conviction they can muster – their followers will follow. And advertisers – and politicians (professional and perpetual advertisers) – know this better than anyone.
What we now have is those who specialize in the make-believe attempting to dictate and influence policy in the real world. That’s why Lady Gaga makes military policy, Sheryl Crow runs the EPA, Sean Penn is in charge of foreign policy, and now Matt Damon is in charge of education. The politicians use the clowns to advance their agendas, and the clowns use the politicians to garner attention for themselves. Neither party lives in the real world…but right now, they are in charge.
In the real world, we balance our checkbooks or go to jail. In thespian-world, they owe 15 trillion and get applauded for the theater of the “debt-ceiling” performance, uh, debate.
In the real world, we live within our means. In thespian-world, they shop till they drop with unlimited credit cards and expenses covered by “someone else”.
In the real world, we eat hamburgers and hotdogs. In thespian-world, they throw huge parties with Kobe Beef and Beiber and McCartney, create huge piles of waste and C02, and rush out the next day and tell others to conserve.
In the real world, we are responsible for our own behavior. In thespian-world, everything is the fault of others who simply do not pay their fair share.
It is time to stop listening to the thespians. Allowing the clowns and court jesters to run society for the last 3-4 decades has gotten us into the mess of not owning up to our responsibilities and becoming a debtor nation which is a very bad joke on the rest of the world. This is a serious mess – borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we spend JUST TO PAY THE INTEREST on the debt we owe.
The saying “Socialism is great, until you run out of other people’s money” is true. But what happens when THE OTHER people run out of money to let you borrow ???
The Popular Addict
Post Published: 23 July 2011As the debt “crisis” looms, I am reminded of high school. It’s true.
Think back…remember the most popular guys? They were 6-feet tall in Jr. High, could grow a full beard in the 4th grade, played quarterback and pitcher, partied harder than anyone else, and all the cheerleaders swooned in their presence. Fast forward 30 years…would you hire that guy to run your company today?
Most of those guys were popular for all the wrong reasons. High school was easy for them…but when real life finally caught up to them, those mental deficiencies and moral shortcomings that made them rock stars in the eyes of adolescents, relegated them to the ash heap of below-averageness in the adult world. Some of them, however, accidentally succeed.
Those are the guys who are now running YOUR government at all levels.
The charming personalities. The excellent speaking voices. The fantastic hair. A politician is, by their very nature, a show boater and attention hoarder. This is why the weirdos in Hollywood seem to gravitate to all the same pet causes and love to give each other meaningless awards whenever possible. What wisdom is displayed by putting all these brainless, spineless, attention grubbing lizards in one room and asking them to devise a SOLUTION ? These guys (and gals) are more worried about their appearances, what they are going to say – or not say, their poll numbers, their bank accounts, their golf games, their parties, and their mistresses…all of which makes it impossible to devote a single minute to doing their actual jobs. To make things worse, some idiot had the bright idea to put a television camera in the room, which hampers the lizards’ ability to focus even further.
Just today, Obama stated unequivocally that it was simply not possible to cut spending in Washington DC. Only an addict of the worst kind passionately makes excuses and defends their own vile addiction while attempting to force others to continue supporting that addiction. He is simply not paying attention to the 2010 election or the strong majority of Americans who are at long last finally insisting that the Federal Government STOP OVER-SPENDING !! This type of denial, narcissism, and arrogance is only possible among the political elites who fancy themselves above all else. What kind of human being can spend TRILLIONS more than they have, and then unflinchingly place the blame those who would dare question such a bad habit? Who would write a bunch of bad checks, and then demand that others – others who didn’t want the bad checks to be written – be the ones to cover the bad checks out of their own pockets? Who would proclaim a balanced check book to be both immoral and impossible? What kind of human picks the pocket of Person A, hands the money to Person B, and then denigrates Person A as the stingy and evil person in the group? What kind of a ‘leader’ is so out-of-control that he insists his subjects unwillingly contribute more and more of their earnings so he can continue his destructive, self indulgent policies? An addict, that’s who.
The Federal Government is like a busload of drug addicts…and right now, the bus is being driven by Motley Crue, circa 1984. The drug: Money stacked with Power. Politicians crave money and power worse than a meth addict craves meth. Think I’m exaggerating? Here are the 7 warning signs of addiction:
From this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barb-rogers/seven-signs-of-addiction_b_519194.html
1. Questioning. Has Big Nanny been asking herself recently if there are major problems?
2. Defensiveness. Obama is the most defensive human alive when it concerns his failed policies.
3. Blaming. Has anyone heard, “It’s George Bush’s fault” anywhere ?
4. Secrets and Lies. That should be the actual title of the Obamacare legislation.
5. Time and effort. The effort being used to manipulate others is staggering.
6. Guilt and shame. This one throws me…I don’t think the lizards are capable of either.
7. Isolation. Why else would they form Gangs-of-6 ?
Americans have done themselves a major disservice with their hero-like cult worship of the popular kids. Why else are absolutely stupid shows like American Idol and Jersey Shore even possible? The Founding Fathers envisioned sending “wise and learned men” to positions in government. The American electorate, however, insists on sending the exact opposite: The best sloganeers and sound bite regurgitators and best teleprompter readers instead of principled, experienced, honorable leaders. If I’m wrong, explain Al Franken or Anthony Weiner.
And it happens in both parties…why is Mitt Romney, a flip-flopping statist 5 shades of blue Liberal the front-runner among Republicans? It makes NO sense…but then again, neither did Bob Dole or John McCain. I submit that at this point, Romney is leading because he has the best hair and best speaking voice, in that order. If the Republicans send Romney to battle against Obama, Romney will lose…Obama will simply say Romney was his role model for Obamacare. Game Over. Two good looking, well spoken, statist Liberals running side-by-side, arm-in-arm, while pretending to “debate” their media generated differences. The Kenyan Krippler vs. the Michigan Mauler to see who claims the belt…live on C-Span.
Revisions
Post Published: 08 July 2011http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daniel-gross/june-jobs-report-ugly-ugly-ugly-132111747.html
Team Obama has proven to be remarkably adept in one area: Getting the news media to spin for them. One of the worst is the Yahoo.com home page. Based in the ruins of Kalifornia, these left-wing extremists have carried Obama’s leaky bucket of water almost since Algore invented the internet. The attached “news” story link actually attempts to tell the truth, but at the end, makes a flimsy attempt to prop up the failure that is the Obama Economy with the statement:
“Despite the ugly, ugly, ugly jobs figure, the U.S. expansion is still intact. Macroeconomic Advisers is standing by its call that the pace of growth will pick up in the second half of the year. From industrial production to retail sales, there are signs that demand is continuing to grow. At some point, companies will have to break down and hire people in significant numbers. This report suggests we haven’t yet reached that point.”
I imagine that final paragraph of nonsensical blathering is due to the fact that the author doesn’t want to become part of the very statistics he is reporting by drawing the ire of the upper management at Team Yahoo. These so-called economic advisors are cherry picked by the left-wing news media and have been saying we came out of the recession since the day after Obama’s inauguration. Joe “Double-Dip” Biden, the world’s smartest man, said 2010 was “Recovery Summer” and said about the Stimulus “In my wildest dreams, I never thought it would work this well”. Go name another stimulus-funded train station after yourself, Joe.
Inside the grim job report is something I have been complaining about repeatedly: The downward revisions after the fact. The government, aka., Team Obama and their comrades in the news media put out initial numbers to make themselves look good, and then silently, stealthily, sneakily – when no one is paying attention – revise the numbers downward. They do this so they can compare the new numbers to the revised down numbers, which looks like an increase, even though it wasn’t. It is the exact same as Obama spending 2.5 TRILLION, and then cutting 100 million and patting himself on the back and running in front of the teleprompter and news media to declare himself a deficit hawk…which his comrades then gladly print their skewed headlines to match that narrative. The sad part is how few Americans bother to pay any attention to the facts, and only seem to absorb the misdirection within the Das Reich-ish headlines.
From the linked Yahoo article at the top:
“Ugly #3. The trend is not our friend. The monthly jobs are revised in each of the two months following the original report. And the trend over much of the past year has been for the figures to be revised upward. In hindsight, during this recovery, BLS has tended to discover more jobs. But in June that trend seems to have reversed. Looking back, BLS is now concluding that there were fewer jobs added in previous months than originally thought. April’s figure was revised from a gain of 232,000 to a gain of 217,000, and the May gain of 54,000 was revised to a gain of 25,000. Add it up, and BLS is telling us there are about 44,000 fewer payroll jobs out there than it thought.”
The June jobs report you will see on the Nightly News channels will report a net gain of 18,000 jobs, but that the unemployment rate went up…was the so called “gain” based on the first set of numbers, or the “revised” numbers? Who the heck knows…I can’t figure it out. Are there any statisticians out there who can help me understand?
In 2008, I was blogging that Obama had no private sector experience, no job history, no economics background, no verifiable college transcripts, and no birth certificate. In 2011, Obama’s “Chickens have come home to roost”…props to the now infamous Reverend Wright. The guy couldn’t create a job if someone gave him a couple of TRILLION dollars. (Oh, wait…we DID give him a couple of TRILLION dollars). He has surrounded himself with like-minded ideologists, uh, economists, who have all mooched off the government so long they have forgotten it is the private sector that PAYS ALL THE BILLS in the United States.
Note to the voters: November 2nd, 2012 would be a good time to think about the consequences of electing a candidate with the least amount of qualifications in history just to make yourself feel good. That type of emotional decision making may feel good in the short-term, but will have even more disastrous consequences on this next election cycle, as we teeter on the edge of a financial meltdown.
Note to all the college kids and sandal-wearing beatniks who helped elect this British Citizen phantom who came out of nowhere: It is the PRIVATE SECTOR – not government – that funds your “free” college educations and Pell Grants and Student Loans and all the other services you have been brought up to feel entitled to receive. If you punish those entrepreneurs who may actually HIRE your sorry butts, the money to fund your entitlements is going to dry up faster than you can smoke a bong in your parent’s basement. The private sector and corporations and capitalism and the wealthy are not THE ENEMY your professors and the news media have been telling you they are. They are the entities that would like to put you to work someday. They are the entities that pay for your entire existence. Government does not create wealth.
God Bless Texas
Post Published: 07 July 2011http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/07/06/Texas-rebuffs-White-House-on-execution/UPI-33211309935600/
Team Obama has decided to interfere once again with the 10th Amendment. Their power hunger knows no bounds. Their lust for Central Command and Control grows stronger by the day. Supposedly, Obama is a Constitutional scholar…although he won’t release his college records to prove it…but this President has done more to trample the US Constitution than even George Soros could have dreamed possible.
At issue is a Mexican citizen…38 year old Humberto Leal, who has been living illegally in the United States since the age of two. After all that time, you would think he would understand that it is not legal in the State of Texas to rape and murder, which he was convicted of doing. Texas has scheduled his execution. Team Obama is trying to get the Supreme Court to interfere by staying the execution.
If you read the linked article, you will see that Obama is worried about violating INTERNATIONAL LAW. He’s not worried about illegally drone bombing suspected terrorists in multiple countries. He’s not worried about the thousands of other inmates on death row. He’s not worried about the illegal alien criminals destroying Arizona. He’s not worried about destroying the American economy and racking up trillions in debt. He’s not worried about the price of gas or the millions of unemployed.
Yet…with a pile of paperwork on his desk, and his own country circling the drain, Obama has ample time to interfere with the State of Texas’ internal dealings in an attempt to save a convicted rapist and murder.
I’m no expert, but it just seems like he has more important things to be worried about…especially since the Supreme Court has ALREADY RULED in 2008 that even though the US Government may have agreed to follow international laws, they don’t have the power to force individual states to follow international law.
From Wikepedia:
“Medellín v. Texas, 552 U.S. 491 (2008) is a United States Supreme Court decision which held that while an international treaty may constitute an international commitment, it is not binding domestic law unless Congress has enacted statutes implementing it or unless the treaty itself is “self-executing”; that decisions of the International Court of Justice are not binding domestic law; and that, absent an act of Congress or Constitutional authority, the President of the United States lacks the power to enforce international treaties or decisions of the International Court of Justice.”
Obama, being a self-described Constitutional Scholar, should understand that he has NO POWER to interfere in state legal proceedings – unless Congress first enacts a law…which they won’t do (unless we elect a bunch more U.N. bowing, one-world government “progressives” to Congress). Do we really want the President to have the power to knit-pick each and every decision within the 50 states? Does team Obama need to be involved in deciding how Twin Falls implements arson reduction in the city water or have Team Obama making sure Wendell fixes its sewer system? The main reason the Federal Government is TRILLIONS in debt is from DOING TOO DAMN MANY THINGS IT DOESN’T HAVE ANY BUSINESS DOING.
What I don’t get are the outright inconsistencies from Team Obama. They spend money at unprecedented levels, then go on TV and act like they are interested in reducing the debt. They attempt to reduce the price of health care by driving prices up and eliminating competition. They have a “laser-like” focus on jobs, then want to tax the job creators to pay for the debt THEY created. And equally weird: Team Obama grants American rights to foreign terrorists, and wants foreign rights for those in America…I just don’t get it.
Humberto Leal and his family came to America probably in search of work and a better life, as do most Mexicans. Hopefully, his parents wanted young Humberto to have more opportunities and enjoy all that America has to offer. However, when Humberto got into trouble, according to Team Obama and the U.N. – he instantly reverted to the status of a Mexican national. The ONLY motivation for Team Obama that makes ANY sense is that he is simply pandering for the Latino vote. I have to think that most level-headed Latinos do not believe they can commit rape and murder, and receive all the benefits of being both an American and a Mexican at the same time.
Sorry, foreigners: You can’t have it both ways. If you are in this country and have a valid passport or travel permit, by all means, call your consulate to see if they can help you get away with rape and murder. However, if you snuck into America illegally, you don’t get to turn around and claim international sovereignty. If you are worried about getting into trouble in foreign countries – stay the hell out of them. You don’t “go hiking” in the mountains of Iran. You don’t sell drugs in Turkey. You don’t stab people in Italy.
And you sure as heck don’t rape and murder 16 year old girls in Texas and expect them to worry about “international agreements” and “U.N. mandates”. If the U.N. and George Soros had their way, we would all have a one-world currency, drive mopeds everywhere, eliminate red meat, institute population reduction measures, and follow each and every law adopted by the World Court system. If a bunch of pointy-heads in Belgium decided the production, marketing, and shipping of chocolate bars was adding too much C02, then every country and state would have to abide by such laws…or purchase carbon credits with a check payable to the United Nations.
God bless Texas.
Laverne and Shirley
Post Published: 11 June 2011The following is a comparison of two fictional women of equal age and ability, yet each will take a different life path. Laverne and Shirley are identical twins born minutes apart. Both are of equal looks, intelligence, and mental and physical abilities. They were raised exactly the same by an orphanage in the same town and went to the same schools. How they each individually turn out is strictly the difference of the decisions they make. (Any comparison to real persons, living or dead, is strictly coincidental, legal mumbo jumbo, blah, blah, etc., etc.)
Laverne never liked school, but she persisted, studied hard, and got decent grades. She tried college for a couple of years, but decided instead to start her own printing business, after noticing a gap in printing services in her community. Her printing business employs 12 people full-time, pays enormous taxes, and donates generously to local causes in the community. Laverne is married and has 3 kids and adopted another. After working 10 hour days for 26 years in the same job, Laverne pulls in a nice gross income just over $250k per year. With 3 kids in college, a husband stricken with cancer, and an elderly mother that lives in a nursing home, Laverne’s income is not that large. Each year, the college kids’ tuition and expenses take $50k, her husband’s cancer treatments takes $50k plus the loss of his income, her mother’s living arrangement takes $50k, she gives generously to the children’s orphanage in which she was raised at $25k, and she saves and invests $25k. That leaves Laverne a very modest income of $50k (before taxes) to live on.
Shirley loved school, being popular, and partying with Motley Crue. Since high school, Shirley has gone through at least 26 different employers over the last 26 years. Shirley also had 4 kids with 4 different dads: Big Mick, 27, currently serving time in an Alabama prison, Vincent, 26, currently in a re-hab center in Fresno, Little Nicki, 23 lives in her basement (and is covered in tattoos and facial piercings, speaks unintelligibly, sports a green Mohawk, and regularly complains that he can’t find a job), and Tommie, 18, lives in the trailer next door with her 3 kids. Shirley has a host of self-induced health problems related to years of chronic liver abuse and venereal disease, has bronchial problems related to smoking, has cardiac problems due to a love of fried foods and doughnuts, and exhibits a general lack of hygiene. Shirley got lucky a few years back and landed a quota job with the federal government. With her union benefits, she receives her wages, benefits, and entire medical expenses via the taxpayers. When you add up the benefits, social security, rent assistance, incarcerations, counseling, re-hab, law enforcement, child support collection services, DNA testing, Health and Welfare, WIC, and Medicaid, Shirley and her prodigy have a net combined yearly burden to the taxpayers of around $375,000.00. Last year, Shirley joined a civil workers union, and stormed the Statehouse in a union march to demand more benefits.
In the twisted, sick world we now live in, Laverne is an evil corporate villain, and Shirley is a victim of society.
Not surprisingly, Laverne and Shirley haven’t spoken in years. The last time they were together, Shirley was parroting the virtues of a junior Senator from Illinois whom she had heard about in a previous union meeting she had attended. (Oddly enough, unions that take their dues from taxpayers shouldn’t be allowed to select a candidate or push a political affiliation, but do so unimpeded thanks to rampant corruption…can you say “Teacher’s Union” kids ?). Shirley was bemoaning the fact that her life was difficult because the rich were not paying their fair share of taxes and the conversation rapidly deteriorated from there.
In Obamaworld, anyone with an entrepreneurial streak is the enemy. Those who want to keep what they earn are evil and stingy and “not paying their fair share”…shout out to VP Biden. Those who feel the government should take less and spend less and balance their books are crazy, right-wing Tea Partiers…a fringe group not worth listening to. In Obamaworld, +9% unemployment, a 14 Trillion dollar debt, and yearly multi-trillion dollar deficit spending is “just what is needed” to fix up the USA. In Obamaworld, Laverne needs to pay more in taxes so Shirley can have a better life.
We won’t be fixing anything as long as ½ the country is Shirley…
Earn Less Money
Post Published: 03 June 2011I have watched Dr. Obama take a patient with a fever (The economy), misdiagnose the symptoms, write a prescription for which the medication’s side effects are worse than the fever, coerce and bribe the pharmacy to overlook the wrong prescription, and criminally use the legislative and executive branches to FORCE the bad medicine down the patient’s throat. Now the patient is sicker than ever, but the doctors, who coincidentally have no medical experience, fail to see their failure.
The prescription of printing money, bailing out failures, and blowing up the size of government never had a chance of being successful…but Dr. Obama and his media lackeys still insist that their prescriptions are curing the fever.
I simply don’t believe Dr. Obama is mentally challenged – as many others have suggested. There is no way he believes he is making the economy better. Here is what I have come to understand: FIXING THE ECONOMY HAS NEVER BEEN HIS GOAL, despite what he implies when reading the teleprompter. Every one of his policies have been designed to transform America into a socially equitable European style “mediocrisy”… or, as we conservatives were screaming in 2008, SOCIALISM.
The piles of evidence are now simply irrefutable. More Americans are on public assistance than at any time since the Great Depression. The unemployment rate just went up AGAIN. The Dow Jones is about to implode. Housing prices are plummeting, sales are down. Inflation is briskly underway, just about to take off at full speed. Fuel prices are raging, and Dr. Obama refuses to allow drilling in our own country. The US Dollar is worthless due to excess printing, and they are about to print more.
What does Dr. Obama do? Goes golfing.
Why would a sitting United States President (other than Jimmy Carter) implement such a string of duds, one after the other? Is he dumb? Nope. He knows exactly how to ruin an economy. Why? Simple: The more people that rely on government, the more voters he will create. The more people who rely on government, the closer we edge towards a full-blown Socialist country. Why else would the government forcibly – against the will of the people – take control of the health care system? If you can get more than ½ the country to rely on government and not pay any federal income taxes, you will win every future election.
Obama’s Solicitor General solidified my supposition yesterday when arguing on behalf of Obamacare before the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals he suggested that the answer to paying for expensive health care was to earn less money, and then the government could subsidize your costs. The sound of a sitting government official suggesting the answer to high costs is to earn less money so you can accept a handout from the government should send a chill up your spine. This type of thinking is rampant in the Democrat Party and is pernicious and destructive to the American spirit of entrepreneurship and ingenuity that has made this country great. That sick thinking is both ant-freedom and anti-liberty, and is exactly what is wrong with Team Obama.
If everyone just decides to produce less and take more…who will be left to produce anything?
Who is John Galt?
Magna Carta
Post Published: 15 May 2011Magna Carta
I ran across this story involving the Indiana Supreme Court and a decision they just made regarding the 4th Amendment. As a person who is fascinated by the US Constitution, these types of stories always catch my attention.
In short, the Indiana Supreme Court, in the year 2011, has decided, in a 3-2 decision, that police are allowed to enter your home without a search warrant, and you, the homeowner, have no right to resist.
The article referred to a section of the Magna Carta – a document written around 1215 that was an attempt to limit the powers of the King (Big Government) and ensure that only the rule of law was to be enforced, and not merely the whims of those in the monarchies – known as Clause 39 in the original, and Clause 29 in the 1297 version that is still used today (in some cases).
Clause 29/39 states: “No Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right.”
Basically, the clause addresses the Right to Due Process under the law. Sir Edward Coke, a famous lawyer in jolly old England, argued cases in the year 1604 that established common laws we still use today such as “The knock and announce rule” and “A man’s home is his castle”…and he has every right to defend it against unlawful entry. Note: Common laws we still use today, except in Indiana.
I often speak to people who simply don’t realize the freedoms that are slowly eroding out from under them. This is simply one tiny example – a drop in an ocean of constitutional destruction – that we Americans are all too fat and happy to worry about. Way too many of us would trade our freedoms for the security of the state faster than our politicians can run for the nearest camera.
When we have given up the 4th Amendment with not even a whimper, the other Amendments are sure to follow. What’s that you ask? What is the 4th Amendment?
Here it is from Wikipedia:
“The Fourth Amendment (Amendment IV) to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonablesearches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported byprobable cause. It was adopted as a response to the abuse of the writ of assistance, which is a type of general search warrant, in the American Revolution. Search and arrest should be limited in scope according to specific information supplied to the issuing court, usually by a law enforcement officer, who has sworn by it .”
The Indiana case troubles the Constitutionalist in me for the following reason: Without a warrant with supporting probable cause, or exigent circumstances (house on fire, defense of life, etc.), the police have not been permitted to enter our homes uninvited for almost 800 years (if you include our English ancestry, from where we derive most of our laws).
I have described myself as a Conservative Libertarian Independent Teapartier. This is how it breaks down for me:
Conservative: “ The police are on our side, and are here to help. If they need to come into your home, you should let them.”
Libertarian: “True. 99.99% of the time, the cops are there to help. But I don’t have to let them in without a warrant.”
Independent: “I don’t know. What does everyone else think?”
Tea Partier: “I don’t care what anyone else thinks, what does the Constitution say ?”
Voting in Idaho
Post Published: 04 May 2011http://www.magicvalley.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_404c33c0-75ff-11e0-88e5-001cc4c002e0.html
I’m regularly amused at the Editorials written here at the Times News. Honestly, I’ve never met any of these people, so I have no idea where they are coming from. This one in particular needed a response. As my readers know, I am NOT a member of the Republican Party. I used to be, when we had a balanced budget, free markets, an ATF that was reigned-in, and an economy that cut down trees and drilled for our own oil. Now the Republican Party is a bunch of pansies more worried about their poll numbers and re-election coffers and being invited onto “The View” than tackling the difficult problems they are supposed to be tackling. Locally, we have a 7-Term “Republican” like Leon Smith who votes with the Democrats on 11 of 15 bills, and is lauded by a “Republican leader” on KLIX Radio as a “conservative thinker” and other nonsensical blathery. We need term limits and fresh ideas – and I just don’t see any of that coming from the Republican Party, locally or nationally.
That being said, this Editorial needs some rebuttal: The original editorial is in Black text, and my remarks are in Red text:
What a difference a line on a map makes.
You mean, Idaho voters are different than a Democrat controlled Legislature and Democrat Governor in Washington State? There is a bit more to it than a simple line on a map…
In Washington, voting is celebrated as a public responsibility and the state does everything it can to make it easy. The Legislature passed and Gov. Chris Gregoire signed legislation this spring to make Washington the second state in the nation to have all vote-by-mail elections.
The jury is still out on this type of voting. With all the internet hackers and check fraudsters who have nothing better to do with their free time, I foresee a massive debacle in the near future.
Senate Bill 5124 will replace a 2005 law that let all counties choose whether to have polling places or mail-in ballots, a move supporters say will add clarity to state law and save money.
While this method may save money, it does add considerable amount of additional time to tally the votes. I can foresee a day when the whole nation sits and waits for Oregon and Washington to finish counting their votes for several days; a Florida 2000 redux.
Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, said mail-in ballots increase voter participation, save money and give people time to do their research about the things they’re voting for.
What? You have 365 days + 364 days between elections to do research…how does this give any additional time? Voters don’t do any research anyway…they just blindly follow the trends set forth by the news media.
The Evergreen State also has a “top two” primary system, meaning whichever two candidates get the most votes advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation or the preference of the state party organizations.
If this is such a great idea, why not just eliminate the Primary voting day all together? Whoever gets the most votes on Election Day wins. Period. That would really save some money.
Meanwhile, across the border in Idaho, some legislators treat voting like a raid on the henhouse.
(Sorry, I just don’t get the analogy.)
During the just-adjourned session, the Republican-dominated Legislature passed a bill sharply restricting the right of independents and Democrats to vote in GOP primaries. That comes a year after House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, pushed through legislation requiring voters to produce identification with a photograph at the polling place. If a citizen wishing to vote can’t provide ID, he or she must sign an affidavit affirming his identity.
Why should…why would…Independants and Democrats be voting in GOP primaries? Why would a Democrat care who wins the Republican primary, and why would they waste their one and only vote? I think I now know why Leon Smith keeps winning the primary election…
What in the world are Idaho Republicans so scared of?
They are scared of Democrats advancing the weakest Republican candidate by crossing-over and watering down the results. As long as we are stuck with a system of “parties” I have no problem with only members of any given party selecting their candidate without outside interference.
Voter fraud is scant in the United States, to say the least. According to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, there is no documented wave or trend of individuals voting multiple times, voting as someone else or voting despite knowing that they are ineligible. Indeed, evidence from the microscopically scrutinized 2004 gubernatorial election in Washington revealed that voter fraud happened 0.0009 percent of the time. The similarly closely analyzed 2004 election in Ohio revealed a voter fraud rate of 0.00004 percent.
HHmmmmm…maybe that research was conducted BEFORE mail-in voting was commonplace?
National Weather Service data shows that Americans are struck and killed by lightning about as often.
No comment. Just, no comment.
Idaho has vote-by-mail, largely because Republican Secretary of State Ben Ysursa and the state’s county clerks insisted upon it. Twenty percent of the ballots in the 2010 general election were absentee voters — which includes vote-by-mail. Twenty-six percent of voters in Blaine County cast their ballots that way.
Most people vote absentee simply to avoid the crowds on Election Day.
Ysursa has stoutly resisted efforts by GOP lawmakers to make it harder to vote, and he’s right.
Statement made with no definition of the term “harder”…You mean getting off your lazy behind and engaging your right as a US Citizen? No one is forced to vote. At the founding of this country, people would ride on horseback or walk for countless miles to cast a vote…now we whine and moan because we can’t do it from the comfort of our computer desk. Sheeeeeeesh…
For the fact is that in most elections, Idaho’s voter turnout is pathetic — 58 percent in the 2010 general election. In Washington state, it was 71 percent.
That probably has nothing to do with how easy it is to vote, and more to do with the foregone conclusion of Republican victories in most precincts.
In the primary election a year ago, 41 percent of Washington voters turned out. In Idaho, it was 27 percent.
Washington is a more equally divided two-party state. There isn’t much point in voting when the “R” is guaranteed the win. It has little to do with the perception of voting being made somehow easier. As far as National Primaries, New Hampshire and Iowa and the news media have already given us our nominees long before we have any opportunity to help make that decision…that’s how Republicans in Idaho ended up with John McCain, whether they wanted him or not. If we are going to have a Primary election, it is my long held belief that all 50 states should hold this election on the same day.
That’s unacceptable.
Most Idahoans realize that their two electoral college votes are going Republican, and will have almost no impact on the General Election.
Although it’s unstated, the subtext of many Idaho Republicans’ reluctance to make voting easier is the fear more Latinos — who comprise about 10 percent of the state’s population — will go to the ballot box. Our guess is that Idaho Latinos who vote are only slightly less Republican than the state’s electorate as a whole.
That’s a pretty serious, unfounded, and baseless charge. I will let the local Republican Party answer that one…if they have the cajones to.
Politicians shouldn’t run away from voters, and when they do it’s worth asking why.
Politicians aren’t running away from voters. Voters are running away from politicians.
